Painting the Kitchen Red

I have been a painting machine!!!! Its alot of work but the kitchen is DONE! I still have to continue and finish the dining room area (its all 1 room) but lets not focus on the undone area... lets focus on what is done!!!! I will get there eventually.

But first you have to see the BEFORE pics....

and now the AFTER pics...

(ignore the messy pantry... we haven't put the door back up its in the garage drying... I painted it white and bought the CUTEST doorknob for it :)

Its amazing what paint can do! I LOVE IT!!!!!  We have several things that we want to do, it all takes time and finding bargains!  I am in love with my kitchen!!!  It feels so warm and cozy, make me want to have a bunch of friends over and drink some coffee and talk! :) I guess it should make me feel like cooking... HA!

The REAL Diagnosis

Well I thought we were getting over this "viral fever" thing that the kiddos seemed to catch and pass around.  I was wrong... oh no that was the ER was wrong!!!!!  Come on people 2 doctors saw Jackson Sunday morning... Hmmm.... he has a virus...  BLAH!  To say I'm aggrivated is an understatement.  Oh well... everyone makes mistakes.  Good example as to why you should follow up with you PCP.  I had no plans to unless I saw a reason to...  really another day at the DR's office not so much fun!  Don't get me wrong I will go to the drop of a hat if its needed.  So I got a phone call last night that today was Jackson's 9 month well check.  I totally forgot all about it.  I'm glad they make those reminder calls.  I thought to myself maybe I should reschedule I have a house full of sick kids (Payton started getting sick yesterday) then I thought well its probably good to go so the DR can follow up the ER visit and maybe see Taylor cause she was looking worse to me and she had the fever for 4 days now.  Addy got over it in 2 days.  So on my way to the DR I decide that since I'm there I'm going to ask if they will see Payton she spiked a fever of 104.5 last night!  Me thinking it was a "virus" thought ok this is normal and gave her more medicine and it did start to go down within an hour and we had icepacks on her.  Well the DR took one look at them and said I think we are dealing with the FLU here... HUH??? What did you say???  FLU!!!!  My heart sank and I just felt horrible.  Worst Mother of the Year award - right here please!!!!  You see we have NEVER had the flu before... really NEVER.  I also don't get the flu shots for myself or the kids.  (I probably would if they went to daycare) but we stay home and I just never felt comfortable with the shot after praying about it... not sure why.  Thats all I can say.  So anywho... back to the DR visit.... he is a great DR very glad we found one.  And he is a Christian.  He tested Taylor for the flu and it came back positive!!!!!!!!!!  URGH!!!!  So he said that is what all of the kids have and Addy who seems fine now and started this whole thing - don't be surprised if she gets it again.  So we are recooperating... I am sooooo glad that Nathan's days off are tomorrow and Friday!!!!  Back up!!!! I would have to say that so far Payton has had it the worst :(  poor baby.... I spare a picture because well she looks that bad :(

Sick Days

I would have to say the hardest thing about being a parent is seeing your babies sick.  I hate it when they are sick! :(  Makes my heart break.  Addy started on Friday with a fever of 102.7 medicine helped and sleep of course.  No other symptoms just a fever.  Then Saturday, Jackson had the same high fever.  He's been having a running nose and a slight cough for a little bit now.  Medicine helped all during the day... then in the middle of the night his fever got up to 103, it was time for more medicine so I gave it to him and an hour and a 1/2 later..... his fever went up in stead of down it went up to 103.4!  So we headed to the ER early this morning about 5 am.... The DR did lab work on his blood and urine, labs came back perfect.  DR checked his ears, throat and listened to his chest... all good.  They did x-rays just to make sure that there wasn't any pnemonia... all clear!  Praise God. So its viral.  I figured it was since Addy had it the Friday and Saturday... but when your baby's fever spikes that high... gotta make sure!  So 5 hours in the ER was a bit rough but glad I did it I would of been on pins and needles all day worried about him...  So that was Jackson's first ER visit. 

Pics of sweet baby boy in the hospital gown.

That was just a small part of our night.  4 kids and a virus does not equal much sleep or much anything else for that matter!  Last night was a bit rough... God gave us grace for today.  I don't know how I can survive on very little sleep - oh yes I do!  Its because I have to!!!  So here is how our night went last night...

12am - Jackson wakes up crying, I rock him back to sleep

12:30am - Jackson wakes up crying, I rock him back to sleep

1am - Jackson wakes up crying, I put him in bed with us b/c I am to tired to keep doing this.

2am - Taylor comes in our room crying and throws up on the floor on my side of the bed.

          I move Jackson back to his crib, thankfully he goes straight to sleep.  Nathan is cleaning Taylor up and comforting her, I get the puke!  Taylor is back to sleep on a palet next to Nathan's side of the bed.

3am - Jackson wakes up crying... very hot... take temp 103.  Give him medicine and put him in bed with us.

4am - I wake up b/c Jackson is sooo hot next to me.  I wake a little bit (about 15 minutes) and re-take temp 103.4  Goodness...

4:30am - decide to go to the ER

5am-10am ER visit 

Told you I had very little sleep.  Nathan was suppose to work today he called in.  I am thanking Jesus that his job gave him grace and the day off instead of an occurance.  (they are really harsh in that department... so that is a true miracle!)

While I was at the ER with Jackson, Taylor has a fever of 102.7.... Here she is this evening asleep on the couch.  They are so miserable it just breaks my heart. 

