Sickness, Deadlines, and Lots of Spills

I don't say this often, but this past week was rough!  On top of trying to recover from the big birthday weekend, I also had a submittal for work that needed to go out at the end of the week {which required me to put in almost twice as many hours as I usually work}, and on top of that, I've also been sick all week.  I started feeling bad Sunday night, and by Tuesday morning, I had almost completely lost my voice, had a cough, a sore throat, and all sorts of drainage, and was even feeling somewhat achy, too.  It's times like these that I am the most thankful for the fact that I married someone who is a such a great husband and an even better dad, and in addition to his own busy week at work, he did his best to be at home with Jackson so that I could work, rest, and go to the doctor.  I was tested for both strep and flu, but both came back negative, so my doctor said that it was probably just a really bad cold.  A week later, I'm still not feeling 100%, but I wake up feeling better each day, so I'm hopeful that the end is near -- because you know your cough is excessive when your toddler starts imitating you.

With my lack of energy and time to cook, the birthday party leftovers came in super handy this week.  Messy but worth it!

When Ben came home to watch Jackson so that I could go to the doctor, he found a dog named "Barkley" on our driveway.

Thankfully Ben was able to locate and contact his owner while I was at the doctor, but in the meantime, Jackson did his best to make sure "Barkley" felt welcome.

The boys also did the grocery shopping and scored BIG time.  Pizza samples...

...and 60 points at the HEB Buddy Bucks machine!

Occasionally there is a laundry slip-up and not one but TWO puppy lovies appear.  Jackson loves when this happens, and of course, it only makes sense to have both of their noses in his mouth.

Ice cream for breakfast?  I don't think so.  {Tears and fit-throwing not pictured.}

Jackson and I also ran a couple errands this week, which always reminds me why we don't usually go shopping.  He was pretty much over the shopping trip as soon as it started, but because he decided almost overnight that he would no longer wear zippered footie pajamas and will instead only wear shirt/pant combos {bonus points if they have pictures of things that interest him}, there was not quitting till we were done.

One of the evenings that I worked late, the boys went to Mandola's for dinner -- tortellini and gelato, and then when I got home, Jackson had another bowl of ice cream with me.  Between our two families, he was destined to have a sweet tooth, but the ice cream addiction is all Armstrong.

Making pancakes with mom and Hobbes...and licking batter off his hand...

...and pretending that is was "yummmm" while his face was definitely saying "yuck".

This was his first breakfast choice, but again, it was no go.

Kodiak cakes {100% whole grains and no sugar} for the win!

Trying to get the "sticky" off of his hands, which proved to be pretty unsuccessful.

I love nothing more than spending time with my boy at the park.

And this face tells me that the feeling is mutual.

On Friday evening, Kyle and Steve came over to watch Jackson, and Ben took me out to dinner.  He promised me that he wouldn't take me anywhere fancy and that there was no need for me to change out of my tennis shoes or put on makeup...and then he took me downtown to Second Bar + Kitchen.  On the way home, we stopped for coffee and a chai tea latte {#1 because we're old and #2 we wanted to make sure Jackson would be down by the time we got home}.  One-on-one time with this guy is one of my favorites, too.

Yesterday, we volunteered with our Sunday School class and sorted raw meat at the Capital Area Food Bank.  It was about as gross as it sounds, but thankfully, the company/conversation and knowing that we were helping our community made it worth it.

After spending the morning at church and the afternoon cleaning out the garage, we headed over to Aunt Kim and Tiffany's house for a Super Bowl party.  However, as predicted, we didn't end up watching much of the game {which really is not out of the ordinary for me} because as soon as Jackson heard the word "hot tub", this is where we spent the remainder of our evening.  I can't complain though because it was a great place to soak my legs/feet while snacking on not one but two plates of delicious appetizers.

Even during the rough weeks, I am still so thankful for both of these wonderful guys.  Although, I'd be lying if I didn't admit that one them was much more helpful than the other this past week -- because while one of them was doing everything he could to make my life EASIER, the other one recently developed the habit of dumping out any and all drinks and snacks that are in an open container, which makes me want to pull my hair out.

Keeping my fingers crossed that this week is less eventful in terms of sickness, work, and all sorts of spills!