Category: Uncategorized (Page 36 of 201)

On top of having nap issues (A.K.A. screaming tantrums) Levi got sick in the past month.  First he had to go in because his breathing was abnormal–super fast for no reason–and they said he might have a very early case of Bronchilitis.  So he got started on a nebulizer treatment and bounced back very quickly. Surprisingly he didn’t mind the nebulizer.  We think he likes the humming of the machine.

Then Josiah got sick… he got croup.  I wrote about it a few days ago.  I thought that Josiah had simply caught whatever bug Levi had.  Unfortunately I was wrong.  And, of course, then Josiah gave Levi his croup.  We tried to power through a few nights, but by the 3rd night of not sleeping I couldn’t take it and we made a late night trip to the E.R.

He was given a special nebulizer treatment and some steroids to help open his airway, and then they had to monitor him for 2 hours.  It was a long 2 hours, because it was very late, and he wouldn’t go to sleep.  Oh, and he really, REALLY, hated the heart monitor they taped to his big toe.  So, when he would notice it again he would get really mad at me that I wouldn’t let him take it off.  Most of the time we just sat on the bed in the E.R. trying to watch t.v. or snuggle.

Fast forward to today.  He’s basically all better now, just a residual cough.  Nothing much.  I am very aware that Maddie is highly likely to catch whatever the boys had, so I’ve been religiously giving her (food-grade) Catnip tea mixed half and half with Cranberry juice.  I have a friend that swears by it–and I have to say it seems to keep the croup virus from settling in their voice box.  Instead the virus acts more like a regular cold.  And a regular cold I can totally handle.  It’s the whole “not being able to breathe” part of Croup that freaks me out.  I feel a little silly that I didn’t start the boys on it sooner–perhaps I could have avoided the whole drama of these past couple weeks in the E.R.  Oh well.  I guess we’ll never know.  😉

Jen took the 2 Littles to the park the other day and she took just the cutest pictures.  We have had quite the temperature swings here in the past couple of weeks–blisteringly hot one day (80*) then down to cold and windy the next (40*).  This trip to the park was on one of the more pleasant Fall days.  🙂

I realized that I never properly wrote about Chloe’s Birthday party.  We had it early this year (back in August–so she could do a sleepover) so by the time her actual Birthday rolled around I had already forgotten about it! She chose Purple as her theme.  I thought that was a funny theme… and I was really worried I wouldn’t be able to come up with anything, but it all turned out great!

Ever wondered what a shopping trip to create one of these parties might look like?  Here’s my stash of stuff as I started to get ready: 

First the decorations:  Every party needs balloons and swirly streamers.  Chloe made the purple hanging flowers above the counter mostly by herself!  I just had to help a little with the hot glue gun.

And onto the food:  We had Jello (layered purple and clear), grapes, dark chocolate M&M’s, Mike and Ikes, sixlets, chocolate dipped pretzels, grape pop and tortilla chips.

For an activity the girls glitter spray painted a clipboard purple.  They had fun spraying the clipboards and even posed by the box we used to spray on–I love that picture.  Crazy 9 and 10 year olds!

The girls also had fun doing an elaborate scavenger hunt running around the yard and house.  Unfortunately, during that game two of the girls got hurt… I guess they were having too much fun!

I love coffee.

I remember trying to learn how to brew a proper cup of coffee in college.  Without much luck.  I pretty much just liked the smell of coffee back then, but not really the taste.  I can remember brewing pot after pot and at the end of the day tossing almost the whole thing.  But then the next day I was right back there brewing my next pot.

Fast forward to today.  The invention of the Keurig coffee maker has been very good for me. I now can pop my little coffee pod in and brew only one or two cups of coffee and not have to toss the rest of the pot.  Yeah!  Plus I’ve been able to try out different roasts and blends.

The other day I tried a new flavor:  

It’s delicious.  Soooooo good.  But here’s the interesting part.  This tastes exactly what my mind thinks Hazelnut should taste like.  So when I get Hazelnut, I’m disappointed!  But when I drink this I can’t taste caramel and vanilla.  Isn’t that strange?

Either way, I love this flavor.  So, it’s a win.

We had an eventful weekend which included a trip to Urgent Care with Josiah for his trouble breathing.   We were pretty sure it was just croup but it came on SUPER fast and furious.  His breathing was very restricted and I know croup is characteristically worse at night, so we decided to take him in on Saturday afternoon so we weren’t up in the middle of the night making the same trip to the ER.  The doctor confirmed it was croup–nothing terribly serious–but was able to prescribe a steroid to help open his airway.

