winter sickies & birthdays.

The Meiklejohn household has been a sick bunch lately. Ezra & Selah have had colds for what seems like months but they're just now seeming to clear up. Their colds turned into hacking coughs two weeks ago so I planned on taking them both in to get checked out on Tuesday (Feb. 10th) to make sure nothing had settled in their lungs. The night before I took them to their pediatrician, Ezra threw up but I figured it was from coughing really hard. The next day, the ped said they both had ear infections - Selah had a double, Ezra's was just his right ear. They started antibiotics and I gave Ezra a probiotic as well so that he (hopefully) wouldn't get diarrhea from his strong antibiotic. Well, he got diarrhea anyway. After finishing his 5 day antibiotic, he still had diarrhea and the next week on the 18th, he had a fever of 104 and he threw up. 

Ezra has his happy moments while sick, but he's also been pretty clingy and fussy through all of this.

So, I took them back in last Wednesday the 18th to make sure Ezra hadn't developed an infection in his other ear and to make sure Selah's were clearing up since she was acting extra fussy. Selah's ears were clearing up but she was cutting her second tooth which explains her fussiness, and Ezra's ears were doing great but his fever and vomiting were most likely from a stomach bug. 

Last Sunday the 15th, before Ezra started throwing up and had a fever, I came home from church and felt downright terrible. I had a stomach bug. I didn't know where it came from, but I thought that maybe Ezra throwing up the previous week before we even realized he had an ear infection was the start of a stomach bug, and then I had it bad on Sunday and Monday, and then Ezra got his fever and vomiting again on Tuesday and maybe his diarrhea was from this virus rather than his antibotic and... oh my goodness. So much sickness. Who knows where it all started, but Ezra & I had it. I started feeling better by Tuesday. Thursday was Marcus' 25th birthday and we hung out with some other couples at our church small group. We went home, watched a movie and went to bed. Friday morning I woke up and checked Facebook and it seemed like everyone in town was sick, including almost everyone who we spent time with Thursday night! Marcus woke up Saturday with major body aches and nausea. I have never seen him sick in the 5 years we've been together. I felt terrible. He went to work and was feeling a little better by evening when we had his family over for a game night for his birthday. Sunday he woke up feeling even worse and several people from church weren't there because they were battling this same stomach virus. Today, Marcus is even worse but it's busy season at work and he has tons to do so he's trying to get it all done. Having so much work and not being able to rest much probably isn't helping him get better. Oh, and Selah woke up this morning with a runny nose, so I'll be so thrilled if she caught another cold... *rolls eyes* 

She's a messy eater.

So, it's been a pretty nasty few weeks of illness and there doesn't seem to be an end in sight. It's really hard being sick and taking care of your sick kiddos. Thankfully, Selah hasn't caught this nasty stomach virus but it seems to have hit Marcus the worst. Hopefully he'll be on the mend soon! I. Need. Summer. Please pray for health for our family, I don't think I can handle cleaning up any more bodily fluids! 

Two teeth have cut through!

I think Marcus still had a good 25th birthday this year, even though some of our celebrating this weekend wasn't as enjoyable for him thanks to not feeling well. I got up early with him to make him breakfast before he went to work on his birthday.

He got some sweet gifts from family like a new golf club & balls, cash & gift cards, a golf shirt, and Dunkaroos, which I ordered on eBay for him since they were his favorite childhood treat but they aren't sold in the U.S. anymore. 

The small humans & I went to visit him at work on his birthday and took him some Arby's and an Orange Julius drink. 

We also took cookies for his coworkers which everyone thought were delicious! They were so easy to make - just a box of cake mix (I used Funfetti), 1/3 cup of oil and 2 eggs. Mix together, put in balls on a cookie sheet, and bake at 375 for 10 minutes.

We watched a movie of his choice that night (Dumb & Dumber 2 - it was pretty funny) after coming home from hanging out with friends. On Saturday night, we had pizza & Funfetti cake with his siblings and cousins who came over for games, and on Sunday we went to Hacienda for Mexican food for lunch and then had a Dairy Queen Blizzard cake and games with my family.

It's a new week and I'm hoping by this weekend, we all feel 100% better because we're celebrating my birthday with my family on Saturday! We just need to stay locked up in our house for a while so we don't share our illnesses and no one gives us any new ones! To all my friends and family who are dealing with this stomach virus or other sickness, we're praying for you! 

Despite all the sickness, we will still try to have a happy Monday! I hope you have had a healthier week than we have. :)

heart day 2015

I hope you all had a lovely Valentine's Day! 

