Five Months Today!!

Rebekah is five months old today. She is full swing into grabbing things and currently helping me type. She is almost over her nasty cold and is back to sleeping in the crib. She's slowly getting better at sleeping longer. I "only" fed her 3 times last night. I wonder if she'll be ready for sleeping through the night in a month. Sleeping in the swing for so long kind of set us back a bit.

She's rolling onto her sides pretty easily, but favors her left side. I now find her in different places than where I left her. I'll need to get a new safety gate soon. Nathan kindly cut our old one. (GRRRRRR!!)

Besides nursing and some formula at about 1 month old, Rebekah has now tasted applesauce (in an attempt to administer Singulair granules), french fries, pear juice, strawberry ice cream and celery. Most of those really were just tastes. I am leary of food allergies, after doing that with Nathan! Tune in at six months when she gets to try rice cereal!
Yahoo!

Three cheers for the zebra!

Nathan was better after the first dose of the zebra medicine. Of course we finished it (I am sick of the sickness!). Now, Rebekah is congested again and throwing up because of it all. REALLY- Does it ever end? We couldn't even get her to go to sleep until 2 AM and then she didn't sleep soundly. I was so tired while I nursed her that I thought I would fall over!

Amber and Caitlin are visiting this weekend. Amber and I took Caitlin and Rebekah out this morning for some shopping and lunch. I haven't done that in FOREVER. It was nice. We bargain shopped at DI, then hit some after Christmas clearance sales in the mall. I got some good deals in both places!

Time to fumigate

*SIGH* I thought we were finally done with being sick. Nathan actually had a "below-normal" temp this morning. He went down for a nap @ 11:30, woke at about 2:30 and screamed for a bit (a very normal Nathan thing to do) and then fell back to sleep. I remembered him at 4 and went to check on him. His temp was 104 F. An hour later, it had dropped a bit to 103.6 F. The doctor had given us a prescription for Zithromax (the $$ zebra medicine) to hold on to in case he didn't get better. I nearly threw it away as I was cleaning up today. I talked to the dr on the phone and he said to go ahead and get the medicine and give him a dose tonight and then again in the morning. This is Nathan's 3rd fever (though they hardly ever disappeared completely) in 3 weeks! What are we going to do with this child? He didn't eat dinner last night, only a few bites of cereal, no lunch and a roll for dinner. At least he's still drinking. I just hope that no one else gets this again.

It was my day to help in Daniel's classroom today. They had a sub (apparently had her yesterday, too). I have subbed in many classrooms, but this was my first experience with seeing the difference between the teacher and the sub. I can see why it messes kids up! I was even thrown off by the way the sub did things differently. Interestingly, the sub put me in the Math group, too. I wonder if Mrs. Weist told her to, although I never told her who I was. Oh well, we were only ordering numbers 0-20. It was interesting to see the different skill levels among the students. Daniel wasn't the best, but he was doing a lot better than most. One little girl was having trouble with identifying 0-5. A few of the kids were so fast, that I had them order them backwards.

I went visiting teaching tonight. We have one more sister to get, if we can work her schedule out against ours. I think I talk too much during the visits. I'll have to try harder not to blab so much and let someone else have a turn.

Houdini was adopted today. He won't be jumping up into our window anymore. That's kind of sad, although I won't miss hearing him whine all the time, or tripping me when I go out into the garage. He went to live with some friends in Ucon, so we'll likely see him every so often.

There is no school tomorrow. I hope to get started with B, helping her make a patchwork quilt. She said that she would like to make one and I sure have enough scraps for one. She can learn how to use a sewing machine at the same time. It's not too hard to sew a straight line (usually).

I've been walking for 3 weeks now, and long and hard enough to work up a sweat. I have been trying to eat better (and less), as well, but it doesn't seem to be working. I have a very round middle (and end). The more I try to be good, the more I want a treat. I'm driving myself to insanity. I have been eating a lot more whole wheat bread and have decided to cut back a bit from that until my bowels (and Rebekah's) adjust to the difference. I don't want to start a wheat allergy for her!

