The "Merry" in Christmas...

Today our company was able to donate 200 lbs of ham, some cash, and over 300 lbs of food. Chris and his brothers let me lead the project and it was everyone giving: homeowners, trades, company staff, and many others. I think we all know the need is so much greater than what we were able to do but now everyone just wants to make this a small start!

For everything I did or will do this Christmas, this meant by far the most! I look at everything I've been given and I can never give it back. But just doing something small and hopefully starting something bigger might make a small difference somewhere. I get so distracted by the world but when it comes down to it this is what Christmas is supposed to be about.

It's official We are adopting...

and it is a boy!!!!!!!

Oh wait... Sorry!!! Those are old pictures of Harmon :p GOTCHA!!!!!!

Here is our newest addition:

He comes home tomorrow. No name as of yet but he is a 100% all black kitten from our local shelter. I'm sooo excited. I've wanted a 3rd animal for a long time but Chris has resisted it. I don't blame him b/c things have been crazy here. Now I feel like our human family and fur family are all complete now :) It was such a thoughtful gift to let me get my "bad luck" kitty!

Winter Profesional Pictures...

These were taken a month ago but I've not had time to upload them to my computer until today. I think we are going to slow our schedule. The 3 kids first year they got their pro pic 3 times in that year. Their 2nd year we did them twice. This year I think we will do them in 9 mos. They are growing and changing less so there isn't the need like there was to do it more frequently.

What a load of Smurf: My Ridiculous hunt for a Christmas Toy!!!

I have a problem! Rachel thinks she is a Smurf. She doesn't like toys in general but her Gualita saved some Smurf toys up during the summer and gave them to her. She goes crazy, especially for Smurfette. She walks around and says: THAT'S ME!!!!!! She saw the movie at Thanksgiving and she was fully smitten after that!

So the problem is not that she like Smurfs. Rather that there are NO FRICKIN SMURFS AROUND!!!! It is crazy. I think they are purposely giving us a Smurf shortage to jack up the prices. For example I'm trying to get the 21 inch plush at Toys R Us of Smurfette b/c after all she doesn't see Papa Smurf and say: THAT'S ME... she says it about Smurfette. Of course I've been to 3 flipping Toys R Us, 4 Kmarts, 2 Targets, and pretty much every where else. It is unavailable online. No one has it except Sears and those jerks are charging $42 for it rather than $21. That is DOUBLE the price which is a no way in heck for me. So if anyone is at Toys R Us and sees this thing please let me know!!!!!

In the mean time I found Smurfette's mushroom house and these really cheap knock off plushes. The funny thing is I really hate the idea of Smurfette b/c she isn't the best role-model (as my friend and I were joking I would kill for a great Hillary Clinton doll or Margaret Thatcher one). But when it comes down to it from a feminist perspective Smurfette is not the worse thing in the world (she isn't Barbie) and I love seeing the joy Rachel has about her. So I shall continue my Smurfette quest till the ends of the earth...

Why do I do these things????

Around the holidays I always bite off more than I can chew. I don't know why I have to wrap every gift just perfectly with a bow around them. Especially only to have Harmon break into some of them and undo all my hard work (I think I've got him scared to ever do that again :p ). Or like today I rearranged my whole schedule to attend Harm's pre-k Christmas party and he didn't even acknowledge that I existed.

We are cutting back this year. We had to drop half the Christmas Card list :( Most of my shopping was done far in advance. I'm not going to even try to bake anything this year (instead I bought a ton of those big tubs of popcorn and I'm going to make small bags for friends rather than cookies. But I also took on new projects like hosting the companies' service project and agreeing to the several gift exchanges that come around this time of year.

I guess I will always overdo things. It is my nature to jolly all year long and overextended b/c of it. There are worse things in life... right?

Some people just don't get him!

I get so frustrated sometimes as a mom. As I've mentioned in the past Harmon has Sensory Integration which is considered to be on the spectrum. His biggest challenge is organizing his world and dealing with his feelings. He gets so overwhelmed by things that wouldn't bug other kids.

