A Few Other January Activities

Despite being sick all month, we did have days where it didn't seem as bad as others.  The weather has also been absolutely beautiful and we had a lot of days that we were able to get out and enjoy it.  So, even though we have been sick all month we have been able to do a few fun things mostly to keep Calin happy and sane so he wasn't stuck inside all the time.

Calin loves baths and all his new bath toys he got for Christmas! These are his wind up sharks. 

Entertaining himself on a sick day inside...

We have been enjoying reading "10 Apples Up On Top" and Calin likes to try putting apples on top.
Actually he watches Robby try while he takes bites out of the apples...

More inside entertainment on another January sick day. 

Visiting Robby at work for lunch on a day we were feeling a little better. 

LOTS of racing cars this month to keep ourselves entertained! 

We met up with Dylan and Alisha at the park on Martin Luther King day to feed the ducks and
play on the playground and have a picnic lunch.  It was a fun morning and a beautiful day! 

Loves playing with his new duplos he got for Christmas! 

Also loves his new blocks and loves to build roads, tunnels,  bridges, and garages for his cars! 

Helping mom and dad clean up the leaves (yes in January).  He was loving helping to smash the leaves down! 

On Preston's birthday on January 1st we told Calin to sing Happy Birthday when we got over to their house.  While there, Calin started singing his own little version of Happy Birthday and just kept singing it over and over throughout the night while he was playing.  It was very cute.  For my brother Erich's birthday I thought I'd try to get him to sing it for Erich and surprisingly he did!  So cute! He also sang it for me on my birthday.  Such an awesome little guy! 

He loves jumping on the trampoline and asks every day to go and jump when Robby gets home.  He has especially been enjoying "Ring Around the Rosie" and occasionally "Swing around with Rosie" (a version from his new Truck Nursery Rhyme book from Grandma Mielke that he got for Christmas that he loves and we read and sing and he reads and sings every day) 

On Friday of Martin Luther King weekend we went down to Mesquite for the car show.  Robby and Calin were in heaven.  It was really nice weather and was a great day to be outside checking out cool cars!  

                                     

Month of Sickness (long post-feel free to skip over or skim)

January has been a long month and I am so ready to have our whole family be healthy and not be sick anymore!! I know nobody else probably cares about our saga month of sickness, but I wanted to record this month for my own sake.

We started the week of Christmas with Calin, then Robby picked it up, and finally me.  I thought it was just a cold and although the stuffy nose and sore throat were miserable, I figured it would pass quickly and we would move on.  However, Robby's "cold" turned into a cough that did not go away.  Calin and I were just about over our runny noses just as Robby realized he was sick again with something new or it had just not ever gone away.  So sometime the week of January 6th he went to insta care where they gave him an antibiotic and medicine for his cough.

On Tuesday January 7th, Calin was really needy and clingy all day especially after his nap and once Robby got home.  I was going to dinner with a friend and he had a major come apart about me leaving.  While I was gone Robby realized he had a fever.  This started Calin and I back again into the flu with Robby.  Calin's fever went up and down over the next two days and I had a fever on Wednesday.  His fever was never above 101 degrees and didn't stay so I didn't take him in.

Thursday was my birthday.  I spent the day trying to relax and taking care of Calin who still had a fever and seemed to be feeling pretty miserable as was I.  It was not a real eventful day, but still good.  Robby sent me my favorite flowers, gerbera daisies, and I was spoiled with lots of good gifts from family.  My grandma was also awesome and brought us a cherry pie and some meat pies for lunch! Thanks grandma!  Robby came home from work with a cake and ice cream and we decided to go out to dinner.  However, with none of us feeling well I wasn't too excited about going out to a restaurant but that was a better option than getting dinner ready.  I was also a little worried about Calin because after his nap he woke up with a goopy eye that continued throughout the afternoon and evening.  We decided after dinner we better take him to the doctor.

So we left dinner and off we went to the night clinic at Calin's pediatrician.  There we found out he still had a fever, an ear infection, and the infection had spread to his eyes.  So we got a prescription for an antibiotic and eye drops and went home.  I opened presents with Robby and Calin once we got home and then we put Calin to bed after a very traumatic administering of eye drops and medicine.  Robby and I enjoyed some cake and ice cream after we put him to bed and then we went to bed early.  I felt pretty robbed of a day that was supposed to be a little more fun, but oh well, such is life as a mom, right!?

