Four

She's four years old today. My table is covered in Princess gift bags, Princess wrapping paper, Princess clothes, Princess shoes, Princess movies. She keeps saying "It's wonderful, Mummy! Just wonderful! It's gorgeous!"

What happened to the baby, or the toddler? Where have the last four years gone?

Also, I just finished making a Black Forest Cake for Mary's birthday, and it looks not half bad.




When did we get from this:




To this?

Not So Merry

I just spent the morning in the city. Frances is still sick. Sicker, really. She's had a fever hovering just below 40 degrees celsius (104 Fahrenheit) since yesterday afternoon. She's not eating, she's lethargic and very obviously in pain somewhere. We took her to the doctor, got her checked out, went for bloodwork, got some new antibiotics and are now home. The Dr. said that if her temperature stays as high as it is, that tonight we should take her to the hospital. Being a natural worrier, I tend to jump to WORST CASE SCENARIO MADE FOR TV!!! conclusions when things go poorly, especially with my children. The fact that Frances also has several scary and oddly unexplainable bruises is wigging me out just a little bit. I am trying not to freak out. I'm trying to stay calm and rational, and on the outside, I'm succeeding pretty well I think. Inside though, I am a quivering mass of worry and panic.

Anyways, Merry Christmas to you all. May your holidays be better than mine.

Sick

It's been a while, eh?

The last month has disappeared in a haze of germs and coughing. Frances, Mary and I have all been sick pretty for pretty much the whole month. Fun fun. Today we took the girls for a recheck, the Dr. took one listen to Frannies chest and sent her off for x-rays. Turns out Miss Fran has pneumonia. I feel like a stellar parent.

Anyways, other than being sick, and trying not to freeze (-46?? WTF??), we haven't been doing much. Preschool, dance and skating are taking up Mary's time when we are able to leave the house. Frances' vocabulary is developing in leaps and bounds. She is getting very good at making her desires known. She also knows some sign language, which she uses frequently.

Ian's Christmas party for work was last month, before the long stretch of sick. We had a wonderful childless weekend of party, shopping, fancy dinner and concert going. It was a wonderful refresher, and it served to remind me why I married Ian in the first place. I wish we could go out on child free dates more often that twice a year.

So, that's really all that's been happening. The next couple of weeks will be filled with Christmas preparations and baking, administering medication and fighting over toys.

If I don't update this again before the time comes, Merry Christmas to you all, and have a wonderful New Year!