Me:  Mom came over today today help to me out.  I was able to go to TWO grocery stores by myself.

Dwayne: That was like a whole day at the spa for you!

Me: You know me so well….

Last night, the title for this would have been 4 Down, Dwayne to Go. But this morning took care of the last man standing.

Timeline:

Two Saturdays ago:  Piper gets sick (over her siblings); no kids wake up, Piper is fine the next day.

Last Saturday:  We return from the cabin Friday night to go to two birthday parties Saturday morning.  Kyla starts us early by getting sick about 4am.  I’m sick by the morning.  We lay around on the couch all day, sleeping and crawling to the bathroom.  Kyla is fine by dinner time. 

Last Sunday:  Time for Mama to get better because Wesley gets sick.  Starting about 10am, he throws up 1-3 times an hour until bedtime, and then is okay.  Mama just held him all day and did a lot of laundry when I could.

Monday:  Hesitantly optimistic.  I’m not feeling great, but  I’m upright and moving.  Make a quick trip to the cabin to get all the food we left in the refrigerator of Friday when we had planned to be back hours later.   Piper throws up for the first time  just I as am getting ready for bed.

Today:  I drag Piper’s mattress out to the kitchen so she and I could sleep next to a sink and a easy-clean-up floor.  That comes in handy about every hour during the night.  Come morning, she is weak but more energetic and no longer needing the bucket and towels.  Kyla is losing ground so I keep her home from school to rest.  Dwayne becomes unbearable nauseous and actually stays home from work and sleeps until midafternoon. 

Tomorrow:  Please, please let us all be back on our feet—not on our knees—again! 

I mentioned before that I thought I should add red trim around the closet to complete the room.  Here’s the before:

And then with the trim (and dinosaurs, for good measure):

Lots of dinosaurs!  Dwayne’s parents sent Wesley some $$ for his 3rd birthday, so I used it to get dino stickers.  Kinda fun!

Of course, Wesley begs every night to sleep with one of his sister so his bedroom doesn’t get that much use.

….one child gets sick in the middle of the night and vomits over her siblings.  R&K, your daughter slept soundly through it.  We’ll see how she is in the morning. 

Poor Piper….

A friend spent the night (parenting advice—have a sleepover, call up a babysitter, and let her put all four kids to bed while you go out with your buddies!) and they all elected to sleep on the floor in Kyla’s room.  Friend seems to enjoy more personal space than the ones with Dwayne’s genetics.  I like how Wes and Pipes are holding hands almost two hours after falling asleep.

After her joint birthday party with her brother last week, her V-day party at preschool on Wednesday, her birthday on Thursday, and cupcakes for her birthday at preschool on Friday, we were finally able to wrap up her birthday this morning with a  family brunch at our house. 

Grandma knitted her this sweater. 

I’m not sure if Piper could tell you which she likes better:  birthday presents or birthday cake.

We made a T-Rex cake pan that I found at a thrift store last week.  The tail was about 1/2” think and the head was closer to 1 1/2”.  (Maybe that’s why it was so cheap? I’m definitely going to get my $3 out of it over the next few years!)  I ixnayed the frosting after so much sugar this week, but we had ice cream with it, which is a little bit better after a big brunch and long walk.

Can you tell I let Piper decorate her own cake?

Piper, I don’t have the words to tell you how much I love you, but I will try to say them every day anyway!

This is how he looks when he is explaining something to me.  And looking kinda cute.