More Lucy Than June

We had a wonderful (and BUSY!) Christmas this year!!!! 

Christmas with an almost four year old and a 17 month old is a blast! And it can also wear you completely out!!

On Christmas Eve, we set out the plate of fudge for Santa. Yes, I know he is supposed to eat cookies. But I ran out of time to make cookies, so we gave him Straight Jacket Fudge (read the last post if you’re confused on that one!).

There was some controversy as to what the reindeer should be left to eat. We had no carrots, which was the food of choice that one three year old thought we should leave out.

So, we opted for apples. 

As the kiddies finally drifted off to sleep, Santa made his appearance and left two separate and distinct piles…one pile for each girl.

The presents were wrapped (well, the ones that could be wrapped anyway…there was a Disney princess tea cart that Santa chose to put together rather than wrap).

I was certain that McKenna would come into our room before noticing the presents the next morning.

But I was very wrong.

At around 8:30 a.m. on Christmas morning, a very thrilled and excited child ran into our room clutching in her hands the black cat, Mittens, from the Bolt! movie. (That’s the MAIN gift she wanted this year…)

I GOT MY BLACK CAT!!!!!

Stephen and I just looked at each other…and laughed.

What could we do? I mean, I was a little disappointed that I didn’t get to see her reaction to opening and finding the treasured feline, but I will always have the precious memory of her bounding into our room that Christmas morning with as much excitement in her little voice as I dreamed she would have.

We asked her what else she had opened.

She told us….

Everything! And Caia’s too! Just in case…

I think the “just in case” meant “just in case they were mine”.

At least she knew they were for Caia and not her.

Needless to say, we re-wrapped Caia’s gifts for her, so she could have some fun when she woke up.

Although I didn’t get to see the initial reaction to the black cat (which, I might add, has not left her grip since Thursday morning), I did capture her excitement about the Marty the zebra stuffed animal that she found in her stocking. Priceless…

Here’s a couple of pics of the “BEFORE” and “AFTER” Christmas chaos…

I plan to post some cutesy pictures of the girls later, but I’m having iphoto issues right now… Grrr.

Needless to say, next year we’re laying down a few ground rules about NOT opening presents until Mommy and Daddy get up!

Now, I won’t specifically name the place we went to, but….

This was my first glimpse into how well-done the displays would be…

Ok. I have many questions about this. 

First, how do you not notice a printing mistake like that?

And second, when you do finally notice it, why would you put it up?

I’m all about some first impressions, and my first impression was,

We drove how far for this?

You know what, though? We didn’t go for me. We went for the girls.

And they throughly enjoyed every minute of it.

I mean, look at Kenni’s face. Stephen’s skeptical, but whatever…

Then we headed to a local ice cream drive-thru.

Now, this particular place gives free kid cones to kids under 40 inches tall. Needless, to say, both of my children are under 40 inches tall.

However, nowhere on the drive-thru sign is there any evidence that we wouldn’t be given the free cones because we went through with our car instead walking up to the window on our feet.

It wasn’t until we got up to the window to pay that we saw a half-sheet of paper with (I’m not kidding) 10-point font that read…

Free kiddie cones will no longer be given at drive-thru window.

Now, I am a STICKLER for customer service….and I’m 8 months pregnant. This is probably not a good combination.

Stephen looks at me and says,

I’ll handle this.

That means, “Keep quiet.”

He’s very nice, and says something like,

So, these kiddie cones aren’t free at the drive-thru?

The very un-enthusiastic employee says,

Uhhhh….no.

Stephen proceeds,

Well, we didn’t know that until we got to this window…

This is where I pop in. I couldn’t help it. I mean, come on! Who puts a notice AT the pick-up window? On a half-sheet of paper? In 10-point font?

You know, I’m thinking maybe you should post that little notice there on your order sign BACK THERE.

Stephen still proceeds to be nice.

So, you’re telling me, that if I pull my car over and walk up to the window, you’ll give it to me for free, but because I’m in my car, I have to pay for them?

The employee says,

Yeah. Pretty much.

Are you kidding me?

He ends up comp-ing them. Not so much because I think he understood why we thought we should have them for free, but because he was tired of dealing with us.

Oh well. Here’s Caia enjoying her almost-not-free kiddie cone…

That is my life this week.

Tuesday morning, McKenna’s preschool class had their Christmas “program”. They sang three songs, but we were very excited to see our little girl on stage in her Christmas dress.

We learned two things from that experience…

1. She is definitely below average for her height.

2. She has absolutely no stage presence whatsoever.

Now, don’t get me wrong…I love her, I do. But being on stage is NOT her thing. I mean, who knows? Maybe someday, but right now…

It was laughable.

She didn’t sing the first note, and when the teachers made the announcement that we could come get our children from the stage, Kenni just plopped herself right down in the middle of stage and waited. None of the other kids did that… 

Here are some pics of her “performance”.

When I told her that I enjoyed her program, her response was,

Well, I’m glad you liked it, but I didn’t sing.

I kind of noticed that, dear.

And, since tomorrow is her last day of school till the new year, we made her teacher’s Christmas gift tonight. (We, like most this season, are budget-challenged, so while I would have loved to have given her teacher the coveted gift card that I always used to love to get as a teacher, Ms. Lynn will be getting a tray full of homemade cookies.)

