Great Weekend to be a Husky...

Yesterday was the State Dual Team Tournament in Cedar Rapids. It is always a great time for many reasons....the whole team gets to participate, there are always great matches down there and it also is the very last weekend of wrestling. This year proved to be no different. It was a great day for Nashua-Plainfield, as they came home with a third place state trophy. They lost the semi-final dual by 5 points to the State Champions. They almost pulled it off! It was very exciting to see them do so well and come so close.

Third place in the state is nothing to hang your head about...

Zeke enjoyed playing with the trophy today when we got home. It was perfect size for him.

Not so big....

When the older boys are downstairs playing...this is where Zeke is. He can hear them, but he just can't quite get to them. He tries with everything he has to get down there!

Big Brother

Eli wants to be just like the big boys....And he just loves his big brothers.

I missed something....

....not sure when Eli got so big. He has grow up so much!

He is really into puzzles lately. He asks to do them every night....and concentrates so hard.

Life...

Things have been busy and hectic as usual. Last weekend was state wrestling. The little two went to Grandma and Grandpas for the weekend...we are thankful that grandparents were able to shuffle them around and share the fun. The older two boy and I headed down to DesMoines on Thursday morning to catch up with Ben, who was down there since Wednesday. It was such a treat to be able to just have the older two....I forgot how life is without diapers and bottles and sippy cups and pack and plays and naps. It was SO easy. Of course the boys fought, but I suppose that's to be expected. They loved swimming and it was so nice to just sit by the pool and watch them have such a great time. We were happy to get home on Sunday. We all said many times how much we missed Eli and Zeke.

I have never said I was thankful for illnesses and getting sick, but I was very thankful that we all got sick before we left for state. Evan had strep on the 11th, and Eli and I had it on the 13th (the week before state). I took Zeke in for his ears to be checked when I took Evan in and he had ear infection still. As of last week, four out of the six of us were on antibiotics. We are all doing very well now...

Yesterday was Zeke's 10 day check on his ears and when we got there I thought he felt a bit warm. Sure enough he had a 101 temperature. He is still on his antibiotics...but he had terrible ear infection again/still. So, he is on a third antibiotic. If this doesn't clear things up, we will be heading to the ENT to get tubes put in. He hasn't once been fussy because of it. We accidentally found his ear infection at his 9 month appointment, then again at Evan's appointment which was supposed to be just a recheck to make sure it cleared up and then last night at his other recheck. So, round three of antibiotic! Poor guy...I am so thankful that he is such a happy guy, but I did tell him that he needs to let us know if he is sick :)  It's ok not to laugh and smile if you don't feel good!

This is the last week of wrestling! I am so thankful! Two more practices and State Duals on Saturday. We are really ready to have Ben back. I miss him and the kids miss him and this has gone on long enough! I'm still not quite sure how we survived!

Zeke's New Smile...

Zeke went from two teeth on the bottom to a mouth full of teeth! He is so cute with his new teeth, but very dangerous....he BITES!

No words...

Little Known Facts.....

• Eli can only talk in a loud voice. His only volume is loud...it only works out well when Ben and I get separated in Wal Mart. Whoever has Eli with them can easily be found. In the house or car...this is a bit much! From the moment he wakes up to the moment he falls asleep he is talking and it is loud.

• Isaac cannot walk through the house. He can only run, skip, hop, twirl, bounce. Therefore, he cannot sit on the furniture without jumping, bouncing ect...he gets in trouble about once a day.

• Evan can now out-eat Ben. He eats like a grown man...I am not sure how we are going to feed these boys when they are all teenagers! I think investing in a cow and some chickens might not be a bad idea!

An Update...

• Zeke went from having two teeth on the bottom to six teeth ... he got four new teeth in the past two weeks. Finally he is sleeping through the night again...he must have just been feeling miserable!

•  Zeke still has a nasty cough. We are going on three weeks of the same cold and cough. I finally took him to the doctor last week and he had double ear infection. He has finished his antibiotics and it did nothing for his runny nose and cough. Sometimes he coughs so much he throws his whole bottle up. Poor guy.

