Today has been a hard day for the baby . She has been her happy self for about 85 % of the day . The other 15 % of the day , it was very obvious that she was in a great deal of pain . When she would cry , it was a very sad cry , it lasted long , and there wasn 't much consoling her . As she cried , she didn 't look like herself . I tried the techniques the doctor showed me to ease her pain and get the gas moving . It worked pretty well , but not very quickly . It is one of those times when you wish you could take your child 's pain on yourself . Tonight , her aunt held her and managed to work a lot of the gas out of her . She seems to be a lot more content now . She is eating and thinking about going to sleep now . This morning my baby woke up at about 7 : 45 am making a high - pitched screeching cry . Then she stopped and started flailing her arms and put her head back . She did it again . I didn 't know what was going on , as I had never seen anything like this in my life . It scared me half to death . I called 9 - 1 - 1 . I was trying to maintain my composure the best that I could . The first thing that asked was my address and then the emergency . I told them that my baby seemed to be having seizures . To me , that is what it seemed like . They had me make sure she was breathing and then told me what to do if it happened again . They also told me to lay her on her side . So I did . It didn 't happen again , thankfully . While I was on the phone with the dispatcher , I had my son say a prayer . I don 't know what he said , because I was on the phone , but I know it helped . My 7 year - old daughter heard me on the phone and she started crying . The crying woke up my 4 year - old . Everyone was awake by the time the EMT 's got here . The EMT 's got here quite quickly , I would say within 5 minutes . My sister and my husband had already left for work . I had my daughter call my sister . She got the voice mail . I sent my sister a text . She didn 't see it until she had gotten on the bus . She called immediately . When she got to work , she told them what was going on , and then came home . I couldn 't get a hold of my husband . I don 't have a direct line to him . Anyway , the EMT 's evaluated her . They took her medical history ( she doesn 't have one ) . They took her pulse , approximately 124 beats per minute . They took her temperature and said 95 . 3 . I couldn 't believe that ! I asked if that was normal because they didn 't seem alarmed at all . They said that their thermometer is 1 to 2 degrees off . That made more sense to me . I couldn 't figure out how she could possible have such a low temperature . I am glad I asked ! One of their first questions was also if she was always this pale . I told them that all of us are quite white . They looked over at my 4 year - old and understood what I meant . They spent a good 10 or 15 minutes here . The baby had woken up and was responding well . The EMT 's said that she didn 't look like there was any problem . They told me to call the pediatrician and get her evaluated there . This was after assuring me that everything looked fine and asking if I still wanted her to go the hospital . I told them that if they were sure she would be okay , I trusted them . I called the doctor at 9 am and got an appointment for 10 : 45 am . At the doctor 's office , I explained what happened . She asked about yesterday , and I told her that she seemed like she was in pain yesterday , maybe a stomach ache . I had my sister hold the baby on her my sister 's arm , belly down . It seemed to ease the pain . The doctor said that when a baby has seizures , they don 't vocalize pain . It just happens , then it is over . She said that most likely the baby has acid reflux which can be quite painful . This would explain the flailing and crying . That put my mind at ease . She also showed me some techniques to help out with gas and stomach pain . The doctor will call me on Friday to see what I think as far as the acid reflux . I am supposed to watch for spitting up or pain when put on her back . She doesn 't seem to like to be on her back , which would explain a lot . I am just so thankful for EMT 's and a doctor that knows what is going on ! The baby is resting peacefully now . She is sound asleep on my stomach . I am so thankful that she is okay . She gave me quite the scare this morning ! Today I went back to church . I haven 't been there since Christmas Day . I have either not felt well or one of my children haven 't felt well . It was wonderful to be back . I went to Sacrament Meeting for a little while , then had to go feed the baby , then got back to Sacrament for a few minutes before the closing song and prayer . My 4 year - old didn 't want to go to primary by himself . He was crying and wanted me to go with him . The baby and I went with him and stayed until about 15 minutes before it ended . I then went in to Gospel Doctrine with my husband . After that , they had combined men and women for the final class . We watched a video about family history . They then announced that they would like our ward goal to be to index 100000 names this year . It would mean 200 names per month . I can do that . I love doing Family Search Indexing ! Last night , my brother gave my sister and I a call . He said that the plane he was supposed to be taking had mechanical problems so he was being re - routed to Salt Lake City . He said he and his wife would be arriving in Salt Lake around midnight and would be flying out at 11 am to go back to Washington State . He asked if we would be able to come to see him . We , of course , said yes . We got up this morning about 6 : 30 am . I had been awake since 5 am , my sister since 5 : 30 , but we were trying to be quiet , and not wake anyone up . So , we didn 't get up . I heard footsteps as soon as I got up to go to the bathroom and start getting ready . My sister said she had been waiting to hear movement for an hour . I asked my husband if he was going to go down to Salt Lake with us . He said he wanted to , but he was tired . I asked again , because I didn 't want to wake up any children if he was going to be there anyway . He decided to stay in bed . My two oldest children woke up on their own and got ready to go . I let my 4 year - old stay asleep and I brought my baby . My husband wouldn 't be able to do much to help her out if she got hungry . I also knew that my brother and sister - in - law would love to meet the little one . We all jumped in the van and headed first to Krispy Kreme . My children each got 6 doughnuts for good grades ! We got a dozen free doughnuts and headed to Salt Lake with them . They were hot : ) We went to Weight Watchers next . I lost 2 . 