She’s also helped me out a lot this year in making gifts for my aunts and cousins.  We’ve put together a little bag for each containing a bar of soap, body cream, and a body spray.  I’ve also added a small candle that I’ve made.  I only wish I’d had time (or been able to get my act together enough) to crochet up some wash cloths to go along with these.

Marie calls her soap “Naked Soap” because she uses only the basest of ingredients.  There’s nothing unnecessary in there and she doesn’t even use a pre-made base, everything is made from scratch using all natural ingredients such as goat’s milk.  She’s also got body butters seasonally, bath salts, bath melts, and sugar scrubs.

In fact, I’ve been using Marie’s soap almost exclusively for about a year now.  I love the way it makes my skin feel – clean but not dry and not greasy.  The scents are wonderful, too.  The scent going to my family this year is Green Tea & Ginger.  Looove it.  She was so kind as to give me my own body cream (actually forgot to order something for myself this time around, ha) and I put it on my… um, winter knees… earlier and it’s already made a difference in that skin.  Feels great and the scent is nice and not over-powering (which is sometimes a downfall of an otherwise good lotion).

So, I know, it’s too late for Christmas this year, but check it out!  :)   http://nakedsoap.net

I have to say, it is so much better doing this here than on the living room floor. For one, I’m tired and I quit for the night and I’m just going to leave everything here and Kayleigh won’t be able to get it.

But, please, someone stop me! I am spending too much money!!

For the most part, I guess it’s about right, but this year I have spent, in my opinion, too much on my own kiddos. I’m drawing the line here! I actually had them both finished and spent equal amounts on them, within a dollar, then I saw something I couldn’t pass up and spent another $40 on Kayleigh (HEY it was on a $80 item with basically free shipping). So I had to follow that up with E. But of course, there was only one other thing I knew he wanted that wasn’t a Transformer, and that was found in a buy two video games and get one free deal… So, yeah, I bought two and picked out the free one for Steve (we have nothing he likes anyway, no cool manly games). I think I’ll save one of E’s games for his birthday, though. If I don’t, the cycle will never end!

I do love me some “buy two, get one free” deals though. Same thing on something I got for my sister and sister-in-law. One for me free! Sure, I could have given it to someone else, but there’s no one else it’s appropriate for, so mine, all mine. Hey, sometimes I just have to treat myself, right?

This was the first year, though, that E made any kind of Christmas list. I actually asked him to because I know he’s all about Transformers but heck if I can keep the dang things straight. I know Bumblebee, Optimus Prime, and a couple of others that he has schooled me in (ie drilled into my brain), but that’s it. And he is telling me that he wants this one and that one and this one and my head is just spinning. So he goes and gets a piece of paper and a pencil and – wait for it – GETS ONLINE and Googles and finds transformers.com all by himself and proceeds to write down… about 25 of these blasted things. I had no idea there were so many. I thought there were like… five.

Yeah, I’m SO not buying 25 of those things. I thought 2 was a good number but ended up with one that’s a two-in-one, they fit together to make one vehicle but are two separate robots. So I’m in my amazon.com list going down and deleting off the list ones that I think are too expensive to pay for and then deleting again ones that he doesn’t have on his list because BELIEVE IT OR NOT, there are even MORE than 25 of these things. Then I picked from the affordable ones on his list and he’s getting the police car Decepticon and then the two Autobots that go together. That one was kind of hard to find, actually, on amazon anyway, somewhat limited and the first one I added to my cart actually got purchased before I could check out, so I had to find another and, of course, the one I ended up buying was a bit more expensive.

These kids are making out like bandits, I think. Of course, other parents might look at everything we’re getting and go “what the heck, I spend 4 times that much on my kids” and maybe a lot of parents do, but, really, my kids don’t need anything. They have everything they could need or want already and I don’t see any point in just spending hundreds of dollars per kid each Christmas. For one, I don’t want them to think that is what Christmas is all about, amongst other reasons, including the fact that they get tons of stuff from grandparents and aunts and uncles, etc. (One of the perks of being the only grandchildren on two sides, sans one.) I’m happy though, yesterday Elijah came to me and was talking about what he thinks Christmas really is and he didn’t mention presents.

