Change is Good...

Change is good...or so they say. I'm still unsure.

Change, at least in my humble opinion, is sometimes good, sometimes bad and sometimes, well, just simply change. For example, we are all about to embark on a journey into the New Year of 2007. (How can this possibly be, by the way? Didn't this just happen a couple months ago?) For most, a new year symbolizes a fresh start, new things to come, new hope, new plans, new ideas, and new opportunities. All good things.

Then again, the coming of a new year can bring painful memories to the surface. A couple remains childless into yet another new year. A child remains very ill for a third straight year. A difficult situation spans another year. Sometimes change isn't all it's cracked up to be.

And then there are just simply changes for the sake of changes in a new year. Changing jobs, perhaps for the better....hopefully so, but with so many unknowns. Changing friendships, some growing closer and stronger while others, out of necessity, seem to fall by the wayside. Changing directions, no longer certain that the current path is the best one and stepping out on faith that something new will lead to better things. All things considered, none of the changes are strictly necessary, but happen anyhow because although we are creatures of habit, we still also all seek more and better and new and different.

And so, in this time of change, this changing of years to something New, may you and your family find happiness and contentment and joy and sweetness that comes in the hope of all things new. Happy New Year!!

Still Standing

Well, we're still alive and kicking.

As it turned out, Emily's "Christmas pukies" delayed our trip to visit family by a day, but she was the only real casualty of the stomach bug. She is doing better, but she's still acting pretty run-down and whiny. Oh...the whining. She's napping right now and did so without a fight, so hopefully we're headed back in the right direction. Now we just have to work on sleeping at night (without the battle) and eating properly once again. She's had no appetite since last Thursday evening and has developed the habit of spitting out her food without swallowing. I personally think she's a little scared that the food will "make" her sick again. Seriously, this child forgets nothing, so it's certainly a possibility.

We had a nice, though quiet and somewhat different than normal, Christmas. We spent time with my in-laws. My brother-in-law and his new wife ended up spending their first Christmas together as invalid and nurse, in that order, so we didn't get to see them. Then my Granny-in-law ended up in the ER on Christmas Eve night through yesterday, so we didn't get to spend Christmas with them either. But we're headed back this weekend to visit for New Years', so hopefully we'll all be healthy, or at least on the mend, by then. After all, we still have gifts to exchange!

Emily "gets" the present and Santa aspect of Christmas this year. She can open her own gifts, she visited Santa and told him what she wanted, (Clifford, the Big Red Dog), and she knows that Santa came to Grandma's house, ate the "Happy Birthday Jesus" cake and left her presents under the tree...including a big stuffed Clifford. The kid was spoiled rotten, but true to toddler form, her favorite gift of all came in a tiny purse her Aunt bought for her. The purse had a little pretend cell phone, compact, keys and 2 tubes of chapstick. It was one of the first gifts she opened and let's just put it this way....there was chapstick all over her face and many tears when we had to pry both tubes out of her hands. Lesson for next year....buy the simplest, cheapest thing I can find and let her open it first. She'll be thrilled!

All in all, we're doing okay. We're under a lot of stress due to some upheaval going on with Andrew's work. Lots of decisions and questions and worries and very few concrete answers. I like concrete. I'm not so good with the what if's...but otherwise, we're hanging in here.

An Update

Well, it's 8:26 pm as I'm beginning this post. Emily has been puke-free all day, but she's really not eaten anything except a couple crackers. She is drinking some water and gatorade, and so far so good. She really didn't get off the couch more than 3 times all day and those were for diaper changes, which is so unlike her. Normally, this kid couldn't sit still if her life depended on it. Once daddy got home, she perked up a little, even attempting to play for a few minutes, but that too was short-lived. Now she and daddy are camping out on her bedroom floor, mostly because mommy did it last night with little to no sleep and is now sporting quite the headache because of it. So we'll see how that goes. I feel a little queasy, but I know it's in part due to the headache, little sleep and little food. Hopefully this is as bad as it gets for all of us. Say a little prayer that Andrew and I don't get sick and that Emily is back to her spunky self tomorrow...and that we all sleep well...and that we can still have Christmas with the rest of our family without fear of infecting them.

