Back to Work

Tonight was my first night back at work in four weeks. The management has been fantastic in allowing me to take the time off that I needed to let my knee heal. Of course, the fact that they are supposed to be cutting hours helps! They really didn't need me much, so I suppose the injury came at a pretty good time.

It was an extremely slow night, even though it took me 20 minutes to find a parking spot. Everyone is at the theater and restaurants - they're not shopping. Since I hadn't been in for four weeks, I spent a lot of the time reacquainting myself with the store and getting to know all the new products that have come in over the past month. No customers came into the store after 7pm, so we all folding and cleaned and were completely done with our "after closing" work by 8:30. We were scheduled until 10pm to allow time to clean up after we closed at 9pm, but we were headed home by 9:20.

Once I got home, I realized that I was in a bit more pain than I initially thought, but it's been easily dealt with by sitting on the couch with a heating pad. It will be nice when I can work a shift without any knee pain, but I am so thankful that it has healed itself well enough that I am able to go back to work and avoid surgery (provided I don't re-injure it somehow!).

I didn't really realize how much I enjoy having a night or two each week to go off to a job. I've been going a little stir-crazy at times over the past few weeks and it finally occurred to me tonight once I got to work. It's a nice break from being "mommy". I'm just me and I can have real, adult conversations without little children running around, screaming, and destroying things I just cleaned up - something I couldn't say when I worked at Payless, that's for sure!

The boys seemed almost happy that I was going away to work today. Hmm. They didn't complain when I got ready for work, which is something that almost always happens. And when I said goodbye and told them I was going to work, they just waved and said, "Ok, bye mommy!". Maybe they realized how much they like me working too!

My hours will be very limited. I work again tomorrow to help with inventory, but that was a last minute request by the manager - I wasn't originally scheduled for it. Then I have a regular shift next Saturday. I will probably have just one or two days a week for quite a while and I'm just fine with that.

Nathan's 2 Year Check and a Comparison

Nathan had his 2 year checkup today! He is doing great and there are no concerns in any areas.

He had the receptionists cracking up when we arrived because he was giving me the BIGGEST "You have ruined my day by bringing me here" kind of look as we were checking in. They were laughing for a good five minutes. Crazy boy. They said, "We have never seen that look on such a tiny child! He's SOOO cute!". So I guess his angry looks aren't very threatening. Go figure!

Nathan didn't like the nurse asking him to do things, especially stand on the scale. He responded with, "Um, no thank you". She said, "Well, that's very polite of you, but I still need you to stand on the scale". :^D

Once he got all measured, he tried to talk me into leaving. "Let's go to the door, mommy", "We need to go get Aiden" (Aiden was in class), "Let's get in the car", etc. He didn't care that the doctor hadn't even been in yet.

The doctor asked all the usual questions and found Nathan's ever expanding vocabulary to be quite funny. For a kid who didn't want to be there, he sure had everyone very amused! The doctor remarked that Nathan's measurements indicated that he'd a huge growth spurt recently and I agreed. Most of his pants no longer fit! I feel like I just went through and packed away all the too-small things... After the poking and prodding, Nathan got a flu shot and didn't even wince! Once the nurse said, "All done!", Nathan said, "Ok mommy, time to go get Aiden!". He seems much older than his two years sometimes.

This two year checkup prompted me to dig up Aiden's old measurements and see how the boys compare for their first two years. It was interesting to see their differences, especially since we always saw Aiden as the Chubster and Nathan as long and lean. This might not be horribly interesting to anyone else but their mother, but it's nice for me to have it all written down.

Birth:
Aiden - 7 lbs, 1 oz; 19 1/4 inches
Nathan - 7 lbs, 2 oz; 20 1/2 inches

2 Weeks:
Aiden - 7lbs, 2 oz; 21 inches
Nathan - 7 lbs, 13 oz; 24 1/2 inches
NOTE: The reason Aiden is much smaller than Nathan here is due to Aiden's feeding issues right after birth and needing to be hospitalized for 24 hours at 3 days old. Nathan had no feeding issues whatsoever!