But alas, and woe is me, my Christmas spending for this year is not over yet. I still have to get my grandpa something and Steve still has to get something for my brother. We still have to figure out what to get his mom, and I think we’re going to go together with his brother and his wife and get their dad a new cell phone (without extending a contract), then I still have to figure out what to get my parents. All us siblings were going to go in together on a gift for them again, but I think none of us have any ideas at this point. At least I have my aunts and uncles and cousins on my mom’s side figured out, because that’s always really hard – I don’t want to just give them candles every year (even though they all rave and say “keep them coming”), but I can’t spend a lot because there are just so many of them… and they’re multiplying every year…

In part, I think I feel like I’m spending more on Christmas than I really am because other things have come up, too. Steve had to get some new tires on Thanksgiving Day (long story), I got a candle order only to find out I’m out of wax (what the heck, I could have sworn I had 10 lbs left) so I had to order that (STILL waiting on it) and, of course, the price has gone up again. My printer broke. (Thankfully, Marie tells me she is going to save me there! Thanks, Darling!) My tripod broke. Stupid hunk of plastic. I gotta stop buying cheap ones, I guess, but then there’s more mahnies there. Then there’s every day things like food and our enormous natural gas bill this month… oy.

Que Sera, Sera!

Last week we finally hammered out the gift exchanges on both sides of the family. We are doing sibling exchanges and drew names on Steve’s side on Thanksgiving. My family wasn’t able to completely be together for Thanksgiving so we worked it out later. On my side, I have my sister, a little obvious as we are the only two girls there right now. On Steve’s, I have the middle sister. Haven’t done much shopping yet, but just finished those two ladies tonight. I am trying SO hard to get on this and get everything done online so I don’t have to go out shopping. I don’t mind being a home body, ha. I hate shopping, the stores are always hot, I can’t stand crowds, and when you add my two little monsters to the mix… yeah, it’s enough to drive a person crazy. So I got the sisters done and we have just a little bit so far for K and for my niece, but not finished there. I’m glad I don’t have to worry about boys this year, haha, they are so hard to shop for. Steve says he’s about ready to order for his part of the exchange, one of his brothers and one of mine, he just has to make up his mind.

I’m still unclear as to whether or not we siblings are all going in on gifts for the parentals this year or not. I know my father-in-law needs a new cell phone, I’d love to get him something good. Not sure about my parents or my mother-in-law, though, or my grandpa (he is the absolute hardest one) or Steve’s grandmas.

Getting there, though. I like this organized exchange thing, and I think everyone else does, too.

It’s not just rough on me, though. This past Monday, Elijah started day care for the first time ever. While he was really excited about going that day, as we were on the way there, he asked me what I was going to do while he was there. I told him I was going to the hospital. He asked why and I said “to feed the baby.” He thought for a second then said, “well… can’t you just let the nurses do that?” He actually asked me that question twice. It was like he wanted to go to day care – again, he was really excited – but he didn’t want me going to the hospital at all. When I picked him up, surprisingly, he was ready to go.

But on Tuesday, when I picked him up from his second day of day care, he yelled from the top of the slide, “Mommy!!!! Can you, can you go back and see Kayleigh some more? I’m not done playing!” So who really knows what is going on in that kid’s head? But I do think he’s tired of it all, despite his getting to go pretty much anywhere and everywhere he wants.

However, and it’s not the getting of stuff that does it, but some people we don’t even know have been generous with us and making us feel loved. Such as…

This pink afghan that K is laying with was made by a friend of my mom’s long-time friend. I do know my mom’s friend, have all my life, but I don’t know her friend. After hearing K’s story, apparently, she made this blanket just for us and I opened it at my shower in May. How sweet is that?

This little baby quilt came by her room a couple of weeks ago. A NICUPS member dropped it off, but I don’t know who made it. It’s so sweet with these swirling patterns for the quilting and the wheels made from this fanned fabric.

This is a rather large quilt – maybe twin size? It was made by the Calico Needlers Quilt Guild of St. Charles (MO). It was in K’s room one morning when I came in last week. So very sweet, I love the quilting pattern, flowers and leaves.

This little blanket was in K’s room the other day and I asked the nurse where it came from and she had no idea either. Then the pediatrician called – as she always does on the days she visits K – and told me it was made by a woman who also uses this pediatrician. Apparently, every so often this woman asks if there are any kids or babies she can do something for. So she made Kayleigh this blanket!

That’s not all, either. Yesterday I walked in and there was a new outfit with her other clothing. This time the nurse did know where it came from. Apparently there was another nurse who works there that we don’t know who saw it in the store and couldn’t resist buying it because she thought it was adorable, she then asked our nurse who in there might it fit. So now Kayleigh has a little 4th of July outfit. I don’t have any photos though. She’ll probably be able to wear it for the 5th of July, haha, because I had to bring it home and wash it first in her detergent and so it will go back with us tomorrow. It’s a cute little red, white, and blue thing.

