Summer outings plus a quarantine

This summer has had its ups and downs--ups: fun little day trips here and there, more time outdoors, downs: Hand, Foot and Mouth virus and more asthma.  Also, Beck's vocabulary is incredible these days and he is an excellent communicator.  This means a lot of clear demands are being made, but he is quite reasonable for an almost-2-year old.  We are really enjoying our days at home.  Beck and Ramsey play together a lot and get along pretty well.  Even though Beck is younger, he is often the "ring leader" of classic games like: "let's get Mommy to chase us down the street" or "what do you think will happen if we just ignore Mommy" or "let's throw our food" or "you chase me and then I'll chase you and we'll giggle together for an hour."  Mostly, they are joyful, but sometimes the games are enraging, especially when Mommy is trying to go inside because she needs to go to the bathroom or is starving and ready for some lunch.  My moods definitely correspond to the amount of sleep I've had and the amount of food I consumed in the morning!

Ups:

Splash Fountain at Fairfax Corner

Beck wants nothing to do with it, but Ramsey is a little more interested this year.  She even went in the outer-rim of the fountain, but once it got into her eyes, she was done.  Nevertheless, she played for about 30 minutes!

Blueberry picking at Butler's Orchard

Both kids really enjoyed this, as did I, and we left on a high note by not staying too long (the key to success for most trips these days).  Ramsey really went to town and found blueberries deep in the bushes!

There was also cherry picking, and Beck loved climbing the ladder to get cherries.

The bumpy tractor ride was short and pleasant.  I have to really fight to get cuddles these days.

Afternoons with Ramsey

Ramsey started showing an interest in writing letters and this is some of her work.  She doesn't nap anymore, so while Beck is sleeping in the afternoon we get to craft and read together.  We also enjoy quiet time alone in separate rooms during this time, or I might doze in the recliner or read my own book while she entertains herself.  She seems so much older than 3 and a half sometimes!

Bella is settling in quite nicely around here

Bella was pretty nervous with the kids, especially Beck, when she first came home to Virginia in March. But now we all seem to have an understanding and a routine, so Bella is pretty chill these days.  Ramsey loves her to pieces, and Bella will obey commands from both Ramsey and Beck now!  Progress, people, progress.

Projects with Matt

Matt recently fixed a minor leak in our washer.  The kids are all over him whenever he is doing any kind of project--just today he was assembling a bike trailer and his "helpers" were hilarious--they were decorating the trailer with stickers before it was even assembled.

Cami-time

Cami has been our mother's helper this year one morning a week while I worked.  The kids love her, love her, love her, and her entire family.  Beck sometimes screams "Cami!" just when someone comes to the door.  Also, some of his first words were "Bye-bye Sister Goold," (Sister Goold is Cami's mom, who is in charge of the nursery at church) which he would utter about 3 minutes after she came to pick Cami up.

 

Downs:

Hand, Foot and Mouth

Beck had many sores in his mouth, and a very serious canker sore on the side of his tongue.  He held his mouth in this funny way for about 8 days.  He could not eat.  Anything.  This little boy really likes to eat, drink milk, and "bink" as part of his normal routine, and he was unable to do any of these while he had these sores.  He woke up every 30-45 minutes every night for about a week, and the episodes he had were borderline psychotic because he was so miserable and hungry.

Matt had the idea of giving the kids Ensure, and they drank chocolate Ensure for days and days.  Ensure saved our lives.  It was a real issue getting them to start eating normally again, but well worth it because they were starving.  Both are pretty skinny and generally eat a lot, so they couldn't afford to skip any meals.

I tried to keep the days fun, but as you can see here, sometimes my luck ran out.  This had to be the world's most somber game of Chutes and Ladders ever played.  Just seeing Beck's mouth in that awkward position is giving me post trauma shivers.  

The good news is that we got through it.  And on that day, we went to the Chick-Fil-A, and they even gave us two balloons.  I will say it took a little while for Matt and I to climb out of the sleep-deprived depression this major illness threw us into.  If somebody says that Hand, Foot and Mouth is going around, and you or your kids haven't had it yet, take this seriously and stay away.  Stay home from church, work, school, whatever it takes to avoid this as it is highly contagious, and yes, adults can get it too.  I think we had a pretty bad case, but still.....it is our generation's version of the chickenpox I suppose.  They allegedly can only get it once, so hopefully we paid our dues.

More asthma for Beck

This is his second episode this summer.  He is very cooperative and it is really manageable as far as asthma goes.  But it is sad to see him coughing and coughing.  I'm not sure what his triggers are--his episodes seem to come from nowhere.  Depending on how this continues, we might go see an allergist to get some answers about whether these episodes are allergy-related.