Sick Just Got Real™! #giveaway

This winter was the l o n g e s t  ever!  We had snow again even in April.  Along with that crazy long winter, came a lot of illness in our house.  From the week after Christmas for the following couple months--  pneumonia, bronchitis, colds, lingering persistent coughs, runny and/or stuffy noses, fevers.  It seemed like no one could shake anything. We haven't been sick like we have this winter in years! Rough was an understatement.

I think one of the hardest things as a parent is when your children are sick. Finding relief for them isn't always easy. Sick just got real™, for certain.  Having a few products on hand to help with relief when kids are sick is important to me.

We keep Children's Advil® Fever Reducer and Pain Reliever as a staple in our medicine arsenal for our kids! I love that my girls have no issue taking it when they're running a fever, have aches and pains like ear aches or growing pains. I've found it "kicks in" quickly and offers relief from fever or pain.

Children’s Advil® comes in several great-tasting flavors, including: Sugar-free Dye-free Berry, Bubble Gum, Grape, Blue Raspberry, Fruit and Dye-Free White Grape flavors. There’s also Infants’ Advil® White Grape, which provides unsurpassed fever relief with a syringe for easy dosing for children 6-23 months.

Lily had so much interrupted sleep this winter with lingering coughs. We tried all the tricks with steam, vaporizers, you name it.  Using a cough medicine is my last resort, but this Children's Dimetapp® is what works for us!   All in a great tasting grape flavor, Children’s Dimetapp® Cold & Cough tackles a child’s most bothersome stuffy and runny noses, all while working to relieve cough.

Formulated just for kids, Children's Robitussin® DM Day/Night Pack (Children’s Robitussin® Cough & Chest Congestion and Children’s Robitussin® Nighttime Cough) non-drowsy daytime formula helps break up chest congestion, while the long-acting nighttime formula relieves coughs and runny noses to help kids get the rest they need.








*It is important to remember to always read and keep the cartons for complete warnings and dosing information on Pfizer Pediatric Platform products and to use as directed.




You can enter to win all of the above products by entering via Rafflecopter! Giveaway will end 4/21 at 11:59pm. Winner will be contacted by email and announced here.  Good luck!
a Rafflecopter giveaway


*Disclosure: The Pfizer Pediatric Platform products, information, and additional gift pack have been provided by Pfizer Consumer Healthcare. All thoughts and reviews are my 100% own.

The First Snowfall

I have been working on keeping busy this winter, trying to avoid the winter funk that inevitably sucks me in.  Sunshine makes me happy and definitely something I need. So this past Monday when the temperature was in the high 50s, the kids went to the park to play!   

Just two days later, the temperature was in the single digits with negative windchills. Nothing like winter showing its ugly face all at once.  

My sweet Lily loves the snow! She has been asking for months if it was going to snow for her to go outside and make snow angels and a snowman.  We may have not had enough for a snowman this week, but there was definitely enough for a few angels. :)

While Violet napped, Andrew, Lily, and I headed out for a short time.  It was wayyyy too cold to stay out for long, but the joy on my oldest daughter's face was absolutely worth it.  Andrew is such a great brother and pulled her along in the sled down the driveway a few times.

Next up was a little snow throwing! Andrew took Lily's little snow shovel and tossed some snow at her and she retaliated doing the same, though most often she hit him with the actual shovel. He's a good sport!

 Lily has spent a lot of time talking about deer and hunting with her daddy.  Last year she went "shed hunting" with him to look for antlers that deer have shed and it's one of her favorite things to do! She can't wait to go again.  When she found a branch from a tree that looked like antlers sticking out of the snow, she was super excited! "Oh Mommy! I found some antlers!" and spent some time playing with her "antlers."

Very soon afterwards, Andrew had decided it was way too cold and he was ready to go inside. I agreed with him! Brrrrrrrrrr! Lily was convinced with the promise of hot chocolate!

The weather hasn't yet warmed up, but the sun is still shining! Only 20 weeks until summer!

Sounds Like Life to Me

Clearly, blogging has fallen to the wayyyyy back burner.  I'm ok with it.  I'll get there eventually and meanwhile, I'm soaking up my baby days with Violet, spending some one-on-one time with Lily and Andrew and enduring this perpetual winter.

I find it highly suspicious that Disney releases a movie about a princess turned queen who freezes everything and creates an eternal winter and we're having the coldest temperatures in decades. Our front storm door looks like Elsa got to it.

Speaking of Frozen, Lily is obsessed!  Just recently she's gotten into watching more movies than tv shows, so Frozen is at the top of her list.  She thinks she's Elsa half the time and Anna the rest. When George is in the bathroom, she goes to the door and knocks on it and sings, "Do you want to build a snowman? Come on let's go and play..."  Her daddy, of course, responds with, "Go away, Lily."  She continues her acting and singing sadly replies, "Ohhh kayyy, byyyyyye."  She's done this a couple times and I'm hoping to catch it on video.  She lays down on the floor to try to talk to him and sing under the crack at the bottom of the door. It's hysterical.   She also belts out "Let it Go" like she's Idina Menzel and does all the movements that Queen Elsa does while she's singing.  The pure innocence and passion with which she does this literally brings tears to my eyes. Also hoping to catch it all on video. Stay tuned.

