Family and flu....

It has been a long and eventful week since I last posted. Visiting with my family and fighting off the H1N1 flu didn't leave any extra time for blogging. Now my parents are back safely in Kentucky and we seem to have all recovered just fine, thanks to Tamiflu. We found out my mom definitely had the H1N1 flu last Monday. Knowing we had been exposed for two days, I called my pediatrician who immediately prescribed Tamiflu for the kids. At that point they were just cranky with slight coughs, runny noses and low-grade fevers. They never got the full-blown illness. I went to the Dr. on Tuesday and he reluctantly gave me Tamiflu, too, since I pulled out the NICU nurse card and mentioned I have asthma. Maybe I overreacted, maybe I am just a wimp about being sick, but I am so glad we got the medicine and didn't have to suffer like my poor mom. Both doctors said the flu has been mild for most people, but hearing about two deaths in Colorado just today makes me really glad I was overly cautious.
Towards the end of the week, everyone was starting to feel more normal. The weather wasn't great, so we spent a lot of time inside playing. We enjoyed a few hours of warm sunshine on Wednesday to walk in Garden of the Gods, my dad toured Focus on the Family on Thursday, and Friday we celebrated Rylan's birthday a little early. The guys endured a frigid morning on Saturday for some shooting practice with Training Ground while the rest of us stayed warm at home and watched the snow fly. Things were looking really bleak early in the week, but it could have been so much worse, and God gave us a unique time to really slow down and still enjoy time with our loved ones.

My sweet babies. Rylan says he and Caroline are playing motorcycle when he sits behind her and hugs her like this. He is such a loving big brother!

Nana and her Colorado grandbabies on her last full day here. We were all feeling almost back to normal.

Laughter was contagious whenever Nana was around Rylan. Here they are playing games with pretzels.


Papa was a great sport about playing "Mr. Incredible" with Rylan.

My parents made this beautiful mantel for above our fireplace. The picture just doesn't do it justice! My dad built it using a piece of solid cherry from a tree on their farm. It makes our living room look so much more cozy and complete. I think mantel is one of those special features that makes a house a home and this will definitely be a family heirloom. I can't help but think how fun it will be to hang our stockings at Christmas on a real mantel above the fireplace!