Up in the air

With my brief day and a half trip away from home, I am still playing a bit of catch up, and that includes figuring out my meal plan and events for the week. So, hopefully, I will have that posted soon.

So instead I'll share a little about what's been going on around here:

• Calan is finally over his cold! Seriously a toddler's snotty nose is gross and so frustrating since he won't let you wipe it. It was an interesting fine line. I wanted to wipe is nose just enough to help, but not too much that he would cry and increase his snot production to nullinvoid the fact that I wiped it in the first place. It was pretty frustrating. He got to the point that he was wiping it off with his hand and shirt so I wouldn't wipe it. That habit will be fun to break later. 
• Maisie is getting so big. I never thought her 3-6 month clothing would ever be tight on her, but they are starting to be. I can't believe it. I guess it is time to figure out the next wardrobe for her. I have some cute stuff already, but what girls doesn't need more. 
• Maisie has learned to roll from her back to her stomach, which is great except some how in the process she has forgotten how to roll over from her stomach to her back, so she gets stuck. I am getting excited for her next milestone, which should sitting up. She is still pretty wobbly, but she is getting better. 
• Bob did a great job as Mr. Mom while I was gone. He even tried to take the kids out to lunch by himself, but once he got all ready and the kids in the car, unfortunately Calan's door wouldn't shut, so he had to take them back in. But I think that it is impressive that he even tried. 
• My trip to see my grandmother was good. I am glad I went.It wasn't easy, but it was good to see her and my family. It was hard to leave, but life does go on. 

Next week, I'll be writing the kids' monthly update, so I will share more about them then. Every month seems to go faster and faster, but this one I am glad to say goodbye too. It has not been fun, but I survived, the kids survived, and hoping this month will be a ton better. 

Grateful Friday: Chance to say goodbye

My Oma and Opa and I at my college graduation in 2003.

Well, this weekend is not going to be the easiest for me. I am taking off today to say goodbye to my grandmother. She has not been well for several years, but knowing that this is the last time is not easy.

I'll be honest, I have not seen my grandmother in more than a year. I do not want to come off as insensitive or too upset. The fact is that I have watched all of my grandparents and one great-grandparent get old. I have watched them live their lives to the fullest. I have been lucky enough to be at a point where none of them were taken (as some might say) before their time.

I am so grateful to have known all of my grandparents. My grandfather passed away almost 3 years ago and now my grandmother will be joining him.

I am grateful to be able to celebrate a life versus mourn a death. And my dad's parents were larger than life. Until their health started to fail, they were the life of the party. Always the storytellers. My grandmother's birthday is a week from today (a day after mine).

I have been told I don't have to go this weekend. But I regret not being there when my grandfather actually passed. I should have gone. I am grateful this time that I have time to go up and say goodbye.

I am grateful to my family (my father, aunts, and uncles) who took care of my grandmother. They basically put their lives on hold to care for her. They promised my grandfather that they would and they did.

While I am not extremely close to my grandparents, I am grateful that they were/are there. I know that I took it for granted and I am sorry for that.

(I should say that both of my mom's parents are still in my life.)

Anything Goes Thursday: Walking Zombies

Hello, middle of the night wakings. Hello, awake children and dead tired parents. Hello, coffee.

I really thought I had it pretty easy the first 6 months. Maisie has been a great sleeper. Even with all of Calan's rocking issues, he was still sleeping and being quiet. I was rested, the kids were rested, we had our routine. Everything was going so smoothly.

And then the last 2 weeks happened. We are amongst the perfect storm. Sick Calan, Wonder Week 26 for Maisie, and I think both are teething. They have been tag-teaming who is up and who is asleep, which leaves me little to no sleep after about 3:30 a.m. (I remember the nights when I would stay up till 3:30 and sleep in till 11, oh the memories.)

Being 13 months apart has created this perfect match up of development and physical changes in the kids that has left me without a good nights rest in more than 2 weeks. I miss sleep.

