Thanksgiving Weekend Recap

We spent the weekend doing three of my favorite things:

Eating

We spent Thanksgiving day at my mom's house. Yes, I still take advantage of the fact that she is my mother, so I let her do the cooking. This year, to ease me into preparing my own feast someday, she asked me to bring cherry and pumpkin pies...which turned out okay. Of all 5 of us at the table for the feast, Carly took the prize for the most impressive appetite. Our little Carly, who may go days only eating small portions at every meal of the day, began to show us what Thanksgiving was all about for her. She ate and ate and aked for more. Dessert went down without hesitation as well. Although the meal was delicious, the highlight of the day had to be Connor's public display of what we now call the "naked funky turkey dance". As we were finishing up a game of Old Maid, Connor spontaneously removed his clothes (all of them) and proceeded to jump and dance around the livingroom flapping his arms like a chicken. We were all hysterically laughing as his arms were snapping against his sides and he was shamelessly dancing around in his birthday suit. When we all caught our breath after the unexpected display, I think we all had the same question,.....where did Connor learn this?

Aren't these cute napkin rings and placecards? My mom made these with C&C.

Shopping

I spent a record amount of time shopping, beginning at 5am Friday morning.

Decorating

Matt brought the Christmas decorations down from the attic Thursday evening and started in with the outside lights Friday morning. Aside from the tree, we're all decorated! Nice job Matt!

Oh yes she did...

During naptime yesterday I got my nails done and then did some shopping. Matt was outside raking and cleaning the gutters. I got home around 5:00. Everyone was outside playing, riding bikes, etc... Each time I looked at Carly, I couldn't help but think that she looked different. I kept thinking it must've been because her bow wasn't in her hair anymore. It must've fallen out during her nap. Matt commented that she took a great nap, didn't get up until about 4:45. WOW...that was a long nap!

Little did we know that Miss Carly had woken up and come out of her room (Matt unlocked the door to her room after Connor woke up so that Carly could just walk out and come outside to join them). She marched into the office, picked up my scissors and gave herself a haircut! We don't know the full extent to what she did, but we did notice that she drew an elaborate picture on the walls of the bathtub with the bath crayons. Who knows what else she got into!

I must say I am saddened that her cute haircut isn't as cute anymore, but she actually did a pretty good job. I know it could be MUCH worse! I just wish she had waited until after we took our Christmas pictures.

Having this blog saved her...rather than yelling or overreacting I just kept thinking..."This is going to make for a good blog post!"

We now refer to Carly as Miss Bangs...

Frequent Flyer Miles

OK, so today marked our second trip to the Emergency Room in three weeks. Thank God everything is okay, but for a brief minute today I wondered whether the doctors and nurses may remember our names. Anyway...
Connor had another asthma episode. Yesterday he was sent home from North Run after being there for less than 30 minutes because he was coughing so badly and having difficulty breathing. He spent the day with my mom, receiving nebulizer treatments every 4 hours. Last night, his breathing got dramatically worse and the Albuterol treatments didn't seem to be helping the way they should. Of course the doctor's office had closed for the evening. We debated taking him to the ER last night, but we thought we'd be able to keep it under control. He slept with us (and kept us up most of the night with his breathing) and seemed to be "stable" although we both agreed that he should see the doctor first thing this morning. (In hindsight, we should've taken him to the ER last night)
I was able to get him in first thing, and after evaluating him and giving him Orapred (steroid), they recommended we take him to the ER because his right lung was not moving air the way it should be - a concern for pnemonia. Matt came home from work and met us at St. Mary's. In the ER, they treated him and did a chest X-Ray. He did not have pnemonia and his symptoms were getting better. His breathing was much better and did not appear to be struggling as much.
Trying to keep this active four year old still and calm (especially after receiving Albuterol) has been quite a challenge. We've been watching lots of movies! It's time like these that force us to slow down. Let's hope we don't earn any more Frequent Flyer Miles to St. Mary's this year!
I am so thankful that my sweet boy is feeling better...Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

A Big Day

Our sweet Carly has never had her hair cut. Never. She's almost 3 years old.

Last year I was so excited that it was long enough for pigtails and ponytails. I love playing with her hair each morning and deciding which hairstyle she'll wear and which accessories will be used. I've toyed with the idea of cutting her hair into a cute bob, or stacked bob, for months. I've seen so many young girls with that style and they look so cute. I always teetered back and forth. I love the style of shorter hair, butI also like the flexibility of longer hair. It has taken a long time for her hair to grow this long. Oh, if I cut it, will it look cute? Will I regret it? How long will it take to grow back?

This morning as I was blow drying her hair after her shower, the idea entered my mind again and I folded her hair under to see how she would look with a cute little bob. Adorable. Matt walked in the room and I exclaimed, "I'm doing it...I'm going to take her to get her hair cut!" (I want you to know that I didn't just make this decision without any input. Matt has told me on many occasions that he doesn't care either way whether we cut her hair or not...he has no preference...so ultimately, the decision was mine) He agreed that it would look cute, although I'm sure in the back of his mind, he doubted that I'd actually go through with it.

After naptime this afternoon, we took her and Connor for hair cuts. As soon as we got to the salon, Carly hopped up into the chair and said "I get a hair cut." She didn't seem to mind getting her hair cut at all and kept the employees laughing as she made faces at herself in the mirror. As soon as she was finished, Connor exclaimed, "You look beautiful!"

BEFORE

DURING

and after...

Ta da!

