Ryan turns 3!

For the last month or two Ryan has been asking for 3 of everything because "I'm going to be 3 on my bir-day!" 3 M&Ms, 3 taquitos, 3 strawberries, 3 whatever.  And now he's 3 years old. He had two birthdays because we celebrated once in Utah, and again back in Arizona on his actual birthday. Unfortunately the night we got home from Utah, Megan developed a fever and had a cough. I was sure it would be gone by Wednesday, so we planned a family dinner at our house that Grandma and Grandpa Knight and Justin and Marie and Peyton and McKenzie could come to, but Wednesday morning Megan's fever was still there (and we were suffering a bit from lack of sleep). Ryan was starting to feel hot, too, and by early afternoon he had a fever, too. We let everyone know that our house was a biohazard zone and they may not want to come for cake, but Grandma and Grandpa decided to brave it anyway.

I think when Ryan says bir-day he thinks birthday CAKE. He's told everyone who talked to him about his upcoming birthday that "I'm going to have a Lightning McQueen on my bir-day cake!" So we made it happen.

 He was pleased. Megan was more pleased with the decorations hanging from the ceiling.

 Ryan ate some frosting off the cake, maybe a bite of the cake, and spent the rest of the time playing with the cars.

 He had fun opening a few presents.

 One of the biggest hits were these Squigs that suction cup to lots of things: windows, tables, foreheads.

 And the grande finale was a new (to Ryan) bike. He hopped on and had a blast riding around our "indoor track" where they usually run around chasing each other.

 He had a good time (thanks to Tylenol) and we'll count his 3rd birthday as a success.

Unfortunately his sickness held on as long as Megan's. Megan woke up Thursday morning finally without a fever, but still runny nosed and coughing. Ryan continued feeling yucky for several days, though with no real symptoms other than a fever, and feeling gross when his fever would spike. Tylenol and Ibuprofen helped a bit, but he still spent a good bit of time like this:

When the medicine kicked in we'd get a few hours of him feeling better and playing before he was back to the shivering and wanting to be held all the time.

 It was the second week of Spring Break for Rachel, and most of the week we were sequestered at home because of sickness. Grandma took Rachel and Annie to the Children's Museum Thursday morning, then kept them all that day and for a sleepover that night, so they managed to have a little fun during that last week of spring break, and having only two children to care (even if they were both sick and clingy) was a real nice break. I sometimes think that Annie and Rachel don't add that much to my load because they can help out around the house with chores and are more independent and can take care of themselves more, but they also make more messes and dirty more dishes and need more food. It was nice to just be a mom to two kids for a day.

Ryan stayed home from church last Sunday because he hadn't been fever-free for long enough to know if he was over it yet, but he finally kicked the sickness. And has been super clingy ever since. Well, to be fair, he's been in this stage for several months where he prefers me to do everything for him rather than Dad (brush teeth, help him get dressed, etc.), but it seems to have reached a new clingy level in the last week or so. Maybe too many changes with our trip to Utah, and being sick, and he's feeling a bit insecure, but I'm hoping he gets over it real soon.

Ryan and Annie started swimming lessons last week and Annie was totally nervous about it before-hand, but did great once they got in and she suddenly remembered that she loves swimming. Ryan did okay the first time, but got cold half way through, so I had to coax him to stay in the pool through the whole lesson. The second lesson he was super whiny and wanted me to sit right next to him. He'd start to freak out a little when the teacher would get him for his turn trying a skill, then as soon as they were away from me, he'd be totally fine and do everything the teacher asked. Then he'd come back, sit on the step, be fine, look at me and start whining, "Mommy, I need you!" We're going to try to have Grandpa take him tomorrow and see if it helps to not have me around.

In other child challenge news, Annie has all of a sudden gotten a bunch of fears she's fighting. She's afraid of fires now. This probably was triggered by a Family Home Evening we had last week where we did a fire drill and an evacuation drill to practice getting our 72 hour kits. She asks me several times a day about fires and if there are fires in the desert, or if we use fires for light, or if we leave the lights on if a fire will start. Then Thursday night she had a bad dream that she wouldn't tell me about because she was too scared, but Friday she wouldn't leave my sight and kept talking about monsters. I told her many times that monsters were just imaginary. Then we made some monster spray and sprayed all around our house with a smell Annie said they wouldn't like (Wild Orange). When I made her leave Megan's room so I could put her down for a nap Friday afternoon I came out to find her in her room with the light on hiding under her covers so monsters couldn't find her. The girl has it bad. We said a prayer to help her feel better, and got to work distracting her. Once Rachel was home she wasn't glued to my side as much and has been a little better all weekend (probably because she wasn't alone). Tonight we put an extra night-light in her room and put a big stuffed bear on guard and that made her feel a little better. Hopefully these fears die out sooner rather than later. And I hope they don't get passed on to Ryan right now. He's clingy enough as it is. It's a bit exhausting having 3 kids want to be touching me all day every day.