Late!

Everyone,

It's late!  Bullet points before I go to bed.

-Both the boys are sick.  Pirate was pretty sick last week but Professor sounds awful today. 

-Butterfly spent 4 hours outside with Juice today helping him shovel and playing.  She was a mermaid, on an adventure to find recipes, and giving Christmas presents of snow.  What an imagination!  She came in bright red and hungry.  She also went right to sleep tonight which was awesome.

-I am up making cinnamon rolls that I'd like to give to our friends and neighbors.  Let's see how long they last though!

Safire

Snow Storm (Blizzard?) 2009

Everyone,

Boy did we ever get our Christmas snow! It started around 9:30pm last night and hasn't stopped yet. (It's 24 hours later.) We have 20 inches and counting. We've shoveled our walks 4 times and went sledding!

Church is canceled tomorrow. Both airports are closed until 6am on Sunday. School in several counties have closed Monday and Tuesday already. 2 weeks off for Christmas for those kids! The METRO closed. Several of the highways are closed because of disabled vehicles and impassable roads. Wow...

We didn't go anywhere today and enjoyed the snow. Well, Juice and Butterfly and I did. The boys...not so much. I think their feet get cold. They don't have snow boots because it snows so rarely here I thought they didn't need them. Now maybe I should find them some.


Butterfly was in heaven though. She bound out of bed this morning and got dress all by herself. She was mad that we made her eat breakfast because she had her hat and coat and mittens on in the blink of an eye. She cried when we went inside, but then proceeded to strip off all 4 layers and was soaked to the bone. Cold girl!

This is how you get 4 people on 2 sleds and hopefully have fun. Except Professor in the back is not having any fun at all. Butterfly kept trying to pull Pirate around in our infant sled (thanks Lavender...this sled has been awesome for us through the years!) . She kept falling over and he would laugh hysterically. Professor had a short ride out to our tiny hill and then was done. He did not want to go anywhere out of Mommy's arms.
Soot also had a great time chasing the sled and enjoying the weather.

I love the snow so much! We wrapped all of our Christmas presents this afternoon so we are DONE for Christmas. I'm so excited to be able to just sit back and enjoy the rest of the season!

Safire

PS- Both boys have colds and Pirate coughed so hard he threw up all over me and Professor while he was trying to nurse for bed tonight. Ugh. Also, Butterfly had a nap time accident. Add to that all the wet and dirty (Juice) clothes from snow stuff today, I probably have 5 loads. Yuck.

PPS- Here is what it looked like at 8pm tonight.
There were people sledding off the pile of snow the plow put in front of our house. It's as tall as Juice is. Awesome!

Haze is Coming

Everyone,

Today started off as a good day. We had school with AJ and Lolli, I made gingerbread cookies (it's G week around here) and we read a bunch of stories. We had lunch and naps for everyone and then...it hit. A cold. For me. Ugh. I hate being sick. I also hate knowing that soon everyone will be sporting this cold and I will have to deal with it.

I hate runny noses.

I hate how bad my kids feel.

I hate knowing that only time will make them feel better.

I hate the lack of sleep for them and me.

I hate not being able to breathe.

I hate colds. Period.

And since I have one, I'm going to go up to bed early in hopes that I might get some sleep tonight. I'm not feeling that hopeful.

Safire

Just a Few Admin Notes

Everyone,

I have been enjoying my forced hiatus from the blog this month. I say forced because the kids and Juice have been sick. Oh so sick too. Pigs have been mentioned but never fully diagnosed. I remained above it all (amazingly enough! Knock on wood.) but I have been buried under needy kids and a very cranky hubby. He is not a good sick person, FYI. I, in turn, have been eating too much of the Halloween candy and craving doughnuts.

What I have not been doing is checking my blog. Or really anyone's blog lately. I'll get back onto the band wagon next month. Why next month? Well, first off because it starts on Sunday! (Also, daylight savings time, yay for another hour of sleep.) And then there is this:
That's right. It's my 3rd year doing this (I think?) and I'm looking forward to it again. If anything, November will be my best documented month ever. Look for me every day in November and December because I need to challenge myself a little. I know a few people that's going to make very happy (hi Nana!) so this should be fun.

