Kittens

Talk about kicking back and relaxing. 

I'm sad that I cut off one of the kittens but you can see all 5 of them pretty good here. They are so stinking cute! We didn't even know that we had kittens until Friday night. Steve just happened to walk out to the shed to get something and thank goodness he did! As soon as he walked in he heard a little kitty. One of the black kittens was sitting on top of a garbage bag that was by the wall. Steve came and got me and I put the kitten in a cardboard box that we had out all winter for Stella and Lucille. It had straw and blankets in it. We figured there had to be more kittens somewhere and the grown cats were nowhere in sight. We were quiet and listened for little mews. We were pretty shocked when we realized that they were coming from the ceiling! Lucille had her kittens in the rafters on some old boards. At first I thought, what a smart mom having her kittens up where nothing could get them. Then I thought what an idiot because her kittens were getting to the age where they could start moving around a bit. The one that we found on the garbage had fallen from the rafters and luckily landed on that instead of the cement floor! I checked the kitten over to make sure it didn't have any broken bones but it seemed fine. Just a little scared (wouldn't you be?!) So Steve (being the wonderful husband/father that he is) climbed up into the rafters with a flashlight (which was fun to watch considering we don't have a ladder) and fished the kittens out one by one and handed them down to me. I put them all in the box with the first kitten. The mom very quickly came down and laid with them in the box and they are still there, safe on the ground. There are 2 black ones, 2 blonde ones, and 1 calico one that looks an awful lot like her mom. I forgot how cute kittens at this age are. :) If anyone is interested in a kitten a month or so from now let me know! I would love for them to have good homes and Lord knows we don't need a bazillion cats running around here!

And the winner of round 4 is...

...croup and a sinus infection. Poor Grace is sick again. Luckily, I think we caught it early this time. Last night was a really rough night for her - couldn't breathe, non-stop runny nose, coughing, the works. Her nose started running and getting stuffy on Thursday night and then was horrible yesterday (I'm glad that I had taken a personal day so it just worked out that I was able to be at home with her). The croupy cough started in the middle of the night last night. We have been to the doctor and she is on a couple of different medicines that will hopefully get her feeling better! Keep your fingers crossed that this is the last illness for this winter. 

On a higher note, I feel like we're getting somewhere with the potty training. She is actually coming up to us and telling us when she has to pee now. Yesterday she did it 4 times and actually held it until we got to the toilet! So far today she's done it a couple of times so hopefully she keeps it up! :)

I'm in love with an organizer...and Grace is in love with a wall??

Grace is into hugging everything. She goes up to people, couches, toys, and (pictured here) the door frame, and says "big hug" and hugs it. It's pretty cute. :)

I had ordered an organizer for Grace's toys and books because our living room was starting to feel cramped. I'm always looking for new ways to organize her things - especially books because she has so many! I guess that's my weakness, if I splurge on something, it's usually books. Steve says I'm a nerd, but I always say that books last forever! Anyway, the organizer came today and I absolutely love it! I was worried that it was going to be too small, but it has a ton of storage and it's like a bookshelf and toy storage in one! It was also really easy to put together (according to Steve). :)

Here it is! 

Here is Grace "helping" daddy. She would hold on to the poles while he screwed them in.

Then she came and helped me wipe down the bins. What a trooper. :)

Do I sound like a broken record?

I feel like I've been saying this a lot lately, but Grace is sick again. Poor girl - I hate seeing her sick! You may recall from the last post that she had roseola last week with puking, fever, rash, the whole nine yards. She was fine after we took her to the doctor on Monday. Normally Grace sleeps from 8 pm until 6 or 7 am (depending if it's during the week or on the weekend). Well, this morning she woke up at 4 and was saying "Daddy, daddy, I want some milk." Steve got her some milk and she chugged it down like she always does. I'm fairly convinced that she must have had too much milk on an empty stomach because she woke up again at 4:30 and puked everywhere. She woke up again at 5:15 and puked some more. I ran my sub plans in to school at 5:30 and she's been fine ever since (minus the watery, goopy eyes that she is currently on drops for). So its actually been kind of a pleasant day. She was a little more whiny than usual, but not much. We got to sleep in until 8:30 (I came back home from school and went to sleep too). I'm getting some laundry done - including all of the puke-covered stuff. I got some of the house cleaned, and as soon as I finish this post I'm going to start some homework. It's amazing what you can get accomplished during a 2-3 hour nap zone! :) On a side note - I put Grace down for her nap at 12:15 and came back downstairs. She was upstairs jabbering away. She was quiet for a little bit so I thought she probably fell asleep. A few minutes later I heard, "MAHHH-MMY! MOMMY I POOPED!!" So I headed back upstairs to change her diaper. I changed her on our bed - big mistake for the following reason - as I was lifting the diaper out from under her and onto the floor a big turd rolled out of the diaper and onto our bed. I shrieked and Grace laughed hysterically. Oh well, now there's a poopy blanket to add to the pukey load of laundry. :) Anyway, she is now sleeping peacefully so I better take advantage and get some more homework done - 2 1/2 more classes to go! 

Update

Steve and I are officially home-owners! It feels really good to know that the place is ours (teal basement and all). :) It's a great first home.

Grace woke up Friday morning puking and had a high fever. She stopped puking but had a fever for the next 3 nights. She refused to eat anything (and still doesn't have her appetite back totally). She woke up Saturday night and had a cough attack so bad that she puked again. Poor girl. We finally decided to take her to the doctor on Monday because she was developing a rash on both legs and arms and I felt like she had been drugged-up on Tylenol/Motrin for long enough. Verdict: roseola (or sixth disease). The bad news is that there is absolutely nothing they can do about it. The good news is that her lungs and ears were clear, her throat was fine, and beginning to get the rash means that she's on the road to recovery. Usually once you get this you are immune to it so that's more good news.

She's obviously on the mend because her ornery streak has returned. We have ladybugs in our house at times and every time she sees them she says "bug, bug, get it!" She also thinks it's hysterical to tell us she's a different age than she really is. She knows she's one, but a lot of times if you ask her how old she is she'll say "I'm four" and then laugh and laugh. This often turns to "I'm five" followed by laughter. Some new phrases that she is using daily are: "I'm stuck in the muck" and "ready freddy". Such a funny girl. :)

Back to the blogging world

Grace started singing to her babies one night this week. Instead of her usual "bye-oh-bye-oh-baby-bye" she was singing "Jesus loves me so, the Bible tells me so." It's so stinking cute. :) I tried to get her to sing it for the video...this is the best that I got. I'll have to try again later. 

It feels like I haven't blogged in quite awhile. I'm trying to think of everything that has happened since I last blogged, as well as excuses for why I haven't posted in so long! For starters my excuses are homework and alternate assessment. Both are now finished and turned in so I now have no excuses. Last week Steve and I went and heard Dave Pelzer speak. He was not at all what I expected, but had a really good message and I am really glad that we went. If you haven't read his books you should check them out, although I'll warn you that you won't finish them without some tears. This past weekend Steve's parents and brother came up and stayed with us. It was really fun and we even got Duane and Bret to play Tripoley! :) 

Grace decided that she loves her snow boots so much that she doesn't want to take them off. Steve calls her Napoleon (Napoleon Dynamite) when she has them on. She wore them for a few hours this weekend and when I tried to take them off this is what happened:

What a grump! Not at all overreacting right?!

In the Kitchen

I was doing dishes last night and turned around to find this...I made her put shoes on - I figured it would help save little toes in case the cans fell. Luckily, the "tower" stood strong until she took it down. :)