Christmas with the Crosby’s

Today is the first night I’ve been awake in several nights! For this I’m thankful! For all of my friends and family who have been praying for sleep, let me tell you, I’ve been sleeping!  I have slept more in the last 4 days than I have in months! My only description for it would be “wonderful!”  I do believe that all of my most recent problems have merely stemmed from fatigue from the insomnia. I know that the insomnia is caused from the disease, but by itself it’s enough to put oneself through the wringer! I’ve done a lot of researching concerning my blackouts and going unconscious, all of which have stopped since I’m sleeping and feeling rested.  I’ve learned that there are a couple of things that could be causing this, one related to my dysautonomia triggered by fatigue and one related to my migraines also triggered by fatigue. I believe the migraines are the culprit considering the headaches involved. But Praise God! I have slept for the last 4 days. Not only at night for the most part but I nap and nap deeply several times during the day. I look like one of the elderly in my recliner. I have my lap blanket, my shoulder blanket and I’m all snuggled up snoozing away! Tonight is the first night I’ve struggled with being awake, but I’ll get some sleep before Eric leaves for work in the morning hopefully in the morning.

It’s been an interesting couple of weeks. I’ve had the medical issues with the blackouts of course. I stayed with my mother-in-law from Sunday night until Friday night. The first black out she personally witnessed she was admittedly scared. The last one, my daughter woke her in the middle of the night and I was told later that she just let me lay there and told my daughter that “It’s ok, mommy will wake up eventually” and they just sat there waiting. So after a week, she had grown accustomed and tired. On Friday evening they packed me up and shakily I made it to Tannehill Park to the cabin my parents had rented for the weekend. By the time I arrived I was nauseated, gagging, and weak and then my dad, in the camping spirit, lit a fire in the fireplace and almost suffocated me! *Smile* We got the doors open and eventually the coughing and stomach spasms stopped and I got cool enough to sit with the family and we at Bob Sykes for supper. It was a good meal but I mostly enjoyed the company!

The next morning, I decided it easier to get my dad to carry me home to shower rather than having Eric find all my thing and lugging my shower chair to the cabin for one night, so I went home and got dressed and we headed back to the cabin. By now my dad had lunch fixed. Bless his heart he had grilled burgers in sleeting rain! But they were good! During the meal I began to feel the room spin and it never stopped. Unfortunately when you “gotta go” you “gotta go” so Eric helped me to the bathroom. I had almost made it halfway back to the living room when my strength was gone and I hit the floor like a ton of bricks. Eric is great at helping. I came too with a pillow under my head and a blanket covering me. They got me to the couch where I slept for about 4 hours. This was the last time I believe I’ve blacked out lately. 

That evening dad and the kids made a campfire and we roasted marshmallows! I haven’t done this in years, so I made them get me out there, but eventually told them I had to make like a geriatric and admit I was done in. The kids enjoyed themselves despite the cold. The kids opened a few gifts, and played a bit and we pretty much called it a night. We had our Christmas play at church the next morning, and Eric and Serena were in it and I was supposed to sing if able. So an early morning was ahead of us.
Mom, Dad, and my nieces and nephews made it to the mornings play. We spoke to some church family after service, made our picture, and then went to Cracker Barrel as we always do when my parents visit. I hated saying goodbye yet again, but I always enjoy spending time with my family! I’m looking forward to being able to travel again and having an old kind of Christmas again, where we all sit around mom and dad’s living room and mom and dad sit all close together and the kids are all in the floor and their is wrapping paper everywhere! It’s been way too long, but in the mean time I’ll settle for these cabin get aways, because after all, it’s about loving my family and being together no matter where you must be! Merry Christmas to my family down in Georgia! I love you all and to those I didn’t get to spend Christmas with, I miss you and I hope you Christmas is one to remember as mine was!

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Putting up our Christmas Tree

My girls, especially Serena, love the holidays. Her favorite time of  the year is Christmas I do believe. She really gets into the whole swing of things. This year was no different! It’s a good thing I had her too or things just couldn’t have gotten done! I let them paint their own Christmas ornament this year. Hopefully it will be a tradition that we do every year. They turned out really cute. Serena picked out a tree and Aleah picked out a bear. Aleah and paint was a difficult task but we managed. Thank goodness for baby wipes!!! It was a several day job due to my fatiguing so quickly, but I think our end result was good. It was Aleah’s first time really helping to decorate a tree and she was alot of fun! I really wish that Eric didn’t have to work but he’ll be here for the fun stuff… presents! Here are a few pictures of the girls and the tree. And a few other pictures of some of the other things we did around the house over the next several days.

