I decided to write this post a day early because tomorrow is going to be busy with Shepard’s friend birthday party and prep work for his actual birthday and family party on Sunday.
So! It’s been a doozy of a week. Sometimes I think that the more I hope for and look forward to something, the more likely nothing is going to go my way. It’s definitely been that kind of a week and I’m so over it. I don’t handle disappointment well. Especially when it means I have to give up something I was really looking forward to doing for ME. Every day this week has just been one thing after another. Disappointment after disappointment and piles of frustration and stress. This was supposed to be such a good week! The ONE week everyone was supposed to be healthy and happy. So of course nothing went to plan.
Sunday was good! We went to my parents’ house to celebrate my mom’s birthday. I had more Hudson time. 🙂 Need to soak up these visits before he’s mobile and wants nothing to do with being held!
It was a very low key and relaxing day. The guys mostly played video games and the women talked. I was really tired and just weary. Which was maybe an early indicator that I had an ear infection, I just didn’t really realize it until three days later. 😛
We gave everyone a little Valentine gift. Hudson got some Packer footballs which he very much enjoyed sucking on!
Caden did some more yoga with Hudson.
We had a delicious meal of grilled steak and chicken, baked potatoes, veggies, and spinach dip. My mom’s favorite Market Street Diner cake and a variety of ice cream for dessert.
One last selfie before we headed home.
I don’t think I did much the rest of the night. It was day three of having zero motivation for anything. Shepard wanted to have a selfie with me, so we were trying to get in a good position and Annie can running over to join in.
My cutie. 🙂
Monday morning began with massive amounts of arguing with Shepard who insisted he wasn’t going to school. Mondays have been pretty tough in general for them this last month or two. But it’s usually Caden putting up a bigger fight. I finally got it out of him right before we left that his tooth was really loose and he didn’t want to lose it at school. This was only his second loose tooth and he didn’t handle losing the first one well. Most kids are really excited about it and having the Tooth Fairy come. Shepard was devastated and then threw up after he lost his first tooth a few months ago.
Alas, we got to school. And then I had a coffee date with my friend Laura. It was so good to catch up! I hope we make it a more regular thing. As I’m always lamenting, keeping up with adult friendships is SO HARD. But also SO worth the effort. I need to try harder with a lot of people.
I spent Monday afternoon cleaning our bedroom. It’s part of a little project I’ve been doing this month – finding ways to show myself more love and respect. It’s been a really long time since I’ve gone through the closet and cleared out my makeup and jewelry areas.
On a whim, I decided to run all my grocery errands on Monday night. Which was very fortuitous of me because I ended up being stuck at home with sick kids on Tuesday and Wednesday! I was DEAD tired by the end of all the stores I needed to run to, but it was worth it to get it out of the way.
One of my stops – just for my own pleasure – was Barnes and Noble. I still had a gift card from Christmas and wanted to get it spent! Even though it just about killed me to pay twice the price of what it was on amazon, I bought my own copy of The Hating Game (it’s so good!!!), and the other two were bargain books that looked good. I read How Not to Fall this week – not terrible, but not really my kind of book.
Tuesday I was planning to take Annie to a new dog park and then get a lot of sewing done. I actually thought I’d be able to get some dolls made this week after all. HA! Instead, Shepard was sick. I’m not really sure what he had – it was just some sort of 24 hour stomach bug. Greg thought it might have been loose tooth related. He never had a fever. All I know is that every time I started trying to work on something he’d throw up again. He was in a nightmarish mood all morning and then he slept all afternoon. So the upside is that it’s the only day all week I actually got to have a nap too. And it felt more restorative because Caden had instructions to just come home on his own after school and I didn’t have to have that deadline weighing in my subconscious.
We were supposed to have an at home date night, but of course Shepard ended up needing to stay with us. So much for a romantic evening together! It was fine, just another disappointment. Marriage has felt really hard lately and I was looking forward to some time alone. Maybe next week.
