This January is beginning to feel like the January after Mary died where we were all sick and it just seemed to go on and on. I had a cold before Christmas that almost disappeared before we left for Mankato, and then it seemed to hang on and on and is now finally going going gone. Tylan seemed to pick up a tiny bit of this as well - mainly goopy eyes. And now, yesterday Ella is sick. She was so cranky yesterday, and by midafternoon had a really raspy voice. She fell asleep early but was clearly uncomfortable and was extremely restless. I told Cory he should probably just sleep in the guest room so he could have an uninterrupted night of sleep, and that turned out to be a good idea. I wasn't in bed until 1 a.m., and then Ella was awake every hour or so very briefly.

Today Ella still isn't feeling well and really would have benefitted from a nap earlier in the afternoon. She's been poking at her ears a little but won't say if they hurt or just feel plugged up or what. Thankfully she seems to calm down if I give her Hyland's Teething Tablets. I'd like to pick up some of Hyland's earache tablets, too, but they didn't have any at the one store I've been to recently. The teething tablets, though, have both chamomile and belladonna, so they have some calming and pain relieving elements that are probably also in the earache tablets. I'm hoping that by tomorrow she'll be getting back to her old self.

So today has been a day of just sitting around, reading, watching toons, etc. Cole's been busy building with his legos, and Accalia decided she was going to read every single one of the Sandra Boynton board books we own, and that's what she did for a little while today. Boynton's books are probably the favorite of all of the kids so far when they're younger.

I've been sorting through all of the magazines that have been piling up. There have been a number that I've been saving forever and finally just paged through and found nothing of interest. I'd let the two LLL magazines I receive - NEW BEGINNINGS (the member magazine) and LEAVEN (the Leader magazine) pile up over the past year, so I sat down to get up to date with that responsibility of leadership. I'd forgotten how much I enjoy reading NEW BEGINNINGS and how it makes you feel as if you've just sat down at a series meeting with a bunch of other mothers. I think it's probably also an indication of how much I've been missing that tribe feeling of being with other similarly minded mothers and women.

Other magazines that have been piling up include old, old issues of Mothering Magazine. I subscribed to that through the first year of Ella's life and then didn't renew because I just wasn't making the time to read it. I have a bunch of issues to read through now. I'd love to resubscribe because that's a magazine I still dearly love and was the first "alternative" parenting magazine I read. I just wish I could sit and read all day. One of the things that makes me feel richest is being surrounded by books and magazines - piles and piles of them.

I'm not sure why we've never done this in previous winters, but we've started going out on at least a weekly basis looking at bald eagles. Today we left a little early for Accalia's ballet class and drove along the Missouri River. We saw eight bald eagles! In one tree there were three eagles, in another there were three more. Then there were two flying over the river and one ended up flying right over us. Such an incredible sight! If you live anywhere near a bald eagle nesting spot and can watch them without disturbing them, don't miss your chance!

We have to pick up Accalia soon, so I'd better start getting ready.