My 3 1/2 Year Old

I know it's a bit late, but my little one turned 3 1/2 on December 26 and you know I have to do an update on how he is growing!

 

Weight: 30lb

Height: 38 1/2"

At 3 1/2 years old you:

• take about a 2hr nap during the afternoon and sleep at night from 9p-8a
• are out of the crib and into a toddler bed!
• only wear diapers when you sleep
• have a major sweet tooth
• love playing in the bath
• wear size 7 shoe
• can still wear some 2T clothes
• will eat mostly everything but have days where you won't eat anything
• can count to 20
• know most colors and shapes
• love to watch Spongebob, Thomas the Train, and Garfield
• like playing with trucks, trains, and helicopters
• love talking to and playing with other kids
• have 2 fish and like to carry around the kitties
• like helping momma cook

I think that sums him up pretty well right now! He is such a smart little guy and I am excited to see how he does next year in preschool!

On a different note, tomorrow starts 2013 and I'm sure it will hold a LOT of big changes. We are hoping for some significant things to happen but we know that it is all in God's plan, not ours! I was on call this last weekend and yesterday I ended up having to work 18 hours straight! It was long but I was with a fun nurse and we made it through. My boss was nice enough to let me off early today and I am off for the holiday tomorrow! Here are my NYE nails....

 

Christmas with the Pierce Family

I hope you all had a great Christmas with your loved ones! I am very thankful I did not have to work on the holiday this year. Christmas morning we all got up and opened presents in our pjs. Brad loved all of his gifts and of course dug into the chocolate first thing. We let him indulge since it was a special day.

Brad's main present was a big cardboard spaceship that he can color. He loves it! We dragged it upstairs to stay in his room.

When we were done, we all got dressed and headed to my mom's house for breakfast and lunch. It was raining in the morning outside but had switched to sleet when we were on our way there. Both of my brothers were there with their families and we all had a great time!

 

Around noon it started snowing so of course Brad had to go play in it! It didn't snow for very long and we definitely did not get the 6-10" that were forecasted but we were happy to have ANY snow on Christmas!

We left there around 2pm and came home in the snow just in time for Brad to take a nap and me to start cooking our big dinner! I love to cook and always try to make our own special dinner for the holidays. Nick helped me in the kitchen and the menu included turkey, mashed potatoes w/turkey gravy, corn, crescent rolls, cranberry sauce, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, stuffing, and cheesecake for dessert!

Nick's best friend Terry and my dad joined us for dinner and we built a big fire to enjoy while we hung out.

We had a busy but wonderful day filled with family and friends. The snow was our favorite present! I know Brad had a great time, and is still singing Christmas songs even though Christmas has passed. We aren't doing anything fancy for New Years except making snacks and opening a bottle of sparkling Moscato Rose! This will be our 10th New Year together and I hope we have many more.

My next post will be Brad's stats for turning 3 1/2!

Christmas Eve Eve

 Yeah I said it! I have been on call this weekend and worked all of it! 9 hours yesterday and 5 hours today. I can't complain though because the weekend nurse I work with is the best ever and we sit around and chat like teenagers during our downtime! We drink Starbucks, take walks, buy each other lunch....it's rough ;)

I was happy to get home in a timely fashion today and was able to cook dinner for my boys. I made a new recipe for corn chowder that was supposed to go in the crock pot but didn't because I wasn't home in time for that! I cooked it on the stove and we all loved it. Nick had 3 bowls! It's a little easier than my other chowder recipe but just as tasty so I think I will be updating my cookbook....

Here are my holiday nails (thanks Pinterest for the idea) I got done today!

 

I am just so freaking excited about our chance of a big snow storm on Christmas!!!! It is like the best present for Nick and I. We love snow so much but never get it here. So far the *latest* prediction is light rain Monday evening changing over into snow all day Tuesday and ending Tuesday evening with windchill below zero. Possible accumulation of 4-8". I say bring it on! The only place we plan on going Tuesday is in the early afternoon to my mom's house for breakfast and a big lunch. The rest of the day we will be at home cooking, eating, and enjoying a BIG fire in the fireplace.

I am happy to say I ended up getting a little over 10 Christmas cards this year. Not much compared to the 40 I sent out but each one is still special! It means that person took the time to pick out a card, write my name on it, and address it to my family for the holidays.

Tomorrow evening we were all going to do our Christmas-Eve-Arby's-roast-beef-sandwich tradition at Nick's parents' house in the country....but as of today they are sick and running fevers so looks like that trip is canceled. However we are of course still continuing the tradition at our house! Nick's grandparents used to do it and we have also done it every Christmas together!

That is all for now, I hope you all have a wonderful holiday and enjoy the snow!