2 Months:
Aiden - 10 lbs, 1 oz; 24 1/2 inches
Nathan - 12 lbs, 3 oz; 24 1/2 inches
NOTE: This surprised me. Same length but over two pounds weight difference. We were still working on feeding at this point, though nearing the end of medical intervention.

4 Months:
Aiden - 15 lbs, 8 oz; 25 1/4 inches
Nathan - 14 lbs, 11 oz; 25 3/4 inches
NOTE: Here you can see that Aiden FINALLY picked up the weight gain and gained over 5 lbs in two months. Nathan was little slower with the weight and only gained just under 3 lbs.

6 Months:
Aiden - 19 lbs, 7 oz; 25 3/4 inches
Nathan - 17 lbs, 3 oz; 26 1/2 inches
NOTE: Here Aiden begins his lead in the weight department, but Nathan is getting further ahead in height.

9 Months:
Aiden - 21 lbs, 8 oz; 27 inches
Nathan - 18 lbs, 15 oz; 29 inches
NOTE: And they've found their places! Aiden is a true chunk, while Nathan wants to be a basketball player (not in this family, kiddo).

12 Months:
Aiden - 23 lbs, 12 oz; 29 inches
Nathan - 20 lbs, 8 oz; 29 inches
NOTE: I find it odd that Nathan didn't grow a single inch in three months, but oh well. This is when the doctor began encouraging whole milk for Nathan instead of the 1% that the rest of us drink. He was still nursing at this time, although not often.

18 Months:
Aiden - 27 lbs, 6 oz; 33 inches
Nathan - 21 lbs, 14 oz; 31 1/2 inches
NOTE: These weights and heights do seem drastically different, but I had to go off kilter a little bit here. Aiden's is from his 18 month checkup, while Nathan's is from his 15 month checkup. Nathan didn't end up having an 18 month because of John losing his job and with it, our health insurance. Aiden didn't have a 15 month check because Kaiser didn't schedule things that way.

2 Years:
Aiden - 30 lbs, 4 oz; 35 inches
Nathan - 28 lbs, 6 oz; 35 1/2 inches
NOTE: So today, Nathan is just over the same height Aiden was at this age and is skinnier. I look forward to seeing their 3 year old stats side by side.

I could have done head circumference as well, but I thought that would have made it too confusing. Basically, Nathan has always had a slighter bigger head than Aiden. I could have told you that from remembering their births, but oh well. Ah, the memories of no pain killers! :^)

Could This Be It?

As many of you are well aware, we've been struggling to get Aiden to complete potty training. While he has known HOW to use the bathroom for quite some time, he seems to have had no personal motivation to keep it up. The pediatrician concluded in October that it was a power struggle and he would eventually give it up and decide he was potty trained. We were told to encourage bathroom use, but not make a big deal out of it.

Aiden has been wearing underwear here at home during the day, but has been wearing Pull-Ups if we go anywhere and also during the night. Yesterday, we were getting ready to go to the grocery store so I told Aiden that it was time to get his Pull-Up on so we could leave. Imagine my surprise when Aiden responds, "No, I'm not going to wear those anymore". I was a little hesitant and did finally convince him to wear a pair to the store since he was wanting to go into the playplace. I didn't want to have him end up having an accident, making the poor attendant clean it up. But once we got home, he went right back into underwear and we talked a little more about using the potty all the time.

John has been working 12+ hour days (15 hours yesterday), so the boys and I gathered some dinner to take to him at work. Aiden wore underwear on the trip to see daddy and did great. We got home and began to get ready for bed. Since Aiden had never indicated a want to wear anything other than Pull-Ups to bed, I told him it was time to change into Pull-Ups. He says, "No, mommy. I told you I don't wear those anymore". I had to sit there for a minute to figure out how to approach this.

I was still fairly hesitant and I began to see that it was affecting Aiden. My questions to him were somewhat doubtful and Aiden began to respond to all questions with, "I don't know how to do this". Once that started happening, I realized that this was extremely important to him and as his mom, I needed to show him that I have faith in his ability to complete the potty training process by himself.

