Took these of Gwendolyn today. She's pulling herself up on everything like crazy



When I wouldn't open the gate, she started rattling it, just like big brother does!



Finally, when I did open it, she had to show off by going one-handed :)



I forgot to mention yesterday that Ethan shoplifted. I'll have to get a picture for his baby book :) While Jason was in the electronics department buying a Nintendo DS, Ethan grabbed a CD and the plastic sorter and popped them into the bag. Jason didn't realize it was there until we got home. The CD is some super-hardcore gangster rap. Pretty funny. I'll be taking it back next time I get to the store!

Had kind of a stressful night tonight. Kids didn't nap hardly at all in the afternoon and got cranky. I got cranky because they hadn't slept so Jason decided that eating out was in order. We ordered Chinese and had it delivered. Pretty decent. Ethan totally digs General Tao Chicken (I think that's what its called).

Oh, this morning Gwennie, Ethan and I had our first communal meal. We all ate oatmeal together. Gwen LOVED it. She ate so much. Then tonight we gave her rice and she wolfed that down too. She's been getting impatient with spoon feeding and smooth foods. She wants to feed herself and she wants interesting stuff! Poor thing... I wish she'd get some teeth already so we could get her started on some really good eats.

Went on a walk today. Could tell that its been a few days since I went. Felt winded and sore before I'd hit the end of the street. I don't know how I got so lucky, but I've gained NO weight over the holidays and have in fact lost. Either this walking is really effective, or my cold is effective, or them working together has been effective because I'm consistently losing even when I fall off the diet wagon for a few days.

I didn't mention it before, but last Thursday my Mom brought over a pregnancy test she had left over from her scare for me to take. She felt that I might be preg since this fatigue and nausea has been around so long. It was negative, which is fine with me. I want another child, but oh my goodness, not right now!

A couple more pics tonight... I've realized that we very much like bath pictures. We have hundreds!




We still do not feel recovered from Christmas. We all suffered through sugar withdrawal today and had bouts of crankiness. Gwen didn't nap at all, but hopefully she'll sleep through the night.

We had pulled pork sandwiches tonight with homemade bbq sauce. They were really really good.

Gwen can now officially pull herself to standing on ANYTHING! Her favorite place is on the kitchen gate... so now I have two little faces staring at me while I'm trying to cook. I just cannot wait until she's able to complain at me too ;)

I took some cute video of Gwen playing peek-a-boo tonight and Ethan running around naked :) I'm editing it as we speak (8:50 pm) so it should be up by the time most of ya'll read this. Just click on that, "Check out our videos" link up on the right.

Merry Christmas everyone!

I will keep this short as we are all pretty tired.

Ethan and Gwen received so many cool gifts. I don't even know where to start naming them... Jason got Ethan a tool workbench that is so cool... I got Ethan a tunnel/cube set that he went bonkers over. Gwennie got a ball spitting toy that is so fun that the adults played with it more than the kids... They both got adorable outfits and towel sets. Trucks, dolls, a toy chainsaw that is totally awesome... gosh, I know I'm forgetting tons of stuff! It was great.

Jason was overly generous with me! I got a Sonicare toothbrush, a high-tech kitchen scale, SimCity4, and a triple digit gift card to Old Navy. Wow! I got him the complete Calvin & Hobbes bound set, a shirt, and an Atari game stick. As you can see, he WAY outdid me :) I got two pizza stones and a Kelly Clarkson CD (yeah, thats right) from my Dad. Jason got a magnetic screwdriver set, subscription to Sports Illustrated and a book from my Mom. I know I'm missing stuff, but my brain is too tired to remember everything!

In any case, we've had a marvelous day. After everyone left here, the kids napped and when they woke we headed out to my Moms for dinner. The food was good, the company even better.

My Grandpa read one of Shelly's stories, based loosely on some of our Lake Chelan experiences. It was very good, as are all of Shelly's works. It captured that elusive and indescribable feeling that one experiences when visiting the cabin. Its hard to explain to someone who doesn't have ages of memories there, but seeing the cabin from across the lake, then walking through the property, on the beach, through the house arouses millions of different memories and stories of others memories. Its a powerful place.

I just brushed my teeth with that Sonicare and WOW. It tickled my teeth and tongue. I can't say those parts have ever been tickled, but that's the only word for what happened. It was strange! However, my teeth feel super clean. The booklet does say that one will feel tickling until you get used to it. Hope I get used to it soon as its not really a comfortable feeling!

Oh, the roast was good, but there is TONS of it left. Tons! I think we'll do pulled pork sandwiches tomorrow, then split pea soup, then maybe tacos. Will probably have to freeze a large portion of it for later because there is just so much!

Ha, so much for keeping it short. Well anyone who knows me knows that I can talk a persons ear off without even trying so going long when I said I'd be short is no surprise!

Loves to all of you.

Some quick pics


Isn't this adorable?


Ethan playing with his new tunnel set. He went crazy with this thing!


Ethan, who is quite the ham, had us all in stiches when he kept trying to put his toy drill up his nose!

I suppose I should make note of what you see below... It is the pork that I'm making for Christmas dinner. I made a paste of garlic, red chilies, ginger, rice vinegar and olive oil. I scored the skin of the pork, then rubbed the mixture all over. Into the oven for 24 hours it goes!



Its filled our house with a lovely porky smell. Mmmmm

Have stuff I could write but so dead tired. I'm getting lots of sleep, but can't get over this extreme fatigue. Today I read about how raw garlic can get you over a cold fast and so I've eaten 4 raw cloves (pressed through a garlic press into oil, then bread dipped in it). I smell dreadful, but it will be well worth it if I wake up feeling normal again tomorrow.

It saddens me that because of this darn cold I haven't made any christmas cookies or had much christmas spirit :( I started a few times but the nausea would hit me and I couldn't follow through.

Can barely keep eyes open... Nighty night!

Today was full of bumps and bruises.

This morning I was trying to be responsible and put away my laundry BEFORE my Mom came over (poor thing ends up putting away all my laundry every single Thursday) and Ethan was on the bed playing. He needed to get down, so I was helping him but our hands slipped and he knocked his head on the bed rails. He hit right in the corner of his right eye, which now has a big bruise around it.

Later, when Gwen woke up from her morning nap I went in there to get her and noticed that she had pulled herself up to her knees against the side of the bassinet insert and had one leg up... she was nearly standing. As the bassinet insert leaves maybe 4-6 inches from the top of the pen, she could have easily toppled out. I grabbed her and made a mental note to remove the bassinet portion before her next nap.

Well, of course I forgot. Hence during her second nap, right after I put her down, she stood up and fell out. Poor thing! Jason had just got home and needless to say he was not pleased with my forgetfulness! Luckily she was ok and we took out the bassinet and all is good :)

Despite the rain, we went walking today. Or at least did a little walking. As I was putting the kids in the stroller, I noticed a white car rolling slowly down the street. I thought it odd, but didn't give it much thought. As we walked down to the mailbox, I saw the white car idling in the street. Not in front of any particular house, just in the street. As I came into view, they sped away. So this made me a little uncomfortable. It was just odd. The car circled around again, slowly. I told myself if I saw it again I would turn around and go home because it was just weird. Well, as I started down the next street, I saw the car coming slowly towards us. I stopped, the car stopped, and I turned right around and headed back to our house. The car turned around and drove away. Don't know... could be just a strange fluke but I always want to trust my instincts when it comes to thing like that. Which reminds me, I want some Mace! Situations like the above are exactly why I've been so reluctant to walk around the neighborhood by myself.

