Another weekend of sickness. :(  This time it was Lucy who threw up in her bed early Friday morning.  Much like Ella last week, she seemed to get over it very quickly and was ready to run, eat, and play, so we went ahead with our plans to attend the pre-game tailgate and Homecoming football game at Jeff's school Friday night.  She acted fine, though a little sleepy.  We had a fun time at the game, with the highlights being the big bulldog (Lucy LOVES "puppies"), the cheerleaders, and the marching band. 

 

On Saturday, Lucy woke up crying with a 103.2 fever and breathing very fast.  I called the Dr., who said the fast breathing was just due to the fever, and to give her Tylenol to bring it down.  She acted okay, just a little more whiny than usual.  We were disappointed that she did not get to go to the annual PBS KidsFest, but we also didn't want to let Ella down, so Jeff stayed home with Lucy and I took Ella.  Despite a cool forecast, it was HOT and we were sweating.  Ella still enjoyed the activities, including the tumble bus, free candy, a free book, a gymnastics performance, petting zoo animals, and seeing SuperWhy, Clifford, Word Girl, and Curious George, but we were both ready to leave earlier than we probably would have otherwise.  In usual fashion, Ella really wanted to see the giant real-life cartoon characters, but when it came time for the pictures, she did NOT want to get near them.  Much like Santa, the Easter Bunny, mascots, etc.  She is so different from Lucy in that way.  Lucy has no fear.

 

Lucy's fever came down finally Saturday evening, so Jeff and I took turns going to Sunday morning services and kept Lucy at home.  She continued to be whiny on Sunday and I noticed her playing with her ear a bit, but she said it didn't hurt and she is sleeping fine.  Monday she had diarrhea a couple of times.  Yesterday (Tuesday) and today, she just has a runny nose (which she's had since Thursday).  I'm really hoping we can get through this without copays and medicine, but we're not in the clear yet.

 

And another concern now is Ella.  What was intended to be a fun evening out last night turned into bad news for her.  I packed a picnic dinner for the four of us, which we ate at a picnic table in a cute little gabezo by a lake in one of the city parks.  Picture perfect.  We planned to play at the nearby playground afterwards.  As we started eating, though, our table was swarmed with flies and other bugs, and by the time we finished, I noticed Ella had 9 mosquito bites on her legs, arm, and chin!  (The rest of us had none.)  For those who don't know, Ella is allergic to mosquitos and reacts with big giant sores.  One bite she got on her cheek right before she turned two is still visible.  Now with 9 of them, she looks like she has some awful disease!  I was ready to take her and go, but she begged to still play on the playground, and Jeff thought there probably wouldn't be any mosquitos over there. 

 

The girls did have a nice time playing and it kept Ella's mind off her bites for a while.  Finally, we told them "last time down the slide" and we were ready to go.  Lucy went down the slide, I caught her, and was carrying her around the back, facing away from the playground.  Jeff was climbing his way down the side of the play structure.  Meanwhile, Ella had run the other direction and jumped off the structure, grabbing onto the first of a set of monkey bars,  6-8 ft. off the ground.  Once there, she couldn't go forward and coudln't reach the platform behind her and started yelling "Help me!"  Jeff and I turned immediately and saw her hanging there, but a second later, before either of us could get there, she dropped.  She landed hard on her bottom, sitting up.  She was crying and clearly in a lot of pain as Jeff scooped her up.  Once she started calming down, I asked her what hurt, hoping she would just say her bottom, but as I feared, she said her back.  Thankfully, she was able to stop crying within a few minutes and could move in every direction, both of which the Dr. said were good signs when I called.  Today, she still says it hurts, especially when she jumps.  There are no visible bruises, but we are definitely keeping a close eye on her.

 

If any of our doctor friends are reading this, we would value your opinions about/suggestions for our kids!

It almost didn't get to happen.  Just a few minutes after Jeff left for school Friday morning (about 6:25), I heard Ella start coughing and then screaming!  I thought, "Ella, I hear you coughing, but please don't scream, you'll wake Lucy."  Then she coughed some more...then screamed even louder!  I jumped out of the bed and ran to her room, where I found her throwing up.  What a way to start our day!   And of course, Lucy did wake up, though thankfully she was content to play in her crib for the next 35 minutes while I cleaned up Ella and all the mess.  She threw up one more time, at 7:30, and then that was it!  I was so thankful it stopped there.  When Lucy was sick in June, she threw up several times a day for several days.  By lunch time, Ella was asking to eat and wanting to play (but of course, I didn't let her!).  Sadly, we had to cancel our plan to have dinner at our friends' house Friday evening.  I made Ella stay on the couch the whole day and did my best to keep Lucy away from her. (So far we are all still healthy!)  I was successful for the most part, however, at one point, while I was helping Ella in the bathroom, Lucy stuffed her favorite puppy into the "yuck bucket" by the couch.  Gross!  That caused trauma since I had to take him away to be put in the laundry.  During the afternoon, I slowly started letting Ella have food and drink.  She really seemed to be fine and over whatever it was, ready to run and play.  I told her if she had a good night and still felt good after having a bath the next morning, she could still go on her date.