By the way, in case you missed it, I posted a quick little Christmas quiz, but it is now 2 posts below this one...I had saved it as a draft yesterday and then never got to post it last night, so it shows up late in the line-up!

Again, Merry Christmas to all, in case I don't get another chance to tell you!

Fa-la-la-la-BLAH!

Well, if you read my answer for the worst Christmas under my "Christmas Survey" post, you'll understand the title of this post.

Yep, we are once again doing the Christmas Pukies. "Oh What Fun....Not!"

I went upstairs last night to rock Emily and after about 10 minutes, she looked up at me, clutched her tummy and vomited all over her, me, the rocking chair, her favorite stuffed animal, three blankets and a large portion of the floor. Yep...lots of fun. She proceeded to puke every 20-30 minutes from about 9:00pm until sometime after 4:00am. I know this because I slept on the floor beside her, listening to her call my name, tell me (with her sign language) that she was "all done" and then puke again, laying down and presumably going to back to sleep for a few minutes before going 'round again. This didn't allow for much sleep for Emily or me and pretty much guarantees that I will be following much the same course in 12-24 hours.

I blame this on our speech therapist. She came to our house (as usual) Monday morning and half-way through the hour-long session told me that her 2-year old son had puked all weekend and that her husband had awakened that very morning, also puking. Gee...I wonder if it ever occurred to her to NOT BE THE CARRIER MONKEY!!!!!

Did I mention we were supposed to leave to visit family 2 hours away this evening...and stay through Christmas? Looks like that plan is out the window and who knows what the new plan will be our if we will be healthy enough to even make a Christmas plan.

Bah Humbug!

Emily has spent the entire morning reassuring me that her tummy feels better, but then again, all she's had to drink is water, she's asked for nothing to eat and all she wants to do is lay down...not at all like her, so it's really hard to tell whether the worst is over yet or not. Please, please let it be...for all of us.

How Well Do You Know Your Christmas Songs?

I found this quiz on another blog, so if you've already seen it a zillion times, just ignore it, but if you haven't, test your knowledge. (I got 9 out of 10, in case you were wondering!)

Can you guess all 10 Christmas songs?

1. Listen to the celestial messengers produce harmonious sounds.
2. Embellish the interior passageways.
3. Twelve o'clock on a clement night witnessed its arrival.
4. The Christmas preceding all others.
5. Small municipality in Judea south of Jerusalem.
6. Omnipotent supreme being who elicits respite in distinguished males.
7. Nocturnal time span of unbroken quietness.
8. Obese personification fabricated of compressed mounds of minute crystals.
9. Tintinnabulation of vacillating pendulums in inverted, metallic, resonant cups.
10. In awe of the eventide characterized by religiosity.

Got that Christmas Spirit?

The answers will be in the first post...but no cheating!

Some Pictures to Peruse

The shirt says it all...of course, she looks incredibly sweet and innocent in this picture. It's all part of her diabolic scheme to make mommy look like a liar...really, it is!
Ah...there's a little bit of the spunk!
An attempt at Christmas pictures.
Another attempt, in her Christmas dress, on another day. Amazing that this looks like she was posed so nicely. She wouldn't sit still for anything.
See...she's ready to bolt in this one, but it's still cute.

Christmas Survey

So, as I've mentioned before, I'm short on creative ideas and time right now, so I'm going to try something different today. I'm asking for your participation. (Yes, that means YOU!) I would like to get your answers to the following Christmas-themed questions:

1. What was your favorite Christmas (holiday) tradition as a child?

2. What is your favorite Christmas song?

3. Which food makes Christmas, well, Christmas for you?

4. White lights or multi-colored on your tree? on your house?

5. Classy Christmas decorations or Chevy Chase Christmas Vacation style?

6. Do you send Christmas cards every year?

7. What is the worst Christmas you ever had?

8. What's your favorite Christmas memory?

9. If Santa visits (or visited) your house, were the presents that he left under the tree wrapped, unwrapped or a combo of both? (If you answer no other question, please answer this one...it's a source of bitter debate for Andrew and I.)

