Where Have I Been?

I know, I shouldn't be asking myself this question; you should be asking me. Either way, I have been busy. I could rent my two kids out to you so you'd understand but I think reading this post will suffice. Just back to the beginning of February with me.

On Friday, Feb. 8, I took the kids to visit Mike, Andrea and Holden for the day. It's just over an hour so a really easy drive but long enough for Braewyn to get a good nap going there and back. We had fun playing with Holden, taking a walk together and enjoying a delightfully warm February day.



Sweet, sleeping boy.



Mike is such a great daddy!



Andrea and Holden, all ready for our walk!





The next day, Matthew and I went booster carseat hunting with the kids. Braewyn had grown to capacity in the infant carrier carseat, and since Philip weighs 30 pounds, the minimum for the toddler booster seats, we would just buy one of those and give his big carseat to Braewyn. The booster seats are also less expensive than buying another infant-to-toddler carseat. Philip was excited to get a new "rocket ship" chair! Here are the before and after shots. You can tell Philip was still expressing his excitement.










By the next Wednesday, Feb. 13 Braewyn had starting running a fever. As she's in the teething age, it's hard to know why she has a fever sometimes. Well, when Philip came down with a high fever over the weekend, we knew they both probably had some sort of virus. I took Braewyn to her pediatrician when her fever was still popping up over a week's time and yes, she had her first ear infection. 10 days of amoxicillin, here we come!

We knew Braewyn felt pretty bad when she fell asleep on the livingroom floor. I had left her sitting with some toys while Matthew took a nap on the couch next to her. This is how he found her when he woke up a few minutes later.


This shows Braewyn at her worst! Poor baby girl.





It was a blessing they were better by the next weekend, Feb. 22-24, as we packed up the car with us and Grandma and headed up the highway to visit Jonathan, Lori, Hannah and Madeline. We would be visiting to celebrate Madeline's 1st birthday. We had a great time together despite Madeline being sick. Poor little girl felt pretty lousy the entire time, but still enjoyed some yummy farm cake and had fun opening pictures.


Here's the birthday girl. More photos to come!






I had Monday, Feb. 25 to rest and repack as Mom, Philip, Braewyn and I had plans to head out the next morning to spend the week visiting my Aunt Cindy, Uncle Greg, their daughter Courtney and her new baby boy Cameron. He arrived on Feb. 18 after a scary emergency c-section, but now mommy and baby were doing well. As the family member who most recently had a baby, I really wanted to spend some time with Courtney soon after her baby boy's birth. We ended up going later than planned as Mom had a stomach bug and was sick Tuesday. We drove down on Wednesday, Feb. 27 afternoon and spent the rest of the week and weekend with them. I really hope I was an encouragement to you, Courtney! Not really sure as I was solo-parenting my two (albeit with help from Mom, Cindy and Greg). Mom would be staying longer into the next week, but I had plans to drive home with the kids after going to church with them on Sunday. However, just as we didn't arrive as planned, I couldn't leave as planned. My car battery was dead after coming out of church! We spent the afternoon getting another from Walmart (20 minute drive from their house -- they live in the country!), and Aunt Cindy suggested I just leave the next morning. And that we did.


Here's a great photo of proud Mommy Courtney and baby Cameron. More photos to come!






After arriving home Monday afternoon, we went to MOPS on Tuesday, cleaned house on Wednesday, attended BSF on Thursday, ran some errands on Friday, visited with Mike, Andrea and Holden yesterday (they came to spend the day at Mom and Dad's) and went to our church's new contemporary service this morning. Whew!! I'm caught up.