Boys, loops, and birthdays

We jumped feet first right back into regular life after our fun vacation and I think our reaction was very similar to Garrett's when he took the plunge into Aunt Katie's pool! Shock, overwhelmingness (it's a made-up word, I know... but it really was that type of week!) confusion as to why good ideas turn wrong somehow. It was one of those Good News/Bad News sort of weeks.

So on the Good News front, Garrett had his combined November/December pack meeting and he got some more loops and pins. This month he got his bicycling loop, soccer loop, chess loop, swimming loop and pin, nutrition loop, and his collecting loop and pin. He loves working on scout things, and I encourage it all the way. the Bad News side to this is that some of the other boys in his pack are a little envious of all the loops he is getting as are their parents; but for others it is acting as a motivator for them to work harder - so hopefully he won't pick up on the negative feeling there are out there concerning him but will just keep this unabashed drive of his. I don't want him to feel like he shouldn't be earning all the things he is or that he shouldn't be as in to scouting as he is since the other fellas aren't. Owen's Good News/Bad News minute has to do with his birthday. His Good News was that I decided to let him have a party he could invite his friends to this year. I had actually planned it all out for last year... gotten goodie bags ready, written invites, planned games... and then realized that I was too pregnant and tired to actually do it, so into a box in the back of the closet it all went. So this year everything was already planned out for me to do it, all I had to do was to change the dates on the invites and everything was in line. We invited quite a few friends of his and most of them showed up. The Bad News was that he woke up that morning with a migraine (a problem he has been having lately) and when party time came around, he wasn't feeling good enough to come out. He spent his whole party lying on my bed whimpering. I checked on him a couple of times throughout the night and even tried carrying him into the dining room with the lights all turned out to see if he could do cake and ice cream and presents. Nothing worked. He slept and stayed away from everything all night long. So all the cute blowing out the candles pictures I would like to post are non-existent and all I got was a picture of a birthday cake with a slice taken out of it already because Daddy took a piece to work with him earlier. Owen didn't end up getting out of bed until Thursday and then he didn't open up all his gifts until Thursday and Friday. (Some kids wanted to watch him open their gifts, so he waited until he saw them at the bus stop to open them.) We took pictures of him opening his gifts so we could attach a picture in thank you cards. It was fun all the same - 16 little kids and no birthday boy, a once in a life time experience! And for my little man Emmett, his is more Bad News/Bad News/Good News. The bad news for him is that on Friday I took him to the doctor and found out that he had a really bad ear infection, a sinus infection, and that his bronchitis had flipped into walking pneumonia. Yucky. That meant that ontop of the way expensive nebulizer med he was already taking everyday, now he had to take an antibiotic twice a day as well. A yucky, yucky antibiotic. And this terrible med gives him terrible diarrhea that has been burning his skin like acid up to the point that when you change his diaper (like every 20 minutes or so)he looks like one of those Ken Barbies that have the painted on undies, only his is red instead of white. He is burned all the way around everywhere. The Good News that lies in there is that now he gets to run around naked bummed after diaper changes to help everything dry off and heal, and since he isn't feeling super well, he is getting all the free cuddle time he wants! He is also sleeping a lot more, which is nice in some respects for me!

As for Tig, well life has just gone on as normal. No fun Good News/Bad News to report on tonight for her! Violin and choir are still going early morning for the big kids, school is going on as normal, the Christmas tree is up and our advent countdowns are taking place... all is right in our little world!