Leftovers

Thanksgiving has come and gone, and we are spent! And thankful! We celebrated with both of our parents and my brother. Jeff cooked a wonderful classic feast, my mom brought squash lasagna, and we finished with a medley of pies. We are thankful that our families get along and are willing to share holidays together.

The rest of our weekend included quite a few special outings: our first turns on the mountain - beautiful snow for this early in the season. Owen's first movie in the theater - MegaMind ended up being a private showing for Mom, Dad, and Owen. A "field trip" to Grandma/Grandpa's hotel (and pool). An afternoon of play at Nana's. A date night for Scott and I with dinner and HARRY POTTER!

We are thankful for grandparents that generously traveled through the snow to join us for the long weekend and then volunteered to watch the boys, so we could get out and about.

The other adventure of our weekend was finding ways to repurpose the holiday feast. Of course, we ate lunches of turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes, but that was just the start. The turkey carcass turned into 2 GALLONS of stock. Jeff&Ethel took home frozen gravy. Scott made sweet&spicy mac&cheese with chipotle turkey. Today, I made turkey-lentil-barley soup to share with friends, and then a turkey-thyme casserole for our freezer. We are thankful for the endless feast!

After everyone hit the road today, we had a family swim at the pool and then spent the evening at Luke&Tara's, so the little boys could play and the big boys could continue their beer brewing adventures. Can't wait for the next batch to be finished - the midway taste today was delicious! We are thankful for dear friends and the beautiful town we live in!

And it looks like Scott and I will be asking Santa for a new camera this year, as ours is good for about 2 photos before it crashes. Hence, no pictures of the feast or aftermath. But we did get the snow day pictures in the post below.

Now, for the turkey induced coma.

Fweetheart

Owen love snuggling with Josh. In fact, he has been known to throw a tantrum if he doesn't get his baby snuggles in when Josh first wakes up. Josh, in turn, lights up with shear delight and often lets out a happy squeal when he sees Owen's grinning face.

The other morning, Josh was chilling on the bed while Owen got dressed. Owen then requested that I cover them both up with the blanket and I watched with delight as the two of them snuggled in their own little world for a few minutes.
Owen was whispering over and over, "You're my sweetie, sweetheart. Sweetheart Josh-a-roo. You're my big sweetie." Of course with Owen's inability to pronounce the "sw" combination, the whole thing sounded like, "You're my fweetie, fweetheart. Fweetheart Josh-a-roo." I can't imagine it would get much better than that.

The Messy Update

One of the most common questions we get these days is whether Owen has grown out of his reflux. Sadly, the answer is no. We feel like it may be getting better, but I think we've just gotten used to it. Our pediatrician indicated that "better" would be when we only see it flare up 1-2 times a day. Oh. I guess spitting up after every feeding, a couple thick spews every day, and a occasional vomit in the middle of lunch or dinner (yes, mid feeding) doesn't qualify as "better."

So, while I prefer to post about new and exciting things, I wanted to spend a minute to note..

Indicators that your baby is fighting acid reflux:
1. You use ultra absorbent cloth diapers as burp clothes.
2. You never hand someone the baby without first handing them a burp cloth.
3. Your daycare provider gives you the daily rundown with three points - How did he eat? How did he sleep? and How much did he spit up?
4. You gage how well the week went by counting the number of burp clothes in the wash. A good week is 10-12 burp clothes; a bad week is 15 or more.
5. Your rocking chair is covered in a bath mat to catch the vomit.
6. After getting ready for work in the morning, you ALWAYS drape a blanket over your lap or shoulder when holding the baby. The days you forget - just plan on changing clothes.
7. Your carpet looks like an abstract painting.
8. Your husband asks, "Can't we please just have some pictures without the baby wearing a bib?"
And the event that inspired this post:
9. You dream that you are holding the baby, and he vomits on you IN THE DREAM. Seriously?

Someday....
Owen will be a toddler running around the playground. He will not vomit at random. He will not wear a bib. He will not take a dose of PPI medication every morning before breakfast. He will not remember any of the discomfort, soggy clothing, or sour smell that we associate with his reflux.

Someday...
We will steam clean our carpets. I will wear my favorite shirts. We will look back with relief that this stage is behind us. We will watch our toddler running around the playground and marvel that we ever did items 1-9 above - especially #9.

In the meantime, we are thankful that Owen's medication keeps him from being in pain. We are thankful for his smiles, laughter, squeals, and wiggles. We are thankful that this is just a stage that he will grow out of. We are thankful that he is our kiddo - reflux and all - and it is our joy and privilege to love and care for him.

He Provides

After my ranting post the other day, I heard a nice reminder on the radio. The DJ was saying, instead of laying in bed at night worrying (it won't change anything), think about your blessings instead. I leads to a better outlook and a much better night's sleep.

Well, yesterday evening, I got a call from my boss. Our company set aside some $$ to reward people who could work some extra hours in December to help us hit our year-end numbers. Since I'm just a part timer, I only put in a couple extra hours (like maybe 4 over the last three weeks). Anyway, Russ was calling to thank me for doing my part and let me know that my "thank you" check was in the mail. I figured it would be $50-$100, but no. It's basically the exact amount of the vet bill I had to pay the other day. I nearly fell on the floor. Hurray! A weight lifted and the reminder I needed - He provides.