My baby's back!

Paigey came back to us today!!! The real Paigey. Not the fussy, sit on the couch and suck my thumb, I want to take a nap all day, Paigey. My baby's feeling MUCH better. The meds must have kicked in. I haven't seen her this "normal" for over a week. It really hurts my heart when when my kids don't feel good and this was a doozy. It lasted F O R E V E R! It is easy to be compassionate for the first few days when they are under the weather, but after 5 with no sign of relief, I was starting to wane(I'm not sure that's the right spelling).

I'm so happy to be able to leave the house this week. Paigey is on the verge of becoming a TV junkie. The girl likes her shows. She doesn't so much play with toys, never has. She prefers the company of friends or likes to be outside, which is fine, but. . . it's still cold outside. Maybe as Alaina gets older, she'll play more. I think we could pack up every toy we have in the house and it woudn't faze her. At Christmas time, we walked through Target and I wanted to get a feel for what she wanted for Christmas, so I told her to pick out any toy she wanted. We walked up and down every aisle and she didn't want a single thing. I would point out different things, "nope", she'd say. She just doesn't care about toys. I'm going to have to get creative with her. I'm so happy that you are feeling better Paigey!

Tonsillitis

Just to update, Paige was no better on Friday. I called her pediatrician who wanted me to keep doing what I was doing (rotating Tylenol and Motrin) and if she still had fever on Monday to bring her in. She said that I could bring her in, but the problem was that I was in FD. Fortunately, my mom had an appointment with an ENT Dr. that our family has gone to forever, so they worked Paige in. It took him like 2 seconds to know that Paige has tonsillitis. He put her on Augmentin and Tylenol with Codeine to help with her cough. He thought she would be a new kid in 2-3 days. Yeah!!! The codeine made me a little nervous as both my mom and I get upset stomachs when taking it. Paige did throw up this morning, so we are stopping the codeine and just giving her the Augmentin. I pray this helps and she will get her appetite back. It was a very hard week and it will be nice to have healthy Paige back. Thanks for your prayers, so far Alaina and Mark are just fine. I am feeling better, too, not 100%, but much better.

Hanging in there. . .barely!

I thought for sure today would be the day that Paige would wake up fever-free. She only got up twice in the night last night, which is about 80% less than the night before and the second time I didn't think she felt like she had fever. This morning she woke up her usualy whiny self and I thought, "You have got to be kidding me!" Her fever is better, a mere 99.6, which is the lowest it has been in 5 days. So maybe we are at the end of it. The thing is, she is still so whiny and fussy about everything that I'm going crazy. The first four days were hard, but she didn't feel good and I can understand that. Now, I just want her to buck up and be better! It probably doesn't help that I have a cold now and am not up to par. Please pray for patience, healing, and for continued protection for Alaina and Mark.

Illness strikes again!

You know your child is sick when they come up and ask to take a nap! I'm so tired of my kids being sick that I could just about scream. I took Paige in to the Dr. yesterday because she had been running a fever for 3 days and during the night her cough got worse and started sounding a little croupy. Fortunately, there is nothing wrong with her ears, nose, throat, lungs, heart, lymph nodes, etc. Unfortunately, it is a fever virus that is going around the area and lasts for about 5 days. The doctor said she should be fine by Thursday. Please God, let her be better and please keep the rest of us healthy and protected from it. We have been house bound, except the Dr. visit, since Sunday morning. I do feel bad for Paige and really for the first time her life, she looks sick. I just wish there was more I could do to help her feel better. Then, I'm reminded how blessed we are for the overall health of our children. I follow a blog by Mckmama and her baby, Stellan is in the hospital right now with a VERY sick heart. Please lift up Paige and especially Stellan right now. For more on his story click here.

Siesta Key Beach

Siesta Key Beach in Sarasota, Florida, is our favorite beach. I prefer it to any beach that we were at in Hawaii, or any of the beaches on the Atlantic side. The sand is like flour, so soft. This is my final Florida post. We had a great time.

Even Alaina decided it was ok to get her hands dirty. It took her a long time to warm up to the beach.
Paige loved playing in the sand. But it doesn't bother her to be dirty.

"What are YOU looking at?"

We went to the beach at sunset in hopes of getting some good photo's. We didn't expect Paige to have so much fun, and we got some good pics, too.

Paige thought she was building this castle, which was there when we got there. Here she is running for more water.