This often leads to people judging him or judging me as a parent. I mind the judging on me. I know I'm a good mom and we are doing as much for him as possible. I do mind people judging him!!! They don't get him. They miss out on this sweetheart who is just delightful. Who yes, is full of energy, but also has a brilliant mind. If I'm ever sick or hurt he is always the first to give a hug and tell me he loves me! He reminds me of Chris everyday (and his family thinks the same thing).

Chris tells me most people wrote him off as a child and as a teen. He struggled a lot like Harmon and people assumed he was a bad apple. Now he is a well educated, successful, and wonderful adult. I know Harmon will be like that as well. I just don't want him feeling the pain of rejection and confusion as he Chris did. On Tuesday I'm going through another grueling meeting about services from the schools and I'm scared. I want him to get as much help now so when he is older he won't struggle like he is now. Seeing him struggle breaks my heart b/c I know when he is struggling it is hard on me but it is hardest on him. My angel deserves to fly.

Update on accident and some observations...

Seriously I don't think I will bore y'all with every detail but my doctor thinks I got a stomach virus and a sinus infection on top of the accident. I'm laughing while I type this b/c it is really sort of funny. What luck??? So I'm on Zofran to avoid the need for IV's (and it is working well as of this afternoon), phenergan for the night time nausea, Ultram for the pain of the accident which makes me less loopy than Vicodin and friends, and some sort of muscle relaxant that I've not gone near since it says "may cause sedation". I'll probably try it in a few minutes since I am going to bed anyway... but than again maybe not.

The funny thing about this was the big snow storm (which in the Southwest if you get a couple of inches you might as well call it a blizzard) on Monday night led to really poor conditions for the roads on Tuesday. Miriam was there, on time. I was so sick between pain and vomiting I couldn't even really walk. Stuck in the house with Puerto Rican babies who hate cold and snow, she never complained. She kept checking in on me. Trying to force me to drink fluids. She is like family. I can't believe how special she is!

A lot of people have reached out. I had a friend from El Paso who was off willing to take me to the doctors yesterday. People have brought over meals, gatorade, etc. Chris drove me crazy at times b/c he has whined a lot but even he has come through. He has covered for me on things, handled the car wreck stuff, left for work late/came early home, left for the doctors, yesterday and today.

I have a mountain I need to get done tomorrow so even though it is 9:30 I'm going to bed :p I've got to get better. I've got adorable snow stories and promise to share them tomorrow!

Drugs, pain, and snow... OH MY!

Today it snowed. I don't like snow! My idea of a White Christmas is on hanging out on the sandy beaches of Cancun... not this cold nasty wet stuff. I guess being stuck in the house became bearable because heck I don't want to be outside anyway. It has been hard on the kids. Tomorrow when I know more what has happened I will share the adventures of Chris and the babies! I've heard screaming and chaos the whole night. I'm sure I will have good stories!!! They just called and canceled school :( That means cooped up Harmon tomorrow.

As per the good news/bad news on me. I got sick to my stomach on the pain meds so I stopped taking them. So the good news is that I'm not all cloudy head like I was yesterday. The bad news is that I want to scream from the pain and I"m not keeping any food down still. I think tomorrow we will have to venture out for a doctor follow up!!! I would go tonight but I hate the snow so I would rather whine and complain on my blog than get cold :p I know, I'm weird but snow is really not my thing.

The Accident...

I get together with a great group of girlfriends every month. Last night we were in downtown. I was tired so I left early around nine. Anyhow, I had just entered the roundabout off of main street and a few seconds later a van plowed into me speeding and she t-boned the right side of my husband's vehicle. There is a lot to the story of her but I won't blog about it.

A friend helped me at the hospital while her daughters helped watch my babies so Chris could get there. Because my bones are osteoporatic I had to get practically my whole body scanned. They thought I fractured my wrist but it the RA had deformed my wrist. They were worried about me bleeding b/c of the meds I'm on but again I was fine. I've got a lot of bruising, whiplash, and strains but I'm so lucky b/c there were no breaks or bleeding!!!! I'm so grateful. They let me go this morning. I've been sleeping the whole day. I'm in some pain (it is getting a little harder as time goes by). I'm glad to be home with my kitty and my kids!