Week One...

It's been 1 week since Nick left. Seems like it's been longer.

On Sunday (Mar 6) I met mom and dad at our "half way between our houses" point and they took Ashleigh up to Salt Lake to hear the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sing. They also walked around temple square and got some really nice pictures. Ashleigh had a fun time and Preston was jealous that he couldn't go. He's requested that gma and gpa take him when they are watching him while I'm at work.









Nick is back at his old job and keeping himself as busy as possible. On his 2nd day in WA he sent me this picture.... He went to visit Christian. This is one of the first things that I'll be doing when we move back.

I've had a lot of help this first week (and will each week that Nick is gone...) My work has been great, giving me a very flexible schedule, so I'm only working 2-3 days/week and only during the hours that Ashleigh is in school. On Mondays and Tuesday's Preston goes to my parents house and they take care of him while I'm at work. Here are some pictures from his first day with them. :-)





And then I have Wednesday's and Friday's off, and Jana watches Preston on Thursday's. Preston loves going over there cause his cousins Cooper and Amelia are there to play with. Working those few days/hours is great too cause I still get my "alone time"--even if I am just going to work--and I still get LOTS of time with my kiddos. Plus, it's good for Preston to have some bonding time with his grandparents and aunts/uncle and cousins before we move. Ashleigh sure is jealous though of all the time that Preston gets with them.

At home, all alone with the kids has been surprisingly easier than I had expected. The kids are old enough now to basically take care of themselves, which is nice, so I am able to hide out in my bedroom or outside all alone and have some "me" time. Both my kiddos LOVE to snuggle and cuddle still which I love and we've been doing a lot of that lately too.

Here they are having an after school snack--strawberries with powdered sugar on top. Aren't they cute!?!? :-) This was a picture for daddy.

But then poor Preston started getting sick Thursday night. It seemed like he just had a cold or maybe a mild flu so before bed I gave him some children's NyQuil and did an albuterol treatment. It ended up being much worse. Around midnight he was crying and whining so loundly that I was afraid he would wake up Ashleigh. When I went to him he was complaining that his ear was hurting a lot. I panicked...I knew it was an ear infection of sorts and it's the middle of the night...and I have 1 sleeping child and only 1 parent so I knew if I had to take him to the dr. I'd either have to wake up Ash or wake up a family member to come over and be with Ash while I went. Both were sucky options in my opinion.

THANKFULLY, I found our ear numbing drops and put a few in P's ear. after about 10 min, him crying, and me doing research about ear infections--whether we should rush off to the ER or not--I realized I needed to give him something for the pain too... MOTRIN! I LOVE MOTRIN!!! It's one of the few meds that does exactly what it says it's supposed to do! Pain reliever/Fever reducer. period! YAY!! I gave Preston some and then made room for myself on preston's bed for the night so I could be near him to comfort him. About 20 min later , he gave out a loud painful cry and then just stopped...pretty sure his ear drum burst, but he was finally able to fall asleep-with out waking up 5 min later in pain-so I knew the worst was over. whew. I was able to go to sleep too.
The next day, he was completely fine. A little stuffy still, but basically all better. :-) I called the advice nurse and based on his symptoms, she didn't feel that he needed to be seen. hooray!

That night, was another story.

(What's with kids always getting sick at night?!?! Don't they know that nothing is open at night?)

He kept crying and talking in his sleep but when I would go check on him, he would be totally quiet...this went on for about an hour. Finally I woke him up and asked him what was wrong..he said he was really tired. so I put him back to bed. then he would cry and talk in his sleep again. and again I woke him up--he said he was tired--so I put him back to bed. this went on 3 times. Finally the 4th time I woke him up, he told me that his head hurt--his temple area on his head. So I got him some Motrin and made him come and sleep in my bed (his bed is too hard for my old back!) He was sad and in pain for about 15 min, but finally the Motrin kicked in and he drifted off to sleep and we were both able to sleep the rest of the night. yay!!!

Today, he's been fine! all better, in my opinion. And so far he's coughed twice since he's gone to sleep, but there's been no crying or yelling, or anything like that! whew...I think we're in the clear with him. (I hope)