So I started over. I smiled at him and said, "Aiden, would you like to be a very big boy and wear underwear to bed tonight?". He got a huge grin on his face and said, "Yes!!". I told him that if he wanted to do that, he needed to go potty right then before he got in bed. He hopped up and did it! Once he came back into his room, I explained that if he went potty in his underwear in the night, his bed would be very wet. So if he woke up and needed to go potty, he could leave his room and go to the bathroom by himself. And first thing in the morning, he needed to use the potty before he did anything else. He seemed quite confident, so I left it at that.

Once the boys were in bed, I paced around the living room feeling very nervous, but I think it was mostly because I was thinking ahead to him going to school today and wondering what would happen if I suggested Pull-Ups to him. We still have two hours, so I can't tell you anything yet.

I eventually relaxed and realized that the worst case scenario was a very wet bed and since his mattress is plastic and easy to clean, it's not a huge deal. We would know in the morning. So what happened this morning?

A very DRY bed and a little, excuse me, a BIG boy who used the bathroom right after getting out of bed. We are so proud of Aiden and are excited about what this might mean for the end of potty training. Now that he seems to have personal motivation, it could be over quite soon.

Preschool Placement!

I am happy to report that both boys have been placed in the classes we requested for the upcoming school year! They will attend class at the same time two days a week, with Aiden attending a third day.

I will be parent helping in both classes twice a month, so my alone time will be limited, but I will still get a few days a month to myself. And if all goes perfectly, we will have a house on the street right next to the school so I would be able to drop them off and be home within two minutes! We are so excited for the boys!

My Cutie-Pants Little Boy

One of the great joys of being a parent is watching your child do things when they think no one is looking. Nathan was playing with Duplos and began singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star along with the Raffi CD he got for his birthday. He was doing it completely absentmindedly and didn't notice me watching until he was almost done with the song. Once he noticed, he blushed and acted embarrassed! So cute!

One other little thing that he does that I want to mention on here for prosperity is how he says the word 'Astronaut'. I try to get him to say it as much as possible because I know he'll figure it out the correct way sooner than I'd like.

"So Nathan, who rides in the Space Shuttle?"

"A hotten-naut."

I love it!

Severe Lack of Motivation

I have things to blog about.....Nathan's birthday party, a mom's night out, and other little things. But I don't feel motivated. Funny how I'm motivated enough to blog about not being motivated though! It doesn't just apply to blogging - I'm putting off the laundry folding, reorganizing the kitchen since getting new dishes, taking things to Goodwill, going through the boys' clothes again (we had another growth spurt over Christmas!).

My sleep schedule has gotten all out of whack and I'm barely pushing through the days lately. I'm ready for bed about 5pm each day. The boys have created a new and fairly reasonable sleep schedule for themselves and I should be pretty happy about it. They are going to bed at 7pm, going to sleep right away (instead of staying up for 2 hours playing and talking, which used to be the norm), and then waking up around 8am. They are finally getting enough sleep! My problem is that I can't seem to fall asleep until 1am or later, regardless of how tired I am, then I'm up with the boys at 8am. It's just not enough sleep for me to be a normal, functioning human. I know that if I can just get myself in bed and asleep earlier, we will be rocking the best sleep schedule possible.

One little issue with Nathan though is that he seems to have stopped napping. For me, at least. Apparently he will nap for other people, but every single time I put him down for a nap, he spends the whole time crying, complaining, playing....anything but sleeping. I will leave him in there for a reasonable amount of time to let him go to sleep, but at some point I have to take into account how long of nap he would take if he fell asleep too late. Then bedtime would be all screwy. Usually once it's reached about 2-2:30, I let him out of his room. Aiden stopped napping around this age, but I wasn't very happy about it. I was hoping Nathan would go longer. Something to discuss at the check-up on Wednesday, I suppose.

So there it is. My motivational blahs. I'm hoping I will adjust my sleep schedule by the end of the week. My knee has been recovering nicely and I go back to work on Saturday for the first time in four weeks. I certainly need to be well rested in order to handle retail!

A New Addition?

Nope, not pregnant. But if Aiden were in charge of it, I apparently would be.

About a week ago he came to me and said, "Mommy, I remember when the baby grew big in your tummy". It was a short conversation - mostly just discussing how large I was while pregnant.
A few days later, he asked me why daddies couldn't grow babies in their tummies and give the babies babymilk (babymilk was the term we used with him through the nursing time with Nathan). It had been a long and not so great day, so he didn't get much of a response from me. He seemed fairly satisfied with, "Because they can't", but I know he wanted to know more.

