Laundry

Crew loves helping. Today he (and his frog, that is really a chameleon) helped me fold all of the kitchen wash cloths. He did an amazing job!!

Juicing

I was falling into a rut of not eating as well as I should and I decided to watch a few documentaries on healthy living. Abe became very interested in the juicing world and decided to get a juicer. I had juiced back in my single days and didn't think he would be a fan of it. Much to my surprise I enjoy it more now and Abe is way involved with juicing every day. Crew is enjoying tasting the delicious drinks. We are also expanding horizons for him because he is enjoying the flavor of foods that he would normally gag on due to their texture.

Beets, carrots, spinach, lemon

This is the face I get a lot now!

I am now trying to gather up recipes to use the pulp in. We don't want to miss out on all of the veggie goodness!

When It's Cold

Build a fort! Crew and Sawyer love playing in simple forts. I think their favorite part is crawling through the sheet to the other side. It's fun to hear them giggle and watch them wrestle around with each other.

Sick Boys

When a whole bunch of people get together, it's inevitable that someone gets sick. I always prepare mentally with the anticipation of this.

Sawyer was the first to get sick and then a few of days later Crew fell ill. I didn't realize that Sawyer was trying to fight off a double ear infection as well (I thought he was teething) and that was the onset of his misery. On Saturday he had a fever and to make sure I didn't have to go to the hospital for something on Sunday I took him into the doctors. I normally don't take my kids in for things like this, but he seemed to be going down hill. That's when I found out about his ears and the Dr suggested he might have RSV with the order his symptoms came but never tested. I now know the fever was a prelude to sickness number 2. 

Sunday morning he woke up with a rash on his legs with the worst of it being on his upper thighs. I started doing a lot of research on rashes and nothing was matching up. Finally I looked up "hand foot and mouth on the legs" and images popped up that matched closer than anything else. But it wasn't on his palms, or soles of his feet. There were 2 or 3 small spots around his mouth and there is no way he would let me look in his mouth. I then found this article and it made me more certain that he had a new strain of hand foot and mouth. But, I never went to the doctors because we had just gone and I didn't feel he was going to get any more medical help that he couldn't get at home. He was never officially diagnose but I quarantined my family from anyone else anyway. Monday Crew was fine all day, he worked out with me, ate well, played hard, and overall enjoyed himself. I put on a show for him to watch while I made dinner and Sawyer was napping. When the show was over Crew started rolling around on the floor and whining. I thought it was because he had almost fallen asleep, his show was over, and that he probably needed to go to the restroom. I went over to ask him and rubbed his back. He was hot! His temperature was at 103! I put another show on, gave him some ice water, and he fell asleep. I resisted the urge to give him tylenol and he woke up .5 degrees cooler. After dinner we had a very early bedtime for both boys.

When Crew woke up on Tuesday his temperature had broken and he let me take a look in his mouth. He had several spots on the roof of his mouth and a few on his knees and calves. But he was much happier and played all day in his pajamas.

Crew let me take a picture of his mouth but then wouldn't let me take a picture of his legs. The rash on the first day never really looks all that bad; red spots that are appear to be raised but are mostly flat when touched.

Sawyer was much happier too. He got a better nights sleep and lit up when I pulled my camera out to document his rash. He was loving the attention and gave me a great show!

This was my first picture of Sawyer. Once he realized the attention was on him he went into action.

Not a single rash on his torso. It was all on his arms below the elbows and on his legs.

Only three on his face

The beginning of scabbing over. The rash initially appeared like it might head out or get a blister but the next day it had sloughed off the middle and scabbed.

Thursday Update: 

Sawyer: Day 6

Crew: Day 4

Quarantined and getting a little bored.

Crew wrist with newer rash

Crew's knee with older rash and a little lint

The worst spot for him. I believe it's because this is where he has the most sensitive and prone to dryness skin.

Sawyer's scabs are almost gone

New rash on Crew's ankles

I will be majorly sanitizing and deep cleaning when this all passes! We look forward to getting out of the house again.

Sunday Update:

The kids both have rash still. Sawyer's is nearly gone and Crew still has some large scabs that need to heal up. We are ready to go out and have fun but we are waiting so we don't pass it to anyway.

Once There Was A Snowman

 We hardly ever have snow and when we do it melts fast! It has caused one anxious (and slightly confused) boy that has wanted a snowman. Every time snow would fall from the sky, but not accumulate, Crew would excitedly yell, "Snowman. Snowman!"
Finally, we got enough snow in our yard and it stuck around for awhile. While Sawyer was asleep we went out it in the snow. There wasn't much snow, and my snowman building skills are a bit rusty, but we were able to make a quick snowman. Crew finally got it, and he loved it.

Checking out the snow

We built the snowman in our pajamas.

"It's a snowman, Mom!!"

The snowman was ridiculously small, had no face, and was well appreciated. After coming inside we proudly checked out our work through the window.

Christmas Day

We spent the rest of Christmas at Carmen and Ernie's. Will and Crew are now becoming good friends and enjoy playing all day together. The older boys played legos most of the day and we hardly heard a peep from them,

Will

Cooper

Nate

Crew was so busy playing most of the day that he hardly ate a thing. When he saw the table being set for dinner he must have been starving because he went into the bathroom to wash his hands and then sat at the table for another 20 minutes waiting to eat.

Crew has started pulling his lips to one side when I ask him to smile and he doesn't feel like it.

Using Sawyers loader as a distraction.

Becky was making one of her kids laugh and Crew was a feeling the joy as well. I love that the joy of others makes Crew happy as well.