little miss giggles

This baby.  These cheeks.  Oh my goodness.  She is so loved and we are so happy to have her back to her happy little self.  Caimbree is hysterical. She is super observant and is always watching the chaos around her.  When we catch her watching or just playing on her own she always has such a serious little look on her face.  The second we start talking to her or look at her she just starts laughing.  It is so funny.  If she hears someone else laughing she just cracks up.  I have never seen a baby love to laugh so much.  Savanna was always super smiley and happy, but Caimbree is just giggly.  It is so cute and we adore her little laugh.  I can't believe how fast she is growing.

back to life

 On Monday we found out the reason no one was really getting better...Jeff, Savanna, and Caimbree all had sinus infections and Caimbree also had a double ear infection.  Poor baby.  Now that they are all on antibiotic the eyes miraculously cleared up and other than Jeff still complaining of a headache, everyone seems to finally be healing (knock on wood).  I really hate flu season, but I am so grateful we are generally healthy.  I am so grateful our bodies and minds work and that we have access to doctors and medicine.  Our medical bills this month are now higher than our house payment, but at least we were able to get everyone feeling better.  Now if can just make it through the rest of the season without anything major...especially RSV.  Having an infant is so stressful this time of year.  Sometimes I wish I had a more laid back personality and that I didn't worry about every little thing that could happen.  I never used to be so worried about illness until I had kids, and I am sure I am not the only mom.  It's so hard to know your babies are sick, but not know how serious it is, if you should take them in, if you should put them on medicine, how to make them feel better, etc.  I really think the hardest part this time was getting so sick myself and then having Jeff down and having absolutely everything fall on my shoulders.

 I am trying to get us back into our normal routine.  After what we have been through, it is really hard because all I hear is how sick the whole town is and how many babies are currently in the hospital with RSV.  We have been cooped up for three straight weeks and I just don't think it's fair to try to keep everybody stuck for the rest of the season so I am trying to relax and not look at every place and everybody as our next potential disease ha ha.  I took Heidi to dance on Monday (there were only 6 girls there since everyone is sick) and she was so very happy to be back.  I started taking her back to preschool too.  Stresses me out to no end, but I know she loves it and needs to get out.  Today is opposite day...the hat is as opposite as we get.  I tried to get her to wear her clothes inside out or backwards but this little one is a little particular and had a bit of a meltdown when it came down to actually wearing her clothes the wrong way.  Wish I could get my little Heidi to relax, but I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.  Maybe I can convince her to wear her boots on the wrong feet.  Either way, she is so excited to go again and can't wait for all the fun opposite day is sure to bring.

I hate that Savanna is on an antibiotic again.  I worry so much about her since there is only one she is not allergic to.  Luckily she hasn't been on one for about 3.5 months and hopefully she won't need it again for a long time.  So nice to see her little eyes all cleared up and boy is she thrilled not to have to have eye drops anymore.  The bunny she is holding is her new friend.  We asked her what its name is and she said "Bob."  (Her new favorite book is 15 Animals where every animal is named Bob).  Well, Heidi just couldn't believe she would even think of naming the rabbit Bob. Heidi convinced her to name it "Princess" but that has become "Princess Bob".  It cracks me up.  When I ask her what her bunny's name is she says, "Bob Princess.  Princess Bob."  Oh my goodness she is funny.  She has been into absolutely everything the last little bit, but she sure is full of personality.

We are so grateful to be up and moving again.  We are so grateful that we typically have such good health.  We are blessed to have so many people calling, sending nice texts and messages, and trying to help us as we heal.  I feel overwhelmed by the kindness shown to our family these last few weeks.  Can't wait to be on the giving end.

waiting to be better

 We are still waiting to feel all the way better around here.  The other day I tried to get the girls interested in doing something other than laying around getting on each other's nerves.  They love to play with baking soda and vinegar dyed with food coloring.  It never ceases to be exciting and it helped them perk up just a bit.  They really do seem to be mostly better besides the nagging cough and Savanna's eye is still not all the way better.  That stresses me out because she is supposed to be done with eye drops and everyone said it was a quick fix but it is still somewhat goopy when she wakes up in the morning.  I have no idea if this is normal but I figure I will give her a few more days before I haul them all back to the doctor to figure it out.  Jeff is still the worst off and to be honest, I am so more than 500% ready for him to be able to be better.  I need another adult if for nothing else than for moral support.  The way things are going, it looks like I am on my own for at least another two weeks.  I begged him to go back to the doctor today just to make sure he doesn't have pneumonia or something.  I mean shouldn't you by day 14 be able to function??  He says it's just the cough that keeps him up all night so he is just really tired.  Well, I'm tired too and I'm up all night coughing but I can still get off the couch at this point and feed children and make dinner.  So I am worried there is something else going on and I don't know how long he is going to wait to figure it out, but I think I may lose my patience with it before he does.  Wait, I take that back.  I've already lost my patience.  So if you're the praying type, please pray that his body will heal because if it doesn't, I really think I may have to be checked into the loony bin...or I may just have to book myself  vacation in which I go all.by.myself.  Oh my.  Now that sounds nice.

 We ventured out to the post office last week and were very excited to find our blog book had arrived!  At least we have had a lot of fun things to read while laying around the house.  I am thrilled with how it turned it out this year.  Motivation to keep the blog going!

chompers

 Obviously neither of these pictures show it, but Caimbree probably better start learning to eat food soon since she has officially started getting teeth!  We noticed her two bottom teeth had popped through a couple of days ago.  Heidi's came through at 6 months and Savanna's when she was almost 11 months, so I wasn't sure what to expect.  The girls are pretty excited about the new teeth.

In other news we are slowly healing.  This is the longest drawn out sickness we have ever had but we will hopefully beat it soon.  Everyone still has awful, awful coughs, which is the most annoying symptom at this point.  Savanna woke up Monday with pink eye so we had to go back to the doctor.  It is clearing up, but it's definitely not all the way gone and I am not sure how fast it is supposed to heal, as that is one thing we have never experienced.  Our bodies are all just so tired from coughing so hard and from coughing all night long.  If we never had to cough again, it would be too soon.  Anyway, not much else new going on around our house...just trying to stay home, take it easy, and recover.  I have to say we are going a little stir
crazy, but I would never want to risk infecting anyone else with this...it has been beastly.

seven months

January 19 marked seven months since Caimbree joined our family.  Taking pictures was hard this month.  Neither one of us was really up for the task and this is the best we could do, but at least we got a few.  Even though Caimbree has not been feeling very well for about a week, she is a little trooper and tries so hard to be happy and go with the flow.

*Caimbree is now a master sitter.
*She can roll both ways, but sometimes she forgets and panics when she is on her stomach.
*Still has her beautiful blue eyes.
*Has now reached that grabby phase where absolutely nothing is safe if it is within 3 feet of her.
*Loves to grab Heidi and Savanna's hair.  They actually both respond surprisingly well.
*Caimbree cracks me up with her serious little faces.  I think when people meet her, they think she is very serious, but I would not describe her that way at all.  She is extremely interactive and smiles her head off the entire time you are talking with her.
*Loves to sit back and watch the chaos around her.

*Absolutely, with a burning passion, hates anything you try to feed her.  I have never had a baby like this.  I am ready for her to not be 100% dependent on me for survival, but she wants absolutely nothing to do with bottles, sippy cups, and especially solid food.  If she even sees me trying to mix it up for her, she gives it the nastiest stink eye.  I am not kidding.  Instead of getting better at eating, she is getting worse.  She sticks her tongue out and to the top of her mouth so that it is impossible to get the food in.  If you happen to get a drop in, she gags, screams, and spits it out immediately.  We have tried rice cereal, pears, and sweet potatoes.  Honestly, due to our sickness and some horrible migraines for me before that, we haven't even attempted in about 2 weeks.  It's just too frustrating for everyone involved.  At some point she will decide she wants to eat.
*Loves the bouncer.
*Still likes the hospital soothie binkys.

*Starting to have separation anxiety, but is fine with Jeff.
*Loves Heidi, but is a little nervous when Savanna is around, which is sad because Savanna loves her so much.
*Starting to put all of her toys in her mouth.
*Hates to be left in a room alone.
*Likes to sit on the counter and watch me cook.
*Everyone who meets her comments on her cheeks.
*Such a giggle box!!!  We LOVE this about her!

