Sickness & Speech

I'm not really sure how it has been nearly 2 months since I last posted. I've thought about posting lots, but just haven't gotten around to it I guess. As I've mentioned before, late winter (and where I live early spring too!) is a tough time of year for me. It's gloomy and cold out, and the darkness and miserable weather starts to wear on me. This year though, we got lucky (sort of) in the sense that most of April has been pretty decent. We even had some nicer days in March. But we've also had some major swings (like sunny and 70 one day, then upper 20s and snowing the next). And that's been hard on everyone's immune system. Especially Nathan's.

Since mid-March, he's been to urgent care 3 times, his pediatrician once, and the dentist (story for another post). He's had pink eye, an ear infection, and a GI bug (all of which might have actually been the same adenovirus making it's way through his system). He's been on eye drops, oral antibiotics, prescription anti-nausea meds, OTC anti-diarrheals, Tyelenol, Motrin, and several types of natural/homeopathic cough syrups and tablets. We've emptied at least one full pot of Vicks and purchased a plug-in Vicks vaporizer for nighttime. We own every type of device out there for getting a toddler to take medication. We've also gone through a bag of jelly beans that work miracles (90% of the time anyway) as bribery.

This past weekend he started in coughing and sneezing again. The cough got worse and worse, and was accompanied by a low-grade fever that seemed to come and go randomly, resulting in urgent care trip #3 on Monday evening. Lungs sounded clear and flu test was negative, so the consensus was that it's probably another viral upper respiratory bug. After 3 nights in a row of pretty terrible sleep (and poor naps during the day), we busted out the benadryl to help dry him out and induce some much needed rest! Today I think he's finally turning a corner and was able to return to daycare. The cough is still there but not nearly as often or as violent. If anything, they said his vocal cords are probably just irritated, which isn't helping.

All this to say, it's been hard to find time and/or energy to blog lately. On the days when the weather is nice, we're outside doing stuff in the yard or visiting the park or going for walks. On the days when the weather sucks, I sometimes count the minutes until I can crawl into bed and sleep. There are so many things/goals I want to be working on, but all the sickness has disrupted so much of that. My workouts have become sporadic, which isn't good. All meal-planning and preparation has ceased, which has been very bad for both physical and financial health. I've yet to implement the regular cleaning plan and routine that I want to follow. I'm lucky if I get to swiffer the floor for 5 minutes while Curious George is on... And meanwhile, the pile of miscellaneous paperwork and list of things TBD is growing. Sigh.

I could keep going on about all this negative stuff, but I hate posts like that so I'm going to stop now and instead, talk about something more fun. Speech. Nathan's speech, in particular. Seriously, this kid NEVER STOPS TALKING. And it's awesome. I had no idea that two year-olds could be so talkative! As in, we can have full-on conversations with him in which he uses complete sentences and puts together his own thoughts and asks us questions, etc. Holy moly! It's a lot of fun to be able to communicate so thoroughly and so well. And I've known enough people who've had to deal with speech delays and other barriers to communicating with their children to know that we shouldn't take this for granted. I know that we're extremely lucky and blessed to have a child who communicates so well and so often.

All this to say, I've been wanting to do a post about speech for a while now. In particular, I want to record some of the phrases and funny little things he says at this stage. So here goes:

• "Yeeeeeep" and "nooooooope" I'm trying to write these how he says them. Picture an old-time farmer type discussing the weather with his neighbor. Quite often when we ask him yes or no questions, this is how he responds. It's so funny sounding coming from a toddler!
• "What doing Mommy/Daddy?" He's very curious and always wants to know specificallywhat we're doing when he's watching us. 
• "What's this name?" Just like the above example, he wants the specific, actual name of everything that he doesn't recognize. For instance, we can no longer say something is "just a bug" or "just a bird" because he knows they all have different names and wants to know specifically what each one is called. 
• "May I please get down?" We're working really hard on manners, so when he's decided he's finished eating we always make him say this before being excused from the table. It makes me so proud to hear him saying this on his own now!
• "Weefvoo!" Most of his pronunciation is pretty good, but this is how he says "love you" and it's so cute that we don't try to correct it. Most of the time it's in response to when we say it to him, but he's starting to do it more and more on his own and it melts my heart every time.
• "My rawr, my RAWR!" His favorite stuffed animal is a teddy bear named Sax. Before he could say bear or Sax though, he called it his "rawr" because of the sound they make. Now he calls him Sax most of the time, but occasionally when he's looking for his bear or has just spotted him he'll yell this and give him a big hug.

