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- Notice anything different around here?
- It has been a week in the Abbey house. When I wrote last Saturday that Leander was back in the “massive teething” stage, that was just because I didn’t know what else to attribute his fussy, clingy, not-quite-normal attitudes to. Well, on Monday morning, Derrick to our “family car” to work so that he could get the oil changed on his way home. Something always happens whenever Derrick takes my car – the car with the carseats in it. Always. And, so we laughed about it as we went to bed Sunday night – and then I cried when we woke up Monday morning & Leander was covered in a rash. See? Something always happens. I panicked quite a bit, but after talking to my Mom & doing a bit of research, I decided that I thought he had Roseola. If you’re unfamiliar, Roseola is a childhood illness that most kids pick up between 6-24 months of age. It starts out with a few days of a fever & the kiddo acting lethargic (but not really any other symptoms), and then as the fever breaks, a rash appears & lasts another 2-3 days. Those symptoms fit how Leander had been acting to a T. We had simply been attributing it to the mouthful of teeth he was getting all at one time (seriously, the kid has at least 6 teeth breaking thru at the moment). So, I decided to keep a close eye on him, but “Dr. Google” said there was no need to take him to the doctor unless his symptoms exceeded the “normal”. Sure enough, after about 48 hours, his rash went away & he’s been 100% fine ever since. He likely picked it up while we were at American Dream.
- Seriously though, I’m not the kind of parent who just doesn’t take her kid to the doctor: we had Leander’s 15-month check-up scheduled for this past Thursday morning – so I figured, if we could just make it to then, our doctor would be seeing him anyways. His rash cleared up Wednesday & so when we went to see Dr. H. on Thursday, there was no sign of his Roseola left. Dr. H. gave him the clean bill of health & said he’s super healthy – so we’re all good!
- I didn’t want to alarm Braelynn, but I needed her to know that her brother wasn’t feeling well & the red splotches on his skin were just part of that sickness – in a few days, he was going to be okay. She took to calling it “the roses” – “Mommy, does Leander still have the roses on his tummy?” It was super sweet.
- Of course, just to make things interesting, Braelynn also came down with a bad cold & cough toward the end of this week. So far, Leander hasn’t gotten it, but I’m not really holding my breath.
- Spring has officially arrived at the Abbey house!! I took down all of our winter decorations this morning & put up all our flowers & spring stuff!! Suddenly, our house is so cheery!
- Spring is definitely beginning to arrive weather-wise too – we’ve had several glorious, sunshiney days this week & it’s simply been delicious. It was even warm enough to go out & play Thursday afternoon & we soaked every moment up! While we were playing outside, Braelynn & I were drawing with chalk & I wrote “Welcome Spring” (at least, I thought I did). I made it all colorful & “artsy” and as I stood back to take a photo (for the ‘Gram), I realized that I had misspelled “Spring” – and it actually said: “Welcome Sping” (face-palm). I always seem to misspell words when I’m writing big things like that! Good thing I’m not a calligrapher!
- While we were outside playing, I ran in at one point to grab the kid’s cups. Leander’s had rolled under the table, and as I reached under to grab it, I noticed something horrifying laying on the ground: a pile of beautiful blonde hair. They say every kid does it – well, I had honestly believed that we had made it past that point without Braelynn ever cutting her hair. Nope. Thankfully, the chunk she took out is on the side & blends in really well with the rest of her hair – you truly can’t tell (but I can, and it breaks my heart).
- This might sound really strange to say, but Leander realized that words actually have meaning this week. Okay, that’s not entirely true: he knows what a “cup” is & definitely knows what he’s asking for when he says it – but it was like he truly 100% connected the words “Mama” & “Dada” this week. It was like a lightbulb went off in his little brain. He has been saying “Mama” & “Dada” for months, but this week he actually figured out what those words mean. He now comes over to me, wraps his little arms around my leg & will say, “Mama, Mama, Mama” and when Derrick comes thru the door every night, he goes running for him & says, “Dada! Dada! Dada!” He has started calling us from his bed when he wakes up – he figured out that our names mean something & when he calls them out, he will get a response. Like I said, it’s weird to try to explain, but it’s so so sweet.
- We finally cleaned out the attic-side of our 3rd floor this morning!! It feels soooooo good to have that done!! It’s been one of those ongoing projects for months – ever since we finished Derrick’s office side of our 3rd floor – to get into the attic/storage side & really clean things up & organize everything. We had big plans to tackle it a few weekends ago, but things happened & we didn’t quite make it. Well, we woke up this morning & jumped right in. All my seasonal decorations are now organized & together, all of the kid’s stuff is together, it’s all clean & you can walk thru & see everything – it is so so good.
- So, back to my very first question: do you notice anything different around here? I finally finished it: my brand new website design! I’ve been working on it since January & it’s finally done (I think). I love it & am so proud that I did all the work myself. I’d love it if you browsed around a little bit, clicked on a few links to make sure they work, and let me know what you think! Leave me a comment on Facebook or here on my blog & let me know your thoughts!!
