February 2016....

  Well, February went fast! Or maybe it was painfully slow?! I'm not sure really. I spent half of it severely sleep deprived, with sick kids. Stomach viruses, Rotavirus, Cough/Cold Viruses, Severe asthma attacks, Ear Infection and an epic migraine...yep that was the month of February at the Tiny House!

I don't think I have EVER been so happy to see the calendar flip to a new Month!!!

Since I basically have not blogged for a month...figured I would do  my best to catch everyone up. So you will get a brief over view of our lives...with pictures. (Wow, You are lucky! ;) )

I've sat and tried to figure out the best way to update everyone...and I am thinking it is best to do it by person. So, here you go....a updating glimpse into our tiny world.

Dustin...
 He managed to miss most of the sickness. Lucky Duck!
 He finished up a car flip, worked on the dining room and fixed some totally awesome dinners while I was tending sick kiddos and rocking the baby. He drove to Indiana with his friend Michael to pick up a truck. From what I hear it was quite a trip. One that will go down in the lengthy book of adventures for them...and will be retold at many get togethers to come.
 He also put together our new dining room table. Our dream and plan is for him to make most of the furniture for the tiny house. However, this house is a long term project and we can't go years without certain important pieces of furniture. Such as a table that we can all sit at to eat dinner. We were strolling through Kmart the other day and found this little beauty.  We actually really like it. It has storage in the benches and we can all sit together. (We have lived here 18 months without being able to sit together. I know that isn't a big deal to some people, but it is to us.) It is made of real wood, and it was on clearance. Plus, it fits perfectly in the dining space nook area we had planned.

Also...do you see the paneling on the wall??

 That is your little glimpse of the tiny house update. He has been paneling, mudding, trimming and busting his tail on this room. Can not wait to make a post about it very, very soon.

Since he wont stand still long enough to get picture of him..you get a picture of him holding Anna.

Alex... He got the least of the sickness.
He spent the better part of the month trudging through school (The worst torture of all.), staying up to date on youtube, Playing basketball, playing minecraft, and beating Assassins Creed 4 on the X box . He did get a nice surprise from his Dad. A new BB gun! He has had a blast with it ever since.
I also feel obligated to tell you about the fact that he now has something to lord over me for the rest of his entire life.
He has been complaining off and on about having leg pain and cramps for a while...like 9 months. I put off taking him to the Dr...because he tends to be a bit over dramatic and kind of a whiner. (Said with much motherly love, of course.) So much so that we have a theme song for him now.

I finally get around to taking him to the Dr and turns out there really is something wrong with him. He is VERY flat footed. He has to do exercises and wear corrective Dr Scholl's inserts in his shoes. Nothing too life altering, but he will have to work on it so it will control the pain.

The second that the Dr said that there really was something wrong with him he turned to me with this look on his face and said..... "I told you there was something wrong with me!!!!!!"

Uh huh, never going to live that one down.

I am expecting my 'Mother Of The Year' award to arrive at any moment. 

   

Emma...

 She took the brunt of the sickness. She has not had a very good year in the health department. Poor kiddo.

Emma went to a gymnastics tournament  and had a night away at her grandparents house. Gymnastics is one of her absolute favorite things to do. This was a serious bucket list moment for her. She had such a good time with her Grandma (and Grandpa, of course). 

Sadly though, she spent most of February on the couch or in her bed. She was so sick...the poor child dropped 4 lbs in a week. After the stomach virus moved on she caught an upper respiratory crud and ended up on round the clock scheduled breathing treatments and steroids.

She is finally feeling better and back to practicing gymnastics moves, jumping on the trampoline and playing basketball with Alex.

Addison...
  
  She was the one to kick off our fun filled month of sickness. She started with the stomach bug and then ended up with the upper respiratory crud as well. She actually really scared me with the upper respiratory stuff. Her breathing was so tight one night that I thought she had croup. She did however spend the better part of the month GermXing and telling everyone else not to get her sick...despite the fact that she was patient zero.
When she wasn't feeling yucky she was busy being well..Twirly....which is just how Addison is. She is sweet, fun loving and busy, busy, busy.  She has been trying her absolute hardest at school lately. She finally got to the point in her reading program when she started reading actual stories..She is SO proud! She is also zooming through her math.  She is so proud
Addison has also been very crafty this month! She has been making  from tents to zoo animals out of paper. She also decided two days ago that she had to have a boat made out of paper. She spent hours yesterday gluing paper together to make it. She eventually got frustrated and started asking me for help. Let me tell you right now...Lyndsay, is not a crafty craft person. I am just not once of those science experiment, decoupage project sort of homeschooling moms.Believe me, I have tried..but it is just not in me. 

