Recovery mode

We are in recovery mode this week at our house.  Last week was no fun at all. 

At the beginning of the week, I got a call from school that Bowen's lymph nodes were huge.  I picked him up, did a double-take because they WERE huge and called the doctor right away.  We were able to be squeezed in at 4 PM in Ames and the doctor then did a double-take at how big his neck was.

Long story short - positive for strep AND mono.  Now, this would be not awesome under any circumstances, but when you have an immuno-suppressed child, YIKES.  Keeping Blake as healthy as can be is a chore.  He doesn't get it and gets in Bowen's face and wants to take a bite of things he's eating and there I am freaking out like a crazy person - "Put that down right now!!! You're going to get sick!"

Bowen was home the rest of the week and the boys' birthdays were on Friday.  Friday morning about 2 AM Blake woke us up with a, "My belly hurts!"  That was followed up with some throwing up and rubbing his back while he puked in a bowl.  Good times.

Friday was miserable. Blake kept saying his belly hurt and had a hard time keeping anything down.  It's scary because he can't get dehydrated because that kidney needs to stay happy.  Blake just wanted to cuddle.  Both boys wanted to sleep.  I felt so terrible they turned the big five and there they were....sick.  I told them they got a redo.

Tuesday morning I took Jenna and Brody in for check-ups since they hadn't been for awhile.  I asked Dr. Nau to take a quick peak at Blake's eyes and sure enough - pink eye.  I was like, seriously?!

So, more medicine and another trip to the pharmacy.

**Knock on wood**  Things seem to be on the up and up.  That's a hard thing about big families.  If one person is sick, it's hard to keep it away from everybody else.

I'm praying the sunshine and fresh air works its magic and we can be done with this.  I am thankful though because we did have a very good winter with staying healthy!

Brody's debut!

Brody FINALLY got to make his first pitching debut last Sunday.  He's been waiting for this day for awhile.  Previously, he has only played t-ball and Sunday was the real deal.  No coach pitch, entirely player pitch.  That's kind of a lot in second grade I think, but we just roll with the rules.  

Brody, as my mom would say, was like a fart on a hot tin skillet Sunday morning.  He had his uniform, belt and all the things laying out for over a week.  This kid loves, loves, loves baseball.  

Aaron, I mean Coach Dad, let the kids pitch an inning at a time.  Brody pitched second in the first game and in typical fashion, I was a nervous wreck.  What is it about your child pitching that makes your stomach do flip-flops?!  I'm the same way with Jenna.  

Anyway, Brody did ok the first game and found his control even better the second game.  After the game I told him I was proud of him and the kid was just smiling from ear to ear!

I was able to get some pictures of his very first go-around.  

We'll just keep working at it and I'll keep my fingers crossed he keeps lovin' it!

Pie in the Face!

Waaaaay back on March 19th we had our annual Burdorf Birthday Bash! As always, we packed a ton of fun stuff into a short period of time.  We had an Easter Egg Hunt, played hockey, played knockout, played volleyball, watched basketball, ate too much, opened presents, ate some more and....played Pie in the Face!

I'm sure you all have seen these videos that people post and we were lucky enough to have a friend gift us the game.  It was an instant hit at our house and I knew we wanted to play it for the birthdays.  We did a kid round and an adult round and the top two from each round had a face off.

You can do whatever you want, but we passed it around the table and when you got hit with pie in the face, you were out.  Whoever was the last man standing without pie in the face was the winner.  Blake and Uncle Mitch were their respective round champions.  When all was said and done... Uncle Mitch reigned victorious!!

Let me also say that a select handful of people who shall remain nameless did NOT want to participate and I kind of made them.  If you're at my house, then you know there's a chance Jamie will make you play games.  That's just how I roll!

I have about 400 more pictures, but who doesn't like to see pie in somebody's face?!  Here are some of the best ones...  ENJOY!

A big thanks to our family for always making this weekend so special and so much fun!  We love you guys!!