Influenza A-bomb

In the wee hours of Monday morning, Influenza A unleashed itself in my unsuspecting body. I.A., as I lovingly call it, ended up being the most intense sickness I have ever experienced. I knew it was bad by 6am Monday. In grunts, I let Dan know that it was bad. I ended up canceling every single thing on our calendar for the entire week, sadly including a little family vacation we had planned. Our waterpark adventure has been rescheduled for Mar 10-12, which was a huge disappointment for our boys.

Ironically, the only thing I could not cancel this week was a work project I had to complete. When you are a food blogger, working is NOT fun when sickness is involved. I had to look at, touch and smell lunch meat and cheese on a day when I wanted NOTHING to do with food of any kind. 

Sammy also had the flu last week and missed a day of school. He was much more resilient than I. Later in the week Dan was diagnosed with Sinusitis and Bronchitis. Seriously! We cannot shake the garbage! Sam, Dan and I currently have matching coughs, which is just great. The doctor I saw on Tuesday as I was writhing in Influenza pain told me that this version of the virus is VERY contagious, so to expect it to make its way through the family. Obviously with Elijah's heart condition, we have to recognize the flu asap and get him on Tamiflu. I have been SO careful this week about washing hands and not breathing on him. When I hug him, I do so carefully and usually while holding my breath. We are so thankful that he has not yet gotten sick and we pray for a bubble to continue to surround him.

It was so unbelievably nice out today (nearly 60 degrees!), so we woke up and decided that we would ALL bring Elijah to his snowboarding lessons. Dan hadn't seen Elijah do his magic in person yet, so it was fun for him to see. E's instructors said he boarded more today than on any other day. We went out and watched him at the end and he did so awesome. He was much more confident and much less afraid today than ever before. So proud of him!

Going into a fresh, new week we are praying for HEALTH and improved spirits all around in our family. Also praying for health for all of you! Did you know that February is the #1 month to get the flu? Also, that getting a flu shot reduces your chance of getting the flu by 7%? Just a few little facts I learned this week. :) Have a great rest of your weekend!

Happy 9th birthday, Elijah Daniel!

Happy 9th birthday (one day late) to our oldest boy! As I drove Elijah to snowboarding yesterday morning, I reminisced about the day he was born and for the first time ever he was interested in hearing the details. The details from that night are still so clear and I remember being so afraid yet so excited. When he was in the NICU, Dan and I spent every possible moment by his side. I would rub my fingers in circles around his soft face, telling him over and over how loved he was and that everything was going to be ok. I remember chatting with a NICU nurse and having her tell me that "These heart kids are ALWAYS uniquely special." At the time it was so hard to envision what that could mean, but it stuck with me. Nine years later, I can say that she was right on. It is hard to wrap my head around how far we all have come and how many hurdles we have leaped over and sometimes dragged ourselves over. The past nine years have been a collection of big and small miracles and our boy HAS turned out to be awesomely, uniquely special! One day I hope Elijah understands all of this. For now, he gets that he was and always will be LOVED and that is the most important part.

The party yesterday was a smashing hit. Dan and I agree that it was probably the most enjoyable one yet. It was the perfect collection of people with great treats, good company, awesome gifts and smiling faces. We invited only family, with the exception of Elijah's bff. She fit right in! We sooo appreciate her friendship!

Tomorrow I'll try to remember to post the video from Elijah blowing out his candles. That last one just would not go out, so he tried to snap it out. It was cute!

Look at these cute, happy faces! I love it!

Snuggling with Auntie Lissa and cousin Emma! They are the best!

If I had to count all of the minions that are in our house right now, I'd need a piece of paper to keep track. I feel like they are going to join forces and take over our home.

Elijah caught another little bug on Thursday. He got through school Friday and collapsed during pizza movie night. He ate two bites of his pizza, which was a red flag. I considered keeping him home from snowboarding the next morning, but he seemed to be in better spirits. Not only did he get by, he made huge progress! He can now shimmy and hop on his snowboard and go without hands for quite a while. He can put his board on and take it off and even get up all on his own! And yesterday he accomplished a huge feat...he rode the chairlift for the first time! His instructors said he was pretty anxious about it, but once he was on he said, "This isn't so bad!" His instructors are SO sweet and they went out of their way to make his morning extra special. They taped birthday hats to his helmet and brought him candy.

By the end of yesterday he was totally exhausted, so we put both boys to bed early. Then this morning Sammy woke up sick! Ugh! He was lethargic and feverish all day and at the end of the day could hardly even stand up. Poor kiddo. Most likely he and I will be hanging out tomorrow!

Later this week we have our annual family winter waterpark trip and we are all super excited! We are praying for good health so we can enjoy fully. Have a great start to your week and thank you for peeking in!

A few quick funnies to sign off with..
At bedtime tonight I said to Elijah, "I love you, my big boy nine-year-old." He said, "Oh Mom, I love you, too, my 40th-year-old woman."

