Sick Kids and Astros T-Shirts

On Tuesday I would have said that Natalie had some allergies.  She was congested, but not too runny, not goopy.  That evening I might have classified it as a cold, she was a little more drippy and I think a light cough started.  That night the hacking seal cough came – it was so sad!  Same overnight, Joanna appeared to have a stomach bug and threw up several times.  (Including all over Matt – have I mentioned I love my husband?)

So Wednesday morning rolls around and Matt and I are both sleep deprived, the girls are pretty puny, but thankfully James slept through it all!

Matt was going to take a little time off of work to help, since I really don’t think that two sick kids and one little baby is the right amount of work for one person, you know?  Maybe there are some supermoms out there to disagree with me, but that’s my opinion!  I was joking that my mom could help (she was on call that day) if she ended up with an 8pm assignment, thus freeing her day.  I swear not ten minutes later she called to say she had an 8:00 airport alert.  Ha!  Thank you Continental for getting my telepathy!

So Matt shuffled off to work a little late since my mom was on her way over.  I had Joanna asleep up next to me on the couch and James asleep on me (he’d flat out refused a nap in the crib).  When Natalie got up she was actually very chipper – happy, playing, with no sign of the hacking seal.  Wahoo!  She was good and goopy, congested, and had a little normal sounding cough, but she felt good.  Just a cold – yay!  So Natalie was wondering around the house, entertaining herself as I snuggled my “Js.”  Fortunately the worst trouble she wanted to get into was chillin’ in the baby bouncer.  I usually don’t let her sit there, but she knew I wasn’t going to jump up and stop her!

Here’s how Joanna was crashed after I got up:

And this is probably an example of how James got his cold.  Ummm… oops.

When Joanna got up, she was really feeling fine, so she got to have the very first tasted of my canned applesauce!  She proclaimed it good.

Joanna and Natalie really were both pretty okay during the day.  Natalie felt great, and Joanna didn’t throw up at all, she was just tired.  I was still really really thankful to have my mom over for most of the day since everybody needed extra snuggles.

By the evening I had pretty much decided that Joanna would go to school Thursday but I’d keep Natalie home.  She felt great but was pretty drippy, and could probably use some down time.  So Joanna and I headed to out get her some shoes for picture day!  We found her annual Jellies at Payless, but then hopped over to Target to pick up some Vicks and a birthday present.

I found what I was looking for, and…

Astros T-shirts!

But not just any Astros shirts – PENCE shirts!

I couldn’t help myself (okay, I could help myself, but I didn’t).  I picked up one for each of us.

I try not to be such a spender :), which is why I usually try to just STAY OUT of stores, but I really had been looking for some “Pence” shirts for the kids.  I mean, how often is it that a “cousin” (ha!) of ours will be a famous ball player?  So now, as Matt says, we can can go on family outings.  Hee hee hee.

It was too late to get everybody in the shirts for a picture, but I made Natalie try hers on, since I wasn’t sure which size she really needed.  I had trouble getting her to smile since she had started to feel bad.  I ended up having to tell her I wanted to show her picture off – would she smile for Pop?  Yes, she decided she would smile for Pop.  So, Pop, this one’s for you.  :)

I guess now we’re ready to watch some baseball, eh?

James had a pretty good night last night, even though he started feeling a little punk.  Natalie had a pretty great night, even with all her goop.  But poor Joanna had another rough night.

My first theory was that she really had a little stomach bug Tuesday night, but I’ve since revised my theory.  I think her ears are draining.  I don’t even know if that’s medically possible, but I think they’re draining ,causing 1.) some kind of equilibrium issue that made her throw up after she’d been laying down a while, and 2.) snot and fluid and gunk running down her throat into her stomach, making her not feel good and throw up.  She’s also had a lot more trouble hearing us the last couple of days, which makes me think something’s up.  Should I take her to the doctor?  Eh, maybe.  But I really think it’s going to resolve itself here pretty quick.

So this morning, James is doing okay, Natalie’s chipper and playing, and Joanna is falling asleep in weird positions:

I didn’t move her because I thought it might feel good.  She has since rolled over and collected a blanket.  She’s still out though.

