Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone!!!!

Yes, we are still alive.....and kicking at that :-) AND I have a new look, it appears that the masses were getting restless with the eye popping polka dots......hahahahahahahahaaaaa and throw in a giggle and a snort along with that! In case you feel like you are an outsider in all of this, you will just have to look at my last comment :-)

I would LOVE to write a bunch more, more about what's been going on around here and some deep and thoughtful things as well, but it appears that my brain is on vacation. I am very serious. It is a sad, sad thing to behold. But the results of mega hormones racing through my body! I know not everyone was able to get a letter from us this Christmas, so for those of you who don't know yet, we are expecting our sixth blessing!!!! It appears that the due date is July 4th! How cool is that? Although that would make three of our 6 children's b-days in July! A busy, busy month.

I have a funny little video clip to share on homeschooling, also my original version of my arrow story that we didn't put in our newsletter, I still want to write about the conference, also Christmas pictures and I'm sure there are other really deep and meaningful things as well. BUT until my brain comes back, it may have to wait :-)

Have an awesome NEW DAY!

Please check out the girls' blogs

On the left hand side are the links to Isabella's and Moira's blogs. Please stop by and leave them a little note. I know they would love that!

The dreaded flu

We all, yes, ALL have the bonifide flu!! So all this sickness has truly been horrid. Ha, ha...I've always heard that most people who think they have the flu, really don't. So besides the time when I had the flu some 8 years or so ago, I have never thought that we had it....till this past week. After a weeks worth of fever for one child and a few more with days and days of a high fever, deep coughs, runny noses galore (can you say 10 boxes of kleenex....and no I am not kidding), red, red eyes, pain, and more pain......well I have to say this time I thought, this may really be the flu. But I wasn't so bold as to say it out loud. But now we have confirmation. Isabella was so sick yesterday (Sunday) that we had to take her to urgent care. There they did a swab test and it was positive for the flu. Because she was so sick they put her on antibiotics, as there was a question as to the possibility of her starting pneumonia, and they gave her Tamiflu. You are supposed to start the Tamiflu within 48 hours after exhibiting symptoms, and the doctor said there was only a 20% chance that it would help her since she had already been sick for 5 days. But today she is a bit better. A big sigh of relief. Especially since the doctor told us that if she did not get better in 2 or 3 days we were to take her to the hospital! Yikes!

We called our regular family doctor today to see about getting the other kiddos some of the flu drugs. He didn't suggest them for the girls, but did urge us to get them for Jedidiah. So far Jedidiah seems to be fairing the best of us all! However with his compromised immune system he said it could take *weeks* for him to get over it! Not a pleasant thought. So Jerry will be heading out to the pharmacy soon to get a lot more meds. We have decided to get them for the other girls as well. Moira is on day 3 of high fevers, and the meds are not bringing them down, just like in Isabella's case. So far Flannery is responding to fever reducing medicines, but since she just started hers yesterday she has the best chance of making a much quicker recovery from this.

We have been eating all prepared meals these last few days. The funny thing is that no one really likes them! When you don't eat convenience meals and then have to eat them everyday, well it;s a bit weird. I can taste the loads of salt in them. Although they haven't been a fancy for the taste buds (or pocket book!) they have been a great relief to me as I have not been able to cook.

I am really looking forward to getting back into the swing of things. Although I think this whole week will be dedicated to recovery. I've decided to cancel all our appointments and we'll have to pick up where we left off next week.

Jedidiah is walking!!

Looky, looky at this cute kiddo. Excuse the messy clothes. He had just gotten done eating. A few days ago he took about three steps, and again yesterday. But today...well he just took off!



I haven't forgotten the post I said I would write. We have all been terribly sick over here. I don't remember being this sick in years! So it will be a bit longer. But I just had to share Jedidiah's big accomplishment.

http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=1023f0c951b3e3f118fb

Coming soon....

Coming soon will be the briefing of our fabulous conference weekend. It was busy, busy, busy, but also a blessing beyond measure. It will take me a bit to get to writing about it. Today will be focused on getting us back on schedule. I also need to make a grocery list ( a couple hour task!). Plus I need to spend lots of cuddle time with Saoirse as she has come down with "something". She has a high fever, headache and her eyes look all sick. Poor thing. Please pray she will recover quickly and that Jedidiah will NOT get this. We really need him to get back to gaining weight. He was on target to hit the growth curve for his 18 month check up (one month away), but now his curve is falling away from the growth chart, due to the fact that his net gain for the whole last month is actually negative 2 ounces! UGH! So we really do not need anything "helping" him lose any more weight.

Until then, have a great day.