Yesterday as the boys' cousins were leaving, they were all giving hugs and Elijah hugged his cousin Bella. He said into her ear, "Awww, thanks for coming...I think you are very important to me." :)

Hair Brothers

Check out these long-haired #BROS! :)

Part of me does not want to cut their gorgeous hair!

We attended the boys' school conferences tonight. Both went well! Sammy is above average in every area. He is a good friend and a good student. Elijah has progressed IMMENSELY from last year. He is great at math and reading and he is controlling himself much better than last year. Both of our boys have AMAZING teachers and we are so grateful for them.

Elijah BEGGED for us to put him to sleep tonight, which could possibly indicate sickness. We are praying against it, but....more to come!

Wordsmiths

We had another busy weekend filled with friends and fun. We ventured out of town for a night to spend time with friends we don't get to see very often. We took the boys sledding and had a BLAST, even despite Sammy's pleas not to force him to do such a dreaded thing. :) I was so proud of how adventurous he was once he experienced the fun.

Dan and I have been clinging to a sickness for the past week that we can't seem to shake. The boys have been in mostly good spirits and making me laugh all the time. Yesterday they had the day off for Presidents' Day, so we went to see a movie and spent a relaxing day together.

Maybe it's the exhaustion I've felt lately, but I've been feeling so sad about the idea of the boys growing up. When I buy them clothes, I always find myself in the little-little boy section wishing they still fit into the cute, innocent dinosaur shirts. The big-little boy section is still foreign to me, with t-shirt prints that I don't understand. Skateboarding and video game references maybe? There is a kiddy play area at a mall close to our house that the boys have LOVED playing at since they were babies. Well now they are too big for the toys in the play area, so instead of facing that fact I just avoid the mall altogether. That happens to be where we get their hair cut, which is part of the reason they both look like Shaggy from Scooby Doo. If I bring them for haircuts, they will ask to play and I will have to explain that they are too big and can never play there again and likely will start sobbing my eyes out. I wish they could stay little forever.

Speaking of haircuts, just this morning Sammy came into the bathroom and said, "Mom. PLEASE give me a haircut. I just looked in the mirror and this hair makes me look SO SILLY." I helped him comb it down a bit and promised a haircut this week.

Adding to their big-boyness has come a surge of big words. I've noticed both boys using words that I don't even hear adults use in everyday vocabulary. I have heard Elijah replacing "finishing" with "completing," "trying" with "attempting" and "keep going" with "continuing." Then yesterday I was telling the boys about a silly dream I had had about a cow who was grazing in our front yard. Sammy said, "I am visualizing a cow munching on our bushes." My five-year-old used the word "visualizing" in a sentence. This is crazy!

This coming weekend is Elijah's ninth birthday (9! wow!), so we are gearing up for that. I have jotted down a few funny things that have happened and been said in the past few days..

- Sammy has been standing next to the curb and sticking out his thumb when the bus pulls up in the morning. Hitchhiking to school at such a young age!

- Both boys, but especially Elijah, has been needing so much physical contact with me recently. He wedges himself backward into me and asks me to wrap my arms around him tightly. I try to always say yes when he asks for this.

- Yesterday we went to see The Good Dinosaur in the theater. The first few scenes were a little rough. The Dino Dad died pretty quickly and then the main dino almost drowned in a river. Sammy made his disgusted noise and loudly proclaimed, "This movie is HORRIBLE!" :) He ended up pushing through and enjoying it, for the record.


Have a great week and thanks for checking in!

Croup: Season 6, Episode 2 (Samson) and a busy weekend

Our weekend was packed with fun things and fun people and when it was all wrapped up we were pleasantly exhausted. We enjoyed an evening away from home on Saturday night. We brought the boys to some friends' house and they loved exploring new territory. Sunday we had two of my awesome cousins over to watch the Super Bowl, as well as Elijah's bff. It was a huge success! Everyone had a great time and we stuffed ourselves with calorie-laden snacks.

I'm a few days behind in posting about this, but Sammy got croup a few nights ago. It was mild and we managed it with oral steroids, a steamy bathroom and Mama snuggles. As usual, the stridor lingered for a few days but never became severe.

We are ALL at different stages of sickness that just will not seem to totally go away. I got hit with another round of congestion over the weekend and now Dan has been hit, as well. I'm ready for total health for us! Elijah has been the healthiest of all of us this winter.

I am loving being able to work from home and really focus on my food blog. Dan has had some work drama that has added a bit of stress to our lives. Elijah is doing mostly well in school, with rough patches here and there. After a routine appointment to his developmental ped last week, we are going to increase anxiety med dosage again. Sammy is as sweet and sassy as ever, giving me TONS of "love" letters and snuggles and then telling me what a horrible mom I am in the next breath. Ugh.

That's us in a nutshell! I hope you are all healthy and starting your week off great!