Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow

WOW! That's about all I can say besides, "ouch," my back hurts from shoveling! ha! It started snowing last night at midnight and was done before noon today. We literally couldn't get out of our backdoor. I had to go out the front door and shovel around to the back. Our neighbor Bob helped us out by lending us his snowblower for most of it. Thank goodness because I was having a really hard time. It would've been a HUGE job for Steve and I to do by ourselves. I'm attaching a picture of the snow out our front door. Please note that this was not the deepest part!!!!! Goodness - and the first day of winter is tomorrow. I wonder what the rest of the winter will be like? I'm afraid to imagine.

Our latest ailment

We have been recovering since last weekend. Thank you everyone for your well wishes. Olivia is just finally starting to eat again and yesterday she came down with this rash all over her torso. I took her in and the doc said it is viral and there is nothing we can do about it. It's like nothing I've seen before though. It doesn't seem to bother her thankfully but it is EVERYWHERE. There is not a spot on her body where I can put a pinky tip and not be touching it. WOW! If you double click on the picture it will become bigger and you can see the rash.

As you can also see, Olivia is on the potty. She hasn't gone on the toilet yet but does tell me often when she is dirty and wants to sit on it afterwards. She likes to pretend to wipe and be such a big girl!

Is that weird that I am showing you a picture of her rash while she is on the toilet? Oh well - the life of a blogger! :)

Do you see what I see?

Braden's First Christmas Concert

This week Braden had his first Christmas concert for preschool. It was adorable. The parents were as excited as the kids and from an outsiders perspective could have been the ones to watch! Every other person had a video camera (us included) were standing up, waving franticly to their child and grinning from ear to ear.

My prediction was that Braden would be either the shy one who didn't sing a thing or the class clown that was goofing off with his friends. I was mostly wrong. He started the concert singing and smiling adorably. Just to make it a preschool performance though he added some humor to the mix. He saw my mom go up in the balcony at one point and waved and yelled out, "hi Nana." His friend Benjamin (this could've been the funniest thing I've seen) tried to take off his sweater during the performance. All of a sudden you can hear Steve on the tape, "Braden, don't you dare," as Braden quickly eyed up his buddy. His teacher defused this idea fortunately. He sang about half the songs and the other half he was fixed on something to his left. We aren't sure what it was but it must have been pretty cool.

It was awesome. I loved watching them perform and seeing how hard their teachers worked with them. I can't imagine corralling that many little 4 year olds. Jillian and my mom joined us - thanks you two!! Way to go Braden.

Seriously?

Some may say I am a drama queen and really, I do hold tight to the roller coaster of life with it's highs and lows - riding one as energetically as the next however... today has been serious drama at my house.

1. I am not getting into the whole story but I thought (yes, this really was a thought) that the painters from last summer who spent some time in my closet stole my jewlery box with my family jewlery and was in tears telling my mom about it. It turns out they didn't - thank God - but again, it's not worth getting into here.

2. You know the whole doctors office experience I wrote about earlier.

3. This tops everything... I am on the phone with Kristin, cutting up chicken for Olivia for lunch. Braden says his tummy hurts but then smiles so I am not sure what's going on. Olivia is whining but that seems to be a new hobby so again - didn't pay much attention. All of a sudden Olivia starts throwing up all over herself and the plate that I just put in front of her. As I am screeching into the phone that I have to go, I look up and Braden starts throwing up all over himself and the kitchen floor.

Seriously - does that happen to someone?

Yes - it does and I have never felt so helpless in my life. I actually said out loud, "Mommy is not sure what to do right now - wow!" I kind of stood in the middle offering consoling words to both of my children as they threw up on themselves at exactly the same time.

As quickly as it appeared, everything disappeared. I stripped both kids of their clothes, sent them into the living room with blankets to watch a show while I sanitized the kitchen, threw in a load of wash and then got them cozied up in their PJ's.

