Recovering

When I was about 7 months pregnant with Ellie I looked down at my belly button one day & it was NOT normal! I had heard about some people having fat pockets on their arms & back and I'd been eating a lot of ice cream & drinking a ton of Dr. Pepper, so I thought, "Crap! Are you kidding me?! I have a fat pocket on my belly button!" I was cheered by the thought that at least when I had Ellie & lost my baby weight it would go away. Well it didn't go away and that's when I found out it wasn't an ice-cream induced fat pocket at all - it was a hernia. Silly me! And even sillier stupider was that I didn't get the hernia fixed before the end of the year when I'd already met my deductible from having a baby! Last Tuesday I finally had surgery to repair my hernia. I wasn't too nervous about the surgery itself, more the anesthisia. I know that the chance of not waking up from that was a slim one, but a chance all the same & I was already having demented thoughts and even in tears once imagining Callie on her wedding day without her mom. Does anybody else do this? Am I that abnormal? So anyway, the night before the surgery I knew that everything would be fine. On the day of, I was able to take a book & enjoy waiting for my turn to be cut on & it was no problem at all that the surgeon was an hour behind- more time to read without feeling guilty for not doing housework or ignoring the kiddos. When the anesthisiologist, a woman in my ward, gave me the anesthisia, I felt nice & fuzzy & the next thing I know I'm waking up and in minimal pain & it's all over. They said I woke up beautifully & they were surprised at how well I walked around before leaving (it was out-patient). One of my friends (also my visiting teacher) brought us dinner that night, Jeremiah's mom had come to town just to take care of me/the kids, and my mom brought us dinner for the next 4 nights. I wasn't in much pain, the incision was just real tender. I was able to get up & get my own pain killers & refill my ice bag (poor Jeremiah was sick), so I'd say that my whole surgery experience was pretty great. I got nice phone calls from friends/family & flowers from a couple friends too! Oh yeah, and a really cute plant & balloons from my mom/sister. I could definitely do it again, although hopefully I won't have to! Jeremiah left a few hours ago to take his mom to the airport. Callie & Jackson both bawled & Ellie's been saying, "Nannie! Nana!" (the kids call her Nana and grandma), and it will be sad to not have her here anymore. My house has been spotless, my children have been clean & happy, and she's made me do lots of resting, which I really appreciate. Between the 2 moms, I had the dream team taking care of me & my family. Thank you!

Crappy morning.

Ellie is on a rampage! She is 22 months & is constantly saying she needs to go potty. Then she just sits on the toilet & plays around & rarely has any action. Then she throws a huge fit when I've had enough & tell her it's time to put her diaper back on. My mom & Jeremiah's mom are both convinced she's ready to be potty trained. I jumped the gun with Callie so I'm leery to begin potty training Ellie until I see more signs of readiness. When Ellie can tell me she has to go potty & actually go potty half the time, I'll begin. I thought about just putting her in some panties & letting her pee a few times to see if that would encourage her to use the toilet, but she doesn't seem to mind feeling the poop on her butt - at least not enough to tell me before. So anyway, that's what's holding me back. Although I agree, there are several signs of readiness. Anyway, let me get to today's story. First thing this morning she's in the living room and ends up bottomless. Jeremiah's mom's been here so she notices Ellie. She found the diaper & pants in one location, and some little pieces of poop right in the middle of the living room floor! Later Ellie is playing in my bathroom on the counter while I was doing Callie's hair. She was sitting in the sink & of course turned the water on herself so her pants were all wet. I took them off & spent about 2 more minutes with Callie. By then Ellie already had her diaper off too. I saw her & started walking towards her & she took off running into the living room & took a suspicious stance (okay, a partial squat!) by the couch. I said, "Ellie! What are you doing?! Don't do that!" Too late. She'd already peed on the carpet! I got that cleaned up & put new pants on her. A little later I was standing talking to Jeremiah's mom and I looked over at Ellie who had a funny look on her face - usually it's the look she gets when she's pooping. I said, "Ellie, are you pooping?!" She said yeah but guess what? She wasn't pooping. She already had! And the look was because she was examining the poop that was all over her hands! And it was smeared a little on the bathroom counter too! Aghhh! She has to stop doing this to me! It was only 10:00 at this point! Thank goodness she's asleep right now! She's either going to have to start wearing onesies or maybe I really will have to try potty training her! Aghhh!

Meet Sparkle, our friendly Elf on the Shelf

Did you know about Elf on the Shelf during the Christmas season?

At the beginning of the Christmas season we received a special delivery. A
nice little elf & a book just about him & his friends! The kids named our
elf Sparkle, despite my persistent suggestions of Eggnog or Jolly or
Mistletoe. Sparkle came to live with our family through Christmas Eve so
that he could watch & listen to everything the children said or did, whether
naughty or nice, during the weeks leading up to Christmas. Then each night
Sparkle would fly back to Santa to report on their behavior during the day.
The night we first met Sparkle the kids were better than they've ever been
in their lives! It was harder & harder for them to remember Sparkle was
watching during the holidays, so sometimes I'd walk over to Sparkle & tell
him something one of the children had done that was really nice. Or really
naughty! That usually led to pleas to not tell Santa & promises to be good
& apologies when needed! After Sparkle would visit Santa during the night
he'd return to our house in a new location. The kids loved to look for
Sparkle each morning! There were some special rules though - the children
were not to touch Sparkle no matter what or he could lose his magic! Also,
they could talk to Sparkle but he could not talk to them. He was a very
good listener though and would hear all about what they wanted for Christmas
or about things that had happened during their day! He could also talk to
adults. Not when the kids could hear though. On Christmas Eve as the kids
were running to their beds they turned back to tell Sparkle goodbye and
they'd miss him until he returned next year! Next Christmas you definitely
need an Elf on the Shelf of your home! :)

Here are some of the places Sparkle watched & listened from:

Did I feel bad about our visitor? Maybe a little. Will Sparkle come again
next year? Absolutely!

One thing I thought was hilarious was that the night I introduced the elf to
the kids & told them about the magic Callie said, "You're wrong mom. He's
just made out of plastic & fabric sewn together. That's not magic!" Of
course I explained exactly how it was magical, but I wonder if she will stop
believing, and not just in Sparkle. His magic won't be the same if she
doesn't believe.