Elijah at the park

Due to recovering from illnesses, I couldn't get naptime to line up yesterday. So while Isaac took his afternoon nap and I got some rest, Joanie took Elijah to the park. Here's some fun pics that she took during their field trip.

Misc. pics

Here are just some fun pictures to share of our boys on the mend.

Joanie reading to the boys.

So great to see them wrestling! They are feeling better all righty!

I've been fighting headaches. JB brought me some caffeine to help. Isaac thought that they made a great stacking game. Too cute!

"Uh oh. I'm caught. Please let me keep playing!"

Reading in our new pajamas. Reading with the two boys usually includes me trying to prevent Elijah from eating the book and Isaac getting mad at Elijah for his inability to just sit still and listen to the story.

I have to get this on video! Great Grampa and Grama left behind this singing snowman. Isaac presses the button and Elijah dances. It is the cutest thing ever!

Playing in their room.

Isaac did this to his hair himself with watermelon juice.

Scrubs wondering to himself: "Which of those little guys is going to want to climb on me next?"

"I guess it is Elijah this time. Oh well."

"Are we done yet?"

I don't know where we got these from, but they have been quite a hit in our house recently.

"I'm a star!"

One of the boys favorite games is chasing different balls down the hallway.

Elijah doesn't seem too impressed with this game.

I got one of my long-awaited projects done! Separating recent clothes that no longer fit the boys into size categories. The boys thought it would be great fun to walk on these storage boxes down the hallway. Well, Isaac thought it fun. Elijah just liked watching big brother play.

"Way fun!"

Update on private blog

I have figured out a way to get around the 100 blog reader limit. (There was no way I was going to live by that)! So keep sending me the emails or comments to let me know you want to be added. Just let me know who you are and I'll let you know if I approve of you. :)

Leaves

Have I mentioned how much I hate getting "written up." The Base monitors your house to make sure you are following the rules. Don't follow them . . . get a little notice on your door telling you to get things fixed. If you don't get them fixed within three notices, you can get kicked off Base. I understand the reason for doing this. You want the Base to look nice and for people to take pride in what they are doing. But sometimes it can get annoying.

Tuesday we were written up for not raking our leaves. (We were also written up for Joanie's car not facing the right way on the curb and for two wheels not being off the grass but that's a whole 'nother story.) I think raking our leaves is ludicrous! After I rake we just have a ton of dirt underneath the leaves. At least having the leaves there makes it look like we have some sort of "grass." JB got into a whole discussion about how the leaves are good for the soil. He told me not to throw them away but to put them in a flower bed in the back. All righty.

Last year we were almost written up for not raking. It was a week after Elijah was born, and that man in the little car started to come up to our house with his notice, when my neighbor Aimee stormed over to stop him. She asked him if he saw the baby sign in our front yard. She told him how sick I had been. And then she said, "I'll rake their leaves tomorrow if you don't write them up." Needless to say, JB got out there before she could. But what an awesome neighbor!

Anyways, with JB working about 80-90 hours this week, I volunteered to take over the leaf ranking. It warmed up enough yesterday so that we could spend about an hour and a half outside while Elijah was taking his morning nap. Scrubs played Frisbee. Joanie took pictures. Isaac played. And I raked. Here are some fun photos of our time outside, and me raking the leaves. There's also a video at the end.

I couldn't find a little rake for Isaac in our stash -- so a bucket and shovel would have to do.

Filling up the bird feeder. This is also usually JB's chore. I am so proud of myself for taking over during his absence.

Isaac on his big-wheel from Papa and Grama Di. It's a bit too big for him but he loves to sit on it and push it around.

And here is the video:

A Fall Day in December with Scrubby

Finally! Elijah down for a nap. Isaac healthy enough to go outside. The weather not too cold or rainy to venture outdoors. Oh and one Joanie-girl with a great camera for catching our pup doing his thing. Cabin fever no more! Frisbee is one of Scrubs' favorite games. He is infatuated by it and wants to play any chance he can.

Invite update

An online friend just informed me that if I make my blog private, only 100 people can view it. Does anyone know a way around this? I am pretty sure I have more than 100 readers but I would like it to go private.

Either way, please keep sending me your email addresses. Hopefully by July 1st, I'll figure out a way to get this done.

P.S. Any ideas are welcome! I really feel it is important to make the blog private but am not sure what to do. Unless I created an account on google and let everyone sign in under that account to get access. Would that work?

Going private

Well I'm bummed to do this. I really wanted to always keep my blog public forever. I really did. But, JB and I have made the decision that as of the day we move (July 1st), we are going to make my blog private.

Our reasons are really two-fold. One is that we want to protect our little boys. We want to make sure that only people we approve of are glancing into their lives. I include a lot of personal details on my blog so we think this is important. They are our number one priority. Their safety, obviously, comes first.

The second is that JB is going to be leaving residency. His patients will google him. They will check him out. We don't want them to be able to wander onto our blog. Making my blog private will remove it from search engines.

I am putting a post up now as I want to start compiling email addresses of those individuals who want to have access to my blog. I want to make sure people have plenty of time to let me know they want to stay a part (or join for the first time) my journey through marriage, infertility, adoption, pregnancy, the military, parenthood, etc.

PLEASE note that I am fine with anyone who requests access, getting access. I don't have to know you personally. That is fine. Totally. We just want to get the blog off of search engines. That's it. You can be the friend of a friend of a friend of a friend. Or you may have found me during your infertility or adoption journey and read anonymously for years. Or you may be my mother. It doesn't matter. In the future, I will gladly add people who want to join. I just want to make sure that predators and people who are here for the wrong reasons, aren't here.

So. Here's what you have to do. Post a comment on my blog with your request and your email address. Or, if you know my email, email me and just put BLOG ACCESS in the subject line. If I don't know you at all, you could briefly, in just a few words, tell me how you started reading my blog. "Found you through an infertility board." "A friend recommended your blog." "I'm the the friend of a friend." or something of the like. I will then store your email address and send you a confirmation email that I received your email.

Then, on July 1, 2010, I'll change the settings on the blog. You will have to have a google account to visit the blog. (If you don't know how to do this, let me know and I will totally help you with this.) The first time you visit the blog after that date, you'll have to log-in, but after that, you'll be able to view it the same way you do now.

I realize this may be some extra work for some of you. Please understand I just think this is the best thing for our family and respect our decision. And please do the work so you can keep reading. I love everyone who visits!

I hope everyone understands my decision. I will post updates to this periodically during the next six months and will also put a notice at the top of my blog. You'll have plenty of chances to do this. I want to make this easy for everyone!

PLEASE send me an email. I want everyone who is reading now to keep reading. I REALLY DO!!!

All righty, that's that. I thought the end of 2009 was a good time to make this announcement. Thanks everyone -- and happy 2010!

On the mend

Well I think we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Just two doses of the new antibiotic down, and we are observing huge improvements in the boys. How wonderful to see Elijah's nose a little less gunky today, his cough not so painful, his wheezing not so heavy. His smile is back in place a bit too! Whew! And Isaac has been nearly perfecto this morning.

Today, I was reminded what a blessing it is when someone takes a few minutes out of their day to do or tell someone else something nice. I was outside playing Frisbee with Scrubs today and our awesome mailman pulled over to talk to me. He told me that he thought I was a very good Mom for taking the time to play with the dog when he knew I had two little boys to take care of as well. He said he often sees me giving the dog time and that it really was great to see. That really made my day! It didn't take him much time or effort on his part, but it sure put a big smile on my face. I'm hoping we can all find someone to make the day of today.

