Better

Well Gray had me worried yesterday. He had a fever and was doing weird things with his mouth and talking funny. I had read those were symptoms of epiglotitis, which is a severe problem where your epiglotis swells and stops you from breathing. Then he started talking normally again, but was a little out of his mind and acting like it hurt really badly when I moved him, which I read was a reason to go to the ER, though I never figured out what the underlying cause of that would be. Then kind of suddenly, he started asking for food and drink and then smiling and laughing (over nothing, which was kind of weird too!) and I felt his skin to find that his fever had broken. He went to bed around 9:30 and was even able to walk up the steps himself, whereas a few hours before, he couldn't hardly hold a cup he was so shaky. So today he's a little cranky and says his tummy hurts, but he's so much better. Who knows was this sickness was, but hopefully we've seen the last of it. I'm trying to keep Gray away from Julia, which is really tough because they are so touchy feely with each other, but who knows when he was/is contagious.

Kids

So there's a few new things with Julia lately. We started real food. She had some banana (loved) and today a little bit of a plum (didn't like, but I think I should have cooked it before blending). Not to get into too much detail, but the nastiness of the diaper I just changed makes me want to not give her food ever again. Who knew a little banana could change things that much? Anyway, she's also rolling all over the place now and just bonked her sweet little head on a cabinet door. And she will give kisses if we ask, which is so cute.

As for the boys, Joshua told me that he wants 3 more baby sisters. After some discussion, he said they could be girls or boys and we could wait till Julia is 2. Thanks for that, Joshua:) On the opposite end of the spectrum, Gray told me that he sometimes wishes Julia would "break herself." He said he'd be sad if we didn't have a baby anymore but he still sometimes wants her to break herself anyway. Remind me not to leave him alone with Julia!! The funny thing is that he acts like he adores her still. But I guess something like a new sibling is bound to give a guy mixed feelings!

Speaking of Gray, he has a fever today. He was sleepy at our playgroup at the pool, but I didn't think a lot of it till he woke from nap feeling very warm. Hopefully it's short-lived and hopefully we didn't infect anyone at the pool (Sorry, friends! He was totally normal acting this morning!).

Pool Time

We made it...

...through our crazy week. Matt and I agree that it was a total blur! Friday we finished up at VBS and then I went over to finish the painting job at the new gym. After that, we all went for a swim. Joshua is loving the water now and is doing really well at the stuff we've been working on, like going under the water to pick things up, holding my hands and kicking across the pool, and pushing off to me. I think with a couple more lessons, I could back away from him enough that he would be gliding a little ways. We have a playgroup this week at a pool, so we'll see how that goes with all 3 kiddos.

Yesterday we mostly hung around the house. Matt had the gym in the morning and then cut the grass. We all went out for pizza last night and I took pictures of the house throughout the day. We've decided we will tentatively try to sell the house ourselves in a couple of months and then if that doesn't work, we'll call on the real estate agents we had talked to. So we'll make a website and flyer, put a sign in the yard, and see what happens. Taking pictures of the inside of our house was kinda funny because I wanted to check this task off my list so much that instead of trying to straighten the whole house (which was a little disorganized since we were gone so much this week), I just went into a room, straightened it a little, and dumped the rest of the mess in the next room while I took the picture. You'd never know the difference looking at the pictures:) Last night after the kids went to bed, I went outside and took pictures of the exterior. The sun was setting, and with the grass just cut, the place really did look beautiful. Matt has started cutting just part of the yard close to our house so it only takes a couple of hours and there's really not that much yard work anymore, so if it wasn't for the money aspect and the opportunity to live 2 minutes from the gym, I know we'd be happy to stay here. I guess that's the thing about selling your house--you are making it look so good for buyers that you occasionally think, "Why are we selling such a great place?" I just hope there is a family out there that will think our house is a perfect fit for them. We shall see!

Mid week report

Whew. What a day! Third day of 2nd week of VBS, third day of Matt's new gym job. I'm feeling kind of dazed at this point and hoping to make it through the last 2 days. So VBS is going well. Julia is doing fine in her class. She usually takes a nap and I feed her once and I guess the rest of the time she plays and watches the other babies.

I've been in Gray's class, but our class and Joshua's class do many things together, so I see him a lot too. I think both boys are having a good time. We're doing crafts, singing, playing, learning about Joseph and Egypt, watching skits, etc. On the first day, when one of the teachers asked who was the man we were learning about this week and one child shouted, "Jophus!" I remembered why I like helping in the preschool class. They can be so funny!