I am so thankful for Nathan.  He is a great dad.  He is very hands on with all our kids.  He will cuddle and rock a sick baby or clean up puke.  Last night it was my turn with the puke. 

Payton hasn't showed any signs yet... and neither have I.  Nathan isn't feeling good.  I am praying that it doesn't spread anymore and that we get sleep tonight. 

Our little artist

Taylor has been on a coloring and drawing frenzy. She is constantly drawing pictures and is really good! (I'm not biased at all) She loves to draw garden and house pictures. Here are a few pictures of her artwork. I literally have stacks of pictures that she has drawn and a ton hanging up around the house! I love her creativity!

Melt My Heart

Tonight I was putting away the dishes... and Taylor wanted to help me.  So we are putting them away and Taylor looks up at me and says, "When I'm big I want to do this all by myself!" I said, "Of course you can!" :) that makes me really happy!  Then she says, "When I grow up I want to be just like you!" :)  Ooooh my goodness MELT MY HEART!!! I love that girl.  That actually made me tear up and feel like I must be doing something right.

One more post for the day....

I had to write this before I forget too....  Soo stinkin' cute!  We're leaving tonight to go to Hilton Head and Taylor keeps calling it "Humpty Dumpty"!!!!!!!!!!!  I am cracking up!  Sooo cute!!!!

Decorating...

I was a nice Mama one day and let Taylor and Addison "rest" and watch a movie in my room istead of taking a nap.  I know I'm so nice! :)  I went a checked on them and this is what I found.  All those blankets were in the chest (yes the one that we got on our honeymoon that I mentioned in my previous post) I asked them... "what did ya'll do?" and they proceeded to tell me that they decorated my room!  Aren't they sooo sweet! :) and it is beautiful! They laid both blankets out of the floor propped the pillows up covered the little table in the corner with a blanket and placed the pillow sham on Nathan's dresser.  Sooo cute!  I left it up for a couple of days!

Packing... (BLAH!)

We're leaving tonight to go out of town for a few days.  We're going with my in-laws to Hilton Head.  They have a timeshare week that they had to use and ended up getting a big unit and asked us (and my BIL and his fam) if we wanted to come - "Ummmm... Heck YES!!!"  Don't have to ask me twice.  I love traveling, going out of town, seeing new places and I've always wanted to go to Hilton Head. :)  With that said... all the work that goes into the prep and packing to get there... I could do with out!  Packing for 6 people... well 5 1/2 people is alot of work.  I say 5 1/2 for a reason... Nathan picks out about 1/2 of his stuff... after having kids well buddy your on your own!  I try to pack for him and remember everything... but everytime... its inevitable I forget something of Nathan's.... socks, deodarant... underwear... yes I have forgotten them.  I feel bad when I do but well... then pack yourself!  I love you I do... but I've got enough to remember... speaking of I forgot to pack socks for Nathan URGH!!!!  Got to remember to pack socks... pack socks Jessica...

Ok anywho.... It is a huge task to pack for all of us.  We are only leaving for a few days but with kids you have to pack atleast 1 extra outfit.  It all starts a week before the trip with ..... LAUNDRY!!!!  I have successfully washed all the dirty clothes in this house.  There is not ONE dirty anything! yay me!!! :)  Don't you worry though I will return with plenty of dirty clothes... lol  So anywho... here is just a glimpse of our load that we are taking with us.... I do have to say my husband is THE MASTER PACKER... I am convinced that he can fit anything in our van.  I don't even worry about it... I just say baby here this is what we are bringing and he makes it happen - its truly a talent and he is very good at it.  On our honeymoon we bought a wicker chest (size of an ottoman) and a wicker laundry basket (size of an ottoman) AFTER we purchased them... we got outside and realized... Oh oops we only have a Honda Civic.  They barely fit to get back to our hotel much less all our luggage that we had for the trip home!  Yes he did it... he fit it all in the Honda and everything made it home - see I tell you I'm convinced he can do it!  Ok... Ok on to the picture!!!! I'll stop rambling... :)

Just a little bit of our load... Here is what it takes for a Fam of 6 to take a trip...

2 HUGE suitcases....  1 big one for kids and 1 big one for Mama & Daddy (yes we all share)
3 sleep mats for the girls to sleep on
5 pillows yes we have to take our own pillows
3 sleeping bags for the girls to use
3 backpacks full of toys
1 bag of randomness
1 pack and play for the baby
4 blankies b/c our babies are blankie babies
1 pack of pull ups
1 pack of diapers
2 tubs of wipes
1 toiletry bag for all of us
1 bag of crayons, paper, colorbooks and books
1 bag of all our shoes (I actually limited it 2 pairs per person this trip except for me lol I'm bringing 3)
boppy
pacies can't forget the pacies!!!
diaper bag
camera
purse
Oh and US! :)
FOOD lots of FOOD we usually don't pack so much food but this trip money is low and we plan to eat most of our meals at the timeshare and bring what we have from home.

I'm sure we will have tons of pics coming up from our trip!  I'm so excited!!!! :)

He is crawling...

Well it is official... Jackson is a crawler!  (2/2/11) He is so cute doing it.  He is moving slow.  He goes for a little bit and then sits back up and looks around in amazment of how he just got there.  So sweet.  Yesterday he pulled himself up on the fireplace hearth (is that how you spell that?)  I was freaking out... more b/c he was on the fireplace... but he is more mobile now... :)  I will hopefully get pics today!