My stress-free Christmas

Yes, yes, I'm here! I know I'm the worst blogger ever.  I've been trying really hard  to stay ahead of things this year for Christmas.  Every year, I get all caught up with buying the perfect gifts, and going into stores, looking around and feeling completely overwhelmed until finally one day, the stars will align and I get everything done.  I kinda do the same thing with decorations...wait too long to put them up and then I panic and stay up all night putting everything up.  So, this year I said NO MORE!!  This is going to be my first stress-free Christmas!  I did most of my shopping on line, which is wonderful for someone who hates to shop (yes, I hate to shop).  I managed to pick some things up at Target or Marshall's, Sam's, etc when I was there shopping for other things, and I've attended (and hosted) some fun parties at which I bought some gifts.  So, I'm in pretty good shape now, although I still need to make that final big trip to Target to do stockings, bows, and put the final touches on everything.  Oh and gift cards...which are NO fun to buy but take up a large portion of my budget.  I also have my decorations up around the house, which I did in 2 phases.  First, I worked on the first floor.  The living room gets crowded really quick, last year I bought a 4 foot tree that I put on top of a table in the corner which is awesome.  It fits there perfectly, E doesn't try to take off the ornaments but yet I still have a tree to admire in the living room.  Eliseo especially loves those decorations that you push the buttons and music plays, lights flash and things move around.  He has learned how to squeeze the hand and he sits in wonder while the lights flash and music plays.  But, it wouldn't be the same without our big tree, so on another night when Glenn was home, we put that up and again decorated it as a family.  OK, so I put up the tree while he was working on the lights outside.  The tree was stored in the basement and it goes in the 2nd story loft, and I was on E duty....and he would cry anytime I went in the basement or upstairs... so I carried the tree up 2 flights of stairs piece by piece with Eliseo on my hip.  What can I say...it was good exercise.  After I had it up, G came inside and we hung all the special ornaments.  I would tell E the story of each ornament and put them on the tree.  Then he would point to them and "tell the story" in the same intonation I told it in his cute toddler babble.  Oh yes, he was taking some off too, until I finally just let him carry one around that had glitter all over it...and hence glitter all over him.  We also went to see Santa this year.  Eliseo did pretty well, Santa played with him for a minute before taking him from me, he had a candy cane that he handed to E, then E would hand it back to him and Santa would laugh....HO HO HO.  Then E would laugh too.  So he didn't really want to hang out on Santa's lap for too long, but long enough to get a decent picture.

OK, so despite all this, my season hasn't been totally stress-free but it's been better.  Its not only Christmas I stress out on, but the combo of work stuff and trying to get everything done each day (been working on weekends a lot too).  I find myself exhausted and after I put E to bed, sometimes I just crash.  So, sorry readers, but the blog post is the first thing crossed off the list for now.  But, for those of you who don't follow me on FB, here is your picture fix!

Stationery Card

Stationery Card

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Stationery Card

Stationery Card

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The Trifecta

Last week....not a good week for my little guy. 

Monday...vaccines.
Tuesday...Food allergy.
Saturday...2nd ER trip.

Yep, 2 trips to the ER in one week.  This time was a big bonk on the head.  As any mother would suspect, this happened just before bed time.  He was having so much fun, which makes it even more heartbreaking.  But, his new thing is walking around in circles, and circles, and circles, and watching his shadow on the walls.  So, he was circling, circling, circling, tripping, falling, connecting with the wall/molding...it happened so fast I'm not sure which part hit what.  But then, 5 seconds later came the wails.  I picked him up and he was sporting an instant goose eggs.  Actually, it was kind of like watching a cartoon, Wile E. Coyote after the Road Runner hits him over the head with a mallet.  I just watched this thing grow!  He didn't really break the skin, but I think that made it worse because it was bleeding under the skin and getting very purple.  My biggest concern was if he hit hard enough to get a concussion.  So, off to the ER (again) we went.  And I learned about myself, that I am not calm in medical emergencies.  I was trying to call Glenn, who was at work but I couldn't get my phone to make a call.  I finally got it figured out, and he met us at the hospital which was very comforting.  It wound up just being a superficial wound, no concussion, no stitches, just sent home with a bandaid and a new $200 bill from the hospital. 

So, I think I'm going to make Eliseo a bubble wrap suit. Right?

It Was the Peanut Butter.

The allergy tests came back negative for peanuts,  but I had a suspicion that they were wrong.  I thought that because he had Nutella and veggie sticks when he had his last reaction.  My babysitter thought it was the veggie sticks because when she looked at the bag it said that they were made in the same factory as eggs.  But I looked back at her logs and he had eaten those before with no problem.  I discussed it with my pediatrician and she advised just to avoid nuts until he went back for his yearly allergy tests. 