In addition to these regular phrases, he's constantly coming up with random stuff that cracks us up. Sometimes we know where he's learned it, and other times we have no clue how he comes up with these things:

• The other day he was helping me make a cake. He was sitting on the counter stirring the batter (which happened to be blue) and some of it splashed out. With perfect tone and expression he said "Awww, man!"
• He was going to be staying overnight with the grandparents one night and we'd been talking about him coming home again on Saturday. As we were getting ready to head out the door, he turned to the dog and patted his head and said "See you on Saturday Gibbs!"
• One day he was building a really tall tower of legos and it fell over, to which he responded "Dammit!" Oops. And the credit goes to Daddy for having accidentally taught him that (Paul had cut his hand on something in the garage and thought Nathan was in the yard when it happened). Points for using it in the right context though!?
• Over the weekend we were in the parking lot of the forest preserve and Nathan was sitting in the front seat of my car having a snack while I folded up the stroller to load it in the back. I had the car windows down (it was a nice day) and a random guy walked by on his way to his car which was next to us. Out of nowhere, Nathan leaned his head out my drivers' side window and yelled to him "Pipe down, man. Don't crash Mommy's car!" Fortunately the guy just smiled and waved at him. Solid driving advice from a two year-old though! :)

I could probably keep going with several more of these, but I should probably be getting back to work now. It feels good to have finally gotten a post up. Let's hope all the sickness can leave us soon as the weather hopefully continues to improve and stay nice!

Schedule, Routine, Order, Structure, Habit

These are words that have been bouncing around my mind lately. I need these in my life. I wrote a while back about my New Year's resolutions, one of which centered on a theme of stress reduction. I need less stress in my life. Or at least better tools to manage it. The past 4-6 months have not been healthy, stress-wise, and as a result I've been sleeping terribly and my immune system is shot. I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired, so it's time to take control of the situation.

During the week my time is limited, as is my energy. On the weekends, when Nathan goes down for a nap, I feel immense pressure to make the most of that time and knock a bunch of things off my to-do list. But as soon as I think about that list, I feel very overwhelmed by everything I need to be doing (working out more, getting Nathan signed up for swim lessons or some other activity, developing a better family budget, organizing photos, finishing decorating now that the majority of the renovation is over, working on my master's thesis, cleaning... oh the cleaning...). And then I end up either trying to do too much at once (and therefore doing nothing very well or to completion), or give up entirely and sit on the couch instead. And then I'm stressed because I made no progress whatsoever.

Yesterday I came across a blog post that one of my FB friends had shared on her timeline (not her blog) about regular cleaning schedules and routines. I randomly clicked on it and started reading. The author is a mom with three small children who also works outside the home. She writes about a concept called "household management" and shares not only her own personal observations and philosophies, but invites readers to share theirs as well. The site as a whole is a bit overwhelming for me (but then again, just about anything feels overwhelming right now because I'm STILL sick and not sleeping well). But the post my friend had initially shared caught my attention and just might be the start of something new for me to try:

Daily and weekly cleaning schedules. I am not a neat freak. At the same time, I don't really think I'm a slob either. I guess I'm probably somewhere in between. But lately, I've felt like I'm losing the battle when it comes to clutter. And I definitely think I need to step it up a bit in terms of basic dirt-and-grime removal (especially during the winter when we're all trapped inside and sharing germs). I've always been a sort of binge-cleaner. Once a month (or maybe more like every other month) I'll do a massive deep clean. I'll work all day until I'm sore and exhausted but everything is finally clean and sparkling and then I'll collapse in a heap and hope that it stays that way for longer than an hour. Same with clutter. Every few weeks I'll go on a de-cluttering rampage where I literally charge all over the house picking up and putting away all the STUFF that has piled up everywhere.

