Pixiemom

Noelle had a relapse this morning. She started that horrible sounding cough again and her temperature was up to 102* when I took it. I called the dr’s office as soon as they opened up and was there about half an hour later. He said the coughing and congestion is mostly from a horrible cold that is going around, but the relapse was caused because she also has the beginning of an ear infection and tonsillitis. Her body couldn’t handle the virus and bacterial infections together. She’s on an antibiotic to take care of the infections and hopefully her body can take care of the cold virus now.

In other news… we’re cracking down on thumb sucking, specifically for Amie and Christine. We’ve been praying for God’s help to decrease their need for their thumbs. Now we are trying a way to help them realize when they put their thumbs in their mouths since they do it often without realizing it. We got this to help. Christine tried her thumb as soon as it dried and had such a horrible look on her face. I put some on AnnaBeth too, but I’m not sure how she’ll do. We’ll try again with her when she is older if it doesn’t work now. James and Noelle were paci babies, so we don’t have to worry about them.

Yes, I call my 2 and 3 year old “My Babies” still. They are still so small that they still seem like babies to me, but I don’t treat them like babies. I treat them like I did with my other kids at their age.

Anyway, last night was the turning time. I was up with one or the other (and at one time, both) of them for most of the night. I finally got two hours of sleep from 2-4am and another two hours from 5-7am. I think I’ll nap while they do. I hope Noelle goes to sleep soon. She’s already had one good nap this morning. I know she needs another, but she doesn’t quite feel like it yet. AnnaBeth’s fever broke last night and she’s doing so much better today. She’s much more like her normal cheerful self, though a little sensitive because of lack of sleep. Noelle still isn’t quite normal, but her temperature is down to 99* and (sorry if this is gross) her runny nose has clear mucus and no yellow color to it anymore. She is still coughing, but it sounds like its getting stuff out of her now instead of just annoying her. I think she’ll be back to normal in a day or so.

Just pray that this doesn’t spread through our house, especially Grandma Anna. It was really nasty for them. So far, no one else has any symptoms.

Nice title, huh? I’m just not feeling too creative now. I spent my creativity on doing an art project with Amie and James a little bit ago.

Anyway, the birthday party last Saturday… after I’d stayed up ALL night the night before (see post two down if you missed those details.) Jeremy picked me up from the church around 10 am. We stopped by the coffee shop to pick up mochas for us. (More for me, of course.) We got home, divided up the jobs between the three older kids, Jeremy, and me. About 11 am, I started going downhill. I knew I couldn’t go much longer. My job was to sweep and mop the kitchen and bathroom floors, so Jeremy told me to lay down for a little bit since that job wouldn’t need to be done until about 2 pm. I was interrupted a few times, but still got a good nap in. I don’t remember lunch at all, but apparently I made a few sandwiches before collapsing onto the couch again. At least, the kids say so. I woke up around 2:30 and got the mopping done. Jill, Rob, and Naomi arrived at 4pm. Tabitha had a playdate with her Grandma that day, so she couldn’t come. We missed her, but I bet she had fun. Naomi is getting into the stage of “only mommy!” She’s 7 months old and hardly let anyone else hold her if Jill was around. When Jill was out of the room though, I held her for a while. She’s getting close to passing up Noelle in weight. I think she weighs about 18 lbs now and Noelle is 21 lbs. Anyway, Jeremy made steak fajitas for dinner and then Noelle and James opened up the presents. I had already given them their main present on their actual birthdays. For the party, I gave James “The Polar Express” movie and Noelle got some “God Counts” books, the one about the fruits of the spirit and the one about the Bible stories. AnnaBeth already got the Noah one and the creation one for her birthday and they both enjoyed them so much, I had to get those other two.

After presents, we had cake and ice cream. James had an ice cream cone with cake inside it, but no ice cream since he’s allergic to milk. He loved it. The youth girls who were up when we decorated the cake asked how he liked it. I told them that he loved it. He thought it was a great cake. (I’ve got to get that picture soon.)

James’s favorite present was a soccer ball bean bag chair. He gets it out every night when we allow the kids to watch a little bit of TV.

It took me three days, but I’ve finally recovered from staying up all night Friday night. My mind is back to being clear and thinking okay… or at least as clear as it can be with 5 kids to help occupy many of it’s thoughts.

I’ll tell my story, then the pictures will come afterwards. That way, those of you with dial-up will have the pictures loaded by the time you get down to them.

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