Big & Strong

Our house has been hit with sickness this week.  Hannah had a slight fever a week and a half ago, but it went away in 24 hours and she has been showing little symptoms of sickness since then, but has been her normal self otherwise.  I finally took her to the doctor on Thursday when she developed a really red diaper rash.  Apparently, I am one of the few that know that you can get peri-rectal strep (strep in the butt).  I think the doctor mentioned it to me, but everyone else I have told has never heard of it.  So...consider yourselves educated now.  Either way, she was also positive for strep throat.  On Thursday afternoon, I started feeling a little yucky.  By Friday morning, I was horribly sick.  I headed to the walk-in clinic and surprise (not really)...I had strep, too.  Since having my tonsils out 17 years ago, I have yet to contract strep.  Leave it to a sweet child to remind me of how awful it feels.  Needless to say, with a high fever, chills, nausea, and sore throat, I was in no shape to take care of my children.  For some reason, I just didn't have the same bouncing off the walls behavior Hannah did as she secretly hid her strep throat for a week.  Does this mean I'm getting old?!?  Anyway, George took a sick day and I was/am one grateful wife/mother!   

 Kate feeling left out of the picture taking

 Hannah feeling left out as a baby?  Who knows...

This little cutie pie started sneezing a lot yesterday and blowing snot out with each sneeze.  She also wasn't eating well so I decided to take her to the walk-in clinic.  I think I had some major mommy guilt over letting Hannah go an entire week not knowing she had strep throat.  The doctor who saw her walked in and immediately called her a chunky monkey.  She said, "You must just sit around and pinch her rolls all day."  She is also a strong one.  She required three people to hold her down to have her throat looked at and a strep test done.  Atta girl, Reagan!  She was negative for strep, but she does have an inflamed throat, a cold, and a slight fever.  I had to rock her to sleep this morning.  You can just tell she doesn't feel good.    

Here are some pictures of her "sitting" by herself.  She needs some support, but is pretty good at holding her own.  She weighed just under 16 lbs. at the clinic yesterday.  We are going to Chicago in the middle of November so I had to buy her some winter clothes and I am glad I got nine month clothing.  It starts at 16.5 lbs.  I love my chunker!

Hopefully, we will all be on the mend this week! 

Yummm

I am trying to kill time until dinner gets home.  I had planned on making some yummy chicken parmigiana, but George is in the process of fixing our dripping shower (yes, the semi-working one) and has turned off the water.  I decided that handling raw chicken and eggs without being able to thoroughly wash my hands just wasn't the best idea.  So we decided on some Chick-fil-a instead.  I took a couple of pictures of Reagan eating her rice cereal in her high chair.  She is growing so fast!  She will be five months in two days. 

On another note, my sister has finally convinced me to join the gym and Matt has finally convinced George to join the gym, too.  They are different gyms, but it is really nice having someone to work out with.  I actually went by myself last night, but met up with another friend.  The kid's club workers did have to pull me out of class because Reagan was crying for longer than 10 minutes.  Unfortunately, in order to get to class on time, I had to wake her up from her nap and feed her early.  I think she was tired and hungry.  They asked if she had a pacifier.  Yea, she has plenty of pacifiers...she just won't take them!  So we will see how much I am able to go to the gym with her.  Fingers crossed though!

New Post

What an original title, right? I posted a new post (September Sweetness...) today, but since I started the draft a couple of days before my Confessions post, it is posted below it. Just wanted to let you know so you didn't miss some cute pictures!

Confessions of a Stinky Sponge & Childlike Feaster

I started one Bible study three weeks ago on the book of John and another one I started tonight. I just want to share with you the exciting things God has been teaching me!

1) I am a stinky sponge and I need to be wrung out! Weird, huh? Keep reading and I will explain. In John 4, Jesus confronts the woman at the well. If you aren't familiar with the story, go get your Bible and read it! After the woman is confronted with believing that Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah, she runs back to her town to tell everyone. Our teacher gave a great analogy. Have you ever used a sponge to clean something and then forgot to wring it out? The longer it sits there full of water, the more bacteria grows in it and it stinks! We can totally relate in our household because George is constantly complaining about how our dish sponge stinks. Anyway, we (I) as Christians, like to fill ourselves with Bible study after Bible study. We fill ourselves with the knowledge of God, but forget to wring ourselves out into the world. What good will I be if I just sit and soak up all of this knowledge and never go out and tell a dying world who Jesus is? God has been working on this conviction in my life for a while now. Lord, wring me out!

2) I have been eating at the kid's table. Jesus is the Bread of Life. John 6:35 says, "Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty." He is the new testament manna from heaven. Think about a Thanksgiving feast. Growing up in my family, you have the kid's table and the adult table. The kid's table plates have minimal portions of food and they rush through eating as if it is a duty. They eat the food so they can get back to what they were doing before dinner. At the adult table, there is some major feasting going on. Plates are piled high with food and the eating is enjoyed. I know that being a mother with young children is difficult and tiring, but I don't want to view my time with God as a duty. I want to feast at His table with the Bread of Life. I want to walk away from His table, feeling satisfyingly stuffed. For it is only when I am stuffed with Him, that I can then overflow into others' lives.

God is doing good stuff! Exciting stuff for His glory! I feel the Lord wanting to wring more of me out into expanding our NICU ministry. I am ready to be used by Him. I'll have more Bible study goodies for you next week!

September Sweetness, Silliness, & Snuggles

Just some more pictures...

Eating their snack at their cool new Princess patio table

Stuffing the face

Snuggling with Daddy

When I get the chance, I like to read the newspaper when I eat breakfast. This particular morning, Hannah and Kate decided to read the newspaper, too. I thought it was cute!

We are done, done, done with the lawn care business (minus one lawn). It has been about 3.5 years and it is so nice to be free. Praise God! I am looking forward to having a finished bathroom soon, a more relaxed & not so stressed out hubby, and the opportunity to make more family memories. That's it for now.