Here is this week’s updates. Our last week of the year filled with sickness:

• Monday I took Baby A to a different pediatrician (our pediatrician was out of town) and he said she had a double ear infection. Again. Ugh. He prescribed her another antibiotic and I called an ENT and made an appointment for January 3rd.

• Tuesday I worked at the hospital and Joey stayed home with the kids. E was still coughing a lot and not feeling well so we stayed home from the Christmas Eve service at church.

• Wednesday morning at 4:30am both kids were up with fevers. Merry Christmas to us! We finally got everyone back to sleep (thank you Tylenol) and slept till 8:00. We opened presents as a family and then Joey’s parents came over. Joey bought me a dutch oven and I made my first prime rib for lunch. It didn’t turn out exactly how I wanted it, but it was still delicious.

• Wednesday E wanted to spend most of the day just laying on the couch. We decided to stay home instead of going to my parent’s house to celebrate Christmas.

• Thursday we went over to my parent’s house for dinner and to open presents. E got the diesel truck and more tracks for his train he asked for. After dinner we were playing on the floor and I thought I heard Baby A say what sounded like E’s name. E said “A just said my name!” and Opa said he heard it too. We couldn’t get her to do it again though.

• Friday we stayed home and E still didn’t seem like he felt well.

• Saturday E and Baby A were playing together and I got this cute video:

• Saturday I also took this video of Baby A. She has been shaking her head since the beginning of November when she started having ear problems. I have been wanting to get it on video:

• Early Sunday morning E woke us up and told us his ear hurt. I gave him medicine and he crawled into bed with us. Sunday morning when Baby A woke up she had a runny nose and was coughing. I wanted to cry! Joey let me go to church and he stayed home with the kids.

What a week it has been! Stay tuned to see what kind of blogging will happen for 2014. I still haven’t decided.

I can’t believe I only have one more week left for 2013. I have enjoyed doing this Project52 because it’s kept my blog updated but sometimes it’s been hard to get things posted. I need to decide if I should do this again for 2014. What do you think?

Here are this week’s updates:

• Monday I took this video of E at Little Gym. He is getting better at walking on the high beam. His teacher is really good with the kids and has them do it on their own. Even when they want to grab on to her.

• Tuesday was the Winter Literacy Festival at my work. Grandma O brought the kids to the festival and they got to sit on Santa’s lap. E told Santa he wants a semitruck

• Tuesday night I got this video of Baby A laughing. So fun!

• Thursday was a blessing in disguise. It was very snowy day and I had my court date. I started driving to my first appointment for work and I was a little more than half way there when I decided to pull into a store parking lot and call the family to reschedule. The roads were getting worse by the minute. As I was driving back to work, I got an automated call from my office saying to please come back to the office because of the weather. I stopped in the office and talked to my boss. I told her I had my court date and she said to go to that appointment and then go home. Around 1:00 I got another call from the office saying that they are closing for the day and would reopen at 8:00 the next morning, weather permitting. What a crazy storm! After my court appointment, I decided to drive home instead of picking up the kids from my mom’s house. I cleaned my house like crazy and got a lot of things ready for Christmas. It was a very productive day. Around 5:00 a snow plow still hadn’t come through my neighborhood and we live on a hill that can get very icy. I called Joey and he was going to stay at work a little bit later but he was willing to pick up the kids. A snow plow made it through our neighborhood around 7:00. Joey came home with the kids around 8:30.

• Here’s my pre-trial conference update: I got to the courthouse early (everyone else was late) so they took me back right away. The bailiff introduced me to the state prosecutor and we sat down in a small room. I had no idea what was going to happen. Here is our conversation:

Prosecutor: “What do you want to tell me?”

Me: “I should not have been given a ticket for the accident I was in and you need to take it away”  is what I said in my head. This is what I really said: “Do you want me to describe the accident and how I got my ticket?”