 

So Saturday morning, Jeff and Ella went on their much anticipated "Daddy-Daughter Date."  (We got the idea from our friends in Louisville who do this often.)  They went to IHOP for breakfast, rode on the city bus around the big buildings downtown (they planned to ride the trolley, but it wasn't running that day), and then spent some time at the huge downtown library.  Since Mommy wasn't a part of this date, this is the only picture.  They had a wonderful time together.  Now Jeff is planning what he'll do when he takes Lucy out.  We were thinking a petting zoo or a pet store would be fun for her.  She loves animals - real or stuffed.  I'm wondering when I will get my date.

 

In other news, Lucy was moved up to the 2 and 3-year-old Sunday School class this week.  She will not be 2 until November, but the teachers all thought she would fit in better with the older crowd.  I was not ready for this move!  She is still my baby, of course.  It just seemed more appropriate to see her eating goldfish crackers and playing with "baby toys" than sitting at a table listening to a lesson, making crafts, etc.  She would have been there in a few months anyway, but somehow it caught me off guard.  I guess it should make me feel good that they thought she was ready for this.

 

Also, we are very thankful to report that our house survived the wind storm on Sunday with no damage!  Praise God!  Houses all around us are missing shingles, siding, and hunks of their roofs, but ours looks completely whole!  All we lost was the girls' green, inflatable pool.  Totally gone.  A very minor loss in the grand scheme of things and easily replaceable.  We did gain a very nice plastic grill cover, though!  Too bad we don't have a grill!  Who knows where it blew in from!  Our power only flickered, but never stayed off for long, so that is another thing to be thankful for.  There were 40,000 in our city without power for a day or more, including many in our area.  We were very grateful to be spared.

After living here 13 months, we have finally taken our first trip to our new zoo!  Our former next-door neighbors, Josh and Jenni, invited us to go with them and their girls.  We enjoyed seeing all the animals and sharing a picnic lunch with our friends, but the highlight was getting to see Ella and Emily play together again.  They are both 4 (and Lucy and Annie are both 1!) and they play so well together.  We miss having them as neighbors.  I hope we can find more times for them to play together now that they can't just play in each other's yards anymore.

 

When we moved to our new house this summer, Jeff's grandma gave us money to buy knobs and handles for our kitchen cabinets and drawers as a housewarming gift.  We bought the hardware last week and Jeff has now started the job.  He said he would put up two a day, but after putting up four on Sunday, he stopped.  The four he did look really nice!  I'll post another picture some day when they get done.

 

The girls and I have been taking advantage of all our local library system has to offer.  The girls love their weekly story times, checking out books and movies, and getting to play with the other kids there.  I love socializing with the other moms, checking out movies for Jeff and me to watch, and seeing my kids be stimulated by all the activities.  Today we began attending a 6-week "Kids 'n' Music" class there as well.  We are so blessed to have so much offered to us at no charge.  Outside the library is almost as fun as inside, though, as you can see in the pictures.  I wonder if my kids are the only ones who think the bike racks are a playground. 

 

Also, you'll see a couple pictures at the end of Lucy's poor face.  Ella was dancing around (a bit wildly) in the living room Monday night when I heard Lucy start crying really hard.  I went to see what happened and Lucy just kept saying, "Ella knock me over."  The bruise on her chin didn't show up right away, but by later that night it was starting to turn colors.  We assured her that Ella didn't mean to hurt her (though she often does) and now when anyone says something to her about her chin, she says, "Ella knock me over.  It's an accident."  Her chin, in combination with two scratches on her nose and a mosquito bite on her forehead make for quite a sight!  She looks like an abused child!

This past weekend marked the big 4-0 for my oldest brother, Troy.  To celebrate, my parents took our entire family on a Nashville trip.  They got us tickets  to the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, TN Friday night.  There were 13 acts all together, but the main one Troy wanted to see was a an old-time country swing group called Riders in the Sky.  Our seats were on the front row of the balcony, right near one of the giant screens, so we had a good view of everything.  None of us had been to the opry before, so it was a fun, new experience. 

 

In addition to the show, my parents also put us up in the Drury Inn and Suites for the night (We love to stay in a hotel!  We spent the whole morning on Saturday swimming in the pool!) and to the Rainforest Cafe at Opry Mills Mall on Saturday.  We had a wonderful time and we've already been talking about when we can go back again.

 

Sunday was a cook-out for our Sunday School class at the teacher's home and Monday we stayed home.  Jeff and the girls went swimming in our little pool in the back yard, and we had friends over for dinner in the evening.  All in all, a very fun weekend!