Well,  he inadvertently ate some peanut butter this week,  and confirmed my suspicions.  He had the worst reaction I've seen yet.  I wasnt at home when this happened,  my mom was babysitting and I got the dreaded call that he was having a reaction.  So I told her to give him the Epi (which she did) and then I called 911. When I got home the paramedics were there ... it felt so scary walking into the house thinking of them working on my son,  but when I got there,  they were just asking my mom questions about the timing of it all. .. they said since he got the Epi that there wasn't much else they could do.  They offered to take him to the ER in the ambulance,  but I decided to just take him myself.   They were gracious enough to follow us to the hospital but it was only 2 miles away.  When we got there,  they did the usual; checked his oxygen and gave him steroids and Benadryl and just a bunch of observation.  We watched Finding Nemo and he played with a Potato Head puzzle on the wall.  The swelling and hives went down a lot faster because of the Epi,  so after 2 hours they released him.  He was so wiped out,  he passed out on the 2 mile ride home.

I hope and pray that we will never need to go through this again,  but I know it is bound to happen.  It's a scary thing,  but sticking to our allergy plan this time made decision making very easy.  We will be removing all nut products from the house :(. He is all better now,  thank God.  Tshe pictures were from the end of the night when he was looking much better.  I didn't even think of pictures when he was in trouble. He was having fun taking pictures of himself in the hospital bed :).

18 Month Checkup

What better to do on a paid day off than go to the doctor? And get shots? Yay fun.   But, that's what we did today. I guess when I set up the appointment 3 months ago, I didn't realize it was Veterans Day (shout out to my favorite vet, my hubby). The good news is the Eliseo is right on track..his own track, but I'll take it. He made some progress with his height and his head circumfrence, but still under the curve for weight. But this kid can eat, so I don't know where he's putting it. 2 more vaccines and a flu shot, and Mommy got a flu shot too. Here are the latest numbers:

Height: 30 1/2"  12%
Weight: 19lb 10 oz  <3%
Head: 17 7/8"  5%

Grammy has been here all week and went to the doctor with us, then we woke up Glenn to collect his free meal at Texas Roadhouse.  And the weather went bonkers, losing 20 degrees in an hour.  Also enjoy a pic from date night on Saturday...which was pretty awesome. Thats all folks ;).

Baby Advil Saved My Life!

Ok, maybe not mine, but probably the guy's on the highway in the morning who  suffers from my sleep deprived road rage!

These teeth are taking their time inhabiting my son's mouth.   And there are more to come.   The standing routine continued I'm the middle of the night until I realized that some pain medicine might do the trick.  Turns out I was right,  but I still was using the Little Fevers fever reducer with acetaminophen and he HATES that stuff.  Getting him to swallow that stuff was almost as bad as watching him stand and cry at 2am.  So I called my trusted baby advisor: my sister.  I asked her what baby pain reliever actually tasted good!  Her recommendation (Infants Advil) has made Eliseo the restful sleeper that I know and love.  He likes it so much that he cries for more.  WIN.  Until the next set come in. .. which I can already feel under the gums.  The bottom pair.  For now,  I will enjoy my rest.

2nd Halloween

We had a fun Halloween this year, a little better than last year...#1 because he is a little older now, and #2 because last year he had a fever.   We rounded up our little pumpkin family in the weeks before, 2 bigger pumpkins and E's baby pumpkin, which I suppose was really probably a gourd... but whatever. He had a ball decorating it!  First I removed all clothing  (his, not mine). Second I put out my painting tablecloth. Third I took out the Sharpies.. and let him go to town.  Last year, I put him in the bouncy seat while I carved the pumpkin, he melted down the entire time so this was a vast improvement!  He only got a little marker on himself...luckily the marks he got on his face came off easily with a wipey. We may have a leftie here, drawing with his left hand.  Glenn and I carved our pumpkins too.. G spent a lot of time on his intricate design and I spent about 5 minutes putting an L for Lyons on mine...it was E's dinnertime so I'm lucky we have an easy letter with straight lines!

The day of Halloween,  he had a party at his daycare so we dressed him up in his Clark Kent costume which was, as I mentioned before so super easy. He spent the morning with salt and pepper shaker twins,  Minnie Mouse, a pumpkin and baseball player. At night,  G and I took him out Trick or Treating for about 30 minutes. It was a little rainy, cold and windy so we didn't want to have him out all night.  Enough for him to enjoy the experience and for me to steal all his chocolate, lol.