P: “Whatever you want to tell me”

M: (thinking this guy is not my friend I described what happened)

P: “Sounds about what I read in the report”

M: (thinking this guy is really not going to help me out) “I really don’t feel like I should have been given this ticket. My insurance and the other driver’s insurance have determined that I was only 40% at fault”

We may have had some more dialogue here but I can’t really remember what was said

P: “I am going to give you three options – #1: I will reduce your fine to $90. That is the lowest fee for a moving violation. You plea not guilty and stand before the judge and see what he will do. #2 – We move this to a real trial that would involve you, the other driver…”

M: (I shake my head and he stops with that option)

P: “#3 – You plea guilty. I reduce your fine to $90 and you can go to traffic school and this will not go on your record”

M: “I will take the last option”

P: (hands me a paper and explains what I am signing)

M: (I sign as the defendant) and say “at least I waited till I was in my thirties to be a defendant”

P: (courtesy laughs and scribbles his name as the prosecuting attorney)

After this he has me sit down and wait for the judge. The judge comes in the room and looks at the state prosecutor and then it was my turn to stand before the judge again. Same judge as before. He tells me what the attorney told me and hands me a paper for traffic school. He tells me it’s online and it will take two hours. He also tells me that I have 60 days to complete it. He tells me to leave and I pay my $90 ticket (that was originally $120)

Thursday evening I decided to do the traffic school because I was home alone and could do it without be interrupted. It cost $50. I was a little mad but it is what it is. Apparently the court requires you to spend a certain amount of time and it would not let me “speed” through the course. I learned a lot though. Like traffic waves. Did you know that the cars that keep changing lanes during rush hour are actually slowing traffic down for all of us? If you are someone who does that, stop it! However, the course did not say anything about illegal u-turns which is what my ticket was for. haha Overall, it was a good course. (I think the driver that hit me probably should have taken it too.)

I have no plans to go to open court again or have a per-trial conference and if I do, I will take an attorney with me.

• Friday was a busy Christmas party day. E had a Christmas party at school. I picked him up and we went to my work Christmas party and later that evening he went to my mom’s work Christmas party (apparently he gets invited to these parties but I don’t). When he got home from the party this was our conversation:

Me: “What was your favorite part of the party?”

E: “When Sally called me Ass”

Grandma: (laughing) “Jack”

E: “Ass. Jack”

Me: (a little confused. trying not to laugh) “Did Sally call E a JackA**?”

Grandma: “Sally called E Jack”

What kind of party was this?

• Saturday I worked at the hospital. Joey took E to a rehearsal for the children’s Christmas pageant for Sunday. Here is a cute picture of E as a shepherd

• Saturday night we had our family Christmas party. I took these pictures of Baby A and Baby N. Baby N wasn’t so sure about Baby A so close.

• Santa came to the family party and E told this Santa that he wants more tracks for his trains. Baby A just stared at him.

• Saturday night Baby A didn’t sleep well. She was asleep (sort of), crying and tossing her head around like she was in pain. Finally by 3:00 we were all in our beds (crib) asleep. When I got her in the morning, there was dried blood around her right ear. I seriously can’t believe that she is still having ear problems. It makes me so sad for her.

• Sunday morning E woke up and told me he was sick. He had a wet sounding cough and felt warm to me. I was so sad that he was going to miss the children’s Christmas pageant. Baby A felt warm all day too. What a day.

• Sunday night we exchanged Christmas presents with E’s cousins and he had a sleepover. He was still not feeling 100% but he was so excited to spend the night. Grandma and Aunt M were nice and said he could stay.

Here are this week’s updates:

• Monday Baby A turned 9 months old

• Monday morning was a busy. E went to Little Gym and then got a haircut and then we took Baby A to the pediatrician. The pediatrician diagnosed her with a double ear infection and wrote a prescription for a stronger drug. I am praying this will take care of it!

• Tuesday Aunt Christene went with E and me to see a pediatric GI doctor. The doctor was really nice. She listened to all that I had to say about E’s pooping history (I was holding 3 pages of information that I typed before we went), she did her exam and then she diagnosed him with Megacolon. She told me that I need to give E 2tsps Miralax for 6 months to get him to poop every day and get his colon back to a normal size. I am praying that this will work!