Last night after JB came home we did our mini Christmas with Joanie. Bri got Isaac a big Mickey. He is in love with it and has been taking it everywhere, as you can see from the photos below. Of course, Joanie is in town which means that pictures will be in great abundance during her nearly two week visit. Enjoy! And I hope to be back to blogging more than I have been during this bout of illness in our home.

Me (in my new pajama bottoms from my parents) with Scrubby.

My Elijah -- the best he is looked in nearly a week.

Mickey gets a kiss.

I had to include this photo to show off Isaac's funny face here.

My boy -- looking a whole lot better.

Four ear infections

Well we returned to the doctor today. Four infections of the ears. Two for each boy. It appears that whatever they have was resistant to the first antibiotic so we are starting on the second one. JB is as well. Praise the Lord Joanie arrived 30 minutes before our appointment to help me there. Please continue to pray for our family. We are mending ... but slowly.

This morning, my grandparents and parents loaded up their cars and headed to South Florida. My grandparents will be spending a month avoiding the Michigan winter at my parents' house in Coconut Creek. They will also get to see the last of their great-grandchildren: Charleigh.

We had a wonderful few days with everyone! We ate a lot of good food and just enjoyed each other's company. The three gals also managed to squeeze in pedicures yesterday morning! Heavenly!

The Lord always works things out as I have no idea how I would have made it without my Mom here to help with the boys during the last few days. And also the Lord's guidance has allowed Joan to have already planned to come visit for nearly two weeks starting tomorrow. JB is starting on a very tough inpatient rotation including a call weekend, so when Joanie and I were trying to figure out a time for her to come visit way back when, I had suggested this time. PRAISE THE LORD! She is leaving tomorrow morning! I am going to have Jodi come over for a few hours to help me tomorrow in the gap between my Mom's departure and Joan's arrival. Seriously folks. What would we do without friends?

I know kids get sick, but I have never witnessed such a conglomeration of sickness in one house at one time. I have not been really sick since before Isaac was born. Isaac hasn't been really sick since he was a year old. It's been quite some time since JB has been sick. It does seem however that whenever he is on a pediatric rotation, he brings something home! (He was on one the week before Christmas.) The boys were so incredibly sick. As Isaac started to get a little bit better, Elijah was in the worst of it. And JB has just been terribly sick the whole time. He did manage, somehow, to still cook Christmas dinner (he insisted!) but otherwise, he was pretty laid out. There wasn't any throwing up, but there was every other single thing going on in this house. Sneezing, coughs, runny noses galore, diarrhea, fevers . . . whew. Despite lotioned Kleenex, both boys' have such raw noses, I can't even touch them without them screaming. We've had to start hiding Elijah's medicine in his applesauce because he will just spit the whole thing up, and Isaac has completely lost patience for me "squeezing" out his nose with that blue thingamabob. Neither boy wants me to put clothes on them -- even that hurts them.

Okay, enough talk of sickness. We are on the mend Praise the Lord and looking forward to having Joanie here to help and hang out with while JB begins two weeks of pretty long days.

Here's some photos as I close:

Elijah making a dive onto Grama Di to give her a hug.

Isaac launching himself onto Papa.

The closest I could get to a good picture of Elijah with his great-grandmother.

We have allowed more movie watching in our house during the last few days then we probably allowed in their whole lives previously. Pooh, Thomas, and George have become good friends of ours. This is how they watched some of George yesterday. Yes, Elijah was in the laundry basket. He felt more content in there Grama Di discovered. Who knows why?

A few more Christmas snaps

I wish I could put up a ton of pictures, but JB, me, and the boys have been so sick, the pictures we do manage to take really don't look so nice. Despite that, here are a few photos to share with you:

The boys playing with a new toy from Papa and Grama Di -- a noisy toy. How thoughtful!

Isaac is on the mend, but I think you can tell from this photo that Elijah picked up whatever he had. Poor little guy.

My grandparents: John and Delores. They have five children, nine grandchildren, and will see eight of their great grandchildren on this trip.

My Dad and Scrubs checking out some of the birds and squirrels.