Last week at the Nichols House

Well, unfortunately, it was an busy week at the Nichols house. It all really started with the Monday after Christmas when Mary Selwyn woke up with a cold. Then Mommy woke up with the same cold on New Years Eve. It didn't happen to hit Daddy until Saturday afternoon and it seemed he started feeling bad just when MSN and I were starting to feel better.

On Monday Shay felt a little achy but Tuesday he said he was feeling much better. I thought we were all on the up and up.....worng. About 8 p.m. Tuesday we were sitting on the couch and Shay said, "My ear hurts a little bit." My reaction was "Uh oh, you better go to the doctor in the morning because I bet that cold is settling in your ear. No fun." So he went ahead and let work know he would be in late because he was going to the doctor first thing the next day. Shay does not play around when it comes to his ears because he had so much trouble with them as a kid. Well at 10:30 he came in the room (he hadn't been able to sleep because it hurt so bad) and asked me if there was anything he could take or do to make it better. I got up with him gave him some Tylenol knowing that it really wouldn't help and we sat on the couch. I thought Shay was going to come out of his skin. He was in so much pain and there was so much pressure. Then about 10 minutes later his ear popped and it was bleeding. His ear drum had ruptured just that fast.

Now if you know me at all you won't be surprised to know that in about 2.5 seconds I was dressed and ready to head to the emergency room, oh and totally freaking out. I had never dealt with ear stuff like this before like Shay had. Thankfully my mom was in town and after I busted through her door to announce that I was taking Shay to the emergency room she explained that we could wait until the morning. Of course not even Mom's word was good enough for me and I called Shay's cousin who is a doctor and he told me to let Shay take some pain pills my mom had and see the doctor in the morning. So we did and got everything taken care of. Shay is fine now and on the mend. Most of the pain is gone and we go back in two weeks to make sure it is healed or figure out what to do from there. However, he still cannot hear that well which is getting to be a little annoying for everyone. In the midst of all this chaos, Mary Selwyn and I both had doctors appointments scheduled. I had talked my mom into coming to help me because I was supposed to do my glucose/diabetes test early Wednesday morning and MSN was supposed to have her 18 month check up Wednesday afternoon. Needless to say after the ear bursting event I had to cancel my appointment to carry my poor hubby to the doctor.

We did manage to keep Mary Selwyn's appointment and she of course got a great report. The doctor said she is super healthy and super smart. Her height and weight were in the 95-98% again. He was very impressed with her large vocabulary and ability to follow directions. I'm very proud of her and 18 months is a fun age (aren't they all), although she is getting mighty good at pitching some fits when she is mad or frustrated. I can see that little terrible two phase coming on and I'm sure some days I will be stretched thin but I'm not that worried.

To conclude this story book, I will say that I passed my glucose test the next morning and got a good report from my doctor as well. This little baby that I wasn't able to feel for longer than expected is now bouncing all over the place. It is definitely making up for the time that the front placenta made us miss and I am loving every second of it. I feel like time is passing so quickly this pregnancy so I'm trying to take a lot of moments everyday to enjoy the wiggles. I'm so thankful for my mother and the huge help she was to us this week. I'm also thankful for the weekend we were able to spend with Shay's parents building Mary Selwyn's new swing set. Our backyard should be fully equipped for fun times now thanks to Meme and Papa. Let's hope this week is a lot calmer than last.

Here is a video of Mary Selwyn reading to herself. The inflection in her voice cracks me up....you can tell she has been read a story or two. Next time I will have to try and get a video of her using her real words. She is the most precious thing and I could just squeeze her all the time, which is what we spend most of the day doing anyway.