Still Pouring

Well, it's still pouring bad luck and my umbrella is wearing thin. Nate woke up several times last night screaming and then had a 102 fever this morning when I had to peel him out of bed at 9:00 (he's usually up by 7:00). So, I called the nurse at the doctor's office and told her what was going on...I mean, this is day 4 of high fevers. She told me that she would talk to Dr. Jerk to see if he wanted to see Nate again. I nicely said, "I'm sorry, but is there someone else on staff that could see Nathan today, Dr. Jerk and I seem to....clash." She said yes, but that the new doctor would probably want to do a full exam since they weren't the one who saw him....perfect!!!! So, at noon, we arrived back at the pediatrician's office and Nate was diagnosed with an ear infection. He is on antibiotics for the next 5 days...liquid antibiotics, which of course, he won't take. So, he was pinned to the floor again for his first dose of antibiotics. Sorry dude, hopefully someday you will understand that I am trying to help you! Let's hope this ear infection goes better than the last one...when we found out he was allergic to penicillin!!! Also, thankfully I pay attention to things because literally 10 seconds after the new doctor said, "Oh, I see he is allergic to penicillin,"she submitted an electronic prescription for amoxicilin!! I asked, what did you call in? And she said, "Amoxi-oh, he can't have that, can he? I'll submit something different" I am sure Walgreens would have caught it and called her because his profile is flagged for penicillin. Hopefully, we will turn the corner soon!

Chugging Along..

Sometimes it seems like when it rains, it pours around here... Kevin is in Miami this week and, of course, Nate is sick. He has been running a high fever since Monday and he sounds like he should be in a TB ward. I took him to the doctor on Monday afternoon and unfortunately, since we were a last minute appointment, we got stuck with whoever had room. And, who do you think had a light schedule that day...Dr. Jerk from the stitch removal situation. He was just as rude and mean to Nate as he was that time...I was so furious. He said that he must have a respiratory thing going on and there was nothing they could do. Which, I understand...but he was so rude about it. Never again will I see him...never.

Adding to this whole situation is Nate's sudden hatred of Motrin. He keeps spitting it back at me. Last night he was running a 103 fever and he was on fire...he was refusing to take the Motrin. So, I literally had to pin him on the ground, hold his arms down and force it down his throat with a syringe. Drastic, I know..but what is a mom to do? Not give it to him and wait until he starts seizing?? Today, after we dropped Charlotte off at school, Nate and I made a run to Walgreens and found some chewable Motrin....perfect since he was totally against the liquid. When we got home, I tried one and they actually tasted good...sweet. So, I told him that they were candy and had a bag of fruit snacks ready as a chaser. He was refusing to take it...calling it yucky before he even tried it. Of course, I had to force it in his mouth and he eventually got it down with some juice. Then, tonight...he took it with much less fanfare. Thank God. I can rest a little easier tonight knowing a little ball of fire won't be crawling into my bed at 2:00 am.

Sick Nate is the worst Nate. When he is feverish and feeling bad, he sticks to me like leech. I can't peel him off of me. He just wants to be held. Then, the meds kick in..and he's a psycho. He runs around like a lunatic and hits Charlotte. And, I have to chase after him with a handful of kleenex because his nose is running faster than one of those Kenyan marathon runners.

In Charlotte news...she recently acquired something that reminded my of my own childhood...Day of the Week underwear! Very retro. She loves them.

Hopefully no one finds this offensive or anything. She was just so excited to show them off!! I told her to just stand there, but in sassy Charlotte fashion..she had to stick her rear out so we could really read them :) Stinker!

Gymnastics

A few weeks ago, we went with our neighbors to their gymnastics class for "bring a friend to class week." It's a local gym in Downers Grove...and as it turned out, Charlotte LOVED it. So, we decided to enroll her in a gymnastics class once a week. This is not an every day, run of the mill gym. It's an actual competition gym. Her coach is Russian..it's serious :) She was working on cartwheels today. Maybe we'll see Charlotte in the Olympics around 2024....who knows! Wait until Kevin finds out that we are going to have to move to wherever Bella Karosi lives, lol!!