One thing I have been obsessing about lately has been a website called Swagbucks. Basically it's a search and earn site where you use their search engine and they reward you with bucks. Then you can turn in those bucks for prizes. What kind of prizes you ask? Things like electronic stuff, mp3s, gift cards, and more. I am loving the amazon gift cards. I get about $5 a week from amazon and it's been buying part of Christmas this year. Seriously, sign in here and start earning easy money!

So, let's recap. We have been sick. Everyone is feeling better (it's almost 9pm and I hear the boys and Butterfly saying, "uh-oh! uh-oh!" and laughing. They are feeling better!) and I will be writing every day soon. Also, sign up with swagbucks and earn some dough!

Everyone up to date?

Good.

Safire

Trying to Get Out

Everyone,

With how bad of a cold we seem to have here, we decided we should wait and go to the beach when people are feeling better. Today we thought we'd go berry picking (raspberries this time) with friends. The friends couldn't make it, so we went by ourselves! Those raspberries were huge. But really, not that tasty. I've decided I'm not a fan of raspberry picking at that farm. The blueberries were better.

Professor thought they were pretty good. In fact, he ate most of my bucket before I noticed him.

I took the bucket away from him.

We drove to the closest civil war battle field and had a picnic there. Butterfly showed me how she could climb the canon just as the ranger pulled up with a group of tourists. Boy did I get glared at! We enjoyed our little picnic and read the history of the battle. I was all for driving around and looking at the other battle sights but Flower didn't seem too interested. They are only fields after all. And this battlefield is also a working farm still.

The boys were also done. They had fun playing with the cannon for a minute, and then needed to go home and have a nap. Everyone napped for about 3 hours.

Pirate has a horrible barking cough and can't suck his thumb because of the congestion. Poor kid. And Butterfly just coughs and coughs. Lovely. I hope they get better soon!

Safire

The Day's Been Disrupted

Everyone,

Who can name that movie from the title? Anyone? I've been watching too many movies lately, obviously.

Guess who else has been watching movies? Butterfly. Her current favorite is Bolt and My Little Ponies. And she watching them because she's sick. And we're watching them because the boys are laying on Flower and I radiating heat. These boys have some pretty impressive fevers. So impressive that I took them to the doctor's today to get their ears checked. I mean, why make them suffer if antibiotics will fix it?

Sadly, antibiotics will not fix this. Just a virus. Sigh...I was hoping it would be an antibiotic fix. It would make it easier on us. Especially since my cousin and his family are coming to stay with us this weekend and I'd really like to send them home without this virus.

The day did have a plan (beyond the doctor, the grocery store, the library, and the super big store because I have no qualms about infecting the rest of the town). The day had a plan written in big capital letters in ink on my calender. BEACH. Last year Flower loved the beach so much that this was our first plan made for her visit. This year we were planning on actually getting to the ocean. You know, being on the border and looking across the water knowing that on the other side is Europe. Last year we had a great time on the Chesapeake Bay. This year I thought we'd be a little more adventurous and show Flower the ocean, which she hasn't ever seen before.

We still have about 2 weeks left with her. So we have time to get to the ocean. I figured everyone would be happier if we were healthy at the beach. I hope they sleep well tonight and we get healthy soon!

Safire

Sick Sunday

Everyone,

I think Butterfly is a little better. Professor is happily staggering around the house with a sample bottle of shampoo in one hand and a play dish washing sponge in the other. Pirate, however, is burning up with fever. Around 102. He spent most of the day today sleeping and laying in our arms sucking his thumb. Needless to say he did not go to church today. I was the only one who went. I only went to teach my class and then head back home.

We've been having fun with Flower here when the kids are sleeping. She hasn't seen many of our favorite movies so we've been slowly working through them. Today has been a Back to the Future marathon. I still can't believe she's never seen these! Of course, it also makes me feel old too. These movies (among others) were important in my childhood. I remember being so excited to pull out the mattress in the couch and sit on it with my brother and watch movies and eat popcorn before bed. I remember watching this one, along with The Princess Bride, Goonies, Ghostbusters, and all sorts of other 80s movies. Watching them now as an adult I get a lot more out of them. It's been fun!

We were planning on going to the beach this week but I think we'll wait until the kids are better. Busy week for us!

