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

milk allergy

poor eleanor might have a milk allergy

she has had small amounts of blood in her stool

off and on since last thursday

the doctor said it may mean she has an infection

but more likely a milk protein allergy

so she suggested that if i want to keep breastfeeding

i should try a milk protein free diet

so pretty much no butter, cheese, milk, yogurt, whey, etc.

which sounded fine enough

and it's worth a try

(though we're also going to test her stool

to see what else may be causing the bleeding)

but now i'm trying to make a grocery list

with recipes for dinner

and the list is very short...

any suggestions?

luckily she is still gaining weight just fine
she was at 10lb 12oz today

one month old

eleanor turned a month old last week

 eleanor is so calm (thank goodness)

she sleeps a lot of the day

and has her most alert time from around 7-10pm

which is pretty nice since 7pm is when the other kids go to bed

then around 10pm she falls asleep

i put her in her cradle

and she sleeps for around 6 hours straight

then when she wakes up

i bring her into our bed and she nurses and sleeps the rest of the night

she is starting to give little hints of a smile

and loves to look at me

her hair a light brown/strawberry blond
and i think it's going to get lighter and lighter
plus it's curly when it's wet

the kids just love her

and hazel asks to hold her probably 15 times a day

the adjustment to four has been a little tricky

but not because of eleanor

just because it's a lot of kids

i can't really take them all anywhere by myself yet

but we do make it out to the playground occasionally

and we're all happy she's here
even if the house is never clean
and i rarely shower..

celebration

we had a really big weekend for our family

first

MICHAEL GRADUATED!

he is officially an electrical engineer

i am so proud of him!

 then we went out to teriyaki

and celebrated

(steven and michael)

 and today michael blessed eleanor 

here's our family before church

 our little darlings

olive gave me a run for my money all weekend

i think we were maybe asking a little too much of her

to skip naps and sit still during the graduation and everything

but man, she is busy!

and so cute!

here's everyone that came this weekend

thank you family!!

we are excited to move on to the next phase of life

even if it's more school

(michael's going to grad school at BYU if you haven't heard)

but so grateful for the memories we've made here

and how much we've grown

it has been a fun time of reflection

may

is it really may? 

this is a big month

with a lot happening

in may michael graduates

we're blessing eleanor

michael has a birthday

and 11 days after that hazel has a birthday

see that pink kitchen?

we ordered it for hazel's birthday

and i am suuuuper excited

southfork and fro-yo datenight

this was our last time using evening care

since we'll be moving 

but weekly dates 

while our children were well taken care of by

teaching students from the university

for free

was amazing while it lasted