Hmmm...

Well, it's been over a week now since I last wrote anything. That probably has more to do with my mental exhaustion over the events of the last week than it does with having nothing to write about. It's just been one of those weeks and things will not be getting easier in the immediate future.

The most exciting and fun thing of the last week was actually last weekend. We celebrated my sweet husband's birthday. He turned (huh-hum) years old. :) I love celebrating him because I'm so glad he's mine forever and always. Not to mention the chocolate cake that I made for him that was delish! But that is just an added bonus.

On the unhappier side of life, we've known for a quite a while that Ryan's dad has needed to have a mitral valve repaired/replaced (Dr. won't know for sure which until surgery starts). As the summer wore on, it became apparent that he needed to have his heart fixed sooner rather than later. Plans to have the surgery after the first of the year got fast-tracked and the new plan was to have the surgery early enough before our sweet baby boy is born that Ryan's mom will be able to leave his dad and come take care of our wee ones while I'm in the hospital. After several weeks of "I don't know's", Ryan's dad was miraculously seen by the surgeon this week and will be having open-heart surgery on Monday. They will be repairing or replacing his bad valve and will also be having a quadruple bi-pass while they're in there. Never in a million years would you guess he would have 4 blockages. So all that to say, we have definitely felt that God has had His hand in the timing of this surgery and even in having this particular surgeon, who is a believer. Ryan is going to head out to Tulsa on Sunday to be there for the surgery and will stay until Wednesday. Obviously, I am at the point of not traveling. So I'll be here with the munchkins by myself. I've had lots of offers for help, though, so I think we'll survive just fine. :)

On top of the mental stress of dealing with his dad's surgery, work has been absolutely nuts for Ryan this week. It has literally been one thing after another and he hasn't gotten home before 6:30 all week long...and it's been 7:00 three nights. No fun for anybody. He will get home from Tulsa on Wednesday afternoon and then on Thursday morning starts "Parent Weekend", which means that all of the kids' parents come in for a weekend of intense counseling. He will have to work late (til like 9:30ish) on Thursday night and Friday night. Then he will work all day Saturday and Sunday morning. Which essentially means that we really won't see him until next Sunday afternoon. Yuck! We are really going to miss his presence next week. The good thing is that after all of that he gets Monday off. We fully intend to have lots of fun that day to make up for lost time.

Just to add some icing on top of our cake, Eli came down with croup this week. Wednesday night he woke up barking like a seal and could not catch his breath. I ended up having to take him outside into the chilly air to help him catch his breath. Thursday morning, after a long night that could have been much worse, we headed to see the doctor. She confirmed the croup diagnosis and also said that he had fluid on both of ears, but it isn't currently infected. So now Eli is taking his steroids and is a world of fun! (Sense the sarcasm!!!) He is BUSY with a capital B! He's also a little emotional. A super fun combination... especially when daddy is working late.

Remember how the dr. said there was fluid on his ears? It has made him even more clumsy than normal. About 5 minutes after Ryan got home tonight, Eli tripped and hit his mouth on the fireplace. Luckily I have it covered with a blanket, but he still managed to bite into his bottom lip, which bled profusely and we thought it might need stitches. As he is crying his head off, Ryan's on-call phone rang. Perfect timing. But, the phone call was a situation that could be handled over the phone without Ryan having to leave again. And Eli's lip doesn't need stitches after all.

And now our weekend can start! Not a moment too soon!

In other news, I'm almost 35 weeks pregnant and will start my weekly check-ups this week. I know what you're thinking. Your pregnancy has flown by! And your thoughts are correct. I cannot believe that our sweet baby boy will be here within about 6 weeks. Can't wait to meet him!