December Happenings

 Work, crafting, and outings with family and friends have kept me quite busy the last few weeks. I am happy to have a life full of things and people I love, but sad that the time flies so quickly! Here are some pics to share....

A few nights ago we all met my mom, stepdad, and brother in the city to see an extravagant light display. I can't imagine how much time it took to wrap each branch in lights!

Every few minutes the lights would flash different colors, then change completely.

This has been a very week at work. I have come in a couple hours earlier than my usual time each day, and we have had a very heavy workload since it is the end of the year. I guess everyone is getting their surgeries in before the holiday! Some days I almost need to wear a pair of roller skates to keep up! The doctors bought the whole department Mexican food on Thursday, then our boss got pizzas for us yesterday since we were too busy to break for lunches.

Last night was my work Christmas party at a little place called The Library downtown. It was very difficult to find and park (I usually avoid downtown at all costs) but we made it there and had a good time with drinks and friends! Brad had a blast playing with kids at his daycare and got to stay up late too.

Only a week and a half until Christmas! I can't wait to exchange gifts with family and spend time with the ones I love. I know Brad is very excited to see his cousins and play with new toys. I always get a little melancholy when another year comes to an end, but then I look forward to what a new year will bring for our family!

Keep the families affected by the school shooting in Connecticut in your prayers. The emotions must be overwhelming for them. I can only imagine how beyond devastated I would be if it were my child taken so cruelly.

The End of a Busy Week

 And boy I am thankful for a couple days off! Last Sunday we went to get our fresh Christmas tree! It is smaller than previous ones we have gotten but beautiful still and it smells so good! It is the finishing touch on the decorations in our home.

 I was out back one evening and saw this little guy ^ back there....

Monday I had a booth at a craft show in my local YMCA. It was their first one and it was pretty slow but I sold several items and had a good time!

Tuesday I was supposed to work but my boss furloughed me for low census. So instead we decided to join up with my brother, sis-in-law, mom and stepdad and all head down to Nick's parents' house in the country for the afternoon. We all had a great time talking and drinking coffee, then we all ate dinner at a restaurant before heading home. That evening I went out for sushi with a girlfriend then to see a movie.

I worked long hours on Wednesday and Thursday, and had requested the day off Friday but offered to come in voluntarily for mandatory inventory that my surgery area was doing...I ended up being there for almost 8 hours!

Today was another craft show at the fairgrounds that I usually have a booth at. My mom joined me for this one and we had a fun time hanging out all day. My booth was assigned in a slower area than I've had before but we made the best of it and made a lot of sales!

I am off the next two days and am HAPPY for some down time. I still have several orders to finish but at least I don't have other deadlines looming. It is finally  supposed to get cold tomorrow and Monday so I plan on doing my holiday baking then! I need to get out some packages in the mail before it gets too close to Christmas. I have handed/mailed out around 40 cards already, but have only gotten 3 in return....it seems the days of card exchanges are going away.

Here is another style of headwarmer that I finished today for the OU fans....

Today is my brother's 31st birthday so tomorrow we are all getting together for lunch and cake in the afternoon. Have a good weekend!

Are You Flaky?

Flaky in a dandruffy kind of way? I had been struggling with it for a few years (my dirty little secret) and I have dark thick hair so it was especially obvious on me. It seems when I hit my 20s that my skin got a little weirder all over, my scalp being one of the areas hit. I want to share this with those who are also struggling with this burden and need help!

 I had tried all of the obvious treatments--Head and Shoulders, Selsun Blue, wash more, wash less, cleansing shampoos, moisturizing shampoos, cool water, hot water...you name it I tried it. But nothing changed. I used to wash my hair every other day but it was getting to the point where the same day my head would start to itch and flake more and more until I washed it again. I would have relief for a few hours but then it would start back up. I even got a Benadryl rub-on stick to use on certain spots that itched so bad it was raw! I felt like a dog with fleas and VERY self conscious about it.

It was a vicious cycle....I would itch and scratch, the skin would get raw and scabby, then that would itch as it tried to heal. I felt like a psycho always picking thru my hair trying to get out the flakes before they became visible or fell onto my clothes. It seemed like over the summer it was getting worse and I was washing my hair every night before bed just so I wouldn't lay there and itch. And yes there were times where I woke up at night because I itched!

Finally I spent awhile on the internet searching for natural remedies since none of the store-bought crap was helping. I came across some sites that talked about Tea Tree Oil and it's natural anti-fungal and anti-bacterial qualities. I decided to go to the store and find some!

I started out with Walmart (since ya know, they have everything) and looked in the hair care aisle. I found a bottle that was less than $3 so I grabbed it!

