An Evening With Mamaw and Papaw

We invited Mamaw and Papaw Weaver for supper tonight. Braylen LOVED having them here. They used to come up every Tuesday morning while I worked, but now that I am home all the time, they don't see us as much. Braylen remembered how they played games together and got Papaw down on the floor to play. Alea had a meltdown when they first got here, but after she calmed down a bit, Mamaw got to feed her peas and applesauce. We had a fun evening!!

Trying to crawl

Alea is trying to learn to crawl. We put toys out of her reach and she tries with all her might to scoot to them. She moves her legs and arms, but cannot seem to figure out how to get her
tummy off the ground!

Rings, rings, rings

Alea is learning how to put the rings on the stand! She worked so intently on this today and when I would hold the stand, she could do it. She loved it when I clapped and said: "Way to go Alea, Way to go...." It is amazing to watch her try new things each day and start to master some of them!!! It's nice to finally be finding a normal to our days!!!!

Playing

Alea loves to play on the floor with her toys. Here she is today having a blast. She has really started jabbering and she was jabbering away! She loves to cheese whenever she sees the camera....

Happy 8 months, Alea

Here are some quick snap shots of Alea this morning on her 8th month birthday!!! Braylen wants to know if we are going to have a party for her today!!! I'll tell you what we will be having a party for and that is on Wednesday of this week when Alea finishes her antibiotic!!!! I CANNOT wait for that stuff to finally run out and END!!! Everyday, I secretly wish that it disappeared or spilled or something and there was no more!! It is still a huge fight each and every dose (3 a day for 10 days!!!). On a good note, the girls are feeling much better! We even went to church yesterday and they wore their Chinese dresses, but I forgot to take a picture!! I will put them in them on another day and we'll snap a picture and just pretend it was taken on THE day!

Hanging Out Together

Braylen and Alea love each other! I cannot even begin to explain the bond these two have! It touches my heart to see them interact with each other!! Braylen loves to kiss her very gently on the head. I pray they will continue to grow closer and become best of friends!!

Playing Ball with Daddy

Daddy Having Fun

Today Brad was on the floor playing with the girls and this is how I found him!!! I don't know who was having more fun--Brad or the girls!!! He is going to kill me when he sees this picture!!

Thank you Mamaw!!!

Last night mom offered to come and watch the girls so Brad and I could go on a date!! Of course, we didn't turn her down!! It was GREAT getting out of the house! I was almost giddy all day waiting! Then, when we actually went, I worried that Alea was crying the whole time! We got home and found out that she never cried once!!!

We went to Ft. Wayne and ate at Chops, went to the Kitchen and Bath Show and saw We are Marshall at Rave. We had a great evening! We got home and both girls were in bed and Alea slept until 7 a.m., took a bottle and slept until 9!!! She has never slept until 7--I don't know what mom did, but WE LOVE YOU!!!! Thank you so much!!

Thank you Phyllis!!

We met Phyllis in Taiwan. She just mailed us some gifts. This is the fan she got for Braylen. Thank you so much, Phyllis!! We LOVE the calendar!! You are great. Hope you are having a blast in Haiti right now!! Can't wait to hear how it all goes.

Bad Hair Day

It was a lazy day at home and we didn't do hair or get dressed!!! We have been spending a lot of days like this lately.

This is for Aunt Bam-Bam

Here are some pictures for you, Bam-Bam!!! Our home just isn't has happening as yours! All we get done in a typical day is medicine down both girls, breathing treatments, eating, sleeping and sometimes bathing!!! It seems that is all I get done. Who has time to snap pictures, but more importantly, who wants to see pictures over and over of breathing treatments, etc... Hopefully we will begin to bounce back soon. Both girls are doing much better. In fact, Bray went back to preschool today and I actually dressed Alea (cute, cute, cute out fit Curt and Amber!!!) and took her out with me!!! Ahhhh, it felt good to leave the confines of this house. Anyone know when spring is coming???????

What has happened to my Living Room???

My living room has been invaded and overtaken with baby gear and toys. It drives me crazy, but it must stay to entertain little ones!! We have a playroom in the basement, but does Braylen ever play in there? Only when friends or cousins are over!!! She has a dollhouse, books, and Dora Magical Castle in her room. Does she ever play in there? Only about 1/2 hour a day!! Her favorite spot and Alea's hanging ground? The living room. I am sure that someday I will wish for the mess again....

