EVERYBODY'S SICK AGAIN

For some reason we cannot seem to get everybody healthy at our house. We had Bubby (that's my current nickname for Jonathon. It changes fairly frequently.)back at the doctor Friday night. Then they sent us over to the hospital to have his nose cleaned out and a viral scan done. It came back today and thank goodness he only has the Rhino Virus. That's one of the viruses that causes the common cold. Still it causes tons of nasal congestion, difficulty breathing, a sore throat, etc. When we got to the doctor's office with him Friday night his oxygen level was lower than it should have been so they gave him a breathing treatment and that brought it back up immediately. We have had him on those ever since. Poor little guy still sounds bad. He is so congested.

Grandma has severe Bronchitis. Grandpa just hurts all over. Julie's got a sore throat and a bit of a cold. I am starting to catch Julie and Bubby's junk and poor Rob had some kind of reaction to the mixed nuts we got for Thanksgiving. It's almost like he's had food poisoning only no one else got it. I think maybe he's become allergic to nuts. Needless to say--no one left the house for church today.

It has been fairly low key here with everyone just trying to feel better. Hopefully we will accomplish that soon.

WHO SAYS THERE'S NO SANTA CLAUS?

CUTE FAMILY--KIND OF . . .

You won't believe what it took to get this picture. In fact, I can't believe Carly is smiling even a little bit. The photograper caught her between sobs. She was acting like she hadn't had a nap in days. She played shy and hid her face at first and then started to cry uncontrollably. It was awful. We were lucky to get as good a shot as we did. We were all singing her favorite songs to her. Even the photographer was singing. She blew bubbles, too. We all did everything we could think of to make her laugh or smile but no such luck. Jonathon didn't feel good either. Poor little guy. Oh well. It's a wrap. Say Cheese!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING FROM OUR FAMILY TO YOURS!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE

There is so much to be grateful for. I look around and see my beautiful children, my handsome husband, my wonderful parents and siblings. I am so blessed to live in such a wonderful time and place with so many loving family members and friends. I am grateful for a loving Father in Heaven, for my Savior Jesus Christ, for my freedom and liberty and especially for those who serve daily to allow us to stay free in this country. I have so many blessings to be thankful for on this Thanksgiving Day--and I am. May you have a wonderful and blessed holiday.

THE DRYER MIRACLE

Thank goodness for whomever discovered you could help calm a colicky baby by warming his blankets in the dryer. It really is an amazing miracle. One minute you have a screaming, upset baby; the next you have tightly wrapped him in warm blankets and he drifts calmly off to sleep. Thank you, thank you. Maybe I can sleep now, too. :)

MY DAY

Spent most of the day holding Jonathon. His tummy has been upset and he doesn't want you to sit down; he wants you to stand up or walk around while you hold him. My arms are so sore. My little guy is about 12 pounds now so he's no light weight to tote around.

We got a call from our daughter Sara tonight. Her college dance team competed in a competition and they took the national title in the division they competed in. We're really proud of her. She's a very talented dancer.

Other than that, we have just been cleaning, sorting through boxes and organizing things and getting things ready for Thanksgiving. Rob and I did a tiny bit of shopping tonight but we were both too tired to do much. Nothing really exciting happening here. Everybody is in bed now but me. Guess I had better get there while the getting is good. lol.

TODAY

Was a really nice day. We had great church meetings and the kids were really good. Well, that is until we went to pick Carly up from her nursery class and she had a complete meltdown. Get this, all the kids were gone. She was the last one there to be picked up. It was just her and teacher. The toys had been put away and so had the snacks and she still was not ready to go home. Total tantrum. My poor little socialite. She just doesn't get enough "friend" time.

Then we came home and Mom, Julie and reorganized some of the kitchen cabinets so we could fit thinks in better. It looks a lot nicer, too. Then we made Lasagne and homemade rolls for dinner. Megan and Uncle Steve and the kids came over. We watched a game or two (don't know which ones because I wasn't paying attention) and had some nice family time. Then everyone went to bed. Think I will go join them. Night.

TO BE OR NOT TO BE . . .

Potty-trained. I think maybe Carly is giving me hints. Maybe they aren't even hints but giant messages! Everytime I got her out of bed today (naps included) she had removed her pants and diaper. Either she has naked baby syndrome or she is ready to go diaperless. I'm just wondering if a 21 month old can grasp the concept of "going on the big potty." I have approached the idea with her a few times and even let her sit on the throne a couple of times to get the feel of it (with no outcome). Pun intended. I'm just not sure what to make of the her need to be naked, at least from the waist down, if she isn't ready to potty train. And if she isn't, and I can't talk her into keeping her diaper on, I am going to need a case or two of duct tape. Santa, did you hear that?

