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Today was one of those days that are gone too fast, but when you look back you realize it’s been a long day indeed.

My little bro was here and made me/us breakfast. I’m trying to cut out all dairy because of Rowan’s colic and he made sure to ask what was okay. He’s a good kid. We demoed a few new games on the xBox 360 - Jericho looks pretty good.

Then I tried to sew up some quick cotton throwing balls for the boys. I had the great idea to use the stuffing out of some old stuffed animals since I didn’t have any on hand. Ya know, the whole “reuse, reduce, recycle” and be thrifty idea. All was well until my mom pointed out that it would be like gutting and killing them. Thanks mom. I didn’t have the heart. On top of that, the lower tension on my sewing machine is suddenly out of whack again, it’s much too loose. I have no idea how to fix it and have had to take it in to the shop for this before. I have no manual as it was a “gift” from a friend. He never used it and I was always borrowing it. So the sewing machine is dead and so is the camera; Great.

The grand finale of the evening was Declan dumping out the whole $16 bottle of Rowan’s Mylicon drops. When he has the time to do these things I don’t know. There were 4 adults in the house at the time. There are only 4 rooms he can access if he kitchen gate is up.

Le sigh. Time to try and get myself and Rowan to sleep. Wish me luck. And maybe I can find some batting for pictures on the balls tomorrow. Despite everything they’re pretty cute.

It seems my youngest may have colic or some sort of reflux. Poor little guy. All of us here are running on little sleep and even less money, which causes great stress. To listen to a newborn wail and sob for hours at a time is enough to make my cheese slide right of the cracker. We’re trying some remedies to see if it’s really colic or if it’s some kind of 24 hour upset. Of course, it never fails that Declan chooses to be two right as Rowan has fallen asleep.

I just want to gush over my new little daycare guy. He has Down Syndrome and is just the cutest little guy ever. Apparently his parents had had a hard time trying to find a caregiver for him because he’s special needs. And here I am experienced and everything. I already know all the sign language he does and we have great teaching aids to help us help him. He sticks up for himself when the dog or other kids get in his face which makes everything so much easier. I don’t have to police the dog’s every move.

I spoke with an old friend tonight again. She has 3 girls, which is awesome because who would I be able to make these awesome things for:

• Patchwork Circle Skirt
• No Sew Tutu
• Faery Wings
• And such girl-like things…

Dinner tonight was delish - Chicken Quesadillas with Carmelized Onions, though the presentation was lacking cause Rowan was fussing. Breakfast was a modified pancake of sorts - 1/2c peanutbutter, 2 eggs and some honey fried up like pancakes. They’re great because it’s pretty nutrition dense and sweet enough to not need syrup, so little hands can just pick them up. Planning on making some PeanutButter Chocolate Chip cookies tomorrow. Yay! No pictures though, unless I can find my moms camera.

Not much happened today. We had a nice mellow day with one of my new daycare kids. He got along perfectly with us and loved the dog so much that he was tuckered out enough to doze in the high chair at lunch. His mom is friendly and personable as well.

On a less cheerful note , my camera has officially died. It started acting funny a few days ago and would give me “Lens Error” if I zoomed in too close. Now the lens is permanently stuck, makes a shiver-inducing grinding noise and refuses to work. That’s what I get for buying a camera because it was a good deal. I’m gonna take it in when we get the money and compare the cost of fixing it to the cost of buying a new one. If I could, I’d buy this beauty, I’ve been drooling over it for months now (And it’s on sale too!), but I wouldn’t complain if this fell from the sky.

Check out some of the awesome stuff I’ve found lately:

• 5 dangerous things you should let your kids do
• The 70 best lifehacks of 2007
• The precious gift of parental neglect
• Custom Watermarks
• Pear Crisps with vanilla brown butter - CANNOT wait until pears are in season again.

Dinner was Spinach and Ricotta Cheese Ravoli with a light Parmesan/tomato sauce. Yum!

So the holidays are just about wrapping up and it’s time to go back to normal.

If I could leave up the Christmas decorations year round I would. I love the lights and the smells and the countless hours worrying if so&so is going to like what you bought or made them. Of course, if I left all the Christmas stuff out, it would be destroyed by little hands like everything else I own.

We’re super broke, so no gifts for anyone but the kidlets. Declan received a huge wooden pirate ship, complete with little wooden pirates, canons and a plank (as in “Arg! Walk the plank, Matey.”) He also got about 87 courses worth of wooden play food - he loves the ketchup bottle. Rowan… I dunno. Somehow I ended up buying him like 8 wooden rattles. When is he going to use them?

We went to the In Laws for Christmas dinner. I wasn’t looking forward to seeing certain people and was half tempted not to go because of them, but Christmas has always been a fun time for us. Ann made the day wonderful as usual. Dinner was delicious, even though Rowan insisted I eat it cold. Matt’s parents bought just about every large thing on our wishlist. I never hoped that we’d get so many things that we’ve been needing, but to receive them as gifts was such a treat. The boys’ Aunt came this time, though she was absent from Thanksgiving. She loves to buy things for Declan and we are grateful for the things she buys, but to be truthful I’d be happy to never have a toy that required batteries again. She bought a Tickle Me Cookie Monster this year. It’s one of those toys you see as an adult and think it’s adorable (it originally made me laugh), but when you see it as a parent it makes you want to cry. My only saving grace is Declan goes between ambivalent about it to terrified of it. Once Cookie Monster starts throwing himself to the ground and rolling around, Declan books it! Some out of town relatives of Matt’s family showed up, so I was able to meet some of the extended family. Unfortunately I also got the opportunity to try and ignore Matt’s thieving brother for the day. That was fun… not.

I’d still like to get the kids down to ZooLights, but it has been so, so cold for us Arizona Natives.

Happy Holidays everyone. I hope yours was as amazing as ours was.

• He brings you his last Skittle. Not just any Skittle - the one he dug out of the couch which has to be six months old and is covered in lint, hair and sweat from his chubby little hand.
• He points to every picture of beautiful women in magazines and says “Mama”.
• He attempts to brush your curly-ass hair… with a round brush.
• He kisses your boo-boo’s.
• He yells at the dog when she gets in your face.
• He brings you a small wooden treasure chest… full of soggy cereal because you said you were starving.