Rachel pitched in and helped me get the car cleaned up.  Poor Ethan is throwing up a bit this morning, I think he caught Jane's bug the other evening.

Evidence attached.  On a similar note, I'm enjoying being home with them.

We tried SO hard to not catch this nasty flu virus that was going around... but it found us. Families at church that had it were kind and stayed away till they were healthy, we brought our wipes out shopping with us and sanitizer to the park and everything. Proof that you can never do too much.

Ethan has been running pretty high fevers (until we give him Tylenol) for the past 24 hours. Scared me last night when he came in our room at 1am I asked him what was wrong and he said "I actually don't feel good" I touched his forehead and it was burning up. Took his temperature and sure enough... 104.8!! He and I were up killing the fever and drinking fluids until 4am, so it was a bit of a rough night. But, fun time together. I sang every song I've ever memorized (shockingly very few) and talked about why and how Jesus could walk on water -- Ethan is very mesmerized by that story. He was definitely not his normal self today. Laid on the couch most of the day and would occasionally decide to wander in the playroom, but only lasted about 20 minutes each time.

Rachel seems totally normal, but I noticed tonight, her cough is not sounding good. I'm really hoping she does okay at least until Saturday. She and Mommy have a Princesses on Ice date Saturday morning and I'm really hoping we can make it.

Anyway, life will be quiet and dull for us until we're healthy! Please pray that Jason and I will stay healthy.

I'm sitting here listening to my kids play "house". I never thought this day would come so quickly. I remember being so excited (as I got too old to play) for the day when I'd be able to play and pretend with my own kids. Ethan just informed Rachel that he's the Daddy and she's the Mommy and then he ran into the room where I'm sitting and said "You can be the Nana, okay Mommy?!" They loaded up the cart and stroller with their 8 baby dolls and are setting off to "Target", apparently.

A few minutes ago Ethan had gotten the step ladder out of the laundry room and was standing on it talking about Noah and Moses and baby Jesus. Apparently they were all in the desert and Noah wanted to build the ark, but Jesus said no because there was no rain. So Moses went and made the rain come and then Jesus said they could build an ark. He had Rachel sitting on the bean bag listening intently. I asked him what he was doing and he said "I pretending to be Papa Griffith at church." (Papa Griffith is what he calls our Pastor. )

I wish I could capture this all on video, but 1.) we don't have a camera that takes LONG videos and 2.) I don't want to be that mom. I'm just having so much fun watching them pretend and reenact life, as they know it. I'm so thankful to have the opportunity to stay home with my kids and enjoy all these wonderful moments. They're going to pass by faster than I'd like.

Hope you're all enjoying this beautiful winter weather! I love the rain... Ethan is convinced its going to flood the earth, so we've had some nice talks about that lately. We've been reading the account of Noah and the ark and discussing God's promise to never flood the earth again. He is constantly reassuring Rachel that everything is ok, but the problem of worrying about it lies with him.

Tomorrow the women's Bible study at church resumes for the new year! I'm excited. We're starting a new study and I think its the book of Philippians, though I'm not 100% sure. On Saturday I'm meeting several of my long time friends in San Jose for a reunion of sorts. Should be lots of fun! Some of us don't see each other unless there's a wedding, so this will be a time for us girls to visit (with no kids) and catch up on life, while relaxing... ahhhhh.... We've all known each other longer than 20+ years and are so thankful to be able to still be friends.

Anyway, cheers!

The kids are another month older and I am, once again, wondering where the time went. I don't have a lot to report here, other than both kids are doing really well.

Ethan is 32 months old now (I'm only keeping count by those emails I get sent every month to chart his progress!) He is slowly getting potty trained (my fault) and continues to impress us with his new words he learns every day, his understanding of things and ability to do more of those big boy things. He's loving Sunday school and his classes at the Bible Studies we attend. He's making so many new friends and learning a ton of new things. 

Rachel is 15 months old; still isn't walking, but getting close. She now officially stands and tries to walk to us, but she appears to be really scared to death about taking that first step, on her own. She will stand by herself for several minutes before sitting down, so at least she's making progress. She's starting to talk really well. I think we've decided our kids speak before walking. Both of them had great vocabularies before taking their first step. Hmmmm... where do they get this urge to speak so much?!
She's putting 3-4 words together at times, mostly 2-3. The cool thing is, they totally make sense! Its fun to watch her understanding more, wanting to try more and becoming such a big girl.

