Find Kardus

One would think that because I have been off of work for the last 13 days, I would have had SOOOOO much time for blogging.  One would be wrong if one thought that.  Just sayin.

Weve had a pretty full couple weeks, what with pre-Christmas, Christmas and post-Christmas activities.  Ill attempt to summarize here.  So pre-Christmas...

A big ol trip to Target to purchase big boy "underwears" for Tyler.  He is worse than a girl when it comes to his wardrobe.  There were WAY too many choices - 6 different kinds - to pick from and I am pretty sure we were in the underwear aisle for 15 minutes.  At least it felt like it.  He picked Airplanes.  We started to walk away, they he said he didnt want that one.  We went back.  He picked Cars.  Then he picked Spiderman.  Finally, he walked away with a multipack of Cars, Monsters, Nemo, etc.  He tried to go back to exchange again, but I forbid him from doing so.  It was getting a little ridiculous.  Ive since purchased him another pack of Mickey Mouse.  Now every evening, we have to allot an extra 10 minutes for him to select his underwear.  Ive taken to only getting one pair out and then listening to him b*tch:  "I dont want these ones, Mommy."  Listening to that for 5 minutes is more bearable than the 10 minute select/deselect process.  

He has started to go a few hours a day at daycare with no pull up.  So far, hes doing pretty good, but Im scared to pull that bandaid off completely.  Cleaning up poop out of "underwears" is so not my favorite task.

On the 22nd, we made our way to Evansville for the start of our Christmas celebrations.  Our first stop was my Dads grave stone in Elberfeld.  I hadnt been there in quite a long time - like since before Tyler was born - and I wanted to show the kiddos their Papaw Dans grave.  I had a hard time explaining what the deal was.  I dont know why it didnt occur to me to have my story straight before I got there but I didnt.  

Lily and I picked up the flowers from Hobby Lobby a few days beforehand to make the arrangements for the headstone.  This tripped SHOULD have clued me in to get my explanation ready:

Lily:  Who are these flowers for?

Me:  Papaw Dan.  For his grave.  Where hes buried.

Lily:  But hes dead!  He doesnt need flowers.  

I may have had a minor breakdown in the middle of Hobby Lobby.  But I pulled it together relatively quickly.  Kids are such truth tellers!

Joels Uncle Jimmy lives 5 minutes from the cemetery so it works out well to visit both in the same shot.  We had a really nice visit with several of Joels extended family that we dont see very often.  The kids were super good.  Won the hearts of everyone with their unending cuteness - dont think anyone there would believe the tantrums these two are capable of.  Uncle Jimmy raises hunting beagles and had some pups to show to the kiddos.  Little Tyler-man holding Uncle Jimmys hand - makes me feel all gushy inside!

After that visit, we headed on to Moms house to join the chaos that comes with 6 kids, ages 5 and under.  We arrived just in time for dinner.  And playing.

Tuesday evening, we went to the park to see the light display - hoping to view it via carriage ride but the weather was questionable (at least it was rain and not snow).  To pass the time, hoping the horses would arrive, I had some snap pops for the kids.  We didnt end up getting to do the carriage ride, but we did get to see Santa!  Safely through the car window.  (Insert side note:  I didnt do the ceremonious "sit on Santas lap" trip this year.  Both kids were terrified and I just plain didnt feel like fighting them - all for a crappy picture of two screaming kids.  Does that make me a bad parent?)

We got the annual night before Christmas Eve matching jammies photo with all the Fonner cousins.


And then it was Christmas Eve!  The kiddos had very patiently waited for 2 days to open their gifts.  Two days in pre-schooler time is probably like 2 years to adults.  So I commend them for their good behavior.  But then moment did arrive and chaos ensued.  Incredibly cute chaos.

And then, Lily got a hold of my phone and took about 50 pictures.  Here are the blog worthy ones.

Kenzie got a Frozen Sing-A-Long player from my mom.  Im pretty sure Kenzie didnt really get to touch it much in the first 24 hours that she owned it.  Lily may have laid claim to it and sung "Let It Go" at the top of her lungs over and over and over.  It was pretty cute the first 47 times....pretty sure Lily will be getting this for her birthday.  Im bracing myself.

And a few family photos.





Then it was time to go back to Columbus and get to bed so Santa Claus could come.  Hugs and kisses for Grams before we go.  (Poor Tyler couldnt keep his pants up to save his life.)

The drive home was pretty smooth.  The kiddos slept most of the way and went straight to bed once we got home so that Joel and I could get started on Santa preparations.  All was going incredibly smoothly.  We got to bed by 11:30-12:00 or so.  

Then....at 4am.... I hear a weak little voice, "Mooommy??  Mommy,"  I get out of bed and go to Lilys room and she said, "I puked."

Oh crap.

So I go to clean her up and theres just a little bit of puke on her shirt and a little in her hair.  So at first Im thinking this is no big deal.  I get her all cleaned up and new jammies on and ready to get back in bed and she says, "Theres some puke on the trash can." and points over to her trash can.  I go investigate and sure enough theres puke all down the side of the trash can, on the wall behind it and on the floor in front of it.  That poor baby tried to get to her trash can but its the kind that you step on the lever to lift the lid and she just couldnt get it fast enough.  My mommy heart swelled up so much I thought I might burst.  Is it weird to be proud of your 4-year-olds instincts when puking??

So now I clean all that up and get to thinking that maybe, just maybe, this is because she ate too much junk food at Grams house.  So Im thinking, Lily will just go back to sleep and everything will be fine.  But just in case, I put a regular trashcan by her bed.

Then I go back to bed and about 15-20 minutes later I hear coughing from her room.  I go back in to her and shes vomited again.  At least this time she was able to get to the trash can.  So now I realize this is not junk food induced.  I go grab my pillow thinking Ill just sleep with Lily in her room.  Welp.  There was no more sleep to be had because that poor baby puked every 15-30 minutes for a total of 8 hours straight.

And of course, she knew it was Christmas and wanted to go see if Santa came.  But I told her we had to wait until Tyler woke up.  Wouldnt you know it that Tyler picks THIS DAY to sleep in until 6:50am?  The child that gets up every day no later than 5:45 (and often much earlier than that) but this day, when poor Lily is puking her guts out every 15 minutes and just wants a distraction with presents, to sleep late.

But then he does get up and we go get Daddy and then head to the living room.

The kiddos then started opening their presents - they quickly figured out that Lilys were wrapped in Sofia and Frozen paper and Tylers were in Cars and Mickey paper.











Poor Lily...she has such a brave face in those pictures.  But in reality, shed open a present or two and then lay down on the floor.  Then open another present and puke.  It.  Was.  Awful.


I felt so horrible for her.  She was pretty much just dry heaving at this point and she was so thirsty, but every time she took a drink shed puke it.  It took me several tries to convince her that she just needed to swish the water around in her mouth and then spit it out.


But after 8 hours, the puking did finally stop and that baby girl passed out.  She slept about 2.5 hours on the couch and she woke up, she was like a different person.  Still not acting or feeling 100% better but she was about 75% of the way there.


We had a few more snuggles on the couch with the prized possessions from Santa and then we called it a day.













And that brings us to the end of the day after Christmas.  I really thought I could get all caught up in one blog post all written this evening (New Years Eve) - but its 10pm and Im tired.  And since the kiddos dont know (or care) that its a special day that could drive Mommy and Daddy to stay up late, they will still be up by 5:30 tomorrow (if were lucky).  So if I want to get a decent amount of sleep, I  must ring in the new year sleeping.  I hope.