I is for...

Impetigo. It's pretty gross. Clara has a crater on her nose from it, as well as an ear infection (not related). She had it for a week before I took her in. I tried really hard not to be a paranoid mama, but by yesterday I was freaking out and so was she. Matt had to come home from work, because we are down to one car this week. Then Clara and I loaded up in the jeep and went to see Dr. Spraggins. Now we're washing everything and pumping her with meds. Poor thing. Apparently, impetigo is pretty contagious, as is pink eye, which Matt is suffering from. He's also got a wicked sore throat, and interestingly, impetigo can be caused by strep, so Dr. Spraggins ran a culture on Clara. If it comes back positive, she's going to treat all of us. This has really enforced the importance of washing hands. All of these things are hygiene-related illnesses, so I'm now the hand-washing nazi at our house. I know, I know. A little germs and bacteria can be a good thing, but when we're sick all the time, something's gotta change.

Here's my little cutie with her blight.

Playdough!

Thank you Lord for the wonderful gift of homemade playdough after a cooped up, bad behavior spell. We made playdough this morning right after breakfast and the fruit of this five minute effort was peace and happy children for over an hour! It's been rough going for a few days and I had just about given up on joyful children. Even Clara played with it, and she loved it. We made birds and eggs and elephants. Fun. ;)

For those of you who are interested, here's the recipe. We made our playdough yellow, but you can add any color to the water.

1 c. flour
1/2 c. salt
2 t. cream of tartar
1t. oil
1 c. water (with food coloring added)

Stir the dry ingredients in a medium sized pot then add the wet ingredients and stir. Cook for 3 minutes, stirring the whole time. It may look funny, but when you take it out, knead it around a bit. Let it cool and play.

feeling convicted

So today I watched a few extra kids for an hour or two. About half way through I thought, "Man, this is going really well and this is really fun. My normal day, with 3 kids, isn't this fun. Hmmm." I started thinking and then I realized that the difference was that I was really playing with the kids and giving them all of my attention. I enjoyed it and they did too. The tone of the day was so much more cheerful. I feel so horribly guilty. This is why I chose to stay home, because I wanted it to be me who played with them and shared their day. Three kids later, I've lost that attitude. I know I have more work than I could ever do in a day, but I need to play more with my kids. Even if I set a time just for playing, when I don't answer the phone or sit at the computer, or do housework, I think we would all function better. The reason I usually don't do this is that my pride takes too big a hit when someone pops in and the dishes are piled up, or my laundry is all over the place. If you think of me, will you pray that God would give me the humility to let go of what other people think of me and to play with a free conscience? Over and over again, God keeps gently telling me that I need to rest in who He is, know that He loves me, and watch to see what He will do in me, in spite of my messy house and my tendency to forget everything important. ;)

Child by child update

Dana is going to be 5 this summer, which he is very excited about. He's been planning and replanning his birthday party in his head over and over again. The last few months he has really crossed the line into big kid territory. He's still pretty squirly, very excitable, and he still spends quite a bit of time in Dana-land, where Jay Jay, Thomas, and Speed the Queen ;) are his heroes. This year, some of his friends are going to start school, but we are going to wait a bit and try out some homeschooling without the pressure of full school and sitting still. The plan is to do lots of outings with the girls in tow and to nurture his curiosity as much as I can. We'll probably spend some time at the Library each week (which we already do anyway), and make frequent trips to the new park (yea!!), the discovery museum, the zoo, and the aquarium, not necessarily all of them every week. The past three weeks, Dana and Jane have been taking swim lessons at the rec center, which I hope to be able to do twice a year (?). The same rec center also offers non-competitive gymnastics for the same low fee as the swim lessons, so I think maybe we'll sign the big kids up for the Fall. To do all of these things, I have to try to be more organized, but the pay-off is that when Dana is busy, he's less moody and more content with everything else.



Janie is 3 and very talkative. She has a very sensitive little heart and she loves to play mommy to everyone in the house. The other day, as I was leaving bible study at church, I asked Jane to hold Clara's hand, but then I got lost in conversation and didn't notice where they went. While I was talking, they climbed up a little grassy hill between two parking lots and Clara started to walk closer and closer to the parking lot and the road. Janie started wailing, but I assumed she was throwing a fit, not knowing what had happened. When I actually got my hands on Clara, Janie told me that she was worried about Clara. She was afraid something was going to happen to her, and she thought it was her fault. Ouch. This was kind of the capstone to a very emotional morning for her, so she slept hard at naptime.

She drew her first self-portrait today and she was very proud of it. It was pretty nice for her age. I'll have to scan it in for you to see it. My favorite thing about Janie right now is her willingness to help me out. She loves to be mommy's little helper, and I really do need the help, so I know it makes her feel needed. I'm looking forward to that girl-kinship as she grows older and we work together more and more.



Clara is sleeping much better now, with a few exceptions. I'm trying to give her as much protein as she'll eat and less milk, so she won't get filled up on that instead of solid food. I'm also giving her a dose of Benadryl at night for her allergies, which helps her to get to sleep better too. She still stirs and cries a little bit, but she settles herself back to sleep, finally. This week, she's taken off with her vocabulary. She can do a lot of animal sounds and she can say dadn (Daddy), dodn (doggy), kuku (cookie), ge dow (get down), bobo (bottle/sippy), da ku (thank you), yay ;), mama, dana, gamma (grandma), uh oh, buhbuh (her blanket), and wassat (what's that). I'm sure I've forgotten some, but those are the ones she says the most. She's also started the temper tantrum phase a little early, but being the third child she already gets the time out concept, which really helps her chill out. Most of the time though, she's very cheerful and happy to play with just about anything, which is why we keep the bathroom door shut. ;) I also forgot that we're back to the Motherease, due to our rising grocery bills. I bought a few rikki wrap covers and I like them much better than the snap ones.

Blue Ridge pics

Okay these are the ridiculously insignificant pictures from our trip to Blue Ridge. I know they're pathetic, but that just shows what a relaxing time we had there. We forgot we even owned a camera. Lots of sweet memories with the kiddies, and lots of talk-time with Matt... all better than the pictures.

Spring Break--Blue Ridge, GA

Tidbits

I don't have the energy to catch you up to speed on everything, but surprise, we've been busy. I feel like I always say that. I do always say that.

We just got back from a very restful, and much needed trip to Blue Ridge over Matt's Spring Break. We had a great time and the kids are already praying that God will get them back there soon, really. I will post some pictures on my picasa site, but we really did a terrible job of taking pictures. We hardly took any at all.

Today Matt took three of our jr. highers to Petty John's Cave at Pigeon Mountain to go caving. Josh Henry led the trip and the kids had a great time, although they're pretty beat. Check out the pictures on my picasa site, if you're interested.

Spelunking at Petty John's Cave with the yg

That's all for now. I promise to update soon, maybe when my laundry is done. O... well, if I never get it done, I promise to update soon anyway. ;)