• Tuesday night our pastor came over for a visit and E spent the entire time on the floor rearranging his train tracks. A year ago he didn’t know how to put them together. Here is an example of a track E put together all by himself. He does much more elaborate ones but I don’t always remember to take pictures of his tracks (and if I did, I’d run out of room on my phone really quick!)

• Thursday night at dinner I took this video and this video of my noisy family and Baby A learning how to participate

• Friday morning E woke up with a snotty nose and sneezing. I decided to keep him home from preschool. We had a lazy morning and put up the Christmas tree (finally). Friday night Grandma O came and watched the kids so Joey and I could go to a Christmas party.

• Saturday we took E to the Train Shoppe and he had a lot of fun putting quarters in a machine to control the trains and he even got to ride on a small train. Next time we will need a lot more quarters!

• Saturday night I got to hold Baby A while she slept and I decided to take a video of her “snoring”. This is really the only time we still hear her laryngomalacia. Sometimes we can hear this sound through her bedroom door! They ENT said that she would grow out of it around 10 months so we shall see.

• Sunday morning Baby A woke up with a snotty nose. Is she seriously sick again?! And we haven’t even finished the antibiotic. This may be a long winter.

Here are this week’s updates:

• Monday I took the kids to work with me. I needed to turn in some papers and my Physical Therapist friend looked at Baby A’s hips. I am worried about her because her right foot is always turned out. The PT said her hip is just loose and she gave me some ideas to help her. Don’t ask me why I am in a hurry to get her crawling. She’s starting to get around really well scooting on the floor. Look what she found in the kitchen:

• And just for fun, here is a video of E thinking “No” is funny. And yes. I need to sound like I really mean it.

• Tuesday was a snowy day. I was driving to visits and sliding all over the place. By 12:00 I decided to cancel my visits. I was done sliding around. When I picked up the kids it took forever to get home that night. It was not fun.

• Wednesday Baby A finished her antibiotic.

• Thursday Baby A was pulling on her left ear and crying like she was in pain. Boo!

• Friday morning I called the pediatrician’s office and they said to watch and see if she continues to pull on her ears. Here are pictures of Baby A pulling herself up to stand. She’s getting so big!
• Friday we picked E up from preschool and drove to Heber to ride the North Pole Express. It wasn’t snowing but it was pretty cold so we bundled up for the train ride.

• We rode the train for 45 minutes to the North Pole. As we were riding, there was Christmas music playing and they gave us cookies and hot chocolate. The windows were covered in ice so they suggested we use a credit card to scrape the windows. It was cold but it wasn’t terrible. The hand warmers I bought were nice to have. (Next time I will have to buy the toe warmers I saw.) On the ride to the North Pole, the elves said a couple times “sometimes the train has to stop if there is a deer on the tracks so don’t be surprised if we stop”. And sure enough, minutes before we got to the North Pole, the train stopped. (I think this was to let Santa off the train so he could run up to the North Pole and not because of a deer). Here’s a picture of the North Pole and E with Santa.

• The elves gave all the kids name tags so Santa could call them by name. I thought that was a nice touch. Here’s a video I took of E meeting Santa

• E asked for a truck and Santa told Baby A he’s bringing her more clothes. When I asked E what kind of truck, he said “a real Diesel truck”. Oh no.

• After the train ride we checked into a room at the Homestead and then we went to dinner. On the way home from dinner we got E a movie to watch. Overall it was a fun, cold day.

• Saturday morning we woke up to lots of snow and we decided to hit the road anyway. I drove the first half and Joey drove the second half. It was a scary drive through the canyon. I was praying the whole way home and when there were big semi-trucks behind me, my blood pressure went really high I am sure. Thankfully they were able to pass us and then I felt a little better. 30 minutes before we got home, I saw a car start spinning on the freeway so I warned Joey and then another car started spinning. Everyone was trying to stop. It was super scary. I thought there was going to be an 8+ car accident on the freeway but God protected us all. The cars that spun didn’t hit anybody or anything and traffic just kept going. A little slower but everyone was okay. When we got home, I was so glad to be inside our warm house.

