Whipple Family Blog

During our sick time, I missed a few things, so hopefully I can make this a quick catch up post... Last Tuesday we went to Enrichment night at school (yes, I drugged everyone up, we just couldn't miss this!). The Enrichment fair is basically a time where the kids and the teachers, can show off what they have been doing all year. We were so excited to go because Teralyn was in a play and she was also doing a transportation presentation and a power point presentation. We just couldn't miss it. Well, the Motrin worked wonders for Tera. The play was so cute. Tera was the April page in the play and had about two or three lines, but did them very well. Well, Shay was barely making it, so after the play we quickly went to see Shaylee's classroom and all her art, and Ashtyn, Shay, and I decided we should go quarantine ourselves again. Bri got a video of Teralyn's transportation presentation and said she did an awesome job in front of a whole room full of people. She said she w...

When it rains it pours. At least when it comes to sicknesses in our family lately. It all started about two weeks ago when Raegan got Roseola. Just a day or so after she recovered Ashtyn came down with a fever. At first I thought maybe Roseola, but it seemed a little different, her fever wasn't as high. Well, her fever broke and then she started complaining of a sore throat. So we checked and yes, she had blisters covering her mouth and her tonsils. Pour girl! I knew right away it was Hand Foot and Mouth disease. So, we sent her to bed and I started thinking and wondering about this weird rash that had just appeared on my leg. I had been having hip and leg pain for a couple of days (just on my left side) and now I had this rash. Could it be Hand Foot and Mouth? Well, I looked it up and realized that it was probably Shingles!! Could I actually have Shingles at my age? I didn't even consider it until then because I thought I was too young. I quickly called my mom and she suggeste...

Raegan turned one on Sunday. We made her a small cake, set it on a plate in the middle of a sheet and let her go at it. Out of all our kids, she is the first one to actually get in and get messy with it. We were quite impressed. As you can tell with the video, she quite enjoyed it herself. We had a fun birthday party for Raegy with just our family. The girls gave her a little swimming pool and Bri and I gave her a dump truck that she can sit on and push herself around. She loved it, or at least the box. We had her favorite dinner, mashed potatoes (we also had roast beef, but didn't think she would appreciate that yet). When she saw those potatoes she threw a fit waiting for them to cool off. Who knew you could love potatoes so much. She also likes broccoli, so we threw that in and just for fun some watermelon. Well, basically she ate the potatoes and searched around on her plate until she found every last little crumb. Everything else ended up on the floor. She was in heaven... It...

Raegan hasn't quite learned to walk on her feet yet, but she has pretty much mastered the knee walk! When she gets really excited for something, she will even give some jumps.... (There is a video in this blank space above, just click on the play button in the lower left). This past week has been a sick week for my little babe. After five days of really high fever, I finally took her in to the doc. and insisted that we have a catheter done to see if she had a UTI (we have a history of UTI's in our girls). Well, it was no fun for anyone and resulted in Raegan screaming and me trying to comfort her and then of course, her peeing all over me!! I guess that's what I get for insisting on a catheter. Right when we got home she broke out in a huge rash and it ended up being Roseola. So, things are better, Raegan's fever is down and her rash is going away. Now to work on those walking skills....

The day before Mother's day, Brian and my girls gave me just about the best gift I could have asked for. They cleaned the house! Yes, they cleaned the bathrooms, the basement, the kitchen, vacuumed, and even mopped the floor (my least favorite job). I was quite impressed. Brian mentioned that he knew I wouldn't have a good mother's day if I know my house is a mess... hmmm... I guess he is starting to catch on. So, Mother's Day morning Brian didn't have early church meetings so he took the girls and got them all ready for church before I woke up!!! I have never been much of a morning person, so it's really hard for me to get up early and get all the girls out to church by myself on time every Sunday. It was so so so nice to have a break from this. The girls and Bri brought me breakfast in bed (Sweedish pancakes with powder sugar...mmmm!!) and then I quickly got in the shower and we headed to church. Raegan got a fever while we were in church and so Brian had quit...

For the last three days Raegan has slept through the night. Yes, that is what I said. For the first time in her life, she has slept a full eleven hours without waking up to eat. I consider this her biggest and greatest milestone. Finally, finally, just before her year birthday (on the 18th) I am not waking up to nurse her in the night. I am so excited about this. This is the milestone that all mothers wait for. The day that they will finally be getting sleep again. My sweet husband has tried and tried to get me to not feed her in the night, but when you are so so tired, and you know that if you just nurse her, she will go back to sleep, then it's so much easier. So after months and months of this nursing session, it starts to weigh on you and drag you down and that is when you just have to say, "I've had enough". So, the other night I told myself I was going to do it. I got my earplugs ready, shut my door and slept (well, kind of). I was so worried about her all night...

Okay so, Brian and I have struggled on how to teach our kids the value of money and chores. When we first got married, I was all about our kids having chores and earning an allowance each week. Bri argued that this way isn't teaching them that being part of a family is helping each other, and that there should just be things that they do every day just because they are in our family. I have to say, he has changed my mind. So, over the past seven or so years, we have tried to teach our kids to help out by doing the dishes and cleaning their rooms etc. with no monetary rewards. So, now that our kids are a little older, they really don't understand the value of money. In the past when they needed something, we would get it for them. When they wanted something, they would have to put it on their wish list for Christmas or their birthday. It has worked out just fine, but now they are old enough that they should be working for and saving their money so our plans need to change. This ...