Safire

Utah Day 8

Everyone,

Today we had nothing scheduled. It was a weird day for us...we often have every day scheduled. We did think that Juice could paint my parents' deck today but with the weird weather and rain Utah has been getting we figured today would not be a good day for deck painting. (Good thing too because there was a huge thunderstorm this afternoon.)

We thought a movie might be something fun to do instead. We had been wanting to take Butterfly to see "Up" for awhile. What better time to take her when we have built in babysitters for the boys! Because really, movies for them are no an option until they are older. Juice's parents watched the boys this afternoon while we took Butterfly and my mom to see "Up". It's very cute but very adult in places and pretty scary at the end. At least, Butterfly told me it was kind of scary at the end. If the screaming and crawling up my arm to bury her head in my neck wasn't an indication of being scary, I don't know what is.

We spent some time with Grandma and Grandpa (thanks for a fun afternoon!) and got the most awesome grape juice from Grandma to help with our sickies. Yes, we are still sick here. Everyone has runny noses (except for me, I have a sore throat and ear pressure) and Juice seems to be coming off the worst in our little family. Sadly, my dad has pneumonia AGAIN (I think this makes 4 times in a year?) so we are trying not to spread the love.

No one got a good night's sleep last night so I'm hoping that tonight will remedy that. I'm off to bed!

Safire

Movie Day...What does that mean?

Everyone,

We are sick. AGAIN. I swear we are just passing the same cold around and around the house. This time Juice is knocked down with it. No sleep for him (even with Nyquil, lucky guy to actually be able to use it) and running around a lot yesterday at the BBQ did him in. He was so miserable this morning. I made him stay home from church and left all of the kids with him. Hehe...not much of a rest for him I'm sure but I had a class to teach.

Both boys still have runny noses. I am slowly getting over my cold. I'd say it was about 10 days in coming but I feel about 90%. Butterfly seems to be the only one who has not caught it this time and I'm hoping it stays that way.

T-minus ONE WEEK till we leave on our Ultimate Road Trip. I am just praying that everyone is better by then (my dad included because he is sick as well). I am also stressing about it a little bit. My teeth get really sensitive when I'm stressed. Probably because I grind them while sleep. If I can get to sleep at all. I hate a racing mind.

This week is going to be full of getting ready to go, packing, and getting the house ready to be without me for 6 whole weeks. Tomorrow we are resting up to get people well (and I think I'm taking the kids to a church BBQ without Juice). I'd like to go geocaching tomorrow to find a travel bug (little dog tag that has a serial number on it and you can track it's movements around the world) so I can take one from here to Utah. I plan on taking one from Utah back to here when we come back in July. I need to finish getting summer clothes for Butterfly. I need to get a kennel in Southern Utah for Soot for the few days we are staying there.

So much to do, so little time. I just keep telling myself, one task, then the next. And my one task right now is sleep!

Safire

One Awesome Sleep Day

Everyone,

Today has been oddly relaxing. The past few days I have actually been getting up with the boys when they wake up in the morning, between 6:30am and 6:45am. Not fun for me, but I think better. Why? Because I used to doze while the boys played until at least 7:30 or 8am. And then they were not napping for their first nap. But if I actually get up when they wake up, they are ready to nap by 8:45 am. So I've been doing this for the past few days and they have been napping well in the mornings.

This morning, they slept from 8:30-11am. We met my friend Lolli for lunch, ran a few errands, and then came back home around 2pm. I put everyone down right when we got home and everyone slept until 4:30pm. Almost 3 hours. It was bliss!

Pirate has a fever on and off all day. He hasn't wanted to be put down and I ended up tying him on me for the entire time he was awake. After he woke up from his second nap, he seemed a little better and actually played. His fever was almost gone when he went to bed and I'm hoping that he'll be fine in the morning.

Tonight is my book club so I expect to be tired tomorrow. I can't wait. :)

Safire

Sunday and Sickness

Everyone,

Yep, you read the title right. We are sick here. AGAIN. I don't know why we get sick so much. But it just seems we have days in between sicknesses here. This time I am sick along with Pirate. He has a fever (101) and cries because his mouth hurts. It could be teeth (I saw a molar the other day!) but a runny nose doesn't really go along with that. Either way, I know my cold is not teething so I imagine this week will be full of runny noses and clingy babies.

