snapshots

 noah woke up and got dressed in two shirts

he thought he was too funny

olive's favorite pass time is climbing from the toilet to the sink

turning the water on and sitting in it

it kind of makes me crazy but it's hard to prevent

 yesterday was hazel's last day of ballet other than her recital

she only wanted to twirl for her pictures

eleanor is always busy blowing bubbles

nap crashers

eleanor and i were trying to take a nap on the couch this afternoon

but apparently we were asking too much

to want it to be quiet and uninterrupted

 first the kids kept talking to me and touching me

then noah asked to lay with me

 i told him to lay at my feet

but he climbed right in next to me

 olive settled for my feet

 and eventually noah just climbed right on top

and cuddled eleanor

(who was asleep the entire time)

and hazel got her turn next to me

so not much of a sunday nap for me

but at least we all got some good cuddling in

maybe next time i'll go to my room and lock the door  :)

four years of hazel

the day hazel was born

 first birthday

 2nd birthay

 3rd birthday

 4th birthday

i thought it was fun to look back at hazel

with her birthday cake each year

hazel is such a big girl

hazel's fourth birthday

hazel turned four today!

we started the day by letting her wake up to her new kitchen set up

and opening her other presents

notice that noah is just as excited about her pink legos as she is

 then we had breakfast and watched her new movie 

from grandma and grandpa olson

sleeping beauty

and got all dressed up for her party

she asked me to curl her hair

 hazel was actually born on memorial day

so it's no wonder that her birthday is on memorial day weekend this year

too bad it meant a lot of her friends were out of town 

but we were so happy her friends bailey and maddy could come

here they are grabbing candy from the pinata

 blowing the candles out on her princess cake

 after her party hazel said she wanted to go to

sunnyside park which was fun

especially since we ran in to friends there

next we went out to mexican

hazel was excited for them to sing to her

but once they started it made her really uncomfortable

(she's just like her mom)

she was happy to have some ice cream

 even though it was only 3 o'clock when we left the restaurant

we'd had so much excitement today

that all four kids fell asleep in the car (!!!)

that never happens

so we took advantage of it and drove around for an hour

finally parking and watching the bears on campus

eventually they all woke up and had fun looking at the bears with us

hazel is such a sweet girl

she is so nice to her sisters

loves to copy noah all the time

she loves clothes, shoes, lipgloss and princesses

wherever we go, if there's a little girl to play with, hazel makes an instant friend

she loves all things girly

she is very confident but does not like adult attention

from anyone but michael or me

she gets really shy

she loves to draw, color, and paint

she loves church

she does not eat bread

she mostly likes meat and treats

some of her favorite foods are fish sticks, meatballs,

hot dogs, sausage, bacon, fishies, fruit snacks, black beans, cereal,

cookies, ice cream, pancakes... 

(i'm only recording these because i hope she outgrows it

and eats normally one day :) 

we love our hazel girl!

spaghetti and meatballs

at least she ate, right?

checking in

eleanor is doing so much better and such a champ

at taking her antibiotics

she is the most darling baby ever

she smiles constantly

and even has a dimple in her right cheek
we spend a large portion of our day smiling at each other
i love it

olive has been acting a little crazy the last few weeks

we assumed it was because she's almost two

and has a new baby sister

 until she pointed at her ears and said ouchie 

so we took her to the doctor

and both of her tubes are blocked and she has an ear infection

poor girl

now if only i could figure out how to get her antibiotics down her

she spits them out like they're poison

at least she can't do that with her ear drops

hazel is acting so old lately

she turns four this weekend

but she acts like she's a teenager

she loves to help me with eleanor

and has pretty much outgrown her fits

she says she's going to stop sucking her thumb when she's four

so we'll see about that

noah is so funny

he used to be really in to thomas the train

then he moved on to hotwheels

and lately it is lego ninjagos

he's our little collector

he and hazel play so well together, too

he's happy to be her baby 

so she can be the mommy, it's pretty cute

yesterday i ran for the first time since i had eleanor

i figured i should be able to handle two miles

since i ran a half marathon the week i got pregnant with her

and even kept running until 15 weeks

wrong! it was way harder than i thought

and i'm totally sore from it

how lame is that?

