The Cunningham Family: Around Here: Week 3 2022

{January 16-22nd}

This week's vignette:

The lights are down, only a small lamp by the laundry room is on as Josh and I open our takeout containers, eyes fixed on the television as The Zookeeper's Wife begins on the small television Josh has temporarily set up in the living room where we recently moved the sectional couch.

The kids are asleep upstairs, tucked in their beds, surrounded by stuffed animals, Legos, and stacks of books. We are ready for some quiet alone time. Ready for our weekly date night. Ready to be just be us again.

Even if it's only for a few hours.

Blown away by Wyatt's ability to write things with our foam letters:
"G'day mates. Top of the mornin' to you."

Noticing... Carly's strange stutter that happens mid-word. I started noticing it a few weeks ago, and it has continued. Finally I reached out to my friend Paula who happens to be a speech pathologist, and she gave a listen. She said it sounds like Carly has Atypical Dysfluency. That's where the speaker puts a break in the middle of words (wha-at), or repeats the ending sound of the words said (store-ore).
She also gave me some exercises to do with Carly to help smooth it out. I am trying not to stress about it, but I feel bad it's something she does. It seems anxiety related. Luckily she doesn't seem to notice it.

Feeling... bad for having to cancel our attendance to Carly & my niece Lulu's joint birthday party. But we didn't want to expose anyone to COVID.

Doing... a photoshoot for Carly's upcoming birthday per the advice of my sister. I'd been feeling a little down, and she said I should get some pics of our girl for her sixth year. Her posing for the pictures was my favorite, so hilarious. Her favorite pose is one leg bent, one hand pretending to snap, and one eye winking. Hah! She's always so entertaining.

Mommin'... with our puppy. We are all sick of taking turns sleeping on the couch with her, so we commenced crate training, and it's going really well! We are all so relieved.

Reading... Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow for book club. Book club was good, but I didn't finish the book. It was a very (very) long audiobook and just didn't hold my interest. But the conversation with book club was so good! Love those ladies.
I am also reading Remember by Lisa Genova. It's a lot to absorb, so I am taking it slow.

Watching... Carly as she plays teacher with her bubbas and loving her little imagination. She uses our whiteboards and even has her animals raise their hands to answer her questions.

Laughing... at Carly being a rapper. She believes firmly in her skills, but asserts that she needs her hat and sparkly jacket to really be a rapper.
Also laughing at the twins differing bed making ability. I sent that same picture to my parents & sister on our text thread and joked that that was why Logan is the favorite and Jack isn't.

Focusing on... the amazing hoar frost we have had lately. It's so beautiful. I could take pictures of it for hours. It is so amazing. It seems otherworldly.

Celebrating... my grandpa Jerry's 90th birthday on the 21st. I can't even imagine all the things he has seen in his lifetime. Can you? Born in 1932 to a couple, their third son, living in North Dakota with no indoor plumbing or power.
Now he is the only remaining brother, living on the Oregon coast, with not only indoor plumbing and electricity, but a cell phone (well, technically it's my grandma's cell phone) that can send and receive pictures immediately. Knowing how he grew up, his current life seems the stuff of sci fi novels.

It makes me wonder what my life will be like in fifty years.

Struggling... with religious shame and trying to understand how its effects have impacted me. It's heavy and I want to work through it so I can let it go, put it down.

Crossing... counseling off the list for this month, but deciding that I need to start going every other week again. There is just a lot going on both within our immediate family (raising kids is no joke!), within myself, and within our extended family. It's a lot as the primary caretaker here at home and as the emotional dumping ground for Josh and our kids. Being in counseling makes me better able to support them all like I want to.

Loving... all the snuggles with Carly and Wyatt as we rested up trying to get well from our bout with COVID.

Thankful... that Josh and the twins both tested negative for COVID and that Wyatt, Carly and I healed up just fine without any medical intervention, other than the nebulizer meds Wyatt takes with even the most minor of colds. What a blessing.

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Sweet memories: