Sarajoy's Birthday is Still Coming...

For months, whenever we would talk about a party or have a get-together, Sarajoy would ask if it was for her birthday.  We'd tell her it was coming on June 29th.
"Junie-ninse" She'd say.

Recently she made reference to her birthday coming to the door.  I wondered what her little mind pictured about her birthday coming. 

We've spent a lot of time talking about it because it was going to be the day she said goodbye to diapers and pacifiers forever. 

I felt prompted to potty train her a couple of months ago, but we've all been talking up the paci thing.
She's going to get balloons and tie her pacis on and send them up to the cloud babies. 
And then she's going to have a puppy party with a puppy cake. 

We were all pretty excited for her big day.  Ruby had helped me pick out some great gifts, the neighbors had donated their old Fisher Price dollhouse, I picked up a bag of tiny stuffed dogs at a yardsale that I thought I'd hand her one-by-one as she sent her pacis into the sky, and I bought a glowing seahorse that plays nice music for her to snuggle with.

I could write a whole post about whether this will be harder for her or for me, but I think it is obvious. 
I'm not looking forward to life without her pacis.
This is a child who puts herself down for naps.  She sleeps through the night.  We ALL love her pacis.
So I'm hope, hope, hoping that puppies and a glowing seahorse will suffice.

But Junie-ninth has come and gone, and she sleeps now with her pacis.  The little dogs and seahorse are still hidden away in my bedroom.

We're all a little depressed about the whole thing.

Simon got stomach flu on Friday the 22nd.  It took him most of the week to recover.
Dallin got a wretched sore throat on Tuesday.  He still suffers miserably.
Sarajoy got a sore throat on Wednesday and didn't eat for that evening or all day Thursday.  She stayed in bed all day with a low-grade fever.  I took her in on Friday, but no strep.  She seemed a little more chipper.  And she ate two bowls of eggs.
A few hours later, she neatly deposited those eggs on her bed.  She didn't cry or say a thing.  We just found them later due to the smell.
She'll seem better for awhile and then throw up again. 
She is so cute, even in sickness.  She'll sit neatly on a stool at the toilet and wretch, then sit up and dab her mouth with a towel.  "Mommy, I fow up."  She says matter-of-factly.
And she was concerned we'd be upset when it was coming from both ends so she threw up on the floor and made a mess. 
She was feeling well enough on Friday night and Ruby and Daisy were SO disappointed at not having her party that we gave her the dollhouse.  All 4 of the younger kids have had so much fun with it. 
Saturday night we gave her her puppy gifts:  A book called "Mother's Milk" that talks about all kinds of nursing babies, A stuffed dog with puppies that magnet to its belly, and a little pack of tiny puppy figurines that I'm hoping will encourage her to work on her chore chart.  Ruby also gave her a cute littlest pet shop set with baby animals and a carriage.
But we're still waiting for her to feel well enough to eat cake and give up her pacis.

I guess its kind of exciting that her birthday is STILL coming...

But Sulley got sick Friday night (sooo sad)
Daisy was down on Sat, but hasn't thrown up...
Brandon came home early from church feeling sick....

Hopefully the day gets here before Ruby's birthday on the 7th.