Poor Poor Pitiful Me

I was sick all of Christmas time. Well, that's not entirely true.
December 17th we arrived at my in-laws at 11:30 pm. It was so good to see them and we were excited! The next day everyone was healthy.  We went to my parents house for lunch and had a really nice time with Jesse, Sharalin, Anika, and Ben. My mom made SUCH a good lunch and we had SUCH a nice time. I'm glad I'm writing this out to recall, because this day really was a good day.

After the kids woke from their naps, we went to a restaurant to celebrate Stuart's parents 40th Anniversary.  It was... challenging. But also nice. Frankie and Joey were both going a little nuts from going to bed so late the night before and with us all being non stop busy with family as soon as we got there, and the meal at the restaurant lasted almost THREE hours! THREE hours! and a bunch of courses. With a one year old and a three year old this is no easy feat. I spent the hours entertaining the nieces, which was nice because I really love those little girls! And feeding Frankie and Joey of course. And trying to run after a Frankie who kept trying to escape. and occasionally taking a bite of food. And feeling frustrated and overwhelmed and a little upset that I wasn't with all the other adults enjoying their wine and not having to try to scarf down their food and participating in adult conversation. Buuut, this is the phase of life I'm in right now and they're all out of the phase and have older kids, so they should enjoy their time in the sun. I would just like to have a glimmer of that life again. Some day. like 6 years from now.

We went back to Dueck's for dessert around 8:30, which was WAY way easier because they kids could run around and play and I could sit with everyone and talk.  It ended up being a really nice evening there and the kids went to bed around 9:30/10:00.

And that's when it allllllll started.

Frankie woke up around 2 and I thought she was choking on her soother or something because she sounded terrible.  Stuart leapt up and started patting her back, as I watched,  horrified, as she barfed ALL over the pack-and-play, floor, and rug in a trail all the way to the bathroom after her realized what was going on in his delirious state. He held Frankie while I cleaned up the stinky, gross puke that was everywhere, rinsed the linens and put them in the washing machine (cuz you definitely don't wanna let that sit...) found fresh sheets and blankets, and we put her back to bed. 30 minutes later, the charade started all over again with more explosive puking. Once again, Stuart held Frankie while I put the other linens in the dryer, cleaned up all the barf, rinsed the new linens, put them in the washing machine, and took the cleaned linens and put them back in the crib.  Needless to say, it was a long night.

The next morning, Frankie seemed okay. She didn't have much of an appetite, but I chocked her throwing up on her having eaten a lot of rich foods at the restaurant that she isn't normally exposed to.

That day, Joey and Stuart spent some more time in the snow and Frankie and I putzed around in the house with Stuart's parents. I don't really remember what happened the rest of December 19th... Oh! I went to the mall during the kids naps to get a couple of last minute Christmas presents. And then at 5:00, Vanessa picked me up and we went to Cactus Club with Candace, who announced her pregnancy! Yahoo! We're all pregnant right now, which is pretty cool :) But, of course, Vanessa lives in Chilliwack, Candace lives in Langley, and I live in California, so we never see each other. But, it's still nice! :) We had a lot of fun and laughs at the restaurant, and unlike going out with my kids the previous evening, the three hours we spent sitting, laughing, and reminiscing went by in the blink of an eye. I brought Stuart home a blizzard and we hung out for a while,

The next morning was a nice quiet morning again at Dueck's.  At around 12:30, we put the kids down for their naps and Stuart and I went out for Sushi with Andrew, or 'Uncle Andrew' as Joey calls him.  Again, a super nice visit over lunch and nice to be out with Stuart.

