A Christmas Letter

Here it is, Christmas Eve again. Where did the time go? It's been a busy year at our house, but a good one.

Steve earned a promotion from IT Help Desk Analyst to Network Engineer in April. The new job is a challenge but he enjoys it. When he's not at work, he plays with the girls, experiments in the kitchen, fixes computers, and watches BBC America.

Paula was certified to teach Turbo Kick in March and began teaching in April. She was hired by a local dance studio to teach TK in October and loves doing that on the side. Otherwise, she cares for the girls and keeps the household running smoothly.

Ella turned five this year and started kindergarten. She loves school and can read a little bit already. She's like a sponge and just absorbs everything. She also began wearing glasses in August, which makes her look even older. She's as confident and independent as ever. She began taking ballet classes this fall and loves all arts and crafts.

Amelia turned three in April and likes to be Mommy's helper. She enjoys being the big sister while Ella is at school. Mia can write her name now and is mostly potty-trained (yay!). She started taking ballet classes this fall and it's one of her favorite things. She loves pretty things.

Nora turned one in April. In the last year, she's learned to walk, talk, and do so many other things. Nora adores music and will sing and dance. She also likes to pretend. She's a busy little girl but likes to cuddle with Mommy and Daddy.

For news with our extended family, we welcomed two new nieces this year; Madelyn in January and Meredith in October. There are also two new babies on the way; a nephew in February (our first!) and a baby in May (apparently baby wants to keep everyone guessing). Paula's grandma passed away in June at the age of 91. We miss her but are thankful we had a chance to say goodbye and she wasn't sick for long. With the loss of a loved one, there's always a deeper appreciation for family and the loved ones we still have.

Merry Christmas, everyone! And Happy New Year. We wish you all health and happiness and warm times with your loved ones.

With love,
The Scotts
Steve and Paula
Ella, Amelia, and Nora

The Thursday Sprint

Thursdays are busy. BUSY. Every other week is especially busy. I get up, get ready, get the girls ready, pack them into the van, and we head off to drop Ella off at school. From there, we either come home or go to MOPS. If we come home, it's a bit more relaxed, at least for a few hours. If we go to MOPS, I'm just moving more of the morning. We go through Tim Horton's for Timbits for the girls and decaf coffee for me and then go to the church. We unload, I distribute the girls, and I get to sit for a bit and talk to actual live adults! (If you are a stay at home mom, you understand how wonderful this is.) After a couple hours, I collect the girls, load them back into the van, drive home, and unload them. Then we eat lunch and then they go down for naps. At this point, I eat lunch, check FB, and sit. Then I workout (Thursday is usually ChaLEAN Extreme - heavy weights!) and then hop in the shower. I get ready again, get the girls up, and we hustle out the door to pick up Ella from school. Then we come home, get snacks, change diapers, and get the girls in their leotards. I make sure everything is in the diaper bag and we rush back out the door and off to ballet. I herd them through the parking lot, in the door, up the stairs, and to the waiting room. I make sure the girls are all dressed for it and off to their rooms. Then Nora and I sit. Or she runs around and I sit or chase her if she tries to leave the room. Finally, when they're done, I get their ballet slippers off, their shoes, sweats, and coats back on, and we head back down the hall, down the stairs, out the door, and back across the parking lot and load them back into the van. Then we go home. It's usually about 6:15 and Steve has dinner ready around the time we get home. And I collapse, lol. Steve handles bedtime and helps Ella make her lunch while I lay out clothes for the next day. Then Steve and I sit and catch up and maybe watch a little tv. He goes to bed earlier than I do. I should go to bed at the same time, but I love the quiet after everyone else is in bed. And on Thursdays, it's so nice to be alone and have quiet time without someone needing me or having to watch the clock.

So how did I have time to write this? Well, I haven't charged my BodyMediaFit in a few days so I'm waiting for that to finish. It just did, so I'm off and running. Happy Thursday everyone!

Thankfulness

Nora has had a cold lately. Because she's been congested, she hasn't slept very well, which means I haven't slept very well. She had her 18 month well-child check yesterday. Since she had a cough, the doctor checked her lungs and ears. Both were okay, but he did tell me to watch her cough and call if it got worse. Last night she went to bed okay and I went to bed early, figuring I wouldn't get to sleep all night. I was in bed by 10:30, early for me. As predicted, Nora woke up about 2:30 (I think. Nights of interrupted sleep start to run together.). We were back in bed shortly after 3. She whimpered in her sleep a few times but didn't really cry until about 6:30. We got up for the day then. She had that barky cough so I turned on the shower, cranked the hot water up, and shut the down. We sat in there for a while. I'm not sure how much it helped. I tried giving her juice but she didn't want it. I googled croup and took her outside, hoping the cool air would help. It didn't seem to. After continuing to hack and cry, she threw up a lot of phlegm - right into my hand. Miserable, but it seemed to help more than anything else had.

