I have Christmas pictures and other stuff to post, but I haven't been able to sit at my desktop computer to get it done because I get sick and dizzy when I don't have my feet propped up. I'll try to get Ben to help me with it when he has some time. However, he is now back to work and trying to keep everything together here at home while I am on bedrest.

To keep things short, Ben and I were watching a movie Saturday night when I suddenly felt very dizzy and on the verge of passing out. I called my doctor and she said to eat something and go to bed. If things weren't better on Monday, she wanted me to call her office even though she would be out. Of course, she told me to head to the ER if things got worse. I was able to rest and make it through the weekend, but Monday morning I was still struggling with the dizziness so another doctor mine works with had me come in for some tests. It looked like I might be developing preeclampsia so I am on bedrest this week and have an appointment with my doctor on Monday to see how things are going. This little guy might be coming sooner than we expected. We'll keep you posted.

I wasn't able to do my regular Sunday afternoon post because Zack wasn't feeling well and needed A LOT of attention. I also neglected to post our family's pictures with Santa. We went to see him at the Airman and Family Readiness Center the day after Ben got home. I forgot the camera (again), but they had a camera there. They printed out and emailed the pictures they took for us. It was great. There were two little boys there before us, but Tansy charged right up. We had to make her wait her turn.
Sydney was not sure about this at all. She isn't happy that Ben stepped back two feet to let her have a picture with Santa.

Tansy, however, thought this was great. As soon as the boys were finished, Tansy ran right up to Santa with open arms. She gave him a huge hug, stroked his beard, and told him he was silly. She didn't ask for anything, but she sure loved being with him.

And we had to get the classic baby crying on Santa's lap picture. Are we terrible parents for laughing during this?

The kids have loved having Ben home, they just can't get enough of him, even when he is trying to look at stuff on the computer.

And everyone in this house loves to color. Tansy doesn't police the markers as well as Sydney does, so Zack got to create his sofa masterpiece. Notice how happy he is? I'm grateful we chose the microfiber with the scotch guard. Whew.

On Monday, the 21st, Zack had his surgery to put tubes in his ears. This is the only picture I got. It was when I handed him over to the nurse. He was not happy to be abandoned by his mom.

Everything went great. He had a lot of fluid in his ears, and they said that should help him feel a lot better. Since he had already had three antibiotics for this ear infection alone (making nine in the past year, and, yes, they were still infected) they just gave him drops and will check up on him at his follow-up appointment. We were only at the surgery center for an hour and 20 minutes. I couldn't believe how fast it was. He bounced back really fast and has been a much happier baby, bouncing around and laughing. It's nice to see him feeling so much better.

I finally have a good news week to report on for all of you who have stuck with me through the madness of the last few weeks.

Sydney started basketball this week. She did really well at her first practice. Much better than I expected. We bought a junior-sized basketball so that she can practice in the basement. She is really excited for something new to do since dance is over for a while. I am the team parent (with Ben as my backup). Practices are after Ben gets off work so he will be able to go participate with her. We are all excited about that since they need the parents to help out and I won't have to try to do that with the two other kids (soon to be three other kids) in tow.

Tansy is being a typical 2-year-old. She suddenly talks a lot more clearly, wants to be involved in everything I do, and has to do everything by herself. I have simply learned to start getting ready to leave the house earlier. She is having a hard time watching Sydney participate in all of her activities, but they don't have anything for her until she's 3. We're going to let her do the Start Smart Baseball this summer.

Zack probably had the busiest week. On Tuesday at physical therapy, he finally started cruising. He has been able to stand and even recently pull himself up, but those little feet stayed pretty firmly planted. I was really excited about that, but then yesterday, he got on all fours and started crawling across the living room! Crawling is something that we have still been working on, but the therapist wasn't sure that he ever would. We got him to do it a couple of times, but he still prefers scooting on his bum since he can do that faster.

On Thursday, he had his appointment with the ENT. Despite three rounds of antibiotics, his ears still look bad. He is scheduled to have tubes put in on December 21. This is such a relief for us after seeing him in so much pain again and again. He has been on nine rounds on antibiotics in a year just for ear infections. This should really help him to feel better.

