What goes around comes around

In this case I'm talking about a cold.  Chris had it first, then Emmett caught it.  I thought I was in the clear when my throat started to hurt.  And even Nana and Great Grandma caught it when they came to watch him for me last Friday.  So far mine isn't too bad.  Emmett's was awful, for about 3 days he couldn't breath through his nose at all and his nose ran like a faucet.  And all the wiping caused his poor little nose to get sore along with his cheeks where he kept wiping the snot across his face during the night.  He didn't sleep well for a few nights.  He's getting better now, he can breath again but he's coughing some.  So far I just have a slight runny nose and a sore throat.  Only one side of my nose has been partially blocked, so I consider that a victory.  Having a stuffy nose is about the worst thing I can imagine.  It makes me contemplate whether or not life is worth living.  Of course that's an exageration, but only slightly.  However, adding the experience of giving birth to your list of life experiences sure puts things into perspective.  I would much rather have a stuffy nose than go through labor again.  Labor was about the worst thing I've ever gone through in my entire life, but with the absolute best result.  Its a good thing that becoming a mother is such a wonderful experience emotionally, otherwise no one would ever go through with it more than once.  But we are all on the mend and hopefully we will all be back to normal soon.

I'm excited about the holidays coming up.  I love Thanksgiving and Christmas.  I love getting together with family most of all, and the food is a close second.  Its funny how when you're a kid, all you can think about is presents.  I really don't care about that anymore.  People ask me what I want for Christmas and I usually have to think really hard to find anything.  Its a little easier now that we've been going without a bit more.  When you're on a tight household budget and you can't just buy yourself whatever you want whenever you want it, you tend to keep a little list of things in the back of your mind that you would like to have.  But sometimes you get so used to not indulging that you can't even get in the mindset of thinking about wants.  And once you're a parent, you don't think about yourself the same way anymore.  You think more about your child and what they need and want.  I am excited about Emmett's birthday the end of the month and about his Christmas this year since he should be in prime age to rip and tear into gifts.  Unfortunately he does have a terrible birthday, just a month before Christmas.  I guess it could be closer to Christmas which would be worse, but I just wish it was better spaced out.  I always thought my birthday in July was a good time of year for it, except for the fact that I never got to celebrate my birthday at school.  I guess I should be more glad that I never had to go to school on my birthday.  When Emmett is in school, if his birthday falls on a school day, I am definitely pulling him out to do something fun.  He can take his cupcakes to school the day after.

Speaking of birthdays, of course I have to comment on the fact that my baby boy will be two years old, and really really not a baby anymore this year.  The time feels like it has flown by.  My life never used to move so fast until Emmett was born.  Now its like I'm struggling to catch up, yelling "Wait!!" as the pages of the calendar flip by and I'm powerless to stop it.  Every time I catch myself getting frustrated with Emmett for any reason, wishing that he would get over a certain difficult phase, I try to stop and take a step back.  When he throws himself on the floor and throws a massive fit because he wants another snack when its only half an hour until dinner time, I just try to remember that sooner than later, he will be too big to cry over such little things.  And eventually he won't blow me kisses anymore, or kiss me on the knee (he's so random).  Even the worst nights of his cold, when he would wake up crying because he couldn't breathe and I had to rock him until he fell back asleep, I reminded myself that rocking him to sleep will only be possible for a little while.  Life will only be this way for a little while, and I'm thankful for every moment.

Trick or Treat!

Halloween was fun this year.  Emmett chose his own costume this year, Wilson from Chuggington.  Chuggington has become one of his favorite shows because it feeds his obssession with trains.  When we held up the costume in front of him in the store he smiled really big and held out his arms for it.  Surprisingly he even wanted to wear the hat that went with it.  He modeled it for the first time at Nana and Pawpaw's house this weekend.  Here he is:



It took him a little while to understand the concept of trick or treating, but once he did, we couldn't get him to stop.  He even tried to go back to houses we had already visited, and I kept telling him that was bad form.  We tried to get him to say "trick or treat" but the all he would say was "treat."  And he managed to say his version of thank you at a few houses, which really sounds like "gagoo."  It was chilly, so we only stayed out maybe an hour before we finally managed to convince him to go inside.  He followed a group of kids up to our house and took candy right from the bowl that Daddy held out, and I swear, he had no idea it was our house.  He was like a trick or treating machine.  We ended up running out of candy around 8:00 so we shut off our porch light.  And Emmett usually takes his bath around 8:30 anyway.  As we were about to put him to bed, one last group was ringing the doorbell and pounding on the door.  Eventually they went away, and that was the last of them.

Oh, a funny little story about Emmett and Halloween...Pawpaw kept saying to him "trick or treat, smell my feet" and Emmett would actually walk over and smell his feet.  It was hilarious, and of course the more we laughed, the more he did it.  Silly kid.

And another story about Emmett, this one not at all related to Halloween...Emmett now recognizes people by the vehicle they drive.  He sees a white mercedes SUV and he says "Pawpaw?" because that is the exact vehicle Chris's dad drives.  After last weekend when my parents were here we were outside and a blue Nissan Altima drove by.  Emmett says "Grandpa?"  And we were at the mall last week and he saw a silver Toyota Tacoma and he says "Daddy truck!" which is just what Chris drives.  I'm rather impressed with that.  He loves vehicles of all kinds, I just can't believe he can distinguish between actual makes and models of them.  What a cool kid!  I just love him!