I had a job to sub the next day and got up early, still not feeling well, to get over to Desert Hills High School.  I was subbing for an English class.  I got there and the plans seemed fairly easy.  However, as the morning went on I started feeling worse and worse.  On top of being sick, an ear ache that kept getting worse, and a sore throat to where I could barely talk,  I also had some morning nausea and dizziness that I have still been getting from this pregnancy.  It got so bad that I had to go back by the teacher's desk and lay down on the floor.  I was so embarrassed doing this in the middle of the class, thankfully the students were all nicely working on their reading assignment, and I was so worried that one of the students were going to take a picture with their phone and I was going to end up on Facebook as the "worst sub ever".  Thankfully I was able to make it through the first period, I apologized and explained my situation to the students.  They were kind and we made it through.  It was a huge blessing that the teacher had their prep second period.  I went down to the office and explained that I was feeling more and more ill and they were able to find me a sub for the sub for the second half of the day.

I left the school and headed to insta care (I tried to get into a doctor but everywhere was totally overbooked).  There I found out I had an ear infection, among other problems,  after they washed all the wax build up out. So I got my prescription for an antibiotic and headed home to rest.  So now we had a house full of sick miserable people trying to make it through the day and take care of each other.

From that point on we had a rough couple of weeks with long days and long nights.   We had to convince Calin that his medicine was more like a treat which worked great, but he was less convinced that his eye drops were fun.  He did get really good and doing it though and it got much easier than the first couple days.  We spent the next couple weeks hoping that the medicine would finally kick in and we would start feeling better.  The worst part of it was the cough.  It kept us up a lot at night and was awful.  I haven't ever had a cough like that.

After slowly getting better and enduring a couple weeks of feeling pretty miserable, we all started to feel better and felt like we were getting close to getting mostly better, except for my ear which had been plugged since I went in to instacare on the 10th.  I went into the doctor last Thursday where I found out they couldn't do much because I can't take anything from being pregnant.  It is not infected just still has fluid in it.  The next day we also noticed Calin's eye starting to get goopy again so back into the doctor we went again last Friday.   He did not have anything new, but it seemed to still just be  left over so we started the eye drops again.  Calin also still has fluid in his ears so we need to watch that.

I was still feeling pretty good about being on the mend, but then Sunday rolled around and Calin threw up a few times that morning and had some diarrhea throughout the day.  No church for us and a day full of laundry and taking care of a sick boy again.  Monday he seemed to be doing much better and started to get his appetite back.  Then Tuesday hit and I woke up feeling miserable that morning.  I had already sent Robby off to work not knowing that he too was also miserable.  I threw up a few times that day along with lots of trips to the bathroom.  I called Robby to see if he could come home early.  He did, but that was when I found out he had been sick all day too.  So we miserably made it through Tuesday and Tuesday night.  Poor Calin had less than exciting parents that day!

For those that don't know, Calin has never watched TV or any movies.  We sometimes let him watch short video clips on youtube, but other than that the only screen time he gets is FaceTime with family.  However, I was so miserable I caved and turned on Winnie the Pooh for him.  However, it backfired and he was not interested.  It only lasted about 10 minutes in the morning and then another 15 minutes that afternoon, a little relief though.

  I started having major cramping pains that I was worried about being connected to labor, however after calling in to the doctor they said it was probably because I was dehydrated.  So I started to try to get some liquids down but then got sick again that evening.  I kept trying to drink to keep hydrated though and thankfully did not get sick the rest of the night but got very little sleep because I was still so uncomfortable.

Wednesday Robby and I still had an uncomfortable day and exhausting day from no sleep, but were feeling much better and were able to eat and drink and were both feeling much better by last night.  Today we all seem to be back to feeling good (minus the still lingering cough that still does not seem to want to go away, and my ear still being plugged).   I am writing this in good faith that now that we have reached the end of January and have been going since Christmas that maybe we will finally be done with sickness and can move into February continuing to get better and feeling much better! Hopefully by now we have caught every possible sickness that we could have and won't get anything else.

Some may have heard that a few died here in Southern Utah from the swine flu.  It has been going around here and pretty much everyone I know has been or is sick.  I am pretty sure that that is what we got or some form of it anyway.  All I know is I have not been hit that hard in a long time, or had a flu linger for this long; and it didn't help being pregnant at the same time!

