Eliza and Caleb

Eliza started out the day seeming pretty listless. She ate some applesauce for breakfast, but didn't perk up after that. She carried her water cup with her all morning, but pretty much spent it laying on the couch with her blanket. She doesn't usually just lay there--she's so active and climbing all over the place, it didn't seem right, so I took her in to the doctor for dehydration. He thought she was a little dehydrated, but not ER-worthy, so he told me to try continuing to feed her the BRAT diet (of which she'll only eat applesauce if it's spoon-fed to her). So we went home, stopping at Walmart to buy Gatorade (1/2 Gatorade, 1/2 water was a suggestion of the doctor) and some Pedialyte and some instant mashed potatoes (another suggestion in addition to the BRAT diet--she actually likes potatoes too!). She seems much better this evening after downing 2 sippy cups of the Pedialyte and eating a regular lunch and even a snack earlier today. She didn't eat much dinner, but she seems to have perked up quite a bit.

But anyway, that's not what this post is about, I just wanted to update you all on her. So after dinner, I was getting Travis into his pajamas, which, of course, includes changing his diaper. I had already folded shut the old diaper and put on the new one and was helping him into his pajamas, when I noticed Eliza playing with a diaper. I thought, that's funny, Travis' old diaper is right next to me, he's wearing his new one, and her clean diaper (she was next in the pajama line) is still on top of the shelf.

I finished with Travis and went over to see what was going on, and she was crouched over, playing with a diaper. Turns out, she had taken off her diaper (which was still dry and clean) and was pooping (remember, she still has diarrhea) on the carpet. I'm not sure how she managed to get it off, she's never pulled it off before! Of course she decides to master that skill when she has diarrhea! I can just see her little mind Here's a fun present for Mommy, muahaha! No, I know she didn't think that, but it was not fun to clean that one up, let me tell you.

So here's Caleb's story. This morning, right before Corey left to do his observations at the school, I walked by the thermostat. The air had been running all morning, and I was kind of cold, so I glanced at it and saw that it was set on 69! I though, gee, no wonder it's cold! So I started arrowing up to a higher temp, when I noticed that it wasn't even set to cool but to warm. The heater was on (but only on 69!). So I turned that to cool, thinking that after I had arrowed up to 80 the air would turn off, but it didn't. Then I noticed that not only had it been on heat, but it was on ON, not auto.

Now, I'm generally the only one who touches the thermostat in our house because I'm always too hot or too cold and I keep changing it, trying to find the best setting. I know that it wasn't on constant when I went to bed last night, I'm pretty sure it wasn't running at that point at all. Corey hadn't touched it, and I was wondering out loud what had happened, when Caleb said, "It was me, Mom. I changed it. I got cold last night so I changed it." He had gotten the bathroom stool and stood on that while randomly touching buttons and levers until he thought that it wouldn't be too cold anymore!

I told him, "next time you're too cold, turn off the fan in the room first, and then if you're still too cold, come and get me and I'll help you with it. Only Mommy or Daddy touch the thermostat."

Hopefully he'll remember that!

Eliza's Miserable Day

This morning we wake up to Eliza crying at about 6 am. Not surprising, that's always right about when our little alarm clock goes off--usually it's earlier even. So Corey goes and brings her back to our room, and she has one of those really runny, out-of-the-back, out-the-legs types of diapers. She had a little of this yesterday, so I wasn't too surprised, and the rash wasn't too bad yet. We change her diaper, put her in the tub for a few minutes, and then get her dressed for the day.

Later on, I check on Eliza, who seems to be playing happily in her room, and notice that the legs of her jeans are wet. Yep, a diaper disaster. This time I find that her rash is a lot worse. After lunch, when I change Eliza again, she's in the process of going, and it just keeps coming while I'm trying to change her. She seems finished and then, with just long enough for me to get her all the way dry before putting on fresh baby powder and a clean diaper, she goes again, screaming the whole time. I go through about 4 diapers like this. Her rash is getting exponentially worse every second. Finally, I get a dry, clean diaper on her and she relaxes in Corey's arms. We decide that she needs a nap, so I take Westley to his game, leaving Corey home with the three little ones.

This has continued all day, and she is getting worse and worse. It's horrible. She's eating fine. She's drinking fine. So I don't think it's a stomach bug, I think it's toddler diarrhea, which is caused by drinking too much juice. So we've cut out the juice and milk and she's only drinking water, but she is SO miserable. I just feel terrible for her! I've tried baby powder, diaper rash creme, even Vaseline, and nothing seems to help. The problem is the constant dirtying of the diaper, I change her about every 20-30 minutes. Her little behind is so red and raw that it makes me cringe just to see the darn thing. I feel so bad that she's in such pain!

