damn the snow gods (and the croup ones too)

wow. i had no idea i had been gone from this space for so long. i guess maybe i needed it.
so, if you are still here following along, thank you! and now, to continue as though i didn't just take more than a week off : )

last friday we headed out of town. it had been a challenging week for me on the parental front. henry's demeanor and attitude has drastically changed and the entire week was a test of my patience. i'll just say that i was not always victorious. and i have resorted to reading as many parenting type books as i can stomach. i think the details of that week are better left for another time though. it's late and i need to ease in a little.

so, as i said we headed out of town. and i was ready for our little trip. we were off to asheville to visit my grandparents. we hadn't seen them since thanksgiving and its such a short drive (at least in relation to driving to our other relatives homes), i felt like we should have made the trip a month ago. we left friday evening, at least an hour later than we were planning on, but we also know to expect that. bea slept the entire way (yay!) and our newly potty trained boy, whom we put in a diaper - just in case, let us know when he had to go, so he stayed dry the entire way (double yay!). we arrived very late, but still got a little visit time in because my grandparents were up late too.



then.

yes, then.

around 2 or 3 in the morning henry woke up sort of crying and got in bed with us (meaning matt, me and bea). he was so hot, but we had one of those electric woodstove things on, so i shut it off and we fell asleep again. in the morning he was still burning up. i took his temperature and it was 104!! i waited a bit for his doctor's office to open (yes, he's open on saturdays! (in the winter)). i took his temp again right before i called them and it was up to 104.4! they suggested i take him into an urgent care type place in case it was the flu. so after a few hours in urgent care we learn that henry has croup.

now this entire time i am concerned #1 for henry. he's on fire, he's miserable, he won't eat or drink, he's lethargic, and just plain sad looking. all i want to do is make him feel better and hold him close. and #2 i am concerned for my grampa. right before thanksgiving he was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia and his immune system is fairly weak. i'm feeling terrible and a little scared that my little guy is feeling like crap (fevers that high freak me out) and that we just brought this into my grandparents home. we offered to leave right then and there and just come back another weekend, but i think they thought that was a little ridiculous. so we just played it as safe as possible and tried to keep henry from going to near my grampa. and henry did well for feeling so awful and not being home (did i mention that i forgot to bring his snuggly that he has slept with since he was 6 months old?). and we still had a nice visit even though i was constantly worrying about my boy and my grampa the entire visit.

by sunday henry was pretty much over the fever and starting to act a bit more like himself (not the self that was driving me batty earlier in the week). but we still couldn't get him to eat or drink much. of anything. i think the only thing he would eat was blueberries. chocolate ice cream didn't even do the trick! and this boy loves him some ice cream. so i know he felt terrible.

and then, of course it begins to snow. right before we are leaving. this always happens. i want the snow. love the snow. but it always waits till i am gone. i don't know what it is about me and snow. but it started dumping in these huge downy like flakes. it was beautiful! but we had to get going because they were calling for snow in the atl area too. so we headed out (reluctantly) and began the drive home.







it was a beautiful drive. i was practically squealing over how gorgeous the snow was. but i was driving so i did have to control myself and pay attention. i was a little nervous at first about driving in the snow. it's been a long, long, time since i've had to do that. and then i was a little sorry that i was the one driving because i just wanted to snap away with the camera. which i did, but not as much as i wanted and most of the photos turned out to be terrible white blurs.

the weather made our drive longer than usual, but it was very picturesque. i wanted to get home so badly so we could play in the snow and use the sled someone gifted us last year that we never got to use.

then. (yes. another one).

after hours of driving very slowly in the snow and traffic. we hit the northern burbs and those big fat flakes come to a silent halt. nadda. it had snowed a bit earlier i could tell. the roofs had a thin sheet of white covering them. but the closer we got to town the less coverage there was. then we hit 285 and bam! here comes the cool, blaring, evening sun.
yep. we drove through a winter wonderland only to arrive home to the norm. oh, we were so close. literally!

as a matter of fact, this was a conversation we had on our drive back:


matt: and you thought we didn't live where it snows.

me: true. pause and thinks a second. well, maybe we don't. we may just live NEXT to where it snows.

damn, so close.



(and so much for easing in!)

nice surprises

We have been given some very nice, very unexpected surprises lately. Two, two! days of snow! The first was talked about here and the second day, while beautiful, did not culminate in a lot of play time. It was too wet out and not quite cold enough for the snow to stick. In advance though, we were generously given this awesome sled from one of Matt's work neighbors.

Unfortunately, there was not enough snow (but I did consider mud sledding, just to use the beautiful thing!). Really the best part of the day was watching the snow fall and observe all the birds playing in it, they really seemed to be frolicking-if birds do such things.

The other surprise was a gift in the mail from a favorite uncle (and aunt, as I am sure she was in on it too).

This was so much fun to open. Just the magnificent case elicited an adrenalized "oooooh!". It is a Bausch & Lomb 60mm zoom telescope (aka-The Discoverer). It belonged to my grampa, who gave it to my aunt Martha when she was taking some photography classes. My uncle sent me the most flattering email soon after Thanksgiving about some pictures I had taken & said he had something he wanted to send me. This was not what I expected. I knew it would something great & useful (I was thinking maybe a book). I cannot wait to use this! I need to get an adapter for it to work with my cameras, but after that it should work without a hitch. I am still doing a little research on this exact model. I feel very privileged to have received this thoughtful gift. Thank you so much, Tom & Martha. I look forward to sharing more pictures with you!

btw, the table the lens is on is a child's table, so the perspective may be a little wonky.

I LOVE SNOW!!! (no, really, I do)

Last night was one the happiest, most exhilarating moments I have had in while. I was giddy, giggly and almost squealing (yes, like a little girl)! It also perplexed me as to why we still live in the south.









The only downside, besides it not snowing enough or lasting long (it was gone by this morning) was that my camera battery died while H & his cousin were really reveling in it. Snowball fights, snow tasting, sledding (makeshift, & luckily neither of them weigh much), and just sheer silliness (even Mason was gettin frisky) not captured by a camera. I was almost in a panic (no 35mm film in the house either). Then I couldn't find the charger. Oh No! It was found right before bedtime (which of course was about an hour late) so we did get to capture a few pics. This is the most snow I have seen in GA since I have lived here (1995). I truly hope this wasn't the last snow of the season. (by the way, most schools were closed this morning--it gives me such a laugh!)