10. What is the one gift you always wanted, but never got?

I'll provide my answers later so as not to influence anyone....Have fun!

The Last Minute Scramble

Yep, I'm still here. It's been a busy few days. On Saturday, Andrew and I split up, he with Emily and me alone, to try to start and finish our Christmas shopping. (He was starting and finishing in one day, I was merely finishing.) I almost did get done, but I find myself today needing 2 more gifts, one for Andrew's secretary (hardly seems fair) and one for my friend. I'm stuck. I have no more good ideas left. And yet, something will have to be purchased today. The gift for my friend must also be mailed out. It's not looking good that that one will arrive in time for Christmas.

Speaking of mailing things, I sent my family's Christmas gifts out yesterday, the documented absolute busiest, last day to guarantee that they will arrive before Christmas, postal day of the year. Suffice it to say that I had to wait in line on the street in my car while police directed traffic just to get a parking space at the post office. Then, I attempted to lug a box that used to house my full-size vacuum cleaner and a two-year old across the busy parking lot. The box was only slightly shorter than Emily and 2-3 times as wide. It wasn't a pretty sight. Thank goodness for pleasant weather and a gentleman who happened to be walking in just before me and offered to hold the door, otherwise, I think I'd still be stuck outside trying to juggle everything.

All in all, I'm just simply too busy at the moment to post anything very deep. I'll be back sometime after Christmas with some more thoughtful posts (hopefully), but for now, I'm just checking in from time to time to remind everyone that I haven't fallen off the face of the earth. And just in case I don't have a chance to say it later on....Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Experimenting...

I finally have a few minutes to myself because Emily is napping without too much fight today! Can anyone say "Hallelujah!!!" She only cried for 20 minutes or so last night when I left her room and about 5-10 at naptime today, so maybe, just maybe things are headed in the right direction.

So what do I do? I decided to play around with the new features on Blogger Beta and tweak my template a little bit. I'm still not sure the changes are exactly what I want, but I'm going to give it some time and see if it grows on me. In the meantime, I'm announcing the addition of "Bekah's Bits" to the Links column. Bekah is my former college roomate and someone I am proud to call "friend". She's a budding writer and an all-around great person, so feel free to visit. WARNING...she is a cat person and addicted to taking pictures of everything (like me).

So, though this is certainly not the world's most earth-shatteringly amazing blog post, I am still alive, slightly more sane than a few days ago nearly finished with Christmas shopping and wrapping. Thank heaven for small blessings....

A Work in Progress....

Photo:http://www.vividlight.com/Articles/1618.htm

First, thank you to Skyepuppy and Janice whose comments and thoughts and prayers mean so much. Thanks also to Bekah, I know you tried to post and yes, I did read your email and appreciate your understanding and encouragement as well.

Now a quick update...nothing much has changed except that now we have more going on with some work-related pressures to add to the mess. UGH....what else can I say?

It's easy for me, when I hear someone else talk about their worries and troubles to remind them that God has everything under control and that they shouldn't worry because God will take care of them. So why is it so hard to follow my own (good and true) advice? I do believe what I say for other people. I believe it for myself, but the worrying part...I'm still working on that. I don't want to worry about any of it. I try not to. But I still do. So it brings to mind an old Sunday school song I once knew...

"He's still working on me....to make me what I ought to be. It took Him just a week to make the moon and the stars...the sun and earth and Jupiter and Mars. How loving and patient He must be....He's still working on me."

