Sickies. . .

Now it's not just Leanna battling a nasty cough, and copious, sticky congestion. Eliott is too. :-( Por little fellow is also running a low grade fever, something Leanna never had that I could tell. So we're dousing them both with garlic salve externally and garlic internally, and Eliott is taking Vit C and drinking lots of Apple Cherry juice too.

Outside in the last 24 hours we've had heavy rain, freezing rain, sleet, drizzle, freezing drizzle and snow. Not necessarily in order. Right now it looks like it's snowing and sounding like rain or ice as well. Jere's folks are on their way home from Mexico, so we're hoping the roads don't get bad for them!

Today I'm spending some time getting my pepper and tomato seeds started, as well as a few other things. It feels like spring should be just around the corner once the potting soil comes out! Thanks to the mice who raided the sunflower seed heads we should have gotten rid of and didn't, there are sunflower seeds all through the potting soil. When I started my petunias a few weeks ago there were sunflower popping up all over--I must have pulled 30 or so out once they started growing--and that's after I thought I'd picked through the soil when I put it in the seed trays! So this time I went through the bother of baking the potting soil to kill those nasty sunflowers--hopefully we won't be seeing any of those coming up this time!

Poor Leanna

Poor little Leanna has a very nasty cold. Dear little girlie totally wasn't herself for a couple days last week. Not really unhappy, but not much of a smiler, didn't want to eat, quit gabbing at me, sigh. Then her nose started running and she perked up much to my relief. However, despite using Garlic salve and trying to keep the house humidified and everything else I can think of, she developed a nasty cough and last evening and this morning is really struggling. She seems hungry but can't hardly eat for the phlegm, no matter how much I suction. Her cough is super nasty, and I'm beginning to detect a bit of wheeze when she breathes. So, pray for her! And for her very tired mommy too. But for now I must go and see if she can manage to eat a little more. . .

Deer butchering!

Well, Jere has taken advantage of the special landowner's season for deer hunting, and brought home 3 deer! One he shot specially for Preston and Carolyn, so they helped us butcher. The men skinned and halved the deer while Carolyn and I made supper and visited, then we all went to the shop after supper and butchered deer. The two dear baby girls sat in their carseats while Eliott either rode the trike or pulled the red wagon around and around, and Jaron was given a hunting knife and a hind-quarter to butcher all by himself. He kept at it a good little while, happily adding hamburger to the burger pile. Then he went and played for a bit. Once Carolyn and I had taken our littlest ones home and put them to bed we came back to wrap the meat. Jaron then was given the important job of writing on the packages, and he kept at it for much, much longer than I thought possible! He was truly a trooper and big help. We finished wrapping at the stroke of midnight, then I took Jaron home to put him to bed while the others quickly washed up. It was after 1 till we finally got to sleep. Then of course the little ones who hadn't stayed up super late were up at normal time, so today's a bit of a challenge! But we now have a freezer full of meat, and a very satisfied feeling.

Leanna Jean

My baby girl now 3 months old, and growing tremendously! She's such a happy, easy baby that I feel spoiled. Anyway, I thought it was about time to add a few more updated pictures of her!

Here is the family (minus me, I guess) having some tumble time together. Yes, that's Eliott's pillow! He loves to haul his pillow and blankets to the living room and "nap" at odd time (and usually more than once) during the day. So it gets added to the general ruckus!

Remodeled Desk!

Jere finally got our desk finished! It's been here, being used, for several years now. But it didn't have any handles on the drawers, and none of the doors. Plus our printer was too big to fit in the spot made for it, so that was remade to fit properly. I'm SO excited to have that big project behind us! We also got to throw away a big stack of things that we sorted out while cleaning it off, so that was nice too!

Today Carolyn Oberholtzer and her little Mercy tramped across the field to pay us a visit! I don't often get visitors to the back door these days, and it was so much fun! (For those who don't know, the Oberholtzers just returned from two years in Africa and are presently staying in Jere's folks' house until their new home clears the paperwork, etc.) Mercy is 6 months old, born 7 weeks early, and isn't too much bigger than Leanna, or that far ahead developmentally. The two little girls spent most of the visit smiling at each other--I think they're going to be great friends! And while they were visiting, Leanna rolled over for the first time. I'm guessing it was just an accident--she was so excited that she just kind of flipped, but we'll see. Guess I should be letting her spend more time on the floor!