• Eli makes us laugh a lot. He is hilarious. He talks all the time and has the funniest way of saying some of his words. He is always concerned about what the "boys" are doing and wants to be a big boy so bad. He also pushes us to a frustration level that we have never experienced before on a daily basis. He is so determined and strong willed!

• When I do laundry, Eli always has three times the amount of clothes than anyone else in our hosue...he changes his clothes minimum three times a day. Some mornings he throws the HUGEST fits because he wants to wear a certain shirt or pants and it is either dirty or we don't own it...example:  Darth Maul shirt (we don't own one) or NP Husky underwear (don't own those either). Refer back to previous bullet point...he pushes us to a level of frustration we have never experienced before. When he doesn't want to wear what I have picked out for him, he takes his clothes off multiple times....the big boys are getting their coats on and he is naked. I put his clothes on, get Zeke packed up, look at him and he is naked again. This goes on most mornings...until I hold him down, dress him, put his coat on and carry him to the car kicking and screaming. Last week, we got to daycare and he took his pants off again because he didn't want to wear them. He was naked before I left. Nice, huh?  

• Isaac is getting to be such a good reader. He is getting some extra help at school and we can really see his improvement. We had conferences last week and we were very excited with the progress he has shown this year. He has come a long way since Preschool and was such a shy little boy. He has a lot of good friends and is a very good helper at school. His teachers love him, as he charms them all. When he started Title 1 reading, his teacher commented "Those eyes, He is just beautiful." He is now in Reading Recovery with a new teacher and at our conference, she commented on how hard he is working and "those eyes". He is quite the charmer!

• Evan wrestled his last tournament this weekend. He had some good competition. He is a big kid, so he either gets opponents that are big and strong and athletic or the kids that are inexperienced and just big boys. Yesterday, he got the big, strong, athletic ones! He was bummed out with his fourth place finish, but we were very proud of him for going out on the mat each time and trying his hardest and not giving up. 

• Ben is getting close to being done with wrestling. We had Sectionals this past weekend, have a meet on Tuesday all the way in Jewell and then Districts Saturday. State wrestling starts next week already! It has been a long, rough season on our family and we are looking forward to it coming to an end. He enjoys it and he is so good for the high school boys. He is so patient and such a good role model for them. I would love to have him home at night and on the weekends, but I know he is playing an important role in many kids' lives. We are looking forward to March. We have a week Spring Break this year and we are planning on taking the kids on a mini vacation somewhere, maybe the Indoor Waterpark in Dubuque?

• I'm tired. I'm tired of being a single parent. I'm tired from getting up at 4:44 a.m every day to work out, and I'm tired of having all the home responsibilities during wrestling season. I would love to have a break. I haven't been shopping in forever. If I had a break, I would probably just go to bed....how pathetic!

Massive Amounts of Snow...

Groundhog?

I've never seen an 80 lb. lab burrow through the snow before....

Tucker figured out that if he went through the snow, rather than over the snow, he didn't sink and he could move faster.

4 weeks down

I have just completed four weeks of my morning workouts. For a whole month I have gotten up at 4:44 a.m. I love it. I love how I feel when I get home at 6:00....I really didn't think I could do it, but now I really can't imagine not doing it. I love seeing my friends in the morning (even if there isn't a lot of conversation at first, there is always lots of laughs by the end!) and I love having time for myself.

I have had to adjust some schedule things at home...like going to bed a lot earlier, but it really hasn't been a big deal at all. Instead of having my "me" time from 10-11 p.m., I have it from 5 a.m. - 6 a.m. I have always been a night person, but I have been forcing myself to be in bed by 10:00. The last few days that we have had late starts or no school, I have gotten a lot accomplished in a very quiet house. I can't go back to bed because I am all sweaty and wide awake so my only choice is to come home, shower and get something accomplished around the house.....or drink coffee and watch the TODAY show (which I never get to do!)

Have I Mentioned that Zeke is into EVERYTHING

Here he is sitting in the middle of the pretzels that he dumped out....

one in each hand and his mouth full of pretzels.