Boom!

Drew fell down the stairs the other day. I should have been watching him more carefully, so I felt terrible about it.

When you walk in our front door, we have six steps leading up to the main floor (with the kitchen, living and dining rooms, and bedrooms) and six steps leading down to the family room and laundry room. We were just coming in from outdoors, and I had my hands full, so I left Drew standing by the front door. The open door was blocking the way to the stairs going down, so I thought if he moved, he would most likely follow me up the stairs. He is fairly good at going up stairs by himself. Instead, he decided that he needed to shut the front door, so he was trying to go around the door to push it closed. The landing at the front door is small, and I happened to look down (I had put the things I was carrying down and was headed down to get him) just when he was teetering with his heels over the edge of the top step going down. My heart almost stopped as he tumbled down. I ran downstairs and picked him up. He cried for about a minute. I cried for about ten minutes.

When my husband got home from work that evening, he told Drew, "I heard you went boom down the stairs today." Drew's face just lit up, and he said, "Boom boom boom! Boom boom boom over boom stairs!" He seemed so proud of himself.

Since he was not injured at all, I can laugh about it now. I'm glad my little boy is so tough!

Feeling Better

In the last week or so I have finally started feeling better. I no longer feel like I might throw up at any moment. I have had several days in the past week when I did not throw up at all. It is an amazing feeling!

I am proud of myself, because I am a total wimp when it comes to being sick. When I was pregnant with Drew and Gracie I took Zofran, an amazing (and amazingly expensive) anti-nausea medication. This time I have been tough enough to go without it. Now that the first fifteen weeks of the pregnancy are past, I think I am going to make it.

It feels really good to begin to catch up with some of my normal daily activities. My housework, reading for fun, and blogging all were neglected while I was feeling so sick!

I am a wimp

I am an utter and complete wimp when it comes to feeling sick to my stomach. I can't tolerate it. I have thrown up every day this week (except for Tuesday, but I made up for that on Wednesday). I feel seasick all day long. I only wish this "morning sickness" was confined to the morning hours.

I can't read. I can't blog. I will be back in a couple of months when I feel better.

Expecting

My husband and I found out recently that we are expecting a baby this fall. I am really excited, but somewhat nervous at the same time. Gracie will be almost five and Drew will be about two and a half when our new baby arrives. Sometimes I wonder if I will be able to handle three children. And then there are the extra expenses: medical expenses, some maternity and baby gear (we thought we were done and gave it all away), a minivan (three car seats won't fit in either of the vehicles we currently own), and maybe a bigger house. Everything is up in the air now.

I told my husband that we were going to have to name the baby Kendall because that's as close to a Kindle as I'm going to get any time in the near future.

Shoveling Snow

I think my husband delights in telling his coworkers strange stories about our family. One day last week he told everyone how I got mad at him because he shoveled the snow out of the driveway. His coworkers must think I'm a nut.

It was, however, true that I got a bit frustrated with him for shoveling the driveway, because I wanted to do it! I had had a particularly frustrating day with Drew and Gracie, and all day I had been looking forward to going out after they were asleep to shovel the snow. I thought it would give me some exercise and a productive outlet for my frustration, but by the time I got outside, my husband was just finishing up with the sidewalk. Grrr.

So, when it snowed several inches last Thursday night, my husband was careful not to make that mistake again. He drove the Jeep to work on Friday so he could get through the snow in the driveway, and left the shoveling to me. Saturday morning he stayed inside with Drew, while Gracie and I played in shoveled the snow. My husband said it looked like I was working awfully slowly (oops, he caught me!) and when my brother called, my husband told him I was taking a vacation outside.

I was proud of myself, though, because several times when I have gone out to shovel the driveway, I play at it for a while and then let my husband finish the job. (You know, shoveling all the heavy, slushy, dirty snow mixed with sand and salt that the snowplow deposits at the end of the driveway.) This time, I stayed outside and worked at it until I finished the job.

Unfortunately, it snowed again last night. Maybe I will let my husband shovel the snow this time.

Crazy Weather

Our weather has been crazy! Last night we had thunder, lightning, and heavy snow ... all at the same time. Today the high is supposed to be 50 degrees Fahrenheit. I wish the weather would make up its mind.

New Year's Resolutions 2008 (as of February 1)

I can't believe January is over already! I thought that since it's the first day of a new month, it would be a good day to check up on my New Year's Resolutions to see how I am doing:

1. Read one chapter of the Bible to Drew and Gracie each day. We have read the book of Matthew and have started reading the book of Mark. We missed reading two days, but doubled up for a couple of days to catch up. Gracie has been enjoying listening to the stories about Jesus.
2. Get organized. Simplify and de-clutter. Establish some household routines. Teach Drew and Gracie to help out with some simple household chores each day. I can't believe I listed all this stuff as one goal! I have sorted out many books and some baby items that we no longer use. (I still have a lot of clutter left!) I am working on my daily routines. Drew and Gracie help me make my bed, fold laundry, dry dishes, and put away their toys most days.
   
3. Add a few more formal preschool-type activities for Gracie to our daily routine. Gracie and I practiced her letters and letter sounds for a while but stopped at her request. She has plenty of time to learn and I decided not to rush her.
   
4. Read a book each week. Eleven books on my reading list so far.
   
5. Find something that I can do from home to earn some money. I need to start looking!
   
6. Reduce my sugar intake and eat more healthy foods. I just ate a spoonful of hot fudge sauce while I wrote this post (at least I didn't eat the ice cream, too!) ...
   
7. Blog more often!