 

 Soon after I made a date with myself in the bathroom to saturate my scalp and let this oily goodness soak for about an hour. It felt a little tingly and smelled good but did not come out in one washing....I still looked oily the next day. And my head still itched. I wanted to give it the benefit of the doubt so I waited a couple of weeks and tried it again. This time I shampooed twice and got it out. Unfortunately my head was no better!!! It figured I would be the weird one that this magical oil did not work on.

At that point I looked at the ingredients and it was NOT PURE TEA TREE OIL. I felt duped! That's why it was so cheap! I brought this up to my mom and she just happened to already have a bottle of it stashed away in her cabinets!! I lovingly took it off of her hands (and later found they also sell it at Walmart but in the vitamin/supplement aisle).

 This sucker said PURE Tea Tree Oil and it smelled and looked significantly different than the first impostor. It was more watery and almost burned when I put it on my scalp, especially on the raw spots. I didn't care, I figured the burn said it was working! I only left it on about 20 minutes then jumped into the shower to wash it out.

The next day my scalp was SUPER dry. So dry I could feel my skin pull taut whenever I would move my head. Then it started to flake big flakes. But no itching! After about a week, the flaking stopped and I realized I was itching much less and had minimal flaking even in my problem spots. I waited around a month and did another treatment recently. Some of it dripped close to my eye and that was BAD news--I felt like I had a chemical burn there! Once again my skin felt really dry the next day and I had some big flakes but I was back to normal soon after and have had hardly any flakes and NO itching since!!

I think since the oil is so strong I will dilute it with olive oil for my next treatment and apply heat while it is saturating--kind of as a hot oil treatment for my scalp and hair all at the same time. I plan on doing a treatment about once a month to keep up the healthy scalp. I hope if you read this and are suffering with dandruff that you try this and it works for you too!

 Now to end this post, here are my last few things I am thankful for from November....

21. i am thankful for the few people who make the effort to come to my house for dinners and such

22. i am thankful to be able to spend the holidays with my family, as well as start my own traditions with my boys

23. i am thankful for all of the truck drivers who deal with crazy people on the road every day to bring our goods to us 

24. i am thankful for the days my son lets me sleep in

25. i am thankful for movies/shows that stream online, enabling us to cut cable completely

26. i am thankful i have the courage to be myself

27. i am thankful for mornings that hubby cooks breakfast

28. i am thankful for days i get home early enough to relax on the couch with my hubby before going to sleep

29. i am thankful that my hubby sits thru my favorite show with me even though i know he doesn't like it

30. i am thankful to have grown up with God in my heart. He has influenced so many of my decisions and kept me from doing things I shouldn't do. I'm not perfect and I'm working on it with Him as my guide!

The house is all decorated for Christmas, the lights are up outside, and all we need now is our tree! We are going to get one tomorrow, then I have a craft show all day Monday I will post about next! 

A Blessed Thanksgiving Day

 We had one of the best holidays! I hope everyone else did too. Everything came together wonderfully and we got to see most of our families together. Wednesday evening was my big dinner. It was just us 3, my dad, and Nick's best friend Terry. It was a lot of hard work making all the food but Nick helped out and it all turned out perfect. My menu included: turkey, dressing, cheesy cornbread, mashed potatoes+gravy, glazed roasted carrots, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, deviled eggs, ravioli with ricotta and marinara (our tradition to always have one Italian dish at holidays), and desserts were pumpkin pear spice cake (to DIE for) and pumpkin pie with french vanilla cool whip. SO GOOD.

 (Snuggles was sitting so pretty, I had to take a picture of her)

 I ended up getting called in to work that evening, but thankfully we were done eating and I had already cleaned the kitchen up!

The next day was Thanksgiving and we headed over to my mom's around noon. I picked up my grandma Margie on the way there so she could join us! My brother Shane and nephew Cameron were also there with us.

This is when the day got more interesting! We were planning on driving out to Foster where Nick's parents live (almost 80 miles away) and when my brother heard this, he asked if he could go with us. We said sure! So we said bye to my mom and stepdad. Shane followed us to our house in Norman where he dropped off his truck, then he and Cameron rode with us down there.

When we were about 20 minutes away, Shane informed us that my mom and stepdad were on their way too, and he had been texting them every turn we were making! But then he lost reception and we didn't know where they were (and they had no idea where Nick's parents lived). When we got to the house, my mom got ahold of me and they were just a few miles down the road. We met them in town and they followed me back to the house! Nick's family was just so excited to have all of us there with them! The kids had a great time playing outside and looking at the pond, the girls had a great time talking in the kitchen, and the guys had fun walking around and looking at the new construction.

We stayed there for several hours and came back home after dark. Thankfully I didn't get called in to work for a surgery, but I did have to go in that evening for mandatory paperwork. I still had my camera with me, so I snapped some pictures of the beautiful Christmas lights they have up by my hospital!