Around Here: Week 48 2020

 {November 22-28th}

Reminiscing... about life in the past as I sort through all the pictures on my phone.  This last one (of Josh and the twins in 2011) took my breath away.  Josh was so young!!!

Letting... the kids go play in the snow one morning when we woke up to it. They had so much fun and I enjoyed sitting out there, reading on the porch, as they played.  I sure hope we get more snow this winter!

Needing... the days off that are coming for Thanksgiving this week.  School has been hard as of late, and I am ready for a break! (The kids, too!)

Decorating... for Christmas with some music (Amy Grant, of course) on my HeyDay speaker and lots of little hands sorting through our vast collection of ornaments. It's probably one of my favorite traditions, pulling the ornaments out and talking about each one's history.  The kids love playing with them (mostly only Carly now) and I allow it even though it makes the tree look uneven and we usually lose two or three each year from breaking... because I know that someday I will have a perfect tree and it will make me sad.  

Baking... pumpkin pies, fudge and prepping the seven layer salad on Wednesday with Jack.  I was really proud of us- we made the pies from scratch!!

Celebrating... Thanksgiving, just the six of us, and feeling so blessed.  Josh cooked the turkey and mashed potatoes & gravy.  We ate together, sharing sparkling cider in fancy glasses, and telling each other what we are most thankful for.  The twins were both thankful for me teaching them last quarter.  That meant a lot to me, because it was hard work the three of us did, and I'm glad they knew it was for their own good.  Carly was grateful my  mom and dad moved to Wenatchee.  I was grateful for our house and Josh was grateful for just about everything- his job, the kids, me... And Wyatt was grateful for us, me and Josh.  

Making... turkey cookies with the supplies Aunt Julie brought over for the kids.  They had so much fun, and the turkeys were really cute.  Thanks for being so thoughtful, Julie!

Starting... a new quarter with the twins, including math and having terrible flashbacks of seventh grade with Mr. Rye in the portables, struggling to remember PEMDAS ("Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally") and learning how to find the area of a triangle.  Sigh. 

Readjusting... our daily routine to have less screens and feeling better about it. The kids do screens from 12 or 12:30 to 3:00pm.  Then they go play outside or do chores or play games. Before this change, it was hours and hours of screens. Each day I think it got a little longer.  

#quarantinelife 

...but at some point I had to get back to monitoring it and encouraging them to do other things. 

Reading... Caste and spouting off statistics and random information at poor Josh.  It is just so good!

Loving... my life without Facebook.  It's amazing how much more time I have on my hands. I am also shocked at how much easier it is to keep up on chores when I am not sitting down every hour to check in on my social media accounts. (I canceled Instagram & Facebook a week ago) I am surprised to say that I don't miss it, and in fact I am so much happier without it. 

Meeting... with Wyatt's sleep study doctor to find out the results of his most recent sleep study.  It turns out that he no longer has obstructive or central sleep apnea.  I am so grateful that all is well! 

Raising... big boys who sometimes hurt the house that we live in.  Having three boys in three years, particularly a set of strong willed, growing twins, means that some of each day is spent breaking up fights.  One night this week, I simply didn't get there in time, and one brother pushed another into the wall, creating a huge hole above the catbox. It'll be a pain in the ass to fix, and Josh & I were not happy with them, but after feeling pretty upset, I've come to peace about it.  They don't know their strength and try as I may to teach them self control, sometimes things like this may happen.  The hardest part is to not see their failure in managing their emotions as a failure on my part as a parent. 

Cheering... Grandpa on as he gets closer to his last round of chemo.  He's been so brave about his treatment every week, and this week he even took the bear we sent him at the start.  He and grandma named him Luke (short for leukemia) and Carly loved seeing him comfort grandpa as he was brave for his needle.