When we got back to the house, the kids were up and playing and Andrew realized he had locked his keys in the car and had to stay for dinner. At dinner, Joey was acting weird and not eating the salmon that I kept raving before the meal that he would eat a tonne of, as it's his favorite meal. He refused to eat even a bite and said 'his mouth tasted weird' and I knew something must be wrong. After begging to be excused, he went over to the toys and started crying so hard. My poor guy had barfed all over a rug.  He was so distraught and I really don't think he's ever puked before, so he was confused and angry at me for not stopping him from doing it. :( "Mommy, why didn't you just make me not do it? Why weren't you with me?" etc.) It was so sad.  Then he threw up again. Then again and again. I put him to bed right away and Frankie hung out in the room with us while I put him down with a bucket beside him.  He was sitting up and asked me to count from a million to a million two hundred and twenty five.  I knewww this was him not wanting me to leave because he was sick and probably scared, so I rubbed his back while Frankie hugged me and counted.  By the time I got to a million two hundred and twenty, he barfed again into the bucket. And then again a few minutes later. I left to clean the bucket and talk to Stuart after laying Frankie down in her pack-n-play and when I got back in the room, he was sitting up again.  I sat by his bed and asked him if he had to throw up and he said no. I put the bucket in front of him and he was so upset with me. I think just because he was scared to throw up again. And sure enough, he did.  And then I led him to the bathroom and he threw up again, but this time it was so hard that it went through his nose and hurt his nose so bad and was stuck in his nasal cavity. He was bawling and telling me to get it out, which of course, I couldn't do.  I tried to suck it out with a boogie sucker thing, but that just made him freak out more. It took a long long time to settle him down and back to bed, but then he was okay.

He woke up once and sat up for a long time, but didn't throw up.  But I knew his tummy still felt unsettled.  The next day he acted fairly happy, but didn't have much of an appetite until right before his nap when he ate a small bowl of plain Cheerios.

At 3 pm, Stuart and I were in the TV room and I had the sudden urge to barf my brains out. Annnd I did.  This went on every 20 minutes for the next 9 hours. I've NEVER been so sick in my life. At around 10, feeling super dehydrated, I took a gulp of water that immediately exploded out of my throat and all over the floor. It was crazyyyy. I don't even know how I barfed for so long, as I had nothing left in my stomach whatsoever and I just kept retching and retching until about 12 am.  Stuart had gone to the movies with his brothers, so there was no one there to be with me. Well, Stuart's mom was, but it's not the same. I can't whine and complain to her and get babied and snuggled the way I needed to be, so I was feeling super sorry for myself.

The next day (the 22nd) was supposed to be the Christmas gathering at my parents house, and I phoned my mom around 10 and told her there was no way I'd make it.  She said she'd reschedule it for Christmas day and I felt so guilty because then my brother and his family wouldn't be able to make it as they already had another gathering to go to.

Stuart came home around 12:30 from the movie and laid with me in bed and I was finally able to calm my body down enough to fall asleep.  The next day I had no appetite and was more exhausted than anything from all my body had been through the previous day.  My dad came and took the kids first thing in the morning, which I was so grateful for, and I slept pretty well the entire day.  When I went to pick up the kids, I tried to have some chicken broth and promptly threw it up.  Stuart had plans again that evening with his brothers, so once again, I was sick and alone. I wanted him to go out. He said he'd stay home and that it would be no problem, but he had this night planned for a long time and I didn't know when the next time we'd be back in Chilliwack was and I didn't want him to suffer just because I had to. But, it still sucked :( I went to bed at 8:30 and had a super good sleep.

The next day was the Dueck gathering. I still was feeling pretty crappy and once again didn't eat all day.

Oh man. It's been a couple of days since I wrote the last time and I already don't feel like writing the rest of this post. RATS!

I guess I'll just do the rest as briefly as I can.

Christmas Eve: 
In the morning Jessica and Hinley came over and the kids played while we hung out. It was nice, but weird. I feel like so much of our lives have passed by since we last talked. It's been longer than ever that we've gone without talking (I think like three months!) so, not that it was awkward, but it felt like our friendship isn't what it used to be and it kind of bums me out. and I kind of think, meh. It is what it is.

In the afternoon while the kids were napping, Stuart came with me to run errands and I'm SO glad that he did. I was going to go on my own and have a pity party about not feeling good, but having him there made it fun.

