don't mess with the pig

John is down and out. Since Saturday.... it's swine flu. He waited too long (mostly because I kept telling him he didn't have the swine flu) to go to the doctor and get on the beloved Tamiflu. Soph and Ruby also have it. Sophie is recovering nicely. She had one really rough night of throwing up, but since then has been pretty good. Ruby is probably the most happy child in the world. Even running a 103 temperature last night she was smiling and laughing. She melts my heart! All of us but John have some good Tamiflu in our systems. Parker and I have stayed healthy and are praying it stays that way. It's been a really long week, but we have made it so far and I'm sure we will pull out of this just fine. John just headed back to the doctor today because he is not really getting better and it feels like it has gone to his chest. We will see what they say.

In the mean time you will find us coping/not coping in these ways:

John: laying in bed, laying on the couch, laying his head on the kitchen table, showering 3-4 times a day, watching all the movies we have missed.

Me: eating (i ate a lot of cheesecake at the beginning of the week... it may or may not have been an entire half of a cheesecake), drinking diet coke and cleaning every door knob, counter, and surface.. also doing a lot of laundry.

Sophie: a lot of Disney Channel, a lot of coloring, a lot of lounging.

Parker: He may not be coping. He isn't sick and is tired of everyone laying around. This was a conversation we had as we went to pick up his prescription.

P: Mom, when did Sophie get sick?

M: Last night bud.

P: It's boring. It's boring when Sophie is sick.

M: I know. I'm sorry.

P: Can I hold my "per..scripture" when we get it?

M: Sure dude.

Ruby: sleeping, smiling, showing signs of mild discomfort. She might be the golden child. It is sad though, because even though she isn't super grumpy her little eyes look sick. They are usually so sparkly and happy, and they are just look sad right now. Breaks my heart.

Hoping the rest of you are well, and if not.... good luck, and I'm sorry. Drink lots of fluid.

side note: I was Ms. Piggy in first grade for Halloween. And Jon Cracroft was Kermit the Frog. What exactly were our mother's thinking? I should find a picture of that costume, it was amazing, despite the limited view I had out of the enormous head piece. I love Ms. Piggy.

Some days are just good days

We went to the Pumpkin Patch with Mushie yesterday and it was just plain good. I love moments like that. Where life seems simple, and calm, and good. We love you Mushie! We love you Fall!

Things I know...

Things I know lately:

Deep down these two adore each other.

Baby powder and hand scraped floors do not mix. Even cleaning it with a toothbrush didn't really work.

The new baby elephant at the zoo is adorable. So worth seeing. Oh man, she is so cute! Parker pretended to be a baby elephant for the entire night after. ( The baby giraffe is cute too!)

Bike rides with Sophie are super fun.

motownphilly back again....

Sweet Steve Barth (cousin in law) hooked us up with 8th row Boyz II Men tickets at the fair last night. It also included a little meet and greet with the "more men than boyz" afterwards. It was so fun! The concert was rockin'... and meeting them filled my inner 7th grade self with utter joy. Til' the end of the road baby....

* forgive the super fuzzy pic, it was taken on my phone!

ruby ruby ruby

Yesterday while out and about I heard FOUR different Mom's talking to "their daughter Ruby". Crazy, I thought. Well, there just might be a gazillion Ruby's (and really... can you blame us all? Love the name!) but I sure think my Ruby is one in a million!

Ruby's 9 month stats: 18 lbs. (50%) and 29 inches long (75%). Pulling up to stand, crawling ALL over, getting into everything, eating everything on the floor, and being a super star third child. Love you little Ruby!

growing pains

Parker started preschool. I know I am like every other mother, being amazed at how fast our little ones grow up. It felt totally natural for me to send Sophie to Kindergarten. She is so ready, so excited, so thrives in that environment. Parks for me is a different story. He was excited, but super nervous. I will be the first to say that five hours a week without Parker seems heavenly and cheaper ( ie. every trip to the store will no longer result in a bribe. ) but as I dropped him off and watched him hesitantly sit at the table playing with play dough I had to will myself to leave. And yes, I cried all the way to the car. I think it even surprised him how much he loved it though!

Ruby had her 9 month check up today. Lots of shots, and lots of sad tears. She is healthy and cute and so fun. She is crawling everywhere, getting into everything, pulling herself to stand and loving the freedom that comes with age. I am cleaning my floors more, lots more. Today after the doctor was rough for her. She missed her morning nap due to the appt. and hasn't really wanted to eat because she is getting some teeth and it was like the perfect storm. She just barely decided that I probably wasn't coming back to get her out of bed. Now she's snoozin'. Poor little thing. *

I picked up Sophie from school today, and so far the trend has been that she is so excited and happy and wants to tell me all about school. Today she saw me, and as soon as she ran to me I saw the bravery leave her big eyes and they just filled with tears. " I asked my new friend to play at recess, and she told me no. It was a hard day, Mom." It just about broke my heart. After a short pep talk, a few ideas for recess tomorrow, waffles with whipped cream and berries for lunch all is well again.

My neighbor gave me a quote printed on this tile thing for my birthday a few years ago. I love what it says.

" It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are." -e.e. Cummings

Unfortunately it also takes some bumps and bruises, some time to grow alone without Mom right there and some hard days to become the people we want to be. I suppose this applies directly to me as well. I love you three little peanuts, keep your heads up!

*official Ruby stats and cute 9 month picture to come !

the mysterious missing camera

My camera has been missing. Last time I saw it was when I uploaded Sophie's first day of Kindergarten pics. I thought I had left my camera sitting right here by the computer. Well, yesterday it stressed me out. I just could not find my camera. I had been looking for two days and nothing! I had a pit in my stomach. We had just bought the new camera not too long ago... etc. etc.

Well upon looking in the junk drawer for what I believed to be the umpteenth time... I spied the camera! Yippee. Turned it on and this is what I found.

... and about twenty others just like this. Funny Soph. She keeps telling me she wants to be a "vatographer" when she grows up. More power to her I say. I just need to get her a camera of her own!