Prayer in Schools!

Xander was telling me last night that he prayed in school all the time. He said he bet nobody else prayed in school as muc as him. I was forseeing Xander and us on CNN after the school kicked him out for praying all day so I asked him more about it. I asked him when he prayed: "When kids have to put their name on the board." I was so proud. I told him he was so sweet to pray for his friends who had to put their names on the board. Xander corrected me and said, "I'm not praying for them!" Why was he praying then? He said, "I'm praying that I don't have to put my name up next!" LOL!!

His other little words of wisdom came tonight at dinner. I had some broccoli/cheese bites that looked like chicken nuggets on his plate that he had not touched. He's never had these so I told him to try it and he might like it and that I liked it. He sat back and said, "You need to understand the difference between grown ups and kids. You see....kids like things like bananas, bread, and chicken nuggets. Grown ups like things like soup, vegetables, and all that kind of stuff. Understand the difference? So, it's yummy for you, but you have to understand that it is not yummy for us!" I did persuade him to try it and he said he didn't like it. Oh well....at least I learned something!

Xander's Turn

Xander's sleep study came back normal. We were surprised but looking back, he had been and continues to sleep a lot better this past month or so. They re-checked his hearing after the sleep study came back normal and that was almost back to normal too! So, whatever was going on, must have resolved itself. I'm going to pay closer attention to him this fall and see if maybe it is a seasonal allergy problem that will come back. Hopefully his adenoids just shrunk on their own.

He hasn't had a very fun month because either he or one of the girls have been sick so much! He is doing well in school and his biggest complaint is that it takes too long. I think he is bored for the reading and math but he really seems to enjoy science and social studies (although he'd never admit to liking anything). His new obsession is with being an inventor and he is always making "inventions" or doing experiments. Right now we have a cup of water with some stale cereal in it that he is monitoring. He says this time I can't throw it out for 2 days! Blech. He also is very interested in art and always wants to do new art lessons with me. I signed him up for Camp Invention for this summer because it seems to be made just for him! He's really excited about it.

Here's some recent pictures of him.

Have You Seen Lulu Bears?

Our Wal Mart used to sell these little kid snack cakes called "Lulu Bears." They are like Twinkies for kids made with natural ingredients you can pronounce and so you don't feel so bad giving them to the kids and WalMart was the only place we ever saw them. Grace and Greta had been asking for some for a while so today I told them we'd go to the store and get some LuLu Bears. When we got to the aisle, not only were there no Lulu Bears, but there wasn't even a spot for Lulu Bears anymore!! It appears our WalMart has quit carrying them. So, look for Lulu Bears for us and if you see them pick us up a bunch of boxes or tell me where you found them!! We (I mean the kids!) like the chocolate and milk ones!

So, an update on Grace and Greta....their birthday is on Sunday. I can't believe they are almost 4! I have no plans for their birthday right now. I think we will just do something small at home since I don't want them expecting big parties every year. I am still tossing a few ideas around in my head but if we do have a small party I think we'll end up doing it the weekend after their birthday since I'm so behind on planning. They really aren't doing anything new and different. I am happy to say that they are getting a little more social with other kids. They used to be pretty anti-social with other kids but they have been much friendlier lately.

The girls are still very picky eaters and Greta continues to gag on all kinds of foods. You never can predict what's going to set her off. She's slowly getting a little better with the threat of babyfood. She isn't eating anything different, but at least she is eating food we know she can tolerate. Grace is being a little more cooperative with her brace lately which is good. She is up to wearing it about half the day before she pulls it off.

Here's some pictures of them this past month. Notice the matching dolly dresses in the first picture. In the second one, Grace and Greta finally started doing the obstacle course at Pump it Up on their own! I'm so excited about that because that means I don't have to climb up with them every time!

We're better!

Yay! We aren't sick anymore! Actually, we've been better since last Sunday but I haven't gotten around to blogging. So, what have we been doing this month?

First, Marie is now 8months and such a big girl! On our scale at 8months she weighed in at about 13.2lbs and when I measured her she was only 23in. which is funny because she was 23.5in at the Dr at 6 months! Obviously, someone is off! But she is short and hasn't been outgrowing her sleepers at all. She is pulling up on stuff a lot and babbling more. We had to get the play yard out because she crawls too fast and the kids have tiny toys all over the house. Now we have a big baby cage taking up the center of our living room. She loves to eat food and while she wasn't a fan of peas the first few times, she likes them and anything else I've offered her just fine now! At the store the other night she started saying "bye bye" to everyone on the way out. It was the first time I've heard that one. She was so cute because she said it first to the cashier as we were leaving and then when she got such a big response from those right around us, she kept it up and said bye bye non-stop to everyone on the way out until I out her in the carseat. We've been playing outside a lot and she loves the slides and swings and eating grass if we aren't watching close enough.

Here's what she has been getting into this month:






I'll update on Grace and Greta tomorrow!

We are sick

Our house has been the sick house for a while now. It started on Wild West Wednesday. Xander was only sick for about 36hrs. Then Greta got sick for about a day a few days later. They probably had the same thing- fever, vomiting, then done. Then a week later, Grace came down with something similar. She, however, was sick for a while. I think she got sick on a Weds and didn't get better until Sunday. She had similar symptoms: fever, some vomiting, and lots of whining. Then, the next Weds (last Weds), Greta got sick again!! This time, she was much worse- fever, a little vomiting, but with Greta the vomiting could just be a normal day, and lots and lots of moaning and whining. And she's still sick. Thursday night, for some reason I felt like going to bed early. Friday night, I was sick. No vomiting, but I had a really high fever for me (I think I maxed out at 103.6), chills, hot flashes, body aches, extreme fatigue, headache, mostly flu-like symptoms without the cough and respiratory involvement. I'm still sick and now I have a killer sore throat. I went to the Dr to get tested for strep and the quick strep test came back negative but the Dr said my throat looked so bad and strep-like that he wanted to treat me anyway. So far, none of the kids have complained of sore throats so I'm hoping I just got a secondary infection. And, yesterday, Xander got sick again! Argh!!! Now he's still sick and moaning and whining and being miserable all day. It's Spring Break too which stinks for him. Based on how Grace's virus went, I'm expecting he won't be better until at least Thursday. Poor us! So far Marie and Jon are symptom free. Marie is probably protected through the antibodies she gets with nursing from me but who knows how Jon is maintaining his Super Immunity Shield. He's been really good about taking care of us but I think he's getting tired of all the whining from all of us sickies. This bug is a bad one. I feel awful and the kids all look really bad too. I'm just starting to feel a little better as far as the aches and chills stuff go but the sore throat is still killing me. Hopefully once it clears out of Xander's system our house will be infection free again.