Ghost of Christmas Past

Stephanie and Ikani came over tonight, because well lets face it, I had cookies. Stephanie went inside and helped herself to some of my milk, in one of my cups no less, and then brought it outside, the audacity. But, back to the good part, Madison decided to copy what she watched Steph do and it was so adorable.

Notice that she still has the original cookie in her right hand, while she goes for a new one!

John and I took turns pulling the kids around the yard on this blanket. They thought it was the coolest thing. Our thighs burned afterward.

Madison is not in the blanket in this picture, but she had been in the blanket moments before.
I heard Madison crying and looked over to where she was and saw her draped in this blanket. I of course went over and took it off of her and as I was doing so Drew cries: "No mommy, she's The Ghost of Christmas Past."

Good laws

This is my baby. She turns 1 on Saturday.
I guess she's not my baby anymore.
And I'm okay with not having a baby!

This is daddy's famous funny face.

This is Alexis mimicking daddy's face.

This is Drew's funny face.

Our little escape artist loves this stroller. She ditched the rest of us and she pushed this out and climbed in. She was so proud of herself!

If you look at the picture closely you can see the flower petal lined up perfectly with her mouth for this picture.
Alexis and Drew decided that picking all the petals from my peony bush and throwing them like flower girls would be a grand idea. They were sorely disappointed the next day when the petals were all dead on the lawn.

She loves hamming it up for the camera.

The peony's were not the only casualty of war, my pansies were attacked as well. Drew assured me that he just wanted to hold the flower, however, thirty seconds later all of it's petals were scattered on the ground.
If you look at his left leg you'll notice it's always straight as a board. He kept it that way for an entire week after his bicillin shot for strep throat. He would scream bloody murder every time it was bent.

Drew loves Sandy. He doesn't look like he's enjoying this so much because he's worried that Sandy is going to get his bum leg.
Don't worry she didn't.

Drew and Madison looking at the caterpillar we found on our walk.

Madison thinking about trying to touch said caterpillar.

Drew telling Madison she's not allowed to touch the caterpillar it could kill it.

The caterpillar died a mere six hours later. Drew wouldn't leave the thing alone. I think it would have died sooner if it could have.

They really need to invent something that allows you to see the fun your kids are having.

Madison has become our little escape artist. She is very stealthy and can go up and down the stairs whenever she pleases, according to her. The other day John and I were getting food ready and I realized that I couldn't see Madison nor hear her. So we set off to find where she disappeared to. She had managed to sneak outside and find a bike to play on. The first look outside we didn't see her because she was behind the trampoline. Sneaky little woman.

As part of the sick routine, I take the kids on walks to the mailbox. It gets them out in the fresh air without my worrying about contaminating anyone.
On our way home from our walk today, my neighbors stopped and we started talking about all the problems we've both been having. Pretty soon I realized that I was missing all three of my children. I jogged home to find the stroller in the garage, empty. Alexis had pushed them all home, undone their seat belts, taken them in the house and helped Drew to go pee. They were making their way down the stairs with Madison when I got home. When they heard the door open Alexis yelled: "Mom, we're home and we're going down stairs!"
It's funny how quickly they grow up.


**Updates:

Alexis: Tuesday we discovered that she is allergic to Sulpha drugs. Had to stop taking medicine to stop the hives. Thursday (today) we went back to the Dr. because her tonsils were nearly touching each other. There was a 1% chance she had strep throat but we tested anyway. She had strep throat. She is now on more medication to get rid of it.

Drew: Saturday while I was holding him he peed all over me. Finish laughing. That was about the fifth time in as many days that he had wet himself. So, off to the instacare we went. Drew had a UTI. (Why do I pay to have people tell me things I already know?) Anyway, he was given a Sulpha drug as well just incase it was associated with the MRSA. On Wednesday I got a call from the instacare place telling me that he had a non-hemolytic streptococcal infection in his urinary system and that they had given me the wrong medication. Sent John back to the pharmacy for the new meds. Besides being exceptionally whiney he's doing well.