*Seriously, the loudest little girl I have ever met!!  Oh.my.gosh!  She loves to talk and squeal, and you never have to wonder where she is.
*Usually naps around 9 and 12:30/1. Sometimes she takes a quick evening nap.
*I honestly don't even know what is "typical" for night sleep anymore.  She was getting in a routine then she got sick.  Then she was doing good (I think, but to be honest I was up so much I can't even tell you which child was sleeping and which one wasn't) and now her nose is all stuffed up.  She will figure out and loves having a place of her own to sleep.  I really believe that once she starts eating consistent solid food meals more than once a day she will be just fine.  At the rate she's going, it may be awhile.
*It doesn't matter what outfit she is wearing or what size diaper she is in, she will explode out of it. I think I do at least one load of wash a day trying to save something from being stained.
*When she wakes up she is so cute.  She will just roll around play happily until you come get her.

Overall, Caimbree really is such a fun, delightful, roll with the punches kind of a baby.  We love her so much!!  She is definitely not starved for attention around our place and all of us think she is amazing!  I still can't believe she is already 7 months old.  Time is flying by.  Love you baby girl!

rough week

It's been a very rough week at our house.  Last Sunday Jeff started feeling sick in the evening.  He progressively got worse and even took himself to the doctor on Tuesday.  If you know Jeff, then you know he must have been feeling really lousy to go to the doctor.  By Wednesday the girls all had fevers and were complaining of sore throats and just the all around aches.  Caimbree was super scary because she was really lethargic.  I took them into urgent care.  While we were waiting, Caimbree puked all over the room.  Finally the doctor came in and they were all diagnosed with influenza.  They got prescriptions for Tamiflu and orders for a nebulizer.  The doctor was especially concerned with Caimbree.  She said the vomiting was because of the influenza.  Just like with strep, infants and young children's bodies oftentimes have stomach issues.  We got the girls home and Caimbree continued to decline.  She couldn't stop puking, her fever was getting higher, she was so lethargic, and had altogether stopped crying.  By this time urgent care was closed, so Jeff stayed home with the girls and I took Caimbree to the emergency room.  Of course they couldn't really do anything with her and just had me feed her and stay there awhile to see if she could keep it down. An hour after I got home Savanna as really struggling.  I went in thinking she was just achy but she had puked all over her bed.  Jeff was still not better so all of the taking care of the girls fell on me.  The next few days and nights are kind of a blur.  Lots of crying, whining, and screaming.  High fevers, chills, and body aches. Just when I thought I might be the only one to be safe, I got it Friday.  I felt like I had been run over by a truck.  My fever was at 104 and my throat was killing me by the end of the day. Jeff, Savanna, and Caimbree seemed to be feeling a lot better.  Savanna and Caimbree actually both started feeling better quite quickly.  Heidi on the other hand continued to have a super high fever, screamed about her throat, and could't sleep more than 30 minutes at a time.  By Saturday I finally just took myself to urgent care. I couldn't get the fever to budge even with Tylenol and Advil, and I was so weak and dizzy. They said I had strep.  So I got an antibiotic.  I had one for Heidi but hadn't given her any because I wasn't sure if she needed it. Since they said I had strep, I figured she probably did too.  Once I gave her the antibiotic the fever finally broke and she stopped complaining about her throat and started to perk up a little.  My throat is nothing like it was and my fever seems to be gone.  While none of us are completely better, we are at least headed in the right direction.  I have no doubt the cough will be with us for at least another week.  We have felt so blessed during this difficult time for our family.  We have had family and friends continually calling and texting to see how we were doing.  We have had meals, jello, and popsicles dropped off on our porch.  My fridge is full of yummy soup from so many kind friends.  I have never felt such an outpouring of love and concern for our little family and it made this awful, awful illness more bearable.  I hope we never, ever get influenza again and I also hope that in the future I will have a chance to pay forward the kindness shown to our family.

pajama princess party

 The other day Heidi and Savanna were upstairs giggling and then Savanna came down with a dress up dress asking me to help her put it on.  Heidi had cooked up the idea to have a pajama princess party...without pajamas ha ha.

 Heidi got her new radio all set up and they were going to dance in their princess dresses.  I am not sure where the pajama part fits into the game, but they seemed to know what they were doing.

