Sickness, Potty Training, and Easter Sunday

Boy, have we had a long week! It all started about a week and half ago when Isabel came down with a cold. It started out normal enough. Isabel had a cough and she didn't have a lot of energy to play. Mostly she just wanted to be held. So, we spent a couple of days on the couch holding her and letting her sleep. This cold kept getting worse instead of getting better. Her cough got worse. She started running a fever and her nose started running. She could barely open her eyes for about 3 days and no one was getting any sleep. None of the medicine we were giving her made the slightest difference. Her cough was so bad that she burst a couple of blood vessels in her cheek and she cried everytime she coughed which only led to more coughing.

This went on for a few days and finally after about the 5th day she started to feel better. The first day she was feeling better, I started to get a sore throat. As with Isabel, it only got worse from there and I spent the better part of this last week in bed. I missed a whole week of work and Joel had to come home early every day to help me take care of myself and Isabel. It wasn't pretty. I finally started to feel better on Saturday. We were the last to get it, but this cold-flu thing has made it's way through several of our family members in the last few weeks. I think my sister-in-law described it best when she likened it to the plague. Well, we are all feeling better at this point, and Joel seems to have made it through without catching it. THANK GOODNESS! I don't think any of us could take another week of sitting at home with a sick person.

Well, on a lighter note, Isabel seems to be almost fully potty trained!! It only took us a week!!! We have not accomplished #2 on the potty yet, but she is wearing big-girl panties all day every day and only had a couple of accidents in the first couple of days. We have even been on several outings where she tells us when she needs to go and she will go at a store or at someone else's house! We are very proud of her and are looking forward to the day when she is comfortable enough to do #2 so we can stop buying diapers!!!! I don't think it will be long. She tells us when she has to go so that we can put a diaper on her, she just gets stage fright on the potty. I'll keep you updated on her progress!!
Also, today was Easter Sunday and it was FREEZING!!! It snowed all day long and we had to make a few "improvements" to our Easter attire in order to stay warm. Isabel looked beautiful in her dress and was very proud of her new clothes and the ribbons in her hair! We had a wonderful day with family. Today was also Madyson's (Magen little sister) 12th birthday, so we had a double celebration at the Palma's! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MADY! We had a steak dinner and then an Easter egg hunt (in the house) topped off by a bunny shaped ice cream birthday cake! It was good!! Hope you all had a great Easter too!!!

On baby news .... we find out what we are having in 2 WEEKS!!!! Woo Hoo!!!!! Pray for a bottoms-up position so we get a good view! I think I might have felt some movement this week, but I'm not sure. Could have just been gas.

Almost forgot .... in the last two weeks, we have also aquired a new nephew! Joel's sister had her second baby boy on March 23! Meet Noah Michael! He's a cutie!

Here is how our baby is growing this week........Your baby weighs about 5 ounces now, and he's around 5 inches long — about the size of a large onion. He can move his joints, and his skeleton — until now rubbery cartilage — is starting to harden to bone. His sense of hearing is also developing. The umbilical cord, his lifeline to the placenta, is growing stronger and thicker.