Marching on

The month of March and I have NOT been getting along.  I'm trying very hard not say that, since there are still nearly two full weeks left in the month, but I'm forced to accept that at least the first half has not been very much fun.  So for now, Optimistic-me will say that the first half of March sucked.

The first week was work related stresses and several people I know losing loved ones.  One was the 26 year old seemingly-healthy son of a former coworker.  That one really struck me because the son was young and fit and had his whole life ahead of him.  It really made me hug my little guys even tighter than usual.  At work, my employer let a coworker go and that meant a lot of restructuring and backpeddling and figuring out what needed to be done.

Oh yeah, and then Adam did this:

He missed the last stair one night at about 10:00 pm (while playing around with his cell phone).  We spent half the night at the ER and luckily it was just a sprain with a tiny little chip off the bone.  It actually healed much quicker than expected and seems to be much better now. It certainly looks much better.


Then last week, twin went on an amazing trip to Costa Rica.  It was due to a grant she applied for at the college where she works and it was a really cool opportunity.  She got a friend's son to stay at her apartment for the week and look after her dog and two cats.  Monday night, the day after she left, her boyfriend called me to ask if I'd been to the apartment. I said I hadn't, and asked why.  He said that the house sitter had called him and said the animals were all MIA.  We rushed over and luckily, the animals were just very very good at hiding.  The cats were under the couch (who doesn't look for cats under the sofa??) and Shadow (the dog) had squeezed himself in between a box and the wall.  I don't know if he couldn't get out or didn't want to.  Anyway, we got him out and thought that would be that. 

My older sister lives in the same apartment complex, so she stopped by the next day and Shadow wasn't doing well.  He was crying and then had what she assumed was a seizure. Since she had to go on to work, I left work and took the dog to the vet.  Sadly, after a few hours and several of what I have to assume will be very expensive international phone calls with Twin, it was decided that poor Shadow had probably had a stroke and it would be best to put him to sleep.

I was just heartbroken that my sister's beloved dog had to leave us while she was so far away.  I'm glad I was able to take care of things and be with him in her place, but I know she would have rather been there with him.  I hugged him and told him how much we all, especially her, loved him.  It was a very emotionally draining day.

By Wednesday, the cold that was creeping into our house had really hit the kids, especially AJ hard.  Thursday morning was spent at the doctor's office and they decided he was showing the earlier signs of an ear infection.  All of that led to several rough nights and evenings.

Now some good stuff!  Gotta focus on the good!  In bullet points!

• Twin took Domo with her to Costa Rica! So we might just have a return post of Domo's Destinations soon!!
• I went to the baby shower of one of my oldest (I hate the phrase, but we have known each other since kindergarten) friends! It was a ton of fun!  Her little girl is due next month!
• My niece turned one on St. Paddy's day!  How time flies!
• AJ is now 5 months old and weight 17 lbs 12 oz!?  He's also super long, although I can't remember what they said, so he actually doesn't look that big, but he feels big! He rolled from back to front last week! Just like his big brother he did it in his crib and then yelled because he couldn't figure out how to turn back over! Then, just tonight he rolled from front to back! He was sitting on my lap but lean toward and staring at his play gym mat so I laid him down on it on his tummy. Since he hates tummy time he turned right over! 
• Tyler went with my older sister to the Children's Museum and had oodles of fun! :) Thanks Aunt Chall!
• While I have had literally no time to work on my book idea, I have lots of thoughts rumbling around in my head about it.  I just hope I can get them onto paper (or screen) the way they sound in my head!  I seem to have good ideas while driving, perhaps I need to invest in a tape recorder!  Or try out my voice recorder on my phone LOL!

Wow I managed to squeeze out six good things :)  We'll take it!  The rest of March will be better than the last two weeks! :)