Around Here: Week 50 {2018}

{photo credit: Logan}

{Where's Carly???}

Loving... these words: "Maybe knowing you're dying changes everything- while actually changing nothing.  Because we all know it every single day, whether we have a diagnosis or not: we all get one container of time- but no one gets to know what size that container is." -Ann Voskamp

And also these ones: "Your one broken heart always splits God's heart in two.  You never cry alone."  What beautiful comfort during hard times.  She is a phenomenal writer and I am loving The Broken Way, underlining something on nearly every page.  She says good things will grow out of all of our wounds and suffering, and I quite like that idea.

Watching... The Quiet Place with Josh and loving it.  I generally don't love scary movies, but this one was really good.  It wasn't gory.  And it had sign language, which I love in a movie. (Josh and I met in sign language class in high school and are fluent. Him more than me.)  Plus it had Jim from The Office in it, so that helped, too!  Love him!

Feeling... sad about Catelynn and Tyler (on Teen Mom OG) taking a break.  It is so ridiculous that I am so impacted by it!  But they are high school sweethearts (like us), and I just believe in them.  I so want them to make it!!!

Sending...  out our Christmas cards.  (At least most of them- some I will be handing out along with some baked goods-yummy!) I wrote up a Christmas letter this year, which was (as always) good for me.  I really enjoy looking back over our year and thinking of what it held and what can be learned from it.

Grateful... for my friend Shana & her friend Tammy.  Friends can just be the best!!

Taking... Logan to the eye doctor this week.  He's been complaining about his vision at school, especially when he's having to look at screens.  The eye doctor said since his last check up in June, his prescription has changed some, but not significantly, so he doesn't think we need to change Logan's prescription, which is a relief.  His eyes themselves also look healthy, which was a relief to hear because I had been worried with his new seizure activity.

Reading... The Deal of a Lifetime by Fredrik Backman and Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah.  Winter Garden is really good.  I'm not sure how I felt about The Deal of a Lifetime.  It was kind of weird.

Proud... that I have instilled in my children the ability to recognize the beauty of a sunset.  Logan came RUNNING inside the other afternoon, begging to use my phone to take pictures.  I said sure, assuming he was taking pictures of something he and Jack were up to.  But when he came inside a few minutes later, he showed me the most stunning sunset pictures he had captured by climbing on top of his play structure in the back yard.  I love that my love of nature (which came from my dad) has been passed on to them.

Playing... at the park one afternoon after going so I could take pictures of the sunset.  The kids wanted to stay and play, so I said YES! and it was the best yes I said all week.  They were so happy, and therefore, so was I!  Plus I love the picture I got of them climbing the tree in the cotton candy sunset!

Enjoying... our first snowfall.  The boys went out sledding before school, and we enjoyed watching it fall.  I'm glad we took advantage because it melted fast and we've had rain ever since.

Working out... every single day this week.  It felt so good to do that after missing all of last week.

Freezing... in our house because of cold temperatures.  The twins wrapped blankets around their necks the other night while playing Legos because they were cold, and I'm always wearing layers.  When it's windy, it's just the worst!

Dealing... with lots of naughty behavior from Carly May this week.  She cut the hair off her My Little Pony, ate a cat treat (eww!) and just made messes like nobody's business as I tried to get ready for Christmas.  She's lucky she is cute!

Wrapping... gifts for my kids and the staff at school.  I put together really cute little packages for the staff assistants with bath bombs & Hershey kisses that look really fun.  I hope they love them!  I am so, so grateful for all they do for my kiddos everyday.  They are angels on earth, I tell ya!  For their teachers I did gift cards & chocolates- win/win, right?

Finishing... nebulizing Wyatt after two solid weeks.  I am so, so excited that he never needed the oral steroids this round.  I am just so proud of him and his lungs.  What a huge step in the right direction!

Laughing... that Carly is at that stage where she thinks that if she can't see you, you can't see her.  She will close her eyes, or go under her blanket, and think that for SURE you don't know where she is. It is so precious. We all giggle and pretend we can't find her, and then she pops out of her blanket on the couch, or opens her eyes and shouts, "Here I am!"

Letting... Jack wear Josh's old "Mr. C" sweatshirt because we both know that he won't always want to be Josh.  So we're going to let him be just like him for as long as he wants to be.

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My new favorite. From my sister.
Hahaha!

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Elf Shenanigans:

Sledding

Can you find Dashy?

Eating in the fridge

Hanging out in the car

Driving Carly's toy car around

One morning he gave us gingerbread houses!

He decorated Wyatt's little tree for him!

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Around Here: Week 49 {2018}

{2017}

{2018}

{My sister's cat Penny}

{2017}

{juggling coins}

Celebrating... Wyatt getting a cold.  Yes, you read that right! We are celebrating him getting a cold, and not needing oral steroids for the first time since he was hospitalized a year ago!  This is a huge breakthrough for us.  We managed with just nebulizer treatments and inhaled steroids, which is a big goal achieved.

Starting... a new med this week for Logan for his seizures.  So he is on three seizure meds currently: Tegretol, Vimpat and Depakote.  Depakote is the new one, and is quite scary, but I am placing all my trust in his neurologist and praying that it's the right choice.  I have been quite emotional about it and starting him up on it has felt really scary.

Reading... Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah, which is super good and fun to read because it takes place in Washington state, which is where I live!

Visiting... the neurologist with Logan and stopping one of the three meds he was on.  It felt good to get him down to two meds.  It also felt good to discuss Logan's seizures with the doctor.  She said based on his seizure symptoms, it appears he is having both generalized and focal seizures again, not just focal, which is why the Tegretol by itself wasn't working any longer.  She said she has had high success with Depakote, especially with young boys, and that she feels confident it will work with Logan.  That made me feel better about trying it.