I’m finding out that it’s apparently pretty common for the nurses to buy clothing for the babies. There’s a little onesie in there floating around that I’ve been asked several times if it is ours or not. I’ve said it’s not and one nurse assumed that it went with a baby who had gone home earlier that day and it got forgotten. We left it out on the desk. Yesterday it appeared in our room so I gave in and brought it home to wash it. The nurse thinks that another nurse had bought it for Baby L.

Of course, we have lots of wonderful things given to us by friends and family for Kayleigh but these things from complete strangers just have me going “whoa” you know? Just good to know that there are people out there who will do nice things for people they don’t even know.

And now, fundoplication. Er, the possibility thereof. The following is a re-post of what I put in Facebook last night. I’m lazy :)

So the GI doctor finally saw Kayleigh last night. She has confirmed Kayleigh is going to get a G-tube to come home. A G-tube will go in her side straight into her stomach. There’s apparently some little balloon thing, though, to keep it in place and so that will occupy some space in her stomach. So, they want to do what is called a Ph test to see if the G-tube would make a bad thing worse or not – her acid reflux. That will mean they put a probe down her throat like her current feeding tube is and for 24 hours it will test how bad her reflux is. This means, though, that to get an accurate reading they have to stop all her acid medicines tonight. So no more Prevacid or Mylanta until Tuesday sometime. So we’re gonna have one cranky baby this weekend. So when we get the results of the Ph test, we can further form the plan of her coming home. If they determine her reflux is too bad, though, she’ll get surgery, something called fundoplication (thank you, Google, for your “did you mean…”) which, as I understand it, means they take some of her stomach and tighten it around her esophagus – https://www.gensurgeon.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/NISSEN_FUNDOPLICATION.jpg – which will then, according to the nurse practitioner, pretty much take care of her reflux. You might ask – and I did – why, then, if this takes care of it, don’t they just do it and get it over with? Apparently they don’t like doing surgeries that aren’t required – of course, completely understandable – and most kids grow out of it anyway. But this test will tell us more. Basically, in a nutshell, she IS getting the G-tube (if we ever want her to be able to come home) but she’ll have the Ph test to see if she needs the fundoplication or not. If it’s determined that the G-tube won’t aggravate her reflux too bad, then she won’t get it. So then I would guess that after her surgery from the G-tube has healed enough she will get to come home. Either way, hopefully by Wednesday we’ll know more about when she can come home.

It is Christmas Day, the day that we have been preparing for for the better part of a month and the day that has had all the children – especially mine – tied up in knots. Elijah is playing on the floor with the gifts from Steve and I that he opened this morning. It’s funny how it turned out, every one of them is from the Cars movie… five of the die-cast cars, two shake-up cars, and the Mater game (race to put him together before he blows his parts again). He’s having a ton of fun down there! I’m sure his sugar high will come to an end before long…

Friday (21st) after Steve got off work we went out to eat and then up to the somewhat-nearby live nativity scene. I love going to this and it’s almost a tradition, even if we don’t make it every year. Elijah had fun though, and wasn’t ready to leave (especially after the guy mentioned there were free cookies and hot chocolate inside). I was missing a piece to my tripod though, so next to no pictures worth looking at (from this year anyway, pic at left is from two years ago).

On the 22nd, Saturday, my immediate family came over for our little gathering. This is the first time it’s been at my house – so I’ve been quite busy getting ready. However, I had the best idea ever and we ordered pizza for dinner. We had a good selection and everyone filled up that they refused dessert. To the left is a picture of the gingerbread house Elijah decorated earlier in the day. So we sat around and talked, watched a bit of a movie, and exchanged presents. This would start the Elijah-goes-nuts-with-the-presents attitude and he wanted to open everything and was getting frustrated that he couldn’t. He got a lot of good stuff, though, including two packs of Hotweels – both my sister and her fiance and then one of my brothers got him a pack without realizing that was what the others got him, too. The next night, he’d get another pack, from some of my cousins.

Sunday started out normally enough and I hurried on the editing because I wanted to get out of there fast for various reasons which need not be mentioned. :P Then it was home for a while then to one of my uncle’s houses for a gathering of some of my mom’s side of the family. More food, more fun, more talking, more presents, etc. Again, E acted like a spoiled brat even pulling out a teddy bear from my parents and just tossing it behind him and digging further until he found the candy. I keep telling my mom she doesn’t have to give us gifts at the extended gathering, but she always says she doesn’t want us to be left out. Everyone else gets us stuff, though, so I don’t understand this. It was good to see everyone, though, as it’s gotten to where I don’t see a lot of them except at Christmas since this family doesn’t get together for Thanksgiving. One of the things Elijah got, though, was a trampoline from one of my aunts and uncles. It’s a little thing, about three feet square, and it took Steve and I an hour and a half the next morning to get it together! Hopefully E won’t break his neck…