2 pounds . I am now into One - derland . I was exactly 199 when I got weighed . We then went to Salt Lake City . We brought the doughnuts to share with them . It was wonderful to get to see them . It was only for about 1 hour and 20 minutes . We got to visit and enjoy each other 's company . We all enjoyed the doughnuts . My daughter was excited that their hotel served bacon on the complimentary breakfast . She got some before we left . They both had their pictures taken with the baby . I was so happy that they finally got to meet her . I would have driven down to see them even if it would have been for a few minutes . There is nothing like being with family . Time always flies , but it is well worth the time ! I am excited to see my sister and nephew . They are flying out in February to stay with us for a little over a week . It will be a good time . I look forward to all of us being together again . I hope that we can all get together sometime this summer . We hope to go see my brother and his children in April , and I would love to go back to NY in April also . We shall see ! Yesterday I got two packages in the mail . I was excited . I knew that one of the packages was my new battery for my computer . My battery would only work for about 20 minutes , at the most , if it wasn 't plugged in . I had no idea what the other package was though . I told someone else to open it , so my sister did . After she opened it , she had my children bring it over to me . When I opened the cover , it was my Blog2Print book . I was very excited to see that ! The quality of the blog was very impressing . It has nice sized pages and the cover pictures were beautiful . It looks like it should last the test of time . It is wonderful to have the blog in print . I began my blog as an effort to start journaling our day - to - day activity . I know the importance of keeping a journal , but I have not been good about doing it . I like to know that my children will have a book showing them what we did when they were children . I am planning to buy a Blog2Print each year . Someday , I hope to have a large collection of books titled , " My Kids , My Husband and I . " I would recommend blogging to anyone that wants to keep a journal but really doesn 't want to sit down and put a pen to paper . It is much quicker for me to type it out than to write it out . A couple weeks ago , I started working on making my parents , my husband 's parents and his grandmother a calendar . I went to shutterfly . com and started the task . It took several hours . . . I had to find the perfect pictures . I had to make sure that I had everyone 's birthday and anniversary correct . I know everyone 's dates on my side of the family , it is my husband 's side that I was having problems with . I loved making the calendar . Going through the pictures brought back a lot of memories . I loved sorting through pictures , both old and new . I found pictures of couples for their anniversaries , wedding pictures if possible . I then had to find good pictures of each person for birthdays . The neat thing you can do with shutterfly is put a picture of the person on their birthday . You can also label it as their birthday . I loved being able to personalize the calendars . My parents got their calendar a few days ago . My dad called me , from my mother 's phone . He told me that they got the calendar and they loved it . They were on speaker so I could hear both Mom and Dad telling me . It made me feel so good that I could think of something to give them . I made a calendar for them a couple years ago too . It is so difficult to think of a gift for them , since they have everything they need , and are trying to consolidate things so they don 't have to move as much . It was a late Christmas gift , but I think it was a good one . Keith 's mom called on Saturday because she got hers that day . She thanked Keith for the gift . I was happy that she received it and that she liked it . There was one birthday on that side of the family that no one would confirm for me . It is my nephew that will be 1 in February . I was quite sure his birthday was Feb 21 , and it seemed that way from e - mails between his mother and I and pictures that his Dad posted . So , that is the day he went on . I hope it is right . I always try to make sure that I get something for our parents and his grandmother . We draw a name to buy for on my side of the family . Someone assigns us a name to buy for on the other side of the family . I think it is important to get the parents and grandma something yearly , just because if it weren 't for them , we wouldn 't be here . I am so thankful for my parents . I was truly blessed with wonderful parents who love each of us children and grandchildren . I would not be the person I am today if it weren 't for them and their examples . at My 8 year - old brought a slinky home from a party on Saturday . It immediately became the big toy in the house . My 4 year - old was crying because he didn 't get one . He didn 't get one because he didn 't go to the party . He didn 't go to the party because he wasn 't invited . My daughter didn 't go either , since she wasn 't invited . This caused me to have to go on amazon . com and buy another slinky . We found one that glows in the dark . Since I have an Amazon Mom account , the slinky got here yesterday . It wasn 't a day too soon . The slinky my 8 year - old got on Saturday was already tangled up . My kids were playing slingshot with it . I never played slingshot with my slinky . I played jump rope with it , which tangled it up just as well . My 4 year - old was very thrilled with his slinky . He showed me how he was going to play with it . He put one side in each hand and just wiggled it back and forth by moving his hands up and down . That slinky lasted a day . It would probably still be safe except for my older children got a hold of it . While I was getting my son from school , my daughter decided to stretch it out and start twisting it around . By the time I saw her and the slinky , the slinky was broken . I thought she was kidding . She wasn 't . My son was sad . I was able to unwrap about 1 / 3 of it and then cut it off with my Cutco scissors . He got it and put one side on each hand and announced that it wasn 't big . I then got to continue to try to unwrap the other 2 / 3 of the slinky . I managed to do it well enough that it made him happy . I then taped the two halves together . I think for now it is still intact . I need to figure out a way to make them stick together better . It is amazing how a little slinky can amuse so many children . Tonight I changed my baby daughter 's outfit . When I checked her toes , like I have learned to do regularly , I discovered two of them had hair wrapped very tightly around them . I never thought to check her toes until one evening my sister called me in to tell me that the baby had hair wrapped around her toe . Both times , the hair has been wrapped so tightly that it has left an indentation all the way around it . The baby cries and cries as I try to get it off . I feel so bad for her . I know it must hurt . She doesn 't cry until I start trying to detach the hair . I don 't know if her toe is so numb that it doesn 't bother her until I start the detangling and ripping of the hair from the toe . I just can 't figure out how hair can get wrapped tightly around a toe or two . She was wearing a footed sleeper . I figure the hair must somehow get into the foot part of it . I just don 't know how it could perfectly wrap itself around the toes . Thankfully I realized it was there . I don 't know want to think about how long it would take to cut off circulation . I am pretty sure she won 't be wearing footed sleepers anymore . Her toes are precious little things . I would like her to keep them , and I am sure she would like the same thing , even though she doesn 't know what they are yet . It is my goal to make sure that her toes stay firmly attached . My children make me smile . They are amazing little people trying to figure their place out in this world . I remember being that age and not quite knowing what to expect from the world around me . I did know one thing , my family would always be there for me . I was right . A day does not go by that I do not thank my Heavenly Father for sending me to the family I have . They are my best friends . I also don 't let a day go by that I don 't thank Heavenly Father for the children I have . They are such a blessing to my life and I am thankful that I am blessed to have them . I love when I walk in on them playing together . I get nervous when things get quiet around here . It isn 't quiet very often when everyone is home . If you are looking for a quiet place , I would not suggest coming to my house ! It is fun to walk in and see them playing dress - up ( yes , my 7 year - old has convinced my 4 year - old son to play dress - up with her on occasion ) . I think she is waiting for the day when she can start dressing up my baby . She loves to pick out her outfits ! I have caught them playing board games or video games together also . Recently the children had a friend over to all connect with their DS 's and my daughter 's DS has been gone ever since . It is sad to me that they can 't do that anymore . My 8 year - old son lost his , although I think that should still be in our house somewhere . My 4 year - old still knows where his is , thankfully ! It is fun to see the " tents " being built in the hallway . It consists of a couple dining room chairs and a few blankets . My daughter even fell asleep in the tent one night . My husband moved her in to her bed . She woke up and was awake for a while after that . They build " hotels " on my couch . It consists of the couch and a lot of couch cushions surrounding them . A lot of times they enjoy chasing each other around the house . I feel sorry for the people that live below us . I often have to remind the children that they are running on someone else 's ceiling . My children love to play together . I am thankful for that . I miss the days of playing with my brothers and sisters . There were many a game of chase , freeze tag , kickball , football , volleyball , badminton . You name it , we probably played it . I hope my children have the same memories ! I told my daughter that she could make oatmeal cookies today . She was very excited . It all went well until we needed 1 cup of sugar . I told her where the sugar was . She informed me that it wasn 't there . She reminded me that we used the rest of it when we made fudge on New Year 's Eve . She came out with the powdered sugar . She wanted to use that , I told her no . She said we would just have to have it without sugar then . I allowed her to use the powdered sugar at that point . The cookies turned out okay , I guess . I didn 't eat any of them because my stomach hasn 't been right today . The dough tasted good though , so I imagine the cookies were good too . The baby is still trying to get well . I am still trying to get her well . Poor thing still hates to get her nose sucked out and it still has to be done . All of my children are so helpful with the baby . Sometimes it scares me , but they are quite careful with her . I catch myself taking deep breaths when they walk around the house with her . I enjoy the times when they just want to sit down and hold her . I just finished feeding the baby and my 8 year - old came over and asked if he could burp the little one . He likes to call her " the little one . " He is an amazing big brother . He was too young to help out with his sister that is 13 mos and 13 days younger , but you could see how much he loved her the first time he saw her . His dad held him up so he could see her , and he got a big smile . There was recognition in his eyes . I believe in the pre - mortal life . I believe we were families before we came to earth . It just makes sense to me . I was shocked when I learned that others don 't believe the same thing . My 4 year - old still enjoys helping me change the diapers . It is nice that he will ask if he can help out with the diaper change . He is going to be a great husband ! What wife doesn 't want help with a diaper change ? ! My 8 year - old is sitting beside me with the baby talking to her . It is funny to hear him get the high - pitched baby talk going on ! He is getting pretty good at that . He will also push her in her baby swing . Sometimes the swing gets turned off just so he can do that . My 7 year - old daughter thinks having a sister is the best thing that could have ever happened . She used to always ask me if I would have a baby sister for her . I would explain that there was no guarantee what I would have . The day I came home and announced that the baby would be a girl she jumped up and down on her bed with joy . So did my other children . She often tells me the baby that she is her only sister . I think it is wonderful having both brothers and sisters . I am glad she will have the same thing . I hope everyone has had a great weekend so far . I lost . 