Did I fail to mention that we were out of town celebrating Christmas with all our family? Well, we are. And we left yesterday afternoon. We arrived last night and ate quickly then shuffled the kids off to bed (napping in the car is very hard). Liam got a dose of tylenol. We laid them all down and Mark went down with Josiah several times before we went to bed. I went to lay down (Josiah’s in our room) and as I was dozing off, I started coughing, which woke Josiah up and eventually (because Josiah wouldn’t settle) woke up Liam (who was in the adjoining room). Josiah’s very congested. Liam’s running a fever. And I retreated to the room Zoe and Ace were sleeping in and got four hours sleep before going down to be ready to feed Josiah (who still was having trouble sleeping). I found Liam, Josiah, and Mark all in bed together. Mark eventually took Josiah upstairs and slept with him on the couch…a little upright. I got the “kicker” who finally settled down around 5. When I came back downstairs, Liam was very hot (but not literally on fire), so we gave him more drugs which helped to wake him up at some point when his fever went down.

So, all that to say, it’s not Christmas unless someone or multiple ones are sick in our home!!! I am very grateful that it’s just viruses, though.

Mark revealed one of my Christmas presents today. I had requested we do something for Ronald McDonald house. They house families, free, regardless of income, when their children are going through medical treatment. I wanted to take them a meal but came up with this Christmas wish list a little late and they were covered. They actually only have three families there right now and one is going home for Christmas. The other two have babies in the NICU and have been there so long, they didn’t have clothing for the winter. We are providing gift cards and we also picked up a little something for the babies. It reminds me how blessed I am that my children just have the sniffles and a virus. I also know how quickly that can change from watching family friends deal with the illness of cancer in their little one. So, I count my blessings no matter how sleep deprived I am!

Zoe’s night terrors have been non-existent for over a week. Hmmm, could it have something to do with us praying over her and with her that night?! I really think so because she won’t take a nap during the day to help with being over tired so nothing has changed in our routine.

Liam awoke during the night last night with a fever. I think he thought it was a real treat to sleep on the floor of our bedroom on a pallet. We let him sleep there because he was wide awake with the fever and we knew he would stay where we were. He did so good. His temp was 101.1 when we checked it last night. So far today it’s just gotten to 100.1 I’m guessing it’s the fever bug that Ace had.

I’m getting a little germaphobe because two of the babies in our church nursery have come down with RSV. Eek! I’m glad I’m nursing Josiah which greatly reduces the risk of getting the virus that can be very dangerous for babies.

And that’s life around here as we get ready to go visit families for Christmas! More later…

today to be pj day! Since we can’t really go anywhere until we know that Ace’s temp is going to stay down, we’re going to hang out in our pjs today. We’ll watch a movie, play games, and just have fun, hopefully.

If you get the privilege of staying at home with your children, a pj day is a must every once in a while. Lots of fun!

Go ahead…try it.

Well, we found out that Mark’s sister-in-law was expecting. This was going to be #7 in our nieces and nephews line up.

We just found out tonight that it’s going to be #7 AND #8!

We’re soooo excited!!! This is the first set of twins on either side of the family. This will be #5 and #6 for them. The babies are due right around Mark’s birthday.

These next four weeks are pretty critical for the babies so please pray for them and for his sister-in-law.

Congratulations B&B and cousins! We are excited for these new little blessings from God.

Everyone seems well. Ace didn’t throw up any more after the morning marathon and was back to eating pizza by that night.

No one else got sick.

Pictures are coming. I have them all ready to go but just haven’t had the time to do them. I have three card orders that I’m trying to finish by the end of the week, plus school, getting ready for Christmas and my own personal Christmas cards…we’re busy as usual around here.

Josiah’s done good in his bed in the boys room. I’m still bringing him in bed with me in the morning to try and catch a few hours (I mean minutes of sleep).

Also, he’s outgrown the sink. His poor little knees were up by his ears when we went to bathe him in the sink the other day. We tried the baby bather from when Zoe was a baby but it didn’t work. Yesterday I got a pillow that sits in the tub and he loved it. He can still scoot down in it but at least he wasn’t scrunched up.

More later…sometime.