Madsen Kiddos: December 2008

Merry Christmas Eve

Christmas is a wonderful time of year. I love it. I blame this on my mother. Christmas is a holiday steeped in tradition for us. Every Christmas eve we get to open a present and we read the Christmas story and we usually had a Christmas play. And so many presents. John and I can't quite match the 5 children at home present load, but I like to try.
Christmas starts before October, when no one gets anything new in the Madsen household. Everything we purchase gets wrapped in coordinating red and white wrapping paper and labeled. Items are put in a red and green bin until the day after Thanksgiving when the tree goes up and the neatly wrapped present pile begins. Since I want a big pile, all clothing and anything household that isn't cleaner goes under the tree. Most of Danielle's huge pile of presents last year was clothing she needed or diapers and wipes. They looked cute and she didn't really know the difference. So this year I was wrapping all the presents. I explained to John that all purchases in the Madsen household after October get wrapped. He was assigned some housework while I worked on our all important present pile. A few minutes later he took a break from the dishes to comment on my job. He looked up and pointed imperiously- "you can't wrap that for Christmas!"
I guess he was right. It was a clearance copy after all.
Husbands are always trying to break the rules these days.
I hope this doesn't throw off the equal number of presents per person rule.
Meanwhile my mother's Christmas spirit is so big she isn't ready for Christmas to end after it is over- she buys presents for next year. She is making us presents for next year and I know she has worked on them for hours. I already feel behind.

Sad Times

Well I finally Finished Danielle's Stocking and it has a robot on it. Danielle loves robots. She squeals about Wall-E and tries to get the wall-e preview to replay again and again. When we watch Wall-E she says "Oh no, Oh no, oh no." when she gets super excited about Wall E. It is adorable. So I decided that Danielle needed a robot on her stocking. Some day when she is older I will have to ask her what she actually wants on her stocking and then she will probably get a new one but we all have stockings for Christmas!
Except Austin. I captured his sadness in a photo. The poor boy has been laying around all night just thinking about how everyone else has a personalized stocking and he doesn't. Austin is still a part of our family though.
And now for what you come to my blog for- the bad news. Danielle climbed out of her crib. She climbs out and falls and hurts herself so she got to make the jump to a toddler bed this week. I wasn't ready for her to be done with the baby cage but I freaked out when I saw her bruises and I don't want her hurt. So she has been grouchy and doesn't want to take any naps. We say- let's read your book and say prayers and go to bed and she says "NO!" Why always with the no. She likes to tell me no- she would not like a sandwich- then she says "cookie." Obviously you want a cookie not a sandwich. Except in the case of tuna fish, which is a surprise favorite. So rather than getting the sleep she needs Danielle is slightly surly and very argumentative.

And finally- here is our routine for curing the cats of ringworm- Simon isn't responding well.
1. Take towels from the kennels and put them in the sanitize wash - don't start it yet.
2. Assemble cat cones and mix cleaning solution
3. Sanitize kennels with bleach solution and add a new towel to them.
4. Pour fluid into the sink.
5. Restrain the kitty- best with two people-
6. completely soak the kitties entire bodies without getting any in their eyes ears or mouth. Although Maya needs a lot of liquid on her face since it is growing next to her left eye. This is best done by completely submerging one side of the kitty and then turning them over (just pouring doesn't even count).
7. Put the cone on the kitty.
8. Place the first kitty in the kennel and lock it- they can't come out until they are completely dry. If they lick the sulfur bath off of themselves they can get ulcers. Of course Maya already has gingivitis- possibly from licking it off her face.
9. Wash the second cat and place them in their kennel.
10. Completely sanitize every surface in the bathroom with a bleach solution.
11. Wash everything that you can- like bowls and toys (no fabric toys for kitties with ringworm.) Discard any scratching posts or other toys that can't be sanitized in boiling water or bleached.
12. Throw away all the litter and clean litter boxes with the bleach solution.
13. Wash the clothes that you wore in the process of the cleaning.
14. When this doesn't prove effective, start oral suspension which could cause liver problems.
repeat twice a week for 4-12 weeks. Enjoy!