January has been the most unproductive month for me which has been really bad because there has been so much I needed to do for the basement and the new baby coming.  However,  any time Calin was sleeping I did too.  I never felt good or like I could get enough sleep.  Hopefully February is better so that we can actually get everything organized for the basement and get things ready for this baby girl!

Here's to a better February!!


Sorry again for the long saga post! I just wanted to record this for myself. 

I started writing this post on Monday...not knowing the rest of the week ahead of us...please no more sickness!! 

Other Christmas Break Activities and New Years

Monday we enjoyed some relaxing at home, playing with new toys, and took Calin to the park because he really wanted to go and do some more sliding.  This is at the elementary school by our house and it has a couple of good slides that Calin can climb up to and go down all by himself.  He was loving being able to do it all on his own!  None of us were feeling especially well now that the sickness had hit us all in the family, but it was nice to get outside and get some fresh air!

Calin was in heaven going down slide after slide after slide.  He also enjoyed some more hanging; another new favorite thing to do.  Such a big boy to be doing all these things on his own.  He is growing up way to fast! 

New Year's Eve we had another lazy day at home enjoying one more day of Christmas decorations, Christmas songs (I told Robby he could go through New Years),  new toys, and resting, trying to get us all feeling better.  That night we went over to Ami's house for a low key New Year's Eve celebration.  Normally Hollie and Jimmy host a big bash, but Preston had also gotten sick so Ami was nice to host this year.  Robby brought his race track along and hosted a New Year's Eve hot wheels race with the family.  

We did not stay too late, but did have a later night than usual.  We had given Calin two naps that day so he was ready to stay up a little later.   We got Calin all ready to go in his pajamas, he stayed to watch a few games that everyone had started playing and then we left about 9:45 to head home to bed.  

We got home just in time to see the city fireworks at 10:00 and then brought Calin in to bed.  Robby and I were both exhausted and not feeling well so we did not make it to midnight.  It was a very exciting New Year's! ;)

New Year's Day I made Robby and Calin help me take the Christmas decorations down.  I knew if I didn't do it then that it wouldn't happen until the weekend or later and although I was not ready to have everything down, I was ready to clean up a little.  We also got the lights down outside too.  It is always nice to get cleaned up and get rid of the clutter that collects and find places to put the new toys away.  However, we still have not found a place for everything because we are still storing things upstairs waiting on the basement to be finished...one day it will be done!

Then that afternoon we met up with our neighbors Alisha and Dylan to go back up to the park again.  Calin and Dylan had lots of fun running around, playing, and doing the slides together.   Calin loves to play with Dylan and gets excited whenever we see them.

After the park we headed over to meet up with all of Robby's family for a birthday dinner for Preston.  His birthday is New Year's Day.  I got this lovely fortune at the restaurant.  We all got really funny fortunes that didn't make sense.  It must have been a batch made by someone who did not speak English...

After dinner we went to Preston's house for cake, ice cream, and presents.  We then headed home to get Robby to bed since he had to go back to work the next day.  :(  Fortunately it was only one day that week though so it was a nice transition back into real life...  

We were very sad to see the break come to an end.  Despite getting sick (more on our sicknesses in another post-I feel it deserves it's own...), it was a wonderful break and a great time to enjoy celebrating and being with family! We were very sad to see Robby go back to work after having him home every day it was hard to see him go back to work.  We love being together as a family and having all that time to spend together! 

Christmas Week Part Two!!

The rest of the Christmas week is a little bit of a blur for me.  I remember a lot of what we did, but don't remember what day things happened so I may not have this in the right order...  Mostly we spent Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday with my family before they all had to leave.  Becca stayed until Friday afternoon, Josef left Sunday morning, and my mom and dad stayed until Monday morning.  I am so glad they got to be here and that we got to spend so much time with them!  I was sad that Calin was feeling so sick all week because he was super clingy to Robby and I and wasn't very social with everyone visiting.  However he really good to be drug around everywhere even though he wasn't feeling good.

Thursday my mom and sister helped me pick out some tile for the new bathroom downstairs.  It has been crazy trying to find time without Calin to go and spend time over there to actually be able to look at the options without Calin running around crazy everywhere!  Calin and Robby stayed home and enjoyed a morning playing with toys and visiting Grandma and Grandpa Comeford.  We all met up for lunch at my Grandma's and saw Max and Karen, James, Britney and Mark and their kids as they drove through to go to California.  That was fun to be able to visit.  That afternoon after Calin's nap and visiting we went to the park to play while my parents, Josef, and Becca played tennis.  We also came over to watch and get in on the action.

