Back to life

Tomorrow, the girls are allowed to head back to school. Praise The Lord! 

What we thought was a stomach virus early Saturday morning for Harper, causing 14 loads of laundry and cleaning the carpet, was actually strep. She wasn't snotty, she hadn't been sick, she just started throwing up early Saturday. Typical stomach virus stuff in or experience.  I disinfected our entire house, I'm talking bed posts, every door handle and knob and every toy. Seriously, every toy. It took ALL day but it had to be done. 

Sunday was better for Harper, no fever but two of our toliets backed up. The Master flooded everywhere. So from puke to poop, I got all the things covered this weekend. The issue was that each time I unclogged it, the son of a gun would clog again. Even without toliet paper. I was in tears, exhausted from Saturday and no help. All of our baby sitters were busy and our parents were doing thee things. So mess after mess, I kept cleaning it up until my breaking point. I called a plumber and scheduled an early morning visit Monday.  Lucky for us, we have 3 toliets or we would have been heading a hotel near by to meet the plumber the next morning. You might remember but when we had our big floods, our toliets began clogging up shortly before hand. The LAST thing we needed was a major flood. The husband is really into fixing stuff himself but the toliets clog up often and he was many states away so I won the debates Monday morning, a great plumber came and all the toliets were back in working order. I cried happy tears after all the tears over the weekend. Plus the dog, HG and Harper had been up ALL night so I was delirious. The issue isn't the pipes or anything, it is the original toliets and the valves on them.  Basically, they all need replacing to accomdate the number of times used in a day. Not to mention updating. 

Monday afternoon was greeted with HG and her 103.7 fever, headache, neck pain, sore throat, and so forth. I had planned on watching her over night and taking her into our pedi on Tuesday if still not feeling well. However, she began to go down hill quickly and then break out into a rash. I knew what it was by then so off to the walk in urgent care by us. Harper began breaking out with the same rash by then so we checked her in while HG was being examined. Both girls tested positive for strep. Good times! Even with Advil, HG's fever was still high so we had no idea when it would break. Seems once the fever begins to break with strep, they tend to feel better.

Glad to say that Tuesday evening, her fever broke and Harper had no sign of one. Most likely on Saturday, it was strep and not the stomach virus. Strep can present itself like the stomach virus in the beginning.  With a call into our doctor, she assured us that both girls are able to go back to school on Thursday since fever broke Tuesday.  They are both on pretty strong 5 day antibiotics and it is amazing how quickly it began to work. Basically a Z pack for kids and it continues in their system long after it is stopped. That helps us fight any germs we will come in contact with while celebrating Christmas with our families.  Poor Harper will pick up anything and everything and her little nose is so stuffy. :( back to breathing treatments for that gal.

The husband flies home in a couple of hours and both girls are already asleep. No fun waking to do an airport run but glad to have him home. I'm beat beyond belief from this week of disinfecting each day, laundry (we washed everything each day from our bed, clothes, stuffed dolls, and toys) and basically just being 32 weeks pregnant. Plus all my medicine makes my blood pressure extremely low so that contributes to zero energy.

Tomorrow is a busy and fun day for us, so thankful we are back in the saddle feeling good.

Men gifts

Men are always hard for me to buy for. Why? I have no idea. Maybe because my husband has everything under the sun? Maybe because if my dad or brothers need or want something, they go buy it? Same with the husband as well. Plus he wears jeans and Polo work shirts or pull overs to work. Guy friends however are incredibly easy. Funny how all of it works.

If the girls had their ways, the husband and Uncle Mark would be sporting Duck Dynasty pajamas pants or undies. You can thank me now Chris.  Harper just goes along with what HG wants even though she recognizes Willie and screams Duck Dynasty Hailey Grace at the top of her little lungs.  We don't need any extra stuff this year after just cleaning out closets and taking a MASSIVE Goodwill pile. I have another one going tomorrow too and I know we will go again after Christmas. Luckily for us, it is just a few miles down the street and is pretty easy to take big loads of crap. What is our crap is another person's gold mine. But also, would they really wear it? My girls would in a heart beat.

