Last week was a rough one in the Bissonnette house. Horrible colds, stuffy noses and sinuses, snot everywhere, and raspy, yucky coughs. No one ever expects a cold to knock them down, so when it does, it's usually pretty devastating. Especially when there are 5 (6 if you count me) that caught this wonderful bug.
Add to that, that 3 of the girls developed ear infections from the grossness. Ava and Sophie had single ear infections, and Elise had a double!
Add to that, Kolbe is teething. Like majorly.
He has his front two bottom teeth in.
He is working on getting his front middle top teeth fully in (they are about halfway).
He is also just barely popping through with FOUR other teeth.
Yes, he is currently working on 6 different teeth in various stages of coming in and pain and discomfort.
He's not sleeping well. He gags up pain medicine. He's super clingy (when he's tired, which is a lot). Despite all the pain and exhaustion, the little guy is making a valiant effort to smile and be his sweet little self.
All this to say that, although I have lived sleep deprivation for about 8.5 years and counting, this past week was an extreme level of sleep deprivation that I don't often meet. I feel like I manage pretty well on less sleep than my body ideally needs, but it was so hectic this week, that I was literally a mess.
A mess taking care of 5 messes.
And Chris doing his best to help and not get sick himself.
And Chris trying to help out, but getting rejected at every turn by 5 sick little monkeys who ONLY WANTED MOM and didn't feel well enough that they could be reasoned with.
It was awful.
Anyway, all THAT to say, that we didn't really get our hike in this week.
We were able to sneak in a brief WALK to and around the nearby park at the very end of the week.
That's it.
Happy Week 17.
We conquered you anyway.
I took the pictures above
Chris took this picture of the snowmelt rushing over some rocks in the creek bed.
Oh yeah, did I mention it snowed about 8 inches right in the middle of our plague?
Fortunately it's Colorado and it melted again within 2-3 days.
We are so happy to be feeling better and better each day this week! Praise the Lord.
Kolbe just turned 8 months. Because he is still under a year, he is hitting milestone after milestone so there is always a lot to share about what he's been up to each month.
At the end of last month, just after he'd turned 7 months old (and when many of these pictures were taken), he really took off in so many different ways. He began pulling himself up to stand on the furniture and climbed his first few stairs.
A few days later, he climbed up the entire staircase (it's like 14 stairs). Chris went behind him in case he fell, but he did it all on his own like a crazy maniac. Now I have yet another area of the house to keep an eye on because we don't have a baby gate.
A week later, in early April, we discovered that he was getting two more teeth (they are now halfway in). Just a few days ago, 4 more teeth began cutting through his sore little gums. The pictures above in the plaid shirt are from a sad teething day in early April. He still tries so hard to smile through it, but he's been a bit of a mess the past week especially with so many coming in at once. His napping has been affected (read: he barely naps at all!!) so one day he was so tired, he passed out playing in his exersaucer.
I began the packing process for our move earlier in April and Ava kept Kolbe busy playing trains one day so I could get out boxes and pack a few up. Mostly he just wants to nurse, climb on me, pull my hair, and be so cute that I can't get as much done as I feel like I should. Oh well. Babies don't keep. I guess we'll just snuggle.
Chris dubbed this outfit his John Lasseter outfit.
The little man loves to listen to his daddy play the guitar.
I put him in this cute sweater and khaki pants on Palm Sunday and he just looked so BIG! Like a little MAN! Kayla asked for silly faces, so I obliged.
A candid that Kayla caught.
We finally gave Kolbe his first solids this month. Almost 7 and 1/2 months and he tried some sweet potatoes. He liked them pretty well. In the past couple weeks, he's also had puffs. He is quite good with his fine motor skills picking them up and getting them to his mouth and he seems to think they are quite tasty. He can also drink out of a sippy cup on his own.
He plays piano.
Just kidding. But he does like to bang on our toy one.
He is such a happy baby. This has been a tough month for him with getting a cold/cough and all the teeth he's getting, but he's still a pretty generally happy baby most of the time. He never wants to sleep for me and he wakes up a lot at night, but when he's awake, he is almost always doing his best to smile. He loves smiles and attention. And nursing and snuggling to sleep.
He's pulling himself up on EVERYthing and has even let go briefly before dropping onto his rear. He's cruising along furniture and is just everywhere. He crawls super fast now (he started doing that just after he turned 6 months, so he's had nearly two months to perfect those abilities and he certainly has). He's a little speed crawler. It's probably a safe bet that he'll take his first steps in the next month/ month and a half just like his sisters did.
