Our morning

Today we are having a quiet day at home.  The kids have a cold - Molly has been a giant snotty mess for a week now, and although Elijah has been fighting it off pretty well, he was just totally worn out when we picked him up at school yesterday.  I decided that he needed a day off, too.  Finn has been a little congested and a little extra fussy, but he's eating and sleeping pretty well anyway.  Thank goodness!

Finn woke up at 7 and I fed him and changed him and we got the big kids up. It was nice to take it easy and not have to run around in hurry to get ready for school.  In that way, today is not at all typical!  The kids played a little, and I made baked oatmeal.  While it was baking, Finn went down for his first nap, and the big kids colored some pictures to send out in the mail with some photos we need to send to grandparents and aunts & uncles.  As usual, Molly lasted a lot longer than Elijah, but they both did a nice job. =)

For breakfast, we had baked oatmeal with blueberries and milk, and they both had apple juice (their favorite perk of being sick).

Molly calls this hairstyle "hello kitty" because of the one bow -
I call it "desperately keeping her hair out of her snot."

Molly did some more coloring after breakfast while Elijah played.  Then we gathered pillows and quilts and they settled down for a sick day movie - A Bug's Life, which they hadn't seen before.

yep, lots of laundry!

I fed Finn and changed his diaper (a huge poopy blow-out!) and then his clothes.  Finn and I talked and smiled together for a bit, and I put away some laundry. I didn't get as much done as I hoped, since Finn was feeling a little fussy. But I got most of it done once he got back to sleep.

all clean again!

The big kids had some more time to play (build more train tracks) while I made lunch.  They had ham & cheese pinwheels with green peppers and carrots, and tomatoes for Elijah of course.  I fed and changed Finn again while they ate.

After lunch we had the regular flurry of sending everyone to different bathrooms and getting Molly into her training pants for nap, and then it was time to read.  Molly and I read Oh My, Oh My, Oh Dinosaurs! and then she got to read to herself for a few minutes while I read a chapter of Farmer Boy to Elijah.  Finn enjoys the nap time reading, too. =)  After I got both the big kids settled in, Finn and I rocked for a bit until he did that slow, sleepy blink that says he's ready to lay down.

I forgot to take any more pictures of the rest of our day.  I got a little more spray painting done - we had two nice sunny days in a row!   But I also spent some time holding Finn so he could sleep.  We tried a new recipe of creamy chicken enchiladas for dinner and they were good.  Patrick said he liked them almost as well as his new favorite dinner - baked chicken taquitos - yum!

(Almost) a big girl!

This weekend we planned to use our three-day weekend to go to Pittsburgh to visit friends and family while I can still travel. Then Molly decided to fuss all night long for a couple of nights (for no apparent reason) and then she woke up with a fever on Thursday morning. Not wanting to infect any of the pregnant mamas or new babies in the waiting room at my prenatal checkup, Patrick kept the kids outside - they went for a walk and played around, and then Molly fell up a cement step and cut the inside of her mouth, and skinned her chin and her shin, and bled all over Daddy. The nurse who was supposed to be taking my blood pressure and getting my Rhogam shot got to clean her up and get her some ice and a bandaid. It was a rough day to be Molly.

Anyway, by Friday Molly was over her fever but certainly had a cold and a cough. On Saturday morning, Patrick and I had to make the unfortunate call that she was not well enough to go anywhere, and certainly should go nowhere near my fragile little grandma at the nursing home. So the boys went to Pittsburgh and Molly and I stayed home, both of us heartbroken not to be able to go.

Molly and I have been talking about getting serious about potty training, and we were planning to start on Tuesday - after Elijah finished preschool, and we got back from our trip to the 'Burgh. Since we were going to be stuck at home for the whole weekend anyway, we decided to go for it.

Molly has been wearing her training pants whenever she's awake since Saturday morning, and went a full two and a half days before having an accident!! WOW! We offered her the same deal as we did Elijah - keep your training pants dry for three days in a row and you get to go pick out some big kid undies. I thought she might just pull off a crazy straight-to-panties victory today, but the streak ended around 10 am this morning when she was too involved in solving a train-track related problem and didn't make it to the potty on time. Still, she's obviously been ready for this for a while, and she's doing an amazing job. I'm so glad we waited until she was ready and excited to do it, and that we had this weekend to just focus on Molly and the potty. Molly has been proudly telling people on the phone that she is "almost" a big girl, since Daddy always tells her that she will be a big girl when she doesn't wear diapers anymore. She really is getting to be such a big girl!

