Crying Uncle!

Wow, it has been a rough few days, let me tell you. It all started with the sound of the boys' bedroom door slamming open at 8:30 am on Thursday morning. Why is this such a bad thing? Well...first, the boys were still suppose to be in their cribs, but decided to learn how to climb out of them at THE EXACT SAME TIME! All the sudden, our sleep-time routine took on a whole new aspect; namely, how to keep the boys in their cribs long enough to fall asleep. I ended up sitting in their room for about half an hour at nap time, because they just thought climbing out of their cribs was the best thing ever. It wouldn't have been a big deal, if they had been able to climb back IN once they were ready to fall asleep.

Two hours after the boys woke us up, Nathan's sister Kate, her husband Eliot, and their 6 month old son James arrived for our Christmas get together with Nathan's side of the family. We had a nice couple of hours to get ready and relax before Nathan's mom and her parents got here, which was about the time I finally got the boys down for their nap. James was also asleep, so we all just sat around the living room and chit chatted for quite a while until all the boys woke up, which was nice.

Opening presents took quite a while, just because the there were so many of us, and we had to pause half way through for the boys to have dinner. Nathan's dad showed up about that time, so we finished opening the kids' presents, then Nathan's mom and her parents headed home, and we tried putting the boys down for the night...again...and again...and again...and again, until Mommy burst into tears, and Daddy and Uncle Eliot came to the rescue. They disassembled the cribs while my hero Kate shivered on the front step holding me while I cried. Gotta love that breaking point.

We decided to just let the boys sleep on their crib mattresses on the floor until we get real mattresses sometime next week, so they could run around until they simply pass out on the floor. At that point, we were finally able to eat dinner...at 9 pm. I definitely drank a couple glasses of wine. After that, we finished opening gifts with Nathan's dad, and then played the Uno Attack that he gave Kate & Eliot, which was a blast, ha ha ha. I don't think Nathan's dad left until about 12:30, while Kate & Eliot stayed for the night.

Nathan was an angel and let me sleep in on Christmas Eve. Evidently right before I got up, Levi threw up on the living room floor. We attributed it to the stress and over-excitement of all the guests, gift opening, and sleeping arrangement changes. The boys went down for their nap, Kate & Eliot headed home around noon, Nathan laid down for a nap, and I spent some time cleaning the living room and kitchen up again before my parents were scheduled to arrive at 3:00. About the time I was able to finally sit down and take a deep breath, Nathan woke up, so we switched spots. I was laying in bed for about an hour when I heard one of the boys crying then Nathan hollering for me because Levi had thrown up all over his mattress, the floor, and himself.

Nathan jumped into the shower with the boy while I threw Asher onto our bed, turned on Backyardigans on Netflix, cleaned up the boys' room, and ran to Albertson's for pedialite and kid's Pepto. Unfortunately, the pepto immediately make Levi throw up again (that stuff is nasty nasty nasty), and he only kept the pedialite down for about 30 minutes. After canceling our dinner plans with my parents, Asher and I got ready to go to our church's Christmas Eve service because he was acting perfectly healthy. He did fine until literally the last song of the service, when he was in my mom's arms and threw up all over the jacket of the lady in front of us. I was horrified! I rushed him to the bathroom while my mom cleaned the jacket and my dad cleaned the floor. I personally kept it together until I got him home and back into the care of Daddy, at which point I broke down again.

Evidently, one of the families in our small group had been sick for a couple of days before our group's Christmas party, then several of the other kids were throwing up yesterday with no fevers, just like Levi. Because of the no fever part, we thought maybe he had eaten some bad food or something, and had no idea that it was something contagious until I got to church and talked with some people from small group. Needless to say, I was less than impressed with the fact that we knew nothing about people being sick when we got together with everyone for the party, so we didn't even have the option of staying home to avoid getting it. Now we're spending Christmas alone, without my parents for the first time in my entire life, instead of getting together with them and my grandparents like we had planned. Grrr.

Thankfully, the boys have yet to throw up again since yesterday evening. Asher seems to have completely bounced back, while Levi seems to have gotten the brunt of it and spent all morning curled up on the couch watching The Santa Movie and Backyardigans with me. That is the ONE up side to the boys being sick...they're actually willing to snuggle with me for longer than 30 seconds! Also, Nathan and I seem to have escaped the worst of it and have only had some lower intestinal problems...TMI? Sorry, ha ha ha.

We had a very relaxed morning, opening our presents then just laying around the house while first Nathan, then I, then the boys took naps. Now the boys are still asleep, Nathan's playing video games, and I'm doing this. The rest of the day will be following suit, before I go back to work tomorrow. Then only 5 more work days of day shift before I go to graveyard on January 2nd, working four 10-hour shifts with Thursday-Saturday off!!! YAY, THREE DAY WEEKENDS...DURING THE ACTUAL WEEKEND!!!!

Speaking of which, can you believe 2010 is almost over? Every year seems to move more and more quickly, it's just not right! But I am ready for 2011 to be here...last year was a pretty difficult one, with lots of ups and downs. I'm officially done with my probationary period at work on February 1st, which means a lot more job security and the possibility of buying a home without being as afraid of losing my job. So 2011 promises to be a very exciting year!

Hope your Christmases were a lot less...stressful than ours turned out to be and that you have a wonderful New Year!