Counting Our Blessings

On this very Holy day I'm counting my blessings....

...Jesus gave up His life for me and my son.  Sunday's comin'.  I'm prayerfully waiting for Sunday.

....My sweet boy came home on Wednesday evening.  My parents had taken him to daycare that morning with stern instructions to me that if I didn't feel up to having him I was to call and let them pick him up and take him back to their house.  

I couldn't wait to have him back with me.  His pediatrician and her nurse said it was fine, that he was already exposed and that if I felt up to it, to bring the baby home.  I brought my baby home.  And yes it exhausted me to have him here.  But it was worth that huge huge smile and laughter as he raced to me when I picked him up at 5pm screaming "MOMMY!!!!"  As soon as he was in bed, I was in bed.  Thursday I took him to daycare all day as well, and I recuperated more.

...I'm feeling better.  So much better.  I'm still so very tired, but 200% better than I was last week at this time.

...I am surrounded by love.  My family has been absolutely amazing.  Amazing.  My parents have just been so awesome.  There are actually no words that express my gratitude to them.  And my friends and sister too...running around all hours of the night to get me my meds, going out of their ways to bring me food, drink and other meds.  I am blessed.

...Tate can entertain himself seemingly for hours.  This morning he played trains and colored by himself for an hour and 15 minutes while I folded a load of laundry upstairs and laid on the rocking chair to rest.  He continued his awesome behavior of playing trains while I sat on the floor this afternoon and he just moved around me for over an hour.  Goodness I love him.

...And it's Friday night.  And it's 9pm.  And I'm going to bed.

Blessed.

Lunch today with Aunt Lindsey!

Separated

For the first time in 3 years 8 months and 2 days I am sitting in my bed, in my bedroom, with the television on.  Alone.  

Because I am seriously ill.

Tate is with his grandparents and has been since Sunday morning around 10am.

On Friday afternoon I had a massage, and I was really chilled during most of it and my nose was beyond congested.  I chalked it up to maybe the bed warmer wasn't on high enough and I always gets congested laying on my stomach while she works on my back.  When I was done, I was still cold and a bit tired, but I just blew it off.

I picked Tate up from school and we did our normal Friday stuff, trains, books, Zingo, dinner, bath, books, teeth and bed.  I'm sure y'all remember me saying I was exhausted and that I rocked him to sleep :)  I climbed into bed with him soon after that post.

And woke up around 3am with a fever of 101.86.

With Tate right next to me.

Mi-ser-able.

I downed 4 Advil and slept fitfully.

We were up at 6...ugh.  

Somehow I made it without taking out too much of my feeling poorly on sweet Tate.  We had plans to meet one of his little schoolmates and her mama to see the Easter Bunny and for lunch.  So I downed 3 more Advil at 9am and we headed out.

Those happy faces were worth it :)

We even went to lunch at one of our favorite restaurants.

But I knew I was headed downhill.  I called my mommy from the restaurant and asked her to meet me at home as soon as she could because I was feeling lousy.  

She was there when we got home at 12:30.  I came in and laid down.  And she took over.  She is so amazing.

From upstairs in bed I could hear Tate laughing and squealing with joy.  He was so very happy to have someone playing with him constantly.  Because when I play with him, I play for 10 minutes then fold a load of laundry, play a bit more, then do some dishes etc.  He had a blast.  Lindsey showed up at some point and did what she does best...nap :)  

In the interim I texted with my old college roommate/sorority sister who's a physician in Dallas.  She had called in an antibiotic for me earlier in the morning as we thought I had a sinus infection.  By 5pm it was obvious this was much more because I had taken 3 more Advil at 3pm and my fever was 102.7.  She had me switch to Tylenol and ordered rest.  She was worried though; it was obvious.  The fact that my fever wasn't breaking was concerning.

My mom did most of Tate's bedtime routing, but I ended up putting him to sleep because he wouldn't relax for her, so I did my best to not breathe on him.  She slept with him that night and I slept in the room downstairs.  (I changed all sheets on our bed).

I was still absolutely miserable on Sunday.  Susan had told me to stay ahead of my fever, and to set my alarm to wake up overnight to take my Tylenol and to continue to do so.  So that's what I did.   With no relief.  My mom went grocery shopping for me and then I asked her to take Tate home with her with the promise to Tate that I would come pick him up later.

I never made it.

I was just so miserable.  My fever remained high and just sapped all my energy and I just felt awful.

Finally, I took myself to the ER right up the street at 6:30pm.  Yes, I went to the ER for a fever.

