New pictures!

I know it's been about a month, but I finally got caught up on the pictures from the boys' Birthday. As always, they are at http://pix.tazman.net/. Here's a couple of my favorites from the latest batch.

Matthew peeking out on the world:


Nicholas fascinated:

Grace Fellowship Orlando - Time Lapse Video

Below is an awesome video of how much work goes into making church happen each and every week. This was shown at the 5th Anniversary celebration last Sunday, and I was just blown away. Having friends who are involved on the worship team, I knew that there was a lot of work that went into a Sunday morning, but holy cow! I had no idea. Take 2 minutes and 30 seconds to watch. It'll blow you away.

Time for more excuses...

But it's a good excuse, I promise! We are dealing with our first "real" illness with Matthew and Nicholas. Yes, we had two minor bouts with stomach bugs in the last seven months, as well as really bad colds back in November, but according to the doctor those don't really count. I think he was impressed that we made it this long without needing to see him for some type of illness or another.

Anyway, both boys have some form of the coxsackievirus. That would be a fancy word for "fever" and "mouth sores". However, if you google it, you might be concerned that it's some major disease. So far what we're dealing with are relatively high fevers (both boys have hit over 103 degrees with this), and horrible ulcers, sores, etc. in the mouth and on the tongue. Nicholas was symptomatic first, coming down with this on Thursday morning. He'd never had a fever as high as 103 before so I called the doctor. Since it lasted over 24 hours, to be safe, we went in to see the doctor. He wanted to see us before heading into the weekend. As soon as Nicholas opened his mouth, Dr. Hayne seemed to know what he had.

Matthew didn't come down with it until this morning, and it wasn't until a few minutes ago that his fever got over the 103 mark. Matthew was so funny on Thursday and Friday. With Nicholas feeling so miserable and just wanting to be held all.the.time., Matthew did every trick in the book trying to vy for my attention. Very cute! Of course, since Nicholas still isn't better (still running a fever as of bedtime tonight), Matthew still has to compete a little bit for attention. Matthew was able to procure the best spot while being held this afternoon and evening, and thankfully even though Nicholas still isn't anywhere near better, he managed to find ways to entertain himself so I could do a little doting on Matthew.

Other than the fever, the worst part about this virus is that the boys just won't eat. I guess their mouths/throats are hurting so badly that even swallowing bothers it. We're even having trouble getting them to take bottles of milk, juice or pedialyte. We still have plenty of we diapers, so we're not worried about dehydration, but it is a possibility if they continue to not eat and struggle with drinking anything.

My parents have been troopers, coming to stay with one or both of the kids so we could keep an appointment, or take someone to the doctor. Today my mom kept both boys so I could get some errands run, and work on getting the house suitable for a party tomorrow evening. They're even willing to keep Matthew & Nicholas tomorrow night so we can watch the Super Bowl with friends. Although I hate that they are sick, it will be a good thing for me (and Dan) to get a full night's sleep before heading into the new week. Dan's on the road, so he needs to be 100%. The boys and I have the beginning of a full week ahead of us (assuming we have no fevers to contend with), and I'm very much looking forward to some refreshing sleep.

Anyway, here's to hoping for a good night's sleep for everyone, especially Matthew & Nicholas. We're hoping for minor and/or non-existent fevers tomorrow, and we're shooting for everyone being well by Monday morning! :-)