Help! We're Trapped in our House!

We've been sick since Wednesday. First me, then Benjamin, then Christian, now Kelly. Bella has luckily escaped the mess so far, but who knows, she may be next. For now she's trapped with the sick mess that we are. Coughing, vomiting, fever, headaches - we've all got our own sickness cocktails - everyone with a varying degree and variety of symptoms. Luckily the vomiting was me. Oh how I hate cleaning up kid vomit off couches and carpets. I luckily have enough experience to recognize when it's coming and make it to a safe location...well, the kitchen sink was the best I could do, but it beats the living room. So, we've been hanging out at home. Something I really hate doing. I know that sounds weird because hanging out at home should be loads of fun and all, but when you're sick and the kids are cranky, it's just not. No school, no church, no where to go, just sit at home and cough on each other. Ugh.

The one bright idea I had today was to pretend we were all germs and the basement was a giant which we were infecting. We each had names - I was "Snot", Benjamin was "Rash," Bella was "Scab," and Christian was "Pox." (Kelly was at church because his sickness didn't hit until half way through sacrament meeting. :) Now he's in bed too.) Although half way through Bella decided she didn't want to be Scab, she wanted to be Snot too, so we had the "But there can't be TWO Snots!" debate which was just so ridiculous that after all was said and done, I agreed to trade names with her. Anyway, we got our toy guns and started shooting the giant's cells (ie. walls, furniture, toys, etc.) declaring the vicious symptoms our host was developing. "Now he's coughing up brown phlem!" we'd scream. "Ooooh, he's got a killer headache!" "His nose is running so bad he's dripping on the floor and it's raw from blowing!" "Ah, he's got a fever...it's getting hot in here!" Our giant host finally succeeded in vomiting us out after debilitating us with the heat. Then we had a snack and went to bed. Another glorious day where all kids slept at the same time. Maybe there is something to be said for sickness.

So we've been doing lots of puzzles (Bella is doing 100 piece jigsaw puzzles! She's a puzzle rock star!), playing monster dog in the doll village, coloring pictures, and taking "time-outs" - the last one being Benjamin because he has the hardest time with staying home all day and tends to let it out on those smaller and weaker than he. Not cool. On that note, puzzles are like broken glass - when they get thrown around a room in anger, you're finding pieces for days to come.



In the end, we all had a big bowl of chicken soup for dinner and prayed for a speedy recovery. May our prayers be answered.

Side note: That's a headband on Bella's head and no, it's not falling down. That's the way she likes it. She won't wear it any other way. Don't even try to reason with her and tell her that her hair would stay out of her eyes better if she put it up. You'll get a headband flying at your face for advice like that. Best course of action is to consider it cute and move on. At least that's what works best for me.

The I Spy Table

When I picked Benjamin up from school today, his teacher told me, "He seems really tired today." He really did. He'd been fine when I dropped him off, but he looked like he was going to fall over on the way to the car or fall asleep on the way home. When we got home, Bella and Christian took a nap and I was able to pretty easily convince Benjamin to take one too! All three kids asleep at the same time! It can be done!! A true modern miracle. Benjamin hasn't napped for me in nearly a year and a half. So, needless to say, when it was time to go to gymnastics 45 minutes later, I decided to bag it. No way was I waking 3 kids. I got out my book, made myself comfortable on the couch and relaxed! For a whole 20 minutes until Christian woke up. Once everyone was up, there was a lot of "why didn't you wake me?" and "why can't we go to gymnastics?" questions, but it was well worth it. He obviously needed the rest and so did I.

Despite the change of schedule, we kept with our usual Wednesday craft day tradition. We always do painting and crafts on Wednesdays after gymnastics. Not sure why, but it just started that way and it works. So we did that. It was a lot of fun.



We colored on the window again because it still had our Christmas drawings up and needed a change. Bella has started drawing people a lot lately. It's fun to see them. They always have huge ears and a circle for their tummies. Benjamin doesn't draw ears on his people and she's always coming to me saying, "Benjamin not draw ears on his man. He's silly!" By they way, that's Bella's gymnastics leotard that she loves because it's got sparkles. I bought her a more modest one (the sparkle one is a hand-me-down) but even though the one I bought has rhinestones on it, she won't wear it because she likes the sparkles. Women! They can drive ya nuts.

I'm working on letter recognition with Bella lately, so today we did the letter U. We made paper Umbrellas that they got to decorate with stickers and we did a painting of "Underground" where she got to cut strips and bits of green paper which she glued onto brown construction paper, to make the grass and the dirt underneath it and then we all drew things we find in the ground: ants, worms, earwigs, spiders, etc. The kids loved it. Bella also drew a groundhog and grasshoppers...and a boat. "It's a dirt boat!" I didn't pursue it. I labeled each thing with the letter with which it starts and drew a big U in the center. By the end of it all, I took a step back and looked at my table. It reminded me of Benjamin's "I Spy" books. A huge mass of stuff strewn all over and under the table. Plus the bottle, bib, and seat Christian used while he so patiently and sweetly watched us. I had to take a picture. I think it's a testament in itself of the fun we'd had. :) In the picture, Benjamin is "sewing" a paper that he made to look like ones he'd seen at school. He punched holes around his drawing and then wanted to string yarn through the holes. I thought that was pretty cool.