But I was so scared that something was seriously wrong with me.  And I could not fathom another night of misery not knowing what the hell was wrong with me.  I had already asked my sister to spend the night with me because I didn't want to be alone overnight.

I was in tears as I gave them my medical history.  My fever was 101.9.  And they were so kind as I sobbed.  

Then they swabbed my nose...unpleasant.

The doctor came in and told me "You have Flu A and Flu B."

I said "What?"  Then "Wait, what does that mean?"

He told me that I had both strains of the flu and that is very rare to get both strains at the same time.

Especially for someone who has had the damn flu shot.

And my child has not had the flu shot.

I was despondent.

Lindsey arrived to hold my hand, ok so she hung out in the doorway when I told her how sick I was, but she was there :)

I have to stay home until I am fever free for 24 hours without meds.  Heck I can't stay fever free with the medication.  I was put on Tamiflu and sent home to rest.

Lindsey ran around getting my meds at 8:00 at night, going to no less than 4 supposed 24 hour pharmacies.  My lovely neighbor had brought me some soup and bread earlier.  My best friend, Tate's godmother, brought me lunch and dinner tonight.  

And my parents.

My parents.

They have had Tate since yesterday and will have him all day tomorrow as well.  My dad drove all the way over here today to get Tate's meds and food and clothes.

I skyped with Tate around lunchtime and he was fine, but he looked at me beseechingly towards the end and wailed "I wanna go home."

Broke my heart.

My sweet boy.

We've never been apart more than overnight.  I usually drop him off around 3 on a Saturday and pick him up by 10 or 11 am on Sunday, so this is a long time for him, for me, for us.

But I gotta keep him safe.  He's unprotected by the flu shot.  And I cannot have him this miserable.

So tonight I've just taken another dose of Tylenol as my fever is 100.4, and I just took Tylenol about 45 minutes.  

So, I've got my prayer warriors praying for me and my sweet boy this Holy Week.  

As we head into Christ's passion, his death and resurrection I remember that "....by His stripes we are healed..." Isaiah 53:4 by my sweet friend S. who is among my prayer warriors lifting me up for healing and Tate for protection.

I also find it a bit comforting that as I turned on my television tonight, changing the channels and  turning up the volume, the first words I heard were from some television preacher.

What did I hear?

"By his stripes we are healed."  

My little boy and I...we're going to be just fine.  

But I sure do miss him.

You Thought Newborn Sleep Was Bad!!

It has been a long week.  A very long week.  Tate and I have struggled, and I mean struggled, especially with him going to sleep or more accurately staying in the bed.  Ugh.  It's just been awful.  Combined that with his intense clinginess lately and incessant whining and I'm about to go around the bend.   

We do still share a room and we've been sharing my bed since we returned from Ottawa.  I used to put him in his crib and he'd simply go to sleep.  Before we went on our trip, he was starting to climb out every now and again, but it wasn't a real problem.  Cue my mistake.  I should have made my displeasure a bit more obvious I suppose.  He would sometimes play in the crib for 30-45 minutes before falling asleep especially if he had taken a nap at daycare, but more often than not he wasn't napping at daycare.

Well not this week.  He napped every single day.  And bedtimes were a disaster.  I let him play until 7 instead of 6:30 most nights as I figured he wouldn't go to sleep until later, and there was no reason to prolong our agony.  Monday night he didn't go to sleep until 10.  10! Tuesday morning I had to wake him up at 6:30 making us rush in the  morning.  I just knew he wouldn't nap on Tuesday with the later wake-up.

Nope.  He napped!  Up until 9:30 Tuesday night.

But this isn't the worst of it.  The worst was trying to get him to stay in the bed.  O.M.G.  I have never been so frustrated.  I tried the whole Super Nanny approach of outwardly 'calmly' taking back to the bedroom and not speaking to him.  10 times later and I opted to let my inner feelings be known.  I threatened.  I yelled.  I stomped around.  He lost 4 trains and a coloring book.  All to no avail.  Finally, he was asleep like I said at 10 and 9:30 with me laying beside him.

I went shopping Wednesday and prepared a sticker chart.  Actually a train sticker chart.  I bought some Cat in the Hat stickers and I bought a few cheap toys.  I told him if he stayed in the bed he could put one sticker on one train car and he could pick out one toy.  He saw the toys and knew exactly what he wanted.

