When It Rains It Pours!

It is nice that all this snow is finally melting. However, for some reason as it's melting, we have water dripping through our dining room light fixture and onto our kitchen table! Of course Nate is out of town today.

Tom and Jerry and Charter Communications

I woke up with pink eye today for the 2nd time this month, the cold that began a month ago rages on, and the night sweats that began 2 years ago continue nightly. My body is ultimately run down and I can't figure out how to bring my immune system back up to normal. My appointments at the clinic went well today. I picked up some kit to measure my oxygen level at night with and had an ultrasound of my thyroid and lymph nodes done. Tomorrow I get to have some blood work done and begin my 24 hour pee collection. In three weeks I'm having more blood work done, an appointment with the sleep clinic, and if nothing else turns up then a full body CT scan will be ordered. I'm trying to stay positive but am beginning to feel a bit down.

I am so thankful for the constant laughter that we have in our home. The newest thing is the girls absolutely love watching Tom and Jerry. They just bust out laughing at it every time. I was so thankful it was on tonight because it provided tons of laughs. I can't believe that show is still airing!

Oh yeah, one last thing. Not sure if I mentioned that we got sick of Charter messing up our bills, telling us one thing and charging us another. We switched our TV to Digital Satellite and our Internet to Qwest. It's a high speed that runs through our phone line. We couldn't be happier with both services! A few days ago we received a mysterious check from them. Today we heard the news and immediately deposited the check. In case you haven't heard, here are some news snippets:
"On January 28, 2009, Charter Communications reportedly filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Four former executives received criminal indictments in 2005 for accounting fraud related primarily to the inflation of cable subscriber numbers. The company has been under financial pressure; its stock peaked at $27.75 per share in November 1999, before falling to under $1 in 2002.^[3]

Charter has been criticized for poor customer support and frequent billing consistency issues, causing the Better Business Bureau to post ^[9] a warning to consumers about the company:

The Better Business Bureau has received numerous complaints regarding this cable, digital TV, and high speed Internet access provider. Complainants primarily allege that the firm had improper billing practices, referred customer bills to collection agencies in error, provided poor customer service, used misleading advertising, provided defective Internet or cable performance, used improper sales tactics or misrepresented the actual costs of installation and service, failed to properly install or maintain service, damaged customers' property, and failed to honor service appointments.

PCWorld also ranked Charter's cable Internet service as worst among 14 major Internet service providers.^[10] Charter High-Speed is the second-worst-rated cable ISP on dslreports.com ^[11] and Consumer Reports indicated in their February 2008 issue that Charter's television/Internet/telephone bundle collectively is the worst of all major national carriers."

Catching Up

I'm not sure where to start since it's been so long since I've posted something. I'm still struggling with my health a bit and am getting behind on a few things. I get to have a neck ultra sound tomorrow and then I get to collect my pee for 24 hours. Fun Fun! I'm eager to figure out what's going on so I can get busy with my 3rd Triathlon training! Let me catch you up on the girls now.

ELYANA

This blows our mind...she's reading somehow. We made flash cards of the list of words Mikayla needs to learn this year in Kindergarten. Ellie picked them up a few days ago and began to read words such as: yellow, blue, green, go, see, the, two. The ones she didn't know she'd ask. After I told her, she would repeat them quietly to herself as if she was making a mental note of them. We watched an old home video of Ellie just learning to sit up by herself and was pretending to read a book to herself. She has always had her nose in a book. What I'd like to know is how she figured out how to read on her own. I was wondering if it would bug Mikayla, but she seems to think it's fun doing flash cards with Ellie and playing teacher. The funny thing is, it's motivated me to get her potty trained because it's in my head that the natural order of things is: wean from the bottle, learn to walk, potty train . . . go to school and learn to read. It seems unnatural that the milestones should be out of order.

The other thing is nap time is slowing being fazzed out which is really difficult for me. After battling with her for an hour yesterday, I went in to see what she needed again and she says, "My little feet are hot." Too cute. At least that's one I haven't heard before!

Here's a picture of her first braid in her hair. Doesn't she look so grown up?!