Her hair automatically did this "flip" thing. Of course tomorrow morning I'll play with it a little to see what else it can do! Ahh, the joys of having a little girl!

Hey Look What I found...

So Matt is still up in Fredericksburg...it's 10:13pm (yup, you read that right) so as I'm waiting for him to get home, I decided to browse some cool websites and blogs I've seen and bookmarked but never had a chance to go back and read further. Look at what I found!

The most adorable photo cards for all occasions. I found several options for our Christmas card! Hmmm...decisions decisions. You can order the cards right from them or they will send you the jpeg file of your card so you can print it yourself (or from Wal Mart or Target)...neat-o!

Note: Through more browsing, I discovered that Skip to My Lou (which is also a neat site filled with free downloads, patterns, and plenty of inspiration) is hosting a giveaway for one of these free digital files. Sign up here...

Reading this makes me feel like a totally boring mom, but she has some really cute ideas for family togetherness...love the muffin tin meals!

I love all of the neat craft ideas here...

Hi honey, how was your MOPS meeting?

MOPS,......I ask frequently how the meetings went and usually get a response about a good guest speaker, a cool arts and crafts activity, or rich discussions that may have taken place. MOPS,...a great place for women to bond and associate with one another to share ideas, laughter and thoughts about motherhood. MOPS,....a great support group for many to get to know people, help people, worship and have fellowship. It's an awesome group that I'm glad Jenn has found to bond with so many special people. Yet, when I picked up the children tonight on my way home from a long day at work I had an interesting observation. I found Jenn engaged in a new activity that I had not yet heard about before after asking about these meetings. HMMMM.

It was intimidating to open up the door and peek into a room full of women in a MOPS meeting and try to glance around as quickly as I could to find my wife. I tried to avoid disrupting the meeting and was glad to have a familiar face at the door to help me locate Jenn. Yet, when she stood up and came to the door, the laughter carried through the room and into the hallway. So much for a discrete visit. I was met there by Jenn holding a beautiful baby and smiling bright and cheerful. OK,....so now I see why you love these meetings so much! You will be a MOPS mom forever! I get it!

9-1-1...What's Your Emergency?

My two year old daughter spilled hot wax on herself. It's all over her face.

Would you like me to send help?

Well, yes, I guess we need it.

What is the address?

(I gave her my mother's address, phone number, etc...) In the meantime, can you please advise me as to what I can do while we wait for help to arrive? Should I put an ice pack on it?

I'm sorry ma'am, I can't tell you that.

OK, well is there someone I can speak to, or call, to get advice. While we're waiting for help to arrive, I need to do something to help soothe her. Is a cold pack okay to use?

I'm sorry ma'am, I can't give you any of that information. I don't want to tell you the wrong thing. My advice is to wait until help arrives.

OK, thank you...good bye.

So, I had to work today and as I walked into my mother's house at 5pm, Carly was sitting on the counter near the sink, crying, and my mother was holding her saying, "You need to call the doctor." I searched for the telephone and as I dialed the phone number (mind you, it was 5:00), I asked her what I was calling for. She told me the story of how Carly reached up onto the counter and somehow tipped the small dish of melted candle wax (from a tart burner) onto herself. It had completely covered the left side of her face (her eye was completely closed and her eyelid and lashes covered in wax, her left cheek was covered in wax, and she had spots of wax all through her hair and on her shirt. The doctor's office was closed, so I called 9-1-1. Running through my mind was the face of my beautiful daughter scarred and burned.

While we were waiting for help to arrive, Connor began crying and saying "She's going to die, she's going to die." I was trying to comfort him insisting that she was not going to die. Soon, Carly says, through her tears, "I'm going to die." UGH! Where do they learn this stuff? My mom and I had to chuckle a little at that. The firetrucks arrived and three firemen entered my mother's kitchen. They spoke to Carly, and carefully inspected her and washed her face and eye. They didn't think there was any burn, but encouraged me to take her to the hospital to be checked to be sure. I, of course, agreed. We all continued to try to comfort Carly, who was not crying anymore. Within a few minutes, the door opened and in walked not one, not two, not three, but four rescue squad members. My mom's house is not large, and it was filling up quickly with all of the emergency personnel. One of the firemen asked if I'd like to take Carly in my car, or in the ambulance. I asked what the difference would be, and he said there really wasn't any. He said the ambulance was here, ready, and free (and I was thinking that maybe she'd be seen quicker if we arrived in an ambulance) so we went with them.

All the way to the hospital, Carly was talking with the rescue squad (volunteer) members and quite pleasant. If it weren't for the burnt orange, pumpkin smelling wax all over her hair and clothes, you wouldn't think anything was wrong with her. They all got a kick out of her and kept her quite happy and occupied.

Once at the hospital, we were seen fairly quickly and the doctor was happy to report that she came out of this one unharmed! Thank the Lord! Now, the question was, "How are we going to get this orange wax out of her hair?"

The internet will surely have some suggestions. Someone must've done this before...surely! Uh, nope! As soon as we got home, I ran upstairs and Googled "wax in hair" and other similar phrases and only one recommendation came up. Some kind of glue remover from the hardware store, and possibly vegetable oil. So I got the vegetable oil ready and put Carly in the bath tub. Matt decided to drench her hair with detangler and try combing it out. It worked like a charm! Within minutes, the burnt orange wax was gone and no trace to be found.

No burns, no bumps, no orange hair...or short hair cut!

These pictures were taken once we got home...

What a night!