My little sicklings...

It started on Sunday with Madison. She started having the worst runny nosie ever, I mean shirt soaking runny nosie! Then Monday she started to develop a yucky cough, so on to the Dr. she went yesterday. We learned that she had a red ear to go with the icky nose and cough. Poor thing! She is on an antiiotic now and a decongestant to help dry up that little nose!

It doesnt stop there...

This morning at about 10 after 7:00 a.m. Jeff went in to wake Matthew up. He didnt want to get up. But he had to get ready for school. We found that he had a small fever, sore throat and just general pain all over his body, so we called the Dr. and started him on some antibiotics too. His fever progressed through the day, and believe it or not, he ended up sleeping a good portion of the day. That is very rare for him. I am hoping that tomorrow will be a new and healthier day for him. At least he isnt throwing up like he usually does when he gets a fever!

Bethanie? I think her time is a comming. She was really ornery this evening, but maybe she is seeking attention???

My parents came to supper tonight. It was nice to have them over to visit me and the kids (Jeff was at school).

I keep forgetting to post this...

The other day Miss Madison learned to go down the steps to the back door. There are only three steps there so I moved the safety gate and taught her how to go down them. When you come in the back door, its like a split level. You can go straight and go down about 14 stairs or turn right and go up three steps. I moved the gate to the basement stairs so she cant fall down them, but she is doing very well on the three steps up into the kitchen from the back door! This kid is so with it. I can tell she is a thinker and a doer. Princess Bethanie never cared to do anything. She was fine to just be beside me and Mr. Matthew always preferred to do his own thing. But with Madison she just wants it all! Sometimes I am not so fond of her way of thinking. She can hardly wait to step foot outside this spring! She loves looking out that back door!

Right now she has a really icky nose. We are all kind of sick with winter colds, but her poor little nosey, I am wiping it CONSTANTLY. She is a good sport about it though and doesn't complain about it.

Matthew had a GREAT report from school for last week from his teacher, and Bethanie has started working on learning her second dance for the Spring Recital.

Our Time Away...

So on Saturday, Jeff and I went to Omaha Nebraska to the Winter Quarters Temple. It has been something like two years since we had last been to the Temple. It is so hard to get away when you have young children at home, especially when you have a high needs situation. I am so grateful for Jeff's parents because they take the kids and care for them while we are gone, and we know that they are in good hands, and can handle situations that may come up unexpectedly.

So, our trip was a Branch Temple trip that we shared with only one other family (a father and daughter and her non member boyfriend). We drove there separately but had lunch together and did baptisms at the temple. It was a nice trip. The drive is about 3 hours to get to the Temple, so we had at least 6 hours drive time, and I tell you, I missed those kids, but when we got back to Grandma's, the kids (especially Madison) could care less that we were there! WHAT A HEART BREAK!!! :O) Oh well. I still know she loves me, she just felt comfortable at Grammies. LOL!

This is the back of the WQ Temple. It is from the cemetery that is behind there, and you can see one of the headstones of a pioneer there in the foreground.

The Angle Moroni statue on the top of the steeple on the Temple.

Back behind the temple on temple grounds is a cemetery of many pioneers that were buried while on the trek west. There is a monument there with this very large statue of a pioneer couple. The grounds there are just glorious even in the snow!
We had a good time and it was very nice to spend some time alone with my sweet husband away from home for once!

Matthew's 3rd Grade Program...

Last night was Matthew's 3rd grade music program! It was such a delight. There are about 80 kids in his 3rd grade, and about 10 or so were given speaking parts, including Matthew! It is hard to see where he is placed but he is on the very left, first riser from the bottom in a dark navy shirt and two stars on his chest. The 1st picture shows him at the microphone doing is speaking part! He did such a wonderful job memorizing his part, speaking it clearly and he participated in singing, even a song with sign language! I am so silly with these programs because I get emotional and teary-eyed, and feel like a fool, but something about seeing my children perform touches me with such love and pride! I cant help, I am hopeless! :O)

Tomorrow, my sweet husband and I are going on a day out together....with no kids. We will be gone nearly all day, getting back around 6 or so in the afternoon. This is the first time in a couple years (at least) that we have been able to do this. I wont speak of where we are going just yet. But tomorrow night I will update it! I will even have pictures included! :O)

Nothing new...

except that is is verrry cold outside! Brrrr! What do you expect this time of year, I guess!

