Hand, foot and mouth disease...and sprinkles

So, Jared apparently jinxed us when he posted about "wishing for hoof and mouth disease" to wipe out M's My Little Pony collection last week because now we have the real thing. HK's throwing up Wednesday morning turned to be much more than nothing. She, and now Matney, have hand foot and mouth disease. sigh. This crazy sounding thing is a real illness and is caused by a virus so there is NO MEDICINE to make it go away. It starts with high fevers and blisters in the throat and then they'll get blisters on their hands and feet. It normally takes 7+ days for all the various symptoms to appear so we'll be hanging out in this house for a while.

My thinking that HK's barfing was nothing didn't last long when she woke up from her nap Thursday with a fever of 102. We have had several days of crying and being awake most of the night rocking. When I had her at the dr on Friday morning we hoped for strep (and an easy antibiotic cure) but no such luck. It is now Sunday and M woke up screaming today with a fever of 102 too. HK does seem to feel a little better this morning.

Jared and I are so sad our girls are sick. I cannot begin to imagine how bad their throats must hurt. HK hasn't eaten in days and getting her to take any of her bottle is a fight. Before the dr we thought HK must really be teething because she was crazy drooling all of a sudden but it turns out that she just hurts too bad to swallow. Friday I went through everything in the house and all HK would eat was...sprinkles left over from her cupcakes. HA! I didn't care. Look at this pitiful girl and her dinner.





What really stinks is that for our 5 year anniversary I'd worked hard at the last minute to arrange a night away for Jared and myself. I'd booked a villa at Calloway Gardens and had dinner reservations. I had people to watch the girls. We were so excited. But, we had flashbacks of our cancelled Vegas trip as I called to cancel everything only a day after I'd worked it all out. AGH!
All week I hugged my sick girls and was thankful, even for a cancelled trip. We know know a sweet 3 year old boy who's been fighting cancer since he was 18 months old. Last week he had to have an emergency surgery because the tumor they prayed was shrinking from chemo has actually been growing leaving them with lots of questions and more treatment ahead. And Saturday, while we were having a great time celebrating Halle Kate's birthday, one of my best friends in college held her 4 year old daughter as she passed away. Rocking sick HK all night Thursday I couldn't think of much else except how my friend has just buried her daughter hours before.
Growing up my Dad used to always say "there but by the grace of God go I"...and I would roll my eyes. Now, as an adult, and especially as a parent, I hear that phrase in my mind all the time. No matter how much I try to have control ultimatly I know I do not. Once again I have been reminded this week to be more than thankful for our health. And someday, before the girls are grown, Jared and I will take a trip alone!

5th Anniversary

So those of you close to us may recognize these outfits, either from being at our wedding 5 years ago, or from seeing pictures from that day up in our house. These are our wedding duds.

Stacey and I are especially proud of being able to don these outfits because of all the weight we have lost this past year. While Stacey had the good reason of carrying and birthing two beautiful girls over the last three years for her weight increase, I just have being lazy and unhealthy to blame. But over the last year, the two of us have spent hours sweating it off and evenings eating healthy to achieve these results. When we realized that we were at or below our wedding weight, we dared to suggest putting back on our wedding outfits and seeing how they look.

In my opinion, Stacey is more beautiful than ever. I can’t wait to continue our journey together. Especially with Elmo in the background!

Reading Buddies

Jared and I couldn't be happier that our girls love to read!

A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do!

Matney wore her new summer shoes the other day and got her first blister. Sweet girl never even acted like it bothered her. When we got home I took her shoes off and her ankle and shoe had a big pile of dried blood on them. She's tough stuff! I think getting to wear a Strawberry Shortcake band-aid made it all better. We won't tell her now that this is just the beginning of blisters in the name of good footwear!

Where's Matney?

I kind of felt like I was playing the old "Where's Waldo" game in my living room last week. Who can find Matney?

Boo! There she is! Who knew the kid could fit into a box? Silly girl!