I had bad nausea during the afternoon and didn't eat much all day. We had mac & cheese (blech) which I did eat some of, just because I had to have something in my tummy or I'd get a headache. I wish whatever is causing me these bouts of sickness would just go away!

Well well well... what a day!

It started off nicely enough with the kids sleeping in till 7:30. I hope they keep it up... Finally I'm catching up with some sleep!

After laying the kids down, I was in the bathroom getting ready for the day when there was a knock upon the door. I figured it was a delivery person, and as I had not yet changed from my nightclothes, I ignored it. Well, there was a second round of knocking and this time it was quite loud and insistent. The dogs were going absolutely bonkers, which they don't do for normal delivery people. This got me worried.

I tiptoed into our bedroom, found some pants and came out only to see a county sheriff at the door. All I could think of was "What did our bitchy no-good neighbor complain about now that would bring a policeman out?". After opening the door, the officer told me that they had received a 911 call from our home and was everything ok. I said it was and it must have been my son who had called (he was playing with the phone earlier), but the officer pressed me for many details, such as who was in the house, the ages of the kids, was my husband home, where did he work, over and over he'd say, "And everything is ok?". It wasn't until after he left that I realized he was asking all that because he thought I might have been told to say that everything was ok as a cover-up. All the while he was peeking in my kitchen window and through the door. He even had his nightstick out (maybe to fight back the dogs? hehe).

Anyway, I was mortified and will now make sure that Ethan has no contact with that phone... EVER! Not even 2 years old and he's already called the police on me! :)

Shelly came just after 12 and babysat while I did some errands. I went to JoAnnes and got my yarn which is totally lovely. I'm not going to say what I'm making as its experimental. You'll just have to wait and see if it works out ;)

After that I went to Pal-Do World which was an enormous disappointment. I'd expected something like Uwajimaya or Central Market... something upscale. However, it was quite the opposite. There were boxed goods laying EVERYWHERE. Many of the shelves were bare, and the meat case was abysmally empty. In the pork section, they had slices of pork shoulder. That was all. In the beef section, there were slices of flank steak. That was all. The produce looked ample and smelled good and a wide variety of exotic ingredients was available, but overall the experience was completely lacking. I won't go back.

After that I hit a few more stores looking for the elusive cut of pork I need for Christmas. Of all places, I hit the jackpot at Safeway! There was only one of these babies... a huge 20lb pieces of pig. Its beautiful. There is something (I believe I've noted this before) very appealing, exciting and luxurious about cooking a gignormous slab of meat. It cost a fortune, but not really when you think about how many it will feed with leftovers too! I'm over the top happy I found it! While I was there, I picked up a few other items I needed for the dish... red hot peppers, ginger and garlic which will be made into a paste and rubbed into the pork.

We ended up having Honey and Soy Glazed Salmon with thyme flavored rice and braised cabbage for dinner. Jason hates this meal, which is rare. Usually he likes everything I cook. Ethan and I loved it. Yum!

I've posted an adorable little clip of Ethan dancing. He's soooo cute! Was only about to get 1 1/2 minutes of footage because the camera was full.

I'll type more later, but here is a pic of Ethan with his beloved sleeping bag he got from Les & Karen.



And here are two pics of the poncho I made for Gwen. Came out really good, though my seaming still needs a good amount of work.





Later, at 8:45pm

I'm still struggling with this nasty bug. My congestion level improves each day, but I have these crazy bouts of overwhelming nausea and my stomach aches from time to time. Sorta feel like I may have a touch of the flu. Hope it clears up by Christmas because I want to eat and play with freedom!

Today was slow and restless day. Both kids slept all through the night last night which was great. Didn't even have to get them up till 7:40, although we were all awake before that.

I haven't walked since Thursday as I felt too sick. I miss it and the time it took out of our day... our afternoons seem longer without the walk.

For dinner we had a potato and cheese soup with salad and bread. It was ok. I don't know if it was me being congested or what, but it tasted rather bland.

Ethan has been smothering poor Gwen with love lately. He hugs her, he flops on her, he kisses her. Just tonight, we were cuddling on the floor together and he wanted Gwen to join us, so he went over there and tried to pull her across the floor. As you can imagine, she did not enjoy this attempt!

We've also introduced Ethan to the joy of "Ring around the rosie" which he wants to repeat over and over again. Be warned, any who start this activity with him!

Gwen can now pull herself to a stand and is doing it all over the place. In cribs, on toys, everywhere! She is also saying Mama and seems to identify Ethan as Baba. Her creeping is amazingly fast and any day she'll get those knees underneath and be off.

Shelly is coming tomorrow to watch the kids while I take a quick sanity break. Gonna run to Michaels or JoAnnes and get some yarn for my next project and check out Pal-Do World (huge Asian food market in Lynnwood) to see about finding my roast for Christmas. I'm thinking of doing 24 hour pork which is fantabulous if you can find the right kind of meat which is hard to do because everyone wants lean, bland, flavorless pork these days. I recall looking for this cut a couple years ago with two of my co-workers in tow. I swear we hit every single supermarket and gourmet foods place in Queen Anne with NO luck. Good times.

Anyway, should scurry off to bed.

Grr... still sick. At times I feel a lot better, but then I have other times where I feel much worse. I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired!

Yesterday Les and Karen came up from Oregon for a visit. We had a good time and they brought the kids the coolest gifts! A set of cute clothing for each of them, then lots of awesome toys that even I can't keep my hands off. Really fun stuff. I'll try and get some pics up tonight.

The kids have been sleeping well the last few nights. Ethan not waking at all and Gwennie only once. I'm so thankful because I need that sleep to feel human with this cold.

Thursday I got a crib from a second hand store. It converts into a toddler bed and also into a full size bed, just like Ethans crib. I put it together on Friday and it looks really good. We just have to get a mattress and then we'll be ready to try room sharing again.

Thursday night we went to that Christmas festival, which was really cool. I think the kids were still too young to fully appreciate it, but next year should be a blast. The lights are amazingly done. There were these huge draft horses pulling a wagon for rides, pony rides, petting zoo, food, carolers, fires burning here and there to warm yourself at, etc. Very nice. It was FREEZING cold though. When we arrived it was like 27 degrees according to the car thermometer, but it felt colder. It had to be one of the coldest days of the year so far and here we were tramping about.

Well, better go. Have to go get dressed and ready for the day. Jenni will be here in a bit, hanging out until Dad can pick her up.

So I'm finally getting around to editing this post to say what these pics are about...

This is from the snowfall we had a few weeks ago.



Not much explanation needed here... A bath pic!


