August 26, 2009 by mommy.

So I know in some trendy circles, the above would mean that someone’s house is really cool, neat, etc. Unfortunately, the above is a literal translation - every one of us is sick. Emily has the cough and nose filled with goo; Norah has been prescribed Claritin and breathing treatments as we believe she may have asthma that is triggered by allergies and/or cold/flu viruses; I have the head pressure and leaky faucet nose and am entering body ache phase; and Dan (who NEVER gets sick) has head congestion, sore throat, and body aches. He actually went to bed before Emily tonight (around 7:15). Of course, he took Nyquil and will probably be good as new tomorrow. I also bought some meds and took a nap today but I’m sure mine will hang on for another week or two. But I’m not bitter…the main thing is that I want the kids to be better. Norah keeps spiking a fever, which means we are stuck at home. This exact same thing happened a month ago. Ugh. And it’s not even fall yet.

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August 26, 2009 by mommy.

Sorry for not posting in FOREVER…I know I will look back some day and regret that I did not write more down and/or take more pictures (even though I do take a lot) but sometimes I get so caught up in living in the moment that I forget to preserve it for the future. Anyway, here are a few quotes from Emily this last week:

–talking about the fair: “Mommy, cowboys have to ride horses for a long time, as long as they can. That’s how they win other cowboys. Yep, that’s how it is, that’s how God made it.”

–while playing with Legos: “I have them all in a row. Now I need some hookers. Here’s a hooker!”

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March 9, 2009 by daddy.

After some tech changes it turns out that both mommy and daddy are now using a Blackberry for mobile phones.  So the other day walking in the mall we passed the Verizon store and Emily states, that’s like daddy’s but it’s a redberry.  In a poster they were displaying a red colored Blackberry phone.  It is fun thoughts of a child that make parents smile each day.

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January 26, 2009 by mommy.

Thanks for your continued prayers. Norah is doing a lot better today. She is on pretty strong antibiotics for the next 10 days though, so hopefully her little body can handle it. She slept very well last night and was back to almost her normal self today. I kept her home as a precaution and she had a fun day playing w/ Mommy in the morning and Daddy in the afternoon. She is breathing almost normally now and is starting to cough a lot - that means the yucky stuff is breaking up. Yay!

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January 25, 2009 by mommy.

I am really tired so this is the abridged version…after 5 hours at Urgent Care, complete with chest x-ray, two nebulizer treatments, a culture to test for RSV and influenza (through the nose) and an antibiotic shot, Norah has been diagnosed with pneumonia. A big thanks to the nursing staff there who were kind enough to give us some food and milk from their lounge since we were there until 5pm and Norah hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast (and proceeded to vomit all over the bathroom and kitchen prior to us leaving for Urgent Care). It was a bit scary for a while because she could hardly breathe and her little heart was just pounding - but she seems to be doing a bit better now. Prayers that she will be protected and healed over the next few days.

Also, I forgot to mention the other day that when you sing the opening line to “Old MacDonald”, Norah treats you with a “E-I-E-I-O”. It is so cute.

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January 21, 2009 by mommy.

Several new words: Bible (which she said as she picked up her Baby Bible off her bookshelf), potato (which occurred while Dan was carrying her “sack of potatoes” style), mi (as in milk). Probably others too, I am just too tired to remember them. Norah has been up at 5 every day this week and our efforts to remind her it is still night time are not working. Emily has also been having trouble, what with the night terrors and also waking up around 5:30. On Christmas break everyone was sleeping in until almost 7…oh how I long for those days!

Speaking of R&R, only a few weeks until my mom arrives to stay with the girls while we are in Mexico. Looking forward to the trip but not to being away from Emily and Norah.

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January 16, 2009 by mommy.

Quick post on the girls - tonight when I was getting ready to put Norah to bed I said, “OK Norah, let’s pray.” And the sweet little girl interlaced her fingers to fold her hands in prayer. I couldn’t help but smile.

Dinner was better tonight - the last couple of nights she has been very fussy at dinner and not wanting to eat anything but baby food and milk. We think her teeth were bothering her. Tonight she devoured her grilled cheese sandwich. This girl loves cheese and bread, or crackers of any kind. Gee, I wonder where she gets that from…?!

As for Emily, she did not take a nap today so of course she had a night terror tonight. It was pretty bad. I was convinced she was awake when I got to her room because she was sitting upright on the edge of her bed. I asked if she had to go potty and she said yes, but then she started yelling for Mommy and Daddy and reaching out her hands, then burying her face in her blanket. These are the worst things ever. We feel so bad for her but realize there is nothing we can do but comfort her and try to not wake or agitate her as that makes it worse.

