14 weeks down

Since you've been gone...

Charlotte: This week with this big girl, was a great week. She took the meaning of "helper" to the next level, as both Finn and Marley had the flu... She came out unscathed... and I'm constantly in awe of her immune system... her amazing steel tank of a body. The Russian tank, I call her. The littles coughed on her, hugged her, smooched her, she threw away tissues/diapers, and yet this kid didn't get the flu. Her little body amazes me... I have yet to see her crumble over yucky germs/an illness. She helped so much with the babies this week, especially while they whined and complained, and I needed to hide in the closet to cry (no seriously... there's only SO much complaining I could handle at the end of a day filled with complaining, after NO sleep.) She handled my short tempered self... and loved me. She asked what she could do to help, and I said, "Bring me coffee..." and then she asked me to show her how I make coffee... sure enough, she can make it and bring it to me... and 4x this week she brought me coffee in bed, because she woke up before me... How do I deserve her as my daughter? Also, she came up with her very own joke this week... we were waiting for coffee from Starbucks, in the drive thru... both babies were asleep, and she says, "What's a pirates favorite store?"... I shrugged. She said, "Taaaaaaarget", in the best pirate voice she had... and then followed her answer with a little giggle. crack.me.up.

Marley: This week with this little girl, was an on and off kind of week. She's been sick, and her body has been trying to get rid of this illness... she's coughing, gagging on her spit, and then throwing up when it turns into a fit. Her whininess got the best of me this week... my patience was super thin. We are starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel.... hopefully just a few more days of this. Thankfully she's sleeping through the night again, and not as restless as she used to be at the beginning of the week. She'll tell it like it is this week... "Marley, do you want some yogurt?" ... "no." "Marley, do you want to put on your outfit?" ... "no." "Marley, do you want to play in your room with Charlotte?" "no." "Marley, do you want to say 'no'?" "no."... I think you get the picture.

Finn: This week with this little guy, was TOUGH.... with him being sick, and helpless... I felt like it was just as rough, as when I first brought him home (especially with the sleepless nights). He wanted to comfort nurse ALL day long... and ALL night long. Man, I'm having PTSD just thinking about it. I smooched his face off the morning after he started sleeping through the night again. To see him so sick, was super tough. His little body shivered over the fever, big time... I've never seen anything like it. He stopped eating solid foods for a few days, and still now, is only eating a little here and there. I'm sure it'll take a few more days for his appetite to return. In the meantime, he's just been a snuggly bug...

Me: This was a tough week for me... having to nurse 2 little ones back to help, that are so close in age, is rough... and draining. Without you here, I was up all night with the sick ones, and still had to run the household the next day, along with homeschooling, and tending to the sick ones. That's how 3, almost 4 out of the 7 days looked. It was rough, especially with the sleepless nights. I was a walking zombie by Thursday. When Finn started sleeping through the night again on Thursday, life felt SO much better. Oh the power of sleep.... it's healing. I also had a 3 day stretch of not showering because of it... and then finally on day 4, I put the kids in front of a show on my phone, and grabbed one (the photos taken down below). I needed it bad. I think just getting back into a routine, after being gone from the home... was just as challenging. But we made it work... and we're all still alive. I'm so thankful to your parents that are out this week visiting... it'll be such a sweet time with them.

Story of the Week: While the babies were sick... I could barely put one down without them crying... they both needed to be held AT ALL TIMES... or near me AT ALL TIMES. So, during diaper changes, I laid them beside eachother on the ground. Charlotte would help by grabbing diapers and passing them to me. I started with Marley... she had a poo poo in her cloth diaper, and so I quickly wiped her down, and put her diaper to the side (I don't usually bundle up the diapers, so that I can dispose of the "mess" before placing the diaper in the laundry room). When I checked Finn's... of course, he pooped as well. I grabbed the wipes but noticed there weren't too many left, so I got up and went to Marley's room, to grab an extra pack of wipes to replace in the box... when I came back into the room, I noticed Finn had reached over to the side and grabbed Marley's cloth diaper. Lets just say, there was lots of "mooshing" around in his fingers going on...