The Robot Who Saved the Day

Halle Kate was sleeping late yesterday so I decided to go wake her up. When I opened the door of her room I was hit with the worst smell. Poor baby girl had vomited ALL over her bed and slept in it all night long, she'd never cried. Halle Kate, her sheet, bumper and robot were all covered in dried puke. It was so gross. When I picked her up she started crying and didn't stop until I went back to her bed and gave her the vomit covered robot. AGH! I got her downstairs and tried getting her clothes off but she wouldn't let go of Mr. Robot. I wasn't sure what to do until I remember that our friend Kathy had searched several Targets to find another one after seeing HK's attachment to the robot when we were in WR a few months ago. Every mama knows it is ideal to have more than one "lovey", esp in situations like this.
I grabbed a naked HK and we ran back up the stairs. I yanked the nasty robot from her arms and put the new one in...and it never fazed her! (side note- it is impressive just how ragged HK's old robot looks after just a few months of her owning it. Even without puke it looks rough already!) I crossed my fingers and put the old robot in the wash at the same time that HK took her first bath of the day. It two good washings for both of them before they smelled clean. Thankfully the robot came out without much damage.
I was dreading a day of barf but HK never got sick again, never had a fever and never really acted like anything was wrong. So far M and I are fine. THANK GOODNESS!!! Here is HK this morning with her 2 clean robots. Now that she knows there are twins she wants both to carry around. I will have to work on hiding one so that we have a back-up for next time. Thank you Kathy! You and your robot SAVED THE DAY!!!

Halle is ONE!

Our little baby girl is ONE! That is so hard to believe, sniff, sniff. When Matney turned one we (ok, I) knew that there was another little girl right around the corner so it didn't feel the same as HK's bday. What if we don't have any more children and this is our last first birthday? AGH! Both of our babies are growing up way too fast! Since we can't slow down time we'll just enjoy it and yesterday was a great day. These are just the pictures I got off my mom's camera before she left town yesterday. I'll download ours and add them sometime. Here is Halle's birthday in pictures...

Matney and Daddy spend the morning waiting on HK to wake up by bounching on the new outside chair cushins. They were purchased 30 minutes prior to this picture when I made J go back to Home Depot with the ones we'd already purchased weeks ago...that we realize this morning were not the right size! AGH!

Halle Kate woke up to find a new boucing pony from MoMo!!!!

Halle Kate's "smash cake" is complete!

The girls slide across the floor.

Mommy and HK sample the icing for breakfast. YUMMY! The 3 Heald girls have consumed WAY TOO MUCH cake and icing during the last 48 hours!

Birthday Banner complete! I just bought a normal banner from the dollar store and covered it in different scrapbook papers. The pom poms I started for Matney's party in March that we never had. They are super easy (but a big pain) to make!

Gifts for the kiddos coming to party with us! The big kids got their own bowls, spatulas, cake mix, icing and cupcake holders so that they can make cupcakes at home. I know you Moms appreciate that!

The cupcake pops are out on display! I came across these several months ago and planned HK's party all around making them. Although when we made them last weekend I was ready to QUIT and just go buy a cake! They turned out super cute so I'm glad Jared has patience when I don't! Here is the link if you want to try them. They are cake mushed up with icing, shaped to look like cupcaks, dipped in brown chocolate on the bottom and pink on the top. So cute!

A black bean snack!

Our friends are here all the way from Perry!

A table of cupcakes!

The party favors for everyone...cupcake pops again!




Halle Kate in her party dress and bow!

We started with a clean room!

Jared decorated the plate for Halle Kate!

Matney was so excited to see her friend Mylee!

A few attempts at a family photo. HK was much more interested in the balloons and Matney just wanted to eat a cupcake!


Time to eat cake!

Yummy! HK carefully picked the sprinkles off without making too much of a mess. Matney set nearby and helped.


As good as it gets for a family picture!

Halle CRIED when I took her big cupcake away so we let her have a little one to munch on.

Matney and her new favorite hat. Quack, Quack! We are totally prepared for Elmo and his ducks now!

Unwrapping lots of presents!

HK has lots of new toys...and loves the plastic they came in!

We ended with a disaster of a room (and house!).

We'd made all the mess we could inside so we headed out.

Shew, by the end of the day we were clearly so tired we were goofy! Abby and I modeling hats. She's a cute turtle!

Abby brought Matney and My Little Pony and solidified her place as Matney's Favorite Person EVER!