4 months

Miss A is 4 months!  She is growing nicely weighing in at 13 pounds 5.5 ounces.  She is a tiny bit smaller than I would have expected except that she was sick for several days and just started eating well again a couple of days ago.

Her big sisters think she makes the perfect doll!

Miss A is getting much more active and wants to stand whenever possible.  We pulled the saucer out and Miss E put it together.  Miss A is loving it!

Miss A seems to be a bit puzzled by Miss E.  She loves Miss E and is often found staring at her; its as if she is trying to figure out who this other "mommy" looking person is.

When playing on the floor she can spin herself around in a circle on her back; on her stomach she gets her legs up under her and scoots a bit.  She can roll from front to back, but since she would rather be on her tummy most of the time she is not exactly thrilled with this new skill.

Miss A is enjoying playing with toys and grabbing at things.  She is showing great interest in food; her eyes get huge as she watches us eat and she has been throwing her hands around much more in an uncoordinated effort to get at our food.  It will not be too long before she is getting her first tastes.  I'm not yet convinced that she is ready, though Mr. K seems to be sure that she is ready (no, he has not managed to give her food, but he sweetly asks me if he can give her some food regularly).

Strep and pneumonia

Miss J started feeling sick while we were camping; by the time we were pulling into town it was obvious that she was in need of a doctor.  She had a double whammy of strep AND pneumonia.  We got her on antibiotics right away and by the next evening (so, 24 hours later) she was feeling much better.

The doctor advised us to quarantine her for 48 hours, she didn't mind hanging out in our room watching movies and napping that whole time. She was itching to get out the next day though.  We're still restricting her activity, but that is getting hard; she is such an active girl!

*I love that my "princess" wanted to watch nothing but Davy Crocket during her entire quarantine time.  She is such a girlie girl who obviously has many big brothers that she loves to hang out with!

Miss A was sick too, and she started sounding quite nasty and running a fever.  We had her checked out as well.  She had an ear infection that needed to be treated with antibiotics and since those would cover pneumonia (if she had it, which was unlikely) we didn't mess with chest x-rays.  She's been held and loved on even more than usual.  When she is managing to sleep for longer stretches its been in her swing.

Mr. K was the last to start in on this bug.  He had a rough couple of days but is also doing much better.

Everyone seems to be on the mend now.  I'm so glad.  I was really running out of steam there.  We're all taking a few days to rest and recover before we even try to get back to "normal."  I'm so thankful for my big kids who not only stayed healthy but also kept the basics running around here while I cared for the sick-oes.

camping

We delayed our camping trip by a day to take care of Mr. S's ear.  Even though we were off to a rough start we were all looking forward to a fun week-end.  This was not our typical sort of camping trip in that it was at an RV resort (We were given a free week-end in exchange for listening to their spiel on how we should join their group; we managed to resist.)

The kids were excited to find that the mini-golf was free.  Between that, riding their bikes and some time at the pool the big kids were busy the whole time.

The little kids thought the playground was fun.

Miss J started feeling sick the morning after we arrived.  I ended up spending most of my time in the trailer with her.  Ah, the conveniences of home while camping!  I was thankful to be able to let tired children watch a couple of movies while I cared for Miss J and Miss A (who was also starting to feel sick).

Mr. K enjoyed getting to hang out with daddy at the pool while the big kids were swimming.

Mini golf was fun for him too.

ruptured ear drum

We've been sick for over a week now (a cold that is taking its time moving through the whole family).  Everyone seemed to be getting better and we were excited to be heading out for a camping trip this week-end.  The night before leaving Mr. S had a really rough night, but he seemed a bit better in the morning.  Fast forward a few hours and he had taken a noticeable turn for the worse again.  From his symptoms I suspected a ruptured ear drum.

Daddy took him to the doctor who confirmed my suspicions.  He was already starting to do a bit better and some good drugs are helping him along.

*Mr. S had NOT complained of any pain in his ear until that evening.  In hindsight I'm fairly certain he had had an ear infection for over a week.  He had been having a hard time hearing, and had had a rough week overall.  It seems that this guy is taking after one of his uncles who was known to have these sorts of (seemingly symptomless) ear infections as well.  We've ordered an otoscope so that we will be able to check ears at home and now know what to look for in him to prevent this from happening again.

Buddies

We use the buddy system quite a bit around here.  We buddy a younger child with an older child to help with things like shoes/socks, getting dressed, holding hands when out and about and other things. Miss J was certain that she needed to be Miss A's buddy, long before Miss A was born.

Miss J has been showing great amounts of initiative in caring for Miss A; and it is wonderful to see how Miss A responds to her!

Sick and playing

We've been sick here for nearly a week.  There's been quite a bit of cuddling happening around here, as well as some PJ days and playing.

Miss A was needing quite a bit of cuddling.  I enjoyed having extra down time with her.

I'm thankful that Miss J loves to help with Miss A.  Since I was sick too, the breaks were nice.

Mr R wanted to give making French bread a try.  He did a great job!

Mr M made an oil lamp.  He found clay in the yard.  He shaped it and baked/fired it.

The French...

We were reading about the French Revolution a bit this past month.  The boys were inspired to build lego Guillotines and try to chop off lego or play dough guy heads.  (sorry no pictures of that)

Miss E was inspired to make up some French food this past week.  For breakfast one morning she made crepes.  YUM!  Then at lunch she made crepes again, only this time they were filled with cheese and ham.  YUM!

Tonight Daddy got home to a wonderful surprise.  Chicken Cordon Bleu for dinner.  Eclairs for dessert!  He was so excited and Miss E did not disappoint, it all turned out wonderfully.

Thanks Miss E!

Oh, and here is a quick shot of Miss A all ready to head out to run some errands with Mommy.