Rockin Around the Christmas Tree

It is that time of year again!! I love the holidays. When I was growing up in Wisconsin we spent most of our Christmases in Ohio with my extended family. I can still picture and recall the feelings I got as I walked up the sidewalk of Grandma and Grandpa Niekamp's house. The entire outside of the house was always decorated in RED lights. My Grandpa only used red lights to decorate the outside. 25 years ago, they did not even make only red lights so my Grandpa would paint each light bulb red by hand! They had a HUGE pine tree in the front year that he would decorate with the red lights. It was the most beautiful sight I had ever seen. I aspire to have my house decorated like that is an homage to my grandfather and the wonderful feelings that those memories bring. Another thing that I took away from Grandma and Grandpa Niekamp was their tree. I LOVED that their tree was decorated with those old school glass ornaments. Since I can remember, I have been slowly but surely collecting glass ornaments for my tree. It is funny because when I started this, I still lived in Wisconsin and was still going to Ohio each year for Christmas. Now that I am so far away from my family, I am so glad that I began that tradition. It brings me closer to family with all of the memories it brings back. When we would enter my grandparents house, the jingle bell on the door would go off and whoever was down the hall in the kitchen would yell, "Ho, Ho, Ho Merry Christmas" without even knowing who it was. They lived in a town where you didn't ring doorbells, you just walked in. My grandmother passed away many years ago. She was such a special and wonderful lady- way before her time. Every time the jingle bell on my door rings, I think of her and miss her and thank God that I have the wonderful family that I do. My hope is that my children will enjoy the holidays like I do and will cherish the many traditions Steve and I have created for them.

One of our traditions is decorating the tree. I get all the ornaments out and carefully unwrap them and lay them out for the kids to decorate the tree. I am so happy that even as David and Megan continue to get older and more mature, they still love to decorate the tree. It is fun to hear them argue over who gets to put the large Santa head on or who got to put on more of the big ornaments.

New Things

Yesterday we went to out to eat with Steve's boss and co-worker. We went to Modern Steak in Scottsdale-great place. The service was fabulous and the decor was nice. Megan would like her bedroom decorated like the women's bathroom!! We got a seafood tower appetizer that had lobster, crab, shrimp, and oysters. It took a moment of prodding, but both kids decided they would try the oysters. These were not cooked in any way, shape or form. We coached them on how to swallow them, that they tasted like sea water with a splash of lemon, and Megan tried to down her first. Now, Megan has a hard time swallowing things such as medication. Anything that is a little on the large side, and she just has a really hard time. She tried, she put forth her best effort, but alas, the oyster did not do down. Of course David saw this and then he wasn't so sure he wanted to try the oyster, but he did. He had no problem swallowing it. I was very proud of both kids for trying something that a lot of adults would not have tried. We had a wonderful evening and Joelle was a very good little toddler. By the time we got home, it was WAY past her bedtime. Her bedtime ritual is to use the bathroom, and then we put a diaper on. She is not able to get through the night without peeing. I put her to bed, said goodnight, and then I crawled in bed. At 1:30 I woke up because Joelle was calling me on the monitor, "Mommy, Mom, MOM!" I got up, got my bearings and walked to her room. I opened the door and asked her what was wrong. She told me in a voice filled with urgency that she had to go pee on the potty. I quickly got her out of her room and in the bathroom. She went to the bathroom and back to bed. I was surprised that she woke up and called to me. I gave her a lot of praise so maybe this will be the beginning something new. We'll see:)

Cleaning House

So on Black Friday, instead of shopping, I cleaned house. I moved Joelle's toys in the loft and explained to her that this is now her "play room"! She was very excited. I also rearranged her room and explained that now her room was a big girl room. She loved it:) When she woke up from her nap, she took her dad on a tour of her "new" room. She showed him where her animals were, how her bed was moved, and she even showed him all her princess dress up dresses in the closet! About 10 minutes after I put her to bed, she was standing at the top of the stairs saying, "Daddy.........DAD!" I asked her what she needed and she told me that she wanted Daddy to come upstairs. Daddy obliged. She told him she wanted to show him her animals. As he walked up the steps I told him to tell her if she did not stay in bed, he would have to take one of her animals. As I listened on the monitor, I could hear her show him her animals. He came back downstairs, and we got settled in to watch some football. About 5 minutes later I hear, "Mom...... Mommy." I turned and looked at Steve and said, "You didn't tell her you would take an animal did you?" He said no. I walk over to the steps and she says now she wants to show ME her animals. I went upstairs and saw her animals. She lays on her bed and says, look at all my animals Mom. As I tucked her in, I told her that if she did not stay in bed I would have to come back and take an animal. She was in for the night!

