This Week in Review

 We spent much of the week sick, unfortunately.  Lydia got it the worst and was sick for a full week or more.  She coughed and hacked and had mild asthma attacks. It was no fun at all.  I got sick Monday through Wednesday.  On Wednesday, I came close to losing my voice, which is an alarming experience for a mother of 9.

Most of us are mostly well, now.  Kevin is, I think, largely over it. He is working hard at his new job and didn't really have time to be sick, so he soldiered through the illness.

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The most common statement about Rose lately is, "She's cute!". And indeed, she is. She smiles and gurgles and carries in a delightful baby way.  She is up most nights once, though falls back to sleep quite easily. She goes to bed in the evening at around 8:30 p.m., which I truly appreciate.

 Unfortunately, her little tummy broke out in an eczema rash about 2 weeks ago. I initially thought she might be allergic to chocolate, but now I think not. I don't know what she is reacting to.  It might be something in my diet, or maybe it is some pollen drifting around.  If the eczema clears up with the first hard freeze, I'll go with environmental. I removed chocolate from my diet and apparently that wasn't the answer, so now I'm avoiding wheat for a week or so to see if that might be the culprit. I'm already off dairy, which has been an allergen for most of our babies.

Another cute Rose picture. Yes, she can sit in her bouncer now.

Sarah loves Rose but we really have to watch them together because Sarah can get quite aggressively loving.  She doesn't know her own strength and while she hasn't hurt Rose, we know she might accidentally do so. But she does love her.

Kevin has been faithfully working out and he and 2 of our middle girls showed off their muscles a couple of days ago :-).

In the background of that picture is a Tigers baseball game. The Detroit Tigers have had a VERY up and down year, but today -- the last day of the season -- they clinched the Central Division of the American League.  That was truly exciting, and something of a surprise as they had streaks this year when all they could do (it seemed) was lose.  It'll be interesting to see how the post season goes.  If they have a winning streak, they could go all the way. And if they hit a skid, they could be 3 games and out.  But for now, we're enjoying their championship of the division.