Whirlwind Weekend

Wow. Well it took 3 days, but we've finally recovered from this past holiday weekend. On the agenda were Thanksgiving, family pictures and my brother Seth's wedding. Here are some highlights, because if I go into too much detail this will be the longest post ever.

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WARNING: PICTURE OVERLOAD!!

We ate Thanksgiving dinner at my Grandmother's house with all the rest of the Larson clan, and some of the Fords. It was awesome as always, even if the kids were more interested in playing with cousins than eating. I'm sure that Andrew & I made up for their not eating. YUM!!

We also presented Nana & Poppa with their anniversary gift- a nativity picture that we had taken a couple of weeks ago. They were super excited, and the kids loved seeing themselves in the big frame.

Aunt Tammy, Uncle Dave, Addy & Ellie were also staying at Grandma's, so we were able to play with them all weekend too. Yea! My kids love them, especially when Dave gives rides on Grandpa's moped. What a great guy.
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Friday began with all 25 of the Larson family getting together to take family pictures. We also got new family pics of just us Merrimans, so maybe we'll have a new header on the blog soon. That last picture was taken the week of Frank's 1st birthday, so it definitely needed to be updated. The sessions went surprisingly well, especially considering all of the babies & toddlers we have in the group.

Friday afternoon was spent decorating the church & having a rehearsal for Seth & Josylyn's wedding on Saturday. More on that later. After we made it back to Grandma's house that night, we were surprised by Aunt Robyn & Hailey. They drove over to visit, and we had a great time. After Emma & Frank went to bed, I went with them to the movies. What a nice, relaxing evening.

Saturday morning was spent playing with cousins & visiting. Although Uncle Jason had to come visit in his police car to tell Hailey to stay off the sidewalk on the moped. That afternoon we drove out to the church & Aunt Amanda got Emma "super beautiful" for the wedding, because Emma & cousin Reagan were acting as flower girls! Frank says that he was super beautiful, too.

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Emma has tried to wear the dress every day since we got home, and can't stop talking about it. She was very good during the ceremony, and the wedding was beautiful. Josylyn, oops- Aunt Josylyn- looked gorgeous and Uncle Seth was awfully handsome. At the reception there was lots of dancing, and this was the highlight of Emma's weekend. She danced with lots of boys, but her favorite was her Daddy during the Daddy/Daughter dance.

Frank & I enjoyed the Mother/Son dance too.

It was funny (but not surprising) how Emma was right in the middle of every dance, but Frank liked to dance all by himself off to the side. What opposites! Daddy & Jack had to literally drag us all out of there. We were having such a great time, and I didn't want to leave any more than the kids did!

Once we got home this weekend, there still was no time for relaxing. Andrew has grand plans to build shelving for our storage shed, so he wanted to go through & organize every tote that was out there. We started with the kids' clothing & somehow this mostly got to be my job. Big surprise.

And to top it all off, Emma came down sick yesterday. She missed school today because we're doing breathing treatments every couple of hours, and I'm watching Frank like a hawk to see if he's going to catch it. Jack is sick too. Poor little guy got shots yesterday & now he's sick too? It's awful.

So now it's (hopefully) back to normal life. Well, as normal as our lives get anyway.

HALLELUJAH!!

Pay attention ladies & gentlemen, history is about to be made. For the first time ever, the Merriman family is done with Christmas shopping before Thanksgiving. Yep, you heard me.

DONE!!!

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And as an added bonus, we've also completed Emma's birthday shopping!

YEA!!!

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OK, so this is how it went down. We made our list & checked it twice all the way back in September & intended to have all of the shopping done before the baby came. But alas, Mommy was too sick to be traipsing all over town picking up gifts. So when we were in Thatcher for Halloween, we left the kids with Grandma & Grandpa & hit Wal-Mart like a hurricane. Presents for everyone! We actually managed to get every single gift except 1, and Andrew picked that up last week when it went on sale here in Tucson. We've even taken care of gifts for the grandparents & the Larson family-swap. Am I accomplished or what?

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I can't even begin to describe how free I feel! It's wonderful to know that I won't have to be fighting traffic & crowds in search of the perfect gift. Also, it's great to have money in the bank because we have a TON of travelling to do this month since both of my baby brothers are getting married. Add to that the expense of a new baby swing (since Jack's decided to quit yesterday), and I am 1 truly happy gal. I think I'll be smart enough to do this every year!