2 pounds this week . We have been getting snow all day , except for rain this morning . : ( I was just sitting here wondering what I would write my blog about tonight . I already wrote that my son and daughter have been sick . I brought the baby to the doctor today and they tested her for RSV and the flu . Thankfully both came back negative . I don 't like when my children have RSV . I was happy to hear that was negative . My daughter came out and asked me , " What is taxidermy ? " She didn 't quite say it right , but it was close enough that I knew that was the word . So I said , " Taxidermy ? " She said yes . I told her that it is when an animal dies , you can get it stuffed . My 4 year - old was right there . He looked at me kind of oddly and ran off . My daughter just kept looking at me , like I was crazy or kidding . She couldn 't decide which . So , I told them that when someone 's dog dies , and they love the dog and don 't want to bury it , they can bring it to the taxidermist and get it stuffed . Then they could set it next to them and still pet it . I am not sure what they stuff them with , but I said with cotton . She said , " Like a stuffed animal . " I knew she meant a toy . I have to admit , I prefer much prefer to have pets buried . I don 't think I would like seeing my dead pet regularly . I then went on to ask her if she remembers the animals at the zoo and told her those are stuffed . That really confused her . I could tell by the look on her face that I had misspoke . I then changed it to the animals at the museum . She understood that , and seemed happy to know that the animals at the zoo weren 't dead . I think she was trying to figure out how dead animals could run around ! She told me that she just thought those animals were statues . I told her they used to be alive . It made sense to her and she went back to bed . I sure am glad that I realized that I said the animals at the zoo , instead of at the museum . I am not sure she would have ever wanted to go back . Who wants to see a bunch of dead animals running around ? I think that would be freaky ! I have a couple of aprons now . I never really saw the point of having an apron until I heard that it is to keep my clothes clean . I got them as gifts so I decided that I might as well keep them . I have yet to tie one around my waist , but my daughter wears them regularly . They are almost like a fashion accessory to her . Right now , she is walking around the house in a dress , an apron , and a pair of her aunt 's high heels . She has even put her hair up ! Perhaps I should start dressing up like that and I will feel more like tying on an apron . My usual cooking attire is jeans , t - shirt and either barefoot or socks . My daughter doesn 't cook very often . She does know how to make soup , whether it is a can or ramen noodles . She can make some good scrambled eggs . She knows how to cook pasta quite well also . She enjoys helping out in the kitchen , which I think is important . Although I don 't plan on dying young ( or whatever I am considered at 38 or before my children are fully grown ) , I would like to know that my children would eat more than just pasta and sandwiches . My four year - old son is also quite interested in anything cooking related . He has enjoyed helping me out in the kitchen since he was almost 3 . I get nervous having him out there , especially since he is a big fan of stirring the noodles ( in boiling water ) or making his own scrambled eggs . Thankfully we have an electric stove , so there isn 't an open flame burning under the pan . He won 't eat scrambled eggs if he didn 't make them himself . I am also right beside him to supervise . I 'm not sure at what age I can expect the children to start cooking by themselves . They have cookbooks and I try to encourage them to pick things they want to make . My 8 year - old is the one that seems the least interested . It is easy to make a bowl of cereal , right ? And a lot less time - consuming . I think I may teach them to make pancakes this weekend . They love chocolate chip pancakes . . . their grandma is famous for making them . We don 't have them often since almost the whole country separates uHope you have all had a wonderful Thursday ! My little daughter accomplished two things in the past 24 hours . Last night , she cried her first tear . . . she had a tear run down her face to her ear , while I was using the nose sucker . She has had tears in the past , but they never left her eyes . She giggled tonight , a couple of times . I think she did last night too , but immediately got the hiccups . She got the hiccups again tonight when she giggled . Poor little one , we my mom nicknamed her Princess Hiccup at about a week old . She laughed at 4 days old , but it was a fluke , I am certain . Her brother that was 3 years - old at the time , was flopping around on the couch and she let out a laugh . She also laughed in her sleep one evening while my sister was holding her . My sister laughed at a funny part of a show , I forget what we were watching , and then the baby just started laughing . Probably lasted for at least a minute , but I didn 't time it . I 'm wondering if taking fiber while nursing is affecting her . It isn 't really helping me too much , but she had one explosion out of the diaper tonight , and then a near explosion out of the diaper . It was contained , thankfully ! Do you ever have days when you lose complete track of what day it is ? ! Today I keep thinking it is Thursday . There really is no reason why I would think that , but I keep needing to remind myself it is Wednesday . at My baby is not a big fan of it . I am not sure that she realizes what I am doing with it , until I put it in her nose and it starts doing its job . It isn 't a job that anyone would want to do . I feel miserable when it makes her cry like she cries at no other time . She has been stuffed up and I had to use it tonight . She cried and cried . She even cried her first tear to come out of her eyes . It was really sad ! It took a few minutes to calm her down once I was finished . I am sure that once she can recognize the nose sucker and move on her own , she will run away , crawl away , or roll away . Whatever her mode of transportation is at that time ! I ran a mile today . It took a little under 12 minutes , I set the treadmill at 5 . 1 mph . It will be nice when I have the endurance that I used to have . It is crazy how a mile almost kills me . I am just going to be taking it easy til the mile or mile and a half is easy on me . Hope you all had a great day ! To be a little baby again ! It is amazing to watch the little one as everything is new to her . She has been on earth for a little more than 3 months , I can hardly believe it has been that long . It is awe - inspiring to watch her . The other day she had on a sleeper that had zebra faces for the feet . When she saw those , she couldn 't take her eyes off of them . She just kept staring . I think it was the first time she realized that she had something down that low . The faces she would make at them would just make me laugh . She was so intrigued by whatever it was ! She has started to really check out her hands recently also . She will hold them in a fist and turn them back and forth . She will then open them and look at them again . It is funny that something so common to us can be so intriguing to a baby . It is amazing to watch a child grow ! Her swing has a little bar that goes across that has bears hanging down where she can