Christmas eve night at the service JOEY. WENT. NUTS. He hated every living second of the service from the minute we walked into church. I haven't seen him have a tantrum like that since like a year ago. crying and yelling. yelling and crying. "I WANT TO GO! I DON'T WANT TO STAY HERE!" or my personal favorite, when the singing started, "MAKE EVERYONE STOP SINGING THIS SONG!" and crying his brains out. in my arms. while I held him with a vice grip. 15 minutes into things, and after having him calm for a little while, I could tell he was starting to get really anxious and stressed out again, just by the way his body was tensing up. He said quietly, "Mommy, I don't like this." and I knew the next thing that would happen is him crying and yelling again, so I just thought, 'You know what? The rest of Christmas has been a crap shoot. Why should I enjoy the Christmas eve service?' and took him downstairs to the nursery to play. (There were no workers there, so I couldn't have left him if I wanted to. Not that I wanted to because he wouldn't have known anyone and it would have been stressful for him all over again).

When I was downstairs with him, I got to talk to some super sweet other moms my age and their little ones, and it was actually not so bad. It just didn't feel like Christmas. Joey was so tired. I don't know why he was so tired! The service was at 5pm! He collapsed into my arms downstairs and said, "Mommy. I'm so tired. I just need to sleep." and he looked it!

When we got back to my parents house and everyone was getting ready to take pictures, I stripped Joey down and whisked him off to bed. My mom was disappointed because she wanted him to open his presents with everyone else. But, guess what? He. Needed. Sleep. End of story. I'm glad I made that decision. Stuart told me to keep him up, but I've never seen him so deliriously tired and unable to have a handle on his emotions as a result. I knew keeping him up = more meltdowns with no one to adequately deal with them but me and feel judgement raining down on me by my family members (whether perceived or real) and I wasn't about to be that frustrated, exhausted, sensitive person on Christmas eve night because at that point, I knew I couldn't really handle any more challenges.

The rest of the night went really well! The kids opened 2 small presents (I LOVE that our family doesn't do over the top gifts) and my brother and I each got a check from our parents. Super nice of them! And then we ate good food and played fun games until almost midnight! A fun time had by all!

Christmas Day:Frankie woke up at 6ish and I was sooo tired to go and get her because usually I try to go to sleep at 10 in anticipation. But with the late night, I was exhausted! But also excited because... well, it was Christmas day! I took her downstairs and played with her. It's so nice to play with only one of my kids in a completely quiet house first thing in the morning. There's something so peaceful about that I just love!

An hour and a half later, Joey woke up and wanted to open his Christmas present from Omi and PA. He was SO excited and it was adorable!! My mom came downstairs and watched him open it and then I got breakfast ready for the kids.

The morning was nice. Just playing and eating and the kids were really sweet, happy, and well behaved.

My mom realized she had forgotten a spice for her stuffing, so Stu, the kids, and I went over to Dueck's to say hi and borrow it. (Poultry Seasoning). I was actually really glad to have an excuse to go over there because I think they were slightly disappointed that they weren't going to see the kids on Christmas morning. It was SO nice going over there and we ended up staying for an hour or so.

When we got back, my grandparents were there and we visited together and with the kids. It was really nice to see them.

Right before lunch, I put Frankie down for a nap, which was SO nice for me because my parents don't have a high chair and her being at lunch with us would have meant me trying to feed her the whole time on my lap and having her squirm around or try to leave and head for the stairs.

Lunch was so enjoyable with my Oma, Opa, Uncle Dave, Grandma, Grandpa, my parents, Stuart, and Joey. Suddenly, it felt like Christmas time. The stars aligned. Suddenly, I sunk in my chair and was able to truly relax (and feel good!) for the first time in four days and just enjoy.  It. was. awesome.

Joey went down for a nap right after lunch and the adults hung around visiting, eating dessert, and drinking coffee for the next hour.  Of course, by 2 pm all of the elderly needed to be on their way and it was just us again. But, for that two hours of lunch and dessert, it was the most perfect Christmas I could have asked for.

