Anna's New Hobby

Anna is quite fascinated these days by all things diaper-related. She takes off her diaper when she's wet and parades around bottom-less. Methinks it's time to potty train rather than chasing around a naked baby all day.

She also likes to check her dollies to see if they are stinky. She'll pretend to look in their diapers and say, "Eww! Baby stinky! Needs a diapie change." Yesterday I had to pretend to change two dolly diapers before she would take her nap.

But today was the kicker. We were at the library checking out our books when the boys walked right in front of Anna's stroller. Anna reached out and grabbed Matthew's waistband, pulled it out until she could see his bottom and said, "Eww! Stinky! Needs a diapie change!" Then she checked Ben. The librarian and I were rolling by this point and the boys were rather surprised their bottoms were exposed in public. I directed them to a better standing place, then Anna tried to reach up and grab my skirt. Thankfully she's not tall enough!

Get Out of Here!

That's what we yelled at ourselves on Wednesday and we obeyed right away (with a happy face and a happy heart as the kids learn in the 2's and 3'd SS class at church.) We were all feeling better (all at least at 90% or better) so we went out for supper before church. Rob and I had been hording back an Applebee's gift card for a date, but we used it on the family instead. Since it was kids eat for 99 cents night, we fed the whole family on that card and still have a few dollars left. Then we went to church, which we haven't done for three weeks as a collective group. Anna was so eager to get into the nursery that she kept trying to open the gate herself! We heard many shouts of "You're all here!" as we walked around.

Yesterday we decided to go to a mall in Madison so I could use some Lane Bryant coupons that were about to expire. Silly things weren't good at the outlet 10 miles away, so we had to go to Madison, but that's okay. Rob and the kids wandered around while I shopped (and shopped...and shopped). There wasn't a play area but he did keep them occupied with some Auntie Ann's pretzels. After I found all the great deals I could (yes, part of my bday gift) we ate a light lunch and headed back home. Anna and I went out grocery shopping later while the boys cleaned up the house, including clearing off the porch for winter. It felt soooo good to get stuff done around here!

And today, I ran out in the morning to renew my driver's license. Then we all went to Maranatha for the yearly Dramatic Play Group hosted by the teacher of the 3-year-old Sunday school class at our church. The boys had a great time dressing in costumes and listening to stories. Anna wouldn't put on a costume, but she did have fun running around and visiting various offices with Daddy. I enjoyed chatting some with the other moms, so a fun time was had by all :)

Man, it just feels so good to get around! I did talk to one of the girls who babysits our kids and her family had swine flu in varying degrees around the same time we were all sick. I'm beginning to wonder if that isn't what we had, but wonder is all I can do at this point. I don't really care what it was...it's over and we're having fun being healthy!

Bunch of Sickos

I see that I last posted a week ago Monday when Ben saw the doctor about his ear infection. I had informed the doctor (or NP Chip) that Ben had thrown up, but did not have the stomach flu.

Well. I missed the mark big time! Ben did indeed have a stomach virus and proceeded to share it with three of us over the course of the past week. Anna threw up in her crib sometime Tuesday night, Rob came down with it Wednesday night, and yours truly got it Thursday night. Matthew, man of the iron constitution, missed it entirely. Perhaps it's b/c he had no contact with his siblings or parents while they were ill....I don't know. It's a pretty viscious virus that attacks hard and fast and hangs out for about a week with other symptoms. Rob saw the doctor yesterday b/c he's missed so much work and found out that it does last a week. And according to the doctor, we all had a bad cold over a week ago, not the seasonal flu. I beg to differ, seeing as I was couch-ridden for three days.

Anyway, regardless of what we've had, we are at this point on the mend. Rob is still not at work b/c there was no one there today. He hasn't worked since last Wednesday, so that's a prayer request for sure.

In between all of this illness, my brave parents paid us a visit. We had a good time going to Matthew's final soccer game (temp was 35 and there was frost on the ground). Grandpa treated us to McDonald's and later the boys and I and my parents went to Ebert's for the fall festival. It was kind of chilly, so we didn't stay long. I woke up that next morning with horrible symptoms I care not to revisit, so Mom and Dad took the boys to church. We muddled through the rest of the day after they left and later found out that my dad got sick. Thankfully he's feeling better today. Mom is on a cleaning rampage to keep herself from getting infected and I truly hope it works! We don't really need weapons of mass distruction. In honor of the explorers of the 1500's and 1600's, we could just import our diseases to the enemy and wipe them out that way. But I digress.