MIKAYLA

She's still loving school but it's hard to get her going in the morning. She's also making good strides in Awana on Wed. nights. She's trying to learn the books of the New Testament. This is something I'm trying to learn along with her. On Thurs. nights she's been taking gymnastics. We tried having Ellie take a gymnastics class that started about the same time, but I think she has a little more growing up to do. It was way more of a battle than I desire right now. Mikayla had another Mikaylaism the other night. We were admiring how cool the crescent moon looked. She said to me, "It looks like a big toenail clipping." I'll never look at a crescent moon the same way.

The girls have started to dress up together (Ellie is trying to understand the concept and calls it "Halloween time") and put on "shows" for us. Mikayla of course is the main star and calls Ellie her assistant. After about 15 seconds, the assistant runs away and Mikayla is yelling, "come back, come back, we're not done with the show." Here's some pictures of their show costumes. (By the way, Aunt Cyndi, if you're reading this, Kayla's show name is Cyndi.)

She's Officially Growing Up

Mikayla has her first loose tooth. It's interesting that Elyana is getting in her last tooth at the same time. Man, I'm not ready for this. She's growing up too fast and I'm not ready to let go at all! I'm sure there will be a post soon with a picture of our toothless daughter.

Oh yeah, one more thing. Next month is Mikayla's half birthday. I only know it's her half birthday because they celebrate it in school. Mikayla is starting to plan it as if it's another real birthday. I had this thought last night of, "What should I get her?" Then I realized the kid is starting to get me worked up about it too. Very sneaky!

Ellie is feeling a bit better today. I'm thankful for the antibiotics. I'm very thankful for awesome insurance. I didn't hesitate to take her in yesterday. I didn't have to wonder how much the visit will cost. When they needed to do x-rays, I didn't have to wonder how much that bill would be. We are very lucky and I'm constantly thankful for Nate's job at Mayo. I'm a bit nervous though of how health insurance will change with our new president taking over today. Yikes.

Martin Luther King Jr.

One of Mikayla's homework assignments is to tell her about Martin Luther King and then ask her what her dream would be if she could change something in this world. Big question for a little kid...Her response? "My dream would be that if someone wanted to stay at their friends house longer, they should be able to." Nice. Oh yeah, another thing she asked me yesterday when we were doing our Denise Austin Boot Camp DVD together was, "I think God is more powerful than her. She's tough though!" Denise Austin can kick my butt, however, God knows when my butt could use a little kicking also to get me back on the right track. My nasty sinus infection was a good reminder that I need to slow down a bit and take better care of myself. I bet Denise Austin never thought she had something in common with God!

I took Ellie to the doctor today since she's had a fever and cough all weekend. Thankfully they ruled out pneumonia, but she does have bronchitis. Poor thing. I'm taking my last dose of antibiotics today. Nice start to the new year. Blah!

Minnesota

I'm sure you fellow northerners would agree with me, I'm sick of this cold. Wind chill is reading -48 below today. We still haven't shoveled from the last snowfall due to this cold. What's the point of snow if you can't even take the kids out to play in it. The deck groans and creeks and I sympathize with it. I wouldn't want to be out there either.

School was cancelled today. I haven't checked the weather today, just assumed it was as stinking cold as it has been the rest of this week. So, I bundled up Kayla, Ellie, and I'm watching Hannah today and drove her to school. The principal came out before I got her out of the van to tell me about the cancellation. Funny thing is, he was only wearing a sweater. No coat, no gloves. True Minnesotan. I didn't think it felt any colder than any other day this week. Oh well. I get home, call Nate to tell him I feel like a bad mom for not knowing about the cancellation. His reply, "I'm sorry, I thought you knew. I could have told you." Thanks my dear husband for being so informative!

So, for my friends who are lucky to live in places right now who don't even have the snow OR the cold, here are some interesting pictures.

Here is what happens to our front door jam in winter. You can even feel the cold draft when you walk in our entryway.


We have brand new windows this year, but check out the ice that forms on the inside of each of them.

Gingerbread House

Last Friday I went to Mikayla's school to help with Gingerbread day. Each child had one parent come in and help them build a gingerbread house. It was tough since I was still feeling miserable then, but we created a cute little house together. It was on the kitchen counter while I was cooking. We couldn't wait for Nate to come home and see it. I turned around and found Ellie on the counter with her mouth over the roof about to devour it! I was more shocked to see the gingerbread house in the form of frosting on her face than I was curious as to how she got onto the counter. I have since discovered her secret. She carries a stool with her around the house at all times now. If something is as high as the counter, she uses the stool to then get up on a chair. Lovely! Anyhow, here is the gingerbread house.

