Reprieve

The boys and I have been at my parents in CO since the beginning of February. It was a disaster trying to get down here. Leo had the stomach flu several days before we were supposed to leave. He's never had it before and he puked 2x in the kitchen and 3x in our bed that night. And once more the next morning. Then I started vomiting the day before we were supposed leave. Every 30 min. For a better part of 5 hours. Then Dave started vomiting that evening. We hadn't even finished packing yet. Mandy came over to help us with the kids and ended up spending the night. We are so grateful for her! I finally called the airlines a couple hours before we were supposed to leave to reschedule our flight for the following week. It was a tough week. Leo ended up getting the coughing crud and passed it to Max and Noah.

The flight wasn't as bad as it could've been. Our rescheduled flight was a red eye which I wasn't too psyched about. The kids slept some which was great but we didn't sleep hardly at all. It was another tough 2 weeks. Max was getting better but Noah wasn't. We ended up taking him to urgent care and he was diagnosed with bronchiolitis and needed to be on oxygen for a couple days. All this was happening while some of Dave's family was visiting. Then Ama got the crud. Then it was time for Dave to go back to AK.

Everyone's finally mostly recovered and we've been able to get into a routine. Ama and Agong have been helping with the babies at night so I've been able to get some much needed rest. I've been taking Leo to do something fun in the mornings - swimming, playground, shopping, children's museum, open play at the gym, library, etc. And taking a walk outside during his nap after lunch. The weather has been amazing - warm with a few snow storms in the middle. As much as I'm not ready to go back to the cold, it will be nice to be in our own home and have Leo back at Dana's so he can play with his friends and I can get a break from him during the day and try to tie up some loose ends with papers that need to be submitted.

It's amazing how quickly 5.5 weeks have gone by. It's still so difficult to do anything with them as they take 2-3 naps a day. Despite their unpredictable nap schedule we've packed quite a lot in. It's been such a treat to be able to get some good sleep (Thanks Ama and Agong!!) and getting outside every day. I'm sure it comes as no surprise that I've had enough of cold, dark, LONG winters in Fairbanks. I miss how easy it is to live down here. I will miss our friends when we finally get out of Fairbanks. After living in the same state for almost 15 years it is scary to think about starting over somewhere else. Every year it gets harder and harder for me up there, and I'm actually getting really depressed about having to go back to winter in a couple days. Sure, Alaska is amazing in it's own way. But the tradeoffs of living somewhere with milder winters and closer to family is winning out for me. I'm hoping that breakup happens quickly and snow melts fast once we get back!

Photo dump coming soon.