Starting to crawl

Blake has been able to overcome the belly and move those thunder thighs into a slow crawl. The kids act so surprised when suddenly he appears from across the room to the middle of their playtime on the floor...makes them giggle.7 1/2 months

Practicing

I kept the kids home from church...Kate and Blake are just coming off some extra strong antibiotics and I wanted to keep them away for another week. I had plenty of time today...so I jumped on practicing on the girl's hair. I love sitting down with them and doing it. Kate is so good and can sit still forever now :) They have totally been into dressing the same lately (they were decked out from head to toe the same today) so I gave them matching hairdos. I of course stole the idea from one of the many hair blogs I frequent, but this is what we came up with today.

Some stuff

Anna & KateBlake & MomI found Anna & David doing some serious work to the crib...

...and some serious work to Blake's hairstyle.Thank goodness we avoided another hospital run with this little injury. Kate came and stood in the doorway of the bathroom while David was peeing....he didn't want her to see him so he ran over and shut the door on her thumb. One of the biggest things that drive me crazy....door shutting in the house, really scares me. Luckily she's okay!

Some funny things they've been walking around the house saying..."Let's get this party starrrted!!" and "Fire in the hole!" That last one is said while letting gas. Nice. They found me and Jay's old CD collection so occasionally they will go in Anna's room, put a song on and dance. It's fun to hear all those old school songs. They're favorite..."Bad to Bone" and "Livin La Vida Loca" (Jay-I definitely don't remember ever owning a Ricky Martin CD :)

Blakey

What a crazy week last week! Blake's second trip to the hospital in his short life...sheesh. He is feeling better and doing really good since we got home on Saturdary from a 4 day hospital stay for a staph infection...MRSA to be exact. Click here for more info, especially if you have kids. It's common in the diaper area, and Kate got one about a month ago. It pretty much starts out looking like a spider bite--but then gets bigger, redder and swollen--like a big, painful zit. We easily got Kate's taken care of at the Dr. with a little squeezing, a culture and some antibiotics. It never got very bad and she never got a fever. Well last Monday I noticed a tiny one on her butt cheek again and we immediately took her in, again no problem. They didn't even need to 'pop' it (gross I know), they just started her on antibiotics (and we took it religiously last time). Well, Monday night I noticed what looked liked a tiny pimple on Blakes bum...the redness around it was not even the size of a small button. But I knew that it had to be MRSA because of Kate. Well he woke up at 4 am with a 102.5 fever and the redness had grown to the size of a penny. I got him into the Dr. that morning and he squeezed a little puss out and took a culture (although we knew it was MRSA). Blake started antibiotics at noon and again at 7 pm, but was still running a high fever. He ran a fever all night...about 103.7. We gave him Motrin, but it took over 2 hours to kick in and and it barely brought the fever down a couple degrees for about an hour. This happened twice through the night. Finally the morning came and his infection had tripled to the size of my palm! His doctor told us on the phone to go directly to Banner Desert where they reserved a room for us. We got there around 10 and they started him on IV's. He went into surgery at about 7:30 that night, just a really short procedure. They made a small incision and found that the infection insde was about the the size of a walnut...they had to extract about 10 mL of stuff out of it. Yuk. He still ran a fever for the next day and a half and they kept pumping him with antibiotics. The day after the surgery, I noticed the infection spreading down his thigh. So we didn't rest easy until Friday, when he stopped running a fever and the redness and swelling finally went down a lot. It was scary to see how fast the infection spread, so we were very greatful to have him there in the hospital getting taken care of. The pediatric floor at Banner Desert was amazing! His nurses, pediatrician, aides and surgeons were all so friendly, caring, and smart...and I knew Blake was in great hands. Through all the pokes, prods, sleep interruptions, tubes, and not to mention that small, boring hospital room...he really was such an angel. He is already a patient, quiet and chill kid-so he did so good. When the nurses had to do bandage changes or other procedures, they would tell us to brace for the worst and hold him down. But he would stay mostly still and didn't freak out about much. It was pretty much him and I stuck in that small room together through those days...Jay came a stayed a few times so I could run home to hug the kids and pack more stuff. Jay and I know we could not have done it without the help from both of our parents. They came and took care of the kids and that gave us so much relief. Not only did they help with the kids but they teamed up and bleached down my whole house, cleaned, mopped, washed and folded laundry, vacuumed, gave baths, mowed the lawn, pulled weeds, brought a few groceries and on and on. They are such a huge blessing to Jay and I. The ward was so kind and brought a couple of dinners and offered caring phone calls. Our families even spent a day fasting for our little Blake. I am so thankful for the power of prayer and for the power of that one simple priesthood blessing from Jay and his Dad. This past week, I have been so touched by the kindness of those around me and so overwhelmingly grateful for all of the service that was offered. Humbleness comes to us in many forms, for me it was seeing and accepting the love of those around me. Thank you to all.
[right before surgery]

