sick – The Bless Your Heart Blog

Worth 1,000 Words: Our Weekend

We woke up Saturday morning and noticed that Sawyer was awake and wasn’t crying. We KNEW that was a good sign because that hadn’t been the case for the past week. Poor girl has some serious strep (and most likely some other virus to boot) going on and had not felt well. At. All.

I got up to use the restroom (surprise, surprise) and I saw that she had left us a note on our dresser. Soon after, she came downstairs and told us that it said Sawyer feels better and wants to feed her goats. We knew she’d turned a corner!

The babies happy to be back with their momma... — The babies happy to be back with their momma…

She’s still not 100% and is still building back strength, but she’s SIGNIFICANTLY better than all of last week. I even lost my mind a little in the midst of her healing and let her snuggle the barn cat…in the house.

Wrex tried to burn our house down on Saturday. Thankfully, it just got the yard.

Everyone keeps saying that that section will come in really nice and green. I’m wondering if we need to do the other sections. I know a guy…

He totally redeemed himself by scoring these:

Aren’t they divine?? I don’t have any immediate plans with them and may just store them until the “dream house” comes along. Regardless, I LOVE them.

Oh, and he asked me on a date…

THAT covers a multitude of sins. Love. Him.

We worked on some decorations for Wryder’s second birthday that is rapidly approaching.

Tractors, of course... — Tractors, of course…

He found these in the mudroom today and I about had to tackle him as he tried to ride them. Ahem. Boy loves his tractors.

He’s also really been into his hat lately. For whatever reason, he wanted to wear it backwards. I’m not totally sure how I feel about this long term, but he sure looked cute for a little while!

The kids played in one of their favorite toys for a bit on Sunday…a box.

And I even got to sneak inside after my walking workout and take a bubble bath. It’s one of my happy places.

A little piece of heaven... — A little piece of heaven…

If you had to lug this thing around you’d want one, too…

She’s a growing! I have yet to NOT have to be induced to have my babies…but I’m hoping I get to labor at home for a bit with this one. We’ll see.

It’s now Monday, daddy is already home and we got some new Jamberry’s in the mail for Sawyer! It’s bound to be a good night!

DIY: Bunny Ear Napkin Rings

While we were in Denver, Sawyer and I had to make a quick run to Hobby Lobby and while we were there, we saw the cutest bunny ear napkin rings! They had all colors and while they were 40% off, the cheapskate in me knew I could make them for less than $1.50 each. 🙂

Since Sawyer is still feeling pretty doggone puny today (unfortunately) she’s been glued to the couch watching TV so I decided to get a little crafty and see what I could come up with.

What you’ll need:

fabric or burlap
scissors
hot glue gun
toilet paper roll
cardstock for a stencil

Step 1: Cut your toilet paper roll into four sections and slit each section open.

Step 2: Cut your fabric or burlap so that it’s just bigger than your toilet paper roll strips.

I got this burlap ribbon on sale at WalMart for $1.00 so I just cut it down the middle and it was the perfect size. You want it big enough to be able to fold down the edges onto your toilet paper roll.

Step 3: Glue your toilet paper roll strip to the middle of your burlap or fabric.

Step 5: Glue down your edges, form into a ring and secure.

Step 6: Make a rabbit ear template and cut out two ears per ring.

Mine seemed stiff enough since I used burlap, but if you are using fabric and need a little more oompha to make them stand up, either heat bond some fabric together or double up your layers.

Step 7: Place a dot of glue near the bottom of the ears and pinch together. Hot glue ears to ring.

That little pinch just gives them that extra bit of detail that REALLY makes them look rabbit-y. (Yes, that’s a word).

Step 8: Adorn your table with Easter goodness!

I think they turned out incredibly cute! Obviously, this method leaves the ears unfinished and so they do have the possibility of fraying. Since I’m more of a quick project doer AND I may not want to use the same things EVERY year, it was fine with me. 🙂

Random Rambles

So, last Friday, I wrote this lovely post about how excited I was about the weekend. Wrex and I were scheduled to go on a weekend babymoon and the kids were going to stay with some good friends of ours in Denver. We were all OVER THE MOON excited! Just as I hit post, my good friend from Denver called and one of her kiddos had gotten quite sick at school that day. I felt so bad for them and didn’t want her to feel bad about not being able to keep the kids that I deleted my post.

