And your final birthday present? Illness.......

After months of discussion, begging, pleading and attempts at bribery, we gave in and finally got Katie a cell phone. After one day of it being in her possession, we realized the reason that we had held off on getting her a phone for so long - And also realized we probably could have waited even longer before placing this God-like technology gift into the hands of an ever so impressionable teenager. And, yes, I said teenager - Katie turned 13 last week, hence the cell phone. When she was presented with this gift, she jumped, screamed with joy and wanted to call everyone she knew to tell them the news; "I GOT A CELL PHONE!!" Corey made sure that she understood that she needed to read her manual before operating the phone. We were mistaken in thinking that this would be a lengthy process, as less than 24 hours later, she had figured out how to set her ringers, how to take pictures AND place them as her main screen picture, and she had (not kidding) NINETY SEVEN text messages back and forth to a couple of friends. Since this is a learning process for her, and for us, we told her to slow down on the texts. Unbeknownst to her, Corey put unlimited texting on our family account for this reason alone. He had a gut feeling to do so, and that paid off well, even after only a day!

The one thing that I discovered in the text messages that we read on her phone - YES, we're reading her texts....for now. We need to make sure she understands what is appropriate, what is not, and what is reasonable in the world of text messaging. - were that the reason that there are so many texts is because these kids are texting one or two words at a time, instead of a sentence. I'm aware that the short responses are fast and easy, but as a parent trying to understand the language that these teens are speaking, I see how easy it is for these kids to rack up hundreds, if not thousands of dollars in cell phone bills each month. It's also safe to say that kids will try anything, and if parents are stupid enough to get their child a cell phone without looking into the trends, covering their butts in costs and helping their children to learn the proper way to operate the phones, then the benefit of a child no longer begging for a phone is overshadowed by fights between child and parent for the outrageous bills, texts and downloads that magically appear on the next cell phone bill. From one parent to all you others out there, be prepared.

The twins turned two last month as well - And for the past 4 or 5 weeks, all little children in this house have been sick. It began with the sniffles a month or so ago. Then, 3 weeks ago I got strep throat. All family members were treated, but it was discovered that Cooper is resistant to Amoxicillin. So, after the strep scare, we had ear infections. We even ended up at the hospital for testing, as the doctor thought Cooper might have pneumonia. We began treatment for the ear infections, and a few days later all children developed fevers. They were so bad, in fact, that we had to cold water bathe them in attempts to bring down fevers that settled above 104 and wouldn't come down. Rayla got the highest, at 104.9 - Scared shitless was I - They were so hot, and so miserable, and their eyes were bloodshot from the heat. That FINALLY passed - and they now all have upper respiratory infections. But, SOMEHOW, amid the azithromycin that Cooper was taking, he still managed to get sores all over the back of his throat and has barely eaten or drank anything in three days. We're off to the doctor again this morning.

I've come close to losing my mind a couple of times. Four children, most of them sick ALL THE TIME, the cleaning, the attempts to get them to eat or drink......it's exhausting. Corey and I have spent nights up with them, and taken shifts in sleeping - Cause' in this household, there is no such thing as a full night's sleep. I've even discovered a "pain free" way to sleep on the chair in the living room, just in case a screaming child (Rayla) needs to be upright and away from other sleeping family members.

For years my friends have sent out little emails that allow you to update your "favorites" and share with your friends. Funny, as we're all in our 30's and 40's and nearly every one of us still do this every year. Some things change, and some don't. I got one just the other day, and was reading it on 3 hours of sleep. Needless to say I couldn't think straight. And when the question came to enter my favorite movie I couldn't think of one movie that I liked. So, I created my own: "My favorite movie is the one where all my children are healthy, happy and smart, and I look like a supermodel."

Now, we all know that last part is so ridiculous, that I was obviously out of my mind a little. But, the healthy kids? I have prayed, I've wished on stars, I've scrubbed, I've cleaned and I've sanitized. Still, they are sick - and each time I wish in the air that they get better, they get sicker. So, either I'm not wishing right, or I can't sanitize well - Both of which I think I do just fine. But, something's gotta give!!

Maybe we can hole up at the doctors office - We've spent enough time there lately. They all know us well, and probably turn the phones on each day wondering what time we're gonna call. I almost feel like I've called the doctor more than Kate has texted...... that's funny.

Oh, the joys of parenthood.