Madison: She has been slightly fevering but there was nothing outwardly wrong with her. Tuesday I figured it out. She has two teeth cutting through on the top. Poor kid has been in pain and it's not getting better any time soon.

John: Tuesday he got really sick. He stayed at work as it is more relaxing than coming home to whining.
****On Monday he was offered a job at ICON in Logan, UT.
On Tuesday he accepted it.
He starts sometime next week.

Tiffani: I'm still breathing! Does anything else matter?
I start summer school next week. I might not be breathing in a few weeks.

NOT Chicken Pox

We do NOT have chicken pox.
Alexis has MRSA. (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) Wahoo!!
Drew has Scarlet Fever!!
Madison is fevering but doing fine otherwise.
Here's hoping we all survive!

Kite flying

We all went kite flying a week ago. John and Alexis had so much trying to get the kite in the air. John's about as good at getting the kite up and flying as he is at fishing! Don't tell him I said that though!

Fevering, but not broken out in any little dots, yet. Let's hope it stays that way!

I don't know if you can tell, but he has a rash all over his body. His cheeks (both sets) are the reddest, poor guy. His fever has come down about three degrees today which is great! Unfortunately his whining has not come down at all. Maybe tomorrow!

Alexis' leg picture today. It's now on both legs and one hand. Drew has what I think is the beginning of this under his eye and on one arm. Stink.

Here is what her leg looked like the day we noticed it, Thursday.

Chicken-pox or Shingles?

Alexis' calf and one hand were terribly swollen on Thursday afternoon and we weren't sure why. After talking to Dr. Eric and MaryAnne, it was decided that she was probably stung by a hornet or something. We put some mud on it overnight and checked on it in the morning. The tightness had subsided and she agreed to not scratch it anymore. Little kids don't actually stop scratching anything, but she did really well. Saturday we noticed that it was oozing some clear liquid, but we didn't think much of it.
Today we noticed that she had little white dots all around it and on the other calf.
Drew has been fevering for the last two days and tonight he started getting these little dots on his face and arms.
Needless to say, we think that they have chicken pox. They were both immunized and we didn't know of anyone getting chicken pox, so this was the last idea we had. Mom actually came up with diagnosis first and MaryAnne confirmed that she thought that it was that as well.
Alexis might actually have shingles, she says it hurts really badly, and she won't walk on that leg without tip-toeing.
I'm going to have to take her in tomorrow to get a confirmation on the diagnosis that we've come up with, but consider this your warning if we've been around you in the last week.
Sorry.

Bad mothering

I've decided that I'm a bad mom, just for today.

Madison crawled up the stairs, by herself, without supervision, until Alexis realized she was climbing and watched her finish her ascent, to come and see me.
I was too busy doing "computer stuff" to care if she walked over to me or over to her high chair where her breakfast is still waiting to be finished.

After a few minutes I noticed that she was very quiet and I could not visually see her.
I had to get out of my chair to find her.
I followed the trail of tissues that she'd pulled out of the box and flung everywhere.
I found her in the bathroom playing in the toilet water. Both sleeves are very wet.

You know what I thought?
Good thing Drew flushed this time.

On an up note, she has a clean diaper and her nose has been wiped numerous times.
Maybe I'm just a mediocre mom today.

Learning early

Yesterday, I had a headache from Hades, horrid allergies and
some pretty good cramping.
It could have been worse I'm sure, but I'll need some time to think about how it could've gotten much worse.

I didn't realize that the kids had noticed that I didn't feel so great, so I was surprised when last night we were giving hugs and kisses goodnight and Alexis suddenly stopped and looked at me.
She told me: "I don't want to catch what you have, so I'll just blow you a kiss."

All those times that someone's been sick and I've told her not to touch them or vice versa because we don't want to spread germs must have really stuck.
Next lesson: what is and isn't contagious.