Happy New Year - 2012

Still loves this book!!!

We hope that you all had a wonderful holiday season and a Happy New Year!!  Our New Year's was pretty uneventful due to the upper respiratory bug that attacked our house.  It seems that anytime I have a vacation from work, the first week goes well, and then towards the end of the break someone always gets sick.  I was first - right after Christmas with an upper respiratory infection, sinus infection, and two ear infections.  I got two shots and a Zpack :-).  Tayden's cough from the MRI was still lingering and kept getting worse.  He was getting very little sleep from coughing so much at night.  We took him to the doctor to find out that he had an upper respiratory infection and two ear infections as well.  Poor little guy!  He finished his antibiotics yesterday and seems to be back to 100%.  Tim also got the virus and spent a few miserable nights coughing like crazy.

We spent New Year's Eve running a few errands and then everyone in the house was asleep before midnight, except for me.  On New Year's Day my mom came over and I made a "soul food" meal.  Tim has been craving several things that I had no idea how to make, so I took a crash course.  We had ham, cornbread, collard greens, burgundy mushrooms, balsamic roasted Brussel sprouts, and banana pudding.  It all seemed to be pretty good based on feedback from those who ate, so it will be a new tradition for New Year's Day at our house.

Tim has been working at his new job for almost a week now and really likes it.  He makes his own schedule and it is very flexible, which is GREAT!!!  He is done every night by 9:00 which I love!!!!  We can actually eat dinner together, and then tackle baths and bedtime as a team.  My mom will be coming over 1 day a week for a few hours, and then Tim will take the twins over to her house 1 day a week for a few hours, so that he can work during the day. 

Brooklyn spent the night with SueSue for the first time this past weekend.  This is the first time we have spent the night without her except for hospital stays and my one night at the lakehouse.  We met my mom for dinner and then went to her house.  While Brooklyn was playing in the playroom - Tim, Tayden, and I snuck out.  My mom said that Brooklyn later went into the kitchen and asked where we were.  When she told her that we had gone home, her eyes filled with tears (breaks my heart).  She did really well and when she came home the next morning she gave Tayden a big hug - precious!  Her night away made me realize the importance of letting them have their "own" time with me, Tim, and SueSue.  Tayden was very outgoing when he was alone and his sister wasn't around to grab toys from him.  He has started calling Brooklyn - Booklyn (in addition to Sissy), and she can now say Tayden.