sickies and NRI Vikings

The sickie family somehow managed to head out to Falmouth last weekend for Hannah's hockey tourney.  I originally was going to stay home and meet Billy and Hannah out there with the little ones on Saturday, but I somehow managed to get my act together and tough it out to go on Friday even though I was feeling terrible.  The second we stepped into the hotel, I was glad I had decided to go.  If there is one thing I truly love about hockey, it is the family you create while being in the rinks.  I love Hannah's team and their families.  Everyone is so nice and you spend five minutes with them and feel as though you have known them for a lifetime.  They are so supportive and just plain old fun to be around.  We settled in and the kids had a blast playing knee hockey in the hallway.  The only down side to these excursions is that it is tough on Cam.  He has not been doing well at bed time all of a sudden.  He went from my perfect sleeper to a complete disaster.  Not wanting to go down, waking up in the middle of the night.  It was exhausting trying to get him to sleep in the hotel.  On the plus side though, the team won their very first game all season.  When I tell you it was awesome... awesome is an understatement.  These poor kids have tried so hard all season and have just somehow become the underdogs.  They have more heart and they are all really good kids.  To see them win this game was so gratifying.  All the parents were crying with our broken blood vesselled hands (from pounding on the glass).  So proud and so glad I was able to witness it.  I was also able to witness my girl score a goal as well.  Now that was something!  Congrats to the team on a well deserved win.

All week I have been trying to get the kids back into a routine.  Both Hannah and Cam were still not feeling well on Monday.  Cam had broken out in hives over the weekend from what I thought was because of the antibiotic he was on for an ear infection he had before coming down with the flu.  Turns out it was actually from the flu virus itself.  They are seeing the younger kids finish with this hive thing.  Hannah just ended up with a really crappy case of the flu and it was just taking her longer to get over it.  Layla was fine on Monday but then the past two nights we've been up with her and her asthma.  She woke up this morning with a 101 fever so we are heading back to the Pediatrician to be sure her O2 level is ok.  It was about this time last year she ended up in the ICU with and O2 level of 82 and I do not want a repeat of that.  So just to be sure we are heading in to have her checked.  In the meantime, I'd like to sleep for an entire week! LOL  I seriously dont remember the last time I have slept for more than 2 or 3 hours a night.

UPDATE:  Thankfully Layla's pulsox is 98 however, she is very wheezy so they are starting her on prednisone.  Joy.  I wish I could get these kids healthy.  I think I am going to have to dust off my Deceptively Delicious cookbook this weekend and start pureeing.  They have been battling me about what they want to eat and I just have to find a way to get these good nutrients into them. 

Onto the weekend...

sick, sick, sick, sick..nook

I knew it was only a matter of time before the flu visited our house.  Despite my desperate attempts to keep the germs out and despite the flu shot, Hannah started with the high fever on Friday evening.  The poor bug got it pretty good.  I have to say it has been quite some time since she has been sick besides having ear infections.  I guess she got that all out of her system when she was a baby!  Layla started Saturday night and then Cam started Monday.  Tuesday, Billy came home with bronchitis.  I am currently ignoring the fact that my own chest is on fire as I am determined to beat these germs.  There is no time for me to get sick so it's herbal teas, lots of veggies, vitamins and honey for me.  Needless to say, I have been waiting hand and foot on the kids, working at night to catch up on the work I've missed and trying to get some sleep which has proved to be a daunting task with the kids not being able to sleep through the night.  Hannah is finally back at school although I still don't think she is 100%.  Layla's fever finally broke, yet she is having asthma issues now and Mr. Cam.. still has that nagging fever.  Today I am airing out the house, bleaching the bugger down and washing every surface with sanitizer.  Germs be gone!  Please?

I did manage to finish my "nook" over the weekend.  I am in love with the way it came out.  It is surely my happy place. 

The completed version looks like this:

The words for the wall came in yesterday,  "Tutta Bella" means Everything is Beautiful in Italian.  I've always loved the way it sounds...

The shutters I bought from Etsy for a steal.  They were black.  I removed the hardware, sanded them down, painted them white and then this pretty color blue.  I love the color!

