My babies

Every day I feel so lucky to have such amazing children. It truly is a love like no other! These days Caleb is counting down to his birthday (as of today we have 6 days left! Big Spiderman birthday party coming up!)...I keep trying to remember 4 years ago at this time, I was miserably pregnant and just so anxious for his arrival. And we didn't even know if we were expecting a he or a she! How different our lives were then. 4 years really has gone by too fast. I'm looking forward to Caleb's joy and excitement on his birthday, it's really one of the best things about being a parent..seeing your child just light up!

And one of the worst parts of parenting...seeing your child in pain. Ella starting feeling sick last week sometime, first a runny nose and then a fever. On day 3 of fever, after it reaching 103.9, I decided to take her to the doctor. She appeared pretty healthy, no ear infection, just a runny nose, but because of the fever for so many days, her doctor wanted to check blood. A finger poke test showed a high white blood cell count, which can mean a variety of things but basically it indicates something was going on, some type of infection. Ella had a urine test (this involved inserting a catheter..not a fun procedure for anyone and especially not an 8 month old baby) and that came back clear (so not a bladder infection). Next was a blood draw, which took 3 tries, in her arm and both hands. This ordeal took a long time and ended with Ella screaming hysterically, throwing up on me, and me in tears as well. She also ended up needing two shots of antibiotics. We were told to come back the next day for blood test results. After a day of worrying, trying not to google 'high white blood cell count' for fear of what it might be...Marshall and I both took Ella to the doctor the next day and everything was just fine. The white blood cell count was down and it looked to be just an icky viral infection. She is fine now, fever free for several days. And we are so thankful to have a healthy happy little girl.

Soccer!

Caleb started soccer last week, he plays for 4 Fridays and it's just an introduction to the game...they run around the whole time and have not played a real game yet. He loves it though and it's good for him, I think. Last night they took pictures (team and individual) and not even two minutes after arriving Caleb had landed in a mud puddle. He was just drawn to that puddle the whole time and ended up pretty wet and dirty after an hour out there!

Mr Yoga

Caleb is always entertaining us with his almost 4 year old antics. Lately it's been yoga. Sometimes in the mornings, if he is up to early, he'll lay on the couch and watch cartoons. One morning recently, he was up way too early, before cartoons even, so I got out of the shower and found him doing yoga stretches on the living room floor, watching some yoga show on public television. He said, "don't turn on the weather, I'm doing exercise!" He's done this a few times now, even telling me to try it out with him! He's pretty good at it, too.