Still Christmassing

Hello Internets!

The problem with taking a bloggy break, even a short and unintended one, is that it can sometimes be very difficult to get rolling again. That's why I like doing NaBloPoMo, I feel like it gives me some momentum.

We had sort of a predictable Christmas Day with small children. Things started off well, Harper being pleased and grateful for her (way too many) gifts, including the one we'd pretty much convinced her she wouldn't be getting. Which was true, until a couple of weeks before Christmas when various circumstances led me to cave completely. So Santa brought her a Little Mommy Gotta Go doll (a "pee pee goes the potty" doll, in Harper language) and all is right in her four-year-old world.

After our house we went to have breakfast and open another round of gifts at Nana and Dziatku's house. The winners here were a My Little Pony remote controlled scooter (which the dog is hilariously freaked out by) and an Ariel doll. Michael also got a nice stash of new clothes, which was a relief as he is outgrowing his current wardrobe at an alarming rate.

Both kids were battling horrendous colds and we debated not going to Matt's Aunt Patty's for dinner and more gifts, but we called and Patty said to bring 'em anyway, so we did. For the record there were no other kids there, or I NEVER would have brought my sickly ones, and Harper wasn't acting sick at all. Michael was cranky and we completely failed to build in any naptime for him (you'd think we'd never done this before!) but ended up cooperating well enough. Then he screamed the entire car ride home, and Harper cried from the time we got home until we managed to wrangle her into bed about half an hour later. And Matt declared we will never again do three things on Christmas Day. BUT we probably will, as we usually have, and next year the kids will be older and maybe not sick. . .

We had one calm-ish day to regroup before getting in the car bright and early Saturday morning to drive to my parents' home in Wisconsin. Michael coughed and wheezed and made a disturbing grunting sound most of the 8 hour journey, so instead of opening gifts (or even eating dinner) Saturday night, my mom and I headed to the children's hospital in Milwaukee. There we went though the rounds of nurses and doctors, a couple of nebulizer treatments, some discussion of whether steriods were to be prescribed (decision, no, as they would not help with the viral nature of the problem), and we eventually left several hours later with instructions and an inhaler. Yes, an inhaler for the nine-month-old, which is just about as much fun as you'd imagine. Incidentally, Michael is one of the most good-natured babies in the history of the world. He hardly fussed at all during the entire ordeal, and he must have been feeling miserable.

Oh! I almost forgot. Michael's first tooth popped through during the car ride (miserably sick and teething and still a mostly happy guy!) and he's got four more currently competing for second place. Can you imagine?

Sunday my brother, sister, dad, and husband headed up to Green Bay for the Packer-Lion game. I opted to stay back with my mom and help with the sickos, especially since her back had been bothering her and Michael is a fairly, um, dense child.

So now it's New Year's Eve. We'll have a family dinner and play board games tonight. It is one of my favorite nights of the year. Tomorrow we'll eat and relax and watch football and prepare for the many family members who will be coming on January 2 for an add on holiday celebration, to see my kids, and to ring in the new year. Then back to Ohio for us!

If, as usual, I am the last one awake tonight, I may come back and post some end of the year thoughts. But just in case I don't:

Happy New Year all, I'm looking forward to sharing 2009 with you.