I am glad this week is over!

This has been a week of throwing up, fevers, coughing, runny noses, not getting enough sleep. Yep, we are a house full of germs!

When we got out of church last week, Thomas was complaining that he was hot and when I felt him, he was very hot! (which don't most people feel cold when they have a fever?) anyways, that evening his fever continued and lasted until thurs., but came back friday for awhile. He threw up a bit, but it was mostly his fever and loss of appetite that wiped him out for the whole week. It is very strange and sad to see Thomas falling asleep during the middle of the day and not hearing him laugh! He eventually started coughing as well, so if it wasn't the fever that was keeping him up it was his coughing. :( (three children and two parents in a queen size bed= too small! I think we are all exhausted from not sleeping well) One night when Damond got home, he felt impressed to give Thomas a blessing. I am so grateful that he is a worthy Priesthood holder and that we have such a good and kind home teacher. He willingly came over late at night to help Damond. On Wed, Alex woke up from naptime with a temperature of 102! He hasn't had the flu as bad as Thomas. He will start feeling sick in the afternoon and wanting me to hold him, he'll then have a high temp during the night and then wake up fine. It's also been quite strange. This is the first night since Wed. that he hasn't gone to bed with a fever so I am hoping the worst is behind us! I am also hoping that Jacob continues to stay healthy and that neither Damond nor I fall victim! :)

I am pretty sure that we are all very stir crazy as we didn't leave the house at all until friday afternoon and that was just to get groceries since we had none!

Oh, and I miss the sun and it's warmth! Wishing I were enjoying that 70 degree weather AZ is having :D

Arctic Winds

Believe me, I never heard those words on the news/weather section in phoenix! Here they seem to be quite common :)
Due to these Arctic winds, we don't get out much. ESPECIALLY with an infant! I feel bad keeping the older boys cooped up inside all the time, but I enjoy using Jacob as my excuse to stay inside :)
The other day we had one of Thomas' friend over and I decided that with the all of the fresh fallen snow, we had to go play in it. Luckily, since our park is in our backyard, I was able to leave Jacob sleeping and I could play with the boys outside for a bit. It was quite fun and I even pulled the boys on the sled, but snow dog I am not! They each got one lap and that was enough for me! :D
Though, the other day Damond took the boys outside and he was running them all over the place on the sled. He even built a ramp that they would speed over! He is a much better snow dog :)

Other news... I have begun my marathon training! I am quite excited as I have always had this goal. This will only be a half marathon, but I figure it gets me one step closer and helps me get into the flat club as Thomas calls it.
side story (a few days after I had Jacob, a friend of mine came to visit. I was still in the swollen, body readjusting stage. Anyways, she had a baby in August and you would never know it! So while she was holding Jacob, Thomas was talking to us and turns to me to say, "Mom, when are you going to be flat like Marty and Karen?" {Karen is my other friend that had a baby last May. She is also looking amazing!} I could tell Marty didn't know what to say at first, but then I started laughing because I knew what my body was doing.
Anyways, I can no longer use that excuse as Jacob will be 3 MONTHS tomorrow!"
Basically, I am racing/running/ ok, walking to be in the FLAT CLUB again ;-)
(the other day, it had started to snow during the night and I ran "in snow" (there really wasn't that much on the ground) but it was a new experience. -- I am used to running in extreme heat, not so sure about this extreme cold!
I have also started to work on publishing my blog! It is going to be alot of work, but so far it is pretty fun and I am so glad that I have an extremely talented SIL that will answer all of my lame questions, {though, at least I am not as clueless as the snowbirds, right Linsey? ;-) }

Let's go sledding!

This week Damond called me wanting me to put on the calendar that we were going to go sledding! He was hoping to stay on top of everything so that he'd have a some extra time to go sledding on Saturday and Monday. Well, it worked for Saturday. We headed to a little park not far from our house and went sledding. We could park right at the base of the hill (literally! there were a few times I thought they might run into the cars) so we left Jacob in the car and I was able to watch the kids and take pictures. Then every once in a while I would check on warm and toasty Jacob.

The boys had a blast!

It was not very steep, so the injuries were minimal! :D Always a good thing!

I went down one time, but only because Damond pushed me the whole way down. For some reason, I really don't like that feeling of loss of control. I am a weenie!! ;-)

Damond and Alex riding the "centrifuge"

A couple other friends joined us which made it even more fun! We had hoped that it would snow again, so we could go tomorrow, but it didn't. :( Hopefully, Damond will be able to work in more time!

Damond riding his broom (I mean shovel)

Jacob Feature

Can you believe how much he has changed in one month!
Look at those chubby cheeks! Jacob definitely did his part of putting on the holiday weight! :)
Which we wouldn't want it any other way!

As you can see, he is starting to watch his dad and brothers very closely.
Especially Thomas! Maybe it's because he is wary of the million kisses Thomas gives him each day! ;-)
But I think it's probably that he notices how much fun they are and wants to be just like them!
He is such a sweet baby and is only demanding when he is hungry. (ok, so that's every 2 and half hours),
but as long as I stay on top of that he is a happy baby! :D

Alejandro Feature

Sometimes, I think this adorable little boy is still my baby and then at other times I realize that he is growing up as quickly as the rest of my boys. I want to grab him and hold him a little tighter. He is as rough and tough as any footbally player, but he is also very sweet and will come and put his arm around and say, "I luv you, mommy!" He sometimes has a temper, but it is usually provoked by his brother. If he is by himself, he is a very easy going kid!
I luv my Alejandro!

It's 2011?

Last year I had made some goals. Some, for example family prayer and scripture study we did a lot better on. But my goal of blogging and record keeping more did not happen :( So, once again I am going to work hard at achieving this, because it is something that generations could enjoy!
So if possible, I will try to do a special feature each week. Hopefully, at least one of each child! ;-)

THOMAS FEATURE

I can't believe it is 2011! And to prove to me that the boys are growing so fast, Mr. Thomas lost his tooth today!!!!We were at a friends house when I noticed that he had a HOLE in his mouth. I asked Thomas, "where is your tooth? Did you notice your tooth fell out?" My friend said he probably swallowed it when he was eating his cookie. I asked him if he had noticed any hard pieces. He said that his cookie had a seed and he had thrown it away. I looked in the garbage for a little bit, but then decided to give up :( But then I looked down and found it on the ground!

He is a cutie! I love Thomas and his desire and ability to laugh. (unfortunately, he also can scream and throw fits with the best of them) This is something I fear will continue for the rest of his life (as I have seen his grandfather, father, and uncles) ;-) They don't grow out of it, just the frequency decreases :)

It has been fun to watch him learn new things in kindergarten and I look forward to the new things we will encounter with him this year!