This is from the Christmas festival we went to in Stanwood. There were all sorts of cool animals to pet, but Ethan was only interested in the bunny who nibbled on his glove. He loved that bunny!

Edit: Its fixed, but I have to re-upload so it will be a few minutes before its active :)

There is a small problem with the videos I uploaded. I should be able to have 5 minute clips (since we're paying) but they're still limiting me to 2 minutes. Thus, the video up there is cut off before Gwen begins the real action. I've contacted customer service and hopefully it will be fixed soon.

Just a quick note:

I have two videos of Gwennie creeping that I just uploaded. Click on the link on the right. They are dark for some reason, but if you can download them you can adjust the brightness on your player.

Everyone is mostly over the sickness except me. I still have it and bad. My entire body aches, even down to my fingertips.

All for now... kids are fussing.

Two blogs in one day, wow.

I feel like a colossal failure. The children are back in their original rooms. The second nap went horribly, I lost my temper in a tremendous fashion and acted like a dreadful Mother. It just wasn't meant to be today.

Jason brought home dinner as I was too upset to make any. I cried on his shoulder for a bit and felt better. Being sick and trying to make such a big change was a big mistake. Everyone was a mess, but after bath we were able to salvage the evening and the kids went easily and quietly to bed. Not surprising since Gwen didn't have any naps today and Ethan only an hour. I'm itching for bed myself now.

Hopefully tomorrow will be better. I have a cooking class, which I may ditch depending on how I feel. Must go grocery shopping though, and will be stopping at another second-hand store to find a crib. No point in buying a new one when she'll be able to use Ethans soon. Later that evening we're going with the Guthries, grandparents, Mom & Jenni to some big Christmas thing up in Warm Beach. It looks like a really huge deal. They have tons of food, petting zoo, enormous light displays, etc. Should be fun.

Off to sleep away this disappointing day.

Ok, it is now the kids second nap sleeping together. The first nap was a complete disaster. After 15 min of quiet, they both started crying and Gwen ended up not sleeping at all (I eventually just got her up) and Ethan only got an hour.

They are both still awake, but fairly quiet in there. I don't care if they're awake. I just need them to be quiet.

My Mom was right in asking why I was doing this while I was still under the weather, as my patience to endure a major change is probably not very high... well, I just felt like it HAD to be done now and I'm the type that will rush things through even if its going to be harder if I feel that they have to be done immediately.

So I've been walking every day for like a week now and not ONCE have I ran into another person. Well, today I ran into 3... and two of them were mothers with babies. Of course, this is the day that I took no care of my looks. My hair is dirty and carelessly pulled back, not a spot of makeup, long sleeve tee, jeans and sneakers. I have dark circles under my eyes from lack of sleep and I'm pale as a ghost from being sick. Of course I would have to meet other mothers on this day! They were all bundled up from head to toe and I'm out there in a tshirt and jeans (for some reason I've been constantly overheated lately) and my kids are whiny with runny noses. I'm sure we looked like lovely play date companions :)

I'm thinking that tonight we'll have something with pork chops, if I can summon enough enthusiasm for cooking. The house is messy and I feel so darn behind on everything.

Great! Gwen is now fussing. I'm not sure how to handle it, because I go in there, Ethan will get all riled up. Ugh. If only we had another free bedroom we wouldn't have to go through this! Its enough for me to allow Jason to put his computer in the front room and free up his office for a bedroom.

When will I feel like things are under control again?

Well yesterday I said that this cold wasn't too bothersome. Today it became bothersome!

I slept restlessly and woke with a high fever and raging headache. Jason, bless his heart, stayed home from work to help me with the kids. I slept through their first nap and felt a lot better.

Ended up going to Other Mothers with J and the kids later in the day to see about a crib for Gwen (they didn't have any). When we got home, for some reason I felt like I HAD to take my daily walk for fear that I'd break what is becoming a habit. Well, we did the walk but it took a lot out of me. We measured it and its a full mile... add to that being feverish and congested and pushing like 70lbs of kids/stroller weight and its pretty rough.

Didn't have too much enthusiasm for cooking tonight, so we had tomato soup and Ethan had grilled cheese.

The kids are doing better with their colds and I feel like I'm on the upswing now. Hopefully we'll get better soon now.

Tomorrow I have plans to put Gwen in with Ethan cold-turkey and just deal with it. Sleeping in the living room has gotten very old.

We are still alive, but just barely. Still slogging through this seemingly endless cold. I finally succumbed to it a few days ago. Its not too bothersome for me, but today I've had that tightness in the chest that makes even breathing painful. Ugh.

Today we went for our daily walk, but I reversed my normal direction which means fairly steep hill at the beginning, long gradual downhill section then another steep hill section at the end. It was worlds harder than the way I had been doing it... two downhills and a long gradual incline. I don't' know if it was the cold or the walk, but I was sore from head to toe late this afternoon.

Gwen is scooting around like crazy. She's pretty darn fast too. Today she actually cruised a bit... from my leg to the couch, so she's getting those legs used to walking!

Ethan's vocabulary is continuing to explode. He repeats much of what I say (gotta watch myself now!) and is always pointing out things. His first words book is barely holding together from all the use he's giving it.

He woke up super cranky from his afternoon nap and dinner only made it worse. He screamed all through bath (unheard of for him!) and we had to do two time-outs for throwing and screaming fits. Finally we were able to distract him and he rolled around with Daddy on the air mattresses for a long time. He ended the night happily... asking US to put him to bed. Gotta love that!

Jason just returned home from getting us some McFlurries. Yum. Its dreadful that I have such an addiction to them, but after a stressful night with Ethan, ice cream seemed like the only solution.

For dinner, we had a tasty pasta and sausage dish... Called simply enough, "Sausage Pasta". I didn't have the frozen spinach it called for (strange, because I always have frozen spinach!) so I used a bag of frozen bell pepper strips, that I cut into bite size pieces. Fast, filling and better than fast food.

Seems like nearly everyone is sick. Becki, grandparents, us. 'Tis the season

Jason left early for work today and the kids and I struggled through. We had a rough night (I stopped counting how many times I was getting up after the 4th time) and I was dead on my feet. After morning naps, we headed over to Mom's. Becki was there and we all had a good time visiting. I brought over all the spare change in the house and we rolled it... ended up with $125. Woo hoo! This money is going into my "meeting my babies message board ladies in Vegas" fund for next September. Its nice that I can put money into that fund from pocket change... doesn't seem like such a big deal that way.

I ate like a total pig today. Leftover pizza for breakfast, McFlurry for lunch (my reasoning was that it would soothe my sore throat, which it did) and eggrolls at Mom's for dinner. I had finally broken through a weight plateau I'd been stuck on for awhile but I suspect that I might have recrossed that mark today. Blah.

Jason is still not home yet. He called a bit ago and said he'd be home around 10 or so. I hate being home alone. For one, I'm often overwhelmed by the children. Secondly, my overactive imagination kicks into high gear once it gets dark and I feel very vunerable, although crime is hugely low in this area. Just can't relax when I'm home alone after dark.