 Caimbree was happy to be a part of the excitement and happily watched as Heidi attempted to get all of her stuffed animals dressed for the party.  This part took so long, they never actually got the party, but I guess the anticipation is just as thrilling as the actual party.

The cutest part of this little activity were theses cute little invitations Heidi made.  She made this one for her dad, hence the "D".  So, so, so cute.  I am loving all of her little pictures lately.  She made another one for me with an "M" on it and it had a picture of a girl.  It had curly hair so she made sure I knew that it was Savanna.  I love the little games they play together.

gold heart

 I always say that Savanna has a heart of gold.  After Heidi hears me say this, she talks about Savanna's gold heart.  It's cute.  After shots on Thursday, Savanna was pretty concerned about Heidi.  When Heidi would whimper and cry Savanna would hug her and try to kiss where they gave her shots.  So tender.  Savanna is also our little funny girl.  She was doing everything she could think of to make Heidi laugh.  It was so cute to watch her try to make Heidi feel better.  Savanna is always so in tune when someone doesn't feel well and tries to make them feel better.  It's one of the million things I love about her.

Thursday night was rough at our house.  Caimbree was throwing up and I had one of the worst migraines I have had in about three months.  I was miserable and trying to take care of a sick baby all night was almost more than I thought I could handle.  Caimbree seemed to be feeling better Friday morning, but I did not fair quite as well.  I was a wreck.  I couldn't stop throwing up and I felt like my head was going to literally explode.  Heidi and Savanna were both so sweet and helpful.  They tried to play nicely and Heidi was trying to be more patient with her sister than usual. When I finally got Caimbree down for a nap I asked Heidi if she could please just play with Savanna nicely so I could lay down for a few

 minutes and try to keep some medicine down.  She took Savanna upstairs and they read and played doctor and Heidi even got both of them dressed!  I was able to keep the medicine down and the headache finally started to feel better enough that I could function.  I felt so lucky to have such sweet, helpful little girls.  Sometimes having three kids so young is so hard, especially with the nasty spell of migraines I have been having lately, but I wouldn't trade them for anything!  I love my girls and their gold hearts!

almost 6.5 months stats and almost 4.5 year stats

Caimbree turned 6 months on December 19, but with the craziness of Christmas I took her in yesterday.

Height: 24 inches--below 5%
Weight:14 lbs 8 oz--17%

She is about two pounds heavier than my other girls at this age.  I am glad she is growing and developing on track!

Caimbree did pretty well with her shots but late last night after we put her to bed she started puking.  What the heck??  I don't know if it's related to the shots (I doubt it) or if the cereal/sweet potatoes I made her eat (which she seriously despises) upset her stomach, or if she just got a stomach virus.  I am hoping it's just a virus.  She threw up five times and ate in the middle of the night, but kept it down.  She didn't have a fever or anything.  Jeff had a touch of something Sunday, but no one else seems to have it, so I am really confused.  Praying it's not food allergies or something.

I also had Heidi get her pre-kindergarten shots.  She was oh so very mad at her mother, but I just wanted to get it done while we were there!  It was pretty traumatic for Heidi...which would make sense if you know our little Heidi.

Height-39 inches--16%
Weight-32 pounds--14%

Actually getting her height and weight were almost more traumatic for her than the actual shots.  Of course she screamed the rest of the afternoon about her legs hurting, but by early evening she seemed to have forgotten and told me she was glad she had them done and over with.  You wouldn't think those words would come out of her mouth when just minutes before she was telling me she was just going to sit on the couch until she was 11 because her legs were going to hurt at least that long.  Love this picture I snapped of her napping.  She really is such a good girl.  I hit the jackpot with my girls.  Now if they could just stop growing so fast.

book worms

We read books in our house a lot.  Sometimes I read to the girls, sometimes they read to each other, sometimes they read alone. Heidi and Savanna have both started reading to Caimbree every chance they get and it melts my heart.  We got so many fun books for Christmas.  Jeff and I got each of the girls a new book, their cousin Ginny gave them a bunch of really fun ones, and they got some super cute ones from their grandma McLean. Books are always a hit around our house and it is always fun to have new stories to read.  I have especially loved watching Savanna show her love of books lately.  She knows exactly which ones she wants to read and likes to tell me who gave them to her.  I hope their love of reading just continues to grow because it is one of my favorite things to do with them!