The small humans had cute outfits, like usual.

We went to breakfast with my mom where she gave each of the small humans a little valentine.

Ezra is obsessed with his "boo-dozer!" After we ate, we headed home, I put the kids down for naps and I made a few little Valentine treats while I waited for Marcus to get home.

About an hour before Marcus got off work, I got a knock on my door. Pro Flowers delivered this beautiful bouquet to me from him!

Marcus knows how much I love flowers so that's all I needed for Valentine's Day. The flowers have opened up now and are so pretty!

We hung around the rest of the evening and then put the kids to bed at 7:00. Then Marcus left to go pick up dinner and movies. We had Buffalo Wild Wings and were planning to watch The Best of Me (a Nicholas Sparks movie - I read the book last month!) but it was gone so we watched If I Stay (I also read this book recently - the movie was better than the book) and Captain America. For the second movie, we ate cinnamon sticks from Chubby Bubba's. We had sparkling grape juice and I lit a candle in this mason jar candle holder I made! I literally just mod-podged tissue paper scraps to the jar and let it dry.

I gave Marcus some cream soda and candy plus a card and a booklet where I wrote out 100 reasons why I love him. Cards/notes are one of his favorite gifts to get so I think he loved it. It was a pretty low key day but I absolutely loved spending it with my man. His birthday is tomorrow and mine is in two weeks so we have a lot more celebrating coming up! 

valentine's day plans!

Valentine's day will forever fall smack in the middle of busy season where Marcus has to work 270 hours in the month of February, so we never have huge plans. I'm just thankful it falls on a Saturday this year because even though he works, he's home by 3:00 pm! 

We never do anything big for Valentine's Day and I know it's just a "Hallmark holiday" but it's nice to show love to everyone you care about on this day. Plus, his birthday is just 5 days later so we sort of celebrate both at the same time. 

I would love to make some pink & red treats with the small humans this week but I know when I have snacks in the house, I'm more likely to get off track and take a few nibbles! I am going to make cookies for Marcus' work for his birthday next week, but I plan on making those the night before and sending them with him to work in the morning so that I can't eat any! 

I've shared the recipe for my rainbow snack mix crunch on the blog before. It would be fun to change the "rainbow" part to pink and red for Valentine's day with pink and red M&Ms and sprinkles! I might make something different that we haven't had before. I saw this recipe on Pinterest and it looks adorable, yummy, and so simple that Ezra could help me! 

recipe

I also saw these adorable mason jar "lanterns" that you mod-podge tissue paper onto... I always have mason jars lying around and these would be cute candles all year since I love burning them.

source

I have some other cute craft and food ideas pinned on my Valentine's day board here if you want to check them out! I'm not sure what crafts & treats we'll do yet, but I'll post here once we're done!

Our plans for Valentine's day are to put the kids to bed at 7:00 and then order in dinner & dessert from a restaurant. We'll each pick a movie to watch and then play games, watch a movie, and eat! I'll have candles going to make it more like Valentine's Day and less like a regular date night in. ;) When you have two small humans, dates at home are the best kind! Since Marcus' birthday is right around the corner, he's gotten a lot of email coupons for local restaurants for BOGO meals or free dessert, so Valentine's Day is the perfect time to use them!

The small humans each have simple little Valentine's Day outfits which I'll take pictures of and post next week. They'll be adorable, as always! We don't usually do gifts on this holiday, but I have a small homemade gift for my hubby (which I won't post about until later since I know he reads my blog). ;) What are your love day plans? Let me tell you, I wish we had a Rocky Rococo's in town because their heart shaped pizza looks amazing!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Selah - 8 months

Today our baby girl turns 2/3 of a year! Lots of things have happened this past month.

She got her first tooth a couple of weeks ago which is so weird for me because Ezra didn't have a tooth until after his first birthday! 

She tried her first foods this month. She's had avocado, apple, baby puffs & mashed potatoes. She's also chewed on some grilled cheese crust, some shredded chicken, some bell peppers and some carrots. She really loves puffs because she can easily eat them and they're fruity. She doesn't eat food every day, it's more like 2 or 3 times a week. Most of the time if I give her anything to munch on, it's at dinner time when the rest of us are at the table eating.

She pulls up to stand on everything she can find and also "cruises" along furniture and can transfer herself from toy to toy while standing and walking while holding on. Today she stood on her own without holding on for about 3 seconds before plopping back down. She'll be walking in no time!