Unfortunately, the cold hit me too. Not as bad as the others, but I have a sore throat, minor congestion and that cloudy head feeling. I think I might also have an ear infection as my right ear is hurting quite a bit.

Jason is working late tonight and all weekend. Since the kids have been sick, they haven't been sleeping well at all. Today Gwen did not nap for more than 30 min the entire day. I'm so worn out! She's so over-tired right now that you just look at her wrong and she starts fussing. I wish he was here right now to help out. Its like I'm on my last little bit of sanity. Tomorrow we're going to go out to my Mom's and maybe I can catch a nap there while everyone plays with the kids.

Yesterday Mom was here to babysit and cleaned the house super-thoroughly. It is SOOO nice! I got 98% of my Christmas shopping done yesterday, and finished the last bit up today. Big relief off my back. Now I have tons of stuff to wrap, but I actually enjoy that :)

Far too tired to cook tonight, so our pizza will be here any minute. Kinda negates the good that my walk did today (around the block again), but I can hardly muster up the energy to care very much. At least Ethan will eat it. He loves pizza.

The kids and Jason have been sick. First it was Gwen and Jason, then as they started to get better, Ethan got it, and got it much much worse. Poor little guy. His nose is constantly running and he had a fever of 102 last night.

It doesn't seem to be slowing him down too much, but he's a major crab.

We went walking around yesterday again and the poor little guy zonked out in the stroller. I tried to push him back so he would lay down on the seat, but every time I did that he'd wake up and yell at me :) So there he was, leaning forward against the straps, fast asleep. Finally he did relax down and got a 15 min nap while we walked.

Gwennie is soooo wiggly now. Last night she was ranging all over the couch, over J and I and Ethan. She rolls, she scoots, she grabs. She's a danger! Her and Ethan have started mixing it up a bit. He tries to take her toys and now she's old enough that she won't just let go. So they have a little tug of war, with both of them yelling. Obviously Ethan eventually wins, but then Gwen lunges after him. So the sharing wars begin :)

I started a new knitting project... I'm making Gwen a little poncho. So cute!

Gwennie has started creeping! She's been threatening to do it for what seems like months now and she finally did it yesterday. I'm very glad as the sooner she crawls the better... The better for Ethan and Gwen to entertain each other!

Ethan has been developed a problem with throwing things in peoples faces and hitting. Poor Gwen has been the recipient of remote controls, bottles, cups, toys, game controllers, and anything else you can think of thrown on her. The only thing that has given her any injury was the XBox game controller than Ethan got her with today. Once she starts crying, Ethan usually feels quite a bit of guilt and immediately comes to hug and comfort her. Of course Gwen is upset by him and so she tries to push him away :)

Today Jason ran out of gas on his way to work so the kids and I had to go rescue him. Luckily, he was just around the corner!

Mom came over to babysit today (filling in for Grammy, who was sick) so that I could go to the dentist. I just got a cleaning done. Ouch, my poor gums hurt now! No cavities though. We also discussed having my wisdom teeth removed soon and my dream of having braces. Wisdom teeth will definitely happen, but braces will not likely happen soon as it would cost a fortune and that money should probably go towards us getting a better house.

While I was gone Gwen had TWO bottles of breastmilk... 6 oz! That's like, unheard of.

After Mom left, I put the kids in the stroller and went to get the mail.... and kept on going. I ended up walking around the block, which is about 1/2-3/4 of a mile. Felt good.

Last night I put up lights in our bushes and trees. Looks quite festive.

I'm feeling so frustrated and angry right now over things that I'm simply too exhausted to write about. It was just a really rotten day.

I have so much to write about but hardly any energy to do so :)

Yesterday I woke with a scorching headache. I took prescription stuff, 3 tylenols and chased it with a huge coffee. Eventually it eased so that I could see clearly and have some cognizant thought. However, I could feel it just lurking, waiting for the migraine meds to wear off.

We had planned to do our family pictures yesterday and I'm glad that I was able to get through the headache to get them done. It took a lot of work to get a time and get there so I wouldn't have wanted to try again. The kids were cranky, the lady was new and I was high on drugs, so after about 45 min we got only 4 decent pics.





After these were taken, we tried to get a holiday pic of just the kids but it was so not gonna happen. The kids started crying and didn't want to sit still.

After we got home I put the kids down, but Gwennie wouldn't sleep. While I was dealing with her, my headache came screaming back all of a sudden. I had to leave the room and lay down immediately. Imagine someone ripping your brain apart and that's what it felt like. Ouch. Luckily Jason was able to care for the kids and went out and got dinner while I slept. I probably slept almost 2 hours, then got up to handle the kids then went back to bed.

Today I felt much better, thankfully. My Mom came over at 11 to babysit while I did shopping. I hit Costco first and spent a unholy amount of money, though in my defense 1/4 of the cost went to one of Jason's Christmas presents. I did also buy the softest sweater ever created (I lurve it!) and a blazer that will go back cuz it just doesn't look right. After I was done there I headed to Fred Meyer to pick up the few things I couldn't get at Costco.

While I was out it started snowing and kept up pretty heavily. By the time I got home it was accumulating slowly on the grass, though the roads were still clear. Jenni and I unloaded the car, then Mom help me put away all the stuff. We got a call from Grammy & Grandpa who wanted to stop by since they were in the area. Mom left soon after they arrived as she was nervous about driving in the snow.

For dinner we had pork chops in a mustard sauce with twice baked potatoes and spinach. Mucho yummo.

Last night was weird. Ethan woke up at midnight screaming like he was terrified. I'm not sure if it was a dream or what, but he didn't want to go back to sleep. He cried and cried and cried and we tried having him sleep with us, giving him Tylenol (thinking that perhaps he was in pain) and eventually won by giving him a warm bottle of milk. Needless to say, we were pretty tired this morning.

Snow came down pretty hard during the night, but was almost gone by this morning.

Grandpa came over and cleaned all our carpets and they look amazing. Good as new. I couldn't believe (I never can believe...) how much dirt and hair came up. Wow. There is one strip in the front carpet that didn't get clean because he ran out of cleanser. Comparing that strip to the rest of the carpet will really make you go eeew because its gray compared the beige of the clean rug. My housewife geek side reallllly wants a carpet cleaner!

The kids were really good with their Poppa. Gwen charmed and Ethan was incredibly attentive. As you know, he loves vacuums, and it was almost overload for him to be there when Poppa vacuumed AND used a carpet cleaner. He would run between the rooms to tell me what was going on was Poppas little shadow. Very cute. By the end of the day he was helping as best he could :)

Still no teeth for Gwennie. How long must this child teethe before teeth appear? I want to give her more solid foods, but she needs teeth!

Tomorrow we're going to get our picture taken as a family, and also get some of Ethan and Gwen together. Lets hope that no facial injuries happen before picture time and that everyone is smiley.

Oh. My. Goodness.

I'm so freaking tired. Like can barely keep my eyes open, will fall asleep on a slab of concrete if I have to, tolerate the dog in my bed, sleep through earthquake tired.

