I've had the best two days! Yesterday was the first day both kids seemed to be like their old selves, so we did Christmas crafts and made our plans of Christmas-type-stuff for the next week. I spoke to a friend of mine I have spoken to in FOREVER, and it made me so happy to talk to her! I even got to study, and I slept better than I have in days since Roo didn't have any coughing fits at night.

Today I had a meeting at work, saw 3 clients, and then met my good friend to see New Moon again for the 3rd time. We had a fantastic time, laughing and joking the whole time, and now I'm getting ready to go shopping with my Mom (I'll be window shopping for the time being, seeing as our account is once again in the double digits).

I couldn't ask for more.

I can't believe it's Thursday already! It has been such a whirlwind week for me with both kids being so sick, well, I haven't been able to do much of anything but take care of them.

I'm sad that Christmas is almost here; I haven't been able to do all the Christmas-type things I usually do in preparation of the day, and that's sad to be because it's Ian that's been missing out. I'm hoping to get to Rogers Christmas Village this weekend, depending on how my Roo is doing...

I'm not ready for Monday. This has been the best couple of days, and I don't want the weekend to end.

Friday I had a late lunch with a friend/coworker when we were done seeing clients in the jail. From there I picked Ian up from Tae Kwon Do early because I was supposed to be going with a friend of mine to see New Moon again. She ended up not being able to go, so when Sean got home we watched another Christmas movie together. Roo went to bed early, so we ended up playing games and doing some Christmas crafts.

Saturday Sean had plans for a few hours, so the kids and I went shopping at BJs with my mother. We got back around noon, and Sean was home again by that time. Roo napped and I studied, then we went to get something to eat. We were going to go to the boat parade in St. Petersburg, but Roo wasn't doing too well, so we just came home and watched another Christmas movie. Both kids went to bed early, so Sean and I wrapped presents and watched Santa Clause 3 together.

Today Sean and Ian went out for the morning while I stayed home. I cleaned out Ian's room, put away about 5 loads of laundry, went through Roo's toys, cleaned out part of her room and the laundry room, and by that time Ian and Sean were back home. Both kids had lunch, then a tubbie, and now Roo is napping off a fever (hopefully), Sean's in bed, and Ian and I are getting ready for our "Christmas Eve Lite" at my parents. Since my brother and his family are going up North for the holidays, we're going to have our annual celebration a little early this year. Food, family, kids, gifts, laughter, love... Who could ask for more?!

Ian was sick on Monday night. Tuesday we get a call from the school at around 9:30am to come and get him because he can't stop coughing. Thus began our 4 hour nebulizer treatments, days off of work, and stress between Sean and me. But, 'tis the season, so I was expecting it!

What broke my heart was Wednesday. He had a field trip downtown to the Tampa Theater to have lunch and see Rainbow Fish with the whole Kindergarten grade, but he was too sick to go. So, tonight we're going to do homework when he gets home (yes, he actually made it through a whole day at school!), then we're going to have a light dinner together. Then we're going to decorate our windows with some decorations, and I taped Rudolph's Shiny New Year, so we're going to pop popcorn when we're done with the windows, throw a blanket on the floor, and hang out together.

I love the holidays!

OK; I'm beginning to get a bit freaked out by my son.

 I wrote an entry a few days ago about his telling me that he used to live in Africa. I do believe in past lives, and I do believe that children tend to remember their past lives and then their memories tend to dissolve as they get older; however, I didn't really think much of the whole thing because it's never been presented to me within my own family! I'm truly beginning to wonder about Ian though, because his stories of Africa and his time there is getting very specific.

Saturday morning when we were leaving the house, he asked me about the rip in our screen door. I told him that I didn't know because, quite honestly, we were running behind schedule and I didn't want to have a long discussion about how Sean ripped the screen door when we moved in. Ian was quiet a moment after I responded to his question, and then he said, "I was living in Africa when Daddy ripped the screen door. It was, I think, 2 years after that I came here to live with you." Let me tell you, I about his the ground when he said that! He is exactly right: We moved in here December of 2001 and Ian arrived in early November of 2003 (but he was due December of 2003).

So, I decided to ask some very basic, general questions. What came out was this: He and Roo were living together but they were "bigger" (i.e. older). They didn't have parents or anyone to take of them so they decided they wanted to come here so that we would take care of them. They had no TV and no computer where they were living, and they weren't very happy. Interesting.

Today I went shopping with my mother, and when I came home I was putting a DVD in for Ian to watch. He says to me, "Mom, do you like people with brown skin?" I said, "Of course I do. I like people of all colors." He looked at me and said, "I didn't like it when I had brown skin. It felt weird and my hair felt funny. My hair was a different color too. Now I have white skin, and is this blond hair?"

After catching my breath I came out to the couch and retold the story to Sean. He then tells me that the whole ride home from the party yesterday he was talking about Africa. He told Sean that he and Reilly were 18 years old when they lived there, they lived together in a house, and that they had no bubblegum there, that some days he didn't eat anything at all, and that their water was "icky."

Um, really?