Fevers, Allergies, Fevers

I had a phone conversation last week with a friend discussing how sick-free this summer had been for us. We haven't even had as much as a cold! Right...

Starting last Friday, Owen and Kyle both came down with fevers. No other symptoms, just fevers. They slept fine through the night, ate fine, demeanors were okay but the fevers continued. I kept expecting Roseola or hand, foot, mouth or vomiting but nothing. And then Sunday, the fevers were gone. Owen has been in a mood ever since this started. He throws himself down, arches and doesn't want anything or anybody. He is also getting 3 molars so who knows!

Then, Tuesday night Janie woke me at 1am and was feeling awful. I could tell she was burning up so I gave her Motrin, some water and took the temp. Well it read 105.5. So, either I have a misreading thermometer or I was too out of it myself. Anyway, I took the day off on Wed. to stay home and watch old Little House on the prairie episodes, eat soup and baby my little girl. Kind of fun since again her only symptoms were the fever and with meds, it was controllable.

Meanwhile, I let Kyle fall off of the bed and clobber his nose (see picture), I have some nasty allergies going on, and my husband has been working every night! But, all is well now.


My sister has her first ultra sound today and will find out about her baby, we are going to order a new kitchen floor today and we are taking the kids to Frankenmuth for the weekend to have a little family fun!

Until next time...

Six years ago

Six years ago today I lost the most generous individual I have ever known, the person who taught me about courage, the first man I ever loved, one of the two people who gave me life, and the person that I called Daddy. Yes, six years ago, my dad, who had suffered from cancer for 15 months, was relieved of his pain and struggles and moved on to a better place.

I think there are many things in life that you do not appreciate or recognize as being as important as they are until you are without them. Not to say that I didn't appreciate or realize how important my father was to me when he was alive, but I feel that in the six years that he has been gone that it has really come to surface what an amazing person he was. I did not realize the impact that he made on so many lives. I did not realize the impact he made my life.

My daughter was only 3 months old when dad died. Now that I have been a parent for a while I realize more now how he lived his life. He thought, as many parents do, that his wife and children were everything. He would have and did give anything and everything to make us happy. What he may have never known is that the important things that he gave us will be with as we grow older, make new friends, have children and survive marriage. He taught me that giving is easy. He taught me that making a difference in others' live is easy to do. He taught me that friendships are important and worth taking time for. He taught me that marriage is not always easy and showed me how a woman should really be treated. He taught me that parenting can be a challenging but is the most precious gift ever.

My dad wrote so many letters. He wrote letters to people who were going through tough times, or people who just conquered something great, but most of all because he knew it would make someone's day. My favorite letter that he ever wrote was to my husband when Janie was born. I can't quote exactly but part of it went something like this - "There is something special about having a daughter. One day when Janie has gone off to college and the phone rings, Ali will yell to you and say "honey, the phone is for you, it's Janie" and there will never be a better feeling"

Now I just miss my dad. I wish I could see him hold my mom's hand. I wish I could feel like he would do anything in the world for me again. I wish he could meet my kids today. I wish I could get his approval that I am a good parent. I wish he was here...

Daycare

Today is our 4th day in daycare. So far, okay. Initially the boys were very excited about there classroom, lots of toys, friends, creative things to do that mommy probably would not do at home (finger painting, markers, etc...)and so on. Janie had a harder time the first day. I could tell that she was feeling anxious about not knowing anyone. She had tears, I had tears and then I left.

The update four days later is that Janie is doing great. Despite the getting up in the morning, she is doing awesome.

The boys are both doing fine. Apparently Kyle has been very sensitive in the morning and a bit whiney. Yesterday and today he stood at the door screaming when Mike dropped him off. Owen is whining some but overall pretty content. This is funny because typically Kyle is the clown and happy most of the time and Owen is the serious, temperamental one. The challenge here - SLEEP! These boys have gone from sleeping 8:00pm-6:30am with 2-2hr naps a day to 7:15pm-6:00am with 1-1hr nap a day. I am not sure that they are ready to go down to one nap. I know that this transition usually happens at 12months but maybe not for my crazy boys. The unfortunate part is that the time we have together now is not as pleasant because they are spent.

The bright side - I love Hearts and Hands! It is a Christian based childcare/preschool. Janie went to preschool there and we have always been happy. A lot of the same people are working there that were there when we left over a year ago. It is the perfect balance between play, education and Christian education.

So, we will continue to transition and look forward to our nanny coming back in hopefully 5 weeks!

Catching up

It seems that the time between my updates gets longer and longer. This time I have an excuse~I was off of work last week and it is not that I didn't have time but I have a super slow computer that is still on dial up. So, if I do get on line, it takes 20 minutes to look up the weather. I know we need a new computer and high speed but truly, I have access all day long at work so what is the need.

Anyway, our nanny had her long awaited baby girl on Wednesday and named her Alivia Lynn. She is just a peanut at 5lbs, 4oz and beautiful as can be. So, with her needing to be gone, I took vacation time. I stayed home with the kids. And when I say stayed home, I mean in the house. It was great quality time and we did get out for a bit of shopping and visiting but mostly we stayed home. The reason for this is that I can not handle these kids on my own in any place but the house. I tried to play outside and once Kyle discovered the street, it was all over. I met a girlfriend at the park and tried to keep track of which steps which child was climbing. It is truly crazy.

My week off meant a bit of catching up on sleep, a lot of projects left undone but fortunately some QT with the kids. I do feel that Janie always suffers. She always has to help mommy with the boys. I try to give her all of my down time. The second the twins go to sleep, I try to play catch or a game or watch her ride her bike. It is just hard finding the balance. Fortunately my mom and I were able to take her school shopping on Sun. (alone) and that was great!

The kids all started in a new childcare (well new to the boys but the same place Janie had gone before) yesterday. I will try to blog about that tomorrow but have to run now and pick them up!

Our regular routine ~mommy the jungle gym!