  However, She asked and how do I say no...so off to Youtube I went. Youtube has saved me on more than one occasion. So we made a paper boat. She decorated it and has been happily sailing her paw patrol figures along the imaginary seas ever since.

 I also have to share with you Addison's most recent little quark, if you will...the fact that she will only wear one sock. *shivers* It gives me chills just typing it. I asked her the other day why she had been only putting on one sock...she said "I did not put one sock on, I took one sock off.'

Her thought process amazes me sometimes.

I also caught her putting her boots on this past weekend without socks. I said "Don't forget socks.' She said "Don't worry, I have one on.' There is more to the conversation...but it ended with me sending her to find another sock. She went off in a huff, because how dare I require two socks of her. She then returned with one hot pink frozen themed ankle sock and a knee high gray hello kitty sock, with stripes.

    She also is a firm believer that a skirt can and should go with absolutely every outfit. (Did you see the red sparkly shirt in the family picture above? Go ahead, scroll back up to Alex's portion, I'll wait.)
Yep, she as her own style. I know she will outgrow it someday, so for now I grin and bear it and make sure she has clean underwear on.

 

Anna...
  Despite having what the Dr said had to be Rotavirus, respiratory crud and an ear infection...Miss Anna made some Big leap and bounds this month. She finally started liking fruit, is sitting up, sat in a high chair, drank from a sippy cup, found her feet and had (A family record breaking) 8 outfit changes in one day. (Thank you Rotavirus!  I am seriously thankful for the Rotavirus vaccine. Anna had a rather mild case of it compared to the older kids, who had it without the vaccine.)
She still managed to smile through it all. She makes us smile every day. 

She has EPIC thighs!

 

           

Me....

  Hmmm...what did I do this month?
   Like I said above..most of it was a blur of sick kiddos and just plain ole craziness. I can tell you that I drank a LOT of coffee, started reading my Bible from Genesis (Again, one of these days I will get all the way through.), disinfected the house endlessly, prayed for these kiddos a lot, made up a totally awesome new garlic bread recipe, started working out again (12k+ steps a day with my fitbit), and drinking 100oz of water a day,  shampooed the living room rug, dumped facebook off of my phone, left most of my social media sites and did my best to keep up with all of these people who call me Mom and this ever changing river we call the tiny house. 

  I have been having quite a few back issues since Anna was born. Back issues are not anything new, I just did a good job at ignoring them until after she came along. I used to use a Mody Wrap for my babies..but it was killer on my back! Plus, Anna is a "personal bubble" type of baby and Hated being that close to me. So, I ordered an ERGO! Love it! Didn't get to use it that much since ordering because it was just too cold..and we were too sick to really get out and about. I've used it more this month and it is a life saver. Can't wait to go to the zoo with it. 

WEAR ALL THE BABIES!!!! <3

I'm also on a mission to lose the last of this pesky baby weight before Summer. (Because I'm too cheap to buy more Summer clothes.) I have kicked it into high gear. Using my Fitbit (Thank you husband, BEST Anniversary gift ever.) and tracking calories. I started out requiring myself to log 10k steps, and recently moved it up to 12k. With 30-60 moinutes of tracked activity, and an estimated calorie deficit of 500-1000. Yes, I am that determined. ;) 

I will make a post updating that as well. (I've lost almost four times the amount I have to lose now, in the past..so it is not like I am new to this. It's it just time to suck it up and get back to it.)

Ergo selfie at the Allergist; Dr visit with zero sleep; I liked my hair, and felt awesome for hitting 7500 steps before 10am. :)

How was Your February??

Here's to March! Hopefully it is Merciful on the Tiny House Homeschool Family!

Blessings!!!

~Lyndsay~ 



*** A couple random pictures that didn't have a place...
  Addison's decorated boat.

Emma reading with Anna. 

 

  Sometime in the midst of all the sickness we had a nice day and the kids had a pic lunch.