A trip to Tucson and Tubes

Alice got her tubes put in the day after we got back from Tucson.  She had double ear infections so the timing couldn't have been better.  She did great despite her ears hurting, being tired and hungry - we left the house at 5:45 and they didn't take her back until after 8am.  When we got home she slept for 4 hours then was pretty much back to normal.  Isn't she cute in her gown?

We spent a few days with my Mom.  We'd gone down for a friends birthday party and stayed a few days to spend time with her.  The girls loved going in to wake her up, usually before 6am.  We didn't sleep so great as with Alice's ears being bad she was up in the middle of the night every night. 

The girls loved the pool, of course.  Jane never put her head under water, although she did blow bubbles.

This was Alice's first time in a pool and she seemed to really like it.  How could she not, I'd love a little shaded boat to float around in!

Katherine is a little fish and although she's regressed on the swimming front, doesn't want to get her face wet, she has a ball in the water.

We took a little drive up to Mt. Lemon.  We didn't make it, Alices ears were hurting, so we stopped at a camping ground and had a little adventure.  All in all not the greatest afternoon as it turned out we had two sick kids (Jane got a fever and ear infection the next day).

We were only there for maybe 1/2 hour but it was nice and cool and the forest is always so pretty.  It was nice to get out of the house and into nature, if only for a short time.

The girls have been asking to go to Grammys house all day for the last two days.  I think it's starting to sink in that it's not a quick trip to go see her and they'll just have to wait.  They sure do love their Grammy.

Patio Perfection

It's done! 

Nathan finished the patio out back and it's beautiful.  It took a couple of months, getting worked on typically in 30 minute increments when we could carve out the time and gather up the motivation to go haul, cut, lay, shovel etc.

This patio has been a wonderful project, both satisfying and incredibly frustrating in turn.  Working with 3 kids underfoot is hard, as expected.  From hauling pavers to unloading them at home we'd usually only get an hour at a time before kids were falling apart or hungry or simply bored and needing a new activity.  We were constantly needing to remind ourselves that the pace they can stand is the right pace as that is our family at this point in time and it's much easier to work with it than against it.

Cutting pavers was his least favorite activity as he used a grinding wheel leaving him covered in a fine dust.  The rounded cuts around the stools and fire pit were by far the hardest.  As he's a bit of a perfectionist with his projects he'd keep at it until he got the right cut and minimal spacing.  They look amazing. 

The bar stools turned out awesome.  We wanted something the kids wouldn't easily fall off, that was Mama's first requirement anyways.  We tossed around all kinds of ideas and ended up settling on 5" diameter steel posts sunk and a 2x12 plank cut down to size.  Those poles are actually 5 ft tall- digging those holes was no easy feat...especially with little helpers filling them back in whenever we turned our backs. 

Nathan then routered the pieces to round all the edges and get rid of the sharp corners so none of the soft heads running about would get split open.  He then sanded them down, fire torched them, and sealed them with a high gloss varnish.  It was hilarious trying to seal them as we had them all hanging from the guest house patio.  We quickly discovered the difficulty of 6 wet, swinging boards.  None the less it worked out in the end and I'm sure my forearms will only be stained for a few more days, ahem. 

Just yesterday Nathan got the BBQ secured and the missing parts installed.  Last night was the first time we used it and the burgers were amazing!

Nathan worked so hard on this patio and we are so grateful as it's wonderful and gets used every single day. 

Walking... just around the corner

Alice LOVES walking.  She'll climb up on anything with wheels, or legs for that matter, and take a stroll..  She's already figuring out how to turn the wagon when she runs into a wall or other furniture.

  

Katherine thinks it's super fun to hold her hands and walk with her.  It's really cute and when Alice starts to fall so does Katherine.  They both barely manage to stay on their feet and lots of giggling ensues.

She can walk holding one of our hands too although she's still quite wobbly.  I think it's going to be a few weeks yet, but she's certainly wanting to get up and go.

Three for Three

Well, it's official, Alice is getting tubes in her ears.

Darn, I thought we were going to be able to avoid that, but after going to the ENT consult yesterday we learned she's had 7 ear infections this year.. that's 7 in less than 6 months.  We had no idea!  I think it's because she's so good and takes medicine so well that it's not a big deal when she's sick.  Plus a lot of times we'll get the 3 day antibiotics so she's done with medicine super fast.  Poor girl.  She goes in on the 26th.  It's probably a good thing - since it's so hard to tell when she has one it's more likely they'd get really bad and possibly cause permanent damage.  Hopefully they'll work great for her like her sisters and ear infections will be a thing of the past.

Katherine had tubes for 2 years and has had them out for over a year.  Only 2 infections since.

Jane still has hers in and if they haven't come out by December, 2 years, we'll need to have them taken out. At her last check up the doc said it looked like they were on their way out on their own.