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Work Work but Play Play

Today my daughters and I did some things together that they enjoy doing and things they would rather not do.  First we had to clean.  There was just no way getting around the mess in their bedroom.  I’m also not quite sure how many Dora dolls we have in various shapes, sizes, and makes but there were many of them and they had all seemed to migrate overnight from their spaces in the baskets under the girls bed and in the closet and into our living room even all the way into the front walk area by the front door.  There were dress up clothes strewn about and even regular clothing that had been “borrowed” for dressing up.  Then there were all the nit-picky things like Lego's and other small things that if not picked up they will really hurt your feet when you aren’t paying attention and walking.  Have you ever noticed that they are always precariously balanced so that the sharpest edge is in the perfect position so that as your natural stepping procedure happens, this type of toy not only manages to prick your foot but also roll with your foot if you do not manage to pick it up right away?  And most often than not, you find yourself stumbling instead and indeed rolling the sharp sides of the dreaded Lego along the softest and weakest parts of your foot. So these things had to be picked up immediately.  So it took hours, needlessly to say, to get my girls to clean a room with a floor space the size of a small twin mattress.  My oldest in all honesty reminds me of myself.  Every time she says “My bones are hurting!” or “My muscles just need a rest” after only a couple minutes of minimal effort, I find it very hard not to blame my mother. You see she always said that one day I would have a child and she would act just like me.  So on days like today it’s very hard not to pick up the phone, call my mother, and give her a good talking to for speaking bad things into existence!  My youngest daughter, well I haven’t quite figured her out yet. Just this week she scared me so bad, that once I figured out she was fine, I wanted to spank her and teach her a lesson but instead chose to talk to her. What happened was she and her sister had been fighting the entire day.  After several hours and more separating them than I can remember I finally gave them a good spanking.  I then sent them to separate corners of the living room so that I could keep an eye on them. Well my youngest, being the hard headed child that she is, told me with complete defiance, “Don’t you dare spank my bottom. And I will not go sit over there!” And then she crossed her arms across her chest and looked at me and then slowly cut her eyes away from me to the other side of the room in a way I thought only juvee-bound teenagers were supposed to know! Since she is only just turned 2, and still wearing a diaper, I thought maybe these light swattings on her diapered bottom aren’t getting through to her, so I pulled her diaper down and spanked her bare bottom 2 swats.  This finally brought a few tears and a pouting lip and when I told her to have a seat on the couch she complied.  Any time I have to discipline my children, after they have had time to soak it all in I call them too me and we have a talk and I ask them if they know why they got their time out, games taken away, or spanking… whatever it may be that time. I want to be sure they understand why it is I do what I do.  So I called my oldest who is 5 1/2 now. We had our talk, where she explains to me what she did wrong, why it was wrong, and she apologizes. We hug and cuddle for a bit, because I want her to understand that even though I discipline her I still love her and that’s why I discipline… to teach her things that will make her a better person as she grows up. So it’s my youngest daughter’s turn. Now don’t let her age fool you. She’s just turned 2 but had a vocabulary of 75+ words and 15 complete sentences since before the age of 15 months. She understands and comprehends more than kids her age should. I’m not claiming a genius by no means, I’m just saying she’s a smart kid and you’ll see how she uses that in a minute!  She’s still laying on the couch with her face turned away from me as I say her name.  Come to mama, I say. Over and over I tell her to come here, yet she doesn’t budge. Not a muscle moves letting me know she hears me. Nothing moves making me think she’s faking it. I start to worry! I start to think, what if all this time she’s had a hearing problem but we’ve never noticed because she’s always facing us or something?  She seriously never once budged even when I offered a surprise.  I called my oldest over to me, whispered to her to walk away from where I was and to tell my youngest to go with her and play. She was to her back as I was. She said come on let’s go play or something to that effect and the child jumped up all smiles and said ok!!!!  She had been laying there pretending not to hear a word I said! For more than 10 minutes she lay there!  I finally figured it out… She didn’t want another of those spankings! So she was just going to lay there instead.  So I explained to her that after a time out or spanking like that I would always call her back to me for a talk and cuddle time, and asked if she like this part and she said yes. :)  She was able to tell me what she had done wrong and that she was sorry for fighting on her sissy, but not able to say she wouldn’t do it again because “Sissy might hit me first”.  So I’ve not quite gotten who my 2 year old is most like, but my 5 1/2 year old is definitely me made over.  So it took us a long time to get their room clean.  And late late late tonight, way later than I should have allowed it, we painted 2 new Christmas decorations for our tree that is going up this week. Hopefully today if I can wake up. It’s 10 till 4am and I'm still laying here awake, same as I have for the last 11 days. If you want to read about why that is, you’ll have to check out my other blog! :D  We also made some really cute picture frames that that I bought for them almost a year ago and we haven’t made the chance to make them. So I think today was a great day. Two crafts together, got some cleaning done, and really only had to do some disciplining during the room cleaning and that wasn’t too bad. Serena even folded towels and put those up for me after she finished!  I’ll post pictures tomorrow of the cute little projects we worked on together. And if we get any Christmas deco done I’ll post some pictures of that too!  Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!  The Powell's :D

Happy Halloween 2009

Yesterday was Halloween 2009.  Our kids had a blast picking out their costumes a few weeks ago and if it weren't for the fact that I hid them, they would have long ago already been dragging them around playing dress-up as it's one of their favorite things to do!  I wasn't sure what the girls were wanting to be because they kept jumping around from one thing to the next.  When it came down to actually getting to the store it was a different experience than usual.  For starters we had 2 little girls trying to make their minds up!  It was the first year they both made individual decisions.  Serena started off like a shopping pro! She meandered from one costume to the next. She picked a few that we said no to, but she finally found one we all agreed on. Next it was Aleah's turn.  While Serena had been wandering from rack to rack, Aleah had her mind on one costume
and only one! She had seen different variations of Dora costumes, but they were all a size or two larger than she needed!  I had no clue how we were going to get out of this because every time I said "It's too big" she burst into tears! Finally we found a costume that had a spanish kid dressed up on it, and she said "DORA!!!"  Well regardless if it was Dora or not we were leaving with that costume!  So here are my two little girls in their Halloween 2009 costumes!

