Around Here: Week 5 2022

 {January 30-February 5th}

This week's vignette:

It is dark and quiet, only the hush of the fan as it rotates over us, first him, then me, spanning the distance of the room which has two twin beds, soldiers side by side, in a room that my twin sons are rapidly outgrowing.  He lies still, a black silky sleep mask over his eyes.  I watch his chest to see if his breath is regular, if he is asleep.  
The side effects of the COVID booster we opted to get him have been brutal; fever, body aches, chills, and a headache that is giving him a run for his money.  I pull together my arsenal of mom tools to try and soothe him.  Tylenol, fresh ice water, a cool cloth, a heating pad.  But all he really wants is me. And so I sit, barely aware of the din downstairs, dinner being made, his siblings doing homework, dogs barking, and read an ebook in the dark while he tries to sleep on the bed across from me.  
To be honest, there's nowhere else I'd rather be. 

Thankful for this little bit of inspiration from my friend Brittany.
I hung it on my mirror so I can read it on the daily. 
Thanks B!

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Contemplating... getting Wyatt an axolotl.  He wants one so much that he put together a slide show to ask for one.  He shared with us some details about the axolotl and why they make good pets. (For those of you who don't know, axolotls are similar to a salamander, but they live permanently under water) 
In the end, I did my own research and decided we would not be a good household for an axolotl.  They like calm environments with little stimulation and nearly zero sunlight.  They also require really specific water conditions that I am not up to figuring out. Wyatt was disappointed, but Josh reminded him that we did get him a puppy less than a month ago. Ha!

Feeling... proud as I watched the twins leave each morning this week.  They either hug me goodbye if I am downstairs, or text me that they are leaving if I'm upstairs.  I just love those boys. 

Doing... a sweet errand for a friend of mine who moved out of town.  She wanted to reach out to someone here, where I live, and asked me to be the one to fulfill this sweet little kindness.  So I picked up flowers and wrote a note and got to drop them off on behalf of my thoughtful friend. It felt really good to bring some sunshine to someone's day, and to help a friend who's far away. 

Mommin'... this week by learning about Carly's speech stutter from a friend of mine (who is a speech therapist) who stopped by out of the goodness of her own heart to help me out. I can't remember if I shared here that I noticed after Christmas break that Carly was talking a little funny.  Not always, but often enough that it caught my attention and I was able to record it.  My amazing friend Paula came over with some sheets about stuttering, and broke it all down for me. 
Basically Carly has a really rare type of stutter that is related to anxiety, called an Atypical Dysfluency where she takes mid-word breaks (like "wha-at") and does final word repetitions (like "store-ore").  It's uncommon, but there is a type of word play we can do with her to help it.  It was comforting to know that I wasn't being overdramatic (she really is doing something strange) and to know exactly what we can do to help her with it. 
Thankfully she isn't bothered by it, so we just congratulate her, "Hey! You didn't do any bumpy talk. That was all smooth talking!" Or encourage her to try again another way "Let's do robot talk" (breaking her speech up into syllables like "Carl.y.what.are.you.do.ing.to.day?") and then she can correct her speech and move on. 
I was also mommin' pretty hard this week at morning drop off as Carly cried a lot and I tried to come up with ways to keep her feeling positive.  We added more fun songs to our morning playlist for in the car and I've been trying really hard to make sure we aren't rushing, and that she has plenty of time for morning recess so that if she's sad at drop off, she has time to turn it around while playing with her friends. 

Reading... Hollis Woods, which is a sweet story about a little girl in foster care who didn't think she deserved love; Wild at Heart which is #2 in the Wild series by K.A. Tucker, and which I LOVED!; and doing some reading on Fibromyalgia. But not too much because it's all a bit overwhelming. 

Watching... Queer Eye and loving how they make me feel better about myself. Love those guys!

