Ten on Tuesday

Several things have happened that probably deserve their own posts and hopefully will get them soon.  That said, I'm in a bit of a writing funk so I'm going to preview them here so they don't get missed.

1.  At very long last, we finally bought B his first real bike and helmet. Uncle Able came along to help with selection and assembly.  It was a great success and B even rode it (with training wheels) all the way to Sonic today with Brent and M (while I was working---more on why everyone is home below).

2.  Ok, this is hysterical and embarrassing, but here goes.   I was writing the above and discovered for the first time that there is no "n" in helmet... who knew.  Brent and I were both laughing hysterically, although I think for different reasons. Pathetic.

3.  When B got his bike it seemed only appropriate that M would get a little something too.  She picked out (with a tiny bit of assistance) this purple, princess leotard.  She is VERY in to leotards these days and has worn one for at least the last three days in a row and would probably wear one everyday if they were clean. She dances around everywhere and adds skirts if we're going out so she can be fancy (as she told her Uncle Able when we went to lunch on Sunday in these sunglasses, leotard, a bright pink skirt, and pink polka dot rain boots).

4.  For those concerned, we are fine after all the tornado excitement.  The sirens went off here once in the night and I slept through them, which was terrifying when I discovered it later.  Happily, Brent woke up and took care of the danger assessment for us all.  

5.  Saturday, we picked up Able to stay with us through the projected worst of it (we have a tornado shelter!)  He keyed up a "tornado party" which mostly involved grilling on the back patio before he and the kids all fell asleep by 9pm.  We did watch 11 tornadoes go through a largely unpopulated area of NW Oklahoma on the television.  This was an important introduction to Oklahoma culture, weather, and life experiences for the kids who busily listened to Gary England keep us advised, just as we all had at their age.  Our viewing included several multi-vortex tornadoes and was quite an impressive introduction for them. I am so glad that most of the danger was away from people this time.

6.  Sunday was the beginning of the end of hoping we were all well.  M had had been warm off and on since Friday.  Sunday, B woke up sick. By Monday he was still sick and M had a new viral infection that, while not dangerous to her, kept her out of school as it is quite contagious.  Everyone was out again today and M will probably need one more day out before she ceases to be contagious.  We all might be getting the tiniest bit sick of each other as we're effectively under quarantine and can't really go anywhere other than outdoors around our house.  Also, the kids don't actually feel sick at all so they are bursting with energy... I am not. B definitely has to go back tomorrow and Brent is headed back to work.  M and I, I guess, will muddle through.  It is kind of nuts here.

7.  Pregnancy - 31.5 weeks - I'm feeling big, fat, and cranky--- blunt too, it appears.  A really good way to help with this would be more exercise and less eating everything around.  There has been a fair bit of stress eating this week, which isn't helping.  We did get back to two days of exercise this week and will try for more this week, but I'm dubious as I leave for DC on Friday and return on Sunday evening with a packed schedule in between.  Meanwhile, the baby appears to be fine, happily growing, and stronger.  Sadly, the storms meant that the planned nursery work day was postponed so no progress on that front.  We did wonder several times in the sick kids chaos how we would handle this with another baby, but accept that we just will.  A helpful person at Unpluggits who was holding her third baby was very encouraging about the transition from 2 to 3 and her baby was so incredibly adorable that Brent and I decided we really should work on having one of those.  (Side note, this baby had a tiny cute adorable head.... ours never have tiny heads, so for some reason I find these tiny baby heads fascinatingly sweet). 

8. B is so into building LEGO ships these days.  His sick days have happily been more focuses on building these incredible creations by himself rather than much video game/tv time.  The above is Boba Fett's ship (obviously).  There are 95 steps of instructions to complete it and he did almost the entire thing by himself on Monday while Brent was at work.  (He had some help getting started on Sunday and a few tweaks with Brent later, but still...amazing!)  Today, they moved on to a new project together that is similarly impressive. I love it.

9.  M is showing some renewed interest in her play kitchen.  Lately, it had been ignored although she was playing happily at every kitchen we visited in other people's homes.  Now, she is back to bringing us all food and particularly fond of making Uncle Able (aka "her husband") some pretty amazing sandwiches.  There is also play food scattered all over our house so we are implementing a daily "putting away the food" ritual.  

10.  B is also showing a renewed interest in various Angry Bird games.  In some moment of craziness a few weeks ago I bought him Angry Birds space, after forgetting we'd decided not to buy expansions until he got three stars on more levels of the original.  Since then, he has purchased Angry Birds Rio with some money he found during the Richards/Rouse Easter Egg hunt.  Now, he wants to buy more expansions, etc... We are drawing the line for awhile and he hasn't played at all, I don't think, in the last two days so we shall see how it goes.

I'm heading to DC for the weekend for a conference and so excited to see my friends there.  I hope all of you have a wonderful week!