(Joe doing what he does best- playing with his Legos)


(On our way home from Courtney's piano lesson, I pulled over and let her jump out to take some pictures of the frozen falls.)

Just hanging out here the last couple of days, trying to stay warm, trying to get healthy. We've had a few of the kids run fevers, all relatively low grade but enough to make them feel pretty yucky. Everyone today was well and feeling back to normal except poor Joshua. He spend the day in Grandma's arms, mostly sleeping.
I am thankful for my mom and mother-in-law that come to my house to watch the kids. I easily forget the days when the girls were very young when I had to pack them in the car no matter the weather, and drag them through the shush so early in the morning to get to the daycare. And leave them with strangers all day long. Certainly no day care worker would hold and snuggle my pukey baby and let him nap in their arms for hours.


Can you count the bruises?
He is walking now, but not very well. Honestly, we don't have an unsafe house, and I really do watch him. Most of the time, he's right next to me or right at my feet and down he goes. You just cant catch him fast enough.
The shiner on his cheek adds to the patheticness of this photo, doesn't it?

Snow

I think I have some strange kids. What they love to do more than an afternoon of sledding is a night of sledding. After a good, hot, chili dinner, the older kids bundled up and headed out to play in the snow. The hill is plenty far enough away from the road so I never worry about traffic, and the light on the garage illuminates the yard just enough for them to see where they're going. I've been known to join them, but it's been a while. Usually, I'm in the house, taking care of the babies.
It's nice and warm in here...

He doesn't have much of a schedule yet, though, at nine months old, I know he should. Today, he was sitting in the living room, quietly playing, and the next time I looked over at him, he's fast asleep on the living room floor.

Telling secrets

Mommy-itis

This is what happens when I walk by and don't pick him up. Yup, we're at that stage. He's still pretty cute, though, even with all those tears.

Help Wanted

I can't get a basket of laundry folded before Grace grabs a pile, announces what room it belongs in, and marches it up the stairs.
But don't be too jealous of my my little housekeeper. When she yells out "Joooey's wooom!" and I say, "No, sweetie, those are Joshua's blankets", do you think she pays any attention to me? Oh, no, they go in Joey's drawer. We are either finding all kinds of laundry in odd places or she has taken the entire load, small pile at a time, and dumped it all at the top of the stairs.
Oh, so helpful, she is.

Did you notice our piano bench is missing a lid? It's our new baby gate for the stairs. Yup, he's mastered the stairs.

More help wanted. This time for real. I have been battling a rash on Grace's face for a year and a half. Five pediatricians and a dermatologist say it's allergies and eczema. I've tried nystatin, bactraban, Vaseline, antibiotics, cortisone...
Then this summer, Joshua got a cut on his nose and shortly after, the rash appeared on his face, too. The doctor, of course, says he has allergies, too.
Maybe it's just a shot in the dark, but does anybody have ANY insight? I'm at my wits end here.

Ringin in the new year

With a stomach bug.
I'll tell ya, I am soooo sick and tired of being sick. This has been the worst year. I've lost count, we've probably been sick, oh, maybe 10 times this year.
This is it. This will be the only virus that terrorizes our house for the year. I refuse to have another year like the last.
So here I am at midnight, wide awake because I've been dozing all day. Joshua is sleeping soundly on the living room floor and I think I'll just leave him there. The couch is a fine place to lay my head tonight. I peeked out the window on my way to the computer, and it is absolutely gorgeous out there. The snow fell steadily all afternoon, and now all is quiet, the moon (or maybe it's just the streetlight) is making everything twinkle.

Enough about me and my sickies.
I have been neglecting my camera these last couple of days. New Years Eve we had some family over for our regular game night. And not once did I pull out the camera. So you'll just have to trust me when I say we had a great time.

I do have one photo that I haven't posted yet that I can share with you tonight (I mean this morning.) Joshua has been growing leaps and bounds these last few weeks. He mastered standing on his own, and he had taken a few teeny tiny steps. His siblings have been rubbing off on him. He can rumble with the best of them. All you have to do is lay down on the floor and he crawls over as fast as he can, and pounces on you, growling. I love his expression in this shot. Notice the flashlight in his hand. Ouch!