Not everything about him is enjoyable...
He refuses his paci (and has for months now). He doesn't suck his thumb. He is only mildly attached to his blankie. He is NOT good at putting himself to sleep at all.
He finds it soothing to pull at my face and lips and hair while he nurses which is extremely painful because he squeezes really hard. I am so ready for that phase to be over.
But he smiles and giggles and babbles often. He loves to be around everyone especially his daddy. He has THE chunkiest (and cutest) thighs ever. His chins and rolls and chubby cheeks are perfection. His little hair fuzz is adorable. And his smile lights up my world and everyone he meets.
Today I bring you random updates in the form of 7 quick takes.
1. Teething
In this update post in mid-January, I predicted (based on past history with our other kiddos) that Kolbe would pop his first tooth in the next couple weeks. I was pretty close. 2 weeks and 2 days after that post, on February 4th, Kolbe's first little tooth poked through. And 2 days later, his second little tooth began poking through the gums as well.
It's too difficult to get a picture of his teeth with that big smile and his tongue out all the time, but they are there. Sharp little buggers.
2. The Plague
Right around when Kolbe was getting his teeth, we got hit with a really nasty stomach bug. Sophie got it first and was a MESS. Fever, throwing up, wouldn't eat, barely drank, totally lethargic, and so completely NOT her joyful, active self. Just as she was starting to peak and feel better, Ava caught it and shortly after Kayla. Chris and I got touches of it, but thankfully were not hit as hard as the kids. Elise never did get it, but the others had it bad, and it took the family a good two weeks to be fully feeling 100% again.
She slept SO much over the week or so it took her to start feeling more like herself.
She was asleep in this picture. That face was happening in her sleep and she was clutching that sucker but not even interested in actually eating it, she was so tired and feeling so yucky.
It was awful.
But we had so many wonderful people praying for us to feel better and an anonymous friend sent some disinfectant wipes and a little bottle of DigestZen essential oil to help the tummies feel better.
3. Reading
We love it, so it happens a lot in this house.
I love when Kayla agrees to read to her sisters and brother. It's the sweetest. Even Kolbe enjoys it though he doesn't care about looking at the book at all. He just likes to sit close, hear her voice, and usually hold her arm. Heart melting.
We've also been trying to get back in our Read-Aloud groove. We started this book called The Penderwicks. It's about 4 sisters who meet a boy while vacationing and all the adventures they have. We are 5 chapters in and the kids are begging me to read more everyday.
We focused on listening to descriptions of characters and setting and drew pictures after the first chapter. We'll do another today probably to see what they picked up on and liked about chapters 2-5.
4. Sitting up
Kolbe is also beginning to sit up. This video isn't the longest he's sat, but it's a pretty good video to get an idea of where he's at. He's still quite wobbly most days when he sits, though he has had a few days where he sits up for about 2 minutes at a time. More often than not, he sits for about 10-20 seconds and then starts leaning....and falls onto his tummy time position.
Still moving all over the place on his belly and by rolling around from tummy to back and back again. He isn't crawling but has got up on all fours (knees too) and propelled himself forward. I'm still predicting that he'll be crawling between 6 and 6 1/2 months just like his sisters. He's doing all the same stuff, so I'd be surprised if he didn't take the plunge for that soon.
5. Love 'Em Up
We've been working on our virtue of the month, LOVE. Bible verses, chatting about how we can show each other love, and playing a little 'game' called Love 'em up. The idea is to try as much as we can to find little ways to show each other love each and every day. Little notes, helping with chores, sharing toys, giving hugs and kisses, surprising each other with pictures, special treats etc.
Chris does it a lot by drawing the kids silly pictures on our white board to surprise them each morning.
the girls made signs for Chris to welcome him home from work one day
Chris played guitar for me
kisses
Kayla "planted" a garden with dying flowers from a vase inside
you get the idea....
6. Valentine's Day
the girls did lots of sweet valentine crafts this year and wanted to send them to grandparents and godparents. It was really sweet. Here they are heading to the mailbox (our little gaggle of girls) to send them.
Chris sent me flowers (he was gone in New York City for a business trip) and I got my Lenten goodies from Blessed is She. So excited to use these during Lent.
Added some more flowers to the vase when my dear friend, Megan, brought some over later in the day, knowing that I am THE WORST (read: emotional hot mess) when Chris travels. I like having him around. :) Thanks, Megan, for understanding.