Paige was soaked by the time we left, but she sure had a great time.

Poor Alaina, I forced the poor girl to get her toes in the water. She hated every aspect of the beach.

Just so I can say that Alaina has been in the Gulf of Mexico!

Paige thought is was cool that the water came up and "erased" her handprints.

Alaina's favorite place.

Paige wanted to catch a sea gull. We didn't succeed, but we tried.

Paige chasing more sea gulls.

The water was actually tolerable. We were expecting it to be super cold, but it really just felt like chilly pool water.

Myakka State Park

We thought it would be fun to go to a place that had alligators in the wild, while we were in Florida. It just so happens that the Prachar's had been to Myakka State Park, just about 15 minutes from Sarasota, where alligators were bound to be seen. We planned to meet Travis and Alayna there around 10am. Travis asked if we needed directions, but we have brought our Garmin Nuvi along, so we declined. Well, apparently there is more than one entrance to the park. Garmin took us to the North Gate, Travis was at the South. We went on a Thursday so the north gate was locked! We had to drive 30 minutes around to the south. Next time, we'll get better directions.
To our delight, we did get to see alligators in the wild. It was Mark's first time, too. I think we could have watched them from the bridge all day. Paige thought it was great.

Paige had so much fun with Alayna and has asked for her several times since we have been home.

We walked along a trail called the "Canopy Walk". It was a beautiful day and the walk was so relaxing. The girls had fun climbing of the trees.

Along the walk there is a place that has a suspended foot bridge and then steps up to a look out tower.

At the top of the tower.

After our walk we drove through the rest of the park. We stopped at a bird watch. Notice, you don't really see any birds in this pic. People at the watch said there had been some wild hogs there in the past. We didn't see any, though.

Before we headed back to Sarasota, we let the girls play at a little play area. Mark got the job of pushing them. It was a fun morning, and we'll have to do it again sometime.

Fun at Grandpa and Grandma Garber's!

We got to spend a nice relaxing week with my Grandpa and Grandma Garber. It is so nice to stay with them. They don't put any expectations on us and just let us do as we want. The also are so gracious and let us use their van while we are with them. Thanks Grandpa and Grandma for the great vacation.

Paige and Alaina had fun crawling down the hall together. Paige would roll a car down the hall. Then, they would both chase it. Paige is a big help and brings Alaina back when she goes too far.

My grandparents live in a 55 and over gated community. It has a pool, hot tub, mini golf, shuffle board, bocce ball, and a Club house with other activities. This year Paige was old enough to get in the pool. (You have to be 2 and potty trained.) She absolutely loved it and discovered that she could swim by herself with a noodle. I think she swam everyday, either at the beach or the pool.

Alaina and I played beside the pool.

I think Alaina wanted in.

Paige was a little fish by the end of the week.

Paige really enjoyed Grandpa and Grandma Garber and it was so cute to hear her call them that.

I think they enjoyed her, too. Grandpa loves giving horsey rides. He's been giving them now for years. I used to love his horsey rides.

Gotta love vacation!

One day we were heading to the beach and I couldn't find Paige. She had gone back to my grandparents bedroom, where my grandma was watching television. She crawled up and was watching with her.

The grounds of the community are really pretty and well taken care of.

I just think this picture is priceless!

A picture with all of us looking.

Alaina is just hanging out.

More horsey rides from Grandpa.

Visit with the Prachar's!

While we were in Florida we got the chance to spend some time with Paul and Travis Prachar. We had a great time with their family and it was great to get a glimpse into their lives.

We got to go to the hanger for Agape Flights. Paige loved seeing the plane and it was nice to see in person how the Agape works to serve missionaries.
We also got to go to the beach. The weather was beautiful, so I'm glad we got to squeeze it in. Travis brought along some Tutu's for the girls to wear and hoped to take some cute pictures. I'll let you be the judge of how they turned out. I think they are adorable.

Alaina and Alayna! We couldn't get all three girls to cooperate for a photo. This is the best we got. My Alaina was not in a picture taking mood and Paige kept walking off.

Right before we left Paige laid down in the sand and started moving her arms and legs. I asked her what she was doing and she replied, "I make snow angels!"

That evening, I got to help Travis put together some of her cleaning systems. I'm so excited to get mine and start using it. Check them out here. Thanks Prachar's for a wonderful time.