There's a Dead Body in My Bath Tub

I'm cooking my first turkey today, and I'm so excited. It's a huge sucker that is taking forever to defrost, so we opted for the tub method last night.

In the picture is the rock Brian gave me, which I used to hold the turkey in the water.

Post Pity Party

So yesterday turned out to be a great day. (Sidenote: I found my fingers pausing while typing the word "great." When I talk to Brian on our Windows Live messenger, all of a sudden a couple of days ago, it's started to put a happy little grey ball man saying "Great!" every time I type the word, "great," and it bugs me.)

Marcus missed his morning nap, then he was threatening to go to sleep just before we had to take Alyssa to school. I didn't think he'd make it until then, so I called Brian's mom to see if she wanted to come sit with the boys while I took Alyssa. She couldn't, but she invited us over to their house instead.

We had a wonderful afternoon. Ethan played, Marcus and I took a nap (a glorious nap!), and we hung out for the rest of the day.

Pity Party - Boo Hoo For Me!

Okay, just give me a few minutes. I know things aren't as bad as they feel. I know it will get better. Everything's going to be okay, but I just want a couple of minutes to complain. Here goes:

I am tired! Two nights ago Marcus was up from 1:00 until 4:30. He wanted to go back to sleep, but for some crazy reason he couldn't. I tried nursing him, rocking him, walking him, laying him down in his crib, laying him down in bed with me...you name it. Yesterday Brian's mom offered to take the kids so I could take a nap, and I turned her down because at that point I was doing okay. Because of that night, last night was crazy. He was ready to go to sleep by five thirty when I was trying to clean up after dinner. Dinner didn't get cleaned up, and I was going to start getting him ready for bed, but because of craziness from some phone calls, a fed ex truck delivering our replacement cell phone next door, me not being able to find my old cell phone, and other things, he didn't get to bed until around 7:30 or 8:00. He was awake twenty minutes later. Ethan also didn't want to go to bed, and he was up and down and up and down.

So I watched an episode of "Pushing Daisies" (I'm really liking that) while rocking Marcus back to sleep. Ethan interrupted a couple of times, and one of those times he wanted a drink of water, even though he had had nearly ten (not an exaggeration) glasses of water just before bed, and he tried to drink his water laying down, which made it spill all around his neck, then I dried him off, flipped his pillow, and he fell asleep in about twenty seconds while crying. Once Marcus was asleep I paused "Pushing Daisies" and went to bed myself. And Marcus was up a lot last night. Nearly every hour. He went back to sleep okay each time, but still. This morning he woke up at 4:30, and I pulled him into bed with me. He fell asleep after a while, then woke up five minutes later, then Ethan woke up, then they both fell asleep, then Alyssa woke up from a bad dream, then she didn't go to sleep, but was at least quiet, then the cat licked my pillow, then all three kids woke up again. Not because of the cat licking my pillow...they just woke up.

When Brian was home last weekend he put Marcus to bed for me, and he did it in record time. The only reason Marcus is waking up all night is to nurse. His usual nights have him waking at 10:00, 12:00, 2:00, 4:00, and 6;00. He's just on a schedule to wake up and nurse. It stinks. He has no interest in nursing during the day. I've tried to nurse him more during the day so he won't want to nurse at night, but he's just not interested. When Brian comes home for Christmas he's going to be on Marcus duty each night, and hopefully that will fix things. If Marcus is still wanting to nurse all night at that point, it just may be time to wean him altogether, because I can't do this for much longer.

And speaking of Brian being home, I want my husband back! Seriously. I'm going to say that again with more exclamation marks. I really, really want my husband back!!! Wow. I wasn't expecting the really's to sneak in there. It stinks not having Brian here. If he was here then I could have had him take Marcus while I cleaned up after dinner. He could have helped me get the kids ready for bed. I'm trying to keep things clean, but our house gets to be such a disaster so quickly, because it's just me against the three kids, and they can make messes a lot faster than I can clean them. My mom and Brian's mom and my friend and visiting teacher have been helping me by taking the kids so I can go shopping, having us over for dinner, etc. I'm so thankful for that help, and I know I couldn't get through this time without it, but it's not the same as having Brian here. It's just not the same.

So today I think we're just going to recover from life. I'm going to finish the dishes, have the kids help me straighten the living room, then we're going to just bum around the house.

Practically Perfect, in Every Way

We had a wonderful weekend. We spent Saturday morning finishing up some baked goodies.

Marcus found the bowl of green frosting.

We made a mess of the kitchen.

But it was so worth it.

We went caroling around our street, which was so much fun. This was the first year that Alyssa was really able to join in. We sang "Silent Night" and "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" at each house, and when we were done singing Alyssa would run back to our house to pick up another plate of goodies. It was raining pretty heavily, and while we were out, the rain turned to snow. It was beautiful! I love to go caroling. This year, I loved seeing the excitement on Alyssa's face and getting to know our neighbors a bit better.