Finally it was 8 am and I called the doctor's office. They said to bring her back in. So I got all the girls dressed, dropped Ella off at school, and headed to the doctor's office for the second morning in a row. They took us back to a room within a few minutes and the nurse talked to us and said the doctor would be in shortly. Nora slept fitfully on me (honestly, I can't be very comfortable for her. I'm too short for her to stretch out.) and I almost fell asleep. Mia looked at magazines and explored the room. She did wonderfully. The doctor came in after about 45 minutes (well, we didn't have an appointment) and looked Nora over. He listened to her lungs, her throat, and checked her ears. One ear was pink - it had been clear yesterday. She also had a slight fever. He was concerned about her breathing so he had us get x-rays of her lungs.

That was more waiting. Nora would sleep on me for a bit, wake up and cry, and occasionally would stop and just whimper. The x-ray tech was wonderful and did a great job, but I hope we never have to do x-rays like that again. She put Nora in this contraption. We had to slip her legs into these holes and she straddled the table. Then I had to hold her arms over her head while we closed this clear plastic thing around her. It's effective for keeping little bodies straight and arms out of the way for chest x-rays but poor Nora was miserable. She just sobbed and kept reaching for me. Mia had to wear an apron and stand off to the side. She was very concerned about Nora and I had visions of her having vague memories of watching her baby sister in what looked like a torture device, complete with leather strap, while I stood there letting it happen. And I stood there in a lead apron holding Nora's hands and trying to comfort her as best I could without holding her. They took back and side shots and then we had to wait a minute for them to develop. The tech said it was easier to keep kids in there than put them back in there so we waited. A few had to be repeated and it felt like an eternity. Poor Nora gets this betrayed look when she's upset with me. I almost cried with her. But the x-rays were clear and we walked back to the exam room we had been in.

We waited a bit longer before the doctor came back in to explain the diagnosis: bronchiolitis. He said right now Nora's trachea is more inflamed and congested than her bronchi (is that right? I don't know.) but he wanted to treat it aggressively since Nora is so young and it came on so quickly. The prescription is basically a kiddie z-pack and steroids to help her breathe easier. He said to give her Tylenol too, for any fever and discomfort, and to keep him updated on her progress. By this time, we had been at the doctor's office for about two hours. I love our doctor. He's thorough, reassuring, and doesn't rush, even though we didn't have an appointment.

Since it was 11 am by then and none of us had eaten anything (Ella had a cereal bar on the way to school), we swung through Tim Horton's. I got coffee (extra large and NOT decaf) and tried to get an egg white breakfast sandwich and ordered Timbits (donut holes) for the girls. They were out of egg whites, so I ordered a regular breakfast sandwich. I pulled forward, paid, and took the coffee and Timbits. And I waited. Finally, the girl came back and asked if I needed something. I said my sandwich. Oh, she thought I didn't want one. Then she wandered away and the manager came to window and asked if she could help me. So I ordered my breakfast sandwich for the third time. I paid for it, got it, and we left. I love TH and I'm glad they usually do a better job than that. Although I have to say, if I'm having a rough morning already, they are out of what I try to order and/or mess up my order. I still say they're better than Starbucks or Biggby though.

We continued to Walgreens, where we once again waited for someone to notice us. Finally someone helped us. She said she was working on Nora's prescriptions and it would probably be 15-20 minutes. Of course. But at least we knew, so I turned off the van and gave Mia another Timbit. Nora was inconsolable again at this point. She didn't want the bottle of juice I had for her. She didn't want a donut. She wanted either a bottle of milk or me. She sat there crying and repeating, "Mamama" in the most pathetic voice possible. I ate my sandwich and sipped my hot coffee, wishing I had ordered an iced coffee and we could just get the prescriptions and go home already. I called Steve to update him on everything, they finally gave us the prescription (about 18 minutes from the time she told me 15-20 minutes), and we headed home, Nora crying the whole way.