I’m sad she’s missing her class picture.  :(  Wouldn’t it figure that her class is the only one taking theirs today!  We’ll still be able to get their individual shots done on Tuesday though.  Assuming we manage to heath up!

Natalie gave me her cold too, so we’re sure a bundle of fun around here.  :)

I’m very very thankful for the big ol’ pot of beef stew my mother made for us yesterday.  And the milk and eggs Matt will be stopping to pick up on the way home today.  And for Sola Gratia practice tonight, if I still feel okay!  And for a healthy Matt, so far.  And for a happy Natalie.  And a sunny day for drying diapers.  And I’m sure a million other things… like “personalized” Astros t-shirts.  :)

Just some cute kids… that’s all.

Look at these sweet babies.  You can’t tell they’re related, can you?

Cozy relaxation…

The other day we went to the park with some friends for a play day.  I love this shot of my girls and Anna running – action shot!

Before church on Sunday – they’re just so cute!

These are our smiles, mom.

Sister love.

I had a doctor’s appointment Monday morning, and my wonderfully sweet friend Lisa watched the girls for me.  I got to go with just James.  Looks like he was a lot of trouble, huh?

It was fun to show him off.  :)

Vegetables and Homemade Ice Cream, but not Vegetable Ice Cream

Saturday morning, the family and I headed into town to pick up our box of fruits and veggies from Rawfully Organic, a local co-op.  Hopefully soon there will be a spot to pick up closer to home, but this was near Rice University.  The kids did great on the drive.  If it wasn’t for the gas prices, I’d have no problem making this drive every so often!

Anyway, here are the tents set up with the boxes underneath.

We bought a “half-share” which is still a stinkin’ lot of organic fruits and veggies.  Yummo!!

The greens and the tomatoes (maybe some other stuff as well) was locally grown, and it’s all organic.  Good stuff!

In our box: bananas, celery, zucchini, cucumber, avocado, green beans, 3 pears, 2 tangelos, 4 oranges, 4 apples, sweet potato, two bunches romaine, one bunch spinach, one bunch kale, one bunch baby bok choy (had to look that one up!), 3 tomatoes, kiwi, pineapple, bag carrots, strawberries, blueberries, cherry tomatoes

We are really making our way through the produce, trying to use up the stuff that won’t last quickly!  Even though I had visions of kale “chips”, it was so wilty when I got to it that I just steamed it with some of the spinach, then pureed and froze for James in a few months!  The girls have really been enjoying the strawberries – they had some on their cheerios the last couple of days.  They’ve also willingly eaten carrots sticks, celery sticks, cucumber sticks, and raw green beans.  Joanna also enjoys the tomatoes.  We ate some of the zucchini in slices on our pizza Saturday – yum!!  Yesterday I made a stir fry and used the bok choi, carrots, and green beans – mmmmmm.  We haven’t cut into the pineapple yet, and the bananas are still green; I’m glad everything’s not ripe all at once!

When we got home on Saturday, we decided to eat some of our yummy produce with a side of farm fresh scrambled eggs.  Ohhhhhhhhh myyyyyyyyyyyyy.  Yum.

I don’t know if you can tell in the picture, but fresh eggs from free range chickens are so bright and beautiful!

I have been wanting to try making ice cream lately, and my cousin Christiana offered us their ice cream maker to try!  I didn’t take many pictures because I had like nine million things going on in the kitchen Sunday afternoon, but I had to take a picture of it after the cycle was done in the ice cream maker.

Can you believe I was home alone for a few minutes, and no one else was there to taste see it?!

