Wrap Up

OK, here goes.

Christmas Eve morning finally arrived, and Mira woke up saying her stomach didn't feel good. I figured it was the lack of vegetables and abundance of candy canes from the previous few days, so we carried on as usual. An hour and a half later we were in the checkout line at Kroger with a cart full of produce when Mira got that look on her face. You know the look. I was holding my new coat, so I stuck it in front of her face just in time to catch most of the vomit. Before you're a parent you could never imagine putting any article of your own clothing in front of someone who is about to vomit, but as a mother it doesn't even require a moment's thought. She was shocked and horrified, and we quickly abandoned the cart and headed for the car where she threw up one more time. We got home, and Mira settled on the couch to watch a Scooby Doo holiday DVD. I e-mailed Jay from my phone to let him know we wouldn't be able to make it to his house for Christmas day. Within 20 minutes, Mira was asking for food. I encouraged her to wait, but I started cooking some rice for Ryan. When the rice was finished cooking, I let Mira have a few bites. That sat well, so she had two whole bowls of rice and within another 30 minutes, she was outside running with the dogs. It probably was a virus, she just recovers really quickly from stomach things. Happily nobody else got sick, but we still spent Christmas day at home alone just to be sure we didn't spread icky stomach flu germs to anyone.

That made for a peaceful, stress-free, relaxed Christmas day. The kids woke up at 6 am, marking the first Christmas ever that I haven't woken them up. Mira was so excited she was shaking. I would have liked to be around more people, but they had such a nice day playing with their new things and not having to rush to go anywhere. I did get to talk on the phone to a lot of friends and family I don't talk to often. Oh, and you'll never guess what the kids got me. Oh. OK, you guessed. Yes, a robe. And some earrings, a bracelet, and a button that says "Moms Rock."

Friday Nichole and Margaux came over to have our Christmas celebration together. Last year we didn't get around to doing that til March, so this made us feel like we were really on top of things.

Sunday was supposed to be a relatively mild day, so we went to Six Flags for Holiday in the Park. It was more crowded than I've ever seen it, but we still had a fun day. The temperature quickly plummeted from pleasant to bone chilling when it got dark, so the last hour at the park the kids alternated saying "I want to go home." We had ridden with friends, so we weren't immediately able to leave. It might be a win, though, because neither of them is likely to be dying to go to Six Flags again any time in the next couple of years.

That brings us to the new year. I don't even remember what I was doing last year on the first, but I can certainly say my life looked a lot different. I'm really looking forward to my first full year in our new home and my first full year as a single mother. The past few months have been really fun, peaceful and joyful. We've all adjusted extremely well and very quickly to the big changes in our lives and find ourselves really looking forward to an even better 2008.