We got home, got inside, and I tried to give Nora her meds. She drooled out some of the azithromycin and we both ended up sticky (side note: this is why I avoid giving my girls ibuprofen. It always ends up all over my hands - and I'm allergic. Like my throat will swell shut if I ingest it. So if I give them ibuprofen, I feel like I immediately need to scrub my hands. Tylenol is just easier and safer.). So I laid her down to give her the prednisone but she still spit some of it out. I went to the kitchen to wash my sticky hands and the syringe and came back to find a puddle on the floor. So I don't know how much of either she really got. I gave her Tylenol a little later too and gave her a fresh bottle of milk. She calmed down and maybe half an hour later, she ate a couple Goldfish crackers and wandered away to play. I was so relieved, because in the 6.5 hours we'd been awake, she clung to me and just cried. It's 3 pm now and she seems to be doing MUCH better. She's acting like herself again and her breathing is easier. Neither Mia nor Nora napped, but whatever. They'll sleep harder tonight.

So after this very rough day, why am I thankful? Because Nora merely has a bad cold and the worst test they performed on her was an x-ray. Because I realized she'll be better within a week and doesn't have a chronic or terminal illness. Because I didn't have to watch the nurses and technicians draw blood, intubate, do a spinal tap, or any other invasive procedure on my baby. Because this very rough day for me and my girls would be dream for some other families compared to what they endure. Because so much of life is a matter of perspective and I realize we've got it GOOD. We're blessed. I'm guessing you are too. So be thankful, appreciate what you do have, don't complain about the things you don't have, and just SMILE. Life is good. :)

Weariness

I've been meaning to post for a while. It's fall, my favorite season. Ella is in school. Mia and Nora are closer now. I was hired to teach Turbo Kick by a dance studio. Ella and Mia started ballet lessons. I ran my first 5K. There's been no shortage of things to blog about. But I feel tired. Don't get me wrong, my life is good. Even great. But lately I've had this overwhelming sense of weariness. Like I never stop moving but there's always more to do. Like each day I wake up, take a deep breath, and sprint through the day until it's time to collapse in bed at night. And then I do it again the next day. The other day I couldn't shake the feeling that someone was mad at me. To my knowledge, I didn't do or not do anything to make anyone angry. I'm still working out five days a week. That helps a bit and honestly, that's where I get most of my energy. I don't know how moms do it without regular exercise. I know I'd be much more worn down if I didn't.

I'm hoping this is a passing phase. That a few good conversations with friends and nights with more sleep will remedy this. I'm not entirely sure what outcome I hope for with this post. I just thought I should post *something.* So I'll leave with this: We were in the van one day when Mia, out of nowhere, says, "Mommy, Spiderman is the best superhero. He has webs in his hands so he can swing from tall buildings." My silly redhead makes me smile. :)

The gradual process of letting go

Ella started kindergarten today. I thought I was ready for it. But last night I was just feeling all out of sorts and then I realized I have never dropped Ella off someplace and left. She's been in the nursery and Sunday school at church and MOPS but I never left the building. We have dropped her off with family but even then it was only Leslie or Doug and Linda, people she is very familiar and comfortable with. Although I know she'll be fine and probably love school, my mom-ness takes over. I worry that someone will pick on her, that she won't make friends, that she'll get hurt and I won't be there, that she'll lose her lunch, that she'll be afraid to ask for help with something, and a whole slew of other things. I'm anxiously waiting to go pick her up (it's a half day, thank GOD!) and hear from her that everything was great and she loves school. It helps to know that Linda is in the kitchen if Ella needs someone familiar. Mrs. Radford seems like a great teacher too.

I was struck by the thought that the whole purpose of parenting is letting go. You create and give birth to this tiny being and gradually and continually prepare them to survive without you. Think about it - even beginning with conception, the baby is developing to survive outside of you. Once the baby is born, they begin to eat on their own, although initially with a lot of help from Mom and Dad. As time goes on, they learn to roll, crawl, walk, and run. They begin to self-feed. It continues forever. Leaving Ella in her kindergarten room felt like one of the most tangible steps of letting go in a long time. To some degree, it feels like she was just this tiny infant that needed me for everything. I can't imagine how it will feel to leave her in her college dorm room. I know it's years away but I have a sneaking suspicion it won't feel that long.

It was about ten years ago that my parents dropped me off in my college dorm room. It was Labor Day, September 3rd. How on earth do I remember the date? It was my mom's birthday. Probably not the happiest way to spend her birthday, but I'd imagine it had some sweetness to it. I was ready to leave home but not bolting like I was escaping. I was prepared to stand on my own two feet (as much as you do living in a college dorm) but not desperate to separate myself from my parents. I missed them and occasionally got homesick, but I was ready. I think that is the mark of good parenting - when milestones come, your child is prepared for them. If you have done your job well, your child is ready for you to let go.