Today I got nothing done. I was distracted and just couldn't seem to keep my mind on anything for long. I also forgot to take my Zoloft, which is maybe why I have this headache now. After the kids went down for their second nap I made some bread, started dinner and quickly sorted some laundry, but that was about it. I started sorting toys today... Wanted to give some away in preparation for the Christmas haul, but before I could remove the box I was going to get rid of, Ethan got to it and they're now back in with the regular toys and the regular toys are all over the front room in an enormous pile. Sigh.

There was a big tiff on the message board I moderate on. It kept my attention all morning, which is probably partly why I fell behind. Luckily its been resolved.

Ethan fell out of his highchair today. He tried to sit on the tray and he fell over backwards. He know has a bruise on his forehead and a cut above his eye. And we were gonna get our pictures taken on Wednesday. Sigh.

We had split pea soup and foccacia for dinner tonight. It was good. I made a ham stock by simmering the leftover ham bone from Thanksgiving and a smoked turkey leg (really nummy btw) with onion, bay leaf and peppercorn for a few hours. The soup had split peas and lentils since I didn't have enough split peas. The foccacia was great, as it always is. Anything practically fried in olive oil and sprinkled with salt couldn't be anything but delicious.

Sealab 2021 is the most irritating show on television. Jason is watching it right now. The only tolerable part is the theme music which gets stuck in your head... "Seaaaaa-lab, underneath the water"

Oh, I forgot to mention this earlier. This weekend I ended up being able to wear two pairs of jeans that were before babies. Yay! I'm not sure how this happened as my weight has dropped only a pound or two, but I guess I must be losing inches :) No complaints. Its nice to be back in those jeans.

They're calling for a couple inches of snow here tonight.

Grandpa just called. He's coming over tomorrow to clean my carpets. Bless that man.

Off to bed.

We've had a really busy weekend.

Saturday was Jenni's 13th birthday. We left early and ran some errands and visited at Mom's house. We had the party, then Aunt Daralyn, Lindy (cousin) and her husband Tim showed up earlier than expected. We didn't get out of there till nearly 8 and once we got home we put the kids directly to bed and zonked out ourselves.

We were supposed to go to church today, but as I was up 4 times between 1am and 6am, and Ethan was like the super-cranky, it was decided that us missing both the morning and afternoon naps (as the kids and I were heading back to my Mom's to visit) was not smart. We skipped church and let the kids have their morning nap.

The kids and I headed out to Mom's at about 2. We visited with everyone until Lindy & Tim arrived back from having Thanksgiving with Tim's family. They had an announcement to make... Lindy is pregnant! She is 6 weeks along. Its very strange and exciting to think that now my cousins are moving into this stage in their lives. We are all growing up. Its cool that she is pregnant because our kids will all be closely spaced.

There is the youngest cousin, Ben, who is 5. Then Josh's (cousin) son Kadin who is 3, Ethan who is 20 months, Gwennie 7 months and then Lindy's baby, which is due in late July. All the kids will be spaced out similarly to how us cousins are :) My hope is that our kids will be as close as we were.

We had snow this morning. Not a lot... just 1/4 of an inch or so. Ethan didn't get a chance to play in it before it melted. Hopefully we'll be able to get some more so he can enjoy it.

Majorly tired. Off to bed.

Well, I said I'd put up pics today but it ain't happening. I'm tuckered out.

Ethan was up twice last night. I find it so... what's the word... we'll go with irritating, that after finally getting Gwen to sleep through the night Ethan is now waking. Its so unfair.

Jason went out and got us some milk, bread and pellets. The essentials :) After using the pellet stove for awhile, the baseboard heaters just don't cut it. We had them on full blast and just could not make the house warm.

I went out later in the day to pick up things I forgot to have Jason get and I ended up getting a whole bunch of random stuff, including a new angel for our christmas tree and two candles that smell great when they are unlit, but have no scent at all when they are lit which is disappointing.

We put up our christmas tree today. Its fake and pre-lit so its super easy. Ethan doesn't seem that impressed by it, which is good :) We decided to put it right out in the living room, next to the pellet stove so that I could easily keep an eye on it.

I'm irked right now because of all this rain... its caused the enormous hole that the dogs dug to become a mud pit and they are tracking in HUGE amounts of dirt. Its horrible. Its so much that I just can't keep up and our feet are filthy at the end of the day. I'm going to have to think of some way to fix it.

Tomorrow is Jenni's 13th birthday. I can't believe she's so old *sniff*. I remember her birth clear as day. I even remember what I was wearing and how my hair was done. I was 14 years old.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We just returned from Grammy & Grandpas house. We got there around 2:00 and left about 7:15. As soon as we got home, we got the kids in jammies, fed them, then sent them off to bed. Gwen took a short nap this afternoon (convienently while we ate) but Ethan had no nap and so both of them were very worn out.

All the food was delish, and visiting with all the family was so nice. Grammy & Grandpa did a great job of hosting! After dinner we talked and played the piano and frolicked with the kids. Good times.

We took some photos too, at my Mom's request. There are some good ones, but I'm far too tired to upload them all now.

Oh I am weary. So so weary. Not from lack of sleep, but from cooking so much! It doesn't seem like I made a lot, but it really wore me out. I made a Dutch Apple pie (apple pie with struesel topping), prepped my sweet potatoes and then made chicken stock for mazto ball soup for dinner.

Sigh. My matzo ball soup. I was really looking forward to it but I used a different, more "gourmet" recipe and they came out as hard as rocks. They actually bounced. I do not know what happened, but they were tough and fairly tasteless. So disappointing :( At least the stock and chicken were good.

Gwen was so funny this evening. Every time we'd sing (which is pretty often... we're always making up little songs for the kids), she'd start sticking out her tongue in time to the music. I kid you not! It was really strange :)

We started her on two meals a day... she now has 2-3 Tbls of food at breakfast and dinner. It hasn't seemed to affect her nursing schedule which is really my highest priority, as nothing I could feed her right now would be close to the calorie and fat content of breastmilk.

Ethan was quite a little rapscallion today. He kept climbing on the table time after time after time. We'd block the chairs and he'd move them and climb up. He'd wait until we left the room or were distracted then he'd start working on it. Finally we had to put the chairs upside down on the floor to stop him. It seemed that no matter where he went he was getting into trouble.

Tonight we were playing with a flashlight and he saw his shadow. It seemed to frighten him for a few moments. Its been gradual, but he's developing some fears of late. A hesitancy about the dark, running to me he finds something scary on TV. He's still mostly fearless, especially when it comes to physical feats.

Tomorrow we head to Grammy's house for Thanksgiving. Should be fun :)

All day I was thinking about what I would type here tonight and when I finally sit down to do it, my mind is blank. Blah!

The weather has been bizarre the last couple days. Its been foggy all day, every day. Its not just a light fog either... its a fairly thick, dense layer. Fog is not all that unusual this time of year, but usually it would burn off. Its strange to go all day without being able to see past your back fence and it makes me feel somewhat claustrophobic.

