ROUND 2......

SCORE:
Chicken Pox - 2
Parkers - A Big Fat 0


Yep.... another one bites the dust.....
that is...... another one is covered in spots and we're in quarantine......

AGAIN

Happy Ho-Ho-Ho to you!


This time it's my oldest. The good news...... Madison's fine -- she's not even itching too much and she has no other symptoms. The bad news..... well, all of our plans for the rest of the Christmas break are O-V-E-R. No shopping, movies, or even having friends over for that matter. Quarantine. And after only one day, she's already bored out of her mind.

And my kids have had the vaccine. What's up with that? It's supposed to be 80% effective in preventing an outbreak of the virus, so how is it that 2 out of 3 children got it? It's a mystery, but obviously very contagious. At least we're out of school and she'll be better just about the time they'll start back next week. I think God has some ulterior motive in times like these...... "sloooooooow down, people..... stay in your jammies and do nothing." I just hope his plans don't include a certain 39 year old woman whose never had the vaccine or the chicken pox to be covered in spots, too. Wish us luck and if anyone has any ideas for what to do with 3 severely bored children, please send them my way!Photobucket

Twas the night before Christmas.....

...... and all through our place,
there was excitement in the air,

and cookie dough on our face.....

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
Only hours to go before St. Nick would be there.


But the children weren't nestled all snug in their beds,

They were running around screaming & hadn't even been fed.

Mommy was late with her Christmas Eve plans,
She had lots of traditions and only two hands!


There was baking and singing and driving to see lights,
She couldn't get it all done before the end of the night.


So Dad stepped in and made everything O.K.
Martha Stewart he was, if only for a day.


He was rolling and cutting and baking those treats.

The kids loved every minute and couldn't wait to eat!

Then they went out to put Rudolph's food on the lawn,

Reindeers are hungry and must eat before dawn.

When they came back indoors, Mom had a surprise,
"The Grinch that Stole Christmas" -- "Oh, Mom! How nice!"


It wasn't too long before the boys were pooped out.

The girls made Santa's treat and went to bed with no pouts.


And as we all know, that's when the real fun begins.
Staying up late and sneaking everything in.

Dad eventually awoke to give Mom a little break,

It was a good thing, too, because it sure was getting late.


Finally, finally, it was time for some sleep
--
That is until 3:30am when the munchkins took a peek.


Yes, they woke up THAT early and Dad had a cow --

He said, "Kids, you're crazy! Get to bed right now!"


A few hours later, they came in again quick....

But what to you know, within minutes Macy was SICK.

Yes, you heard me right..... throwing up on Christmas morn

Oh no, what was it? Possibly the corn?


It only got worse for the next little while


But then she got an I-touch and sat up with a smile.

The kids were opening so fast -- it all was a blur

They were so happy that morning, of that I am sure.

I just hope those presents don't distract from the real reason

We all celebrate the magic of this season


The birth of Jesus Christ and the miracle of his grace.

I pray that in their hearts, He will
always have a place.

Merry Christmas to all of you reading out there,
Hope it was a wonderful holiday--Have a Happy New Year!
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Ornaments, Ornaments, Ornaments!

Being out of school and with Jacob still in quarantine, well, we've had lots of time to finish up some ornament projects for the kids' trees. This was one of my favorite ideas I found on the internet. You take a 9 oz plastic cup, some silver poster board, some batting and go buy some cute mini ornaments from Hobby Lobby (like snowmen, Santas, etc), buy a few little trees in the dollhouse section and voila..... you have cute Christmas globe ornaments.

Madison making her snowman ornament

I finally let the girls use a low-temp glue gun and they were loving their new-found freedom

Me & my creative soul, Macy

Macy's favorite.... she made one of a Snowman Band..... we made a stage with glitterly black felt, she took 3 snowmen ornaments and glued them down. We found small gold instrument ornaments (one sort of looked like a guitar), we made a microphone for the lead singer and colored some sunglasses on him with a fine-point black sharpie, and then we covered a small cylinder shape with some foil for a drum. The drummer even has candy-cane drumsticks. Like I said before she's so creative.... most of it was her idea!

