To Appease the Grandparents :)

Here are some pictures of Christmas and Eve. I have a moment to take
a nap, so I'm going to forego details, but wanted to post these so you
could see our best Christmas gift ever!

Steph

Fwd: Pix of Warner

Warner had his Christmas concert on Wednesday.  I wish the pictures had captured his energy and enthusiasm.  He was singing so loudy and would just turn and smile at us after each song.  The music teacher asked him to play the wooden blocks during Up On the Housetop and he was beyond thrilled.  He is a joy to watch.  

baconbits4 shared an Instagram photo with you

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baconbits4 just shared an Instagram photo with you:

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"Busted! Yesterday we found a unwrapped present on the stairs. No one would claim opening it. Today I caught the culprit mid-unwrap and surrounded by a pile of other opened presents. "

Thanks,
The Instagram Team

Baby Santa

38 weeks, no indication that Baby Santa is going to makes his/her debut anytime soon.  About as uncomfortable as ever.  Enough Braxton Hicks to make me hopeful and then discouraged.  Still hoping for 12-12-13 or 12-13-13 so I can easily remember this little one's birthday.  Babe is getting stronger and stronger each day and Mudgie likes to remind me that I'm getting bigger and bigger.  He keeps asking me how he'll know when the baby comes out. . . I'm thinking it will be extremely obvious.  

Car seat cleaned out and base in van-check

Baby gowns washed and folded-check

Long sleeve onesies purchased-check

Newborn diapers-check

Binkies found-check

Get ready.  Get set.  Contractions (PLEASE!!!)

36 1/2 weeks

I'm not a big fan of the belly shot. Perhaps I'll take a decent one
after I do the laundry and on a day I acutally put on makeup. Today
was not that day.

Babywise, things are going well. I feel like I've really popped out
all of a sudden. Every night I get contractions, but only enough to
get my hopes up before they dwindle. I'm still playing basketball and
walking, but today I could really feel the toll after running up and
down the court. My nights are still hit and miss with heartburn
and/or insomnia. This baby is getting stronger and I'm always amazed
at how my belly can move and shake.

I know what I'm asking Santa for this year. . . I just hope he
delivers (literally) EARLY!

MM we LOVE YOU

Mormon Messages, we LOVE you!!

Pre-K

Mudgie fights me everyday about going to preschool. I think he just
enjoys the battle, because I don't believe there is any direct
correlation with preschool itself. He has been having such a great
year. He is talking so much better and loves to make the projects and
play with the toys.

Last week was their annual stone soup party and Thanksgiving
celebration. Doesn't he make a cute pilgrim!

Green Bean

Our little green bean enjoying some outdoor exploring.

Christian Cross Country

Same friend, more pictures.

We didn't make it to a single cross country meet this year. Luckily a
lot of our friends did and some even took pictures of Christian for
us.

He had a great season. I love to see the competitivenes come out on that boy.

Family

Pictures of us all together are rare. A friend just sent these to me,
they were from the Highland Games this summer.

Winter

Yesterday it was fall. Today it is winter.

Sunday Afternoon

Sam, Talmage, Holland, and I stayed home from church today. Mudgie
and I thought we deserved a treat for our sacrifice and we made these
monster cookies. After mix, rolling, and putting the cookies in the
oven I found Mudgie trying to lick clean the bowl with powdered sugar.
I love that it is all over his face.

latest in our WC drama

Our pharmacy didn't have enough aziithromycin for our entire family.  So on Thursday Eric picked up all that he could.  Some kids had bottles, others had two, and two had none.  So we had to call back twice to figure out dosing and they just told us to use what we had and share it among the kids.  

Yesterday we were giving our doses.  

Me:  Warner, it's time for your medicine.

Warner:  What does it taste like?

Me:  Just like it tasted yesterday.

Warner:  I didn't have any yesterday.

Me:  Of course you did.  Remember it was pink.  

Warner:  I didn't have any yesterday.

Me:  [Could that be true?  Did I miss one of my kids?]

After further discussion we concluded that we had indeed missed a kid.  We are such awesome parents.  

So now we are keeping track of three didn't drug schedules:  I started on Wednesday, 7 started on Thursday, and Warner started on Friday.  At this point I was thinking. . . could I make this any more complicated for myself?

Why yes, I could.

Today we still have a bajillion bottles of drugs.  We pick up what we are missing and I decide to start combining bottles since many of them are at the tale end and most of the bottles are 200/5ML bottles.  Mix, mix, mix, WHOOPS.  At some point I mixed a 200/5ML bottle with a 100/5ML bottle.  Big mistake.  

Ugh.  Luckily we live next to a pharmacist who says she thinks she figure it all out for us.  What a bother.  We have enough un-mixed drugs to get us through tomorrow and worst case scenario we pay out of pocket for another dose that we can all share.  

Short term goals:  Don't forget a child during drug administration and no more combining bottles.  

Most everyone here is doing well.  Mudgie's coughing a bunch and Sam is sicker than sick, but the rest of us are doing great.  Still so very very grateful my Dad got tested and we aren't all whooping when the baby gets here.  Though I hope we are all whooping during that time, just in a very different way.  