see them . Yesterday we were going to record her looking at those bears . If you have ever seen a baby smile so big that you know she loves what she sees , then you know the smile she was giving those bears . She didn 't want them to have any doubt about the way she feels for them . By the time the recorder was ready to start , she had moved on to looking at something else . I look forward to when everyone in my family can meet the little one . So far , only my mother , my sister who lives with us , and my husband 's brother has met her from the family . My other sister and her son will be visiting me in February , so the baby will get to meet them . I need to bring her over to meet my sister - in - law and her children . Once everyone is well I plan to do that . The baby has had the sniffles lately , and as I wrote the other day , my son has been sick too . It is funny , I just looked down and she was sucking like crazy on her top lip . She gave up quickly , she must have realized that she wasn 't getting any nourishment from it . An update on my resolutions . . . I haven 't been running like I planned to . It has been a couple weeks . I am going to start tomorrow . . . I know , the good ole tomorrow excuse , but I really am . I have been doing my push - ups daily . Yesterday I did 100 with my hands on the couch and the other 112 on the wall . I did 100 crunches and 40 leg lifts on each leg . Today , only 50 with my hands on the couch , other 162 on the wall . My shoulder is bothering me . Hope it was a good Monday for everyone ! A few years ago , my brother lived about 45 minutes from Wasington , D . C . , for a year . We made a trip down to his place about once a month , and they would make the trip up to NY about once a month . It was wonderful to be that close as a family for a year . We would go into D . C . every time we went to visit . There was so much to see that it couldn 't all be done in one trip . My children , especially my daughter , absolutely loved the Museum of Natural History . I think we would go to that one every time we went to D . C . It was fun to get to see the dinosaur bones and the mammal exhibit . We always enjoyed the saltwater fish exhibit as well . We would find Nemo and Dori . We also got to see the insect room and the Hope Diamond . My mom and sisters would go to the National Archives to do some family history research . I didn 't have a pass to get in . I would stay with the children while they did that . There is so much to do in D . C . My daughter wrote as one of her resolutions for this year is to go back to D . C . I am not sure that will happen , but I guess we can give it our best try . I have been going through pictures today . It has been a lot of fun . I found a file with our first family pictures . I didn 't know that Keith had saved them . It was him , me and my oldest son as an infant . It is absolutely adorable ! It made me laugh seeing him that young again . He was a little , chunky fella . Now he is a slim child . I enjoy going through pictures . It is such a blessing to live in an age when we can take pictures and if we don 't like them , just delete them and take another . I remember the day of the old 35 mm film , when you could just hope and pray that the pictures turned out , at least , okay . Couldn 't hope for everyone to look wonderful , but okay was good enough . I need to get back into scrapbooking . It was always a lot of fun to put the memories on paper and journal the different photos . It is amazing seeing how much children change and how quickly it happens . Before I know it , my baby will be in school ! at My 4 year - old is sick . He started coughing on Wednesday , by Wednesday night I could tell that he wasn 't feeling well at all . He started running a fever and by 1 in the morning I was running the nebulizer giving him a breathing treatment . He had a fever of almost 101 . So , the meds started coming . Thankfully , he likes medicine . I gave him cough medicine and ibuprofen . This was after the breathing treatment . We call it the cloud machine , it makes it a little more enjoyable than just sitting still with a piece in your mouth breathing . This is my child that had RSV at 3 weeks old . It has been almost exactly 4 years since that incident landed us in the hospital . He was initially diagnosed with with RSV on Jan 6 , 2008 . He had stopped breathing long enough for the area around his mouth to turn blue . It wasn 't very long , but it was long enough for me to call the ambulance . We spent several hours in the ER , just to have the doctor tell me had RSV . He sent me home with my 20 day old baby telling me to make sure that he kept breathing . Needless to say , I was a wreck . By the time I got to the doctor a few hours later , I had no sleep in more than 30 hours , been crying a lot , and had the hormones that go along with being postpartum working against me . His pediatrician immediately arranged for him to be admitted to the hospital , she said we both needed it . That he needed to be monitored and I needed to be able to sleep , knowing that he would be well taken care of . I miss his pediatrician . . . she was wonderful , but we moved 1900 miles west . He was well taken care of and discharged from the hospital the next day . Today he is doing much better . I know when he needs to have his breathing treatments . I keep them handy . I give it to him on an as needed basis . I give it to him when he starts developing a cough . I am still giving him allergy medicine ( instead of cough medicine ) and ibuprofen . His nose is running like crazy , but the medicine seems to help . He is still his cheerful self even when he is sick . He just gets agitated a lot easier . I am thankful for healthy children . It is sad to me when they get sick . I worry about them a lot when they get sick . Thank goodness for cans of soup ! They love to have soup and it gives them fluid as well as nutrition . On Wednesday , my 4 year - old was the VIP of his preschool class . That is what they call the child that is having the birthday celebration . His birthday was Dec 20 , but they were off school that week . My son got to do a poster of things that he likes . He was allowed to put pictures of family on it , cut out pictures from magazines , and draw on it . We traced his hand and I put the date on it . He put the most recent picture of his siblings and himself . He cut out some pictures from a magazine . . . he put a picture of some dogs , vitamins , toothbrush and toothpaste and Legos . He is a big fan of Legos . We taped an empty pack of gum to the poster and a Hot Wheels car . He was so excited to get to school . I bought Whales which is a generic version of Goldfish . I think you get twice as many of them for the same price as you get Goldfish crackers for . He loves Goldfish , but