Open House Pictures

We all had a fun time at Annie and Quinn's open house in Colorado. Here are the pictures:

Our Family:


Just me with the kiddos:


Jeremy, Lauren, Madeleine, and Katherine:


James' cousin John and his wife, Shauna and their girls, Lily and Claire:

Lauren, me, and Shauna--Special thanks to Shauna for going with me (twice) to get my hair cut and for picking out all new beauty products!


Quinn and Annie with Paige:
Quinn and Annie with Michael--he's all better!

Annie and Katherine:

Uncle Jake and Paige:

Dancing!

The Wedding

Well, I heard it was lovely. That's right--I HEARD....I didn't actually get to go to the wedding because I was in a hospital in Denver with Michael, who got RSV at a very inopportune time. So we got here fine last Friday night (all three kiddos were great on the plane and during our 3 hour layover), then Saturday, we went to the baptism of my good friend Ann's little boy. Michael had been coughing a bit and it just kept getting worse, so James and I actually ducked out early to go to Urgent Care. The doctor there said it was just bronchitis and that he'd get better soon and to come back if he started to run a fever. Well, he never ran a fever but started wheezing Monday night and wasn't any better. I didn't want to take an 8 hour car trip with a sick baby, so I took him to a different Urgent Care center where they did chest x-rays and tested his oxygen levels and the doctor there diagnosed him with pneumonia (it turned out he was wrong--it was RSV) and since his oxygen levels were low (70s-80s), they called for an ambulance to transport him to the hospital, where we spent Tuesday-Saturday, pumping him full of oxygen, doing breathing treatments, and sucking all the yuckies out of his nose. James' parents and Jake and Charie (littlest bro and sis) were so great to take the girls over to the wedding and care for them while James stayed with Michael and me until he went out to join them Friday. (And thanks to Em and Heather and Lauren--I know you helped a ton, too!)
So Annie--I'm sorry I missed it! Maybe I can be there for the birth of your first child or something (not that I'm encouraging that anytime soon!) I heard you were beautiful and gracious and all sorts of wonderful things.
The good news for me is that they're having an open house here next Friday and (hopefully--if nothing else goes wrong!) I'll be able to make that! I guess the moral of this story is that when you have a big, important event to attend, it might be best to get to the destination first and plan other fun trips later!
Oh, and Michael's doing fine-he is a bit cranky due to lack of sleep and I'm sure a sore throat and chest, but other than that, he's on the mend. Poor little guy!

And the Winner is...

Whoever voted for 13 pounds! Michael's not such a chunker after all. OK, well he's actually 13 lbs 15 1/2 ounces, so the winner may be the 14 pound voter--I'm not sure. He's bumped up now to the 90th percentile for weight and he's 25 inches long, which is off the height chart again. He also got his first round of immunizations which made me so sad. He was lying on the table and I was trying to talk sweetly to him and distract him from the nurse poking him with 3 needles. His eyes got really wide and he looked at me like, "how could you betray me and let someone do this to me?" and proceeded to turn almost purple while he screamed. I came home and was looking at different vaccine-related websites and am not quite sure how I feel about the doctor just telling me what I had to do, as if they're all totally necessary and required by law for all kids. In theory, I know that vaccines are amazing and save millions of lives, but when they're hurting my little sweetheart and might possibly make him sick, it's different. He's been really subdued and whimpering periodically all day today. It's just one more thing to add to the nervousness of me flying (and changing planes) by myself with three kids four and under tomorrow. I can't wait until this time tomorrow night when we've safely landed in Denver. Wish me luck!

Happy Sunday!

Michael sure was happy today! His sisters and I were coaxing these grins out of him:

Also, his 2 month check-up is on Thursday. Any guesses as to how much he weighs or how tall he is?

Now Taking Orders

We had pictures "made" (as they say here) today and I'm really happy with how they turned out. :) Here are the ones we had printed. They are available in 8x10, 5x7, and wallet. If you'd like copies, let me know! (we have a TON, so please do!)

This first one also comes in 10x13 and 3x5 and we have a million of them. It's cropped closer so you don't see the floor.

Happy Almost Valentine's Day!

Here are some festive pictures of the kiddos:

Check out Mike's neck muscles!

Sunday Best

While we were all getting dressed up for church today, I decided to see if any of Michael's "real clothes" fit him and they did! He's nomally pretty happy to wear sleepers all day, but I think I might have start dressing him up a bit more. My good friend, Libby, who has two boys of her own, sent this cute outfit--thanks, Libs!

Here's our "little man"

He started smiling this week!

For some reason, this expression reminds me of his Papa Gillespie. Oh, and it looks like he might be getting the red hair to go with that, too!