The busy mornings are definitely wearing on everyone though. Gray has had a near-melt down several times at the end of VBS, Joshua has been crying a lot, and Julia is all off-schedule, waking up at all hours. And then there's Gray's new nighttime habit of waking up and crying until I come in his room. He says he sees monsters. I got him a super bright night light for his room and thought that would end it, but no such luck. And if one of the kids isn't getting up at night, it's Pogo barking his head off all night long and me getting up to put him in the garage so he'll shut up. And Matt has to leave at a little after 5 am for work, so no one's getting much sleep this week.

Matt is pretty exhausted with his new schedule. He's not getting home till the boys go to bed, so it's a really long day for him. The boys, especially Joshua, are missing their time with him, but we have been trying to find time to stop by and see him when we can. Today we went to the gym after VBS for a picnic lunch and so that I could help paint a mural. Sounded like a good idea at the time...3 or 4 hours later, I wasn't so sure. Everyone totally melted down so after waiting out a sudden storm, we headed home, I made cheese toast for supper and put everyone to bed. Well I'm totally rambling and having trouble even make sense, so I'll end now. Just wanted to give a little update!

Oh, I almost forgot to mention a sweet moment this week. I was trying to put Julia to bed last night and had to put her down to come spank the boys 3 or 4 times because they would get into trouble as soon as I left the room. One of the times I came down and was about to fuss at Joshua, when he told me, "I prayed for Daddy's gym." He prays often at bedtime or meals, but this is the first time he's every mentioned just praying out of the blue for something. Really neat to see him wanting to talk to God about stuff! And on that note, please keep praying with Joshua for more customers for the gym. We have had 3 potential new people this week, but nothing definite.

pictures

Gym move in and more VBS

Matt finally got to move into the new gym this weekend. It's been nice having him around more, but I knew the day was coming when the space would be completed and we'd be starting this new routine of him being gone a lot on the weekdays. Anyway, Friday afternoon he got the go-ahead to move in, so with the help of family and friends Friday and Saturday, he got most everything settled there and is now open for business! We just need to fill the place up with clients now. I know that it's going to be tough to get a ton of people, but I just try to keep reminding myself that God hears our prayers and if he doesn't send us lots of customers now, it's for a reason...or as this speaker I heard says, it's for THE reason--that he loves us and wants to be glorified through our lives. Sometimes I forget that when my prayers aren't answered to my liking.

So our weekend was busy with moving and then today we enjoyed a little time (and special breakfast) with Matt before church and then he left right afterwards for Wilmington to take a certification test. Tomorrow starts a full day for him at the gym and a full morning for the rest of us as we head to VBS at our old church. I'll be helping teach Gray's class, but will get to see Joshua a lot too. I'm really hoping all of this "socialization" for the boys will help them out. We went to the parent day of the other VBS on Friday and I was so disappointed that they would not sing any of their songs or play on any of the bouncy stuff. It seemed like every other child there was happily participating in everything except my 2 boys. I'm sure it has something to do with me and Matt having more reserved personalities, but it sure is frustrating to watch them miss out on so much fun. I made them sing their songs for me and Matt when we got home and of course they were totally stubborn about it but when they finally did, they knew all the words and everything.

Well we'll see how everyone does this week. Thought we might have to miss out because Joshua sounded croupy on Friday night, but he's almost all better now so if the other 2 stay well, we'll thankfully be able to go as planned. Don't know how Julia will do being in the nursery all morning for a week. Actually I don't know how I'll do being away from her so much!! Time will tell:)

I'll post some pictures from today and of the new gym when I have a chance. Have a good week!

Pictures

Forgot to share these... the race the guys went to, Joshua loving his sister, and fun with "the very hungry caterpillar" (in the picture with the boys and the critter, they are blowing on it for some reason...notice Gray's blow is an "F" sound)

This week

Wow, I can't believe that it's already Friday! We've been on the go this week. VBS has been tons of fun for the boys. I picked them up a little early yesterday and got to see some of the group time at the end. They sing a song, which Joshua told me he likes, and most of the kids are enthusiastically singing along and doing the motions. Not my boys! Joshua sat on the floor half the time and Gray usually had his ears covered:) Then after the song, Gray jumped on Joshua and both boys had their fists out trying to wrestle and punch each other. Joshua tells me they were mostly good, so hopefully this was the only incidence of fighting. Ugh, boys! Anyway, today is family day so they are excited to get cotton candy and play on those blow up bounce house things, though time will tell if they will actually participate in those. They usually won't do it unless they are with kids they know.

