We Made It!

We had to delay our trip to Minnesota by a week but everyone was finally well enough to travel so we went for it! We decided to drive this time from Colorado Springs to Minnesota. It's about a 14 hour drive but we go right through Omaha so we're able to see all of our friends there too! 

Not even 1 hour into the drive and both kids are passed out. RSV is a yucky, yucky bug. 

We decided this time to take a slightly different route this time through eastern Colorado, western Kansas and then up through the middle of Nebraska. It was boring. Holy moly there was nothing to look at.

After about 9 hours we arrived in Omaha. We stayed in a hotel so we didn't infect any of our friends with the plague of 2015. I got to have my favorite Nebraska fast food: Runza! And then met up with a dear friend at The Cheesecake Factory. I sadly didn't take any pictures.

The next morning I taught a quick doTERRA class and then we hit the road for Minnesota.

We made it to Minnesota in one piece. Layla snuggling with Gramma and passing out instantly. You know she's sick when she hasn't done that since she was like 1.

Luckily the next morning Layla was feeling worlds better so we headed out to Mall of America which is literally 5 minutes from my parents house.

We rode a ton of rides and by we I mean Brian and the kids. ;)

Uncle Danny and Aunt Dana even joined us for a little bit and got to ride in the kiddy rollercoaster. Lucky!

So glad they got to see their Aunt and Uncle who were just in Florida for a wedding!

That night we went out to a tap room with some friends and family! This is me with my sister in laws...and our friend Mike. Thanks, Mike. I am so, so glad we were able to get us all together!

It was so nice to get out and have some adult time after 2 weeks of kiddy sickness!

We had way too much fun and stayed out way too late!

The next day we headed up to Brian's parents house for family time and a yummy homecooked early St. Patrick's Day meal. I sadly didn't take any pictures up there besides Layla snuggling with her Aunt Cat (I was pretty much a zombie from only getting 3 hours of sleep) but trust me that we had a great time! :)

We had to leave Sunday morning to start heading back. We got into Omaha in the afternoon and the kids were healthy enough that we could stay with one of my besties in Omaha!

Her kiddos are the same ages/genders as mine and the kids just picked up right where they left off last time they saw each other!

We got them matching jammies and they loved watching Big Hero 6 together. 

They even had matching clothes the next day too, haha!

This is real life, folks. Layla mean muggin the camera and Brady so, so sad that we were leaving that he wanted nothing to do with taking a picture. But they all look cute in their matching shirts!

We hopped back in the car and headed back towards home through the most exciting states ever: Nebraska and Kansas.

This is what a potty break looks like in the middle of nowhere Kansas where there hasn't been a gas station or restroom in 50+ miles.

Taking a break from the car to let the dog run and to look at the flat land?

Finally back in Colorado and I had to laugh at this mile marker. Oh, Colorado.

It was such a short trip and we're so sad we weren't able to stay longer but we're so glad that we got to spend time with those that we did! 

St Paddy's Day Fun!

Holy moly, sorry for the radio silence here lately. The kids finally started to get better (a week later), we were able to travel to Minnesota and Nebraska (next post, I promise, Mom), and we have just been on the go crazy busy ever since we got home. And last weekend was no exception.

A group of us from Brian's squadron decided it'd be fun to partake in the Colorado Springs St. Patrick's Day 5k downtown. I've been training for my half marathon (kinda, sorta, ha) so I figured this would be a good fun race. And we decided it would be fun to dress up for the occasion. So we got together the night before the race and made these tutus. There was 1 strand that had glitter on it and we got glitter EVERYWHERE! My friends poor pups were just covered in it! Not to mention the porta pottys and bathrooms we visited just got covered in the glitter. Sorry for those with glitter stuck to their butts, we won't do that again.

All ready to start the race!

Standing near the start line waiting for the race to start!

It was a very popular race as you can see!

All ready to start!

And all finished! It was a fun race but the way it was set up was a little disheartening. You passed the finish line 1.5 miles into the race and at that point I saw all of the serious runners just crossing the finish line. Sooo you knew you still had a long way to go. A little depressing, ha! But for not really training at all I didn't do too bad. I'm slow and probably always will be so a 10:33 mile pace isn't horrible in my books!

Next it was time for the kids runs. They were BEYOND excited to get to wear numbers and be in a race like Mommy.

Layla was up first (she was doing the half mile) and it was all thumbs up!