Wednesday was Valentine’s Day and a scheduled late start. My original plan for the day was to spend the afternoon pampering myself with a face mask, bath, lots of reading time, a nap, and zero guilt about anything. I was REALLY looking forward to it. So of course the day was extremely chaotic and stressful. I planned on making donuts for breakfast, but felt that would be pretty mean to Shepard when he couldn’t eat them. Instead I made a Dutch Baby because Caden and I are the only ones that like them – and we love them! And they’re easy.
Shepard had crackers. I held my ground on Tuesday with him just needing to read or sleep while he was sick. But Wednesday when he was feeling better – but still couldn’t go to school because of the 24 hour rule – I was resigned to letting him just play games or do whatever. My brother was apparently off work that day because all morning the three of them were connected playing Minecraft together.
Annie had her first grooming appointment at 8:00 Wednesday. So even though school started later, I had to run out with her. I didn’t know how long it was going to take, so I hadn’t showered yet, still hoping to make the most of a relaxing afternoon. I kept waiting and waiting for the phone call. I took Caden to school at 10 and he felt “perfect!” Annie was finally done at noon, and by that point I was stressed and exhausted. She looked like a brand new dog! They cut off all the scruffy hair on her ears, neck, legs, feet, butt area, and tail. I couldn’t stop laughing when I saw her. I think she was mildly traumatized by the whole thing and spent the rest of the day sleeping.
So I FINALLY got to take a shower at 12:30 and was ready to snuggle in with a book. But two minutes after I got out of the shower I got a phone call from school saying Caden’s been laying in the office for 45 minutes and says he’s too sick to go back to class, so will I come get him. Of course I ran over there – in half pajamas with soaking wet hair. He said his tummy hurt. We got home and he immediately started excitedly talking to Shepard about what he and Uncle Timmy have been doing in Minecraft while he was gone. He proceeded to spend the entire afternoon running around the house, doing flips across the furniture, screaming at me about playing games, and was so clearly NOT SICK. He faked it! To come back home and play more Minecraft! I was furious!!! I’ve written before about how rarely I believe him when he’s sick because this is my proof that he basically never is! Lying at school to come back home is a whole new level. ARGH!
So anyway. I thought I could force everyone to take a nap, but they kept sneaking into each other’s rooms and coming into mine to throw their tablets in my face for the password. Naps did not happen for anyone. I was pretty much at my wit’s end by the time Greg got home from work.
This doesn’t look even remotely pretty, but I tried to still put a festive meal together despite it all. Greg and I had heart shaped ravioli, Caden had heart shaped pasta, Shepard had some pancakes brought over by Grandma the night before, and I made garlic bread, cheesy garlic bread (both because Caden won’t eat cheese), strawberries, and sparkling juice.
I attempted lava cakes for a fancy dessert. They were so much lighter in color than the blog recipe, so I’m not sure I did it right. I also think they were a little too lava-y. But they tasted okay.
Annie got some ice cream for a treat.
After dinner I gave everyone their Valentine’s. I gave Greg some dark chocolate hot cocoa k-cups (which was another huge ordeal because amazon sent me the wrong thing and it was a whole other headache I dealt with on Tuesday) and a bag of dark chocolate candies. The boys each got a few books and candy. I gave Caden a baked potato bag because potatoes are his new favorite snack. The cats got a self heating mat and Annie got a big ball and some treats.
Greg gave me a wallet. I’ve been wanting one for awhile. I kept buying prettier ones and they can never fit all my stuff. So I’m sticking with the same boring looking brand, yet super functional style that I already have.
Jack loved the mat! Rory was on it all day yesterday, so he approves too.
Kitchen clean up selfie. We almost survived the day. You know, Shepard has been sick almost every single Valentine’s Day he’s been alive. The one year he wasn’t sick was the year I spent half the day in the ER getting a cyst removed. We’re just doomed to have terrible Valentine’s Days every year!
The rest of the night was pretty uneventful. The boys had baths. I read. Shepard and I messed around with camera filters. Greg and I watched an episode of Breaking Bad. I went to bed at like 8:30.
I didn’t want to get too hopeful ahead of time, but Thursday went back to normal. FINALLY. Shepard lost his tooth at breakfast. I was a little worried he’d lose it at school and then throw up, so at least we got it taken care of at home! (He didn’t throw up, just fyi.) Since both boys missed their Valentine parties, they brought in their treats.