So Much to be Thankful for.....

This year Steve and I did not go to LA for our traditional Thanksgiving with the Pratt family. Luckily, we will be seeing them all next weekend. David and Megan spend their Thanksgivings with their mom and her family. This left Steve, Joelle and I to fend for ourselves. Initially the prospect of not having a big Thanksgiving was a little disappointing. We decided that we were still going to do turkey with some works-thank you Steve for being a great cook:) I made my favorite desert from the Pratt Thanksgiving-banana cream pudding/pie. There will be no curry chicken, goat, or oxtail this year, but there will be love. The day has been such a relaxing day of just spending time with my husband and daughter. And being able to really enjoy that time. I am so thankful for Steve. When we got married 5 years ago in my vows I stated that he was the missing puzzle piece that made me whole, my knight in shining armor. A truer statement was never said by me. He brings me up when I am down and he also knocks me down when I need it:) What more could I ask for? When I married Steve I got an instant family. I have been so blessed to be a part of David and Megan's lives. They are wonderful children who will grow to be wonderful adults, just like their dad. And when I did not think I could be more blessed, Steve and I were lucky enough to have Joelle together. She is the light of my life and when I don't think I could possibly love her more, I do.
I am also very lucky to have wonderful parents and siblings. Our family is very close, and that is something that a lot of families can not say. I am thankful that my father is a cancer survivor. I am thankful that we are all healthy of mind and spirit. I am thankful to just be able to take a breath every morning and kiss my loved ones goodnight. I have so much to be thankful for.....

Look at My Wet Hair Mom!

So, all soon to be 3 year olds are very adventurous right? Joelle went running to the bathroom saying, "I have to pee, I have to pee!" Sometimes when she does this, she doesn't make it to the toilet before beginning to pee. I went to go check on her to make sure she did wet her pants, and as I walk in the door, she says, "Look at my wet hair mom!" with a huge, happy smile on her face. It is then that I notice that her hand is in the toilet water. She has soaked her hair with toilet water. USED toilet water. The water she peed in. We have had several conversations about the water in the toilet and how it is dirty and she should not put her hands in it. When she used the little potty it was right next to the toilet and she would sit there and reach her hands in the toilet and splash the water. Every time she did this I explained how "yucky" and "dirty" the water was. She didn't get it apparently. She has a thing for the nastiest stuff in the bathroom. Once, when she called for a wipe, I walked in and she was playing with the scrubber for the toilet bowl. Who does that?? I freaked and told her how dirty it was and how nasty and she got mad at me for taking it away. I know she is only 3 and just doesn't understand the disgusting aspect of this, but for the girl who freaks out when her hands are dirty or when she climbs in her booster seat and there are remnants of the previous meal, why is she okay with the nasty toilet?

Sunday Mornings

When Sunday morning rolls around, Joelle is usually ready to get up at like 6:30am!! We try to combat this by having her come into our bed for little extra lay down time. It usually doesn't work. Today she was taking her stuffed animals and brushing her Daddy's face and arms!! She ends up playing with us until we are ready to get up. Once I get out of the bed, she takes over my spot and says "I wanna watch a movie" She loves to watch TV in our bed. She enjoys her "Daddy Time"!

Coughing the Night Away!

So Joelle has had the worst cough for the last 4 days. The kind of cough that doesn't really begin to get going until night falls and it is time for bed. The first 2 nights I gave her Benadryll and elevated her bed. That worked great until the Benadryll wore off. So at midnight and 5 am guess who was up to get her more medicine? And guess who was awake because the coughing was so constant that her whole body was shaking? Yup! Then I had a hard time falling back to sleep until the medicine kicked in because she was having a hard time coughing, like she wasn't able to breath. Needless to say, after 4 nights of disturbed sleep, it was time to take her to the Urgent Care to make sure she did not have an infection. Last night I timed her coughs as if she were a pregnant woman and was having contractions. I wanted to make sure I really needed to take her to the UC. During a 20 minute time period she coughed every 30-60 seconds. At 5 am when she woke Steve and I up again with her coughing I decided we were going first thing in the morning. Now a days when you have a cough like that, you get to wear this beautiful accessory! Joelle actually did pretty well with keeping it on while we were waiting to be seen. After 2 hours, because apparently another patient had a heart attack, we left. No infection, no wheezing, no real reason as to why she is coughing like this. At least when the Dr. had her lay down within 2 minutes she began to cough so they did not think I was nuts!! Well, more Benadryll and some added cough suppressant and hopefully she will be able to sleep through the night:) PLEASE!