My nasty cold turned into a stomach bug that had me throwing up. Luke spent a week at the start of January in complete despair. He slept terrible, and each evening around 4:30 or so, he would just start screaming at me. All he wanted was to be held, but of course, that's the Bermuda triangle of the day- trying to get dinner going, and the house picked up a bit before Todd gets home. Todd would get home and just hold him, much to Mitchell's dismay. Thankfully Luke's little funk didn't last more than a week. I'm sure he must have been teething, but no teeth have popped through yet. He has the same six he's had since October.
Then for about a week, everything seemed to be pretty calm. The Corolla trouble had been taken care of finally. The van was close to being fixed, but still drivable. Sickness had fled our home. Mitch had started up with preschool again.
He and I have been having a reading lesson each day out of the Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons book. I'm not a crazy mother who is demanding that my child knows how to read by the time he starts Kindergarten or anything. He's just ready for it. He's always asking how to spell different words, and asks what every single sign/billboard/label says. It started off great, then got rough for about a week, and now he's doing really well again. It was rough for a little bit because he wasn't getting the connection between sounding out a word and understanding that was the same as reading. Hard to explain, but now he's grown in his confidence and ability to understand the words he sounds out, and is doing really well. It's so much fun to hear him sound words out. He earns a quarter for each positive reading lesson we have.
Mitchell's cousin, Cardon, came to stay with us for 10 days in January while his parents went to Peru. Cardon just turned five, so the two are very close in age. They had such a great time together. I had absolutely no hesitation taking Cardon for that long. He is so well behaved, and I knew the boys would have a wonderful time together. Thankfully the weather was really mild while he was here and the boys were able to spend some time outside just about every day. In addition to them just having a great time around home, we also took the opportunity to go to Kangaroo Zoo, the Treehouse Museum, out to ice cream one night, and the last day he was with us we met his parents at a mall where the boys got to ride a train and go to the candy store. We had to solidify our standing as the favorite Aunt/Uncle, right?
Unfortunately, when Cardon first arrived, he brought with him a stomach bug that made it's way through most of our house. Mitchell started off with it and threw up a few times within a few days. He wasn't eating well at all, but was playing just fine, and also wasn't telling us he wasn't feeling good. So one day, we were at our wits end with his non-eating, and so we sent him outside (in the freezing cold), to finish his dinner. It was one measly slice of homemade pizza. Cardon ate 5 slices. We thought being outside would light a fire in his butt and get him to eat faster. He had been taking 1.5 - 2 hours to finish a meal. Well, he finally finished the pizza, and guess what?- he threw up big time later that night. Awesome parenting moment. Apparently, he was still not feeling well. Luke caught it the last day Mitch had it, but thankfully it didn't hit him quite as hard, and only lasted a couple days. I caught it for two days, had a break, then caught it again for a couple more days. My parents also caught it about a week apart from each other. Somehow Todd escaped unscathed.
To cap it all off- remember how Mitch got his first stitches the day after Christmas? Well, Luke and I also had our first stitches in January. Unfortunately, no pictures were taken to document ours, but we have scars to prove it. Luke was crawling in the kitchen one day, and I escaped to the bathroom for under one minute. Not two seconds in there, I hear Luke bloody murder screaming! Well, by the time I was done, he was over his fit. So I went back to building some legos with Mitchell for a little while, without even checking on Luke. A little time goes by and Luke crawls his way over to us and he's got blood all over his face and his pajamas (yep, it was like 3:30pm). Well, apparently the bloody murder scream meant he had fallen somehow and cut his chin open! The van was being fixed that day, so as soon as Todd got home, we took him to Instacare for three stitches. Amazingly enough, Luke didn't move a muscle or cry at all when the doctor was stitching him up. Crazy kid.
Well, not a week goes by, and we find ourselves at Costco to pick up a pair of tennis shoes that I had my eye on for a long time. I had already tried them on previously, but tried them on again when Todd was with me. He tells me I should walk around with them. I say, "no, they feel good, I really think they are the right fit." He insists I walk around and offers to cut the thick zip tie that is holding the shoes together really closely. He gets out his handy pocket knife and cuts up, instead of down, and slices my leg open!! I must have been in shock because I didn't curse (and I, admittedly, curse way too much), nor did I cry even though it hurt really really bad! I just sat down on a nearby couch, told Todd to go get a big bandaid, and I held my jeans against the wound to help the bleeding. Apply bandaid, purchase the tennis shoes (although they don't seem like such a great deal anymore), and exit Costco. Enter Instacare for the third time in less than one month. Very unfortunately, two of three stitches popped out (apparently my calf is just too muscular), and now I might as well have not gotten them at all because the wound opened right back up and is now covered with a nasty nasty scab that will turn into a nasty nasty scar.
So, there ya have it folks. Oh wait, the van not only needed to be fixed from the accident, we also had two more issues with it in January, beginning of February. Thankfully both pretty quick and easy fixes- a brake caliper, and a new oil pan, but sheesh. Good riddance January!! You brought us some good times, but mostly, you really stunk it up. Better luck in February, right?
By the way, I don't feel overly negative about all the lows, but documenting them all may sound contrary. I'm mostly amazed by the amount of crap that happened in such a short amount of time. Despite a rough start to the year, we are a very blessed family and try to count those blessings every day. It is mid-February, and, thankfully, we're having a very normal month so far.
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| Who is the rightful heir? Cardon and Mitch at the Treehouse Museum. |
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| Mitch played the Prince in the Cinderella "partici-play" at the Treehouse Museum. |
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| Do you love how Mitch is "looking" at the camera? Drives me insane. |
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| Obviously not a great pic, but this is mom remembering to keep the kitchen pantry shut with this little terrorist around! |