Today I got the house swept and mopped. With the recent damp weather and the dogs digging (grrr!) mud has been tracked in like crazy. Yesterday I swept the house TWICE and still got a big pile of gunk today. Of course, I look at it right now and its already filthy. Another sweep and mop tomorrow if I get the time! I also did tons of laundry, put away most of it, did a bit of sewing to repair a blanket and a couple loads of dishes. Whew. No wonder I've been dead tired every night lately.

Jason and I are still in the living room. Next week I've decided to start the kids sleeping in the same room and see how it works. I think that it could definitely be workable. However, I'm going to have to really prepare myself for the undoubtedly rough adjustment period that will occur.

I've gotten together my Christmas list and already picked out the gifts for the kids. Now I just have the hard stuff left... I can't really say what that is because the people that will receive them read this blog, but its just a lot of work. Well worth it, but a lot of work :)

Can't believe Thanksgiving is the day after tomorrow. Wow, it just really snuck up on me. Tomorrow I'll be baking my ham and Dutch apple pie, then prepping the sweet potatoes right before we head to Grammy & Grandpa's house.

Tonight for dinner we had a surprisingly good sausage/pasta/sun-dried tomato/spinach dish. My description is very lacking, but it was very good and quite easy. Last night we had beef stroganoff made with beef tenderloin and mushrooms. I thought it quite good, but Jason said he still prefers the ground beef version.

I've finished 3 books over the past 1 1/2 weeks. Yay! I still have 4 more to go and my Mom picked up two for me today. Reading is such an escape for me and I devour them so fast that I fear eventually I will run out of things to read! Luckily, I know Shelly has many book recommendations so I still have a few years before that may become a reality ;)

Haven't blogged at all over the past few days. Just been too tired and too worn out. I think I may be fighting off a bug.

Friday the kids and I went up to Grammy & Poppa's house (their great-grandparents) to visit and we went to a really cool park. I have good pics, but my camera is dead and Grammy & Poppa have the power cord with the video camera we lent them :)

Saturday I had a dreadful headache and the kids didn't sleep. I ran back out to the Other Mothers store to return the clothes and shoes that didn't fit Ethan and the dresses for Gwen that we decided not to use. While I was there, I got yet another pair of shoes for Ethan, this time a size larger, in hopes that they would fit. They were cute little Gymboree loafers. Well, that kid just has the thickest feet and I couldn't wedge those things on him for the life of me! Grr!

Since the kids were such crabs, I was thinking we should cancel going to Shelly's play, but I'm glad we ended up going. Becki babysat and the kids were really good for her. The play, as I posted last night, was really excellent. Shel did a fantastic job as Shelby.

Today we didn't do much. I woke up with another aching headache. It seriously felt like I had a hangover, but I didn't have a drop of alcohol :) We ran out to the shoe store (this time with Ethan in tow so we could try the shoes on him!) and found a cute pair of dress shoes. We also went into Fred Meyers to pick up a few odds and ends. It was packed, as one could expect the weekend before Thanksgiving!

Tonight for dinner I made Jason's favorite meal. Chicken fried steak, cream gravy, mashed potatoes and peas. It was very good, but oh so heavy. I feel like I put 5 lbs on my hips just eating that meal :)

This upcoming week will be busy with Thanksgiving prep and me starting on my Christmas projects. I both enjoy and dread this time of year.

Really quick note. Just got home from seeing Michelle in Steel Magnolias, in which she rocked! It was really very good.

The kids have been sleeping well, except for today when no one wanted to nap. Otherwise they have been doing great. We may be back in our bed tomorrow. Yay.

Thats all for now. I'm tired but want to get some reading in before I totally fall asleep.

<3 ya'll

Today was a full day.

I went to part of a cooking class. It was on bread and soups and I stayed for the bread section. The soups were things I'd already done, and since one of the instructors was sick, everything was a bit scattered and I ended up bailing early.

After that, I went to Other Mothers and sold my Bumbo sitter and some clothes. While I was there, I got some dress/holiday clothes for the kids. I can see that dresses for Gwen will be my weakness! Couldn't decide on what dress she should wear, and since she is so small, I got all the ones that I liked so we could try them on at home then return what didn't work. I also got some tweed pants, a sweater and shoes for Ethan. The sweater and shoes didn't work and I'm returning two of the dresses I got for Gwen.

Here's what I'm keeping:

This is a flannel plaid wrap dress with a frilly sleeve/neck turtleneck onesie


This is a velvet jumper


This is what she'll wear for our holiday pictures. Its velvet on the top, lace around the middle and a heavy satin on the bottom. She looks absolutely stunning in it!


I also went grocery shopping and got everything I need for Thanksgiving. Its strange not to be having to stress about hosting it this year :)

Stopped also at Payless shoes and picked up some funky boots. However, they will be going back as Jason says they are horrid and remind him of the wicked witch! I think they're kinda cool, but if everyone else says "eewww" maybe I'm wrong :)

After I got back Mom, Jenni, the kids and I all went to the Silver Lake park and played for about an hour. It was a lot of fun.

Tomorrow we're going out to Grammy & Grandpa's tomorrow and if the weather is good, we'll be going to a park there too!

We had assorted leftovers for dinner. Jason had soup and biscuits, I had deep dish pizza from the night before and Ethan had some of both of ours.

Two pieces of good news.

1. Gwen slept through the night again. Yay! Ethan woke me up once though :)

2. After over a year of working on Gwennies blankie, I have finished. Ethans took about 3 months... I mostly knitted at work. Gwens took soooo much longer because I just couldn't put the time in. Lately though I was really motivated to complete it.

Here it is:



And here's one of Ethan because Daddy told him to go mess up the blanket while I was trying ot get a pic!


I was rather crabby today because although we mostly got to sleep through the night, Gwennie had a big puking incident in the morning. She threw up tons of milk all over the bed and herself. I got that all cleaned up, then she did some more. Basically she couldn't keep anything down till about 11am, though she did not appear or act sick. Gwen did not nap at all in the morning and I had to rush through my shower and didn't get anything done. That always puts me in a bad mood. After Ethan got up I changed his diaper and it was dry (after like 4 hours of being in it!). I thought that perhaps he'd like to use the toilet, so we went in there, but he didn't go. I decided to let him go diaperless for about 15 min, then try him again on the potty. Well, he ended up peeing on the rug.

While I was cleaning that up, he went over to my other side and peed inside the tupperware container of cheerios. Then of course he tried to eat the cheerios. Oy!

For dinner we had Potato-Leek soup. It was ok. I tried a different recipe and this one didn't call for the soup to be pureed like we normally have it. It was chunky and while it was good, it just wasn't what we were used to. This normally is one of our favorite soups and we were kinda "eh" about it.

Yesterday Becki came over and joined us for a big turkey dinner that I made. Yes, I realize that Thanksgiving is next week, but this time of year inspires me to eat turkey more often. It seems a shame you can only have turkey, stuffing and cranberries one day a year! We had a good time visiting and she helped give the kids their baths. They enjoyed seeing their Aunt :)

The best thing happened last night. Gwen slept through the night! However, Ethan did not :) He woke up twice. Luckily he went down easy again.