Some pictures

Sorry about the lack of posting and pictures lately. Nothing very exciting has been going on, the kids were sick and we've just been busy with everyday things. But here are a few of the random here-and-there pictures we've taken since our last random photo post:

This one was actually taken last October when we stopped to visit Cameron & Amanda. Amanda took this very cute picture of me and my boy. (Can you tell that we had been at the beach? Holy freckles, Batman!)

Valentine's Day lunch - heart-shaped PB&J

This is Molly's almost daily uniform - her tutu and her beloved pink hat. With her favorite rain boots, she's a super hero. Without, she's a ballerina. Here she was dancing for Daddy.

Two little dancers, showing off their twirling skills.

Playing - she loves her Jessie backpack, too.

They both just love to do puzzles.

Baby update - 12 weeks

Well, here we are at 12 weeks! I know we're not actually out of the first trimester yet, but 12 weeks always comes as a welcome relief. Baby is the size of a lime now and moving little fingers and toes.

I just found out that I'm anemic - so iron supplements here we come. Hopefully they aren't as awful as everyone says. I was a little anemic before I got pregnant with Elijah, but some extra spinach and red meat resolved that. I guess it explains my recent taco, hamburger and steak cravings! (Not, however, the chips and queso craving. I can't say that I desperately need some nutrition that is going to provide, as much as I'd like to justify it.)

At the risk of jinxing things, I think I'm starting to feel a little better, generally. I've been able to eat better lately, and a little less often, and the nausea is a little less constant. I did catch Elijah's stomach bug the other night, and have some very beautiful broken capillaries around my eyes to show for it. But I haven't thrown up this week other than that! Yay!

Sorry, I am not going to take regular pictures of the bump for y'all, at least not until I'm looking more pregnant and less just plain chubby.

Random thoughts and quotes

Yesterday at nap time, Elijah threw up. In typical Elijah style, he didn't even tell me for a while. When he did, he said (in a very normal, happy voice), "Mama, I threw up. It's OK. That happens sometimes. Remember a long time ago on the way home from Bobbi's house when I threw up in the van? It just happens sometimes."

I said, "How are you? Do you feel a little better now?"

"Yep, I'm fine."

Nothing ever really bothers him much. He was a little less cavalier after throwing up a few more times, but never lost his cheerfulness. What a funny kid.

The kids are getting used to the idea that we're going to have a baby now, and like to ask questions. At first they were quite concerned that the baby would get wet when I drank water, and that I might throw up the baby when I was sick, but I think they understand now that the baby is quite safe in there.

Recovery

The perfect medicine for a quick recovery:

snuggles

and baby laughter!

Sick baby dinner

Molly enjoying some ramen and crackers last week when she was getting over her stomach virus.

A Munchkin and this week's news

On Wednesday, Patrick arrived back at home from a conference in Chicago and the kids and I drove home from our visit to Pennsylvania. On the way home, Elijah started throwing up. So we stopped for a while. I was hoping that he was just car-sick and that it would pass if he got out for a while, plus Molly was DEMANDING pancakes. We pulled off the highway and the right at the exit was a gas station/convenience store/diner. It was the perfect place to stop - we got Elijah all cleaned up and got him some juice and Sprite, and Molly got her pancake. Getting out of the van didn't stop Elijah's sickness though, so I prepared for future puking as well as I could and we set off again. It was a long trip.

Elijah continued to be sick through the night, and in the middle of the night Molly started throwing up as well. On Thursday the kids slept in and took good naps, and eventually felt a little better. They ate a sick kids' dinner - ramen noodles, saltines, and bananas, and actually kept it down.

On Friday at noon, Patrick had surgery to repair a hernia. It went well and he came home by dinner time. By the time the kids went to bed he was in a lot of pain, though, and it was a long difficult night for him.

