Illness, Garbage Disposals and Baby Ivy

We've been getting our place a little more organized, we bought a new table that Papa picked up for us from Nampa on Sunday (thanks Pa!), and a new cube shelf a few weeks ago that holds fabric cubes that has become our dresser. They are also the perfect size to hold a three-drawer organizer from Fred Meyer. Here you can see Nico showing Evelyn all his coloring books and stickers and paper that we are storing in that three-drawer organizer.

Guy caught a cold, I think the same one Nico has had coming upon him for the last few weeks. He went to work Friday night even though he didn't feel great, and spent a few days of his weekend feeling kind of crummy. 

On Monday Nico didn't eat much of his lunch and asked me to hold him as we got out of the car to walk into his preschool. Red flag! I asked him if he was feeling okay and he asked me to hold him. I asked him if he had a tummy ache and he said "Yes". To which I explained that we probably shouldn't take him into preschool. I explained that if he needed to throw up it would be better to do it at home, but he insisted that he no longer had a tummy ache and that he was ready to go to preschool. I decided to believe him with my actions by taking him to preschool. I told the teacher that he may or may not have a tummy ache. He did not throw up that day, but I did turn around to pick him up from school as soon as I got home. The teacher called me saying that Nico was crying and holding his tummy and wanted me to come get him :( I felt so bad. I raced back to the car praying that he wouldn't throw up at school to save him the embarrassment, I could have just been projecting my own fears onto him, though. I brought "the bucket" with me. He was outside waiting for me with his teacher when I pulled up. He was fine a few hours later after I rubbed his feet with oils several times and we snuggled on the couch. It's funny how quickly his demeanor changes when his tummy ache is gone. He perks up and asks for food and then eats like he's starving. I wrote to the teacher telling her he was fine, and Teacher Melissa wrote back and said "I was a little alarmed at how much pain he seemed to be in for a few minutes, there, but am very glad he's alright."

He went to school on Tuesday, and as he was getting off the bus, the bus driver told Guy that Nico was coughing a lot and asking the bus attendant to hold him :( He had a full blown cold at this point, and his fever spiked that night with an intense ear ache. Oils to the rescue. Then the next morning his fever was down to 99.6. He stayed home from school, and had to miss his snack day... that's the day that he brings snack and also gets to bring something to show the class. He was going to bring his bubbles in and tell them that Grandma Salisbury got them for him from Shopko.

Not all is lost! He had a great day today. He woke up with no fever and had a fun time at school and got to eat ASTRONAUT ICE CREAM. As soon as he walked in the door he told me about it and he told me it tasted sweet. And I am thankful that it didn't give him a tummy ache! Then tonight while we were reading bedtime stories, Jeff came in to fix our garbage disposal (accidental teaspoon clog, whoops), and Nico had a chance to hold baby Ivy. He talked to me about her tiny feet and her tiny legs and asked about the socks on her hands. He was very sweet with her.

I got a turn too, of course.

I think that's it for this week. I wish I had taken more pictures!

Reunion, Puzzle, G.G.

On Saturday we had a mini friend reunion with my High School friends. Nico enjoyed jumping on the trampoline and playing with the toys and the kids. Me and three of my friends, together have 10 kids. It was the first time Guy had met any of them. He said he liked them and wanted to see them more often. I agree! I invited them all to Nico's birthday party so we may or may not be seeing them then.

Later that night we went to Smoky Mountain Pizza. Guy watched Nico. While we were there, our 5th friend from High School called us and we were all able to talk to her. It hasn't been since High School that all five of us were together, and perhaps someday soon we'll be able to do that. 

On Sunday, Papa came over for a bit to drop off some eggs and milk and the truck. And to watch a few minutes of Despicable Me 2. Nico has really been digging that movie.

We needed to borrow his truck so that we could move our 13,200 piece puzzle from our house over to Jeff and Allicia's, which we did successfully on Tuesday evening. They have a nice large wall in their front room that is perfect for the puzzle. Guy and Jeff hung it while Allicia and I and the kids read books and played. We were also able to bring over some bins that were ready for storage. They are storing some things for us since we will be living in a small space and won't have room for everything. We are all getting very excited about moving in 2 months! I've told Nico several times that we're moving into Evie's house and he seems to understand. I am so happy that he'll have someone to play with more often.

Our living room without the puzzle, and with an almost bare bookshelf from packing.

We kept the truck until today. I enjoyed being able to see EVERYTHING while driving it. It is up high and I don't know why but it felt like it had more windows than our car. That's not true, but it sure felt like it! Papa came by to pick up the truck tonight, and he is heading straight to Yakima. My Mom is in Yakima with my Grandma. My Great Uncle Jerry passed away early Sunday morning, a few days after my Mom and Grandma arrived to see him. I didn't know him but I have heard great things about him. The funeral is tomorrow, I am praying for everyone.

