Whew! Well we are finally home and getting settled back in. The flights were pretty uneventful- except the one time during the first flight that Henry took off his headphones (he was watching Finding Nemo), tunred to me and said "Mommy, Mommy, I want to give you a hug before the plane goes down". Ummmm....what? I am not a huge fan of flying as it is, so I was pretty sure he was having some sort of premonition that we were going to crash any minute. I guess he isn't psychic because we made it with no problems. The second plane was only about half full and the flight was only about a half an hour, so it wasn't bad at all. My biggest concern was trying to keep Henry awake so he wouldn't get a power nap and then not want to go to sleep when we got home. He ended up staying awake until the ride home and he was so tired that he didn't even wake up when we moved him into his bed.

Our visit with Memere and Pepere was wonderful. It was so nice to have everyone staying in the same house, though J and K might say different since they were the ones sleeping on air mattresses in the basement. We just hung out and relaxed and chatted most of the time. Sam is absolutely perfect. It was a little surreal to see my J and K with a baby. We didn't get to see most of the pregnancy so, even though we knew he was in there, it was a shock that there was a whole new person in the family. It is going to be so much fun when he is old enough that he and Henry can kind of play together. My folks spoiled us rotten, so it is going to take a while to adjust to the real world, where I actually have to get my butt off the couch and take care of things once in a while. I'll have to post pictures later, since we didn't actually take any so we have to depend on the kindness of Auntie K and Pepere to send us copies.

Our bags are still stuffed full and sitting in the middle of the kitchen. We got so much stuff for Christmas. I think the belle of the ball was the huge bucket of Tinker Toys. I can't decide who liked them more, though-Henry, J, Kyle or my dad. I think they all spent equal time playing with them.

Fast forward to 10:30pm because I forgot I saved this as a draft. Oops. For some reason Kyle thought that renting the new Miami Vice movie was a good idea. An hour and change later, he is futzing around on ITunes and I can't seem to turn it off. It could possibly be the worst movie I've seen all year. And it is the last day of the year, so that's saying something. Colin Farrell isn't even hot in it, he has this nasty ass moustache thing going on that is just distracting and gross. Pth.

Okay. I should go try to finish this cold pack cozy for Mahar, I was just checking on and saw this saved as a draft.

See you next year!

I'm such a dork.

What to do in the last 2 hours before we leave from the airport. This is such a weird space of time, where I'm sure I have a million last minute things to do but can't think of a single one. So I sit. Trying to kill time so we can hurry up and get our travelling underway. Kyle is still sleeping, so I can't even putz around in the bedroom.

Henry woke up this morning and declared "Okay. I'm ready to fly on the airplane now". I guess he had to talk himself into it. He had a bad dream about falling the other night and I have been secretly afraid that it is a preminition. I hate flying. Our two flights today are split up well so that they are both relatively short, so hopefully it will go by fast.

He is getting very tired of taking his medicine. usually he fights for a minute and then gives in. This morning he started crying when he saw the syringe. He was genuinely frustrated that he keeps taking it like a champ and is rewarded for his compliance by having to take more. Poor kid. I held him and told him how much I know it sucks to do something you don't want to do over and over and then I made him take it. Mean old mommy. Once he swallowed it, it was no big deal, but I still felt bad. So bad, in fact, that I let him bite the head off of the gingerbread boy that I got for him at the bakery last night. Cookies at 7am, what could be finer?

I can't believe it, but I didn't know what yarn to pack. I packed what I need to finish up that last pair of pants, but those will be done soon, only a leg and a half to go. They'll probably be done tomorrow. I then just sat staring at my stash having no idea what I want to knit. I packed yarn for a pair of armwarmers and a hat for myself, and then I pooped out. I don't think Henry will wear anything I knit and I don't want to commit to an adult project. I should throw in a skein or two for a shower gift for Kim. I really want to knit the Rogue pullover hodie with Celtic cables, but that is a little big for me right now. And I dont have any yarn for it anyway. I'd love to do it in Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece. Mmmmmmmmmmm...yummy.