Back to gifts......the husband has really wanted Bose noise canceling headphones for a while now. Flying weekly and working from home, these are the perfect gift. Bose brand, not a knock off even though he is considering the Costco ones for a few months. We looked at The Beats but our friend's kids all have those and it is something we would purchase for HG. Nothing like walking around with other professionals wearing a little Dr Dre on your ears. They were veto'd pretty quickly but do work nicely and we might end up with some for the car. Of course when I went to purchase them, he wasn't sure about spending $268-$314 on a set of headphones. I was totally okay with it because it was something he really wanted and would use weekly......until we move. That was another hiccup. He won't be flying weekly or even monthly wen we move but they sure would be nice to have around the house with 3 kids of various ages. AMAZING how loud they get as they get older. So we veto'd the Bose headphones for Christmas. I have them in my 'cart' on Amazon and his birthday is a few short weeks after Christmas so we shall see.  Isn't Amazon Prime awesome where they ship for free in 2 days?

Another thing was gifts to open. The girls would be upset if he only opened one or two gifts. Funny how that is but they want everyone else to enjoy events as much as they do. I try to do 4 gifts and knick knacks or fun stocking stuffers. Since we veto'd the headphones, I was back at square one. What in the heck do you buy something who really doesn't need anything? I am the exact same way this year though.  I don't 'need' anything except practical things. I need a new chi, rollers, lotion, shampoo, vacuum for downstairs, etc. I've been waiting since Summer for these items too so no biggy if Santa doesn't bring them.  A hair cut and a pedicure will happen, this week. I have too hard of a time cutting my toe nails and don't even want to think about peeing on myself right now.  Of course there are wants and desires but I (we) seriously don't need it right now. So I had to get creative and take in mind that we will be living 15-16 hours north east of here soon. A year with of golf or a country club membership locally wouldn't work. Shorts for someone who has 34 pairs already wasn't a good idea. Seriously, two tubs of shorts.  Warmer clothes or something to do up North would be best. Or a dinner date which will happen before Christmas.
 

I am Patagonia junkie. I love it. Grew up wearing it, my girls love their jackets as well as Chris. He however only has one sweatshirt from my Mom but LOVES/LOVED it. Patagonia can get pricey so he always bought North Face or people gave it to him for gifts.  Don't get me wrong, we still love North Face as well.  There is a jacket on my 'want' list that I hope to purchase this summer for next winter if we have some extra money.  Apparently it is very popular as most places sell out in the men sizes. I thought a pull over version in blue would be perfect for the husband. Not only would it bring his blue eyes out, it would be perfect to wear over work stuff, on a ski trip or just to throw on for errands. It is amazingly soft and too cuddly. I got excited when I purchased one from Moose Jaw, one of our favorite shops. The day it was due to be delivered, I got an email stating it was out of stock and they are unable to order more because Patagonia is out. Great. Two losses in a row on Christmas stuff. I just happened to be at the doctor when it came through and was talking to him about it. He recommended I did not try to visit a bunch of places (trying to keep fluid up and contractions down) but should try Tyler's in Southlake. How on earth can we forget about that store? I love it. While I did not find the null pull over I was looking for, I learned they do have a Patagonia section and TONS of awesome shoes. I managed to score two pull overs for the price of the original one I ordered. Score! Whether he keeps them both or exchanges for the one I planned on ordering, who knows. Both are light enough weight for Texas winter or for visiting Canada next year. Let's just pray he love the feel as much as the first one he received years ago from my mom.

That isn't really considered a fun gift in my book though. I love to do surprises and get a gift that he least excepts. Sometimes this is a huge box of Reese's butter cups, a trip or a gift card to somewhere fun. Well, I have a freezer full of chocolate, won't be traveling right now and he probably won't be using a gift car anytime soon unless it involves kids and babies. :) One of my BFF's said I needed to do this............

Of course I totally jumped on it. We have TONS of ice chests and gave him a Yeti for Father's Day but this is cool. It will look perfect in a covered patio or even down in a basement for decoration. Plus an easy fill of drinks. The girls love it and we hope the husband does as well.......Hopefully he does!
 

