I was wrong

When I predicted that this week would certainly have to be better then last, I was wrong. Colds turned into sinus and ear infections, and we have been stuck at home even more then last week. Hudson has gotten better but Ellie and I just can’t get over whatever super bug infected us. I feel so bad for the kids when we can't go anywhere to play; although, after this morning, I may never leave the house again.

We woke to pouring rain, so we all loaded into the car to give Jake a ride up to campus. Ellie seemed to be feeling much better, so I told Hudson I would take them to play at the “Chicken Store”. The "Chicken Store" is what Hudson calls Chick Filet and it is the only place in town that has in indoor play area. I thought after a long week of being trapped in the house the kids would really enjoy some run around play time, not to mention, all that was required of me was to sit and watch. It seemed like a great idea, but I was wrong. Within five minutes, Ellie managed to cover not only herself but a large portion of the chicken store in vomit. I had to strap a screaming vomit soaked Ellie into a high chair while I spent nearly thirty minutes cleaning up her awful mess. I will say this, I have never been so thankful for a stuffy nose. Had I been able to smell, I would have likely contributed to the mess.


This week has got to be better right?!? Gram Wendy is coming on Wednesday to spend the week with us. We are so excited! I just hope we don’t get her sick!



Fortunetly Ellie loves medicine.  She actually cries when she can't have any more. 



Hudson was very excited to show me how he had dressed himself just like Nephi! 
I don't think Nephi's hair was quite as crazy though.

A Rough Week

What a week!
I was just thinking it has been a while since the kids have given me an interesting story to share. Hudson must have read my mind, because the very next day he did in fact have a note worthy incident. Hudson has swimming lessons three times a week and often times I swim with Ellie while he is with his class. On Thursday we prepared to do just this. As I entered the pool with both kids Hudson's teacher grabbed my attention to ask me a question. As I talked with his teacher Ellie made a run for the ramp that leads into the pool. She already had her life jacket on so I wasn't terribly concerned, but I quickly made my way over to her and scooped her up into my arms. To my surprise she was not the child I should have been worried about. I looked back to where I had left Hudson only to see a soaking wet life guard and my little guy sobbing hysterically. I guess Hudson had decided to jump into the pool all by himself without any type of floatation device. Neither his teacher nor I even saw him in the water! He was fine, and received quite a few reminders of the rules from his teacher and me, but I will admit I was shaking for the next 30 min at the pool. Hopefully we all got a good reminder of just how careful we need to be around water.

Aside from our near drowning, this week should have been a good one. We had two days in the 60's! How amazing is that! It felt heavenly, and we even got to get out and ride our bikes a little. However, this week has been the pits. I've been dealing with nausea, dizziness, and weird pregnancy pains, plus the kids and I have colds that just won’t go away! I don't know what weird Pennsylvania cold bug is out here but I do know we have had awful coughs and runny noses for far too long! Sometimes the kids cough so hard it makes them puke. I even had the rare luck of getting puked on this week.  If that's not a joy of parenthood I don't know what is. The one good thing about Jake being so busy, is that he hasn't been here enough to catch it. Lucky guy!

Saturday was a particularly bad day. I woke up feeling especially awful and knowing Jake needed to spend the day up at the university, I racked my brain for ways to keep the kids happy that would allow me to move as little as possible. I decided it would probably be a lay around, watch movies and read books kind of day. However, not too far into the morning our power went out, and it stayed out the entire day! It was cold and windy and I felt too sick to go anywhere, so we were trapped in our house. I hadn't realized just how dependent I have gotten on the TV to entertain the kids when I don't feel like playing with them. I also, didn't realize just how quickly our apartment would get cold without our heater. BRRR! Needless to say, that night when the power finally came back we were happy to see it.

Jake also suffered this week on a field trip to Pittsburgh. In the true fashion of how this week has gone, his bus got two flat tires and left the group stranded for six hours. He made the most of it by getting a bunch of reading done, but it made for a long day.

I think it is fare to say, next week will be better.

Although its no fun to have sick kids, we do enjoy the extra cuddles we get.

Hudson loves to tell people about how he was so sick he went "BLAHH."
As the person who gets to clean up the "Blahh" I don't find it quite as humerus.