Aleah named her costume "Dora Lady-bug"!  And Serena was really excited that we found the perfect picnic basket to carry Toto around in!

Our first stop was at Granna's.  We always go their first.  Not sure why, just out of habit I guess.  We hung out a little bit, went out to Big Mama's and Big Daddy's.  We always make that our second stop.  Big Mama loved seeing all the costumes on the kids, and trust me when I say it was very quiet without her greeting them at the door and fussing over them.  But they were excited to show themselves off to Big Daddy!  Here are a couple pictures of our stop at Granna's and then Big Mama's and Big Daddy's!

After we visited there a few minutes, we were loaded up and off to the fall fest at our church.  The girls had a lot of fun there.  They had a giant bouncy cage, games, trunk or treat, and food.  It was nice getting to just watch all the kids in their costumes having fun.  There were even adults that dressed up.  Maybe next year I'll have the guts to do something like that... but for now it's hard enough dressing two little girls in their costumes!

Serena got first place in the Woodland Hills COGOP fall fest costume contest for the kids!

She was really excited about it, too!

Our next stop was a subdivision that we stop at every year.  This year though, we didn't make it to our normal amount of houses.  After just one trip up and down a lane, the girls were done with the whole trick or treating.  They wanted to go back to Big Mama's and Big Daddy's for our annual hot-dogs, kraut, chili, baked p-nuts, and coffee... and also seeing their cousins.  So we loaded them up and I snapped one last picture of them as we were leaving the sub-division.  I think it speaks for itself!

I didn't even think to snap any pictures of family tradition out at Big Mama's and Big Daddy's.  Partially due to exhaustion and partially because wrestling and arguing with Serena for over an hour to get her medicine in her!  I do feel sorry for the rest of the family who had to hear her screaming and tantrum.  Maybe next time she does it, I will record the tantrum and sell it to the local haunted houses.  It's a horrible sound that when played amongst creepy ghouls and gobblins would chill anyone to the bone!

This Halloween was a lot of fun and I'm already looking forward to next year and what our girls will choose to be. But until then, I'll have to cherish the memories of my little Dorothy and her Toto and my cute little Ladybug Dora!

Grandparent's Day - Tannehill

Today was our annual trip to see all of the campers decorated at Tannehill! Unfortunately I left my camera home and I was at the mercy of Anita.  But after a few shots, her camera said "Memory full" So we were at the mercy of Jeremy and Angie, and I haven't been able to get any of the shots that they managed to take yet.  Maybe we'll get back down there before Saturday, but I'm seriously doubting it!  Ordinarily we would have more pictures than you could possible need!  But we managed to get a few cute shots!  This is one of Aleah and her Daddy.  He has managed to somehow change her from a Go Dawgs baby to Go Tigers baby!  Luckily I have also been able to keep my oldest daughter standing firm on Go Dawgs! She truly bleeds black and red!!!

Anyway we arrived at Tannehill a little too early so we're walking around wasting time until it's dark.  No point in looking at Halloween Decorations in the broad daylight!  It takes all the mystery and scariness out! We got to a place where a storm had knocked a tree down way back in the spring and since it was still there, we used it for a prop to place the kids on for a picture opportunity!  It turned out pretty cute if I should say so myself!

We walked a piece further, but not too much further and there is a place where the water drops like a small, really small water-fall.  There are lots of great places in Tannehill to take a picture so me and the girls got propped up and ready on another fallen tree!  This one was perched out over the water, but I would not have dared to go out beyond where the dry land was!!!

Jeremy, Angie and Kennah also took a photo here!

And we can't forget that today was also Grandparent's Day!  So in honor of the three little Powell girl's and their grandparent's here is a photo of them all together!

We walked around until well after dark and the kids had about enough of it!  Aleah had been woken during her nap, so she was getting sleepy again.  I think Kennah might have been getting heavy after all that walking and she'd been rotated quite a bit!  And poor little Serena... the darker it got the more spooky some of the decorations got and she was pretty much done with the place.  All she could think about was getting some food!  So we all decided on heading to Burger King and all but Aleah ate supper.  She was asleep on the bench the entire time!  She did wake later and eat though!  And this was pretty much our Grandparent's Day spent all out!  We'd had a good church service honoring Grandparent's and then spent the entire evening letting the kids spend time with their local Grandparents.  Unfortunately my parents live too far of a distance to do things like this.  Maybe soon we can get together with them and give them a chance to spend an entire afternoon or more with our girls!  Here are a few more pictures of our evening at Tannehill! Have a great day!