Now, in the kids' defense, I have not been going to bed early in order to make up for my lack of sleep, so that is most definitely my fault. I just hope that these rough nights are numbered. I am done with them.

They have left me pretty cranky, tired, without motivation, just an all-around sloth.

Don't you love though that no matter how long your kids have you up at night, they seem to wake up with a smile on their faces like nothing happened. I love their innocence even though I want to die.

I honestly do not mind being woken up in the middle of the night as long as it is a quick back to sleep. It is the 40 minutes to 2 hour wake ups that have me up and cranky.

I am just ready for my little ones to sleep. But until then, COFFEE you are my best friend.

Wordless Wednesday: Hanging around

Big kid in a little seat. 

Double blanket time

Snuggling with bug

Mr. Potatohead

Toddler Tuesday: Fun with Kool-Aid

Flour, oil, salt, cream of tarter, and Kool-Aid

Just take these few ingredients and whip up some Kool-Aid fun with play-doh and finger paint.

Calan is once again not feeling well (I think this is going to be a long winter). However, I tried out a few fun Kool-Aid recipes I found online. I thought he might enjoy playing with Play-Doh and I thought I would try finger paint even though he hates things on his hands.

Calan liked playing with the Play-Doh up till the moment he realized he could throw it off the tray. 

And finger paint did not work for us. He hated it on his hands, and this is when he realized it got on his truck and he couldn't get it off. (Frugal tip: Use old t-shirts as smocks.) 

And, I was right. He liked playing with the Play-Doh for about 10 minutes and the finger paint was a complete flop. All I can do is keep trying different things with him and let him explore them for as long (or as little) as he wants.

Here is what I did:

• For finger paint, take 1 cup flour, 1 Kool-Aid packet, and 1/4 cup salt and mix it with 1 1/2 cups boiling water and 1 1/2 tablespoons (1 1/2 teaspoons equals 1/2 tablespoon)
• For Play-Doh, mix 1 1/4 cups flour, 1/4 cup salt, 1 Kool-Aid packet and 1 tablespoon cream of tarter with 1 cup boiling water and 1 1/2 tablespoons of oil. Mix with fork till cool and then mix with hands till well blended kneading and adding additional flour till no longer sticky.

Things that I learned from making it:

• Don't use wheat flour. It is all that I had and it obviously distorted the color. The Play-Doh was suppose to be blue, but looks green. I ended up adding green food coloring to both the play-Doh and finger paint to get richer colors.
• I ended up using a lot more flour in the play-Doh to make it not sticky, next time I might just start out using a 1/4 cup more flour.
• I added water to the finger paint till I got the consistency I wanted. Not sure if the wheat flour made it drier, but it was really gooey and sticky at first, I wanted a thinner consistency.
• I will probably split both in half, but still using whole packet of Kool-Aid per half. I think that it will make better colors and I don't need that much finger paint or Play-Doh in one color, which is what I have now.

Monday Game Plan: Surviving

I thought I was doing really well. I thought I was getting good at parenting 2 babies and then 18 months hit for Calan and the last 2 weeks have been horrible. The poor guy has had a flu bug, a cold, and now I think his 2-year molars are coming in. Either way he is a snotty, whiny mess that is barely sleeping.

My goal for this week is to SURVIVE and hope that he gets better soon. I miss my happy playful little guy. This terrible whiny monster is not as much fun and is pretty much exhausting. 

I  was able to get a few things finished last week despite Calan's neediness. I did get all my handwash laundry done, as well as Bob and I (mostly Bob) finally reorganized the basement storage. Two things that I had been avoiding since before Christmas. 

