We have definitely enjoyed the weather this spring. Here’s the Duo Destructo with sticks. These sticks have been horses, swords and guns…among other things. My kids do not lack for imaginations.
That, my friends is a butterfly. He/she provided quite a bit of entertainment one Saturday a couple of weeks ago. We’re not sure why our crew was chosen but this little butterfly flitted and landed on almost all the children. She (and I’ll call her a “she” for lack of a better word) was particularly fond of Ace. Although, she did eventually let Zoe hold her.
I have a plan this year. Since, I haven’t been successful at keeping the garden up, I thought for sure that paying someone to do it would be easier.
The “someone” I’m referring to are the kids. I told them we would pay them for every vegetable they harvested. I also threw in some school. Zoe and Ace will be keeping a gardening journal to go along with their “pay.” They were thrilled (with the prospect of earning money…not the journaling part)!
We took them a couple of weekends ago to purchase their plants and then we planted them. Well, I fed the baby, Mark helped them plant them.
The kids get excited when a package arrives. Okay, who am I kidding? I get excited when a package arrives! But, when the package comes in and it has Ge & Granddaddy’s name on it. Well, they get pumped up, jumping up and down excited.
Ge & Granddaddy provided some fun Easter gifts for the kids, including this…
The first part of the month we were very blessed to have Kristina drive ten hours plus with four kids. Two of whom were potty training! She got to spend about five days with us before hitting the road. Ah yes, we laughed, talked, and talked and talked and played a few games on our smart phones while making fun of each other’s drawings. The kids played so well together and we were both pleasantly surprised that the main squabbles were the normal sibling squabbles. And, because we were having so much fun visiting, I totally did not take any organized group pictures. Most of the pictures, Mark took while he was home. Yes, they are those kind of friends.
One morning Bryant and Ceili Rain were oogling over Malachi. He was awake and “sort of” looking at them. “Malachi, meet your partners in crime…Ceili Rain the Tornado and Bryant the Hurricane,” I announced. Ceili Rain then began to call herself the “Tormado” and Bryant the “Hurricane.” This picture is part of the “Hurricane” at work.
After we got home with Malachi, Bryant grew like a ton and was no longer a toddler boy!
We also went to the park where the splash pad was. It was 75 degrees and we scared away all of the preschool moms and their tots while simultaneously receiving dirty looks from them.
If eyes had darts…I would have been full of them. Apparently, they thought the splash pad would not be on for some reason.
My children turning it on was not part of their plan. Bryant, obviously, had nothing to do with the splash pad. They need to groom toddlers like Bryant.
Yeah, you know the rest. This is how the last part of March went down…it ain’t pretty though.
The week after Malachi was born, we noticed Liam limping. He did this for three days complaining that his left thigh hurt. We finally took him to the doctor on a Thursday and Dr. B noticed that his range of motion was limited on his left hip. An x-ray later proved that there was no pressing issues. She diagnosed it as synovitis which is basically an inflammation in the hip that can be caused by overuse or a viral infection, both of which could have very well been Liam’s issue. The treatment…rest and ibuprofen. Please think…rest for Liam was like torture. He got to watch a lot of television that weekend. By the middle of the next week, he was all better!
On Sunday, the 25th, Josiah started running a fever in the afternoon. His temp was 101. We gave him acetaminophen and Mark took the rest of the crew to church. An hour later, Josiah looked really bad, so I checked him again. His temp was 103! I’ve never seen a temp go up like that so quickly and after meds. I gave him ibuprofen and then got a text from Mark. Ceili Rain was running a fever. They headed home. We checked everyone else and found that Ace had a low grade temp too and Bryant was starting on one. Everyone that we could think of was drugged (given fever reducing meds), and then sent to bed.
By the morning, everyone was still running a fever and Ace had thrown up. Then the ahem, diarrhea started with Bryant and Ceili Rain.
