Land of McGovernville

or rather, your address.  Please.  It seems that our main list of addresses has been lost/deleted.  I have searched our external hard drive and PC and can’t seem to find it.  So…if you could, please email me your address so you too can have your very own copy of our family’s lovely Christmas card.  Let me tell ya folks, this year is a doozy, one you defitnitly won’t want to miss.  If you don’t know my email addy, then leave a comment and I will give it to you. 

Thanks a bunch!

Here, I will give you a spoiler…

OK, getting back into the swing of things…Here is a flashback Friday for ya!  These were taken last year when we were preparing for Thanksgiving.  I remember making the whole shabang last year.  Looking back I can’t believe I did all that despite how miserable I was.  Oh well, it was fun and worth it! 
Enjoy!

We have been trying to lightly teach the kiddos how money works.  Yes, we realize that they are still young, but we would like to teach them that things/posessions don’t just come free.  Anyway, so as Brian and Vincent waited for me to finish a nursing session they picked up a magazine nearby (we were at a bookstore, and yes I was discreet).  Said magazine turned out to be a yacht club magazine full of luxurious yachts for the “rich and famous.”  After the two chatted about the different rooms in each massive boat, the various amenities and the need for such yachts Brian asked Vincent how much he thought one would cost.  Vincent said “a lot, like eighty eight dollars.”  Oh to be a kid again, to think that such luxeries could come from a mere $88 dollars.  If that were the case, we would own one.  Ok, maybe not at this point in our life, but at some point. 

but…today, nobody puked, had loose stools, or seemd out of sorts.  Ok, so the babies were a bit fussy, but I am pretty sure it is because they both have teeth coming in.  I think everyone is coming back from their stomach bug fiasco.  Thank the Lord!  
Let’s all pray that it stays this way. 

A man in Jacksonville calls his son in San Diego the day before Thanksgiving and says, ‘I hate to ruin your day, but I have to tell you that your mother and I are divorcing; forty-five years of misery is enough.

‘Pop, what are you talking about?’ the son screams.

‘We can’t stand the sight of each other any longer,’ the father says. ‘We’re sick of each other, and I’m sick of talking about this, so you call your sister in Denver and tell her.’

Frantic, the son calls his sister, who explodes on the phone. ‘Like heck they’re getting divorced,’ she shouts, ‘I’ll take care of this,’

She calls Jacksonville immediately, and screams at her father, ‘You are NOT getting divorced. Do not do a single thing until I get there. I am calling my brother back, and we will both be there tomorrow. Until then, don’t do a thing, DO YOU HEAR ME?’ and hangs up.

The old man hangs up his phone and turns to his wife. ‘Okay,’ he says, ‘they’re coming for Thanksgiving and they are paying their own way.’

Do not underestimate the older generations. They may be crazy, like a fox.

So after long thought and consideration, I took Jack to the ER tonight.  I could tell that he was losing weight and just not himself so I knew I needed to take him in for my peice of mind. 
My options were either get up early tomorrow morning (7am) and call in hopes of getting a doctor’s appointment tomorrow sometime.  Then, haul all 4 of my darling, well behaved children up to the doctor’s office and have him checked out.  Or, I could go on to plan B.  I could wait until Ruby was nursed for the evening and take Jack up to the ER while Brian was home with the other kiddos.  We chose plan B and I am so glad we did. 
Jack puked 4 times within an hour.  After that he started to fall asleep on Brian’s shoulder, just in time for me to buckle him in and take off.  That was just after 7pm.  We got checked in at MAMC around 7:30.  We waited quite some to have Jack weighed and measured, then minutes later he was seen by a nurse for his medical background info.  We then waited just minutes to be seen by a doctor!  I was floored when I didn’t even have to pull out one of my 6 magazines to read.  I didn’t have to use any of the 6 emergancy outfits for Jack (I brought them incase he puked). 
So, it turns out he isn’t dehydrated (YEAY!  Praise God!!) and he does indeed just have a virus.  I figured both to be true, but when I realized today that Jack was losing weight I got a little worried.  It also troubled me when I realized that he seemed to be getting worse this weekend. 
The doctor reminded me that infant stomach bugs could last for up to 2 weeks.  As usual, she said that if he didn’t get better in 3-5 days we should return.  Oh man do I hope he is better by Thanksgiving.  I have looked forward to enjoyed a good relaxing day with our little family, but I didn’t invision that being our little puky family.  I guess I forgot I have 4 kids….oh well. 
Thanks for your prayers, we really appreciate them. 
Oh, I forgot to mention what a flirt Jack was with the nurses.  He would sit there and make noises until they noticed him.  Once they talked to him and eventually looked away he would try to make noise again to get their attention.  When they didn’t he would kind of yell/fuss until they looked again.  He would then act shy and put his head on my shoulder.  It was so funny.  I have a little social bug on my hands!

So as I have mentioned before, this week has been an interesting one.  I have so much to share, but not much brain power left so I will just dump it all out on ya and you can go from there….

so the sickies breakdown is such:
Jack, puked everyday since Monday
Kenniston puked Tuesday night, very low keyed until Friday…we couldn’t stop her from there she was play play play all day
Ruby, runny diapers Thursday and Friday
Vincent, run down and not himself Friday for a WHOLE THREE HOURS

Ruby has been trying to clap for a few weeks and today for the first time she actually (very proudly I might add) clapped

Both babies are trying hard to sign more, and do so when I ask if they want more

Jack tries to ask please.  He is very loud about his desires to have more and when he is I say “you need to say PLEASE” all while signing please.  Now when I say that he tries to sign it (by patting his hand near his chest)

Jack pulls himself up (mainly on me and the laundry basket, but he is trying on other things now too).

