Christmas: Take One

Between the two of us, Jeff and I have quite the extended family. Both of my parents are remarried, and a lot of Jeff's family comes in for Thanksgiving, so holidays used to be pretty hectic. A few years ago, though, pre-Cadie and Maddie, we started a schedule that has worked out really well for us. Instead of racing from house to house to house every holiday, we spend certain days with certain family members. On Thanksgiving, we spend pretty much the Wednesday before through Saturday evening with Jeff's family because so many relatives come in from out of town and they're only here once a year. For Christmas, we spend Christmas Eve with my dad and step-mom and Christmas day with my mom. A couple years back, Jeff's family started the tradition of celebrating Christmas the weekend before, which is fine with me because it means the celebration starts that much sooner! After we had the girls, we also started spending Christmas morning at home, just the four of us.

So, last night, we kicked off our Christmas celebrations (1 of 4) with a Patton Family Christmas. We had a yummy Italian spread of lasagna and spaghetti with meatballs, knowing full well we'd be getting our fill of turkey and dressing soon. Then, on to the really good stuff: presents. Opening presents used to be about the excitement of not knowing what I'd be getting; now, though, it's all about the look on the girls' faces when they open up their gifts. And, they got some great stuff including play food by Melissa & Doug from Grandma and Grandpa. They were the first things they opened, and I was worried they would have eyes for nothing else the rest of the evening. I grew up with Fisher Price Fun with Food, so I'm a bit of a play food snob, but I have to say, Melissa & Doug have gotten it right. They are the first ones to come out with a product that even comes close to comparing. Cadie got an ice cream set and Maddie got a cookie set. The ice cream set is so neat because there are magnets in the ice cream scoopers and the scoops of ice cream, so they can actually scoop the ice cream and it sticks until they drop it onto the cone. The cookie baking set is neat, too, because the cookies are fixed with Velcro so they stick to the cookie sheet, and they also stick together so they can "cut" the individual pieces to bake. Another hit was their jewelry box from Grandma and Grandpa, complete with costume jewelry to go inside. When it comes to jewelry, my girls definitely do not think "less is more"! They got a bunch of other great stuff including a giant set of coloring stuff from Uncle Julius and Aunt Kimberly.

Maddie & Daddy

Cadie & Uncle Julius

Aunt Kimberly shooting video

Grandma & Cadie

Maddie & her cookie set

Cadie scooping some ice cream

Cadie holding up the art set from Julius & Kimberly

Grandpa opening up his brand new tackle box!

Cadie admiring herself in the mirror of her new jewelry box.

Maddie & Julius, testing the new jewelry

Maddie & Daddy

Julius & Cadie

Maddie, all dolled up

Cadie

I have to say, though, that I got the best present of all; a very unexpected present. Even though we'd agreed that we wouldn't be buying gifts for one another (due to a recent purchase that is now hanging on the wall in our living room), my thoughtful husband presented me with a VERY generous gift: a brand new Canon 5D Mark II. This is the grand-daddy of cameras. Full frame, 21.1 megapixels, unbelievable ISO, and a bunch of other stuff most of you won't understand! There has been only one other time Jeff has managed to completely surprise me in our relationship (when he proposed), so now he's up to two. I'd say he's on a pretty good roll!

Finally, we wound down the night with a viewing of "Wild Hogs" while the girls (at least Cadie), drifted off to sleep in their Christmas jammies.

This morning, we woke to the heavenly aroma of homemade cinnamon rolls and fresh fried bacon. The girls scurried in while Jeff and I caught a few more winks. After a mug of hot chocolate, we loaded up our booty and headed home, one of four celebrations under our belt. If you ask me, we're off to a great start!

Cadie with her hot cocoa

Maddie with her hot cocoa

Finding a Balance

After Jeff was home from the Tenkiller job, I just knew everything would slow down and return back to normal. I didn't think about all of the stress, tiredness, and overall feeling of burnout that had built up over the previous six months. Nor did I consider the almost smothering explosion of my "side" business, bringing with it hours and hours of necessary editing time. Add to that the various commitments I willingly committed to (most because I wanted to) and the responsibilities that come along with said commitments. All together, it became too much. No longer was I able to be the wife and mother I want to be, that I am devoted to being. No matter what all the extra stuff means to me -- and believe me, some of it is very important to me – my first priority and responsibility will always be mother and wife. I had to make a choice, to save myself from drowning, so I took a step back and tried to get some balance back in my life.