Then yesterday there was the big bombshell from him. I was making dinner and he comes waltzing into the kitchen like there's nothing to do.... He stands there looking at me and I said, 'Yes, Aiden?". He says, "I think you need to grow a baby in your tummy again, mommy". All I could manage was a small, "Oh...". He continues to stand there staring at me while I'm not saying a word, mostly trying to figure out what to tell him. He then says, "I'm a really good big brother". Oh, my melting heart.

I asked him if he wanted another brother or if he wanted a sister. He thought for a minute and said, "I just want a baby...". Nathan heard this and pops over. "Baby?", he asks. I wondered what Nathan would make of this, so I asked him if he thought we should have a baby. He sits down and pats himself on the tummy. "I'm the baby", he says. That's what I thought. I didn't imagine Nathan would be as keen to the idea as Aiden seems to be.

There are a few babies that are younger siblings of the kids from his class and I've been told that he's always very interested whenever a baby is brought in. I'm a little surprised that he's decided he wants another sibling and I honestly didn't expect to have to deal with this already. I guess John was around this age when he decided he needed a sister, but I hadn't really prepared myself on how to answer Aiden's questions and requests.

How do I tell a four year old that we don't feel like it's something that's going to happen anytime soon and possibly never again? Certainly not now since we barely have enough room for the four of us. And Nathan's birth was pretty traumatic. I don't have much of a desire to go through that again. While I'm not ruling it out completely for the future, John and I feel like our family is complete. I guess a change of heart could happen and maybe Aiden will be a driving force behind it. But right now, I need to learn how to answer his request better than I am currently. He doesn't seem to be happy with the answer of "Not now" that we're giving him. Yikes.

House Update from Last Week

Some of you know this already, but I thought I should officially put it on here anyway.

Two weeks ago, the bank involved in the sale did an appraisal on the house. The appraiser completed all the paperwork and it was sent to the bank last Thursday. They now have everything they need. We are told that the paperwork is now on the desk of the person who will make the final decision and (hopefully) give us our approval. We know nothing about the appraisal, so all details are hidden from us. We can only hope that the appraisal was in a good enough range for the bank to feel confident with the listed sale price and our current offer (which is one and the same).

We were given no deadline for any news, but the bank has been completing steps about every 10 business days, so we hope that trend continues. It's exciting and nerve wracking to know that we could have an answer at any moment. We are ready for to take the next step and our fingers are crossed for the best possible outcome. As always, we will update as soon as we know!

A Visit With Bee-Pa Major

I feel a little bad that I'm just now getting around to this post, but it's been a tad crazy here for the past week and a half!

On January 2, my dad took the train down from Tacoma to spend a few days of his vacation time from work with us. Aiden and I picked him up that morning and brought him back to our apartment while Nathan and John got ready for the day. The boys were very happy to see their grandpa, or as Nathan says it, "Bee-Pa".
Our activity for the afternoon was heading to the mall. Needless to say that the mall on a Saturday after Christmas was....well, packed.

I like to get myself a strawberry julius every time I go to the mall (it's rare), but since the line was about 20 people long, I had to pass. It's just not worth that much to me. My dad wanted to get the boys Christmas presents, so we went into Build-A-Bear. Yeesh. The whole thing took close to an hour because there were so many people! Note to self: Don't touch Build-A-Bear on a Saturday. The boys loved it though and were very happy with their presents. Aiden got a frog (his name is Froggy) and when it came time to choose clothes, Aiden chose roller skates. So the frog is naked except for a pair of roller skates. Nathan chose a monkey (his name is Brown Monkey) and he decided he didn't like any of the clothes. Yet again, another naked animal.
While at the mall, John picked up a new game for our brand new Wii (we love it!!) and my dad was able to grab some clothes at the awesome sale at JC Penney. I had to head to work after that, but the guys were able to go home and have the yummy stew that was waiting for them in the slow cooker.

