the latest virus in our household

On Sunday afternoon, without any warning, Big Bro vomited and instantly ran a fever. All through the first half of Monday, he just laid on the couch battling the fever. By early evening, the fever was gone and he was up and about. By Tuesday, he went back to school and he was back to his normal self.

On Tuesday morning (2:30am), Thing2 was fussy. I checked on her and she was burning up. Yesterday, she just laid around on the floor and would doze off whenever she could. By early evening, her fever was gone and she was starting to get up and play. Last night, I thought Thing1 may come down with this virus as well, so I slept on the floor in their room. This morning everyone was fine so we went to my physical therapy. And we actually made it back to the mall for lunch and a short romp in the play area. While driving home, I'm thinking, hey, maybe for once one of the twins may get spared and not get sick. But when I got them out of the car, Thing1 was considerably hotter. Too much for wishful thinking.

If the trend continues, Thing1's fever should keep up until late tomorrow and then it's finally over with. That would mean we may have to scrap our plan of taking everyone to the water park early tomorrow morning. Either that or we may have to break into teams and someone stays with the girls and one takes Big Bro.

Darn viruses! But I guess I should be thankful that this virus seems to only last 24 hours. And hopefully it spares me and Daddy or this long weekend would not be fun.

Ta-da!

Thing2 (I will be calling Jojo, born 1 minute later than Katie, Thing2 and Katie will be Thing1 from now on) was constantly fussing last night and won't go back to sleep. I finally got up at 2:30am to check on her and she was burning up. I took her to our room so that I could monitor her. Now she's just laying around with fever all day long. So far, Thing1 is still OK.

Anyway, today I decided to read back on my old blog entries to see what I was doing at about the same time last year and the year before that.

July 1, 2007 - Thing2 was fussing shortly after a middle of the night feed. When I checked on her, she had milk coming out of her nose. It was pretty scary. I called the pediatrician and that's when we suspected they may have reflux.

July 2, 2006 - Matty (then 1 year & 4 months old) woke up before me and started lining up dirty diapers beside me on the bed (thank goodness that diapers were balled up). When I rolled over to see what he was doing he said, "Ta-da!" complete with arm gestures.

a 3-year old's attention span may be short, but their memory isn't

Matty had an invitation to a party in his cubby when I picked him up. Unfortunately, we won't make it because we will be out of town, at Nana's and Papaw's. So I explained to him that we will not make it.

Me: Matty, we can't go to Izzy's party. Alright?
Matty: I want to go!
Me: Matty, we can't because we won't be here.
Matty: Mommy, we can go. My sisters can stay home with Daddy and you and me can go!
Me: We can't because we will be at Nana's and Papaw's. They will take you fishing, remember?
Matty: And Nana will get me a big big firetruck!
Me: I don't know about that, buddy.
Matty: Yeah, it will be for Christmas. Nana & Papaw will get a big big fire truck, I can get it for Christmas from Santa.

Matty was on the phone one weekend with Nana & Papaw. He started talking about fire trucks and how he wanted one. I don't know if his Nana understood it at the time, but I think she said "Yes." So the next time they visited, Matty remembered and asked for it. Whoopsy.

It's a great lesson we're all learning: a 3-year old's memory is apparently very loooooong. I've been caught several times about something I promised (to keep the peace & quiet!), and so have Daddy. I wonder how long this will go on?

Oh and another thing (I don't want Nana to feel bad about this one so I'll add one that involves Grandma, too), because he and his Grandma had a phone conversation about dried Mango, he has been telling me that Grandma is going to send him some. At Wal-Mart this weekend, I asked what kind of dried fruit he wanted as part of his school lunch (I gave him a choice of cranberries, raisins, and as I was giving him a choice I happen to see dried Mango), and he said Grandma will give him dried Mango!!

playing hookie

T-ball went relatively well on Saturday. This little boy refused to play fielder for some reason, but once it was his turn to bat and run the bases he was fine. Last week he didn't want to bat, this time he didn't want to be a fielder. Go figure. But come Sunday afternoon after his nap, he threw up and ran a fever and then he was down for the count. He stayed home yesterday, but by night time, he was fully recovered. Here's a picture of him just laying down and just watching TV. (I'm fascinated by his long eye-lashes, can't you tell?)