I would have had to buy two packs of them in order for him to be able to share with his whole class . His older sister was very excited that there were some left after school . When I picked him up from school , he was glowing . I could tell he had a wonderful celebration , and his teachers gave him a gift . He also had a Happy Birthday crown on his head . It is always nice to get to celebrate your birthday more than once . I know , I was born just after Christmas on the 29th , so thankfully , I have never been in school on my birthday . He is such a fun little fellow . You could see the happiness in his eyes as we worked on his poster together . I took a picture of him and the poster , but I have no clue where the camera went , and my husband is sleeping . I will post a picture soon though . He was so proud of that poster . It is still at school . I think we will hang it on his wall when he brings it home . Tonight I took my children to their first NBA game . It was the Utah Jazz vs the Cleveland Cavaliers . It was a great game . The Jazz ended up winning 113 - 105 . We left with two minutes left in the 2nd half . We wanted to get out before all the traffic . My children didn 't really seem to care much for it . My 8 year - old chose to play his Nintendo DS , my daughter wished she had brought a book , and my 4 year - old looked at me for most of the game . He kept asking if we could go home . It was late by the time we got out of there and to our car . It was 9 : 51 pm . They are usually in bed by 8 : 30 pm so I can 't blame them much . My 3 month old is the one that seemed to enjoy it the most . She liked all the lights I think ! We got the tickets for under $ 25 off of StubHub . That is 6 tickets for under $ 25 . I couldn 't pass up such a great deal . It was in the nosebleed section . Pretty much as high up as you could possibly sit . My sister sat down lower because of her vertigo . She can 't go to such high places . Well , I am tired . Hope you all had a great night ! We have lived here for almost 10 months and today I finally located the public library . It was about 3 miles away , so my kids won 't be walking to the library . I probably wouldn 't have gone looking for it , except for my 7 year - old daughter is a little bookworm . I don 't have time to read these days , even though I should really make time for it . She actually cried when I announced that we would do it later this week . She reminded me promptly that I told her I would bring her today . After I filled out the form for the library cards , she grabbed her card and ran to the children 's section . She got a couple Veggie Tales DVD 's and then a Magic Treehouse book and a Chronicles of Narnia Voyage of the Dawn Treader or something like that . I never was interested in the Chronicles of Narnia series , or the Lord of the Rings series . After we finished at the library , we went grocery shopping . We were on the end of town with one of the grocery stores , so I figured we might as well do some shopping . The lasagna was on sale there for $ 3 less than where I bought one a couple weeks ago . I bought a family size pack of boneless , skinless chicken breasts and a family size pack of boneless pork chops . I also bought some Italian sausage and pepper and onion . This should be a yummy week of food , I 'm excited . I did my 212 wall push - ups for today . I have done more push - ups in the past 7 days than I have in the past 7 years , I think . It is for a good cause , so I will continue to do them . I haven 't been as diligent with my New Year 's resolution as I should be . I need to start really doing them . I just have a really bad time finding the time . I have hoped that I would give birth to a person that would enjoy watching football with me . I finally did it ! My baby is a fan of football already . Thankfully ! It is nice to have a little one sitting here watching the game . She even cries if I block her view of the game . I just hope that it continues past the first few months of life . My 4 year - old son has exclaimed loudly his dislike for the sport . Perhaps he will enjoy playing the game . I won 't steer him in any direction . He will have to pick his sport himself , as have the older two children . They have both seemed to pick soccer , although it has caused arguments on the floor during the game . They have only played indoor soccer in the gym at the YMCA . Last night I sent my blog off to be printed from July 23 - Dec 31 . I started this blog as a journal for the family . I am excited to see it in book format . It will be a black and white book with 76 pages ( I believe ) for $ 16 . 55 from Blog2Print . I will let you all know how it turns out . I have finished my push - ups for the day . I did 7 knee push - ups , and 205 wall push - ups . My shoulder isn 't strong enough yet to do knee push - ups . I hurt ! My kids went sledding this morning . My youngest son cried because he forgot his gloves . He then blamed my sister and I for forgetting to put them on him . I guess I should have paid closer attention . He came back in , got warmed up , had them put on , and went back out . They are at church right now . I am at home , guess that is obvious , with the baby . Anyone that knows me , knows I don 't like snow . I could go a lifetime without ever seeing it again , and this includes on Christmas . My children are my opposites . They saw snow out the window and they were really happy about it . I had to go out and get weighed at Weight Watchers ( I lost 1 . 8 lbs since Dec 23 ) , and I always go to Wal - Mart to get ice cream afterward . I figured that since I was there , I would buy each of the children a sled . We have a nice little hill in our courtyard so they can sled out there . Upon returning home from Wal - Mart , I showed them what I got them . They were really excited . They had to clean their bedrooms before they could go outside and use them . I got them each their favorite color for their sled . The oldest got a green one , my 7 year - old daughter got a pink one , and my 4 year - old son got a blue one . The green one doesn 't seem to hold up very well . He broke the first one , so we brought it back . He then went out with the second one and that one broke too . I am not returning it until Monday . My children got several hours of enjoyment out of the sleds today . They also got to share with their friends . I saw them letting their friends use the sleds also . I thought this was really nice of them . I went to a local thrift store and bought the two boys a snowsuit . The one I got for the oldest didn 't fit him , but the one for my youngest son did fit him . I have to bring the other back . He looks super cute in it . I have to find another one for him and then find one for my older daughter as well . I got them each a pair of mittens