Catch-Up Post

Wearing a hat, just like Daddy.

Well, October and November just flew by.  I can't believe it is almost December.  Wowza!!  And I'm going to bet that December goes by just as quickly.  We have been busy and this post has the potential to be super-duper long, so I am going to try to give you the condensed version.

Backing up to October, which is where I left off.  Halloween was fun and guess how many pictures I took??  0.  That's right.  Nada.  Massive fail on my part.  My apologies to my kids who will one day read this in the blog book and be like "What?  No pictures of me at Halloween 2012?!"  And I will hopefully be around to say to them "Sorry.  But the bright side is that you have pictures of Halloween 2011, 2010, 2009..."

This was taken on Halloween morning. 

 It's my only picture of the day. 

Let me paint you a picture of how cute they were though.  Silas was Superman.  (Appropriate, dontcha think?)  His outfit was actually pajamas that looked like Superman's suit.  It was just all one piece and super comfy.  Comfy had to be in the plan because this kid goes to bed at 6 pm.  I figured he could sleep and still wear a costume this way.  Carissa was a doctor.  She carried a stethoscope and other various doctorish things.  She had a nametag that said "Dr. Carissa" and wore a white coat.  It was an easy-on, easy-off costume which she really liked and it was comfortable.  Maleah was Hermione from Harry Potter.  She had on a long black robe, a Gryffindor scarf, tie, and hat.  She also carried a wand and a book.  She looked great and had a lot of fun.

Maleah was really the only one that really enjoyed trick-or-treating.  I started out with all three kids and drove to two houses.  First was my Grandma Zelda's, second was Rick and Janie Bahrns.  It was freezing cold and Carissa was done after the second house.  She really could care less about the candy (I mean really, we already had bags of it at home from the halloween parades) and all she really wanted to do was to go to Grandma Debby's to the party.  Each year my Mom has a party on trick-or-treat night and that is where most of the trick-or-treaters we know end up.  She makes homemade donuts, cookies, soup, and lots of appetizers.  Everyone just sits around and visits.  It is a fun tradition.  So, after only going to two houses I took Carissa and Silas to Grandma Debby's.  They stayed inside and visited and watched the other trick-or-treaters arrive.  Maleah wasn't done though so I took her back to town for about another hour and she trick-or-treated at some friends and teachers houses.  And when we were about to freeze we headed back to Grandma's and warmed up.  It was a fun night.

Fall Fun.

How did we end up with all of these leaves?

We don't have any trees!

Sisters

Silas is not a fan of the leaves.

Okay, so then November started and then I blinked and then it was over. The girls have been staying busy with church.  On Tuesday afternoon they go to Kid's Choir at the Baptist Church and on Wednesday nights they go to our church at First Christian and have been practicing hard for the Christmas Program.  We had an interesting Thanksgiving.  Silas was sick with a stomach virus so Jason and I stayed home with him and sent the girls to the Oestreich Thanksgiving with my Mom and Dad.  While they were gone, we took apart Maleah's loft bed and put it in Carissa's room.  Then we put together a new headboard for Maleah and put that in her room, with all new bedding that she picked out from Pottery Barn.  Each girl's room got a major makeover and when they came home from Thanksgiving they were shocked.  Maleah screamed (repeatedly) and jumped up and down and Carissa was super quiet.  She was just speechless!  It was cute to see their reactions.  Jason and I were both worn out.  It was a lot of work.

Carissa's new room.  New dresser and Maleah's

old loft bed.  Carissa took this picture herself.

A partial view of Maleah's new room.  She took the

picture herself.  She is proud of her new bedding

with her favorite two blankets at the foot of the bed.

I stayed home on Black Friday (which made me sad because I LOVE Black Friday).  The girls spent a lot of time in their rooms, which was nice.  By Friday night I thought Silas was much better and no one else was sick so we went to the Cooper Thanksgiving.  As we were getting ready to leave Carissa said, "My stomach hurts."  That was clue #1 that I should have gotten her a bucket, or a sack, or something.  I put her in the car and we headed from Cisne to Flora.  We got to 50/45 intersection and she said, "I feel carsick," which was clue #2 that I should have immediately passed her a sack or something.  Instead I asked "Do you feel like you might throw up?"  No answer.  "Should we pull over?"  No answer.  And then it happened.  She puked all over the place.  Jason pulled over.  I got out and tried to help her but was sort of helpless.  She was covered in it but said she felt much better.  I got right back in the car and said "Hammer down.  Get us home!"  We were  home in about another 5 minutes and we took her straight to the tub and the carseat straight to my brand-spankin' new washer and dryer that I love (another November event).  It turns out that Silas wasn't really any better either, so on Saturday I had two sick kids and on Sunday I had three sick kids.  Maleah ended up with a cold but not the stomach virus so that was good.  Today is Day 10 of Silas' virus and he has had diarrhea this whole time.  Isn't that horrible??  I can't wait for it to be gone.  Poor baby.  So needless to say, I spent the whole holiday weekend at home (with the exception of a few short errands).  I watched at least five of those Hallmark Christmas movies (which I love and are addictive!).  We watched Elf twice, Home Alone three times, and White Christmas.  I also had a very clean house and all of my laundry caught up (thanks to the aforementioned awesome washer and dryer).  Oh, we also put our Christmas tree up and decorated for Christmas. 

