Just Ramblin

We made our third trip to the doctor's office in less than 7 days today. Tea had to have a strep culture. She complained all morning of throat pain and didn't eat at all. Luckily the test came back negative, but really that doesn't change much. She still has a high fever and a sore throat. I got her some soothing hard candy and popsicles and she did better this afternoon. I hope no one else gets this one. We have so much going on this weekend I would be devastated if someone was sick.

Things are really moving along at Chiggie's school. She has a field trip next week to a local park to participate in "game day." She gets to ride on the bus and I think that's the part she's the most excited for. The girls and I will be following and of course cheering her on. Later in the month they are going on a field trip to the Pueblo Zoo. We'll be tagging along for that one too. I can't believe her Kindergarten year is almost over. Unreal....

Sickie

Preparations

This week has been busy already. We are preparing for Blossom Festival yet again. The girls are excited beyond words. We will be attending the parade, carnival, and plenty of downtown activities this weekend. On top of that we will be having a celebration for the King's 30th birthday (May 5th.) We're going out to eat on Friday and then coming back to the house for dessert and presents. He'll be back in Denver for his actual birthday, but the girls and I got him tickets to a Rockies game as a gift. Busy, but good times. I'll be sure to have plenty of pic's to share.

Better Late than Never

Boo has officially been out longer than she was in. She turned 9 months old on the 23rd, and what a crazy 9 months it's been. She is dynamite. Explosive, tiny, and demanding. Her smiles are awesome and she flashes them often. When she gets mad, wow. Her scream can make my eardrum vibrate. She is mobile in several different ways. She mastered crawling months ago and is starting to take steps. Cruising the furniture is simple and she can walk easily pushing a cart or walker. I'm not sure if she's trying to catch up to her sisters or run from them. It probably depends on the day.

Her 9 month visit isn't until next week, but she was weighed at the office last week and came in at a tiny 16lbs. This doesn't worry me. Her appetite is great and she's entirely proportionate. Because she's so tiny people tend to think she's even younger than she is and are amazed at her waving bye bye and taking steps. I'm very much looking forward to this summer and all of the things she will get to do for the first time!

Double the Fun

Not really. Boo has a double ear infection. Now we're both miserable and just a bit deaf. Poor dear ran a terribly high fever last night and has been feeling absolutely rotten all day. This weekend looked so promising...

As Promised...

Of course I am very pregnant in the first picture. That's the only real "before" pic that I have. In most of the other pictures of myself I am very conveniently covered up by one of the kids!

Promises, promises

Where have I been? It seems like it has been forever since I have written a real post. A witty, thoughtful, reflective post. The truth is life has just been a little overwhelming. To top it all off I finally went to the doctor today, and I have a sinus infection, an ear infection, and possibly strep throat. The Doc didn't do a throat culture as he was already prescribing an antibiotic. This is my 3rd sinus infection in less than 6 months and my left sinus in now impacted. He gave me a new spray to try and I'm hoping for the best. The fact that my Dad is getting ready to have sinus surgery and my Mom is dealing with a similar infection is not altogether reassuring. I'm tired, feeling yucky, and the weather is gorgeous. Doesn't it always work like that? I do promise I'll be back. I'll even post some pictures when I'm feeling better!

P.S. I must add my sister is expecting a baby boy in September. This is the first baby boy born into our family, there are 8 little girls. Congrats to her, and bless his little heart!

Yet Another MIlestone

As Chiggie gets older the milestones are fewer are farther between. Where as with the baby it seems we make it through several a week. This weekend Chiggie and I went for our first official "big kid" bike ride. Now that her training wheels are off and she's built up some endurance, we're unstoppable. We rode all over our little town. We went through subdivisions, on main roads, up hills, and around down town. It was amazing. I enjoyed it for myself, but it was really nice to have her along. She rode in front of me and it was hard to believe how fast she's grown and how big she really has gotten.

I'm going to get one of those trailers to pull behind my bike so that the little girls can come along too. Bike riding is something that I have always really enjoyed and haven't gotten to do for several years now. It's awesome that one of my kids is actually finally old enough to enjoy it with me now. I'm sure this is something we'll be doing a lot this summer. In the evenings of course!

Planning Ahead

Summer is coming. We may have gotten 6" of snow yesterday, but summer really is coming. I've been putting more and more thought lately into our summer plans. We already have our Memorial Day Weekend reservations here and I'm really excited. We plan to make this somewhat of a summer tradition. I know we'll also have many days at the pool, the lake, and we'll definitely do the summer reading program at our local library.

I'd like to take a small vacation as well, but haven't really decided where. Not being pregnant opens my options up a bit. Somewhere warm, kid friendly, and not too expensive. Any good ideas? Anyone else have any exciting summer plans?

This Sucks!

