sickies

Yep we have the sickies here at Casa De La Melban. Not just a little under the weather either. Nope when we do something we like to do it big around here.

Cannon has ear infections in both ears or if you want to say it in a way to make it sound mega bad~double ear infection. :) But either way both his ears were hurting and one was draining. Stinky-brownish-goopy stuff. (Wouldn't want you guys to miss the full experience) He has been pure bliss to be around let me tell ya. Actually today he is back to his ornery self so I KNOW he is feeling better.

Reece went in with Cannon to get a little cough checked out and tested positive for RSV. Since we caught it early I have seen the full progression of what RSV can really do. We are in the 3-5 day phase of this illness and it is the worst supposedly. So we are doing breathing treatments every 3 hours. This morning we had to go back actually because I was concerned about eating and his urine output. But all is good although we did find out he has ear infections (or a double ear infection) in both ears. So we get to start an antibiotic as well as steroids for his lungs. JOY, just pure JOY here! :)

Red rimmed eyes. And yes the running nose is non-stop.

I am afraid it is going to be raw pretty soon.

Mason and Gracelyn are doing great through this. Gracelyn has a cough and stayed home on Friday because of it but really she is fine. I just didn't want her to get worse or pass this stuff on to another child. Mason has missed it all. Absolutely no change in energy level whatsoever! I don't wish he was sick by any means but I do wish he would adjust his disposition to a slower pace just for a day or two.

Here is the well child! :)

He was so shocked I would take a picture of him doing his business.

He was looking at the Toys-R-Us Catalog. Just a little leisurely reading.

2 of the 4

Love this picture. It was taken last week after church when we had two other baptisms. A friend took it and I just love it. I mean, seriously love the two boys in this picture so much I just had to share.

Proudest moment in my life as a parent

Cameron baptized Gracelyn yesterday. It was just spectacular and special and so filled with love. She is a wonderful little girl and I am just so proud of her confession and faith. Yes she is only 7 but her faith is what Jesus wants us to mimic. Pure, innocent, untainted by the world.

The most special thing besides witnessing her baptism is seeing how many people love my daughter, love us and love the church.

Valentine's parties for the boys

Valentines is a day that I love. I don't love all the candy, hyper kids, sugar rushes but I do love the day of love and the idea of love and the act of love. I love it all! :) The boys had a great party at MDO that was fun and Gracelyn's school party was so cute. I forgot my camera for hers but she was perfectly dressed in pink and more pink!

Just 5 inches~no biggie

This is the 2nd snow that caused great amounts fun in our house. We had just dug out of 10 inches the weekend before his birthday and then 2 days later we get this. I don't have pictures of bundled up kids but there was plenty around here! :)

Mason's Birthday Family Day

Our Family Days are almost as fun as party days! :) We got Gracelyn out of school early and headed to Walmart to pick out a bike for our 3 year old. He was so excited and ready to join the ranks of "big kids". He got a helmet that hasn't left his head much since it is was bought and he loves the bike. I will let the pictures tell the story of our day/evening.

Discovery Center (bought a family membership and it has been so fun. Much different than the DC of when I was a kid)

First time for Reece to be in the stroller without his carrier. Such a big boy!

Mr. Gattis~pizza and chaos what more could you ask for?

working out

I hate it!

There I said it.

I don't apologize for it and I won't take it back either. I just hate it.

BUT I love the results soooo I keep doing it. UGH...After 4 years of being somewhat consistent with it (although there were 2 pregnancies thrown in there) I still don't like it. But I do it. Reluctantly so I do it.

I only know 2-3 people who really LOVE it. I don't aspire to be like them, because their goals are different than mine so it isn't like we are on the same playing field really. But I do know a ton of people who barely tolerate it just like me!

Glad to know I'm not alone.

What do you not like to do but you trudge through it anyways because it betters you?

Hanging out

When I was in high school "hanging out" got a whole new meaning. It meant there was usually food, talking (about boys), confessions, laughter, tears and more food. It was great. I won't usually confess to high school being that great, but the hanging out part was the highlight for sure.

As we grow older the term hanging out falls by the wayside and we adopt new terms such as mommy groups, women's group, prayer group, girl's night out, play dates, friend date, etc... but the topics never change. Confessions, laughter, tears, food and more food usually are on the agenda.

I love it and have had the opportunity to do this a little more than normal lately. It has been great getting with friends who have been there forever and people who are really more than friends in my book. My most favorite thing about my friends is watching them love my kids in a way that makes me love them even more. The best way to my heart is to be kind to my babies.

God is so good in providing these type of friends in my life. I am beyond blessed!

What is the one thing that you love about your girlfriends?

Hug away...