So this week I have gone to VBS and helped in the nursery 2 days and that has been good. I've enjoyed getting to know some of the people at Stacy's church. On Tuesday, we dropped the kids off and Matt and I met with an architect to talk about our house plan. We think he's going to be really helpful in adjusting the plan we have drawn to make it work the best for our family and be the most energy efficient....if we can afford him, that is! Then on Thursday we met with some real estate agents who talked to us about what they thought we could sell our house for and what they would do to sell it for us if we decide to hire them. We are still thinking it will be the fall before we can do anything.

So that has been our mornings this week. We have also worked on house plan stuff, worked on gym stuff, given Joshua another swimming lesson (this one went really well!), taken some things to the Burmese family, gone to the grocery store, cleaned the house, etc. etc! The boys have enjoyed our baby pool a few times this week and have ended up covered head to toe in wet sand, which is always fun! Julia has done well through it all, though she seems to have picked up a little runny nose this week. It's funny how fast we get used to everyone being healthy! Seems like forever since we've been sick.

So I need to run now...last day of VBS begins in an hour! Check out this movie Matt made for his gym this week. Last night he and I had to make the soundtrack using the "Garage Band" program on our computer. Pretty tough, but very cool!

http://www.crossfitorange.com/21_fitness/getting_started.html

Gray's songs

Gray has been making up songs lately. Yesterday at church we sang a song that says, "I-I-I I'm desperate for you...I'm lost without you." When Gray was heading up to get dressed later that day, I heard him sing his own version, which went, "I-I-I I'm dressed without you," and then something about shirts and other clothing items, with a "Sing Praise" thrown in there.

Then today at the grocery store, he asked me if Julia had a penis. I told him only boys do and he said not baby boys and begin loudly singing, "Baby boys don't have penises, no they don't!"

I can only imagine what lyrics he might come up with next!

On another subject, we had a good time at VBS today. We met some really nice people and it was pretty easy helping in the nursery class of several one year olds and a baby, plus Julia. The boys were in the same class and though they were reluctant for me to leave them, they said they had fun and were looking forward to going tomorrow. Joshua told me he didn't talk to anyone; that they learned that in India, the people worship cows; and that during the skit, there were some silly kids and his favorite part was watching them. That's about all I could get out of them about their day and Gray's answer to all my questions was "I don't know."

VBS coming out our ears:)

Well I don't know if this was smart, but Stacy told me about her church's VBS program next week and, after looking it up and seeing how great it looked, I signed up the boys. I will be helping in the nursery 3 of the days. And then the week after next, our old church has VBS and I'll be helping in the 2/3 yr old class every day. I think we're going to be wiped out by the end of June! But I'm excited for a change of pace, to meet new friends and see old ones, and for some great teaching and fun for the boys! Now if no one would throw up for the rest of the month, that would be awesome!

Day to day stuff

Not a whole lot of excitement around here, but here's a little update.

Julia laughed for the first time today! We were outside and Gray was throwing a ball and she just suddenly laughed out loud. I know, I know- Sawyer laughed like 3 months ago, but anyway, we were excited:) Matt spent the rest of the day trying to get her to laugh at him...think he was a bit jealous! He's so funny with her. When he holds her he puts his face beside hers and gets my attention so I will see how much they look alike. He didn't tell me this was why he did that all the time, but I figured it out quickly. Nothing much new with her except she's peeing out of her diaper almost every night, so that's no fun. Whether I use cloth or disposable, when I go to feed her around 1 or 2, her nightgown is wet and I have to change everything. After some online diaper chat, I think I'll be ordering a few different diapers and hopefully that will fix it. Still cheaper than disposables by hundreds of dollars and since those don't work for her anyway, certainly don't want to spend money on throwaways.