Hudson told me this morning that Jesus is going to come again, so that he could play trains with Hudson.
I'm not sure what his primary teachers are teaching him, but he was really excited to tell me this.

Hindsight

        As I sit down to type this morning heavenly warm sunshine is streaming through my windows and it feels SO good. Its seems like such a long time since we have had good weather. It’s not terribly cold, but it’s nice enough for us to get bundled up and go for a walk. The weather seems very fitting for my mood. The past few weeks I have been feeling down. The weather has been gloomy and cold, the kids have had colds, and I have been feeling really awful. I haven’t been able to figure out what was wrong with me. I have just been feeling so tired and sick all the time.

        It’s funny how things seem to make so much more sense in hindsight.

        Due to the weather and sick kids, we have gotten out of the house a little, although not as much as I would have liked. Consequently, I have spent quite a bit of time curled up on the couch watching movies with the kids. When I found myself crying through the little mermaid I really didn't think much of it although I knew I was being weird. A few days later when a date I had planned with Jake got suddenly messed up, I spent the evening sobbing on the couch uncontrollably. Between my sobs I tried to apologize for my strange behavior. I just couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me. Jake teased me that I was acting like I was pregnant and we laughed about it, not thinking it was possible. I decided to take a test to put the joke to rest. To my surprise it came out positive. So although it’s now clear that I won’t be feeling any better anytime soon, at least I understand why I have been so strange. I’m not excited to have another three months of being emotionally impaired and nauseous, but I am terribly excited that we will be adding another member to our, maybe not so little, family. I couldn’t ask for a more special valentines gift then to find out we will have one more sweet little thing to love. I feel so blessed to have been given such a wonderful surprise.

 The day finally came!  Ellie had her first official day of nursery on Sunday. She loves it and runs right in excited to play and sing songs.  She is such a funny little thing. 


Speaking of funny little things.  These days Hudson insists on dressing himself.  Although there is a 50 50 chance to get things on right, I feel like he almost always manages to put things on backwards.  This is how he looks on a typical day. Funny Guy!

In just the amount of time it took me to write this, our sunshine is gone and the wind is back.  Ohh well, its still a wonderful day!

Ice Storms

We survived January!Hopefully we are past the worst of winter. This week we have had an unfortunate introduction to Pennsylvania's ice storms. What happens, is that it rains and the moisture coats every surface with a sheet of ice. If we had ice skates Jake could honestly ice skate all the way to campus. Even our car is rendered impermeable due to being encased in a quarter inch of ice. When this happens, the town shuts down and just about everything closes, well everything except the university. Jake has had the fun of trying to slip his way up to school every day. Since most of the roads are narrow and winedy they close many of them. I am suffering from a serious case of cabin fever to say the least. Even our sledding hill is now a sheet of ice. For being trapped in the house all week the kids have been pretty good. We made valentines, watched a lot of movies, and played with toys to keep ourselves entertained. The kids have kept me busy by making even more messes then usual in the house. I'm so excited to say goodbye to January, and since February is a short month I'm telling myself spring is just around the corner.

Since we were only able to go to the pool once last week, the kids spent a lot of time playing in the bath tub. Thankfuly we are on the ground floor, because anyone living below us would certainly have a leaky ceiling from the amount of water these two can splash on the floor.

Doldrums

I don't have much to report this week.  I feel like we are in the doldrums of winter.  We had snow almost everyday so we spent a lot of our time playing in it.  I watched Hudson pick up black slushy snow from the road and put it in his mouth so I made my best attempt at teaching him the essential color rules for eating snow.  We have watched a lot of movies and done some swimming at the Y, but for the most part I feel like we are all counting the days until summer. I even pulled our life jackets out to see if they would still fit for the up coming season.  The kids were so excited they wore them around for the afternoon.  It was probably a mistake since Hudson woke up everyday and told me, "now it's summer" and that I needed to take him to the beach. 

Even with cold snowy days, and a busy Daddy, we are all doing well; if you don't count the runny noses.  Every body is happy; and aside from Ellie's new found fascination with putting things in the toilet, our week has been incident free. Actually, today is our "Jelly Beans" 18 month birthday.  I can't help but think about how much she has already grown, and how thankful for everyday I have been able to have her in my life.  I had no idea how wonderful it would be to have a daughter.  She brings such a sweet spirit into our home....well, when she is sleeping she does.  She might be quite an energetic busy body these days, but she keeps things interesting.  She has learned to give really good hugs.  Sometimes she will snuggle into my chest and sing me a little song and I feel like my heart might just burst.  I don't know what I did to be blessed with so much to love in my life, but I'm sure thankful.

