January 30th

Hi Everyone!

I am reporting from sickland this week. I seem to live there a lot, although I am very seldom the actual sicky. Mike is doing great, so it is Jens who is sad and sick. He threw up Saturday and Sunday but otherwise seemed fine. Yesterday we went to the library for story time, and at the end, Jens stood up, looked at me, and said "Mom, I'm sick!" Then he puked all over me, himself, and the carpet. It was very sad and disgusting. All around me, parents were going "Ohhhh--Awww," in very sympathetic tones. While we were cleaning up in the bathroom, one of the librarians from the front desk brought me a garbage can and paper towels and told me, in a very grouchy and unkind way, that I could use them to clean the carpet. I thought about asking her if she wanted to hold Jens on her lap while I was cleaning up, but I refrained. I took them into the story time room to clean the puke, but the story time lady was appalled and said "Don't worry--we will take care of it! You take him home!" We did, and I was grateful that she was so nice about it!

He is running a fever and feeling pretty lousy--he woke up crying at 5 am, very warm indeed. We gave him some Motrin and he fell back asleep, so that was good. Today he is not hungry at all and he is very tired. Hopefully he will get better soon!

Other than cleaning up puke, we have been cleaning our house, playing with friends, and playing Skip-Bo. Natalie brought it down this weekend, and we have been enjoying it. We also played Phase 10, but I won by a lot, so Mike hasn't suggested playing that again.

Mike is back to working full time and feeling just fine. We still don't know what his problem was, but his doctor gave him the all clear Monday. He has to do one follow up blood test and his liver ultra sound, but other than that, we are good.

I am very interested in the primary races--I am sorry that John Edwards is reportedly dropping out. I did like him, but maybe this means he has a chance of being a VP candidate. We'll see!

Happy Wednesday, everyone.

Love,
Alison

Drawing Pictures

Jens has been very excited about drawing portraits of Lightning McQueen and Sally. He used to be excited about having ME draw them, but I got a little tired of drawing them over and over, so I have been encouraging him to try doing it himself. You can see the results below--can you spot their windshields and their smiles? The wheels are pretty obvious!



Holding Lightning McQueen with pride.


Say Cheese!

Lipstick

Today, as I was cutting the gouged top off of the last lipstick I own (all the rest have hit the trash already) so I could put some on without big chunks sticking to my lips , I was recalling how all of Mom's lipsticks were flat. I always thought that she used them a lot. Ha! We all know Mom is not a big lipstick user. Now I realize that really, someone had stuck their finger into it, and she had to smooth the top off. Have I mentioned I only have one lipstick left? I used to have six. They were all really good colors. They were expensive. Now I have one left, and of course it is the one that is very glittery and sort of pink. Sigh.

January 23rd

Hi Everyone.

We have (thankfully) had a much less destructive week. There was one small incident with a tube of sunscreen getting squirted and Jens hosed down our new tv with windex and stuffed Lightning McQueen into the back of one of our speakers, but other than that we are holding together.

Thursday the washing machine repair person came to tell me that nothing is wrong with my washer and that if I had run it one more time the horrible sound it was making (sort of like a very loud drill) would have gone away. It worked perfectly for her and I still had to pay for the service visit. I was very sad, but when your washer sounds like it is going to explode, you don't really want to run it again, right? At least it isn't broken.

Saturday night we went to Ikea for dinner with Natalie. It is so fun to walk around there. I planned out a great kitchen for myself. When we got home, Natalie, Mike, and I played Five Kings (a new game Natalie got for us). Half way through, Mike looked at me and said "Isn't our class in charge of sharing time tomorrow?" ARGH! I had totally forgotten. That is maybe the ONLY benefit to 1:30 church. I had plenty of time to cobble something together and it went pretty well.

Last night I tried a new recipe for Chinese Steamboat. It is supposed to be done in my fondue pot, which is why I was making it, but as I started chopping all of the vegetable I realized I would have to cook three batches to get everything cooked and I decided to just throw it all into a pot on the stove. It turned out so good! It had snow peas, bok choy, spinach, carrots, celery, green onion, mushrooms, tofu, and chicken (marinated in ginger and garlic), all cooked in chicken broth. It was so good and healthy, too.

Today I had playgroup at my house. We learned about the letter C and I found "C is for Cookie" by the Cookie Monster on You Tube. The kids loved it. We made cookies together and then they got to eat one. They tried to take a bite out of it to make the cookie into a C shape, but their mouths aren't as big as Cookie Monster's. Jens has now been asking to "watch the cookies."