Sorry for the picture quality...I don't know their rules and I was taking them through a window with no flash...

Char's Style

Charlotte is really into dressing herself and picking out her own clothes lately. Especially at bedtime. Only, she can't let go of her summer jammies...her solution? Layering. Brilliant! And, it's super cute to see her combos :)

Blah...

I have to apologize for my lack of posts lately. I'm just in a funk. My mom is not doing well and I just tend to shut down. The blog falls below taking out the garbage lately. I'm not even taking that many pictures lately...and those of you who know me know that that speaks volumes about my mood. So, I went through my recent pics to find a few I haven't posted so that I could at least give you guys something :)

This was a few weeks ago when Kevin and I were hanging shelves and artwork in our living room (aka wine room). We finally got some furniture for that room, after 1 1/2 years! Charlotte ran upstairs and threw on her construction worker outfit and came downstairs to help us hammer and saw :) So cute!

Charlotte getting ready to go to school! Her school has a hill that they can sled down..so, if it's a good snowy day that isn't too cold...we get an e-mail to bring the kids in snowpants, boots and all the fixins...cause they'll be sledding. Char was super excited to don her new snowpants for the first time this winter!

While Charlotte was at school, Nate and I went out in the backyard to play in the snow. He was having a great time!

Snow Nugget

Natey helping daddy cook. It is HILARIOUS how if the kids see Kevin cooking..they immediately run and grab a chair and push it up to the island counter and then run to the drawer where we keep the hats and aprons to get their cooking gear. They LOVE to help us cook.

I took this picture tonight after I went in to check on Nate and saw him clutching his little Charlie Brown doll. He loves Charlie Brown. I mean, it's the end of January and he still wants to watch Charlie Brown Christmas every day. Kevin loves Charlie Brown too....like father, like son!

And last, but certainly NOT least..Grandma Judy got married a few weeks ago!! She was a beautiful bride and we couldn't be happy for her and Ron!

Our Kids' Glazed Expressions

Since yesterday was a holiday and Kevin had the day off, we decided to do something fun together as a family. We settled on painting our own pottery...something we had never tried before. There is a place in Downers Grove called "Glazed Expressions" so we decided to give it a try. The kids loved it! They each picked out two pieces to paint and then what colors they wanted to use. We can't wait to pick them up next week after they have been baked and glazed!

Nate painting his masterpieces

Charlotte painting a jewelry box

Charlotte painting a butterfly

Getting ready to get started

So happy!

Daddy helping Charlotte with a few finishing touches

Nate's crocodile and turtle

Charlotte's jewelry box..it will look much different when it gets glazed

A New Friend

Charlotte has a new friend. Her name is Audrey. Charlotte loves her...she goes everywhere that Charlotte goes. She is also...imaginary. That's right..Charlotte has a new imaginary friend named Audrey. Audrey just joined us about two days ago. But, Charlotte's teachers all know about Audrey. In fact, today...the kids were playing outside (because it was 50 degrees in Chicago...in January) and I was waiting in the pick up line for Charlotte. The line is in full view of the playground. As it was nearing time to go, the bell rang..letting all the kids know it's time to go inside and get ready to leave for the day. However, I saw Charlotte and her friend, Maddy frantically searching the playground for something. I sent Char to school with a pink flower in her hair that morning. I noticed she was searching the playground...sans flower. I assumed Maddy was helping her look for it. I was at the point where I was going to get out of the car to tell her not to worry about it (they are a dime a dozen...well, not really, but cheap anyway). But, Charlotte ran inside. When her teacher walked her to my car 5 minutes later, she informed me that Charlotte had to go back outside to look for Audrey. Alrighty then! I even had to tuck Audrey into bed this evening.

The only thing that slightly freaks me out about this whole "Audrey" situation is that we almost named Charlotte, Audrey. Please refer to this post where I talk about it!!!

http://clinninfamily.blogspot.com/2011/05/happy-3rd-birthday-charlotte.html

Charlotte has no friends named Audrey...we don't really know anyone named Audrey (that she sees on a regular basis) So, sort of weird.

