34 Days & 33 Nights Away

Happy 2013.
I'm behind on two years' worth of S&M Awards. Hmm. I'm OK with that.
Since last blog post, we've all been through a lot.
The highlight reel:
- All sick during our stay-at-home Thanksgiving
- I was reminded that I'm always glad not to be in school during finals weeks
- We left for a 34 day holiday. Steve had five weeks off of school and we maximized it! Perks of being in school still :)
- Drove to San Antonio, visiting family in suburbs of Dallas and Austin along the way.
- Stayed at my parents' lovely new home they had only moved into two weeks before. First to arrive and last to leave- nice.
- Became better friends with new(er) family members, like in-laws and babies, and long-time friends
- Spent two weeks in SoCal. It went by faster than you'd think, especially when you've got the coolest new pajamas to hang out in and a collection of Steve's childhood toys to go through.
- Overnight get-away in the Gaslamp District.
- Did a session in the ever-beautiful San Antonio temple. Sometimes I really miss Utah's proximity to temples...
- Everybody got sick again on the return trip
- One ER visit in Dec for Creedo and two Urgent Care trips for Viv in Jan
- Viv turned one! We had a family celebration in CA and back in CoMo.
- I miss everyone

Besides it being the worst winter in our family's history for sickness, the trip was still a smashing success. When better to be sick then when you're with lots of loving help and few obligations?

Creedo's such a big boy. It's almost like terrible twos re-emerged upon our return, but I think being away so long was hardest on him, so an adjustment time is to be expected. He is really into the Aquabats SuperShow, saying "funny" words (read: poop), doing more things all by himself, and making me laugh with the stuff he parrots. Today we were playing a game with his new play kitchen where I had to sit on the sofa and be grumpy, demanding food, and he would fix it and bring it me (he came up with this). At one point I crossed my arms and huffed for more watermelon, and he rolled his eyes and laughed at me, saying "Oh mom. You certainly crack me up." It was really hard to stay in character after that.

Viv oh Viv. She developed a truly nasty ear infection upon return. She wasn't responding at all to treatment the first four days, but as soon as we got her on a different antibiotic she was much better. I have never had a baby as sick as she was those days. She looked awful and there's not much else that hurts more than seeing a normally active, super-smiley and happy little girl become too weak to even grin, let alone walk or play. Her birthday was pretty subdued because of her illness, but we'll do a re-do soon. She is doing great now, except she's been waking up absolutely furious during the night and early morning. It's bizarre and I have no idea what to do about it. I only hope that it is connected to the fact that she is getting in four new teeth. All you can see so far are the two on bottom and the two top side teeth coming through a la hillbilly people.

Pictures to come, as soon as I can find my camera cord...