Flight Plan

"Mommy, cups can fly."

"How do cups fly?"

"They can fly with pixie dust!!"

"Oh, yeah, well I guess just about anything can fly with pixie dust, can't it? Can we fly with pixie dust?"

"Sure we can."

"And how do we do that? Where can we get pixie dust?"

"From Tinker Bell!!!"

"But how do we find Tinker Bell?"

"She's in the Peter Pan movie. We'll have to go in the TV and get her."

"Go in the TV? Can we do that?"


*long pause, followed by a disappointed response*


"No, we can't. No one can help us."



In non-related flying/pixie dust news, today is Grandma Lynn's birthday! Happy Birthday, Grandma! We love you and hope you have a wonderful day today!

*(Author's note: I am completely aware that many a post has passed without pictures. My husband reminds me of this fact nearly every night. I suppose I will trek ALL the way down to the basement and upload some pictures onto the desktop computer, which I now believe is archaic when compared to our shiny, new, right-at-your-fingertips-at-any-given-moment laptop. I promise to do it soon!)

Love Thy Neighbor

*The following conversation took place last night at the dinner table between Owen and myself. He just started talking about my parents' long-time neighbors out of nowhere.

"Mommy, Ann and Frank are good."
*a slight pause*
"They're good Anns and Franks."

"Yes, they are, Owen. Do you like Ann and Frank?"

"Yes...I love them. They're good Anns and Franks."

Unfortunate Geographics

I'm not really sure exactly what it is that this GI Virus seems to have against the Muhs Clan, but clearly, it is out to destroy us. I thought once we got home from the 'boro we were in the clear and then last night, Cody was struck down. The worst part about this (for me, anyway) is that he spent most of the day yesterday taking care of the boys. He fed them, changed Cam's diapers, played with them, etc. Our recent history with this dreaded virus shows us that just by looking at somone afflicted, you are soon afflicted yourself. So I fear that it is only a matter of time before the boys are sick, and possibly even myself as well. The geographics, you ask? It is times like these that I am painfully aware of just how far away we live from our families, namely the Grandmas. Not only do I like to have my mama around when I'm sick, it is also nice to have a little help when the entire house is sick. Of course, after the last round of sickness in the 'boro I would venture to guess that my mom is secretly singing the praises of the 8 hour drive between us! ;)

So I'm basically sitting here playing the waiting game. I ask Owen every 15 minutes if his tummy hurts or if he feels sick, which is very quickly starting to get on his nerves. I keep thinking I feel nauseated myself, though I kinda think it might just be from anxiety. Because nothing causes me more anxiety than wondering if I'm going to be hit with a puking kid at any given moment or that we might all end up with this at the same time. I think at this point I would settle for someone else's grandma, anyone who is going to be a grandma, was a grandma at one time, or even just looks like a grandma. Alas, I will just suck it up and hope like hell that Cody is the only one who gets it. Because I'm pretty sure my neighbor, though a grandma, is not going to offer to clean up my vomit or bring me some crackers.

A Valentine Reunion

It seems as though cupid is working in our favor because Cody is on his way here as we speak. Thank God for small miracles. Ok, maybe miracle is a bit of a stretch but who cares, we get to see our daddy tonight!!! Owen is running around here saying, "My daddy is coming! My daddy is coming!" I'm just happy because Cody and I may actually get to go on a date on Valentine's Day. I think it's been almost 4 years since that happened! I'm not even sure we'll know what to talk about. It's a good thing I have all day to come up with something. I really don't think vomitting children and snotty noses qualify as romantic conversation. Well, maybe if I whisper it in his ear it will work. Happy Valentine's Day!

Insult to Injury

It seems we still have patients needing admittance at Glodo Hospital. This time my poor little Owie is the patient and I'm afraid Cameron and I might be filling out our own paperwork for admittance any day now. A couple of days ago Owen started sneezing horribly. Then came the cough. Then yesterday, the dreaded fever. If you know Owen well you know that not only does he not nap during the day, he will rarely sit on a couch and just "veg," nor will he ever fall asleep in any place other than his bed when bedtime hits. Yesterday he slept until noon (after going to bed at 8:30pm the night before), spent most of the day watching movies on the couch, and then fell asleep on Grandma at 8pm. These are all signs (as if we needed anymore than the obvious ones) that this kiddo is S-I-C-K. He is still in bed as I type, after a night of some yucky dreams/nightmares. I think the meds I gave him didn't agree with him and he seemed to take a little trip that really no 4 year old should ever take. Looks like this doc will prescribe less meds tonight.

In other news, Cody is supposed to be making the trip here tonight as we are baptizing Cash on Sunday and we have been chosen as Godparents, an honor we are very excited about. However, Mother Nature is at it again in Iowa and threatening to drop a bunch of snow over half the state. We're praying that he will get out early enough before it affects his drive but at this point we're not really sure at all if he will make it. Although, if it were me I think I might stay as far away from here as possible. Who knows what disease he might be stricken with upon entering these doors. I'm pretty sure at this rate that a measles outbreak is imminent.

Desperate Times, Desperate Measures

Well, my prediction was spot-on and Dad ended up being very sick last night. The only thing worse than having a one year old with it is my dad having it. ;) What I hadn't predicted was going into Cameron's room at 1am to find him lying in his crib next to, you guessed it, a pool of vomit. Really? I mean, really? It's not bad enough that he had it once? I was amazed that he had fallen back to sleep and really didn't want to wake him but, obviously, I had no choice. I sat up on the couch with him where he vomitted again, all over me. We stayed there until 3am, hoping he would fall asleep on me but he never would so I had to put him back in his bed. After, of course, my dear mother cleaned it up for us. Thankfully he went to sleep and slept until 9am. I am still pretty puzzled as to why he got it again but am thankful that he has seemed ok all day today, save for a little crabbiness. But who wouldn't be crabby after that night?

I decided that I needed to take matters into my own hands and have spent the entire day washing anything that might have even come near a sick person in this house. I started thinking about those flea bombs that people have to set off in their houses after they've had an infestation of fleas. Do you think they make a flu bomb?

The Firing Squad

The boys and I made our way down to Murphysboro last Monday. The trip went well. Or as well as an 8 hour trip with a near-4-year-old and a 1-year-old can go. However, it seems once we got here, things have only gone downhill. Wednesday morning we were hanging out over at Beth's house and Cameron was very crabby. I took him to her room to see if he would nap in the Pack 'N Play. He went to sleep and woke up about 20 minutes later, crying. I went to check on him and he was covered in vomit. :( Needless to say, after cleaning him up we packed up our stuff and got out of there faster than Beth could say, "I don't need a vomiting newborn!" He continued to vomit once we got home and spent most of the afternoon napping on Auntie Gaye, who was kind enough to stay and help me. Why did I need help, you ask? Only a few hours later, Owen decided he'd like to get in on the action. And then just to round out the family fun, I thought I might as well join them. Thank God for Grandma who took care of all of us that night, as well as taking the day off from work the next day. The boys felt better by Thursday but it was late Thursday night, early Friday morning before I felt like I could even stand up.

We thought we were on the upside of things until Grandma awoke with it last night and is still in bed today. Grandpa is sitting on the couch as we speak trying to fight it, but I'm almost certain he's losing that battle. Apparently this has been going around both Newton/Pella as well as M'boro as there are a host of other people we know who have had it. It's as if we are all standing in a line as Sgt. Stomach Flu goes by, taking us out, one by one. So Sgt., if you're reading this, I'm waving the white flag. Please cease fire immediately.