This idea with the Mason Jars came to me when all I could think about were fireflies in a jar.  So I bought the jars, the moss and 2 sets of LED string lights and voila!  And who doesn't just love Lavender?

The drawer pull I also got off of Etsy.  I wanted something to offset the weathered wood look I created with the originally unfinished desk.

Last is my chair that I bought for $30 at a local country store.  It's exactly what I had pictured and completes the Shabby Country look.

So there you have my Nook.  I was also able to take some pictures of Cam this week prior to him starting with the flu.  He is a trip.  A total handful, but a trip... and might I add, a good sport.  My little partner in crime.



Hopefully I can pick the camera back up over the next couple of weeks as the kids get on the mend and things start to calm down a bit.  Til then....

October, November, December, January

It's been some time.  I haven't quite had much of a chance to sit and write.  Yet, I am glad today I seem to have found a bit of space today.  The days pass in a blur, the months pass in seconds and again I find myself wishing and praying that time would stand still, just for a bit.  The kids are growing like weeds.  Getting older and hitting all their milestones.  I look at Hannah and my heart drops a bit each time.  She looks and acts like a teenager.  As much as it hurts my heart to see her getting so big so quickly, I do love the relationship we have.  I can joke with her on a different level now and she gets my silliness.  It's all together different dialogue with her now.  It is so hard though.. to not be able to hold her and carry her the way I did when she was a little girl.  That part really bothers me.  Holding Miss Layla has even been getting tough lately, but thankfully, I still can.  My tall and skinny string bean.  She has completely flourished into a super silly, super spacey, hysterical little monkey.  The kid has us all belly laughing at least twice a day with her verbiage, jokes and just her pure funniness.    She is just going to be the funniest little bean her whole life I believe.  She is maturing though too.  Learning is starting to stick a bit with her, although she is not like Hannah with that super smart eagerness to learn.  She can hold her own though.  She is surely the one who will laugh her way through life and I am so okay with that.  She is five and still says, "hold you Mommy, hold you."  (sigh of relief)  One of those things I never corrected and never want too.  She's still my super cuddly love bug too.  Many nights I end up falling asleep with her while she's snuggled up in my "nook".   Then there is Mr. Man.  My baby boy.. every day he grows a bit older and wiser.  He figures out new things all the time and is much like Hannah in his eagerness to learn and do things on his own.  He has an obsession with holding the door open for Mommy and anyone else for that matter.  He HAS to be the one to do it or he gets very upset.  My little gentleman.  And then on the flip side, when he gets upset... WATCH OUT! LOL  He wont think twice before he hits, bites and throws something at your head.  He can throw some serious meltdowns but ALWAYS comes to apologize, hug and kiss once he is calm.  I know its a phase and we are trying our best to teach him right from wrong.  It's just another step in the growing up process.  He adores his sisters and wants to do everything they do.  I often look at him and see so much of Hannah in him.  February is the time we have to reserve his spot for Fall preschool and I've already cried twice just thinking about having all three kids in school.  How can my little baby boy be old enough to go to preschool?  I am so not going to handle this well... like.. at all.  And I swear, if there were some way I could have a 4th.. I would.  In a heart beat! 

Billy and I are spending the next several months creatively making the house ours.  Lots of projects we would like to accomplish.  I am currently working on my photography nook.  I'm so excited about it because it will be the one spot in the house that is just mine!  I want all aspects of it to be something I created.  The desk, I bought unfinished and finished it with a rustic weathered look.  I ADORE it!  It's so rustic, country charm and chic.  I have more touches I need to make before I post a final picture... but I'm so loving it.  We really want to make the house feel like ours and I think after almost 9 years of being married, we are finding our taste in decorating.  The other night I was thinking about how we would most likely pass the house down to one of our kids.  I was wondering which one would love to have it the same way I did.  Would they hate our taste in decor as much as we do our parents?  Would they change everything like we are?  Made me chuckle a bit. 

While I am eagerly awaiting the Spring, and warmer weather, I am also learning to just be in the moment.  To enjoy the here and now.  To savor it and cherish it.  To take in every second with my children, husband and family and just breathe... With all the tragedy in this world right now, I certainly am realizing that every day is a gift.  There are no guarantees for tomorrow.  So all I can do is love.  Love as much as I can.  XO