Main goal: Survive

Menu

• Monday: Perogies, carrots, broccoli 
• Tuesday: Chicken, dumpling squash, cauliflower, mac & cheese (Tip: Lightly pound your chicken and sprinkle with a little lemon pepper and garlic salt. Bake at 375 for 30 minutes. I swear, it turns out perfect every time)
• Wednesday: Chicken caesar salad
• Thursday:  Chicken parmesan
• Friday: Leftovers
• Saturday: Leftovers or takeout
• Sunday: Family dinner not hosting

Events

• Monday: Stay at home and try to get Calan better. Bob is heading to a Wings game tonight, so just me all day.
• Tuesday: Suppose to go for a stroller walk with the Royal Oak Moms Club that I am thinking about joining. Making dinner for friends who just had a baby.
• Wednesday: Again, suppose to go to my second event with the Royal Oak Moms Club, but we shall see how Calan is doing
• Thursday: Calan's Playaway class, hopefully he is better!
• Friday: Nothing going on so far. Probably a fun cleaning day
• Saturday: Standard breakfast out and farmers market
• Sunday: Standard day of church and family dinner

Have a good week everyone!

Grateful Friday: Family Saturday mornings and Sunday dinners

When you have small children, sleeping in late, being lazy all day, or eating ice cream for breakfast are not exactly possible. For awhile, I think, we tried to fight it. We tried to pass off days and hope that one of us got to sleep while the other took care of Calan. And with Maisie, forget it; we both have to be up for the most part. Seven A.M. seems so much earlier on a Saturday than any other day.

This summer we unconsciously embraced our early Saturdays. We started to use that time rather than just moving around moaning how tired we were. We get up and kind of rush around a bit to get us out of the house. We go out to breakfast and then head to our local farmers market, which is open year-round.

I am so grateful for that time together. We get a big Saturday morning breakfast without all the dishes for me to clean up and I get half of my grocery shopping done.

I am hopeful that as the kids grow, we will continue to do this. I hope that they enjoy and look forward to it as much as Bob and I do.

On Sundays, we get together with my in-laws. And yes, this happens every Sunday. And yes, we like spending time together and enjoy each others company. We get together, eat dinner, relax, play cards (euchure of course), and get ready for the week ahead. Just like our Saturday mornings, Sunday family dinners started unconsciously and it has been going on for probably 2 years. We rotate between my father-in-law's house, our house, and my brother-in-law's. The hosting house makes the main course and we all bring something. We live within 3 miles of each other.

I am so grateful that we get together as a family and that my children get to see some of their aunts and uncles on a regular basis.

My life is full of routines and simple joys. I do not live a crazy, fast-paced life. I live the life of a mom with 2 children younger than 2 and for now, I am grateful for my Saturday mornings and Sunday evenings with my family.

(P.S. Thanks to all my new followers!)

Finding New Friends Blog Hop!

As many of you know, my 2012 goal is to grow our small family blog and become one of the thousands of "mommy bloggers." Just over the last 10 days of my goal, I have gone from 20 followers to more than 70. As part of this goal, I am guest-hosting the "Fnding New Friends" blog hop. (Thanks ladies!) 

If you are not familiar with blog hops, basically look through the list of blogs below, you might find a new one you like and want to follow. And then add your blog to the list by following the few simple rules listed below. I have loved the new blogs I have found through this blog hop. (I am a blog addict.) Have fun!

<a border="0" href="http://myadventureinmommyhood.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLxuf85cI9u1F1YJncPqy5-Xcx4kpQjimfQi2CvZoL1ScLm9aXbDAsFrkcwv2-ksWgul2okAYwKUWCyw18m8sWbQQBtxLsR55QuNLAPOSPMnme3KXIfxWIgv4H3mFT7-yWk3fVSLR1EXg/"/></a>

Welcome back to week 41 of Finding New Friends Weekend Blog Hop hosted by Shelly from My Saving Game, Sam from Have Sippy Will Travel and Jeannette from The Adventures of J-Man and MillerBug!  Thank you all for helping make this hop so successful!  We love you tons!  Now what are you waiting for?  Let's get to hopping!  We are finding some fabulous blogs through this hop and having a great time getting to know so many of you!  So thank you for linking up again this week to those of you who are hop veterans and welcome to those who are new!  Let's continue to make new bloggy friends and increase our traffic! We do have a few simple rules for you - nothing too tough though.  So here we go!

