How to Meet Santa, Jack Henry Style

1. Every time you see a picture of Santa in the weeks leading up to Christmas, shout “See-tah!” and say “ho ho ho!”

2. Smile nicely at the mall Santa and say his name. Since you’re at the mall a lot with your mom, talk about him every time you walk by.

3. On the big day, at Great Grandma’s Christmas where Santa comes to bring you a toy, talk excitedly about “See-tah”.

4. When your big brothers, who are getting a combined gift from Santa, go up to meet him, stand and watch curiously.

5. If your mom suggests that you go up there with you brothers in hopes of getting a group shot with Santa, get up confidently and walk in that general direction.

6. Then, take a last minute detour to the left about 5 feet and make a funny face, so that everyone in the room (probably 60 people) is totally cracking up at you.

7. If Santa asks for a high five, give him the cold shoulder.

8. And when he calls your name next, cautiously approach.

9. Let him pick you up and put you on his lap, and then start to mildly freak out.

10. Take your loot and walk away as quickly as you can.

11. Enjoy your cool new toy!

Here’s Hoping Osmosis Works.

Out of the Mouths of Babes, Part 20

Ta-da! Jack Henry’s first real features in “Out of the Mouths of Babes!” He’s regularly putting two or more words together at a time now, though there is often a pause between then while he thinks of what he wants to say. On with the show!

—–

Me, to Jack Henry: Why are you so crabby?

Jack Henry: Nen-net (Bennett)

Me: Bennett made you crabby?

JH: Yesh.

—–

The morning after I decorated the living room for Christmas, Bennett ran in there to look, and came back to me and said, “Mom! I saw my beanstalk!”

After a moment of confusion, I said, “You mean your stocking?”

He laughed and said, “Oh, yeah, my stocking!”

—–

Me: Jack, what kind of pizza are you going to have? (heading to CPK for Luke’s bday dinner)

Jack: Hot.

—–

Our Leapster has been in “hiding” for a while since Jack Henry loves to play with it and just repeated push buttons (I figure this is akin to staring at a TV screen all day long).  He spotted it today right before nap, so I promised him that he could play with it after nap.  After 20 minutes of fussing and yelling for the Leapster from his crib, I went in and offered to rock him, but told him that we couldn’t talk about the Leapster anymore until after sleeping.  Which made him pout.

As we were rocking, he started whispering, “yeet-tuh” (Leapster) over and over again with a sly little smile on his face. He never did take a nap.

—–

Bennett is working on learning to sound out words, and he’s doing a great job.  However, he does a lot of guessing based on context.  The word “hello” was at the beginning of a story, and I asked him what it said.  He said, “Hi!”  I said, “Well, what’s another word for ‘hi’?” and he said, “Hola?”

—–

We were driving home on a really cold December morning and passed a neighbor of ours who is a marathon runner. Bennett said, “Why is that man running for his life on a day like today?”

—–

Jack’s affirmative answer to a lot of things is “really good good” which sounds like “we guh. guh.”

—–

This morning I went through the McDonald’s drive-thru for a hot chocolate, and Jack Henry said, “Ack. Nooo. Ah-ee. Daddy. Wuck.” Which, translated, is “Jack. No. Coffee. Daddy. Yuck.”

Allergic.

I don’t know what made me think of this recently (talking with another mom about antibiotics, maybe?), but I’m wondering if any of you have ever experienced severe allergic reactions in your kids (or yourself) before. ‘Cause we certainly have around here. And because I like to document significant Diehl family history, I thought I should take the time to write this down!

As far as I know, I’m not allergic to anything. Matt one time broke out in hives really badly shortly before Luke was born; I’d just started using OxiClean on our whites at that time, so I stopped that promptly and he’s never had a reaction like that since.

When Luke was nearly six months old, he had already had an ear infection or two, and was on his second round of amoxicillin to try to clear it up (he would later get tubes. Two sets, actually.). On a Friday afternoon, he looked like he had a few bug bites, but I wasn’t too concerned; it was spring and we’d been outside. However, when he woke up on Saturday morning, he looked like this and it was obvious that he was not all that comfortable:

And that was just the beginning.