At 5:30, we headed back to home base (Dueck's) and I made Stuart and I something small to eat after we got the kids tucked into bed at 7.  Stuart and I cuddled up and watched a movie. It was just the perfect day. <3

Boxing Day:I woke up in the middle of the night completely congested with a sore throat. I knew things were too good to be true!

Joey, Frankie, and I went over to my parents house first thing in the morning because I had forgotten my presents for my sister in laws. I'm really glad we went over there because it ended up being the last time we saw them before heading back home.

By the time we got back to the house, I felt sicker than before and at 9, everyone started arriving for the Christmas festivities to commence.

For some reason, Frankie needed me to hold her all day long and wouldn't let me put her down, and I was getting sicker by the minute.

The day was really actually super nice and everyone was so fun to be with and the food was great and everything was awesome, but I think I was just so burnt out. I was getting sicker and sicker and by the evening (yes, the event lasted from morning until night) I had chills, a headache, and couldn't breathe at all out of my nose. And a 30 pound Frankie was hanging off of me. And I was trying to be social. And do laundry. And pack. (We had to leave the house at 5 am the following morning).

Luckily, my knight in shining armor swooped in at 8 pm and said, "I'll do all the rest of the packing and organizing, you just relax." I needed so badly to hear that. And I knew I could fully trust him because he is a master organizer and I so am not. And I knew he wouldn't forget a single thing we brought or a single present and he'd make it all fit because he's amazing at that. I wouldn't have made it without his help.

Airport Day:
I was feeling sicker than ever. Woke up at 3 am and thought I might as well just stay up until we had to leave at 5 because I couldn't breathe anyway. BUT at 3:30, I came to my senses and went back to sleep for a little while.

I was in the back with the two little sweeties (who do SO WELL EARLY IN THE MORNING) they are SO CUTE WHEN YOU WAKE THEM UP EARLY!! Frankie just gets all giggly, and Joey says the funniest things with his puffy little eyes and his bed head and his tiny little smile) and Dueck's kept talking to us, but I was SO hot in the back (I think from being sick because everyone in the front had winter jackets on) and SO tired that I didn't answer anything they asked me and had my eyes closed.

The cuteness of our sweet children was what kept me from giving up at the airport as I went through all the lines deliriously and feeling sick. The need to take care of two other people while you're feeling sick really gives you an inner strength to push through when you wouldn't have been able to on your own.

The plane ride was so hard. Frankie got overtired and was crying her brains out in my arms and she finally conked out 15 minutes before we landed.

When we finally got home sweet home at 11:30, both kids went straight down for a nap.

WE WERE HOME!

I spent the next ... well, 4 days I guess since today is the 31st, being ultra sick, but 2 days ago, I got some antibiotics and am on the road to recovery. Yahoo!

Christmas Time is Here

Christmas time around here has been non-stop fun. And non stop busy! And Frankie and Joey have been terrible nappers this week!

On Monday we went to my friend Ana's family tree farm for a Christmas party/gift exchange for the kids. It was SO much fun. I. Love. My. Friends. We've formed such an awesome community!  I've known most of the 3 year old's you'll see in the pictures from the time they were 2 months old. :) And I mean, know them know them. Since almost none of us have family here, we get together. A lot. Me and the other moms know things about each others families, know each others parenting woes, and intimate details about each others marriages (Thank you, wine) hahaha

Anyway - yup! Love these ladies. Love their kids. I'm so freaking lucky to have this amazing group of women in my life for so many reasons. And a lot of them weren't even there! This is just a few!

I know I've said this before, but the one thing that I would change would be that there would be some BOYS around for my sweet Joey.  He needs some boys in his life.  Girls are so.... girl. They're so different even at three years old from the little boys and Joey gravitates toward boys. And the girls gravitate toward other girls! Sigh. At least we have Julian! <3

Joey after he found his present hidden in the Christmas trees.

Diggin' in the dirt (he could have done this all the live long day)

Original Frankster and her dinosaur puzzles (She LOVES T-Rex's)

The gang! 

