Who would have guessed?

So the day after I take Ruby to the ER, Sadie wakes up vomiting. I know, lucky me! Ugh! We head back to the ER and everyone stops and stares and says, "Same Mom, different kid?" I explain that we were here the previous night and they quickly check Sadie's throat and see that her throat is just as bad as Ruby's.

Something popped into to my head and I wasn't sure if they would even consider it. I ask if they can give me a prescription for Lilly too so that I don't have to come back the next day. And to my surprise they start to consider it. I explain that Ruby and Sadie are never sick and that Lilly is the one who gets hit hardest when something is going around, and I felt terrible for using the ER for something that could be easily taken care of by their normal pediatrician. They hand me a prescription and say fill it if she gets sick and if she doesn't just don't use it.

Sure enough Lilly wakes up at 5am they next morning and she's throwing up already. I'm so happy I took the time to ask because for 1) Who wants to go to the ER 3 days in a row with 3 different kids? and 2) I started getting sick that day too.

Thankfully I got a milder case than the girls and didn't need antibiotics. There's only one thing worse than having 3 jet lagged and sick kids and that's having 3 jet lagged and sick kids AND a sick and jet lagged mommy. Boy was that not something I want to do again. It just makes me more nervous to fly home and have Lilly go back to school on top of it all.

I'm happy to say we are definitely getting back to normal and it's only taken 3 weeks! Man, traveling with kids is tough. I was able to take some photos of the girls at the playground the other day. They were so excited to run around and play. Hopefully we'll be able to through some more fun things in the mix now that they're feeling better!

-K

Bethlehem

A couple of weekends ago we ventured out to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania for some fresh air and some exploring. My parent's live about 20 minutes from there and we had a pretty good time. It was a nice change of scenery and a whole lot of fun for me to take some photos. I feel like a kid with a new toy every time I get the chance to photograph something new. I hope and pray that the feeling never goes away or gets old.





Just driving around was nice. Once we got there we parked and walked around. We found a nice little deli and had some lunch. The weather was beautiful and we were able to just enjoy our walk.





After lunch and a walk we headed out for Party City. Papou needed some costume pieces for work and Party City was just down the road. He found what he needed as well as some dress up stuff for all the little girls. We even managed to find Ruby a coveted Batman mask. We had been trying to find a replacement for the one at home that broke. She wasn't feeling good so she didn't wear it for a few days, until she started to feel a lot better. And when she rediscovered it at Papou's house she was so excited.






Little did we know that Ruby would end up at the hospital latter that day. Our kids never act sick unless they are throwing up or have a fever. It makes it very hard to judge just how sick they really are when they're still running around a playing. And I kid you not, you would never ave guessed that Ruby was battling a bad case of strep throat. The hospital was nice and even had a Children's ER separate from the main Er. The nurses and doctors were really nice and we got taken care of pretty fast.




On our way out of the parking lot I got a call from my sister Gabbie that Sadie wasn't feeling good and she thought that she had a fever as well. Great! Now I have two sick kiddos. When we got back o the house, Gabbie took me to a pharmacy that was still opened as it was going on 7:30PM. We didn't get home until after 9 and by then Sadie was burning up. I gave her and Ruby some medicine, set up camp in the living room and prayed for a good night of sleep. At this point we were all still jet lagged. Thankfully the Tylenol and Motrin kept the fevers down and we had a pretty good night of sleep, considering.




Oh the joys of military life. I'm just thankful we were with family that helped the best they could. Dealing with jet lagged kids is hard enough. Add strep throat and all it does is make life miserable for days. I'm grateful were over that hump though. I'll finish this in another post, this one is long enough!

-K

Way Behind

I know I'm way behind on updating here, but life has been crazy hectic these days. We are now at my Mom's house in Pennsylvania. Along with being very jet lagged, we are now sick too. It has been one crazy thing after another. It started when the alarm went off the morning we left. On our way out the door, Sophie decided to run down the street. Steven went after her and we waited what seemed like forever. Once we got to the terminal we waited even longer. Steven was on a time crunch because he had to be at work that morning so when we said "see you later" we didn't even know if we had seats on the plane. Once we were on the plane I calmed down a lot.
My sister and her boyfriend picked us up in Baltimore and we stayed at her house that night in Delaware. The girls were up around 2am EST and I got them to stay quiet until about 5:30. The sunrise was beautiful and we were all up and dressed so I thought we'd go outside and take some photos because 1) I can't see myself ever getting up and doing a photo shoot at sunrise when I could keep sleeping and 2) I thought it would be best in order to not wake up Cindy and Mike. Needless to say, my plan back fired. We were outside for 5 minutes and Sadie says she needs to go potty. We get to the door and it's still locked. So we had to wake them up anyways.