After a lot of discussion and prayer, we decided that based upon our schedule the next 6 weeks and just the need for some items from the big city, that we’d turn it into a family-moon instead!

We ate well, swam at the hotel, shopped til I almost dropped and just had a fun time together. It wasn’t quite the weekend I originally had in mind, but it was a good one regardless. We were just blessed that we were able to go…

He gave Sawyer a dollar and she was fired up!!

Wryder's side of the table at BWWs. That boy is HANDSY! — Wryder’s side of the table at BWWs. That boy is HANDSY!

A portion of Wrexy's paycheck sitting in the mudroom... — A portion of Wrexy’s paycheck sitting in the mudroom…

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Before we left, Sawyer had a bit of a cough and wasn’t 100% but she didn’t have fever and still had her spunk. She seemed a little off on Sunday but we thought she might just be exhausted from all of the festivities like the rest of us.

Yesterday, she told me her mouth (throat) hurt. She woke up crying in the night and my incredibly awesome hubby left me in bed and went to check on her. Her throat was hurting pretty bad and she was a miserable mess.

He gave her some Tylenol and got her some juice and ate popsicles with her at 10:30 last night. Honestly, you guys, he’s the dad we all wished we had.

She woke up this morning in BAD shape. I had a baby checkup so I took her in with me; poor girl has a nasty case of strep. We picked up some antibiotics, a lot of different fluids and “How to Train Your Dragon” on DVD. Here’s to hoping she’s 100% soon…and that it steers clear of the rest of us!

Sweet girl still insisted on a green mustache and bows in her hair before we left.

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Yesterday, we talked about St. Patrick and the REAL meaning/reason behind St. Patrick’s day. I was telling the kids that he was a christian missionary in Ireland and I asked Sawyer if she knew what “christian” meant. She said a christian was someone who had Jesus in their heart and she told me that she and I and daddy had Jesus in our hearts.

Little brother piped up saying, “Jesus me heart! Jesus me heart!” Mine about melted…

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Speaking of Wryder, he has been absolutely ravenous lately! The boy ate all weekend until I didn’t think he could stomach another bite. Yesterday at supper, he ate half of a ribeye, a cup of applesauce, corn on the cob, sweet potato fries, two pickles and then BEGGED for a piece of cake! The funny part? There was no cake anywhere around…apparently he just had a craving?!

Today, he charmed his way around the doctor’s office and hospital and scored a fruit by the foot and two suckers. Yes, that was while he was with daddy while mom was with Sawyer. *ahem*

How could you NOT shower him with goodies?!

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Tonight, we’re planning on taking it easy and doing a little rearranging in the baby room while the kids watch their movie. All of that stuff in the mudroom photo above needs to fit in the nursery or nursery closet…wish us luck! 😉

Big Day

Yesterday was a BIG day around here! Daddy didn’t have his normal sale so we all loaded up and headed to North Platte to have a family fun day. Wrexy sold some calves for good money and we needed to spend a few of those dollars at Menards to make some barn repairs AND my sweet hubby wanted to treat me to a pedicure. How could I say no to that?!

I’ve been talking about wanting/needing one for quite some time…since, I don’t know…Wryder was born?! Seriously, it’s been a while. Sweet Sawyer has been in my camp, too. She loves getting her nails painted (which I do for her twice a week) and she loves warm baths so the combination of the two was right up her alley!

I had been telling her that I didn’t have my first pedicure until I was 20. Yes, 20! She’s 4…I think we have time. Plus, I didn’t think she was tall enough to reach the water. Regardless, I told her she could get her nails painted but she couldn’t stop talking about this “peck-iture.”

We walked into the nail place and went to pick out some polish. I turned to show her the purples but she wasn’t there. I turned around and she was on the floor taking her shoes and socks off! I looked up and they had a pink chair that looked like a bear specifically for little girls and she already had them filling it with water! How could I hardly say no to that cuteness?