Welcoming... Dashy our holiday elf, back from the North Pole after Thanksgiving.  Carly is thrilled with him and his shenanigans, and he has shown up every morning thus far! #winning

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Around Here: Week 50

Giving... the boys haircuts, which made Logan cry.  He really wanted to keep his long hair, but he had been unable to keep his scalp healthy with that full head of hair, so he got a short short haircut.  I felt awful not letting him decide what he wanted, but I know it's what his head needed while we work on teaching him the proper way to scrub his head and get himself fully clean. #bigkidproblems

Getting... sick after what has been a pretty stressful couple of weeks.  I did the neti-pot yesterday and it required lamaze breathing, it hurt so bad in my forehead.  I am hopeful that lots of liquids and plenty of rest will keep me from being sick too long.

Clenching... my jaw (I think from stress, but maybe from bad dental work) and suffering migraines and constant mouth pain because of it.  I go to the dentist next week and can't wait to discuss the issue with him and come up with a treatment plan.  It's making me miserable.

Catching... up around here after three weeks of sick kids, plus being gone last week for Wyatt's hospitalization.  I am good on the house, and nearly where I need to be for Christmas prep, so I'm feeling optimistic.

Finally... sending out Christmas cards!  I made myself sit down on Friday during nap time and completely wrap up Christmas cards.  I've had them since before Thanksgiving, I believe, and it's been a long process (stop and go, stop and go) getting everyone's current addresses and labeling them.  So it feels awesome to be done!

Grateful... for Wyatt's total health this week.  He's blowing 225-250 on his peak flow meter, compared with 100-125 when we got home from the hospital.  I am also grateful for Carly's health.  She took a terrible fall at Wyatt's foot doctor appointment, after which her eyes rolled back in her head and she nearly vomited.  We saw her doctor that morning and he said she definitely had a concussion and her brain would need a break (no screens, no loud noises or bright lights) to heal up.

Breaking... the news to Wyatt that he will be wearing his boot for another month.  The doctor is not satisfied with his healing and is worried that one of the bones he broke could die off, so we're giving it another four weeks.  Unrelated, Wyatt will also be starting physical therapy to work on his achilles tendons, which are too tight and are impacting his ability to run and be active.  I am anxious to see if they improve the pain he often complains of when walking or riding his scooter to school.

Loving... how Wyatt HATES kisses, but he lets Carly kiss him every time she wants to.  I am also loving how affectionate he has been since we went through what we went through together in Spokane.  He's not the only snuggly little Cunningham.  Carly, too, will often come up and hug me for no reason, or yell, "I love YOU!" at me for no reason.  It melts my mama heart.

Succeeding... at not yelling at the kids for a whole week.  It feels so amazing to be in control of myself, and to be treating my kids like humans, no matter how annoying they're being. ;) I attribute this week's success to three things:

1) being ready before them 3 days a week.  Because I am teaching with VIPkid earrrrly morning on Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays, I am up and dressed and ready when they wake up on those days.  So only twice a week am I facing the stress of showering while all four kids are awake.
2) Doing my Five Minute Journal, which helps me reflect on what makes for a good (or better) day and what I can change to make it happen.
3) Planning ahead- I've been taking a minute each night to look at what will be necessary the following morning before we leave for school so there are fewer surprises. ("I need a spelling pre-test!" "I forgot to have you wash my PE clothes!" "My homework is due today!")

Reading... board books to Carly, and not much else. Sad day!  I did start Black Beauty with the boys at bedtime, and they are liking it so far.  At least I'm reading to the kids.  I am hopeful that since I'm done with Christmas cards and shopping, I'll finally be able to start my Winter Street series by Elin Hilderbrand. I'll keep you posted!

Working... super hard with the twins to make up for missing (or crappy) work on their progress reports.  It was a long week, with lots of extra writing and revising, but they both felt really good about the amount of effort they put in, and their teachers were satisfied as well.  Now to just get them to work that hard all the time, so we're not playing catch up later!