Today during the last hour of church the boys fell asleep on me. It was so incredibly cute and fun to hold both of them and snuggle. It's so much fun to have them jolt a little in their sleep, sigh and snuggle back down into me. Bliss. :)

Everyone also took a 3 hour nap this afternoon. (And I mean everyone, me included.) Everyone also went to bed early so that's where I'm off to. Hope your Sunday was just as good!

Safire

More Excitement

Everyone,

Today Pirate has moved on from huge exploding diapers to actually throwing up pretty much everything he eats. Great. Now I'm starting to think that this is not just the antibiotics taking their toll. This may be the flu. Not the swine flu, although that is in our area. Just stupid old flu. He is at least still nursing and keeping some of that down. And I made strawberry smoothies today and he seems to have kept that down too!

But now I'm waiting for it to hit the rest of my family. Two days, maybe three? Just in time for Butterfly's 4th birthday party too. Ugh.

I am feeling slightly queasy this evening so I'm off to bed early.

This is one of those times I miss living close to my Mom. Because nothing says love like spreading germs to extended family. ;)

Safire

Diapers, Diapers, Diapers

Everyone,

I spilled a lot of Pirate's antibiotics yesterday. As in I have one more dose left and he should have 7. Oops. I'll call the doctor tomorrow and see what I should do.

The antibiotics have been wrecking havoc on poor little Pirate's tummy. He has had huge enormous blow out diapers at least 3 times a day. Today's were right after he got up, on the way home from church, and right before dinner. I'm talking filling the diaper front to back and having it squirt out the sides and run down his legs kind of diapers. That one on the way home from church (at least it wasn't IN church that would have been bad) also filled his car seat. There was actual soup left when I picked him up to take him inside.

Really really gross.

I spent all afternoon cleaning it up and worrying for the state of his poor little tummy. I've started them on some probiotics at the doctor's recommendation (I didn't get them until last night, should have gotten them as soon as we got the amoxicillin) and hopefully that will help. I've also noticed that Pirate's appetite has gone way down. I've been pumping him full of juice and nursing him round the clock. Hopefully that will actually keep him hydrated.

Professor is not bothered by any gastrointestinal issues at all. Sunshine boy. That kid seriously sparkles when he smiles.

We are one week away from Butterfly's 4th birthday!! Can you believe that she will be 4 soon? I can't.

Safire

Sharing is Hard

Everyone,

Sharing is hard for everyone in this house lately. I have labeled myself the toy police and am constantly telling small people to stop taking toys! From your siblings! Arg!

Hmpf.

Anyway, one thing that the boys are not doing well right now is taking turns. Specifically taking turns with their medicine. Man they see that little dropper in my hand and come to me as fast as their little hands and knees can go. Pirate trips over himself in his rush to get to me. This morning I sat on the floor between them to give them their medicine. Here's how it went:

Me, cross legged on the floor (in my pjs still because we all wear pjs in this house until a) at least 10am or b) we have to go somewhere...it's just how it is) and I call the boys over to me with their bottles of medicine and the dropper that I am sharing between them. They barrel over. Professor gets to me first smiling and moving his jaw up and down. He climbs into my lap and sits down patting my legs and looking up at me. Pirate has tripped on his way over and is now screaming because he didn't get their first. He pulls himself up on Professor's shoulder and tries to pull Professor out of my lap by his hair. Professor doesn't like this (obviously) and turns to push Pirate off of him. Which causes Pirate to fall over and me to grab him so he won't hit his head on the hard floor. He uses this to his advantage and climbs up my arm. Professor thinks this is a great idea and launches himself at my other arm.

Um, boys? I do have to have my hands to do this. So I put Professor down who complains and is trying to climb up my shirt. Okay, I'll stand up. Both boys are hanging on my crying and I get the dropper ready. I turn to give it to Pirate (he just happened to be the bottle I opened first) and stick it in his bird-like mouth. Professor is unhappy that he is not being fed and tries to rip the dropper out of Pirate's mouth. Pink stuff goes everywhere. Sigh...

I picked up Pirate and gave him the rest of his dose (and a little bit more to make up for the spilled stuff...good thing the pharmacy gave me a little extra) and then put him down. I got Professor's dose ready, and picked him up. Pirate cried, pulled, hit my legs because he saw I was giving Professor his beloved liquid!!