Some more pictures from this week..

Memorial Park

 "Where's the airplane? I don't see the airplane!"

A new game Nico invented. Falling off Daddy's shoulders onto the bed.

Nico loved riding in Papa's truck. We had many discussions about Papa's truck and our car. He loved to repeat how Papa took our car and left his truck so we could use it. He was very careful to correct me whenever I called the truck a car. "It's not a car, it's a truck!" He often asked to go to Grandma and Papa's house when we'd get into the truck. 

A suggestion in his Curious George sticker book was to make a raft out of craft sticks, let it dry, then float it on water and see how many pennies it could hold. We tried this out. We got up to 6 pennies I think. Then after all the sticks were wet it could only hold 2 before sinking. Then the glue melted away and the raft fell apart. Then we were done and we left the raft and the pennies in the sink while we took a nap on the couch. Lots of work hauling pennies around on rafts.

We visited G.G. today. Nico got to feed Scamper his food and his snack-bone afterward. He played a bit with some of the toys around, but then started asking to leave. We could attribute it to a few different things. G.G. noticed that the cartoon he had started watching had a dinosaur in it. When we asked him if he wanted to leave because of the dinosaur, he said "Yes". But when we changed the channel he still asked to leave. Then he made more of a complete thought than just "Go home"… he said "Go home and get gas in the truck." I had mentioned to G.G. that we were going to fill up the truck with gas before going home and Nico heard this. Nico loves the truck!

So sweet!

Dinosaurs and Tigers

Went to the Zoo on Friday. Nico was ok with one of the dinosaur exhibits: the one with two small dinosaurs.

All the other ones we needed to stay away from. He would yell "MOMMY MOMMY MOMMY NO!" whenever I'd try to go near another one. Our zoo circuit was reduced a bit and we stuck around the giraffe slide and the prairie dog tunnel. Not sure how visiting the zoo in the future will go, I'm hoping he'll be interested in trying to get through his fear, but he had no interest in it on Friday. Perhaps I don't have quite the same touch as Grandma! :)

Prairie dog tunnel

On Saturday we went to the market. Nico was intent on getting a balloon in the shape of a yellow train. The young girl that usually does our balloons wasn't there that day but we found another few that were making them. The only vehicle they could do was a motorcycle, and Nico picked orange. He was very happy with it. It was very well done!

Saturday night Guy took Nico to Movie Under the Stars in Julia Davis Park. They were showing Despicable Me 2, starting it at dusk, but the fun started at about 7 PM with activities for kids plus music. Guy and Nico met Jeff and Evie there. Guy said the music was very loud and Nico looked a little shell shocked at first, but after a while he wanted to go up front with the other kids and dance, so they did that. Then after Evie arrived, they ate snacks, sat on the blanket, and waited for the movie. Sunset was at 9:30, dusk was at 10 PM. Nico asked to go home at 9:30, so they left, and they started the movie about 10. 

They had fun, but I think they'll skip the rest of the movies this summer. They'll choose another type of outing to enjoy some bonding time. I think they'd both prefer to go to Red Robin or something!

On Tuesday morning we went to see G.G. She pulled out her piggy bank and Nico had fun putting all her spare coins into it. I think we emptied her purse completely of any change! She gave him a "credit card" (a used Applebees gift card) which he held onto the entire way home until he fell asleep and dropped it. He woke up briefly and said "Oh no my credit card" and then went right back to sleep.

Tuesday night I taught my last essential oils class for the summer. Nico's speech therapist from school, Miss Susie, came to the class with her daughter-in-law. Guy and Nico went out for a while but stayed long enough to see Miss Susie. Apparently Nico kept asking to go back home to see her again! He was very excited about it and I know he just wanted to talk to her and tell her all about everything, he just stood in front of her saying "Miss Susie" again and again, like he was working up to saying something important for her to hear, but I think in his excitement he just couldn't come up with anything more important than just repeating her name. He was very pleased with it. Guy and Nico did come home early enough to see Miss Susie again, which Nico was very excited about. She left soon after and said "see you when school starts!"

Wednesday morning we went up to the cabin. Me and my Mom made a double batch of Cowboy Casseroles so we could put some in our freezer, and so she could show me how she makes it. We finished in record time and spent the rest of the morning just hanging out. Nico wanted to join us in the kitchen with an apron so we let him choose which one he wanted. He wanted the LEOPARD one!