Finally, unrelated to anything prior, I'd like to say something to the person who stole Benjamin's swimsuit out of the gym shower over the weekend: Seriously? Did you think I hung it there because I didn't want it anymore but was too lazy to take it to good will or throw it in the trash?? Did you stop to think of the child who is now without a suit and how he'd feel? I hope you enjoy watching your son swim in the suit which you stole. I hope your son doesn't notice the missing seam or the sun bleached sleeves and wonder why a new suit would look like that. And I hope your son never wears that suit around me because I'm prepared to make a scene.

He Rolls!

This little guy is rolling! He'll be 5 months on Friday. It's so fun to see him growing up and progressing. You could tell he was very proud of himself when he first figured it out. So happy and excited. We sure love this happy smiley guy! He's a total chick magnet too. Benjamin's question at Costco on Monday was, "Why is everyone always talking to Christian?" Because he's a total flirt. You'll love it when you're older.

Finally...Christmas!

I'm finally getting around to posting about Christmas. Wow. Time goes so quickly lately! At least the productive hours. Last night I was up 3 times with Christian and 4 times with Benjamin over the course of 6 hours. I had that woozy drugged feeling for much of the morning as a result. Those hours dragged. No idea what was wrong with Benjamin. Each time he'd call me, his blankets would be in a hideous tangled mess and he'd be sitting up in bed asking for help to sort them out. 4 times in one night! What was going on?!? A 5th time he was up, but rather than call to me, he came into my room and talked to Kelly while I pretended to be asleep. He told him his toe hurt and asked if he could come into bed. I figured that might solve our blanket issues, but it certainly wouldn't help me sleep, so I was glad when Kelly denied the request. Alas, Christian still doesn't sleep through the night consistently. It's about 2-3 times/week. Not bad, but there's definite room for improvement.

Anyway...Christmas. Our first Christmas at our house without family visiting. It was a very fun experience. We acted out the nativty on Christmas eve. I have been wanting to do this for years! Being an only child, I never did this growing up. It's really hard to fill the roles with only one kid. But this year we had two kids and a baby Jesus, so we were set! I thought we'd only do it once, but the kids wanted a chance to play every role, so we did it over and over again. My favorite version was with Bella as Angel. There's nothing like little 2 year old Bella on the back of the couch, arms raised, belting, "Hello! A baby is born! Follow the star! Go find him!" To this day, she calls this "playing knock-knock." You know, where Mary and Joseph go "knock-knock" on the door and people say there's no room here? She asked me just yesterday if we could play knock-knock again. She also loved her stocking. Although she couldn't understand how they could be "stockings" but they don't go on your feet, so all Christmas eve, she walked around with everyone's stocking on her feet.


Then Christmas morning we opened presents. As a kid I never understood how people could say that it was more fun to give gifts than receive. I always assumed they were just saying that because it made them sound righteous. But now I think I get it. I loved giving my kids stuff that made them so happy. Although, not all their favorite gifts came from me. Our parents know how to give great gifts too. Benjamin's favorite gift was his magnifying glass from Mimi.


Bella's came from me, although anyone could have guessed what would make her happy - a frilly dress up skirt and matching plastic high heels. She has been wearing them every day since. My favorite gift was a three hour nap. I had intended to 'only lay down for a minute.' I awoke three hours later. Sleep deprivation is a killer. So grateful to Kelly for keeping the kids quiet and away during that time. It was wonderful. That and the chocolate. Kelly bought me 8 lbs of chocolate! That should last me at least until next week or so. :) Kelly's favorite gift was his new tent.


He wanted a tent that fit all of us and that he could stand up in. It's a monster. There will be no backpacking with this tent. The kids had blast with it, though. Everything they did for two days, they did in this tent. We finally had to pack it up before it got destroyed prior to ever making it outside.

Now life has returned to it's normal routine. Mondays are our grocery shopping day. As many know, my kids and I can spend hours at the grocery store. There's the helium balloons, the fish, the bikes, the lobsters, the toys, the books, etc. etc...oh yeah, and the food. I always make them wait until I've gotten all the food and then if they've been good, we go do what they want. So on Monday they were in the toy aisle and I couldn't help take a picture. They had both found bikes. Benjamin had his light saber inside his front-mounted Dora backpack and Bella had decked herself out, complete with Disney Princess Backpack. They were ready to browse the aisles.



Off she went in search of the perfect toys. So adorable.