Enjoying... the magic of our elf on the shelf, and all that is holiday joy.  All three boys love waking up in the morning to see what Dashy has been up to in the night.  He has hung our underwear on the tree, brought cookies for the kids to take in their lunches and even decorated their bedroom with twinkle lights while they were at school yesterday.  They all really believe in him, and I'm so grateful they haven't stopped believing yet.
After we dropped the twins at a playdate yesterday, Wyatt and I drove around in the dark, checking out Christmas lights, and as we turned onto our street he said wistfully, "We sure do live in a nice neighborhood.  It's just full of holiday spirit."

Watching... The Big Sick for date night and really enjoying it, despite the medical setting.  I will admit that when it was over, I had a big cry (spoiler alert: the girl gets intubated for a lung infection) in Josh's arms about what happened with Wyatt (which was so similar), but I think I really needed that emotional release.  I posted some pictures of Wyatt's illness as well as some information I learned about what he went through on Facebook.  Basically what he had was called Status Asthmaticus, which is asthma that is unresponsive to treatment.  It can absolutely be life threatening, and because of that, he has been placed on a preventative asthma regimen that will continue for the next year, in hopes of avoiding a repeat of that scary day in the ER.

***

Around Here: Week 51

{"Before" of my closet} 

Cleaning... the house before we left last weekend to visit my parents.  I so love when it's clean!  Luckily I've learned to just enjoy it while it lasts and not stress over how quickly it meets its demise.

Enjoying... a quick trip to Vancouver.  It was my mom's birthday party weekend and I am so glad we were able to make it. I've missed her birthday for years since we were in Alaska.  It felt great to make a reappearance. Even if we did stay up until 2 in the morning talking.  Totally worth the tiredness the next day to have had some one on one time with my mom.

Thanking... my lucky stars that Carly slept most of the drive there and back.

Making... all the treats for the boys' school parties.  Rice Christmas krispie treats & cinnamon rolls, yum!

Staying... home on Tuesday since school was canceled for freezing rain.  Unfortunately for Logan & Wyatt, their class parties were supposed to be Tuesday, so instead of sharing with their classmates, they got to share their class treats with their brothers.

Wrapping... gifts like mad yesterday during Carly's nap time.  I hadn't wrapped a single gift before then, so I had my work cut out for me!

Reading... Bird by Bird and hoping to finish today.  I'd like to read Chasers of Light and finish Believing God before the new year.

Finishing... Winter Stroll and Winter Storms by Elin Hildebrand.  Gah, they were SO good!!!

Starting... a Christmas puzzle two days ago. Doing puzzles makes me ridiculously happy.

Feeling grateful... that Dashy our Christmas Elf goes home tonight. I'm exhausted from all the forced creativity. Buh-bye Dash. Have a safe trip North!

Sorting... through all my clothes and books via the KonMari method. I read the book in three days (found it on my library's ebook page!)) and then got started.  I got rid of so.many.clothes. Probably 2/3 of my clothes.  I am selling some stuff, but donated a lot at Goodwill.  I also sorted through my  jewelry which felt great (it's so good to have only what I love in my jewelry box) and I went through all my books.  I had 126 books, 6 magazines, 2 bibles and 19 misc/empty journals. ...and that's just my collection of books.  The boys collection probably has double that!  I made good headway though, getting rid of 42 of them!

Watching... my Christmas-card-covered-door fill up.  All the love from my people makes me happy!

Painting... my toenails the happiest shade of red. I finally got around to getting them done and I'm so glad I did!

Loving... my new drying rack for all the snow clothes that I got at Ikea last weekend.  My mom and sister swore by theirs, so I purchased one for myself and it is awesome!

Cursing... my children's need for glasses.  Yesterday Logan & Jack were fighting and the new glasses just got Logan (at Halloween) got broke.  They were $75. And they only lasted two months! Grrr!

Goals for this week:
Today I will be making Cinnamon Rolls & Special K bars
After Christmas I want to hit the post-Christmas sales to find a fake tree & a new star topper
Other than that, it's family time and relaxing!