You know what's worse than strep throat?

Having strep throat and hand, foot, and mouth disease all together. 
My poor little Jett has been fighting off this stuff for about 3 days and it totally sucks.  There is no other word for it.
He cried non stop all day yesterday.  Literally non-stop.  None of my other kids have cried so much when they were sick as he did yesterday.  It was a nightmare.  I just wanted to sit there and cry with him.  It's horrible to see your kids suffer and know there's nothing you can do about it.  Getting him to take his medicine was insanity.  I had to pin him down and pray that he didn't spit more than half of it out.  When he would ask for something to eat or drink, I would give it to him and he would just hold it and look at it, sometimes he'd even smell it, but was too afraid to swallow, so the looking and smelling was where it ended.  It was the most pitiful thing ever!  He also wanted to keep washing his hands.  I don't know if the cold water on his hands made him feel a little better, or if he's developing some sort of OCD, but whatever it was, the kids was obsessed with washing his hands all day.  He literally washed his hands like 3 times an hour.  And not just for a minute each time...he would stand there and run his hands under the water for a good 5 minutes.  At one point, I just filled the kitchen sink with water and added bubbles because if the kid has to touch water at all times, he needs some bubbles to go with it. It was so weird the way he obsessed about it, but for some reason it calmed him down, so I went with it. 

The most pitiful, forced smile I've ever seen.

This morning, he woke up and came into the living room saying "Mommy, I feeling better."  I could have cried then, too.  Watching him skip around and (mostly) act like his normal self made me so happy.  It seems like he's turning a corner, thankfully! 
Here he is this morning, with a diaper on because he had diarrhea in his underwear earlier and oh my gosh, I'm not dealing with that again:

Just chillin', playing Disney Scene It.

Daddy's gifts

For Mike's bday, I took the kids to the dollar store and let them each choose any 2 things in the store to give Daddy. 

Here's what they chose.

Jett chose pepperoni and an over the door hanger.

Isaac chose Scooby fruit snacks and a bat/ball set.

Elijah chose cotton candy and a Star Wars kite

Chloe chose a foam airplane and a slim jim

Laney chose Gatorade and Mike and Ikes

So precious.  Elijah carried around a click light for the longest time, and then put it back when he saw the kite.  Isaac originally picked out a huge plastic wristwatch but decided on the bat/ball set, instead. :)  Jett was completely set on the over the door hanger.  He picked it up shortly after we entered the store and carried it around the entire time!  
Mike loved it all!  I'm sure he thinks his greatest gifts, though, are the gift givers themselves. 
Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Happy Birthday to my Love!

Mike is 33 today! 

There is seriously no other person in the world I would rather be with at any given moment than him.  We have so much fun together, I can't imagine having more fun with anyone else...we laugh so much when we're together.  From day one, I have felt so comfortable around him...maybe a little too comfortable at times.
 He loves the Lord with all his heart, and strives to put God first in our family.  When I'm losing my cool or freaking out about something, he'll calmly and sweetly remind me that no matter what's going on, God is in control.  He shows me how to trust Him completely.  I need that so, so much.  And God knew that.  I thank my heavenly Father for allowing me to share this life with such a wonderful man.
 Not only was he totally supportive when we made the decision to have a big family (not too many men would want 5 kids, just so ya know...), but he is such an amazing dad and does so much for our kids, even after he's had a hard day at work.  When our kids were babies, he would wake up every night and bring them to our bed so I could feed them, and then take them back when they were done.  Seriously?  He's the only guy I've ever heard of that has done that!  People notice how much he helps me with the kids and they comment on how I have it so good.  I know I do. He shows his love for me by putting me and the kids before himself.  He's the kind of husband I've always dreamed of...way better, actually.


Happy Birthday to the most amazing man in the world!  I love you more with each passing day!