I think daughters will always need their mom to some degree. Right now I find some comfort in that. My mom just celebrated her 53rd birthday this past weekend, her first birthday without her mom. It's harder to prepare for that final letting go, I think. Mom will always miss Grandma but she's okay without her here, so I think Grandma did her job well. Today would have been Grandma's 92nd birthday. It seems fitting that Ella's first day of kindergarten is on Grandma's birthday, like it completes a circle somehow. Perhaps I should take some pride in the fact that Ella didn't cry when I left the room without her and she seemed ready for this step. But I still hope that when I pick her up, she'll hug me and say she missed me before she tells me how much she loved her first day of school.

Summer is busy...and almost over

Another month gone and I haven't blogged. My apologies to my loyal readers, lol. I'll try to catch you up in the order things happened.

I turned 28! And I also reached my goal weight that day, thanks to a bout of the stomach flu the night before...that hit during my Turbo Kick class. We made it through the kicks first, so we still had a decent, albeit short, workout. Mom came down the next day, which the girls LOVED, and we went out to dinner. Then I went back to Mom and Dad's overnight. I missed Steve and the girls but a night without kids in a quiet house? Heavenly. I got plenty of sleep and then ran on the treadmill before Mom and I went to a family reunion. I came home that night.

The next weekend we went to Tracy and Donovan's house. We had fun but it was definitely an eventful trip. We spent the afternoon at Lake Huron and Steve I remembered to sunscreen the girls but not ourselves. Ouch. Steve and Ella also flipped the jetski and Lake Huron stole Steve's glasses. Not good, since his eyesight is bad without glasses. Luckily he was able to get new ones the next day, but it required a hours-long trip to Saginaw. Other than Ella telling off the neighbor boy, the rest of the weekend went better. On the way home we picked out new furniture too. Our old white sectional had seen better days and needed to be replaced.

That night, Steve was itchy. It was so bad and he was so agitated, he was pacing the house. Benadryl, a cold bath with vinegar, aloe, Dermoplast, etc barely touched it. He ended up going to the ER, where they told him to take ibuprofen (which is apparently one of the best things you can take for a severe sunburn) and prescribed burn cream and vicodin so he could sleep. Thankfully, he had the next day off. He never blistered though.

Later that same week, Nora had her 15 month well-child check. I couldn't find a sitter so I took all three girls. It went pretty well. Ella and Mia did NOT like seeing Nora get shots though. Since we were already out and it needed to be done, we went to have Ella's vision screening. Bad news. If we covered up her left eye, she said she couldn't see. So we were referred to an eye doctor.

Later that week (busy week), the new couch was delivered. Yay! We also have a new TV. Here's a picture of the furniture.


The blue recliner didn't stay there, but our old couch was stacked in pieces in the den. It was claimed by a friend whose puppy chewed through their couch. Glad someone else could use it! And the recliner is over there now.

The next week we had visitors for Turbo, which meant the biggest class ever! SEVEN of us! It was awesome. Last week was back down to two and then last night was just me, but I have faith that it will grow. I'll keep spreading the word and networking and it will grow.

Nora started saying "I love you" back to me. Consistently. It's great. :) She also comes into the kitchen when I have Turbo music on and I'm marking a routine and she'll dance.

We had the big Scott reunion. It wasn't as big this year but it was great to see the people who were able to make it.

Sunday, the hot water heater went out. Steve was pretty sure it was the thermal couple but couldn't change it himself. I always thought it was bad when we ran out of hot water. But the pilot light being out is way worse. Not even a hint of warm water. Eek. Luckily a repairman came and fixed it Thursday.

While we were without hot water, Ella had her eye appointment. Perfect vision in her left eye. Horrendous vision in her right eye. She had to get glasses. The doctor even talked about patching her left eye to force her to use her right eye. We're hoping the glasses help and she has a follow up appointment in three months. Her glasses came in on Friday. She looks adorable in them, but they also make her look older.


I've also been trying to make sure everything is in place for Ella to start school. Unfortunately most of the communication with the school has been single-sided. If I have to call the school to find out everything, the poor secretary will know me by name. I got the school supplies list and found out who her teacher is, but only because I've called repeatedly. Hopefully it's just that they're getting back into the swing of things and this isn't normal. Tomorrow I'm taking Ella to get her hearing checked too, because I just today found out (when someone finally answered at the school) that they may start requiring that too. May as well be prepared if they do. Had I known that, I would have done it when we got her vision screened almost a month ago. I'm a bit frustrated and feeling a bit apprehensive about Ella starting school now. I think she'll do fine but I like to be prepared and right now I feel completely out of the loop. I've heard good things about her teacher so I'm hoping things improve drastically.