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Now I can focus on getting a birthday gift for the hardest person to shop for in the world- aka Andrew. If only that could be as simple as Christmas has been this year. Sigh...

Welcome to the Show!

When I got home from playing volleyball last week, I was greeted at the door with tickets to the "Princess who danced all by herself and the Prince who danced all by himself" Show- starring Princess Emma & Prince Frank. (Emma was very disappointed that Frank wouldn't wear the cape she picked out for his costume.) Here's a summary of their show.

Our handmade tickets. I got green because it's my favorite color. Frank & Daddy got blue.

Jack & I waited in line for the ticket-taker

Princess Emma insisted that we be part of her grand entrance

What a beautiful princess! (Note that my cutting board is the dance floor.)

That Prince Frank sure knows how to jam!

A very satisfied audience. Although I do think that Jack looks a little bored!

It was a great afternooon, and I don't even mind noticing how dirty my house was in these pics, because we all had such a nice time as a family. I can't wait to see what these kids come up with next!

Confession of a Chocaholic

I find that my life is almost not worth living anymore. Now don't get scared, I'm not suffering from postpartum depression or anything- far from it! But the chocolate queen has given up sweets.

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AHHHHHHH!!

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I can hear you all screaming now. It's awful & horrible. I don't feel any more healthy or skinny. And I definitely don't feel happy. In fact, I have found myself being really irritable lately. Let me tell you, carrot sticks just don't cut it when you're all stressed out & just need a King Size Snickers. I almost divorced my husband when he ate the last Reese's Peanut Butter Pumpkin last week. Not that I was going to eat it, but the sight of it disappearing into his mouth was almost enough to drive me over the edge.

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I'm not exactly sure why I've chosen to make myself so miserable. I suspect it was probably the sight of a garbage can filled with candy wrappers from my nightly raiding of the kids' Halloween buckets. Or maybe the examples of my healthy friends who actually watch what they eat & work out daily. But now I can't remember. I do know that my mouth waters when I drive by a Baskin Robbins and I almost want to cry when I see commercials for anything even remotely sugary.

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I've been very strong for a couple of weeks, though I do admit to having a bowl of ice cream this weekend when I was sick & my throat felt like it was on fire. However, with the pace of my life increasing & the holidays approaching, I am considering falling off the sugar wagon. Preferably right into a big puddle of chocolate.

A Post About Nothing

After all of the stress & worry of the past few weeks, we learned this week that there is nothing we can do, no one to go see, and nothing to get too freaked out about- yet- I think.

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The Story

We knew before we left the hospital with Jack that he was having trouble with his ears. He failed his hearing test twice, so the nursing staff made us an appointment to follow up in 2 weeks. No big deal, they said. It's probably just birthing gunk, and it'll clear up. OK, if you say so.

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Fast forward 2 weeks to our follow-up hearing screening. Little man failed again, twice. After some not-so-gentle tugging on his ears & some expert repositioning of the equipment, the tech got him to pass the test with his left ear, but the right ear was as stubborn as could be & refused to pass. OK, they say that we should now worry, but just a little. What? Worry just a little? Obviously she was not a parent. We now need another test, this one more extensive. (And expensive! Thank heavens for insurance!)

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Anyway, fast forward another 3 weeks to his big fancy hearing test done by the audiologist at the hospital. We had to keep him awake so that he'd sleep through the test. Yeah, right. Have you ever tried to get a 6 week old to sleep on command- with wires glued to his ears & scalp & electrodes jammed in his ears? You can imagine my ordeal. So, after over an hour of walking him around the hospital in the stroller, he finally went to sleep- after managing to dislodge most of the wires. He stayed asleep for exactly 13 minutes & woke up. AAAAHHHH! We only have 2 hours to get this done! OK- back to sleep after a few minutes of walking & patting the bum. At the end of our allotted time, the Dr stopped the test & told me what I was already starting to suspect. Jackeroo can't hear all that well. He has what's called mild conductive hearing loss. (I'm thinking, loss? How can it be a hearing loss if he never had it to begin with?)

