November arrived and brought with it THE SICK. Oddly enough, Nate was the first to go. He gets sick the least of all of us, so it was odd when he started coughing. Xander was next, followed by Augustus. I resisted for a full week, feeling superior while I downed multivitamins and echinacea, until yesterday, when I finally succumbed.
On Thursday of last week, school called at 11 to say that Xander was in the nurse’s office with a 102 degree fever. Yikes. Nate picked him up and he spent the day resting and then stayed home on Friday as well. He had a cough and a little bit of a runny nose, but didn’t have covid, the flu, strep or any of the big ones, but he was definitely miserable. We jumped into sprite, chicken noodle soup, snuggles, relaxing, reading, and baths.
On Saturday, Augustus and I headed to a very fun birthday party at Zero Gravity trampoline park. There was climbing and jumping and so many fun things to do. Augustus had a great time for about 45 minutes and then my incredibly social, incredibly active child snuggled onto my lap, complaining that his arms and legs hurt. UGH. We said “happy birthday”, collected a fun treat bag and headed home, missing both pizza and cupcakes. More naps, sprite, chicken soup, baths, snuggling, reading, relaxing…
KT spent last Saturday at his second debate tournament. Debate class has proven to be a challenge for KT. Part of the class is taking part in 2 debates. He was very nervous and not excited at all. But when I picked him up, he proudly held up his third place medal! I screamed with excitement! Japanese people tend to be pretty reserved and he’s not quite sure how to handle my enthusiasm. But it was only his second debate and he did so well!! I was even more excited when he said, “I wish you had been there at the award ceremony- no one was even taking pictures. You can take one when we get home!” This is a kid who does not get excited about about anything and doesn’t like having his photo taken- apparently it has only taken me 2 months to bring him over to my side! I was really proud of him and happy for him and he was in a really good mood.
The boys were under the weather, but I’ve been feeling good and have been so busy. It is end of the year giving time and for a professional fundraiser, it means I’ve been HUSTLING! Lots of calls, emails, work work work! And in every spare moment, I’ve been baking like it’s my job. Thanksgiving is a very popular holiday for me. By the time Thanksgiving comes, I will have baked, packed and sold 45 DOZEN macarons. That is a lot of cookies. I have a tiny St. Paul kitchen. I have a full time job, a husband, 2 dogs, 3 children… it’s a lot of cookies in my “spare” time.
On Tuesday, I celebrated one year at the YMCA. I emailed my boss to congratulate him on having such an awesome employee for a whole year. Then I shared this photo on social media because one of the first things I learned in my new work from home role was how to muffle background noise when I’m online. It was my third day when my boss said, “I’m hearing something like snoring really loudly in the background, do you know what that could be?” and I had to turn my computer and show him my co-workers. I’ve learned a bunch of other stuff since then as well. This year has been awesome. I LOVED my last job. I was really nervous I would never be happy at work again. But this new job is fantastic. I really enjoy the work I’m doing. I have an awesome boss and team. I love working from home with these monsters at my feet. I am so grateful to be in this role and happier than I ever could have imagined. I’m very very lucky!
Friday was Xander’s first fencing class after school. He’s been very excited for it and I was happy Nate got there early and could take some photos of him in action!
The weekend is here and the boys are feeling almost back to normal and finally, after almost 2 weeks of being healthy despite 2 sick boys and a sick husband, I have finally fallen… I thought I was going to avoid it. But no. I am coughing and sneezing and miserable. Saturday, the boys headed to Grandma Debbie’s house for a sleepover. I spent the entire day either napping or just sitting on the couch being miserable. Nate took good care of me bringing me ice cream and tea.
Sunday has been a day of rest. The boys were busy with Grandma this morning, but the rest of the day has been for snuggles and relaxing. We’re hitting the road for Thanksgiving and we all need to be healthy for our trip next week!
