Are we there yet?

I find myself feeling like I am counting time to the next activity, destination, trip, etc. We wake up and I buy time until breakfast. Then I fill the time before we go some place or have lunch. Then I fill the time before nap. Oh, blessed naptime. The time between lunch and nap seems like an eternity sometimes. After nap, the day seems like it is done. Generally speaking, I am always counting the days until we have an activity or play group or the weeks or months before a big trip or holiday. Cole is as impatient as I am when it comes to going and doing. We are still battling the regular requests to go to Grandma's house. I live an endless road trip where the voice in my head is echoed by the voice of my child. "Are we there yet?"

Name that tune

As a general update; the two big boys are still sick. Cole needs medication to keep the cough under control and Chris is down for the count. I encouraged him to take NyQuil during the day and just sleep...that is where he is. Cole is also taking a good nap and I hope that when he gets up tomorrow morning, he will be better. If not, we will be going to the doctor. Rhys is pulling at his ears but it could be that he just thinks they are interesting. We will see how he is by morning too. I, on the other hand, am just fine and dandy. I was out until about 2 this morning sitting for my friend and then Cole was up just after 6. I tackled some house projects and am getting the germs out as quickly as I can. I still need to change Cole's and Rhys' bedding but otherwise, feel good about the purge.
Aside from the general stuff, I wanted to share a recent revelation that I have had. As the mother of a toddler, I knew a long time ago that I understand what he is saying when no one else does. Cole's language is so good now, I seldom have to translate even for strangers. There are some exceptions: he calls things by his own labels. Some are more obvious than others. He calls crayons, colors and he calls Second Hand Lions, the dog movie (since there are a lot of dogs in it). The pig movie is either Charlotte's Web or Babe and he thinks that Christmas is a person who is coming soon...he often asks when we are going to see Christmas.
My most recent challenges are fulfilling song requests. Anyone who knows me well knows that I am my aunt's niece and I can find song lyrics in normal conversation which prompts a spontaneous mini-karaoke episode. Recently, Cole asked me what I was cooking. Obviously, I started singing, "Hey, Good lookin' watcha got cookin' how 'bout cookin' somethin' up with me? Hey, hey, sweet baby, dontcha think maybe we could find a brand new recipe?" Well, the next day, Cole requested the recipe song. Are you kidding me? The recipe song?! I finally realized what he meant. I also started reciting "The Grand Old Duke of York". He refers to this as "The brando song." Honestly, I could be translating an ancient language without a Rosetta Stone.

This is a conversation that took place this morning. Cole asks to go to Grandma's house almost every day.
Chris: "Cole, how are you feeling today?"
Cole: "I am feeling sad."
Chris: "Why are you feeling sad?"
Cole: (sighing) "Because we aren't going to Grandma's house today"

Saturday night live

Well, I am drafting this blog before I head over to Amber's house to keep her son while they go to a party. I am not sure what time I will be home so I am creating my entry now. I was up early this morning because Cole had a bad cough. I went to the 24 hour pharmacy to get him some medicine for him and Chris. I seem to be doing much better today and have not suffered nearly as badly as Chris has. Rhys is also doing much better and only has the trouble with his teeth.
I went to a vendor event at a friend's house and knocked out a couple of gifts on my Christmas list. It was nice to know that I am getting nice gifts and supporting my friends' home-based businesses.
After I got home, we all went out to pick up a new Christmas tree. Our current tree works okay. Some of the lights are out but we can turn that part to the wall. The bigger issue is the sheer size of it. The tree is huge! It takes up the entire part of the basement that is now the play area. Last year it wasn't a big deal because we could move some things around but this year, it just won't work. We picked out a thinner tree and this one has multi-colored lights. Now, there are people with strong opinions about multi-color versus clear lights on trees. I grew up with multi-colored lights and when clear lights were introduced, I thought they looked bland. Now, I think they look classy but still remember feeling like colored lights are for children. Now that I have children, I was not only okay with getting colored lights, I felt good about having a tree that will delight both of my children and will be for them. The ornaments won't be fragile, rather, they will include thumbprint reindeer on babyfood jar bottle caps, multi-colored paper chains, and glitter covered glue globs on hand cut snowflakes. Bring it on.

Et trois

For Cole, this is sick day number 3. He seems to be the same. His nose is running like mad and he is so stuffy. Rhys isn't quite as bad but his eyes are puffy and he is stuffy too. To add to the discomfort, his teething is bothering him and he has a sore throat. I too joined the family in a "if you can't beat them" sort of way today. My throat is also sore and I am really run down. Chris stayed at home and worked again today. He took Cole for a lunch time hair cut while Rhys slept. Hopefully we will all be feeling tip top by Monday.
I am planning on going out tomorrow morning to a vendor event and then am going to keep my friend's son tomorrow night so they can go to a party. I am a bit lost because my laptop died and with it my calendar and some documents and pictures. I am hopeful that they can be retrieved soon and I can move on without a computer for a while. I hate to lose anything.
My Fridays seem to be a bit on the mundane side so I will leave with yet another Haiku:

