In case you doubt there are miracles

As you all know our family has had the flu. It has hit us all differently.

Oscar had a high fever for 3 days & now is on medication for his 1st ear infection ever.

I had a high fever for 3 days & just today am starting to feel like myself again.

Jack has a medium fever & mild symptoms due to the fact that the peditrician put him on Tamiflu.

Calvin has been hit the hardest. Today is his 4th day in a row of fever. Last night he woke up at about 11pm with an odd wailing / cry that we hadn't heard before. He was at 104 and having a hard time breathing. He was weazing and raspy. Like he was breathing through water. We call the "on call" pediatrician. They listened to him breath over the phone and said we needed to take him to the ER right then. Darren packed him up & headed out. I called in some prayer. My mom. My mother in law. And all my family & friends who were logged onto Facebook at the time. By the time a doctor examined Calvin in the ER an hour & a half later a miracle had occured. He was at 100 and the doctor could find nothing wrong w/ his breathing or lungs at all. Seriously.

That is a miracle if I've ever seen one.

Oh - and if you don't believe in angels I have a story for you about that too.

The Flu hits the Lewis house

Oscar got it first. Then Jennifer. Then Calvin (pictured above w/ his 102 temp). As of today, Darren & Jack are showing the beginning signs too. We've cancelled everything this week. We are staying in. We are sick. At least we have each other.

Happy Halloween!!

For Halloween this year we had two firemen & one pumpking. Our day started off w/ a party!

Here is the group of them, w/o Jack Amelia enjoying our new playroom.

The rest of the super Bailly's

The Williams girls.

Then Darren took a nap. And we all went for a walk. (Darren was a corporate clown)

Then Marley came over for a visit.

Then Oscar & Calvin went trick or treating!

All the Fuss

If you follow me on Facebook you already know that Darren is out of town and Jack has been up every hour all night for a few nights in a row. That makes for a very tired mommy. However, as it turns out there is a reason for everything. Here is what all the fuss was about. His first & second tooth!!

Oscar's 1st School Pictures

So we all remember having school pictures. How there were some kids who would look fantastic & those of us who looked like we rolled out of bed on the wrong side. My kindergarten pic has become legendary among those of you who knew me growing up.

Anyway - today we got Oscar's 1st school picuture. Perhaps I'm bias but isn't he the most handsome little guy there? Keep in mind these are snapshot of the photo's as they hang on my fridge!

Playroom

We've just finished rearranging our 1st floor. The formal office is now a playroom. Here is a photo. The kids LOVE it.

Brotherly Love

Family Fun Festival

Here are some shots from last night's Family Fun Festival at Oscar's preschool.

Why my kids will be embarrased by me....

You always hear about stories of teen agers begging their parents to drop them off blocks away from the school. I’ve always wondered what these parents could have done to make their kids so embarrassed of them…. until today. I often put Jack (and Calvin and Oscar before him) up on the counter & do my kitchen chores or cook. I usually have music on. And in order to entertain the babies I dance. Like a crazy person. Seriously.

I am also guilty of breaking into song if there is a silence of longer than 1 minute (in the presence of just my kids of course). I do this un-ashamed and loudly.

The kids LOVE my dancing and singing. They are 7m, 2 ½ and 4 ½ . So my theory is that we parents act CRAZY because little kids think it is funny. We act in front of them in a way we act in front of no one else. In front of everyone else we are together, dignified, etc. We don’t show that side to our kids though because it isn’t funny.

We show them the crazy.

Is it any wonder why as they grow up they don’t want their friend to see us? They THINK we are crazy!!

Gotta Love the Tupperware cupboard....

Break off blog

Check out my new Break off BLOG.

DOMESTIC BLISS

Thanks Mom

Last night was the perfect storm... for no sleep for me.

Darren is out of town.

Jack was up 3 times. Teeth I guess. Who knows really. He is a baby after all.

Oscar's overnight pull-up didn't make it over night so I had to change his jammies, sheets, etc.

And Calvin. Sweet Calvin was up most of the night w/ a runny nose. Apparently for him the discomfort of a runny nose is enough to cause great distress. We were up from 10-midnight the first round. At which point I drugged him.... w/ the night time cold & cough stuff. Hey - I know but you do what you have to right? Then Jack was up at 1am. Then Calvin again at 2am. Then Jack at 3am. Then about 3:30 I started to wonder if I'd been PUNKED. Or for those of you over 50... I was looking for the candid camera. At 4am when Calvin's crying woke up Jack the three of us sat on my bed & cried together. We all have weak moments right? Everyone finally fell asleep at 4:45.... until 5:30. And somewhere in the middle of this all the neighbors cats started to mate or something that sounded horrible. And I started to want to find & kill the person who invented the phrase "sleep like a baby". What does that mean? And who DOES sleep good. Not babies, not toddlers. Not mommies. Who!

Now Calvin & I are downstairs walking around in a haze of sleepiness.

So all of this is leading to me saying, "thanks mom". I know you had your share of these nights too w/ my brother & I. Each day, I have a new found respect for you.

And Here we go...

For the past 4 1/2 years I've been a stay at home mom. Now I'm starting a new phase...18 years of being a carpool mom. My oldest child started preschool this week.

For those of you who know Oscar this is a BIG deal. He is a smart, fun, energetic boy... that doesn't like change so much. This is a BIG change. My dear friend Anna told me about a book called, Llamma Llamma misses mama where the little Llamma goes to preschool. That has helped.

Logistally none of us were prepared for "school". We had to go to 4 stores to fill his preschool supply list. Yes his PRESCHOOL supply list. I'm still floored by that. We got him new clothes, new shoes & a brand new backpack. We went to "met the teacher day" & toured the school, Hilltop Christian. Here are Calvin & Oscar playing w/ another boy (the other red-head) at meet the teacher day.

One thing that was awesome about "meet the teacher day" was Oscar saw his name already all over the room. This is us looking at the birthday list & his name was under Novermber. He thought that was cool. A side note: when I got home & reviewed our pictures I noticed the HUGE Louis Vuitton bag in the shot & thought, I need to get Oscar hooked up w/ THAT family... maybe he can marry into $$. (kidding of course)
So on Oscar's first day I was all nervous about how it would go.... and it went GREAT. Thanks to lots of prayers. He went right in & did great the whole time!

He even jumped out of the mini van in the drop off line and walked in all by himself like a very big boy. And when I went in to pick him up was so excited to go back on Friday. Who is this kid & what has he done w/ my Oscar!!!

Flowers

This is what my awesome husband gave to me today. For no reason what so ever... other than that he loves me. I'm a lucky girl.

Playdate wow

So today we went to visit my friend & her 4 kids (3 boys & a girl ages 4-10) in McMinville. They live in boy heaven. There is tons of grass to run & play. There is a huge tree w/a tire swing. A giant slope of forest w/ a creek at the bottom. My boys were in heaven.