Clean kitchen, thrush, sickness, wipes, math, prayers & a video

First things first.  I made 6 goals for the new year, and so far, it's going quite well.  My new handy dandy planner helps me keep track of what my goals are and if I'm staying on track.  Otherwise, I'm sure I would have forgotten by now. Did you make any goals?  One of my goals this year is to go to bed with a clean kitchen.  It's been life changing.  Oh, you always go to bed with a clean kitchen?? Don't steal my joy ;).  For those of you who don't know, when you wake up to a clean kitchen every morning, it's an AMAZING start to the day.  So at night, when the last thing I feel like doing is cleaning the kitchen--aka clearing the counters that seem to always pile up with STUFF, I do. And I'm always, always, always glad the next day. And so is Ben. I've been quite surprised at how easy it's been too.  It's so nice to have little victories like that, you know, small things that make a big difference.

I've been battling thrush for a while now.  And let me tell you, its been horrible.  It's excruciatingly painful.  I was completely dreading nursing Drew for TWO weeks, and that's so sad!  Thanks to Dr. google, I was able to self-diagnose.  The problem though, is when your child doesn't have symptoms, no one believes you have thrush.  So there I sat, eating raw garlic, applying coconut oil, writhing in pain on my bed, and reading stories of other women with my same issue whose child showed no symptoms.  And I smelled.  Although--side note-- I did google the health benefits of eating raw garlic, and I'm pretty convinced we all should be doing it.  We'd be way healthier, AND, if everyone is eating garlic, I bet we wouldn't smell it. ;) Anyway, I eventually threatened my pediatrician and was able to get Drew medicated along with myself.  The last few days I've been experiencing relief, and it's AMAZING.  My life for a few weeks has been constantly boiling pacifiers and washing sheets and clothes in hot water.

I made wipes the other day because I thought they'd be easier on Drewbie's toosh.  It was QUITE easy, and they work just like regular wipes! It's thrilling, really.  See how they're attached?! They just rip apart. Isn't that cool!?

We've been confined to our house for a while now with sickness.  There must be some nasty cold viruses going around.  Anna had it first, now Drew, and Grace has a mild version.  Praise God for podcasts. It makes being stuck home a bit easier. (Although missing church two weeks in a row is the worst!! =( ) If your kids are also sick, and you want some encouragement as a mother, I've been really enjoying THESE podcasts while I clean out my basement.. and kitchen cabinets, and every other space in my home.  Anyone else have the clean-out itch?! And, if you want to hear some killer sermons, I've been loving my husband's James series, which you can find HERE.  And I'm not just saying that because it's Valentine's Day. 

School is going well with Caleb.  I am super thrilled with his ability to read and his love for reading.  The other day I started feeling like I was making school not nearly as fun as I should be, so I decided that we would play Monopoly Jr. for math.  I think it's brilliant because he has to make change and figure out how much to pay etc. PLUS, learn the skill of being a good loser.  We're working on that.... 

The other day I got this GREAT idea from another mom.  She said she put names on craft sticks and put them in a jar and she and her kids pick them out and pray for those whose names are picked.  UM, yes please!! I had Caleb help me write, as you can probably tell below, and we all named people we thought we should pray for. (Caleb can write better than it appears, don't panic)

 Our routine is every morning after breakfast the kids and I read out of whatever story Bible we're reading, (THIS one is our favorite), do our memory work  (currently Psalm 145) and then often have prayer requests before we close in prayer and sing a song.  The prayer requests were getting a bit....... repetitive (For example, Grace only wants to pray for a certain 3 little girls from church). So I thought this would be a GREAT way to pray for other people and to help my kids be familiar with and love praying for others! I have them choose a stick and then they each pray for the person who is named (even Anna!).  So far they love it and usually ask to do two rounds-- they get so excited to see who they will pick, and I honestly think Grace would pray all day until she chose the stick with her favorite 3 girls on it. Yesterday we used our prayer jar at lunch with Ben, and those are all the sticks we picked!  I'm looking to add more missionaries and names, but we have a good start. 

Andrew started real food!  So far we've tried avacado and butternut squash. I love him in the high chair.  How cute is he?!?! He's the sweetest.  And crabbiest ;) And, I actually loathe feeding baby food to babies.  They just don't seem to get it for a while, and I have to wipe their mouths over and over and over and over. 

I'll go ahead and leave you with that sweet picture, plus I have to exercise while the kids nap or I'll lose a bet to Ben.  And that would be horrible.

Melanie