Okay I'm waking Kyle up in 45 minutes. We have to:

*Pack Henry's medicine (which is supposed to be refrigerated, so I'm waiting until the last minute) and my shoes, which are in the van already
*Get Henry dressed and ready to go
*Pack the car
*Go to the post office
*Go to the bakery and grab some breakfast
*Go to the bank machine
*Go drop the fishies off at Liz's house-we're down to 3 now.
*Go to the airport!

Okay. Henry is requesting that I play Play-Doh with him. I'm off. See you in CT!

...HENRYWATCH 2006 UPDATE...

Well, Henry has officially been fever free for 24 hours. He hasn't had any cold medicine or fever reducer since yesterday afternoon and he hasn't spiked in his temperature at all. He has been running around and playing all day like the big spaz that he is, so it looks good for Sunday to see the baby. I would wait until the end of the week to get that "cousins" picture (if at all) but I am pretty confident that we will all be fine and dandy. He still has to take the TamiFlu twice a day until Sunday, which sucks, but we'll do it. He haaaaaaaates it and I don't blame him. Until yesterday we were mixing it together with the super sweet cold medicine so it wasn't as bad, but now that ti is straight up TamiFlu, he's fighting us a bit more. So far he isn't spitting it out, though, which is good. And suprizing.

This time tomorrow we'll be in CT!!! I was supposed to give Henry a bath tonight but decided to do laundry instead. "Can't you do both?", you might ask. No. Henry pretty much lives in fear of the buzzer that goes off when the dryer is on. If he has to pee or poop when the dryer is running he will do so only with his shoulders pulled all the way up and his hands clasped firmly over his ears. It terrifies him. So I wasn't going to make him sit in the bathtub like that. If I am feeling exceedingly ambitious in the morning I'll give him a bath before we leave. Otherwise we'll just show up stinky. I have the feeling that the grandparents won't mind the little dreads in the back of his hair.

Okay. Back to packing.

...HENRYWATCH 2006 UPDATE...

Well, he was still "normal" temperature when we gave him his meds and put him to bed tonight. He also ate a good dinner, so that is a good sign. I am hoping that this just continues the way it is. So far, so good. I hope that the weather is nice tomorrow (it rained all day today) so he can get outside and run around a little. He goes outside to play every day at school, so he isn't used ot being stuck inside all day. usually when the weather is bad we go to play with the big train set at Barnes and Noble or at LEAST go hang out at the bakery for a while. He didn't leave the house all day today, the poor kid was bored ot death. If the weather is still crappy tomorrow I think we are going to do some art projects. I have all the stuff to make playdough and he just got a big bucket of art supplies for Xmas, so we'll think of something. AND, I have a box of chocolate and cream cheese brownie mix waiting to be made, so that might be fun. I also have to do some laundry in preparation for the big trip!

On the work front, I am on my LAST pair of longies on my customs list! Then I have a whole. week. off. until the list opens back up for new orders. I have to figure out what I am going to knit in that week off. I really should work on the hot pack cozy for Mahar, but I haven't talked to him in a long while, so I'm not even sure if we're still on or not. I've been wanting a pair of armwarmers for myself out of the malabrigo stash, but I don't know. I also thought about making Henry a pair of lounge pants, but i don't know if I want to waste my fun knitting time on something I don't know if I'll ever convince the kid to wear. We'll see. I am going to bring a few skeins of different yarn and see what comes out.

Saturday I am going to get up and go to the bakery for muffins, come home and do some last minute packing, get all showered up and then we're off! We have to drop Henry's remaining fish off at Liz's house (we are down to 4 fishies at this point) so they can get fed while we're out of town. And then off to the airport to fly away home.

I'm tired. But woo! It's my turn to sleep in tomorrow morning! I know Kyle is going to stay up late watching A Scanner Darkly (which looks way to pretentious for my taste) but I am going to kick his booty out of the bed in the morning anyway. Night night!

...HENRYWATCH 2006 UPDATE...

