It's not funny this Friday

Oh holy smokes it's Friday again. I was sure hoping I'd be in the hospital this Friday holding a cuddly baby OUTSIDE my body. Instead, the stomach virus showed up full force at our house around 11:00pm last night. It continued to plague us every hour until about 5:00am.

So far, only Elizabeth and Lucas have been effected. We are praying they are the only ones, but these things usually don't just "skip" family members. So, it's actually a blessing that the baby isn't here yet. I can't imagine the panic I'd feel knowing the stomach virus was sweeping my house and my newborn was in the midst of it all.

There would absolutely not be anything funny about that. Not one thing at all.

Hope y'all have a great weekend. I plan on having a baby. Now, if I can just get the baby and my body on my plan, it will really be a great weekend.

Twitter

Well, I packed my hospital bag this weekend in the hopes that Baby Beaver #6 was waiting on me to be "ready." Turns out, Baby could care less that I'm ready.

So, I thought I'd go a step further and go ahead and add twitter to my blog so that when I (finally) do go into labor I can tweet and you all can see updates right here on my blog, if you care. If you do care, you can find those updates right over there on my right sidebar.

Or you can click here and see all my updates on twitter. Most likely after the baby comes I will remove twitter from my blog again. When it's up, I feel pressure to update it. And, I like to set goals that I can actually reach. And, quite frankly, my life just isn't that interesting to need to update twitter several times a day. Well, okay, some days are that interesting but I forget (repeatedly) to refill Lucas' juice cup so chances are I won't remember to tweet about something interesting.

Although today I may need to communicate with EVERYONE via twitter because apparently I've caught a cold that has caused me to lose the majority of my voice. That should go well today with 5 kids who don't really listen when I have my whole voice in tact.

I wonder if using Twitter to help Elizabeth learn to read would be a good idea? Probably not.

Anyway, y'all have a good Monday.

Undie De-Bunchin' and Randomness

Thanks for the folks who made me feel special and played along yesterday. I loved reading your posts, and I even snorted at a couple.

I lost most of the links in my sidebar during The Great Blog Scare of 2009. So, don't get your panties in a bunch if yours was once listed, but now it is not. It's not that I don't like you, I simply couldn't remember everyone's off the top of my head. If I had yours listed and now I do not, just leave a comment and I'll hook you up.

Next week will be a BUSY week, but look for a new blog header sometime later in the week. It's gonna be a good one, with much more "Springy" colors. I'm hoping to update some pictures at some point too.

Warm weather is hopefully here to stay, since apparently cold weather makes us STAY sick. Now, we are passing around a hacking cough. Although we are not contagious, it's annoying that we have not been sickness free for most of the winter.

Tonight, we are having special time with Lucas, since both big girls have gone to MeMe and PawPaw's for the night. Be looking for that post later in the week, but I will caution you, it's gonna be dirty.

5 for Friday

1. Neither Ashlee nor Elizabeth have strep throat. Praise the LORD! Ashlee is running a fever today, but it is easily remedied with some Motrin and snuggles. That means 2 (two) sick kids today. It will be a LONG day.

2. I tried to reformat my blog to have 3 columns and lost EVERYTHING...okay, ALMOST everything. Okay, just the stuff in my side margins. So, that means if my link to your blog in my blog roll is gone it's not because I suddenly don't like you. It's because Blogger doesn't like you (or it doesn't like me, I can't decide). Leave a comment here and I'll re-link you. Unless you don't want me to link to you, in which case, don't comment and I'll forget all about you (and cry myself to sleep tonight).

3. Speaking of reformatting, I'd LOVE your opinion. Do you like the 3 columns or is it just too busy? Does it make the page look too cluttered? I'm still trying to decide which I like best.

4. I'm twittering now. I'm not sure how long it will last. It's over on the right margin if you're interested.

5. I had to start my hit counter over AGAIN...because, well, I lost EVERYTHING remember? This time I started at 29,500, even though it was a smidge over that. You know me ULTRAconservative. Oh...wait.. I can't believe how close that is to 30,000. Wow. I'm flabbergasted. "I'd like to thank the academy, all the people that supported me along the way...."

"It's Nearly Impossible..."

Okay, most of you know that I'm still recovering from my SECOND round of strep this year (and I don't mean fiscal year...I mean since Jan. 1, 2009).

At any rate, I was ASSURED by the pediatric nurse that kids under 3 are "very unlikely to contract strep throat. It's nearly impossible."

Then please tell me why Baby D now has an ear infection (okay, maybe that's not strep related) AND Ashlee is running a fever of 101.7? I'm considering waiting until the morning to get her swabbed because I was just told by another pediatric nurse that their office is "swamped right now and it might be better to just wait until the morning."

Grrrr....

This should be a fun night. Luke's picking her up from my Nana's house now and I'm gonna take a good look at her throat and see if I will be adding to the PEDs office madness. Chances are, I will happily add to the chaos.

Sheesh, "nearly impossible" my foot.

