Yup, I'm a mom!

Today I woke up to the sounds of Ella yelling for me amidst vomiting sounds. For the 5th day this week I ran to her and held the bucket under her head. Then Steve helped me strip the bed and change her for the 5th time this week. My mother's day had begun - around 6:30. After we got that cleaned up, I rested - not feeling too well myself, while Steve and Emily made blueberry pancakes. Steve helped out with bathing the kids, since it was, of course, Mother's Day. So as I lay in bed, trying to rest my aching body, I could hear the tortured screams all the way up to my room. I had to really go check to see if he was really bathing them or using thumb screws! I decided he'd not had enough screaming for one day when I took my shower and after soaping my my hair, opened my eyes and saw a bee staring at me. Luckily it was old, so he didn't require much of a fight. Finally, the rush for church had began and I was running around getting me and Emily ready. While I was in the middle of doing her hair, she announced, "It's Mother's Day...Are you relaxing??" Happy REAL Mother's Day to me.

Well, there's nothing like sick kids to really make you feel like a mom. When Ella woke up on Tuesday, the first thing she said was that she needed a bucket. About 20 minutes before preschool started, she threw up. So I ran around cleaning that up and getting her settled on the couch with movies so she wouldn't have to go to the babysitter. I had to run up once during preschool to change her clothes, top AND bottom! Poor girl. She slept through most of afternoon preschool. When it was over I found that she had gotten out of bed and sat on the couch. I picked her up and held her on my lap. Within seconds we were covered with vomit! And a preschool mom had just walked into ask me a question and here I was running to the kitchen! She had an awful night, but was fine all day Wednesday. I assumed she had the 24 hour flu, but Wednesday night it started all over again. Poor girl has been so lethargic with no appetite. Steve said she was perking up today during church, but later fell asleep on the couch. Now she's just laying there doing nothing. I hope she gets over this quick! Especially since I may be catching it from her. She was pretty much potty trained before all this, but we've put her in a diaper lately since all she's been doing is laying on the couch. Hopefully we'll go back to underwear easily enough. Emily's been very sweet to pray for her. One time she said, "Ella as soon as you're done throwing up, I'll pray for you." :) She also started out being very sweet to her at the beginning of the week. She's over that now, but she does like to know what color everything is! Maybe she'll be a doctor or nurse!!

I just went to Sacrament meeting today. I helped lead the boys for the Mother's Day song. The music leader is new and only practiced one time last week with the Senior primary. So it didn't go very well. Emily wanted to stay for primary, so the president drove her home. She had a great time!

Couple of cute things I remember from this week:

Emily got dressed and then looked in the mirror. She said, "Man, I look like a NERD!" (I thought maybe she was starting to figure out that the outfits she picks are less than fashionable sometimes - but it turns out that she was commenting that her pants were above her belly button - a sure nerd sign for sure!)


Emily knows how to call her daddy now and likes to call him up on mornings that she doesn't get a kiss and a hug. She's really adorable to talk to on the phone, so if anyone wants to call her - I'm sure she'd love it!

Emily has a toy cell phone. One day she took it to the store with her and was taking pictures of everything. Then she would type in "DAD" and push another button that makes noise. She said she was emailing the pictures to her daddy. That's mostly impressive because we don't own a cell phone that takes pictures or emails or text messaging of anykind. She was amazed that the pictures would go to daddy's phone. He's playing along and tells her everyday that he loves the pictures he emails to her!

Emily made a Mother's Day flower in preschool. They all wrote I (heart) U MOM. Now Emily is constantly telling me, "I heart you mom!!" So cute!

Emily's been anticipating Mother's Day all week. She'd ask me, "Is it Mother's Day - are you relaxing?" Apparently that's what she remembered from my explaining to her what mother's day was.

I took Emily out one night because she'd been stuck at home so long. I asked Ella if there was anything I could get her - thinking a Popsicle or something. She said, "I want a baby doll!" Too cute to resist - so we stopped at the dollar store to get her one. (Which she hasn't looked at since! She just covets Emily's balloon that she picked instead!)

Emily picked up a book that we have and read almost 1/2 of it to me before she got tired!! Woo Hoo - what a smartie!

Well, that's it for now about me! Happy Mother's Day to my mom!! I love you so much and continually wonder how you went through all these childhood stages with 6 kids! You're amazing, Happy Mother's Day!