Here's the one I helped Jacob make

After all that ornament making, the kids decided to sleep in the den on a "fort" we made for them. At one point, Macy & Jacob even had a roof over their section. What is it about fort that makes kids so happy? We took this picture to send to their dad who was in Arkansas hunting for 4 days....
We Love You, Daddy!!
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The Chicken Pox Nightmare

So if you've ever wondered how chicken pox looks in the beginning, well, just take a look at this poor baby. And Jacob's is a mild case because he's had the vaccine. A few days ago, on Jacob's last day of school for Christmas break, I picked him up and noticed two small red spots on his temple. Then I looked down and saw the big one on his neck. I immediately thought, "Oh, no! Chicken pox!" I opened up his shirt and saw to my disappointment many more spots. Yuck.... not such a great start to the holiday.

Chicken pox has been one of my worst fears as a mom because as far as any of us can remember, I've never had it. And I hear that as an adult the virus is just plain awful. So I run Jacob immediately to the doctor. That was my first mistake..... doctors can't diagnose it that early and if it is chicken pox, and they don't want them in their office anyway..... it's crazy contagious.... something like 90% of people who come in contact with it, who've never had the virus, will get it.

So the doctor gives me a list of things it could be, a prescription to a steroid in case it's a dermatitis, and sends us home to wait to see if the spots develop blistery sores and pop open. So for a few days we were quarantined. Yep, right at Christmas when I had just spent 3 full days baking for friends, neighbors, and teachers and not finishing up my shopping. Don't get me wrong.... I love baking all those surprises, but I just had ALOT more Christmas shopping to do and now I couldn't. Not to mention, Jonathan would be out of town for the next 4 days (which meant I was now stranded with 3 children in the house) and there was still that looming fear of contracting the virus myself. Yikes!

So the next day, he had about twice as many spots and I was convinced it was chicken pox. But the sores never really developed the way normal chicken pox does, so I thought... well, maybe I'm wrong. Mistake number 2. The next morning my friend calls me and says her son just came down the stairs with the same red spots. Now I KNOW it's contagious and I KNOW it's chicken pox. She takes her son to the doctor and again the doctor (a different doctor) says it's probably not.... doesn't look like chicken pox.

The next day, she gets a phone call from her doctor saying her son's bloodwork came back with such a crazy reading that they needed to immediately bring their son back for more bloodwork. His platelet count was down to 18,000 when normal is between 150,000 and 450,000. The next test showed 16,000 and that doctor sent him immediately over to his pediatrician on a Sunday. The pediatrician took one look at him and said "definitely chicken pox" and sent him over to the hospital with a mask on for more bloodwork. Now his numbers came in at 15,000.

Of course, the first thing that pops in my head is luekemia, but I wasn't about to say that to my friend who was already completely stressed. So I got on the internet and she did, too, trying to find everything we could on what could possibly cause these low numbers. The first things we read are all the really scary reasons..... like luekemia, lymphoma, aplastic anemia, etc. And then we find out that a platelet count below 20,000 is considered life-threatening. Basically, your blood loses it's ability to clot at numbers this low. It's so serious because at this level you don't even have to have a cut or a bump to bleed-out.... you could just start bleeding internally from your intestines or even your brain and there's really nothing that could stop it because your blood can't clot.

After staying up half the night and reading everything I could, it sounded like his was most likely a blood disorder called ITP (idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura) which only around 5 in every 100,000 kids get each year. When I told my friend what I'd learned, she said, "Yeah, that's what the doctor said it might be." It can be triggered by a virus that affects your bone marrow such as chicken pox, ruebella or mumps. When a child is sick their body forms antibodies to attack the virus and in ITP, for some unknown reason, the body will also form an antibody that attacks their platelets. When the spleen removes the antibodies, it also removes all the healthy platelets. Then the child's body can't reproduce the platelets quickly enough and their platelet count drops dramatically.

The doctor, of course, was very concerned and contacted a pediatric hematologist from UAB and they decided the best course of action was to take bloodwork every other day to keep a close watch on him, and to, of course, keep him safe from any injury. It was a tough time for my friend.... she has 3 other very active young boys and trying to keep the sick one away from them so that he couldn't be hit or hurt in any way was pretty hard. Not to mention all the stress of the diagnosis. Many kids with ITP fight the disorder for months even after the virus is gone.

Now to the good news..... after a few days, a few bloodtests and lots and lots of prayer, her son's platelet count gradually started going up again. Hooray! And just before Christmas, too. Times like these truly put all things into perspective. So I think I'll go now and hug my children.... oh yeah..... and wait patiently, worriedly, to see if I, too, get those dreaded spots.