Then, while I was dealing with a really bad one, sitting her in a lukewarm tub with her screaming the whole time, Travis decides to stand on the doll stroller and falls off, hitting his mouth, and he comes running down the hall with blood dripping down his front, while I'm on the phone with a friend seeking her advice about diaper rash cures.

Poor baby Eliza, I hope the rash starts to clear up really soon, but I recall from when she was a newborn, that her skin doesn't heal very fast from these rashes. It's best to prevent them because they take a long time to get rid of (one she had for about 3 weeks before it finally started drying up all the way). I just feel so bad for her being in such pain!

Hip! Hip! Hooray!

I got a call from Corey on Thursday night to tell me that HE'S BEEN PROMOTED!!!!

We are very excited. It involves a transfer from the store he's currently at, which is on Ray Road by the I-10 Freeway. He'll be moving back over to Tempe, the store by ASU, as a 2nd manager on April 20th! This is such great timing for us, and we are so happy about it.

Congratulations, Corey!

Sad

Today I'm feeling very sad. I just learned this afternoon of a family out here in Queen Creek who lost their fifth child, an 8-month-old boy, to SIDS just this past week. My heart goes out to them in their time of trial. I am reminded of the Gospel and the beautiful blessing of eternal families. It brings such peace in dark times like these to know that through the sealing power, we can see our dear loved ones again, and, in this case, they can raise their precious child, in the life hereafter. I think that the salvation of little children and the doctrine of eternal families are among the most beautiful doctrines we have.

Happy Green Day!

I just wanted to make a shout out for St. Patrick's Day. We love St. Patrick's Day around here because we get to wear GREEN! Westley loves green. So, today we are all garbed in green--even Daddy put on the one shirt he owns that has a little green in it. We had Lucky Charms for breakfast, have some green-frosted sugar cookies to eat, and will have green milk at dinner (we just got back from the store buying the green food dye).

If I were feeling up to it, which I would have been if not for these stupid allergies, we would have had a green party, invited a few of the kids' friends, and done a whole meal all in green, and maybe played some fun little games. But, I didn't plan anything in advance (too busy with Little League and going out of town and helping Corey with school), so maybe next year we can start that tradition.

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Hope you're wearing your green!

Westley's Little League Opening Day

At home getting ready for the big day--Westley puts his Cardinals uniform on for the first time!

In line with his team for the Opening Day Parade. Westley is the fourth one in line, holding the orange and black mitt.

Westley at bat, Coach Jason helping him with his batting stance.

Westley running to third base.

Westley running home.

Opening Day for Desert View Little League was on Saturday, March 14th. There was a parade, a basket auction, which I had to make a basket for (mine was pretty pathetic looking compared to the others and I actually thought before hand that I had done a pretty good job), team pictures, and then games for only some of the teams. Westley's team had their first game, playing the Yankees. I have no idea who won. Westley thinks his team did, but it didn't really seem like they kept score. I only know that Westley made it home three times. The only outs were if the runner got tagged or didn't make it to the base. All the kids got to bat each inning. It was fun, and Westley seemed to enjoy himself. He sure liked the game better than his practices. It may have partly been because Daddy was there, cheering him on.

It was a busy morning, and a long morning in the sun. I'm glad that after this, all we have to worry about is one game each Saturday and a few on weeknights, and we'll only be out there for about an hour, instead of from 8 am until 1:30 pm. That was a long time to be in the sun for all of us! Only me and Corey got sunburned, and Eliza a little on her face because she wouldn't let me put sunscreen on her face (I did the best I could despite her squirming and screaming).

Corey and Jenna's Getaway

Corey and I were able to have a little "getaway" from Wednesday evening, March 11th, to Friday morning, March 13th. We just went to a little place in Scottsdale, and spent some time without the kids. We were able to go out to eat a few times and we also went horseback riding and to a Dodgers spring training game. We ate at Lucille's BBQ the first night and Black Angus the second night. We went horseback riding in Papago Park. It was a lot of fun and nice to have a little break from the kids and daily routine. Corey's sister Jamie watched the kids for us, so thank you to Jamie.

Here are some pictures--we are both terrible about taking pictures and asking people to take pictures, so we didn't get very many.

Corey and I at the ballpark

Our view of the ballpark from our seats.

Horseback riding in Papago Park

Horseback riding in Papago Park