We have had to cancel our Illinois visit for this weekend. Matthew has a head cold and I don't want any lingering germs to infect Rob's parents or my sister's family, who just had a baby at the beginning of the month. We'll just wait to see the little guy when we're all healthy.

So, I hope this is the last post regarding family illness for a loooooooong time. Thanks for all of your prayers on our behalf!

Ben and Chip

I just got back from a visit with Chip the Nurse Practitioner and Ben has an ear infection. Chip wasn't too concerned about the entire family being sick, only saying that Ben has an infection caused by the first illness. So, we'll all just continue to slowly improve around here, I guess. Which we are. I just keep forgetting how very looooong it takes to get better after the flu.

Off I go to pick up the "pink stuff."

Yucky Sunday

Well, at the end of yesterday's post, I mentioned we were all on the mend. Scratch that. Last night Anna woke up with night terrors and stayed awake for two hours. She screamed for some of the time, I held her and rocked her for a good part of it, then she opted to go back to her crib and talked to her dollies until she went to sleep. She was rather cranky all day today, taking a brief nap in the morning and a longer one in the afternoon. She still hasn't had a fever (thankfully) but she's been cranky enough w/o one.

Ben's cough has gotten worse, so far that it made him vomit this evening. He felt better afterwards, but put himself to bed early. Matthew's cough is now getting a little worse. Rob feels worse today, as do I. Some of it is due to lack of sleep overnight but I think our bodies are also still fighting the flu. I am very weak right now and I think had another low-grade fever today.

So, providing they are open tomorrow, we're going to try to make a family trip to the doctor. Even if the visit is crazy with five people, at least we'll all get out of the house. Rob and Matthew went to Sunday school this morning and Rob went tonight to check in nursery workers and get everything set up, but otherwise we've been in the house today. I think we're all getting cabin fever....especially me....time to pull out the binoculars and stalk the neighbors....

A Week in the Sick House

Ugh. That pretty much sums up this week in the ol' Litwiller household. We all got hit by the influenza bug. Let me take you through a day-by-day play-by-play of the happenings around here.

Friday: Matthew wakes up with a cough and quickly passes off to Benjamin. He takes the cough, magnifies it, and starts to worry Mom.

Saturday: Benjamin passes off the cold to Anna, who starts coughing as well. Rob, feeling a bit under the weather himself, keeps the children home from Matthew's soccer game. Penni goes to the game and freezes her tookus off, not warming up for several hours afterwards.

Sunday: Benjamin wakes up...sort of. He collapses onto the couch and proceeds to stay there for the remainder of the day, eating little and saying less. Matthew's cough is worse. Rob is feeling a bit worse as well, so the boys stay home from church. The evening service was outdoors, so the Litwiller clan stays home, hoping to recooperate quickly.

Monday: Ben wakes up feeling better, but has passed the flu bug to Rob. Rob goes to work, find out there IS no work, and comes home to sleep all day long. Matthew and Ben still coughing, but doing better. Mommy has a slight head cold. We all take Rob to the dentist so he can pick up his soft splint.

Tuesday: Rob is still feeling somewhat crummy, but is better. Both boys still coughing, but improving. Anna coughing a little more. All seem to be in the clear....until...

Wednesday: The flu bug goes into overtime! Mommy wakes up with it, Ben has a relapse, and Anna's cold is worse. Thankfully, Rob only had to work a half-day, so he comes home early to sub in for Mommy. Matthew still coughing somewhat, but otherwise fine. Mommy's dental appt gets cancelled b/c the hygenist is sick.

Thursday: Ben wakes up feeling much better and starts packing food away like crazy. Matthew fine. Rob fine. Mommy still on the disabled list and Anna worse. The day drags on......