They are both napping now and seem to feel fine so perhaps it's a touch of the flu. Now let's hope mommy doesn't get sick too.

What a day!

Can you hear me?

Braden has a pain tolerance beyond measure. I took the poor child to the doctor this morning...not thinking he had an ear infection...but because he has had a hard time hearing me the last week or so.

"Yes," she said, "He can't hear you well and there is a good reason. He has a major double ear infection." She also said, "This would normally cause children quite a lot of pain so he must either have a high pain tolerance or after so many infections, his nerves are dull." My assumption is it's a little of both.

AHHHHHH - I feel terrible. I am not sure how long he has had this and how many times I've been after him lately thinking he wasn't listening when the sweet boy truly couldn't hear me. UGH.

I'm not winning mommy of the year award today that's for sure.

Girly Girl

The kids and I went to my friend Sara's for dinner last night. She gave me a few barrettes that her daughter Ava doesn't wear anymore. Here are a few pics of Olivia ... my little girly girl!

Been Busy

Things around here have been busy as are all households are at this time of year. A few of the things keeping me from my computer...
-decorating, I LOVE a warm, cozy, decorated house with a fire in the fireplace and coffee in my cup!
-reading a new parenting book about raising boys and trying some new things with Braden - so far so good!
-christmas cards...wonderful but wow, they are a lot of work!
-snuggling with Olivia, she's doing fabulous!
-shoveling - I am already having flashbacks from the amount of snow we had last winter!
-sleeping...I can't seem to get enough of it lately.
I'll get back into the swing of things soon but here are a few pictures of our life over the last week!

Olivia's Surgery

Olivia had surgery at Children's Hospital today. She had tubes put into her ears and had her adenoids taken out. My parents met us there this morning bright and early at 6:45am. They gave her what they call goofy juice which makes her drowsy and carefree. That makes the separation easier on us all.

Her surgery was surprisingly short compared to Braden's a few years ago. I was able to go and sit with her in the recovery room and snuggle. She was in a bit of pain so they gave her some more morphine which helped. Back up in her room, we snuggles some more on the bed while they monitored her. She slept a little and slowly started to become more alert.

They sent us home around 12:30 today. She is doing remarkably well. The big task in the next few days is going to be keeping Braden low key enough to keep her low key. Olivia is Braden's shadow and wants to do everything he wants to do.

Thank you everyone for your well wishes and prayers. I was quite nervous about this morning and feel so relieved that it all went well. Let's see....now I can keep my mind busy with the holidays!?!

and now... Thanks Giving

We have had a roller coaster of a week at the Dupee household.  Sometimes it takes something bad to happen for you to see how blessed you are.  Steve and I have realized how truly fortunate we are in life for so many reasons and we have many thanks to give during this Thanksgiving time.  

We found out we were pregnant last Monday and were really excited.  We hadn't shared the news with everyone yet when we headed home for the holiday.  It was very fun sharing the excitement and planning already for a new little bundle to join our family.

On Thursday night I started to have a miscarriage.  We were devastated.  It was early but still felt like the loss of a life.  I cried a lot, did a lot of self questioning, and wondering why me, what did I do wrong, is this a sign of things to come, etc. I do believe, as does Steve, that everything happens for a reason.  This baby wasn't yet meant to be born.  Maybe there were problems with formation or maybe it just wasn't the right time for us.  We'll never know.

For all of you who know me, which is probably anyone reading this, you know that I am not a particularly private person.  I find my strength in those around me so I hope this post doesn't disturb you.  I guess it's one of my ways of moving forward.  Sharing my joys as well as my sorrows with my friends and family is one of my defining characteristics.  

We went to the doctor today and it went as well as could be expected.  I feel hopeful that there is a baby out there waiting for us when the time is right.  Our doc asked that we wait a little while before trying again to lower the odds of it happening a second time.  We will gladly do that to avoid going through another heartache.

I've been reminded of a few things over the past week...