She was one happy camper, yall! I don’t think she stopped smiling and giggling the WHOLE time! She loved the hot towel on her feet and legs and loved to watch the water change colors…

She ended up getting dark green with silver sparkles and they even put fancy flowers on her big toes!

It was a fun little memory for us to share and her sweet delight was so worth it!

We took a spin on the little merry-go-round before we left…and then we called the clinic because brother’s eye seemed to be getting worse by the minute. He woke up with it kinda crusty and then it decided to leak yellow and green mucus all day. (Yum, I know). By the time we were done with our pedi, it was swollen and red.

We took him in this morning and he sure enough has pink eye in BOTH eyes! This is a first for all of us, for sure. Poor little thing. He doesn’t feel bad other than his eye so we got some drops and I ~~put them~~ wrestled him down and got them in. Thankfully, daddy will be home for the next dose.

He’ll be contagion free in 24 hours – yay! Little guy looks like a prize fighter right now…

Everything’s Better Together

My sweet husband called about two yesterday afternoon and asked me to get a little overnight bag together for everyone. We don’t have the cable and the college championship game was going to be on ESPN and he wanted to make sure we got to watch it, so he reserved us a hotel room in Nebraska. He thought we could go swimming, watch the game…just make a fun little night away. Seriously, how sweet is THAT?!

So off we went! The kids were pumped, as was I. At supper, Sawyer mentioned her stomach was hurting but she seemed ok, so we didn’t think a whole lot about it.

Then we got to the hotel and found out that the pool was empty due to renovations…even though I heard W ask on the phone if they had pool and all they said was, “Yes.” The only other hotel in town with a pool was undergoing renovations as well, so we had to stay put. Our little sweeties had great attitudes so we just tried to have some fun in the hotel room.

Let's "watch" the game! — Let’s “watch” the game!

This is more like it... — This is more like it…

Cooling off in the fridge after some rambunctiousness... — Cooling off in the fridge after some rambunctiousness…

The game was fun to watch…even though I was rooting for the Ducks! (Are you surprised they lost?! HAHA After my weekend, I was not. 😉 )

We finally got everyone to bed and sweet Sawyer woke up about one…throwing up. I guess her tummy really was hurting… We were up with her until about four and then back up at seven. She’s feeling better now, praise the Lord. We’re all just a little tired.

I felt so bad for Wrexy because it felt like our little excursion was a bust. He’s such a hard-working, selfless husband and dad…I just wanted it to be perfect for him and he wanted it to be perfect for us. And it was…because we were TOGETHER.

Random Rambles

It’s fun Friday and while the weather is cooperating beautifully – I love this cloudy stuff – poor Wryder’s not having much fun. Little guy has been a bit fussy the past two days and today is no exception. Pretty sure he’s got some major teeth trying to make their way in. He has fever this morning so back to bed he went! We’re really wanting to go watch some high school football tonight so we’re hoping he feels better soon!

Our good friends from church have a son, whom Sawyer adores, who plays football in Grant. She’s convinced he plays for the Broncos so we’re hoping she’s not too disappointed tonight. 😉

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Speaking of the Broncos, this sweet girl has football in her blood and I am LOVING it! Wrex isn’t the biggest fan but he’ll watch with me…just not as spiritedly. Sawyer is my official football watching partner!

Last week, she posed the following question:

“Mom, I always wear dresses to church. Do you think it would be ok if I wore my Broncos shirt this time??” Of course you can!

She was fired up! We ate lunch at Wendys and she kept ~~yelling~~ announcing, “Go Broncos!” There were quite a few people that got a kick out of that (thankfully). One gentleman asked her if she was gonna watch Peyton Manning get his 500th touchdown and she goes, “You mean Paytie?” Apparently, they’re on a pet-name basis.

A friend of ours blessed us with some hand-me-downs for her and there was a little softball shirt inside with the number 18 on the back. She went to put it on the other morning and came squealing downstairs, “I’m like Paytie!” Gosh, I adore her…

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On Sunday, she got to take part in her first Lord’s supper and yes, I had to take a picture.

