But I was feeling brave and decided to give them a shot at developing a new skill.

They. loved. it. I mean LOVED using a spoon.

Not a whole lot actually made it into their mouths, but it was enough to make them happy.

They were not happy, however, when the meal ended and we took their spoons away. Two angry babies! We promised them there would be more opportunities.

It’s exciting to see them start to get the hang of something new.

195 balloons and a note that said, “Welcome Back, Colin.” I’m sure the contributors were especially appreciative of the box of doughnuts he brought in as a token of thanks for being so understanding about his time away.

I went back to work again, too, as “Full-time Mom.” My reception was slightly different:

Runny noses multiplied by 3 all day long. Plus I caught the virus that has passed through all the kids. But I can’t complain too much. I feel pretty good as far as the surgery recovery goes. No more pain, just slight discomfort and tenderness at the incision site. My doctor’s visit confirmed that all is going well. I got the “all clear” to resume my life. I can now lift to my heart’s content.

It was so great to pick up my children again. I missed holding them so much. Bed rest was alright, on a purely selfish level– I got many projects done that would otherwise have been hard to do. But really, I like my full time job. It’s good to be back.

Now to kick this crummy cold…

Warren came home with a sack full of Valentine’s Day loot.

We served the kids burritos for dinner (at Warren’s request) with heart-shaped strawberry ice cream for dessert.

(We decided to save the heart-shaped brownies for an upcoming Family Home Evening treat.)

Plus our good friends, Annie and Alex, hand delivered some Valentine’s goodies for us right after dinner. They were greatly appreciated!

Then Colin and I enjoyed our own romantic candle lit dinner for two we made together at home, after the kids went to bed.

The menu was perfect: Arrugula and Parmesan Salad (courtesy of our old neighbor and former ward member, Holly Y.), Fontina, Fennel, and Onion Pizza (from Martha, found on Pinterest) using this dough recipe, and Creamy Lemon Squares (also a Martha concoction, via Sarah H.). We did not care one bit that the dessert lacked chocolate. They were so, so, so good. I’m still thinking about them.

We finished the night off with “Midnight in Paris.” It was a perfectly simple day (despite sick children) and the best way to end our 6-week break from the norm. Colin returns to work starting Wednesday.

Hope your day was full of good food and lots of love.

Warren was sick all last week and his asthma kicked in, but he started recovering and we hoped for the best. Then Maddie got a fever on Friday. Luckily, we were able to get in touch with her doctor before the end of the day, plus Warren’s bout with the virus indicated that she was headed down the same path, so no need for the emergency room testing.

But by Sunday, and Colin’s birthday, she was still feverish and hacking away. We started to get worried. Jake also woke up with a runny nose and a slight fever. It was settled. We’d all stay home from church and try to recuperate from the sickness that was spreading through the family.

I felt I owed Colin something big and tasty to compensate for all he’s done over the last few weeks, plus I was hoping to take the edge off the curse, so I made him a tasty dinner of salmon, broiled green beans and cherry tomatoes, and wild rice, plus a carrot cake with citrus cream cheese frosting. That was the highlight of the day, besides the Seattle Sounders FC “3rd Jersey” I got for him (purchased in January, so not to be counted in the Spending Fast).

Just as we were winding up the evening, and all kids had been tucked in bed, we heard serious coughing from Maddie’s room. It sounded really, really bad. We went in to help her cough/puke into the bowl we’d been keeping by her bed. When we checked the contents of the recent spew, we saw blood. Colin and I looked at each other. Could we take the chance that she hadn’t progressed to pneumonia? On Birthday Curse Day, you couldn’t be too sure. So, my dear, sweet, wonderful Colin gathered up the necessaries and Maddie and drove off to the ER at 9:45PM on Sunday night. He was just trying to beat my last birthday celebration.

Long story short, Maddie’s x-ray came back clear. Instead, they diagnosed her with croup. Sad and uncomfortable, but less worrisome than having a pneumonia.

*Big sigh*

Hopefully, she’ll recover soon and Jake’s turn will come and go quickly. Is there any chance that this virus will pass Joey over? To dream…

Happy Birthday, Colin! Someday this curse will end. It just has to!

