Hello? Hello? Is anyone there?

I'm moved. I'm alive. I'm back online. Wahoo.

So, I've been in my new house for a little over a week and am still having entirely too much fun keeping it clean. I'm sure the novelty will wear off soon... in the meantime I'm singing my way through loading the dishwasher and mopping the floors.

Many have asked to see pictures... I've thought about it and will hopefully post some pictures of the elements I love the most about my new house soon. I haven't yet, because I've been much too busy ridding my house and offspring from the dreaded respiratory virus RSV.

Henry was sick first. So, so very sick... little, puny, didn't eat for a week, barely drank anything, almost in the hospital for dehydration, saved by nebulizer breathing treatments and his mother's iron will to keep him OUT of the hospital Henry... it was totally exhausting. As soon as he got better, and decided that food was his friend and it wasn't actually necessary to be clinging to me all hours of the day and night, Sam and Lucy both got sick. With the same virus. They're bigger, so it isn't as bad... more just like a bad cold. But Sam got a terrible ear infection from it, and both have pretty much stopped eating.

Since we've moved in, I think I've slept in my own bed less than half the time. I'm a little tired.

I think though, we are all on the mend and on our way back to normal.

I've had many a moment when I've thought... "I have to blog about that!"

Some slipped away into the inner recesses of my foggy and sleep deprived brain, and may never actually resurface. But some, I've remembered.

Take this, for example.

When we were decorating our Christmas tree, Sam was getting in the way and making it really difficult to helping hang the lights... he reached over to hand the lights to his brother and his little hands passed right by my face. Hard not to notice that his hands, as little five year old hands often are, were less than clean. Leftover food smells, I've scratched places that I shouldn't smells (sorry. that's gross. but it's true), and I've played in the dirt and mud smells all clung to his grimy little fingers.

I said, "Sam! If you want to help, you have to go wash your hands. They stink."

He must have agreed with me because he didn't complain, or offer some usual explanation, like, "But Mommy, I washed them yesterday!"

When he came back in the living room, he exclaimed, with dead serious enthusiasm, "Guys!" addressing his brother and sister, "It really works! When you wash your hands, they don't stink anymore. They just smell like soap! You HAVE to try it!"

Well miracle of miracles.

I swear I HAVE actually been involved in this child's life for the past five years. He does bathe and wash his hands, and wear clean clothes. But apparently he never actually knew why until he truly paid attention to the transformation.

Fancy that... soap makes you smell clean.