Homemade ice cream is really really really good.  I had planned to make chocolate chip ice cream because I had a package of milk chocolate chips burning a hole in my pantry, but I decided the vanilla was soooooo good on it’s own, I needed some plain vanilla too.  So I halved it, and now we have some of each – wahoo!!  I used about half raw whole milk and half heavy cream from the store to make this (plus of course sugar, salt, and vanilla).  It’s really really good.  I want to play around with some recipes (using less sugar and what not).  I’m not sure how small a batch I can do in this ice cream maker, so I may try the nested plastic bag method as well.  My girls would love that!  I was looking online the other day at ice cream makers, and I found one that attaches to the Kitchen Aid stand mixer.  It’s pretty pricey, but I’m very curious about it!  Homemade ice cream would be something very fun to do for a summer birthday. (Oh heck, we live in Houston – it would be good for any birthday!)

We still have lots left if you feel like stoppin’ by.  You can pick up a few toys, fold a few clothes, and have a bowl of ice cream.  :)

A Trip to a Farm

We unexpectedly got to visit a little farm up the road today.  What a great way to beat the Friday afternoon slump!  Actually, I did know this morning that we were going, but I thought it would be a quick pick up, instead the girls got to see the animals and do a little learning/exploring – what fun!

The farm lady took the girls over to see the baby cows!  They are 4 and 5 months old – like James!

I didn’t want to be the crazy picture lady, but I had to get a couple of pictures!  They’re pixelated because I was standing pretty far away, and I cropped ‘em.  At first the calves ran away a distance because they were scared of my girls.  Little by little they came back over as Joanna waited patiently for them.

We got to ride the golf cart around to see everything!  This is the cow who made our milk!

Her “MOO” was very loud and really scared my poor Natalie!  There she is walking away from the cart:

Like I said I didn’t take many pictures, but there were chickens everywhere, pecking around.  We bought a dozen fresh eggs along with our milk.

So pretty!

It’s been a loooooong time since I’ve had eggs straight from the chicken – looking forward to it!

Bluebonnets 2011: Kid Combinations

Links to previous bluebonnet posts:
2008 (Joanna, 13 months)
2009 (Joanna, 2; Natalie, 2 months)
2010 (Joanna, 3; Natalie 15 months)
2011: Joanna 4, Natalie 2, James 5 months

Natalie, with her “angel wings.”  That’s how they walk around at school.  Too cute!

I like this one:

I love this one!  Joanna’s smile is perfect, Natalie has her funky grimace on, but they’re holding hands – awwww!

Now Joanna is sporting the funky look.

That’s better!  Both girls are smiling!  James looks a little concerned about his current predicament.

Oh, my kids are cute!

Momma gets in on it!

Joanna has a terrible face here, but it was the best one of the four of us.

By this point, Natalie had gone into soothing mode, and was ready to go home!  And obviously Joanna had wandered off somewhere.

It was a fun morning, and I’m sure glad we didn’t have to drive far to get there!

This is what our ditch location looks like.

A little wildflower goodness, nestled into the Kingwood ‘burbs. 

Bluebonnets 2011: James

James’ first bluebonnet pictures!
He’d have put it in his mouth if he could have.

To me, it looks like he’s thinking, “Mom, seriously… I’m a DUDE!”

But isn’t it cute how he’s kind of holding the flowers?

There’s my cute boy!

At home, he smiles all over the place!  I guess he was kind of like Natalie with the flowers – “Seriously?  What are we doing?”

LOVE THAT SMILE!  He was looking at my mom.

“How you doin’?”

“Huh?”

Such the chewer these days.

I’m pretty sure he’s found his “thumb” in the form of these first two fingers on the right hand.  I see this a lot.

I was hoping (even though I can do math and I know better) that the bluebonnets would coincide with James sitting up well.  I was impressed with how well he sat (on an incline!) in the Bumbo though.  Even though he can hold his head up, he doesn’t always.  I’m pretty excited about the shots we got!

Bluebonnets 2011: Natalie

The best ones of Natalie this year are not of her face.  :)
She’s just not good at the whole smiling on cue thing right now.  I caught a lot of grimaces.  Plus I think she was awfully tired (I need to do a melt down post later!), and the whole “take your pictures in a bunch of flowers” thing was strange for her.

Mom was asking her about the flowers on her dress.

I think she was sort of spinning or something here.

Pointing to the flowers.

She really wanted to be held or to hold our hands.  And she wanted to “go to the car!”