When the Flu Hits 3 Times

The flu hit our house three times this season, I think I mentioned that a while back.  Anyways, on the second round Addy got pretty sick.  The throwing up was followed by a bad run of diarrhea.  I don't think I have changed that many diapers ever.  One day she got up to 16 messy diapers.  We had 30 over the course of 3 days.  On the night of the 16 she was pretty weak, dehydrated, and inconsolable so we decided to take her to the ER.  The doctors couldn't get her to stop crying there either, so they were worried that there was something worse wrong with her.  After an abdominal X-ray, they found nothing and decided to give her a dose of anti-nausua medicine in hopes that she would take some fluids after her stomach had settled.  It didn't help, but they assured me as long as she wasn't vomiting along with the diarrhea that she should be fine.  Nothing like a doctor to make you feel like you are an over-reacting mother, oh well at least it gave me peace of mind that her hours of crying wasn't something worse.  We hope we are done with the flu for this year and we hope it stays away for a long, long time.

Kent playing peek-a-boo with the CLEAN throw-up bowl.

This is what Addy does when she is sick.  Although she still insists she have shoes on.

Lots of cuddles from mom.

Poor girl.

We haven't had a blow out in ages.

Not a happy ER patient.

Popsicles make everything better.

Unless you just hold them instead of eat them, which is what Addy did.

It's the little things...

that amuse me.  Like tossing Addy's animals aside while she eats breakfast and they land in this exact position (sorry if you are offended).

Or the fact that in one week's laundry, I ended up with this many socks without their matching pair.

The Cousins Came

and we captured this little gem!

Baby Aspen (belongs to Derek and Aubree) and Addy, sure to be great friends some day.

Another Addy Post

I know I just barely made a post about Addy bring sleepy, but then I decided to blog more because the kids were still playing unassisted and the next pictures in my lineup were miscellaneous pictures of Addy.  We love this little girl, and although she is feisty, independent, and opinionated (which my dad says all daughters are) we can't seem to get enough of her.

She often can be seen biting her lip, just like her mom does sometimes.

She has learned to accessorize.

And lick beaters.

This picture documents exactly how her hair is fine, wispy, and long for her age.

She is now brave enough to play at the play place at the mall.

Feeding her baby.

I know this picture is really blurry, but it documents her personality so well.  That little smirk on her face is because she is teasing Kent by not giving him a turn with the Slurpee.  What a little pill.

Another blurry picture...she learned that shopping is most fun at Lee's when she gets her own cart.  It also takes up at least 15 minutes longer.

Caught feeding her baby again.

Again in primary, this time she is sitting by Kent's friend Abby.

She is always in close vicinity when I am getting ready in the morning.  Here she finally realized it was her in the mirror.  She talked to herself that morning for a while.

Remember I told you she learned to accessorize, well it just so happens it is one of her favorite hobbies.  Nicole can you believe this hat still fits?

She has taken an interest in sports.

Found Dad's shoes.

Sleepy Girl

We had a day or two a while back that Addy must have been really tired.  I caught her falling asleep in weird places at least 2 hours before her typical nap time.  It was very unlike her, so we had to document.

Asleep in the rocking chair.

Asleep on her Minnie car.  Not two seconds after I took this picture she fell off the car.  Luckily I caught her and was able to successfully lay her on the couch so she could go back to sleep.

A Warm Winter Day

We had a few nice days in February, which is extremely uncharacteristic of Utah weather, and we took full advantage.

We broke out the soccer balls and taught Addy how to kick.

Kent brushed up on his two-wheeler riding skills.

And I made designs in the snow.  

Finances

About once a month, Ammon would prefer twice a month, I take all our receipts from that month and enter them into our account on mint.com.  This is always one of my least favorite times of the month because 1) its a very tedious job and 2) I have to face the fact that I spent more than I probably should have.  But Ammon loves that we do this, and he has probably saved us a lot of money insisting that we continue this practice.  We have done it all 5 years of our marriage and I can't help but shudder at the thought of the years to come.  Now you may ask why it is me that enters them on to mint.com and that is because the only receipt Ammon contributes is his gas receipt.  Everything else that is purchased within the month comes from me.  So when I pull out a Target receipt, I am the only one that can determine what goes towards our grocery budget, what is categorized as kids' expenses, or clothing expenses, or home, etc.  Now just for documentation purposes this is what my kitchen table looks like while I am doing this...

and my floor looks like when I am done.  That is Ammon and Kent's responsibility to clean up and shred.

When all is said and done a feel such a sense of relief that it is all over and then I just tell myself I will do better next month.

When parents get bored...

It comes as no surprise to most, but playing with kids toys is not all that interesting, in fact I am pretty sure time slows down while I am playing.  However our job as parents  requires us to participate in such play.  After building and knocking down a Duplo tower for the umpteenth time, you have to really get creative to keep your attention.
 

I built Addy's doll a high chair

Ammon built this race track.

I sorted the Duplos by color and kind.

Ammon's sports car.

And the occasional birthday greeting.  

And play-dough...

I spell Kent's name and...

 Ammon creates a pizza.