Today we didn't do much. We ran out early because we were out of milk and I had to get my coffee. I put on a sweatshirt, put the kids in the car (still in pj's) and we headed to the espresso stand :)

Tonight for dinner I made turkey enchiladas using the leftover turkey from last night. I made a homemade enchilada sauce which was quite tasty. The whole meal was really good, especially with avocado and sour cream. Gwen had some mashed up avocado and LOOOOOVED it. She ate every single bit and I think she would have eaten more!

Out of nowhere Gwen is now babbling like crazy, saying "bababababababa". Any day now she's going to say Mama or Dada, I just know it!

I really need to get going on my Christmas stuff. We've pretty much planned out what we're going to get and stuff, but its just getting around buying and organizing. Its hard to believe that Thanksgiving is next week, then Christmas just a month away and soon the new year will be here. Time is really flying.

Last night was our best sleep in a long time. Gwen only got up once, at 3:00am. Unfortunately, the dogs woke both kids up at 6:30, but I really couldn't complain too much. We're really getting used to sleeping in the living room. We find that the air mattresses are pretty comfy.

Today we went to a park... I don't recall what its called, but its that one in Snohomish on the Pilchuck River. It was cold, but we had a great time and got some fantabulous pics, which I'll add at the bottom of the post.

I came down with an aching head, kinda swollen tongue and sore throat. I fear I may be getting sick! Kinda bailed on dinner and we had leftovers from last night. The pot roast was REALLY good, both yesterday and today.

There is an enormous stack of book on my counter waiting to be read. I've moved past my fascination with medieval English royalty (in the time of Anne Bolelyn, etc) at least temporarily and am now interested in historical fiction set in ancient Egypt. I finished reading that banned book, "The Egyptian" and still am not sure why it was banned? It just so happened that AMC was playing the movie version of the book. The movie was pretty bad and really mangled the story line. However, I do love watching those old movies because of how they're done. The special effects are really poor and the actors talk SO much compared to today's movies. In a way, they are much more entertaining than the movies of today.

Ethan can say some new words. He now says "ball" and "egg". His desire to have us read through his picture book 100 times a day seems to be resulting in a growing vocabulary! He surprises us with what he understands. Under "A", there is an ambulance. Under "C" there is a car. Well, when he points to the ambulance and we say ambulance, he keeps asking until we say car. He thinks *we* are wrong! Its funny how he linked those two together, even though they look nothing alike.

Oh, and today he went potty in the big toilet! Woo hoo! We set him on it facing backward and he went. He's done it a couple times and he gets so proud. He flushes, then gets his sticker and runs to the potty chair to put it on.

Ok, here are the pics.

Here are the pics I promised the day before yesterday. Had a bad night, then Mom came over to watch the kids while I went grocery shopping and by the time I got back and everything I was just sooooooo tired and unable to get the pics up.














Last night we had a very tasty salmon dish. I don't often make fish, but I've been trying to fix that. The recipe was SO simple. Barely cooking. It took 30 min, and 20 of those minutes were just waiting for the rice to be done. Here it is: Honey and Soy Glazed Salmon. We had it with basil rice and garlicky spinach. Ethan loved the salmon... even more than Jason did :) The salmon was great because its very simply done, but crispy on both sides, then you put that glaze over the top and its just a great contrast in texture.

So far today I've been cooking like crazy. I've made some dough for dinner rolls, then some bread dough for breakfast tomorrow (going to make monkey bread), then got my pot roast going in the slow cooker. Haven't managed to get in my shower yet, but hopefully the kids will stay asleep long enough. Otherwise I'll have to wait till Jason gets home or their next nap, whichever comes first :)

I forgot to mention yesterday that I saw a movie, 3-Iron, and it was boooor-ing. Its a Japanese film and generally I have a great love of foreign (Asian especially) film and can tolerate the plodding story lines that sometimes come along with them. This however was FAR too slow. I was able to fast forward through nearly all of it and not miss a thing since the main characters said like 3 words the entire movie.

Well, our little test to see how Gwen slept with us out of the room worked kinda. She woke up at 10:30, 1 and 6. Except for the 6am waking, she went back to sleep fairly easily the other times. I slept so much better outside the room though and so we're going to do it again tonight.

Today I was feeling guilty about how I never take my kids anywhere. No parks or anything. So, I went to this really cool park I've heard about (not too far from Costco) on Silver Lake. Its huge and their playground ROCKS. Ethan, poor child, didn't really know how to play. He just walked around mostly and threw rocks and bark. He did swing, ride on a rocking toy, go down a slide twice on his own and walk around on the extensive play area. Probably his favorite part was seeing the geese though. There was about 10 of them just outside the play area and when he saw those he darted towards them so fast I couldn't keep up. I was toting Gwen in the stroller and I had to literally run to keep up with him. He chased one all the way down to the beach, where he saw the ducks. The ducks are pretty tame and they came up on the shore around him and he was in heaven! He then picked up sticks and tried to throw them at the ducks. I had to drag that child away from the birds.

There was another child there about Ethan's age and they had a few interactions. She was throwing a fit and sitting next to her Dad. Ethan did his "walk" to her, kinda like he was showing off. If you don't know, his walk is this straight legged gait. He kicks his legs up high and keeps them very straight. Its super cute. Anyway, he walks up to her that way and gives her this "hey why are you not playing" hand gesture. She put her head into her Dads shoulder and then Ethan picked up two pine cones and pitched them at her. Luckily, he was far enough away and his throw was pretty weak so they didn't even notice, but I did. We moved away before he got another shot at her :)

Tonight for dinner we had mashed potatoes (with skins on), hamburger patties, gravy and sauteed bell peppers. Pretty good. I gave Gwen some straight mashed potatoes with some olive oil to loosen it and she LOVED it! Ethan always liked potatoes flavored with olive oil.

Oh, I have some pics from the playground, but am too tired to put them up tonight. Will try to do it tomorrow.

Last night we tried having Jason sleep in the living room while I stayed in the room with Gwen. She woke up at 11, 2, 5 (awake till 6) then Jason woke me at 7am with some espresso. Every time she got up it was a MAJOR hassle to put her back to sleep. She has to be sleeping ON me (not next to, or on my arm, but on my chest) or she thrashes around and refuses to sleep. Its strange because she's never really slept on me previously, so its not like this is what she's used to.

Tonight I've put two air mattresses in the living room and Jason and I will both be sleeping out here. Our hope is that the ultra-quiet room may help her sleep longer. If it does, I'm not sure what that means. We have no space to give her a private room.

My recipe for Tuna Casserole was requested yesterday via comment. I'm almost embarassed to put it up because its not at all high-class :) I have a weakness for those canned french-fried onions, so the recipe is from there: Tuna Noodle Casserole. Its so simple and thats why its in my "too tired to cook" rotation. However, I do not do the microwave version. To me, microwaves are not for cooking. They are for reheating and defrosting :)

We've started giving Gwen cheerios and man, does she love those things. She was getting all upset tonight because I wasn't feeding them to her fast enough. Ethan went by with a few and she practically lunged at him! He has learned the joy of feeding Gwen and now any small food bits he tries to share with her. Last night it was peas and tuna, today it was dried apricot bits, then cheerios. Bless his heart, he just wants to share but I really dreaded this stage because I know it will be ripe for choking!