It was a sweet moment, Bronco gear and all.

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The bestie had her 20 week ultrasound and they’re having a….

BOY! We’re so excited for them! Sawyer has lots to teach baby Eva about being a big sister to a little brother….

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On the pregnancy note, my nausea has subsided significantly, praise the Lord. I’m in the “I don’t really feel pregnant just bloated” stage…t’s better than the former, for sure…

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Colorado is one of the states that often skips fall (and spring for that matter) and goes straight into cold and snow, but this year we’re actually having a fall! My flowers are still blooming and growing and we keep saying we’re gonna mow the grass “one last time” and that has yet to happen. The trees all around are actually getting to go through the whole color change process…

It’s a wonderful change! It’s nice to able to go outside in long sleeves or a sweatshirt without there being snow on the ground. We’re going to soak in all of this autumnal beauty for as long as we can!

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Happy Friday!

Sooner Rather Than Later

I really didn’t mean to leave for so long. Really, I didn’t. Can you believe I haven’t written here in almost a month?! That’s quite some time for a rather wordy person…

I got busy helping with a 60th anniversary party…and Cubbies started up again…and I joined a Tuesday Bible study…oh, and I’m growing a new life. *ahem* That really takes it out of you, you know?

YES – in case you haven’t heard, baby Phipps number three will be joining us in May!

Just after leaving the doctor's office... — Just after leaving the doctor’s office…

YAY! We are over the moon excited to have another wee one join the ranks! We told the world yesterday and today I’m feeling so humbled and grateful for the wonderful community of supporters we have out there. Sawyer is pretty buzzed to be a big sister again and Wryder has no idea what in the world all the hubbub was about. Rude awakening coming in 7 months…

So yeah…we need to catch up! I need to show you a few pics of the anniversary party…and tell you about my twin nephews that I got to see for the second time…and talk to you about my hair…and discuss all things fall…and how my family made my birthday extra special…and how I’m nauseous – a lot. I was never sick with the other two so I guess I had this coming.

I told my sister~~-in-law~~ this morning that I’ve never had to “push through” more in my life than I’ve had to in the past three weeks. Thank the Lord for heaps of grace, selfless husbands and ginger ale…those seem to be my staples these days.

It’s naptime around here and I do believe I’ll take part in that – BUT – I’ll be back! And sooner this time, rather than later…

Random Rambles

We’ve been fighting off the ick around here. It started in the kids as (what I thought were) just little allergies. Now, they both have full blown upper respiratory infections. BOO. We’re going to see some VERY important little people next week so we must, must, must be well! Pray for us, would ya?!

Cutest sick guy around... — Cutest sick guy around…

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My to-do list to be able to leave and see those VERY important little people is a little extensive, ahem.

Just a few things... — Just a few things…

This is it. It’s taped to the bedroom door. It touches the floor. And doesn’t include the basic things such as packing/snacks/cleaning/baking. Come on supernatural mom powers!

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Wryder hasn’t had much appetite lately thanks to the ick. He did, however, master some fork skills yesterday.

Green beans on a fork are way better than green beans with your fingers, just sayin’…

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We have a new bucket calf around the place. Sawyer named him Fuzzy and he is doggone CUTE!

He may have to find another place to live thanks to our cross country road trip but for now, he’s a lot of fun!

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In the past two years, our yard has gained some ~~pesky little~~ visitors. IF we had sod everywhere and IF they weren’t so cute, we’d have already eradicated these little boogers so they didn’t completely destroy the place.

They’re quite fun to watch but they sure don’t let you get too close. I’ve tried to sneak Sawyer out there several times with no luck. She’s set up a spy shack in the playroom to catch a glimpse of them out the window. We’ll see how it goes.

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Sawyer is in looooooooove with the story of Cinderella. She recently discovered that we had the book and I can’t count the number of times we’ve read it. She now has it memorized, voices and all. It’s pretty impressive! I’m thinking her Goo Goo is gonna think that’s the bees knees…

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July is one of my favorite cow-buying months…because they don’t buy a lot of cows. 🙂 We get Wrexy to ourselves for 14 out of the next 16 days. Well, I mean we’ll share him a little bit with the rest of the fam, including these sweeties.