Miss Madison has decided that she is now throwing TWO YEAR OLD temper tantrums. I don't know what the deal is with her, but she has always been quite a drama queen, throwing her head back when she is mad, no matter what she may hit on the way down. Today she was mad because I wouldn't hold her while I ate breakfast, walked away and then proceeded to throw her head FORWARD nose first into the floor, giving herself a nose bleed. I really hope that taught her that she doesn't want to do that again because it almost killed me to watch her do that. Today she learned how to take the lid off of the crayola markers. Not a good thing, but it was really funny because she got green marker all over her hand. I showed it to her and it really bothered her that her hand was green. She tried to wipe it off, and when that didn't work, she went around shaking her hand as if it would fall off on its own. LOL! She is such a funny baby (unless she is throwing a head banging, nose bleeding tantrum!!!).

Bethanie had dance class this evening, and I just have to say, she is such a beautiful little dancer. I saw her costumes for her spring recital. They are so cool. One of the songs she is [tap]dancing to is "She's a Lady"and her costume is a lady bug. The other one is a ballet dance to "Twinkle Twinkle [little star] and she will be in a black leotard and a sky blue skirt. I didn't see the skirt but it will be quite elegant, I am sure. I just love to see her so happy, which she is especially during her dance classes, because it is something just for her, which she really deserves.

Matthew is doing well. We changed a medication for him on Friday, and I can see that so far it is really helping him to stay focused, happy and interested in things. I wish we didn't have to do meds for him but otherwise, I worry that he would be so UN focused that he would injure himself by his not paying attention! I cuddled with him tonight and he just had such a wonderful smile on his face, just a true happy little boy. It made my heart just MELT!

Jeff is so busy this week. He is working a ton of hours, he has a dental appointment and hour away on Wed. morning and class that evening (again, an hour away) and then he works Thursday and then he has three days off of work. Tomorrow (Tuesday) he is working one if his 16 hour shifts, which he needs to, but we all just really miss him when he is gone that long. It is getting easier though with Madison being more independent, and Matthew happier. Bethanie is always easy.

Oh, I was asked (so was Jeff) to give a talk at Church on Sunday. Maybe tomorrow I can get my thoughts together on it. I think I will talk about our Primary.

Life is a highway...

and we are speeding down it! Things have been C R A Z Y around here! I don't really know why, other than there are 5 people in our family, and we all have our own things going on it seems! Check out "Our Life With Asperger's" on the right side of the screen for updates on all that. But for the most part, Madison has been sick off and on all week with still very little desire to eat. At least she is drinking. Matthew is such a happy little soul! FOR THAT, I am grateful! Bethanie is totally enjoying school. Soon she is going to be featured as Star of the Week. So tomorrow we will be gathering some pictures of her for the bulletin board at her school for the outside of her classroom. The weather is FREEZING outside and I find myself longing for some sort of nice weather to open some windows. I am exhausted from a very long day of travel and so I am heading to bed. The weekend is here tomorrow and that always brings crazy times. At least Matthew is sleeping in more and more, LOVE IT!!!!

Sleep deprivation...

Last night about 11:00 p.m. we were in bed just heading to sleep when I heard Miss Madison cough over the baby monitor. This was no ordinary cough, and one that I recognized brought nothing good. As I went jogging to her room, I was greeted with a shrill scream and I KNEW at that point what had been going on, but it was soon confirmed when I saw her. She had thrown up! Out of the blue. She had been fine all day, but even though she had no fever, she continued to barf every 30 minutes until around 3:00 a.m. and I was finally able to lay her down to sleep in her crib, and because there was nothing left in her poor tummy, she was finally able to rest, but fitfully. I could tell her tummy was crampy and she just didn't do so well. So I had to wake her up this morning to get Matthew and Bethanie to school. She was only up for an hour or so and then she slept until 1 this afternoon. She has since taken a couple of cat naps here and there, is running a low grade fever and is CRANKY!!! Needless to say, I am exhausted and so ready for bed.....Jeff....is pulling one of his 16+ hour shifts and I am fighting off a pressure headache. :O(

Matthew & Bethanie are doing fine-SO FAR. Bethanie has another tooth loose (one of her top ones) and Matthew is just as happy as can be. He has been getting a FULL nights rest this past couple weeks without getting up before 6:30 a.m. at all! This really pleases me!

Miss Madison's 1st Birthday Pictures...

I was finally able to get Madison's first birthday pictures taken. The last two times over the past month we tried to get them done, but the weather didn't cooperate for us at all. So, here she is! (All pictures are owned by me, I have the copyright).

This one was really cute. We tried to get her to smile during our session, and she did OK, but this one she smiled when she saw my parents enter the room.
I just loved this one. This little bear is one that she got for her birthday. It is a glow bear.