Later in the day, he looked like this, which necessitated a trip to the ER if I remember correctly. We were kind of freaked out.

And because this was pre-digital-camera days, I didn’t take many pictures of him, but it got worse. He was definitely itchy, and I felt so bad for him!

This kind of reaction is called erythema multiforme minor (or EM minor; EM major is also called Stevens-Johnson syndrome and is very serious). Because it’s not your run-of-the-mill reaction to a drug, my boys will never get anything from the penicillin family again. Oftentimes people think that their child is allergic to a medication because they get a fine, red rash over their body when they are sick and on an antibiotic, and while that can be an allergic reaction, we’ve learned that that’s often just a virus causing that kind of reaction. Clearly, that’s not the case here!

Fast-forward almost 3 years to right after Bennett’s 1st birthday, when he had his second need for an antibiotic (I don’t remember for sure, but he probably also had an ear infection. He had very few so I’m not clear on that.). And a very familiar-looking rash started developing all over his chubby body…you can imagine the dread I felt when I saw those spots! Look at how swollen his eye was!

After a bath later that same day. Look at the spot around his belly button!

And here he is at the height of his reaction. His was far worse than Luke’s had been. If you look closely at his legs, you can see spots where his skin is almost a purple-grey color.

When I was pregnant with Jack Henry, I discussed the other boys’ reactions with our pediatrician and we decided that we’d just act as if Jack Henry is also allergic to the penicillin family and not risk it. I’m so thankful that she was with us through the first two boys’ reactions so that she knew I wasn’t overreacting to what had happened with them!

Have any of you ever experienced anything like this? And if not, wasn’t that educational? Now when your kid has a few red spots, you’ll be freaking out. You’re welcome.

Thoughts on Christmas, Courtesy of Michael Scott

“Presents are the best way to show someone how much you care. It is like this tangible thing that you can point to and say, ‘Hey man, I love you this many dollars-worth.’”

This reminds me…I missed last week’s episode of “The Office”! Will have to go to hulu tonight…

The One Where We Encourage Violence

Watching him Wii box is one of my favorite things.

Luke’s Birthday Recap

First of all, let me say that I love Luke just the way he is, and I’d only change one thing about him if I could: his birthdate. Seriously, what were we thinking??? I mean, this was very much a planned pregnancy, and I never once gave any thought about what conceiving a baby in March meant: a mid-December birthday.

I feel kinda bad for him because his birthday is just in the middle of what is already a busy season. I’m glad that we were able to carve out time for a birthday party for him with his friends, but it just all feels so crazy rushed.

—–

Friday night, Matt and I looked like this:

And Matt pretended his dinner looked like this:

We attended the wedding of a good friend of his from high school (the wedding was in STL, thankfully) and had a great time! It’s so much fun to get dressed up, and I will never tire of watching friends say their vows. But that also meant that I was giving absolutely zero attention to the party that was happening the next night.

Saturday morning, we got Luke one of his presents, which was a pair of African Dwarf Frogs, the absolute lowest-responsibility animal you can own. You feed them twice a week, clean the bowl 4 times a year, and that’s it. This is the kind of commitment I’m willing to make! I still need to get a picture of him with them.

But because we did that first thing Saturday morning, I had to go to Walmart and the grocery around 11am. On December 13th. Worst. Idea. Ever. This is why I get almost all of my shopping done early and online when possible. However, I swear I saw heavenly light shining down at the Walmart bakery, when there in the cooler I spotted 6 cupcakes with the requisite sports-themed ring/cake topper thingy. Footballs, which were probably Luke’s last choice, but he only said he wanted something sports related, and that counts. And, 6 cupcakes was perfect! One for Luke, one each for the four boys attending the party, and one for Bennett (Jack Henry and his daddy ran an errand during cake time! ) So, finding that saved me a significant amount of time, as my alternative was baking cupcakes and somehow decorating them with something I could find. Or potentially, crafting the look of a soccer ball on top of the cupcakes, which would have been a disaster, I know. Big THANK YOU GOD is in order there.