The boys are doing soooooo well…miraculously well! I can’t even begin to tell you all of the ways the Lord has poured out His favor on these five. We can not WAIT to officially meet them and cuddle them and physically witness the miracle they are. He is good and what He does is good.

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We’re headed up to pack Sawyer’s suitcase. Poor kid has only asked about it everyday for about 10 days now. She’s a little excited. So we’re gonna pack and clean house and hopefully sneak in a nap…and pray that the tornadoes stay away for the day. Then we gotta tackle the rest of that to-do list. WE CAN DO IT! (said in the voice of the mice on Cinderella)…

Fun Friday

The weather yesterday was absolutely divine! As much as I’m an extremist in most other areas of life (cleanliness, organization, event planning, grocery shopping, etc.), I’m not when it comes to weather. I freeze to death when it’s 50 or below and I sweat to death when it’s 80 or above. I like a constant 75 with a gentle breeze – is that too much to ask?

We spent a little time outside yesterday because, despite our colds, we just couldn’t help ourselves! Sawyer chased down Paint the Cat, who has grown significantly over the winter.

Wryder’s hair had gotten really long on top.

We’ve been combing it over and it had gotten way over, so yesterday he got his first (redneck) haircut!

Daddy's also a barber... — Daddy’s also a barber…

I was afraid he would absolutely hate the clippers but lo and behold, he loved them! I think he’d have sat there all day. He looks quite handsome with his new do.

We also finished re-organizing the garage. Sigh. Are we the only ones that do that?? You get it all straightened up and then life happens and then it looks like a tornado hit it and you have to start all over again? Drives me nuts. Sometimes it takes a swift kick in the rear and some nice weather to get some of that stuff done. We have a friend staying with us for a little while so we needed to make adequate space for a few of his things.

Speaking of said friend, I made breakfast on Tuesday morning…french toast…one of my specialties. I didn’t eat any since I’m doing the no-gluten thing but Sawyer didn’t really dig right in, much to my surprise. She’s been sick so I didn’t think much about it…until I tasted a piece of hers. That’s weird, I thought. It tasted familiar, but it did not taste like cinnamon. My brain started running through the catalog of spices and it hit me – NUTMEG! Oh, it was NOT good…not in that quantity, at least! Poor guy ate all three pieces I put on his plate. Sigh. Not my shiniest culinary attempt.

But back to the weather…today is just as nice out, there’s a new baby calf in the corrals, we’re all feeling a little better and daddy should have a pretty short sale. Sounds like a fun Friday to me!

Worth 1,000 Words: Grandparent Birthday Weekend

We spent the weekend with the grandparents in Nebraska. We all had a lot of fun and are attempting to recuperate today. Unfortunately, the kiddos are both quite ill but the weather is cooperating nicely for a stay-inside-and-snuggle-all-day day. Here are a few pics from our weekend!

I’ve had my eye on this shirt at Old Navy for a while but never bit the bullet and bought it. Well, Tuesday I went into the Goodwill in North Platte and there it was, brand new in a 5T. Love.

Sawyer wanted to pick out an ice cream cake for the birthday folks and she chose this beauty. Uncle Waco helped her put the candles in and then we sang…and devoured it.

Sawyer reminds me soooo much of Wrex – an incredibly good thing. She’s a great problem solver and gives everything a good try without giving up. She loves to use tools and build and help, so she helped PaPa put his new work stool together…in a tutu, of course.

You must always be dressed for the occasion... — You must always be dressed for the occasion…

Wryder got to open an early birthday present. He got a Duck Dynasty shirt and a toy tractor – what could be better?!

Sawyer and RaRa went on an afternoon adventure and found all kinds of fun things!

Wryder got to hang out with Uncle Waco and play with this balloon. He wanted to pop it with his teeth soooo bad!

Sawyer got to practice shooting the toy gun, which she loved. Daddy brought home his competition BB gun so we can start teaching some gun safety and usage come spring.