This is not working for me. The results of my binge-cleaning and de-cluttering are too short lived and then I'm right back where I started. I don't mind a little clutter or a bit of dust, but I do need to not feel overwhelmed when I find I have an extra 30 minutes that I could devote to cleaning or organizing. I need to feel empowered to make the most of the short scraps of time and actually see results that help reduce my overall stress level. I need plan to do this. I need to have a routine, a schedule that tells me what to tackle and when. And then when I've finished whatever is on the docket for that day/time, I can allow myself to sit for a few minutes. Maybe watch a show or work out with my husband without feeling guilty because the kitchen is a mess and we are out of clean underwear again. I need small but doable steps that, over time, get me to the goal of a reasonably clean(ish) and organized house.

I'm not sure quite yet what this schedule will look like for me. I'm still reading examples on the blog and figuring out what will or won't work for our house. But I do know that I've stumbled on something that makes sense to me. Something that I desperately need and want to make work so I can start to reduce the stress just a bit. I feel like stress reduction is a ripple effect anyway. If I can have a positive impact by doing one thing (implementing a cleaning schedule and plan), then I'll have more time and energy for other stress-reducing things (working out, relaxing), and so on.

That's my hope anyway. I leave on Wednesday for my girls' trip with my BFF. My goal is to start whatever this new plan will be when I get back!

Sick... AGAIN

Stress has always been a trigger for lowering my immune system (as it is for most people). For me though, the combination of stress + poor sleep means I'm doomed. I've been sick 3 times so far this season, which is just absurd. My last post, in fact, I was sick. And here I am again... sick. Ugh!

Thankfully, Nathan has managed to steer clear of it for the most part. Until this time. We're both sick. I am fairly certain it's just a bad cold or at most a sinus infection. But there's been a lot of strep throat going around (several people from my office and/or their kids have had it), so I'm just really hoping and praying we aren't headed down that road.

Nevertheless, it has been a miserable weekend. Nathan started acting like he was getting sick Thursday. I woke up Friday with a sore throat and itchy eyes. Nathan was congested all day and by Friday evening I was sneezing up a storm. Saturday Paul was on shift (of course) so it was just me and Nathan at home all day, miserable and cranky and sick. I had thought we were going to have a fun Nathan-and-Mama Saturday, but needless to say, that didn't really pan out like I'd hoped. We did make cookie monster (blue) cookies. And since the temperature outdoors actually rose into the 30s for the first time in days, I did give in to his pleading and bundled us up for an hour's playtime outside. I've never put much stock in that cold air makes you sick, besides which, we were ALREADY sick and he so badly wanted to run around in the snow...

I'm just SO ready for the winter to end. Unfortunately, it's going to be a while still. I honestly don't mind snow, but the bitterly cold temperatures and icy, windy stuff is starting to get to me. Which is why, in just 10 days, I'm escaping!

My BFF is moving out of state in April and we've been talking about a girls' trip to New Orleans for a while now. About a month ago, she spotted a crazy-good sale on Southwest for round-trip tickets. We leave March 4 for three nights! I can't wait. I'm very grateful to my husband for agreeing that I could go, and to my in-laws for helping out with the little man when Paul goes to work.

I'm also a little nervous. Three nights is the longest I will have been away from Nathan. I know he'll be fine. And it will be a good stepping stone for when we go to Hawaii for a week in August for an adults-only getaway with Paul's BFF and his wife. Yikes!