Wednesday night I put him in bed and laid down with him like I always have (I just usually put him in the crib after a few minutes).  He asked me to leave because he needed to stay in the bed so he could get his new train toy in the morning, so it seemed he had the concept.  Mind you this was at 8:30 already.  I came on downstairs and all was silent for a good long while.  And then I heard the door open and there was Tate!  Quiet and thoughtful.  I took him back to bed and reminded him he'd just lost his special toy.  Five minutes later he returned.  I put him back in the bed and sat in the rocker next to the bed, turned the rocker around and rocked and fell asleep myself.  Around 9:15 I turned back around and he was asleep.  Same thing last night.  He was keen on staying in bed, but he simply could not do it.  After the second pop-up I again got in the rocker and turned away from him.  He was asleep by 9.

He woke up this morning at 5:56, so he didn't have nearly enough sleep.  The whining began in earnest, and he refused to go back to sleep, making for a very long, EARLY morning for me.  I refused to let him watch his precious train on my phone, and I refused to get out of bed.

At 6:24 he came up to me and told me his pants were wet.  Yep.  He had peed.  On himself.  My child who knows exactly how to take himself to the bathroom located in the room we sleep in.  He tends to do this when he's mad at me which infuriates me to no end, because I know it's purposeful.  I told him to take his pants off and he'd have to be cold.  More whining.  

I finally got up about 10 minutes and gave him some new bottoms to put on;  I'm not a total meanie.  He climbed up into bed with me (with freezing cold feet!), but we only cuddled about 5 minutes, thus our day began.

So with his not falling asleep until 9 or 10 I get no downtime.  I rush around cleaning up after he goes to bed late.  Luckily I've always prepared his lunch when I clean up our dinner dishes, so if nothing else gets done we are ready for the following day.  I don't always eat dinner with him, so a couple of nights I was eating cheese and crackers seemingly at 9:30.  

I'm just exhausted.

My sister thinks he needs his own room and that should alleviate some of this.  Though I agree he needs his own room, and I'm actually in the process of getting him a mattress for converting his crib to the double bed and getting the decor together, I wonder if that's really going to make a difference or make it worse.  We shall see.

My plan for now is to sit in the rocker for 2-3 more nights as he goes to sleep.  Then I shall move to sit in my fainting couch which is a bit farther away. Then I'll sit by the door for a few days, then in the doorway.  Then just outside the door with it closed for a few days.

Because I think he's simply worried I'm going to leave.

Hopefully this will help alleviate this concern for my sweet boy.

Tonight, however I rocked his cute little bum to sleep since he didn't nap today!!!  I knew if I rocked him he would be asleep within minutes at a very reasonable time.  And I was right.  He was out at 7:30.  I probably could have done the rocking chair thing and let him go to sleep on his own, but I simply didn't have it in me tonight.  

So I rocked my 3y7m old to sleep.  

It was lovely.

St. Patrick's Day Weekend!

It was another quick weekend for us as I had to work on Friday (I know, I know...I'm EXTREMELY lucky to have most Fridays off!)

So here's our weekend pretty much in pictures...

Saturday started off with our last Prelude Music class (Music Together).  We've been going since Tate was 5 months old (January 2010).  We have done every instrument I believe at this point.  There was a 6-8 month period when we did Gymboree instead, but we quickly returned to Prelude.  We've so enjoyed our classes, and I know that Tate, though he may not remember going, will always carry the music in his soul.  Forever, he and I will be bound by "Hello Everybody, we're so glad to see you!!!"  He ended the class with much joy.
 


















We headed off to Nordstrom for me to do a return.  I then opted to do a bit of shopping for ME, as he was in a great mood!  As I was trying stuff on, at one point he looked at me and said "Wow Mommy you look like a princess!"  That shirt was put in the 'yes' pile without me even looking at the tag.  He did really well, and I shopped for about a little over an hour.  About 45 minutes he did get tired, so I became one of those mothers, and I gave him my phone to watch his precious trains while he continued to sit happily in his stroller.  I even had time to run down to the first floor and get some new make-up!!  He even gave up the phone when we rode the elevator down and was great about that 10 minutes tacked onto our 70 minute shopping spree!

In the dressing room!

We had a later than usual lunch at Barnaby's which was yummy as always!

We came home with the intent of no nap! (Shocking I know!  But he goes to bed WAY too late if he naps now!)  I turned on the tv to let him watch 3 episodes of 'Curious George.' And I dozed on the couch!!  It was WONDERFUL!!  I never truly fell asleep, but I got to rest, while my kid watched a bit of tv, which after 2 episodes he stopped and started playing.  He then decided I should be part of his play and commenced bouncing around on me on the sofa.   I wasn't a fan, so up I got and we got ready to go to the Music Together Concert in one of our local parks.

