March

March! The weather broke! We saw the grass again, played outside without snowsuits or requiring hot chocolate when we came in. 

We even went for a hike. The fresh air was doing Mommy good - pulling her out of the yuckiness of morning sickness.

The kids pulled out their bikes and roller skates again and put on a cul-de-sac circus. 

Sarah still wasn't doing the best job taking time to sit and play with Simon. And he still wasn't all that interested in listening to book after book after book on the couch. BUT we did discover he likes sticker books.

And if a sticker book got us talking and playing together, then it was the perfect thing to get Mommy through until the next opportunity to nap!

We also celebrated Uncle John's birthday. He was pretty jealous when the little boys (Simon and Elijah) blew out his candles...so we re-lit them to give the big boy a chance at making a wish.

We hosted a bridal shower for John's fiance, Ande, and Tim took Simon to a train "museum" of sorts at the local outlet mall. It was Simon's dream!

Near the end of the month, Simon woke up one morning breathing oddly. Almost struggling to get a breath. He was lethargic and barely wanted to move. Mommy - who rarely takes the kids to the doctor - felt all kinds of alarm bells going off. She dropped the girls off at school and when Simon had fallen asleep on the way home it confirmed that something was definitely wrong. The doctor agreed to see him right away. We think the world of our family doctor and she again proved she's worth twice her weight in gold. Within moments of observing and listening to him, she stated she thought he had pneumonia. She ordered a chest xray, had the nurses give him a breathing treatment, and ordered a prescription. The xray confirmed her diagnosis. It was just a sad day. He could not keep his eyes open in any of the waiting rooms we visited that day, cried through the xray but Mommy couldn't hold him because of the pregnancy, and went from extremely active to a dazed sitting. It came on very suddenly, but with the help of modern medicine he was almost back to normal in 48 hours!

About a week later, the girls were on Spring Break and we were on our way to the Toledo Zoo to meet Sarah's sister Annette and her family. It was a little chilly but we were happy to be with them and have everyone busy and healthy. No xrays for broken bones or hurting lungs in sight! At the zoo, Simon was astonished at how big an elephant really is!

After Toledo we made our way to Windsor to spend the weekend with Annette's family and visit their indoor water park (you'll remember this was a special gift from Santa at Christmas that we were FINALLY able to take advantage of!). Mommy was already in her maternity swimsuit. Everyone warns you the baby bump shows up faster with each pregnancy. In any case, it was the perfect way to kick off a whole week having our girls home!

February

February...after a cold January, we were so ready to get back out into the world! Which led to us finally finding and buying a "new-to-us" minivan. Tim and the girls cleaned it inside and out until it seemed like an actual new van! The kids were especially excited about this purchase because it includes...drum roll...a DVD player.

Speaking of getting out of the house! Mommy and her friends made our somewhat-annual trip to Shipshewanna for the PJ Sale. Wear your pjs, show up early in the morning, buy all the fabric and bulk foods, eat soft pretzels until you can't move. During this car ride Mommy was feeling a little nauseous because...she was PREGNANT WITH BABY #5!!! The "morning sickness" (no! all day, all night, too tired to function without daily naps, numb brain, only want to eat raisin bran sickness) started almost immediately and went on until 14 weeks. It was a much longer stretch than Sarah's had in the past. Normally she felt yucky from week six to week 12 and then moved on to the easiness of the 2nd trimester. There are moms who have MUCH worse sickness for MUCH longer. But it is HARD to keep being a mom and feel so bleh!

Prime Example: Sarah went to bed early (her new normal). There was a loud thud around 11 PM or midnight. Tim hadn't come to bed yet, but actually heard the thump out in the garage. Sarah went to go check what had happened. Vivian had fallen out of bed onto a wooden stool. She was crying and clearly in pain. Sarah tucked her back into bed (barely functioning isn't an exaggeration, people) and said the pain would go away soon. Then Mommy got back into her own bed and was immediately back asleep. A bit later Tim came to investigate the crying he still heard. It was Vivian, still in terrible pain. He carried her into our room; her teeth chattering from the pain, she climbed into our bed. Sarah rolled over, almost coherent. Tim said he was sure her arm was broken and he was going to take her to the hospital. He was correct. The mom-guilt will never expire from these moments of neglect.

