So Very Late!

I have been neglecting this poor blog! In my defense, I've been going to bed shortly after the girls so I can get some sleep before Abby starts waking up. She consistently wakes up between 11:30 and 12, I tell her to go back to sleep and then she's up at 1 or 1:30, I feed her (it's been a whole 6 hours since she ate, after all), she's up at 4:30 to eat and then up for the day at 7:30. And that's a whole lot better than we were doing when the eczema was in its worst!

As for an eczema update, I took her to the doctor for her ears that were oozy and crusty right after Christmas. He gave us drops with hydrocortizone for the eczema in her ears (how uncomfortable to itch inside your ears!) and an antibiotic to help with the outer ear infection. Her ears were 100% better after using the drops for a few days. He also prescribed some super tough ointment for the eczema and that cleared up her skin after 25 hours! We can't use it on her face or diaper area, though. Her poor diaper area is just now clearing up after switching to disposable diapers, letting her "air out" in undies for a whole day (very messy, but I was desperate!), and then consistently using 2.5% hydrocortizone and Desitin. This has been such an ordeal! But I'm hoping we can just treat patches as they come up now instead of letting it cover her entire body.

I realized a few days ago that we didn't take any pictures of Christmas morning! We had the video camera rolling, and when one of you has to hold a baby, it's a one camera deal. But I'm very glad we chose the video camera because we have Emmy's reaction to her stocking (the thing she opened first). It didn't have much in it, but it did have Sixlets, and she really wanted Sixlets. She was ELATED! She also really loved the dress-up dresses we gave her and wore one for most of the day and everyday since. (Have I mentioned I love having GIRLS?!?!)

Okay, now for a story about TRASH. My sister's husband came up with the idea of calling surprises trash so the surprise wouldn't get ruined by well-meaning children. As Brett and I both took Emmy with us to buy our surprises with each other, we adopted this tradition as well. Emmy bought in completely! She was all about going to the "dump" to pick up some "stinky trash" and then warning me not to go into her bedroom because the "trash" was so smelly it would make me sick. It was so funny, and no surprises got ruined!

However, one of my gifts from Brett was not a surprise at all. It was a pair of boots that I had picked out and purchased myself. I was very excited for these boots since I didn't have a pair of black shoes that would keep out the snow. In fact I made some comments about how I wished I had them in the weeks leading up to Christmas. When it came time to unwrap that package, I said, "Oh, I'm so excited for these boots!" Well, Brett got me good. He had wrapped up TRASH (and a hammer so the weight wouldn't be off).

He and Emmy were laughing at my shock and soon I was laughing, too (while pretending to be upset, or course). Brett and Emmy led me to the sewing room where we played "Boola, Boola" (like Hot/Cold) for me to find my boots. And I have thoroughly enjoyed them. Best trash ever!