I guess it’s really all about fashion.

The girls got several pair of Hello Kitty socks from their Nana and Popo recently, and they love wearing them around the house.  They’re super easy to slide on, and they make such a fashion statement!

The reason I took this picture, though, is because of what Natalie’s got under her arm.  You can tell we’ve been taking temps a lot this week!

Natalie is always putting on her dress shoes.  They’re just about to be put away in the too small bin though.  She’ll have to find a new favorite pair of shoes to wear around the house. 

A pretty standard Natalie outfit: shirt, diaper, shoes, and some kind of hair accessory.  And no outfit is complete without a broom.

I put the kiddos in their Astros shirts on Friday, partially because it made for easy dressing, and partially because I really wanted a matchy pic.

I LOVE James’ smiling face here!!

Joanna’s shirt is pretty big on her, but she really wanted a black one (like her Daddy), so I let her get the XS, vs. the 4T.  I waffled between a 2T and 3T for Miss Natalie, but it turns out they weren’t very different.  James’ is a 12 mos, but I can hardly believe that!

I love their little bare feet with jeans!!

Sibling pile!

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.  :)

Take Me Out to the Ballgame!

We had the opportunity to go to Monday night’s Astros game with some of the church staff and decided it would be fun to take Joanna with us. Fortunately Mamma and Pop were willing to come over and watch Miss Natalie. I don’t think she’d have had much fun at the game. She sure had fun with Mamma and Pop though!

We even decided to ride on the church bus down to the game.

Sporting her new purple Belle shades:

Our seats were right behind the bullpen! That was perfect for Joanna, and it was a great view of the game, but we were under the big screens. I concentrate better when I can see all the info they put up on those. :)

I tried and tried to get her to pose with my Astros hat on. She just wouldn’t do it!

Momma and her cutie:

LOVE this one of Matt and Joanna:

Joanna really enjoyed looking over the wall at some of our boys.

Our favorite boy – our… um, cousin? Hunter! Our seats were just behind his spot in the outfield. Yay!

This was both Joanna’s first game as well as (sort of) Baby Brother’s first game. He posed with my hat!

We got up and walked around the stadium during about the fifth inning, just to stretch our legs. Joanna spotted Mickey and we had to have a picture!

Then we came back to our seats and got to enjoy the cracker jacks from Miss Sonya! What’s baseball without cracker jacks?

Joanna spent a lot of the game lap-hopping.

She was able to mooch lots of good snacks and get some different views of the game. :)

Here’s our boy again, after he ripped his pants. I discovered Mr. Pence is a twitcher. He was constantly moving around in the field. Maybe that’s a baseball player thing. :) He looked like he was keeping loose.

We love the orange train. I even took a video of it for Natalie.

On our way out, we took a picture on the big baseballs! I have to mention how hot it was in the stadium Monday night. Oh my I was uncomfortable. Yay for conserving energy, but another night okay? :)

Our boys played a great game and beat the Braves 10-4! The seventh inning was very fun to watch! Joanna did great and had a wonderful time. I couldn’t believe it, but she stayed awake the entire evening, even the way home. She slept in a little bit the next day and has pretty much recovered her lost sleep since then. It was fun to bring one kiddo out on an outing with Matt and me. We’ll have to think of something fun to do with our Natalie.