This is a catch-up post! I have pictures from the day before Thanksgiving when Vince, my older brother, came to town.
Auntie Geri and Ammon are in love.
Mom, I forgot that I did get a picture of Mary’s eye patch! Here it is.
And today Auntie Geri took our picture, per Mom’s request:
Mary has a fever of 103, so we are going to be watching her all night and taking her to the doctor first thing in the morning. She is a very sick little girl right now.
I feel successful today because Lily is sleeping and it is 9:41. I hit a wall this week because I haven’t been sleeping much, so the past couple nights Lily was particularly on her own taking care of Ammon. Today she told me she felt the worst (fatigue-wise) that she ever has since Ammon was born. I’m hoping her early bed-time will help. I’m so grateful for all she does for this family. As I was counting my blessing today, I dwelt on Lily and blessed I am to have her in my life. She has sacrificed everything to bring children into our family and to raise them in love and righteousness.
We’ve had a blast having aunt Geri and Vince in town. Lily picked up Vince from the airport yesterday and then we all went to Maria Bonita’s, our favorite Mexican place. After that, we bought a carton of ice-cream and went to Qualtrics so I could give Geri and Vince a tour. Then we hit the Qualtrics candy bar to put toppings on our icecream and we all ate desert together. While at Qualtrics, Vince and Geri got to try the massage chairs. Vince particularly liked it because it soothed his back which has been sore from his recent car crash.
Thanksgiving was really good today. It was incredibly slow paced, and Lily have been exhausted enough that that is just what the doctor ordered. Lily’s made an amazing breakfast, with smoked salmon, pop-overs, orange juice, bacon, english muffins and cuties. Then we mostly visited until Thanksgiving dinner. Dinner was great. I picked up our order from Harmons and we had stuffing, mashed potatoes, candies yams, turkey and stuffing. After dinner we continued visiting and had an early bed time. I also got to have a whole hours just to play with Lydia and Mary which made me incredibly happy since these days I ‘m so tired I can’t pull myself together to play with them. On a sad note, Vince was incredibly sick today. I can hear him coughing in his guest room as I write this. I sure hope he gets feeling better.
On a couple final notes, Lydia and Mary have been wanting to sleep in their “fort” every night. I built it out of blankets that I drape over Mary’s crib and the sleep in their together. Also, Vince and Geri were so nice to bring clothes as gifts for our children. You can see pictures of the girls trying on the new clothes and the forts below.
On Saturday we did some errands and then Karin and Jay came over to meet Ammon.
On Sunday my Auntie Geri flew into town and will be with us until December third. She and Ammon have been bonding!
Auntie Geri brought the girls a lot of beautiful new clothes. Lydia wanted to wear one of her outfits this morning. 
We took Mary to the eye doctor first thing in the morning. He determined she needs to wear a patch two to three hours a day because she is not responding to the glasses.
We spent all morning at the doctor’s office. Ammon has a head cold (and I’m terrified it’s going to morph into RSV), Lydia has bronchitis, and Mary is going blind (and has a cold). Abe and I have also self-diagnosed with bronchitis. We are still doing lice treatments, and I have a shot sciatic nerve, hemorrhoids, and canker sores all over from stress and lack of sleep. It’s been fun times over here.
At least our kids are cute!
Tonight we had Jan, George, Chelsea, Derek, and kids over for dinner. We just love when Jan and George come to town.
Today I was Mrs. Grumpity Grump Grump. I worked all day long and got a TON done, but I was so grouchy that this is going to be one of those nights I go to bed wondering if I’ve emotionally damaged my poor kids. I’ll try to be better tomorrow.
People at Qualtrics were not grumps today! At 4pm they started blasting Star Wars music over the whole building and all of management came running out in full costume for a company-wide dart fight. Abe got it on video: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/1511d8507afe4ed5?projector=1
And then he got this video of Ammon, my precious baby: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/1511d83faffee6b3?projector=1
In the morning we had a pajama party and popovers with Arielle and her kids. It was so fun.
Then in the evening the Vandagriffs came for dinner. It was also a lot of fun, but, as always, we forgot to take pictures. I am racing to get to bed, so that was our day in a nutshell!
We had a lovely visit from the Vandagriffs today. We forgot to take pictures, though. Thankfully, Morgan sent us a picture he took from our last visit. Can you believe how fast the weather has changed? It doesn’t feel like it’s been that long since we last saw them, but I can’t imagine having the kids outside without winter layers on right now.
Abe was the sweetest and patched up some worrisome holes in the foundation of our house today. I don’t do well with pests, and the holes have been scaring me for quite a while. I am so grateful for my patient husband. He has put up with so much these past couple weeks.
Now we are going to watch a half hour more of Selma. We have been trying to watch the next thirty minutes of the movie ever since we started a couple weeks ago. We are choosing this over precious sleep, but after several weeks of waiting, it’s probably worth one little exchange.
We had a play date with Ada and Liv today. We had a great time, and I got one picture of the girls. Ada and Mary were Elsa, Lydia was Sleeping Beauty, and Liv was Snow White.
We spent all evening combing everyone out with lice-killing mousse, after which I blew dry my hair and flat ironed it. I will be so, so glad when this lice thing is all over. I don’t know how any nits or bugs could possibly survive the routines we’ve put ourselves through, but we’re going to keep persisting for several more weeks just to be sure.
Today made me feel like we are finally starting to find our rhythm again. I actually made dinner tonight! And I remembered to take pictures during the day.
Today I found out that our friend, Ina Jellins, passed away. I felt so sad when I learned this news. Ina has actually crossed my mind several times lately, but I have been so preoccupied with keeping a new baby alive and fighting lice that I neglected to call her. I felt really, really sad to learn that opportunity has passed. But at the same time I was happy for Ina. She had such a hard life and was in so much pain, and I am sure her eternal reward feels very sweet to her.
On a happy note, Mary’s glasses finally came today! We think she looks even cuter with them on. Ina adored Mary, and I am sure she peeked down from heaven today to see what Mary looks like with glasses.
Mary was happy with her glasses…for about ten minutes. Then came the tantrum. I tried every trick I knew to help her understand she needs to keep her glasses on. Finally I bribed her with a giant banana split, unlimited time with Diego, treats from Qualtrics, and a special trip to the toy store (which we both forgot about when the time came). She still hates her glasses. I can already see that this will be a daily battle…
Yesterday we paid hundreds of dollars for a lice specialist to help us solve our problems. I have decided that if Abe dies I will become a lice specialist. Ours made $125 an hour, not including head checks ($20 a head). That is way more money than I would ever make teaching piano, teaching English, or as a line chef in a restaurant. Everything I am (on paper) qualified to do pales in financial comparison with the de-lousing profession. Why did I even ever go to school? I have no idea. But at least now I have a lucrative back-up plan!
