The Bad: Brian was gone for 6 days last week and the kids were acting sick. I took them to the doctor more concerned about Colin but the doctor said Jane most likely had RSV. She has been fine since she is older and so big and generally healthy to begin with, but still not what a parent wants to hear. Colin got worse and we were back to the doctor two days later with him quite ill (also probably RSV but not as bad as Jane). So when I had hoped to make the time without Brian go quickly by leaving the house, we were very house-bound. To make things even worse, I threw my back out on Sunday making it very painful for me to even pick Jane up. This has only happened 3 times in my adult life but I am ready for it to never happen again.

The Good: I am so grateful all these bad things happened while we were at home so we had our own pediatrician a 5 minute drive away and my chiropractor who helped me when I hurt my back in 2007. I got into see the chiropractor on Monday morning and the pain mostly resolved very quickly. And with my mom here, she gave me a few breaks where I would do exciting things like take a shower alone or run to the Dollar Store (discount shopping relaxes me). I would have totally lost it without my mom. Also, with our family of illness, Brian never got sick and was able to perform without incident. AND he was supposed to leave again for another engagement on the 18th but ended up not having to leave until the 19th (very good).

The Ugly: to add insult to injury, I even got a cold sore. The stress of the week showed up on my lower lip. Thanks little friend virus!

Now Brian is gone again but only until Sunday and then we have a long, long time before we are apart again. Here are some photos from today for Brian to look at from Louisiana.





Jane in all her baby cuteness. It has been lovely weather so we spent most of the afternoon outside. We are supposed to get more snow by Monday so we will take the nice weather while we have it.

Colin in all his little boy goodness. I should have washed his dirty, booger/band-aid face before photos but did not. He got a good scrub down before bed. As part of the good, he has mostly been going pee pee on the potty for a couple of weeks. He tells us his poopy is not ready and yesterday was explaining it to me this way, "I am just a pee pee man, not a poopy man." (Everything is "man" right now, worker man, sweeping man, racer man, pee pee man, etc)

Since I was curious, here's Colin and Jane at almost exactly the same age doing pretty much the same thing (eating leaves). Jane is a lot bigger than Colin was since he was long but about 70% for weight and she is nearly off the charts for height and weight. (Currently 30 inches and 23 pounds.)

When asked to sit by his sister for a photo, he has to "go crazy". Jane loves it. They are sweet kids who make me tired but are more than worth it. I was thinking about my educational background and the work that I could be doing now instead of being with my kids. I am quite sure there will still be social problems for me to work with in a few years but my little kids are a once in a lifetime experience. I am grateful I am able to be with them and grateful to Brian that he is able to make our living by singing.