We've been working with Mia on potty training too. She's making good progress. She's still in pull-ups because I am much more likely to remain patient if she has an accident in those rather than underwear. But once, she even went on her own without being told - and she peed in the potty! I finally see a light at the end of the tunnel of two in diapers. :) I'm okay with PTing a bit "late" if it means it's a quicker, less painful process for all of us.

Steve has been working a LOT of overtime. It'll be nice when he gets his next check, since we had the unexpected expense of a water heater repair and two pairs of glasses in the same month we decided to buy new furniture. We're fortunate that he gets paid OT since he is salaried and that most of the extra work could be done from home. But after working 18 days in a row, we're all ready for the 6 day weekend ahead. We planned this back in May. Labor Day is always when we celebrate all the September birthdays on Mom's side of the family. And there are a lot. There were five. Grandma would have been 92 next Tuesday. Since it's the first birthday for Mom and Marie without her, we're still all going out as a family. Leslie is visiting from California (we miss you, Paul!), Tracy and her girls have been there a few days and Donovan is going tomorrow, we're going tomorrow night, and Reid is going Friday. We have big plans, including a trip to the zoo, berry picking and jam making (using Grandma's recipe), a trip to the park with a run for me and Leslie, a big family dinner, and a few other things. Happy Labor Day everyone. :)

In a month's time...

It's been a month. While I want to keep all of you wonderful readers updated on us, I do feel it's more important to live life than write about it. But since I've kept you all in suspense for so long, here's a post. :)

June was a rough month. Grandma passed away. A week later, my wonderful aunt lost her mom. The next day, Uncle Don passed away. A week after that, the same aunt lost her dad. Other friends have lost parents and grandparents. This is not a fun part of life, but the longer we live and the more people we love, the more inevitable it becomes. Thankfully, the streak seems to be over for now. Too much death for my liking.

Nora is getting more steady and is almost running. The way she toddles after her sisters is adorable. Less adorable is the way she stands on the couch and giggles when we sternly tell her to sit down. She's talking a bit now and jabbers a LOT. She says bye and waves at people until they actually close the door. A few times people have tried to wait for her to stop doing it to leave and ended up standing in the doorway for a while. She also says "tickle tickle tickle" while tickling her stuffed animals. And she LOVES to give hugs and kisses. To people, toys, food, inanimate objects. She's becoming a ham too, which is fun.

Ella and Mia are doing a sports camp at the park this month. It's twice a week for three weeks. Ella loved Tuesday. Mia stayed close to me and Nora, but says she'll play soccer tomorrow. I hope so, because I think she'd have fun. They're both getting so tall. They are less and less my babies and more and more little girls. I still can't believe Ella is going to start school this fall.

I can't remember if I mentioned it here, but I was having what appeared to be gallbladder issues a while back. After an ultrasound, my doctor determined it was my stomach. He wrote a prescription with instructions for me to call back if I continued to have issues. The prescription worked...until it ran out the same day as my grandma's funeral. Not good if it was at all stress related. So I'm back on the prescription and saw a gastroenterologist last week and had an endoscopy this morning. Big scary words to say he put a camera down my throat to see what the problem is with my stomach. No cancer, no ulcers, but I have a hiatal hernia and an inflamed stomach. I'm off caffeine, my prescription is now twice a day instead of once, and the head of our bed is now six inches higher than the foot. This should solve my issues within a few weeks. Decaf coffee it is.

Annie and Thomas came to visit for a few weeks. They are having a girl (yeah, I know, all girls, can't we produce a boy, blah blah blah. We <3 girls and are happy with our healthy, beautiful girls) and had a shower while they were here. Jonathan also came home for a weekend. It was good to see all three of them. Sarah will be back in a few weeks and Leslie will be coming to visit for a week and a half soon after that. I miss them both and can't wait to see them too. I do wish Paul could come too, but I'll take whatever family members can come.

There's not much else to report. Life is busy. We bought a kiddie pool, which the girls LOVE. Ella is a junior techie already and changed the tablet's language to Japanese. Mia usually has a tiara or ring or necklace on, if not a full-blown princess outfit. My class is still usually just me and Kristy but I have faith that it will grow. I got the word out on a few community calendars and I keep wearing my shirt and telling people about it. Steve seems to be learning his new position and (mostly) enjoys the challenge. Other than my stomach issues, we've been healthy. Life is good, just busy. Hopefully next time I'll have something witty or profound to say. Today I'll leave you with this: focus on what is important. Family, faith, revitalizing relationships, your passions. Drama, the lawn, the latest technology, your pride, the car you drive - these are not of real importance. Focus on the lasting things.