The most difficult week of the whole year!

Okay, okay.  I realize we're only two weeks into the new year.  But man this week was rough!

First of all, Jon spent the first half of the week working on a big paper.  It had to be done at school, so he didn't get home until after bedtime on Monday and Tuesday this week.  That means I was on my own with the boys.  No problem, happens all the time.

Except on Sunday morning we all woke up with coughs and snotty noses.  By the next day I couldn't even talk, which made managing Jack an interesting endeavour.  By the time we went to bed, I was already completely worn out and feeling worse.  And it didn't help that Jude woke up everytime he coughed... and then couldn't get himself back to sleep. Around midnight I decided it was going to be a bad night no matter what, so I grabbed my pillow and tissue box and headed to the guest room for a little sleepover with Jude. He was still up every other hour, coughing and scratching my face, but at least I didn't have to put as much effort into getting him back to sleep. 

Jude's coughing face.

Enter Tuesday.  My head is pounding, my chest hurts, I'm sleep-deprived and so congested I can't even see clearly.  I'm also parenting solo all day again.  Let's just say Jack watched a lot of movies these past few days.  Ugh ... I gotta make it up to him as soon as the weather warms up!

To top it all off, my original plan this week was to make my own cloth diaper inserts and share my success with the blogosphere... but as of today the whole project is a major FAIL.  As in, I somehow picked fabric that actually repels water.  Not exactly key in the whole diaper-making process.  I'll guess I'll keep tweaking.

The good news is: tomorrow is Friday.  I've got new fabric coming in the mail.  Everyone slept through the night and we're all on the mend.  Today I got Jude back to sleep after he woke up in the middle of his nap and the whole experience has me feeling so successful right now that I just might go attempt a pie crust.

Jude says, "Mom, your post is so boring it could put me back to sleep after a short nap faster then you can. Maybe you should tell them about my new toy."

Ah yes, Jude's Nonnie and Poppie got him a walker for Christmas! 



Last week, he wasn't a fan.  This week he's starting to get the hang of it.  In fact, he's totally mastered moving backwards.  Now forwards is another matter.  Thankfully he's got his big brother to help him out with that.

You can just imagine the fun Jack has pushing "Baby Jew" around the house.  We're trying to teach him that if he pushes Jude away, he needs to bring him back.  That way, Mommy and Daddy won't look up and wonder where Jude is and then find him at the end of a dark hall all by himself.

Another place to look for Jude is under a box. 



Yes, Jack's new favorite activity is to hide his baby brother under a box. Well, at least that's what I thought was going on.  Today I was in the middle of lecturing Jack on why we shouldn't cover babies with boxes when I looked over and saw Jude pulling the box over his head himself.  Maybe Jack's not always the culprit.

Oh, and do you notice anything different about "Baby Jew"?  Yeah, Jon gave him a haircut. 

After two weeks of hearing Jon comment on the length of his youngest's hair, and after one trip to the mall in which two ladies thought he was a girl, I knew the time was at hand.  I was, naturally, apprehensive.  Everytime Jon takes Jack for a haircut he ends up coming back with some shorter-than-desired hack job.  But Jon promised me he could do it himself and just take a little off.  And even I'll admit it was needed.  Jude's bangs kept getting in his eyes and you could tell it was bothering him.  Plus he still had a few of those random hairs hanging on from birth, inches longer than the rest.

Well, all fixed.  No pictures of the process since I was the one holding the baby still.  But I was pretty impressed with Jon's abilities. 

And that's where we find ourselves two weeks in 2011.  Now I must go get the littles ready for bed so I can relax on the couch with a decaf cup of tea, a seam ripper, and half a dozen diaper inserts. :(