We took the girls to the theater to see Frozen in late December.  Lily was enamored, {hence the above described obsession} Violet was fantastic-slept and nursed, George fell asleep haha, and I loved it as much as Lily did! The Little Mermaid has always been my favorite Disney movie, followed closely by Beauty and the Beast.  Frozen has easily moved into the runner-up spot behind my beloved Ariel.  Somebody's Easter basket will have it in it...not sure if Lily's or mine hahaha!

Violet's 1st movie ~12.29.13

Andrew and I went to his marching band banquet the other night.  As a rookie band mom, it was awesome to see all the kids and their parents celebrating a passing marching band season, find out who the next year's drum major will be, watch a slide show reminiscing the hard work and sweat of band camp, practice and performances, and just enjoy time together.  I have my own amazing memories of marching band and I'm glad that Andrew loves it as much. I couldn't be prouder! I cannot believe he has gotten so tall at barely 14!

Hunting season wrapped up recently, as well. This was George's first year and he got a doe and a buck this season!  As much as I may not want to be part of the process of it all, I have no issue with it. It made him happy and he was {in my mind} successful.  My husband is a learner. I love that about him.  He spent time researching and studying so many different aspects of crossbow hunting and deer patterns, and everything about processing.    I'm fortunate enough that he's able to hunt virtually in our backyard, so there was no weekends away or travel time. Given that I was very pregnant at the beginning of his season and we had a newborn as it closed out, I'm grateful, he was literally a text message away. I'm proud of his success this season and that it made him happy!

 

 Life has been interesting adding a new baby to the mix. Lily has become fiercely independent which can be a challenge when I'm nursing Violet. I ask "What are you doing?" and she hollers back, "I'm making chocolate milk!"  *cue panic*  Sure enough, she's gotten the stool over to get her cup out of the cabinet above the sink, stood in the refrigerator to get the milk, had milk poured in the cup and was ready to add in the chocolate when I got to her.  I remind myself that her strong will and independent nature will serve her well in life, but at 3 years old, it's a struggle sometimes.  There is nothing she thinks she cannot do. And she has no qualms about trying whatever it is either.  Like picking up Violet at 2 weeks and moving her from the rock n play to our bed without either of us around.  Yeah, she's the epitome of doing first and asking for forgiveness later. ;)  

Violet, fortunately, is a super happy baby! She just has such a light about her and I am so, so grateful for her every day. I have been working on her updates as well and someday {hopefully soon} she'll have more presence on this blog.  For now, I'm enjoying the moments with her and the rest of my family that go by way too quickly.  It's not even sleepless nights with her because she's been my earliest sleeper. It's having 3 other kids that makes me exhausted.  

Violet is one of the greatest gifts of my life and I thank God for her everyday.

1st Snow Day

Andrew flew off to Tennessee the day after Christmas on a 6:30a.m. flight and about 5 hours later it started snowing and pretty much did not stop. Many flights were delayed or cancelled and although it wasn't any fun getting up at 4:00a.m., I'm so grateful he had that early flight otherwise he would not have gotten out.

Last winter we only really had one snow for Lily to go out and play in. This winter so far, we've had snow since the day after Christmas and although I'm hopeful much of it will melt later this week when the weather warms up some, I'm loving Lily's excitement about playing in it, walking in it and just being outside to "play the snow, Mama."

This picture was early in the day, as we were heading out to get Lily some snow boots. In the meantime she wanted to wear her current favorite footwear...her rainboots. Her face cracks me up!

After we'd run our errands, we were ready for our first play in the snow!

She loved playing--going down her little slide, pushing snow off of everything, learning to make a snow angel with her daddy and him pulling her on the snow shovel.

 

 

 

Her favorite thing that day was simply shoving her mittened hands into a pile of snow and shaking them off. It was pure joy to watch her!

 

 

 

She was not interested in posing for pictures.  At.All.

 

 

 

 

 

It started getting dark and a lot colder, so Lily and I went inside to warm up and make some hot chocolate for George and Reagan.   We had a great time playing and simply watching Lily enjoy a simple joy. Perfect reminder of simplicity and childhood innocence.

 

A Warm Walk

The weather lately has been warm.  Now, warm is relative of course.  Again, never did I think I'd be calling high 50s and low 60s "warm" in my life.  But, being 20 degrees above "normal" for this time of year. I'll take the relative warm.

We went for a walk to celebrate!

Yep, that's right. Last day of January 2012, and we're out without coats.