And We Have a Teenager...

The rain and dreary days continued on Monday. I helped at Lincoln’s class and then did my grocery shopping. I was able to getting everything put away and then off to pick up the twins and go to their parent teacher conference. They seemed to be on track and ready for kindergarten. They do need to work on recognizing their letters, which is the same way with Lincoln and it eventually clicked for him, so I’m not too worried. I got the twins their lunch when we got home and then I got on the bike since I didn’t have a chance to work out in the morning. I did notice that Miles didn’t seem too interested in eating his lunch and shared it with Bennett. He seemed pretty tired and I wondered if he wasn’t feeling too well, so I set him up with his blanket on the couch. When I got done with my ride, he was asleep. Andrew ended up picking up the kids and when Miles woke up when they got home, he had a fever. The rain didn’t stop the other kids too much. Ellie’s friend, Tyne, came over and they went on a bike ride and collected worms. Ellie met me at the front door with a bucket of worms that she squished in her hands-gross! Jackson went back to the McIntires to do a little more work. Then we had dinner before taking Ellie and Lincoln to their first practice of spring soccer season for club soccer. Since it had been raining most of the day with more rain on the way, they kept it short and had the kids practice for just about a ½ hour while meeting with the parents. The short practice didn’t keep them from coming home all wet and muddy though. Back home, Miles wasn’t doing any better, so I had him sleep with me.

Miles wasn’t any better Tuesday morning, so I kept him home from school. And I kept Bennett home too, thinking he wouldn’t like it too much if I dropped him off and Miles didn’t have to go. Bennett wasn’t quite sure what to do without Miles to play with though. I kept Miles in my room most of the time and Bennett would go in to see him, but Miles really didn’t feel well at all. His fever wouldn’t really go down and he didn’t have any energy, he wouldn’t even talk very much. He ate a donut in the morning and that was the last thing he ate until Thursday. I was able to get him to drink some water every now and then, so that was good. I kept checking his throat because he acted like it hurt, but he said it didn’t and I never saw anything to be alarmed with. Plus it didn’t seem like his lymph nodes were swollen. Thankfully we didn’t have much going on and Andrew continued to pick up the kids after school. I worked on a few things to get ready for Jackson’s birthday. We decided to keep it simple, but I couldn’t help but put together a very simple centerpiece with stuff I already had and made a banner. I got his presents wrapped and while I was working downstairs, Bennett found ways to entertain himself without his playmate.

The rain continued on Wednesday. It felt like it never stopped. They even cancelled soccer practice pretty early since the fields were already so wet and the radar showed rain for the rest of the day. Miles was the same, fever, achy and just not well. It was pretty sad. He still wouldn’t eat anything but I did get him the bath for a bit when his fever was down. But then he randomly ended up with a bloody nose. We got that taken care of and then he laid down on the couch while I got on the bike. Andrew came home soon after and I saw him and Miles running to the bathroom and Miles had thrown up. It was dark brown, so I wondered if he had swallowed some blood and it upset his stomach. Andrew cleaned him off and then I put him in the shower and helped him clean up. He was so weak, he couldn’t barely lift his arms. I helped him get dressed and he wanted to lay in the bathroom in case he got sick again. Thankfully, he never did. I decided he probably wasn’t going to be much better the next day and ended up canceling our bible study for Thursday morning. The rain finally stopped and the sun came out just as it was going down. I took all the kids but Miles to Dairy Queen because I thought I would try to get Miles a vanilla milk shake and see if he would drink it. And I couldn’t get him a shake without getting something for the others. I was only able to get Miles to take two sips of the shake, although he did thank me for getting it for him. So we put it in the freezer hoping maybe he would feel like it the next day.