Lots of fun things to look forward to in the coming weeks and months... Now, if I could just get the stress and sleep situation under control so I stop succumbing to every germ that crosses my path. I should probably write a whole separate post on that, but my head is pounding so I'll leave it at that for now. Time for some hot tea and more cough drops...

Confessions of a (Temporarily) Husband-and-Toddler-Free Woman

For the last 48-60 hours, I have been completely alone in my house (well, aside from the four-legged creatures). Alone as in, no husband and no toddler. Why, you ask? Well, a few reasons... Paul is on a work trip to California (lucky jerk) for the week, so that explains his absence. My in-laws graciously offered to help with childcare while he's gone, and even went so far as to ask if they could keep Nathan for a couple of days. The original plan was for them to watch him Tuesday, keep him Tuesday night, and watch him until I was done with work on Wednesday...

Tuesday night I got home from work, rather excited for a responsibility-free evening at home all to myself. I had big plans to catch up on guilty-pleasure TV, eat whatever I wanted without having to also feed a two year-old, and peruse a long-neglected pile of magazines while sipping a glass of wine before bed. I even celebrated my evening of freedom by fitting in a workout BEFORE 9 pm (woohoo!). I was planning to work from home on Wednesday (which I do a couple days a week anyway), which meant I could go to bed later if I wanted and sleep in a bit without having to get Nathan up and fed and ready for daycare in time to start my workday.

Around 11 pm (after my second glass of wine... oops!), I was all ready to settle into bed and drift off to sleep. I called Paul to chat for a few minutes and say good night, then turned off the lamp. That's when I noticed the thermostat in the hallway was glowing brightly. We recently had one of those fancy, flat-screen, tablet-like ones installed when we upgraded our furnace and AC system during the renovations. I don't really know how to use it, but it's hooked up to WIFI and displays the weather and indoor stats and all kinds of random stuff. It's on the wall in the hallway just outside our bedroom, so the glow was sort of blinding. I groaned and dragged myself out of bed, fumbled around for my glasses, and went to see what it was doing.

ERROR CODE: 223. Heat issue - Indoor. That's what it said. Paul had mentioned that we were due to change the filter on it, so I figured that was probably what it meant. I poked around on the screen some, made the message go away, and went back to bed. Two minutes later, it started glowing again. Same message. I sighed and tried to locate the settings menu, hoping I could somehow turn off the error alerts so it wouldn't glow on me all night. That's when I noticed that the symbol that usually appears when the heat is running was there, but the heat definitely wasn't running. And the temperature was a couple of degrees below where it's set to maintain. I became vaguely worried that something was wrong, but it was late, I'd had 2 glasses of wine, and I just wanted to sleep.

I cleared the error message, closed my bedroom door partially so I couldn't see the screen, and went to bed. Yesterday morning, I woke up FREEZING with one of the cats (who was also apparently cold) curled up on my head. The house was 55 degrees! There were like, 50 error message on the thermostat screen. Several #223 messages and a #38 that said "unable to heat when requested". Having slept later than usual, I was disoriented and in need of coffee. And also very irritated. We literally just spent thousands of dollars having a whole new system installed in November because the previous system was no longer working. I started the coffee and went in search of the phone number for the service company. Thankfully, we signed up for the total protection plan/warranty (or whatever it's called) that includes guaranteed service and coverage for repairs, etc.

They company said a technician would be out between 10-2. I layered on the sweats and hunkered down under a blanket to try to work. Thank goodness it wasn't one of the super frigid days we've had so far this winter! Nevertheless, I was pretty chilled and glad to see the technician when he arrived around noon. He concluded it was a motor that failed (seriously!?) and a new one was needed. Of course, he didn't actually have one in his truck (why would you send a service tech with replacement parts?), but said he would request one and could come back the following day (today) to install it. That's when I got upset. We had been told as part of our plan purchase we would be put up in a hotel if they were unable to fix the situation the same day. As soon as I mentioned this, he said he's see if they could come back later in the evening instead. It wasn't great but at least it would be the same day.

