Saturday, March 27, 2010

We're back!


We left for California on Sunday afternoon with one girl recovering from the stomach bug and everyone else doing OK. Our flight from here to Houston was by far the worst either of us had ever experienced. You know it is bad when the flight attendants from the previous flight are even complaining! The sky was clear, but the wind was strong, and it bumped that little plane all over the place. Austin begged me not to kiss the ground if we made it back down. I was so scared! We survived but then our second flight was delayed due to mechanical problems, so by the time we got to the hotel in CA it was 11:45pm, or 1:45am TX time. Whew!

While all that was going on, our Gloria was home experiencing her turn with the stomach bug unbeknownst to us. :-( My baby's first time to throw up & I wasn't there to comfort her. Austin's mom also came down with it on Monday. Poor thing. She said Allia took good care of her though. ;-)

Our trip began with a beautiful Southern California day. We had breakfast together, then Austin was off to his conference. Stephen & I hit the gym and then took a loooong nap back in the room. I did some leisure reading while I waited for him to wake up. Austin finished early, so we went exploring a little and then to a very nice dinner. It was the perfect day....
until the stomach bug hit
ICK
By midnight we were taking turns running to and from the bathroom.
Miraculously, Stephen slept until 5am despite the racket we were making, which was a huge blessing. That was just when I was starting to feel slight relief.
Let me tell you, if you and your hubby are going out of town and planning to get a stomach bug while you are there, stay at the Hyatt. They bent over backwards to help us get what we needed, including some medicine that pretty much saved us from a trip to the hospital!

So we spent Tuesday and Wednesday in bed recovering. We had scored a free movie Monday evening for having to switch rooms due to A/C problems. So we ordered room service, watched our movie and just hung out together trying to get better. It was very restful, just not quite what we had in mind!!! (At least we didn't have to clean anything this time!)

Thursday, Austin was able to give his talk which had been rescheduled from Tuesday afternoon, and everything else went pretty smoothly except to find out that Dad was in the hospital again for his knee as of Wednesday. Mom didn't tell us because she figured we had enough to worry about being sick and all. Apparently he has a serious staff infection but is doing much better and came home from the hospital yesterday.

So, was it worth it? Yes. Would I do it again? Probably. Do we feel a little like we were under attack from the evil one? Youbetcha!

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Crazy life!

My amazing husband built this and concreted it into the ground all by himself between lunch and dinner Thursday!!!


Friday Lita came to pick up Allia for a "week at grandma's." Of course Lita squeezed in some baby time too! I am sure going to miss my Allia this week, but I know she will have lots of fun!


And here are the girls practicing Skype. Stephen and I are supposed to be accompanying Austin on a trip to a conference in California today, and the other two girls stay here with my parents for the week. However, one girl is recovering from a stomach bug right now, and my Dad is at the hospital with a hurt knee. So is this God's way of telling me to stay home or someone else's way of trying to prevent the good that would come from Austin and I having a week away together? Still discerning...we will see!


Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Sister time

Making faces?




Sunday, March 14, 2010

Great Grandparent visit

Lolo and Lala came this weekend to meet Stephen and visit with the girls







Painting lessons from our visiting artist...the girls are painting little piggy banks from Daddy with tips from Lala

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Sweet sleeping Stephen


I just love sleeping babies!

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Two months old!


Well, Stephen was actually two months old on Feb 21st, but we were sick and had just moved. So he just finally had his checkup Wednesday and was 14lb 13oz and 26in long. That's our big guy! He is such a sweetie and so interactive now. He loves to laugh and coo with the girls. Having big sisters to entertain you must be wonderful because he is a very happy guy. We love you, baby Stephen!

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Boxes?

Where? These are princess thrones

Three little bedbugs

Gloria-isms

While the girls are doing crazy tricks...

"That Dwain-jus!" (aka dangerous)

As she tries to imitate them

"I not bwoke my head."

Her favorite restaurant

Chick - A - Laif

Monday, March 1, 2010

House project

We wanted to use the formal dining room for eating, but it had carpet. Have you ever looked at the floor after a family with 4 small kiddos eats? Ick...carpet? So Dad and Austin courageously tackled a flooring project.

Dining Room Before


And After


And we figured we may as well do the living room too and not have any carpet downstairs...
Living Room Before


And After


They did a great job. It makes the house have such a "warmer" feeling!

Lots more to do to get this place in working order, but we are making progress!