Birthday Girl!

Dessa has had her first Birthday! Michelle asked what we did for her birthday, I said, "cleaned up puke and poop!" (more about that later)
Dessa is now pulling herself up to standing!!

I found some pictures of Dessa from a while back that didn't get posted right away, so I'll stick some links in here.
Sneaky
Strawberry sweater
Sailboat dress
Pink, fluffy & lovin' it Dessa loved this one. She would fluff the ruffles and talk up a storm! I would have chosen to take it home, but it was "hand wash only." Like that's going to happen.
So in other news, we are recovering from a bout of the flu. All three girls were throwing up, fevers and runs. We're still working on the latter. What a messy week! In fact, the past two months have been crazy. I think we shouldn't get sick for a while now, since we've caught every bug in the valley.
Last week, Bob started taking the shower walls out of the bathroom and we sprung a leak, all two days before we were supposed to leave for a conference in Seattle. The girls and I stayed at a friends house Tuesday night, then all of wed and thurs Bob was frantically trying to fix the leak while I tried to get us packed for Seattle. Fortunately, we have the most amazing community of friends. The McEachran's let us call them Tuesday and stay that night, a family we are just getting to know, the Lolos family, let Bob shower at their house and then Mr. Lolos showed up Thursday morn. to help Bob. We would not have been able to go to the conference if he had not helped.
So we piled in the van at 6:00 PM to go to Seattle. All went pretty well Friday and Saturday until 10:30 Sat. night Ella started throwing up and didn't stop until 11:00 Am the next day, just before we left to go home. Fortunately, we always travel with a potty chair, because the runs were in full swing for her then. Tuesday Lily started, and wednesday Odessa joined in. Bob was able to stay home during some of it, so we are very thankful for that.
Today marked the first day of real improvement across the board. You'd never know Ella was just sick, and Lily finally started getting up off the chair to play and eat. Poor skinny Lily. I can't believe her clothes could get even more baggy on her after a few days of being sick. Breaks my heart. We'll have to start her on the all-fat diet here soon.
Dessa was probably the least effected. She only threw up three times, and has been able to nurse and hold it down. When kids have the runs, you're thankful that at least one is still in diapers.
Furthermore, we had more people call to see the house this week than all the other weeks combined. So hopefully we can get them scheduled this coming week.
Bob went on a fire at 7:30 tonight. He also leaves for a short assignment on Monday.
OK that's about enough.
Except to say that we have been so thankful through this week for the blessings of good health For Bob and me. At least we were able to care for the kids! It's been a long time since I've worked that hard around the clock and it was good for me. But Praise God it's coming to an end!!!!