BRRRRR!!!

It is cold in Pennsylvania! I miss the park. I miss the sun. I miss riding bikes and just all around being outside. The kids do too. Everyday Hudson tells me he wants to go to the beach. Ohh, wouldn't that be something right about now. We are trying to keep busy though; with trips to the library, play dates, and classes at the YMCA, but its just not quite enough. One day we were lucky enough to have warm enough temperatures to get out and sled a little. Our apartment is right off of a big hill, so all we had to do was step outside to have some fun.



Ellie loves sledding as long as she is the one sitting on the sled!

 

This is what happened each and every time it was Hudson's turn.


Hudson got to go to a friends birthday party one night this week. He was so excited! When he got home we found out it had been another princess party and he was the only boy there again.  This time he even got to bring home his very own lip gloss party favor, a jeweled ring, and chocolates.  He told me we could share them.  I really need to find some boys for him to play with. 

Is this a look of shame?

Back in PA

Well with our return to State College life is back to normal.  The new semester has begun so Jake is once again busily learning and working at school.  He has an extra ten hour commitment with teaching this semester, so he should be even busier then last semester, but I think it will be good.  He has some good opportunities that come with the additional time commitment, so it should be time well spent.  Jake also received a new calling. He is now the assistant ward clerk. My calling changed a little as well. I am still in the primary, but they had a new family move into the ward that has twins with autism, so I have been moved to be the primary teacher of their class.  I'm actually excited to get to use some of my rusty special education skills.  The first Sunday was a little crazy and left me feeling like I had forgotten all my training;  but after some reflection and implementation of new strategies, this Sunday went so much better. It was actually a lot of fun.  Hudson is back playing with friends every chance he gets, and doing his gym and swim class at the YMCA. He also became a Sunbeam!  I kind of can't believe that he is not only that big, but also that he can finally sit still long enough to make it through primary. He is surprisingly reverent in fact; thanks largely to great primary teachers who came up with "the reverence train".  I'm not entirely sure how it works, but I do know he gets very excited when he tells me he earned to be the reverence train driver. 

The primary gave Hudson his first Book of Mormon for Christmas with the challenge of reading the entire book this year.  We have been modifying this a little by simply telling him a summarized and maybe slightly modified story of what happened in a chapter each night.  Its been a lot of fun.  He was pretty sad that Nephi had to leave his favorite toys at his old house and move.  Although, he thinks the wilderness is actually Pennsylvania.

Also, since we have been home, I have completed what I thought would be an impossible task of finally weaning Ellie.  It was accomplished with a lot fewer tantrums then I had expected.  This picture has nothing to do with weaning I just thought think its funny.  Our Ellie girl loves to be in the buff.  When we try to get her dressed after her bath she runs away from us laughing.  It brings her such joy that we sometimes indulge her a little and let her be.  On one such occasion this week Jake had the very unfortunate experience of getting peed on.  Hudson and I both thought it was hilarious, but Jake was not very pleased.

So all in all, everyone is doing great and things are going very well.  Except for one thing.....

While home for the holidays; everyone fed us so well, and we were given so many delicious tasty treats that we thoroughly enjoyed.  Now that we are home it seems we can't control ourselves, we are still devouring them with an endless passion.  No cookie has gone untouched, no candy has gone unchewed, and no ice cream has gone unsmothered with hot fudge, caramel, and whip cream. We are a family of sugar addicts! There, it feels so good to admit it.  We cant stop!  Its no secret that we have always liked our sweets, but now I feel it has reached epidemic levels.  I'm afraid that we have no choice but to implement a session of "sugar detox".  For the rest of January we are going treatless.  Which means it might be a very grumpy few weeks in this house.   Hopefully our marriage can make it through this challenge. We are going to need a lot of prayers!


Speaking of candy, we decided to see if the kids would like Pop Rocks.  It went just as anyone who knows our kids could guess.....