My Hero!

I'm not sure if I mentioned that Rylee has an ear infection and is miserable at night. Just recently, she has been miserable in the day as well, but that's not so bad. Night is bad. Something about the sun being down makes everything a thousand times worse. Since Rylee has been so fussy and cranky and cannot be put down without crying and crying, I did take her back to the doctor on Tuesday and they confirmed that yes, she did indeed still have an ear infection. At that point, I did fill and dose out antibiotics to her. It has not seemed to make a difference thus far. My secret fear is that the ear infection will clear up and she will still cry all night long.

What this means is that I have swapped beds with Delaney. She sleeps on my floor (unless she crawls into the bed when I'm not looking) and I sleep in Delaney's bed with Rylee. I may get an hour or 2 in my own bed (and not necessarily consecutive hours), just so I don't forget how it feels, but mostly, its me and Rylee in Delaney's bed. Neither of us seem to be sleeping well.

Last night I was in Delaney's bed with Rylee snuggled in my arms, when I was awakened by the patter of feet and then the sound of running water. I thought, "That's a bad sound. That sound means someone is getting a bath." I'm pretty sure you can think of very few reasons that someone needs a bath at 2:30 in the morning. I thought about getting up and decided not to. I went back to sleep.

What happened?

Delaney puked all over herself and the blankets she was sleeping on by our bed. Dan, my hero, got her stripped, bathed, and washed clean of vomit. He took the sheets down to the washer and kept Delaney calm and happy while he did all this. He did it without waking me up or hollering for help. He got her into clean jammies and back into bed and she went right to sleep. Yes, Dan is my hero. He is a Super-Hero!

Jiggity-Jig

Home again, home again, jiggity-jig! That's how I feel right now. I think it may be an entire week since I last posted. It has certainly been a busy week! As you recall, Deborah had her baby on Tuesday and I was there to help out.

This is my sweet niece and her new baby sister. Deborah has great kids and they were very good for me. I was informed that I did not know how to properly make Cream of Wheat, but aside from that, it was surprisingly fun to be with them.

Aargh. This is totally out of order, but I can't move it, so here it is. This is Callie, being my big helper. She loves to hold her sister!

This is how you bathe a baby when you only have a shower stall! Rylee wasn't sure at first, but then decided she liked it and had a good time splashing away.

Last night I met up with my in-laws to retrieve Callie and Delaney. It sounded like they all had fun and the girls loved having sole attention. Grandma enjoyed spending time with Rylee as well. You can see that Rylee was enthralled. I have fabulous in-laws. They are so good, they emailed me pictures of the girls having fun, so I would not worry! I was going to post those pictures, but I forgot to download them, so you'll have to live without them.

Today I flew home with my 3 little girls. This is where the previous picture of Callie belongs. The 2 littlest ones took lovely naps, which was very nice. The flight (4 1/2 hours!) went very well, especially since Rylee had one ear with fluid in it, and one infected! (I had taken her to the doctor in UT and that's what was making her cranky at night.)

These are the people I missed the most while I was away! I was glad to be home with my family. they are so fantastic. And did I tell you that the house was clean when I got home! It was wonderful to come home to that!

I keep wondering what I was suppose to learn from this trip. I mean, who in their right mind flies across the country with 3 little girls to help out her sister, who lives in a 2 bedroom apartment with her own family of 4? As I said, that part was fine. Rylee, however, was not. She was cheerful all day long, and then cried all night long. She ended up sleeping with me most nights since she woke up crying about every hour, and I'm pretty sure Deborah was getting more sleep at night then I was. I was concerned that I would be more hassle than help, so it was a relief to see that I could be useful despite having Rylee with me. I was able to make dinner for Deborah and I put meals in her freezer for after I was gone. And I was able to make sure she could nap during the day when she needed to (and sue needed to!). It made me feel better to feel useful, and I know Deborah needed me and that that was where I needed to be. I know this, because the Tender Mercies of the Lord were poured out on me. Despite a terrible lack of sleep, I was able to function very well during the day, without feeling exhausted. It was amazing. Deborah's children were amazing. They were really a joy to look after and I would totally babysit them any time. I really enjoyed them a lot. And that's not what I expected to be able to say before I got there! I know we were blessed with the flights as well. We were able to get non-stop flights both ways, for the cheapest fare. Plus, the flights were fabulously well, there were lots of nice people offering help, and the girls were so good. The timing of Deborah's birth was also a true Tender Mercy. It happened at just the right time to allow me to get the girls off to my in-laws, and then to spend the maximum time helping her. There were just so many little things that were tiny miracles. It was a long week, a tough week, but a great week. I am really glad I was able to go be with my sister. Did I mention that I love my sister? I do. She is pretty great, and I'm s glad I could be there for her when she needed me.