also . I hate to think of the children being cold . I got the mittens at the Dollar Tree and it came with 2 pairs . . . so they were 50 cents each . Not too bad , seeing how they usually get lost quickly . I am thankful that my children don 't hate snow . This gave them a lot of exercise ( and Vitamin D ) running up and down the hill . The nice thing is , they don 't think of it as exercise . They think of it as fun . Isn 't that how exercise should be ? My children have wanted a Nintendo Wii ever since they first learned what one was , which was when their uncle got one . I am not into video games , so I have never really cared that all they have is their Nintendo DS and a Nintendo 64 . My youngest son has been asking me to win a Nintendo Wii for about three months . There is no way to win one , that I have seen . I asked my sister if her husband and son still play the Wii , and she said not too often . I told her that my son really wants one . All my children want one , but my youngest son REALLY wants one . Today she spoke to her husband about it . He wanted to trade it in to Game Stop . He called to see how much he would get for everything . He then said he would let me have it for less than that ( since I 'm family ) . Thank you ! My children now have a goal . They want to earn that Wii . My sister would be bringing it out to us when she comes to visit . They now know that I expect them to help clean around the house daily , without crying or whining . That is how they will earn it . This isn 't a cheap little gadget . . . I think it is fair that they earn it . They should appreciate it more . I let them know that if they don 't keep up their end of the deal , I will call and tell their uncle to trade it in . They also know that it is going to consist of teamwork . They all have to help . Not just one of them , or two of them , but all three of them . If they are going to play together , they can work together too . This was day one . It had a few hitches , but it went over quite well . I am looking forward to having a clean house and not needing to hear the children argue with me about doing their chores . I will have them continue their housework in order to be able to play on the Wii . I am excited for them to actually have it . I know that they enjoyed playing it when we lived closer to their uncle and cousin . My daily update . . . I completed my 212 push - ups . I did 192 on the wall and 20 on a picnic table . They are getting easier to do , which is nice ! I ran 1 / 4 mile . Something kept telling me to turn around , so I did . I have learned to listen to that still , small voice . Tonight we had chicken tacos for dinner . Tomorrow we will have Garlic Chicken ( at least that is the plan ) , and Sunday we will have Thai Chicken pizza from Papa Murphy 's . I will pick it up tomorrow . It looks really good : ) Ten Things About the Mommy in MeI am a Mama Bear . I protect my children ( and my family ) with every fiber of my being . I will not be a mommy that will ever say , " My child would never do that . " That was something I decided a long time ago when I would hear other mothers say that , when I knew their child did do " that . " I will listen to what the person says and then have a talk with my child . I will stay up all night with a sick child . My mother did that for me , I will do that for my children . It will take me a long time to catch up on the sleep I missed , but that is okay . I will teach my children correct principles and let them govern themselves ( as adults ) . I have to believe that they will know right from wrong . Of course , for now , I can 't let them do much by themselves . I feel bad for my children when they get in trouble . I am sometimes the one that has to discipline them , and I hate doing that , but it is for their good . I believe that children have to know that there are consequences to their decisions . I am not afraid to die , but I do worry about the what would happen to my children if I did die . We are not guaranteed any amount of time on earth . I believe it is imperative to always let people know that you love them ( if , in fact , you do . ) . That is how I was raised . We don 't let a good - bye end without telling family we love them . I try to always let my children know how proud I am of them . They all have special characteristics which make them unique . I try to point those out to them . There is nothing like having my child tell me he or she loves me . It melts my heart , especially if it is unsolicited . When I tell them I love them , they say it back to me , but it is really nice when they just say it out of nowhere . Today it is absolutely beautiful outside . Actually , it isn 't 68 to 72 degrees , but to be January and living in Utah , I consider the high 40s to be absolutely beautiful . When I walked outside to bring my 4 year - old son to school , I realized how nice it was . It was too late to walk to school with him , so we drove . On the way there , I asked him if he wanted to walk home from school this afternoon . He said yes . Then he remembered how cold his hands got the last day of school before Christmas , and decided that he didn 't want to walk . I told him that he wouldn 't get that cold , there isn 't even snow on the ground . He then decided that he did want to walk . I got the baby dressed appropriately for a walk , I put her in the baby carrier ( I need a new one ) , filled up my Brita water bottle which has a filter and off we went . It took about 10 minutes to get there . I got my 4 year - old and my 7 year - old . My 7 year - old told me that my 8 year - old already started walking home . We then started our trek back to the apartment . It was a nice walk with the children . I told them that if tomorrow was as nice , we would be walking again . I don 't see any reason to use gas money if I can walk and not worry about falling on ice . When we arrived home , my 8 year - old was already here . We decided where we would be meeting tomorrow . While we walked home we got to talk . It is nice to have time to spend just talking with the children about nothing in particular , just shooting the breeze . My 7 year - old daughter shared some raisins with my 4 year - old son while we walked home . I thought that was nice of her . She offered to share , he didn 't even have to ask . It is times like that which make me smile . Last night , my husband , kids ( except for my baby ) , and I went to the gym . I did the treadmill and elliptical machine while I watched the first half of The Biggest Loser . My sister likes to watch NCIS which is at the same time . My children ran around in there . Before we went to the gym , I had gone for a 1 . 