I think tomorrow I may strap them into their high chairs to dose them. Tonight Juice held them both and we wound up doing a walk around the kitchen trying to keep hands from grabbing the dropper.

Butterfly also has to be in on it and desperately wants to give the boys the dropper but I won't let her. I do let her squeeze the top and fill the dropper with meds, but that's as far as I'm going with that one.

Pirate's nose is still pouring out green gunk and he still has an off and on fever. Hopefully it will be gone tomorrow. Until then, I am marveling at the amount and color of his snot. Seriously, I don't think I've ever seen anything so green come out of a nose before. Professor is totally on the mend and is happier than I've seen him in awhile. A month or more. Hopefully they will both sleep well tonight and wake up feeling even better.

Safire

What is red, puss filled, and hurts?

Everyone,

Pirate woke up refusing to nurse. To anyone who knows him and our little nursing relationship knows that this is a huge deal. Huge. He was hot but it's sweltering here lately. I took him down and tried to give him breakfast. No go. He cried and only wanted to be held. When he curled up in my lap and gave a little moan, something finally kicked in.

He's sick. He's not just hot because it's hot outside, he has a fever. 103.2 to be exact.

Remember when last week all Professor wanted to do was lay in my lap and moan and not eat?

Exactly the same thing.

Except this time I called my pediatrician and they had me come in about 2pm. By the time we arrived, Pirate had had one little sip of water (before breaking down into tears) and on tiny bite of oatmeal. Professor was barely any better.

The doctor (who was the same one as last week's year old visit) checked their ears. Red, pussy, fluid filled left ear for Pirate. And residual redness in both ears and a red/swollen throat for Professor. He looked at me, broke out his prescription pad and said, "What do you want to do?" Huh? No doctor has ever asked me that. He must have seen the blank look on my face because he explained himself further by saying that if I had brought either of the boys in by themselves, he would have given antibiotics to Pirate no question and nothing to Professor. But since they seem to have gotten the same thing and since Professor STILL isn't eating well, he wanted to know if I wanted an Rx for both of them.

Yes please!

He was also VERY concerned that they hadn't eaten much all day. He suggested I go over to the smoothie place and see if I could get something cool and fruity on their throat if it would help. Butterfly was excited about the idea. So off we went. I got a medium and Butterfly had her own. The boys drank 80% of my drink, came home, nursed like champs, and went to sleep for over 2 hours. You'd think as a mom I would have caught on to their little sickness sooner. Oh well.

Boy do they love that pink liquid. They both sucked it down like it was some huge treat, not unlike the mango smoothie this afternoon. I'm hoping they will stop having running noses by tomorrow and will feel much better.

Being sick is no fun!

Safire

PS- I think this is the boys' first tastes of antibiotics. Yay for a milestone!

Sleep vs Blog

Everyone,

Another short update from me today. Professor spent another night in my arms, roasting he was so hot. I watched 2 movies last night (The Importance of Being Earnest and The Man From Snowy River) and watched the clock tick slowly by.

4am rolled around and I could finally move without him clinging to me and crying. Bed time!

Juice couldn't stay home this morning due to some work meeting (how inconsiderate of them!) so I dealt with my 2 hours of sleep and even took the kids to the resource center.

Professor actually got down and played. I was amazed.

After his nap (at least he is napping...I should have. Stupid phone.), I basically froze us out. I opened all the windows for some cool fresh air. Even then I could tell when Professor came near me because he was so dang hot. A call to the doctor (they can't do anything) and a wonderful friend bringing juice (hey look the boys can drink out of straws!) and his fever broke. He was happy, pleasant and smiling all through dinner for Daddy. Grr...

I put Butterfly to bed early too because I was cross and Juice is gone on a service project.

Now, bedtime!

Safire

Coming Soon

Everyone,

I've been uncharacteristically absent from my blog lately. The trip with my family was so much fun! So much so that I was in bed early every day and sleep won out over blogging.

I have 3 FULL cards of pictures that I'm going to attempt to download today, so expect a lot of pictures soon.

Updates to look forward to as well: the boys 1st birthday! They are one year old! Their year old doctor visit, cousin pictures, Egg Roll pictures, and a museum review.

