It has been a really long time since I updated our blog, but I have good reasons, some of which I’ll share, and some I won’t bother with.
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/With the holidays, December was a wild month. We had lots of family coming and going. Aunt Nicki and Uncle Sam and Gran and Granddad came for a visit. We had a great visit and we’re really glad everyone came to see us. We had our own little Christmas morning for the kids while they were here so mommy, daddy, Gran and Granddad could give them their gifts. Brinlee’s special gift was her very first baby doll. I’m sad to report she hated it. She hit it and pushed it away and would not have a thing to do with it. We were hoping the baby doll would be good practice for the new baby. Apparently not. We’ll try again a little later. Sawyer, on the other hand was flirting with the baby. He was rubbing her face and hair and hugging her. I think he was excited to find a girlfriend more his size, where he can feel like the man in the relationship. They did like the activity table, push toy and gears.
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/The day before we left for our trip, we had an ultrasound, and the baby is looking great! We also found out it is undeniably a boy! Brinlee will not have to share her princess throne yet. We are very excited for our little boy to come, and we know he’ll fit right in.
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/Right after our visitors left, we flew across the country to visit Adam’s family for 2.5 weeks. That is when the real chaos began. The flight wasn’t terrible. It’s 4 hours, and our active toddlers were anxious to get down and crawl, but that wasn’t really going to work. They were pretty wiggly, but really did remarkably well. I was prepared for a disaster, and we didn’t have one. It was a very long day for the kids and us. By the time we got to grandma and grandpa’s house, everyone was pooped. It took a few days for the kids to switch time zones, but it happened faster than we expected. We got to visit with a few friends and go to one big family party before disaster struck. We were all hit with a nasty virus. To call it a cold wouldn’t do it justice. Fevers and headaches and clogged sinuses and runny noses and ear infections and misery and sleeplessness. Mommy and daddy were miserable, the kids were miserable, we weren’t in our own beds, and that’s a rough combo. It lasted the whole trip and then some. Because we didn’t want to spread the nastiness that someone else had spread to us, we basically quarantined ourselves. We missed out on most of our friends and family, which was really hard for us. That was the whole reason we made the trip. But believe me, they would all be cursing our names if they had gotten what we had. So to all those we missed seeing, we’re so sad about it, but it was the right thing to do. The whole trip all three kids only slept through 3 nights. All the other nights at least one of them was up most of the night. It was like their newborn days. We were exhausted, which made it hard to get over the virus.
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/Grandma and Grandpa did their best to make sure Adam and I got out of the house without the kids and had some breaks and some fun. We got to see National Treasure (good flick), got do some Christmas shopping, go out to eat, run errands, just have some breaks. They generously babysat our little crabapples while we ran around. They made the best of a hard situation. We had a very nice Christmas day (that was the first day the kids were really starting to feel bad) and dinner. It snowed just about every day we were there, and it was perfect for sledding. If the kids had been older and not sick, they would have loved all that snow! Unfortunately, this particular year it just meant we couldn’t take them on walks to get out of the house bc it was so cold and the roads were covered. We are really glad we got to see those we did, we just wish it had been under better circumstances. I think we’ll stick to summer visits from now on.
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/The flight home was easier than the first because they were so tired. Brinlee slept on me for 2 of the 3 hours. Sawyer had a hard time. He just can’t sleep anywhere but a bed, and since he had ear infections (which we found out about the day after we got home), he screamed the entire descent. Poor kid! Kimball was pretty good too because he was sp used to being held all the time since being sick and was loving all the lovin’.
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/When we got home, we started getting over it, and then 5 days later, BAM!!! Brinlee and I got hit doubly hard, and it circulated through the house one at a time, ear infections and all. I’m not sure which is worse, one at a time or all together. All told we’ve been sick for 5 weeks. We think it’s finally over, though we sill have some snotty noses to deal with. With the second ear infection and round of antibiotics, Sawyer broke out in hives, so he is apparently allergic to penicillin now.
