Problems at the workplace

It's ony 9:20 or so in the morning and I'm already about to pull my hair out. The girls spent the night with my parents last night so that Jeremy and I could go to his work Christmas party. So, I got up this morning and arrived at my parents' house by 7:30 so they could go on to work. I was going to work today for my dad anyway, so the girls and I just stayed. I've been trying to work since about 8:00 and I just keep getting interrupted. Besides the girls fighting, trying to open Christmas presents and sneak snacks, they have been very mischevious, too. I found Claire with my mom's deodorant. She had rubbed it on her clothes, as well as on the floor. There were white streaks everywhere, along with white crumbs all over the place. So, I cleaned that mess up and got back to work. The next big incident was with lotion. I found them in the bathroom with not one, but two bottles of lotion opened. Claire had it from head to toe and Camden wasn't much better. Both had it in their hair, which was really fun trying to get it out. And, then I look down and there was a huge clump on the floor. Another nice mess to clean up. Since so much has already happened this morning, I'm just wondering what the rest of the day holds. If the excitement continues, I might be adding more to the post before the end of the day!
Well...I'm adding to my post already and it's just 12:15. I had had about enough of the girls bickering back and forth and getting into stuff that they weren't supposed to be in, so I decided food might do the trick. I fixed their lunch at 10:30...that's right, my girls had brunch today. I thought it was safe to leave them at the table eating their turkey, cheese, strawberries and cheetos. So, I went back to working. However, after about 10 minutes I continued hearing Claire yelling for me and saying "no, Camden". So, I finally decided to go check on them and found Camden throwing little pieces of cheese at Claire. That was the final straw. I told Camden to go potty and then I put her to bed at 10:45 for a nap. It took her a while to fall asleep, but she finally did. Such peace and quiet to only have one child awake. Anyway, I decided to put Claire down for a nap, as well. My mom is babysitting the girls and Madeline today so that we can all go to Jeremy's brother's graduation. They will be here at 2:00, so I decided they could nap before Madeline arrived. She went to sleep fairly quickly. I went in to check on her because I thought she might be cold due to the fact that all she had on was a t-shirt and a diaper. When I went in, the fan closed the door and made a sound and, you guessed it, she woke up. So, I had to get her up. And, now as I'm writing this Camden has woken up and is in a rotten mood. Is this day ever going to end??????? At least I get a break at 2:00!!!! YEAH!

School Christmas parties

Today Camden and Claire had Christmas parties at school. Camden's class had a book exchange, which she thought was so fun. She ended up with a Curious George Christmas book! Both girls had a special lunch with lots of goodies to eat! Here are a few pictures of them having fun!

Play time with Madeline

Madeline came over tonight to play while her mommy and daddy went to a Christmas party. We had so much fun keeping her entertained. Camden and Claire helped feed her a bottle, played with her and even enjoyed a bath with her. What fun! This was only the second time Madeline has taken a bath in a big bathtub. She had lots of fun with her cousins. Baths are so much more fun with three kids in a tub! Thanks Aunt Crystal and Uncle Jake for letting us babysit Madeline. We had a blast and hope you will bring her back again real soon!!

Rub-a-dub-dub, three kids in a tub


Please excuse this picture...Camden's legs are sprawled out, she looks drunk and, apparently, Claire is giving us the middle finger.



Madeline LOVED this rubber duck. She screamed every time she dropped it.

More ear infections

For the past 2 nights, Camden has said her ear hurts. I have tried to soothe her with some ear drops and tylenol. I thought that if I just gave her some medicine, she would "think" her ear was better, therefore, I wouldn't hear her complain anymore. Last night, or should I say this morning, she awoke at 2:00am with her ear hurting. I gave her ear drops and some Tylenol with codiene (we had a full bottle from Claire's surgery last week). She did go back to sleep for 3 more hours, but at 5:00am was up, wanting to eat breakfast. I kept telling her I'd fix her something later, that it was just too early to eat. I FINALLY had to get out of bed when I heard Claire at 7:00am. Shortly after that, they both wanted breakfast. I was just about to get up when Camden started going crazy saying her stomach hurt and her throat hurt. I thought she was just being over-dramatic, which she is good at. However, she said she had to throw up. Lucky me, I managed to get her to the potty before she did. Boy, did I feel bad for getting on to her for, what I thought was just drama. Anyway, after a few crackers and some sprite she seemed to feel much better. However, her ear still hurt. I finally called for an appt with the doctor. Our doctor's office is undergoing some remodeling and they have 3 exam rooms available that are to be shared by 9 doctors. After a 25 minute wait in the waiting room, the nurse called us back where we proceeded to wait 45 minutes for the doctor to come in. So frustrating!! After an ear infection diagnosis, we headed to pick up McDonalds for lunch and to get her antibiotic. After a dose of medicine and a good, healthy lunch from Mickey D's, she seemed to be feeling a little better. Camden is scheduled to finish her medicine on Christmas Eve, so we're hoping to be 100% for Christmas!!

Church Choir

Tonight Camden's choir at church sang a few songs in big church. They sang "Jesus Loves Me", "I'm in the Lord's Army", "O Come Let Us Adore Him", and "The Itsy Bitsy Spider". Not sure how the last song makes it into a church choir program, but it was cute!! Camden did really well. This is her second year in choir, therefore, she feels like a pro at it. I guess she wasn't as nervous about singing in front of parents tonight as she may have been last year. She really "let loose" tonight. She was standing by one of her friends and was just acting silly while singing the songs. So much so, that while she was really getting carried away with some of the motions of the songs, she fell down on the step she was on and then rolled on down to the floor. She was fine...she just picked herself back up and continued singing like nothing had happened. I wasn't sure whether to be upset with her for acting silly or whether to just laugh it off. I figured the last option would be best. Other than that little mishap, she did great. She loves choir and loves to sing!! Watch out "American Idol"!!!

Surgery day

Well, today was SURGERY DAY! We were up early, in fact Camden woke up at 3 am and could not go back to sleep. We were able to let Claire sleep until we left at 6:15, which was earlier than we initially planned due to the bad weather. Claire was not happy that we woke her up, but was a good patient as we headed to Tyler Square. When we arrived, as you see from the picture, Claire seemed to know what was about to happen as she frowned for me in the car. We went in and Nana, Marme and Papa all came by to cheer Claire up. We finally were taken into the first waiting room at about 7:20 and waited there for the doctor until 8:40. Claire was VERY patient and kind, sitting in my lap, only to grow more cranky as time for the surgery grew near. About 10 minutes before the nurse took her back, they gave her some medicine that made her drowsy and it was GREAT entertainment for me and Jeremy. Claire laughed at everything, slurred her speech and could barely hold her head up. The surgery lasted about 25 minutes and we then were able to be with her in the post-operation waiting room at about 9:20. Claire was VERY UNHAPPY and wanted nothing more than that IV in her leg taken out, so finally 20 minutes later they did and she calmed down. We waited there for over an hour and were finally released. She was such a brave patient and we were so proud of her. The surgery was a success and she actually is now playing with Camden and acting as if nothing ever took place! Thanks for your prayers. We all made it through just fine!

Claire with a frown, before heading into the surgery facility

Santa's Little Elf

Today at MOPS, one of Santa's elves came by to visit and read "The Polar Express" to the kids. Camden was very excited about seeing the elf and was trying to talk it up so that get Claire would get excited, too. Once the elf came in, Claire was looking a little nervous about the whole situation. Thank goodness he kept his distance. We might have had lots of tears!