47 mi run . I figure if I am going to be getting back into shape , I should get serious about it . I have finished my 212 wall push - ups for the day , today . I am honored to be doing them . I am thankful for painkillers too ! I knew that I would be sore , but this morning I could barely move . I will continue to push through the pain for this cause . My 4 year - old is currently protesting needing to help clean the house . My older two children are doing it willingly . It is nice to have them cooperating . I am going to start dinner . . . we are having shrimp fried rice with salad . We were going to have baked chicken with couscous and salad . The chicken isn 't completely thawed yet . That will be tomorrow 's meal . What did you do today ? What are your dinner plans ? I can always use suggestions ! Today was my children 's first day back at school . They got up on time and got out the door in plenty of time to get there . I was worried about that , since they had been staying up way too late recently and sleeping past their usual time to wake up . Last night , they were sent to bed at 8 : 30 pm . They got to stay there until they went to sleep . It was a little while , but it worked . After I picked my children up from school , my 4 year - old informed me that he watched " Spiderman . " He watched it about a week ago . Today is the day that he wanted to talk about the movie . He told me that the boy got bit by a spider . He then told me that Spiderman could shoot things from his hand . My son then told me that Spiderman turned into a superhero when he got bit . I explained to him that when people get bit by spiders it hurts really bad . I told him that it puts poison in our bodies . He counteracted by telling me that we turn into superheroes when we get bit . I explained again that we really don 't want to get bit by a spider . Now I am somewhat concerned that he might go looking for a spider to bite him . As far as I know , there are no black widows or brown recluse spiders in the area , which is promising . He really wants to be able to shoot things from his wrist . . . Have any of you had to explain that we don 't have any of the superpowers that we might see on television ? Did your child attempt to use a superpower anyway ? It is amazing how influential they are ! On another note , I completed my 212 push - ups for the day , all wall push - ups but they are done . I am still hoping to get out for a run , but I am not sure when my husband will be arriving home . Is there anyone else joining me with the push - ups ? Please leave a comment if you are , thank you : ) I was on Twitter today when I saw the hashtag # Patriotpushups whiz by . I had to see what that was all about . Upon getting to that search , I saw that it was a man that served in both the Afghanistan and Iraqi Wars stating that he was going to do a push - up for each American soldier killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom . When asked what that number was he stated that it was 6347 . When the blogger did the math , it comes out to 212 push - ups a day starting Jan 2 . Due to a shoulder injury , I can 't start out doing that many on the floor . I am starting out by doing wall push - ups . I am feeling it already and I have only done 60 . I will have to start earlier in the day tomorrow , but for tonight , I will get them done . Please read the original blog at : http : / / funandfit . org / 2012 / 01 / push - ups - for - patriots / comment - page - 1 / # comment - 16294 . I put this challenge up to anyone that cares to do it . I feel that it is the least I can do . Like I said , wall push - ups count . I will keep you all updated on this challenge . I feel honored to be able to do this . I have to get to my running also . That will start tomorrow . Let me know if you are taking the challenge . I would love to have some friends and / or family join me . Hope the 2nd day of the New Year has been good to you ! 2012 is here ! Can anyone believe it ? ! It seems like I was just ringing in 2011 . I have a hard time believing how quickly the years fly by . Doesn 't seem right ! My children seem to get older daily . They are truly the best things that ever happened to me . This is where my first resolution comes : I will continue to strive to be the be the best mother I can be . I gained 50 pounds with my pregnancy . Much of it I believe can be attributed to the Prednisone , which I continue to take . I sometimes feel like I am fighting a losing battle with Prednisone in the weight loss department . I will not give up though . This resolution has a few parts . I would like to lose 50 lbs this year , that will be less than 1 pound a week on average , which is totally doable . I want to run at least 5 miles a week in January , 7 miles a week in February , 10 miles a week in March . I want to exercise at least 5 days a week for 30 minutes a day . I want to run a half marathon by the end of the summer . My next resolution will deal with my peace of mind . I always feel so much better when I have a clean house . I will spend at least 30 minutes a day working on keeping a clean house . I know that once it is clean , it won 't take that long to keep clean . This resolution will deal with spirituality . I will read my scriptures daily for at least 5 minutes . I can find 5 minutes a day to read uplifting words . I will do my Visiting Teaching monthly . I can do better than I did in 2011 as far as my spiritual goals . I will blog more frequently . I love to blog . I love to sit down and write about the day in my family . My goal is to have it printed off and bound in a book for my children on a yearly basis . I do horrible at writing in their journals , so this is why I decided to blog . I want them to know about what happened in their family on a regular basis . I hope that 2012 is better than 2011 . I am thankful for all the friendships that I made in 2011 . I look forward to this year and seeing what happens . I look forward to seeing how my children mature in this year . I look forward to seeing my family again , whenever that may happen . It is hard to plan a trip with 4 little children . It is expensive to fly and it is a long road trip for them if I were to drive . I would love to win a Publisher 's Clearinghouse Sweepstakes : ) I know Ed McMahon wouldn 't be showing up on my door , but it would be nice if someone would ! Thank you to my friends who understand that just because I don 't see them often , it doesn 't mean that I don 't love you and think about you often . You are in my prayers always and I always want the best for you . I love to read on Facebook about your successes . I have the best family and friends around . May you all have a wonderful 2012 and all your dreams come true ! I am a wife , mother , daughter and sister . These are the most important roles in my life . I enjoy blogging about my family and about my training for races . The training blog helps keep me motivated .