The sickies that almost cancelled everything, and the snow that drove us away.

Weeks ago we planned a visit with my sister-in-law and her family. And, as luck would have it, issues arose that threatened our trip and ultimately sent us packing early. But let's back up to the beginning of the week......

Monday started like any typical day. We had friends over for a play date. The house looked like a tornado zoomed through and upchucked every toy. Then we sang, cajoled and urged the kids to help us restore order to the house.

Monday night is when it all started. Ashton wasn't acting like his normally boisterous self at Evening Song, and he felt abnormally warm. So began yet another round of the sickies, a regular occurrence in this poor boy's life as of late.

Tuesday and Wednesday we holed up inside, consoling a very crabby and clingy baby. I performed most tasks one-handed while holding a 20 pound kid in the other. You can just about imagine the state of my house then, I'm sure. By Thursday the stubborn fever and consistent case of the crabbies won. We made yet another trip to Urgent Care. Another ear infection. Only one ear this time. Another round of meds. Here we go again. I'm thinking a change in doctors is in order since we have to wait weeks, even months, to get an appointment. Thus the frequent trips to Urgent Care instead. I'd prefer a consistent relationship with one doctor examining my perpetually sick child. Upon the suggestion of a friend, I even scheduled an appointment with a chiropractor. We're not virgins in chiropractic care for children. In fact, we already have a specialist we love and adore. But it'll be the first time we attempt alleviating sickness with anyone other than a medical doctor. (Our other chiropractic visits were in desperation to cure colic in baby #1 and then to prevent it in baby #2.)

By Saturday the meds had worked their magic and returned my happy baby. We hip-hip-hoorayed that the sickies didn't interfere with our family visit after all. Cousin Samantha, who was also quite sick during the week, recovered just in time as well. So we packed up the truck and set off to Aunt Katie's house, as planned. We spent the day savoring our time with family that lives much too far away. By night time we were definitely ready for the peacefulness of bedtime...buuuuut...we had to wait a bit longer for the quiet to set in since the three-year-old cousins just couldn't quite handle the excitement of a sleepover in the same room. After many attempts at putting the boys back to bed (Hunter in his bed and Spencer on the floor on an air mattress), we finally had to separate them. Going to sleep is hard work when you have a roommate to play with! Once all the children were finally asleep, we adults enjoyed an adult meal with adult conversation (and, yes, adult beverages that may or may not have been poured out of a box).

Kids' meal.

Cousin love:  showing off their big muscles and hugging.

Our naive attempts at bunking the boys together, only later to move Spenc to Samantha's room.

Then came Sunday...and the snow that sent us packing. Literally. We had grand, naive, romantic plans of a lazy morning with cinnamon rolls for breakfast and then we'd shuffle off to Sunday School and church. We got as far as the cinnamon rolls before the reality of the weather forecast scooted us out the door sooner than intended. After traveling less than an hour, we realized we needed to hunker down somewhere until the storm passed. (We just happened to discover this near an outlet mall where the Coach store was having a big ol' sale, so of course it was only natural to take advantage since some higher power lead us right there anyway. Right? After all, Dave still owed me a birthday present from last August. It was overdue. Thank you, bad weather!) So one super duper discounted Coach purse (and wristlet) later, we ended up at our good friends' house, who so generously opened their home to us for the better part of their day.

Feeding Lil Brother at a food pit stop on our long journey home.

Once the storm let up, we hopped back into the truck and endured the longest trip ever. Thank God for portable DVD players (except when the battery dies....a half an hour away from home, and you have to hear over and over and over how your son wants to watch Bob the Builder).

Sickies and bad weather aside, it was a good trip. Not only did we get to spend time with family, we had an unplanned visit with friends (and we can't forget the fateful trip to the Couch outlet).


**I just need to quickly plug my sister-in-law's new blog. She's a crochet-aholic, and takes custom orders. Check it out here.**



This week's randomness:

Spencer has grown quite fond of his independent lessons. He's especially good at making his way around the perimeter of the pool by hanging onto the ledge and making very loud monkey noises. We're very proud he's perfected the monkey crawl, sound effects and all ;)

Chocolate pudding is the best medicine, right?

A rare happy moment in his week of crabbies.

Spencer takes great pleasure in watching any sort of truck outside our house. Garbage, recycling, mail, snow plow, etc.

Picnic kind of day.

A little puzzle time before preschool.

Konked out after a trip to Urgent Care.

Wait, maybe mommies are the best medicine.

Feeling better and lovin' Mommy's donut.

News on Baby and You Handmade:

My etsy shop has been open for a little over a week, and I find myself wading in a bunch of custom orders. This excites (and overwhelms) me! I'm a little surprised (and very flattered and humbled) that it has taken off so quickly. I just hope I can keep up and still manage to branch out. 

This week I focused on creating a new item for the shop:  baby booties!! My first attempt--however flawed--left me giddy with pride and excitement. I carried the tiny shoe around the house with me to admire and oooh and ahhh at it. Then I set to work ironing out the issues and figuring out how to make a larger size for older babies. These are not yet available for sale on my shop, yet I already have a few custom orders for them! Yay! Here is a sneak peak.

My beautiful god daughter, Evelyn, is the recipient of my boggled first attempt.

I must admit I felt quite proud at the post office shipping my first two real etsy orders this week!

If you're interested in more updates on my shop, follow me on Facebook @ https://www.facebook.com/BabyAndYouHandmade. And shop @ Baby and You Handmade. Thanks!