And then later we pulled out the old TIGER costume after we remembered that they existed and that Mom probably still had one. When we were younger, my Mom made me and my brothers tiger costumes. I think there were 4 originally, and this is the one that is left. Just Nico's size! After putting it on, we went upstairs to show Papa.

And then that night, I asked him if he wanted to go for a walk in his tiger costume and he said YES. He decided to ride his tricycle instead. All the neighbors thought he was just so cute. I could hear laughs as we walked along and one of them opened their front door so their 3 year old could look and say hi. He got too hot halfway through so we took the costume off.

Stopping to "fix the sidewalk"

Some more of this week in pictures:

Fish Park

 Beetle

 Playing hide and seek as "Double-O Nico" (Curious George is Double-O monkey)

And, all the snippets from June in a video! Extra points if you can find where I messed up writing one of the text descriptions.

Watch-a a [th]is!

Nico has started asking us to watch him when he does stuff. He doesn't say the "th" in "this" so it sounds like "Hey Mommy Hey Mommy, watch-a a is Mommy!" You'll see an example of this in the video. He has also picked up on the prayer before eating. I asked him to pray twice and he did, saying exactly what I do before every meal.

Saturday Market on Saturday, got some cinnamon bread but Nico wasn't too fond of it this time. We went for a lot of strider rides this week, too. Once he even rode his scooter around the block for the first time ever! He prefers the Strider, though.

Tuesday was my first ever Community Ed class, teaching about cleaning your home with essential oils. It was a lot of fun. Jeff and Evie came over that evening while I was gone and then all of them went back to Jeff & Allicia's house via walking/strider/biking/roller blades. Then I picked my boys up over there after my class.

That's really all that happened this week, so, enjoy the video!
p.s. one of the titles on the video didn't go through, you'll see it. Whoops!

Spring Break

Late night tonight! Spring break is keeping us busy.

 We saw G.G. on Monday. She gave Nico an old blue car that belonged to her brother. Nico loves it. He also has been asking to go back to "G.G. house" all week. 

 On Tuesday, Allicia and Jeff came over with their kid crew and Guy made everyone pad thai for dinner. It was amaaaazing. It was the first time I had had a full meal of Guy's pad thai. I am so glad there were leftovers for me. We sent home some leftovers with Jeff and Allicia, too. Guy made 3 batches of it! Jeff and Allicia also brought over a flourless cake for dessert, which I hear was excellent. 

Wednesday we made it up to the cabin where we are staying for two nights. Soon after getting here, Nico and Papa went outside and spent some time chopping things. Nico is really enjoying himself, there are a lot of perks to hanging out with grandparents! I let the rules get a little stretchy in these situations. Watching the iPad while he eats and passing on the broccoli for dinner is A-OK. That's what spring break is for, right?

 Then tonight we had an essential oils class at the cabin. Papa and Nico hung out while we were all upstairs. It was a lot of fun. Maybe short and sweet today, also because I left our camera at home and there are no other pictures to share but this one my Mom took of me and Nico this morning.

I'll post the rest of the pictures from this past week in next week's blog. I'm sure we did other fun things, because I remember taking pictures. Just not sure what the pictures are of.

Elimination Diet, and the Sickies

On Friday Guy took a half-day at work so that he could watch Nico while I went to a women's conference called "Dare to Be". Charlotte Gambil spoke, and Natalie Grant sang songs. It was a great time!

On Saturday, a comedy couple called Barnes and Miner came to our church and had a comedy show. Childcare was provided, so all of us went. Jonny and Alanna and Wanda (and Lexie) were also there. We all laughed! Guy said it was better than he thought it was going to be. I caught him laughing out loud a few times :)

Guy officially started his elimination diet last Thursday. He ran out of coffee last Tuesday, though, so he has been without coffee now for more than a week. He had some withdrawal - headaches, body aches, fatigue, and then we all caught a cold or a mild flu. Because our doctor had told me to keep track of mine and Nico's pH (with little pH strips that you buy at the health store), I was well aware that we were all getting sick a few days before it started. The doc told us that if our pH goes way up for a few days then you know that you are about to get sick. We were able to take preventive measures, and it did seem to lessen the blow for all of us. Nico only missed one day of school, and no one had any fevers. I think Guy got the worst of it, unfortunately. He was able to leave work early last night to come home and get some more rest. He had also worked overtime on Sunday and Monday.

On Tuesday I taught another essential oils class while Nico was in preschool. I sure do love talking about essential oils! It was a lot of fun.

Then on Tuesday night after bedtime, Jeff and Allicia came over to hang out again. Guy made them all some coconut ice cream, which was very well received. Coconut milk, honey, and vanilla flavoring, turned into a frozen treat via the Donvier.