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On with the story. Basically, she suspects that he's got a problem with his middle ear that prevents him from hearing all that well. We need to see the Dr ASAP & get on top of this before he gets too old. She starts talking about hearing aids by 6 months, special schooling, the whole 9 yards. I manage to hold it together until I get to the car, drive down the road a ways, and pull over to call Andy. Can you say meltdown? I indulge in the agony for a few minutes before driving home & making an appointment with the pediatrician for the next morning. It was a VERY long night.

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At the Dr's office the next morning, Andrew & I had mixed feelings. On the one hand, Andrew had been prompted during the baby's blessing to tell Jack that his hearing would be made whole. On the other hand, we've got people telling us all this crazy stuff about hearing aids & permanent loss. I had faith that the Lord would make good on his promise of healing my son, but I was nervous about when it would actually happen. Would this be something that we needed to deal with for a few years before he was OK?

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And then the Dr walks in. I tell him what the audiologist has told me, and the results of the test. He looks in the ears. He looks again. And then he starts apologizing. Basically, he was sorry that the audiologist scared us half to death! The things she was talking about don't even apply to our situation. My son has mild conductive hearing loss because he's got fluid in his ears! Perfectly normal for a newborn, and he just hasn't gotten rid of his yet. If worse comes to worse, we'll get him tubes in his ears when he gets older & that should drain the fluid. (I think.) Since he's so small, there's nothing we can, or should, do at this point. No medicines to give, no operation to fix it. It seems a little strange that it's enough of a problem that we have to have him re-tested, and that it's an actual diagnosis that will be listed in his medical records forever, but it's not a big enough problem to prompt any real action now. My little boy just hears the world as if he's always underwater. Or has his fingers stuffed in his ears. Not a big deal to the Dr, but it just breaks my heart to think that he can't hear me whisper in his ear or sing to him from across the room. So I'll just have to be louder- like I'm so soft-spoken right now, right?

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So now that we've had a chance to digest all of the info that we've received, we're a little more calm. Luckily we have a well-baby exam scheduled for next week & I can get the rest of my questions answered. But the basic gist of this story is nothing. Nothing to do but wait for my little one to grow, get bigger, and (hopefully) dry those ears up! A TON of worry, stress, and anticipation for nothing (we hope). Wow, that's a lot of post for nothing, huh?

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On a side note, I learned at the Dr's that Jack is no longer a baby. He is, officially, a MOOSE! He already weighs 11 1/2 pounds! To put that in perspective for you- Emma weighed somewhere around 11 pounds at a YEAR old! Yes, she is super teeny for her age, but still! I knew that he was big, but had no idea he was that big. So he seems so huge to me, but he's still only in the 55th percentile for weight. Man, kids today must be ginormous.

Lazybones

These 2 have been having a contest all week to see who can sleep the most.

I think Jack wins.

I caught a smile the other day while he was sleeping. Just look at those cheeks!

Halloween Festivities

We had a VERY busy Halloween. It was more like a Halloween week, as we were doing something almost every day for the holiday. We went to Thatcher for the actual holiday and spent the evening with the fam. Not included in all of these pics are our trip to Howl-o-Ween at the zoo, or the Halloween trunk or treat in Safford- so many pics, so little time! Andrew & I bought this outfit on clearance 2 weeks after we got married, and this is the 1st kid that's been able to wear it! I think we attempted to squish Frank into it, but he was a little large for it by then. I don't know why we bought it. Neither one of us was in any hurry to have kids, but whatever the case, my little pumpkin looks adorable 8 years later.Emma got to wear her Halloween costume to school on Thursday for the costume parade. But the teachers wanted them to take off their costumes, so she wore this one that would fit into her bag better. Always the princess.Pumpkin carving

Frank wanted no part of the pumpkin thing. He kept yelling YUCK!! He sure did want to be included in the praise for the job I did, though. Yep, he's a man!

Jack had other things to do than be interested in pumpkinsEmma LOVES the goopy insides.

She even picked out all of the seeds so that we could roast them. YUMMY!!

Daddy has a strange sense of humor, although Mommy thought it was pretty funny too. This started a pumpkin war between these 2.

The finished product. I'm thinking of going pumpkin-carving pro.