Another dreadful night. Not much to say, just that going all day on 4 hours sleep is killer (not in a good way).

However, I did get alot done. Did numerous loads of laundry and put most of it away, cleaned the kitchen, vacuumed, cleaned Ethans room and managed to get in quite a bit of reading as well.

We had a simple tuna casserole for dinner.

Ethans new thing is trying to put his fingers in your nose. It is gross.

Blah. Gwen was up from 2-5 this morning. Worst fussiness EVER. She was screaming so loud I was worried that someone might call the cops. She had just worked herself into a major fit and nothing we did helped. Jason was sleeping on the couch. He tried to calm her for awhile, then brought her back to me. It was just bad. We all rolled out of bed at 7:30; Ethan the only well-rested one.

Due to this bad early morning, no one was in a good mood and we've been crabby all day. didn't really do much. Folded some laundry and played with the kids.

Oh, I have some new videos up, so click on the link on the right side to see those.

I made beef tacos tonight with homemade taco shells. Good stuff.

Hopefully we will sleep tonight. Jason and I are just miserable right now and I'm feeling that cloud start to re-form over my head :(

Oh, here are two good pics I took of Ethan today. I was actually trying to get some of Gwen and grabbed a few of Ethan at the same time. Turns out none of Gwens came out, but Ethans were great.

Ethans eyes really pop in the picture, especially if you click to see the larger version. The OB who delivered him says he has 'bedroom eyes'.

Very tired. Gwen didn't sleep well last night. Jason worked today so he left early in the AM and the kids were insanely cranky before we left for my Moms. They were great while we were there, but then were super cranky on the way home.

We had a nice visit at my Mom's house and I made eggrolls for dinner. Becki was there and it was good to see her. We were able to give Jason about 4 hours of free time after he got home from work.

Too sleepy to write more.

Oh lovely rain, how I adore thee. I dreamed of you during the summer and now you have come! Seriously, I'm loving the torrents of rain we're getting. Fall *IS* my time of year.

We didn't do much today. I made some spinach-ricotta ravioli for dinner, picked up the house, swept, did numerous loads of dishes and laundry, got in a few rows of knitting and started my new book (once it was banned, called "The Egyptian").

Jason came home early as he is working tomorrow and he spent a good amount of time playing with the kids while I made what seemed like thousands of ravioli. We had them with a tomato cream sauce and they were really quite good. I had a whole tray of them that I didn't use, so I'm freezing them for use later. Ethan really liked them and since they are very easy to eat with the hands, they'll make a good lunch for him. Good way to sneak in the veggies too.

Gwen has slept through the night the last two nights. Basically from 11pm to about 5am. So nice. I can usually get her back to sleep for another hour or so after feeding her. This sleep, combined with my newly upped dosage of Zoloft seems to be keeping me on a fairly even keel. I still get moments of frustration and stress, but it no longer seems overwhelming. My lows are not depressive.

Wednesday we took Ethan to the doctor about a rash he has in his diaper area. He had the same rash a week or two ago, but after applying some Bacitracin it disappeared. It then reappeared on Monday, much worse.

The pediatrician wasn't our normal one, and she took one look at this rash (that is all over his diaper area) and said that they were spider bites? Huh? At the time Jason and I were too shocked and horrified to say anything, but the more I think about it, the more unlikely it seems. For one, the rash is not in a typical spider bite pattern. Secondly, Ethan almost always wears footed sleepers with ribbed cuffs. Meaning that these spiders would have to crawl into the sleeper through the neck then make their way down his diaper and *only* bite him there. And I've never seen a spider in his room, EVER! Oh, and these 'bites' all happen at once, then fade. He's not always getting new ones.

Anyway, I still think it might be yeast related, so I'm putting Lotrimin on it for a few days to see how it resolves. I just don't believe its spiders.

On the way home, we stopped at Lowes to get some pellets for the stove. While the guy was loading them in the car Ethan started acting up, so I gave him the Happy Meal box from lunch earlier. I didn't look at him again until we were on our street and when I did I got a big surprise. The caramel dip that had come with his apples (yah, great option to french fries there McD's... apples with caramel dip!) was still in the box and had busted it open and smeared it all over his face, hair and hands. He was glistening with caramel. I couldn't help myself and I said, "Oh! Ethan!" and he then seemed to realize that he was covered in stickiness and started getting upset. He clapped his hands together and they were so sticky that he could barely pull them apart, making him even more upset! It was sooo funny!

Today the best thing I did was make bread. After my disappointing results the last time I tried, today was a wonderful success. Its a sandwich bread so there isn't much crust and the texture is very fine. However, it tastes wondrous and chewy and soooo fresh. It makes me not want to eat the boring bland wheat stuff that we always have. I found a good place to let the dough rise... On the back of our pellet stove, over the pellet holder. It doesn't get hot, but there is so much warm air circulating back there that the bread rises beautifully and quickly.

Tonight we had that Thai Beef Red Curry again that I made a week or two ago. So good. So easy. Love it!

Yesterday was Halloween. I spent the entire day cleaning and getting ready :) Mom, Jenni and Michael showed up at 5:30 and joined us for dinner (slow cooker chili). Soon afterwards, Grammy and Grandpa showed up, then Becki, then Aunt Deanne, Aaron, Ben and Brynne. We got Ethan dressed up in his dino costume and Gwennie in her little bunny sleeper (not really a costume, but it does have ears).

Gwendolyn was cranky from the get go for some reason. Here's her and Nana. Check out the crazy hair, she looks like a Kewpie doll.



Here's Ethan in his costume. The boy loves to mop, and I certainly am not going to stop him!



One of Ethan, Gwen and I. I went as a "Mommy without makeup" ;)



Here's one of Aaron, Ben and Gwen. We tried to get Ethan in there, but he was raring to go and wouldn't sit still. Aaron was the Scream character and Ben was a rhino.



Ethan and his Poppa (great-grandpa)




Gwen all set to go in her stroller. Such a flirt!



Ethan and Mommy (that darn head kept falling over his face!)



Checking out the loot


Walking home


Grammy and Michael stayed home... Michael to do homework and Grammy to pass out candy. We only had 13 trick-or-treaters the entire night. We barely saw anyone out on the streets either. However, Ethan still got tons of candy!

Today we didn't do much. Gwen didn't sleep well at all and I was woken up every 30 min or so from about 12-6. That's tough. The Zoloft seems to be helping though as I surprisingly didn't lose my cool, although I was so tired and weary.

The kids were restless and bored. At one point Ethan got up and walked to his crib and asked for his nap. You know you're being really boring if a toddler asks to go to sleep!

I took this cute pic this morning. They were both playing with the Leap Pad and giggling.



For dinner we had a delightful pork tenderloin with a maple spiced glaze, peas, and rice pilaf. Healthy and delicious. Good counterpoint to all the candy that was eaten today. Frozen Snickers are sooooo nummy.