Trying... to stay hopeful after getting pretty hopeless (about controlling Logan's seizures) for a while there.  On the drive to see the neurologist in Spokane (it's an hour and a half drive each way), I listened to an Oprah podcast with Anne Lamott and she talked about hope. She said we need to live in the hope, and that to hope is to be a child again.  She said hope is the prayer of surrender and she encourages us to be vulnerable in hope because vulnerability is courageous.  Her words really resonated with me, and I found myself wanting to hope again, even if my hopes get shot down.

Seeing... my counselor this week and talking about replacing habits.  I used to have the habit of emotional eating.  Then I replaced that habit (unknowingly) with book buying. So instead of emotional eating, I did emotional book buying.  Now I want to replace that habit with a different habit.  So we are working on figuring out what I can replace that habit with that won't be so hard on my pocket book. ;)

Picking... Logan up at school early one day this week when he fell at recess and hit his mouth after crashing with a girl.  He hit his mouth and his tooth stuck into his lip (almost coming all the way through), knocking his tooth loose.  We took a trip to the emergency dentist, who confirmed his top (grown up) side tooth was loose and needs to be babied for the next 2-4 weeks with soft foods and gentle care.  His lip was WAY worse the next day, so he stayed home that day, too.

Grateful... that one year has passed since Wyatt's hospitalization in the PICU in Spokane.  We are all so thankful he came out of that, and for all that we have learned since those dark, scary days.

Cleaning... up the biggest water/bubble mess I have ever cleaned up in the bathroom.  Carly was playing in the sink while Josh and I made dinner one night, and we knew she was in there, but it wasn't a big deal.  She often plays in the sink with her pups.  Then Josh went to check on her, and what had started as a little water and some Paw Patrol toys had morphed into a LOT OF WATER and EVEN MORE BUBBLES in very little time.  She was covered in bubbles, the floor was covered in water, and everything was slick and dangerous.  It was a disaster!!!  That girl is lucky she's cute, let me tell you!

Keeping... up with Dashy, our Christmas Elf, and his daily shenanigans.  He is sure a busy little guy, but we all love the magic of the belief in our house (and are so pleased by it) that it's absolutely worth the effort.  There's a schedule that was set at the beginning of the season that I follow and a timer on my phone and that makes the whole thing a LOT more manageable.
Although, Logan accidentally found my stash of "Elf" things (gingerbread houses for the kids to do, etc.) and I'm still not sure how I'm going to handle that.  Do I pretend to be his personal shopper? Do I just have him give a few additional things to add to what I already bought? Gah! Having kids is hard!

Getting... no sleep all week.  With Wyatt doing nebulizer treatments, we haven't had to put him on oral steroids (which is fantastic!) but we have had to do a lot of middle of the night nebs.  So I am plain WORN OUT.

Skipping... workouts all week because of the lack of sleep.  I was so tired, I chose not to work out, but I wish I had.  Not working out just added to my feeling like crap.  I ended the week committed to working out next week regardless of my sleep status.  Hopefully it will help me have more energy in the end!

Feeling... kind of low emotionally.  I'm not sure if it's from worrying over Wyatt's lungs with his cold, Logan's seizures & new meds, or something else entirely, but I struggled this week.  I think hitting the one-year mark since Wyatt's hospitalization was also hard on my heart.  I feel so lucky that he is okay, and so sad for other moms whose stories didn't end so happily.

Visiting... my sister and her crew for a cousin playdate over the weekend.  The kids always love getting together and I love the time with my sister.  It was really fun to see my niece- she's getting so big.  She signs and is saying some words, and is just so much fun!
I was scrolling through the blog earlier this week and came across a photo of Carly holding Romy last year and it is just amazing how much she has grown in a year!

Laughing... at Carly when I walked in my bedroom early this week to find her, naked (well, wearing a diaper) juggling coins from Josh's coin jar.  She told me she knew how from a show she had watched and that it was "amazing."

Making... homemade corn bread muffins to go with our crockpot chili this week.  It's from my Betty Crocker recipe book and I love it so much.  So does my family.  It's a delicious recipe so I thought I'd share it with you:

1 cup milk
1/4 cup butter melted
1 large egg
1 1/4 cups yellow cornmeal
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Spray muffin tin with Pam
Bake 10-15 minutes, taking out when golden brown

Loving... that the twins have matching coats & hats.  It's so ridiculous that this brings me joy, but it does.  Luckily, they don't seem to mind.  It wasn't on purpose, and their coats aren't identical, but it's enough that it gives me a little jolt of happiness when I see them together. (I am such a nerd. Hehe!)  Then I bought them new, matching Seahawks hats that I saw at Walmart, which they LOVE, and so now they match head to toe when they leave for school and it just makes me nostalgic for the old days when they matched all the time. sigh. 

Case in point. (see photo above)
Sometimes I look at a picture like this and
a) can't believe there were two of them, and b) can't believe how much Carly looks like them.
Oh gosh, they were cute.
I hope I knew how cute they were and relished in it.
I hope I kissed their cheeks enough.
In case I didn't, I'll kiss Carly's a couple extra times tomorrow for good measure. ;)

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Our Elf on the Shelf Shenanigans This Week:

Making Count Down Chains

Listening to music on the twins' ipod shuffle

Playing with Carly's Alphabet toy

Hanging Snowflakes from the ceiling

Left the kids stuff to make cocoa

Wrote "Merry Christmas!" on the bathroom mirror

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