This year has been one of craziness. I decided to start writing things down for fear one day I may forget.

November: We bought a house and decided to gut both bathrooms at once, thus we decided to live with my parents until one bathroom was done. We moved back in just after New Years, okay maybe a few weeks after, with just one bathroom complete. With only a couple weeks ‘till baby number 4 we made use of our time by trying to organize the “stuff” we decided to keep from our move. Let’s just say that we had two driveways full of junk (literally loaded and taken to the dumpster or the thrift store) and a house and garage full! It was a wee bit overwhelming especially during the “nesting” phase!

February 3: We went to the hospital to be induced with Isaiah. He was a whopping 8 lbs 14 oz, 21 inches and a full head of black hair! He stole our hearts immediately. He was full of fluid and thus earned the nickname, “spitty” at the hospital as he would frequently need to be suctioned in order to breathe after he would spit up. Just a little scary!

Meanwhile, Noah was suffering from a massive case of pneumonia which was initially misdiagnosed. We came home to one VERY sick toddler and a nervous wreck of a Grammy. The baby proceeded to need to be checked for jaundice, which resolved, but then he became fussier and fussier. We eventually put him on reflux medicine to no avail. So our life became an endless cycle of holding and calming a sick toddler and newborn screamer. Not much fun for anyone. I spent most “nights” sleeping sitting up with the baby propped in my arms. At most I would get two or three hours per night and would often be up from 2-4 changing diapers or just trying to pacify him so everyone else could sleep. My angel of a mother began coming at 7:30 everyday ,and during the worst of it all, would stay until 4:30pm or later! She has eared the hugest mansion in heaven!

During all of this many things happened... Elijah had lice three times. His poor head! Emi once. We had to strip beds, wash EVERYTHING or put it in the dryer for 20 min on high. During the first lice treatment we had scheduled to have a Sunset writer come and give us ideas for our backyard. So the scene was: the baby screaming in the background, Elijah and I in the bathroom de-licing, and Peter knocking on the front door. Needless to say Grammy came over and helped us in our time of desperation. We finally paid a whopping $310 to professionally rid ourselves of the lice!

We also kept finding fleas on the kids and couldn’t figure out the source. Then we discovered that Sally, the cat, was dying and therefore the fleas were jumping from her to anything else. They were in Grammy’s car and we would find them on the kid’s necks, and one Sunday I even saw one on Eli’s cheek at church and couldn’t reach him... so I guess we spread the love.

March/April
The Sixth Disease. Okay, so once you have it you can't get it again. THANK GOODNESS! First Noah, then Emi, then Isaiah and finally I had this dreadful disease (Hand Foot and Mouth--not to be confused with Hoof and Mouth!). It was horrible and made us all feel miserable. Let's just say cancer-sores on either tonsil and pineapple. NOT good.