The never-ending cold

This probably doesn't deserve it's own blog post, but sometime in the future, when I'm having a bad day, I can look at this and be grateful.

At the end of July, I woke up with a sore throat.  Throughout the day my whole body hurt, so much that I asked Hyrum to come home early.  The next night I couldn't sleep because my chest was so full of mucus.  There I was, standing in the dark bathroom at 2 am, with a towel over my head trying to breath in the steam.  When I 'woke' up, it hurt to swallow, and both ears felt infected.  Within a few days I completely lost my voice.  Nothing more than a whisper would come out.  For SIX days. My sister called me on the phone, and when I answered, she said, "Is this a bad time? Are your kids sleeping next to you?"  Nope, this is just me now.  Generally when I get a cold, it's annoying, and hurts bad for a day, maybe 2, but you're always hopeful that you'll wake up just a little better and be whole in less than a week.

Not so with this cold from hell that I just got over.  At a week mark, I still had no voice.  By two weeks it still hurt to swallow and I had pain in my ears. I stayed up at night googling my symptoms, hoping to find some magic solution or diagnosis besides a common cold.  By day 19, I started wondering about tonselitis or strep throat, so I made an appointment to get checked.  (Plus, one website said you should see a doctor if your cold symptoms persist after 2 weeks.)

Even though I had my fingers crossed for a bacterial infection so I could get antibiotics, it was viral.  And there was nothing the doctor could do about it.  However, she did look in my ears and confirm that there was fluid.  So I felt justified for all the pain I was in.  (Still keeping me up at night.)

I continued using some nasal spray, trying to clear the fluid.  And I think now, I'm finally healthy.  And August is almost over... and it's been kind of a miserable month.  Winter is only a few months away and sure to bring more sickness...

The up side is that my kids weren't that sick.  I actually got the cold from them, but they all had it for about 48 hours.  Lucky.

Family visit (aka: pity) in July

 My mom spent 10 days watching my kids when Hyrum and I went to Colombia.  So when Hyrum left for a month-long Army training, she had a lot of sympathy for me, being alone with these three kids.  I got a call asking, 'What are you doing this weekend?'  They came to give me a break, even if just for a few days.  And as a bonus, they got my sister to take a day off work and come along.  Tiago really suffered for attention the entire time.

We visited the Air Force Academy.  I love how green it is up there.  Same city, but totally different environment.

The Focus on the Family Visitors Center is not far from the Academy, so we stopped by there to let the kids run around until dinnertime.  Siena tried SO hard to climb into this canoe.  But her chubby legs just couldn't quite make it.  After grunting at us for a few minutes, someone finally helped her in.

 While Siena was grunting in frustration, Mila was just happy and smiley.

One morning Jenna and I attempted to go running.  That was short-lived (her ankle has problems) so we headed to Garden of the Gods.  We did a walking trail that I haven't done before, which really takes you through the formations.  There were so many people, but it was gorgeous.  The girls loved the chance to run around, free of their stroller, and Tiago enjoyed the nice ride on my dad's shoulders. Like I said, he was miserable the whole weekend.

One of the days, while the girls napped, we left my Dad home with the kids.  Us girls went to Target and had an excellent shopping trip. (What a novelty to try on clothes leisurely with no kids and no stroller!)  Meanwhile, Tiago made my dad play with cars and play spider for 2 hours.  I think they spent a lot of time in this chair together, and we spent a long time laughing about how entertained Tiago was by killing the spider-hand.  Over and over and over.

Our last activity was hanging out at the splash pad.  It's a fairly aggressive splash pad--not for the faint of heart.  Once the kids get used to it, they usually have fun.  Mila loved having Jenna carry her around and swing her through the water.  By the end she was freezing and shaking, but smiling with her whole face.

I'm posting this picture below to remember two things.  First, we went to the grocery store and bought snacks for their drive home.  I don't think any of the snacks even survived until their drive home.  Second, one of the things we bought were these cinnamon crumble cakes (delicious!) and Tiago started eating one, and then inhaled it.  Like in 3 seconds it was gone.  

They were kind of enough to stay until after church on Sunday (I hate taking care of all three during sacrament meeting.... ) so I had to get a picture of my mom with these cute dresses she made them.  They're so well-dressed, sometimes.

Random stuff over the last 4 months

There's so much from the last 4 months I haven't written about, but I don't want these pictures to get stuck somewhere on a hard drive where we'll never look at them again.  Mixed in with all the work, there have been a lot of memorable moments. They're not really in order.

For weeks, Tiago walked around telling me and Hyrum to be "camellos".  Not horses, but camels.  And, he's had several periods of being a nudist, mostly in the name of potty training. 

And based on the previous picture, Tiago obviously needed a haircut.  We bought our own clippers, and it wasn't too bad.  However, we tried to cut his hair today, and he screamed the entire time (while we restrained him.)  Blah.

A family in our ward moved, and this horse was accidentally left off the moving truck.  They wanted Tiago to have it, so we surprised him one morning.  It now has a place in his room.  

I remember this day.  The girls were napping, and Tiago kept 'accidentally' falling off the chair, then cracking up.

They look sleepy.  And I love these pajamas.  (Their hair seems so short compared to now!)

At a friend's house, they kept pushing each other around in this little wagon.  

Tiago and his friend Lucas playing on the rocks.  My kids love to climb on our rocks, and there's Tiago again "potty training".  