So, as for the title - prayers for Emily that she gets good rest and grows out of these terrors soon; praise for Norah for folding her hands in prayer, and prayers for all of us that we allow the love of Jesus to be our guiding light each day. That is always our prayer for the girls but I think it will do us all good to remember that love extends to each one of us as well.

Also, prayers for our friends Rob & Lacy that they are granted the miracle they have been praying for many years now. We love them so much and know that God has amazing plans for them - even if none of us know what they are yet.

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January 14, 2009 by mommy.

Norah’s tooth count is up to 7…two teeth in the past few days certainly accounts for the slight fever she had on Sunday night. For ease of description I am going to start referring to teeth as they are on tooth charts like this one. Remember as you look at it, you are looking into a baby’s mouth, so what appears on the right is actually baby’s left and I will refer to them as her left and right, not yours. She now has both 1’s on bottom. On top, she has 1, 2, 4 on her left and 1, 4 on her right (4 was the latest addition). #2 on her upper right will likely be the next one, and then she will have a total of six on top and two on bottom, just like Emily did when she was about Norah’s age. I think it is funny that she is skipping the 3’s on top for now. I also love how the chart gives approximations for when certain teeth come in. The 1’s were nowhere close for her, but the 4’s seem to be cooperating!

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January 12, 2009 by mommy.

Emily is such a grown up today. First off, she stayed in bed all night last night (she has been getting up once to come in and give one of us a hug, or asking to be tucked in, or something), got up to go potty and went back to bed by herself. Then when we got home tonight she informed us that she kept her clothes clean all day - that she ate grilled cheese and tomato soup with no bib or smock or anything! If anyone has seen Emily eat tomato soup, you realize how amazing this is. She loves it so much (especially dipping the sandwich in like Mommy) that she forgets to be careful and drips soup all over the front of her shirt. But not today! Then she ate a fantastic dinner for the 2nd night in a row (typically she is not finicky but we just got done with a period of her not eating much). Finally, she announced to us that she wanted to take a shower tonight instead of a bath. She has taken them with me before, but tonight she took one all by herself! Of course, I was standing nearby in case she needed anything, and I did help her shampoo and rinse. Prior to a bit of the shampoo getting in her eyes, she had a look of pure elation on her face as the water sprayed her little body. I really just do a double take every time I realize Emily is moving from toddler to little girl. And of course, Norah is right on her heels moving from baby to toddler. Where does the time go?

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January 11, 2009 by mommy.

Today started out as a normal day until we got to church. It was our Sunday to work in Toddlin’ (the church nursery) so we had the girls in the room with us while we got set up. Norah was playing in the play kitchen and had been crawling in and out of a little table and chair set. Suddenly (and I can’t even remember if I saw it happen or just heard it) Norah fell and hit her head on the floor. She started screaming and Dan swooped her up. Well, it was also time for Emily to go to class and the childrens’ rooms have a rule that a man cannot be left alone with children, so I took Norah so Dan could take Emily to class. As soon as they walked out, Norah let out a little cough and I realized “oh, she is going to throw up”. I started moving toward the sink and had my hand out to catch it - I completely underestimated the volume. I quickly called for Dan to come back and within a 30 second period, she vomited 3 times. Completely disgusting. And completely scary, since I remember reading once upon a time that vomiting after a head trauma can be a sign of concussion. The next few minutes were a flurry of getting her changed, getting me changed (thankfully they had extra t-shirts lying around at church) and getting the room cleaned up. We watched her really close the rest of the day and she seems to be doing fine. She did sleep during church service (I laid her on the pew next to me and she crashed there from opening worship until communion). She also took a nap after lunch and fell asleep again on my shoulder after I picked her up from her nap. Now tonight, I thought she felt a bit warm and she also seemed to have slightly blue lips. After a quick consult with godfather (and Dr.) Dave, we were reassured that it was not related to the earlier incident. The thermometer told us that she was running 101.4 temp and so we gave her meds…seemed to be rising even more by the time we put her to bed. I for one will probably not sleep very well tonight worrying about my little baby.

Speaking of little baby, I’m not sure where she went. Watching her walk all around the house I am just amazed that my infant is disappearing. Oh, I also discovered another tooth tonight, bringing her grand total up to 6. 4 on top (completely asymetrical) and 2 on bottom.

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