Blog to a Book?

By the way, my goal with starting this blog was I heard about a great website where you can print your blog into a book. I was tired of scrap booking and keeping up with photo albums and couldn't wait till 2009 arrived so I could print out 2008. 2009 arrived and the website I was going to use had some glitch. I've searched for others and keep coming up with ones that have gone out of business or when I try it, says I've encountered some error. So, if anyone out there knows of any software I can purchase somewhere or a free website download that will work with blogger. I'm so bummed about this!

Reality-I'm not as young as I used to be!

I had been staying up too late (midnight or later!) for too long. It started in December trying to get everything done from Christmas cards to shopping, to the wrapping, in addition to normal life activities. Then I was staying up late after Christmas partially in habit by then, and partially I wanted to get some projects done before 2009. I recall at some point thinking, "This is great! I can really get stuff done and it doesn't seem to be catching up with me." Well, it seems to have caught up with me. I have the worst sinus infection I've ever had EVER! I can't even bend over slightly without horrible pain and pressure. I've been on antibiotics since Monday and I don't feel any better. Blah! I'm thankful Nate could take off today, but am a bit nervous about tomorrow if I still feel the same.

We ended up rearranging Mikayla's room. It started because we had a humidifier malfunction. I set up her humidifier the other night and did not notice that it was missing a plug on the bottom. After awhile, I heard Nate shouting for me. Yikes! There was water everywhere! We had to shove furniture out of the way to soak up some of it. Then, I got inspired after it all dried to rearrange. It's something I love doing. Also, since I made more space in her room, I splurged and bought a cool bean bag for the girls. I've always wanted one myself growing up. I've already found myself lounging on it watching television or just to rest while I'm feeling bad lately. So, here are some pictures we took of the new shuffled around room.

Pacifier Trouble!

New Years Day Ellie bit through her last pacifier. We knew the day was coming to wean her and we've been dreading it. It seems harder with her than with Mikayla mostly because Ellie even has a nickname for it--Happy. She is always looking for her "happy" and when it is found, there is instant gratification. We tried last night for a long time putting her to bed without it and I finally caved and found the broken one. Today I bought the kind similar to the green Soothie brand pacifier that we've had since she was born at Mayo that the hospital gave us. I bought the blue Soothie that is intended for older kids. I knew from the past that she hates this kind and it is more sturdy. I'm trying that now for naptime today. I'm just at a loss though and wish this was easier. Any ideas out there? We have limited the pacifier to naptime and bedtime with ease, but taking the thing away completely is so hard! We also were making strides on potty training, but I've put that on hold while we try to deal with this transition. I don't want to make all of us too crazy! Here is one of my favorite pictures of Ellie with her beloved "Happy." This New Year will be rocking with changes Elyana will make as we wean the pacifier, potty train her, and get her ready for preschool next Fall. Wow!

New Year!

I know it's been awhile since my last post. First we were traveling to Nate's parents in WI for the holidays. The next day after we got back, my dad came to visit. Then we had Christmas by ourselves and my mom came on the 26th. The holidays seem to be a blur this year and suddenly, it's a new year!

New Year's Eve was spent way differently than in the past. The girls and I did a few exercise videos together (I'm still striving to loose weight and the holidays have not been diet friendly!) After we got the kids in bed Nate and I watched different shows we've been recording while working on our own projects. Nate worked on a new board game prototype and I sorted through a lifetime of pictures my mom wanted to scrapbook for me. We totally missed the ball drop and then even missed the clock strike midnight! After one of us uttered "oops" there was a quick kiss and we returned to our projects. You totally can tell we've been married awhile!

New Year's Day we decided to have a special family day and we took the kids bowling for the first time. Even though we had the bumpers up, Nate and I didn't do any better than we normally would (although we haven't really bowled since high school!) They quickly got the hang of it and we all had a good time. The morning ended with a nice lunch at McDonald's. Here are some pictures that we took of bowling:

Notice the cute little Velcro bowling shoes they had for Ellie! The were of course too big, but so were all of ours.








Check out those scores!