The cloud of sickness has lifted

Well, I will say, this week has been much better than last.  Piper and I stayed in a sick fog until around Wed. We are both still a bit stuffy but mostly better.  It's amazing how much better I deal with everything when I feel better.  I think I've only cried while skyping with Mike once this week instead of every day.  Progress.  

In case you are wondering, I'm blogging a little more and posting more pictures so Mike can see what we are up to in his absence.  

Sunday Piper and I were still really sick and Eli had this awful cough, though he showed no other signs of being sick.  I decided we were all staying home from church!  We went to the grave to visit Laila and then went for a walk around the cemetery.  That boys love that for some reason and always beg us to let them walk around.  Piper needed to eat so we stopped at a memorial garden in the middle of the cemetery and let the boys play while I fed Piper on a bench and talked to Mike on the phone (he had just gotten back from church in Alabama).  We finished up our walk and headed back to the van when the boys saw the sprinklers on.  I wasn't in my right mind--sick remember?--and told the boys not to play in the sprinklers but wasn't really enforcing the rule.  They didn't run in the sprinklers but tried to get close so they could get sprayed.  Then I remembered that the water is nasty grave water and told them they could NOT put their hands in their mouths until they washed thoroughly with soap and water.  I won't even go into the conversations I listened to on the drive home.  Gross.  (I should note that the conversations were not inappropriate, just curious...and gross)

A few days later when Piper and I started to feel slightly better, I took the kids bowling.  It seemed like an easy activity--not much for me to do but watch them bowl.  The bowling alley was pretty empty with only a few other lanes being used so it was just perfect.  The boys had a lot of fun.  They are pretty terrible at bowling but Isaac did much better than the other two.  He didn't want to use the ramp so he lost but even without using the ramp often, he only scored about twenty points less than the other two.  Piper and I just sat in our sick daze watching the boys have fun.

The next day the boys wanted to make a volcano.  We were out of play dough so I had to make some.  I have a pretty easy and fast recipe so it wasn't a big deal.  We always have random cardboard boxes laying around because Mike loves to buy things from Amazon.  So the boys dug up some cardboard and planned out their "scene."  They knew it had to be a dinosaur scene with land dinosaurs and water dinosaurs.  After coloring their play dough they got right to work.  They covered a cup with brown play dough and then made their volcano.

Today, Friday, we met some friends at the gym to go swimming.  This gym has an indoor and outdoor pool with huge slides and a splash pad at both pools.  The indoor pool was completely empty besides us so they had the whole pool to themselves for awhile.  Then they decided to swim outside for a little bit and finally came back inside to finish up.  We were there for two hours and Piper, feeling much better, was so sweet and calm and happy the entire time.  

Later, I decided I wanted to go on a date so I packed the kids up and we drove down the street to the new mini-golf place.  The boys have been begging to go and we tried to go as a family a few days before Mike left but as soon as we drove up it started pouring rain so we left.  I promised the boys I'd take them another time.  They have only been mini-golfing one other time that I can remember and it was in this lame arcade place that just had a few holes so this was really their first time.  I was surprised at how quickly we finished up--just an hour.  They weren't very good at mini-golf either...

 Next up on our date was frozen yogurt.  I gave them a choice between ice cream or yogurt and wasn't surprised when they unanimously chose frozen yogurt.  They love being able to choose and mix their yogurt flavors and choose toppings and choose to go here anytime they are given the option.

We came home, skyped with Mike and read scriptures.  Now everyone is peacefully sleeping in bed and I'm off to do the same.

Tomorrow we've got the gym, a birthday party, and finishing up my lesson and then Sunday after church we are going to have dinner with some friends.  It should be a good way to end this second week of Mike's absence.

As I said, this week has been much better than the last.  There have been some not so fun days for me and I get so tired by the end of the day.  But I'm so grateful not to be sick anymore and not have a sick baby anymore.  I'm grateful that the boys are so appreciative and always thanking me for letting them do fun things.  I'm grateful that modern technology allows me to talk with Mike each day.  I'm grateful that it's summer and that I don't have to worry about busy schedules right now and can be as busy or as lazy as I want us to be.  And I'm grateful for the robot vacuum Mike bought me for my birthday so I don't have to worry about that chore at least...ha.  ha.  It's the little things, right?

I miss Mike.  I really do miss his help around the house and with the kids.  But I miss his companionship.  I miss his kiss when he comes home from work and getting ready for bed with him--it's lonely going to bed by myself.  I miss having someone take care of me.  We are a fourth of the way through now and I'm trying hard NOT to think about him leaving again in December and being gone for five more months.  But, in the meantime, I'm trying hard to enjoy my summer with the boys and Piper.