I should be in bed with Byron right now, but I've been browsing blogland and trying to connect with some ladies on facebook swap to pick up a few items I've decided to purchase. One of them is a Sophy Giraffe!! I've so wanted one but I didn't want to spend the $20, so a lady is selling it for $8, so as the first person to comment, I hope she lets me buy it!

Well, it's been a while and alot has happened but I don't feel like blogging until the wee hours. Feb 13-15 I surprised Byron with 2 nights away in Vancouver without the kiddo's. It was a nice relaxing few days, minus the fact that it was in Vancouver as Byron HATES it in the big city, but we made the best of it! It was close to home but away from home at the same time. Well, it rained on the Monday and I failed to bring jackets and our umbrella broke on the way back from walking around downtown, so we ended up a bit wet, but that's part of it :). We slept in until 9 both mornings with the sun coming in the blinds that covered the 2 walls of floor-to-ceiling windows. We could have sat looking out the windows all night long as it was all new and exciting for us to view the city from 19 stories up. We ended up going to Earls for dinner on Valentines day and then to see a movie afterwards. It was all a good time, but we missed out girls who were well taken care of by Byron's parents.

This nasty flu bug has been going around and we decided we would do all that we could to prevent our household from catching it. So, 3 weeks ago I came down with a stomach bug for a day, then the next day Byron got it, but thankfully our girls never caught it. SO, last week I ended up getting a sudden sore throat Wed night. I had an awful sleep as it hurt to swallow and I felt myself not feeling quite right. So, Thursday Byron had to head off to work and I hung out on the couch all day as best I could with 2 little ones around, only getting up when I HAD to. I had the cold chills, then I was overheated. It still hurt like stink to swallow, but I figured I had the flu and a cold. Thursday evening, I felt my throat getting really sore again. I was all ticked off as I mentioned to Byron that I had the hot/cold, and a sore throat, why get a worse off sore throat? Well, nothing I could do. I had another awful sleep as I kept waking up and having a hard time breathing, couldn't swallow water, let alone my own saliva without wincing in pain. I was coughing up stuff, but when I went to the bathroom there was some blood in my spit. Hmm...I figured that wasn't good. I went back to bed to doze, but then I was coughing so I decided to take some Buckleys, but with doing so, it actually closed off my throat, so for a few seconds I panicked as I couldn't breath. Standing in the kitchen in the middle of the night, with 2 girls fast asleep and Byron SOUND asleep, I freaked out thinking it'd be hours before they found me on the floor! But, it passed on and I could breath again. So, off to bed I went with the Buckley's making NO difference. So, around 4, I sat up and Byron woke up from me, and we decided to wake up the girls and head to the ER. I have never, ever felt so much pain from trying to swallow my own spit! Well, in the ER, they swabbed me for Strep-throat (which turned out negative), gave me IV antibiotics, steroids and pain meds. I had to go back to the ER for 3 mornings in a row for treatment and they gave me a RX for 10 days worth of antibiotics; 2 pills 3x/day!! Yowzers! So, with all that, I'm on the mend. My family Dr. sent me for blood work to check for Mono, which he doubted I had, but checked to rule it out, and that came back negative too, so seeing he didn't know what it was, he justed called it a virus. Some virus I'll say! I never want that one to hit me again! I'm doing OK these days, still not feeling 100%, but I'm on the mend, which is the good part. I just have to make sure I'm in bed on time (ah-hem!), and if I feel like it, nap during the day. Good thing I'm all done nursing too!

Other than having the stomach bug the one day, Byron is doing great. He's keeping busy at work, trying to pick up as many overtime shifts as he can as they're short handed right now. When he's home, if he has time :) considering I fill his days up with stuff we all do, he tinkers in the shop, working on woodworking things. He's constantly looking up fun things to make with wood on the internet, trying to come up with ideas he can make and then sell. Just for fun! I love it that he's into that! It's so awsome to have a handyman around the house! It's nice to tell Sidney that "Daddy has to fix it" rather than putting it in a pile for Opa/Grandpa to fix.

Sidney is doing well. Her thing lately is to wake up before 7, which to me is still nighttime. I'm trying to figure out how to change that, but in time. We're working on potty training her. She's getting better at telling us she has to go pee, but she does have her accidents. I know she's just 2, so it'll take time! She's doing quite well at night too! She's all out of diapers and into pullups and underwear. She knows where she's allowed to pee and not to pee! She is such a bundle of joy to have around. She just adores her little sister to pieces, sometimes too much and we have to scold her. Anything Jodee plays with, she just HAS to have! She'll try to swap a toy for the one Jodee has, but that gets her into trouble too as we either scold her or Jodee will fuss as she doesn't like it what Sidney did. Sidney is just talking up a storm and learning the words to songs. She may not always be clear, but it's endearing none the less! Sometimes we have to wonder where she comes up with things. The thing she talks about alot is the mountains, as we look out our front window to one. She mentioned the other day about climbing the mountain, where did she get that one? Hmm... She's infatuated with the idea of snow on the mountain, so every day she has to mention that there's snow on the mountain. Oh, just puts a smile on my face to hear her sweet little voice in my head right now!

Our little Jodee is happy as can be. I thought a little while back that she could have a milk allergy as she was really fussy for a bit, but that petered out and she is fine. I quit nursing 3 weeks ago and she's been doing awsome! She is now approx. 20 lbs and 7 months. No suffering on her part! She is such a monkey! She's now on the move, pulling herself in the beginning stages of the army crawl. She can get her knees under her, so I won't be surprised if she crawls soon, but she can get to where she wants to be! Not fast or far, but if a toy is out of reach, she'll get it! She has also popped a tooth, and another is not far away. She's sure growing up! You can tell she wants to pull herself up, but one day! She doesn't sleep through the night anymore, but we're hoping she will soon, once that tooth is out. She's not cranky about teething which is nice. At night we will often turn the moniter off and let her cry herself back to sleep, but in the process, she'll be in any position in her bed. Man, that girl MOVES, ALOT! She will always wake up in the mornings, happy as can be, but not without that HUGE smile on her face, legs kicking, head bopping as she's so excited to see us! She's a monster with her food, she could eat and eat and eat! But, we don't let her eat and eat and eat. Mean as it may be. It's so hard not to tickle her, to throw her in the air, to dip her when she's in our arms to get that huge smile out of her she's honestly so happy. I pray that she'll continue to be like this forever!

Well, that's all for now, it's windy, it's 10:34pm, the dog needs food and I need to go to bed. Hope you're all doing well and will post pictures another time! Sorry!