At this point, I texted my in-laws to see if they could possibly keep Nathan another night. Even if they came earlier in the evening, I was worried it would be too close to his bedtime and the house was much too cold for him. Thankfully they were happy to help out again, although I was starting to miss my little man. My relaxing, peaceful day working at home was turning into a frustrating and chilly nightmare, and I just wanted to bring my son home. Long story short, the part was delivered yesterday afternoon and the technician came back later to install it. I finally had heat again yesterday evening. I did go over to my in-laws to hang out with Nathan a bit (and to thaw myself out while the house heated up). Unfortunately, he got really upset when I left to go run the errands I hadn't been able to do earlier while sitting around waiting on the technician and part to arrive. Listening to your son screaming "Mommy, mommy, mommy!" as you leave him for an unplanned night away after a stressful day is really crummy :(

The house was finally warm by the time I went to bed last night though, so at least the new part is working. And it was all covered under the warranty so we didn't have to pay a dime. So now here it is Thursday, and I'm still home by myself. I had asked my in-laws to drop Nathan off at daycare this morning since I thought I would be going into the office. Except I woke up sick. I thought about just working from home again, but my work laptop suddenly decided it wouldn't connect to my internet this morning so... I gave up and told my boss I was taking a sick day.

So what does a wife/mother with no husband/son do during an unexpectedly long stretch of time at home alone? So far I have:

• Worn pajamas all day.
• Not showered in 3 days (I did take a leisurely bath - complete with a scented bath bomb - but haven't washed my hair!).
• Watched an episode of Extreme Weight Loss, State of Affairs (my newest TV addiction), and parts of NCIS and L&O SVU marathons.
• Eaten whatever I want whenever I want, including popcorn for dinner one night.
• Consumed 3/4 of a bottle of wine.
• Done a 30-minute yoga DVD.
• Wandered aimlessly around the grocery store while hungry, which resulted in the purchase of things like a jar of sundried-tomato pesto and whipped peanut butter.
• Missed my hubby and my silly little boy terribly.
• Concluded that as much as I want/crave some alone time every now and then, I wouldn't trade this life I have now for the one I used to have as a single lady!

Wordless Wednesday (or Whatever): Two Years Old!

Except not really wordless because... I just can't.

We celebrated Nathan's second birthday over a number of days and in a variety of ways. Some highlights:

 Birthday party at Rainforest Cafe with friends and family (the Saturday before his actual birthday). He enjoyed the binoculars.

 Bug cupcakes that my friend B and I made for later that night. He's obsessed with bugs lately and now asks for "cake bug" all the time.

 Birthday balloons for cake and snacks at our house on that same Saturday. He enjoys Goodnight Construction Site and is starting to get into Thomas the Engine, so he was pretty excited about the balloons.

 

 Birthday boy got to pick TWO "cake bugs" to eat (except he mostly just ate icing and the M&Ms).

 Racing through the obstacle course with Dada at Bouncy Town on his actual birthday (best $8 we ever spent at that place!).

Blowing out his candle at Great-Grandma's house the day after his birthday. We had a small get together with my mom's family since we were down visiting them last weekend. My grandma made all our birthday cakes growing up and I wanted so badly for her to make him one, but she's getting older and doesn't really travel anymore, so this was really a dream come true for us to be there and her to make this for him this year!

 This kid... He's never been the type to smash his face in the cake, so when he went in for a bite we just cheered him on...

My handsome, not-so-little boy :)

Happy Birthday Nathan - we love you so much!!!