We are soooo happy you're better T!
Many prayers & blessings to you sweet boy!Photobucket

A Christmas Musical

My girls had their Christmas program at school this week. Their music teacher, Mr. Wilson, choreographs a Christmas musical each year and the kids love performing. He always makes it fun for them, not your same old carols..... more like a little hip-hop, boom-boom pow Christmas. Maybe that's why they voted him teacher of the year!

Here's Maddie's friend Anna Grace acting out her part

Maddie, Casey & Taylor

Macy and her class

A wideshot of the room.... packed with parents

Here's Macy and one of her best friends, Kelli

The kids are getting very excited about Christmas now....
thanks Mr. Wilson for all you do for them!
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Our Christmas Card

Lots of people have been asking if I'm designing Christmas cards this year. I wish that I could say yes, but for many different reasons, I decided not to this year. The printer I was using went up pretty dramatically on my cost.... I would have to go to a lesser quality paper and printing format in order to keep the price the same. Then the more I thought about it, well, the money I would make wouldn't make up for the time spent away from the kids in this all important Christmas season. I decided to focus on them, make lots of fun projects for them and really appreciate the magic of the season instead of adding more stress to it.

That being said, I really miss doing it.... I love designing, and I think Christmas cards are so important. They're a great way to stay in touch with those people we don't see very often and really.... who doesn't love a Christmas card? We all enjoy going to the mail box and seeing those sweet pictures of our friends' children. My own kids will practically knock each other over trying to get to the mailbox first! Not to mention, it forces all of us busy mommies to make the time to actually take a group shot of our kids. Without those some of us would never have a picture of all of our kids together. So HOORAHHHH to Christmas cards.... I hope all of you will keep sending them.

I thought I'd share ours this year for those of you who may not have received one... I try to remember everyone, but sometimes there's an address or two that I can't find. And I wanted to share just because I love this one so much. I've had so many people tell me how much it moved them (a Christmas card!!). I even had one friend call me and tell me it brought tears to her eyes. How sweet.



The front of the card
I loved this picture of the kids with Charlie.... this was from our second Christmas picture taking session. Unfortunately, when we decided to get a different dog I had to start all over with the picture taking. There for a moment I thought I'd just erase the old dog in Photoshop and add this new one. Joke.... I wish I were that good!




The inside of the card - a little celebration of the year - and a great year it was!




The back of the card
I thought about doing a beach Christmas card this year, but when we got the dog, I decided against it. So at the last minute I thought I'd just add some of our beach shots to the back of the card.

This one is definitely my favorite one ever.... keep sending those cards!!! We love receiving them.
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Highlands..... Part 2

I had so much fun posting my last post from Jonathan's laptop in the mountains (I'm sure there are those of you out there giggling at me right now... me & my tech-savvy self). The wonders of wi-fi! Afterward, we went out for a while to town and ate and ate and shopped a little, too. What a great little town.... full of fantastic restaurants and quaint little stores, and an art gallery or two..... something for everyone.... even a toy store which, of course, made the little ones happy. Here are some of the pictures I took on our last full day.

Here's our cabin in the woods.... pretty cute I thought

Here's a view looking up to the loft and the kids' room

A view of the kitchen

A view of the den

And the kids out on the porch.... although at 14 -35 degrees,
we weren't spending a whole lot of time out there - it was freeeeeeezing!

This was taken at the Old Edwards Inn, a beautiful hotel in town. It's a restaurant in the hotel called Madison's so little Maddie had to get a picture there

And Jacob at the toy store.... after an hour or so I was beginning to think we'd never get out of that place! We told the kids they could pick out one thing each and gave them a dollar amount. You can imagine just how many times they each changed their mind..... which in turn made another one want to change her mind.... and on and on!

A photo outside the cute toy store

We accidentally missed our time with Santa. We kept trying to get over there, and as soon as we were walking up, a family said, "Oh no, Santa just left!" Oh well, we took a picture in his sleigh anyway. Maybe he just left to go get a hot toddy.....
he couldn't have gone far without his sleigh, right?
Here's one of the enormous trees decorated in town for Christmas

And the trip was full of times like these.... treats, treats, treats!! Our favorite part!

It was a great trip, but I'm glad to be home now..... lots to do to get ready for the big day!
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