So Christmas...

kinda sucked this year.

Sunday, December 20th, Hayden begins to complain about his neck hurting.

Monday, December 21st, Hayden cannot move neck at all - worried mom takes him to the emergency room to rule out meningitis and strep. Doctor orders an x-ray, pokes and prods and sends us on our way.

Tuesday, December 22nd, Hayden vomits four times in one hour - back to the emergency room (this time at a children's hospital) where Hayden is poked and prodded a bit more and sent home.

Wednesday, December 23rd, Hayden's neck is suddenly swollen about the size of a golf ball so Mike takes Hayden back to the emergency room. This time they swab his mouth and figure out it is strep (duh!) and give him a muscle shot in the leg with some antibiotics. The doctor promises us he'll be good as new within 24 hours.

Thursday, December 24th, bump on neck is larger and now red, so for the fourth night in a row, we head BACK to the hospital...where he is finally admitted because the strep has infected the lymph nodes and regular antibiotics wont work.

Friday, December 25th Santa came to the hospital! Hayden was loaded up with toys upon toys upon toys...though he was too miserable to care at all about them. He had surgery to remove two abscesses from his throat and jaw area, and a tube the size of a McDonald's straw is sticking out of his neck. The tube must be left in for three days and he must be hooked up to an IV for antibiotics.
Saturday, December 26th - Feeling better after having a doughnut:

Monday, December 28th the tube comes out. We have to keep him in there for another 24 hours on the IV.

Tuesday, December 29th he FINALLY gets to come home! We have the family over so Hayden can open all of his presents, and there were a TON!

Honestly...I'm so heartbroken that I didn't get to see the look on his face Christmas morning after Santa came. The look on his face that I got to see was one of pain and agony. My little boy had been suffering for nearly five days. Five days that should have been filled with singing Christmas carols preparing goodies to leave out for Santa, followed by five long nights in an unfamiliar bed being poked by unfamiliar people. He had to have an IV in three different places. It was so pitiful to watch him plead with every nurse that came in. He would say "Please don't do anything else to me".

He won over every single nurse on that floor, though. He even scored a few extra toys because he was the cute one :) One night while a nurse was helping him go potty, he looked up at her (after having been given a nice dose of Tylenol with Codine) and said very matter-of-factly "You have pretty eyebrows". He's always been a little flirt.

I do know one thing...we will be slowing things down around here. I will appreciate my little boy so much more. When he calls my name and needs me, I will be less hesitant to put down what I am doing and more hesitant to pick it back up again. I love my stinky boy and am so impressed by his strength. He really is my hero.

Below are some pictures for you to enjoy:

For unto us a child is born

"And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto us is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord...

...And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, good will toward men."

Merry Christmas, my friends!

Alright - who has the Rebecca Voodoo Doll?

Today has just been one of those days. I'll spare you some of the nitty gritty, but here's the run down:

*Left work 45 minutes late
*Apparently left lights on in the car. Battery is dead. (Note: I am already running 45 minutes late to meet my friend, Karlee)
*Mall security service vehicle is at the dealership. Being serviced.
*Must flag down some random guy to jump me off
*Get to Brenda's to pick up Dallin and rush to Karlee's and totally biff it in the backyard. Seriously. Fell on my face and rolled down a small hill. Stop laughing.
*(Finally) Get to Karlee's (an hour and a half late!) and step in a nice fresh pile of dog poop.
*Run into the creepiest looking man on the face of the planet at Wendy's (where my order was screwed up. Twice.)

And a few other random mishaps...but that's my fantastic day in a nutshell.

Simplifying

If you've read this blog, or know me even a little bit, you know this has been quite a stressful year for our little family. Things are looking up and starting to come together and Mike and I feel like we can finally breathe. Money is still tight, and with three jobs between the two of us, time is nonexistent, but we our healthy and happy.

I have a tendency to overextend myself. I love to host parties, I yearn to be crafty, I have always felt the need to impress people. Starting now, that is going to stop. I was so stressed and upset with myself because I just couldn't get Dallin's birth announcements out. I let time get away from me and haven't even thought about Christmas cards. The tree just went up a few days ago and I haven't made a single plate of goodies for anybody but my family. And I'm okay with it.

Starting now I am going to focus on what makes me most happy. My family and my Savior. A few months ago we were issued a challenge at church to read from the Book of Mormon daily, specifically focusing on Christ. We were given a red marking pencil and a fresh, unmarked copy of the Book of Mormon and were told to mark every time Christ was referenced. I haven't read every day without fail, but I am averaging about five times per week.

My boys are growing up so fast. Dallin is about to roll over and Hayden is such a big kid! I want to spend more uninterrupted time with them. Time when I'm not worrying about anything else getting done. Time when I can stare into their precious little faces and just love them.

