Day 698: Party Like It's 2011!

Today was pretty chill, for the most part.  We attended a little birthday party for the daughter of some friends.  That had some Joyful Moments, but then Baby B just started screaming and throwing fits--making the birthday girl cry--so, we left.

HH did some much needed cleaning out in the shed and garage, which I SUPER appreciate.  And I did a lot of cooking and baking.

We had a fun dinner of shrimp and cheese fondue.  Not together.  The shrimp went in the cocktail sauce and lovely French bread chunks went into the fondue.  This was my first time making cheese fondue all by myself.

Note:  Even though it may have amazing reviews online and you think your kids will like it better, a Cheddar/Swiss combination is nowhere near the deliciousness of different varieties of just Swiss cheeses. Not even close.  And when only 33% of your children like the cheddar/Swiss combo, then really becomes not worth it.

Still, it was a fun dinner and yummy.  Even if it wasn't as yummy as it could have been.

Then we put the kids to bed and picked up the baby sitter and headed out for a little get together with friends.

I might have mentioned before that we have really fun friends.  So, the night was full of Joyful Moments. They even made me feel good about my stuffed mushrooms, which I felt were a bit heavy on the sausage side.  I blame HH for that.  But they gobbled them all up, anyway.

Part of the fun was a White Elephant/Yankee Swap (depending on where you're from).  Good times were had here.

We scored a Scooby Doo popcorn popper.  Totally random, but we're excited to give it to Sweet P for her birthday on Monday.  The kid is obsessed with Scooby and The Gang.  I might have had to lay on some serious guilt to hold onto that popper.  It's a winning technique I learned from grandma.

Technically, the popper was HH's and I wound up with this freakish bunny.  You'll have to click on the picture to get it big enough to really be able to see it's scary scary face.  I had HH photograph me with it because I  was positive no one would steal it.  Shockingly, my friend who is so sweet she never steal a gift from anyone took it right at the end!  And I wound up with this bizarre book cover made from flame-patterned neoprene.

I am not kidding.

Anyway, it was a super fun night, chock full of Joyful Moments.  HH and I left a little early, so we wouldn't have our babysitter out on the Sabbath.  And then we rung in the New Year with just the two of us.  And being with my very favorite person in the whole world, beginning a new year together was the best Joyful Moment I could imagine for that moment.

Wishing you all Joyful Moments with your favorite persons!

Day 697: Cake

I didn't wake up to a sick boy at all last night!

And this morning was still a messy one, but the least messy we've had in nearly two weeks.  I didn't have to wash sheets.  That was cause for celebration.

But even greater cause was the huge breakfast Baby B had.  It was just dry cereal and a few crackers, but he kept asking for "mo" and that was probably my best Joyful Moment of the day.  I think eliminating soy and dairy for the next little while is the answer and that he is finally finally on the road to recovery.  For real.

He seemed more like his normal self today as well.  Less lethargic and more prone to tantrums.  Which are no fun, but at the same time, it's a relief to see him have the energy to throw a tantrum again.  Still, I can't claim they were any sort of a Joyful Moment for me.

But tonight, after dinner, we headed over to a friend's house to celebrate the birthdays of two friends from this past week with cake and snacks.  It was fun to be out among people again.  Especially, good fun friends.  Definitely a Joyful Moment.  We are so blessed to be surrounded by fabulous people out here.

Wishing you all Joyful Moments with fabulous people!

Day 696: Midnight Tears

Actually, I don't remember what time it was.  But, sometime during the night, Baby B began throwing up again.  And HH announced that he felt ready to join in the fun at any moment.

I got the baby cleaned up and dressed in clean jammies and then I cried as I filled the washing machine with hot water and smelly clothes and bedding.  In the middle of the night.  As is becoming routine around here.

I'll be honest, a lot of it was self-pity.  I was finally getting excited about everyone and everything getting better, so I took this pretty hard.  But also, I was really worried.  Baby B has been sick since Tuesday of last week.  That's a long time for a little guy to be losing what little he takes in out both ends.  His skin was beginning to be dry and flaky and he only peed about once yesterday.

So, in between his bouts of sickness, I sat in the rocking chair and held him most of the night.  I was too worried to put him back to bed until he finally started squirming quite a bit and I could tell it was disrupting his sleep.

Which meant that today didn't start off nearly as well as yesterday ended.  I took him to the doctor and discovered that he's lost more than a pound during this whole ordeal (we don't really know how much since we're going off of his last check up).  And then I voiced my suspicions that perhaps this had brought back his food sensitivities that he had as a baby and the doctor confirmed that this was very possible.  So, he's back off of soy and dairy.  Which is a lot harder now that he's older and aware of what everyone else is eating (and is a HUGE fan of cheese).  But he's taking coconut milk without any complaints and inhaled a whole bunch of the mini saltines I bought for him.  Which makes me very happy.  In fact, seeing him eat was probably my Joyful Moment for the day.

Sorry for the medical update excuse of a post, but this is pretty much what consumed my day.  I'm anxious to see how tonight goes.  But my gut feeling for the past few days has been that the soy and/or dairy is what is keeping him sick.  So, I'm very very very cautiously optimistic.

