Ahhh...the first day of winter, ear infection, Christmas is here?

Well, today didn't feel like the first day of winter. It was absolutely beautiful, warm, and sunny...72 degrees. Tomorrow is a new day. The temperature will drop twenty degrees. I do enjoy the milder winter's here, but not the drastic change in temperature. It seems that's the reason for so many sickies! Speaking of which... Evan has been battling a fever for a few days now. His appetite has been fine, but his behavior is all over the charts. He wants to be held, then he wants down, then he wants to be held, then he wants to play for five minutes, you get the picture. Since it's so close to Christmas and I was fearful of having to visit the ER this weekend, I called the pediatrician today. Jay took the day off so I could go to EJ's holiday party at school, which was at 11 a.m. The appointment was at 10:30 a.m. so Jay ended up taking Evan & Alison with him. It turns out the kid has an ear infection. I suspected it yesterday after I witnessed him playing with his ears. So, I've decided to go ahead and give him the antibiotics. I know ear infections can clear themselves up, but, frankly, I am so tired of the kid being so cranky! You know I am kind of in this anti antibiotic stage. I've been attempting the homeopathic remedies a bit more. At this point though, I am ready for a quick fix. It is interesting to note that when EJ was Evan's age and he started getting a lot of ear infections, I started to do my own research. I found that dairy can actually cause the infections or at least make them worse. With EJ, I continued to give him dairy, but not as often. Well, the doctor told Jay today to lay off the milk, but continue to give him yogurt because of the good bacteria (acidophilus) in it. HAH! Tonight I have Evan a little extra probiotic in his applesauce. Okay, onto a totally different topic. I can't believe Christmas is almost here! Where has the time gone? I have to be honest, I don't feel like I'm in the Christmas spirit. It's more of this overwhelmed feeling. Let me tell you that having Ali's birthday the same number of days before Christmas as EJ's is after Christmas (did that make sense) is tough. I don't want to do joint birthday's with them because it's important to me that they know how special their birth day is. It's their day, not each other's day. Plus, it's hard for me to remember that EJ's birthday is the first one of the year for us. Instead, it feels like the last. I hope the year 2008 will allow me to focus more on what I have and not what I want to have. My relationship with the Lord is not as strong as I'd like it to be. Since moving here, I don't have the focus I did before we moved. I pray I can find the desire, the longing, the drive I had a few years ago. It will definitely be something to work on...