Helping Aunt Becca hit the ball

He was helping pick up balls and return them to the match...future Wimbledon ball boy? 

Selfie on Aunt Becca's phone! 

Hitting the ball with Grandpa! 

Giving the balls to Uncle Josef

We played on the playground for a while and he loves the slides.  He wanted to go down the big one so
Robby went down with him.   Then we let him try it out all on his own.  

He loved it and wanted to do it over and over again! He was very sad to leave the slide behind when it was time to go.

That night we went back to have dinner at my grandma's and then we went home and got Calin to bed. My mom came over to sit with sleeping Calin while we went with Josef and Becca to see Frozen.  It was very cute and we were glad we got to go and see it even though it was a late night! Thanks mom for babysitting!  

Friday I met my mom and sister for pedicures.  So fun to have a pampering girls morning.  I love to get pedicures and don't have a chance or the funds to do it nearly as often as I'd like.  Thanks for sponsoring a fun morning mom!  We went back to my grandma's for lunch and were able to visit with Erika and her kids and my uncle Scott.  They were on their way from California up to Salt Lake and we were glad we got to visit for a little bit.  After that we said goodbye to Becca who left to head back to Salt Lake.   That afternoon we went over to the elementary school by our house to watch Robby's Uncle and cousins fly airplanes.  Calin watched the airplanes a little but as soon as he saw the slides on the playground that was all he wanted to do.  

Having so much fun on the slide! 

He also discovered his ability to hang while at the park. (He has been hanging on things at home too, but nothing really worked well like these bars) He now loves to hang on everything! 

 After dragging Calin away from the park very unhappily (he was still not feeling well and only took a half hour nap) because he wanted to slide more, we went to go and meet Robby's family for frozen yogurt.  Sadly Calin fell asleep on the way so he and I hung out in the car so he could sleep while everyone else got frozen yogurt.  After that we left to go and have dinner with my family at my grandma's . We didn't stay too long again so that we could get Calin home to bed.

Saturday my mom and I went to get me set up with a new phone (my phone was on its last leg) and to order our vanity top at Lowe's for our new bathroom while Calin and Robby had another low key morning at home playing with new toys.  We then came back to our house to hang out here for a little while and let Calin play some more.  That afternoon we went over to my grandma's again and then had dinner.  After dinner Robby brought Calin home and I went with all my family to see the second Hobbit movie.  We would have loved to have left Calin and Robby could have come, but he was still very clingy and not feeling well with a cold and knew that he would have just been very upset the whole time we were gone.  It was nice to go and hang out with my family though but I missed having Robby with me.

Calin has been loving coloring lately and enjoyed Great Grandma's big box of crayons
and big sheets of paper to color on and people to color with him! Thanks Uncle Josef! 

 Sunday Robby woke up feeling really miserable (it had been coming on for a few days and my throat had started to hurt that day too...) so he stayed home from church to rest while Calin and I went to church with my parents.  I took Calin to nursery and stayed most of the time with him (he is not transitioning well into the nursery thing :( ).  My mom also brought a new quiet book and Bible stories book for Calin which he has been loving playing with at church and at home.  Makes for another good sacrament meeting distraction!  Thanks mom!

After church I drove Calin over to my grandma's and let him fall asleep on the way and he finished his nap over there.  We left Robby at home again to rest some more.  He was pretty miserable by the time Sunday rolled around.  We had a nice afternoon hanging out with my parents on their last night here before they drove back to Oregon on Monday.  Calin enjoyed playing and we ate dinner over there before heading home to get dinner to Robby and get Calin to bed.

Coloring with Grandma

Giving Mia big hugs!
Calin was still loving having Mia around, but was not quite as enamored as he was over Thanksgiving.
Mia was still very good to put up with big hugs, cars driven all over her, and being sat on occasionally. 

Grandma teaching Calin "Up Down" from Winnie the Pooh

Dancing with Grandma 

Driving cars and visiting and singing with Grandpa

Found a good place to drive his cars

Playing piano with Grandma

Blocks, roads, tunnels and cars with Grandpa! 

It was a great week of celebrating Christmas and spending time with family.  We were so glad to have my parents, Josef, and Becca here to visit so we could spend the holidays with both our families.  We were sad to miss seeing Erich, Allie and Summer though.  We are very blessed to have family that will travel to come and spend time with us and glad we got to have them here for Christmas!