The one picture I took this week was taken today right before Guy went to work. It's so cute that I'm sure it makes up for the lack of other pictures :)

Christmas

The Grandparents Russell came into town on Saturday (Forthwith they will be referred to as Gpa and Gma.) Woohoo! Dinner, playing, "watching the baby". It was a great night. Guy and Gma played Pandemic, and Nico fell asleep on Gpa while snuggling on the couch after dinner. Early bedtime, but oh so sweet to see.

Nico was up the next morning at 3:30 AM, wowza! We all headed to church, which was a blast. G.G. also joined us. Nico got to see his Grandparents Salisbury at Church, he was so happy! Lots of other family was there, too.  We then we headed home for lunch after a quick stop at the Co-op to pick up sandwiches. And a balloon hat for Nico that one of the clerks made for him.

After lunch it was time for presents!

G.G. gave Nico an amazing hand-made car play set that folds up and has a handle for easy transport. When you unfold it, it has a garage where the 4 mini cars are stored. You can pull the cars out and drive them along the road, under a bridge and under a tree. Nico played with this for a very long time. So excited to have this to bring with us to church/doctors offices/anywhere.

Then there were puzzles, digger, construction, books, an amazing "Brown Bear Brown Bear" quilt that Gma made for Nico. He is now sleeping with it on his bed. He's been wandering around the house this whole week reciting the book over and over again. When he sees the quilt it reminds him to start up again. He has got it pretty much memorized I think.

Didn't get a shot of the whole quilt, but here's me snuggled up with it.

On Monday we went to the Outlet Malls for a brief excursion, and more presents were scattered throughout the day. Nico was in heaven and so enjoyed having everyone around to entertain.

Sticker book time. 

They headed back to Washington on Tuesday, but not without a tentative next-arrival-date of April-ish. Woohoo!

Tuesday evening, Jeff, Allicia, Evie and Avery came over and we started a new tradition. We ate a quick and easy meal (rice and ground beef and broccoli), then we stuck a birthday candle in a satsuma and sang Happy Birthday to Jesus. Then we opened the satsuma and shared the slices. It was so much fun and I hope we can do it again next year. 

Nico had a serious blast with Evie. They got each other so riled up, running around, throwing blankets on each other and having tickle wars with Guy. Evie was enthralled by G.G.'s handmade car garage and spent a good amount of time playing with that. 

Guy worked overtime that night, but didn't have to be there until 9:30 PM, and he got to come home around 5 AM instead of 6:30. Presents were opened on Christmas morning, we ate breakfast, and then spent the whole day playing playing playing playing. The living room has been in a state of Happy Christmas Mess ever since. Just the way it should be.

It has been a blessed week and I am so grateful for all the time we had to spend with family.

One last thing - Nico climbed into a paper sack today and I made sure to take a picture. Like mother like son!

Block Blast

On Saturday we picked up the 110 pounds of nuts that we bought through a local "group buy". We got free shipping because over 1000 pounds were ordered. They should last us a whole year until next year's group buy. We got 60 pounds of almonds and 50 pounds of cashews. Nico helped me put them into freezer bags so we can store most of them in the freezer. 

Nico checking with me before he eats a cashew. Don't muzzle the ox!

I mad our first batch of homemade almond butter, and almond milk. Success!! Nico couldn't get enough of the almond milk, and he eats the almond butter with breakfast every morning.

On Sunday we went up to the cabin in the afternoon for dinner and fun! My Mom had invited all of us plus Jeff and Allicia and crew. We caravanned. The mountain road was covered in snow and we didn't make it up all the way. Jeff and Allicia made it up just fine, though! We had to stop and put chains on before we could continue, as we got stuck on the side of the road after pulling over to try to turn around. Nico got very upset when we pulled over, he thought we were turning around permanently and kept saying "Papa!" and pointing up the road.

We had a great time. Thank you to Pa and Ma for hosting, wonderful food and lots of fun!

Evie and Nico really enjoyed playing with all the wind up toys.

On Monday Nico had a stuffy nose and I decided to cancel our trip to G.G.'s because of it. I really didn't want to spread any sickness to her, so we rescheduled for 2 weeks out.

Stuffy nose seemed to stay as a stuffy/runny nose the past few days. He's been going to school, and hasn't had a fever.

On Wednesday his school had "Block Blast" and the parents were invited. So I showed up for it, and got to play with Nico as he went from station to station to play with different kinds of blocks in the gym. There were hollow blocks, big foam blocks, cars and a car mat, and pattern blocks. He got a kick out of the car and car mat, as well as the pattern blocks. He built a turtle following a pattern. Miss Candace (his teacher) and I talked about how Nico is meticulous and the pattern blocks seemed to suit him really well (I thought this might make a good Christmas present for him! Good thing I haven't chosen yet what to get him, I keep changing my mind.) We had a lot of fun. Miss Candace gave me a handout with suggestions on how to play with blocks with Nico to encourage learning of different concepts.

Today, I volunteered at the school but went in early so I could observe his speech therapy. The audiologist was there testing hearing, so that actually took up the speech therapy time. Though I did get to watch him get his hearing tested. She taught him how to hold a block up to his ear while he was wearing headphones, and when he hears the beep he is supposed to put the block in a bucket. He did one or two but then he defaulted to looking up at her when he heard the beep, in order to get an "OK" to put the block in the bucket. Apparently, visually asking for confirmation like that is common for 3 year olds. They tend to want to check with you first before putting the block down. But, that was confirmation enough that he was hearing just fine.

I will volunteer one more time, in two weeks, and I will go in early again to try to sit in on his speech therapy. 

This past week I started asking Nico to help set the table, which he is thoroughly enjoying. I have him fold paper towels into napkins and then put a fork on each one. He says "Mommy, Daddy, Nico" when he puts the napkin or the fork down on each of our places.

Setting the table.

Blowing bubbles while waiting for the bus. Rainy day, Nico was sure to remind me that we needed to use the umbrella while walking to the bus.

Snuggling inside Daddy's coat this morning right after waking up.

We got Nico's school picture back!

Recovering and Playing

Well, Nico didn't have an overnight miraculous recovery form his cold, so we kept him home from school last Friday. He missed picture day, but he'll be able to make it up in November. I caught the cold on Friday night, and Guy followed suit on Saturday. It was a pretty mild cold overall, no fever involved, just sore throats and runny noses.

On Friday, though he missed school, we went out to the dollar store to get him a new Cars puzzle. He was very excited about it. 48 piece puzzle, and after helping him put together the border, he can put the entire inside together on his own. Saturday we pulled out ALL his puzzles, pushed the couch to the edge of the living room and used the living room floor.

We've also been playing a lot of the memory game, which Nico is getting quite good at. Flipping cards over and trying to find their match. We also pull out the board games for older people and take out all the pieces and pretend we're playing the game. He builds fences or towers with the game pieces.

Then on Saturday night Papa and Grandma Salisbury came by to bring us some fruit. Guy had left for work already and so we weren't able to go get some pears, which is what I was wanting. Nico wanted a green apple, and so the Grandparents Salisbury went and got us some fruit since they were in town already. It was just what we needed after feeling icky all day with a cold!

I made some apple butter this week in the crockpot. It turned out REALLY yummy, so I think I'll be making more of it when the apples go on sale. Five pounds of apples made more than a quart of apple butter. No sugar or spices added, and even Guy said it was really good! (G.G., I am bringing you some on Monday!)

Guy worked Saturday night and then he has a total of 9 days off in a row. Wowww! He has worked every night for the past 2 weeks (at least! It may be closer to 3 weeks), and he was ready for a break. We have been having fun so far. Going to parks, and having friends over. On Wednesday, Jeff and Allicia came over. Evie and Nico played in Nico's room while the adults (plus Avery) played a board game - Pandemic - the one that we got Guy for his birthday. It was a lot of fun.

Nico and Evie playing in Nico's bed.

Today I volunteered again at Nico's school, this time cutting out leaves! I got to see Nico this time, too. I went into his classroom to pick up the stuff. He was excited to see me, and showed me what he was playing with. This week they are learning about scarecrows and pumpkins and the colors black, orange and white. They are doing a pumpkin patch activity tomorrow and they have an early release.

Tonight, Guy is out with friends at another Rifftrax event (MST3K spinoff). He was very excited about it and I'm so glad he has some major relaxing and enjoying going on this week.

Nico has been talking a lot about bumpy things lately. The road is bumpy when the car bounces, so he says "Buppy Row" (bumpy road). Bumpy hand (when he's driving one of his cars over his hand) or bumpy _____ depending on what his cars are driving over when he says it. He repeats most everything we say now, using his own words. It is difficult sometimes trying to figure out what he means, but when we do figure it out it's just genius, that he can say that particular thing. Lawn mower, for instance, or Sound, Big, one more piece, too big, nico's turn, fix it, broken bumper, Nico too big bus (Nico is too big to fit into his toy bus), wheels, broken train... he has even started saying "cooo" for Curious George! He has also learned how to scream at the top of his lungs :)