Here's hoping for better days and fewer posts involving bodily fluids.

Wishing you all Joyful Moments on laundry-free nights!

Day 695: Unseasonably Warm

I LOVE when that phrase makes it into the weather forecast.  And it's been doing it a lot lately.  It's still quite chilly, but way better than 14 below.

Today was positively gorgeous in the mid 50's.  The kids and I spent the morning with some friends at the Children's Museum.  It was nice and getting to know a new friend better was definitely a Joyful Moment. And I know it was a hugely needed Joyful Moment for the kids, so I'm glad we did it.

That meant that we went to the gym in the afternoon, after naps.  This really threw the kids off for some reason, but I'm so glad we went.  Z and I went for a beautiful run outside.  I felt a little sick throughout because I'm still recovering (and last night had several interruptions from a severely dehydrated Baby B crying out for his "mink" sippy cup), but it still really revived my spirits.  Staying in a sickly house for over a week doing nothing but cleaning and comforting sad little bodies has a tendency to wear a person down.

Today was marvelous.

Wishing you all marvelous Joyful Moments!

Day 694: Back In The Saddle

Well, Baby B still wakes up every morning with diarrhea.  And sometimes during the night.  Waaaay too much information, I know.  But it is the reality I'm living and I'm nothing, if not honest, on this blog.  However, today we (sort of) got back into our routine.

Besides me sleeping in two hours, HH spending the morning at home preparing to speak at a funeral, and being a couple hours off on everything the whole day.


It was nice.  The kids were relieved to finally get out of the house.  We only went to the gym, but still... change is good.  I was too tired and worn out to get much of a workout, but I was able to catch up with a friend I haven't seen in a while.  And I got a much needed break from my cooped up kiddos.

So, the whole gym experience was probably today's Joyful Moment.

Wishing you all routine Joyful Moments!

Day 693: 2012 Theme, Family Style

No, we will not be working on our family fashion in 2012.  I just convinced the whole family to join with me for my theme for 2012.

And if you don't know what I'm talking about with my "theme", see this post.

So, I've known for at least a month now that my theme for 2012 will be improving my study of/increasing my love for The Book of Mormon.  I already read this book daily, but I've felt strongly that I need to step up my game and raise the bar for myself.

I kind of wanted to get my family involved, so tonight I taught the Family Home Evening lesson and we talked about the Book of Mormon.  First I shared this story, then a couple quotes.  One of my favorites is this:

"I feel certain that if, in our homes, parents will read from the Book of Mormon prayerfully and regularly, both by themselves and with their children, the spirit of that great book will come to permeate our homes and all who dwell therein.  The spirit of reverence will increase; mutual respect and consideration for each other will grow.  The spirit of contention will depart.  Parents will counsel their children in greater love and wisdom.  Children will be more responsive and submissive tot he counsel of their parents.  Righteousness will increase.  Faith, hope, and charity--the pure love of Christ--will abound in our homes and lives, bringing in their wake peace, joy, and happiness."

--President Marion G. Romney

Of course, that's a lot of big words and concepts for my young children, so we broke it down and discussed each part.  Everyone agreed that all of those promises would be nice to have, so we committed to each other to re-dedicate ourselves to our scripture study.  We read it together every night as a family, but it's not always in the best circumstances.  So, we're going to do better.

And lastly, Sweet P turns 7 next week.  Which means that she is just over a year away from being baptized.  I would like her to have a testimony of her own of Jesus Christ and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  But I believe Joseph Smith when he said, "I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.” 

So, I challenged her to read the whole book between now and then.  She took up the challenge (good thing she loves to read!) and agreed.

Walking past her room and seeing this was definitely today's Joyful Moment.  It even topped a lovely run outside in almost 50-degree weather.  I'm so proud of my little girl.

Wishing you all Joyful Moments in setting excellent goals for yourselves!

Day 692: Merry Christmas!!!

In case you were wondering:

This is the pretty sight we were relaxing over just before The Flu:  Round II struck.

Baby B had us up a couple times in the night and around 4 A.M., Sweet P joined in the fun.  We were kind of hoping the kids would sleep in a bit, given that they were all awake for a while in the night.

No dice.

But, on Christmas, what do you expect?

In spite of the sickness, these smiles were plentiful all day.  And that was my Joyful Moment.  Baby B did sleep in a bit, and took a while to decide Christmas was fun with how rotten he felt, but eventually warmed up to it.  Sweet P magically seemed to feel fine, even though she had several bouts of sickness all day long.

This will definitely be a Christmas we will always remember.

We had to alter and cancel many of our plans for the day including most of the family staying home from church, cancelling plans to have another friend without family having over, allowing the missionaries to come call their families in our home, and carolling with several friends at a retirement home.  I was sad about all of this, but didn't want to spread the plague with anyone else.

More Joyful Moments were had in reflecting on Jesus Christ and the reason for Christmas.  I echo my comments from last Sunday in expressing my gratitude for Jesus Christ, His life, His atonement, His death, and His resurrection.  I know He lives and that we can live with Him forever.

Wishing you all a beautiful Christmas with Joyful Moments to remember!