We went to dinner at Brian's parent's house. We hung out for a bit afterward, then got bundled up to go see the Boat Parade at Howard Amon Park. The couple of times we went when I was little, we never got out of the car, so this time we didn't bundle up as much as we should have. I figured we would drive over, watch the fireworks, get out to see Santa for a few minutes, then get back in the car to watch the boats go by.



Instead, we were running a bit behind, so we ended up parking across George Washington Way to see the fireworks. They were so cool! Fireworks are great, but when they're choreographed to music (as these were) they are super-super cool!

Since we were already parked, we went ahead and walked across the street to wait for the boats. It was 7:45, and the newspaper estimated that the boats would reach Howard amon Park around 7:00. So we rushed over, then waited in the cold with everyone else. We watied...and waited....and after a while we finally saw some lights coming down the river. The parade was 26 boats long, but we only lasted through 6 before we ran back to the car. Even though it was cold, it was still so much fun. It was...cold fun.

Brian took off early yesterday, because of the snow. We didn't want him traveling in the evening when it was more likely that the roads would be icey. He made it to Portland okay, and we're counting down the days until Christmas Eve, when we'll see him again.

Season of Miracles

Have you had one of those days where you wake up and you feel great, and for the first fifteen minutes you think of all the wonderful things you're going to accomplish that day? I'm going to completely clean the house, you think, and organize the cupboards and finish this and that, and it's going to be great! And then reality hits and the kids cling to your legs all day and cry when you try to do anything but sit and hold them - but the thing is, they don't really want you to hold them or play with them. They just want to keep you from doing anything but pay attention to them. And then at the end of the day you realize you didn't accomplish anything at all, not just the things on your list.

I've had days like that, and they stink. But today was not one of those days!

I woke up with no specific plans on accomplishing anything, but I actually did so much. We had a slow, relaxing morning. The house was reasonably clean, and at 11:15 we took Alyssa to school. The boys and I made a quick stop at Winco, and both boys fell asleep on the way home...and stayed asleep long enough for me to bake a ton of Christmas tree sugar cookies. And my parents just happened to stop by a little before I had to pick up Alyssa, so I was able to leave the boys with them, instead of waking them up to drive to Alyssa's school.

And this afternoon the kids stayed happy enough for me to make goodies to deliver to our neighbors tomorrow. Plus we cleaned the house, and went to a Barbershop Christmas concert.

It has been a wonderful day, and I've gotten so much done. Who knew that could ever happen?

And Brian just got home. He gave us all hugs at the door, but now he's being lovingly attacked by the kids. I've got to go fight for my turn.

Lunch Time

The first bite of a corn dog is, in my opinion, the best bite of a corn dog.

Missing My Pillow Flipper

Brian and I spent our honeymoon at the Anniversary Inn in Logan Utah. It was snowy and beautiful. Being Valentine's Day weekend, we got a huge discount at Tony Roma's next door when we showed our hotel key, so we ate there a lot. We watched a lot of Richard Gere movies, because that's what they had in the hotel movie library. And we discovered that when two people try to cuddle while they're sleeping at night, one of those people usually has their head on the pillow, and the other person usually has their head halfway on the pillow or not on the pillow at all.

We didn't like that situation, so we came up with a brilliant plan, and stopped at Walmart on the way into Provo, UT to purchase a body pillow that would soon become our normal pillow. We bought a green pillow case for it, saw that it fit perfectly across our queen sized bed, and I, at least, was awestruck by our brilliance.

That night, our first night together in our tiny apartment, we snuggled down in bed, completely comfortable, and fell asleep. Not too much later, I was woken up when the pillow was pulled from under my head, turned over, then plopped back on top of my face. I don't think I really understood exactly what was going on until quite a few pillow flips later, but about halfway through mid morning, I discovered that every so often through the night, Brian flips his pillow. He picks it up, turns it over, sometimes folds it in two, then lays his head back down. He does this because he likes to lay his face on the cool side of the pillow, then as his body heat warms the side he's laying on, he flips it to the cool side...all night long.

So our brilliant plan didn't work. We put the body pillow on the bed when we made it each day, and took it off when we went to sleep each night. Brian has had his own pillow to flip ever since then.

Now the good thing about Brian flipping and punching and fluffing his pillow throughout the night is that his pillows never go flat. My pillows always go flat, which is why I'm glad that he goes for my pillow on mornings that he stays in bed longer than I do, because that way my pillows get some good fluffing, too.

So with Brian being gone, my pillow is very flat. I lay down each night, and I can hardly tell that there is a pillow there at all. It's taken me a while to figure it out, but last night I discovered that I could use the pillow that he uses when he comes home! Problem solved, and I know which pillow he'll be using next time he comes to visit, because mine needs some serious fluffing.

Decorated, Again

Kissmas Tree

My mom came up with this idea when we were little. We've just barely started calling it a Kissmas tree, though. I don't know if that was a unanimous decision, or if it was only Kim and me. Each ornament has a Hershey kiss for everyone in the family, so everyone gets a kiss each day as you count down until Christmas. This was one of my favorite traditions; it's exciting to get some chocolate every day, and it's so pretty.