• Saturday night I said to Joey “I don’t think I’ve seen Coco all day” so we started looking for her. She wasn’t in the house so Joey checked the garage and he found her. We don’t know how long she was in there. She was cold and I think she felt skinnier. Poor kitty. (She seems to be doing fine now).

• Saturday night Baby A had a rough time sleeping. She was crying a lot but her eyes were still closed. I managed to get some Tylenol in her and slept with her on my chest. 3 hours later, she was crying again like she was in pain so we gave her ibuprofen and she was finally able to go back to sleep in her crib.

• Sunday morning E was up at 7:00 – he rarely gets up this early. I tried to get him to sleep in my bed but that didn’t work so I ended up giving him my phone to keep him occupied so I could sleep. Well, sleep as best as I could while he played games and maybe watched a show on Netflix. When Baby A woke up, Joey was nice and got up and took care of both the kids so I could get some sleep.

• Sunday night around 6:00, I said to Joey “it feels like it should be 8:00″. He agreed and I suggested we take the kids to see Frozen at the movie theater. We checked the weather and there wasn’t another storm coming (I didn’t want to go out in a snow storm again) and went. It was a cute movie. I think E liked it. I tried to get Baby A to sleep but she wanted to watch the movie too.

Here are this week’s updates:

• Monday I took E to Little Gym and then Baby A to the doctor. She was all smiles in the doctor’s office and I was thinking that I was wasting another $15 for a doctor to tell me she’s fine. I was relieved and somewhat sad when the doctor told me that she had an infection in her right ear.

• Monday afternoon I picked up her antibiotic. Two doses later her snotty nose was so much better. It was amazing. But then we had another problem. I did more laundry than usual this week with all her blowout diapers. Poor Baby A.

• After the doctor visit, we went to lunch with the cousins. Cousin A was nice and helped E in the play place and Cousin M was trying to help E as well. So cute. At one point E said “I just love you” to Cousin A.

• Monday night E had his first sleepover at Grandma Day’s house with his cousins. What a daring Grandma. They watched a movie and I think everyone went to sleep with no problem. It makes me happy that E likes to spend time with his cousins. Wish we could do it more often.

• Tuesday I gave Baby A a sippy cup with juice and she was holding the cup upside down and then this happened

Oh. E.

• Wednesday “I” made homemade rolls for Thanksgiving dinner at my friend’s house (she did most of the work while I watched the kids)

• Thursday we had Thanksgiving dinner at my parent’s house and I may have to go to my friend’s house every Wednesday before Thanksgiving to make those rolls. They were delicious.

• Friday Joey went with me to Babies R Us so we could buy new car seats (Apparently it’s recommended that you replace car seats if you are in a car crash. Even if the kids are not in the car seats). Black Friday did not save us any money but the insurance company is going to reimburse us part of the cost so that is good.

• Saturday we went to Scheels as a family and rode the Ferris Wheel. Good entertainment for $1/person and good practice for waiting in lines (we are planning a trip to Disneyland soon).

• Sunday I put Baby A in a new dress. It’s fun to dress her up.

• Sunday night we celebrated Opa’s birthday. Here’s a video of the trick candles (Baby A does not burn her fingers if you were wondering) and here’s Baby A eating the vanilla ice cream I made. Yum.

Here are this week’s updates:

• Throughout the week, Joey sent E pictures of Ike’s adventures in San Francisco here are some of those pictures

• Monday Grandma Day watched the kids during the day so I could work and Monday night, Grandma O watched the kids so I could get a haircut. Grandma O brought Baby A to my hair place and my hair dresser was nice and trimmed Baby A’s hair. I am sad for no more pigtails (right now) but glad her “wings” are gone.

• Wednesday E missed preschool. He had a runny nose and sounded like he was losing his voice. Wednesday night, Baby A pulled herself up in her crib. I texted Joey and told him we need to lower her mattress when he gets home.

• Thursday Grandma O texted me and said that Baby A was scooting around. Our world is changing!