Speaking of "pick up/drop off lines" the funniest thing happened this morning in the drop off line. Her preschool has a circular drive that we all park in while we are waiting for the teachers to come out and get them. That's right...I'm spoiled...we wait in our cars, wait our turn to drive up to the door and a teacher comes to the car door and gets them out of the car. I guess that tuition money should get you something!! Put, it's a nice perk when you have another kid in the car. Can you imagine me having to drag Nate into the school twice a day? He'd freak out...he'd want to play with everything...but I digress. So, as I mentioned, it was about 50 degrees here today...beautiful!!! (calm before the storm since we are expecting 6-10 inches of snow tomorrow) I looked in my rearview mirror and saw several of the kids torsos protruding from their parents sunroofs...having a conversation with each other in the line. So, what did I do, I opened mine and helped Char stand on the center console so she could talk to her friends. It was adorable..they were all yelling, "Hi so and so, how are you" (before anyone freaks out...we were PARKED and the kids were all unstrapped from their car seats so the teachers can easily get them out of the car) These three/four year olds were having the time of their lives hanging out of the cars talking to each other. It was so funny. Conversations between kids of this age are already funny...but add in the circumstance and it was super cute. It reminded me of that old show, "You can't do that on television" where all of the kids pop out of lockers and have conversations with each other.

Radio Silence

There's an odd silence in our house these days...because the next step after becoming a "crib free" household is becoming a "monitor free" household. This has been a shock to my senses, literally. Since May of 2008, I have slept with the white noise and the glow of a video monitor by my head...and for many months, I slept with two separate ones by my head. At the snap of a finger, I could glance over and see what both of my children were doing...if they were sleeping, awake, screwing around, laughing, being abducted, etc. But, now I simply have to rely on mother's intuition. Both kids are fully capable of coming to get us if something is wrong...there is no need to have Big Brother (aka..me) looming in their rooms at all hours. The first few nights were rough. I keep checking on Nate (Char's monitor has been gone for a while). I also tossed and turned from the lack of the comforting white noise that I had grown accustomed to. But, eventually it was fine to cut the cord...or pull it, in this case.

Now, if I have lulled you into believing that this has been the best thing for me...that I am now getting sleep where I wasn't before...let me clear that up right away. No....no, no, no. We are having major issues with BOTH kids staying in their beds until the morning. They both go to beds in their own beds...but eventually one or both end up with me. It's almost comical. I know I should just walk them back to their rooms and put them back to bed. But, I usually end up taking the first one to wake into the guest room to sleep with me...because it's the path of least resistance and I am typically exhausted at the ungodly hour that this occurs. Then, usually...the next one wakes up and just crawls right into bed with us. But, me and two toddlers in a queen bed isn't the best situation...they are quite squirmy. So, I end up sleeping horizontally at the foot of the bed while they lounge at the top...nice, right?

So, lose a monitor...gain two toddler sleeping pals. Hmmmph...I should have stuck with the monitor!

Charlotte, Charlotte, and Charlotte

Here is Charlotte, with her twin dolls...Charlotte and Charlotte. All in matching pajamas! Kevin says it's like Newheart...this is Daryl and this is my other brother, Daryl. She's either very uncreative or narcissistic.

New Do

Charlotte is showing off her new look...she got about 3 inches snipped off last night. It was looking a little scraggily...so I suggested we should think about a haircut, in her mind that meant we were going that very minute for a haircut. Luckily, Kevin came home early from work...so, he and Nate hung out while Charlotte and I headed to the mall. She is also sporting her fab bathrobe that she got from Grandma Judy for Christmas. She loves to don her robe after her bath so that I can blow dry her hair..what a Diva!

View from the back

2011

Well, 2o11...what can I say about you. I have been re-reading this year's blog posts, trying to come up with some epic wrap up post and I just keep blanking. The only thing I can think to write about is how things don't seem to change that much on a day to day basis, but when you look back to where you were a year ago, you realize how much has changed. Charlotte wasn't even potty trained or rid of her pacifier this time last year! Now she seems like she's 3 going on 15. Nate was still in a crib with an unscarred chin. Now he talks a mile a minute and sleeps in a big boy bed!