For those who don't know me, I am a neat freak!
I like for things to be very orderly and organized. It take a great deal of self control to allow the girls freedom to play!! I am not one of those mean, have no fun mommies, I just like order and cleanliness!!! A very good friend told me there is a difference between cleanliness and picked up and when you have children, cleanliness yes, picked up--only at bedtime!! We usuall pick up abotu 4 times a day!!!! Obsessive? Maybe. Sane? Sorta!!

Playing

Alea loves her walker. Yesterday I put it out in the kitchen on the hardwood and she could actually make it move! She was so happy!!! I love this thing too, because she is happy in it and I don't have to worry about her rolling where she shouldn't!!

Ice Fishing or Something

Yesterday Braylen went fishing inside!! She was singing "I'm goin' fishing ABC..." (a Miss Patty Cake song). She was quite amazed at her abilities to catch big ones!! One even bit mommy and threatened to eat the couch!! Watch out when Bray goes fishing!!!

A Makeshift Snowman

Yes, we let Braylen go outside and play, even though she techinically is still sick. More on that later....

Here is the Makeshift Snowman!! The Snow wouldn't stick, too cold, so Daddy shoveled up a pile of snow and after jumping in it (see below), they "created" a snow man out of it!! Braylen was satisfied and I think it looks cute!!!!

Swingin' in the Snow

Always time for swinging--one of Braylen's favorite activities, rain, snow or shine!!!!

Jumping in Snow Pile

Daddy shoveled off the deck and Braylen had fun jumping in the pile!!!

Snowballs

Braylen has begged to go out in the snow since it first fell on Sunday morning! She has been sick, though and not able to go out. Well....she still is sick, but doing much better and we had a rough morning yesterday, so as a bribe or whatever you want to call it, we told her if she was good in the afternoon, she and Daddy would go out and play in the snow. She was an angel yesterday afternoon. After nap, she was camped out at the window waiting for daddy to come home!! I had her in 3 layers of clothing, plus coat, hat, gloves, scarf. We don't have any boots for her, so we wrapped Walmart sacks around her shoes! Quite a site, I'd say!!

Watchin' American Idol with Daddy

Our household LOVES to watch American Idol, whose doesn't right? But it's not complete unless Daddy is snuggled with his girls for the show!! Usually they are munching on popcorn (Bray and Daddy, that is), but tonight they had some of Bray's cake, and yes, Alea snuck a bite or two as well and LOVED it!

Braylen's Cake

Braylen needed some "mommy time" today. She has been begging to bake cookies, but we simply do not have that much time a day that we can keep Alea content while we bake, so we settled on a cake. With a cake, we could do it in stages and it did take ALL day to complete, but it is done and it was yummy! Braylen helped with the entire thing and I think her favorite parts were cracking the eggs, licking the beaters and putting sprinkles on top.

New Room and Breathing Treatments

Here are pictures of Alea's new bedroom. We moved the office out last night and moved Alea in. We all had better sleep!!! Alea would fuss and normally I'd run in and get her so she wouldn't wake Braylen, but last night she fussed only a few times (I think Bray's cough has been waking her--she is a VERY light sleeper) and went back to sleep. Once I went in and I'm glad I did. She had another fever--101.5. I gave her Motrin, breathing treatment and pedialite.

I also took some pics this morning of her breathing treatment. They didn't turn out the best because I forgot to turn flash on and for some reason our camera takes grainy pictures if flash isn't on. As you can see, she doesn't take her treatments quite as well as Braylen! It is a struggle to do treatments and medicines. She is on amoxicillian for the bronchitus right now and we really cannot get ANY of it in her. She spits it all out. We can get motrin, tylenol, cough medicine in, but not the amoxicillian. And of all of them that is the one she NEEDS the most!!! Any suggestions from experienced moms out there on this?????


We have had more vomitting today, so we are on clear liquids again. I cannot wait until we are healthy again. I fear we will be making another visit to the hospital soon for dehydration!!!!

Updates

Well...Braylen started coughing severely in the night. We all did sleep fairly well last night. Alea woke every 2 hours, but tooks some pedialite or juice, medicine or breathing treatment and right back to sleep. I called the doctor this morning and told them we needed an appointment for tomorrow for recheck of Alea after ER visit, but that I thought we should come in today since Braylen was getting worse. So we had an 11:00 appointment. Alea is doing well. The doctor put Braylen on breathing treatments 3 times a day with Albuterol and one time a day with Pulmicort.