Kenni helped unwrapped the Hershey kisses for the peanut butter blossoms…well, she unwrapped about nine, then she ate two, and then she had to go the bathroom to wash her hands….came back and unwrapped two more, then ate another one…

After that, I sent her to go watch Sesame Street. I was afraid I wouldn’t have enough kisses left for the cookies…

When the cookies came out, she did get to put the candies on top, so she did help “make” the cookies, I guess.

The gingerbread men (and women!) here…well, I made those after she went to bed.

Now, I did save her out a few so that she could decorate some tomorrow when she gets home from school.

And even though I am completely exhausted, and my hands and feet are swollen like balloons, decorating the little guys gave me a little break. It was like therapy or something.

Here’s the finished basket…(the actual tray itself came from a 50% off sale at Rite Aid tonight…$3.00!!)…

And in closing, we went in for our perinatologist appt. today. 

Little Jack now measures 4 pounds and 9 ounces….which is right on target! We got to see him sucking his thumb on the ultrasound….our kids are so going to need braces one day.

The doctor told us about the risk of stillbirth, which we knew but I suppose he is legally obligated to say it. He told us his thought is, with the cholestasis, if the baby is mature enough to thrive outside the womb, why not just let them come early. We agreed with him, and he said he felt that arund 37 weeks would be best, but certainly no later than 38.

So, tomorrow we go in for another non-stress test and to meet with the regular OB. And maybe we can start chatting up some dates for an induction.

I never wanted to be induced with the girls…I always wanted that story of how my labor started, where I was…you know, the whole “element of surprise” thing. 

But, I guess I’ve done that twice. Now I get a new story to tell. 

I went natural with Kenni (NEVER AGAIN), had an epidural with Caia, and Jack gets to be induced (Oh yes, and WITH AN EPIDURAL). So, I guess I can give a good range of experiences for the rest of my friends who have babies…

That’s all I can say.

Since when did it matter to the general public how many kids I have or how close together I (or God) may have chosen to space them?

While “dining” (i use that term loosely because I don’t know if you really can DINE while corralling a three year old and a 17 month old…) at a local restaurant, I noticed two women looking at me and whispering. The older woman rolled her eyes.

Then I heard mention of “too many kids” and “they’re not all mine” and other things that annoyed me to no end.

Now, I can’t be sure exactly WHAT they were saying, but in that moment I felt intensely critiqued by these strangers. Like they were judging me for how many kids I had chosen to have or how close together I (or God) had chosen to have them.

I keep saying “or God” because, if you remember, little Jack was not a “planned by me” pregnancy. Well, we say he wasn’t “unplanned”, he was just “unscheduled”. But God, in His timing and wisdom, saw fit to give him to us when He did. And I am thrilled with that.

So, why is it that women can often feel the right/need/desire to criticize another woman’s decision as to how many children she would like to have or when she wants to have them? 

I cannot tell you how many store employees and unsuspecting people have said to me,

And you’re having ANOTHER one?

Ummm, yes. Yes I am. And I’m thrilled to be having another one.

Since when is three children a “large” family? And, besides that, I know plenty of people who have more than three kids…and quite honestly, they’re some of the happiest people I know. (Perhaps they’re delirious from being tired all the time, but still…)

Maybe I’m just tired and grumpy.

Maybe I’m being too transparent about how I feel right now.

Maybe I just need  to have some chocolate and go to bed.

Rant over now. 

Tomorrow, I’ll post a fun story….with pictures from my baby “sprinkle” today. I didn’t want my friends to call it a shower since I have two children with whom I had showers for already….I felt like it sounded greedy! So, we had a very small gathering with Italian food. 

I mean, really…presents and food. Does it get any better?

That was a bumper sticker I saw tonight. 

I so want one.

Although, it may not be necessarily true in my case. Are Gerber graduates considered nutritious?

I also saw a bumper sticker that I thought held great irony at Starbuck’s the other day.

The four Parrises had pulled through the Starbuck’s drive-thru Monday afternoon, and after our drinks were served, we pulled over to the side to divvy out the goods.

A lady in a van behind us apparently thought we were in her way.

So, as she honked and shouted and waved her arms at us, she zipped by with a bumper sticker that said (I kid you not)…”Follow me to ????? church.”  (I won’t name the church. It’s not their fault.)

For real? For real? Follow you? Manical road-rage obsessed woman to your church? 

Hmmmmm….I don’t think so.

Well, enough of that.

In other news, another doctor appointment today.

NST looked okay (Little Dude got the hiccups at one point…that was fun.) No ultrasound today, but I did get sent for more bloodwork to see if the bile acid levels are going down now that I’m on the meds.

A couple of doctors met in the hallway while they were writing up bloodwork orders to discuss my condition. Apparently they all know me by name now.

I’m thinking that the girls and I will bake some Christmas cookies to take to their staff next week. The receptionist, most of the nurses, and all but a two or three of the doctors are on a first name basis with me at this point.

I think that I’ve secretly become one of their case studies that they talk about. The one with the “rare liver disease”. Maybe they all talk into their little tape recorders after they meet with me and make notes on my condition.

Then again, maybe I’m flattering myself.