We are all a little sickly right now, and I'm so over it. Andy suggested this morning that we make a family appointment with the doctor and just get us all healthy once and for all. I wish it were that easy! Evan is wheezy and coughing, and has been since the day of his birth. We can't seem to find anything truly wrong with him, and he is eating and sleeping well in spite of it, so there's not much to do. Andy and I are both coughing some, and he has a pain in his neck (besides me. haha) that has him taking muscle relaxers. Noelle has been coughing for some time, and has the occasional fever. Like today.

This morning we're watching some tv, as is necessary on any sick day. She told me to pick a show for her. That's when you know she's sick, because she is usually very opinionated. She did tell me to get something "on demand" though (a function of our cable where there are shows at the ready all the time). So I said how about Berenstein Bears? She said sure, but it's actually Balancing Bears. I laughed and said no, it's Berenstein Bears. She laughed, paused, and said "It's Balancing Bears, actually." Then we both laughed and I turned it on. What a goofball. Sometimes you just need to let a sick 3 year old think they are right.

Before Thanksgiving we implemented a marble jar reward system for Noelle. We know that in general, kids respond better to positive reinforcement than negative, and Noelle is no exception. So the idea is that when she obeys right away, does something kind, or otherwise behaves well, we will reward her with a marble to be put in her jar. When the jar is full, she gets a prize of some kind. This time, it was a My Little Pony. And finally, almost 3 weeks later, she filled up her jar! Here she is proudly holding up her pony. And snacking on green beans. Hopefully she has a better grasp on the marble jar concept now, and fills up her jar much faster this time!

I have been wanting to blog more, but I can't always think of something to write about. I've come across a lot of mommy blogs that participate in Works for Me Wednesday and I thought it might be fun to try. So, here's something I'd like to share that works for me.

Noelle is a snacker, and would eat snacks all day if she could. I decided to capitalize on her desire for constant snacks and use it to get more fruits and veggies in her diet. I bought some small bowls with lids, and I keep them in the fridge filled with things like carrots, snap peas, green beans, apples, pears, and grapes. I put them in a little plastic container on the bottom shelf of the fridge, along with some string cheese, and she is allowed to go and get something from this container whenever she would like a snack. She eats healthy snacks and gains some independence, and I feel good about her snacks and am free from always being the one to get it for her. Win win!

When I originally thought of the idea, I intended to put together little snack size bags of crackers, rice cakes, etc. and put them in the pantry for the same reason, although I was going to require her to ask permission to get those out. But she is fine with her fruits and veggies so far, and only sometimes asks for "meat thins" or "salty crackers" (wheat thins and saltines).

As a complete side note, do you see that little bowl on top of the tupperware in the back of my fridge? We went to McDonalds last week (lest you think I always feed my kid so healthfully) and were given caramel to go along with the apple dippers. The caramel used to come in a prepackaged container, then for the last several months we haven't gotten caramel at all. Then last week, we were given an upside down sundae lid, filled with caramel, with an upside down small drink lid on top. What?

Last week at Bible Study, we were talking about clothes. Before the study started, of course, because we never go off topic! Anyway, one of the ladies mentioned that it seems like since she had a baby, all of her shirts are too short. I couldn't believe it, I had noticed the same thing about my shirts! I had not connected it to having babies, but since she said that, I definitely agree with the timing. What could cause this phenomenon? There are a few different factors that could be at play.

1. Our bodies are not the same. Clothes definitely do not fit the same as they used to. Nursing can explain a tiny bit of the shirt shortening, but not all these women are nursing, so it isn't all because of THAT. And it can't all be because of gained weight, because we had all lost the baby weight, too.

2. We don't have time to take proper care of our laundry, so the shirts have literally shrunk. This would make sense if they were smaller all over, but for me at least, they are mostly just shorter.

3. Styles have changed since before we had babies, and we just haven't bought new clothes. If Target and Old Navy are any indication, long shirts are definitely 'in' right now. I can't buy anything from those stores because they are not only long, but tight as well, and tightness over my stomach and waist area has never looked good on me, especially not post-baby. Some of my clothes were bought during college, but I have some from after Noelle or even after Charlotte, because my shirts were too short back then, and they are also too short now.

4. The shirts were always too short, but we're just now realizing it. This was definitely the case with men's shorts back in the 70's and 80's. It took a few "accidental" losses at the laundromat for my mom to weed all of those out of my dad's closet!

5. It's a mental thing, because maternity shirts are soooo long, and so we get used to that length. Possible.

Whatever the cause, I have a lot of shirts that are headed to the donation pile, and that means it's time to hit the stores! I guess this isn't that bad of a phenomenon after all! Now if I could just find some time to go shopping...

Last night while Andy was getting Noelle ready for bed, he grabbed ahold of her arm to help her up out of her bed and she started screaming. This is not an unusual thing lately, she likes to scream whenever we are asking her to do something she doesn't want to do. Soon, though, we realized it wasn't just her stubbornness making her scream, it was her arm. She hasn't left her bed since, and screams if we so much as try to touch her arm. At first we thought it was probably mostly mental, but as the night went on and she kept waking up screaming, we decided she is truly hurt. She hasn't moved her arm since it happened last night, and that's way too long for a 2 year old to be milking it. Although if any 2 year old could, it would be mine! Right, mom?

So, we are currently waiting to hear from the on call doctor at her pediatrician's office to see if we should take her to the clinic or the ER. You know this girl is hurting when she decided it was too painful to think about getting out of bed to even watch a show! So we improvised and carried her on her stretcher/mattress out to the living room. She's living the high life!



UPDATE: We just got home from the doctor's office, where Noelle was diagnosed with "nursemaid's elbow." Her pediatrician popped it back into place and told us to give her Motrin and monitor it to make sure she starts to use it normally. It's already better, but since it was out of joint all night long she will likely have some pain for at least today. Interestingly enough, the website I just looked up about nursemaid's elbow says it is most likely in girls ages 1-3, and most likely on the left side. Noelle fits right in there! Looks like it might be a Redbox movie day. :)