[the day after surgery--spreading down his thigh a little ways]

[two days after surgery--looking a lot better]

[waiting for surgery with Dad]

[deep thoughts]

[what he did for three days--thank goodness he's not crawling yet! He was very content to just hang out in his crib]

[he was constantly chewing on his IV tubes. while we were at the hospital, his two bottom teeth finally came in...about time!]

Extra, extra...read all about it!

[A lot to cover from this month...so here are the stories that made headlines...]
David starts preschool
Proud of his new Spiderman backpack
I am so excited for him to have a little structure four days a week for a couple hours. He loves going and, after his first day, Anna asked David what his teacher was like. He told Anna that his teacher had long, yellow hair and then he said, "I love her" in such a sweet but serious voice. If anybody calls it, "school" he is fast to correct them that it's called "PREschool". If I ask him too many questions about preschool, he says, "I can't talk about it anymore Mom." and walks away. I can't wait to see the progress I know he will make this year...maybe he might want to actually sit down and color more than a 10 second scribble. Cutie.

Kate now has some well-deserved time to herself

But still attached to David's hip when he is home
After we dropped off David the first day, Kate ran to her room and started playing in complete uninterrupted peace. She just sang and chattered with her toys for two hours while Blake slept (and has been doing it since). So happy for her.

I asked her to show me a sad face because David was gone...so sincere...
...that she couldn't hold in her excitement! Anna l-o-v-e-s first grade
Getting a piano lesson here and there
She loves going to school, reading her take-home books, and practicing her spelling words. She got 100% on all three of the spelling tests she's had so far. I am trying to squeeze in some time to teach her piano. She is very motivated to learn, but I feel bad I am always pressed for time :( and we don't always get around to it. I was surprised to found written in her journal (swear I wasn't snooping), "I love Joe Jonas". It's probably those tight jeans, vests and almost there facial hair that convinced her. She is always so sweet and concerned about others. When I was really sick a couple weeks ago, I was driving her to school and she said, "I'm sorry your sick, mom. I really wish I could stay home and help you." And recently she was holding Blake, who had a high fever, and she kept saying, "Oh Blakey. You're so hot, I feel so bad for you." Then she told me, "Mom my stomach kind of hurts for Blake." [photos courtesy of David Olson] My projects
Two down, a bazillion to go
So far, I've painted (with a lot of help from Jay) a crib my friend gave me and put together a chore board for the kids. I got a package of four 12x12 in cork boards (at WalMart), threw some scrap paper on them and printed up some simple chore charts on them. So far so good. Not perfect, but at least we have an attempt to structure to our days now. And I've gotten into couponing...some work and time involved but I think it's been fun and so worth it! Thanks to this site.Blake turns seven months old

Yummy, sweet and delicious as ever polls say

He can't quite roll his chubby body around yet, but he gets on all fours every time I set him down. I think those roly poly legs are holding him back from crawling still. He LOVES to eat peas like a garbage disposal...his favorite meal by far. We really love having him as the newest part of our family.Our little day trip
Only one puking incident (sorry Kate)

We drove to Globe, Lake Roosevelt, the Dam and back around and down by the Salt River and Canyon Lake. The scenery was so beautiful and we all had fun getting out for a couple hikes and a relaxing drive. The kids were all a little dissapointed when they didn't catch any lizards.

What's wrong with this picture?

[click on the pic to zoom in]

Have you ever...

Brushed your teeth while using the bathroom to save some time?
Had the awful feeling that somebody got left behind?
Stopped to count how many times you've repeated a certain phrase in one day?
Gone truly crazy by Sunday's end?
Cleaned poop off a three year old's panties, legs and fingers...and the bathroom floor?
Asked your spouse to make very sure they let you know if there is a funky smell going on in house when they get home?
Lazily rolled back around to sleep in and let the kids roam free at 6 in the morning?
Found yourself singing out loud to Yo Gabba Gabba songs?
Been told by a six year old that your breath smells like hot dogs? (without even eating one)
Decided that these little bodies running around your house all day are actually the coolest people in the world to hang out with?
I have.