We're Back!

David and I are both finally feeling well again, but what a week we had!

Saturday was rough for us. We both felt terrible and wanted to sleep all day, so we had to alternate watching the kids and taking a nap. On Sunday, I felt pretty good and the kids wanted to go to church. David was super sick, so I let him sleep all morning while we went to church. We tried to be nice and not share germs. Kathryn and I just sat at the back of the Primary room. Joseph and Sarah got to go to class. I put baby David down for a nap at home and checked on him every 45 minutes or so (it's so nice to live a block away from the church!)

Monday was the hardest day for me. Aside from having the cold & cough, I also had a fever and was so exhausted. (I am accustomed to being tired -- getting by on 5 hours of sleep on a regular basis -- but I just felt like I'd been hit by a truck, like I had less than 3 hours of sleep, even though I'd gone to bed at 8:30 the night before). Once the baby went down for a nap, I went back to bed and begged the older kids to watch a movie. No such luck -- they're always wanting to watch movies, until I need them to. Instead, they just made huge messes all over the house and I didn't care because I was too sick and tired to get out of bed. I took Sarah and Joseph to school, then put the babies down for a nap and took another nap too. By Monday night the fever was breaking and I was starting to feel human again. David had a rough Monday too. As soon as he finished teaching, he came home and took a nap too.

Tuesday was a little better. I felt like I could function again. I washed a load of dishes for the first time since Friday and did a few loads of laundry. I took a nap while the older kids went to school. Then, I went grocery shopping that night.

The house is also recovering. Yesterday (Wednesday), I felt pretty good and was getting fed up with the messy house so I cleared off our counter tops--including the one where we stash all our junk! Today, I tackled the ever-growing stashes of toys, trash, and "treasures" in Sarah's room, the living room, and the play room. We found the floor again, put everything back in it's proper place, and then tonight I vacuumed the whole house. Life is finally getting back to normal. Now, I just need to unpack those suitcases from our Utah trip. (Don't judge me too harshly!) I was just getting around to that early last week when everyone started to get sick.

Sarah and Joseph are doing great, they've been well all week. Kathryn and little David haven't been well this week--they both had runny noses, a little cough, and occasional fevers. They're getting better now too. I'm still waiting for those baby teeth to break through. I can see them all, they're so close!

Today we had nice weather today, so we went out to enjoy it after the kids came home from school. Sarah and Joseph spent half the morning outside too, which really helped my clean up efforts because they weren't inside making new messes.

We now have 2 infant swings. The yellow one was sent in December because the green one was back-ordered, but it doesn't match the set, so I tried to send it back to get a the green one. The company said to just keep it and they sent me the green one this week finally. It's working out very nicely because Kathryn still prefers the infant swing and Davey sure loves swinging too. Joseph is a pro at getting started, pumping, and swinging really high all on his own. Sarah doesn't want to work that hard to swing high. She likes that little swing that's under the fort - she can stand on it and go side to side. There's also a trapeze bar with rings that she likes to hang from too, but I took them down to hang up the new baby swing. I LOVE having the swing set in the backyard!

In other news, I bought "Go Fish" (the card game, only $2.25) for the kids because they had earned a new game for going to bed 10 days without coming back out or asking for 10 different things before they went to sleep, etc. etc. Sarah has been doing exceptionally well -- she goes straight to her room (she now has her own room), and goes right to sleep when it's time. Can you believe it?! She really wanted to earn a new game, I guess. Each morning, I let her put a check mark on our countdown sheet and she calculates how many more days until she earns the game. They liked playing Go Fish and are now working toward getting another game. This time, they have to go to bed for 20 days. The whole scheme was David's idea, and it's been working like a charm! We've tried similar reward sheets before, without much success, so I was surprised at how motivated the kids were to get the game and how well they remember the rules and to mark off their chart every day. Now, if I can just figure out a way to get them to put away toys and clothes... any ideas?


Thank you to everyone who offered prayers on our behalf! We're also grateful for friends here who made us soup on Saturday and Sunday. We're still eating the leftovers and it's been such a blessing to not have to cook this week.