it was NOT a silent night!

ok, so i didn't do so hot on my "one-week-to-catch-up" plan, but it wasn't for a lack of trying. a couple of weeks ago, i started getting a bit of a cough. didn't think much of it...figured it was probably a cold. but by this time last week, the "bit of a cough" had turned into a persistent, deep, painful vomity kind of cough, so i finally headed to the doc. after shining a light into every orifice from my neck up, he decided that i was just suffering from bad allergies.

now i'm no MD, but i do know that i've never, ever had a problem with allergies but that i have gotten bronchitis almost every fall or winter for more than a decade now. but not wanting to woof down unnecessary antibiotics, i thanked the nurse for the prescription for allergy meds, and i gracefully yanked down the right side of my jeans for a steroid injection.

then i picked my lungs up off the floor and left.

i had heard beautiful things about steroid injections -- how i would feel a thousand percent better within an hour, how i would feel like wonder woman, how i would think i could run a marathon after getting it (i know my hates-to-run self well enough not to have bought that one). well, i've got news for all of you who shared those sweet stories with me -- they're so not true!

what i did experience was a throbbing, arthritic type pain in my right hip as well as a complete and total inability to sleep for the next 36 hours. literally.

i still had high hopes for the allergy medicine, though. while it did clear my head and sinuses right up, unfortunately, it did nothing for the barking seals who had taken up residence in my chest. i tried to ride it out -- really, i did -- but when it became super-painful to cough (not to mention the fact that my lungs had apparently begun to bleed), i called my doctor's office and begged for mercy. and now after five days of antibiotics and prescription cough meds, i'm happy to say that i'm a living, breathing, functioning human being again!

so how about some photos now? :-)

not too long ago, kerry and i decided to treat the kids to a night out on the town. and when you're between one and five years old, a night out on the town equates to dressing in your jammies...

...running out to the car to snuggle with your buddies under a blanket...

...and riding around town to look at all the beautiful christmas lights (while singing your favorite carols at the top of your lungs). so much fun!!

i've got way more to catch up on, but not tonight. it's my bedtime. ;-)