They gave her a soft cast and recommended pain reliever for a day or so. And appointments with a specialist for a hard cast and follow up to make sure the break healed well.

Still tired and in lots of pain, Viv didn't make it to school the next day. But eventually ended up with a blue cast to match her school colors! She wasn't able to swim or do anything rough-and-tumble for six weeks. This was NOT easy for our very active Vivian. Within a week of the fall, we were reminding her not to jump on the couch or pogo stick. She even attempted to find out how strong the cast really is by putting it under a mattress. Miraculously, she did heal quickly and completely!

Simon managed to keep himself and all of us entertained through the hours of Sarah moving so slowly: lining up his toys across the room everyday, trying to help with the cooking, and his activities.

"Let me in! I know there are cookies in there!"

We had more snowy, icy e-learning days. The girls were pros at e-learning by this point and were generally done with everything by noon. That meant glorious hours for Simon to play with his sisters!

Mommy had already purchased a bridesmaids dress for Uncle John and Ande's wedding. The pregnancy meant a trip back to the store to look for a "maternity" dress. Which they don't actually sell. But they have this very forgiving bag-type dress that would work! And a lumpy pillow to make the try-on more "realistic".

It was time to break the news to Miriam. Mommy's ability to keep up was clearly not keeping us together (ahem, missed orthodontist appointments!) and Miriam was picking up so much of the slack already. One morning she was up before her sisters and we were thrilled to be able to tell her that her next sibling was on the way. We thanked her for all the work she'd been doing to help Mommy and asked that she keep up the good work for a while longer. She was so, so excited to hear the news and be in on the secret. We taught her to make pancakes and gave her more responsibilities in the house and keeping an eye on Simon. Which she gladly did for this good cause! At dinner one night, Vivian asked, "When are we going to have another baby?" Miriam's eyes got so big as she made eye contact with Mommy and then looked at her plate trying hard not to give away the surprise. She couldn't keep a straight face but managed not to make a peep!

Sometimes that memory of her glee at knowing about Baby #5 and managing not to give it away makes us want to have fun secrets to share more often!

January

Let's just roll right into 2019. Somehow we took no pictures of whatever we did to ring in the New Year. And without picture proof...did it really happen? What definitely happened was the last few days of Christmas break and the kids playing with ALL the Christmas toys. Felicity seemed to receive the "crafty" gifts and enjoyed them so much!

Miriam did her first science fair project. She can give you all the fun, germy details. Short version: She rubbed cut potatoes on various surfaces in and around the house to see which potato would grow gross-ness the fastest. Not to spoil the surprise...but go out to your car with a tub of clorox wipes and use the WHOLE THING on the steering wheel. Then get another tub and scrub down your toilet seat. Then do it again. She did very well and earned fourth place at the regional science fair out of all the 3rd graders in the area.

When the girls went back to school, Simon kept Mommy entertained with his new "smile". It's just about the cheesiest thing you've ever seen. 

Though occasionally we capture something closer to his real smile. 

And Aunt Bridget and Elijah did fun activities with us!

Papa, Tim's dad, celebrated his 75th birthday in the middle of the month.

But January was really about snow and cold. Sometimes it was the perfect snow and cold for playing and fun.

But most of the time it seemed to be the kind of snow and cold that trapped us in and tried to come indoors with us.

There was an entire week of no school. Which Mommy loved. Keep them all here warm and toasty! The teachers arranged e-learning days and the principal even got involved letting the kids build forts and read for 10 minutes x their grade level. Around here, Mommy kept the kids busy with pretend pizza parlor playtime, play dough, castle crafts, vinegar and baking soda science, reading, paper bag puppets, movies, and SO MUCH hot chocolate.

 It may have been the coldest January on record, but we kept plenty warm together!