Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

I feel like Thanksgiving was weeks ago already, even though it was just a couple of days. Maybe because we've packed so much into such a short time. As promised, we went to get our Christmas tree on Saturday. Because McKenna wasn't feeling well we had to make do with a skeleton crew....Me, Cooper and my mom. Though we were small in numbers we brought home trees bigger than ever. Its been a bit of a challenge for us to decide where to put our Christmas decorations and the tree. Most of our decorations were bought specifically for rooms at our old house. When we were unpacking our Christmas goodies the other night we kind of just took them out of the box and starred at them. But the Christmas tree is up and decorated. It adds so much color and warmth to the room. We definitely need to work on decorating and putting some pictures up on our bare walls once the holidays are over.

Cooper at the Christmas tree farm.

It's pretty quiet around here tonight for a change. I have to admit that I broke down and called my mom tonight to ask if the kids could sleep over. With the colds that have been going through our house I haven't had a good night sleep in....I can't remember how long. Last night we put the kids to bed and crashed ourselves. It was 8pm. I know, I know...too good to be true, you're right. Just as I fell into a deep sleep Cooper started wailing. It was 8:30. He cried on and off for no apparent reason until about 11:30 when Earl finally said, "Cooper, what's wrong." That's when he promptly put his head on my shoulder and wasn't heard from again until morning. If I only knew that was all it would take to send him back to dreamland! So, I almost ran back to bed. I figured 5 hours of sleep would be plenty to get me through today. No luck. At 12:30am McKenna came into our room complaining that her ear hurt. I found it odd since she's already been on antibiotics for 3 days, but I also could sympathize with her. Like some others of you out there I remember suffering from one too many earaches when I was a kid. I loaded her up with some motrin, but she was still restless. So, we headed down to the couch to watch a little TV with the hopes of getting her mind off of the ear pain. We both fell asleep an hour or two later and spent the rest of the night on the couch.

I called work and daycare first thing in the morning, telling them both that we were staying home today. A few minutes later, McKenna popped off the couch and said, "When do we leave for school?" Are you kidding me? She denied any pain in her ear at all and told me again that she really wanted to go to school. SO, we called the daycare back and told them we (McKenna) changed her mind and we all got dressed. It was a little bit of a mixed up day, but in the end I'm glad that everyone is feeling fine. And I'm very glad that my kids love to go to school so much. As I'm sure I've written more than once before, the internal struggle between staying at home and working is a constant one for me. I just can't seem to reconcile that one in my head or in my heart. But at least I can see how much the kids enjoy daycare, their friends, and learning which makes the decision to keep working a little easier (at least for today...tomorrow might be different, that's why it's always a constant struggle).

Hopefully tonight will be peaceful even though we've already received one teary phone call from McKenna saying that she wanted to come home. I'm pretty sure she's just tired, and my mom assures me that she'll be fine. It's not like she hasn't stayed there before. But I remember those days as a little girl too! It's actually kind of weird now that she's almost 5. I can remember a lot about being 5. I feel like I can relate to her a little more now. It's fun.

Well, I guess I should take advantage of this precious quiet time. I'm looking forward to "sleeping in" tomorrow (until 5:15). I hope all of you are enjoying the week and staying healthy. Remember -- handwashing, handwashing, handwashing! And a little plug from a pediatric nurse to those of you with little babies (because I can't resist) - please be especially careful this time of year. Influenza and the common cold can be very dangerous for babies. Make sure you insist that everyone who touches them wash their hands. And that means you, too! (Like I said, sorry for the unsolicited advice, but trust me when I say the hospital will be full of babies with respiratory viruses for the entire winter. We actually refer to this as our "busy season"). Please don't be one of our patients!