My new vacuum that is. I never thought I'd be excited about something so.... well boring, but my new vacuum actually picks dirt up off of the carpet. This is the complete opposite of my old vacuum which left a trail of fuzz and a musty odor looming in the air for hours after each use. The new purchase motivated me so much that I actually cleaned the whole house today. The things that please me so.....

Clean Slate

Yesterday was a bad day. Nothing particularly terrible happened, it just was not a good day. For the first time in nearly 3 months I fell off the "diet" wagon and basically ate myself sick. Not a good thing. I was never so happy to just go to bed with the promise of a new day. Today has gone much better and I'm relieved to leave yesterday in the past.

Recap

We had a really good weekend. I accomplished everything on my to do list with the exception of cleaning the house. It was worth it though. Instead we went for a long walk/bike ride. It's much nicer now that Chiggie is riding a bike w/o training wheels. Tea is a trooper and doesn't have much trouble keeping up on her trike.

I have a new post up over at the Larger Families Blog. Be sure to drop me a comment if you stop by!

Weekend Plans

• Saturday Brunch


• Birthday Pool Party


• Clean the house


• Take the older girls to see Nim's Island


• Stay ahead on the laundry

Unfortunately the King has to work. This could be interesting.....

Who Knew?

4 kids 6 and under grocery shopping- Insanity

Random items thrown in the cart by sneaky wee ones- Annoying

Stopping off at the restroom for the 3rd time- Aggravating

Being a "2 cart" family- Mind Blowing

Nearly needing CPR when I saw the total- Scary

A house full of groceries and 4 tired kids- Worth every minute of it!

Who knew 4 kids would be so expensive :)

Growth

Gym Woes

Well I made it to the gym again today. Major bonus points for me. Especially considering I got a full 60 minute cardio workout. Go me! Now on to the bad news. The gym daycare doesn't seem to be working out. It seems there is always some kind of a problem. The baby cries too much or Tea fights over a toy. Midge also has a tendency to be a little aggressive. My kids just aren't "daycare" material. Nothing bad, they're just not used to it. I think too many kids in such a small area stresses them out or something. It really puts me in a pickle though. I'm enjoying working out. I feel better, I look better, and I don't want to stop now. The weather is so unpredictable that it's too hard to say I'll go for a walk everyday or we'll ride bikes. It's just now consistent enough. I'd like to do those things along with going to the gym at least 4x a week. I'm sure I'll figure something out, but it's a bummer for now.

Monday

It's definitely a Monday around here. Nothing bad, just Monday. The girls are more tired and cranky than usual. I'm running around trying to clean up the house, and 8pm (bedtime) seems really far away. This morning I went back to the gym for the first time since we all got so sick. It felt really good to work out and I was surprised at my endurance. I'm working on a weight loss picture. I had the King take a few this weekend but I just wasn't satisfied. I promise I will post before and after pictures very soon.

We had a great weekend. Friday night we watched movies with the kids. On Saturday morning we went and got new cell phones, Chiggie had a b-day party to go to, and we took all the kids bowling that afternoon. Sunday we went to church in the morning and then Chiggie and I had a Mother Daughter tea event to go to through Girl Scouts. The tea was fun. We had finger sandwiches and played BINGO. It was nice to have some quality family time.

The weather really can't make up its mind. After a weekend of nice weather it's now hovering below 40 degrees and looks like there may be a possibility of snow. Have I mentioned that I cannot wait for Summer?

Spring is Here!

Explosive

Lately Midge's language has just exploded. I don't think there is anything that she can't say. Last night she had a bad dream and cried out. I went upstairs to check her and she told me that she had had a bad dream. I reassured her, tucked her in, and promised her a treat of eggs and bacon in the morning. When I went up this morning to wake her, she immediately said " eggs and bacon?" I had to laugh. Very soon we're going to start working on potty training. My feelings are that it will be pretty smooth. It will definitely nice to only have one in diapers.

Gardening

The girls got Garden Girlz from the Easter Bunny and today we planted their gardens. In a few weeks we should have grass, bean stalks, and silk plant. The girls are excited and actually so am I. Hopefully I'll have some actual garden pic's soon!

Upswing

I think she's feeling better!

Cousins

Poor Boo

Everything seemed fine when we went to bed last night. By around 3am everything was clearly not fine. Boo became irritable and restless. She tossed and turned, and she was very warm to the touch. Today she is fussy and obviously not feeling well. Tylenol helps, but I can tell she's just not herself. She doesn't have any other symptoms so at this point I'm just assuming it's a mild virus.

I went to the video store first thing this morning and rented Alvin and the Chipmunks for the girls. I grabbed them a bag of candy a piece and we're going to a have a nice afternoon just hangin' out. It's 26 degrees outside so there really isn't much else to do. It's April now, warm weather has to be coming soon!