Here are the twins perfecting their own unique way of using their sippy cup. They use it with the spout on the top (upside down) and notice the exaggerated head tilt. It's amazing how early babies learn to do things if you let them. I am letting them do things on their own much earlier than I did with Big Brother.

Their hair is getting long. Their bangs are now touching their eyes so I've had to use hairclips, which I just love! They don't mind the clips at all, but they try to take the other's though!
Jojo (left), Katie (right)

I can only hope that if I take a picture, it would last longer.

Matty's obsession with fire trucks, fire stations, and Firemen started with Fireman Sam several months before Halloween of 2007. Though Fireman Sam was a wholesome, educational TV program for young kids, I thought I would go insane watching the same sets of episodes over and over and over again. The Halloween only cemented the obsession because we bought him a fireman costume. And then there is the occassional fire drill at school, and visits from the local firefighters. Oh, and there just happens to be a couple of fire stations on the way to school that he just has to see everyday, twice a day (on the way to school with Daddy, and on the way home with me). We thought it'd get old, but a year later, with firetruck toys big and small, his obsession is still going strong.

Sometimes when we eat out, we see firemen eating where we go. Oh boy, Matty just gets googly-eyed for those firemen. And there was acually once when the Fire Chief asked him if he wanted to get in the fire truck after he ate his lunch.

We saw a fire truck at Wal-Mart today, so I decided that from now on, I will take his picture with the fire truck. This may be fueling his obsession, but that's alright. I think it's a whole lot better than being obsessed with policemen (who have guns). Though a Policeman did tell him once that it's "Policemen first, Fireman second." Matty would disagree, of course.

I've never been so embarassed...

I thought our "family picnic" as Matty calls it, was going to be cancelled this afternoon because of the storm, but it was on. It didn't even rain. On Fridays, Daddy tries to pick Matty up from school and we all meet somewhere for dinner. Tonight it was Chick-Fil-A so that Matty could use his Certificate of Bravery. He gobbled up his chicken and was off to play in the playarea, while Daddy, and I and the twins ate leisurely. As another reward for being so good at the dentist yesterday, we went to Wal-Mart. Matty could pick one toy.

While walking around, he all of a sudden pointed and exclaimed, "Mommy, a big, fat, giant woman!". I swear I wanted to melt into nothing right then and there. He was pointing at an obese woman! So I grabbed his hand and kept right on walking, really fast, avoiding all eye contact. I bet I turned bright red.

How do you teach a 3-year old it isn't polite to say that? Afterall, he is just being observant and stating the obvious. Oh, I just know more of this is going to happen from now on, so I need a comeback to save face in public. Help!

Matty received a Certificate of Bravery!

Bright and early this morning, Matty had his first ever dentist visit. I've been building him up to it to make sure it goes without a hitch, and it sure did! He let the hygienist show him the tools and then off to polishing. When the hygienist was done, she told Matty to wait for Dr. Castro. Matty sat quietly for a minute and then started calling for Dr. Castro out loud! It hilarious.

Dr. Castro said Matty has no cavities, but would need braces in the future since his teeth are alread crowding and he already has an over bite. I guess we should start saving now. But then again, how can we when this little boy always wants to go to the store!

So for being very brave, Matty recieved a certificate of bravery with a Chik-Fil-A coupon. He then went to school and excitedly showed his teacher his chewed up certificate. He started chewing on it in the car!

While I took Matty to the dentist, Daddy went to the DMV to get a vision test for his driver's license. He took the twins with him. I must admit I was a little worried about this, but the twins came back in one piece so I guess I was worried for nothing. I sure do hope there isn't a confession from him a few months from now about what really happened though.