Our Week

Sammi made us these incredible cookies!  They taste like chocolate dipped in peanut butter.  Loved them!

Dr. Barlow was on Monday.  Always interesting  - it’s usually a four hour deal.  I always have Brother who really isn’t interested in sitting quietly anymore.  Fun times!  But the good news is Dr. Barlow was pleased that she is starting to eat some by mouth.   I can skip her milk feeding if she will eat!!  Since she still won’t drink, I still have to do the water infusion, but we are coming along!!  (That juice box?  A fun toy.  Oh well)  She asked about when she would get a bloated, hard tummy and would hold her stool and I told her we hadn’t had any problems of late.  Darn if I didn’t jinx myself.  Oh well!

Some awesome wildlife in the backyard. A female Downy Woodpecker and a cool moth.

Klein cancelled school again on Tuesday.  Fun times!

Therapy

Learning to use the walker

An achievement – she learned to slide by herself!

We took the walker to school and I tried to get a picture but my phone was being crazy.  I got this one second video instead.

Sweet Sammi – she had a really hard day at school on Wednesday.  She panicked about an Algebra test (that she ended up with a 98 on) and had a panic attack at school.  Poor thing!  Then that night at Mutual, they were watching a movie and she had another panic attack.  Epic fail on my part.  The thought went through my head before she left that she shouldn’t go to YW.  I dismissed it, telling myself there was no reason for her not to go.  Ugh, wish I had listened!  Would have saved her the second panic attack and the embarrassment of having it in front of her YW peers.  Her sweet leader brought over this frosty the next day to check on her.  Very kind.

 

Oh my Joy – she is one active girl!  Friday all I did was clean up one fun project after another.  She decided the dog needed a bath.  Poor Patches, she puts up with so much!   Then I turned around later to find Joy eating ice cream on the couch straight from the container.  Baby girl!  I need a fridge lock!   Joy took this picture of Bella.

We got a GI bug in our house.  I had four that caught it.  Lots of laundry!!  Grateful for the washer and dryer!   Poor Joy.  When she stops moving, you know something is wrong!

Bella was resting on the couch and Joy decided to bring her a “couch picnic.” (Daniel Tiger reference)  I thought it was very sweet.

Posted this on Facebook about Bella’s turn with the GI bug:

**Warning - might be somewhat graphic to some people***
I LOVE g-tubes!! I have four down with the stomach bug. That's a lot of cleaning. Love that when I hear those particular sounds coming from my tubie girl that I can grab her extension and drain her tummy quickly. Ahh, beautiful stomach contents sitting safely in a bowl and not all over the couch/rug/floor/me like her siblings keep doing.
And pedialyte goes into the body so easily through a tube. Unlike a little someone I know who keeps turning his nose up at it!
Seriously, why doesn't everyone have a g-tube??!! Motherhood made easy!

That jinx I mentioned earlier??  Well, with the GI bug, I didn’t want to give Bella her laxatives (she is on some serious does).  I figured she didn’t need them.  She was throwing up, right?  Well, she went four days without stooling and turned back into my ER worthy girl.  She was screaming, her eyes looked like a woman possessed, she was struggling so hard her respiratory status was compromised.  So grateful I know how to handle it all here!  Poor baby!

Brother is getting more and more brave about investigating the threshold.  I love his brave spirit!  Playing with Liz on the trampoline.

Grandma finished up the sewing part of Lizzy’s banner for her .  Liz sewed buttons onto it and hung it above her bed.  One more Faith in God project done!

Playing May I?  Doesn’t Lizzy look like a younger version of Becca?

Report cards came home – all A’s for both Liz and Sam and A’s and B’s for Jessi.

Sometimes being a toddler is just hard work and you have to sleep, right in the middle of the floor!

Saturday Lizzy had a great Activity Days activity.  She had a wonderful time.They had them do some writing.  Liz wrote that one of her blessings was:

“I know Jesus loves me by letting my sister live.”   and

“I know I’m important because my mom will set time aside for me.”

Later Sammi took this picture of Jes and Liz hanging out.  I wanted them to come in and help clean and Sam said, “No, give them some time.  This doesn’t get to happen often.”  Love her sweet perceptive spirit.

Some of that cleaning I mentioned.  We deep cleaned the living room, including the windows.  I find myself in a funny place.  I have one to two hours of unscheduled time a day.  What am I supposed to do with them?  Seriously?  My whole life has been so busy.  In college, I was married, working, and having babies, plus busy church callings.  After graduation, I worked full time.  I wasn’t a stay at home mom until Jessi was born.  Then we started into home schooling.  Then Bella came.  And now here I am at forty with a couple of free hours a day.  It’s just plain weird!  I have been trying to learn how to clean and be organized.  We’ll see.  Having a house that is too clean makes me nervous, like I can’t relax.  On the other hand, too much clutter isn’t awesome either!  So we’ll see.  It’s just weird to have free time to myself, well Brother is here, but still.

My silly husband!  He found sumac!!!  It’s a Mediterranean spice – yum!!  Fabulous on hummus and basmati rice!

Joy and Lizzy playing Babysitting Mama on the Wii.  Joy loves that she gets to hold her baby!

Update on Brother’s Speech: He will answer “eeeeeeeee” for eat – and he understands what it means!  That is one thing is that his receptive language is MUCH higher than his expressive (as it is in most children).  He will use his sweet sing song voice to say “hi” when I sing it to him.  And when I say “love you” in my sing song voice, he will answer “hhh ow.”  Two therapists heard the love you one!!  Made my week!!!