I could immediately tell a difference in the girls. It's amazing how much kids soak up from their atmosphere. Once I was more relaxed and less stressed, so were they. Finally, I was able to get down and play with them, read to them, and laugh with them like I've always done. I missed that so much.

Now, I've learned my lesson. I can't continue to be the "yes" girl that I so often am; I hate to say "no", but not at the expense of my sanity and that of my family. I've limited my photography to certain parts of the week and put a self-imposed cap on the number of sessions per month. It seems ungrateful to complain; this business has become more successful than I ever could have imagined and I've made so many new friends in the process. I've cut back on the extracurricular events I've committed to, even though I love to have my hands in just about anything I can. These past few days I've literally felt a load slowly lift off of my shoulders (and neck!) What is it about us moms (and dads) that makes us feel like we should (and can) do everything? Even when it's at the expense of what and who matters most. Well, I say no more! I'm tired of spreading myself too thin. From now on, it's all about my family.

Vaccinated

Amid all the H1N1 flurry, I kept going back and forth between vaccinating and not vaccinating. It made me nervous that the vaccine had been creating so quickly. Had there been time to adequately test it? On the other hand, I'm terrified at the possibility of the girls getting that particular strain of flu. One of two theories is true when it comes to the girls' immune systems. Either their immune systems are weaker due to their prematurity and overall sickness at birth or their immune systems are stronger due to the duress under which they were born and the following months of ailment after ailment their systems were forced to fend off. I'd like to think their little bodies are stronger after what they've been through, but who's to say for sure? In the end, it was a conversation with the girls' neonatologist, Dr. Lawson, that clenched it for me. When I asked what he recommended, he responded, without a second's hesitation, "Get it." That's all I needed to hear. Dr. Lawson got us through the girls' hospital stays; we trusted him with their lives, so his opinion carries a lot of weight.


Once the decision to get the vaccine was made, it became a matter of where to get it. Despite watching their pediatrician's website, we missed securing some of the initial delivery of the vaccine. When I called to make an appointment, it was all spoken for. We considered taking the girls to one of the various clinics that have been offered all over town by the city on the weekends, but Jeff argued that the girls would likely be exposed to more in line waiting for the vaccine than if we carried on as usual and waited for more to arrive at Dr. Mayberry's office. I agreed.

Tuesday of last week, I called Dr. Mayberry's office for a completely unrelated reason, but decided to ask about getting on a waiting list for the vaccine while I was at it. It just so happened that they had received a new shipment that morning. After finding out there was a lack of afternoon appointments, I picked the girls up from school and took them to finally get their vaccines. The fear of them becoming sick, and God forbid, something horrible happening to one of them after everything they (and we) have already been through had been gnawing at me for too long. Inaction isn't something I handle well, so I can't explain adequately the relief I felt at finally doing something. The girls are old enough and healthy enough to get the mist version of the vaccine, so our visit was quick and painless. They took their squirts up the nose like pros and delighted in the Dora stickers they were able to proudly sport when they returned to school. And I delighted in the fact that I could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Rise and Shine...

...and go back to bed! Before Daylight Savings, Cadie woke –like clockwork—every morning at 7:30. I'm fine with 7:30. Since Daylight Savings, though, Cadie has woken every morning promptly at 6:45. Really? 6:45? I had a hard enough time getting up that early when I was teaching; why would I get up that early now that I don't have to? Mind you, my bedtime is often well past midnight, so don't look on me as a whiner just yet. I'm a night owl; always have been, likely always will be. Cadie will come around, eventually. Until then, she'll just have to settle for cuddling up with me first thing in the morning, and finding a way to drift back to sleep for at least another 45 minutes...or more.

The Nebulizer

A couple of weeks ago, after what had seemed like days and days of coughing, my worried mother brain couldn't take it anymore, so we took the girls in for a check-up with Dr. Mayberry. Fears of H1N1 swarmed my brain. I was more concerned for Maddie, who'd been hacking and rattling for at least a week despite daily doses of doctor prescribed Benadryl. After the exam, though, it turned out Maddie was perfectly fine, just fighting off some little bug. Cadie, on the other hand, having just begun some slight wheezing that morning, would need to be checked to make sure there wasn't an infection in her lungs.