Laughing... as I took Piper to the vet.  She doesn't wear a collar yet, so she didn't know what that (or the leash) were about, and she wanted to be in my lap like a giant baby in the waiting room. She is truly a mama's girl. 
She was so sweet to the vet and his assistant's, just giving them kisses and wanting to be held by them.  I am proud to report that she is potty trained, and only has a pee pad in her crate for night times. So awesome. She is still waking up a bit earlier than I would like, but I'm hoping that will improve. 

Focusing on... letting myself feel my feelings, which meant some time spent crying this week. I am a Highly Sensitive Person who is also an Empath. (ugh) And I have four children, a husband, parents, a sister, two brothers, neighbors, friends, extended family, and two dogs. There are SO many people on God's green earth that I feel connected to and responsible for, and that leads to a LOT of feelings about a LOT of things. (Most of which I cannot control) So when it all gets to be too much, I cry. 

Struggling... to take a walk this week, knowing it is good for me (especially for my fibromyalgia among other things) but also knowing it's really hard.  I ended up going on a sunny morning before my weekly writing course, with Grady for company, and while it was, hands down, the hardest walk I have ever taken (it wasn't even that far, but my lower back pain was super intense by the end) I was really proud of myself. I just kept saying in my head, "We can do hard things. We can do hard things." 

Crossing... 100th Day preparation off the list for Carly by counting out chocolate chips.  She is so smart. And it is SO Carly that she wanted to bring 100 chocolate chips for Hundreds Day. Hah!

Celebrating... Carly getting an award for having the best attitude in her kindergarten class.  Logan heard she got an award and was like, "For what? For being the most cheerful?" We cracked up and Josh goes, "Basically." She is our sunshine girl. 

Learning... about more health concerns for a loved one, and gosh, it's all so heavy on my heart. Wishing I could do more and supporting where I can in the meantime. 

Loving... Carly learning how to write. She wrote Josh and I the sweetest little love notes. I will be keeping mine forever. 
Also loving how she makes each day special. One morning she said she wanted a strawberry on the edge of her water cup.  Let's all remember to do fancy things whenever we feel like it! 

Grateful... for fresh flowers.  Any time I buy myself flowers (or Josh gets me flowers) I find myself so enamored with their beauty and the beauty they bring to our home. 

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around here: week 32 2020

{August 2-8}

 

{love Romy's face in this one!}

Driving... to the beach to see my grandparents with Josh.  We left the kids with my parents for the day and enjoyed a day to ourselves.  It was so good to see Grandma & Grandpa, to spend time with them, and to sit in the sand with Josh for a while.  We managed to get a table at a restaurant in town that was seating half the dining room, and it actually ended up being only us and one other table.  The food was great and it was fun to be out.
We got to see the bench the neighbors built for Grandpa to rest on when he takes his walks, and I went with Grandma to her friend Luvine's birthday party.  On the drive home I cried about Phoenix. I am just so sad that he is gone, and so sad for his mom.  It felt good to let that sadness out.

Hugging... my grandma for the longest time when we arrived at her house.  It may be the best hug I have had in my life. I have missed her so much, and I just felt... relieved, I guess. To be with her, to hug her, to be able to spend a day with her. Best feeling ever.

Receiving... text messages from my dad who took Logan fishing while we were at the coast.  Logan caught his first fish while they were out, and he was overjoyed. The fish he caught were tiny, but Logan didn't care. I was so happy they experienced that together.

Feeling... blown away by the kids' ability to ride the hover boards my mom bought.  The twins also enjoyed riding my parents electric bikes.  The twins and Carly, especially, are very physical, and seem able to do anything they put their minds to physically.  But even Wyatt was determined to make the hover board work. I was so impressed!

Playing... at the park with my parents, and my brother & his girlfriend one evening after dinner.  The boys worked together to try and capture video of Dallas skateboarding, and Wyatt worked on his hover boarding skills.  Carly and Dallas' girlfriend Bri have the sweetest bond, and I love when they can spend time together.

Swimming... at the river with Josh, the kids and my mom on Tuesday. That will be its own post because I took SO many pictures!

Loving... witnessing my mom putting Carly to bed.  It feels so full circle for me.  To see her there, rubbing Carly's back, singing "You Are My Sunshine" makes me imagine what it must have been like when I was little.