To think that I am more complex, and frankly difficult, than creating the entire universe and setting it into motion is pretty humbling. To think that it is taking me so long to simply fully trust God and leave my life in His hands without worrying is also humbling. To think that He looks at me in the same way that I look at Emily, who is terrified to the point of hysteria of falling asleep without me holding her, and who says, as I say to Emily, "You know I'll still be in the house with you. I'll never leave you, I'll always love you and I won't let anything (truly) bad happen to you. I know you can do this because I've taught you how, now you just have to trust Me."

"How loving and patient He must be...He's still working on me..."

Needing Peace

Well, I must apologize to my blog buddies and offer an explanation for my lack of posting. It mostly boils down to this...I am going through a really tough time with Emily right now. She is smack-dab in the midst of terrible twos, she is incredibly strong-willed, she lacks adequate communication skills and she currently is absolutely refusing to fall asleep for naps or bedtime without an hour or two (or more) of shrieking and screaming. She's physically fine, but whatever is causing her to not want to sleep in her crib is causing a great deal of havoc for me right now.

I love this little girl more than she will probably ever know, but I hate doing battle with her all day and night with no breaks. (Just as an example, she's had no nap today, we put her to bed at 8:30 and now, at 10:45, she's still crying. She screamed for a solid hour, then Andrew went up to check on her to make sure she didn't have a dirty diaper, and now I can tell that he's trying to leave her room again because she's started crying again.)

This is the way it's been since the middle of last week. I'm tired. I'm extremely frustrated. I'm seriously discouraged and depressed. I'm miserable and I dread visiting my relatives this Christmas because Emily doesn't sleep well during normal visits...Something, soon, has got to give.

So, if you've got a minute...please pray....and be understanding if I'm not around for a while because right now, this is very, very low on my list of priorities.

The Week (so far) in Pictures...

We decorated the Christmas tree on Saturday (after family photos). It's still a bit of a work in progress, but it's up and that's an accomplishment.

This is the view from the front door around 3:45 pm this afternoon. It's 20-some degrees and still snowing in spurts between blinding sunshine.

This is the view out the back door onto the deck that leads to the pool. The pool is frozen. The final snowfall prediction? 6-10 inches. Brrrr!!!

This is for Malott (and all the other dog lovers). This is our first cat. She's a big gal and she thinks she rules the house. She's quite dignified, as you can probably tell.

This is her fellow housecat, who is a bit less dignified in oh-so-many ways. She sleeps a lot. In my chair, or under the Christmas tree....or in it. The way she looks? Well, that's how I feel today. Maybe I just need a nap...

Christmas Time is Here

Well, it's that time of year again....time for Christmas pictures. We braved the mall on Saturday to have some family Christmas pictures taken, to see Santa and to try to get a little Christmas shopping in. This despite my rule that unless absolutely neccessary, one should never go to the mall on a Saturday in December. You just shouldn't even try.

We went to Sears, all dressed in our coordinating holiday apparel, with an extra change of clothes for Emily, since I wanted some individual pictures of her in her Christmas dress. We looked like a nice family.

By the end of the photo session, we were barely speaking, Emily was DONE with pictures and pretty much everything and the Christmas spirit was 100% sucked out of all of us. Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la, la, la!

The family pictures turned out okay. Not great. Emily's were about the same. She didn't want to sit or stand or by held still the entire time. Oh well....there's always next year.

As we were leaving the studio, another family was looking at their pictures and said, "Wow, we actually look like we like each other! It only took 10 years of family pictures."

So, maybe there's hope for us yet.

Blogging in Beta

Well, since I was tired of seeing the "Want to switch to Beta?" message, and then upon further investigation, seeing that I would eventually be forced to make the switch, I am now officially blogging in Beta...whatever that means.

Seriously, I have no idea what difference this will make for me, though I have heard through the grapevine that it might make layout changes a little easier. Which I guess is good... So maybe I'll play around with the template or add some links...the possibilities are endless! Okay, who am I kidding? I can barely find time to post a quick update these days. (Not that I haven't tried that only to have Blogger eat my most recent post...grrr!)

So, here goes nothing. If this blog suddenly disappears without warning, it's Blogger Beta's fault...not mine!