Lifestyle of Learning: What We... (Roman Month of April 2014)

I've got a lot of catching up to do. We all caught whooping cough somehow. It is realized in retrospect that Nathan was first, though he only had three nights of bad coughing. The oldest three kids and he had caught a cold not long before that, and so at that time we though it was that.

When I started having problems, it was so much like when I had asthma that Nathan suspected we had another mold problem (which we did have a minor one, and he replaced part of the kitchen counter because of it), and when I started improving immediately after, it was almost confirmation. William started coughing at that time, but he'd been around the mold when it was removed.

I started taking oregano oil, but at that time it was too late to change anything for me, since we learned that antibiotics don't change the course of the illness by the time it's realized what a person has, though it can prevent you spreading the illness to others.

Eventually all the kids got sick, Elizabeth being the last one, and it was scary and exhausting when she got it. Many sleep-deprived nights and stressful days. The kids are still coughing a bit, and Elizabeth still has usually just two bad fits at night, but everything has improved a lot. I'm still keeping the kids away from everyone. I don't think they're contagious, anymore, but they are vulnerable to secondary infection until their lungs have healed.

This post contains pictures from the Roman month of April:

What Kids Did for Fun...

So much fun in the rain puddles! Poor William has outgrown his puddle pants. I don't think those particular ones are made in a size for him.

Trusten often is found jumping on the rebounder, but here he's playing on his iPod with Baby Love snuggling beside him with her stuffed seal (one of the stuffed animals she inherited from me that I loved as a child). I took this beloved shots before getting Trusten to sit up. I don't like when they lie down like that with such devices over their hearts.

Elizabeth enjoys pushing Sister's dump truck:

I love when my sweet babies all play nicely together, like they did here in the sandbox:

What Loving Gestures We Shared...

Olivia putting Baby Sister's shoes on her feet:

Aren't they so cute with their ponytails?

I walked into Olivia's room one day to find the following picture on her wall. It is very much Olivia's signature person. I immediately felt a mix of frustration and amusement. I couldn't help but smile. When I saw Olivia shortly thereafter I asked her about the drawing on her wall. She said, "I wanted to make it bootiful." That she did. It's quite beautiful. LOL I explained to her she needed from then on to draw only on paper, and then we can hang her pictures on her wall or mirror with tape. She has not drawn on the wall since but has requested a few different pictures to be hung in her room. :-)

We got pizza to go one night, and Nathan went in. While I waited, I drew him the following picture with my finger on an app on my iPhone. He's my Love Bug, and I always use a lady bug to symbolize that.

Jaden William picked some phlox/sweet Williams and surprised us by sneaking them and a note into our bathroom.

Nathan has intended on redoing all our counters in due time, as finances allow, but when he thought I had asthma again, he came home with wood and got started right away.

Baby Love covering her ears while a saw was going:

Can you believe it's just plywood?? It turned out looking very nice, I think. Pictured below before installation of more knobs/handles.

My Livi-Pie helping me get groceries:

What We Ate...

This first one is from when we ate out at Red Lobster:

Some yummy stuff I fixed:

My fruit, grain, and seed bars with cream cheese frosting. Kids always get excited when I make these.

Last stew of the season, used rice for only the second or third time, and it's so good that way!

Chicken, salad and wild rice with carrots and onions; Nathan's birthday dinner of steak, asparagus, wild rice, and some store-bough white garlic-butter bread that he'd bought at some point (a rare thing around here but tasty).