Saturday, December 21, 2013

Tis the Season!

Well, this Christmas season did not start out exactly how I had imagined. Ok, maybe it started well, but it has NOT been fun since the beginning. We got all of our decorations up a week before Thanksgiving and I have loved every minute of it. I love just sitting and staring at our tree. Our whole house just seems cozier when the Christmas décor is up. Our house is very small, so it looks very decorated, even though I've had all of the same décor for years and years. We add a new "blow up" to our yard every year for the kids. Yes, we are "that" family. We love it! I think we have 6 now. This year, we added Snoopy and Woodstock on a scooter. LOL I love it!!!!
Anyways, here is how our December has gone...
Poor Sawyer has had strep throat 4 times. In. A. Row. Like...he would finish a 10 day antibiotic, and then one day later, his tonsils are still completely swollen and red. This last time that I took him to the doctor, after the antibiotic that "would surely get rid of it this time", his doctor finally spoke of the possibility of having to have his tonsils removed. Nooooooooo! Bless him. So, he is now on a 14 day STRONG antibiotic that once again, is "surely going to get rid of the strep". Yep. We will see...
On a good note, you would never even know that he has strep. It doesn't seem to bother him one bit. Thank you LORD! I just always know when he has it, because he talks like his throat has a big bubble in it, which indicates that his tonsils are enormous. And boy, are his tonsils big. Wowsers...
In the midst of these first few weeks of December filled with strep throat, we were happily on our way to church one morning when out of nowhere, Sadie puked ALL OVER MY CAR. I had nothing in my car to clean it up with or clean HER up with or ANYTHING. You get the picture. Dennis dropped Sawyer and I off at church because I still had to teach my class, and he took Sadie back home to take care of her. She had it rough! She threw up a LOT and it took her about 4 days to get better. Poor thing missed her Christmas program at church, her school program that she had worked so hard on, and we almost missed our Rockettes night, but we made it! In the midst of her stomach virus, she got...yep, you guessed it...STREP THROAT! Kill me now! So, while she was trying to recover from her stomach bug, we had to take her to the doctor and get her on meds for strep. So, that was the 5th round of strep for our family in December. Good times.
Let me also remind everyone...THESE are the days that I had mapped out for months that I would do all of my Christmas shopping. I had 2 weeks set aside where I knew that the kids would still be in school, and I would have plenty of time to get it all done. So, week #1 of my "shopping plan" was almost over, and I had done nothing...
On Wednesday of that week, Sadie was good to go and was all set to return to school on Thursday. Whew! I still had 2 days left of my week to get some Christmas shopping done. I can do it!
You'll never guess what happened on that very night?!?!?! Sawyer started puking!!!!!! Of course!!!!!! I think after 5 rounds of strep throat AND Sadie having a stomach virus, I almost had a nervous breakdown that night. So, Sawyer was home with me the next day. That left me one day to get some stuff done. One day! One day out of 5 is not enough!
Sawyer went back to school Friday and I did get just a few things done. But, not much...
Oh well, I had week #2 to look forward to. The week before the kiddos would be out of school for Christmas break. AND, Dennis and I had planned a date day for that Saturday so that we could go and do LOTS of our Christmas shopping together. Whew. That made me feel better.
So, that Friday night, guess who started puking???? Yep. Dennis. At this point, I didn't even know what to do or say. Our Saturday was SHOT. Another person in our house was puking. And, this momma was losing her mind...QUICKLY!
Lucky for me, our church's Christmas program was on that Sunday. Lord, have mercy! Did I need to be there for THAT! It felt so good to be out and about and back in the swing of things again. Our Christmas program was UNBELIEVABLE! Full of joy and hope and happiness and all things good. Ahhhhhhhhhh, thank you Lord.
This brings me to my "week #2 of shopping", which had now turned into PANIC MODE!!!! I really only had Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday because the kids parties were on Thursday and Friday. I can do this! I can do this!
I think you know where this is headed...
Guess who got the stomach virus? Hmmmmmmmm...who is the only one in the house who had managed to escape the sickness? Yep. ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It was AWFUL!!!!! I mean, awful. Awful. Awful. Sickest I have been in a long, long time. My whole body hurt. I couldn't even rest or sleep because it hurt to rest and sleep. It took me a few days to feel better, so I was basically left with ZERO shopping days in my 2 weeks.
So, that brings me to today. December 21st. Less than 4 days before the big man in red shows up. Luckily, Dennis and I planned a very last minute shopping date, and we finished all of our shopping last night. Whew. All's well that ends well, right??????
Tis the season! We have a very busy next few days, so I am praying healing over this house in the name of Jesus! No more sickness!!!!!!!! Let's focus on what this week is all about and that is the birth of our Savior! I read something that said "no matter if Mary was "ready" to give birth that night in Bethlehem or not, Jesus was coming"! So, no matter if I had been able to be "ready" for Santa to come on Christmas morning, it wouldn't have mattered. Its all about Jesus anyways.