Surviving the End of the Winter

Spring has sprung!  It was 65 degrees and sunny today and it felt wonderful!  We have had a rough end to the winter - not necessarily weather-wise, but in terms of illness running through the house.  When we left off last on the blog, it was the end of Austin's basketball season. Since then, it has been one thing after another that has wiped us out.

First, we all had a bit of a cold, but Trevor was the one that had the roughest time.  He was doing fine with it until one day, he spiked a fever and started wheezing and having trouble breathing.  I have asthma related to allergies, but none of the kids had ever wheezed, so that was a surprise to me.  I popped in to clinic with him and gave him an albuterol neb treatment and he got much better.  We brought home an aerochamber device to use with my inhaler for him in case he needed more of the albuterol, but we only ended up having to use it once.  Here he is rocking his first nebulizer treatment.

I had a week off work in mid-February to recharge, but it was a busy week at home with the kids.  Of course, we didn't all get sick on the week I was home, but instead, we all got sick for the next 2 weeks!

We had a lot of playtime at home this month. The kids liked to get their blankets and pillows and pretend they were sleeping on the floor of their rooms.  So cute all snuggled up together!

We had a fun day during my week off when Theo's daycare was closed and Michelle needed to get some work done, so Theo got to come play for the day.

Trevor showing Theo his snowman book.

Austin has been enjoying his circuit toy and his "invention" kit. Here he is with the motor he and I built with a battery by making an electromagnet.

Trevor reading to puppy.

By 2/22, Sarah started throwing up.  It all went downhill from there.  All 3 kids and Mommy got gastroenteritis - TWICE EACH - over the last 2 weeks!  Each kiddo was sick for a day or so, then totally fine for a few days, then sick again!  Ugh! We were all so sick and we ended up doing a lot of scrubbing carpets, washing bedding, changing clothing, etc.  I have no idea how Daddy managed to avoid getting sick.  Our kids are typically so healthy that this is the first time we've ever been called by the school nurse to come pick up one of the kids.  Austin had been fine for a couple days and then threw up in class.  Yikes!  Sarah had a week between getting sick the first time and the 2nd time. I had just gotten it for the first time and was starting to feel better when I was taking a shower and Steve came in to tell me that Sarah had just thrown up everywhere!  Ugh!  It just kept coming back! I'm hoping we're all finally going to stay healthy this time!

When we were finally all recovered from being sick, Steve and I attended the gala for the kids' school.  There was an auction there and somehow, we ended up coming home with this guy...a GIANT Mike from Monster's Inc and Monster's University.

I'm not sure this photo does it justice - this thing is HUGE!  The kids thought it was pretty cool and were excited to find him when they woke up on Sunday morning.  Now we'll have to figure out what to do with him.

The weather warmed up quickly, so after having the end of our winter taken up with illness, we decided to get in one last fun winter activity before the temps warmed up into the 60s this week.  We headed to Elm Creek to go snow tubing on Sunday afternoon.  Temps were in the 40s, so the snow was starting to get slushy and the hills were running really slow, but we had lots of fun.  Trevor was tall enough to go this year, so he got to experience tubing for the first time.  He definitely looked a little apprehensive at first, but he wanted to go again and again and ended up really enjoying it.