Ending Thanksgiving on a somber note

I am so sad to see the end of Thanksgiving break. I dread the thought of waking up early tomorrow and going back to school. I had a great time with my family. One day, I went shopping with two of my sisters and bought a ton of stuff to decorate my newly renovated house. Then my third sister came over yesterday to help me get started on the organization and declutter process. We made a dent, but I still have a long way to go.

Ellie has been great. I guess Thanksgiving Day was just too overwhelming for her with all those people around. She played really well with her cousins on Friday and Saturday. She did tell me that she wanted to go to the store tomorrow and not to school. I believe her exact words were, "No school. Go to store. I don't like school."

I am most worried tonight about my little nephew. Dianna's 3 month old started getting really ill on Friday. She took him to the Urgent Care and then to the ER on Saturday. He is now in the hospital with pneumonia and RSV. They were supposed to be back in North Carolina tomorrow for work, but it looks like Dianna and the little ones will be here til Sunday. I am just praying little Levi has a quick recovery. Not a fun vacation for my lil' sis.

Thanksgiving

Yesterday was Thanksgiving at my parent's house in Beaumont. I don't have any pictures because I was too busy dealing with Ellie all day. She was in rare form. Normally she would be having a blast playing with all her little cousins, but yesterday she didn't want any of them to come near her. She would scream and cry whenever they approached her. And she wouldn't cooperate with anything I wanted her to do either. It was like one big tantrum after another. I have no idea what her deal was. Tom left at 5:00 to go watch the A&M game and I made him take her home with him so I could at least spend a few uninterrupted hours with my family. The boys all left to go see a movie and my sisters, SILs, mom, and I all played the world's longest game of Phase 10. We had fun just visiting and hanging out together.

I felt frustrated that Ellie was so awful yesterday. Some of my family hadn't seen her in almost a year so I hated that she made such a bad impression. Plus, I wanted her to enjoy her time with her cousins since she rarely gets to see most of them. But this morning she woke up her usual sweet self and we had a great time making a breakfast casserole together. And now she is lying on the floor, happily coloring me a picture, and I can't help but feel so very thankful for my little girl.

Photo fest

My parents hired a photographer to do a huge family photo tonight, but before the real photo session, I asked Rosie to snap a few pics of my little family on her front porch. Rosie is awesome.

Sea World

We went to Sea World yesterday with a few of my family members (a few means 18...as opposed to all 35). It was the best Sea World excursion I have had. The weather was beautiful and the crowds were nonexistent. Ellie LOVED it. She is still on her underwater creatures kick, so you can imagine how excited she was for the Beluga whale show and the Shamu show. She also went on the little carnival ride and played on the climbing ropes. We wore that kid out.

Twilight...the movie

On Saturday, a group of us gals went to see Twilight. We were all super dorky about it, too, and sported the tattoos that came with Sabrina's copy of New Moon. Afterward we went out to eat and Sabrina accosted some poor lady who just wanted to enjoy her meal and forced her to take pictures of us. Oh, and I am not flexing, just trying to show off my fierce tattoo.

Friday Night Fun

Well I had a rockin' Friday night. I spent over three hours at the after hours clinic with Ellie. Awesome.

It all started with a phone call from her school at 12:30. I guess they finally noticed the fever that I have been trying to mask all week with Tylenol and Ibuprofen. So, I had to quickly arrange for my classes to be covered and go pick her up. Then I started thinking...a fever for 6 days is probably more than "just a virus." So I went into last year's paranoid-mommy mode and frantically tried to get her in to see her pediatrician. They were all booked up. I called my doctor. Same story. Then I made an appointment at the after hours clinic for 6:20. The clinic that is way on the other side of the universe. I took me over an hour to get there and then I waited an hour and a half before the doctor appeared. By this time, Ellie was passed out on my lap.

Anyway, turns out she had an ear infection, a really bad ear infection that the doctor was shocked Ellie hadn't been complaining about. You can imagine how great that made me feel. Here I am all proud of myself for being laid-back mommy and letting viruses run their course while my daughter was in excruciating pain and I didn't even notice. Yeah, I think I will go back to my old ways of running to the doctor at the first sign of fever. I was starting to miss hanging out in the waiting room anyway.

Home Sweet Home

We moved home tonight! My house is mostly finished, but there is a thick layer of dust coating everything and I have furniture and junk stashed in random places. But I am home and it feels oh so good. Plus, we picked up Kali tonight. Mark and Rosie have been taking excellent care of her the past month. We owe them big time. I never thought I would say this, but dang I missed that crazy dog!

Ellie has been sick all week with a fever and cough. It took all my willpower not to go racing to the doctor. I just keep telling myself there is nothing they can do for a virus and I am not falling into my old trap of visiting the doctor every month!

Well, I have a month's worth of DVR'd shows to catch up on, not to mention all the blog reading I have to do. Did I mention how great it is to be home?

There is hope for her after all

Ellis has been having some difficulties at school. (Don’t you love how I call it school and not daycare? It is easier to abandon your child all day if you call it school.) In the mornings, she was clinging to me and I would have to pry her off my leg and leave her screaming in the clutches of the morning aide. Then, her teacher was pulling me aside after school to tell me how Ellie was refusing to sit during circle time and was causing a disruption. Also, she was refusing to nap or lay (lie?) on her cot. Tom and I were like, um, she is 2, what do you want us to do about it? But we didn’t want our child to be the one all the teachers hated so we decided to try to fix the problem. On Sunday night, we started talking to Ellie about school the next day. We kept saying how important it was for her to sit in circle time and to take a nap. And it worked! She has been good as gold all week: walking right into school without a fuss, sitting in circle time, and taking a nap. Every night we discuss school and the expectations we have for her and every morning I remind her. And when we pick her up from school we make a HUGE deal out of the positive report her teacher gives us. Anyway, it is all very exciting to realize that Ellie has finally reached an age where we can reason with her.

Catch up

We are still living in the apartment so my internet access is sporadic. Here are some pics from Halloween....finally!

And moving on to more recent events, Sabrina and I took the kiddos to Fall Festival this past weekend. Ellie was really tired from her slumber party with Mark's girls the night before, but she still had a lot of fun. They did things like eat doughnuts with no hands. Ellie, of course, did not follow the rules.

And, or course, Kolby did.Then we went to storytime where Ellie picked out the book and promptly wandered off. Kolby and Olivia sat and listened like good children.
Well, at least she sat still for the hand painting...

And the rock painting also kept her entertained...

Next time...I will tell you all about the bad notes I have been getting from Ellie's teacher. Oh how I love my stubborn, feisty little girl!

Halloween marks a turn of luck

We had such a fun Halloween! Ellie looked so adorable in her little Dora the Explorer outfit (wig included)! It was so funny watching Ellie, Kolby, and Olivia toddle up to the doors and say "Trick or Treat!" We taught Ellie to say "gracias" instead of thank you so she could stay in character. As soon as we get our computer back, I will post pictures.

I am feeling much more positive these days as things around me are getting repaired or replaced. Our good friend Alex was able to fix our computer and all we had to do was buy a new motherboard, our warranty service is replacing our refrigerator, my car was able to be repaired within 24 hours, and our house is looking great with a new roof and new paint on the inside. We are making progress! We are having laminate and tile flooring installed next Wednesday and we should be able to be back in our house within a week.

I am really looking forward to Thanksgiving as my entire family is making the trek to my parents' house in Beaumont. When you have as many siblings as I do, it is no east feat getting everyone together. It should be crazy, but lots of fun as always.