Saturday morning I took the kids and met Jackie half-way between our houses at a random Dunkin Donuts. When we got there, Jackie and Lily were waiting for us with Munchkins to share! Elijah was not sure about them because they were chocolate, and Molly was not sure about them because Lily gave one to her (instead of Mama) ... she just sat there and looked at it in her hand for a long time.

Elijah went home with Jackie and had a great weekend there. It was such a big help to only have one kid to take care of while Patrick was feeling so terrible.

On our way home from taking Elijah to Connecticut, Molly finally decided to try her Munchkin. I encouraged her to take a bite, but she just popped the whole thing into her mouth. It was too big for her to chew once it was in there (she couldn't even close her mouth over it), so she just sat there for about 10 minutes, looking at me like this:

"Really, Mama? What am I supposed to do about this?" She finally chewed it up and got it down a while later. I was laughing so hard. Poor Molly!

Molly had a second round of the stomach virus over the weekend, so we were just hunkered down here - Patrick watching movies in bed, Molly watching Elmo and drinking juice downstairs, and me trying to tunnel out of the mountains of laundry that we've collected - traveling for most of last week, then all the puking, and then more puking, plus many days of rain + wind, which at our house means keeping towels packed around the front and back door so that all the water doesn't come inside - so lots and lots of wet towels.

Patrick is getting better and better every day. He's still in pain and pretty tired, but so much better than he was a couple of days ago. He's keeping busy with lots of movies and comedy while he's stuck in bed. Here's a pretty fruit arrangement his coworkers sent to him the other day. Cool, huh? And yummy, too!

A quiet week

With two kids trying to get well again, we've had a pretty quiet week at home. The kids spent quite a few days in their pajamas, and drank a lot juice (both very popular perks of being sick around here), and played and colored and watched videos. They didn't really eat much, and Patrick and I survived on quick, easy meals like scrambled eggs and frozen pizza. Holding a sick baby all day just didn't leave much time or energy for cooking! But we all came through it pretty well, and Patrick and I are thankful that we didn't catch this bug too.

Elijah has been getting better pretty quickly, and he was actually well enough to go to his gymnastics class yesterday morning. Molly has had a much slower recovery, and is still not completely well (even though she got sick earlier than E). We took her back to the doctor on Wednesday. Fortunately, her 6 day-long fever finally went down and stayed down that day (and we got to avoid a trip to the hospital for a chest x-ray - 'cuz that sounds like a lot of fun with a toddler). Her doctor said that Molly had been by far the sickest kid that she saw the day that we first took her in with croup (last Tuesday), and that she was sure when she came in and heard Molly's breathing that day that she'd be sending her to the emergency room right then. Fortunately, her lungs were quite clear and her oxygen levels were great and we did not have to go to the E.R. The doctor said this time that she wasn't surprised to see her still sick, since she had been so very sick last week - it's just going to take some time to get well. Anyway, she seems much better yesterday and today, but she is still having a lot of trouble sleeping and is still coughing a bit.

Here are some pictures of our low-key week.

Elijah got to build some pretty amazing train tracks while Molly took extra naps.

Molly's favorite activity lately has been coloring. She demands that I write her name for her many, many times a day.

Showing me her crayon - "broken"

Here's a little video of Molly coloring, spelling her name ( she says "M-O-Y" or "M-O-Y-Y" - I guess the Ls are the hard part) and saying some of her colors.

Still sick

Yep, the kids are still sick today. Molly woke up with a low fever this morning, but after taking a morning nap, she seemed to feel a lot better. She actually ate more than a couple of bites of lunch - a really good sign after a week of surviving on mostly apple juice and milk. We are still going through tons of kleenex and juice, but hopefully they are both on the mend now.

Sick babies

This was my week - sick kids. We started the week with two little runny noses. Molly also sounded a little froggy and was complaining of a sore throat on Monday (when we asked what hurt, she said, "neck." Then Monday night Molly took a bad turn. She and I were up all night, and we found out in the morning that she had croup. Two days of steroids helped a lot, but she's still a pretty sick little girl. I thought Elijah was over his little cold, and was going to survive Molly's germs, but then last night he started coughing and sounding like Molly. We took him to the doctor this morning, and he also has croup now. Molly is still feeling pretty bad, coughing and a fever coming and going. She can't get down from my lap without crying, and can't cry without coughing, so I've (literally) had my hands full. Elijah is acting sicker today than I have ever seen him - he is so, so crabby. I'm so glad they are taking good naps today!

