Sick peoples

Yep, we have a house full of sickos (well 3 out of the 6!)

Jace came down with a slight fever last Wednesday (yes, almost a week ago now), and then got a dry hacking cough. I kept asking him if anything was hurting and he just told me his head was a little bit (and sometimes his stomach but he was never sick or anything.) Then Friday he got a VERY high fever- about 104 or so, and then Kelton got it on Saturday. Same thing, just an almost continuous fever (comes down with Motrin, thank goodness!) I kept thinking it was probably the flu (it's been going around here BAD) but they never said anything was hurting and they both got a flu shot so I wasn't sure.

Then Matt came home early from work today (I was at home with the boys anyway- they were supposed to have school but Jace was still running a fever and Kelton did yesterday) and he said he was feeling horrible. He had a high fever of about 103 or so, achey, etc. So I took him to the Dr (I read that if you catch the flu in the first 48 hours you can take Tamiflu or something to help it not be as bad. I would have taken both Jace and Kelton but since they were saying that nothing hurt I assumed it wasn't the flu, maybe just a virus. Turns out that since they had the flu shot they just didn't get the symptoms as bad.) Anyway, I took Matt to the Dr at 11 this morning and sure enough, it's the flu. He's on Tamiflu and some cough medicine to help him out. He's been sleeping since about 2 this afternoon (fun for me, right?!)

Right now I'm just PRAYING that no one else gets it (but I'm not holding my breath!) Blayden was the only other one that got a flu shot this year (Daylon just wasn't with me when I got the other boys done) so I guess if Daylon or I get it, it'll be pretty bad like it is for Matt.

Anyway... that's what's going on in our house! Blah!

Blayden is ONE!!!!

I didn't get a chance to post about this yesterday, but my baby is ONE now!!!! I can't believe it!

He is absolutely the sweetest, most loving baby. He loves to cuddle, and absolutely LOVES his big brothers!! He follows them around everywhere they go and wants to play with (and tear up) all of their toys. And they are all awesome with him too.

He's still working on walking (all of my boys were over a year old before they started walking- Kelton was 15 months!) but he can crawl SUPER fast! He loves to play with the dogs and goes up to them both and hits on their heads (that's fun stuff, don't you know?!)

He actually talks more than the other boys at this age though. TONS of babbling, and says "Mama" (calls me when he wants something!), "Dada," "bye-bye" (and waves), "fish" ("ish!"), "No" (while shaking his head no), and can wave, blow kisses, give kisses (he sucks in on his lips to make the sucking kiss noise!) and is just so super sweet.

We had a few friends and family over for pizza, cake, and ice cream last night. I told everyone to NOT bring him toys (he has more than enough) but if they wanted to bring him a gift to just get him a book. It worked out great too!!

Anyway, here are a few recent pictures of him and some from his party.

My handsome smiley boy!


CAKE!


He wasn't too sure about everyone singing to him!!


And he wasn't too sure about the cake either! LOL


He liked the presents though (especially the wrapping and tissue paper of course!)


Matt and I got him his own little couch so he could chill out and read his books. ;-)

My baby needs tubes

No, not my little baby, my BIG baby!!!

Daylon had failed a part of his hearing test at school (and we were having problems with him at the house too) and we just now got around to taking him to the ENT for a hearing test (I've gotten at least 2 of them in the last year at the Dr's office and they always tell me he's fine!!)

Anyway, I took him today to Central Texas ENT (thanks for the referral Kelli! They were really awesome with him!) and he can NOT hear well at all in both ears. They said he had tons of fluid built up behind his ears and they were a little inflamed. So he needs tubes as soon as possible to help it drain and get him to hearing normal again.

It sucks though because we don't have any health insurance for him (we do for Matt and the other three boys!) so we're going to have to pay for all of it out of pocket. Ugg!!

Aahhh.....

Relaxation brings on a whole new meaning when you have four kids that you stay at home with (not to mention going to school part time, working for your own company part time, and then just the million of other little things that come up randomly!)

Anyway, I decided to do something just for myself today and made an appointment to get a facial at a spa here in town. My wonderful babysitter, Elizabeth, came over to watch the boys for me while I went. I REALLY should have done a massage first (they had a time open) but I opted to wait until I could do a couples massage with Matt. I think that's what I'm going to plan for us for Valentine's Day. We've never had one and it just seems relaxing and romantic. I'm going to wait until a day when my babysitter can stay the whole night with the boys and Matt and I can go do the massage thing, go to dinner, and then stay the night somewhere nice and romantic. NICE!!! :-)

Sorry it's been awhile!

Our life seems to just be nuts lately!

Daylon started back to school on Jan. 3, and that's been going okay. We got his report card in this last week and, even though it seemed like he had progressed really well with his reading, apparently, it's not where it's supposed to be. So we have a meeting scheduled with his teacher for next week to figure out what we need to do next. He reads almost every night (which is SUCH a struggle because he hates it!) I just don't know what to do with him- I remember learning to read and I was so proud of myself and have always LOVED to read (you're talking to the girl that gets a book EVERY TIME I go to the store!!)

Jace, Kelton, and Blayden started back to Sonshine School on Jan 8, and that's been going really well. Kelton has gotten bragged on twice now by his teacher for being so sweet and polite, so that makes me feel better! He's SUCH a toot and so competetive at home that it's nice to know that he's nice and sweet at school!