Jere got TWO!

After missing the regular deer hunting season due to a certain little someone showing up around that time, Jere took advantage of a special extended season. He did have to jump through a few extra hoops to get in, but he did. Yesterday evening he decided to go out for a little while, and came home with two deer! We're very glad he only had to be gone for a few hours, and now we have meat for another year. What a blessing that is.

It's been colder here, with some blowing snow, etc. It's hard to keep the house warm when the wind blows right through it! But at least we're getting a little taste of winter this year. It wouldn't seem right to have spring show up on the heels of fall. . .

Dear little Leanna has been sleeping through the night fairly well until the last couple of nights when she's decided to get up a time or two to eat. I don't mind her eating more often on one hand, but then, it is good to get a full night's sleep too! Plus all of the sudden the last few days she's been drooling like crazy. Maybe teeth? Guess she is almost 3 months old and teeth could be thinking about starting their journey. She is an incredibly good baby over all--she has her moments, but then don't we all? She loves "talking" to her big brothers, and they'll often all be laughing over each other's antics. Wish we had high speed so I could post a video or so. Oh well. :-) Last night Leanna was sitting on her own! She wasn't on the floor, she was in my lap, so that adds a little extra stability, but I was surprised at how well she did. I could hardly sqeeze her into her nice dress Sunday morning, so we're already looking seriously at moving her into the 6+ month clothes! I though maybe dresses would fit longer than sleepers and boys' clothes as they aren't as fitted, but I guess the little chubby miss is only getting fatter as time goes on and she's outgrowing the dresses first!

Hooray! Tonight we're going out for a Valentine's date. I'm excited!!!!!! We of course will be doing some ordinary shopping since we're going clear to La Crosse, but it will be some rare time together none the less.

Leanna's checkup

Yesterday the county health nurse stopped by to give Leanna a little checkup. She did the hearing test, which she passed once we could get the house quieted down! ;-) She weighed in at 14 lbs, 4.5 oz, and was 24 inches long. Everything seemed perfect! What a sweet, adorable little princess! She'll be 3 months old a week from today. Hard to believe how the time flies, and yet in some ways she seems so much older than that. . .

Anita's sleepover

On Friday night Anita decided to give us the honor of her presence for the night. She slept on the futon we have in the living room. Needless to say the boys were excited with the delightful deviation from normal! They decided to sleep with her, stuffed toys and all. . .

Um, well, that didn't quite work and so they slept in their own beds, but it was fun none the less!

Too busy!

Well, I guess I brought some of it on myself, but these days are simply flying by too fast to get everything done I need to get done! This week is utterly nuts, with a bridal shower Tuesday night. That was fun! Then yesterday I spent the morning shopping and went to a tea party in honor of Anita's birthday in the afternoon. In the evening Jere had a brother's meeting to attend and I went to another sister's house to visit. We didn't get back till fairly late. Today I rushed through a bunch of necessary household tasks, before Anita showed up for a visit about lunch time. Then I had a P.T. appointment in the afternoon. In addition, I'm trying hard to get 4 little girls' dresses made--one must be done by the time Anita leaves for Haiti Sunday night, and it's not even half done! One of the others needs to be done a week from Friday for a baby shower, and two I'm making for Leanna. Hoping to finish them before she outgrows the ones she has! I was hoping to get at least the one mostly done tonight, but then Jere ended up going on a run so now I have baby duty all by myself this evening. Tomorrow night we're invited out for supper. I'm behind on a lot of things, and there just isn't enough time during waking hours to get it all done! Like I'm surprised. . . Oh yes, and I did start the first of my seeds on Tuesday as well, so that adds to it. Well, next week doesn't look so full, YET. :-/ But, well, that has a way of changing quite quickly.