Happy Halloween

We hope you all had a very Happy Halloween. Our princesses and dinosaur had a fabulous night and baby Eden enjoyed sleeping through the festivities.

It's a beautiful baby girl!

Eden Noelle Fry was born yesterday, October 29th at 9:25 am. She was a healthy 7 pounds 4 ounces and 20 inches long. She is so beautiful and everyone is loving having her join our family. Caden, Jillian and Madelyn each fought over who could hold her first and they all smothered her with kisses and hugs. We're still in the hospital, but wanted to share some first pictures.

A Little Funny...

Today when Jillian, Maddie and I were getting in the car Maddie pointed and said, "fishing pole." I looked to where she was pointing and sure enough there were about 4 of Bryan's fishing poles. I said, "That's right Maddie. Good job." Then while we were driving we were rounding a corner. There was construction going on and Maddie said, "Mommy, fishing pole!" I looked over and sure enough there was a construction crane bent over the site and it kind of did look like a fishing pole. I said, "Is that a fishing pole Maddie?" She said, "Right, a BIG fishing pole!"

What we've been up to lately:

Just a little info on what we've been up to lately:

Sunday 11th- Went to church, Maddie went to Nursery, came home.

Tuesday 13th- Maddie woke up with a fever from her nap. Sick all day.

Wednesday 14th- Maddie sicker and more miserable.

Thursday 15th- 10 kids from Nursery are now sick plus the assistant nursery leader. 3 of those are confirmed with swine flu

Friday 16th- Bryan and Jillian both have fevers and are sick all weekend.

Sunday 18th- Maddie even worse and we're getting really worried. Bryan gives her a blessing.

Monday 19th- Bryan better, Caden gets a fever and Jillian gets worse. Stephanie's doctors put her on Tamiflu as preventative care so she doesn't get sick. Swine flu is bad, but they say for pregnant women it can be fatal.

Tuesday 20th- Maddie finally fever free and starting to look better. Jillian fever almost gone and feeling better. Caden fever free and feeling perfect. Bryan back to work. Stephanie hates Tamiflu and is feeling queasy from it.

So needless to say this past week has SUCKED for our family. We are just praying that everyone gets competely healthy soon and that life can get back to normal. We have so much to do before Baby Fry #4 arrives! She's due in 18 days!

Tips for all you healthy ones out there:
The following advice, given by Dr. Oz, makes a lot of sense and is important for all to know:

The only portals of entry are the nostrils and mouth/throat. In a global epidemic of this nature, it's almost impossible to avoid coming into contact with H1N1 in spite of all precautions. Contact with H1N1 is not so much of a problem as proliferation is.

While you are still healthy and not showing any symptoms of H1N1 infection, in order to prevent proliferation, aggravation of symptoms and development of secondary infections, some very simple steps, not fully highlighted in most official communications, can be practiced (instead of focusing on how to stock N95 or Tamiflu):

1. Frequent hand-washing (well highlighted in all official communications).

2. "Hands-off-the-face" approach. Resist all temptations to touch any part of face (unless you want to eat or bathe.)

3. *Gargle twice a day with warm salt water (use Listerine or Hydrogen Peroxide if you don't trust salt). *H1N1 takes 2-3 days after initial infection in the throat/ nasal cavity to proliferate and show characteristic symptoms. Simple gargling prevents proliferation. In a way, gargling with salt water has the same effect on a healthy individual that Tamiflu has on an infected one. Don't underestimate this simple, inexpensive and powerful preventative method.

4. Similar to 3 above, *clean your nostrils at least once every day with warm salt water, or hydrogen peroxide. *Not everybody may be good at Jala Neti or Sutra Neti (very good Yoga asanas to clean nasal cavities), but *blowing the nose softly once a day and swabbing both nostrils with cotton buds dipped in warm salt water is very effective in bringing down viral population.*

5. *Boost your natural immunity with foods that are rich in Vitamin C (Amla and other citrus fruits). *If you have to supplement with Vitamin C tablets, make sure that it also has Zinc to boost absorption.

6. *Drink as much of warm liquids (tea, coffee, etc) as you can. *Drinking warm liquids has the same effect as gargling, but in the reverse direction. They wash off proliferating viruses from the throat into the stomach where they cannot survive, proliferate or do any harm.

Annual Apple Hill Trip

Caden 7 years old

Jillian 4 1/2 years oldMadelyn 2 1/2 years old

Yesterday we went to Apple Hill for our annual visit. The kids were so excited to go and had a blast as usual. My parents were out of the country and Amanda's husband works weekends so we went by ourselves this year. The kids' favorite thing this year was riding the horses. They each rode two laps and begged to go again.

Caden riding "Cosmo"

Jillian riding "Crackers"

Maddie riding "Lucky"

Taking a ride on the "Choo Choo!" Jillian was so afraid of missing the ride she refused to smile.

Getting ready to leave. Mom and her 8 month pregnant self opted to skip the bumpy train ride.

Can't forget the delicious Apple Donuts. Yummy!