November So Far

While I have been stuck here in the freezing cold, Chris has been seeing this outside his Florida Resort Hotel window.

He left to go to a Domestic Violence Seminar/Conference, for work, last Sunday morning.  He left me here with our five children to brave the frigid air and icy roads (literally sheets of ice because they don't plow the roads very well around here) so I'm a little jealous of the 60* weather he's been experiencing.  He comes home tomorrow.  We have all missed him and I'm excited to have him off work for a few days next week.  I think I need a vacation!


In Other News:
     Two Sundays ago we blessed our little baby, Callie, in Sacrament Meeting.  My parents made the long drive up to be here for it. (my dad dropped off a set of quilting frames he's been building for me. They are complicated and wonderful!  I'll post more on that when I get the fabric to make blankets for the boys beds)

It was definitely a memorable blessing for us.  When Sacrament Meeting started Callie was fussy.  I put her blessing dress on her, and then realized that she was probably cold so I made the mistake of wrapping her in the blessing blanket that Grandma Johnson made for us. Then I handed her off to Chris for the blessing.  Her dress was a little slippery though, and so when the men placed her in the middle of the circle and began to bounce her to calm her, she began to slip through the blanket.  We are just lucky that there were a couple of fast acting men(I was told it was our Home Teacher who caught her) in the circle or my baby would have landed on the floor.  I was a little preoccupied with Seth at that particular moment and so when Chris snickered in the middle of the blessing I wondered what he found amusing, but my mom saw it happen, and the Bishop apologized to me afterward for almost dropping her. She was beautiful in her dress, which I didn't make this time.  I would have put her in Violet's dress but it was too big for Callie, and so I took my own advice from last year, and bought Callie's dress at the Church Distribution Center.

these next two represent her most common expressions

We also had my dad take a family picture of us.  Dad took about fifty shots because he didn't realize his finger was on the button.  This was the best shot we got.  Seriously.  The boys didn't smile for any of them.

That evening we began a week of parental torture(and the kids weren't too happy about it either).  Sam started vomiting at 8:00 and proceeded to vomit every 30 to 40 minutes for the next 12 hours.  Chris was up with him all night, poor boy.  Monday he stayed home to recover and get better, and when no one else was sick by Thursday morning we thought we were lucky that only one child had been sick....we were wrong.  That night at 8:00 Landon vomited and then at 11:00 Seth vomited in bed.  They were only up until 2:00 AM puking, so that was better than Sam's experience.  Landon and Seth acted better on Friday, but Violet puked all over me and the couch Friday morning.  Luckily I was not holding Callie at the time.  Chris came home that evening and used our carpet cleaner on the couch to try to get the smell out of it.  Just as he was finishing, Seth vomited on the carpet upstairs, so we had to scrub the floor there too.  The whole house smelled pretty bad after that.  In the morning I found puke in Violet's bed.  She had either vomited while still asleep or we didn't hear her.  Saturday night I opened the door to the downstairs bathroom to find that Seth had diarrhea and it was everywhere.  I spent some time scrubbing with a lot of bleach and ammonia and then we put the kids to bed only to have Seth once again vomit all over his bed and the floor.  It was strange because he acted fine all day.  Playing and running around the house, only to get sick around bed time.  Sunday morning there was once again puke in Violet's bed and she was acting really lethargic, so we decided to keep her and Seth home with me.  Chris took Landon and Sam to church and also insisted on taking Callie with him.  He really likes to have the baby to himself on Sunday's and so I put Violet and Seth down for their naps and went to bed myself.  It was a wonderful three hour break for me.  It was also the end to a week of lots of poop and lots of puke.  I think the house is finally starting to smell better.

We decided to celebrate Landon's 10th birthday on Saturday the 15th so Chris could be around for it.  Landon wanted a carrot cake again but Costco didn't have a carrot cake, so he settled for a pumpkin cheesecake instead.  We opened presents and had cake at 3:00 and Landon's friend Victor came over to play.  Victor is Landon's best friend this year.  He's a good kid and I'm excited that Landon finally has a real friend.  It's kind of a first for him.

Then, after dinner, Landon and Sam spent the evening playing with his new Yu-Gi-Oh cards.  (they are like Pokemon or Magic cards)  They watch the Japanese cartoon Yu-Gi-Oh and Landon and Sam are really excited to finally play the game. In fact, Landon tried to make his own cards last year and tried to play the game with several people, but it never worked very well.  

Then Grandma and Grandpa Boyd showed up to spend a few hours with Chris before he left for Florida and mostly to see and hold Callie. It was nice to have them around Sunday morning.  They helped with the kids so we could all get ready for church on time.

I was very nervous to go to church with all the kids and no Chris to help me.  Seth, Violet and Callie can be a real handful during Sacrament meeting so I was just hoping and praying that Callie slept for most of it and Seth wouldn't have to use the bathroom.  We arrived and settled into some chairs by the door.  I was soon joined by a 17 year-old young woman, who offered to help me with the kids.  (I think I've found our new babysitter!)  She was so sweet with Violet, who climbed into her lap and drank her milk happily while I took Seth to the bathroom.  It was so nice to be able to sit and listen and even watch the kids up on the stand for the Primary Program.  Landon and Samuel remembered their parts well, and sang all the songs.  I was even approached and complimented on how well Landon sings.  The Primary Secretary was sitting next to him, and she said he knew all the words and sang louder than any other boy around him.  I had to teach my class, so our friends offered to take Callie (who was still sleeping in her car seat) and Violet for me. Violet saw me after the second hour of church and insisted that she join me for class, but Callie slept until almost the end of Church.  The Woman who was caring for her,  took her out of her seat to feed her with the bottle I provided and was rewarded with a diaper blow-out.  She was very nice about it, but I still feel bad about it.  The generosity of the people in my ward was very apparent on Sunday.  I had many, many people offering to help with the girls, and our 17 year-old friend took Seth to nursery for me.  Then people helped me haul all the kids out to the car at the end of church.  I didn't have to ask for help, they were all just there, offering it.  I feel truly blessed!

The rest of this past week has been on the normal side.  The boys have been playing in the snow, doing their homework (which has been less intense this week since we had a snow-day last Friday and spelling was carried over into this week because spelling tests happen on Fridays.)  helping me around the house and with Violet.  And violet has now experienced her first taste of Nuttella.

Yummm!