We're going to Marine World this weekend with J's family and I can't wait to see how excited the kids are. Not only to spend the whole day with Grandpa, Grandma, their Great Grandmas and Aunt Jenny, but to see their faces when they get that close to the animals, go on the rides and experience all that for the first time (Ethan went when he was 3 months old). Its going to be loads of fun!

Have a good week, everyone!!

They're getting so big! I love this picture Jason took, so decided I'd share it with ALL Of you - even those of you that don't log in. Rachel was making Ethan laugh so hard. She kept grabbing onto him and laughing while she hugged him and then he was laughing even harder. Had to be there; super funny.

Its a new language in our house and Ethan isn't taking to it very well.

Ethan: Lets push the cars!

Rachel: Ma-E-dA!

Ethan: No Rachel, you say "we push the cars!"

Rachel: Ma-E-dA!

Ethan: Rachel, yook at me. You have ta push the cars like this (he shows her)

Rachel: Gla-ma-E-dA!

Ethan: Rachel, what are you saying to me?

Rachel: Daddy!!

Ethan: NO, I not Daddy. I Efan. Why do you say "Daddy" to me?

Rachel: Ma-E-dA-do-do! Aga-go-go-ma-e-dA!

Ethan: Rachel, I don't wanna talk like this any-MORE.

Rachel: Daaaddy! Naaana!

Ethan: I not Daddy and I NOT Nana! Why do you say that to me?!

Rachel: Ma-E-dA! Ta-meemee-neeta!

Ethan: Mommy!! Rachel needs to get new words!

Happy Saturday

So, if you couldn't tell by the title, our kids are sick. Ethan came down with a cold a few days ago and Rachel followed suit Wednesday night. They're both doing fine, other than runny noses and sleeping more than usual. Although last night Rachel made sure that Mommy had fond memories of having a brand new baby in the house, by keeping me up most of the night. Amazingly enough I did find that I miss those days.

Anyway... we ventured to Walmart and Target to stock up on sicko items. I found our favorite Kleenex Anti-Viral tissue was on sale at Target and the humidifier was cheapest at Walmart. We bought the Vicks humidifier that you pour the vapo steam into. Rachel must like it because she's taking one nice long nap today. Yesterday she kept waking up every 15 minutes because she couldn't breathe out of her nose. Anyway, my favorite medicine to give the kids when they're sick is the Triaminic thin strips. You can get them for stuffy noses and also for coughs and colds. They also make them for Infants now.

So, dull post, I know. But I thought I'd share.

I've received several emails and phone calls, asking how the kids are doing (thank you, by the way) and since I don't have time to email or call everyone back, I decided to post it here for you all.

Rachel is on Antibiotics for her ear infections and she also has a bad cough/stuffed nose. She's kind of been hit with it all right now.

Ethan has the same bad cold she does, but last night, started showing some obvious signs of pink eye. So... we're off to Kaiser (again) today for a check-up for Ethan and to get some eye drops.

Our first week in this house has been very odd. The kids and I are not used to being home everyday, laying around the house, doing next to nothing. I am very glad Jason and I worked so hard last week at unpacking everything and setting it all up. I would not have wanted to do that this week, with sick kids. God knows best!

Thanks to all of you for your prayers. Please pray that the pink eye will not spread to Rachel. Thanks, Stef

We have 2 sick kids over here and the weather couldn't be better for it. All we need is some candles lit and Lord of the Rings turned on. And, my husband home from work.

Ethan is not nearly as sick as Rachel, but he's also about 3 days behind her, so he'll most likely catch up. He had a really rough night last night. Don't know why, but he would not go to sleep. He pretty much cried off and on until 5am and then finally fell asleep, only to wake up (very hyper) at 8am. Rachel pretty much wants to be held when she's awake and take lots of naps. She's on Antibiotics, so the meds are most likely making her sleepy. Anyway... we're staying in doors today, relaxing and trying to get well. Poor Jason had to get up and go to work today, after probably not getting much sleep, hearing both kids all night long. Nights like that make me wonder how Moms of twins do it. I admire them greatly. 

Hope you're all having a good Wednesday! -Stef