So we had a great day, and I think next year is going to be a ball with him. Time to think about some clever costumes..

Holy Molars!!

Oh my goodness, who knew how big teeth were!  So, things were going along just great at night, and inevitably, the getting up and standing started again.  This means only one thing:  CUTTING TEETH.  We're not talking the easy little guys, these are the huge, very back, take up half his mouth molars.  And this was a process.  A good week or so of waking up every 2-3 hours, standing up and having a good scream about it.  This is not good for my beauty sleep.  I really try to tough it out and stay out of his room, because usually it takes about 10-15 minutes before sleep takes over again, but those screams sometimes are just too much to take.  Because they are PAIN, and I can ease it by giving him some Orajel.  But, here is the problem, if I go in that room, there is no going back.  Yes, he will fall back to sleep in my arms, but if I put him down we start the process all over again.  So I resort to the fact that, if I go in there to give him Orajel, I am in there for the rest of the night, sleeping on the Lazy Boy with E snuggling up to me.  I know that this doesn't sound so bad, but the chair, while a very comfortable recliner, is a chair.  I pick my battles.  If it's "earlier" i.e. 2am or before, I usually will let him cry it out.  Anytime after that, I just don't have the stamina that he has, so I will go relieve him and cuddle.  Sometimes I just resort to the couch too.  But, thank goodness, we've have 2 nights of straight through sleep again, so the worst must be over with this set of teeth. 

So that's my update for tonight.  I'll give you guys the play by play of Halloween in my next post.  I've been meaning to write this post for a while now,  I wouldn't want to overload you all at once :).

Oh How I Love the Fall...(just wish winter wasn't almost here).

Yesterday, I had the best day.  I have a lot of paid time off left at work for this year, and if I don't use it, I lose it.  So, I just took a day off.  Not because we were traveling, not because we had company, not because I was sick....just to spend the day with Glenn and Eliseo.  I even planned it on Glenn's 2nd day off so that I could wake him up relatively early (those of you who work nights,  or whose spouses work nights understand this).  It was a little rainy in the morning, so I took my time waking up and just enjoyed time with my little man.  We took a short nap after breakfast, and woke up at 10.  Luckily all the clouds rolled away and the sun was a-shinin!  We left the house a little after noon, but the places we had planned to go were only about 15-20 minutes away.

A couple of people recommended we went to a place called "Pumpkins Galore," or known the rest of the year as Mikus Farms.  What a great place!  A lot of the weekend festivities were not going on, i.e. funnel cake/kettle corn, punkin chunkin, live entertainment to name a few, but for the things that were open, we pretty much had the place to ourselves (after a big field trip left).  Now don't get me wrong, I love funnel cake, kettle corn, exploding pumpkins and live entertainment, but I'd take a slow day over a crowded day every time.  Especially with an 18 month old.  I didn't have to worry about rushing him along, or getting trampled by the older kids and therefore me having to beat them up.  He just took his time, walking up and down the rows of the pumpkin patch, touching every pumpkin.  And we just let him wander til his little heart was content.  Until he wandered into the goat area.  Talk about some good entertainment.  He was so enamored with the goats!  Constant laughter!  And then the sharing of the apple juice, he offered his sippy cup to every single goat.  And a couple of them took him up on it. 

Next over to the tractors.  He tried out a few different models but found that the Daddy assisted John Deere was the best.  And lastly, we hung out in the "grain boxes."  I have no other way to describe these than as would be sand boxes that were filled with corn kernels instead of sand.  Freakin brilliant!  OK, so I've mentioned that E likes to "cook,"  in these kernel pools, they had all kinds of sand castle makings, shovels, sifters....he played in here for at least an hour.  I jumped in with him....cuz....why not??? 

On our way out, we hit the baby swings, if he wasn't having so much fun laughing he would have totally passed out.  Which he did....in the car and during lunch.

After lunch we headed out to an apple orchard a little further away.  Much of the same type of activities and scenery, but we picked up some fresh apples and cider.  YUM-O. 

What a fantastic day.  I might have mentioned, I'm 39 years old now (ugh).  I've been working for the better part of 20 years.  I have an 18 month old child.  I can afford to take a day off every now and then just to spend with him.  A lot of my friends are stay at home moms, and they get to take their kids to do this stuff any day of the week.  I want Eliseo to know that he is special enough to me that I can ditch work for a day to do nothing other than what HE wants to do.  I plan to do this more often, I work to live, not live to work.  :)))!!!

Now, the insane amount of pictures that were taken...below.