the good and the not so good

March turned into a very eventful month for us. We stayed busy with work, play, and even a little sickness. We are hoping this last week of March is a little less eventful.

One of the low-points of the month was that we had a crazy bout with Hand, Foot, and Mouth disease. Alex got it first. We are not sure where he picked it up from but we are guessing probably nursery. The first day he was sick he had a temperature most of the day and was pretty lethargic. He also didn't eat much for a few days which I assume was because he had a sore throat as well. Then about two days after the temperature he broke out in bumps. He had some on his mouth, hands and legs. They didn't seem to bother him and luckily cleared up after only about 3 days. However, as Alex was finally recovering I was just getting started. I also had a fever for about 24 hours, a sore throat, and then after a few days got a few bumps on my hands. They hurt so I felt even worse for Alex. Finally after about a week Brandon got it too. He had a fever for about 24 hours, the same sore throat, and then just like us broke out into the bumps. His bumps were much worse however. I wish I would have taken a picture because they were pretty horrific. He had huge, puss filled bumps covering his hands and wrists. He even got some on his feet and in his mouth. His took a lot longer to go away and he even still has the scabs from many of them.

Before we really knew what was going on we managed to pass along the disease to Mikah and Max. Luckily they got over it pretty quickly as well. The doctor said this was a pretty aggressive form of the disease because the bumps formed so quickly. He also said that adults don't usually get it so lucky us!

If you look closely at this picture you can see the faint remnants of the bumps around Alex's mouth.
Also this month, during one of West Jordan's many wind storms we noticed that some of our siding was starting to detach from our house. Luckily we noticed it before we lost any of the siding and were able to have somebody come and fix it. Apparently when installing the siding the builders used as few nails as possible. He had to take almost the entire side of the siding down and reattach it. Hopefully this doesn't happen anywhere else on our house but we were glad to get it fixed before it became too big of an expense. Considering this is one of the few things we have had to do to our house since moving in three years ago, we feel pretty lucky.

We also had some fun this month. Alex continued his swimming lessons. Brandon even took a turn in the pool with him for one of the weeks. He had so much fun.

After swimming lessons one of the weeks we stopped to get some Slurpees on the way home. I got one for me and Brandon but somebody took over mine. Apparently Alex is a big fan of Slurpees.

We also got to attend Mikah's 4th birthday party. He loves Mario and Luigi so that was the theme of his party. Here is another amazing birthday cake.

This was Alex's last week of swimming lessons. I'm so glad we did it and I'm so glad he loves the water. Here I am trying to coax him into the water with out any help.

He is not buying it.

Finally, this month we got to go see our nieces perform in a dance show. We couldn't believe how grown up they are becoming (which makes me a little sad) and what amazing dancers they both are.

Sadie got a little bored of watching the 28 dance numbers.

A Blast From the Past

I have been organizing our videos (and trying to figure out how to burn them to DVDs) when I came across this hilarious video. Alex is 10 months old in this video. Brandon is off screen doing something to make him laugh. His hair (and lack of haircut) may qualify as child abuse but I thought it was too funny not to share. Now that I finally know how to post our videos hopefully there will be more hilarity in the future.

Lately

We have been having a lot of fun lately here at the Clements household. Here is a look at what we have been up to.

We finally had our first decent snowstorm this winter (not that we are complaining) and we were able to take Alex out to play. He was really not into playing in the snow. He mostly stood there giving me dirty looks probably wondering what we were doing.

He supervised while Brandon shoveled. (Yes he is wearing shorts).

Then he did a little work of his own.

We also started swimming lessons this week. Alex and I signed up for a mom and tot class and it was tons of fun. Alex is so comfortable in the water. He did so great in the class.

Here we are learning to stick our heads in and blow bubbles.

He kept giving me kisses the whole time. I really think he was just trying to wipe the water off his face.

He did a lot of splashing and wanted to be free of me.He also kept pointing at the slide in a nearby pool and kept saying, "Slide, slide." Unfortunately they were remodeling it and we couldn't go on it.

We also learned how to jump into the water which Alex loved. Overall, Alex got a little bored while waiting to learn new things but we had so much fun. We can't wait for next week.

We also celebrated Max turning one on Saturday.
He had a "dog" themed birthday party and here is the cake that Trevor made. Caking runs in the family. It turned out so cute.

Devouring some birthday cake.

Alex enjoyed mooching off of others when it was time for dessert. Mikah was kind enough to share with him.

And last but not least we had a new addition to our family. Little Elsie was born on February 22. She is so sweet with beautiful strawberry blond hair. We love her so much and we are so glad she joined our family.