PLEEEEAAASSSSEEE Bring Me Some Spring

I'm exhausted.  Is this really a new thing?  Not so much, but I am desperately longing for warmer weather to chase these illnesses and cabin fevers away.  I was struggling with a horrible sore throat last week that I finally kicked over the weekend, but there's never been time to stop and rest.  J continued replacing linoleum in our house with new tile by taking last Thursday and Friday off to do so.  At the same time he was nursing a foot injury from a jog he had taken the previous weekend.  The injury seemed to worsen during his cleanup of the floor project on Saturday when he physically felt and heard a pop in his foot as he crossed the living room floor.  Ugh.  He was fine, but it was concerning. This was all while I was at a birthday party with Gokey for one of his classmates. Following the party I raced back home to scoop up the rest of the crew to welcome my G'ma to her NEW home HERE in Wichita.  She has settled in nicely, but after a fall she had back in January, she is still recovering from a broken femur, so we have taken in her little dog, Ramos, to help in her (and his) transition.

During all of this rush, J ended up mentioning to someone that we had finally had everyone healthy for a week and he was hoping that would be the last of our slew of sicknesses this season.  Thanks, honey. In the middle of that night we awoke to Jilly crying out and found her sitting in her own vomit and miserable.  The poor kid couldn't stop and spent the following couple of hours continuing that trend.  By morning, her tummy seemed settled, but then the fever spikes settled in for the next couple of days.  More sleeplessness ensued.  Then X-man began to complain that his throat was hurting and I am pretty sure he has the same horrible sore throat I fought for a week.  Another little boy with a reason to get up in the middle of the night.  THEN, Tuesday he and Gokey were trampolining on the basement couch while I was preparing dinner and ironically enough, J was at Immediate Care having his foot x-rayed to rule out a stress fracture (no break...yay).  The story has been recanted numerous times that X-man was jumping on one foot, lost his balance, fell into Gokey and poor little Gokey went flopping to the floor where he somehow crunched his little arm.  He came up the stairs WAILING, but since wailing is second nature to the kid, I was unconcerned initially.  But, then he wouldn't let me touch his arm, and though I was pleading with him to wiggle his fingers, he insisted he couldn't and would SCREECH if I tried to move anything on him myself.  I texted J that we might have to make Immediate Care a family affair for the afternoon.  :)  He finished up his appointment, came home, examined the little man, scooped him up and off they went...back the way he'd come.  Thankfully, he also was unbroken, but they do think he may have dislocated his radius at the elbow and he came home sporting a tiny little sling.  The guy is sore...making another reason for another little body to be up in the middle of the night.

That leaves Squeaky D.  Easiest baby on the planet.  At least he'll sleep, right?  Well, you see, he's mastering this crawling thing.  He finally figured out how to make it all work on the slick wood floors on Tuesday and he has been practicing all day, every day since.  By the end of the day he's exhausted and he will FINALLY pass out only to jerk awake, spring to his hands and knees and continue practicing.  Add to that the very uncomfortable fact that he's sprung two little teeth in the last week and there's another one trying to push through still and we have another sleepless camper.  This is where I should have listened better when I was pregnant with X-man and people said, "sleep now before the baby gets here." Nobody told me it would be 5 1/2 years later and I would STILL be up all night. :)  But then I watch a sweet little sister crawl up onto the couch next to a sore, somber big brother and watch her try to comfort him by running her fingers through his hair.  Or a great big brother cheering his baby brother on as he perfects his very slow, deliberate crawl to a faraway, sippy cup treasure only for big sister to swoop in, save the day and sweetly deposit said treasure into his tired arms.  I would trade a lifetime of restful slumbers for these sweet moments.  But still...BRING ON SPRING! :)

P.S.  I should mention that we DID go on a small stroll at the zoo after the snow fell when we arrived to pick up X-man from school a little early one day.  Strange to see the contrast of tropical flamingos amongst piles of fluffy white snow.  I also have to brag about my new kitchen floors.  I can't help but admire them every time I walk into the kitchen.  Thanks, baby! :)  And...one last thing.  We had a trio of ducks (male and female mallards and male wood duck) come and nest in our front garden last spring.  She laid 8 eggs and we had the privilege to watch the whole process and 4 weeks later watch 6 little ducklings hatch out and waddle off.  Our trio is back...presumably staking out her spot again.  I'll keep you posted in the coming weeks as they do their thing.  Have I said "hurry up spring" yet???