So now it's a little after 10 PM. My eyelids are much heavier than it seems they should be. I hope I can avoid getting this nasty germ that seems to have adopted us. Rebekah actually slept pretty well last night (in her swing, of course) and I hope she repeats the feat. Here's a little picture of her. She is so cute and beautiful and lovable. I wish I could bottle it. She's 4 months old here (taken 2 weeks ago).

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.....

Rebekah is firmly engaged in the germ warfare. She has been running a fever for two days now. She started coughing on Friday and started throwing up because of the coughs on Sunday night. There's nothing like hearing a four month old cough until she's out of breath and then the subsequent gagging as she vomits (mostly mucus). She did not sleep well at all last night. I hardly got any sleep at all. (Normally, this is one of my exaggerations, but this time it's very accurate.) Chad left for Las Vegas last night @ 6 PM and won't be home for another couple of hours yet. He missed out on last night's party! I eventually tried out several "sitting-up" positions in bed that allowed me to sleep without dropping Rebekah or myself out of the bed. She wanted to be held, but couldn't sleep horizontally because of all her goop. Just before 7 AM, she was exhausted enough to sleep in her swing! By then, I had Leah in the bed with me because she kept waking up and screaming from her room. I slept in until 8 and let the boys fend for themselves (which they're used to doing).

Leah found out today that not everything wrapped like candy IS candy. She saw me grab a cold lozenge and snuck one for herself. When she came out with sticky hands, I knew she'd been into something. I just found the discarded "candy" on the shelf of the headboard.

Leah is running a fever (102 F) tonight. We thought she was done! I'm hoping that this doesn't mean this gunk has two parts. Daniel missed school yesterday and today because of a 3-day fever (103F). I would really like to see him go back tomorrow. :)

We found a new home for Houdini. A family that used to live in the ward, but moved to Ucon last year, will give him a home. They're hoping he'll be a good mouser. I hope so, too. The only chance he got to show his stuff around here was a bit embarrassing. But he does catch birds and squirrels in the yard. At least they'll let him in the house. He's moved into the garage and meows at us from there often. He occasionally gives us the slip and sneaks into the house that way. I often find him on top of the van when I go out, and he was there yesterday when I went to go walking at the church. When I got out of the van to knock on my neighbor's door, I found him STILL up there! He'd ridden to the mouth of the circle on top of the van. He probably thought he was surfing. I guess that little "knock" sound I heard as I left the garage was his head hitting the garage door! Dumb cat. My neighbor got a good laugh out of it. She had watched me drive up and said it looked like something from a cartoon. He gets his vaccinations tomorrow afternoon. Maybe that will help protect him from himself.

Chocolate had his shots and check-up yesterday. The vet said he's very healthy, except for the fact that he's FAT. Too many table scraps, I guess! He gained 11 lbs since last January. I feel his pain. His weight will probably come off a lot easier than mine (since he doesn't frequent the kitchen near as much as I do)!

Well, it's only a little after 9 PM, but it feels like the middle of the night to me. I hope I can get some sleep tonight. I'm way too cranky to be responsible for children as it is. My children will look back of pictures of me smiling and wonder who that person is, because they sure never met her before! And I just have to mention Nathan by name, because I mentioned everyone else! :) (At least I'm a fair cranky mommy!)

Here's to a good night's sleep!

Germs, Germs GO AWAY!

Leah got pretty sick before she started getting better. But we know she's going to be ok because she's started yelling at us again. So pleasant. :) The doctor had given us Singulair samples, Xopenex for the nebulizer, a cough medicine Rx and a very expensive 3 day bottle of Zithromax (the zebra on the bottle was what encouraged Leah to even try it). I am very careful when I give the zebra stuff because it's almost $13 per half teaspoon!

Because we like to share in our family, Nathan has started coughing. I've already given him some doses of cough medicine and a Singular tablet (don't worry, the Dr. ok'd it). I knew Nathan was next in line when he drank eagerly from Leah's sippy cup on Monday. I'm crossing my fingers that Daniel and Rebekah will be spared. It doesn't make me feel good when Leah comes up to Rebekah and coughs all over her face.