One of my favorite elves decorated our tree.

Trimming the tree as a family.

Silas' first time!

Most of our ornaments are homemade and

we didn't put any on the bottom few branches

but it is still beautiful.  The girls love it!

All done!

It took a little hot glue this year to fix

this ornament I made in 1986!  Still cute!

In Silas news, he is doing great (other than the neverending diarrhea).  He is crawling!  He is sitting up by himself.  He is very vocal.  (He is a Cooper kid after all.  The chances of me having a quiet kid were about the same as my chances of winning Powerball tonight.)  He is always happy and smiling.  He has two teeth on bottom and two on top came in this week.  He has been grinding them together which is driving me nuts.  He started getting his Synagis shots this week, which are once-a-month shots in each leg to prevent RSV.  Because he was born so early he is at high-risk for RSV and is a candidate for these shots.  Maleah had these for her first two winters and that kid was never sick.  I definitely wanted Silas to get them too and thankfully insurance approved it.  I do believe that these shots really help their immune system but I also believe that these are the reason that Maleah would scream bloody murder if we even pulled in to the parking lot at the clinic.  She is almost 8 now and still hates going to the doctor.  I hope Silas doesn't end up like that.  It is stressful for all of us. 

Cutie Pie

 

Sound asleep in his bed.  11 months old.

 

In Carissa news, she is sassy as ever.  She loves playing with her baby dolls and legos and has two imaginary friends that she loves to play with - Maggie and Mollie.  Imaginary friends are a sign of intelligence, you know.  She is super smart.  She can do math, knows her abc's, can count well, all of the ordinary stuff a three-year-old should know, but she is also a great problem-solver and has a lot of common sense.  She is extremely observant and doesn't miss a beat.  She is also stubborn and mischievous.  She is extremely lovable and sweet.  She likes to say that she needs some "mama lovins" and crawl up in my lap to snuggle.  I love that as much as she does.

In Maleah news, she is making straight A's in school (high A's, 98% and a few over 100%).  She is really into reading and science.  She is super smart too and amazes me with what she knows.  She has a great sense of humor and is a wonderful sister to Silas and an okay sister to Carissa (needs improvement).  She is really into style this year and has been dressing up for school most days.  She is so fun to be around and is a big help to me.

In Jason news, he is still on day shift and is doing great.  He hasn't got to go bow hunting quite as often as he would like this year but the season isn't over yet.  He hasn't got a deer because he had some coyotes messing things up but the good news is that there is now one less coyote out there.  He smoked that bad boy.  Ha! 

In Beth news, not much to report.  I have been busy preparing for Silas' First Birthday Party.  Woo hoo!!!  I can't believe that little guy is going to be one in a couple of weeks.  We are having a HUGE birthday party for him on December 9th at Oil Belt Christian Service Camp in Flora from 2 to 4 pm.  If you are reading this, then you are invited!  I have invited everyone I know, friends, family and church family.  Anybody that prayed for that little guy or who read about his progress on my blog is invited.  If I don't know you personally, that's okay.  Just stop by for a piece of cake and punch and introduce yourself.  If you are a dangerous crazy person, please don't come though.  Okay?  Thanks!  But everybody else is invited!  I even sent an invite to the Duggar Family so who knows, maybe they'll come.  Silas deserves a big celebration and he is going to get one.  He fought hard to be here and we are going to celebrate.  No gifts please, but if you do come and feel like you want to bring something, bring a baby blanket.  All blankets collected will be donated to the NICU at Mercy Hospital where Silas spent three months.  They will be given to the babies that are there this year.

We sort of adopted a kitten.  It's a long story but I found it, saved it, spent a fortune on it at the vet clinic, tried to find it a home, failed to find it a home, and kept it.  My Mom started calling it Atticus and although I love that name, it didn't fit this guy.  The kitten especially loves Maleah and she started calling it Bobby Wasabi, but the rest of us are just going to call it Bobby.  If your name is Jason and you are reading this, I am still trying to find it a home.  If that's not your name, then we are probably going to end up keeping it.  He was covered with ringworm and we had to keep him in seclusion for quite a while but I think we finally have that under control.  Luckily, none of the kids got the ringworm but since I was the one taking care of it, I ended up with it on my arms.  Uggh!  It is finally going away and I am so glad it is wintertime and I can wear long sleeves. 

Bobby Wasabi

 

Smile!

I think that is about it for the update that was long overdue.  I am so happy it is Christmastime.  I love this time of year and am really going to enjoy it this year.  Last year is a blur and I don't remember much.  I am going to enjoy Maleah's school Christmas Program this year because I won't be in labor and hopefully (keep your fingers crossed) that Carissa can stay awake for it this year.  She has slept through the whole thing the last three years in a row.  Last year I held that sleeping 25 pound child on the bleachers for the whole thing while having terrible back pain (which turned out to be back labor).  I feel very blessed to be able to celebrate the season with a wonderful husband and three kids at home this year.  Life is good.