SOMEBUNNY LOVES ME

Lately it has been a huge deal to Carly to pick out what she wears each day. She has also started a new habit of undressing herself. Unfortunately, this part of the equation has been occurring before the rest of us wake up in the morning. So, upon entering her room we sometimes find a naked little girl in her crib. We have tried safety pins, diaper pins--pretty much everything except duct tape and handcuffs to keep her p.j.'s on her. The only thing we haven't tried is putting them on backwards. Someone suggested that to me--and said it works. I just can't figure out how the feet part would work. Seems like they wouldn't fit. But like I said I haven't tried it yet.

Anyway, when I found my cute little Lady Godiva this morning she was very excited to pick something from her closet to wear. I showed her several things and was sure she was about to pick out one of her cute dresses. Then all of the sudden her eyes landed on something that wasn't an outfit at all. Instead, it was a costume the neighbors gave us because their kids outgrew it. I hadn't even let Carly try it on yet because it looked too big for her this year. But, she decided that's what she was going to wear today and that was the end of the discussion.

Holy Moly. Are you serious, child? Oh yah, she was!

So without further ado--here's my little bunny girl in her Thursday outfit! LOL! Gotta love her! She's an independent spirit that's for sure! (Oh yah--and she wouldn't pose for me so I just had to snap a few photos. That's why they aren't that great.)

WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?

IT'S AMAZING

What you can accomplish when you've had a night's sleep! I'd forgotten what it was like to sleep through the night. It felt so wonderful albeit a little weird. I did wake up every few hours and glance at the clock and then at the cradle to make sure I wasn't imagining things. Sure enough, he was still asleep and I wasn't dreaming. Yippee!

Today we went to Dad's knee surgeon to check things out and had a really great appointment. They took an X-Ray of his knee and we got to look at it and boy, does he have a reason to be in pain. It's really bad! No cartilage left and lots of arthritis. We set a tentative date for surgery and we'll see where things go from there.

Here's to hoping tonight is another night like last night's!

YOU WON'T BELIEVE THIS . . .

I don't believe it. Jonathon fell asleep around 11:30 p.m. which isn't unusal. But he usually only naps for about 20 minutes and then wakes up in that Colicky crying for the next hour to three hours. Well, last night instead of staying up and blogging during his nap I put him to bed and decided to go to bed myself, I figured I would get up with him as soon as he woke up hurting. Well, here's the big surprise--he didn't wake up until 5:10 a.m.! No way! Plus he's a big smiley guy this morning. I love it! Mama is a happy camper! I am crediting the new formula we started him on. Yay!

JONATHON AND MOMMY

Are bonding in the early morning hours over Reflux and Colic. Who needs insomnia? Will somebody please come put us to bed?! :}

CARLY IS A PARROT

The newest fun at our house is getting Carly to repeat the things you say. Sometimes it's on purpose and sometimes it just happens. Her sisters have the most fun getting her to say the slang of the day like "Wassup" and "Wass Happnin'" and "You go girl." Then there are those moments when you are not thinking at all about teaching her a new word but something frustrating happens and you say "Dang it"(which is about as bad as I get these days)and you don't realize she's there until you hear this tiny little "dang it" right behind you. Arrghh! Gotta watch myself! I'm raising a little person and she is a parrot. She mimics everything she hears right now. Hey, maybe I'm saying all the wrong things out loud. Tomorrow I'm starting with a new outloud mantra. Mommy is smart. Mommy is pretty. Mommy is cool. I love Mommy. Mommy is my favorite parent, Mommy is a genius . . .

MY HAPPY BOY

Jonathon started cooing and talking to Grandma this morning and then Julie got these big grins from him. He is such a handsome, happy boy and we love him so much.

UNSCRIPTED MOMENTS

I caught this photo the other day when my mom told me to look and see where Carly was. Sure enough she had climbed into Grandpa's lap. She likes her Grandpa, alright! She's building a pretty special bond with her Grandma and Grandpa and I have a front row seat.
I love it!




Carly is still reverting a little bit back to her babyhood. Here she is trying to fit into her old baby carrier (the one that now belongs to Jonathon--no jealously here folks. Lol!) I think she's a little depressed that it doesn't fit as well as it used to. Hee, hee, hee.

HOUSE OF SICKIES

Seems like I spent the day at the doctor's office and the pharmacy. We're still working on Jonathon's reflux. Well, nothing's working on Jonathon's reflux so far so we had to go back to the drawing board today. We are now trying a new formula, going back to the first med but with a higher dose and doing some tests to make sure he isn't allergic to milk. My doctor thinks he has at least two issues going on: Reflux and colic. The colic is what is making him scream in pain for a couple of hours at night. Unfortunately, there isn't a lot we can do for the colic but hopefully changing the formula will help some. And we are going to cross our fingers that something starts to work on the reflux. Lots of prayers please friends. Our little guy needs to start feeling better.