The rest of the week was so lovely with the kids. We went to the YMCA for Next Step two mornings this week, one class of 123 Grow, and one class of Ready, Set, Read. I didn't take any pictures one of the days. It's really hard to take pictures at classes like these because you're not supposed to get any other kids in the picture (YMCA Policy) and I'm just so busy playing with the kids and talking to other moms. Anyway - I got a couple of pics! 

One thing that I have zero photos of, and will have some once Petra puts pictures up on facebook is our annual (and CHAOTIC) Christmas Cookie Exchange.  It was a lot of fun and craziness. My friend Sandie hosts it each year because she's got a super nice house that's wide open and we can be in the kitchen the entire time and still see the kids no matter where they are.  Wait! I do have one picture of the egg nog fudge I made:

I don't really like it. It was a new recipe. It smelled good, though! haha oh well. It was easy to make. And the weirdest thing ever was that half the people there had never heard of fudge. Who's never heard of fudge?!?!!? Weirdos. So, when you have no idea what fudge is and you're expecting a cookie and take a giant bite, obviously it's gonna be WAY too rich and sweet. You're only supposed to take a tiny bite at a time, freaks. Haha. 

The afternoon after leaving the cookie exchange was a nap time disaster and the kids barely slept at all. BUT it was worth it because the exchange was super fun and nice and everyone had a great time. Joey never wanted to leave. He told me we could set up a bed and he could nap at Sandie's so we wouldn't have to go. hahaha! 

Here are a couple random pics from the other days this week:

The kids LOVE these foam stickers! They've had so many cute crafts at the Y lately and I've been so impressed with their new teacher, Brittany. 

What we do at home. In the morning we keep all the lights off except for one. Then Joey excitedly runs to the couch, lays down and turns his head away. I make a trumpeting sound and plug in the Christmas tree and he turns around and freaks out excitedly about the lights. Every. Morning. It's so stinkin' cute. I have 7 big candles up on the ledge beside the Christmas tree in our front entry way (just for Christmas time) and I light all the candles in the morning and Joey and Frankie both LOVE it so much and it smells soooo good and so Christmas-y! 

I kind of wish we weren't going back home for Christmas, and surprisingly so does Stuart! As our family grows and gets older, it sure is nice to be at our own place at Christmas time.  We're our own independent entity now. hard to believe that day has already arrived! 

Joey painting at Ready, Set, Read

Frankie only painting in the tray at Ready, Set, Read. Haha! What a mess!

hahaha <3 Frankie and Natalie outside the YMCA hangin' out.

Frankie has been so clingy at nap time lately and wanting to be held and swayed to sleep - something I haven't done for her since she was a little baby.  I LOVE doing it, but I can't do it when I have to get Joey down for a nap next because they go to bed pretty much at the same time.

Joey had SUCH a hard time listening before nap time yesterday, which is unusual for him. I think I've just gotten used to him listening to me all the time and when he doesn't it makes me sooooo upset.  He went into Frankie's room right after she fell asleep and started being so noisy and woke her up! I was SO mad.  When she finally had calmed herself down, Joey was in the bathroom.  I went in and reminded him to be quiet and he SLAMMED THE TOILET SEAT DOWN. and it woke her up again and she was screaming.  Omg. I was so, so, SO, SOOOOO mad. I said in a super angry, quiet, seething voice, "Mommmyyyyy isssss veryyyyy angrrrryyyy" and it scared Joey so  bad that he fell to the bathroom floor bawling and saying "Mommy, you're scaring me." Wow. Disaster. Frankie's screaming in one room and my three year old is naked on the bathroom floor scared of me. Siiigh. I hugged him for like 15 minutes after that and told him that even though I feel angry at him, I still love him and blah blah blah. I don't think I've ever been quite so mad at him, though. 

After that long episode, Joey finally went down for a nap. And then I went into the room Frankie was sleeping in and calmed her down for a good 20 minutes.  She was SO precious, though. Like, the most precious in the world. She had her little head nuzzled into my neck and her whole body just sunk into me as I swayed her around. Omg. Most precious moments ever.

