This week...

We are all SICK! It started with O waking up with a cough on Saturday morning. The morning of his birthday party. I thought about  cancelling but I knew he wouldn't go for that. What 8 year old would!? So we soldiered on and he had a good day, although I could tell he was tired. For his party he invited his schoolmates over and we had a minion party. O and Morgan created a great obstacle course and the weather was so nice the kids were able to spend most of the time outside. We kept it low key with just cake and ice cream and games. Here is the minion cake I made for him.

When I asked O what his favorite part of his party was he replied, " the presents." When I asked what his second favorite part was he replied, "my minion cake. And it was even better because you made it for me." Aw, that made it all worth it. Even though he's 8 now he's still my snuggle bug. Subsequent parties are going to need to be a little more low key. Or directed by someone else. These kids get crazier every year.

Monday was O's actual birthday (yes, he's a Cinco de Mayo baby!) and he was feeling a little blah that morning but he went to school anyway. After he got off the bus he told me his ear hurt really bad which I figured could only mean one thing, an ear infection. So we headed off to the minute clinic. O has only had one ear infection before, which was only 5 months ago. I thought children mostly had these when they were younger but apparently not Owen. The wait was long at minute clinic and Owen was convinced he was dying. He has his father's flair for the dramatic. He was whimpering and crying and carrying on and I did my best to comfort him while we waited. Fortunately Morgan was on his way home so he grabbed the ibuprophen and brought that over to us. That made a huge difference. Basically it brought O back from the brink of death. By the time we go in to see the NP he had made an almost complete recovery. Except for the actual infection of course. We were able to get antibiotics and get out of there in under 3 hours. Just the way to spend an 8th birthday. Here is O on the brink of death.

He actually took this after he was feeling better but it's a pretty accurate portrayal of what was going on during his throes of pain. He's had more (perceived) near death experiences in his 8 years than anyone I know. Sometimes they've happened twice in one day. I honestly don't know how he manages. It's not that I'm not sympathetic, okay, it is that I'm NOT sympathetic, I'm not very empathetic either. Nevermind, being a child is very traumatic and it's amazing that any of us make it to adulthood. I try my best to be patient and kind and I must do a decent enough job because he seems fine and I don't drink hardly at all. When we were heading home for the evening after dinner at Culver's we drove past the clinic, Owen pointed at it and said in all seriousness, "that is where I faced my death tonight."

Since Owen developed his cough (a nasty one) and ear infection Morgan has come down with some crud too and I have a head cold and sore throat. I'm hoping we can throw open all the windows this weekend and air out the house to get rid of all the germs. I might wipe every thing down with bleach too!

All the illness has distracted me from dwelling on Owen turning 8. EIGHT! Every year I marvel at how we got here. Not because of the near death experiences but because it just goes so damn fast. One of my co-workers was talking about her daughter having her senior pictures taken in a few weeks and was showing me the photographers website. Which was filled with senior photos. While they were all amazing I told her I couldn't look anymore. Some day Owen will be that age and I just can't think about that. Or senior pictures. Or anymore near death experiences. I try to take one day at a time. Moment by moment and enjoy them as best I can without looking so far down the road that it makes me weep.