I became an Aunt this year and Charlotte and Nathan got their first cousin! Charlotte started school...and is totally loving it! Nate has grown by leaps and bounds.

Overall, 2011...you were.....Meh. I might be in a funk because a lot of things happened in the last few weeks of 2011 that put me in a down mood. I know what most people would say, well...it's a new year, a fresh start. I just don't feel that way yet. I have a bad feeling about you, 2012. No, nothing about the Mayan "world ending" nonsense. I just feel that this year is going to be a game changer and it makes me nervous and unsure. The one thing I am sure of is that we have UNBELIEVABLE family, friends, acquaintances, neighbors, etc. We have a great support system and I know that we can get through anything that comes our way.

Last year at this time, I talked about a couple of personal goals I had...that I wanted to keep learning and getting better at photography. I definitely got better...I still have miles and miles to go, but I really enjoy it! Also, I hoped that we would get to go to Massachusetts so that Nana could see the kids. So glad we got to do that!

We had a wonderful time this holiday season, but I am grateful that it has come to an end. I am looking forward to getting back into a routine. Charlotte is excited to get back to school and see her friends.

So, here's to you, 2012..I hope I'm wrong about you! Let's do this!

Mommy Daughter Manicures!

Daddy is on vacation this week..so we took advantage of him being home today and went out during Nate's naptime to get a couple of awesome manicures. Charlotte was very excited to get her nails done with "real" nail polish...all she has ever used is washable tinkerbell polish. She was SO good at the salon...the people there were absolutely fawning over her....they adored her. Charlotte was SUPER chatty with her lady...telling her what she had for lunch and what Santa brought her. It was so much fun!

Picking out her color

Sparkly purple...what else would she choose??

Loving her manicure...she looks about 16 here!

The finished product

I got a purple-y color too so we would match...sans sparkles

Christmas Catch Up!

Well, Norman has returned to the North Pole for his "off season" and has gracefully returned my blog to me. I did enjoy having a month off and not blogging :) So...it's been a long Christmas season of parties, entertaining, traveling...and we are just DONE. It was great, but we are glad to be returning to normalcy...whatever that is!

One of Norman's final nights...playing "syrup pong" with Woody and Buzz. Beer Pong would have been inappropriate for kids...and syrup pong seemed a more likely game for elves to be playing!

Norman is winning!! His syrup tolerance is really high!

Oh Norman, always causing trouble!

Norman's last day with us...Christmas Eve morning. He left the kids Christmas jammies to wear that night..he also left them a note

Norman gave them permission to give him a big hug and kiss goodbye (Charlotte loves to give Monster Hugs and Monster Kisses) but they didn't want to hug him...they were too afraid!

Finding their jammies

Bye Norman, See you next year!!

Christmas Eve night...Andy teaching Char to shoot a nerf gun

In a shootout with Daddy..he was cooking all day and finally got into some comfortable clothes!

Building a tinker toy swingset with Kathy

Christmas Morning...Nate was wearing his Christmas jammies when he went to bed on Christmas Eve night...but, he woke up at 2:00 am and threw up on them. It made for a long night.

Char bringing Nate one of his gifts

Char and Nate opening some presents

A new DVD and a puzzle!

There was ONE last present hidden behind the tree...what could it be???

Oh BOY!!

It's Charlotte's American Girl Doll!!! It's literally all she wanted. She has brown hair and blue eyes, just like Charlotte. She named her Samantha. Aunt Colleen has an American Girl doll named Samantha, so Char named hers that as well. I love how she names all of her dolls after dolls that her aunts have.

Nate loved his little Rudolph doll! All he wanted from Santa was a teddy bear, which he got...but never even moved from the mantle where Santa left it :)

At Grandma and Grandpa's house later in the day...do you think she was excited to get these American Girl doll twins??? Guess what she named them??? Charlotte and Charlotte!!!! LOL!