All of that to say that we laid low on Sunday letting the medicine do its thing.  Jen came over and we watched a movie that she had rented and watched the previous night with Kailynn:  Miracles from Heaven.

Have you seen it?

It’s so good.  If you haven’t seen it, here’s the synopsis (from IMDB):

Anna Beam (Kylie Rogers) lives with a rare, incurable disorder that leaves her unable to digest food. Despite the dire diagnosis, devoted mom Christy (Jennifer Garner) relentlessly searches for a way to save her beloved daughter. Everything changes in an instant when Anna tells an amazing story of a visit to heaven after surviving a headlong tumble into a tree. Her family and doctors become even more baffled when the young girl begins to show signs of recovering from her fatal condition.

It’s based on a true story, which makes it so much more impactul for me. There are real discussions about faith and heaven and religion.  And I’ll be honest–I cried.  A lot.   A. Lot.

There was a part of the movie that struck me.  The mother was talking with the pastor and he said:

Let me tell you, at the lowest points of my life I’ve tried it both ways: doing everything I can to connect to God, or walking away. And in my experience, one feels a whole lot better than the other.

It reminds me of the unexplainable peace that we can have in Jesus.  Peace beyond our understanding.  I can’t imagine my life without the security of having my faith.  And although I go through my questions and doubts, I always come back.  My heart aches for those who don’t have Hope, or those those turning away.

It reminds me of the verse we are currently memorizing as a family:  Isaiah 40:28

Do you not know?
    Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
    the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
    and his understanding no one can fathom.

We had a long discussion at supper about what that means–“his understanding no one can fathom.”  We cannot fathom the mind of God.  And while we as humans hold memories of the past and hurts that have cut us deeply, God forgives and forgets.  FORGETS.  Seriously.  Try and fathom that!

Ah, that sweet smile.

His contagious belly laugh.

His growing vocabulary.

How he wraps all 5 of his fingers around my one as we walk places.

They way he says, “Mama, where are you?” when he wakes up from his naps.

These are all things I love about our sweet Levi.  Sometimes I need to take a moment and remind myself of the charming characteristics he has.  Especially on days that he is pushing the “Terrible 2’s” to the limit.

Like this past week.

He started screaming when we would put him down for his naps.  Not an “I’m hurt” scream, but rather an “I am angry and will scream at you until you get me up” scream.  An ear piercing, nail-on-chalkboard scream, that cuts to my very soul–igniting my anger.  Sigh.  Yes.  That scream.  And that boy has will-power made of steel.  One day he screamed for almost 2 hours before he finally gave up.  TWO HOURS!  And before you get all worried and sad for him and think I’m a terrible parent for letting him scream that long–yes, I did check on him.  When I would walk in the door he would stop.  He’d start talking to me and playing.  Then as soon as I would turn my back to him or put my hand on the doorknob, he would inhale and resume the screaming.  See?  Just a plain temper tantrum.

I’m not a fan of this stage.

We’ve gone through our arsenal of  disciplining tactics–to no avail.  And by the 4th child we have quite a lot of these tactics!  But with God’s grace and a lot of prayer and a lot of coffee we will prevail!  I will say that by Friday he was getting better.  Not done totally, but it does help that he’s started to lose his voice (from all that adorable screaming, ha!).  I’m hopeful that we’re rounding the corner here.

If you think of it, say a prayer for him.  And for me.  🙂

The other day I was helping in nursery and I had these 3 amigos in class together.  They are all the same age (just turned 3 this summer!) with their birthdays only about 1.5 months apart.  They have so much personality between the 3 of them–it’s so much fun.

Chloe used some of her Birthday money to buy some new clothes for school.  This was one of the fun shirts that she bought.  Isn’t it so cute!?

She is finally able to start switching out her earrings which has been a HUGE deal.  Be prepared to see a lot of crazy stud earrings the next time you see her.  She’s been collecting some cute animals ones that are fun.

This girl is growing up and totally LOVING it.  🙂

I made Jennifer a huge chocolate cake for her Birthday.  I was excited because I was going to use the new (to me) set of stacking cake pans.  It turned out much larger than I expected (2 boxes of cake mix and 4 cans of frosting later) but was so much fun.

Here I am showing off the cake…

And then here is Jen getting the cake on her birthday…

And you probably already noticed that you’ve seen this cake before in another picture…. Yup!  We simply turned the cake and let Levi share in the same cake!  See?  The cake really kept on giving!

(If you look closely, you can see how the back of the cake was eaten the day before!  haha! )