By Wednesday night I was pretty certain I had an ear infection. I had one two months ago so I’m pretty familiar with the symptoms by now. 🙁 So I spent the early morning trying to find a place to fit me in for an appointment. Why does it have to be so hard to make a doctor’s appointment?! Our clinic doesn’t even open until 1pm half the days of the week now. So frustrating. I ended up getting an afternoon appointment in Beaver Dam. But I was pretty determined to spend the morning doing something FOR ME. I think I might have lost my mind if I hadn’t. So! Annie and I went to Sun Prairie to check out another new dog park.
I ran a few quick errands while I was in Madison and then picked up a Chipotle bowl to bring home and eat. While I was getting my drink I knocked the bag to the floor and my salsa spilled everywhere. NOOOOOOOO. Chipotle salsa is basically my favorite food in the world. So yes, I scraped it up off the floor with a spoon and still ate it. No judging. It was MY floor, at least.
At this point I only had 20 minutes before I needed to leave for the doctor, so I had to rush through my delicious lunch. But delicious it was! If there was a Chipotle in Columbus it would be really hard to restrain myself from eating there like every day. 🙂
Oh, I also had a surprise Valentine gift from Laura on my porch when I got home! So that made me happy. 🙂 Thursday wasn’t all bad!
The doctor was pretty quick. Surprise, surprise, I have an ear infection. Again. Considering the entire left half of my face and throat are just throbbing in pain, I was pretty sure! So she called in the prescription and then I waited FIVE HOURS for it to be filled. I got the email it was ready and saw it was three times more expensive than the last drops I had (and ear drops are expensive!). So I called the pharmacy and explained how the doctor thought this would be cheaper and because it’s not, she’ll need to call the doctor back for a different prescription because I’m not paying that much. At this point it was 6:45 and the pharmacist says well, nobody will probably be there, do you really need them tonight? And I snapped back that YEAH, I do need them, I’ve been waiting five and a half hours for them, so tonight would be really nice. I was NOT happy. And she wasn’t too happy with my response. Anyway, twenty minutes before the pharmacy closed they called me back to say they got a new prescription and it was ready. Greg fortunately ran out to get it for me. Unfortunately, I also asked him to buy eggs so I could make cakes today, and he forgot. One track mind, men.
In the meantime, Caden was throwing fits, like most nights. There’s always something. (We’re a lot alike…) So he was in his room reading. Greg and Shepard went to Science Night at school. And I was working on Shepard’s birthday treat for his class. I made two batches of mega cookies. Exactly the same recipe, exactly the same amount of measured dough in each ball. And they turned out looking completely different. I didn’t have any more sprinkles to make a third batch, so I just packed them up and wrote an apology note to the teacher in case the total difference in appearance caused some fights between kids…
After Science Night, Shepard put together the treat bags for his party. So literally one thing is ready for the party.
And that’s basically been my week. If you made it through this entire long story of me venting and whining, you must really care about me! (lol) I realize this is not a positive post, at all. I was just SO excited about this week. And it seemed like literally everything that could go wrong did. From big things like Shepard being sick to small things like dropping my hot salsa on the floor. I think I burst into tears about at least something every single day this week. My neck and back still hurt almost three weeks later from that stupid puppy chow and now because of my ear infection. I feel like crap and there’s still so much to do and all the amazing down time I was going to give myself this week didn’t work out. I was doing this Self Love Experience to Be My Own Valentine and then all these other things beyond my control kept popping up and ruining my plans. It’s frustrating. I’m so tired. I’m so sick of winter. I need a massage.
Anyway. Friday today! I’m working on getting the house ready for Shepard’s birthday parties. We’re going very simple with food, so I really just need to make cakes. Though I need to get dressed to go buy eggs first… And I desperately need a nap and more ibuprofen. But we will survive! Shepard is pretty easy to please and I think he’ll be super happy just to have friends around tomorrow. I don’t need to kill myself trying to make everything perfect. It’s been a hard week and the shape of my house might reflect that. But I’m determined to give my almost 7 year old the best birthday weekend he can have. And next week MAYBE I can get back to my own agenda and actually have it work out!