Monday, of course, was the 24th and Christmas Eve. Each year we trade off with my family and with Steve’s on where we spend Christmas Eve. We’ll schedule a date with the other family (hence mine on Saturday). So we went over to his parents house and everyone was able to be there, of course. The boys all spent the afternoon fooling around and shooting clays and what not – I shot a few times but it was my first time with a moving target so, of course, I missed every one. Steve even took Elijah out and helped him shoot the .22. I didn’t realize this at the time, though, so I have no photos. So sad. The girls and I mostly hung around the house and after dinner we broke out the Da Vinci’s Challenge game which is a ton of fun and has become our yearly tradition. Of course, like at Thanksgiving, the boys all got agitated at us, claiming that the louder they turned the TV, the louder we get… well, duh, if we can’t hear each other, we have to talk louder! Halfway through the game we paused to open presents. Each family is chaotic when it comes to the opening gifts but Santa was in a hurry this year, and was just calling out names and then throwing gifts over his shoulder in the person’s direction. (lol, my father-in-law, love him.) So it was extra crazy, but nothing got broken! My sister-in-law really made me smile though. I had messaged her Friday about the wine she’d brought to Thanksgiving, but I was unable to find it in this crazy town so she added a bottle to our gifts – a nice surprise.

Elijah was nutso, so it was time to go home, somewhat “early.” I carried him in because he’d fallen asleep on the way home and when we got to the living room he woke up and asked if he could jump on the trampoline. I put him down and said, ok, if he took off his shoes. I went outside to get the rest of the stuff from the Jeep and when I got back, Elijah was in bed! I asked Steve and he didn’t put him to bed, he went alone! Amazing! HAHA! So this morning, when normally he’d be wearing pajamas in Christmas Day photos, he was wearing the clothes he’d worn the night before… oops!

So there you are, you’re all caught up on our Christmas so far. Elijah’s been quite good playing with all his new stuff, that’s a big plus. And now it’s about time for me to get ready to head to Steve’s grandma’s. We like to spend Christmas Day at home alone but he wanted to go see his grandma at the same time his family does, so that’s what we’re doing this afternoon. We don’t go to their Christmas Eve thing. This won’t be anything big, though, just talking a bit and giving her our presents and such.

The rest of the week? Steve’s taken vacation so he’s not back to work until January 2nd. It’s working out perfectly, and it was really nice him being home on Christmas Eve all day. We hope to get some stuff done this week, like getting rid of some junk that’s taking up room in the basement and such. So hopefully we’ll have a productive week!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

So that’s just an interesting tidbit for today, muahahaha.  Somewhat funny considering I spent most of the day with my mom working on a Christmas present for my grandpa. I’ve mentioned this before (because I’ve posted a clip) but years ago when my mom was really little, and my grandma was alive, they had a 8mm camera.  Many moons later, my uncle and aunt would have those old reels put to VHS tape.  And many moons after that, I would have the capabilities to digitally edit those VHS tapes.  Of course, they’re not the best quality, but what you going to do?  They’re not bad all things considering.

So my mom’s idea – that she just bounced of me this morning (we work fast) – is to take that video and consolidate it into the best clips that actually concern my grandpa and his kids and other close family.  It turned out that some of the video wasn’t of our family at all, but relatives of an in-law.  So we’re cutting that, anything that’s really bad quality, lengthy black spots or landscape or cars, and anything with my grandpa’s second wife in it (they’re divorced) or her son that my grandpa can’t stand.  We’re also not keeping the collection of still photographs from the original, so we’re down to about 53 minutes in length as opposed to two hours.  It’s been fun, though, except for the numerous times where I have to tell my mom that I do know what I’m doing and just tell me what she wants and I’ll do it.  ;-)  (Avid rules!)

But we’re changing the music, too, to stuff my grandpa likes and it’s really funny how some of it is falling together.  For instance, a line, “I’m gonna jump in the river,” plays right as you see my mom (or aunt) jumping in a lake to my great-aunt.  When Johnny Cash sings, “On a Tuesday, they locked me in jail,” my grandma and aunt are behind bars at some attraction in Branson.  And when Hank Williams Sr., says, “Heyyyyy, Good Lookin’” there’s a priceless shot of my mom at about age 5.  We were laughing so hard.

It will turn out great, I know Grandpa will love it.

Funny, though, the original VHS that these 8mm tapes were put to has a copyright notice on it and says that it cannot be copied without express permission of the company who copied the 8mm to VHS.  Sounds like hooey to me.  Mom laughed pretty hard anyway, “he can’t copyright my dad’s old 8mm films!”  I’ll bet the dude didn’t even have permission for the music he used… not that we do either, lol.