Thursday morning I ended calling my dad since Miles was still not well, had not eaten and seemed so weak and lethargic. I set the shake out earlier to let it thaw and when it was soft enough for him to drink, I gave it to him and he took a few sips. And then he started to perk up. He started talking a little and responding to the Mickey Mouse cartoon, which made me think he was starting to feel better. The shake had thawed enough that he could drink it and he actually did. I had to coerce him on the first few sips, but then he did pretty well after that and drank about 2/3’s of it. My dad came by that morning and checked him out. He had similar findings that I did but did say his tongue had a bit of a strawberry tongue look to it that you may see with strep, so he said he would call in some amoxicillin and see if it helped. I decided we would pick it up a little later that afternoon. I enticed Miles to eat some lunch by making macaroni and cheese and I was excited he actually ate some. Not as much as he normally does, but some.

After he ate and was settled watching some tv, I got on the bike. At one point, I heard a little crying and then Bennett came into the room to tell me that Miles had an accident on the toilet. So I got off the bike and went to check it out. He ended up having some diarrhea and there was some smeared on the toilet seat, but it definitely could have been worse. I had him take some Immodium, which he hated. I gave it to him in little doses and had him drink water in between. Needless to say, we decided to forgo the antibiotic since that could have made it worse and we weren’t sure he had strep anyways. After getting him showered off, I got him settled again and got back on the bike. I was going to pick up the kids, but decided I didn’t like the chance of Miles having another episode while in the pickup line, so Andrew said he could get them. Since I had a little more time, I got a run in too. When the kids got home from school, Andrew texted Mary to see if he could come out to the ranch since they got their new drone. She actually came in and got him and Lincoln went along too. Mary had Lauren with her when she came, so Lauren stayed with Ellie. She and Ellie played for a while and then Ellie got ready for her rehearsal. She did her own hair and makeup and I was impressed.

Then we had some pizza and went to rehearsal. Andrew kept the twins at home and since Miles hadn’t had another episode, he took them to pick up them to pick up Jackson and Lincoln at the ranch. Jackson had fun with the drone and taught Mary how to use it. He had some neat footage of the ranch and sent me this picture.

The girls and I stopped at Casey’s and got some snacks for rehearsal. We got there in good enough time, since Ellie was in the first number. I think Lauren enjoyed watching some of the routines and then she would go check on Ellie while she got ready for her next routine. Ellie had three pretty quickly, but then she didn’t dance until the last dance. Most of her dances went pretty well, but her second jazz routine was kind of funny to watch because they were all over the place. We finished up a little after 9:30 and we had decided that Lauren would just spend the night with us.  I think the next morning came early for them, but they were all up and ready. And Miles got up and got ready for the first time since Monday morning. I took Ellie and Lincoln to school and we met Kristin in the parking lot at the Primary and she took Lauren back out to the ranch. Miles and Bennett were back at it having fun together one minute and fighting the next.

I tried to get a bike ride in and had to get off a couple times to break up a fight and then the chain fell off and I had to fix that. After lunch, we ran by my dad’s office to get a strep test on Miles. He had developed a rash, so my dad just wanted to make sure. Miles was not excited about it at all and cried the whole way there and at the office…all for a throat swab. It came back negative, so that was good. Then we went to pick up the kids from school. Jackson had small group, so it was just Ellie and Lincoln. Andrew was going out to the ranch to work some cattle, so he took Ellie and Lincoln with him and Bennett decided he wanted to go to. Miles stayed with me and I worked on dinner and then we picked up Jackson and Gage from small group. I gave Jackson one of his birthday presents early, a new bat. He had a baseball camp with Truman the next day, so I wanted him to have it before then. He loved it, so I was happy about that since it took a lot of research to find it.

Andrew ended up not working cattle so they were home earlier than expected and ate some dinner. Then he and Jackson headed outside for some baseball. Jackson put up the net we got to practice hitting and they threw the ball around some. Sadly, Andrew’s shoulder was really hurting him. I cleaned up dinner and then did a pretty big grocery shopping trip. Thankfully, Andrew was still up when I got home and he helped me carry everything in. We got stuff put away and then I had to purchase and print off their hunting tags online for youth turkey hunting the next day. They were up early and out the door by five. I asked Jackson if he wanted me to get a picture of them, but they never came back into the bedroom for me to take it and they ended up not getting any throughout the day. We should be getting some though, because some guys followed them around and filmed Jackson for their YouTube hunting site. He ended up having a good hunt and got a turkey. He was pretty excited and I think he and Andrew are both anxious to see the footage. They were home around 11:20, Jackson ate a quick lunch and got changed and then I took him to Truman’s baseball camp they were having at the ballpark. I was able to get outside for a bike ride when I got home. The was a decent wind that wasn’t fun riding into, but it was sure nice to have at my back. I just practiced the route for the TriFAHL that is coming up in a couple weeks.  While I was out, Andrew got the mower out for the first time this year and mowed the yard. When I got back, he was laying in the chair in the family room, fast asleep. The early morning hunting tired him out too. Lincoln and the twins then had to clean up all the Legos.

