All Quiet…Well, Mostly

We’ve had a quiet but busy week. There has been little personal down time this week, and we have all been pretty tired. We went to see our primary care physician today (she’s wonderful) and took the boys. After the initial discussion and letting her meet our little guys in person, I took them out to play in the waiting area. We didn’t expect anything major from this appointment, but it was a gateway appointment to a future neurologist appointment. After his discussion with the doctor, Puck had a good way to describe what happened. Everybody basically has a password that would trigger a seizure, but some are easier to guess than others.

Two Very Peaceful Days

Monday and Tuesday Dom and Alex were on their best behavior. On Monday morning, Dom, Alex, and I all snuggled on the couch under a blanket after nursing and watched a little “Shaun the Sheep.” Puck joined us, and we were one happy, snuggly family. It was a lovely moment.

Puck slept and rested most of the day–recovering from everything the day before, but he made a point of helping with the reading and songs at naptime and bedtime. The boys and I took really good naps too with the boys sleeping 3 or more hours and me 2-2.5 hours.

Dom, Alex, and I had a very pleasant, relaxed two days with just a few disagreements over toys and a little pushing. Overall, they played well together, and I loved when they were running around the sofa with their buzzy bees and stopping every time they went by to say “Hi,” get a kiss from me, say “Bye,” and go for another circuit.

The boys also sent all their cars racing down the slide. They played in their new fire truck tent (I pulled it out Sunday for the boys to play with while I was at the hospital with Puck), and they put all their zoo animals in the tent to go for a ride too.

Alex helped me do laundry–taking clothes to the couch, pushing clothes into the dryer, and putting clothes in the washer. Dom helped a little, but he wasn’t as interested. After we played with megabloks, Alex also came over and helped me “build” in the plastic tub to put them all away before their lunch. It gave the perfect amount of time for their mac n’ cheese to cool. (Dom and Alex will both often help put the Megabloks away these days.)

When I nurse the boys with this cool weather, I put a blanket over my shoulders and cover them with it to keep them warm in the morning chill. Tuesday, Alex and Dom put part of the blanket over their heads and declared themselves ghosts. Then I had to get under the blanket and be a ghost too. It was very cute. They really like ghosts right now.

I tried something different with washing their hair during their bath Tuesday night. I wet their hair with a washcloth and shampooed it. Then, I got Alex to let me lower him “down” into the water with my arm beneath him so his head rested on my hand, and I rinsed his hair without water getting in his face. He was very anxious about me lowering him down, but he eventually let me do it. After I rinsed his hair, he fussed at me a bit, but he quickly returned to playing happily. Dom had seen the process and was less resistant to being lowered. He too fussed at me a bit but was soon playing happily. I think with some repetition this could become a cry-free process! But next time I won’t wear long sleeves.

Wednesday: The Boy Who Wallowed in Tears

For Dom, the world was a sea of sorrows, and nothing was going his way. All you had to do was listen to his wails and slosh through his river of tears to know it. While on a normal day, I could count the number of extended crying streaks on one hand, Wednesday morning it seemed I could count the number of extended times Dom wasn’t crying on one hand. Mid-morning I dosed him with Advil on the premise that it was probably his molars, but it didn’t seem to lessen the tears.

At one point, I was holding Dom and asked him what he wanted. He said, “leche” (‘milk’)–the word we typically use for nursing, so he and Alex had a bonus round of nursing. (Ah…a moment of quiet in the storm.) Later, I got both Dom and Alex to come sit on my lap to read “The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything” together. (Ah…a little happy sharing.) In the late morning, I achieved another breather from the tears by packing the boys up in the wagon with a tractor each and going for a walk. It was a very long morning.

Fortunately, after a long, restorative nap for all three of us, Dom awoke in a very good mood, and we all had a good afternoon.

Thursday: Two Gleeful and Giggly Little Boys

We finally made a trip to the grocery store to restock the refrigerator. Dom and Alex fussed a wee bit, but overall we had a good outing together. They tried a few new foods and smiled at lots of people. When we went to checkout at CostCo, there were long lines but one short line that was being inexplicably unnoticed by the other shoppers. A pleasant surprise!

After Puck got off work, the boys were pushing their toys around the sofa and up the hallway, and I set up a tickle trap by leaning over the back of the sofa and tickling them as they ran by. Then I would turn and reach for them as they came around the other side where they would swing wide giggling to avoid me. Puck set up nearby, and Dom and Alex would run over to him for hugs and tickles before continuing their circuit. They laughed, giggled, and squealed with delight, and they kept coming around for more.

Friday: Errands and the End of a Long Week

This morning before heading off to the doctor’s I took the boys for a walk in their wagon and then with their monkey backpacks, so they could be out and about and then stretch their legs before our car trip. Alex and Dom enjoyed being outdoors, and they had a pretty good time exploring new places at the doctor’s and getting to see a mail truck up close.

In the evening we had a tougher trip than normal to the grocery story, and I didn’t realize until after we got home that the Dom and Alex were hungry. I was distracted and didn’t realize that even though we didn’t get the boys from their nap until 4, we didn’t do dinner until 6:30. Thus, in our pre-dinner outing, they were getting hungry which explained them feeling a bit fussy. They also had some hysterical laughter–hitting themselves in the head with boxes of mac n’cheese and shaking the boxes. When they started hitting each other with the boxes, I separated them with one in the grocery cart and one in the wagon, but Dom wanted to be in the cart. After a bit, I switched them out, and peace was restored. At checkout, one of the workers helped take our groceries out, and she was kind enough to wait until I was putting the second boy in the car and even put the wagon in the back of the van for me.

Puck made us a delicious and hearty spaghetti with spaghetti squash and some yummy green peppers. While he was cooking and before we headed to the store, I put some “Mythbusters” on for Puck, and Alex and Dom were completely fascinated with it. (The episode showed a car hitting a cement wall at 50 mph and another at 100 mph. Yowsers! I think every teenager should have to see that episode to respect the dangers of speeding.)

When it was time to eat, the boys came running to climb into their chairs. The boys were super eager to eat, and when Alex went to bring their bowls, Alex called out, “Dada, eat!” They both ate all of their spaghetti with Alex even asking for more, and afterward we had another laid back evening routine with the boys getting to wear some of their new PJs.

A Few Thoughts

It has a been a long and busy week. I am so thankful to have my boys and husband, thankful for full nights of sleep and long naps, thankful for ending the week less exhausted, thankful for having a little me-time here and there at the end of the week, and so very thankful for our friends and family.