On the other hand, Rebekah is doing much better than she has in months. Since kicking the cat outside (he's currently at the window crying to come in), her runny nose has stopped and her breathing is much better. Coincidentally, the blocked tear duct she had since birth has also cleared up. So now she can see the world with 2 eyes. Of course, after sleeping in a swing for so long, she's not falling asleep in her crib very well. Two nights ago, she had me out of bed every half hour. I didn't feel too picked on though, since that's the night that Leah threw up all night long, and Chad took care of that - to the extent of sitting in the living room with her, covered in slime until morning. We were both very tired!

Rebekah had her 4 month well baby check today. She's grown two more inches to 25" and gained 2 more lbs. bringing her up over 13 lbs. The doctor jokes with me that "she's a giant for a Collett," but after he shared with me that her height is 25% and weight is 50%, I told him that the numbers would be coming down. My goodness! At 25% she's already started! :)

I have started walking in the mornings. I have been going to the church with a small (hoping it will grow) group of women and walking around the gym until we're dizzy. I have brought the boys with me and so it's not just walking, but playing "dodge ball," too. Today, Nathan was sick and didn't go, so it was "dodge Daniel." It's hard to get up so much earlier than I'm used to (which really isn't that early anyway), but I think it's beginning to give me a boost. Of course, I've known but never really admitted that I needed to exercize.

I help in Daniel's classroom on Thursday afternoons. The teacher usually has me work the math station, which I prefer over reading, but someday I would like to do the art station. That seems like less "hard nose" and more FUN! Today we worked with pattern blocks. Some kids definitely had a hard time visualizing what shapes would fill the space, but (and of course I'm bragging) Daniel had no problem at all and finished first in his group. Even I was a little surprised. There was one other boy who looked at the shape while I giving directions and had it completed on the table in front of him before I even handed out the cards.

Now it's nearly 10 o'clock. I have to start going to bed at a reasonable time since I have started getting up earlier. Maybe I can start to be healthier and loose some of this weight I've become so attached to!

For Steve: Girls, Girls, Girls!

A few pictures for Steve. I don' t have the most striking ones ready to publish, but these are a start. Leah especially looks like my pictures, but Daniel does resemble Chad as a boy. Maybe I'll post those someday.

Happy Birthday, Leah! (and Happy New Year, too)

Leah turned 2 years old today. True to Collett-fashion, she was running a fever. Here she is trying to sleep it off this afternoon.










Luckily, the drugs Chad gave her just before dinner brought the fever down enough to have a little celebration. She made several attempts to blow out the candle, but only got as far as making the flame dance a little. Nathan and Daniel got in the act and after about 3 tries, they finally got it out. We have more spit on the cake than even I thought was possible!









She loved the baby she got . I bought the plastic parts off of eBay (after I failed to find them in any stores I looked in) and used the pattern for a different kind of doll I found in a pattern catalog. I had to work so hard to find anything, I was wondering if people just don't make baby dolls anymore!? So the baby is a strange size and I will "fix" it later...when Leah doesn't know what I'm doing. I spent the last 24 hour crocheting a little hooded poncho for her, too. The picture doesn't do it justice. I thought the blue would accent her eyes nicely. About 4 rounds into the poncho, I remembered that she has hazel eyes, not blue! I've lost too many brain cells.









For FHE the week of someone's birthday, we have a night just for that person. Tonight was Leah's night. We listened to a story about the time she was born and then everyone drew a picture telling why Leah is special. Nathan's is below. He said Leah was special because she plays with him. (He says that about most people when we do this. He must really like to play.)












We've nearly recovered from Christmas. Nathan won't believe me anymore when I blame something on Santa (because "Christmas is over"). We got to see more cousins for Christmas and I got my fill of traveling (with Leah) for a long time. It has rained and snowed off and on for the past while. It was white this morning, but now it's brown and wet. Maybe we'll get snow again tomorrow and then maybe we'll end up with some that actually stays around. B still hasn't made a snowman.

I'm relieved that Christmas is over for now and I can get on with the thousand other things on my "to do" list. We start the new Enrichment program this month. I have a feeling that I'm going to be busier now than before because there are several things going on throughout the month. I don't have to participate in all of them, but I do have to keep tabs.

"Time will tell."