• Friday I took E to preschool. He told me he didn’t want to go. While I was unbuckling his seat belt, he said “I can’t hardly wait”. Friday afternoon we picked up Joey from the airport and went to dinner. E and Joey didn’t stop talking! When we got home I left the kids with Joey and had a little break and some retail therapy.

• Saturday I worked and Joey watched the kids and took E to a 3 year old birthday party. What a good daddy.

• Sunday Baby A wasn’t feeling well so we stayed home from church (again). Here’s a video I got of her scooting

• Sunday afternoon, Joey helped E lower the crib mattress. While E was holding the screwdriver, he asked Joey “which way should I turn it? Right or left?”

• Sunday Joey helped me see if the new car fits in the garage. It fits! Yay!

• Sunday evening I made my mom’s dressing to take to Thanksgiving dinner with the Day family. Joey wanted to eat it all before we left but he was nice and shared it with everyone

• Look at this cute hat Baby A wore Sunday night (she doesn’t look sick at all – stinker)

• Sunday we enjoyed some family time with the cousins. E had fun with Cousin A. It was fun to see them wrestle (even if it did make me nervous. I don’t want another ER trip).

• After dinner the cousins put on a play and danced to some music. Lindsay was nice and let E join the fun. Entertainment at it’s finest. I loved it!

• After the play, we had pie and played some games. It was a fun night for sure!

Here are this week’s updates:

• Monday Baby A seemed to be feeling better

• Monday afternoon I helped Baby A transition side to side and worked on getting her on her knees. She doesn’t like to be on her knees and as an early interventionist, I am not going to wait and see if she will figure it out. Here’s a video of her and a picture (It was hard to take pictures of what we were doing since she wouldn’t stay on her knees for a picture. She either had her bum in the air or her legs straight out)

Silly kid!

• E and Baby A have been developing a sweet relationship. I love to watch them interact

• E likes to take pictures of Baby A now. Here is a picture he took (with some help from me). Look at her crazy hair

• Friday night, Joey and I went car shopping. We didn’t fall in love with anything.

• Friday night was rough with Baby A, she didn’t want to let us put her in her crib. Saturday morning I noticed a scratch inside her ear so we decided to make a trip to the Kids Care to make sure she didn’t have an ear infection. Especially since I was going to be a single mom for a week while Joey went out of town for work. Baby A was happy and smiling for the doctor. The doctor didn’t believe me that Baby A was sick and told me that Baby A’s ears and throat looked fine. Here is a picture of Baby A sleeping peacefully before seeing the doctor.

• Saturday afternoon we did some more car shopping and decided to purchase this car

It’s a 2007 Mazda CX-7. It has low miles, great interior and exterior and a price that Joey and I could agree on. We will have a car loan now but I am praying this car will be a good car for what our family needs.

• Sunday we all went to church and then we drove Joey to the airport. Joey asked E if he could take his stuffed dog, Ike, on the trip. E said okay. These are the pictures Joey sent me of Ike for E to see on Sunday.

• Sunday afternoon, we ate lunch at Grandma O’s and E got to help rake some of the leaves.

Here are this week’s updates:

• Wednesday I felt two little teeth in the bottom of Baby A’s mouth. Yay for teeth!

• Wednesday morning I found E like this:

We had another rough bed time. At least he stayed in his room.

• Thursday I worked and at the end of my day, I was in a car accident. I don’t think I should share the story yet since everything is under investigation still but I will say that my dad came to my rescue and had to work on opening the trunk of my car for 20 minutes! I am so glad he came. My purse and all my work things were in my trunk. Joey also came and was able to drive me home. Two hours after the accident I still had a constant pain in my head so Joey took me the ER and a CT scan came back normal. The ER doc said I must have hit a nerve and that is why the pain hadn’t changed. Recommended I take Tylenol.

• Friday we picked up this rental car – a 2013 Dodge Journey. It was the only car they had. Joey and I have talked about getting a car with a third row so this will be nice to see if we like driving something this big.

• Friday afternoon we went to lunch and Airborne with some friends. You can see  a video of Baby A at Airborne here.

• Saturday Baby A turned 8 months. These pictures were taken on Sunday

• Saturday E “helped” Opa and Uncle Jared cut down a tree in their back yard.