When I got out of there... s-t-a-r-v-i-n-g, I heard Joey. He never fell asleep and he was yelling that he had to go wee wee.  He went to the bathroom, went back in our bed (he sleeps on our bed for nap) and I went to go relax.  He started yelling and talking, but I thought 'Hey, at least he's in the bedroom' and that maybe he'd tire himself out. About half an hour later, Frankie starts making noise (I don't know if she ever fell asleep) and Joey yelled at the top of his lungs, "MOMMY!! CAN YOU WASH MY HANDS??? SAY YES, OR NO!" I wondered why on earth he needed me to wash his hands.

What I walked into, I could not have expected. It was the funniest scene imaginable.  A very serious, remorseful Joey was positively glistening, covered head to toe (he sleeps only in a diaper) in Vick's Vapor Rub.  It took everything I had not to laugh.  I said in a quiet voice, "Joey. What did you do?" and his lip started quivering as he tried to talk and he burst into tears. OMG it was so cute, sad, and funny.  I hugged him on the bed for SO LONG while he calmed down. Probably a good 20 minutes of calmly explaining to him (while his head was buried in my chest) that Vick's is medicine, not lotion and we only put it on our chest and only when mommy is there to help. He, of course, knew all this, hence the crying when I found out what had transpired.  I went on and on about how much I love him and how we all make mistakes and blah blah blah and he was loving every delicious morsel of my affection.  Suddenly, I felt his body start to become heavy.  He was getting super sleepy while I was talking to him and rubbing his back. I lay him down and told him that I needed to give him a special bath before he went back to sleep and to wait quietly. I came back with a warm, wet towel and washed the Vick's off his little body, sang a million Christmas ballads, and told him it was time to sleep. And he did.  Of course, Frankie was still awake and had started to cry, so I went back to her room and swayed her around for another 20 minutes.  By the time I was out of there and sat down, it was only 15 minutes before Joey started crying because I forgot to turn on the fan before I left our bedroom. Annnnd then Frankie started crying. I just got them both up because it was a lost cause.
Anyway, here's me, ultra tired:

Annnnd I have to go now cuz my kids just started screaming for me. BUT first, here's my 18 week bump!

I've gained 8 pounds so far, which feels like a thousand and looks on the scale like... well, like a number that I only see when I'm pregnant and hate more than anything. BUT, I love how huge i'm getting. I actually am loving my pregnant body this time around, which is something unexpected and awesome. I just wish I never had to see the number. womp. BUT! It's all good. In 5 more days, we get to find out the sex and see our little one in the womb! Soooo excited. 

Bodies

I was just reading one of those rando facebook-esque articles about 'how to talk to your daughter about her body' and the advice was:
Don't talk to her about her body, except to tell her how it works. Don't comment if she's lost weight or gained weight. And don't talk to her about how much you dislike your own body.

And now I want to talk about my parents. Guess what? My parents never made a comment on my body one way or another until I was losing about 7 pounds a week.When I hit 100 pounds? My mom started screaming at me at the dinner table to eat. 95? She tried bribery. 90? Doctors visits.  What I'm saying is, they never commented on my body. Ever. And I still ended up with an eating disorder.  My mom never commented on not being satisfied with her body either. I can't think of one instance where she said anything self deprecating.  This is actually remarkable because... well, she's a woman. I'm sure she had these thoughts.

I don't know what I'm trying to say. Maybe those of us who have had eating disorders were predetermined to. Maybe it was just in our DNA and inevitable. It's a mental illness. People with other mental illnesses don't blame their parents, do they? The thing is, if you sat a hundred women in a room and interviewed them separately, asking them to recall a time someone has commented on their body that had a lasting effect, probably all of them would have a laundry list of comments from relatives and classmates throughout their childhood and adolescence.

