Midnight madness...

So, it's 4 minutes until midnight and Olivia and I are "bonding." I don't usually keep these hours. It doesn't work well for me, so please disregard any misspellings, grammatical errors, foul language, etc...

You see, when Olivia is congested and she has a bottle, about 65% of the time, it all comes back up. Sometimes right away, sometimes not.

She woke up at 10:30 crying and crying. I resorted to giving her some milk. Silence. About 10 minutes of sleep followed. Then more crying. We'll try juice this time. I'll avoid the sound effects that came next, but needless to say, in the last hour and a half, Olivia has had a bath, I've cleaned the carpet, done a load of laundry, and changed two poopy diapers (She's been very constipated, so I suppose this is a good thing). She's having quite a night. Currently I am trying to keep her out of the "clean" area so she doesn't inhale all the cleaning solution I used and keep her at least a little bit quiet so we don't attract a crowd down here. Here is what she is doing:

Unfortunately, I missed the part where she was playing the drum. But hey, I've been wanting to try to post some video, just to see how it works. I should be thanking her for this opportunity, huh? Anyway, I have a couple of other things I've been meaning to blog about, so if we are still up later, I'll get those posted. Otherwise - until next time...

Okay - it's taking way too long to upload the video. I must be doing something wrong. I'll try again during my normal operating hours. Sorry for the teaser!

Tooth Fairy..

Jack lost 2 more teeth! He lost one of his top front teeth way back in August. It totally wasn't ready to come out. It became loose after biting down on a sucker. Then after a few weeks of wiggling, it was fairly loose. It wasn't until he bit me and I yanked my hand away that the tooth actually came out.

So, last week when Jack was talking to me I noticed that his two bottom front teeth were totally out of line with the others. They were so loose, they were about ready to jump out! Who knew! Sunday, we made such a big deal about the Tooth Fairy coming and what a big deal it would be to have two teeth out. We wiggled, twisted, pushed, and pulled. Finally, he pulled one out. After talking up the whole big event of losing 2 teeth in one night, he was determined to get the other out. He let Zac yank that one while they were wrestling. He didn't even have a clue it was out. We had to show him the proof and make him look in the mirror before he would truly believe it.

Needless to say, the Tooth Fairy came through. He/she brought $1.00 AND a Batman action figure. Of course there is a story behind this. I mean, since did the Tooth Fairy start bringing so much loot?

All Jack wanted from Santa was a Batman action figure. I had gotten one during Olivia's hospital stay and threw it in Zac's car. Somewhere between here, there, and everywhere, we lost it. No Batman for Christmas. Then we heard him wishing on a star and all he wished for was a Batman action figure. We finally found the thing in a closet under some sweatshirts. So, the Tooth Fairy was very generous this time. We made certain that Jack knows it is ONLY because it is so rare to lose two teeth in one night.

It will be interesting to see how many he pulls out next time!

I missed an unbelievable photo opportunity with Brooklyn earlier in the week. We were downstairs playing store and she was wandering around in her underwear, as she usually does. None of our kids are much for clothes. Anyway, she was carrying around wads of cash and said she needed a purse or something since she didn't have any pockets. Suddenly, a light bulb went on! "I know, mommy!" She then proceeded to stuff fake money in her underwear. There had to have been about 20 bills hanging out of her Barbie underwear! By the time I got the camera, she had gotten rid of the dough. Apparently I had embarrased her. Probably not a bad thing to instill at this young of an age, right?

Olivia has a cold. Normally, one wouldn't care. With her it could go either way. So, I've implemented my own Home Health Plan and it seems to be working. I've increased her oxygen, put humidifiers throughout the house, started giving nebulizer treatments, and have been doing some light suctioning of the nose. All in all, she's holding her own. We go to the pediatrician's office tomorrow to get her Synagis shot (you, know the one that was supposed to prevent the RSV she had last month). As long as this stays out of her lungs, we should be good.

Anyway, I promised the big kids we'd play a game of UNO, a new favorite in our house. Olivia loves it, too, so we'll have to get the cards away from her or play on an elevated surface! Until next time...

PS - Jack has informed me that tomorrow is the real pajama day - even Mrs. Nudd talked about it today.

A bad mommy moment.

Just wanted to share my bad mommy moment for the day - much more traumatic for me than my child - but embarrassing just the same.
Okay, so I sent Jack to school today in his pajamas. I thought it was pajama day. It wasn't. He swears he's not mad at me, it was only a little embarrassing.
It actually could have been a whole lot worse. He originally wanted to wear a pull-up since it was pj day and all. (He's a very sound sleeper and still has to wear a pull-up at night). We got away from that happening and decided it wouldn't be such a good idea. Then he was going to wear his Scooby Doo slippers to school, but decided to wear his tennis shoes and just take his slippers in his backpack. Finally, he was really nervous about wearing his p.j.'s in case the other kids didn't or someone thought he looked silly. Gee, I helped out with that one! Anyway, to make him feel better, I sent a pair of windpants, just in case he was uncomfortable. Hmmm, maybe subconsciously I knew it wasn't pajama day. Who knows. So, I pull up in the parent pick-up line and all the kids are in their street clothes. Jack hopped in and I asked where his p.j.'s went. "It wasn't pajama day, mom. It's not until next week." Nice. Luckily Mrs. Nudd realized what was going on and had him change. Of course Jack let her know his mom told him it was pajama day. I guess we'll try again next Friday. Today was just a little preview. I hate when I'm wrong and things like this happen.

Angels...

