Stretching Out the New Year

Whew! The house is quiet. Absolutely silent. Silence is a glorious sound in this loud house. I need a few moments to unwind tonight. It has been a busy 24 hours! Aliza started with a stomach bug at 1am that kept me awake most of the night. We were scheduled to leave Jeremy's parents this morning, but we delayed that to this afternoon. We arrived home safely tonight with only one throw up incident which I think will be the last. Aliza seems to have perked up a little this evening. She has not kept anything down yet so hopefully after a good night's sleep she will feel like eating in the morning. I don't think I would have made it through the morning without Karen. She took full care of Anna. Then sent us home with supper for the road and enough food for at least 2 meals.

It is so funny how life happens. Yesterday I had such a lovely day. In the morning we had scones and tea with Brandi and her Mom and sister. In the afternoon Jeremy and I slipped out for a few hours by ourselves. Then in the evening Karen and I walked around the mall and found an incredible sale at Gap. Incredible as in $69 jeans marked down to $18 with an additional 40% off. I was just giddy that night....feeling so relaxed...almost like I had a vacation.....and that night Anna slept through until 5:30am.....It would have been a perfect night, but life happened. Aliza got sick.

Anna and Daddy rung in the New Year together.

6 weeks

Grandma Karen bought a pre-assembled gingerbread house for Aliza and Josiah to decorate. When she took it out of the box it was in about 10 pieces instead of 1 piece. One thing I love about my in-laws is that every once in a while I can see why Jeremy is the way he is. Karen spent a very long time reconstructing that crushed gingerbread house. She was absolutely determined to fix it no matter how long it took. (Jeremy is the same way!) Sometimes it drives me nuts. Like the lights on our Christmas tree this year.... He spent 45 minutes trying to figure out which light was burned out, keeping a whole string of lights of lighting, while we waited to decorate the tree. It is good for his line of work though because he can spend forever tracing a computer problem and solving it. Anyway, after trying crazy glue, elmer's glue, duct tape and frosting. It was Jeremy who had the patience and determination to come along and help construct a cardboard roof. Aliza and Josiah thoroughly enjoyed decorating. All the preparation was time well spent!

There were tea parties in which the tablecloth soaked up more tea than the tiny play teacups could hold. There were pretend birthday parties with Brandi that Mommy was decidedly not invited to. There was lots of Anna awake time in which we learned that she particularly likes to sleep on Grandma's bed nice and cozy warm. And there was the trip to church in which Aliza wore slippers because one of her church shoes was size 8 and the other size 10.

I'm pretty sure I could say more, but I feel unwound and that means it is time to sleep. Good night! I'm praying that everyone in my house will be healthy and happy in the morning.