Our Jens funny for the week: at night before bed he has started saying to Mike "The deer is going to lick me!" Mike asked where the deer was and Jens informed him that the deer was hiding behind the green chair (my glider). We are not sure where this idea came from, but he is not scared of the deer, and he has said to me a few mornings "The deer licked me!" It seems that there is a friendly nocturnal deer who keeps Jens company at night. Last night, though, he told Mike that the birds were going to lick him. Do birds have tongues?

Anyway, hope you are all having a good week. It is date night here tonight! Woo Hoo! Chinese food and a movie, my favorite.

Love,
Alison

January 16th

Hi Everyone.

Where to begin, where to begin.

Jens dumped potting soil all over the floor, a few inches deep in some places, covering a large corner of our front room. Mike filled a vacuum bag cleaning it up.

Jens dumped out my purse and stepped on my glasses. I had to go to the eye doctor today to get new ones ordered.

Jens found an almost full tube of Desitin over-night--you know, made extra waterproof and sticky to protect baby's bum all night long--and squeezed it. Hard. Then rubbed it all over his hands, arms, shirt, hair, and his big Tonka dump truck. It apparently need some 'special lotion,' as Jens calls it.

Other than that it has been a typical week. Mike went to the heptology clinc last week and had blood taken on Monday. He saw the doctor yesterday, who said his liver enzyme levels continue to improve. He has gone to work for part of every day since Wednesday of last week, so that is good. He is feeling much better and seems almost back to his normal self.

Yesterday I took Jens to Funtastic--an indoor play center. We met his friend Harrison there and they had a ball, running, jumping, climbing, and throwing. There is a big slide that you climb up to on cargo nets. I had to help Jens a little the first time, but then he went nuts. He loved it! It was nice to let him burn of energy without being really cold.

Monday we were going over to the park by our house when Jens made a sudden U turn (he was riding his bike). A family in our neighborhood had been up to the snow park that morning and were just getting home--with a pick-up truck load of snow that the dad was shoveling into the front yard for the kids to play with. Jens took great joy in watching the kids play and in finally throwing some snowballs himself, including one right at me.

Saturday we went up to apple hill for some produce and cider. It was gloomy, cold, and cloudy in Folsom, but beautiful, sunny, and warmer up on the hill. Saturday night we had the Littles over for Pizza Movie Night. We made our own pizza and watched Cinderella. Okay, the kids watched Cinderella and we visited. Jens had a ball and so did we, plus the pizza turned out really really good. Better than any homemade pizza I have ever had.

That's all from us. Thanks for all of your prayers--we truly appreciate it. Now that Mike is feeling better, you can turn them towards me and hoping that I survive Jens's era of destruction. Just kidding.

Jessie, have a fun pajama/animal parade party on Saturday!

Love,
Alison

January 9th

Hi Everyone.

First, thanks for all the fasting and prayers on Mike's bahalf. We still don't know what is going on, and he is still not well, but he is doing so much better. He went to work this afternoon, hoping to be able to stay until 5, and he had a little uninteruptted sleep last night. He is eating pretty well, so if the temperature would just go away, he would be doing great. He is going to a liver specialist tomorrow to make sure there is no damage from the Tylenol debacle. I'll let you know if we find out anything new.

We are gradually getting resettled at home. It has been very rainy, which has made it hard to do anything, so we have had a few cabin feverish days, but at least things are a little cleaned up. Today I had Sarah Harrison and Cassie and Chloe Little for the morning. It was quite a crowd, but the kids generally had fun and played well together. Jens was so tired when they left that he kept lying down on the ground. He went down for an early nap without much protesting.

Some cute Jens-isms from this week:

"When I get big, I will (eat gum, have chips, have chapstick). But I'm tiny, like baby Jill."

"Mom, I'm smacking my fingers!" (snapping)

He found a cedar block in my closet and has been carrying it around calling it a "Shoo Fly" because I told him it chased the bugs out of my closet.

Unfortunately he isn't cute all the time--we have had at least an hour of tantrumming a day since we got home, and he doesn't seem to remember any rules at all, so there have been a few time outs--and by that I mean a LOT of time outs.

Sunday I taught our new primary class. We have the twelve year old class--the same class Peter was in last year. It is big (10) but the kids seem smart and fun, so hopefully we will enjoy them and they will learn something from us. Jens was thrilled to be back in nursery--he even helped Sarah, who was crying, instead of hitting her like he would normally do. He did miss Cassie, who is a sunbeam now.

