Indecision and Craziness

A couple of months ago, Jack and I started discussing his birthday.  In the beginning of the discussion, he was pretty sure he wanted a Transformer party with his preschool friends at Paradise Park.  (I started making plans.)  As the days passed, Jack altered his plans-this time, wanting a family party with a Transformer cake at our house.  (I began alerting family and changing plans accordingly.)  Soon, a party catalogue arrived in the mail with a "Mario" themed party package.  (Are you seeing where this is going?)  Jack was awestruck by all the Mario plates, napkins, etc..  (Starting to get a little frustrated, I made new arrangements.)  We went into Party City to see if they had any of the Mario party ware.  They did not, but they did have Transformer party ware.  Suddenly, we were back to square one.  I bought the transformer party pack and ordered the cake.  (Yes, I did say ORDERED the cake.)  I could soon tell though, that Jack had mixed emotions about giving up his "Mario" idea.  Trying to make it a "Happy" Birthday, I suggested that we could make Mario cookies for him to take to school and share with his class.  (What IS wrong with me?)  I looked for ideas online and showed Jack something I thought I could tackle.  I told him I could probably do the star and Toad.  Disappointment ran right across his eyebrows, "but Mommy, I really want the Mario cookies too."  I tried to justify this in my mind; surely if I'm not trying to tackle the cake this year, I can make make Mario cookies, right?  (WHAT???)  As if I weren't crazy enough already, I decided (while Craig was out of town) to start these in the middle of a sleet/snow storm while, my kids were AWAKE.  Six hours, and many inappropriate words later, the cookies were done, and my kitchen was a wreck.  Although I would like to toss them out of the window (really I'm willing to throw out anything that leaves my hands feeling arthritic and my kitchen in complete disarray), Jack loves them.  Thank God!  I'm going to pray no other birthday ideas entice him prior to his party, and that next year I will remember not only my skill level, but my time restraints when Birthday season comes around.  (I really wish I would have taken a picture of my kitchen in the aftermath.) 

All Is Well....

I almost don't want to say it aloud (because all of us mommies know; when you say it out loud, it always backfires), but all is well in the Stout household.  Jack and I took Maren into the ENT this week for her follow-up appointment, and not only is her infection gone; she actually still has both tubes!  Hooray!  We won't mention the 90 minute wait with no bathroom in the office, or the 90 seconds it took for Doc to tell us all was well.  For now, we will say our prayers tonight for healthy children!

Getting Better!

I am so happy to finally say that Maren is getting better.  After a couple of really rough weeks with yet another scary round of croup, Maren is slowly coming off the nebulizer.  I'm not sure how many times we ended up back in the doctor's office during the last two weeks (probably enough to get us a "frequent flier" status); but thankfully, all of  her allergy and immunoglobulin test results came back fine.  Amen!   We are awaiting an appointment with the ENT at the end of February which should let us know if we need to replace her tubes.   The doctor's think her right tube came out when Maren's eardrum ruptured last week.  We are hoping this is our last doctor's visit for a while.  Either way, Maren is feeling much better and getting back to her old tricks!!