Today is January 2nd, 2018 and Brian just went back to work after a week off of work and I’m trying to figure out this momming-on-my-own thing again. Of course, Jordan woke up with diarrhea, so it has tested my skill level right off.
My list these days looks like this:
Boys BSLSDS
and then a few other things
Explanation:
Breakfast and toileting for Jordan and Daniel…. for Breakfast, Snack, Lunch, Snack, Dinner and Snack.
That list takes all day long to finish!!!
Today, the girls have restarted their trickle of homeschool studies, mostly keeping up with math and a few other easier things to keep their brains engaged in reading/comprehending/handwriting than to learn a great deal of new information. I’m hoping to start a history program, but it requires all three girls to be engaged at the same time…. which is a tricky prospect. Mood, other school, other chores, hunger, random owies and distractions make that difficult. I’m still noodling over the is-probably-obvious-but-isn’t-coming-to-mind solution to getting them all sitting down and interested at the same time.
We had a pretty beautiful Christmas. Brian had somehow magically managed to save four vacation days and took the entire week off from working in the office between Christmas and New Year’s Day. Those days were gobbled up by a date with each of the girls. One day was rock climbing with Maggie. The next date I stole…. and Anna and I went to see The Nutcracker on Christmas Eve. And it snowed. The next date was a trip to the pet store to window shop and McDonald’s with Carrie. Monday was Christmas Day for us as a family and then with Brian’s side of the family at our house. Thursday was Christmas with my side of the family. Are there any days not taken yet? Well, Sunday and Monday before Brian went to work we finally relaxed and it was my favorite part. Jordan struggles a lot with the holidays and Daniel was pretty stressed. But we made it. And the kids had a blast.
I’ve been working on Daniel’s meals again. I wanted to calculate what percentage of his calories were coming from fats, protein or carbohydrates. I successfully found the ratio that is appropriate for his age group. I learned about what to change to match it to his goals (gain! grow!). And I found a really smart program for entering meals that calculates a report. (It’s cronometer) The report sucked me in even deeper as it shows beyond macros (fats/proteins/carbohydrates) and gets into micros (types of fats, amino acids, vitamins, minerals, etc.). Tried to figure out how to adjust Daniel’s average day of eating for optimal nutrition (dude, we should all do this for ourselves!) and decided to add a drink of milk and a calcium supplement. In other words, my foods were looking fabulous, but a few more carbs and some calcium were an improvement. Yay me! Yay Daniel!
Now that the big holiday thing is behind us, I’m starting to think (too much) about Daniel’s first medical procedures since that miserable constipation cleanout the week we got home from Bulgaria. Next Thursday, Daniel is having surgery for undescended testicles and for the placement of a gtube. I have grief over initiating a time of pain and anxiety and stress for Daniel. We’ve talked through all our options and this seems to be the best path. But the best path does not always mean no pain. The gtube is particularly known to be painful for the first couple days and then sore for a month or two. 🙁 I’m anxious about how it will go down with the doctors regarding feeding Daniel. If they want to put a full meal in his tummy shortly after anesthesia, I’m not going to be okay with that. I’d like to feed him what I’d feed any of my kids after a surgery…. juice…. then applesauce…. then oatmeal…. then a small meal of eggs and toast… you get the idea? But they plan on me feeding him a nasty, sugary, oily, full calorie formula. I have a plan, but I do hate confrontation. I take being Daniel’s mom and advocate seriously and I’m proud of being his mama. But whew!
Other things I’m trying to do: cook, exercise, PT for a sprained foot, PT for Daniel, homeschool, play lots of video games
Speaking of video games…. pictures from Christmas!
We went to a local retirement home for their “dinner with Santa” because we felt in need of a holiday activity.
I wish you all could have seen Carolyn when she saw Santa. She knows Santa is just for fun, but she hopped up and down and squealed and ran up and hugged his leg repeatedly. She waited with such impatience for me to finish dinner so she could go sit on Santa’s lap and get a candy.
They had an elf taking pictures. 🙂
Anna thought carefully about how to get a candy bag without sacrificing her 10-year-old dignity by sitting on Santa’s lap. She managed to pull it off by “helping” her little brother.
We made it to church for the first time! Daniel nailed a punchline for the pastor by hollering “OH NO!” at a really quiet part of the sermon. Later, he tapped his lips and whispered to me “shhhhh” when I looked at him. Compared to Jordan, he’s a piece of cake to take places!
Maggie on her rock climbing date!
YES, that is her at the very top. (Just random that another climber got to the top at the same time)
This is about what both Brian and Maggie looked like when they got home.
Time to go to Oregon Ballet Theatre’s The Nutcracker!
It was snowing outside. We got seats way up front, but way to the side. We could see the dancers backstage! We couldn’t get up our street, because of snow on the way home and parked at the neighbors. (Brian put the chains on and drove it home) Such a memorable day!
Christmas Eve!
Christmas morning! We had to call Daniel back in whenever it was his turn for a gift. He looked at us and announced, “Open it!” after the first one.
Carolyn is delighted by anything and everything. <3
Me and my big boy. I don’t have a picture of it, but his current favorite gift is a hand dryer. Like the air-blowing sort you see in public restrooms. He’s a happy guy!
She liked the mermaid blanket.
They had as many gifts from each other as from us, I think. Giving each other special toys and handmade items. It was pretty sweet.
Gah, are they not the snuggliest, handsomest boys you’ve ever seen!?
Beautiful.
Later in the day, Brian’s side of the family showed up and we had a turkey dinner together!
And then…. joy of joys… we’d gotten Brian the pieces necessary to play old Nintendo (and other outdated) games in the living room.
Daniel even agreed that he wasn’t allowed to keep unplugging things and stealing bits of the apparatus! Eventually.
Time for Carolyn’s date! McDonald’s and new gloves!
Also a walk around the pet store looking at animals and buying some bones for the dogs.
On Thursday, we had my side of the family over, complete with five cousins, an aunt and uncle (missing my sister and her husband!) and both grandparents. <3
Mom made falafel and we had a Lebanese dinner.
Tessa was thrilled to find an abandoned “shooting” toy that a brother had lost in the fun.
Many of the cousins photos courtesy of this bearded brother of mine!
Girls!
Father/son
Growing up way to fast and looking beautiful in the drop shoulder outfit Grandma got her.
The best buddies five-year-olds.
Tessa took her new wings for a flight!
Eventually, we’ll need a bigger couch?
And that’s it folks! I had some really rough patches emotionally, but it was a time of beauty and love. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Nice pictures. Thank you for posting them. I finally got the password to work.