Fwd:

A few days ago, Sam came home from playing with friends and said he didn't feel well.  I thought it was a ploy to get out of his after dinner job.  I said if he went to bed (it was 5:30) and stayed in bed all night I'd do his job for him.  To my surprise he put his coat back on, he said he'd been cold, and jumped under his covers.  Fourteen hours later he was still there.  

The next day he came home from school and complained he didn't feel well.  He said his ears felt "sucked in" and he couldn't pop them.  He also said that the bump on the side of his neck kept getting bigger and harder.  Sure enough upon examination he had several severely swollen lymph glands.  I had him open his mouth and saw enlarged and puss covered tonsils.  

This morning he said, and yes I checked, that his tonsils were so swollen they were stuck to his uvula.  I took him to the doc this morning and she simply confirmed what we already knew.  Yes, he has enormous tonsils.  Yes, his ears appeared to be "sucked in."  Yes, the antibiotic he's already on should take care of it if it is Strep.  Other than Ibuprofen, he just needs to bide his time and let his body do its work.  

[check out the swollen glands under his ear.  his tonsils were so swollen that last night he could rival his Uncle Bruce in the snoring department.]

Whooping Cough

I've sent five of these emails:

[Dear Teacher],

While [put Bacon Boys name here] grandpa was recently visiting he was unaware that he was incubating whooping cough (he tested positive for it yesterday).  Consequently we were all exposed.  [BB] will start on antibiotics today and is up to date on his DTaP. Our pediatrician says he is fine going to school unless he is coughing.  He has seemed totally fine at home, but if you notice he is coughing please have him call home and I'll get him immediately.  Antibiotics should have run their full course by Monday and he should be no longer contagious.  

Thanks,

Steph

Life around here has been exciting.  Since my dad's email and phone call confirming that he indeed did have Whooping Cough we've:

• Called the OB, she called in a prescription for me.
  
• Called the Pediatrian, she calls in prescriptions for the kids and asks that three come in for their DTaP boosters.
  
• I send a flurry of emails to teachers/school nurses.
• I picked up my script
• Mudgie wakes up in the middle of the night with a barking cough.  He snuggles me and goes back to sleep.  While the bark hasn't manifested itself again he is coughing and can't go to school.
• Eric made an appointment, went in, came home with a z-pack, TDaP, and flu shot
  
• I went to pick up the boys 7 scripts, was told to come back later
  
• I went to pick up the boys 7 scripts, was told they still needed more time.
  
• Eric picks up the boys 7 scripts, plus his own.  They don't have enough in the pharmacy to fill the entire prescriptions.  We'll have to go back tomorrow.  Figuring out the dosing for everyone requires a few phone calls.   
  
• Sam gets sick.
  
• We have a table filled with 10 bottles of azithromycin and 8 syringes.  Everyone gets their first double dose.  Filled with so much gratitude that this is the exception not our norm.
  
• I take three kids to get their shots, Sam had an actual appointment to see the doc because of his throat which doc feels are symptoms of WC, he can't go back to school or even to church until Tuesday.
  

We've been joking around here that when my parents come into town for an extended stay it requires the whole family to go on drugs to get over the side effects of their visit.  :)

Life should calm down significantly after Tuesday.  Eveyone should be back to school.  The nightly dosing should be done.  And we can feel more confident that when baby Bacon joins the family in a few weeks we should be Whooping Cough free.  

 

Falling

A couple of Sundays ago (I think it was during the afternoon break of
Saturday session of General Conference) we went on a family walk
around the "Sunday Loop." It was a perfect fall day. The
temperatures must have dropped because the leaves were falling by the
handfuls. The sight of all that yellow swirling around us was
breathtaking. The boys were having the best time trying to catch the
falling leaves and giggling at their success. It is moments like this
that I would love to bottle up and save forever.

Just Chill'in

Holland just chilling at our public library.  

Groupies

I think these two girlies are sweet are my boys.  And while I'd prefer girls to stay at least 50 yards away from my boys, these two are about as amazing as they come and I'm grateful for their goodness and innocence.  

I think I'll stop encouraging my boys to shower and brush their teeth . . . perhaps that will buy us another five years or so. . . right?

A few random photos

Recent google search inspiration: Toothpaste in a soap dispenser.
After discovering 8+ open tubes of toothpaste, oozing with dried and
gooey toothpaste, I serached for a solution. While this doesn't
appear appealing, it has been a miracle worker in our little boys
bathroom.

Me and my Monster. Holland is something special right now. Loud.
Demanding. Volatile. While my heart clings to the theory that it's
just teething, something is telling me this is just the beginning. . .

We bought Tanner a guitar at a garage sale last summer. While it
looked cool and sounded cool, it didn't PLAY cool. Apparently the
guitar has warped causing the action to be too high. We were hoping
there was a easy solution. . . and there was, it was to get him a new
guitar. He's been in guitar heaven ever since. I've probably failed
to mention that he is taking weekly guitar lessons. He LOVES learning
new skills and LOVES LOVES LOVES his guitar teacher.

Eric and Holland grilling some Salmon together.

Just a glimpse of feeding our cast of thousands quesadillas for lunch.