Snot-Nosed Kids

Whenever I'm worrying that I'm being a little too overprotective and germophobic, I'll remember how miserable it is when babies are sick! Thankfully, the bug we had wasn't anything worse than an unpleasant head cold, but it was enough to make for a couple of pathetic babies and one tired mom! Max and I have pretty much recovered and Molly is on the mend. The little girl does NOT like having a stuffy nose and has had a hard time sleeping. She's mostly been sleeping in the swing and I've been sleeping next to her on the couch. One night she felt extra yucky and wanted to be held, so I snoozed while propped up in a sitting position on the couch with Molly sleeping on my chest (much to the dismay of my poor back).

Max actually slept pretty well, in spite of the cold. The humidifier we had for his room gave out on us, so we ran out and bought a fancy one that really kicks out the mist. We've been running it in Max's room at night and in other parts of the house during the day and that seems to help. We used a humidifier in his room all last winter, to give his lungs a little extra help -- we'll probably do the same thing this year. One upside to the whole cold thing was that it gave Max a chance to expand his vocabulary -- the boy can now say "boogers" and show you where they are.

Of course, getting sick during the thick of the Christmas preparations doesn't do much for one's productivity. I braved the crowds (ugh) and did a marathon shop on Saturday, so we've pretty much wrapped up our gift buying for the year. We did the smart thing this time around and wrapped all our presents up over the weekend -- no 3 a.m. Christmas morning wrapping session this year! We only just got our tree this weekend and are still working on that whole "getting it decorated" problem -- when you come visit us in January and our tree is still up, you'll know why (after all, we have to get our money's worth out of it). Tomorrow we're scheduled to attend the big kids' Christmas program and make eight pounds of fudge (but not at the same time). I have actually started on Molly's stocking, so I really do plan on having that finished before Christmas Eve this year. This is my last week of work and then I'm off until after New Year's -- I'm really looking forward to having a little time off to spend with the family. And, of course, Max has some birthday in his hair ...

And, speaking of hair, Dad took Max out to get his second haircut last week, since Max was starting to look a little shaggy. Unfortunately, a different person cut his hair this time and didn't do a particularly good job. Maybe she's a closet Trekkie, because his hair now bears a disturbing resemblance to that of Mr. Spock (thank goodness he doesn't have the eyebrows to match). Of course, he would have to get a bum haircut a mere week and a half before I'm taking him and Molly to get their photos taken.