It gets better?

At 1:57 a.m., I was startled awake by the sudden shifting of the mattress. Robbie was at the kids' bedroom door before I even heard Titus crying (thanks to my ear infection). "Is this puke?" I heard. Oh nooooo. I jumped out of bed and ran to their room. Yep. It was puke.

In a sleepy haze, I carried my crying son to the bathroom while Robbie stripped the linens off the bottom bunk. I stripped the clothes off Titus and stared at him trying to formulate a plan. I hate the helplessness that comes when your child is sick and doesn't understand what is going on. I decided to cover the couch with towels and have him sleep there.

The next two hours consisted of more puking, cleaning, laundry, and crying. Just when I thought things might be settling down, I heard Selah cough. Oh nooooo! Yep, she had to puke. So, we covered the love seat with towels and settled her in there.

For three more hours, I stroked clammy foreheads, emptied puke buckets, comforted distraught children, Lysoled everything in sight, and did laundry. All the while, I walked around thinking, "REALLY?! OMG?! CAN THIS BE HAPPENING?!" And yet, I was at peace. This is my job. To take care of my children.

Finally at 7 a.m., the vomiting stopped. Selah fell asleep, Titus started running around like a crazy person (why don't kids know how to properly be sick), and I crashed on the recliner. We had survived.

A pic of flowers instead of puke. You're welcome.

Cutest Baby

Cute baby contests annoy me. Yet, my husband convinced me to enter Hannah into a local radio station's cute baby contest, mostly because I thought his belief in her ability to win was so sweet. And so, I have annoyed my Facebook friends with almost daily reminders to vote for our adorable little pea. :) (Today is the last day to vote, by the way!)

I am not expecting her to win, because really it is just who can gather the most votes, but I do know that in our house, Hannah is currently the cutest baby! Everyday she gets smothered in love. Sometimes literally, thanks to Titus.

I love watching the three of them play together. Hannah loves to get right in on the action. Moments after this picture was taken, I had to leave them briefly unsupervised. I came back about 90 seconds later to find Hannah being baptized (not by immersion) by both Selah and Titus. Sigh.

No wonder she gets this look on her face sometimes.

Also, I wanted to let you know that while my blog posting is fairly sporadic, my instagram posting is much more frequent. If you don't have a smartphone, I believe you can follow my photo stream here. If you have a smartphone, and don't have instagram, you should get it! It is so fun!

Sickly

Things never go as planned. I should be learning this by now, but still it hits me upside the head every time it happens. 

I was going to clean my house this week. 

I was going to potty train the middle pea. 

Monday, I woke up with a nasty flu virus. So, I have laid on the couch in a sweaty, feverish blob as much as possible while still trying to meet my little peas' needs. 

We are working through it. I have learned that Selah is a good nurse. It is a blessing and affirmation to see the care I show them reflected back to me. 

Easter was WHEN?!

Titus got ready for the big Easter egg hunt in his own unique style.

I failed in getting any good Easter egg hunt pictures this year. We did three with large groups of people, and I just didn't have enough hands to tote around my camera too. 

Since we were Easter egg hunted out by Easter Sunday, we went kite flying instead. Grandpa and Grandma Dirks gave the peas kites, and it was a beautiful day for it. There was not quite enough wind though, but with some effort, Uncle Nolan and Robbie got them flying.

Hannah just ate some grass.

Titus was so sweet with Great-Grandma Quiring. I am thankful that my children have the opportunity to know her.

At the park, we discovered that we may have a future large animal veterinarian on our hands!

The best part of Easter happened as a song ended during the Easter worship service. Selah explained to Titus that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, and her little voice carried at least a few pews as the music died down. It was so sweet to hear the message of Easter in a 5 second sermon from Selah!

Sunny Days

Today feels like March. In a slightly warm, cloudy way. The rest of the month has not been March-like. In a really warm, sunny way. Our apricot trees have already bloomed and dropped their blooms. My lilacs are about to start blooming! It's so weird, and makes me a little nervous for the summer. However, we have taken advantage of the beautiful weather and spent many hours outside.

Last weekend, we spent the morning at the park with Grandpa and Grandma Dirks and the afternoon in our yard. We had two picnics in one day! It was amazing, and the kids were EXHAUSTED!

I am thankful for this weirdly warm weather (alliteration!!!) and the special people I get to enjoy it with.

Just Another Manic Monday

Have you noticed how many songs about Monday there are? Most of them are about how bad Mondays are, but I have started looking forward to Mondays. Weekends are busy, not that the weeks aren't, but we have a better routine during the week. That makes the weekdays feel more manageable.

This weekend we had some visitors! Grandma Deb visited and helped the peas do a little cooking in the kitchen.

They baked some Easter cookies and made PB&J sandwiches.

Everyone was satisfied with the results. 

Hannah just got to gnaw on a cell phone though. It's tough being the baby.

Big Brother

Hannah and Titus get special bonding time on Tuesday and Thursday mornings when Selah is in preschool. Right now, Hannah is figuring out how to play with Titus, and Titus is trying to protect his play from Hannah. 

Hannah crawls as fast as she can to get to where he is playing. Titus immediately starts growling and pushing his toys behind him. If he pushes her out of the way, her cry is broken-hearted. She loves her big brother!

The other day, Titus was trying to put together a puzzle on the floor. Of course Hannah wanted in on the action. After some squabbling, Hannah gave up and crawled away. A few minutes later, I was helping Titus put his shoes on so we could play outside. Hannah seized the moment and crawled over to a puzzle piece and put it in her mouth. As she did so, she turned and looked right at Titus! Titus started squealing in frustration, and Hannah happily chewed on his puzzle piece, keeping an eye on Titus, as he looked on helplessly.

Today I asked him to tell her a story. He eagerly told her a lengthy story, most of which was unintelligible. The gist of it was something about cow poop, bears and apple trees.

Hannah was as confused as I was, but we were both entertained.