Ruby can pull herself up on me, but doesn’t really like to do so on other things.

Both babies can stand and prefer to do so, on things around this house (like ottomans, the couch, chairs, etc)

Jack has one tooth and two more coming any day (I am ready for that day, hopefully his gums won’t bother him so much!!!)

Ruby is knawing on everything in site, so I know she has teeth coming as well.

Jack is by far the most cuddly baby I have EVER held.  He loves (understatement) to hold on to me and hug me at night.  If he is even slightly tired all I have to do is give him a pacifier and sit down in the rocking chair.  Instantly his head hits my shoulder and his hands wrap around me.  I love to rock and feel his little fingers go throuigh my hair.  Some nights I just rock until I am almost asleep. 

Kenniston and Vincent are both doing wonderful in their gym class!  Vincent is so brave and follows his teacher directions wonderfully.  Today he was the leader during obstical course time and did the whole thing (it was a really long one today) all by himself several times.  This was really helpful because I had to stay behind and help Kenniston out, though she did wonderfully as well.  I can already tell how their courage and strength has grown leaps and bounds (so to speak). 

I am embarrased to tell you the following…I got a little frustrated with Kenniston recently.  She kept wanting to wear her rainboots over and over and over again.  That is fine and dandy and all, but when we go to the park it is a little bit hard to run and climb in rainboots.  When I really enforced her to wear the tennis shoes she finally shouted out to me “but Mommy they hurt my feet!!!”  I can’t believe I didn’t realize that she has outgrown yet another pair of shoes!  Today we made a quick trip to Ross and Marshalls (how much do I LOVE those stores?? sooo much!) and picked up two pairs of shoes for less than $20, what a steal!  Both size 8. 

I haven’t really realized it, however after going through all of my pictures and looking over our last week I am realizing just how much of a little Mommy Kenniston is.  She had Vincent’s stuffed Spiderman, the twins “Harry Banana” (a banana toy with a face), and a stuffed doll all lined up on an upside down laundry basket covered with a blanket.  She walked over to me and said “Mommy be quite please, my babies are sleeping.  They really need a nap.”  I tried to stiffle a laugh because that is so something I would have said.  A few minutes later she walked over and said “ok, they are done napping.”  She loves to give her dolls bottles “full of mommy’s milk” (we aren’t pro breast feeding at all around here, HA!) and rock them.  I can’t believe it took me this long to realize her fascination with all of this.  It is so sweet.

Lately Kenniston has made a habit of pulling up the “scholokenblok” (a step stool) and asking us “how can I help you mommy?”  I love it!

Vincent has been mister personality this week.  He has been testing some pretty funny material out with us and honestly it is cracking me up.  He just busts out with some silly stuff and it genuinly makes me laugh, which he loves. 

Vincent is talking more and more about Brian going away, and it seems in fear of him not coming home.  When Brian leaves for work Vincent often asks if Daddy went to Germany.  It seems this upcoming deployment might be our hardest ever.  I am going to talk to somebody about helping him out.  This is far bigger than me alone.  We could use some prayer in this area as well. 

My favorite part of the year is coming upon us.  I so look forward to Thanksgiving, the UT-ATM game, turkey enchilladas, Christmas tree lighting, sleigh rides and most importantly celebrating the birth of Christ with my family.  I love it! 

I hope you enjoyed my mind dump of sorts.  I pray that this week is a little more calm, at least calm enough to let me do a regular update.

Vincent is hitting the age of “I want that for my birthday/Christmas gift/Valentines gift….etc.”  Everything even remotely cool he sees he wants.  This turns into selfishness in other areas.  Sharing becomes a thing of the past, the art of taking turns slips ones mind quickly, and soon our house becomes full of angery noises and flat out selfishness.  This morning I decided today would be a day of unselfishness.  I told the kids that all day long they had to try hard to do things for other people.  It must be hard to be 2 and 4 and remember such things.  Me being “teacher mommy” tried hard to implement such thoughts through out our daily activities. 

First I decided we would make the below mentioned SUPER easy peanut butter playdough.  The kids worked together to clean up the multi-purpose snack/activity table to help me get ready.  After the playdough was made the kids were told that they could only eat creations that were given to them.  They had to make creations to give to other people.  Right away Kenniston gave me a cut out heart.  It took Vincent a little while to understand, but once he did he decided that Daddy needed A LOT of cut out creations. 

After that we made paintings for all the grandmothers in our life.  So, check your mail soon…hint hint.

The rest of the day the kids were reminded to think of others, but I think the idea might have been pushed a bit much.  As I read the story of Ruth and Naomi I mentioned how selfless Ruth was to help Naomi out.  Vincent gave me the look as if to say “yeah I have heard this all day long already.”  Ok, so maybe next time I will go a little lighter on the message.  Over all though I think they are understanding more and more.  Just the other day when we were shopping for some boxes for this organization the kids were really excited about giving other kids toys.  So excited in fact they wanted to go home and pick out toys to give to them.  I told them that was very kind and suggested we do that for some other kids. 

I know we have certainly been blessed and I am so glad to know that my kids are eager to pass it on to someone else!

Here is a picture of the creations the kiddos and I made for Daddy:

1 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup honey
1 cup flour

mix and enjoy. completely edible