Decorating the Tree

Our Thanksgiving

Our quiet Thanksgiving at home was great, our first turkey turned out wonderful.

And to answer Meredith's question, here is an article on brining. I had never heard of it until I met Monte's family, it makes a huge difference!

I'm Back

Isabella and I got home last night after spending 6 days at my parents. I was so busy the entire time I was there. I painted their living room and dining room and did a lot of deep cleaning the whole time. They are doing some remodeling, so after they get their new kitchen after Christmas I'll be going back to paint that, along with two entryways, and their bedroom as well. And please tell me I am not the only one whose child has a hard time dealing with staying away from home! Isabella was really not herself the whole time we were there, I would see snippets of herself, but for the most part she was a whiny, homesick, clingy mess. When my mom wasn't at work, she was painting with me, so Isabella was kind of on her own. My niece and nephew came over one day, and she really liked that. I do have to say, though, that for the most part she played by herself really well, she would just bring a toy to wherever I was painting and play next to me. I was wishing I had one of those backpack carriers, so I could just plop her in that, because she was wanting to be held a lot. Towards the end of our time there, whenever I would tell her that I needed to start painting she would come up with some excuse like, "Annie no feel good, Annie sick, Annie SO cold" thinking I would hold her then! I can't blame her, though, she is so used to our routine here at home, and it was total chaos at my parents. The house was a mess with all the work being done, and there were a bunch of people there putting in new windows and doors. She was completely out of her comfort zone. She kept saying, "go to Annie's house, see daddy", so she was definitely missing her daddy as well. And now that we're home, she is so happy and being an angel today, and I have a lot of unpacking to do . . .

First Meds

Isabella's cold has not gotten any better. Yesterday her eyes were all goopy and red, we thought it looked like pink eye, so I took her to the doctor this morning. The yucky eyes are just a result of the cold, but he sent us home with a prescription for eye drops and a decongestant. Her first meds, not bad for being two. I was a little concerned about the decongestant because I know they don't sell cold medicines for kids under six over the counter anymore, because too many parents were giving their kids overdoses. So when the pharmacist handed me the prescription and told me to give her 2 mL every six hours, I asked if she was just going by her age, because she is underweight for her age. When she looked up how much we should give Isabella according to her weight she found that she should only get 1 mL!! If I wouldn't have asked, I would have given her twice the amount she should have had, that's scary!

So with all the sickness around here, we have decided to change our Thanksgiving plans. We were going to go to my parents, but have decided that it would be best to stay here. Isabella has been taking crazy long naps since she's been sick, close to 4 hours everyday, and we know she wouldn't sleep as well somewhere else or get to bed at her normal time somewhere else. So it would be in her best interest if we stuck around here so she can get rested up, and well. Once she's feeling better, I plan on taking her to my parents to spend a few days there, so I might be away from the blog for a while. We are actually really excited to spend Thanksgiving here, just the three of us. I'm going to cook my first ever Thanksgiving meal, the turkey is thawing now, then we'll put it in the brine later. We watched a Thanksgiving special on the Food Network the other night, which got us in a cooking mood. And now I'm off to look up the brine recipe . . . Happy Thanksgiving!

The Weekend

Well I definitely did not need to be worried about Isabella, when Grandma and Grandpa came to pick her up she eagerly departed with a "bye guys, see ya guys!". Then, as they were pulling out of the driveway I happened to look out the window, and saw her sitting there with the biggest smile on her face! Of course I still had a few tears in my eyes anyway. Monte and I had a fun weekend of Christmas shopping and relaxing in the Cities. We had to hit the Mall of America, of course. My highlight was the shopping, and Monte's was the eating out. We came home yesterday afternoon to a sick little girl. Nothing major, just a runny nose, hoarse voice, and a general feeling of ickyness. But this being sick business is new to her, and she's not exactly handling it very well! She's quite obsessed with having her nose wiped, she can't stand it running even a tiny bit. And now she has so kindly shared her germs with us, so both Monte and I are not exactly up to par either. Hopefully we'll all be better by Thanksgiving.

Not a good time to experience separation anxiety

Every Thursday Isabella goes to play with other kids while I am in Bible Study, every Thursday she doesn't care one bit when I leave her, and happily goes off and plays. Until today. She screamed, "Mommy", for a while, and just when I was going to go in and get her, she stopped. But I could hear her crying in there a couple of other times throughout the morning. It wasn't too long, otherwise they would have come and got me. But then, even when we got home she just wanted me to hold her and carry her, while she laid her head down on my shoulder and patted me. She kept saying, "miss mommy". Sad. You see, this is not good because we are leaving her with grandma and grandpa for the weekend, Monte and I are going on a little getaway, and have been looking forward to it for quite some time. I think she'll be okay because she LOVES her grandma, but I'm going to be really sad if she's sad.

I've got nothing

Really, it's been pretty boring around here (in a good way, just low-key, relaxing days), other than Isabella went to her first funeral yesterday. Nobody we knew, I had to sing at it, and she was so good for the whole hour and a half. I was a little worried because of having the microphone close, she sometimes likes to "sing" herself (especially the Alleluia), but she never made one peep. But ever since she saw me singing yesterday, she's been going around the house singing at the top of her lungs! It amazes me how much kids do EVERYTHING they see, and at this impressionable age, I'm glad I know pretty much everything she sees. Go ahead, call me overprotective. :)
Anyway, since I don't have a lot to say these days, check out Food and Fellowship, I have been posting over there.