We had an early appointment for Malachi’s two week and Ceili Rain’s three year check up. So, we took everyone with us so that, if needed, Dr. B could check out the sickies. Now, his appointment was before the phone lines opened at the office so I couldn’t call and schedule an appointment…that’s why we just brought all the sick ones. Josiah had not really complained of stomach upset and we didn’t think much about it so we went through a drive thru for breakfast (yeah, you know where this is headed huh?).
Dr. B did check out two of the four sick ones. We chose the two that seemed to have it the worse…that was Josiah and Bryant. We mentioned that the kids had had unpasteurized milk and that was enough for Dr. B to want us to do a stool sample (that was a fun one to collect).
Later in the week, we found out it came back positive for campylobacter which is a foodborne bacteria which could or could not have been caused by the milk. There’s no real way to tell and we definitely had other foods that could have caused it. It doesn’t really matter. I’m pretty sure if we had nto mentioned the milk, it would have been dismissed as viral. Most cases of campylobacter resolve on their own and antibiotics can sometimes cause it to linger. However, Ace continued to fight it through the next week, so we did wind up putting him on an antibiotic which cleared it right up.
Anyway, as we were finishing up the massive appointment, Dr. B was getting ready to go out the door and Josiah decided to empty his stomach contents. On the floor. Every where. Bacon, egg, and cheese. Our dear, dear nurse M cleaned it up. Brave woman.
By the time we got home, Zoe was feverish. We pulled out the sleeper mattress and all the kids crashed for a day of television and recovery. All, except for Liam. Liam was peachy keen. He was rarin’ to go. And no one really felt like playing with him. He was slightly pitiful.
By the end of the week, we were mainly dealing with a diaper rash and that was it. And we praise God for that.
Here’s the positives from that week…
1. We saved on groceries.
2. It was bacterial and that means it was very, very hard for Malachi to get so no need to worry about a middle of the night trip to the ER.
3. Bryant provided us with a good story: During one of his naps with fever, he had fallen asleep playing with a sticker that he had received from the doctor’s office. Mark walked into the room where he was napping, and Bryant woke up and looked at Mark, then picked off his sticker and started staring at it. And then he started laughing hysterically at it. He did this for a good three minutes if not more. I heard him laughing and thought Mark had been tickling him. He then sighed and put it back on and went back to sleep.
4. Ceili Rain also has a good story for us…although it may prove a bit embarrassing as she gets older: Towards the end of the week, she was able to keep from having to run to the potty. However, she had to strain at times to get something out. I was nursing Malachi in our room and she was using our bathroom when I hear her grunt and then sing out, “Poopy, you need to come ou-t!” She continued the rest of the day singing and talking to her…ahem…every time she went to the bathroom.
5. We’re definitely sure that Ceili Rain is super well “poopy” potty trained. That girl hardly had an accident all week!
Today mark’s Malachi’s first month here! I still can’t believe he’s a month old. My recovery is going really well. Malachi is doing great too. Sleeping, eating, and that other stuff. I do have to brag…Malachi is our fourth child to sleep through the night (five hours or more), at before a month. Now, don’t start hating. I’ve done my share of up every two hours and walking and crying babies (okay, Mark’s done his fair share…he’s our primary nighttime parent…His choice…again, don’t hate. I’ve tried to convince him to let me do it but he won’t). I don’t sleep train them to do this. They just sleep long stretches at night. Can’t explain why!
Also, he marked his four weeks by starting to smile. He started out smiling at my friend, Kristina on April 2. We thought it was a fluke, but the next day he smiled at Mark and me. We were pretty impressed with his toothless grins and he’s offered them up to his brothers and sisters too. I’ll get those pictures up soon.
On to a smathering (I just love that nonsensical word), of beautiful Malachi pictures.
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| A dear friend from church. We actually met when she was posting on a forum about moving to our area. I’ve been so blessed to get to know her and her amazing and wonderful family! |
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| Our awesome babysitter! She loves babies and my kids. That’s a plus in our book! |
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| Another friend from church. She’s like a substitute grandmom to my kids! Even the boys…who seek her out to get paper airplanes! |
Yo Peeps!
Ah, yes, another year, another birthday celebration for Dr. Seuss. And another night of oobleck.
