ADD son

I am looking forward to the day I get to sleep through the night again, or should I say the night I get to sleep through the night. You never know who it will be these days with all of them sick, but mostly it has been Emora. I think she got used to nightly fusses, and thought to put it on her new program. I can't complain because she is our best sleeper ever, she started and consistently slept through the night from 4 months on when I started supplementing nursing with food.

Ivan is still hating his medicine and has only managed to swallow 2 of the 4 pills so far. He only had 6 to take, so I'm hoping what does hit his system will be enough. He is getting some of it though that's for sure. It said that the oral steroid could make him agitated, less likely to sleep, nervous... Well all day he has been talking a mile a minute and jumping around, having trouble focussing. I have a whole new appreciation for parents with children who have ADD. He's nuts, but I know that I'll get my calmer son back eventually.

These pics were from the days before the rains hit and turned our backyard into a swamp when we were all healthy. I am hoping to enjoy more relaxing days with the kids gone next week. Even if I'm packing boxes, it will be quieter.

Trying to get unsick

Brian took Ivan and Dominique to the doctor this morning. I am still running some fever and Emora seems to be on the mend, so we stayed out of the way. Ivan has croup and Dominique has an ear infection. We'd been debating taking them in, but when Dominique said her ear hurt last night, that sealed our thoughts on it. Ivan got 6 pills to take 2 times a day and promptly threw up the first one. He said it tasted bad. Meanwhile, Dominique thanked her dad that her medicine tasted good, told Ivan it tasted like bubblegum, told me that her head hurt and could she have some more medicine.

It's pretty crazy how different they are when sick. Ivan is miserable. He told me how sick he felt, so I took his temp and it was about 100. That gave me the idea that I should check Dominique too, even though she was acting fine and hers was higher than his! We knew that about them already, but it still throws me for a loop.

Brian ruined my surprise by posting these on FB already. I was going to post them as we sent them off Sunday to Nana's and Papa's. Nana is a carrier for the US mail and Papa delivers for UPS, so when our neighbor pulled out these and other costumes, I knew we'd have to do a photo shoot. They enjoyed practicing delivering, but Ivan informed me that he still wants to be a construction worker when he grows up and "do you have to go to school for that? no? ok good".

He doesn't like homeschool too much, especially the reading and writing parts of it. He is a genius in math though. It's fun to see him catching on to it so easily.

A few more prayers

Emora seems to be on the mend now, although she still has a lot of congestion, she is eating better and has been fever free for a day or so, but last night Ivan came in to our room saying he felt bad and he has a fever now. Then I checked Dominique this morning and she did too! They need to get well because they are going on a "vacation" as they are telling everyone to Nana's and Papa's in Houston. They are going for the week and looking forward to several exciting activities and outings. But they need to get better quick! I figure if they aren't fever free by Thurs. I'll take them to the doc. So we're still house bound. I figure when we are over this I need to get a huge spray bottle of clorox and sanitize the house.




Ivan vacuumed up a mess he and Dominique had made on a day when he felt better.

a rough week

OK, we're ready for some health and healing in the house, so if you are into praying some up for us, we'd be grateful. Emora's had a very rough week. On Fri. she got her vaccinations and was fine for several days. About Monday she had some fever, but they said that was a side effect. Then us 3 girls got head colds. Then Emora had a series of really bad diapers and got the worst diaper rash I've ever seen, although admittedly I've not seen many. Then she started running fever again (which they said the fever would come about a week after the shots). So the poor girl is dripping from the nose or altogether stopped up, she's coughing too, has a horribly sore butt, and feels horrid with fever. She's even eating less, which tells us she really feels awful! Dominique and I are congested too, but it is mostly just annoying.

We are not entirely sure what day we will leave here, as there was a squeduling problem already with our initial date, but we are still thinking the end of May. It will take 2-3 days to get up there. Things are moving along, falling into place. Brian did his first item for fixing up our house to sell. He replaced the sliding glass doors which have needed replacing since we moved in with French doors and they look so nice. It is great that we get to enjoy them for a little bit before we leave anyways.


trio plays in sandbox

Tentative move date

We set a tentative moving date. We have some AMAZING friends who want to spend their holiday time helping us drive a U-haul, all our junk, 3 small kids and 2 pets for several days up to Canada. Yeah, I told you they are amazing! We got out our calendars and figured up May 22nd to try and head out. So crazy!

All the womenfolk of our house have a cold, so that is not cool, but the weather is, so we have been snuggling up and trying to rest or watch movies. The kids got their first taste of the Muppets. Now Ivan is constantly wanted to hit us in the head (which was one of the slapstick jokes, but he keeps messing up the joke part and doesn't have a pie so he substitutes other household items). You don't realize how violent these "innocent" kid shows are until someone takes it to the extreme!

Speaking of... What happened to my girls. Our first, A BOY likes to be tidy and clean, but the girls, whew-- Dominique still prefers paint on her body as opposed to on paper. Although in this case it was sidewalk chalk that she and Ivan first mashed on the cement then made a paste by adding water. And here is Emora's rendition of a baby vampire. Doesn't she look like she could be in a horror flick? Apart from the fact that she is way too cute and precious, with eyes gleaming in joy. I had to dig a splinter out of her hand tonight. She was amazing, just lay there, didn't even cry. When I had to do this recently with Ivan and Dominique, they were so horrible, crying, writhing and I hadn't even touched them. Dad was there for assistance, but we ended up not needing help and as he left, Emora said her first sentence "bye da".