I'm Dreaming, Of A White...Sickness

Yesterday it snowed. Yes, snow. I realize that this may not be a big deal for most of you, but for us in the South, in particular my town, this is HUGE. Seriously. Luke's bank didn't open until 11am (even though he stayed home with my sick self to tend to the youngin's). Schools closed, daycare centers left working parents to fend for themselves...why I wouldn't have been surprised if the USPS itself closed, except for that motto of theirs, something about rain, sleet, snow, hail...

At any rate, the ground was covered..sorta. It was probably no more than what you northerners would call a "dusting" but we southern folk considered it an all out blizzard. I bet the Wal-mart was slap out of bread and milk.

I was super bummed because of all the weather that this southern girl experiences, snow is the least likely to happen and yet my absolute favorite. So, I bundled up my 2.5 year old boy (the girls were, and still are, at the grandparents since this is my second visit from Mr. Streptococcus) and sent him out to play in the bitter cold with his Daddy.

Now, usually Luke's not the photographer in the family. But this time, I've gotta give him props. He did a superb job, and while I was doped up passed out on pain meds in the bed, he took pictures that made me feel like I was right out there with them. Actually, with the way those pain meds made me feel, I MIGHT HAVE been right out there with him and never known it.

Come to think of it these pictures ARE pretty good...

Lucas boots, Daddy boots.

Guess who?

Seriously. Where did this man get his photo taking skills all of the sudden?

Our Winter Wonderland (and part of Brinkley's tail).

Seriously? Again?

Well, I have strep throat...again. The last time I posted saying I had strep, I was doped up on pain killers. Please disregard the obvious spelling and gramatical errors.

Theus tyme eye'm fealin' butter bekause I cot it so mutch earlyer. Ewe no, before eye have skabs on my tonsails.

At any rate, I'm not taking the pain killers (yet) and I'm hoping to be better by tomorrow.

Geesh, I don't know where I keep picking this up.

Strep

Last week my right tonsil hurt, but I chalked it up to being thirsty and dehydrated. Sunday night, my left tonsil hurt so bad I could hardly swallow. Yesterday, I took the Baby D and Baby Girl for their 6 and 2 month check ups, respectively, and really started feeling like poo.

Since my wonderful mom came with me to the check ups (we've been through twin check ups before and 2 babies getting shots requires a two person team), she told me to drop my the urgent care clinic and have them look at my throat.

Whatta ya know, I've got Strep throat.

I don't remember ever having it before, and man does it ever hurt. Supposedly this pain medicine they gave me is suppose to help, and let me tell you, if I don't take it on the 4 hour mark, I pay for it later.

Anyway, if you think about it, please pray that Luke and the kids are spared from the strep. Boy, that would really stink.

Have a great New Year's Eve!

My Little Copy Cat

This morning, the social worker (one we've never had before) came to pick up Baby Girl for a visit. As I was changing Baby Girl's diaper I hear Elizabeth,

"Did you know his grandparents gave him apple juice? It really upset him tummy. They shouldn't give him apple juice."

I don't think the social worker knew what she was talking about because she asked Elizabeth if she was drinking apple juice. Elizabeth persisted,

"No. Babies that are little don't need apple juice yet. I don't know how old he is but he's little. And his tummy's little, and they gave him Apple Juice! Will you make sure they don't drink him apple juice today?"

Hummmm....think I ranted a little about the grape juice?

Wow, she doesn't miss anything.

On another note, I took Baby D and Baby Girl to the doctor on Friday. It was Baby D's four month check up and he weighed 14lbs 4oz. Not bad for being 5lbs 4oz when we got him at 4 days old. Baby Girl weighed 6lbs 1oz, gaining a full 7 oz in one week!

Baby D is sleeping well at night, going down about 8pm and not waking up until 4:30 or 5am. Baby Girl still wakes up every 3 to 4 hours.

Ashlee has the virus going around our house. It manifests itself as a high fever for 12 or so hours. Last night, Ashlee's fever reached 102.9. After some tylenol she was better. So far it has plagued Lucas and Ashlee. I'm waiting for Elizabeth and praying the babies stay fever free.

Therefore, we missed Classical this morning AND it's about 40 degrees outside. Can anyone say CABIN FEVER? (Pun totally intended.)

Just A Few Things...

Everyone in our house seems to be feeling fine. I appreciate the prayers and good wishes! Thankfully, the babies did not get sick! Praise God!

Also, I updated the layout (and header) of my blog so that, hopefully, it is easier to read. Let me know what you think, if you'd like.

Things are good on the home-front. I plan on blogging sometime this week about how much I love Baby Girl and the craziness of birth parents. Wow, sometimes they test my tolerance level.

Hope you all have a restful, peaceful and blessed Sunday.

Day 4 with 5, 4 and Under - SICK

Last night Elizabeth threw up twice. On Tuesday night, Lucas threw up twice, but we thought he had drank too much water. Looks like we've got a stomach bug...

Lucas feels puny this morning and so does Elizabeth. If it comes to mind, please pray that everyone feels better soon, but ESPECIALLY that the babies DO NOT get sick. Baby Girl only weighs 5lbs 7oz and I can't imagine someone that tiny getting a stomach bug.

Also, pray that I can have strength to handle sick, whiny, puny people. Last night was pretty rough and Luke and I basically got no sleep. Pray for Luke as he goes through his day that he will have strength.

Thanks!