[EDITED to add pics...look below!]

I have excuses.  One...I've been sick for over a week with a nasty cough.  Two....My computer keyboard suddenly stopped working AND they've been working on the phone lines, so our internet's been down for several days.  It kind of got me out of my web groove. 

Another problem is that I feel like there should be pictures accompanying this post.  And there aren't.

What's going on here?  Well, there's been a terrible, very contagious stomach bug going around camp.  It was brought to us by an outdoor ed group from MN.  Thank you very much.  So, I was congratulating myself on Friday night that we'd hardly been out at camp that week, and surely wouldn't expect to come down with it.  Then Matt called from IA early Saturday morning.  He was on a trip with Johnny (one that poor Johnny was very much looking forward to) and Johnny had been violently ill beginning at 5am.  And lasting til about 10:30 when he finally fell asleep til 3pm, and felt better.  Poor Johnny gets SO unbelievably sick with these things.  He cried and cried.  I felt wretched that he was so far from home with no mommy.  He said Dad did good though.  Poor Matt....how awful for him to have that to deal with on a concert trip. 

Anyhoo, I was kind of thankful to God that for David's sake, Johnny was far far away.  However, with this particular bug....they are contagious for 72 hours after symptoms disappear.  And onset is very quick after exposure.  Thus, Tuesday morning we awoke to David "BURPING".  Bad, bad times.  Fortunately David wasn't too terribly sick.   He obviously takes after his mother as far as stomachs go.  I'm actually hoping/thinking maybe this will be good for him considering his fears of late.  The therapist keeps telling us that he needs more exposure/resistance in these areas.  So...God provided a little extra exposure for him. 

So, now we are waiting.  Who will have it next?  And why haven't they started yet? 

We cancelled most of the birthday plans...we were headed to our annual family getaway at the waterpark.  We moved it to this next monday, and I"m worrying that we won't be done with this bug at the rate we are going.  We had a small family celebration for Johnny's 8th birthday on Monday.  I made him the Peters family birthday cake, which he prefers to other cakes.  It's already gone.  Leah just came in a bit ago and asked, "Mommy, I have cake?"  I told her it was all gone.  She put both hands over her eyes and did a little, fake "BooHoo".  We like that cake.

Speaking of Leah, she is almost totally potty trained.  We are still not 100% reliable on the poo, but we've managed to get them in the potty the last few times.  But the other....not an accident.  Another new thing for her, is that she is sitting still enough for me to french braid her hair now!  She loves to be "like Anna".  So the other night, I put her hair in two french braids like I often do for Anna.  It's totally adorable...it's amazing how long her hair has gotten, and the ends are cute curly.  I'm happy, b/c it solves the problem of having her hair constantly in her food and mouth.  Here she is coloring in the kitchen.

Anna and Johnny went to T-ball practice yesterday.  We spent some time yesterday in the backyard practicing.  You haven't seen anything as cute as Anna playing t-ball.  She is going to be quite the little athlete.  She tackles everything with great expression and gusto.  Like Matt said when they got home, "Johnny is a thinker, Anna is a doer." 

 

Well, I'm glad both of us are back online now, although I have gotten a lot more done this past week! I like Leah's little painted fingernails and french braids. She looks a lot like her big sister!

Oh my goodness she is Anna's twin!!! IS her hair red?

Leah is getting SO big!! If you hadn't introduced those photos, I would have thought it was Anna (at first glance anyways). Congrats on the potty training! Our goal is to have Jenny out of diapers by October (when David will be arriving)... so far we're good on the poops, but she hasn't figured out the wetness yet - I'm thinking about possibly trying pull-ups to help her realize she's wet (she can do both on the potty, but doesn't tell us when she needs to go #1).