Looking Back, Looking Forward

It may be a cliche, but New Year's does tend to put me in a reflective mood. Every year when I'm designing our Christmas cards online, I enjoy looking through pictures taken over the course of the year and thinking about all the memories we made. I'd say 2014 was a pretty good year, although certainly with some ups and downs:

• January we celebrated Nathan's first birthday (and marveled to ourselves that we had survived a whole year of being 100% responsible for another human being!)
• February we took my husband's parents and sister on a little getaway trip, and later that month Nathan took his first real steps.
• March was a busy month of continuing education coursework for my husband; thankfully, my mom was able to come and stay with us some to help out with the crazy schedules.
• April was Nathan's second Easter which he and I spent with my father-in-law's side of the family (my husband had to work). Sadly that was the last time Nathan saw his Great-Grandma Portia as she passed away the following month. I also officially began a new position with my office in April.
• May was a bit of a whirlwind of more classes for Paul, trying to start the process of renovating our house, and his grandmother's funeral.
• June we took our first vacation with just our little family (all previous trips had been with one set of grandparents or the other). We went to Hilton Head Island in South Carolina and enjoyed a wonderful week together. Nathan loved the ocean.
• July was filled with typical summer-type activities: picnics and fireworks and trips to the water park, splash pad, and zoo.
• August we made time for a quick trip to my hometown downstate for a family reunion and to visit my good friend AJ and her husband to meet their baby boy (they're fellow IF survivors).
• September was an insanely busy month... my brother came for a visit, then my mom arrived to stay with Nathan while Paul and I had a short getaway which ended with us driving back downstate for the funeral of my great-grandmother "Gramy" (Nathan's great-great-grandma who was 103!). In addition to that we had all the usual activities that September brings, like the local fair and demolition derby, various family birthdays, and our anniversary.
• October kept up the momentum with adventures to the apple orchard and pumpkin farm, a work trip for me to Dallas, and then a 10-day trip to visit my parents (which included my mom's 60th birthday surprise extravaganza and Halloween).
• November seemed like it might be slower but that's when things finally started happening with the renovation. We literally spent half of Thanksgiving ripping up carpet.
• December was both the shortest and the longest month of the year (or so it seemed). It definitely didn't feel like there were enough days in the month (or hours in each day) to do everything we needed to do. With all the stress and chaos of living in a renovation zone with a toddler and no kitchen, it didn't always feel like the holiday season. But we ended on a positive note with a nearly-finished new kitchen, a 3 day trip to spend Christmas with my mom's family, and plenty of gifts under the tree for all.

So now here we are... 2015. Nathan will be turning 2 in just 3 weeks and I can hardly believe it. Last year I started the habit of setting mini goals for each month. As the year wore on and the months became busier, I didn't always do a great job of setting, keeping, or writing about them. But now that the new year has arrived, it seems appropriate to think about reinstating that habit. I'm not sure yet what format I'll follow. But I've been doing some thinking and I've decided I want to focus (at least for the first part of the year) on mini goals in 3 main categories:

1. Relationships. There are some (like with my husband - I'll have to expand on that more in another post) that could use some work. There are others that are evolving (like with my son) or that will soon change drastically (like with my best friend who is probably moving several states away soon). I need to set some goals for myself in terms of how I should behave or things I need to do to nurture these relationships.
2. Finances. I want to revisit the concept of a monthly budget for our family. I'd also like to develop some other goals (both long and short term) for us in terms of what we do with our money and how.
3. Stress & self-care. This might end up splitting into a couple of areas. One component is definitely health and fitness; but whereas last year's fitness goals were geared more towards weight loss, I think that this year's will be more focused on using exercise and nutrition (and other aspects of wellness) to manage stress and overall health, including mental health! Another component of this will probably encompass home organization and work-life balance stuff.

So there you have it. My 2014 year-in-review and a brief glimpse ahead into what I hope to achieve (or at least strive for) in 2015. Happy New Year to all, and to all a Good Night!

Merry Christmas!

Just a few pics from going to see Santa, picking out a tree, and helping Dada put up lights outside. It hasn't really been a typical holiday season for us with all the chaos of the house renovations. In fact we barely have any decorations up and it barely feels like Christmas with temperatures in the 40s and 50s. Oh well. At least Nathan still doesn't understand much of what's going on (or in our case what he might be missing this year)!

Merry Christmas!