michael is busy working

and looking for a house for us to rent in utah

hopefully we find one soon

he's also busy trying to find alternate recipes 

for foods for me to eat

on my new milk-protein free diet

it's sweet

but so far diary free margarine has ruined

cookies and pancakes

a picnic at the river

we went down to lewiston yesterday

i'll admit that we went because there's a new tj maxx

and that is a big enough deal to us (living in the middle of nowhere)

 that we drove 45 minutes to check it out

and after a little shopping

we had a picnic at the river

the kids did a little more wading than we anticipated

and had to ride home mostly naked

but they had a lot of fun throwing rocks

and playing in the water

popsicles and a new grill

so happy

sweet eleanor is doing so much better

i couldn't be happier

she is smiling again

eating again

sleeping again

her skin is looking more normal

she is ok not being held constantly

this has been such a long week

i'm so glad she's feeling better

the roseola is about gone

and she's being prescribed antibiotics

because there was bacteria in her urine

but they think it may have been caused by the catheter

and not an infection

so the antibiotics are just to be safe

i had my six week check up today

which seemed crazy because this week alone

has felt so long

my poor eleanor has gone through so much

in her first six weeks of life

here's to hoping things are a lot less eventful from now on

i'm so grateful for all of your prayers and concern
thank you!

eleanor update

last night around 9:45pm the doctor called

and told us to take eleanor to the ER for a shot of antibiotics

because her urine had grown bacteria

and she thought she probably had a kidney infection

and without immediate antibiotics she could have kidney damage

and we were supposed to make an appointment for eleanor

at the office today

to get a kidney ultrasound and more antibiotics

but when we went to her appointment

the doctor was more concerned with her rash

that started on monday just on her face

then yesterday it spread down her stomach

and today it's reaching her feet and arms

so he thinks it's roseola

it's still not 100% sure

they have diagnosed her with four different things so far

none of which she necessarily has

but if it is roseola, it's not too serious

and she's about over it

the rash means her body has fought the fever and won

and she won't get another fever

but if it's bacterial, her fever will return

when her shot of antibiotics wears off

we'll see

michael's birthday

i was pretty sad to be in the hospital with eleanor

on michael's birthday

so i told him to go breakfast with the kids

they went to mcdonalds on their way to drop noah at school

(it was hat day in his class)

 woo hoo

so much fun with dad

 they came and saw me and eleanor

they even brought me lunch which was nice

hospital food is bad enough

but hospital food when you can't have milk-protein

is even worse

 after the entire day of sitting around
waiting for test results
i was able to bring eleanor home

just in time

to sing happy birthday to michael

 and see the kids before they went to bed

michael bought me dairy free brownie bites

so i could be part of it since i can't have cake

(this diet is the worst)

 it feels so awesome to be home

even though we were only there a little over a day

it felt like torture

we'll have to watch eleanor

and stay in close contact with her doctor

but hopefully she's alright

waiting

since being in the hospital

eleanor has had her blood drawn twice

an iv in her arm constantly

that took three excruciating tries to get in

a catheter inserted just to get a sample of urine

that didn't go in the first time by any means either

as well as a little oxygen monitor on her toe

and we still aren't sure what's wrong

her fever finally broke in the middle of the night

so we're watching that today

and if it stays low

and a blood culture does not show bacterial growth

we might be able to take her home today

which would be ideal

if it is bacterial

then they might have to give her a spinal tap

and then antibiotics through her iv

i'm really hoping to not have to watch as she gets a spinal tap

holding her down and watching everything else has been bad enough

but i'm not sure i can handle that one

thank you for your prayers

happy birthday

HAPPY 28th BIRTHDAY, MICHAEL

wish i was home to make it special for you..

Poor girl

Eleanor has had a fever since yesterday. She was admitted to the hospital today. We're not sure what is wrong yet. So far it has not been a fun day watching her get poked and prodded. Pray for her?

happy mother's day

it may be a dirty, loud, and crazy job

but i love these kids

and there is no greater joy than being their mother

don't mind the kids sitting on hazel while she was coloring in the bottom pictures :)
and
happy mother's day 
to our sweet moms
who are wonderful mothers to us
and even better grandmas

i am grateful to have such wonderful examples