Great Post

I've really enjoyed this blogger lately... partly because she has a big crazy family, loves God wholeheartedly, and is in the process of adoption, and partly because I envy her wit and way with words. Anyway, she really got me with this post. Thought y'all might wanna be moved by it also.

click here

March Madness.

Bad colds and ear infections. Horrible stomach virus for all. Breathing treatments. RSV. 5 day hospital stay for Quinn. Awful sinus infection that is lasting forever for Amy. 3 weekends apart from my hubby. An incredibly messy and disorganized house. Feeling overwhelmed in almost every area of life. Potty training stagnation. Missing Pamper Me Day at Mom2Mom. Extreme exhaustion. Round 2 with a stomach bug. Most days I felt like it was all I could do to put one foot in front of the other.


Surprise day with SIL Megan and FIL Alan. Hearts at Home. Selfless help from Robin and Will. A FIL who drove from PA. A friend bringing dinner. A surprisingly promising tax return. Sunshine! Quinn's endless smiles and chuckles. A great parent teacher conference for Caleb. Getting our new trampoline set up. Celebrating the twins turning 3! A fun at home date with the love of my life. God's relentless love and pursuit despite the madness...

Happy 3rd Birthday Ethan!

Silly. Fun-loving. Entertainer. Daring. Gregarious.





Loves: Peanut Butter and Jelly, dancing, being in the water, his baby brother, his doggie, books, singing "Old McDonald", Puggles, Kellan

Happy 3rd Birthday Kellan!

Sweet. Sly. Serious. Determined. Particular. Protector.




Loves: wearing a hat, the color green, his baby brother, "juice and a snack", his mousey, singing "Old McDonald", books, Puggles, Ethan

RSV

Respiratory syncytial virus.

Just sounds awful, doesn't it?

And it was...

Our poor sweet little baby Quinn turned 3 months old last week... in the hospital.

What started out as a yucky cough on Wednesday, turned into too much wheezing and labored breathing by that Sunday night, despite breathing treatments every 4 hours. We saw the Dr. on Monday morning, and Quinn was in enough respiratory distress to require admitting him.

Thankfully, God really helped us stay pretty calm throughout the process, and it wasn't until later that afternoon that it really started to sink in that we were in for quite a week.

One of us had to be with him at the hospital all the time, despite the 4 other little guys we needed to take care of. Weston really did great pulling so much extra weight on the homefront, and we are so thankful for everyone who helped us out in so many ways, especially Weston's dad who drove all the way from PA to be here from Wednesday PM thru Sunday to help manage the insanity. He did tons of laundry, cooking, cleaning, and was incredible with the boys.

Quinn was quite the trooper though. They had to put him on oxygen at 3AM Tuesday morning. (and we were given the warning that if he continued to get worse, he'd be moved to Peoria, 45 minutes away) The nurse warned me to be prepared because she's rarely seen a baby handle it well when its first put on. He didn't even make a peep.

It was hard to watch him cough so much, and be so miserable at times, but mostly he was pretty content and happy. The nurses just adored him, and the nursing students kept ending up in our room just to play with him.
I think he loved having my undivided attention. And it was nice to be able to give him that, and to watch him truly discover his voice and his hands that week. Something that might have slipped right by my radar had it been a normal week at home.

The funniest moment was went he learned how to use his hand to push his oxygen tube off. It was about 11:30PM, and I was trying to get him to sleep for the night, and he knocked it off. At first I thought it was accidental, but then he repeated it over and over again about 20 times and kept grinning at me like he just discovered time travel. Although I was somewhat panicking that I was going to spend all night fixing it and not get any sleep, I had to call Weston because I couldn't stop laughing and had to share his cleverness.

The started weaning him off the oxygen on Thursday, and we were released on Friday. What a whirlwind. We are so thankful that he's been doing well since.

Just another sweet picture of Quinn...

who is such a sweetie.

Celebrating Dr. Seuss

I love how schools (and libraries) find great excuses for celebrations! Dr. Seuss Day, or Read Across America day, was always one I looked forward to when I taught. So when I saw Sam I Am socks in the dollar bin at Target many months ago, I had to get some for C and A and stash them away... And, I actually remembered to use them on the right day! I also dressed them in red striped shirts... but would you believe I totally forgot about the Thing 1 and Thing 2 shirts the twins have? (So they wore them today, a day late...)
















The library had a fun dinner, with creative food, crafts, stories, and door prizes. Ethan won a Cat in the Hat book with an accompanying CD, of which he is very proud. It was a fun evening!