The next day, we planned to go to OMSI to see Samson (the T-rex), but Aiden started throwing up at church, thus beginning our norovirus adventure (little did we know, of course). So we had a quiet afternoon at home instead.

I wasn't sure if Aiden was feeling up to a whole day at OMSI even though he seemed back to normal, so we opted to head out to IKEA for a lunch and a little shopping. I grabbed a few birthday presents for Nathan (a new wooden easel - which has been fantastic - and some wooden train tracks), plus some new dishes for us! All of our dishes are mismatched from Goodwill and I decided since we are close to five years of marriage, we could finally get some new, beautiful dishes. And I am so happy with them. New dishware, new mugs, and new silverware. All of that, plus Nathan's presents came to a grand total of $65. I love IKEA.

My dad was heading out Tuesday evening, so that was our last chance to get to OMSI. We figured we'd spend all afternoon there and then take my dad straight to the train station. We had so much fun! Samson was amazing and if you're in the area and haven't been to OMSI yet, I absolutely recommend it. Aiden was in awe of the size of a real T-rex and he loved all the interactive exhibits that they had. He still talks about Samson and we are hoping to go back with John (since he had to work on the day that we went) very soon.

We finally had to take my dad to catch his train and the driving directions that I had printed out to get from OMSI to the train station took me through downtown Portland. During rush hour. In the pouring rain. I cannot stand driving through downtown during the best weather conditions in broad daylight, much less in horrible conditions in the dark. But we survived and I didn't even get lost once, so I guess it worked out fine. I still won't do it anytime soon though.

Once we got there, we sat inside with my dad until he had to board his train. It was still rush hour, so I wanted to kill as much time as possible before having to drive back to Hillsboro from Portland. The boys said goodbye and watched grandpa Major walk to the train before we headed home. The boys handled the goodbye fine, but I get so used to the company around the house, so it's harder for me to adjust back to daily life after a visit. Plus, my dad and John get along fabulously, so it's great to have him around for a while.

We loved having my dad around and while we didn't take too many pictures, here's a few from our OMSI visit to see Samson!

The boys have so much fun in the science playground.

Aiden would prefer to never leave...

The plastic balls working with the air and suction was a favorite of ours. My dad liked it too!

A little weird with the screen, but here's Aiden on the infrared camera.

He liked watching himself in infrared.

Here's Aiden doing a weather report. Notice that he chose the spanish option...

And here is he in front of the green screen for the weather report.

A family picture (minus daddy) with Samson.

Hello, Samson!

The boys with Samson's actual head. Sorry about the flash reflection. The real head is too heavy to be placed on the skeleton, so the one they have on there is a fake.

School Registration

It's the time in the school year to register for next year's preschool class. I picked up the registration paperwork from Aiden's classroom folder on Wednesday, brought it home and immediately filled it out and wrote the check. Since we're an alumni family, we get priority placement and I wanted to make sure all the paperwork was in well before the due date on the 24th.

We choose a first choice class, a second choice, and a third choice. If our first choice is open, he immediately gets placed on that class list. If it's not and we are bumped to one of our other choices, we either have to confirm that we want that class or choose to put him on the wait list for our first choice (risking him not going to school at all).

If all goes well, Aiden will go back into the same class he is in now since it's a multi-age classroom (3-5 year olds). No change there. The big thing? I registered Nathan. It's hard to imagine him being old enough, but he's old enough for the class that Aiden was in last year (2-3 year olds). It will be a huge change, but we're excited about it for him. Whenever we take Aiden to or from school, Nathan is always asking, "I go school too?". He'll be so excited when he finally gets to stay and take part in a class!

This does mean that I will be parent helping four times a month, so I will be spending much more time there, but it will still give me a few afternoons per month with no kids. Think of laundry I'll be able to get done! I also won't need to worry about figuring out babysitting on my parent help days since they'll both be in class at the same time. Aiden will be there three times a week (Mon, Wed, Fri) and Nathan will be there twice a week (Mon, Wed).

It does up our school payments each month - though Nathan gets a small discount for being a sibling of a current student - which means I won't be quitting my job anytime soon. But I know how much Aiden has loved going to school and I look forward to giving Nathan that experience.