Friday: Ugh. Overnight, Anna woke up almost every single hour b/c her head was stuffed up. Daddy managed to get her back to sleep. Mommy spiked a high fever overnight. Ben woke up crying and needed cough medicine at least once. During the day, Mommy proceeded to sweat out the fever, Anna put herself down for a nap midmorning. Work ended at 10 for Rob, so he was home to relieve Mommy. Boys fine. Rob had an eye appointment and needed a ride home, so we all went and everyone did just fine at the eye doctor. (Cool toys in the waiting room helped.) Mommy starting to feel better by evening.

Today: Everyone seems to be on the mend except for Anna, who has a worse cold. That's okay, she's just the team mascot right now anyway : ) The guys are all back in fighting shape and Mommy's improving. Rob has Monday off again, so hopefully we can go back to cleaning out the basement, the project we started last Friday :)

"There's Just Something About a Girl"

Somewhere in my ramblings and readings, I remember reading or hearing a person remark, "Boy babies are fun, but there is just something about a girl that brings life to a family." We've certainly enjoyed the first eighteen months (almost nineteen!) of Anna's life, but the past few weeks have been so much fun with her. We are seeing her go from typical toddler-ish antics to the beginnings of "little girlhood."

Her vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds. Both of the boys were talking in small sentences by this age and Anna is no exception. Just today, when the phone rang, she ran to it and said, "Phone ringing! I got it!" I wish I could remember more of her sentences, but trust me that there are many, many more.

She enjoys playing pretend with Ben's kitchen set (which I think is quickly becoming Anna's kitchen set.) She likes to bring us little pretend food she has "cooked" and wants our approval. When we tell her it's delicious, she grins real big and then urges us to "eat" some more. She will also pull out the kids plates and cups from their drawer, "set" the table, then run into the living room and say, "Eat time, boys!" or "Supper, boys!"

She is taking direction very well. Just tonight I told her to go "help" Daddy vacuum and she looked at me very solemly, said, "O-tay" and ran off to help Daddy. Rob said she was very serious when she came to him. We've been having trouble with her climbing on the table but now when I tell her to get down off a chair, she says, "O-tay" and obeys. Without question, complaint, or a second glance. Kind of amazing, really....

Now, she's not perfect and she does throw a few temper tantrums, but they are usually short-lived and directed at Ben, who likes to take her toys and make her mad on purpose.

She likes to see herself in anything that reflects her adorable little face. Just the other night she was looking at herself in the kitchen window and said, "Anna!" then started talking to her reflection. She also loves phones and just about any toy she has turns into one. I will often hand her the phone first when Rob calls from work just to hear her say, "Hi, Daddy!" I think he likes it a little, too!

She loves to be in her little dresses and is already trying to dress herself. It's most undressing at this point, including the diaper, and I'm getting a little tired of finding a bare-tushied toddler in the crib after naptime. I was thinking about buying a sleep sack just for that purpose, but she's showing many signs that she's ready to potty train, so I'd hate to waste my money on something we wouldn't use for very long. Besides, she overheats very easily so I don't want to smother her.

God knew that I needed a little girl. I already have a poem bumping around in my head with that theme and a picture to go along with it, perhaps. She's such a joy and a blessing!

Earth-Shattering News

Well, okay, so this news won't be carried by the AP and it doesn't rock very many worlds, but it's pretty big for us. On Wednesday, Rob walked up the stairs to Maranatha and withdrew from seminary. He's been struggling for quite a bit with the workload and doing the family/school/work/church balancing act for an undetermined amount of years. We talked about his switching to the on-line Masters of English Bible program instead of Master's of Divinity, but that didn't seem right either. After much prayer, he decided that getting a master's degree is the right thing to do at the wrong time.

So, where do the Litwillers go from here? Rob will start looking around for a full-time Christian vocation. He would love to go back to teaching but other ministries interest him as well. We're just going to keep praying and looking for opportunites as they open up. We love living here in Watertown so it would be nice if we could stay put, but we're fine with moving if that's what the Lord wants.

I made Rob a cake last night that read: We're "proud" of you, dropout! (That's a little cake-wreckage homage to those that read the cake wreck blog.) I am proud of him. People are always telling us it takes courage and whatnot for Rob to be in school, but it took just as much courage, if not more, to quit. And to be man enough to know his limits. We're excited for what God has in store for us.

Oh, and he's already working on the goatee again :)