In May we attended a military ball for Hyrum's squadron.  I was grateful that my dress zipped up, since I didn't have a back-up.  Balls are always a mix of enjoyment and obligation.  It's not a relaxing event, since there are people to talk to and names to remember and a lot of ceremony and tradition to keep up with. The soldiers are still kind of working.  Although there reaches a point where everyone lets loose, and drinks, sometimes a lot.  And that's usually when we leave.

Before the formal portion of the evening was over, they had a dance-off, with one rep from every troop.  No one volunteered from Hyrum's troop, so he jumped up there with some latin moves.  He may have been the only sober one up there, and didn't win, but looked good anyway.

Before church one Sunday--back when it was still cold, apparently.  May?

At first glance we think this is Mila, but it might also be Siena when she's looking sweet.  But probably Mila. (!?)

There has been so much park-going over the last 4 months!  I love getting the girls in the swings because then I don't have to chase them.  There are a few small playgrounds around our neighborhood, and they just re-opened a huge park down the street that we love.  (ie: the girls don't have to be constantly supervised.)

Pushing and shoving because they both want to climb on me.  

My college roommate, Jennifer, lives really close to the Denver temple.  We spent time at her house while Hyrum did a session.  It was so great to catch up!  It's probably been 2+ years.  

That same week I caught up with another college roommate, Leslie.  I see her more, because she lives in Utah.  But fortunately, her parents live 10 minutes from us in Colorado Springs so it makes it even easier to see her.

So much about this picture resonates for me: diapers on the floor, Tiago being crazy, Siena carrying more pacifiers than she could ever use at once, Mila trying to pull off her headband...

You never know what you're going to find at church...  We meet in an Army chapel on-post, and I think this giant bug was an advertisement for summer camp.  Right next to the hymns.  I will say, the church has some great stained glass.  Some say it's good entertainment during Sunday School.  :)

Just another day in the life for a military kid.

Caught red-handed.  They found Tiago's bowl of yogurt and were being suspiciously quiet.

Hyrum has such an awesome spouse who watched the kids while he took a quick trip to California to watch Soccer!  The Colombian national team was playing in the Copa America, in Santa Clara.  He got to see some of San Francisco while he was there.  

A few other Colombian friends also went, and Colombia won.  His flight home was early Sunday morning, so he spent the night before in the airport.  He lucked out, because the SF airport has a great USO with recliners that he slept in.

This is fuzzy, but necessary.  Tiago loves hot chocolate.  (Well, now cold chocolate since our microwave broke.)  Some mornings he would wake up and try to get me to come downstairs.  When I stayed in bed, he left and came back with chocolate syrup.  I got the hint.  Luckily he's stopped doing this, but still expects regular chocolate milk throughout the day.

Our backyard of rocks became his own personal quarry.

One Saturday that Hyrum was in town (it's been rare this summer) we took a family hike in the Garden of the Gods, to the Siamese Twins rocks.  (Fitting, for us.)  It was a short hike, but Tiago did great walking.  

It's been a hot summer, and we got this cheap pool at the PX.  Tiago didn't see the point of putting on a swim suit.  Or a diaper.  

At a friend's birthday party, chowing down.

Play-do has been a hit with Tiago.  This is obviously an old picture because the play-do is now a big crumbly mess that doesn't stay together.  I actually threw most of it away today.

When I saw this picture, I wondered why we took it.  Then I remembered, it was our anniversary!  (super late at night, after a day of traveling to Colombia).

After our trip to Colombia, Tiago loved wearing his hat around. But it gets carried away easily by the wind.

The first day back from Colombia, Hyrum left for a month long training.  They stayed here in Fort Carson but were an hour or two out.  Hyrum worked crazy hours of the day and night, and got rained on several times.  It's kind of like glorified camping, but without the glory.  And a lot more armor and artillery. 

Meanwhile... me and the kids.  This was a Sunday where I was just trying to survive.  It's rough entertaining three kids all day without Netflix when two of them missed a nap to attend church. 

We moved our piano to a different wall.  And I finally hung up some family pictures.

We took advantage of Chick-fil-et day.  Free food for all of us!  Tiago used his old Halloween costume, and looked adorable in the play place.  The rest of us used duct tape on white shirts.  Moo.

It's so easy to get Mila to smile on the swings.

Siena is so entertained in the swing.  Most of the time when I ask her if she's ready to get out, she just shakes her head.

This Costco trip was epic.  Tiago fell asleep pretty soon after we got in the car.  He slept the 25 minute ride there, about 45 minutes of shopping, and the entire ride home.  More than one person was shocked when they saw him in the back of the cart, with his head flopping around.  

The girls love sitting on this ledge at our back door.  And Tiago always obliges when I tell him I want a picture.

This was another day Tiago fell asleep randomly.  (It's not uncommon for him to sleep in the car, but hanging around the house it almost never happens.)  He climbed into the girls' high chair before dinner, and didn't eat.  He just closed his eyes and refused to let me move him.  Looks uncomfortable!  

Sesame Street Live came to Fort Carson for a free 30-minute show.  The kids mostly loved these light-up toys the USO was handing out, but the show was okay too.  When the characters came into the audience, Tiago freaked out.  (Not a fan of big dressed-up people).

We hung a dry-erase board in the play area.  After Tiago stained his shirt (while doing this adorable drawing of a monster) we removed the markers and just use it as a magnet board.  Maybe in a few years...

This was the day Hyrum got back.  Tiago was fascinated with the tanks driving around the motor pool.

Hyrum has been really busy at work getting ready for their next month-long training.  When he goes into work on Saturdays, he usually brings Tiago along.