Not at all himself this morning - crabby and tired.

Miserable little Molly last night - she had a fever, and just wanted to snuggle.

This weekend

Well, we had another one of those kind of weeks/weekends - Patrick had to work a lot and first Molly got sick, and then Elijah came down with it today. But that's life. Hopefully this is our last cold of the season.

Molly also has learned to pull up in her crib - which was very exciting for the first day or so when she could get up but couldn't get back down on her own! But she has mastered sitting down again without falling over now, so we are glad.

Trying on Daddy's helmet

Boys going to the park - "Hey, we match!"

Tired, sick baby - she took a super long nap this morning! She is holding her Bobbi blanket and her bunny cuddled up under her.

Hi

Just some pictures of Molly being her cute self for today. The kiddos are sick again (just colds, but still no fun), so we are just laying low right now.

February in review

OK, the month isn't actually over yet, but it feels like it has been such a long month that I'm ready to just call it done! For the first two weeks we had sick kids. Molly had some difficult nights, but neither of them was sick enough to be worried about - it was just a long stretch of sickness. Elijah especially just seemed to linger in the last stages of his cold for days and days. When they were finally getting better, I started to get sick and then Patrick got it a few days later. Neither of us has been even as sick as the kids were, but it's hard to not be feeling well when you can't really take a break. Patrick has had an extra busy month at work and has had to work some extra weekends and evenings, which makes him really tired and wears on all of us. I was sad that we've had to miss several weeks of church, too, but I certainly didn't want to be spreading our germs around. Thankfully we are both pretty much over being sick now.

The weather around here has actually not been too bad for the past few weeks! It's still cold, mostly, but we've had a number of days that were dry, less windy, a little less cold, and even somewhat sunny. I've been frustrated that we haven't been able to take better advantage of it and get outside - playing outside in February isn't the best idea when you're sick. We got to go out this morning for a little while for Elijah to run up and down the hills in the grass around our building, and it felt really good to be out!

In the little space between when the kids were almost better and when I started to feel sick, we got to do a couple of good things - we took Molly to get her picture taken (at 7 1/2 months instead of 6 months old, but oh well!) and Patrick and I got to out on a date. I was glad that we got the pictures done, and I was excited at how well they came out. Molly has recently become aware of "strangers" - or any adult that isn't Mama or Daddy - and she was a little fussy with the photographer at first, even though Patrick and I were right there. But she got over it well enough to give us some cute smiles and I think we got several great shots. I was also very excited to be able to go out with Patrick. It was fun to be out of the house and just have a long talk and spend some time together, and we're thankful that our friend Carole (she is Patrick's co-worker and just loves the kids) came to play and listen to the monitor so we could have some time away.

Pictures to go with last Friday's post

Miss Molly sleeping, sans swaddle, in the pack n' play so that she and Elijah don't keep each other up with their frequent waking/fussing. Naps are tough when you're sick.

Tickle time! Molly loves when Elijah plays with her.

Sickos and other news

Well, we have two sick kids right now. Elijah has had a cold all week. Molly had a bit of a runny nose but I thought she was going to miss the worst of it, until Wednesday night, when she started coughing and generally having a hard time. So she's actually had it worse than Elijah for a couple of days, but so far no real fever or coughing scary enough to go to the doctor. We had a long night last night though!

In other news, Miss Molly is now sleeping without her swaddle blanket. I've been putting it off for a while now, but she was just getting too big for it. We started with one arm out a couple of weeks ago, and she's been completely free for more than a week. It was a rough transition, but I'm thankful that it's over. She is sleeping either on her side or on her tummy most of the time now, and I think she'll be sleeping better because of that (we'll see after she gets well again). Hopefully now she will learn to put her own pacifier back in at night! =)

It was really cold here again for the past couple of days, and last night we had heat issues again. No pipes burst this time, but we spent the night with space heaters running in all four apartments in our building to prevent it, and to keep our poor sick babies warm!

Awwww, so cute!