We get the class placement notifications on the 27th or 28th. I'm going to be a little nervous up until then, even though I know the afternoon classes are the last to fill up. You can bet on another post once we know their placement for sure!

Happy Birthday Nathan!

Happy 2nd Birthday Nathan!

We love you so much and it's hard to believe two years have passed. You've brought so much joy and laughter to our lives. We have enjoyed watching you grow and learn over these two years and we love hearing your little voice every single day. We have been very blessed to have you in our family!

A note just from mommy: Once again, I get a struggle a little bit with your birthday. I think it's because I'm pretty sure you're the last one and it's hard to see these birthdays go by for possibly the last time. I love you more than I can put into words and I love that as I sit here and write this, you are sitting in my lap with your arms wrapped around my neck. Time has gone too fast, little guy. The pregnancy and birth was rough, but you are so worth every second of it. I can fondly remember though, how invested the entire family was in the pregnancy. Whether or not I was pregnant (Carrie Marie and Laura, I'm thinking of you!), the scream from grandma when we announced that you were on the way, how it was going, if you were a boy or a girl, when you were going to make your appearance, and the coordination and support during your birth. I love you, baby. And I hope I can continue to call you "baby" for a while longer without you complaining about it.

A few minutes old.

One year!

Two years old! He looks more mischievous this year...

Feeling Better, But Not Quite Perfect

I think we are all better. For the most part anyway.

John went back to work today and I was able to take Aiden to school, although I quickly began doubting whether I should have actually done that. Not because of Aiden, but because I still feel fairly weak and drained from my long illness-ridden weekend. I can't stand up for very long without feeling woozy and I didn't have the capability to keep up with the concentration needed to drive. I ended up nearly running a red light and then forgot where I was going on the way to drop some letters at the post office.

Let me explain my frustration with this whole norovirus: Over the holidays, I finally reached triple digits in weight. This is something that I had never done unless I was pregnant. I was SO happy to be getting myself to a healthy weight on my own and then this hit. I lost five pounds alone Sunday night and have probably lost a few more since then, as I've yet to regain much of an appetite. I look tired, pale, and too thin.

I know I'll get back there eventually and for now I should focus on the fact that we are no longer deathly ill. As long as we can continue to get some sleep, we should be feeling back up to normal by this weekend.

I am thankful that Aiden never really got it badly and Nathan has been able to get through it without the physical pain that John and I experienced. I know we will all be quite happy if this is the last major illness we suffer for a while.

Very, very sick

About a week ago, Aiden became sick at church while my dad was in town. He was a little mopey and tired for the day, but was otherwise fine so we shrugged it off as just an upset tummy. On Tuesday when I went in to get my knee checked, they talked me into a flu shot. Even though I'm in a high risk category due to my asthma, I tend to avoid flu shots unless I'm pregnant (no, I'm not pregnant). I just always end up getting a horrible flu whenever I get the shot.

I woke up Friday vomiting and so dizzy, I felt like I was on a crab boat in Alaska. Nathan ended up vomiting later that night, so there were two of us. Nathan seemed to get the rough end of things and I appeared to recover relatively quickly (don't think I didn't blame the flu shot during the whole thing though!). We all stayed home from activities we'd planned on over the weekend just to make sure, but I felt well enough last night to make a quick store trip. I didn't pick up anymore ginger ale and saltines though and it turns out that I probably should have.

John began feeling sick around midnight and we both figured it was the same mild thing that Aiden and I had gotten. Until I woke up at 1:30am vomiting so violently, I was pretty sure something was severely wrong with me. John and I didn't sleep all night. We just kept trading off trips to the bathroom. Around 6am, I considered heading to the ER as I would begin another round of violent vomiting as soon as I took a small sip of water or a tiny nibble of a cracker. John finally fell asleep not long after 6am and I finally fell asleep around 9am.

The vomiting seems to have tapered off a bit, but all of my insides hurt and I'm pretty sure I've lost about 10 pounds overnight. It looks like we may have picked up the norovirus somewhere. Aiden missed his 2nd day of school, but he has shown no other signs of being sick. We are just too sick to get him there.

I guess since I'm taking two weeks off of work for my knee, it ended up hitting at an ok time for me, but John is on his 2nd day off from work since he took Friday off to take care of me.