 This morning we made it to church, and the service was just lovely.  We did our weekly shopping and returned home to have some lunch.  Tate played and played with his trains while I prepared a couple of meals for the week, got his snacks and fruit chopped and packaged for the week, did two loads of laundry, cleaned up a bit, got his bags ready for the week (nap mat, water bottle, extra clothes).  Then we headed off to one of my girlfriend's for a puppet show she and her husband won at an auction.  Tate had a blast.  It's ridiculously warm here, so shorts weather has begun and it's time to break out the sunscreen again!  St. Patrick's Day seems to have brought out the comedian in Tate, though the sticking out of the tongue for pictures seems to be his new favorite passtime.  Sigh.

This is some kind of dance move, I suppose.

No idea what that lip move is!

Yummy vegan cake from Whole Foods.
There were cupcakes, so I had to bring
this egg-free cake for sweet Tate!

There's Ollie, K's labradoodle.  Yes, he is as
big as a small pony!!

Mommy and Me

This weekend ended up being a Mommy and Me Weekend for Tate and me :).  He didn't want to go to music class again yesterday (until the class which is 10-12 minutes away was 30 minutes into the 45 minute session), so I opted to just hang out with him.  All morning long!  It was awesome.  We played Travel Zingo, though not really by their rules, he played trains, I washed/dried/straightened my hair.  We read a book or two.  He played more trains and then he colored with his Color Wonder markers for almost an hour!  I was quite impressed.  I so try to limit his screen time and I've been pretty successful.  Yesterday he watched trains on my phone on YouTube for about 45 minutes, which I feel is way too long, but I wanted to sleep so badly!!  And by trains I mean these kinds of trains...

He does watch a Thomas episode or two while watching those, but if I hear anything else, the phone is mine again! (which has the unfortunance of meaning I then have to get up!)

Other than that, that's it for the day.  It's amazing how quiet it is in here with no background noise except my washer and dryer and my cat.  I live for the quiet.  My office is filled with televisions (about 22!!!) that are on all day long;  in addition we have a game room with 4 X-Box type machines, all constantly on.  Add in the screams and cries of the children, the parents jabbering, all of our staff working and talking to patients and you understand why I cannot stand noise when I get home.  I need a respite.  

So anyway, 3 loads of laundry were done, lunch was had and I even got a 45 minute nap out of the sweet boy!  More trains after lunch and then we headed off to Ms. Kristal's housewarming/wedding celebration.  Ms. Kristal was Tate's teacher from the age of 13 months to 20 months!  And oh my goodness did she love my sweet boy and he loved her.  She invited me and 3 other parents/kids to the party, so I'm glad we went.  I was able to let Tate run amok upstairs with all the other kids, ranging in age 2-10.  They were up and down the stairs, dancing and having a great time.  My little guy was even sweating he was having so much fun, and it helped that two of the kids there were from his class including his BFF!  

But it was an education of sorts.  I know Ms. Kristal and her new husband have worked hard, hard, hard to have all that they have and I'm so very happy and proud of them.  The neighborhood is obviously a newer neighborhood and one that caters to families who have financial constraints (given that some signs said "Will help with down payments"), ie probably living paycheck to paycheck.   I don't get to go to many parties where everyone is black with all the joy that brings.  When I was growing up and we were around my extended family in the summers I got to experience it all the time.  It's almost like coming home for me.  The loud music played by 40 and 50 year old men.  The loud raucous voices of the women.  The children running absolutely everywhere.  And most importantly, parties that start 90 minutes or so late with the host/hostess rarely present at the appointed time on the invitation cause they've run out to get something.  This is what Tate will miss growing up here in the world that I live in.  We don't get to go 'home' all that often and I fear it will be even less often when my parents are no longer here to link us to our family.  And that makes me very sad.

But this is a happy post!  We left a bit early, missing the food, but I wanted Tate in bed at a decent hour.  And I also knew he wasn't going to eat bar-b-q, so why annoy both of us? :)

He was sound asleep by 730 last night...all part of my plan since daylight savings time started today.  UGH.  I crawled into bed with him around 945 in anticipation of his 528am wake-up which was of course 6:28am!