Ben took leave for this entire week. It was nice to not only have him home, but to be able to relax. I was able to rest more than I would have and try to fully recover from being so sick. We even hired a sitter and went on a date yesterday. It was our second time since we moved here in May. Long overdue, and the fastest three hours I've spent lately.

We had a great sacrament meeting today. The bishopric spoke about Christmas and the Savior. I had to keep reminding myself that it wasn't a fast Sunday so I couldn't go up there. I just felt so strongly about my testimony of the Savior that I wanted to share as well. I love this season where we are reminded and talk about Him so much more. I am so grateful He came to earth to make it possible for me to return to my Heavenly Father. Merry Christmas!

Just when we thought things couldn't get any worse, they did. On Monday, I had to drag my drugged, bronchitis-ridden body to the clinic for Zack. He was still wheezing after three days of breathing treatments and steroids. They had ordered a chest x-ray before I even got there so that saved a lot of time. Turned out that he had pneumonia and both of his ears were badly infected. Since he needed antibiotics for the pneumonia, the doctor chose one that would also treat his ears, although this meant round three for the same infection. Fortunately, his ENT appointment is this week.

I had an OB/GYN appointment on Tuesday. The baby is still doing great, and I still didn't have pneumonia. Whew. Some of my numbers were off, and we're hoping that is just because I was sick and not because I am developing any complications with the pregnancy. That's all we need.

We spent the week resting and basking in Grandma radiance. My mom took care of all cooking, cleaning, kids, and me. There really is nothing like having your mom when your sick. I felt so strangely relaxed and didn't have to worry about a thing.

I was finally feeling like I could move again Friday morning, which was good since my mom left shortly before 5:00 that evening. My friend, Roxanne, so kindly drove her to the airport. I'm still on some medication that would make my driving hazardous to everyone.

We expected Ben to be home late Saturday afternoon, but he got an earlier start than planned on Friday, and when he programmed the GPS to go home, it gave him a route that shaved three hours off of his drive. Praise Garmin and down with internet maps! He decided to just push through and arrived home at 10:00 Friday night. We surprised the kids the next morning when Dad was already home! Our home feels so good now that our family is all together again. Ben is on leave for the next week and not planning on going anywhere for quite some time.

We put him right to work getting the Christmas decorations out. Our tree is about six inches too tall for our topper, so Ben cleverly rigged it with a rubber band and some fancy branch-bending.

Last night Sydney had her dance recital. The first video is to the tune of Jingle Bell Rock and the second is Billie Jean. I brought the regular camera and didn't even think about doing video until we got there. The sound on our regular camera is nearly non-existent. Too bad, but still cute.

Last Sunday I was excited to post pictures of us enjoying one of the nice fall days we have had here. We seem to be going back and forth between cold and rainy and beautiful 50s and 60s. Here's a few of the kids. In the first one, Sydney is pretending to be Balto bringing the medicine to the sick children of Nome, Alaska. That's why her tongue is hanging out.

So why didn't I get this posted last week? Believe it or not, illness invaded our house once again. Sydney spiked a fever right after church and started coughing. I kept her home on Monday, pushed liquids and rest, all to try to get her to school on Tuesday. That was the last day of school before Thanksgiving break. Not only that, but Sydney was scheduled to be helper in class (i.e. line leader, bring something to show the class, etc.), they were having Charlie Brown Thanksgiving for snack, and turkey dinner was on the menu for lunch. Sydney had been looking forward to this for two weeks.

Tuesday morning, she was still running a fever and coughing, but I gave her all of her medication and let her try anyway. Twenty minutes after school started, I got a call from the school nurse asking me to pick up Sydney. Her fever was still pushing through both fever reducers I had given her and she was hacking her head off. Her sweet teacher sent her Charlie Brown treats home with her and we were on our way. She slowing down at all, which helped me since I needed to pick up some things at WalMart and get Zack through physical therapy and an occupational therapy evaluation. We picked up some frozen turkey dinners at WalMart for lunch, and the day seemed to be saved.

However, Sydney started getting sicker that afternoon and was progressively worse all day Wednesday. When I put her to bed that night, she started coughing so hard and didn't stop for several minutes. She started throwing up and still couldn't stop coughing. I knew she needed to get to the ER, so I called my wonderful friend Emily across the street to come stay with the babies, and off we went.

