Life As Usual

We've had a busy few weeks with ups and downs, but mostly ups :) In addition to having grandpa Goates come visit and go to the zoo with us, we've been doing lots of other fun stuff.

Max is continuing to grow up and add so much love to our family. He and Mason have a special bond and for about a week or so, Max would only smile when Mason talked to him. Eventually he started smiling for the rest of us, but I'm pretty sure Mason is his favorite. We joke that he smiles when Mason approaches and whimpers when Myles gets near (we're still teaching Myles to be gentle with the baby).

A cute story--yesterday I left Max asleep downstairs while I got dressed upstairs. A few minutes later Mason came up and said "Mommy? Max was crying so I fed him a bottle and tried to burp him but I couldn't get him to burp, so I think he has a tummy-ache. Will you help me?"

We spent some time with cousin William this week and these silly hats that Grandma brought them. Mason and Myles adore William and will copy everything he does and says. For breakfast one morning when William and grandma were here, we indulged Myles's obsession with The Big Bad Wolf and made Wolf-els (waffles) and pigs (pink marshmallows with pigs drawn on them).

The tough thing this week was that last Sunday I woke up with my back completely out again. The disks that have been herniated for a while ago slipped out again (or something, I'm not quite sure) and I couldn't walk or hardly move. Marshall took me to the ER that morning hoping I could get another steroid epidural injection that helped so much last time but they didn't have anyone qualified to do it so they just shot me full of demerol and sent me home. The next day we went to my regular back doctor who had me get a different kind of epidural steroid injection that was HORRIBLE. Tuesday I could hardly get out of bed, Wednesday I hobbled into work, and then Thursday I was flat out on my back again most of the day (the nerve numbing medicine had worn off but the steroid hadn't kicked in) and then Friday I started feeling better. Friday night poor little Myles got sick with a 102 degree fever and cold. Saturday Marshall took a much deserved morning out hiking and since I couldn't lift the boys very well, we all camped out on the couch for the day.

One more event to document--lately Mason has been taking a big interest in cooking with me. He likes measuring ingredients, stirring, pouring, etc. A few days ago he was complaining that I never let him do anything by himself so today when he wanted an uncrustables grilled cheese sandwich (frozen sandwiches you just microwave) I said I would teach him how to make it himself. I showed him how to get it from the freezer, put it in the microwave, and press the start button which automatically cooks for 1 minute. He was excited and ate it and then asked for another one so I watched him cook it himself. While he was eating it I went upstairs and about 5 minutes later he came into our room and told Marshall and I "I did something very bad downstairs. I wanted another sandwhich so I did just what you showed me but all of a sudden there was a flash and black smoke started coming out!" We ran down and sure enough, he must have pressed the wrong button since the sandwich was burnt up and the kitchen filled with smoke when I opened the microwave. Mason started crying and said "now I'll never be a cook when I grow up." Yes, he is a little dramatic. Wonder where he gets that from? :)