Gray is same old Gray. The last 2 nights we've had Italian sandwiches with zucchini and he has kept a piece of zucchini in his mouth for an hour or 2 each night. He's still sucking his thumb, though I'm taking a break from trying to prevent it, hoping it will be like potty training and he'll be ready when we try again. Actually the other day he asked for the Thum stuff so he wouldn't suck his thumb. I got it out and then he said, "I like when it burns my tongue!" so I promptly put it away. We noticed today that when the boys tried Matt's carbonated juice drink, Gray loved it while Joshua could hardly stand it because it was so "spicy" to him, so I think the Thum stuff must have worn down Gray's taste buds!

Joshua is same old Joshua. He and I took a trip to Walmart today during naptime and it was good to just have him there. Of course he asked for toys half the trip, but we still had a good time. He is really liking to read so much more now and is often reading signs and labels when we are out. He was super excited this morning because his soccer coach came over with another realtor to look at our house. He was bouncing off the walls and asking every 5 minutes how much longer till his coach would be here. I told him that if he plays soccer again, he may not have the same coach and he wasn't really thrilled about that. But that's Joshua for you...he likes same old, same old!

So the real estate agents looked over the house this morning and will report back to us next week about pricing and what we should do to sell it. I think they liked a lot of things about the house, but hinted that it may be hard to sell, which we know. They said they are working with a similar property and it sounded like it was going to be slow going with it as well. We are continuing to discuss the plan for the new house and seem to have a different focus day by day. Sometimes we are drawing it and trying to make that work, sometimes we are brainstorming ideas, sometimes we are researching online or magazines. The latest thing is that Matt would like to learn more about having a passive solar house, so we're looking into that some.

That's about it with us. Still waiting on the gym to be finished, but we did get a father and daughter to start recently here at the house. Matt continues to hand out business cards in the new gym area and we continue to pray for more people! Have a good rest of the week!!

Racecars, Pools, and....stomach bugs:(

Yes, Gray has a stomach bug today! I don't know what's going on with us and stomach bugs. I mentioned a little over a week ago, Joshua had one that last only a few hours and now here we are with Gray again. Who knows? Anyway, on a positive note, the boys had a great time with Matt and some friends at the local racetrack Saturday night. Apparently there were several types of cars that raced and it was very loud, but everyone enjoyed it, especially Joshua. We also had our first swim of the year yesterday at Barnette and Cindy's. Joshua is thrilled to be able to touch the bottom in the shallow end this year. He's still a little nervous about trying to swim, but nothing like last year. I'm hopeful we'll be able to teach him by the end of the summer. Gray fell in after we had only been there a few minutes, so we got that out of the way:) He really liked floating around the pool in a little seal float, but I'm also hoping to make some progress on swimming with him this year too. Well I don't have much more time to write...I've been at the dentist for awhile this morning and we have a realtor coming to look at the house tomorrow, so lots to do! Have a good week!

1700 hours

What's the significance of that stat? I'll give you a second to think>>>

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Got your answer? I'll tell you now...it's an approximation of the # of hours I'll have spent breastfeeding by the end of this year! Isn't that crazy? That's about 70 days of my life that I've spent nursing these babies! (If you're curious, I was bored tonight while Julia was nursing and I calculated this in my head, so it may be flawed: I figured 1 1/2 a day for most of their lives, which is 5-7 ten to fifteen minute feedings plus a longer night feeding. It's more like 10-12 twenty to thirty minute feedings in the early weeks and 4-6 ten to fifteen minute feedings towards the end, so this is very approximate!)

And for a similar stat, Matt and I will have been married 7 years this August and I will have spent 5 of those years pregnant and/or breastfeeding. So here's to Matt for putting up with all those crazy hormones for most of our marriage!

Our week

It's been a different week for us. Matt is now only going in to the office for a few hours a week and since the new gym isn't ready, he's been around a lot. It's kind of reminded me of our time in WA after the deployment. We've been running a lot of errands together, working on house plans, working on our house (cleaning the siding and today we'll be mulching), and then just the usual stuff. Matt has also made a couple of ventures out to pass out new business cards/flyers to people near the new gym.

House planning is going well. I must admit it is challenging to go small and I've had to remind myself several times of the point of all this so that I don't get carried away in all the stuff I think we "need" in the new house. But so far, we have a basic small floor plan and I think with a few adjustments, we'll have something that meets our goals.

I'll just leave you with a little scene from our kitchen table this morning: Gray was eating his pork chop he didn't finish at supper and I pulled a little piece off and threw it away, telling him that was fat. He said in an angry voice, "Mommy, you just gave me fat chicken for supper, you just did!"