A New Year

I started this blog post on Janaury 4 and am just now getting around to finishing it. There was so much I wanted to share over the last couple of months, but somehow none of it made it onto my computer. I kept meaning to get it all down, but then it started piling up, higher and higher till it just all seemed a little too overwhelming. So instead I've decided to give you the condensed version of the things I can remember, complete with pictures from my new Canon digital camera - Christmas present from Chad. This one has a stabilizing feature, so hopefully no more blurry pictures. Let's begin.

* All December we teased Connor, singing "All I want for Christmas..."

** Benen was given this shirt as an early Christmas present.

If you can't read the writing, it says, "Dear Santa, I can explain everything." It so completely defines our Benen and I laugh everytime I read it.


*** Here are some pictures from Christmas at my in-laws.

**** The boys got skates for Christmas and Chad built a rink in our backyard. This was their first day on skates.

***** Yesterday's interesting conversation:

Chad - "I found gum on the toilet seat."

A long pause.

Me - "How did you find it?"

****** December and January have been the months of sickness. Before Christmas, Kolten came down with a 'chest infection'. He started showing the same symptoms as last year when he got pneumonia, so I rushed him to emergency. The xray showed a white spot on his lungs, but the doctor said he was "hesitant to call it pneumonia." Basically it was a milder case and he's better now.

Although we had our first sickness-free Christmas in 10 years, January has more than made up for it.

- Connor developed a lump on his neck; we went for an ultrasound and they put him on antibiotics. Basically, there were multiple enlarged lymphnodes due to some viral infection - or so they think. It eventually went away...mostly. In February I'm taking him back for a follow-up exam and will have the doctor check the sore lump on his foot.

- The next week Chad got the flu.

- The next day Benen developed a fever and a cough. Fever lasted one day and he's still coughing ocassionally.

- Kolten followed Benen by a day, but his strange fever lasted five days and was hard to control. He's been feeling better for the past four days.

- Three days after Kolten started, Connor caught the fever and also had severe stomach pains. The fever lasted for three days, the stomach pain for two and now he's coughing. He's mostly better and because I think his cough is just due to postnasal drip, I sent him to school.

- I thought we were getting back to normal, but yesterday Chad came down with fever, chills and body-aches. It's some weird virus that seems to be running through our house, but *fingers crossed* I think we're at the tail end of it. Thankfully.

I'm not whining - honest - just giving you the low-down on the past month-and-a-half.

******* Benen comes up with the greatest words.

Toilet paper = wiper towel
Lost and found = Lost 'n fountain
Rice Krispies = Rice Kripsies
Grandma Sturge = The long Grandma (she lives a long ways away)
Normal = Nermal (he cannot say it right; makes me laugh everytime)
Root Beer = Root Beard
Mustache = Muss-beard

******** Boys - The Way They See It

Benen - "Mom, you hang with Tracie too much."

Me (chuckling) - "Hang? I hang?"

B - "Yeah, you know, like 'hang out'."

Me - "I know what you mean, and I like 'hangin'' with Tracie 'cause she's my friend."

Connor (in all his big brother wisdom) - "Benen, she does coffee with Tracie because that's what moms do."

Me - "That's right. It's how we keep our sanity."

Okay, I'm done. It feels good to be back and I hope to keep blogging a little more regularly.