Just wanted to share our angel story from Friday. Zac came home from work and handed me an envelope. Inside was a simple typed letter to Zac and family stating that the faculty at Macomb Jr.-Sr. High School just wanted us to know that they have been thinking of us the last few weeks in regards to Olivia and her health/medical issues. Enclosed was a very generous cash gift that was collected for us. As much as the money is needed, it was definitely not necessary, but greatly, greatly appreciated. Words cannot express how suprised and shocked we were. There are amazing people in this community that care so much about our family. More than half of them have probably never even met the rest of us. Thank you SO much to the Macomb Jr./Sr. high school! An email I got this morning talks about how sometimes angels fly so close we can almost hear their wings flutter... So true!

Ice cream and our funny for the day...

So, the kids and I decided we needed some ice cream the other night after dinner. I shared my bowl with Olivia and the kids each had cones. When our bowl was gone, Olivia screamed bloody murder! So, Brooklyn said she would kindly share. Check out Olivia's first ice cream cone experience...Here's Brooklyn showing Olivia the correct procedure...Mmmmm....Where did she put that?I didn't say she could have it all, mom.

Okay, here is our family funny for the day.

Notice the bruises on Olivia's forehead. She still does her infamous army crawl all over the place. She has gotten pretty fast, but her stance is really wide. Therefore, she hits the corner of every wall, table, chair, etc... So, Jack asked why she had all the bruises on her head. When I explained the circumstances, he replied with the best solution. "Maybe she just needs to learn to steer better." Love it! The bright ideas of a six year old! If only it were that easy. His new goal for the year - teaching his baby sister how to steer better.

A December Recap...

You would think that during a winter "break," one would be able get caught up on life in general. Not the case. Zac and the kids returned to school today and I am finally able to sit down in peace and update this blog. I guess I'll just recap the entire month of December, since it seems to have gone by the wayside.

I think we left off on the evening of December 10. That's when Jack and Brooklyn had the great day in the snow and Olivia watched from inside. Then on the 11th, Olivia went to the hospital. Blah, blah, blah. Fast forward to Dec. 16. Jack and Brooklyn had their Christmas program at church. Jack was supposed to be a sheep; Brooklyn an angel. They decided to just be themselves - no costumes. They did a great job.

Dec. 19th - Brooklyn's preschool Christmas program. She did a great job singing all the songs, but just wanted to see Santa from a distance after the program was over. See, Jack can always be bribed if he knows Santa has a candy cane. Not Brooklyn - she wants nothing to do with the guy.
Brooklyn, Emmy, Jack, and Tyler

Dec. 21 - We begin our Christmas parties. We had the "Trent/Newman/Chatterton Christmas" with my parents, Grandma, my sister and her family, and us (excluding Olivia, of course). Good time had by all. Jack and Brooklyn love to play with their cousins. Believe it or not, they were more interested in each other than opening presents.

Dec. 22 - A great party at the in-laws. Zac's brother Ty and fiance Jen were here for Jen's first time and Ty's first Christmas home in 5 years. To break Jen into the family gently, there was a huge party! Everyone had a great time. I'm very sad, however, that I didn't get any pictures of Ty and Jen together.

Dec. 23 - The Chatterton Family Christmas with the in-laws, Zac's sister & family, brother Ty & Jen, Grandma D. and us (again, excluding Olivia). Brooklyn and nephew Alais slept through most of the festivities. Jack played Santa and distributed presents. We dined on Monical's pizza and chili as requested by Ty - can't beat that!

Dec. 24 - Christmas Eve - Zac and the kids went to his parents house for the extended family Christmas party. I missed this one. Rumors started early in the morning that Olivia may get discharged from the hospital. Mind you - rumors started at about 9:00 am. She was discharged at 9:30 pm. We had lots of hoops to get through in order for her to get out.

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

Dec. 25 - What a great Christmas! We celebrated early with presents from Santa. Then everyone went to my aunt and uncle's for brunch. (Livvy and I sat out on this one - thought we'd keep her in as much as possible) Then the extended family came to mom and dad's for more presents and our annual tradition of make-your-own-pizza for dinner, poker, and board games. We decided to pack up and head back to Macomb since it had been weeks since Olivia and I had been there!

Dec. 26 - We did our own family Christmas with yet more presents from us to the kids, the kids to each other, etc... More toys.

Dec. 27 - Olivia had her own little Christmas to open presents she missed at the Chatterton family Christmas.

Uncle Ty and Aunt Jen got Olivia this adorable polkadot outfit. Isn't she the cutest!

Dec. 28 - Zac had a little procedure done that I'm not allowed to blog about - Let's just say we are done having kids - naturally, at least=) So this begins the DAYS of him sitting in a chair with ice packs. No photos to post of this.

Dec. 29-Dec. 31 - Zac sits. The kids and I play with new toys and try to get this house in some type of order. Not an easy task. Imagine this, though. Of all the toys, toys, and more toys the kids got for Christmas, they spent the most time in the bathtub (not bathing, just standing there) drawing this beautiful jungle scene with bath crayons that Santa put in their stocking. Why we spend so much money on "stuff" when simple $3.00 bath crayons will keep them happy is beyond me.

Dec. 31 - The 5 of us plan a huge evening of events to ring in the new year. Lots of food, fun, and games to keep us entertained. The kids were asleep by 9:00, me by 9:30. I think Zac made it to ring in the new year New York time. I can't be sure. After all, I was sound asleep.

Well, this pretty much gives you the play by play events of the ending to our 2007.

We wish you all a happy and healthy 2008 and we assume you have all wished us the same, right? We would appreciate wishes for a happy one, but would even settle for a healthy one! Happy New Year!