When we got to Yiayia and Papou's house the girls were so cranky.
Then one night my sister Gabbie wakes up to use the bathroom and it's flooded. Turns out Lilly pulled the stopper in the sink and left the faucet dripping. Water was leaking through lights in the kitchen. Looking back, it's funny now, but at the time it was a huge mess.




Then Ruby wakes up throwing up and with a fever. Yay! Now I'm jet lagged with a sick, cranky, tired baby. She told me her mouth was hurting so Gabbie and I attempt to look at it and we didn't see the all of it nut we did see a big white spot. That's when I decide it's time to take her to the ER. Since we are just visiting here, our only medical option is the ER. It turns out the Ruby has strep throat. It was a pretty quick visit but on our way out of the parking lot, Gabbie calls and says Sadie is sick. Since I hadn't seen her I was hoping it was just Sadie's paranoia, but it wasn't. So the next day I take Sadie to the ER. We were able to see the same doctor as the night before so she was nice enough to give me a prescription for Lilly too, just in case. The next morning, Lilly wakes up throwing up. I'm super glad I asked for her medicine too.



I woke up yesterday sick too but I am feeling much better today. The girls and I spent most of the day sleeping yesterday and today Lilly isn't feeling much better. She has body aches and a headache today and is napping on the couch. Poor kiddo has has a rough week and a half. It's hard being sick but she misses her Daddy so much. She was crying last night because she misses him so much. We all miss him terribly and being sick doesn't help that.
Right now I'm looking forward them finishing the antibiotics and us feeling better. We really want to enjoy our time here and get out of the house. The last week and half has seemed like a lot longer. We're happy to be here with family and in the states but we're still trying to count down the days until Steven gets here. We can't wait until you get to join in our fun! Oh and the girls have had tons of fun playing with their cousin Phia. She is just the funniest little girl with the biggest personality. She has had me laughing everyday since we got here :) She is pretty excited to see "Uncle Tebie" too!

Flower

Just testing the size of the photo! But it is a beautiful flower :)
And I am thinking about redesigning the blog all over again. I know, I'm never happy enough with the way it looks! But it's a good thing I'm feeling creative today. I have a bunch of post in my head right now and I need to get them written down.

Sleeping Baby

Ruby fell asleep on the couch a few days ago. That is a rarity. She didn't nap for weeks when she was transitioning from 2 naps a day to 1. Her body was just confused. Week after exhausting week I prayed she'd just sleep for a little bit so I could just think straight and form complete, understandable sentences.

Then one day, Lilly was sick and stayed home from school, and it just happened to be on one of Steven's days off. So we all climbed into our bed and watched Harry Potter. Steven just couldn't keep his eyes opened and fell asleep. Not long after, Ruby fell asleep. I mean really fell asleep and stayed asleep for a couple of hours. The next day she fell asleep again with Steven. And she did it the next day, and the next day, and the next day! She would only take a nap with Daddy and she fell asleep within 10 minutes.

Occasionally she will fall asleep downstairs when she isn't feeling good or she is really exhausted. The kiddo is just crazy. She is into everything, climbs, on everything, and plays with everything she can get her hands on. She is much more than a "handful". She is more of a handful than Lilly and Sadie combined. Everyday she is looking more and more like a little girl and not a baby. But just for a few moments in her sleeping on the couch, she looked like my baby again. So I grabbed my camera and just kept shooting. Before you or I know it, she'll be starting school, and I don't think I am ready for that at all.



To see more check out my photography blog!



-k

It's that time again...

for packing, packing, and more packing! We're excited to be going back to Pennsylvania, but sad that Daddy is staying here. Poor Lilly was on the verge of tears yesterday when she was telling me how much she is going to miss him. I had to change the subject quick. Our sweet girl has such a big heart. We are so happy and excited to be with family but we are really going to miss Steven.



In the meantime we have tried to spend every possible second together that we can. We took the girls to lunch and bowling and some time at a favorite playground. The girls picked out some goodies for their cousin Fifi out in the Alley and we had ice cream sundaes for dinner. The girls thought they should be called "Ice Cream Saturday's" because it was Saturday not Sunday, ha!
Steven went back to work on Sunday night, so I have been doing load after load of laundry and then packing. The girls are about 97% packed and I started on my clothes today. There isn't much left. Just waiting on prescriptions to be refilled and a trip to the commissary for snacks and pullups.



Sadie has been telling me all day that there's only this many more sleeps. I keep telling her to be patient, we'll be there soon enough!

-K