Luke’s party was a faux sleepover (6-9 pm, kids in pjs), and let me tell you, it was wild. Very loud, which doesn’t bother me when there’s no one getting feelings hurt or physically hurt, which wasn’t always the case, and I just scheduled it for too long (lesson learned). But, I think everyone had a good time despite me redirecting their play a few times when it got out of hand! I know Luke really enjoyed himself.

jack henry joined the boys in the living room for pizza!

i know; so lame. but he loved them.

note the forced smile: "hurry up mom so we can sing and then eat!!"

love this expression when he opened his gifts! he loved everything the boys got him; they all chose very well!

Today was Luke’s actual birthday, which we spent at church, his soccer game, back here with my dad and AnnMarie for a bit so that he could open presents, and then we went out to CPK for dinner (a boy after my own heart!). He had a smile on his face all day long. Now, just a couple more weeks of school, and the Christmas fun can really begin!

Happy 7th Birthday, Luke!

Seven.  I almost can’t wrap my brain around that.  (For a little trip back in time, here’s five and six.)

Happy birthday to the boy who made me a mom. Every minute of this day seven years ago is etched in my mind forever. I love you, Luke!

(birthday recap coming soon!)

P.S. You’ll be seeing more of these pictures, taken by my talented friend, Sonya, soon!

Yikes.

I just got an email via Facebook from a high school friend, requesting my address. For an invitation to our 15-year class reunion this summer.

Pardon me while I go put on some anti-wrinkle cream and do a workout DVD.

Mama’s Letter to Santa

This was originally posted December 16, 2008. I’m busy right now and with nothing inspirational to write, this cracked me up to reread, since most of it is still true today. Additional comments from this year have been made in red.

(I TOTALLY ripped this idea off of my funny friend Karen’s blog, so sue me…but first go over and see what her kids are needing for Christmas…)

Dear Santa,

As you know, the kids have made excessively long lists, diagrams, and collages of the things they would like to receive for Christmas this year. Here are a few things that I’m requesting:

LUKE: A healthy dose of hurry-up. That boy is on his own schedule, and while that’s fine some of the time, it doesn’t always work out that he likes to dilly-dally.

BENNETT: Volume control. I’m going simple, here, Santa.

JACK HENRY: He would like his morning nap back, please. He apparently lost it somewhere in the last week and I’m just not OK with that yet. Oh, and if it’s not too much to ask, the ability to sit still during finger/toenail clipping so that it doesn’t always have to resemble a WWE Smackdown event.  Santa – I feel like you really delivered on this last year.  As long as he keeps taking his afternoon nap, we’re golden. This year, he needs to learn how to pee in the potty.  Please let the cool underwear he gets for Christmas make him actually want to try out getting rid of his diaper in the next several months.

MATT: For Charter television to make a deal already with the Big Ten Network so that all Illini games would be broadcast at our house.

ME: Patience by the truckload. A day at the spa. Jeans that fit without showing my butt. Thinner thighs. My 25-year-old-face back. New carpet in the playroom. (CHECK!) That agitator-less washer and dryer combo that I think would make me a better person. A desire to work out. Someone to clean up all of the new toys that the boys are getting for Christmas. A backyard makeover, and we might as well throw in a new front yard as well, since no grass grows there. The ability to get by on 4 hours of sleep a night.

Whew! Sorry, Santa…I got a bit greedy there at the end. I’ll leave the whole list, though, so you can just pick and choose.

I’ll leave the cookies and milk by the little pretend Santa’s workshop decoration, and some reindeer food* for you. I’ve been a pretty good girl this year.

Love,
Nicole

*glitter and oatmeal, sprinkled on the front lawn, and then messed up a bit in the morning.