11 days

Well, last year Colin missed the 2nd day of school because he was sick. Today was the 12th day and Madison stayed home with a fever. The way I figure - we had 11 days in before our first illness, so we are in much better shape than we were last year!

I took Quincy to get her preschool physical today, and she has another ear infection. She has had many ear infections over her little 3 years of life. Our doctor would really love to think about putting tubes in her ears. I am really not sure how I feel about this. I can't imagine my wild little Quincy having to wear ear plugs etc in order to get in the tub. My sister tells me that they don't really have the restrictions that they used to have, but I still don't know. We will see how the rest of the fall goes, if she continues on her infectious path, then we might not have a choice. I knew she hasn't been feeling well this week, but I thought it was just a virus. When they started to check her ears and she started howling like a banshee, I knew.

On an unrelated note, my grandmother was diagnosed with cancer today. Please keep her in your prayers as we move forward to see what type of treatment she will be needing and what type of surgeries she might be need. She is such a rock in my life, and a great example of faith, and I am very worried about her.

On a happier note, #7 seems to have moved a trampoline into my uterus. This is absolutely the squirmiest baby I have ever carried! We will be having a sonogram soon, and then we can begin the great name debate. I am pretty sure we have settled on a boy's name. The girl's name that we like, however, I feel is becoming too popular, and so I am starting to not want to use it. When we had Madison and Mallory, I really thought that we had picked sweet, yet unpopular names....little did I know that Madison would be on the top of the charts for most of the late 90's and is still being used pretty regularly today! I like names that are a little less common, but not so weird that people can't remember what you named your kid. When I was pregnant with Preston, Jim really wanted to name him Frank, and my grandpa Robert told me "Frank- now there's a name I could actually remember!!" It still makes me smile!

We have a fun, but wild holiday weekend planned. Jim has helped plan out a fishing derby for the grand opening of the children's fishing pond at the new city park. Colin, Cameron, Preston and Quincy are all planning to fish in the morning. I will be sure to take lots of photos. Quincy thinks she will win a trophy for catching a pink fish. If she manages it, I will take tons and tons of photos!