Blayden is growing up and is almost ONE!! I can't believe my little man is getting so big! (Well, actually, he's my smallest child at this age so far! He's only a little over 20 pounds which is just crazy for me!) He's still not walking, and not really even trying (he did take 3 steps to Daylon last night though!) But, what's the point in walking when your brothers get down on the floor and crawl right along with you?? Oh well, it'll come soon and then I'll wish he wasn't walking! LOL

I started my classes this week too. One of them is an internet class (Microcomputer Applications) so hopefully that will go okay. Then I have one class on Tuesdays and Thursdays while the boys are in Sonshine School. It's American Literature. Usually, I love English classes, but this teacher seems a little tough- and no, not because of her tests or anything. It's actually because she teaches horribly- she jumps from subject to subject and just seems to ramble. It's tough to consentrate and to know of anything in her lecture that might be of any importance what-so-ever!!

Anyway, Daylon is at home today because it's an in-teacher service day. And then he's at home on Monday too. It's going to be a LONG 4 day weekend, let me tell you!!! They were ALL up at 6:30 this morning, all hungry, and Kelton hasn't stopped whining. Matt and I aren't getting along all that great either, so I really don't want to be here. If the weather wasn't so gross I would take the boys to my grandparents house on the lake. Hmm... I might call her and see if the weather is the same there. We might make a trip after all!!!!

Better go though. The boys are playing with play dough/craft clay or something and Kelton is STILL whining about something that Daylon isn't letting him do. Good grief!

Ruidoso, NM

(We left Blayden with my sister (and my mom) to keep because 1) he would NOT have liked that long drive, and 2) he was sick and we felt that the colder air would have made him worse. I missed him like crazy!!!!)

Anyway, we left Christmas Eve and stayed in Abilene for the night, got up and drove the rest of the way to Ruidoso. That is a LONG drive!! We got there, checked into our cabin and took all of our luggage in, then ran to an Allsups (convient store- we don't have them here but they were everywhere else we went! LOL)to get a few groceries for the night and morning.

We barely got back to the cabin and it started to SNOW!!! It was SOO beautiful and was coming down in these thick flakes. I was so glad the boys got to see it! Here are a few pictures of them playing in the snow:

Jace was super exdcited!


Kelton all bundled up:


Daylon- look at that snow coming down!



The next morning:

SNOW ANGELS!!


Sierra Blanca Moutain (Ski Apache is on the very top) This was our view from the side of our cabin.


Wednesday morning we got up, played in the snow some (see pictures above), then went to Wal Mart for food. We actually got a little stuck on the drive back, trying to get up to our cabin. There was a pretty steep hill, and since it was covered in snow and ice, it was NOT easy to get up it! We pulled over to the side though, and just waited until it thawed some.

We then took the boys to a place called Winter Park where they have a huge tubing hill. They had a BLAST (so did Matt and I for that matter though!!) Here are a few pictures of that:

Matt and Kelton


Picture of the hill- they had 4 different things you could go down:


We went shopping on Thursday (the boys actually loved this and wanted to go more on Friday since they had some of their own money. It was actually a pleasent experience!!)

Then on Friday we got up and went Horseback riding. Daylon was a little scared at first (he's our cautious son!) but ended up LOVING it! Jace and Kelton were both led by one of the guides, and Kelton enjoyed his ride so much that he almost fell asleep on the horse! We ended up having to stop and let him on the horse with Matt for a little while. It was so funny and cute!

Anyway, here's a few pictures of us on the horses:

Kelton and Jace (on Poncho and McCree)


All of us:



There are also TONS more pictures of our trip on my Shutterfly account that you can see. Here's the link: http://mkdjkrat.shutterfly.com/action/pictures?a=67b0de21b35fd6b9c4c3

We ended up coming home a day early (we were going to stay until the 30th, then stay the night in Abilene again for a break), but I missed Blayden SOOO much. We actually drove straight through and got here on the 29th. He was excited to see us, but still not feeling great (stuffy nose and allergy junk now), so I was thrilled to be home with him again.

I like vacations and all, but it is just SO nice to be home and finally relax and get things back to normal!!!

Christmas!!

Pictures of the boys on our Christmas Eve (so actually 2 days before Christmas) ;-)



Well, since we left to go to New Mexico on Christmas Eve and just got home on Sunday (a day early- more about that in the next post), I'm just now getting the chance to post about our Christmas! We had Christmas a day early- on Christmas Eve, and just told the boys that it was Christmas. This will definitely be the last year we'll be able to do that though- Daylon was suspicious anyway!

Kelton was the first one to wake up and came in our room and got in bed with us. He layed there for a few minutes and then asked "where did all that stuff in the living room come from?" It was really cute- I guess he forgot that Santa had come. Daylon got up right after that, and then I went and woke up Jace and Blayden. Blayden was sick- allergies, ear infection, and just the crud BAD (eyes were swollen, nose was stuffy, etc, etc, etc) so he wasn't in the best mood for his first Christmas.

Anyway, I think the boys all got everything they wanted (they should at least- they got TONS of stuff!!) And I know I did!! Matt got me some Juicy Coutour perfume, Photoshop Elements (I still need to work on it- it's complicated!), 6 different Circle E Candles (my house smells SO yummy all of the time now!!), and a weather center alarm clock thing. It's pretty cool and I'm ALWAYS interested in what the weather is doing! So it was a perfect gift for me.

But.. here are some pictures of our Christmas morning:

Daylon looking at his stuff


Blayden opening up one of his gifts (with Kelton's help- kinda)


Jace REALLY wanted this thing!

Look at all that stuff!!! (And we weren't even half way done!)

More toys.... (don't ask where I put them all- I'm still not sure!)

Blayden playing in his castle (see how sick he looks?!)