A friend of John's graciously took time out of her day to bring us plenty of sick supplies just a little while ago. It feels good to know that people are willing to take care of each other just because. :^)

Christmas and New Years

Since I'm trying very hard to be a couch potato today in order to give my knee some rest, I figured I could probably get the Christmas post on here.

So much happened, I'll just leave it to the basics and let the pictures flow. I've also linked an online photo album to the title of this post, so to see many more pictures, just click on the title.

We spent Christmas morning at home - just opening presents, playing with toys, and eating cinnamon rolls.

Aiden got a Playdoh burger maker and all three boys had fun playing with it! :^)

Nathan got his very own tricycle! His legs are still a little short for the pedals, but he's very happy to finally have his own bike. And Aiden is happy he no longer has to fight with Nathan over his.

Later in the day, we headed over to great-grandma's for more gifts and lots of food.

Nathan got a snuggly little Elmo and he enjoyed it very much. It has a permanent home in his bed, along with the Build-A-Bear monkey that Grandpa Major bought him.

The next afternoon, we went to John's parents house for stockings (Uncle Brady was finally there to join us!), dinner, and games.

The Minthorne clan (minus me, since I took the picture).

Nathan got lots of snuggle time in with Aunt Carrie.

We spent so much time at grandma and grandpa's house, we all ended up staying the night. Anything to cram as much family time in as possible, I guess!

Sunday was a break from festivities, which was probably a good thing since John and I were both exhausted. But on Monday, we went back over to great-grandma and great-grandpa's for pizza and more games.

Aiden was a Professor of Locomotives for the evening, during which he treated everyone to a Q and A session on the mechanics of trains.

The next day, some snowflakes began to fall and while Aiden bundled himself up at the first sign of a snowflake, I assumed it wouldn't come down for very long. Boy, was I wrong! We ended up with 4-5 inches in just a few hours. John's 10 minute commute home turned into an hour long commute and I had to call out of work.

But the boys had a great time!

As you can tell, Aiden didn't want to stand still for very long!

New Year's Eve was pretty darn boring for us. We went grocery shopping, put the kids in bed, made 6 layer dip and watched TV until midnight.

Even though we both looked pretty worn down, we had to get a photo right at midnight. Happy New Year to us!

On New Year's Day we drove down to Newberg to spend the day with the Minthorne great-grands and various cousins, aunts, and uncles. It was the first time we'd been able to see the newest addition to the cousins - baby Claire. Once I finally got my hands on her, she fell asleep and I got some enjoyable baby snuggle time. I'm not sure if Nathan was entirely pleased with the situation since he started to act out a little while into it.

After the boys started showing signs of being done for the day, we headed home. We were all fairly tired, so we had a grand dinner of hot dogs and string cheese. Once the boys were in bed, John went out to Best Buy and bought us a brand new Wii! We've really been enjoying it.

My dad came into town the very next day and we had a fun (and sickness) filled weekend. But that's another post.

The Cat: 1 Carrie: 0

About two weeks ago, I tripped over one of our cats and twisted my knee pretty severely. I have been in quite a bit of pain since then and have been unable to get through a shift at work without crying. After bursting into tears at work on Sunday, the assistant manager told me to not come back until I'd seen a doctor. I was able to get in with my doctor on less than a day's notice and luckily, my dad was in town to babysit while I went in to get it checked.

After examining it, she thinks there is a small tear within my knee, but that I haven't done serious damage to it - yet. If I don't let it heal, it may tear further and require surgery if not attended to properly. She wants me to take at least two weeks off from work and to stay off my feet as much as possible during the day. Obviously, as a mom of two little boys, this is going to be extremely tough. It's also hard to judge how rough I'm being on my knee. I can manage well enough during the day, but at night, the pain is just excruciating. Last one was one of the first nights not taking Tylenol PM before bed and I really wish I would have. I kept waking up with shooting pain in my knee and would then struggle to get back to sleep.

Please keep this in prayer as I try to figure out how to avoid surgery and attend to normal life at the same time. It's going to be a definite struggle and it's hard to see any end to this pain as long as I'm dealing with it.