Sarah's birthday at the ranch..... Ride Izzy Ride.

My sweet girl finally has her birthday present. Yes, it's taken seven weeks for Daddy to put it together the play set that Gran Mimi gave her. He's been so busy, but has worked on it every spare minute he could. She has been so patient. Oh, she was so excited to see it finished. Daddy made some brownie points today : )

Swine strikes again....

And I was so sure that I had escaped it. Wrong !!!! And yes it was terrible. But I survived The Swine Flu, although at times I thought that I wouldn't. Even my eye lids hurt. I didn't know your ear lobes could hurt. But yes, they can. So far we are two and two here at the Braniff household. Ryan and I have had it and Rob and Izzy are Swine free. Go figure. I'm so relieved though at which two had it. For starters, Izzy being sick would be awful. She's so compromised right now. Just getting over double ear infections and sinus infection, followed by another ear infection and sinus infection and on her second week of allergy shots. Still praying that she will stay well. And Thank You Jesus that Rob hasn't gotten it. I cannot handle one more child in the house. Yesterday, he "thought" he had a sore throat and laid down and took some Tylenol. Oh man if he gets sick I'm a goner. Thankfully, he rarely gets sick. And all of this because my hormonal son is sucking face (sorry) with his girlfriend. CAN'T YOU NOT KISS HER UNTIL SHE'S OVER THE SWINE FLU, FOR PETE'S SAKE? Again sorry. Today is the first day that I've felt like a normal person in over a week and I've been inundated by all the things that I couldn't do last week and I'm a little overwhelmed trying to get caught up. So, Ryan has come to mind a lot today....

Izzy didn't miss a beat. It didn't matter that I was laid out in the bed sick as a dog. She just brought everything to me. Instead of saying "Mommy, come see", she just carried it to my bed to show me. And her attempts to take care of me was very sweet, but overwhelming. Taking my temperature, cold wash clothes for my head, covering me up when I was cold, uncovering me when I was hot. All while I was trying to "stay away" from her so she wouldn't get sick. She is such a little Momma already. Poor Mari. I really believe Izzy will drive her nuts when she gets home. I was exhausted by her "bossy" manner of taking care of me. I was too tired though to tell her to stop being so bossy. Which is something I normally say about a hundred times a day. Honestly, I was so sick that I really appreciated it, bossiness and all. Jessi has been out of the house for a few years now and until Izzy it's just been me and the guys, so it's nice to have a girl around. A natural caretaker. At four, she is so intuitive. She knows when you just need to be loved on. Oh, how I love that girl. So, I'm alive and well again. Hopefully we are done with The Swine. And thank you my sweet Bella for taking such good care of your Momma.

Izzy's new playset