Santa's Elf Has Arrived at Our House...

NaugtyNize (sitting on cross)

and the book Santa sent with him

Yesterday, when we came back from picking David up from school we had a new book on the coffee table. It was about an elf that watches kids for Santa. David soon noticed that an elf was on the fireplace mantle! The book said we had to name him. Christopher wanted to name him "Santa Claus". Since that may be too confusing, David came up with "Whitie Red" (he is red with a white collar). About two hours later, when everyone else was outside and had forgotten about "Whitie Red", David out of the blue says his name is going to be "NaughtyNize". So he is officially "NaughtyNize" (no, not naughty nice). According to the book and the tradition. Every night he goes to the North Pole to give Santa a behavior report. The next morning, he'll be in a different location. When Brad came home, David told him all about NaughtyNize and how we have to be on our best behavior because he will tell Santa everything...even how we act at school and work!! When he got to the part about him being in a new spot every morning Brad looked at me like, "How the heck are we going to remember to do that!" So last night Brad and I came up with our story just in case he doesn't move one night! :)

I figured since NaughtyNize is watching everything that the boys do, Brad and I will take the night off tonight! :) Just joking...we have a sitter. We are going to the Hornet's game tonight. We have season tickets and I haven't been to the last four games. I am pretty excited. I LOVE LOVE LOVE going to the Hornets games. They are so much fun. David loves going to the games, but it is finally my turn! We told him last night that a sitter was coming to stay with them tonight and his first response was, "Oh you have a meeting?". Before Christopher was born when I was selling real estate I would work a lot and a sitter would come stay with him. Since I am only working while they are in school, we don't use a sitter as often. He still associates a sitter with me working or having a Board meeting. I thought yesterday was a good day to start telling him the truth! :) I told him that Brad and I are going to the Hornet's game, expecting him to get upset and he just asked why he couldn't go too. It is a school night so I am going to go instead of him! He was totally fine with it!!! Thanks NaughtyNize. I know that I would not have had the same response if you were not watching!! :)

UUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG - Christopher just came in here and said uhoh. I look down and his underwear are soaked. ...Let me take a break and go find out where the pee is!!

OK, I'm back. Thankfully it was a small puddle on the ceramic floor. This potty training stuff is not fun. The thing that makes it even worse, I know that I'll be doing this again in six or eight months with Jacob. Part of me wants to give up on Christopher and just let them do it together after Christmas. I've heard it is even harder though the longer I wait.

Monday afternoon Jacob's teacher called me and said he had a fever. I went to pick him up and he did feel a little warm. I brought him back to my office with me until it was time for Brad to pick Christopher up. Monday's are "Brad days" (he is in charge of picking the boys up from school and keeping them entertained so I can work a full day). Once Jacob and I got back to my office I could tell he was not feeling well at all. Any other day, he would be bothering the receptionist for candy and running around my office like a mad man. This time he just sat and colored and then fell asleep in my chair. He had an ear infection. Since he has tubes, I can easily tell when he has an infection - it oozes out of his ear! Kind of yucky, but since he is not able to tell me too much, it helps so much when I can see the problem! Yesterday morning was Christopher's appointment with the ENT. Brad went with me to help hold him still since I did not want Christopher to be sedated (too risky for his heart). The ENT put a numbing cream up his nose and down his throat. While we were waiting for the numbing meds to soak in he took a look at Jacob. Jacob has a bad ear infection and a bad case of tonsillitis (possible strep). He gave him a shot of an antibiotic and loaded him up on some prescriptions (see previous post about him winning pharmaceutical trips courtesy of the Arton's!) Christopher did not want "that man" to come back. He was scared (and rightfully so!) "That Man" put a camera down his throat and we watched it on the screen. It IS obvious that he was intubated, but he doesn't think it is damaged enough to affect his voice. In fact, he didn't even notice anything wrong with his voice. He asked if Christopher ever had any problems with reflux. UMMMM YEP!! Remember when he would throw up 17 times an hour! No, unfortunately that is not an exaggeration!! Anyway, it appears as though he is still having some problems with reflux and that could irritate his throat and make him hoarse sounding. His pediatrician never wanted to do anything, her comment was if it is not bothering him- we have more important things to worry about. The ENT did agree that if it is not bothering him, the meds are probably not the best for him. They can have a lot of side effects that aren't worth risking in Christopher's case. Since it doesn't bother him and his voice is only "bothering" the therapist, we are not going to do anything about it! So, my motherly instincts were right again! ...No surgery and no big deal!