The difference about those of us who had an eating disorder? We obsessed over these comments and used them as fuel.  Sure, negative body comments likely caused insecurities in all women; maybe some that were even damaging to their sense of self worth. I'm not discrediting the effect of words on everyone. I'm simply saying that those that have had eating disorders have a distorted perception that may have been triggered by comments, but the comments themselves did not cause the disorder.

A person may argue that, unlike other mental illnesses, people 'get over' anorexia/bulimia. I'm here to tell you that people that think this have never had an eating disorder mind.  I will never 'get over' the obsessive battle in my mind over food and exercise. I have been given tools through psychiatric treatment to defeat these hundreds of daily battles going on in my mind, but never will I fully conquer the beast.  It's one small battle at a time. I'm terrified that I'll get exhausted and give up the battle and end up back where I was.  But, right now? I'm winning.

It's Christmas time in the Cityyyyyy

Every morning when Joey wakes up, the first thing he says is, "Let's turn on the Christmas tree!"
And then we turn this on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxdjeFYrih8 and Frankie and Joey both go NUTS with happiness.
I've been blasting that youtube '3 Hours of Christmas Music' for the past three years in our house because it's a good variety of all the greatest Christmas songs and it has a nice winter scene slideshow and Frankie goes crazy when she sees a picture of horses in the snow and it's the cutest thing on earth.
What? What else can I say about life right now? It's December 1st. WHAT?! Insanity.  I. LOVE. Christmas time with Joey (and Frankie of course) but Joey just gets so freaking excited. Like, when he's dancing around to Christmas music with me,  sometimes he'll just shout out "MOMMY! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH! I CAN'T EVEN BELIEVE IT!" and he's super excited about all the lights and he was even excited to see Santa!
Last week we went and got the kids picture with Santa because there's this awesome place (Bass Pro Shop) that gives you a free Santa photo and super cute picture frame.

Santa was only a 2 on the creepy Santa scale although in the pic it looks like he's more of a 7.  He was so sweet to Joey and when he asked him what he wanted for Christmas, Joey was literally laughing while he told him all of the things he wanted because he was so excited. Oh, and what he wanted was 3 of the cars that we've lost (one of which we've found since his encounter with Santa), one of which he'll be getting in his advent calendar, and one that Frankie dropped into the toilet and I flushed down. Oops. Oh, also... Frankie was completely terrified of Santa. As you can clearly see.

Also, as a Christian parent, I feel like I'm doing a good job. There are lots of things where I feel like I'm doing something wrong as a parent, but instilling Christian values in Joey isn't one of those things. We pray so much and read the bible every night.  He goes to Sunday school and loves it every week and mid week he goes to Awanas, which he LOVES more than life itself and learns memory verses like it's his job!  He works hard and takes it seriously and earned two more badges yesterday on his Cubbies vest.  I'm always amazed at the amount of verses stored in his brain that he can bust out at a moments notice because of Cubbies! Love my little bible boy.

Don't ask why he stuck his head in the railing.... he's a boy. That's why! haha Oh, and that sticker on his hand? He got it for being a superstar listener and helping the teacher hold up a poster board during story time. wahhhhhh.  I love him so much!

---

We've been going to a lot of Next Step at the YMCA lately.  I want to try to take Joey there Monday-Thursday and slowly have him get used to the idea that one day I won't go with him anymore. He learns interesting things about neighbors, teamwork, honesty, etc etc and they have a different 'value' they talk about every day.  Oh, and recently they started doing teamwork games and the kids are all way into it! It's SO cute to watch. And he's started actually practicing writing letters when they go to the five minute practice sesh, which is awesome! He even did his homework with me two days ago (practicing capitol and small a's and coloring) and got a prize! So fun! 

A game where the kids all got a playing card and had to get sorted in order of lowest number to highest. Joey's looking at himself in the mirror ;) Joey looks short because a lot of the kids there are 4  

There is little in this world that Frankie loves more than elephants (and fish)

Frankie's way too young for the class (it's 3-5 year olds) but, when it comes to Joey's craft, she's in there like swimwear

I love this picture so much because Joey still looks like such a little baby in it <3 He IS still such a little baby. How?! How is he THREE?!