Ellie started getting ready for her recital. She does her own hair and makeup and it works out pretty well. I’m not great at that stuff and she is getting pretty good at it and it keeps us from having the little arguments that can happen when doing that stuff. I made sure her outfits and accessories were all ready to go. We left around five and I left some clothes set out for the younger boys to put on before they came with Andrew closer to start time. When they showed up they all had on the wrong shirts-Lincoln had on Miles’, Miles had on Bennett’s and Bennett had on Lincoln’s.  My parents and Molly and Mary and Lauren came to watch too. Ellie had four dances and her first three were pretty early on while the last one was the last routine of the night. It was her Circus number that she has performed before, so I told everyone that they could leave early if they wanted to. The boys weren’t too excited to be there. Miles actually cried when I told him he had to go. And then Jackson fell asleep (at least he appeared to) since he was pretty wiped out from the day. Ellie, on the other hand, did a wonderful job. Her smile just lights up the stage and she was determined to do a good job. Lauren and I were wondering how her first jazz routine would go since they struggled with it at rehearsal, but it went much better. Andrew and the boys ended up leaving after her third dance, but everyone else stuck around. Ellie was hungry, so my dad offered to go pick up some McDonalds for her. It was a nice chance for him to escape the recital for a bit and Ellie was so grateful. Finally, it was time for her last routine and it was great. She collected all of her flowers afterwards and told everyone thanks for coming. Then she had a dad of a couple older dancers give her a big compliment (he actually helped build our house and Ellie has always loved watching his daughters dance). He told her that she has that special spark and he can tell she is going to be a great dancer. She was all smiles. And after we got home, Jackson was telling me that he thought she was a good dancer and he didn't realize Ellie was around the corner. She came around with a big smile and gave him a hug. 

Ellie ended up going out to the ranch for a sleepover with Lauren that night. Lauren said she already had it all planned out. So, Lauren went home with us so Ellie could get her stuff and then Mary picked them up. I put away all of Ellie’s dance stuff since she won’t have dance for about four months. It will be a nice break and maybe in that time she will decide she doesn’t want to do about every type of dance class offered. Sunday morning, I thought Andrew and Jackson would be hunting, forgetting that he only had one tag for the weekend and he had already used it. Andrew did need to go out to the ranch though, so we didn’t to church. I got ready for the day and came out to Jackson sitting in his underwear on the couch-such a teenager 😊. I wished him a big happy birthday and offered to get donuts, but he didn’t want any. He and Andrew watched some of the Paris Roubaix and then they all went out to the ranch and I got busy. I ended up picking up the kids’ rooms a bit-even though they are supposed to pick them up every day, there are still random things here and there that never get picked up. Plus I cleaned up stains on the carpets and vacuumed everything. I tried to finish up the rest of my cleaning and get laundry going before heading out to pick up the balloons I had ordered. The day quickly got away from me as I just kept working and working. I put out a few decorations and made the cookie cake and then started getting everything ready for dinner. Jackson wanted lemon chicken and lemon broccoli and then I also did baked potatoes, salad, mixed fruit and rolls.  Andrew and the boys showed up about the time I started making dinner and they all got cleaned up. Ellie came later with Lauren. Since it was a nice day outside, all the kids played outside for a little bit before we ate dinner and then a little later in the evening. It was a pretty low-key birthday which is the way Jackson likes it. He enjoyed his presents and even though he is now a teenager, he was anxious to get the out and play with them. So, overall it was a nice evening celebrating our first-born.