Anything Goes Thursday: Our first baby

My favorite picture of Elle when she was 4 years old. She is now 8. 

As some of you might have read on Monday, we almost lost our 8-year-old husky/lab Elle on Sunday. It was scary, crazy, overwhelming, and just plain awful. She is on the mend and we could not be happier.

On Saturday night, Bob took Elle to his brother's house to watch the Lions game and let Elle play with their husky Layla. It is not uncommon for Elle to move pretty slowly the day after she plays and it is not uncommon for her to favor a paw or two (like sore muscles) after playing with Layla. When Sunday came around, she was pretty lethargic, which seemed pretty normal to us.

As the day went on though, she was really barely moving and needing help to get outside. I was gone at a family birthday party with our car that has car seats. Bob just thought that she probably injured her paw and was just tired, which happens often after Elle rough houses with another dog.

When I got home around 4 p.m. from the party, Bob was cooking some bacon. I tried to give Elle a piece and she barely moved her head to even smell it. She would not eat it. I touched her paws and she was not tender to them, so I began to think something else was seriously wrong. I felt her tummy area and she seemed uncomfortable when I did that. So I again thought something was wrong. I told Bob that I thought she needed to go to the emergency vet. We carried her to our car and Bob took off and I stayed back with the kids.

When I got a phone call about 20 minutes later, I was not expecting to hear "They said that if we had not gotten her to the vet in the next 2 hours, she would have died!" Bob was speechless, I was speechless, and we were both very scared and wondering what had happened to our poor Elle, who seemed so fine just the day before. Elle was bleeding internally and dying.

The vet said that it could be one of three things causing her bleeding:

1. Her liver, which had elevated numbers back in April and we had an ultrasound then that showed it was OK.
2. A tumor that had ruptured. (Her ultrasound in April showed no tumors, but could have missed something.)
3. Rat poison

At first, we both thought that it had to be one of the first two options. Maybe they missed something in April. Maybe we should have continued testing her to make sure her liver was OK. 

As we waited in the waiting room (I met Bob at the vet), we began to think of all the would have, should have, could have situations. But the bottom line is we just wanted her to be OK. 

When Elle's blood work came back, it showed that the most likely cause was RAT POISON!

We live in a city area and yes have rats and yes have laid poison down, but Elle never goes in the garage by herself, or so we thought. We thought she would never touch it. We thought it would be OK. IT WASN'T!

Luckily out of the 3 possible causes, rat poison was actually the most reversible and should not have any lasting side effects.

Elle was placed in an oxygen tank for several hours to help her breath. She was given a plasma blood transfusion. And she was give vitamin K, which is the antidote to rat poison. As of today, she is so much better. We had her checked out at our vet's office on Tuesday and some of her numbers weren't perfect, so I have to have her checked again on Friday. But she is eating, drinking, resting, and wagging her tail. She looks to be making a complete recovery. 

Prior to this incident, I had really become annoyed with Elle. Dealing with 2 babies left little to no time for our first baby, our dog. We were taking her for granted. We love our dog and are once again treating her like the princess she deserves to be!

Here are some things we didn't know before going through this:

1. Digested rat poison can take up to three days to start to show signs in dogs. 
2. If your dog is acting sick, check its gums. You want them to be pink like your lips. Elle's were white, which meant she was bleeding internally.
3. Trust your gut. (We already knew this one, but still seemed like it should be said. It saved Elle's life!)

Elle with Calan when he was a newborn. (Photo by Purpletree Photography)

Elle with Maisie. She likes the kids best with they are not mobile. 

Elle home and resting after her very scary ordeal.

Wordless Wednesday: Waiting for snow