Catch Up Time

I realized looking back that I haven't really blogged about "life" since the end of October. So, here is a little recap of November and December (you can follow along in with the pictures to the right):

In November, we went to Big Bear twice (once with snow!) and had fun relaxing as a family. We took walks through the trails in the woods and made a frosty the snowman, which the kids loved! Kira's Wall Mural was being painted this month, and every day there was such excitement as we would go upstairs to see what got painted next (a tree, a butterfly, a castle?). It was a lot of fun, and still is, with the project complete, Kira's room is the friendliest, happiest place in our house. Much like the personality of our little 2 year old princess.

We also hosted Thanksgiving at our house for my family and that was a lot of fun. With a huge feast in which Drew prepared his first Turkey (the best one I've ever tasted!), we ended the night reminiscing on past Thanksgivings, a treasure hunt for the kids, Dance Dance Revolution, and a few rounds of very competitive Spoons.

In December, our days were full of fun things like: going over to my Grandpa's house and helping him decorate his Christmas Tree, seeing the Live Nativity at Horizon North County, a Cutthroat Cookie Contest with my MOMs Group at Church, a nice elegant Christmas Women's Dinner at church, Christmas Shopping, Tristan participating in his first Christmas Performance with his Sunday School Class in front of the whole church ... and I'm sure there's more I just can't remember! We hosted Christmas Eve at our house for all my family and that was a riot. Another huge feast, an evening filled with games and sharing talents, a ping pong tournament, and opening presents. On Christmas Day, we had a chill morning at home as family, reading the Christmas Story and opening presents. Then while the kids slept, I went to see all my cousins and aunts and uncles in Carlsbad for a few hours. That was a real treat. I hadn't seen them since the summer. When I got back, we all headed off to Drew's parents house for another amazing feast, sitting by the fire telling stories, and the kids got to open more gifts! What a fun family-filled day!

The week after Christmas was an adventure, to say the least. I woke up the morning after Christmas with a very painful sore throat and dizzy spells. Thankfully Drew had the week off from work, so he took on the responsibilities of Mr. Mom while I tried to get better with every home remedy in the book. A couple days later, we celebrated by dad's birthday and brought him breakfast and then took him out to a movie later that night, just us sisters! I couldn't swallow or breathe, and actually had completely lost my voice, but it was still fun! The next day, we went to see a play at Lambs Players in Coronado, in which I was still voice-less and felt like Darth Vader, because that's what my breathing sounded like. Finally, on the 30th, I drove myself to Urgent Care because I felt as though I was swallowing glass. It was excruciating, worse than childbirth. I find out I have Strep and a Sinus Infection, so doc prescribes an antibiotic and I go home, praying the meds kick in in time for me to enjoy my 29th Birthday the next day.

At 2am, Tristan wakes me up, because the kitchen is flooded. How he knew this, I do not know. SO I wake up Drew, and it takes us an hour to clean up all the water and find the source. Seems the garbage disposal got backed up, and when I ran the dishwasher before bed, well, there ya go, water everywhere. We go back to sleep and I wake up on my birthday, still no voice, but at least the pain is gone, and my whole family came to serve me Breakfast in Bed and presents. What a treat! If only I didn't feel like poop. Thanks to my wonderful husband and amazing family, they took care of the kids, while I slept the rest of the day. I was too dizzy to get up.

That evening, we had plans to have dinner with friends, so I get all dressed up, take a dose of antibiotic, and I'm thinking, "I slept all day, I should be fine to go out on by birthday!" Ha! Drew and I are driving down the freeway, and suddenly, I feel really sick and I beg Drew to pull over. Immediately. Knowing the dangers of doing this on the freeway, I'm looking frantically around the car for a plastic bag or magazine or something to throw up in. Nothing! So he finally pulls over on the side of the freeway, and I jump out and threw up several times. I get back in, totally unprepared for this event, wishing I had my diaper bag with baby wipes so I could clean up, and Drew attempts to start the car. Nothing. He tries again. Nothing.

We look at each other and start laughing, this can't be happening! His battery died! I finally resorted to using a shammy(sp?) to wipe my face off (that's all we had!) and we try jump starting the car, with drew pushing from behind and me with my hands on the wheel from the passenger side. A few times to no avail. So I offer to go out and push the car while he tries to jump start it. Picture this: A young couple, parked alongside the freeway, wife just barfed everywhere, and she gets out and pushes the car from behind in a dress and heels! If ONLY there were a hidden camera. Finally, we get the car going and we continue on down to meet our friends for dinner.

We ended up having a lovely evening and finally realized it was the antibiotic making me puke, so after I stopped it, I began feeling much better and called the doc the next day for a different one so I could recover 100%. We spent the night at our friends house, push started the car again the next morning, picked up a battery on our way home, and THAT was the start of 2011!

And now, with New Years Resolutions in mind (sticker charts for the kids, potty training Kira, a cleaner house, daily devotions with the Kids, taking the time to actually decorate my house, etc..etc...), it's been a wonderful new year so far and I'm hoping it continues to be so!

Now that you're all caught up, my future blog updates won't be so long. :-)