November 30

I love it when my children are doing something nice without my asking them to. I caught Kat reading Elliott a book. Makes Momma happy!

November 29

Last night Julia kept wiggling and wiggling her front tooth to the point that it just dangled.

She woke up this morning complaining that her tooth bothered her all night when she tried to suck her thumb. Duh, stop sucking your thumb child.

This morning the girls were downstairs playing before school. Kat accidentally kicked Julia in the mouth. Now all Julia wants for Christmas is her two front teeth!

I got a call from school around 1:15 this afternoon. Julia was complaining of tummy problems. She is currently passed out on the couch with a 101 fever. Apparently this stomach bug is very contagious. It's been through us, Mamaw Pat, Bapaw Rick, and now Papaw C has it too.

November 28

Clay taught the girls to play Chess recently.

Elliott keeps us entertained.

Clay recently discovered the song "Party Rock Anthem" and introduced it to the family. Here is Elliott "shufflin"...

November 27

Happy Birthday Uncle Stump!

Yesterday was rough, to say the least. I got the stomach bug that we've been passing around. It's pretty hard not to throw up when you are nauseous and have a baby moving around right on your organs. I also strained some muscles in my lower stomach throwing up, so it hurts every time I cough (and I suspect I have bronchitis, so I am coughing alot). Fun times. Thankfully it was just a 24 hour bug, so aside from the cough and sore muscles, I feel fine.

Kat wrote this story all by herself. Pretty impressive for a child who wasn't able to do this at all 2 months ago. She really enjoys reading and writing.

November 26

Julia pulled her front tooth out yesterday!

November 25

Christmas decorations are up!

November 24

Happy Thanksgiving!

We went to Mamaw and Bapaw's house for dinner this year. Yum yum!

Lil Turkey

Mamaw and Bapaw with their 4 Grandkids

November 23

Update: Kat hasn't thrown up since 8am, but started running a fever around noon. She hasn't left this position off the couch since about that time. Now Clay is feeling nauseous and lying in bed resting. Should be an interesting Thanksgiving tomorrow...


Original Post:
Starting at about 3am Kat started throwing up every couple of hours. Hoping she recovers quickly so we can all enjoy Thanksgiving together. On the upside, she's not missing any school since there isn't any today.

Last night Julia had a trial gymnastics class to see if she likes it. She seemed to really enjoy it (if coming home and doing cartwheels and roundoffs is any indication). She starts classes next week.

November 22

I babysat Abbie today. This morning we went over to visit with Mamaw and Papaw C and Mamaw Pat for awhile. Abbie is such a sweet little baby.

November 21

Yesterday afternoon the girls and I spent hours going through every toy in our house and organizing them, pitching them, or putting them in a pile to donate. This made this OCD Momma very happy. I am proud of how willing (most of the time) the girls were to donate toys. Of course, they were more eager to donate their sister's toy than their own at times.

Elliott seems to be feeling much better already. He slept pretty good last night and woke up with a smile on his face, which he hasn't done for awhile.

Here are pictures from past Novembers:

2005 - Julia's 1st Thanksgiving

2006 - Kat's 1st Thanksgiving/Meeting Grandma Stout

2007 - Choke hold

2008 - Flower girls

2009 - Elliott meeting Poppa Stu a couple of days before he died.

2010 Feeding the squirrels in Ashland with Mamaw and Papaw C

November 20

Well, this has been an interesting morning. We got to church and about 5 minutes later the Preschool Director came to get us out of Sunday School. Elliott threw up in his classroom. He didn't eat a good breakfast today, he hasn't slept good (through the night) in about a week, and he's been cranky. We thought maybe it was from being moved to a new bedroom, he'd hit the terrible twos, cutting some molars, demon possessed (the thought crossed our minds the 5th or 6th time we had to get up with him one night), etc. Poor little guy just wasn't feeling good, but couldn't tell us. We went to the Immediate Care Center and got antibiotics for an ear infection. The good news is that our sweet little guy should be back to himself soon.