Then, I ended up back at the doctor's office with Julie because she had a pain in her side. It had been hurting for a couple of days but got really bad today. No, it wasn't appendicitis--wrong side. Turned out to be Costochondritis-an inflammation of her ribs. So, she is on the take it easy plan for the next ten days.

Let's face it--we are a house of sickies. Gee Whiz we are going on our 6th or 7th week of someone in the house being ill. That's just yukky. It's time for us to be well. It's our turn--don't ya think?!

SUGAR AND SPICE AND . . .

Grandma was making an apple pie tonight and some pie dough cookies with the left over pie dough. She was sprinkling cinnamon and sugar on the cookies before she baked them and Carly was watching every move she made. Grandma had made the same cookies last week when she baked some other pies so, I think Carly was pretty excited to have some more cookies.

I walked by a few minutes later and saw Carly with the cinnamon and sugar shaker and Grandma was right there so I didn't think much of it. I figured Grandma had emptied it doing the cookies and was letting Carly hold it. What is it they say about making ASSUMPTIONS? Oh yah, nevermind. I should have asked more questions.

The next time I turned around I saw Carly playfully shaking cinnamon and sugar all over the kithen floor as she delightfully danced around in it. She looked shocked when I screamed her name. I mean, what in the world could I want. She knew I had seen her with it and not said anything and she was just having fun, right? I took the shaker away from her but that didn't bother her much she just kept dancing her naked feet all over the floor. It didn't matter how many times I told her "NO" or in what tone she loved the feel of the sugar on her feet and she danced away. I had to pick her up and move her.

I went to get a vacuum and came back to find my dogs cleaning it up with their tongues for Carly back in the middle of it all dancing again. By this time--you can imagine, it was a real sticky, yukky mess. All I can say is--Man, it's a good thing this little girl is so darn cute!

MY LITTLE GUY

I'm sitting in my recliner with the most handsome baby boy sound asleep on my chest. Does it get any better than this? I love this little guy so much. He had a really hard night last night. It was almost 5 a.m. before he really fell asleep. His tummy was acting up so much.
Poor little guy. He has projectile vomiting down for sure--at least he did last night. I am hoping he will get a good night's sleep tonight. He did keep most of this last bottle down--so here's hoping!

He is getting more alert everyday. Yesterday, I got a big smile out of him twice when I was talking to him and being playful with him. He is such an adorable little boy. He certainly has me wrapped around his finger.

Well better see if I can lay him down and keep him asleep. Cross your fingers!

CARLY'S PERSONAL JUKEBOX

For some time now I've been telling you of Carly's love for commercials and the music behind them. It's really something you have to experience with her to truly understand. It wasn't until this evening that I was able to put into words what they are for her. We left the TV on during dinner because we were eating late and we wanted to keep up with Dancing with the Stars. During the shows breaks Carly would get distracted from her dinner with each new commercial. It was really obvious and someone commented on it. We realized it was because the music would change. It wasn't the music of the show but the music underlying each commercial. Then it hit me. The commercials are like her own personal, free Jukebox! That's why she loves them so much. They are on constantly, change often and they are fun and free. What more could a girl ask?!

FEEL MY FOREHEAD

Carly has been having mood swings. I mean she can go from happy to major melt down faster than a speeding locomotive can jump the tracks. She has the biggest tears of anyone I've ever met and before her tears are halfway down her face she is giggling and laughing again. It would be a lot cuter if it weren't so constant. Is this the preview to the terrible twos? Happy. Sad. Happy. Sad. Happy. Sad. Happy. Sad. Oh my goodness!

It reminds me of my sister's Susan's little girl Alyssa. When Alyssa was about 4 or 5 she was being really dramatic and Susan was telling someone how "Melodramatic" she was. Alyssa apparently overheard her, though didn't understand exactly what her Mom was talking about because a few minutes later she came and made the funniest statement to her. She said; "Mom, will you feel my head; I think I have melodramatic?" LOL!

I think that's where we're at right now. I think Carly has melodramatic! I just wish there was a treatment for it.

HAPPY 51st ANNIVERSARY MOM & DAD

Fifty-one years ago today my parents married each other. Pretty amazing these days to find a couple who has stayed married for this many years who still loves each other and enjoys being together. My parents do all of the above. I'm so glad they have each other and have had so many wonderful years together. Thanks for loving each other and loving us. We love you Mom and Dad! Happy Anniversary!

CHIROPRACTICALLY EVERYONE . . .