Our Madeline was born with severe congenital heart defects (CHDs): Total Anomalous Pulmonary Venous Return (TAPVR), and Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS). You can read about this amazingly strong little girl and her story here.

This week is CHD Awareness Week and all of February is Heart Awareness Month. The CHD Awareness website provides more information about how you can help the cause.

This issue continues to touch us personally and deeply. Maddie is not out of the woods, nor will she ever be. She is scheduled for more intensive cardiology testing at the end of this month and late March, in fact (more details in a later post). We will always be coping with her CHDs.

Maddie is a fighter. She is strong and stubborn. It’s what keeps her going when she should be down. But even with that same fighting spirit, some children don’t make it. Some are taken from this earth because of CHDs and we’re left to grieve the loss.

That’s what happened last week to someone I know personally. Her precious son lived for 4 days and then passed away quietly in her arms after suffering from heart failure. I wept for her and her pain. She is not alone in her anguish. Thousands of mothers every year are mourning the loss of their little heart babies and children, too.

So, it’s with this sweet boy in mind that I share these statistics in the hopes that it could save the life of at least one baby out there. Please read and spread the word.

Facts about CHDs as noted by Little Hearts, Inc.:

• Congenital heart defects (CHDs) occur when a baby’s heart fails to form properly during early pregnancy. In most cases, the cause is unknown, although scientists feel both genetic and environmental factors play a role.
• Some environmental factors that increase the risk of CHDs include the mother’s use of cocaine, alcohol or certain medications while pregnant. Some maternal medical conditions – such as diabetes – may also increase risk.
• CHDs are the most common birth defect – and the leading cause of birth defect-related deaths.
• CHDs occur more often than Spina Bifida, Down Syndrome or hearing loss – and kill twice as many children as childhood cancer.
• It is estimated that 40,000 babies with CHDs are born in the United States each year – that’s one in every 125 babies.
• Although some babies will be diagnosed at birth, newborns are not routinely screened for CHDs – and pregnant women are not routinely tested for CHDs.
• There are approximately 35 different types of congenital heart defects.
• Some CHDs may be treated with surgery, medicine and/or devices, such as artificial valves and pacemakers. In the last 25 years, advances in the treatment of heart defects have enabled half a million U.S. children with serious CHDs to survive into adulthood.
• Many cases of sudden cardiac death in young athletes are caused by undiagnosed CHDs and childhood-onset heart disease.
• Early detection is critical to the successful treatment of CHDs. Some heart defects can be detected by a routine ultrasound – but the most effective prenatal test is an echocardiogram performed by a Pediatric Cardiologist.

We were only slightly over the food budget I set for this month. That was the area I thought we’d struggle with the most, so props to us. For our family of six, we normally budget for $160/week (which includes eating out) so for the spending fast, I was hoping for around $120/week. We came in at $138. Sticking to our monthly menu apparently helps, but we could do better.

We had an unforeseen purchase: Drano. Sorry, but I’m not going to wait a month as the shower water pools around my ankles. With a backup supply it totaled $22. Worth it, in my mind.

We fell apart on the “gifts given” category. Not that it’s bad, necessarily, to overspend there, but maybe we could have been a bit more frugal. One purchase was desperately needed glue sticks for Warren’s classroom (2 packs of 24 for $12 total at Costco, no guilt there), another was the lollipop Valentines (maybe they could have been more cheaply produced at $4.76 for the pictures and $4 for the lollipops), and the last was a package of Thank You cards (I definitely could have made those myself for the $8 spent).

The first thing I’ve noticed about doing this is I really want to spend when I know I can’t! It must be that psychological appeal of the forbidden. How many times did I crave In-n-Out, just because? The other is that spending becomes too easy to justify for the sake of convenience. It’s just easier sometimes to buy a meal instead of planning ahead, especially when on an errand. Staying prepared and one step ahead is always a wise move when it comes to saving moola.

Next week, I aim to do better! Even though it’s Colin’s birthday and Valentine’s Day. Oy vey!

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How did you fare the first week?

Most of the decorations are ones we made before, or purchased years ago.

