Vacation = Fun and Other Weirdness

We just got back from a week long vacation, visiting my parents in Fort Myers, FL as a family. We had a good time overall, but it ended up being a weird adventure that I'm still trying to wrap my head around. 

Why was it weird? For one, I was sick pretty much the entire time we were down there. This made things difficult when you're out in the sun and trying to relax. When I wasn't coughing, I was hallucinating from the fever I had and at one point, I was a complete mess and just wanted to check out and sleep. When you have a six-year-old, Ryan, who wants to keep busy, that was totally difficult and thank god that my parents and husband were there to keep him occupied. They played games, went for walks, went to the park, and watched movies when I wasn't able to do anything. Super happy that they all stepped up to keep things up-beat and positive. 

When I was feeling not close to death, we spent a lot of timeout doors, which was the plan from the get-go, yet it was still super tough since I had no energy what-so-ever. Everything was a struggle and it put a damper on the point of being on vacation. For example, we went to the pool almost every chance we could get because Ryan's favorite thing to do was swim. Cool, right? Well, not so much because we had to walk to the pool, wiping me out and then when we were at the pool, it was all about playing and being in the sun. On a normal day, cool, however, the sun then became too much and the water was actually tough to get around in. Again though, Grandma and Grandpa stepped up and went swimming a bunch with Ryan, keeping me from having to do way too much. 

All in all, we did have a good time and it was nice being around my parents and seeing them have a good time with Ryan. One day, we did make it to the beach and also went to a local attraction, the Shell Factory, where there were a lot of activities for Ryan, including a zoo, arcade, and bumper boats. My hope though is that next time we go on vacation, I can avoid being sick so I can enjoy the entire thing and not just bits and pieces here and there. 

Ugh, the never ending cycle of sick!

Who's sick? Your sick, I'm sick, he's sick, the dog's sick, the kid's sick, the husband's sick, the person two rows down in the cubicle on the left is sick, EVERYONE'S SICK!

At home, life has been pretty miserable and the view above sums up reality. Right now, my husband, Dave, is laying down in the bedroom on a Sunday morning coughing his brain's out. Our son, Ryan, is resting in his room with ear pain and a cough of his own. And, I'm writing a blog post, hoping to will my sore throat away with copious quantities of coffee and a ranting blog post. My son said it best yesterday, "This has been the worst Christmas break ever!"

He's right, it's been the worst Christmas break ever. Especially because yesterday, we went to the doctor to get his ear looked at since he was crying and all the doctor said was, "You're passing around a viral infection in your home. Since you both have symptoms, you're going to pass it back and forth." Well, that's helpful Mr. Doctor. I'm glad I wasted that money to learn that we'll just have to keep taking Tylenol, drink juice, sleep, and home one of us won't be sick and then that will catch on. UGH.

Being sick has been a never ending cycle for us and trying to find a way to make it stop is exhausting. After learning from the doctor that we have a viral infection from hell, I asked what we could do to make the cycle stop and all I got was, wash your hands more, cover your mouth when you cough, and expect to always be sick. JUST GREAT!

Well, I think I'm going to go get some juice now and hope no one breathes on me, sigh.  

The never ending Christmas list...

I knew this day would come, the day when my son, Ryan, would want everything he sees for Christmas.

In the past, Ryan only wanted a few things here and there, nothing crazy. Maybe a toy that lit up or some blocks that he could smash around and then never play with again. However, that's all changed this year. Now, Ryan wants it all. When Grandma Nancy asked for him to circle a few things in the toy book she shared with him, he circled pretty much everything:

(Pictures courtesy of Grandma Nancy) 

So, I'm at a loss on how to handle this upcoming Christmas season. I'm not sure, well, I'm more than not sure that Santa is not going to get everything on his list and then when Christmas comes around, I'm more than sure that a certain little boy is going to be rather disappointed. It makes me feel like I did something wrong as a parent because Ryan never used to be this materialistic. Like, maybe last year we gave Santa the okay to go a bit overboard with the presents since we love Ryan so much and felt he deserved it. Maybe we planted the seed, along with the multiple ads for toys he watches daily on TV, since he never really wanted all of this stuff in excess before? Could be that or it could be that he's getting older or it could be that he's bored with what he has? Who knows? No matter what's the cause, I feel like I need to nip the excess wanting of material things in the but sooner rather than later.

My thoughts on how to handle the situation are to ask him what he really, truly wants and go from there. Wish me luck because who knows how it's going to go come Christmas Day.