So, we headed off to x-ray. Distracted by stickers depicting various beloved characters like Hannah Montana, Mr. Incredible, and Spongebob, Cadie stood dutifully still as the tech took a couple of pictures of her lungs. Dr. Mayberry reported that all was well and her lungs were clear, but she wanted to get rid of the wheeze, so she prescribed some breathing treatments. She asked if we still had the nebulizer we'd gotten when Cadie had had pneumonia last winter. Turns out, that nebulizer was meant to permanently be ours after a 10-month period of rent-to-own with our insurance company. I'd misunderstood and returned it as soon as Cadie had recovered, no one from the medical supply company finding the need to correct me. Dr. Mayberry sent us home with a brand new one and with instructions not to give it back this time.

Cadie responded to the breathing treatments beautifully, as she always has. Though it's been years since I've felt the fear of one of the girls being in mortal danger, it's been such a comfort to know that nebulizer rests comfortably in the girls' bathroom cabinet, a generous supply of albuterol nestled just one shelf above. This evening, after a day of raking leaves and playing in the unseasonably warm weather, I noticed Cadie had an "almost wheeze". How convenient it was to pull the nebulizer from its perch and treat the condition right away. Cadie has become so comfortable with the treatments (though she's only received a handful), that she fell asleep just a couple of minutes into tonight's treatment, curled up on my lap in the rocking chair. I'll always be so grateful that out of all the things she suffered during her hospital stay and since, we can always count on the amazing response she has to the nebulizer and the medicine it provides.

The Hair Girls

Yesterday was quite the day.

The girls spent the better part of the morning playing "beauty shop". At one point, Maddie even announced that they would now be known as "the hair girls". They ran around the house with my eyelash curler, pretending to cut one another's hair and giggling as they huddled up in the corner of our bathroom, grooming one another.

Later, that afternoon, as I cleaned up in the kitchen, I could hear the girls in our bedroom chattering and playing. At one point, Maddie announced, "Mommy, we're cutting our hair!" Of course, I immediately assumed they had once again taken up with my eyelash curler. A little voice in my head questioned that assumption, though, so I headed back to our room, just to be sure. This is what I found:

The carnage was unbearable. There, on the floor, laid the remains of Maddie's beautiful blond curls and Cadie's pretty brown locks. They froze at my gasp, scissors still in hand. They were caught in the act, although it was immediately obvious they had no idea they were doing something wrong. I truly believe they thought they were pretending, though the snippets of hair should have been a good clue to them that they weren't. I couldn't do anything but laugh. There was no undoing what they'd done, and there was no sense in punishing them because the tears and uncontrollable sobs that followed after I explained to and showed them what they had done to their hair were punishment enough. They each spent the rest of the day randomly stating, "I'm not going to play with scissors anymore because I'll get in trouble."

When Jeff got home, he didn't immediately notice their hair, but the pile of their locks on our bedroom floor must have clued him into the fact that something had gone down. His response? Uproarious laughter. Maddie later explained to him that she now had hair just like his.

Cadence

Madeline (clearly the worse of the two)

After the initial shock, I was able to survey the damage and realized it wasn't all that bad. Because they were cutting one another's hair and not their own, they'd limited the carnage to the backs of their heads, not the front or tops. Bangs and roots were left intact, thank goodness. Although I've been trimming the girls' hair since they were born, there was no way I was going to even attempt to salvage what was left, so first thing this morning, I made an appointment for them with my hairstylist, explaining that I wasn't expecting a miracle, just improvement as much as possible.

So, this afternoon, we headed out to Owasso on a recovery mission. The girls were a little hesitant after yesterday's debacle, but luckily, they have gone with me to get my haircut for months now, so it wasn't completely foreign to them. Laura was able to do more than just salvage what was left. By some miracle, she was able to make both of them look pretty darn cute, a feat especially impressive with Maddie's hair as she definitely suffered the worse of the two.

And, proving that I'm just about the most awesome mom ever, because the girls did so well getting their hair "fixed", I even took them for an ice cream afterwards!

What do you think of the new do's?

Madarazzi

Maddie has the photography bug. A couple months back, she managed to get a hold of Grana's point and shoot, and she just hasn't been able to get enough of it since. She even tries to handle my monster cameras (to which I respond, "Ahh! No! Put that down!")

Check out some of her "work" below.