But I did add some new items. Some heart garland, using different size punches and twine, that I felt inspired to create after seeing Lisa Leonard’s display. I love her blog.

And some fancy hearts to line the entertainment center. (Thanks for the use of all the punches, Jo!)

Plus an “XOXO” printable I put together that you can download here.

We have a few treats planned for the season. One we made already, but didn’t turn out exactly like I envisioned, or as pictured here. “Blondies” using Valentine-colored M&Ms. Take any cookie recipe that you love (Colin used our trusted Nestle Toll House Cookie recipe), but replace the chocolate chips with candies, then spread in a 9×13 pan. The trick, which neither of us realized, is to reserve some candies and press on top of the spread dough. Otherwise you can’t even tell they’re in there.

Ours aren’t very festive looking but they sure tasted good.

Our other planned goody is brownies cut into heart shapes with a cookie cutter, which we plan to eat for Valentine’s Day dessert.

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What kinds of things do you do for Valentine’s Day?

We have not pushed Maddie whatsoever toward toilet training. We’ve let her completely set the pace. She’s been using the toilet off and on for several months now but it’s only been in the last week that she’s understood when she needed to use it. But she refuses to go #2 on the pot. Refuses. She’s afraid, I guess, even though she knows she will get gum if she does it. Oh yes, we’re going there if it means results.

After a few days of success where her diaper stayed clean and dry, she had an idea.

“I can wear my chonies now!” she exclaimed. “Pink ones!”

Her “big girl” underwear (“chonies” as Kelley called them when Warren first started wearing them) have been sitting in her drawer waiting for the day when she was ready to ditch the diapers. She wants desperately to be like Big Brother Warren and wear her own chonies, but we had laid down some stipulations to the transition. She had to stay clean and dry and she had to start pooping in the toilet.

Colin and I looked at each other. She hadn’t reached the second part of deal yet, but she was definitely making progress. We decided to give it a go.

She was so proud. She was beaming.

She went the whole day clean and dry. Even overnight she was clean as a whistle. But she still wouldn’t go poop in the pot.

On Day 2 of underwear, we asked her if she needed to go poop on the toilet. She hesitantly said yes. When she got there to do her business she stopped and looked up at us. “Maybe not,” she said backing down from the challenge. But she still went pee, so we kept her chonies on.

But by the end of the day she still had refused to go #2 in the toilet. She started asking for a diaper so she could take care of business. We told her she’d have to put the chonies away for the rest of the day.

“Maybe I can wear chonies when I’m pooping in the toilet,” she renegotiated.

Off and on she’s been like this: wearing her underwear for most of the day, but requesting a diaper for pooping purposes. She even wore her pink chonies to church. She’s so close, she just doesn’t know it.

We’ll get there. Could someone just wake me up when it’s over?

Take a picture of your kid holding out his arm, add some hearts and “Happy Valentin’s Day!” (I used my Creative Memories program for the layout and Picnik.com to add the bokeh hearts and hand-drawn shapes), print as 4×6 photos at Costco, make slits at the top and bottom of the fist, and insert lollipop of choice.

I made a few versions and had him choose. He decided this one would be for the boys:

And this one he’d give to the girls:

Pretty simple and pretty cute.

My only regret is that we couldn’t use Livesaver’s Swirled Pops for the treat. They don’t make them anymore. Such a shame because they were the best sucker at Valentine’s Day. My favorite was the Strawberry & Vanilla flavor. I guess Blow Pops will just have to suffice.

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What do you do for Valentines at your house? Do you make them from scratch or buy the ones that come in a pack at the grocery store?

Warren’s hair was out of control. It was beyond the surfer look and straight into hippie. It was time for the “Shaggy Dog Story,” for sure. I love his hair long, but this was excessive. On Sunday evening, Colin took the clippers (or buzzers as my brother always called them) to his locks.

He went from this:

to this:

in about 20 minutes.

He looks like a different kid! A younger one, too. He was looking much too much like a teenager, which I’m definitely not ready to handle. We’ve got years ahead before that! Plus, I love that I can see his whole face again.

Long hair or short, he’s still got those dimples and sparkling blue eyes.