They grow up fast

As always seems to happen when a new baby arrives, my life and blog revolves 80% around the baby. But that doesn't mean my other kids aren't doing things and developing too.

Winter is turning into a young lady. It's almost too fast for my liking, as I feel like she could slip outside of my grasp any moment. She is finishing 4th grade, and getting ready for intermediate school in Heber. Again, slipping from my range of influence. On the plus side, she is getting ever so close to babysitting age, and learning babysitting skills at activity days. It's probably not kosher, but I can almost taste the joys of having our very own "live-in" babysitter.

Sterling is keeping up with Winter in the height department. He is still somewhat spastic at times, but can be really sweet and helpful too. He is the most responsible child who does his homework as soon as he gets home after school. He does get frustrated quickly if he doesn't understand something, or can't do it. It takes a lot of patience on my side not to get frustrated with his frustration. He is a bear in the cub scout program, enjoying all the things involved with that, like building a pinewood derby car. He loves working on projects with Joe, and has spent hours in the shop on his crayon car.

Ginger is our sassy princess. She still loves to dress up, play with horses, and torture her older siblings. Actually, it's more like they like to torture her, but she makes up for it by pestering them too. She loves playing with her little friends and has been to more birthday parties than I ever did my whole childhood combined. It has been nice to have her home a little more, with half-day kindergarten. She asks a million questions a day, and they are all following with "...., right?"

Miles is now 2 months old, but closer to the size of a 4-month old. He has really started engaging with us, and gives out extra smiles to the other kids. He knows what he wants. He sleeps best when on someones lap or next to someone, and will wake up as soon as you leave the room. His bouncy seat with lights will keep him entertained for a little while, and the swing is the one place I can put him when nothing else makes him happy. He still seems to sleep a lot for a baby his age, and is by far my best night-time sleeper. He does still wake up every 4 hours at night, but never fusses about going back to sleep.

When we left Texas we got rid of our TV. At first the kids would constantly complain that they were bored, and beg me to watch a show or play the wii. I'm so happy to see a change. They have become better at entertaining themselves, and only occasionally ask to watch a movie on the computer. Going from at least an hour of games and TV per day, to maybe 2 movies a weeks is a great improvement. They are more content and creative. They play more together, and go outside to play. We haven't made a choice not to have a TV ever again, but I enjoy the benefits that come with not having one.

 All the kids love money. They beg for ways to get more of it, and spend it on the dumbest things (in my opinion). So when Joe came home with a large box of cookies from his work's grand opening, they got super excited about selling them and earning money. They spent a few hours out there, and earned over $20! Not too bad for an afternoon in Midway.

Coco is currently in heat. I can't decide if I want to let her mate with a stud or get her spayed. I'm leaning more towards spaying her, so we won't have to deal with this bleeding every 6 months. Puppies would be an enormous amount of work, and has many risks coming with it, especially since Coco is so small. Plus, who wants a dog with a stretched out belly?

RSV

Unfortunately Miles picked up some kind of bug when we were in Idaho. It started the day after we got back. First he just had 'cold' symptoms, but then he started coughing too. He was scheduled for his 2 month well-check Wednesday, at which point the doctor diagnosed him with Bronchiolitis caused by RSV. This means his small airways are inflamed, making it difficult to breath and eat. We had a follow up yesterday, where they gave him a breathing treatment. He was not a fan, and unfortunately it didn't help at all anyways.

He had another checkup this afternoon. This morning his coughing got so bad that I took him to the hospital to get deep suctioning treatment by the respiratory therapist. I can take him there any time within the next week to get sucked dry. Unfortunately most of the mucus is down in his lungs, so suctioning doesn't do much to help. It's so sad to see your baby suffering, especially when nothing can really be done to treat it. All we can do is try to keep his airways open, and keep an eye on his oxygen, and wet diaper count.

Spring break

The mastitis incidence changed up my spring break plans a bit. I was supposed to drive up to Idaho on Monday to visit my sister Wendy, but we postponed that a day and left Tuesday. For some reason my kids' spring break doesn't coincide with anybody elses.