Getting any one year old to sit still to snap a shot is nearly impossible. She was on the go here, but she is smiling!

This was one of my favorite ones. She wasn't down long and no more than the camera snapped and she was up. But I loved the colors, and plus she is just so darn cute!

When I first saw this one, immediately I thought she looked exactly like Jeff!

I just loved the cheesy look on her face! She thought that the background was a wall and she kept trying to lean up against it, but would fall through it. She did very well through the whole thing and we were in and out in an hour, so I think that had to be some kind of new record for us!

Next comes Matthew and Bethanie, but we will do theirs together in the end of March or so.

Kids are so much fun!

So, Miss Madison is such a smarty pants. She LOVES to make messes, but she also loves to clean them up-most of the time.

She is now 13 months, has two bottom teeth, hair flying wild, and is so sweet and happy! On Sunday at Church, Jeff had a pile of papers, some of them small slips, and Madison came over and threw them all on the floor for him. That's my girl! So, Jeff said, "Madison" or something like that, and all she could think of to do was run to him, open arms and a smile and said, "HI!" and gave him a big hug! :O) How sweet!!! Today, she mastered something she has been working on for a week. Hopping. She now hops, all over. It is so funny to watch because her head is still pretty heavy, but there she is hopping!

Princess Bethanie had a blast at dance class last night. But, its sad because she pulled a muscle in her calf muscle. It is so sore, the poor thing walks like she has a wooden leg. I have massaged it with rubbing alcohol a couple times and put a rice pack on it for heat. I know tomorrow isn't going to be much better.

Matthew has been a delight. He is happy, energetic and is eating better than he has for a while now. I think that he has been doing fairly well at school, and he will have some help coming in which is good news.

Jeff has pulled one of his 16 hour shifts today, and should be home in a couple hours. I cant see how he does this....it would exhaust me. Plus, he is waaaay older then me, so it must be hard on him! ;)

Ballerina Bethanie

Back to the old grindstone! Life is slowly getting back to what ever normal is at our house! Bethanie starts back at dance tonight (ballet/tap). After we go to that, we have to get a quick bite to eat, and then I have an autism support group I am going to go to. I wanted to show a cute picture of Bethanie taken just a couple minutes ago in her new leotard that Aunt Cindy gave to her for Christmas (she also got a smurfy-cute dance bag too!!). She is very excited because no doubt there will not be any other dancer there in a leotard like this one!!! Thanks Aunt Cindy!

The Tooth Fairy...

is coming to our house tonight!!!

Bethanie FINALLY lost her bottom tooth-with a fun twist! For several months, Bethanie's permanent teeth have been coming up behind her baby teeth on the bottom. They are getting quite large! Her bottom baby teeth have been loose for quite some time, and she has been eating apples and wiggling the teeth the best she can, even until they hurt! So tonight she came to me and said that her tooth was bleeding, and so daddy helped her get it out. I took this picture after she got the bleeding to stop (ewww, I know).

Ten minutes later, Bethanie came back to me and said her OTHER tooth was ready to come out because it too started to bleed! I called for daddy (because I am totally allergic to pulling my kids teeth) and he wiggled it, and kept saying, "Hmmm, I don't know..." and then he said, let mommy take a look and she what she could do about it....I was all *PUKE* but I looked and it was GONE. I looked at Jeff and he was grinning ear to ear with it in his hand, silly boy! He foolered us BOTH! So, she lost BOTH of her two bottom teeth today, and the Tooth Fairy is on double duty with Bethie-Beth, which is a new experience for us! YAY! She is so excited and wonders what she will get from the Tooth Fairy! I am hoping the Tooth Fairy is plenty prepared!

On a much lesser side note...today I made the bottoms of the Hello Kitty PJs that Bethanie had asked Santa for. I didnt know! Next week I will work on the tops. CUTE!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Well, its official, 2007 is out and 2008 is IN! I have some pretty neat "goals" in mind for myself personally, and for my family. One, of course, the traditional goal for most people is to become more physically fit, eat better, get more physical exercise. For my family, I want to see us all be a little happier, kinder and enjoy each other more.

Something fun, I got an MP3 player for Christmas. I rarely have time to listen to the radio in the car, and it has been fun choosing songs to put on it. Madison and I are going to learn to love the outdoors and do some walking on warmer days, and it will be wonderful to have something to listen to, songs I have hand selected. It has been a great amount of time since I have had that kind of thing to do. Usually my ears have to be open because Matthew and Bethanie always have something important to say, and this way, on my walks, I can finally listen to just music.

Anyway, it is 1 am and my day is still going on....I will update on Friday how things have been here.