Santa Claus

For Christmas this last year, Santa brought the boys tablets for their Christmas gift. They weren't ipads, but they were tablets. Addison got a fisher price princess castle. Nathan, who is nine, has said a couple of times that he believes in Santa Claus. His reason for believing in Santa Claus is because he thinks I would NEVER spend that much money on a Christmas gift. I told my dad this a few weeks ago and he thought it was absolutely hilarious  I'm trying to decide if this is a good or a bad thing.

Her Sniff

Another thing I have to write down before I forget. Addison had another one of her respiratory attacks again last night. She's three, but we've been dealing with it for the last few years. She'll get a cough/cold and it will get into her lungs. She'll have a really tight, barky cough for a couple of days and have a hard time breathing where we need to do nebulizer treatments. It's usually bad for a day or two and then it clears up.

Anyhow, she had another attack and we had a bad night last night where she woke up a few times crying becuase she couldn't breathe. It was a long night for mom and dad. One of the times she woke up crying she said her sniff wasn't working and she needed her sniff to work. Poor thing was congested and couldn't breathe. We did a breathing treatment and now her sniff works again.

She is doing a ton better today and hopefully we will be done with this round.

challenges

I have a reminder today of how blessed I am and, although life is not perfect, I am very blessed. We have certainly had some challenges over the last few years and sometimes they have overwhelmed me. However, We are still very very blessed. I listened to an excellent talk on Sunday that has stuck with me about trials. One of the things he said was that, although they have had some challenges over the last few years including job losses, he knows what his trials are and can see him. It's better to know your trials than to not. I'll take the challenges we have over someone else's. I spoke with someone today who is about my age and has had a lot of health issues. She is currently facing some very large challenges. My heart goes out to her. I know we have our trials hand-picked for us. It was another very stark reminder that I am very blessed and that, although life isn't perfect, I'm very lucky with what I have.

Nightmares

Apparently this is the week for nightmares. On Wednesday morning at around 4:00 a.m. Zach came crawling into our bed clutching his teddy bear tightly. He said he had a bad dream and at first he didn't want to talk about it. Later on he did tell me about it and it was a about a big snake chasing him and trying to eat him. I would be scared too! Poor guy.We cuddled in bed for a while and  was eventually able to get him back into his bed as long as I left the door wide open. I could have left him in our bed, but I had to get up around 5:00 a.m. since it was my work day. He's had a few bad dreams in the past and crawls into bed with us at least once every six months.
Thursday morning at around 2:00 a.m. I had a nightmare about horrible storms that hit the earth. These were end of the world kind of storms. At one point we were at a soccer game (because that's all I seem to do right now), and we saw an approaching storm that was north of us. I heard someone with us say that the clouds turned purple and well, "there goes Canada". Anyhow, strange dream.
Now, Friday morning, at around 2:00 a.m. Addi comes running into our room and crawls into bed, clutching me tightly. She said "Mom, I don't want our house to get fired". Poor thing! She had a dream about our house catching on fire and was absolutely terrified. She asked us a couple of times about how houses catch on fire and we had to reassure her it was just a dream. She is still sleeping in our bed. She and Jeff did still all of the covers so at least they are warm.  I had a dream when I was a kid about my house catching on fire that I still remember to this day. Poor kids!!!
Here's hoping that three breaks the streak and we are done with nightmares this week.

This and that

Addie and I were reading a Little Mermaid book last night and we saw a picture of Aerial and Eric riding in a horse drawn carriage. She said that was kind of like what Santa rides in. Never thought about it, but I was amazed at her connection. We talked about how they were a little different, but in the end she said, that yes, that is kind of what Santa rides in. Amazed at her connection at the age of 3.

The Zach, age 6, and Nate, age 8, are taking care of the neighbors cats. I normally go with them but their sister has been sick so I sent them over on their own. Zach said, "Mom, we'll make sure not to disappoint you". I've been impressed with how well they have been doing it without me being with them. Good kids.