Hot Tubbin' with Roo

One day I was about to wipe Andrew down after dinner when I realized something. First I realized a wash cloth would not do justice to the mess he had created. He was definitely going to need a bath, after the graham cracker facial and shampoo he had created. I also realized he was smaller than the other kids were when they were in the "smear food in the hair" stage. The sink was already empty of the dinner dishes, so I decided to see if I could give him a quick dip in the sink, like when he was younger, instead of bending over into the bathtub. He loved it. It was strange to have such a small baby sitting up in the sink. I am usually past bathing a child in the sink, long before they know how to sit up. I thought my plan was genius and was looking forward to many more nights of bathing him in the sink when I was suddenly reminded of one minor detail.

Andrew is not a newborn baby. Not only can he sit up in the sink, he can splash a lot of water out of the sink, enough to thoroughly soak, me and dump standing water on the kitchen floor. So although he loved splashing in the sink, I realized this would be the last time I bathed him there. Timmy solidified my decision, when he walked into the kitchen and saw Andrew. He squealed with delight, and proceeded to begin to strip himself down, under the false impression that I was going to allow my almost 2 year old to jump naked in my kitchen sink. Now there is no doubt in my mind, this really was Andrew's last kitchen sink bath.

All Wrapped Up!

This year there will not be a lot of presents under the tree. That's OK though because we are going to have a great Christmas! I am really excited. Santa let me know that he thinks he has the perfect plan for our family this year. Even though there will not be a lot to unwrap on Christmas, the kids will have plenty of opportunity to open presents, they get one each night in fact.

I saved all the Christmas books that we have and packed them away last year with all the decorations. Now we have over 30, so it is plenty to let the kids unwrap one or two books each night and then we read them before bed. It is a fun way to change up bedtime a little. My original plan was to have all the books wrapped and countdown until Christmas. But I tried on multiple occasions to go wrap the books and with Timmy and Andrew's help it has not gone well.

So instead the box of books is in our bedroom and each night Jeff slips in and wraps a book quickly while we are getting ready for bed. It's probably better this way, I am sure that if Timmy found a stack of wrapped books they would all be unwrapped fairly quickly.

The kids love unwrapping a book together and then I read it while Jeff brings around the medicine and vitamins. We have read classics like "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas" and "The Nutcracker" and we have read silly ones like "Olive the other Reindeer" and "The NutQuacker".

We even have some of the touch and feel books like, "Santa's Suit", and "How to Build a Snowman", so Timmy and Andrew have had fun, too.

But Timmy likes the wrapping paper as much as the books. One day when Jeff was on the phone with me he snapped this picture of Timmy wrapping himself and Andrew in the wrapping paper that we are using to wrap the books.

Sick Kids

The last couple weeks were very busy. I have had all of my kids sick within the same few days, but this is the first time I have had four children all sick at the exact same moment. Sam had double ear infections, Andrew had RSV (or some random respiratory issue that acted like it), we didn't actually run the test to know that for sure. But he was using the nebulizer every few hours. Timmy had issues with the tubes that were recently put in his ears, and he threw up. So he had to have ear drops in his ears which suprisingly he cooperated with, and was unexpected for a toddler. Nathan was recovering from an asthma attack and had a bit of a cold but didn't miss any school.



But worst of all was Cori. She has never been as sick as she was last week. She missed a full week of school (from Weds-Weds.) She had a high fever for 6 straight days. We kept her on ibuprophen and tylenol round the clock and her fever still remained between 101-105. It was awful. I found my self running from child to child, and there was no chance of keeping the house remotely clean. I have never seen Cori so weak, she just layed there and moaned. She couldn't keep food down and horrible stomach pains. I hated not being able to help her.



Thankfully we have an amazing doctor/friend who made repeated house calls both by phone and in person. But he does put us in a difficult postion. What can I possibly to do to thank someone who does so much for our family? On Sunday he came and drew Cori's blood for some lab work that needed to be done. He let her lay in her own bed while he did it, so that we would not have to take her out in the cold to the hospital. (and he was really good, it went fast with only one poke and no bruising). A plate of cookies just doesn't cut it. He is the best doctor I have ever worked with, and he goes so much beyond the call of duty. And his wife does so much for me on top of what he does, I have no chance of repaying all of their kindness.

I'm Back!

I have missed blogging about so many things. Our computer is working again. I am not sure what changed but I am glad because there is no way we were going to be able to get a new one. I don't really know how long this is going to last, but I will take it while I can get it. With our luck it will break down completly the same day our van dies, which should be any day now. Anyway, I am not sure how much backblogging I will do, but I will try to update everyone (Like all five of you out there who read it).



** I was working on this blog entry and a couple others when the computer died, I am just going to post them as is today, weeks later, before my computer dies again.

Our Computer Died

I had so many entries I wanted to make while still in November. Last week was a crazy week and lots happened. A week ago Sunday, Jeff taught his newly learned turkey craft to his kids and nephews at my sister's house. Monday was conferences for all three older kids, it was hectic and busy but everyone's conference went well. Both Monday and Tuesday, I spent the evenings volunteering at the school Book Fair. Then we were out of town for thanksgiving. While in the cities, Cori lost her tooth after biting into an oreo truffle. Jeff and I were able to spend the morning in the temple on Saturday. We also went to a fabulous play at the Guthrie (the best theatre in the world!). Everyone is sick. We still put up the Christmas tree last night, along with decorations. Tonight we will begin the first day of unwrapping a Christmas book each night to read each night between now and Christmas.
Unfortunately I will not be able to blog or post pictures of these events. Our computer died. I hope we will be able to get it to work. Right now I am using the old laptop to post this. It is extremely slow and too tedious for me to take the time to make blog entries, let alone download pictures. Hopefully I will at some point be able to come back and expound upon the previous things mentioned. And I will hope things will be working so I can blog about upcoming exciting events. The older three have a dance recital this week, Cori's class play is next week, Andrew has learned to scoot from room to room to add to the mischief of his partner in crime. And much, much more.
But I guess for now I will have to take a break from posting.