Henry just woke up from his nap. Of course the first thing I did was ask him how he felt. "Good". I have my suspicions that, were he currently undergoing Chinese water torture and I asked him how he was feeling, he would still say "good", so I did the super accurate mama's-lips-to-forehead test. His forehead was delightfully cool, even after being under the covers. A quick underarm test with the brand spankin' new Spongebob Squarepants thermometer (the ear ones were $50!!!) confirmed a "normal" temperature of 99.2-underarm "average" temps linger around 99.6 (according to the thermometer insert), so we're good. I will take it again before he goes to bed and before he gets his flu/cough medicine cocktail and see what we get. He also ate a good breakfast and a big bowl of oatmeal for lunch, so his appetite seems fine.

From the other room I just heard-

(random plastic sound)
Kyle: What're you doing Henry?
Henry: I'm breaking this.
Kyle: Oh.

Yup. It is shaping up to be a run of the mill day in the Kett house. Yay!

Oh, also a little PSA. In the coming days please stay as far away from Target as humanly possible. I went there to fill Henry's second ThermaFlu prescription this afternoon and decided to wander around and buy some crap we don't need while they were finishing it up. The toy aisle was like Lord of the Flies. Dozens of parents shoving each others' shopping carts out of the way to get to various "must have" toys. Scary. It took me almost 20 minutes just to get out of the parking lot. I hate to think of what Wal-mart must look like right about now. *shudder*

HENRYWATCH 2006 UPDATE:

Well, Henry took his Tamiflu/Tylenol Cold combo last night wihtout too much of a fight. He woke up this morning at 6:30 (his usual time) feeling slightly warm (our thermometer is broken) but not as warm as yesterday-and he was only 99.6 yesterday at the doc. He took his medicine no problem, drank a yogurt and then asked to go outside and play. He isn't acting tired, crabby or sick at all. He still has the cold he's had for the past month, but he doesn't seem any different than before he got his flu positive.

I am going to go to Target and get the new prescription of TamiFlu filled today and I'll pick up one of those fancy ear thermometers (Henry is old enough to throw out the bum thermometer-yay!) so I can keep good track of his temperature. It doesn't look like we are going to be able to use his behavior as a way to guage when he is better (since he isn't acting sick) so I will keep taking his temperature to keep a good check on his progress.

I am hoping that since it seems like such a mild strain and since he is taking heavy duty doses of that Flu killing medicine that everything will just work out as far as Christmas goes. While I completely understand keeping Sam safe (obviously, that's why I took Henry to the doctor yesterday, so we'd know for sure if it was the flu) I am going to be so far beyond bummed if we can't see J and K over Christmas break. It just won't be Christmas. I'm so sucky at the wait and see thing. Bleah.

Shoot me now.

It seems that instead of the flu actually going away (like it would no doubt do with anyone else) it seems that my precious bug is simply morphing into something else. I still fell like I ahve a low grade fever, but now that the body aches and chils have gone away they have been replaced by an unbearable sore throat and chest rattling cough. My head and chest are congested beyond al reason and my throat hurts more than I thought possible. The pain starts deep down in my lungs and continues all the way up to my ears. My throat is soooo swollen. At first I thought it was just because of all the coughing, but now I'm not so sure. I am going to try to get in to the doc this morning to make sure I shoudn't be on antibiotics for anything. I just hope I can go back to work on Monday. Taking a whole week off was bad enough. And poor Henry is beginning to forget what it's like to have a mother. Whiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine.

Kyle's folks are in town and talking about going to 12 Bones today-my favorite, favorite rib place ever. I think I am going to ask them to bring me home something. I really don't feel like sitting somewhere and eating. I really don't feel like being concious, but that can't be helped right now. I actually got up with Henry today for the first time all week. I think he is starting to get tired of me asking him if he feels okay. I got him a prescription for Tamifu yesterday, which is supposed to be a preventative, and he started taking it. It seems like it must taste pretty gross from the look on his face. I just want to make absolutely sure that he doesn't get this nonsense.