Look at these sweet girls. Just precious in my book. They have not a care in the world besides spelling tests on Friday and whose brother(s) might win the prize for being the most pesky that day. But seriously they don't ponder deep thoughts, have huge worries, fret over life. Nope they just live life in a way that when your momma says (while holding the camera) HUG~they do it. With their whole body, heart, face and arms everywhere. They did just what they wanted and hugged. They showed each other their love through that hug and it radiated into their smiles and laughter. They didn't wait to see if it would be reciprocated they just did it knowing that eventually if you hug someone like that then they will hug you back. No worries between them that's for sure.

How wonderful to have a friend who wants to show you how much you mean to them that they would hug you with their whole heart. As we grow up we loose our ability to really just hug! We know huggers and non-huggers in our life. The non-huggers keep their distance when hugging. They aren't being rude they are just uncomfortable and it really has nothing to do with you usually. They just aren't huggers. The side hug (appropriate in some cases~necessary when with the opposite sex) is what you get. Usually these people might be better with words than affection but I have known some who just can't get it out no matter how much you want to crack their shell. You just aren't going to know them the way you want. Then there are the people who are huggers. The people who will hold you tight when life hurts. Who will not let go just because the time limit has been reached. Who show their sympathy, love, joy, and heartache through their hugs. I love these people. I honestly love that physical contact that expresses love. I connect with these type of people. I thrive in this environment. Might be why I have Cameron. He is a hugger and it never gets old. Nor does he let go until it is enough.

I don't fault or discredit anyone's hug ever. I take them in and love every one I get. But I do savor the hug of a genuine person. Must be why Gracelyn's mean so much. She has it mastered.

Up till now...

I could enlighten you all what we have been doing in the past 4 months but I have a feeling that you guys pretty much know that we have become a family of 6 now. Reece Maddux was born October 6th. He weighed in at 7lbs 14oz and was 21 3/4 inches long. Tons of strawberry blonde hair that he is holding on to!! YAY!!! But really that would be a long boring post to go back that far so now that you know my sweet boy will be 4 months old tomorrow I can just start from now. I mean really we had 3 holidays in there to recap and then there is just the everyday life that happened while we blinked so I will spare you all.

I will just start from here on out with the wonderful things that have kept me from blogging. Is that a deal? Good...whew...thanks for letting me off the hook. You guys are the best.

Here are a few of my sweet guy. How did I get so blessed?

Not Your Momma's Aerobic Class

Cameron and I have been back in the gym for a while now and although I am not seeing the results I would like I know that it takes time. It took me 9 months to put on the weight, I need to be realistic in getting rid of it. I am impatient though.

We have slacked this week but I don't feel guilty. I think it has to do with all the dancing that's been going on. The kids discovered Youtube. Yes you read that right. We are loving listening to Taylor Swift, Miley Cirus, even a little Katy Perry (although that is all Cam's doing). The kids have joined our dancing sprees and we end up a sweaty mess. But let me tell you it is fun. I would be mortified if anyone saw our routine. It isn't anything like Ross and Monica's *routine* on Friends, but it is somewhat organized. We are perfecting it and just waiting for the chance for Dance TV to call us. Oh wait that is Girls Just Want to Have Fun isn't it? Oh well we will get our chance one day. Until then we are just satisfied with our aerobics class each night.

And as promised pictures of my sweet workout partners. They keep it real by making sure they pat my jiggly tummy so that I will remember exactly why I am working out! :) Precious of them isn't it?

Switching over

I have committed myself to (to a large group of people) blogging and although I question that commitment I must fulfill it just even a tiny bit so here is my GRAND RE-OPENING! :)

I last left off on my other blog with my grandmother passing away. That was mid December but before that it was a good 4 month hiatus from blogging. It was great and refreshing. Much needed in the whole scheme of things. I needed to step back and get realigned with my family. In doing so another Internet/social networking site crept into my life. I have been apart of Face book for a long while and have LOVED every minute of it until the recent months. I have seen it tear people down and turn into an ugly mess of late. Not something I want to be apart of. I needed to release that strong hold and regroup so to speak. Face Book was so fun to reconnect with a great group of people from my past. I have "seen" many people on there that I wouldn't have ever reconnected with otherwise. I am still in Face book mode as to thinking of two liners that will be witty and captivating enough for people to respond to. I might still revert back to that every once in a while. Because really does a whole blog post need to be dedicated to Gracelyn getting confused in thinking they were going to be giving REAL tattoos as a fundraiser at school? No just the quick reference that temporary tattoos were on the agenda and not the real deal.

One thing I will do is share pictures of my precious kids. So be checking back frequently to see these darlings who occupy my time.