• Sunday we stayed home from church. Baby A had a low grade fever and Joey and I were exhausted since she didn’t want to sleep in her crib at all. Sunday night Baby A and E “played” together

Here are this week’s updates:

• Monday E went to Little Gym and got to wear his costume. They are teaching E cartwheels. (See the bottom three pictures.) He’s starting to get the hang of it.

• Baby A had fun watching E play. Here’s a cute video of her. I was trying to get a video of how she crosses her feet when she sitting on the floor

• After Little Gym E got a haircut. He was a big boy and didn’t cry at all. After his haircut they gave him a balloon on a stick. When we went outside I told E to stand on the sidewalk and hold on to his balloon since it was kind of windy. I had Baby A halfway in the car when I heard him scream “My balloon” and he started running after it. I yelled “Stop! Stop!” and he ran right out into the parking lot. I am so thankful there were no cars coming and that he was wearing a reflective outfit. He is usually really good about standing were I ask him to stand while I take care of Baby A but I guess chasing a balloon is very important. Next time I will know better! (I hope)

• Tuesday I learned that E knows how to do mazes (mostly).

• Tuesday night we had a horrible, horrible, horrible bedtime! E was being so naughty and laughing at us. I started bedtime at 8:30 and at 11:00 he was finally in his bed and staying there! It took me a couple of days to recover from it emotionally and physically (since I couldn’t sleep that night).

• Wednesday morning E woke up and said “Good morning” and it was like nothing happened the night before. He was tired though. This is what he wore to preschool.

• Thursday I put Baby A in her poncho. She didn’t like it very much. She is starting to look more grown up to me. I love it and hate it at the same time.

• Thursday was Halloween. I am pretty sure E ate more candy than he did “real food” for dinner. Oh well. You’re only a kid once. And thankfully Halloween is only once a year. E went trick-or-treating with Daddy and Opa. When he got home he was being so cute with Baby A. He wanted to “take care of her” and “hold her” and he wouldn’t leave her alone. It was really cute and I wondered how long this would last. (I apologize for the bad photography skills of E and Baby A. I blame the lighting and his reflective costume. Haha.)

• Friday E went to preschool and then we spent some time at my friend’s house. When we got home, E wanted to do this:

I don’t mind that he wants to help. Everything is good as long as he doesn’t try to pick her up. He now says things like “I was a nice big brother and…” or “Baby A needs me”

• Saturday we went to lunch and the zoo. It was crowded but the weather was perfect.

• Saturday night I need to go grocery shopping and E wanted to go with me. I tried to talk him out of it but he wanted to go so I thought I would give it a try. He saw the-largest-shopping-cart-ever and wanted to ride in it. It was not the easiest to push around the store but he did really well. I think he liked seeing where we were going. It’s a smart idea. I just wish it didn’t add an extra foot to the shopping cart. While I was checking out he didn’t want to be in the store anymore and was kicking his legs and moving around a lot. Why is checking out always the hardest?

Here are this week’s updates:

• Monday we went to a pumpkin patch with some friends. E enjoyed sitting on the tractors the most.

• Wednesday I tried something new with Baby A’s hair

• Thursday while I was at dinner with some friends, Opa and Grandma did this:

(that’s an oreo cookie)

• I am lucky to work with people I can call my friends. Here’s a picture of everyone that went to dinner on Thursday night (I wish they would have passed the message on to Lisa and me on how to pose. Oh well.)

• Friday I tried something else with Baby A’s hair

• and Friday afternoon while E took at nap at Grandma’s house, I made a Pinterest board for Hair Ideas for Abby since I have no idea what I am doing.

• Saturday I put E in his Halloween costume to see if it would fit and he didn’t want to take it off. We eventually took it off of him when we saw sweat dripping from his face. Silly kid. Here are some pictures I took. My friend let me borrow the ears and they almost fit Baby A’s head. She didn’t seem to mind wearing them either.

and sweaty E

• Sunday we had lunch with Grandma O and Baby A got a few treats (cheese, bread, celery and ice cream to be exact)