One little update right now: the boys got their first dose of the MMR vaccine on Monday. All day yesterday they both just laid in my arms moaning and radiating heat. It was awful! Pirate's fever broke around 4pm and he was pleasant and happy. Professor, on the other hand, was horribly sick. He cried every time I put him down and just sat in my arms not moving. Tylenol didn't help, and I figured the best thing for him was sleep. Around 2am I woke up to him screaming. When I picked him up I knew he was very sick, burning hot to the touch. Temperature read 103.4 degrees. More Tylenol, some cool water in a sippy cup and a lot of cuddling and nursing and it went down to around 101 in about an hour. I was all ready to call the on call doctor if it didn't go down because he was so miserable.

He finally went to sleep around 5am, and Pirate woke up around 6am for the day. I was BEAT. Juice was kind enough to work from home for an hour or so this morning so I sleep some. This morning he is feeling better, although his fever comes and goes. Ugh, I hate this shot. I remember it being hard on Butterfly too.

Look for pictures soon!

Safire

Wondering

Everyone,

It's been 11 days since the boys got another cold. Today, I watch Professor crawl towards a toy, stop, rub his ear, go back to crawling, go back to ear rubbing, and finally get to the toy. He rubbed his ear all through lunch and dinner. He woke up from his nap screaming (but not touching his ear). His appetite is down. His nose is not always running. It seems like that might be clearing up. He has no fever and only the ear rubbing is stopping him. A trip to the doctor seems like a good idea, huh?

Pirate has major snot but I can always count on his nose to produce enough snot to lubricate a squeaky wheel. Too bad I don't have one of those! Anyone know how to stop the kid from shredding the tissue before you make it to their nose? Anyone?

Juice went painting again this morning (a friend of ours is trying to paint her house to put it on the market) so I had the kids by myself. The morning flew by and in no time it was time for Conference. (Our church has a world wide church conference every 6 months, first weekend in April, the first weekend in October.) I have to say that I missed most of the morning session because the MOUSE is back. Ooohhh...I hate that mouse. No luck in catching it either. Juice got home just in time for it to reappear and he crawled under the house, pulled out the oven and the washer/dryer, and checked for holes under the house. He even took the dog in there to see if she would point out where this mouse is coming from. No luck. There was no nest, no droppings, no holes, no nothing! We have all kinds of traps and are just not getting anything. I am at my wits end with this. Any suggestions?

Ack...I just realized that the boys party is a short 2 weeks away! Off to take care of plans!

Safire

Sick Day

Everyone,

Today has been a day of wiping noses, practicing coughing into our elbows, and crying fits. For everyone. Okay, maybe Juice hasn't had a crying fit today but I may have. Early this morning when everyone was sleeping. Everyone was snoring, but they were sleeping. Was I?! NO! Stupid cold.

Despite the cold, I felt like I worked hard today. I went to the drug store for some cold medicine, did the dishes, the laundry, kept everyone relatively snot free, fed, changed, cleaned, and even went to my church activity tonight. I feel great that I got so much done.

But man, this cold. My forehead feels like it's growing ever so slowly over my eyes. Juice stayed home from work today so he could not spread it around.

Excuse me while I go wipe my own nose and lay down.

Safire

Sick, Again!

Everyone,

The kids are sick again. Both boys have horrible runny noses and Butterfly has a horrible cough. I feel like we are just bouncing from sickness to sickness here. Although, Juice pointed out that that month we had the cast, everyone was perfectly healthy. I hate to have to lysol the house every time we go out but I hate having sick kids too.

Sad thing is, this time Juice and I are getting it. I hope it goes by fast. It's the pits to be a sick mommy.

Today, before the cold really hit everyone, we were able to go over to my good friend Lolli's house and get some pictures taken! Technically they are supposed to be for their 9 month old shot but we are a few months behind. Pirate broke his leg before we were got around to taking the pictures and then I wanted to wait until he had his cast off to do it. Well, 2 months later, we got them done! So look for a picture post in the future.

Speaking of procrastination, I just barely sent out for the boys' birth certificates. Amazingly enough, the paper they gave us to fill out in the hospital is still in existence and I knew where it was. It's a little wrinkled but still legible. It's going out in the mail tomorrow since I finally got a copy of my driver's licence.

Butterfly, and the boys for that matter, have been extra needy. Pirate was up all night this time...and now Butterfly is sobbing so I better go.

Until tomorrow!
Safire