Back In The Saddle

This week has been hard. I was telling my sister Emily that I feel like all I blog about lately is my woebegones and I wanted to avoid sounding like a complete bore.

Henry has been really sick for a week now. I finally took him into the doctor yesterday and discovered that he has a double ear infection! Neither Seth or Sam ever had ear infections so they kind of fell off my radar. Hello!! Sometimes, I feel like I'm a first time parent again with Henry. He is so different than either Seth or Sam was as a baby. Or maybe I've really lost my mojo. He's been teething and his bottom left molar is halfway up so I figured that was why he was so grumpy. But then he was throwing up which turned into a nasty cold with wheezing. After last year's scare, I had this awful feeling that I was attributing all of his suffering to teething when he really had pneumonia again.

Thankfully, that isn't the case. Antibiotics for the ear infection should help him be happy, Tylenol for the tortuous molar and menthol for his cold. Today, he actually smiled so I really feel like we've turned a corner. I have been holding him for a week but it has been while he's been screaming and crying so my nerves are shot. I've been staying up really late because I dread my peaceful nights ending when he is asleep. But, he could care less that I was up until midnight and starts his day around six no matter what. I'm hoping he'll be just as excited as I am to be more independent today!

Underlying all of that stress has been some new uncertainty for our future. I really hope to blog about it soon but for now, in the midst of it, I need to balance my inclination to vent and expose with Jay's need for caution and privacy until we have reached some solution. Hopefully, a nice shiny diamond will come from all of this pressure!

Add on a few more unexpected expenses, day eight of a dripping faucet so that our pipes don't freeze and the end result is some light-hearted stories about my kids for blog entries. Thankfully, they are always a source of humor and irony to insure me from being overwhelmed by the big, bad world. But, break's over! Back to the drama!

Yesterday, after taking Henry to the doctor, KariAnn and I shared a babysitter and went out to lunch. I desperately needed to get out of the house for something other than an errand or a commitment and we tried out a new restaurant, Vin Rouge (I just read this review...WAY more casual for lunch). For you local girls, I think Twigs is better. It's good but just not as good. Food aside, we had a great time talking. KariAnn was my very first friend here and hanging out with her is always so low pressure and easy going. We're pretty similar in ideals and goals so I can always bounce an idea off of her and get a pretty trustworthy response.

Henry let me know that leaving him wasn't so cool so I had to hold him for awhile afterwards. I cleaned a little bit and then met Chad and KariAnn at the hospital so KariAnn could get a 3-D ultrasound while I watched her kids in the waiting area. Chad and KariAnn have always been so willing to include us when they go boating, three-wheeling and now mountain cabining (I'm making up a new word..ok? KariAnn turns it into an experience). All we can offer in return is free ultrasounds! Her baby had been breech so she was relieved that he had turned and was now head down. Jay took a turn watching all six of our kids so I went to watch part of the ultrasound. At 36 weeks, it was hard for the techs to get a great picture of his little face but we saw pretty chubby cheeks, a cute little nose and pursed little lips. I'm sure he'll be a cutie.

Jay and I fed the fam at Le Cafe afterwards. Henry discovered that smashing saltine crackers is way more fun than eating them and made a huge mess. I was just glad he wasn't crying. There was a new enrichment group being held at Andrea's later that night and I decided to go to at the last minute. Jay assured me that he didn't care if I went so we switched cars and I drove up to her place for Relief Society's Girls Night Out. Andrea produced another yummy hot chocolate bar with the toppings, syrups and even chocolate dipped spoons. There were 10 of us there and we played a get to know you game. We had to rip off squares of toilet paper and then depending on how many squares we had ripped off, say one thing about ourselves for each square. I was well prepared from having recently done my hundred list. I left around 8:30 and went home to watch The Office (it was a great episode!) and Grey's Anatomy with Jay.

All in all, I feel normal again. Jay invited two of his fellow residents over tonight to play Knights and Cities so I need to get the house in order. This is so out of character for Jay as I'm usually the one who invites anyone over. I'm actually kind of nervous. I'm pretty good at chit-chat but I'm out of practice doing it with two non-member single guys. Hmmmm. So, that's what I'll be doing the rest of the day. The need there is always more than what I can actually accomplish.