The last time I was in Boise was back in 2007 when we moved to Texas. That's almost 5 years ago! It's hard to believe it's been that long. We lived in Boise for 6 years, so everything is very familiar and almost as if we've never left in the first place. It's been really nice to catch up with Wendy, and to see our children play nicely together (most of the time) building cousin bonds. Wendy's youngest Ryker is just a few months older than Miles, so it's fun to both have cuddly little baby boys.

We haven't done much in terms of activities, but that's just fine with me. The kids played a ton in the backyard, and we went to a fun playground.

I was able to visit with my friend Challis

And today I'm meeting my other friend Monica at the bounce house. This trip has been the perfect way to get out of the house and catch up with friends and family. Sometimes those are the only 2 criteria to make a successful vacation.

Sick sucks

In my quest to get back into shape NOW, I didn't listen to my body and overdid it. And came down with a bad case of mastitis. The fever, chills and body aches were bad enough, but the pounding headaches put me over the top. Of course our bodies always "choose" to get sick during the weekend when regular doctors are with their families, so off to the 5-minute clinic we were. It didn't take the doctor long to diagnose mastitis, and the infection was bad enough that he wanted to get antibiotics into me faster with an IV. There I lay in a dark exam room while Joe took the kids to the local easter egg hunt.

The ibuprofen was doing its job and making me feel half-alive, so I insisted, against doctors advice and Joe's common sense to take the girls to the BYU ballroom dance concert. They had worked hard for several weeks helping out around the house and being extra nice to earn their way to see this. Plus, I've practically waited 11 years to go see that show again. I was in this show while I was at BYU, and wanted to enjoy the dancing and do some reminiscing. So Joe drove us to Provo, I hauled myself into the building and wished about half-way through the performance that it would be over already. Not the best experience. By the time we made it back home and I could get some more meds into my system, I was wishing I'd listened to my ever wise husband.

I'm so grateful for modern medicine, especially pain killers. Why feel miserable when you can feel half-decent? Especially if you can discipline yourself and stay in bed even when you feel okay. The next few days were spent in bed, and my body is slowly working its way back to health. Now the big question is; how can I make sure I don't repeat this situation? I still want to work out, but definitely don't want to be set back a whole week again. Plus, Miles is almost old enough to take to the local gyms babysitting, so I better stay better.

Baby fat

In order to get back in shape, I've started walking to the elementary school most days. Since Ginger is in kindergarten, she doesn't start school until 12.30pm. She will ride her bike, and I will push the stroller with Miles, and Coco walks with us on the leash. It's becoming a fun habit. The walk is only 1 mile total, but I can already tell a difference in my endurance and speed. Walking to school also helps me socialize, because I often take Ginger into the school and talk to the other moms.

Of course I've also gone on my first mountain bike ride, and I plan to ride at least once a week, if not more. A bike trailer will let me go biking during the day with Miles, so I can go more often. I do workout videos at home, but those get old fast. Once Miles turns 2 months, I'll probably get a membership at the local gym, which has a daycare. I'm so excited about going to Zumba again!

As with my other babies, my body doesn't seem to want to let go of any weight while nursing. I know some women are lucky enough to shed the pounds while nursing, but it's almost as if my body is holding on to any and all energy to feed my babies the cream they love. I guess I'll just settle for getting in good shape.

Mountain Biking

Living in Midway is very conducive to doing the things we love, like mountain biking. Wasatch Mountain State Park has a network of great trails. Last Saturday I took Winter on my first ride, and she was a trooper. We rode a solid 3 mile loop. The trails are nice sandy single track, with some amazing views of mount Timpanogos and the Heber Valley. It's exciting to think about Winter and me becoming better riders together.

Saturday was also General Conference, and one big advantage to living here, is that many people come from all over the place to attend conference. Maddy Sanders came down from Seatlle. She worked with me at the library at BYU, and the last time I saw her was almost 5 years ago. It was fun to catch up with her. After conference, I also visited with my mom. She is living in Salt Lake now.