I have had to make a chart so I know when I am giving which child what since combined we have 5 different meds plus tylenol and Motrin as needed.

I'll post pictures of Alea taking her breathing treatment later. She is finally taking her nap at 5 p.m. She is the hardest child to get onto a schedule and to actually sleep. Braylen was so easy and still is, but not Miss Alea. She has a mind of her own.

Tonight Alea will be getting her own room. We are moving her crib to the office and the office to our bedroom so both girls can sleep better in their own rooms since they have totally different sleep patterns and schedules.

A Trip to the ER

We just got home from the ER in Huntington. Alea has come home with us praise the Lord. When we first got there, we thought they were going to admit her for dehydration. They immediately hooked her up to IV fluids and took bloodwork and X-rays. She is somewhat dehydrated, but not as bad as they feared. They had a VERY difficult time getting a vein for IV and bloodwork, but finally they prevailed. She has bronchitus. They pumped her with fluids and let us come home. She is on antibiotic for infection, cough medicine, breathing treatments and a suppository for vomitting. We are to give her only juice and pedialite for 24 hours and see the pediatrician on Tuesday unless condition worsens. Hopefully fever will start to come down now that she is hydrated.

Please pray that she sleeps tonight. It has been almost 24 hours with no sleep for her little body and mommy and daddy's very tired bodies!!!

Thanks for praying. Braylen seems to be doing better. She is quite concerned for Alea though, but had fun staying with the VanDuynes while we went to ER. Thanks Kevin and Jill for keeping her!!!

Please Pray for our Girls

Braylen and Alea are both sick. Alea slept from 9 p.m.-midnight last night and then was up until 5:45 a.m. She then slept until 8 a.m. She has a 102 degree fever that will only go down to 100 on tylenol/motrin. She has vomitted everything that has gone down her little system since 9 p.m. last night. We just got 1 1/2 ounces of pedialite down her and we'll see if she can keep that down, if not, we will be going to the ER with her in a few hours.

Braylen's fever is down today, but she is still coughing and VERY tired. Alea's crying is really affecting her as they share a room. We right now have Braylen in our bedroom for a nap.

The Flecks are Afflicted

Braylen started coughing on Thursday afternoon and by Friday afternoon was running fever and her cough sounds more like a dog barking than a child coughing. She stayed home from preschool on Friday, missed a birthday party for Keaton and Kearston, missed dance and now on Saturday, will be missing playing with Isaac (our friends, Brian and Tonya were going to come over for dinner tonight). She is really bummed and bored and starting to drive us all crazy!!! The cough medicine makes her hyper and she isn't listening too well. I think Daddy is ready to go back to work and Mommy is ready to go shopping or something! Alea woke up today also coughing and has a runny nose. So goes life with 2 children--they will continue to pass this germ back and forth. I am coughing some and still have a very gruff and sometimes no voice. Who knows what I have! This is making for a very long Saturday in a not so great way! Brad and I were looking forward to long afternoon naps, but coughs seem to have waken both children after only laying down for about 45 minutes---AHHHHHH!!!!

Anyway, just thought I would vent online.............

This is for Aunt Kiki

This is the hoodie and boots Aunt Kiki got Alea for Christmas. She looks so cute with then and her blue jeans!!

Great Grandparents

What a blessing our girls have to be able to spend time with their great grandparents. I really never had the opportunity as a child. It's great spending time with Great Grandma Fleck and Great Grandpa and Grandma Weaver!!

Braylen's Dreams Came True

Braylen finally got her Dora Magical Castle from Mamaw and Papaw Anderson for Christmas. I wasn't at a good angle to catch her excited face, but she is in LOVE with this gift!!! She has wanted it for oh, so long!! Thanks to Aunt Kiki and Mamaw and Papaw, she also got most of the rooms for it as well. This is in her room so that Alea can't play with it!! It's already starting!!!!

Alea got this house from Austin, Aubreigh and Ethan for Christmas. You can see who plays with it ALL the time and even got mad at Alea this morning for pushing some of the buttons!!!! Braylen LOVES having all the baby toys out again--she has found a new love for her old things and Alea's new things.