Emora and her first french word

the cotton fields

Emora is still running a slight fever, so I've kept her in all day. Now I'm starting to get some cabin fever. Fortunately, Brian has been available, so he was able to take the big kids out to get groceries and go to a park. He and his co-workers are in between jobs, about to start another house flip possibly next week. But tomorrow I may see if he'll stay with Emora so that I can get out. Time for a change of scenery.

Speaking of, check out these cotton fields. They were so pretty and striking to me since I never grow up with them. Wynetta had though and she was telling us about how her grandmother would card the wool and picked some for us telling us the seeds are hidden inside the wooly part. So fascinating.


Our little kings and queen at Tighe's house. We love getting together each week. It is so refreshing for all of us. Lily is missing from most of the pics since she naps if we are at her house.

Chicken pox?

Emora's been running fever all day, but she just got vaccinations Fri. and the doctor said that could be a side effect. The only new one she got was chicken pox, so I'm guessing that is what she is fighting. I'm staying up right now to see what her temp. is to determine if I need to get her Motrin to finish out the night.

Other exciting news in our house: Brian's flipped house is under contract. If all goes well, he will close on it in early March and we will be able to set a date for our move. This is another step of the process that we are so thankful to the Lover is going so amazingly well.

Equally as exciting: Brian and his co-worker got the French door installed to replace our sliding glass door. It looks so much better. This was so exciting that the kids didn't even want to watch videos this morning. They were daddy's helpers. Ivan figures he is a master at caulking and they both got to operate the drill. The door hasn't fallen off yet, so they must have done good.

Not so cool, Dominique irreparably damaged our camera. But I got it to where it would take pictures again, so we can make it last 'til the house sells. Ironically, this happened when Brian's first house was under contract too- the digital camera started to mess up. So I'm hoping that is not a pattern. At first I was so upset about it, but then I realized that it's just a thing, a somewhat expensive thing, but a thing none the less. There are far graver things going on in the world and that I have everything to be thankful of in my family. In fact the camera has other annoying qualities, and it seems that we will have funds to hopefully get something more durable. So it can even be seen as a blessing in disguise. All the frustration dissipated and everything fell back in balance. So stupid of me to even give in to moments of anger over a camera! Don't worry, I'll still be clicking away.

OK, time for another temp. reading...

Party videos

Emora's birthday song

Emora's birthday "if you're happy and you know it" song


Emora's birthday "dance and freeze game". We were playing a game where you had to dance while the music played and freeze when I stopped it. The funny part here, is Ivan's expression when he froze.


Happy Birthday, for her 5th time, at the actual party.

Birthday party

I tried something new this birthday- small, very small. We only invited 3 friends with their kids and only two of them made it. You would think that seven kids would make for a calm and serene party.





Don't get me wrong, we had lots of fun, but our average age was 3 and that makes for lots of excitement, mayhem, tears (from nearly all of them at different times) laughter and great memories. We made a ladybug craft, played games, danced, sang songs, ate, had cake and presents.

I feel bad not to have invited a ton more people, but it was so much less stressful and more age appropriate. I remember with Ivan and Dominique's first birthdays planning games for preteens, because we totally love having the entire family here and involved, but it can get insane with huge age spreads. So simple was lovely.

Before:








After:


I'll try to get some videos up too. I think she was sung to no less than 5 times this week and I can see that she is understanding the song is all for her!

She did get a ton of shots yesterday at her 1 year check-up. She is in the 77% for height and weight at her age. She now weighs 23lbs and is 29 inches long. She gets to face forward in her car seat which she totally loves. I do need to start watching and encouraging her speech. They said at her age, she should be using "dada" "momma" and a few other words. So far she mostly uses "dada" for everything and that's about it. She has said "momma" a couple of times and "tete" a few times, but mostly she just screams at us until we figure out what she wants. The doc. said to be sure the siblings don't talk for her.

Speaking of siblings, we have Dominique signed up for spring soccer. She is very excited. Ivan is also excited to tell her everything she needs to do. Since he has prior experience, he figures he's a pro. I'm also trying to get them signed up for another round of swim lessons before we leave. I get great deals since I work at the Y, so I need to take advantage of it before we leave.

of life, death and love

We enjoyed going to Lela's wedding last weekend. Here are some pics of us. We also visited Brian's grandparents gravesite which was in the vicinity. It was a touch on the chilly side for an outdoor wedding. But one of Lela's many claim to fames is to be the only friend of Brian's to make the treck to Canada in Dec. for our wedding, which was much, much colder than it was at her's.

Emora is now officially one. She shocked the librarians today. I didn't realize that I usually just have her in the stroller at the library while I try to handle the trio, a half dozen videos and a couple dozen books, our jackets, the diaper bag... you get the picture. I let her out for the children's time when they do action songs and are read to, but most the librarians are not there for that part. Today I let her out while the kids picked out videos and books, she was a handful, pulling videos off the shelf, but then when it came time to go to toddler time, she made the long walk happily through the library. The ladies at the desk all started saying "I can't believe it!" "Look at her go!" "She does that so well" "But it seems like you just had her". Yeah, it does seem like it was just yesterday, but a walking, understanding toddling girl makes us realize that a year has really passed. She noticed a baby at library time and was all excited about him and wanting to get near him. She also "helped" with laundry today, putting clothes in the baskets, sorting them, trying to put on socks and putting things on her head to make us laugh. It's just so amazing.