We celebrated my birthday this week...the second in our series of close birthdays. Hyrum was fresh off his birthday, so he was excited to celebrate mine. I'll talk more about it later. The big news of our week is that Tim got his two weeks vacation and the hospital lifted it's travel restrictions to most states. We did not think he was going to get his vacation this year, but they have been gradually going back to the old schedule and the stars aligned for us. With the travel restrictions lifted, he got permission so we could go visit family. It started as an almost joke/slash wouldn't it be cool if discussion and it turned into the real deal. It's been a year since we have seen any of our family and this next year will be busy with regular nights and STEP 3, so if we didn't take this chance we weren't sure if or when it would happen. We are going to hit my family in Oklahoma and then drive down to see Tim's family in southeast Texas before heading home. It will be two weeks of crazy traveling, but we are going to make it happen.
Tim has been on nights all this week. His last day of nights will be Monday evening to Tuesday morning. He will get home around 7 am to shower and then he will sleep for a few hours in the car while I drive the first leg of our journey. He is in the cardiac ICU and things have been pretty quiet. He did get to put in a really difficult line. He had to pull it out for the fellow to try, but the fellow struggled too, so he didn't feel too bad. He said the hospital will begin ramping up video appointments. I guess billing procedures have changed and I think they will start allowing clinic visits based on needs. I am assuming it would be the more critical visits, at least more critical than a stubbed toe. He also said that some procedures will also start within the next couple of weeks. I am not sure which ones, but it is good to see some things starting to get back to normal.
North Carolina is still basically closed down. Next week will determine whether they move to phase 2, which means all business will open, but at a limited capacity. There are still plenty of covid cases, but hospitals seem to be managing the ones they have. I am ready for things to open again. I haven't minded staying home, but it stinks to not have options like going to a park more exciting than ours to let the kids burn energy.
Hyrum is officially done with preschool for the year. Looking back I can't believe how much progress he has made in all areas. He has always been curious and eager for knowledge and he soaked it up this year. He went from knowing most of his capitals and some sounds to sight words and reading. His math has made huge leaps. He really struggled with the teens and one to one counting, but now he counts to 100 and one to one is great. He really started to struggle at the end with listening and doing activities. I have pretty much decided that we are going to give it our best effort to join a co-op next year. He just needs more social interaction and being with mom isn't has fun as learning with a group. After we get back, he will start doing different learning activities along with reading and writing stories for the summer. We continue to struggle with Hyrum's behavior. We make progress in one area and a new problem arises. This week he has decided that he doesn't have to do what he is told. He gets angry when he has to stop something and says that he can do whatever he wants. He just doesn't quite get there are ALWAYS consequences and typically the consequences aren't fun.
Lila has made a huge verbal leap this week. I don't know what it was, but she has finally started to add the ending sound to her words. She also has started repeating new words as we say them. She is also getting into making sounds. She has a transportation book that I usually make the sounds. She has started to imitate them. My favorite is the rocket ship. It's just so cute! She continues to work on her large motor skills. This week she mastered balancing on a beam and walking. We have large beams surrounding our complex playground and she will walk all the way around by herself. If she sees Hyrum do something, she wants to try. It causes a lot of friction, because Hyrum doesn't want her playing or messing up his stuff. We have been working a lot on Hyrum not reacting and helping Lila know how to play. She has also gotten some attitude this week and hit me for the first time, because she was angry. I was really shocked, because she hasn't reacted like that. Hyrum turned from an angel into an emotional monster at 18 months and I don't really feel like Lila has had such a drastic change. With Hyrum it was literally night and day difference and Lila it is more subtle. She is still super cute and full of hugs, so all attitude is quickly forgiven.
The highlight of my week was of course my birthday. Thirty-three has crept up on me. It seems just like yesterday I was living on the edge staying out late celebrating the big 21 and eating whatever I wanted. Now all I dream of is a full nights sleep and wondering how much I'm going to have to exercise to work off the treat. But, in all seriousness it's been a good 33 years. I've learned and grown a lot as a person and had some great experiences that have stretched me physically, mentally, and spiritually. Tim was on nights, so Thursday night before leaving he and the kids hid in Hyrum's bedroom with my chair. The best quote of the week came from Hyrum. "Mom, I need a blanket for no reason." I just had to laugh because it was a dead giveaway that something was going on. Hyrum kept watch over the surprise under the blanket he needed for no reason all night. Tim was able to get home early and ended up making me breakfast. I felt bad, because I knew he was really tired, but Hyrum insisted he make me breakfast. Tim also brought home lunch and a treat for me to have while he slept.
I also spent time this week planning our adventure in between nausea. I am mostly in the clear and feeling great, but once or twice a week I get a really sick feeling that sends me to the bathroom just in case. I should count myself lucky that the first few months are so easy compared to others, but it's annoying. My first two pregnancies, I was completely in the clear by this time and it just feels like the first trimester is dragging on even though I am rounding the corner to 16 weeks. Despite this, I am proud that I have pretty much kept to my exercising five times a week. I jog in the church parking lot for three days and then do some pilates for two days. Hopefully, I will be able to keep up the jogging for a few more months, before I switch to walking.
I am really excited for our adventure coming up. I most likely won't be updating the blog for a couple of weeks, but I will try my hardest to take some good pictures. Until then!
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