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/It’s hard to say what cute things the kids were doing during that time because they were feeling so awful they didn’t do anything but lie on us like little lumps. Poor kids. December is when they started wrestling each other a lot. Brinlee, who is quite a bit smaller, usually started it, and then they were rolling all over the place. They still do it. Lots of giggles and laughing. They also started the biting game on the airplane out there. Brinlee would stick her hand in Kimball’s mouth and he would bite and she would laugh, pull it out and try again. I guess it doesn’t hurt because they still do it.
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/Before our trip I took kimball to get his allergy test. The pediatrician ordered it because he has some eczema and she thought it could be food related. I thought it would be a toe prick. NO! They do the arm band and stick his vein like on an adult. They missed the vein on his right arm, so they had to do the left. IT WAS HORRIBLE! I held it together until they told me they’d have to do his other arm, and I started bawling too. He screamed and screamed, but got over it pretty quickly once it was over. I don’t hink he even felt the prick. I think he hated the arm band and them holding his arm. They left two big nice bruises where they did the sticks. Poor baby.
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/While we were visiting Adam’s family we got the results of his allergy test. He has a mild allergy to wheat and eggs and ragweed. We consulted with an allergist once we got home, and he said since it was so low, we could feed him those things if we want to, unless we detect a reaction. We decided to keep him off those things for a while because we don’t want it to get worse. Our hope is that if we keep him off wheat and eggs he will outgrow it. Of course, that means the whole family is off wheat and eggs (though Adam and I eat them when the kids aren’t around). We don’t want Kimball to feel left out or different by giving him different foods, so it’s just better to change everyone’s diet. We have found lots of great-tasting alternatives, so no one feels cheated.
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/We bought a bread machine and I have been making organic spelt bread (not all who are allergic to wheat can have spelt, but Kimball can), which is DELICIOUS!! Seriously, we all prefer it over wheat or white. The kids just scarf it down and beg for more. They love it like no other bread they’ve had. It’s to the point that I worry they’re getting too much bread. They still eat the other foods, but not without their spelt bread. They cry and point to the bread cabinet and won’t eat their other food if we don’t offer it. Kimball’s skin looks so great now, too.
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/I suspect at our next appointment they will ask me to get Sawyer tested too, because he has some eczema on his legs. It’s obviously not wheat or eggs that are giving him a problem. I wonder what else we’ll be eliminating from our diets.
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/I think we were officially on the naughty list after this. Santa was a good sport, but the kids weren’t.
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/Sawyer, mommy, Nicki and Gran on our Christmas morning.
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/Playing with their new toys.
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/Brinlee’s reaction to her baby doll.
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/She did take a shine to the baby doll’s bottle, though.
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/Brinlee loves the camera, hates the flash. Whenever I get it out she starts hamming and gets as close as she can, but closes her eyes for the flash.
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/Gran and Grandad with Brinlee and Sawyer
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/Gran and Grandad with Sawyer, Kimball and Brinlee
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/We took uncle Sam and aunt Nicki to the aquarium. We had a good time!
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/Sawyer giving Brinlee a ride in the grocery cart in Grandma and Grandpa’s basement. This was right when we got there, before we got sick.
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/Now Kimball may have the privilege of pushing the princess in her carriage.
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/Brinlee and our man.
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/Daddy helping Brinlee and Sawyer open presents on our second Christmas morning.
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/Great Grandpa helps Kimball open a present. Poor Kimball was the first to get sick, and this was the first morning he was really starting to feel bad.
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/Christmas morning chaos.
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/Mommy and Brinlee
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/Grandpa cuddling Kimball when he doesn’t feel well.
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/Brinlee and Sawyer decided to help distribute presents.
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/Mommy and Sawyer.
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/Grandma and Sawyer. He still wasn’t feeling great, so we’re just glad he wasn’t screaming.
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/The cousins that were staying there. Brinlee was still feeling awful and screamed the whole time. Poor girl was not in the mood for pictures.
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/Sawyer LOVED his cousin Emma the whole time. Whenever she was around he was all over her and happy as could be.
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/Grandma thought it would help if I held our 3. It didn’t. They still didn’t want their pictures taken, but we tried, right?