Sick House

We have had a pretty fun week or two... The night of Ashlee's Birthday she woke up around three am with a burning hot fever. Even her poor little hands were steaming. This happened for another three nights. I finally decided it had been long enough, plus she was getting a little cough, so Chris took her to the Dr. He gave her a breathing treatment and said he thought it could be RSV. He took a culture or something and said we would get the results back in 4-5 days to find out for sure... Her fever lasted until around Wednesday or Thursday, almost six whole days later. She has been pretty pathetic, sleeping horribly and thinking we needed to be holding her all night long. It was hard to put her to bed when she would just lay there in your arms. She is finally on the mend. But we made a huge accomplishment in the Nelson household. This was Ashlee's first sick appointment EVER. That is amazing for our kids. Ethan had already been to three different specialist by the time he was seven months old... Way to go Ashlee!!!

It would not be a household if someone else didn't get sick and so Ethan decided to get sick too! He wasn't feeling well and whenever he gets a little sick his asthma flares up and he ends up getting really sick. Last night he was coughing so much that he threw up just a little bit.
So needless to say it's been fun in our house the last couple of weeks.

Sneak Peak Cake Eating

Ashlee turned one on Saturday. I will do an official post, but I thought I'd let ya'll see her cake eating part today. She was a Beast! I think she enjoyed herself!!!

The Newest Bike Rider is...

Chris has been home with the kids the last two weeks and this always means a lot of time outside. The kids love when Daddy is home because they get to play out back and ride bikes out front a whole bunch. Lately we have been talking about taking the training wheels off of Ethan's bike. He has had his bike for some time now and he LOVES to ride around and play. Friday I took the day off to spend with the family on Chris' last day off for 12 weeks. We had some fun hanging out and after naps we went out to ride bikes. Chris and I decided that today was the day to take off the training wheels. So while Chris was taking them off we had a short talk with Ethan. We told him that it was OK if he didn't make it today. It was tough to ride a bike by yourself and encouraged him that it was all about trying and trying again. (Looking back I guess it wasn't the best pep talk, I just didn't want him to feel like he failed if he didn't get it.) So Chris got him started and off he went. Chris had to keep running to catch up. Ethan was a PRO!! He never tilted and even stood up to pedal. At one point he looks over at his dad and pedals faster to get away from him. Can you say PROUD PARENT MOMENT? Chris ran by him for like two runs and then Ethan was on his own. He had no problems with the turns or anything. After a little bit he started riding with one hand off... Showing off for us. By the next day he was going off the curb like he use to always do with training wheels. He had plenty of encouragement from me. I say try it and if you don't make it, try again! I told him he could do anything he did before with training wheels. He tried to go through the rocks and fell over. He yelled at me, "see Mom, I told you I couldn't do it!" I laughed and said, "yeah well if you're gonna go that slow you are never gonna get through the rocks. You never went that slow through the rocks before!!" He got up and just kept riding. It's amazing how in a matter of seconds he took to it like a pro. I know he isn't the youngest rider in history, but he sure is awesome to me!

Ethan you totally rocked it on that bike. I hope you enjoyed doing it as much as I loved watching you!!!

Big Day

Today may seem like any other ordinary day, but it's a pretty darn big day in our house!! Today Chris starts his VERY. LAST. Clinical!! This clinical will last 12 weeks and then Chris will be done with school! How excited are we, you might be asking? Well I think I can speak for both of us when I say we are SOOOOOOO EXCITED!!! Words can't even begin to express my excitement!

Today Chris will walk into this funky looking building....

This is the Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health. Chris has been looking forward to this clinical ever since he started doing clinicals. During the last year of schooling Chris became very interested in the Neurological side of Physical Therapy. He had a great Professor (or whatever you call them when they are Dr.s) that helped Chris enjoy Neuro and look to it as a possible career selection. She was also very instrumental in getting the clinical set up at Lou Ruvo. We are so grateful for her and her dedication to the school, but especially to Chris. Many of Chris' fellow classmates says Chris is the favorite... I love it!!