Elliott's been doing pretty good with pooping on the potty. I think most of the time he'd rather just pee in his diaper. Considering the poor guy has had an ear infection this week, he's done really well. I'm still not really pushing potty training too hard, but I take him occasionally and he sometimes comes and tells us when he needs to go.

8 months! Everything is moving right along. I am starting to get pretty uncomfortable and starting to have swelling in my fingers and feet. I had this with Julia's pregnancy too, except I was able to lay down and rest more with her pregnancy because I wasn't chasing after 3 other rugrats. I split a pair of pants the other night trying to change Elliott's diaper... that was humbling. Oh, and sleep? What's that? Between Elliott's crying fits in the night, going to the bathroom, and just not getting comfortable, I sometimes wonder why I bother to try and get sleep at night.

November 19

Clay took the kids to Chuck-E-Cheese Thursday night while I was babysitting Brady and Caleb.

Our church hosted a Mom's program last night where we made Christmas Advent Calendars. It was so much fun hanging out with friends, crafting (without kids around), and having yummy treats. Right up my alley! Mine isn't quite finished (I still need to hang little bags from each clothespin with an activity for the day/Bible verse).

November 18

"Helping" Mommy with the laundry

November 17

Last night was our last night of AWANA until 2012, so we had a party in the Kindergarten room. We had snacks and made these turkey drumstick headbands (in honor of Thanksgiving).

Kat and her buddy Camryn

November 16

Gotta love seasonal allergies/asthma

November 15

Yesterday after I cleaned the house, Elliott and I went to Mamaw's house to play for a little bit, went to lunch, and then went to Toys R Us.

Elliott discovered the coffee creamer at Mamaw's...oops!

Little Elf doing some Christmas shopping (He will not be hard to please this Christmas. He pretty much liked everything in Toys R Us).

Elliott peed in the potty 4 times yesterday and pooped in it again! He still pees in his diaper if you don't take him to the bathroom, but he is getting the concept pretty quickly. Not sure I am ready for this!

November 14

Kat read us a book at bedtime yesterday. She is reading really well for a child who couldn't read a month ago. She is constantly asking us to spell words now too.

November 13

Elliott was taking a bath when all of a sudden he said, "poop!". I thought he'd pooped in the tub. but he hadn't. I put him on the toilet and he pooped! Hurray! Kat and I did the "Poopoo dance" and he got 2 pieces of candy.

November 12

Apparently we wore Elliott out running errands. Clay laid him on his bed to change his diaper and he didn't budge.

November 11

Clay is off work for Veteran's Day today so he and Elliott joined me for my doctor's appointment. Apparently half of Louisville also had appointments at the hospital. Clay dropped me off and then it took him 30 minutes (no joke) to find a parking place. My doctor's office was backed up because of the parking situation, so we didn't leave the office until 2 hours after my appointment. Considering I am not a very patient person, Clay is even less patient, and we had an energetic 2 year-old cooped up in a small exam room for too long, we were all pretty frustrated and ready to get out of there. Everything went well with the appointment (all 3 minutes the doctor was actually in the exam room).

Get us out of here!!!

This is one way to keep Elliott entertained in the exam room...

November 10

Last night was "Dot Your Leader Night" at AWANA. The kids got to put a sticker on the teachers for every 5 Bible verses they memorized. Kat has learned 28 verses since August (Not sure how many Julia has learned since she is not in my class, but it's probably about the same).

November 9

The girls didn't have school yesterday, so they went to Papaw G's house while Elliott had Wee Rock.

31 weeks (tomorrow)

Takes 1 and 2 of my 31 week picture.

November 8

The girls didn't have school yesterday (or today), so we went to our friends' Jill and Mollie's house to play (Brody had school). The weather was 70 degrees. We actually got hot outside in our long sleeves and pants - in November!