Make no mistake...I'm sure a ton of my energy will be spent on developing my talents and hosting parties, but my relationship with the Savior and my children will be on what I spend the most of my time.

Did you hear?

Mt. Everest, located at Latitude 27° 59' N and Longitude 86° 56' E (summit ridge seperates Nepal and Tibet) is no longer the top of the world. The new location is Latitude 30° 18' N and Longitude 81° 31' W.

Height of the summit is yet to be determined.

Donna's Visit

My aunt, Donna, has in-laws near Tampa, so she came out a couple days early to visit with me and meet the boys! Here are some of our adventures:

First, Donna and I wandered around some of the shops near the beach and found the perfect Florida Christmas Tree:

She took us to Wasabi that night, where we found Hayden to be a pro using chopsticks!
Who apparently likes Japanese food!

YUM!

Outside the parking lot at the Town Center was a fun little carnival...Hayden had been talking about the big "Steering Wheel" (Ferris Wheel) all week while they were setting up, so we went...but once he saw the ferris wheel up close he clung to my leg for dear life.

We rode the kiddie rides instead, and he had a ball!

Donna and Hayden about to get dizzy!

He may look terrified in this picture, but that's just his cheesey smile!

He rode all by himself on the train! *sniff* he's growing up!

He fished and won a frog

(not a real one)

The next day was overcast and chilly - a perfect day to go to the zoo!

Hayden, Donna, Dallin and Me

I'm a sucky blogger

I used to be so good at blogging? What the heck happened? How did my life become so busy? GAH!


I'll give ya the run down:

*Mike got a full time job as a detail supervisor for Duval Ford.
*He is STILL processing with Ocala...please keep us in your prayers
*Hayden and I had the swine flu
*Mike and Hayden now have colds
*Dallin is massive
*I'm still doing the same old thing


Some pictures...and I'm a big fat jerk because there is one pitiful picture of Hayden. Sad.

First, we have my friend, Kendra and me. She moved to Minne.freakin.sota and I miss her tons! Not the most flattering picture, but any night out with a girlfriend sans children deserves to be documented!

"Shouldn't you be feeding me?"

"Maybe if I look more pitiful she'll pick me up"
"I'm so hungry!"
Loving his toy

...a lot

Apparently the excitement was just too much for him to handle...
The boys

He's looking over at Hayden, who is making him smile so big!

Seriously...life doesn't get much better than this!

My new craft blog!

I have a love and passion for all things crafty. I often peruse craft blogs and fantasize of the day that I, too, can become a member of the handmade world. I’m not in a position right now financially to do everything I’d like to do, so I’m always saving ideas for later. I have so many of posts bookmarked and saved on my computer it’s become quite overwhelming…so for no other purpose than to organize myself, I give you: You Can Do It! (they can help). I say “they can help” because anybody that knows me knows that I sure as heck can’t!

My incredibly talented friend, Kendra, is working on a fab new background and such for me, but for now it does what it needs to do.

Just a preview:

So give it a whirl! Click HERE to view it!

Halloween 2009

Hayden was a lucky kid this year! We went to Grandma's Trunk or Treat, our Trunk or Treat AND Trick or Treating around Madison's neighborhood! That's 3x the amount of candy!

Spiderman!
(Just kidding! It's really Hayden)

Dallin, the Dalmation and his little bud CameronHanging out in the Halloween Jammies

Here we have Spiderman, a Train Engineer, and Tinkerbell
Out Trick or Treating...not so sure about that hand
(On the other hand I'm LOVING the black door!)
Such a cute face!
...just don't tell him I ate all of his candy

My desire to be crafty...

I constantly look at the blogs of my crafty friends, crafty friends of friends, and other random people who do crafty things, and I wish I could be that creative. I can follow simple instructions if someone explains every little step (hello Super Saturday!) but I can't ever figure out how to be crafty on my own. It took me a week to figure out a fall centerpiece for my dining room table...

I know. Amazing, right? It came in a box and I threw it in a bowl that I had. That took me a week. And four trips to different craft stores. Lame.

...anyway - someday I'd love to have a house adorned with handmade pieces that don't look like a third grader did it. Unfortunately it costs money to buy craft supplies, and money is not something we have an abundance of, so for now, I will just browse crafty blogs and fall in love with things like these:

Advent Calendar by: Mimi Lee

Halloween Wreath by: Something To Do

Christmas Letters by: Mimi Lee

Cake Flower by: Oops! I Craft My Pants

Witch's Wands by: Our Best Bites

And these next three are by Heidi Russell, but her blog is private...hope she doesn't mind me showing her off!

And then there's me...I glue a plate to a bowl and call it a cake pedestal...sigh