I handed over the phone for 30 minutes and then crawled out of bed to get us breakfasted and ready for church.  Lindsey had planned to take Tate to ride the zoo train and go to the zoo with one of her girlfriends and her year old daughter.  The rain washed all our plans away.  It was pouring once I got us both dressed, me in makeup and cute hair!  I just did not have the stamina or the will to slosh through pouring rain with Tate.  So we didn't go;  it's been weeks since we've been, so I was really upset.  I should have gone, but truly trying to stay dry and parking across the street and running with my 3 year old in my arms with an umbrella is alot of work.  I've done it before, and we always end up soaked.  So no, we didn't go.  I did take Tate on over to Lindsey's who kept him while I ran to the grocery store in the rain....so much easier.  And he loves hanging with his Aunt Lindsey, so it's a win-win.  They rescheduled the zoo trip for in a couple of weeks.

Back home we unloaded groceries and played more trains.  We were both a bit more whiny today.  He did finagle a few more visits to YouTube out of me, but then returned to his coloring.  We simply just hung out all day.  Played more Zingo. Trouble and a Matching Game.  Ok, so no games were really 'played'.  But we opened them all and played his version of all the games.  We colored together and he watched about 40 minutes of trains on YouTube while I did laundry and got some meals cooked for the week.  We headed outside later on and he rode his bike to visit our 7 year old next door neighbor and they (ok I in Tate's stead who insists I draw train after train after train for him) chalked for a while.  Dinner was quick and easy as he had only eaten an Oma cookie and some pretzels and yogurt for lunch, so he was starving.  I wanted him in bed asleep by 7:30am in the hopes that he will sleep his normal 10 hours overnight and wake at his normal time (or later!). We shall see!!!

While I rocked him tonight he threw his little arms around my neck and just squeezed and I just melted. This little boy has become such a cuddler, always asking for hugs and kisses.  As we go into spring break week which at work will be crazy hectic and stressful I'm so very glad I kept the weekend mostly to just the two of us.  We'll be apart all 5 days this week as we were last week (I had a CE class I had to attend this past Friday);  we are usually only apart 4 days a week.  I am not one of those mothers who lives for Monday, so I can send my kid to daycare.  I dread it.  I hate it.  Once Monday starts I am seriously counting down until it's 5pm on Thursday.  It's all I think about.  Had I been married I would have done my very best to stay home or worked very part time.  I was not meant to be a mother who works outside the home.  Not at all.

I was meant to be a mother though.  And this is the path God has chosen for me to live this dream, so I'm going to embrace it.  He knows the plans He has for my life.  That plan includes this child enjoying his weekend with his mommy....

And I'm super proud of him for recognizing all these numbers :)  Just found out he could do this on Friday!

His preferred method of floor play again though...

A Funny Thing Happened as I Flossed Tate's Teeth Tonight...

He fell asleep.

Yep, he fell asleep while I was flossing his teeth.

Totally made my day.

So he went to bed super early and plaque-free :)

Progress - A Boast

This is Tate's progress report from pre-school this year thus far.  I'm pretty darn proud of him!  And I'm also absolutely amazed by how much my little boy has learned in the 3 years and 7 months he's been on this earth.  It's absolutely amazing to me what a little sponge he is!

So, this post is going to be all about me bragging about my son.  I want to remember as much as I can about him and all that he learns as he grows up to be a Christ-loving, successful young man and hopefully father.

He started in Ms. JoAnn's class in mid August with 4 of his closest little friends.  I think that this extremely small class size has been instrumental in his growth and development this year.  Last year's class was small as well with about 10 kids in the class, but they put the younger set in a different class this year, so four of the kids in Tate's class (including Tate) turned 3 in June/July 2012 with one who turned 3 in October (his parents didn't want Tate, Leo and their son separated;  the other 2 are girls) moved into this 'older' preschool class.

By the time he moved out of the toddler room, he recognized all the letters of the alphabet, numbers up to 10, could tell you the first letter of his name and the first letter of the names of the kids in that class.  He also recognized all 10 of their names.  He could also tell you what letter many, many words started with if you were very clear with your pronunciation.  One of his favorite pasttimes was starting to become 'reading' out loud.  His memory was and still is unbelievable.  I'm assuming that most 2 and 3 year olds can do this though;  he'd pick up a book and 'read' it from memory getting most of the words correct.