7. New York trip
Chris spent most of this past week in NYC. It was busy and loud (so many cars and horns honking all the time!), and he seemed pretty glad to get home to the comparably quieter house and all his adoring fans.
Welcome home, Daddy, we missed you! More door signs.
*BONUS*
Just in case you were having one of those weeks where you are trying so hard, but life just keeps throwing curveballs...
I give you this shot, which summarizes that feeling.
I'm smiling, but I really just want to give life the finger.
As most of you probably already know, we're crazy. So when our friends asked us to be godparents in Northern CA and settled on a July date, we planned an insane roadtrip to make it happen. And since we were already going to be in California, we added a few more "stops" along the way.
We left around 4am last Thursday morning. Chris drove the entire day and we made it to my grandmother's house in the foothills in Northern CA around 8:30pm-- a 17 and a half hour day. The girls were rockstars. They read, played and talked, shared the V-reader for a bit, and colored for the entirety of the trip. There was a little sleeping that occurred though Elise and Ava got the least since they were constantly having giggle fests and wouldn't calm down enough to get some good shut eye. Sophie was in the middle seat and slept, read, and looked out the windows (and played a little peek-a-boo with me now and then). Seriously, we have the most amazing kids ever because they were all so good.
But it was definitely tiring and we I looked it. haha
The salt flats in Utah looked like snow.
And then we arrived, just before sunset at Grandma's.
We spent Friday with Grandma. The adults had some chat time and the girls played with grandma's trikes and scooters and hula hoop and jump ropes. And of course, they got into the toy box which has many of the same toys I played with at Grandma's house when I was a little girl.
Grandma made a cherry pie
Go Fish
picnic lunch
The following day was the baptism (sorry I have no pictures, but luckily I got the ones below from Becky later) and then we hung out with our dear friends Eric and Becky and their kids for the afternoon.
kiddos minus the littlest girls from each fam
This was the only picture I got
And we stopped by for a quick meal of In-N-Out before heading to see a few friends from our old Foresthill church family.
On Sunday we got up and had a nice leisurely morning with Grandma before heading out to Porterville to see my brother and his family just before noon. The trip down took about 5 hours (all of which Chris drove as well).
We arrived in time for a yummy dinner, and then we all headed to the evening Mass. Not surprisingly this was somewhat of a disaster with the kids, but we made it through and got the kids home for bed. Father Scott (the parish priest and the one who married Chris and I) and a few other friends stopped by for a little visit which was lovely.
This is my Sunday best for this week. A comfy navy maternity dress (I wore it a couple weeks ago) and my new teething necklace from Organic Mamas Shop. Sophie actually enjoyed playing with it and chewing on it a bit at Mass, though I'm sure it see much more use with the next baby since Sophie has all her teeth already except her last molars.
The next day we hung out poolside at David and Jennie's house with their family (5 boys) and Robbie and Priscilla's family, and my sister Christy and her kids. We finally got to meet our newest niece on the Cruess side, Roisin, who was born the day after we left the central valley on our last trip before we moved to CO.
One of the best couples ever. Love them and cherish their example of love and prayers and support of our marriage.
me, Jennie, and my big sis
All the kiddos minus Roisin who was sleeping and Robbie and Priscilla's 3 who had to jet out before we snapped the picture.
While at the Coxes, Kayla decided she wanted to pull her loose tooth out. She had a crowd of friends and cousins chanting, "Pull it out! Pull it out!" as she stood in front of the mirror and did just that. Then her cousin Sorcha (they are just 5 months apart) decided to pull out her loose tooth as well (it just so happened to be the same one), so of course we got a picture of the cousins with their missing teeth.
We spent the night with my sister about an hour south and got to spend just a little time one-on-one with them before heading out at 3am on Tuesday to make the 15 1/2 hour drive home. Chris drove the whole way again. I am so blessed. I was able to finish an entire book on this trip and dive into another. My job is kid control and passing out food/snacks and keeping Chris awake. It's actually pretty tiring as well, but certainly nothing in comparison to driving all day.
This is how Sophie road trips. Blanket on head, sucking her thumb, reading a book. Lol
We arrived home safe and sound though my feet and ankles were a bit swelled up from our crazy (and quick) adventure and too much car travel in a short time period. I'm pregnant enough that this trip hit me like a ton of bricks and I'm totally beat. Our only adventure today was going to the nearest grocery store to grab a few food essentials (one of them was definitely ice cream) and I plan to do nothing but lounge and fold all the laundry I've been throwing into the wash today. And drink water. Lots and lots of water.