We are glad to be safely home and that Mike is seeing the doctor. Also, I have already used my Kroger bags many times--they are especially great to take to Target or Trader Joes when we walk because they are so nice to carry, even when they are heavy. I saw that Winco is selling them, too, but I think 7 is enough for us!

Alissa and Brenda--I so enjoyed reading your Christmas accounts and seeing pictures from your trip. It looked so fun. We are already counting down to the beach--I am so excited!

Love,
Alison

January 3

Well. We made it.

For those of you wondering, we weathered the flight yesterday and are safely home. Our house now looks like 250 pounds of luggage have scattered themselves around our kitchen. Oh wait. It has.

It was quite a week with some highs and lows.

Highlight: Going to the Arte Museum with Mom and Jessie. I have been wanting to go to our museum here to see the Grandma Moses exhibit (leaves the 6th) and with Mike still sick, I don't think I am going to make it. So I am glad I got to go look at some art. Also, the tomato soup was delicious.

Low: Taking Mike to Urgent Care. The diagnosis was quick and wrong, the medication ineffective, and the prescription unhelpful. Also, the blood draw was painful and showed us nothing.

Highlight: Watching the Bourne Ultimatum. It was very exciting and all of us watched it together, including Mike. Also, we ate Graeter's and had shrimp curry for dinner, all personal favorites.

Low: Jens puking on me, into my hands, or into a bucket I was holding, 16 times in 4 hours. The whole house stunk and it was very disgusting.

On the positive, no one else got his little bug (thanks to Jessie and Mom washing everything in the house with Lysol), he felt better the next day, and he was very quiet and snuggly while he was feeling sick.

Highlight: Graeter's ice cream. I am mentioning it again because it really is my favorite food, I think. It was lovely to eat it every day, and a few times, twice a day. Obviously one can't do this year round, but during vacation it is just the thing.

Highlight: Our adults only fondue dinner. It was so good and so quiet, and I got to try out my new fondue pot. The only sad thing was that Mike couldn't join us.

Sort of highlight: Singing a special musical number with Jessie, Loren, and Mom. I didn't enjoy standing up and singing it much, but I did enjoy practicing, and the song was so pretty. Jens liked hearing us practice and one night we were singing after he went to bed and he yelled until I went up to see what he needed. Then he told me he wanted to hear Grammy and Loren sing.

Low: Taking Mike to the ER, where they again, had no idea what was wrong with him and all blood tests and films showed nothing.

On the positive, they gave him three liters of fluid and an anti-emetic, so when we left he actually felt like eating and he looked much better.

Highlight: Pizza Movie night on New Years Eve. The kids watched Cinderella and we had Mio's. Also, going to bed at 9:30 on New Year's Eve. Jess and I both turned in early and enjoyed the extra sleep. Those who stayed up to watch the tv programming said it was less then satisfactory.

Highlight: New Year's Dinner. The food was delicious, but also Jens helped Jessie set the table and chose the Cinderella placemat for himself. He spent a lot of time looking at her, and whenever anyone tried to put anything on top of her picture (plate, napkin, fork) he quickly moved them off so she wouldn't be covered up. A first crush? Today he put a snowflake on his foot and told me he was wearing princess shoes. I think we will be seeing Abbie's influence around here for a while!

Low: Traveling home. There is nothing like traveling with a sick man and a two year old, leaving at 5:45 am on snowy roads with terrible drivers and no snow plows in sight, worrying you aren't going to make your flight, pushing FIVE HUGE bags to the check in (along with an electric train, all of our carry ons, and a kid in pj's), and then finding, after you make it to your gate on time, that the plane is delayed for an hour and twenty minutes and all your stress has been for nothing. Then having the two year old behave like a banshee for the first two hours of the flight! (lots of screaming, crying, flailing, throwing things, etc.)

On the positive side, Jens fell asleep for an hour and woke up in a much better mood. Our luggage all arrived in a timely manner, although the people around me were a little shocked to see me pull the previously mentioned five HUGE bags off the conveyor (when you bring home a toy kitchen, what can you expect?), our car was still in the long term lot, all parts intact, no scratches, nothing stolen, and we made it home. Casey was happy to see us and seems to have received excellent care while we were gone, and thank goodness I didn't have to deal with her in the airport yesterday, too!

I have posted pictures of our vacation at http://helquist.com/gallery/album30

There were plenty of lows, but lots of highs, too, although Mike probably wouldn't say that. He had a pretty crummy vacation. He has a doctor's appointment today, and I am still hoping for a miracle cure so we can do SOMETHING fun as a family before he has to go back to work.

Happy New Year, everyone!
Love,
Alison