Just a quick update on our family. Matthew had another febrile seizure today. Most of you probably remember that he had one on New Year's Eve last December. Luckily, Gilbert and I were in the room with him when it happened and I was sitting right in front of him at the time. Thankfully, we knew how to handle the situation and we were able to remain calm. We got Matthew to the doctor and he was diagnosed with a throat infection. We've been instructed to keep him on tylenol and motrin for the next few days to keep his fever down. Needless to say, we're so relieved he's okay and we're ready for our home to be in good health again.

Ok, so Elise and I seemed fine last week, right? About 24 hours after I wrote that, we both came down with colds. I started to feel better and then this morning I woke up achy again. Good times. Jason seems to have come down with it, too. I'm glad the poor guy usually escapes any illnesses that come into this house.

Gilbert is on vacation this week and his "vacation" is going to consist of painting and sanding. I've been trying to keep the kids as content as possible upstairs while he does his thing. It's not easy. Matthew just wants to be with daddy and can only watch so many movies in one day. I've resorted to movies in an effort to distract him from the reality of the small space he's being confined to. Unfortunately, it also rained all day yesterday so we couldn't go anywhere. I did have my neighbor's boys so that distracted him a little but they started to go a little crazy, too. I'm hoping we can get the kids out for a bit in the next couple of days.

On a side note, my neighbor informed me yesterday when he picked his boys up that his 7 year old has a cut on his finger that tested positive for staph infection. Yay. So I have to sanitize any toy he might have touched yesterday because both Matthew and Elise love putting everything into their mouths. About 10 minutes after they left Matthew found the kid's dirty band-aid on the floor and brought it to me. To say that I was annoyed would be an understatement...

Matthew brought me this picture yesterday saying that it was a picture of Matthew. I tried to explain to him that it wasn't Matthew and that it was Daddy 28 years ago, but I can see where he got confused.



Well, Revenge of the Fallen came out on Blu Ray last week so we've watched it about 6 times in the last week. No exaggeration. Matthew is beyond obsessed with the "Fanformers". Here he is getting a fix before bedtime.





I just thought she looked so cute in this little shirt



Gilbert needed to run to Home Depot on Saturday morning so he took Matthew with him. Matthew stayed in his Batman pj's (with his cape on) and went with Daddy. While at Home Depot, he talked Daddy into buying him a pumpkin. Then he came home, cuddled up on the couch with his pumpkin (still in his Batman pj's) and watched "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown".



Carrot face



We took the kids to a pumpkin patch on Sunday afternoon and it was like sensory overload for Matthew. We couldn't get him to sit still to take a picture, we couldn't get him to pick a pumpkin, and we couldn't get him to stop running from pumpkin to pumpkin. It was fun =).









Please excuse my cheesy smile in this picture. I was trying to get both kids to look at the camera and trying to get Matthew to smile at the same time.

We're finally back in our bedroom!!! We've actually been back in our bedroom since Saturday, but it's finally coming together. Gilbert came down with a throat infection over the weekend and he spent Saturday through Monday afternoon sleeping. He did break for church on Sunday morning but he really wasn't feeling well. Luckily the kids and I seem to have escaped that illness. However, Matthew did manage to catch another cold. Elise and I are okay for now.

Baseboards sanded down and walls primered



Sanding during nap time



Well, after painting, we decided we just couldn't live with our old bedding for long because it looked ridiculous up against the wall color. So we found something we liked and we're happy with the way the room is coming together. We need to really put some finishing touches up on the walls, but at least we're not being swallowed by brown on brown.



Matthew LOVED having our bed in the living room. Here he is enjoying a movie while laying on Mommy and Daddy's bed. This is our old bedding. You can see why we couldn't take it for long with the new wall color.



Elise tried rice cereal. She was not a fan.

Untitled from Melissa S on Vimeo.

Improving on her sitting up skills



Uncle Jason gave Matthew a bucket of army men. Can you tell he's excited?





Matthew thought that the mask was a hat. He was Jewish for a day.



I finally pulled Elise's high chair out of the garage. She looks so tiny in it.



Bruce and Vicki gave Matthew a skateboard for Christmas last year and he gets to play with it every now and then but we only let him play with it on the carpet. He surprised us by doing this when neither one of us taught him to do this:

Untitled from Melissa S on Vimeo.

Elise got some Tinkerbell sippy cups =)



Matthew likes to smother Elise with love







Elise doesn't like the flash on the camera. It always takes at 3-4 tries to get a decent picture of her looking at the camera if I have to use the flash. I get a whole lot of this.



Matthew "helping" Mommy clean the windows. His spray bottle was filled with water.





Elise has finally decided she wants to try to get around a little bit... and then she wedged herself under the couch.



I love this face. This is new.

Untitled from Melissa S on Vimeo.

Untitled from Melissa S on Vimeo.

Yes, that was a long post. Gilbert is on vacation next week but we're just going to be hanging out at home. Much easier with 2 little ones. We'll see what we end up doing.

I wish I could say that things have been pretty calm around here, but I can't. First the whole family came down with colds. Both kids at the same time. I had a sore throat and was sluggish for about 36 hours and then bounced back. Daddy was sick enough to stay home from work for 2 days and that's saying something. Gilbert isn't one to abuse his sick day allowance.

In addition to the illness that went around our house, Gilbert decided to do some home improvements. Now, some of you may be wondering why our house (which is less than 2 years old) would need any type of improvement. Well, for one thing, the ENTIRE house is painted kahki with brown trim... here's an example of the colors...



Well, we've decided we're tired of that look... so we're painting the house. Yes, the whole house. One room at a time. Our bedroom is just about done. Seeing as all of the trim was done in hi gloss paint, we have to sand all of that trim before we paint it (thanks again for saving our butts on that one, Heather). We must be insane. In addition to paint, Gilbert has decided to do some DIY recessed lighting. I don't doubt that the man can do it, but that's even more work for him to do. I would LOVE to say that I'm helping out a lot but let's face it, someone has to watch the 2-year-old and the 6-month-old.

Speaking of being 6 months old, our skinny little gloworm weighed in at 16lbs 12oz at her 6 month check up just over a week ago. Chunker.

And now, for the sensory overload.

Already taking after her mommy





Matthew ready to go with the backpack his Mana and Grandpa gave him for his birthday. This backpack is where he keeps all of his favorite cars (Transformers and Disney's Cars). He wasn't actually able to open the door, but this picture still makes me happy.



Elise has recently decided she wants to fly. Maybe because she knows she's going to be Tinkerbell for Halloween.



I often find things like this when I leave the room for a minute to put something away.





He loves his sister



I came downstairs one afternoon and heard a really loud buzzing. I figured it was a bug but knew that for it to be that loud it had to be way bigger than anything I would feel comfortable killing on my own. That's when I called Gilbert over to take care of the thing... ew... Here's a picture with Gilbert's thumb for comparison.



Elise would rather play with Matthew's toys.







Broncos! In the face!!!



So cute. Even when she's sick.





After bath time. Matthew insisted on pushing the lion head down over her face.





Playing together





Apparently Optimus Prime was hungry





A couple of videos =)

Matthew saying "In the face!" as in "Bass in the face!" a la Uncle Chris LaCommare.

Untitled from Melissa S on Vimeo.

Matthew singing the Transformers movie theme in his best 80's metal voice.

Untitled from Melissa S on Vimeo.