If you know my husband, you know she also loves shoes.  Good shoes. We have plenty of shoes given to us or bought that our feet never touched because they weren't our style, size or weren't comfortable.  He takes good care of his shoes and wears them for work and dinners out so spending a little money on them is not a concern.  But when Cole Hann has a sale, it is hard not for me to buy each and every pair.  While at Dillard's on Friday, I couldn't make up my mind but Amazon Prime came to the rescue with the same price and free shipping.

 

Lucky for me, the husband won't be anywhere near this blog until after Christmas.  He is working right now in various towns and once he lands, we hit the ground running for various Holiday events. Also, another cold front moving in on Saturday with a chance of ice? No thank you!! My yard still has ice and my girls want the grass to dry out. And my dog stinks, he needs to sleep outside so we don't have to worry about Harper's allergies.   Plus, I have to do lists for him that might be sort of long depending on what I can tackle early in the week. The list goes on just like life right?

Malls

Baby Hudson got another great report on Thursday. Still measuring in 99% for height and weight and had fluid surrounding him. He is sunny side up still and as he grows, I hope he flips around. Much more comfortable for me when he is facing the other way. We have another week under the belt so to speak and couldn't be happier. My contractions are growing stronger and more of them as the days go by but that is expected.

We've played a lot inside this week trying to keep the sickness away for Christmas events. Thursday kicks off 7 days of Christmas stuff planned. Whew, I am honestly exhausted thinking about it.
The girls also start their baby sitter Monday. While we have done a trial run and had various sitters here, they will actually go to her.  She does some homeschooling, daily crafts, meals, etc so we are pretty excited about that.  I am supposed to be taking it as easy as I can, spacing out the house hold chores and can't be on my feet all day. I don't think I sat down all day today cleaning up sickies.

I jumped in the shower the other day while Harper and HG watched Sophia.
Maybe 4 minutes total in there.
Harper was so excited HG brought the box of cookies upstairs.

Evenings by the fire and tree.

If I were an apple tv remote, where would I hide?
In one of the play kitchen microwaves of course!

Friday morning, we headed to Buy Buy Baby since their organic snack foods were 50%.

Right when you walk in, there is always a rack of stuff and it just so happened it was full of Harper's favorites on Friday.

Easy additions lunches for school and snacks on the go.

We were so close to NE Mall, we headed in to see if we could find anything.

A nice surprise for us was seeing Grandmommy for a little bit while she was working out there.

The mall was a mad house and we didn't buy anything except for lunch and cookies.

food coloring shaving cream in the tub instead of finger paints.

I never let the girls play at the mall play grounds in flu/cold seasons.

It is so germ infested and all of our doctors say to stay away for Harper's sake.

But, they had been cooped up for what seemed like 2 weeks and needed to run.

I gave in and as I sat there, I had this horrible guilt in my gut.

Like I was asking all those nasty germs to climb on us.

While it wasn't very busy, we lasted until a green snotty nose/congested coughing little kid came to play.

I don't think I have ever scooped up my kids so fast.

I cleaned us up in the bathroom and we were good to go.

Both girls were going wild over the play area while it lasted.

When living in Grapevine, we played at the Galleria often in the summer with some of our besties.

I'm not sure if Harper even remembers ever going to a play area.

Of course, like clock work it hits.

Harper threw up the majority of the night starting around 3.

It was coming out both ends and everywhere.

I felt so sorry for her, she was miserable.

Thank goodness for Zofran which helped around dawn and allowed her a couple hours of sleep.

I have finished 12 loads of laundry and two more are going.

I'm talking it was BAD.

Two massive bottles of Lysol, bleached walls, everything upstairs is now sanitized and good to go.

Lets just pray HG and I don't catch it but so far we're great.

Tonight, she managed a couple bites of a graham cracker and some liquid.

 

We made a goodwill run and looks like someone got into it.
I laughed so hard when I saw the slap koozies on her legs.
She DID NOT want them to come off.

 

 

Thursday morning, all the ice still at my doctor's office.
It all fell off at once Monday and shook the entire building.

 

Maybe we will use the dining room for Christmas dinners this year.

Teacher gifts, they smell amazing.
Thanks Heidi for the idea.
Wrapped and attached Starbuck's gift cards.

She dressed herself and did not want to go to sleep.

 

Met friends at a cute little bakery where we got  kolaches, had breakfast and brought a dozen home.

