Tripple Stroller

Check out this thing. People usually freak out when they see it but I love it. It's too wide to use in stores but it gives us the opportunity to get out and go for walks which is a priceless and necessary thing for us around here.

Current Obsessions

Not sure why but Kate has become obsessed with this zebra. The zebras name is Stripes. She takes Stripes everywhere. She sometimes wakes up in the middle of the night in an all out panic because she can't find Stripes. I have to go into her room and find Stripes who is usually buried somewhere beneath ALL her blankets. She grabs the zebra hugs it and goes right back to sleep.

Luke is obsessed with being my helper. Whenever I am doing chores I can count on him to be my right hand man. Sometimes his help is really not that helpful but I love that he wants to help and he's just so dang cute.

Jason is obsessed with this book, it's called "I Love Animals" He will have you read it to him ALL day long. He LOVES it! He will bring it to you and cry and cry until you read it to him. As soon as you start reading he is all smiles. He really loves looking at all the animals it makes him so happy.

A New Park

Steve got home from school early one day last week and we had an unexpected free afternoon. What to do, what to do? We decided to head to North Las Vegas and check out an exciting new park. This park was pretty cool. It had huge dinosaur features, giant slides that none of the kids were big enough to go on and it had water and lots of geese. Jason our little animal lover was in heaven. He LOVED the geese and wasn't one bit scared. They were all around him and he was thrilled about it. Luke is not such a big fan of the geese and tried to stay as far away as possible from them. Kate liked them until one tried to snatch a goldfish cracker out of her hand and got her finger instead. It really had a good latch on her finger and I had to swat him away. She was so upset and kept saying "he thought I was trying to share, but I wasn't" It was kind of funny Steve and I couldn't help but laugh about it and eventually we got Kate to laugh about it too.

LUKE KEEPING HIS DISTANCE

JASON ENJOYING BEING SURROUNDED

Valentines cards

XOXO ~ HAPPY VALENTINES DAY ~XOXO

Viral pneumonia

On Wednesday night Luke came into our room in the middle of the night crying. He was burning up. I was so disappointed. I felt bad for him and me. Being sick is no fun and having sick kids is no fun. I medicated him and he slept with us for the rest of the night. Luke is by far my most demanding child and when he is sick he's WAY worse. I cared for and spoiled him all day while slightly neglecting the other munchkins. Luke nestled himself into the corner spot on the couch and watched movies and slept while requesting I remain at his side at all times.

He seemed to be getting progressively worse and I was starting to worry about him. He was breathing very fast and shallow breaths. My instincts told me he needed to go to the ER but I wanted Steve to get home to see what he thought. Was I being an overprotective mother or were my concerns legit. He validated my concerns and we decided Luke did need to go to the ER. I took him to the ER it was a terrible experience. Luke was not doing well he had a fever of 104, heart rate of 180, and was breathing about 45 breaths per minute. The nurses sucked they had an aggressive inpatient approach with Luke, their was nothing gentle about them. Luke only weighs 23 pounds be he is STRONG and can put up a good fight. He didn't let anyone do anything to him without requiring multiple people to hold him down. I was almost always included in holding him down during these painful and traumatic experiences. I felt like such a traitor. It was seriously heartbreaking. I could barely stand to do it. After getting an IV, getting blood for labs, chest x-rays, nasal washings, breathing treatments, and multiple rectal temps the doctor concluded Luke needed to be admitted. They had no pediatric unit at that hospital so we would have to be transferred via ambulance to another hospital. Luke kept crying and saying I want to go home, go NOW and he of coarse was constantly crying for his beloved dad. I'll admit I even cried a few times. Seeing your child suffer is such a hard thing to watch. We spent the night at the St. Rose Sienna pediatric unit. Again unimpressed with the care Luke received. The nurse seemed annoyed that Luke was scared. Why do people choose to work with kids if they're not friendly and have little tolerance for kids? Blows my mind. After several more pokes and prods and a sleepless night Luke was diagnosed with viral pneumonia. We were discharged that day and so happy to go home. Luke and the other kids were so happy to see each other and they have all been enjoying lots of popsicles and an endless stream of movies. We LOVE you so much Luke and are SO glad you are home and feeling better.

Bananas

Our crazy little monkeys!

The book shelf

One of Jason's favorite things to do is pull all the books off the book shelf.

It makes him so happy and it only takes a few minutes to put them back so I usually let him do it.

Birthday Girl!

I had a birthday and I'm not ashamed to admit it. I don't feel like getting older is such a bad thing. I'm 29 and proud of it! So how did I celebrate? The kids woke me up at about 6:30 and were demanding pancakes for breakfast. Steve was already gone he had a 12 hour clinical at the hospital for school. Unfortunately birthdays don't excuse you from your motherly duties so I got up and made pancakes. We hung out and played for awhile. Then my sister-in-law brought me lunch from Cafe Rio. I had a pork salad and I think it was the most delicious salad I have ever had from there. It really hit the spot and it was really nice to visit with her. Thanks Amy! I talked to lots of friends and family on the phone. Even the ones who have a tendency to forget dates remembered this year:) Then at about 3:30 my doorbell rang. I wasn't expecting anyone so I was hesitant to answer the door but I'm really glad I did. Steve felt bad that he was gone all day on my birthday so he had a cake delivered to me. It was so exciting and the cake was beautiful and delicious.

It made me feel special and loved and isn't that what your birthday is really all about. The next day when Steve was home I went and got a facial and massage and loved every second of it. Then my good friend Tiffany called and offered to watch the kids so Steve and I could go to lunch. We don't get much alone time so it was the perfect way to end my birthday weekend celebration. Thanks everyone for all the birthday love!