Fun in Utah

Many of you may know already that I flew out to Utah to spend a week with my sister Deborah, who was due to have baby #3. Dan thought I ought to take Callie and Delaney with me so that they could then be passed along to my in-laws. And so, on Saturday afternoon, I got on a plane with 3 little girls and spent the next 4 1/2 hours there!

The girls were astonishingly good. There were the usual issues, but it went much better than I ever expected. It was also randomly fun that my friend Patrea happened to be on my flight. You may not think it that random, but Patrea lives in Africa!

Delaney did very well. She didn't have to pee 4 times like her big sister, but she did need to get a stinky diaper changed. Thank goodness for Patrea! I just handed Rylee off to her on my way to the tiny bathroom and was able to change Delaney without too much trouble. I mean, without too much trouble, considering the size of an airplane bathroom with no changing table!

This picture should have been first. oops. This kid had a marvelous time in the airport. There was much running and giggling and fun. And then at the end of the flight there was the crying and unhappiness as the extreme tiredness set in.

This was Rylee's first plane ride. She is 5 and a half months old and she did great. She thought it was a lot of fun and bounced and smiled and made lots of friends. It was just those last 15 minutes, as the plane was descending that she had trouble with her ears and cried.

This is Callie and Delaney with their cousins, Sarah and Steven (Deborah's children). Deborah picked us up at the airport and we crashed at her house.

Monday evening, we drove south a few hours and met Dan's parents and handed off the girls to them (Just MY girls!). Callie has been waiting for this for weeks. She was so excited to get to spend a week with Grandma and Grandpa! I'm not sure how Delaney felt, but they both loved filling their suitcases up. This is us, heading out on our road trip!

It was so much more relaxing to have 2 less kids around! It worked out perfectly, too. As soon as we got home last night, Deborah said, "I think I may be in labor." She was. She left for the hospital an hour or so later.

This is the beautiful result! Samantha Kelly, an 8 pound, 20 inch gorgeous bundle of joy was born at 12:36 this morning! I got to go and see her at a more reasonable hour this morning and Steven and Sarah were delighted to see their mom and new sister.

I was jealous that MY baby girls never got a bow in the hospital, so the nurse brought me one for Rylee! So cute!

And that's what I am doing this week! I'm substitute mom and having a good time hanging out with my niece and nephew.

Fun times!

This has been an exciting week for Rylee. She has learned to sit up, worked on growing those 2 bottom teeth, and learned to roll over from her back to her front! She already knew how to roll from her tummy to her back, but now she can roll back onto her tummy and wriggle her way around the room. She is getting to be SO big!

And so cute too. The kids set her up in front of the piano and thought it hysterical that she sat there like she was playing.

Rylee was pretty impressed with her new-found skill. I have enjoyed it a lot too. It is nice to be able to plop her down on the floor and see her entertain herself a bit more.

And, this week, while running some errands, Callie asked if we could go to "The Chips & Dips Place". That means Chevy's, and I said yes, because they have the best salsa and my very favorite floutas! Thus the 3 little girls and I went out to lunch and had a lovely time. They were all very good, and I put Rylee in the high chair, which she was able to sit in, and she liked it a lot.

Here's my big girl! Unfortunately, she thought the table was for gnawing on, which was a bit gross, no matter how well I had cleaned it.

Delaney actually ate all her lunch. She saw this picture and said, "That's me, eating Quesadillas" What a cutie pie!

I don't know why she looks scared. She was posing for this.

This cracks me up. My 2 funny, funny girls! I adore Callie's eyelashes!

They got ice cream cones as part of the kid's meal.

It was a tasty cone. I had to restrain myself from stealing Delaney's. She's big enough I can't get away with that anymore!

Ward Activity and Extreme Close-Ups!

We had a very fun ward activity on Saturday. We did a "Tour Africa" theme and had authentic African food and saw African Dancers, and had a good time. Callie was disappointed that we did not actually get to go to Africa, because she had hoped to get to visit Grandma and Grandpa Fox, who are on their mission in Kenya. She was able to overcome her sadness and she had fun anyway. I told the children that I wanted them to try the food so they would know what Grandma and Grandpa were eating over there, and to my surprise, they did!

Joshua made friends immediately with this young man. He had a Nintendo DS and the boys had a marvelous time together with it till dinner.

Delaney has rice, chicken and cow leg on her plate. She was happy with all but the very spicy cow leg. I think that was the general consensus. Except the fried plantain was not so popular either. Perhaps because it looked like a fried potato and someone told Joshua that it was, and discovering banana was an unwelcome surprise.

Callie ate well, see the chicken bone there?! She's hamming it up for the camera.

Yes, they did like the chicken. I think they all liked that the best and ate a lot of it.

We got to see some fabulous dancing. They looked so amazing and danced so beautifully. And the music made you want to get up and join them.

It was all so graceful and beautiful. I enjoyed it immensely. The children watched one or 2 and then ran away. The music was a bit loud!

And now for some fun..... Extreme Close-ups!!