Cutest Little Toes

Are these not the cutest little painted toes!

Ear Infection #2

Last night was horrible! Poor Lauren didn't sleep good at all. She slept for 5 minute intervals up until 3:30 this morning. She then dozed off for longer periods, but it was still very restless. Once I was finally certain she was down for at least an hour I went upstairs to bed only to be awaken by Kristen. She wanted to watch T.V. and was very stuffy and coughing. At this point I could barely breath and had an annoying tickling in the back of my throat, so I just figured I would give up on getting any sleep for the night. I did doze on an off on the couch while Kristen watched T.V. I figured at some point during the night that Lauren must have an ear infection. I thought back to the one other time she had one and the symptoms were similar and that was the only reason I could think of that she wasn't sleeping well. So, I made an appointment with the doctor. We saw a doctor in the practice who actually had preemie twins who were in Johnston-Willis. How neat. She talked to me about feeding issues, because she had been through the same thing, although her girls never had to have the g-tube placed. She also said that preemies, especially those who are on the ventilator longer, typically have problems with ear infections because any cold they get is harder for them to clear out the mucus. Therefore it just sits there causing more problems. She was a really nice helpful doctor. Lauren started her round of antibiotics. She said what she feels works best is Tylenol during the day and Motrin at night. Lauren was very fussy this evening. I think most of it was because she was in pain, but also very exhausted. I am hoping to get in bed early tonight, as the girls are sleeping now. I figured I better get some rest while I can, because I have no idea what tonight holds. Also, Paul is getting sick. By the end of the day he felt pretty bad and told his work he wouldn't be in tomorrow. I am feeling better, just very tired so prayers are definitely working.

P.S. I edited this before posting. The grammatical errors were hilarious (sleep deprivation). I almost posted it like that, but then thought you probably wouldn't understand a thing I was saying.

August Illness

My prayer while Lauren was in the NICU was that God would protect me from any illness that might prevent me from visiting her everyday. Then, when she came home, I prayed that He would protect me while she was still very fragile so that I could take care of her and not pass on any sickness to her. God has been good because I have not been sick since before I was pregnant with Lauren. There have been a couple times I thought I was getting something, but it passed without anything. Kristen started getting a runny nose on Wednesday, but I wasn't too concerned because I just thought it was allergies. On Thursday Kristen just layed around, but I thought it was a combination of allergies and the whole VBS thing tiring her out. Still not concerned. Then on Friday Lauren started with a clear runny nose and was taking on similar symptoms that Kristen had so I figured it was some type of cold. Nothing serious, it just would need to run it's course. Last night she didn't rest well at all. I think it was mostly because she wanted her pacifier in, but then couldn't breath when it was in and she really wasn't up to making a sacrifice of sleeping with out her pacifier. Kristen had one night where she was up a couple of times, but that was it. So, by the fifth time being up, I just brought Lauren to sleep with us. This morning I felt really bad. I had a sore throat and just felt drained. I think most of it was from being up all night and not getting a good nights sleep. So, I took advantage of Paul being here and went back to sleep after breakfast. I am starting to feel better, but still have a headache and sore throat. My nose is starting to get stopped up, so I figure by tomorrow the floods will start running and I will be in the same boat as Kristen and Lauren and will need to be in search of any extra tissue boxes in the house. Kristen is already feeling better and is developing a little cough. Lauren still felt pretty bad today at times, but I think she is on the mend. It might take her a few extra days than Kristen to feel better. For those of you out there that have lifted us up in prayer, please pray we will start feeling better soon. We have to kick this cold because we have a birthday right around the corner.

Say Hello To Our Little Friend

This is Ed.



This is Ed on drugs because if Mr. Harris had been at home when this occured Ed would be dead.
(I think he smelled the chocolate chip cookies I was baking because he came just when I was getting them out of the oven)



I am partly to blame for Ed's antics because I have been generously feeding Ed to keep him around for Kristen.

VBS - The Last Night

So VBS has come to an end. It has been a pretty exhausting week for us. I will miss seeing all of my little friends every day. It was a joy helping out in Kristen's class and I look forward to Lauren being able to join us for VBS fun next year. Here are a couple videos and pictures from tonight. Kristen didn't go up on stage with her class when they sang their song, but that was okay. I don't want to go onstage myself, so I didn't see a reason to force her. She still had fun dancing.

VBS - Day 5

VBS is going very good. Last night there were 14 children that made salvation decisions, which is AWESOME! Tomorrow night is our last night and all groups will be able to go onstage and show off their dances that they learned. I really hope Kristen goes up. She had a chance to go onstage tonight, but didn't. I know she will be very sad when this is over. Here are some pictures from the night.

VBS - Day 4

Sorry, no pictures. I forgot my camera tonight, which I really hated. During music time her class was able to play with instruments and absolutely loved it. I wished I could have snapped some pictures. Kristen is still enjoying herself very much. I am putting my camera in my bag tonight so I won't forget it tomorrow. They are supposed to be going up on stage tomorrow night to sing some songs. Here is a picture I snapped of the craft she did tonight. She did most of the sewing work around the pictures. I absolutely love it and it will go in my bible.