Well, actually only Grandma, Jonathon and I went to the Chiropractor today--along with a friend and her baby who referred us to this Chiropractor. I didn't know until very recently that babies could be adjusted by chiropractors but it's actually quite a common practice. Anyway, this one we went to has seen a ton of babies and helped them with Reflux. So, we drove almost an hour to see him. It was really interested to watch him work with Jonathon and to have him show us how he was out of alignment and then see him put him back in alignment. I was very pleasantly surprised by the whole thing.

When you think about it babies actually go through a lot during the birth process to squeeze their bodies out of a not very big opening. It has to put a strain on their body and the way it is aligned. We noticed almost immediately how calm Jonathon became. He usually has his arms waving around--sometimes even when he first goes to sleep he will still have them moving but he didn't at all once he'd been adjusted. So far, it hasn't changed his spitting up at all but they told us that could take a couple of times to make a difference. I'm willing to try anything at this point. Thickening his formula with rice helped a little bit--not a lot but it gave him tummy troubles. The Prevacid hasn't seemed to have kicked in yet but we were only on day 3 today. I just don't know what to do for him that we aren't trying.
I really do wish I knew.

Mom's arm and shoulder felt a good bit better when we were done, too--and my head felt better for the moment. All in all I think the trip was worthwhile. We will do it at least once more and hope for further good results. Wish us luck!

CARLY SAYS:

Today Carly said: "No, no, no, no, no " and my mother said, "Oh, I'm afraid I'm responsible for her learning to say that. Then, Carly said, "Stop it, Stop it, Stop it!" and I said, "Well, I taught her that one. Then Carly turned and smacked my hand and said, "Don't" and Grandma and I looked at sister Julie, and said, "I guess you taught her that one." Julie just smiled, and Carly laughed out loud.

Hmmmmm, I don't think those were the lessons we were trying to teach her in those moments. :}

SAME OL' SAME OL'

Dang. We started Jonathon on the new medicine for his Reflux this evening and it was not MAGIC. I was hoping it would work right away like the first medicine did with the exception that it would keep working. It didn't. We didn't notice any difference at all. Dern. We are supposed to give it a week. I've mentioned before that I am not patient right? Well, that hasn't changed. My poor little guy can't stop throwing up and it's making me sick--for him. Ugh. I just want him to feel good.

Please say prayers for him. Thanks. :/

GOING POTTY WITH CARLY

So, as the mother of a toddler I have gotten used to the fact that I am no longer allowed to go potty alone. If I try, she stands at the door, bangs on it and has a meltdown. Today, I took Grandpa and Grandma to Salt Lake for an appointment. While Carly, Jonathon and I were in the waiting room, Carly had a poopie diaper. I asked the receptionist where the closest restroom was and she lead me to one in their back office area. It was a very nice, single restroom. I hauled the crew and all of our bags in there and got Carly all changed.

Then I had this crazy thought. It's a long drive home. "I should "go" too while we are in here." No problem I thought. I will be quick. Silly me. As it happened the toilet was several feet from the door but it didn't occur to me that that would be a problem. So, I got busy and was almost finished when my cute little toddler decided to try the door handle. Now, I hadn't forseen that as a problem because it was a heavy wooden door and she had been trying all the door handles in the reception area with little result before we went to the bathroom. They were those pull down handles but they were too heavy for her to pull down. She couldn't make them move so I wasn't worried. Plus, I had locked the bathroom door.

So there I am in the bathroom--a little vulnerable, too far from the door to stop her--got a steady stream flowing and suddenly my cute little toddler jumps up and grabs the door handle and pulls back on it. Yep, it starts to fling open! I was up off that toilet to push that door shut faster than a fox fleeing a hen house. It wasn't pretty but I got the job done. There was a busy hallway outside that door and I didn't feel like being the sideshow! Although, I'm sure they wondered what the rukus was all about!

Yep, this little girly is giving me a run for my money! It's probably good for me. I need the exercise! :)

MAJOR TROUBLE

NEED I SAY MORE?

HALLOWEEN . . . THE DAY AFTER

Sugar. Little girl. Craziness. Need I say more? Crying if you don't give it to her; crying and fussing if you do. More mom, always more. Gee whiz. It's never enough. I'm sure I was never like that. (Yah right!)

Sometimes the big sisters are big helps and sometimes they are not. Today not so much. Carly has been belching quite a bit. What do the sisters do? They give her huge "high fives" every time she does it. Encouragement?! Oh, you betcha! Everytime she misbehaved today they laughed loud and she performed more and better. I just about gave them time outs! She is at that age where she understands, mimics and plays to the crowd. Sometimes it is really hard not to laugh, but that's when you have to pull a nose hair or pinch yourself really hard so you don't!

Tears, screaming. Sugar high is wearing off. Time to go. Baby girl's bedtime.

HALLOWEEN AT OUR HOUSE!