She also can crawl on her hands and knees now instead of just pulling herself on her elbows like an army crawl. She doesn't do it all the time but she's still working on mastering that skill. 

She still says "dada" all day long. She has said mama a few times but it's usually just when she's upset and hungry. If she's happy, she is saying "dada" over and over. It's pretty adorable. 

She signs "more" now which is super cute because she will do it even when we aren't offering her food so that's usually my clue that she's getting hungry. 

She's still a super calm, easygoing baby. We've started putting her in the nursery at church during service and she does great until she sees me come back in to pick her up. Then she reaches for me and starts bawling because she just wants me to come get her. She loves being with her mama. If she is missing a nap because we aren't home at her nap time, she's content even when she's overtired as long as she's being snuggled. She's so squishy & loveable!

She's really starting to outgrow a lot of her clothes because her arms are getting too long for everything! She's in mostly size 12 month right now. Ezra is just getting into size 18-24, so they'll probably be sharing onesies soon! I love how different they both are.

Selah has started sleeping all night lately. She goes to bed between 6:30-7:00 pm and is up for the day around 7:30 am. She used to wake up 2-3 times during that 13 hours but now she usually only wakes once, either at like 10:00 pm before we even go to sleep or not until like 5:00 am. Most days lately, she sleeps 10 hours and then nurses and sleeps another 3 hours. I really do love the middle of the night feedings, though. Ezra was sleeping 12 hours straight by 4 months old and rarely nursed in the night, so I love when she wakes up in the wee hours of the night to snuggle and nurse in bed. I sometimes let her just fall asleep next to me as I cuddle her before taking her back to her crib where she dozes off again. Only 4 months until she's a toddler and might be too busy to nurse and cuddle with me, so I'm really enjoying it. 

I love watching her grow and can't wait to see what new skills she picks up this month! 

DIY mason jar soap dispenser

I've never liked the look of plastic soap dispensers with a vibrant label on them. They tend to be eye sores, especially when I use a red bottle in my blue bathroom! (My current favorite soap is Winter Candy Apple from Bath & Body Works. They only sell it around Christmas time, so I stocked up during their latest sale! During spring, summer & fall I usually have peach or apple scented soap from Bath & Body.) 

My husband prefers the foaming kind of soap which requires the included foaming pump. I've thought about buying prettier soap dispensers to match my bathroom & kitchen so I don't have to use the disposable plastic one that you buy from Bath & Body Works, but they don't have the special pump to make foamy soap. After browsing Pinterest for ideas, I decided to make my own mason jar soap dispenser with the included foam pump so that I can have the best of both worlds! (Plus, I'm sort of obsessed with mason jars.)

Here's how I did it!

You'll need a pint sized mason jar with the 2 part lid, a screwdriver or nail (or both), a needlenose pliers, a hammer, and liquid hand soap with a pump - it doesn't have to be foaming soap or a foaming pump, any kind/brand of hand soap with a pump will do!

I started by hammering the nail into the center of the flat mason jar lid until it made a hole and the nail went through the lid. I did this on a cutting board so I didn't ruin my countertop. 

Then I put a screwdriver in the hole and hammered until it went through, just to make the hole a little bigger. 

Next, I took my needle nose pliers and grabbed the hole from underneath and pulled from all sides to make the hole bigger.

Make sure you do this from the bottom of the lid, not the top.

I kept going until I thought the hole was the right size and then I checked to be sure.

I took the pump from my store-bought soap dispenser from Bath & Body works and tried to put it through the hole I just created. The hole was a bit too small, so I pulled on the hole with pliers just a little more. Be sure not to make your hole too big so that your pump falls right through.

Perfect! You want just the bottom (smallest) part of the pump to fit through the hole so that the base directly under the nozzle stays on top of the lid, like shown below.

It isn't pretty from underneath, but you won't see that part! 

I then emptied the little bit of soap I had left into my mason jar.

Then I added water until the bubbles almost came out of the top of the jar. This little trick extends the life of your soap by watering it down. It still gets your hands just as clean! (You don't have to do this part if you don't want to.)

I took my pump that was now snug in the lid and put it on top, and then screwed the other part of the mason jar lid on.

And that's it! I did one for my bathroom and one for my kitchen. It looks so much nicer than a plastic bottle with a label on it! I might add some burlap to fancy it up, but for now I like the simple jar look.

Note: You may want to do this when your children are awake so that your loud hammering doesn't wake them from their nap ;)

Happy Tuesday & happy crafting!