Harper this afternoon and yes, she is wearing a bow.

We have to pull her hair back so she can see.

She went from one set of pajamas to another to another today.

At least they are comfy, cute and I think all matched today.

 

Praying tomorrow we are all back in one piece and can attempt Mass.

We want to enjoy the warmer weather before the next storm hits on Saturday.

Cabin fever

We woke to all of the highways and some of the main roads in Tarrant County fully shut down so the road crews could work on Sunday morning. We also received notice Saturday night that we were released of our holy day of obligation due to the church parking being fully covered with ice and much to dangerous to attempt.  Many prayers were said for school tomorrow but it is canceled.  The backpacks were at the front door and lunched packed. Surprisingly, the girls were just as sad about it being canceled as I was.  Not as sad as the husband.  You see, he works from home when in town. His office, it has no door and at the front of the house where the two story entry is.  Can we say loud? Between squealing girls, the girls wanting to be in his office which is a big no no and the boys surfing on their wake boards out front, it is kind of hard to get much done.

We are going a little A LOT stir crazy but ever so thankful for electricity. Baking and cooking items from our fridge and pantry have taken over. Toys galore. The husband has been working on his closet and oh the piles he cleaned out.  I mentioned I was going to do my side but he quickly reminded me that nothing would fit right now, I am busting at the seems.

Plastic bins turned into carts.

Harper slept late one morning (8:30) and then snuggled with her babies and Blues Clues.
She LOVES pointing out the clues.

Picnic on the floor.
Goodwill koozie pile has been quite entertaining.

Made roads and parking lots for cars.
Santa is bringing Harper some cars, she just adores them.
Yes, that would be a bat mobile for my pink bling wearing gal.

Frosty has been frozen since Friday.
:(
Maybe tomorrow he will come back to life.

HG has been getting up close to when Harper is ready for her nap.
Here they were, sitting next to each other on Ipads.
Both were watching Netflix, Strawberry Shortcake.

Sleepy head even when Harper was jumping up and down at 10 in the room.

We broke the no food upstairs rule because it was SOOOO cold downstairs.
She thinks anything in a muffn tin is a cupcake.
Except egg or egg white muffins.
 

Sporting last years Christmas Eve pajamas from Grandmommy.

In the past, it has always been a tradition that she picks out their Christmas pajamas since we spend all day Christmas Eve there.

This year, I took them to Carter's and let them pick out Santa ones since our Holiday schedule changed.

They loved that it is an Elf like Claire Bear.

Trying to stay sane being in doors.

Harper has been super, duper, crazy well and not on breathing treatments or antibiotics.

Praise the Lord!

A few ice pictures from today and yesterday.

Camo will need a new cover for his kennel.

He might need a new belly after eating Harpers lemon scented odor eaters for her UGGS.

Cold pizza and pajamas, their choice.

Lots of Pinterest crafts.

We did manage lunch at Freebirds and a quick stop into Kroger, where they had no produce or milk.

For some reason, some of my post deleted.  I guess that is what I get for blogging after 10 at night when I should really be asleep.  The Voice was calling our names. :)

After lunch, I ran into Kroger while Chris sat in the car watching Strawberry shortcake and Harper sleeping. Kroger was a nightmare, No produce I did score an onion, no latcose free milk of any kind or almond. A few jugs of whole milk and a couple only days away from expiring on soy. YUK! One guy, who wasn't even old or look mean, rammed a buggy into my belly which was hidden under my jacket. This was clearly on purpose and I just happened to walk up at the wrong time. Apparently, those other shoppers weren't moving his cart and he was blocked in. Then, he finally found an escape and I strolled through not having a clue what is going on in this mad house. Just my luck and I did not even have a buggy to ram back. :) Not that I would have. 

Harper and I will venture out this morning to Sprouts in search of fresh fruit and milk. Praying they have some in already. Today was teacher gift day as well for me so she and I will hopefully accomplish that before lunch.  The husband must finish his project for next week. :/  Each week, my activitites get less and less so I must accomplish stuff on days I have designated to activities.  Two days ago, I sat down for 4 hours. FOUR hours. Those who know me know it is hard for me to sit still for 30 minutes much less four hours.  Anything for the baby boy though.
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