Lately I've felt so exhausted by life. Do you ever have those times? You never seem to get things done and can't quite get up the energy to do anything about it. I'm looking around the house at the clean laundry that needs to be put away and the dirty dishes that need to be loaded in the dishwasher and the toys that need to be picked up, etc. Oy. Sometimes I think it's still adjusting to having four kids and not always being realistic in my expectations for what I will actually manage to do when I also have four children to care for and hopefully just hang out with and have fun with throughout the day. And then sometimes I wonder if I don't have a touch of PPD and that's affecting my energy and motivation levels. I'm not sure, but I'm pretty sure that being in bed right now would be a smarter thing than writing in my blog.

Everyone's been a little sick around here. Even Tylan seems to have her first cold. Poor thing. I thought this morning how nice that must be for her - especially when not feeling well - to be carried around all day long. Cole's been the sickest, and I took him to the doctor Saturday afternoon. He had gone to bed on Friday with a cold that seemed to be knocking him on his butt, and when he got up on Saturday he had no energy and had really rapid, shallow breathing. The first thing the nurse did was to check his oxygen levels, and they were around 81/82 when they should be around 91/92. He had a couple nebulizer treatments while we were there, and then we came home with prescriptions and a nebulizer, which Cole has named Nebbie the Smoke Machine. The doctor heard a little something in his right lung but didn't say that it was pneumonia or bronchitis. Cole's definitely feeling better today.

Despite everyone not feeling quite right, Tylan had her first spontaneous laugh today. Prior to this she'll try to make laughing sounds when I tickle her ribs, but today she really laughed. Ella and I were playing with Tylan, and Tylan grabbed on to Ella's hair. I was getting Ella's hair untangled, and Tylan looked at Ella with a huge smile and laughed. It was very cute.

Cole has been busy creating new Christmas decorations. Today he drew Destructor the Snowman and gave him a Broom of Doom. So it's not a Martha Stewart Christmas around here, but it'll do.

Accalia and I have been reading the first of The 39 Clues series and are loving it. It's kind of like a National Treasure adventure. We even have the atlas sitting out so we can track where the main characters are traveling.

Okay, I'm off to bed. Accalia didn't go to ballet today because she wasn't feeling quite up to it, but I have a feeling she'll want to go to gymnastics tomorrow.