Witnessing... colorblindness in my father and son together the same.  My dad thought Logan was drinking out of his grey water bottle.  In reality, Logan had Carly's purple water bottle. (same style) My mom assured my dad they were different colors, but both Logan and my dad couldn't see a difference in the color.
I am constantly fascinated by their color blindness.  (If you've been around here any length of time, you know this) It started with my great grandpa Arthur who was color blind.  He then passed it to his four daughters who were carriers (it is an x-linked chromosome) who all gave it to at least one of their sons (my grandma, for instance, had two sons- my Uncle Steve who is not color blind and my dad who is), who then gave it to their daughters as carriers (like my sister and I) who then passed it on to some of their sons.  My sister and I both have one son who has it and one son who doesn't.  (Well, technically, I have two, since the twins split, but genetically speaking, I gave the colorblind X to the twins, and the non-colorblind X to Wyatt.)
I wish so much that for just a minute I could look through their eyes and see what it looks like.

Soaking... up the peaceful pacific northwest vibes in my parents backyard with my morning coffee and a good book.  There's nothing like it.

Loaning... out the pool to my sister and her fam while we were in Vancouver and loving the pictures she sent of Molly spying on them from the back door, and Grady falling all over her when she was there.  Grady LOVES my sister.  It's the most precious thing!!!  I'm glad the pool got some loving on those HOT days while we were gone.

Enjoying... the most peaceful drive home from Vancouver.  It was so fast and lovely.  Again, some real perks about these kids growing up is how much easier certain things are. (Not saying I love the eye rolls or the back talk... but it is nice that they can hold their bladders and not cry for two hours on a long road trip. Hah!)

Joyfully... reunited with our pets when we got home from our trip.  We had never been away from Grady or Molly, and I was so happy to be back with them.  It made me realize how much I love being home, and how much I love our animals.  They really are part of our family, and I'm so grateful for them.

Finding... a picture of our old German Shepherd Kramer (my parents got him in 2000 maybe?) and comparing it to Grady.  We always tell the kids that Kramer was really dark, but seeing an actual picture was stunning.  He was super black! Gosh I loved that dog, and Grady's goofy character reminds me of him so much. Kramer is for sure the reason I love German Shepherds as much as I do.

Swelling... my heart full as I watched Carly line up her stuffed cats to read her book to them on the front porch one morning.  She is just the best.

Sending... Josh off to his first "official" day of work, where he did Zoom meetings from his classroom all.day.long.  We missed him something fierce, especially Carly, Grady & I, and I'm not sure any of us are ready for him to go back!  But his first day back was a Friday, so we got to have him home again for the weekend. #spoiled

Splurging... on coffee a few days this week as I settled back into real life after vacation sans Josh home.

Settling... into home in a way I haven't this year, and trying to love each little nook & cranny here.  I started organizing places that aren't organized, and decorating places that aren't decorated and it makes me happy.  I am hoping to do so even more before fall sets in and really fall in love with every room here again.

Reading... The Giver of Stars and The Pull of the Stars.  The Giver of Stars is our book club pick, and is slow.  But the Pull of the Stars is incredible, and I can't.stop.listening!!

Hosting... my sister's crew for a play day for the cousins while my parents were in town.  After we left Vancouver, my parents followed us a few days later, so they could look at a house in Wenatchee they're considering buying!  We are beside ourselves with the idea that our parents could be so close (only a little over an hour from us, and in the same town as my sister) as my dad prepares to retire!
Roxanne was such a fun aunt Saturday, letting the little girls paint her nails. And Milo & Wyatt had so much fun together, per usual.  I love those two together!

Starting... Schitt's Creek on date night with Josh and loving it. I need David in my life!

Harvesting... onions and tomatoes from the yard for taco night and pizza night. So yum!!!

Blooming... with love for Josh when he came home Saturday with a dozen white roses for me for our anniversary.  We've been married seventeen years. I can hardly believe it.
I've been so blessed by him and our marriage.

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