Happy girl in her jumper, before the sickness hit.

Elijah resting on the couch when he wasn't feeling so hot earlier this week.

Homesick

This afternoon, Elijah and I were coloring in his Trucks coloring book. He was coloring a picture of a jeep four-wheeling in the mountains, and I got homesick. Not that I've done a whole lot of four-wheeling in my life, but the mountains ... I miss them. Thanks, John, for the mountain pictures.



I'm sorry about the lack of posts lately. We're still here and doing OK. Both of the kids have a cold, which has not been fun. Thankfully, Patrick was home all three days of the long weekend, which was really nice. Two weeks ago, my Aunt Gerry passed away after a two-year battle with ALS. Check out Melissa's blog - she said it all better than I could. On the other hand, we rejoice with our dear friends, Erin, John, Caleb & Bear, as they welcomed baby Emma last week. Congratulations!

No ear infections, but ...

Yesterday we spent the morning at Elijah and Molly's pediatrician's office. I spent this morning at my doctor's office. Elijah and I have pink eye. Gross. He had it yesterday morning, when we were going to have Molly's ears checked anyway. Neither of the kids have ear infections (thank goodness!) but they are both in the end stages of their colds, which means some serious, thick congestion, and Molly is still opposed to napping lying down. We got some ointment for Elijah's eye (very challenging to administer!) and it seems to be getting better already. I woke up this morning with a red, yukky eye - thank you, Elijah, for sharing! Fortunately, Patrick was able to stay home with the kids, and we found a doctor close by who would take a new patient on short notice. I haven't had a primary care doc in years, but I guess I should find one so I would know who to call in these sorts of situations.
Anyway, we will be glad when everyone is no longer contagious and feeling all better so we can do something more fun than chase each other around the ottoman. Poor Elijah needs to get out and play. He was very sad that we couldn't go to the library yesterday like we planned. I don't want to keep him cooped up here forever, but I also don't want to be the thoughtless mom who drags her sick kid all over the place and gets everyone else's kids sick.
In other news, Patrick got a new phone (he's very excited) and I have a couple of decisions to make - nothing life-changing, but bigger than my usual what-to-make-for-dinner, cloth or disposable, jeans or shorts, every day sorts of choices. I am indecisive by nature, and my brain is feeling a little I-don't-talk-to-grownups sluggish, so this is a challenge. (Do you like all those phrases used as adjectives? Yep, I'm a little creative with my grammar today). So, celebrate with Patrick in his joy, and pray for me that I can find the reasonable, wise course. Don't worry, I'll stop babbling on and post some pictures soon.

Labor Day weekend

We have been enjoying a (mostly) relaxing long weekend - Patrick was off Friday to make it a four-day weekend. After more than a month of long days and no weekends, we are all excited to have him home for a few days. Elijah came down with a cold on Wednesday night, and Molly caught it yesterday, so it has really been nice to have Patrick here to help. We have mostly been at home this weekend (going to the beach or playground or church is not such a good plan with sick, germy kids!) but we've had a really nice time. I got to go out and shop/run some errands all by myself, the bathroom is clean, the laundry and the diapers are done - does life get any better? We even got to watch some football - we watched the Navy game online and were excited to see my brother Cameron playing, and then last night we were shocked to find the Rocky Mountain Showdown (Colorado vs. Colorado State) on TV! Who knew we would get to see CU football in Rhode Island!? Go Navy! Go CU! Hooray for football season!

Last night we had a great end-of-summer dinner of steak (in Patrick's special marinade), corn on the cob and salad. It was yummy! Elijah loves corn on the cob. Too bad we didn't have any Colorado peaches this year for dessert. This is my favorite time of year for produce. =)

Here are some pictures of our homebody holiday weekend.

More of Elijah's tunnels & bridges - yes, he had help building these big ones.

Cutie pie!

Can Elijah fit through the tunnel?

Happy girl

And still ...

Elijah is still sick, but things are looking up a bit today - he is acting more like himself and didn't break down and need a nap half way through the morning. He even ate a more normal lunch (he's been eating only a few bites here and there most of the week), and slept through most of the night last night. Finally, a light at the end of the tunnel! We will all be so glad when he is feeling better.