Turns out that it was pneumonia. Poor little girl. She just can't get a break. Some breathing treatments and an antibiotic shot later (which she still talks about since it hurt so dang bad) we were back home.

Thursday morning, I had to break the news to Sydney. She was too sick to go to Thanksgiving dinner at the bishop's house. This was absolutely devastating to her. She had been counting down the days to this since the beginning of November. We drove in to town to get Sydney's prescription only to find that the Walgreen's pharmacy was not open as the ER staff believed and the nearest open pharmacy was nearly an hour away in Blue Springs. Since Zack, Tansy, and I had started feeling under the weather on Wednesday, and the ER staff assured me that the shot would hold Sydney over until Friday morning if necessary, we skipped the trip.

Instead, we briefly stopped by the bishop's house, got some delicious turkey dinner to go, as well as a priesthood blessing. Lots of disappointed people. I was one of them.

Sydney started coughing really hard again that night and we started for the ER, but she fell asleep quickly in the car so I turned around and came right back home. I had left Tansy at a friend's house, and was glad the next day that she wasn't there for long since she really got sick the next day.

Friday morning, once everyone was dressed and fed, it was time to really head back to the ER since Zack and I weren't breathing well. They diagnosed albuterol and steroids and sent us home. However, that afternoon I was informed that a much better treatment was on the way.


My super, incredible mom!

My parents decided that enough was enough and for the last week that Ben was gone, my mom would come stay with us and help us get better.

And not a moment too soon. She arrived here at our house about 3:15 yesterday afternoon. I thought I had been sick on Friday. Oh, no. I discovered sick this morning. My cough got so bad despite religiously taking everything I had been allowed. I knew I needed to go back. So we all packed up once again to the ER.

I knew I would be coughing too hard to speak by the time I got to the registration window so I simply handed them my discharge paperwork from Friday. After many tests and a few consulations with my OB/GYN, I was diagnosed with bronchitis and given even more drugs.

Now I am just sitting, resting, drinking water, and observing my children bask in the glow of a grandma visit. I have the best parents EVER! Here's hoping that at some point, our bodies will just get tired of all of this crazy illness and my kitchen counter can stop serving as an in-home pharmacy.

Thought you all might like an update on the haircut situation with my kids.

Sydney got her hair cut this week by my friend Kimberly.
Tansy got her hair cut this evening by Sydney.

And Zack just really needs a haircut. Maybe I should have taken a picture of the back where we are having some major cowlick problems.

I don't have any pictures of us languishing away on various pieces of furniture this week. Last weekend, it was time for Zack and Tansy to come down with the dreaded swine flu. The actual flu part was mild and Tansy improved after a couple of days.

However, Zack's breathing got really wheezy on Tuesday, and by that afternoon, he was working really hard to breathe and becoming lethargic and not responding well to me. I took him to the ER where they tested him for RSV and pneumonia. Both tests were negative, but since he was having such a hard time breathing, they gave him a breathing treatment and sent us home with Xopenex.

I took him in to the pediatric clinic here on base the next day for a follow-up and found out that both of his ears were badly infected. I had figured all of the screaming was just his way of protesting his illness since he could finally breathe.

I also got a phone call from my OB/GYN's office that day to tell me that my blood work showed that I was really anemic and I needed to start an iron supplement immediately. I was going to call that day to ask about some dizziness and weakness that I had been struggling with. Mystery solved. After just a couple of days on the supplement, all strange symptoms disappeared.

Tansy relapsed on Thursday with a fever and coughing and drank absolute gallons of water. By Friday, both she and Zack were doing much better, as was I. Sydney had been back to school all week so things had been quiet and restful.

I'm happy to report that we all made it to church today. Sydney got to participate in the Primary program. She said her line so well. I was afraid she would get shy and mumble into the microphone. She didn't sing most of the songs, although she knows them. She gets shy and chews on her fingers. It's really gross.

Thanks for all of the prayers and thoughts for our family. We have an amazing ward out here. I didn't have to cook for a week and a couple of sisters came and cleaned my house on Monday. We have been blessed and well cared for.