1.  Life is precious and so fragile.  It can be formed in an instant and taken away in an instant.

2. A healthy full-term baby truly is a miracle.

3. Everything happens for a reason and trusting in that makes the difficult times in life more manageable.

4. Friends and family are the greatest of life's blessings.  I cannot thank those of you who have helped to make this experience a little more gentle, a little less sad, and simply let us feel whatever we were feeling at the moment.

I love you all and look forward to moving forward with Steve and my two beautiful children, Braden and Olivia.  This can only make us stronger and more appreciative of what we already have.  And to our next baby...I love you and am ready to welcome you into our lives whenever you are ready.

Thanksgiving

Wow - what a weekend.  We started our Thanksgiving trip up to Appleton on Wednesday mid-day.  After dropping the kids off at my parents and picking up Sam, we headed up to Greenbay.  

We met Kevin and Emily (and their newest little Lucy) at the Greenbay Gamblers Hockey Game. Emily's brother, Jefferson, is on the team.  I've never been to a Hockey game at that level and the degree of fighting made my stomach sick but it was great to see them as usual.  I always walk away from my time with them wishing that we had more of it!

Thursday morning we woke up and prepared for our first annual Turkey Trot!  Our original plan to run the 5 mile quickly changed after a few training runs earlier in the month.  Sam, Em, Steve and I chose to run the 2 mile but Peter and Dick stuck with the 5.  My dad power-walked the 2 mile and actually wasn't that far behind us.  We ran between 8.30 and 9 min miles which was awesome considering none of us were bragging about how "in shape" we were!  It was declared that this was the first of a new tradition that we hope to keep up every year.  Steve pushed the stroller so it was a family affair.  

The rest of the day was spent making candy turkeys, watching Wall-E (an awesome movie if you haven't yet seen it), napping or attempting to, and visiting.  My mom and Naomi were busy in the kitchen and Sam, Peter, and Chris were taking lessons on how to cook the turkey on the grill.  They hope to take over the job next year on their own...scary! 

Dinner was wonderful. I absolutely LOVE our Thanksgiving.  The Bruesehoffs are such a part of our family and I can't imagine the holiday without them.  It's been the same every year for as long as I can remember and I hope it never changes.  Unfortunately Nathan and Beth weren't able to join us but we did talk to Nate during dinner.  We eat, laugh, and of course, go around the table sharing what we are thankful for.  

After dinner we ate pie, visited some more, went for a walk to the park and it was off to bed.  

The next morning we got ourselves cleaned up and Sam and I had a Sudoku standoff!  With Peter's help we kicked his butt!!  hehe  Then we got ready for our annual scavenger hunt.  This year was a little different.  This year we had no time limit but were given a list of objects to find and bring back. It was then our job to make something with it all.  Some of the objects were: hand warmers, green ribbon, cheerios,  soap opera digest, silver glitter and an object of our choosing.  Sam, Peter, Olivia and I were on a team.  We started at Fleet Farm and then went to Woodmans, Toms Drive-In and Starbucks.  Our final creation was a "Soap Opera Party Box."  It was really fun.  Braden's team of elders (Dick, Naomi, Patti and Phil) made a farm which actually turned out really cool.  Emily, Chris and Steve made a pop culture creation.  You can see all of them in the slideshow.  It's become a silly tradition but is fun to have something to look forward to on that Friday.

Steve, the kids and I packed up and headed home about 7 that night.  We were exhausted and really looking forward to sleeping in our own beds.  The next morning we went to Stein and got our Christmas tree.  Sam and Em stopped by later that day and our light pro, Emily, helped to put our Christmas tree lights on.  They look beautiful.  Thanks Em!

The rest of the weekend was very low key - just what we needed.  We did a lot of lying around, snuggling and decorating.  I love this time of year and am already looking forward to that Turkey Trot, the yummy turkey made by Sam, Peter and Chris, and some type of scavenger hunt next year.  I love you all.