This clinical will help Chris determine if this is really the field he wants to specialize in. This is a bit stressful for him and if it be known me too! What if he doesn't like it? What if it's just not what he wants to do? All that hard work would seem wasted, but at least he would know it's not what he wants to do. We have tried being responsible adults and laying out a plan for our family. We have included this step in our plan, maybe a possible job opportunity here, time to get specialized and Chris goes a step further by planning out other aspects of having a specialty in Neurology. What if that all has to be reshaped? This next 12 weeks will be very big and important in our families future plan. The next 12 weeks will fly by and drag by all at the same time. They will drag by because at the end of 12 weeks Chris will graduate and a Doctor of Physical Therapy. And they will fly by because at the end of 12 weeks our family will have a new direction. Daddy will no longer be a student and Mommy will no longer be providing for the family on her own... It's crazy to even think about!!!

So today is a VERY. BIG. DAY!!

Good luck Chris! No matter what happens and what our future holds, you will be awesome at whatever it is! And you have all of us standing behind you to support you!

Today for the very first time in a long time I have thought about the future and it doesn't seem so far away. In fact it almost seems too close!!!

Oh Ethan...Pink does look good on you...

Most nights we have issues with Ethan and Katelee getting to sleep. We end up taking one to our bed and putting one on the top bunk and taking away the ladder... (Judge if you will, but that is how we handle it) So one night I hear little feet moving around upstairs and I walk upstairs, ready to give a little boy a long talking to and this is what I find.... So it may not look so funny, but those are actually Ashlee's, size 6 month,PANTS.... He found them on the bed and decided to wear them. I took one look at this , turned around and walked out of the room. I had to grab Chris to see this. How could I lecture this boy when he looked so HILARIOUS??? Eventually after I stopped laughing, which was quite a while later, Ethan got a small talk about going to sleep and Chris and I got another good LONG laugh about how silly that kid is...

The funniest part is that they fit him so well, if they were Bermuda shorts, don't you think???

Great Grandma and Grandpa Rufus

Every year we go up to Salt Lake City for Thanksgiving to spend it with my Grandma and Grandpa Blackburn. I truly enjoy spending that long weekend with them and especially love how much my kids LOVE it as well! Growing up I never really thought about my kids and getting to see and know my Grandparents, but I am so thankful now that they have gotten that opportunity.

Growing up I only knew one Great Grandparent, and she was pretty awesome. We drove back to Tennessee when I was 5 or so and I can still remember her house and the way she sat. I also remember going to a park with her to listen to a bluegrass band. ( Actually us kids really didn't listen we only played... but you get my drift) Any who, my kids love spending time with Grandma and Grandpa Rufus (named after their dog) and I'm pretty sure they enjoy having them around too... (most of the time...) I make sure each time we are there to get a picture of my kids with them. This can be challenging, but I think this collection of pictures represents pretty much how hard it can be and how fun at the same time!! Ashlee is perfect in this picture. Ethan not so much and Katelee's hair is blocking half of Grandma's face...

No comment needed....

Pretty good one, if you don't mind the crazy smile from Ethan...

Well at least Grandma and Grandpa look good in this one... Who cares about the kids...

I look forward to our next trip to Utah with great anticipation each time. I so enjoy our visits, talking, playing cards, shopping and all the other fun activities we get to do while we are there!!!

Love you Grandma and Grandpa and can't wait to see you soon!!!

B-Mets Fall T-Ball

This fall we signed Ethan up for his second T-ball season and Chris and I decided to help out with the team. I was technically the "Team Mom" and Chris, my Dad and Coach David were coaches. I was not the typical "team Mom" and was out on the field with the boys A LOT! It was a lot of fun but a whole lot of work and time!!! This crazy group of boys was our team, missing three...

The boy on the far left was three at the beginning of the season, which gave us a challenge to keep him engaged. At the beginning of the season all he wanted to do was play Mario, but by the end he was actually having fun and doing very well. Ethan LOVES baseball. It has been fun watching him mature in baseball. From the beginning of the first season to the end of this season he has improved well....

Being the Team Mom I was also in charge of calming upset or crying kids, encouraging the boys to keep their head up, put their strong arms on and try. try. and try again to get them to pay attention to the game instead of teasing each other. Another job was planning the End of Season Party and getting the kids' awards. We just had a small picnic and luckily our sponsor, Gary Reese, paid extra for our team so that each kid and the coaches got awards and there was no out of pocket money needed! Yeah!

Ethan getting his award from Coach David and Coach Grandpa...

Look how happy that boy is.... (He takes after me sometimes and keeps his emotions inside instead of openly expressing them. We are working on this... )

Here is a good picture of all the coaches and boys. They were a fun bunch of kids, sometimes a little crazy, but I really enjoyed getting to know them each and being a part of their lives!!!

Here's to next season... Starts next month...