Back to the Slow Life

       January has drug on more than any other month. I think it's because we are on total house arrest. Well nearly. There is so much sickness going around, from the stomach bug, the a particularly bad case of influenza and so many cases of RSV. When I feel like I'm going to snap from being cooped up for too long, then we leave...to Phil's shop, but sometimes we still don't go anywhere at all. It really has been so hard for me to be at home with a 4 1/2 year old. He needs so much interaction and demands so much attention that I feel completely crazy sometimes. That being said, Boyd really does continue to be such a good boy. He has morning jobs that he does each day. They consist of letting Remy out and feeding her. Eating breakfast and his vitamin. Brushing his teeth, getting dressed, and cleaning up him room. He usually needs a little bit of help with getting them all done, but some days he manages to do them all on his own! He's getting so big and pretty soon we'll be adding some more jobs on different days of the week. When he's all done, he then marks off his job chart with stickers. The first few days of January were semi-eventful. Boyd shot off some roman candles with Phil for the New Year and Phil and I then spent New Year's Eve in bed and promptly fell asleep just after midnight. The first Sunday, fast Sunday, we all went to Sacrament meeting so Boyd could bear his testimony. He's been wanting to for a few months but it needed a little work, like no mention of candy. After teaching him what a testimony was about, Boyd came up with some things that he knew, things that he had been taught at home. Listening to him bear his testimony all by himself up at the big podium was one of the proudest moments I've had as a mother! It was also the confirmation that I needed that, as parents, we were doing okay. It's been hard not to be able to go to church and interact with others and I worry that Boyd is missing out on so much. But hearing him share his testimony helped me feel like everything would be just fine and that as long as we were doing the best that we can, that will be enough. This is what he said in his testimony, "My name is Boyd. I know this church is true. I know Jesus was born in Bethlahem. And I know he died on the cross and was resurrected. I know Angel Moroni came to Joseph Smith three times when it was night." He was amazing. Unfortunatbly, the 30 minutes we spent at church landed us with a stomach bug. Boyd, then Brewer, then Mom and finally Dad. It was a miserable week, followed by more fusiness from Brewer who was cutting his top left tooth. 

       We tried to get out when we could, but it was so cold in January. It dipped down to under -20 quite a few times and some days it didn't getting warmer than -10. That made it impossible to go outside. So we did a lot of bath time, played with Remy, built forts, watched Phil plow (we would go out with him when it was warm enough), watch the deer out the back window, having Boyd help me with family night, giving in to playing in the kitchen cupboards, piano lessons for Boyd, pinterest ideas, playing with the spinning robot (the roomba) and lots and lots of wrestling and brotherly loving. It may seem like we have been up to a lot, but we really have just spent so much time in our house. Boyd would have done really well in preschool this year and we can't wait for him to get that experience in the fall. It will be great for everyone to have a little time apart.

       When it was warm enough to go out we would go out on the sled, to plow, for a walk, in to town to see the snow scultpures, sometimes the grocery store. One weekend we met up with the Wilson's to do some sledding and snow mobiling. It was still pretty cold, so it was a pretty quick adventure. We also went to Idaho Falls on a Friday night to get Brewer's first round of Synagis injections. We are SO very grateful that Brewer qualified for synais shots. At first we didn't think that he would be able to get them because our insurance would only pay for a synagis shot if he was admitted in the hospital. That was totally crazy because the only reason he would be in the hospital was if he had RSV, too little too late. Thankfully our pediatrician was looking out for us. They had a pharmasuetical rep that came through their office and they give out a certain number of shots each year to people who don't have insurance. If you do have insurance, but they don't cover it, it's basically like you don't have insurance, so we still qualified, we just had to be chosen. Cindy, at the Pediatric Center did all the leg work and submitted incredible amounts of paperwork and made numerous phone calls. Finally, in January he was approved for 5 rounds of injections. We were so thrilled and it was an answer to our prayers. If we would have had to pay for them out of our pocket it would have been more than $10,000. They are pricey little shots, but also life saving. RSV is so bad here in the valley this year, with a handful of kids in our ward alone with it. And even though he has the injection, he can still get it and he has to repeat the shots every month because it's a therapy treatment rather than an immunization. Brewer did great with his shots, he was was charming and recovered fairly quickly. Although, now that he's getting older he's starting to hold grudges and remember what just happened a bit longer. I actually think the shots may be harder for Phil than for Brewer. Even with the trip to get the shots, it was so wonderful to be out of our valley and together running errands. 

       In January Boyd had his first dentist visit. We could see that he had some cavities on his back bottom molars (yeah, they were that big) so we schedule an appointment right away. We took him to Dr. Marshall, the "hunting dentist" and told him all about the different animals Dr. Marshall hunts. Boyd did really well all through his examine and cleaning. He was so cute and everyone just adored him. Immediately after meeting Dr. Marshall, he told him that he had a hunting birthday when he turned 4 with a cake that had a moose, deer, and duck. Dr. Marshall told Boyd that they were going to get along really well! It was the start of a great friendship. After his appointment Dr. Marshall took him to the back and show him a bunch of duck and quail taxidermy and even a fox. He was on cloud 9. It turned out that Boyd had three cavities, the two we knew about and one other small one. Boyd two back teeth had very deep grooves in them and when something got in them, they decayed very quickly. So his back teeth were so bad and there was a possibility that he would even need a cap on each tooth (if they would have been his adult teeth it would have been root canals). Yikes!! Boyd did so well when he got his cavity filled and everyone was so impressed with him. Dr. Marshall even showed him pictures of the mountain lion he shot recently. Boyd couldn't have been more happy!

       Since last summer, when Phil bought himself a smoker for his birthday, we have been enjoying some delicious meat! Each time he tries a new cut of meat, a new rub, or a new way of smoking. And he's good. Everything he smokes is so delicious and he just keeps getting better. He decided to smoke one day while he was at work and quickly came home to put the meat on. About an hour before he would be home from work it started snowing. It was my job to check the smoker periodically to make sure it was holding temperature and with the snow, it wasn't. Phil couldn't get home and I had two boys to take care of inside so every 5 minutes or so I would go out on the back deck and put a blow dryer on the coals. I did that until Phil came home, which we then rigged up a tarp to keep the snow off the smoker. Can you say white trash? Since then we have moved the smoker to our front porch because it's covered. Again, a little white trash. But it's totally worth it!! My favorite things Phil has smoked has been his pulled pork, ribs, and wings (they were probably the best wings I have ever had). I'm so glad that Phil got the smoker and it seems as though smoking has become quite the hobby for Phil. It's a win, win for sure!!

       Brewer Update: weighs 19 1/2 lbs, has three teeth (both bottom middle and top middle left) and has started to stand without holding on to anything.