Treating Sick Children
Orange Juice and Hot Chicken Soup
What else can you do

Sick Day - Part Deux

Cole is still a snot factory today and Chris joined his production line. Rhys is stuffy too but not nearly producing the volume that Cole is managing. YUCK! I have the pleasure of experiencing, probably for the first time in my life, what it is like to be the one who is well. Chris credits my exercise. I just think I am a late bloomer and will be coughing up a lung on the long drive to SC next week. Let's hope not.
Anyway, Chris stayed home today and worked from here while I tried to keep Cole from running around too much. He had a really good nap and we ended up going out for dinner tonight because I wasn't really in the mood to cook and since Chris was home already, we got to the restaurant early and then after a quick stop at the drug store for some supplies, we were home early too.
Rhys is really struggling with his teeth and I feel so sorry that I can't do much to help him get through this. I felt helpless when Cole was going through it too but, thankfully, it passes quickly and he will have a nice set of pearly whites soon enough.
I got a double dose of sad news today. Firstly, my best friend's cousin was arrested for passing bad checks for jewelry at 8 different jewelry stores. It was shocking and sad. She is in jail tonight awaiting a bail hearing. I am very sad for her children and hope that she gets the treatment that she so needs. Something isn't quite right with the situation which leads us to believe that she is not a stable individual. I pray for strength for her family and for her children.
Secondly, I learned from a friend that my ex-father-in-law died suddenly yesterday. I am sad for the family and empathize with each of them. I remember all three boys' individual relationships with their father and know that they will all miss him for similar and yet very different reasons. I also can only imagine how shocking it was for his wife to find him "asleep" on the couch when she got home from work only to discover that he was, in fact, dead. What a tragic thing to experience. Conversely, when I am to go, I would really appreciate just passing away on my couch. I want to think that he was tired - not realizing something was wrong - and just laid down and drifted away. There is something comforting in believing that the person who has died didn't know it was happening. I want that and am certainly comforted that he probably went that way.
There has been so much sadness today and, although neither of these issues directly affects me, I feel for those closer to the pain and wish only the very best for them.

sick day

I decided to take a sick day. No, I didn't have a day off. I just took advantage of Cole's head cold and decided we would all stay in comfy clothes and veg on the couch all day. The boys were good for it and when Rhys woke up from his first nap, I realized his nose was stuffy too. By the end of the day, they both are doing fine. Cole still is a bit snotty but Rhys seems to be no worse for the wear.
I am enjoying a glass of wine and hoping to have a relaxing evening with Chris. It seems like forever since we actually spent some time together. I always feel like we are ships passing in the night...passing children between us. Maybe sometime soon we can have a date night. I have some friends who are in similar situations and we are all co-oping babysitting. I am off to Amber's house on Saturday night to keep her son and she will watch our boys in December when we go to a birthday party.
I am excited to have friends who are available for this and am actually looking forward to getting some reading done after Amber's son goes to sleep on Saturday night. It will be nice to be in a quiet house where there is nothing for me to do - laundry, dishes, etc.
Rhys is doing okay with his sleeping but last night he was up a lot because of those pesky teeth. Cole did beautifully with the potty today...no accidents, no diapers. I am so pleased!

What a day!

My mind was racing this morning at 6 so I drug myself out of bed. I actually chanted to myself over and over in my head like a group of cheerleaders were encouraging me along. "Go, Jenny, You can do it! Get out of bed!" I needed those inner voices yelling at me because it was below freezing and the bed was so warm and snugly. I managed to get into the bathroom and brush my teeth. I took it one step at a time...get clothes, change clothes, find gloves, put on gloves - take off gloves to put harness on dog, put on gloves - take off gloves to lace shoes. Finally, put on gloves and head out the door. The sun was coming up and the air was COLD! The leaves were matted with a fine powdery frost and they crunched under my feet and Sasha's paws. We were both glad that the cheerleaders worked today. Maybe I will have a hard time silencing them tomorrow too. Hopefully so.
After the 1.5 mile walk, I was welcomed home by silence. No one was stirring and I was able to get about 5 minutes of reading in before Cole announced that it wasn't "dark again." This is his way of saying that it isn't dark anymore. The Fios installation tech came at 9am and he was here until 2pm. It was exhausting and Cole wasn't at all interested in taking a nap while he was here. Cole did go down for a nap but I had to wake him up to go to the Preschool Preview Night. I had volunteered to help set up but was so glad that my absence didn't make a difference since the people who work at the preschool at the church set up the room before we got there. Phew! Chris and I walked around and narrowed the group down to 3 and now I will make calls and set up dates to visit our top 2. Hopefully, we will get Cole enrolled in the one we want and he will be all set to go for September.
We got home and had supper and I discovered that my beloved laptop has finally bit the dust. Over the past 4 months, it has had trouble starting up. We actually have to tap the bottom to get it to respond. Today, it didn't do anything. Chris, bless him, took the time to remove all of the tiny screws and clean it out, tighten up the innards, and put it all back together again. Unfortunately, his hard work was not rewarded with the familiar log-in screen...still nothing. It is flat-lining. We are lucky to also have a desktop so I have now made myself at home and, once again, we are sharing computer time. Oh well.
Tomorrow will be busy too so I must turn in for now.

Important Rhys update: We have the very first pins and needles that indicate that his bottom teeth are breaking the surface of his gums! TEETH!