This year he's been taking soccer on Monday mornings, dance class on Tuesday mornings and gymnastics on Thursday mornings...all at school!  It's so very great!  Then of course I take him to swim lessons on Friday mornings.  I'm so thrilled that he has all of these extra-curricular activities available to him at school.  The fees are extra, but nominal.  It makes it so nice for us working parents who can then spend our weekends with our kids not racing around to all these activities...you can just play with your kids, run errands and just do the family thing.  (I am considering signing him up for regular soccer on the weekends though when he turns 4)  

AND he's still learning!  Learning, learning, learning.  All while he's having fun.  And with teachers who care about him and will hug him when he's hurt or sad and rejoice with him when he's happy.  All the teachers know all the kids which I find just fantastic.  It's such a small school with 14 teachers including the director that all the teachers overlap at some point to keep ratios.  I've been so happy with his care.

Plus my little guy is just doing great.  I did initially wonder if all the kids' progress reports looked the same, you know...great, great, great.  But as I was walking out of the classroom the evening I picked up Tate and his little progress report, C's mom (the younger boy in the class) was coming to get something she'd forgotten.  She saw me with Tate's little progress note, and said C was having a hard time listening and following directions and the he got several 'needs to work on' phrases on his little paper.  And I realized it wouldn't help anyone to gloss over a child's needs, so I'm pretty proud of sweet Tate.

In addition to his progress noted above, he can count to 50 (with a little help transitioning 29 to 30...he doesn't remember always that the next number is 30 and the same 39 to 40, but once I tell him 30 or 40 he can say the numbers).  He writes his name really, really well.  Initially the letter 'A' was difficult, and he would make it look like an egg with a line drawn across the middle.  Now, though 'A' is his favorite letter and he is constantly saying for no particular reason 'A is up, down, ACROSS!' I'm pretty sure that's how Ms. JoAnn got him to write it correctly! :)  If I say a word and ask what it starts with he can usually tell me and then will rattle off a few other words that start with that letter.  Obviously 'C' and 'K' are difficult as are words that start with vowels since they can have such different sounds.

He can match matching objects on a piece of paper as well as distinguishing which two objects look alike in a set of 4 or 5.  He can trace with decent accuracy most letters of the alphabet.  His memory though, his memory...he sees or hears something once, maybe twice and he remembers it.  The beauty of youth.

We're still working on being able to take a shirt on and off.  He's had pants/underwear/shoes/socks down for over a year.  But I'm in no rush.  He still has absolutely no interest in what he wears, and is more than happy to let me put his clothes on him every single time.  It's much much faster this way, so I'm not pushing the getting dressed yourself business.  Ever.

He has two chores in the house thus far. He must remove his plate from the table and put it on the kitchen counter, and he must put his silverware in the sink.  He also must take his pants, underwear and socks off in the evening and put them in the laundry basket in the laundry room or if the clothes are going to be washed, into the washing machine.

We need to work on coloring inside the lines, but he's come really far as at the beginning of the school year his writing was incredibly light.  He was barely touching the paper with the crayons or markers.  He is now pressing with the appropriate strength, so now to work on being a tiny bit more precise.  I'm hoping to also help him learn to tie his shoes this summer.  I'm not sure when kids are supposed to be able to do this, but goodness with the 'invention' of velcro shoes I'm appalled by how many 8, 9 and 10 year olds cannot tie their shoes.  So, we'll see how that goes.  I'm not the most patient of 'teachers', so this might not go well. :)

Most importantly of all, he has learned almost all the names and numbers associated with Thomas the Tank Engine and all his friends as well as what color each train is.  I meant what else does a train-loving 3 year old need to know?

Except how to ride a horse...

Trains, Trains, Trains and Our Last Day in Ottawa!

 Museum of Science and Technology!

Wednesday found Tate and I with a day to ourselves.  Susan had taken the day off to spend with us, but was not feeling well at all.  We made ourselves scarce to give her some time to rest and that's where we ended up.  Suffice it to say I think this was Tate's favorite vacation activity.

This is why...

Doing the dance of joy!

Trains, Trains, Trains.  We spent about 2 hours looking at these trains interspersed with a quick walk through the children's portion of the museum and a quick bite for lunch.

The Crazy Kitchen...makes you
surprisingly dizzy!!

We ventured on home with me driving as the snow really picked up...became blizzard like conditions with the wind on our drive home.  I don't miss driving in the snow at all.  We had a quick respite at home then headed off with Susan to pick the kids up from school.  Once home I packed as much as I could then we all headed outside for one last romp in the snow.  And I mean SNOW!

He's having more fun than it looks like, I promise!

 

There's that precious smile!

One last snow angel!

We had a beautiful time!!