I called in sick to work today so I have time for a little update. Yesterday I felt crappy and then all of a sudden last night I got hit with a horrible headache. It was an awful throbbing in my temples and behind my eyes. Henry wanted me to read him a book before bed so I did my best, but halfway through How the Grinch Stole Christmas I had to have Kyle take over so I could go throw up. Fun! I went to bed at 9:30 and woke up this morning with the headache still lingering. It isn't as bad as it was last night, but I called in as a preemptive strike. I could see myself running from a third grade classroom to find a staff bathroom to get sick in. I don't get paid enough to take that risk.

We were sitting on the couch watching America's Funniest Home Videos last night and one of Santa came on. Henry yelled "It's SANTA!!!". I thought about how we hadn't done our Santa pictures this year because I was worried that Henry would freak out and not want to do it, so I asked "DO you want to go see Santa?", to which he replied "Yeah". A few minutes later he went-stocking feet, jammies, 23 degrees outside- and openened the kitchen door. I asked him where he was going. "To see Santa". Duh. He took it pretty well that we couldn't go right that minute. I was going to take him today but I don't know if I'm going to be up for it. We'll have to see.

I am down to 4 pairs of pants left. Woo! I finished the snowflake set on Saturday but I haven't gotten a picture yet. I will do that today. Now I have one skull and bones, one monster and 2 Dead pairs left.

The Ketts got an offer on the house last week so they were scheduled to ahve a home inspection today. Friday the realtor went up to turn on the heat and vaccuum and whatnot and found that a pipe had burst and flooded the finished basement/garage. Niiiiice. Kyle was up there all weekend getting it taken care of. They had someone come in to rip out the carpet (that they just put in 3 weeks ago) but all of the ceiling tiles (drop ceiling) had to be replaced and some other clean up had to be done. Poor guy.

It looks like Billy Jonas might just work out. We have a tentative date and time, now we just need the money stuff to work out. We need to get our grant in and get approval for $250 from the PTO. I. Can't. Wait.

Kyle is throwing a baby shower for one of his students on Friday. She is a 9th grade special ed. student. I can't wrap my brain around that. I am going to go and get her a few things, but we don't have a ton of disposable income right now. I have an apple hat I am going to give her, Kyle thinks she'll really like it, and a big package of dipes from Sam's. She is having a girl and all of my friends whose babies are just getting ready to outgrow their newborn stuff have boys. We'll see what happens. It is hard enough being a first time mom when you are an adult and have what you need. I think she has a grandmother who is helping her out, but jeez. How difficult is that going to be?

Okay. I'm off to eat some toast and sit with a blankie and knit for a while. What a crappy time to be sick. I'm too BUSY to be sick, dammit! Or as Henry says "I'm too dizzy to do that". Yeah. He's the cutest thing ever. Oooh, now that there is a squishy baby in the family I guess I'll have to amend statements like that. He's the cutest 3 year old ever. :)

SAM!!!!



He doesn't even look like a scary alien newborn, he's so handsome! I can't frelling wait to see him. I just talked to my folks and Kirstin is doing really well. Yay!

It's official-I'm and aunt!!! Samuel Frederick LaMonde was born at 3:02 this morning. He is 9lbs. 10oz. and 23" long, holy big baby! In eerily related news, Henry woke up at 3:00 this morning to ask me to come lay with him. He hasn't woken up in the middle of the night in about 6 months. It's the psychic cousin connection or something. It is taking all of self control not to hop on the next flight to Burlington. Well, self control and the $883 it would take to get me there...but I can't wait to meet SAM!

Me and the third grade teacher I've been working with presented the Billy Jonas idea to the principal this afternoon. It went much better than I thought and she is actually excited about the prospect of bringing Billy into the school. Now we just have to figure out the money. Billy's agent gave us an initial quote that might be just a tad too high without some creative grant writing. I might have to break it down into 2 grants, write them seperately and hope for the best. We'll see what happens. As of now we have a tentative agreement with the principal, tentative funding and a tentative date of May 10.

Knitting is going...well, it's going. I am down to 6 pairs left to be all caught up and I have people breathing down my neck as the holidays creep ever closer. I should actually be knitting right now.

So off I go.

Nat, the little boy that we did the fundraiser for this past month, lost his battle with brain cancer this morning. He was three and a half years old.

My heart hurts.