Stockings

one of the most sacred traditions of Christmas is the stocking. The best presents come in stockings- small ones that are wrapped in small print paper. My mom always had plastic bins that she used for our stockings and I loved them. I love the cute little things you find and that there is always an orange in the bottom. We all open our stockings with so much excitement I am surprised we make it to the presents. My grandmother Sharp made all the family stockings and I always liked that they matched. Having a stocking with your name on it is so exciting- and we got to take turns finding a spot for our stockings before we went to bed.
Well this year we got out the Christmas stockings and I realized how disappointed I was in John's. My grandma didn't want to make any more so she doesn't make them for the in laws of her grandchildren. John's stocking was sadly store-bought, and it doesn't even match. Also I discovered that I have Paul's Christmas stocking- maybe I stole it for Danielle since she doesn't even have a stocking. I suppose Paul might want that stocking- but he is also invited for Christmas. That way he can pick it up instead of me mailing it.
After thinking about buying matching ones I got sad- I love my stocking! So I decided to finally use the pattern my grandma Sharp sent me for stockings. I really wanted John's and Danielle's stockings to match my stocking. I have had the same stocking my whole like and I love it. My dad still has his from growing up and stockings are probably my favorite part of Christmas (thanks to my mother's mad stocking skills.) I thought of making really simple ones with only red and white since most of our ornaments (on the front of our tree) are red and white and all of our wrapping paper is. Then I asked John what he wanted on his stocking. He said the three wise men and the star. This was a little bit fancier than the three felt stars I had planned. I decided to post a picture of the stocking I made John and ask- what should I put on Danielle's stocking? John suggested sheep and I thought- oh I could also put a manger in the background- the only problem is that her stocking would be pretty bland if it had sheep and a manger- no color at all. She really likes robots- but should I put them on her stocking? I don't know what to do. You can't see it in the picture but I put John's name in his stocking. and I hand embroidered some of the wise men's clothing. I am pretty proud of that thing. Maybe Danielle wants to wise men too.
The other stocking is based on what one of my friends wanted but I don't know if they will like it. Especially when it is next to my wise men stocking.

My My.

Well I have been told that I need to update. The Madsen Empire has been plagued by the worst colds ever. Turns out we had nasty sinus infections. And our cats have ringworm. And I do. We get to dip them in a sulfur bath twice a week. If you think normal cats and their litter is stinky you should try shaved cats that have been dipped in sulfur bath and their little. And I found out that I am allergic to cats. Hence my lingering cough and itchiness whenever I see them. We don't know what we are going to do but I think we are going to try to help get them better already. Maya has a terrible cough. I feel like our adventure in cat ownership has been a trainwreak.
Anyway Danielle gets really excited about presents and she occasionally has been known to go quiet and sneak a present off to open. Luckily she has only found small ones, like hallmark ornaments I bought last year after Christmas and wrapped up. I discovered that I will never have to buy wrapping paper again. Danielle got a present in the mail the other day from her grandma Madsen and she opened it up immediately. I don't know how she knew the package was for her. Maybe she can read her name already. I always knew I was raising a baby genius. I captured her moment but she was so excited that she didn't want to look at the camera. It just seems like my camera doesn't do a good job and the photos are always of the top of her head or half of the photo is occupied by an enormous baby hand. So the cute photos of the event are a little blurry and not that cute.
Turns out her favorite thing in the kit was a plastic pair of scissors. Kids just know what scissors are. They must be born with a radar for dangerous things. One of the most terrifying moments of my life was when Danielle handed me my fabric shears one day. Turns out she was tall enough to get them off the table. I was just glad she knew to give them to me so I told her she was great. After that she would try anything to get the scissors so she could bring them to us for praise. I feel like a lot of the time when I think I can teach Danielle something by praising her she gets a little confused. Also sometimes she likes to see if she can make her parents mad. Like when she decides to hit daddy in the face and see if he cares. Recently we started a new initiative called- is what she really wants attention? That was it is easy to remain calm in the face of seemingly vindictive baby behavior. Thank goodness for those child development classes or I would think there was something seriously wrong with her. I was only a note taker for those classes though, so I am still baffled by some of the crazy things kids will do.
I have been making things for claireandjanae.etsy.com and selling some stuff. Really it's nice to have people like what I am making- because I like to make things more than I have an actual need for the things so it's nice that people give me money so I can buy more fabric. I love fabric. John recently went to Ikea with me and we built a table where I could make things. We got adjustable height legs for 30 dollars each leg-(cheap!) the top was also about 30 dollars and is big so I have lots of room for sewing. I set the legs almost at the highest setting- that way I can cut out fabric and stand up. The table is tall enough that Danielle can't reach the scissors. I love it so much. I have been organizing all of my sewing things in the guest room and there is still room for bed, which is good since my bedroom makes me itchy from the cats. I feel so good having my own space. It surprises me how nice it is. I think everyone should have their own room- or at least their own bookshelf or desk.
I have decided that I would make a revised Christmas List based on what I really want. I am also done with most of my Christmas Shopping so this list is a bit silly.
1. Fabric.
2. A fancy camera to take photos of stuff I want or just get a picture of Danielle that is in focus. Just today I noticed several of the functions of our camera stopped working. I think the warranty probably expired yesterday.
3. ric rac.
4. Fabric.
5. A fancy embroidery machine.
6. people to buy things from my website.
7. A fancy purse.
8. thread or ribbon
9. a pincushion
10. a 12 inch roll of poly tubing to make plastic bags with. from Uline.com
That is my revised list. I am constantly thinking of new things to put on this list. Lucky for me I have a blog where I can write about all the things I want. Then the next day I can write a new list. I don't really expect to get these things. It's like the act of making the list gives me some portion of those things- like filling up a shopping cart online and then closing the window when you realize you can't afford any of it.
I decided to post a picture of a little cuddle blanket I made the other day. It is a monster and I am pretty proud of it.
I am glad that I am feeling better. It is nice to feel better. And to make stockings for everyone in your family.