I started out holding her hand because there were just so many kids all wearing the same shirt that I didn't want to lose her. When the crowds started to thin a little I let go of her hand to take a picture. She was less than thrilled.

I grabbed her hand back and she ran the entire half mile.  There were so many people lined up for the parade cheering and she kept telling them "I'm running fast! I'm so, so fast!" She talked a lot about what snacks she was going to eat after her race too, let's be honest. I think this girl's love language is snacks. We had friends lined up that took our pictures and she was just so dang proud of herself. It was so cute.

She finished and got a medal and fruit snacks. The fruit snacks were by far her favorite part.

Then it was Brady's turn to run the kid's mile run.

He did so well and also ran the entire thing! That creepster with the mustache running with my son? That's Brian. March is a long, long month.

So proud of himself!! :)

There's the mustache up close in all of its glory.

We figured we all might as well join him in the Mustache March business

Then it was time for the parade to start and Brady proclaimed it, "THE BEST DAY EVER!!"

It was a fun parade but it was on to bigger and better things...

All you can eat pizza and green beer at Old Chicago's. My first green beer ever! 

Later that night there was a going away party for 2 guys in Brian's squadron. Brady and Layla danced the night away. How they have energy left from our crazy busy day I will never know.

The next morning it was beautiful out. 72 and sunny so we decided to hit up some hiking trails.

We got a tad turned around and ended up hiking for over 2 hours but it was so beautiful outside that it didn't matter.

After hiking we went to Old Colorado City for lunch and ice cream, went grocery shopping, and then called it a day by snuggling up to watch a movie. We had such a wonderful weekend together with some spectacular people and weather! Hope everyone had a safe and fun St Paddy's Day! :)

You Plan, God Laughs

Ok that title is a little dramatic. And no, we're not pregnant. Just had to be clear on that one.

We had been planning a trip to Minnesota for awhile now. We were going to drive so that way we could stop in Omaha (which is on the way) and see all of our friends there. Brian got leave, we made a ton of plans with family and friends, and we were set to go. Laundry was all done, house was clean, suitcases were packed, all we had to do was jump in the car the next morning and go.

But God had other plans. Brady got a cough the day before we left which I thought was a little odd since he hadn't been sick at all. And then he had a 102.5 degree fever. Which was even more odd. See, we've had a pretty healthy fall and winter. Which I owe a lot of that to essential oils. But this sickness, it came out of nowhere. I figure, he'll probably be fine. Let's just pack the car and plan on heading to Minnesota in the morning still.

But then Brady woke me up several times in the night saying he didn't feel well.  Which is not like him. And his fever that would luckily go away with medicine, kept coming back.  He finally got some rest and I figured if he's not better in the morning we'll just pop over to the doctor's office (who we haven't seen since we've moved here since we've been so healthy), we'll probably be told it's just a virus, and then we'll head on our way. So I packed our toiletries and we headed to the pediatrician's office.

We got right in, I told her Brady's symptoms and she instantly brought in a flu swab. Which gets stuck right up the nose. Brady was so brave about the whole thing but that part, that part was horrible. And it made Layla cry too. Where was Brian, you ask? Well he had one of his busiest work weeks ever and because of that wasn't going to be able to drive with us so we booked him a ticket to fly out Friday night (this was Wednesday morning).

They did the rest of the exam and she mentioned that Brady was wheezing and having a hard time breathing it sounded. Test came back and it wasn't the flu (whew!) but it was RSV. I thought oh ok that's a virus that's only really bad for babies, we should be good! But no, they made us do some breathing treatments and she advised us not to travel.

Brady doing his first ever breathing treatment. Like a champ.

So I called Brian and was like, "What do we do?!" We talked it over for awhile and thought we'd give it 24 hours, see how he was doing, and make the decision then.

That day was rough. Nothing short of rough. He was miserable, kept having fevers, wouldn't eat anything, couldn't stop coughing, started vomiting, it was rough. They sent home a breathing treatment machine but luckily he didn't need to use it very much.

I couldn't remember if he'd ever had RSV before but looking back on the blog he did have it before Layla was born. And it was rough then too. I must have blocked that out of my memory. And I love to remember if we've done something or not I google the keyword plus the Ross family, ha!

And not to mention the sickness but it snowed. And snowed. 

And snowed.  And luckily Brady's preschool got canceled one day and had a late start the next day. But turns out a ton of kids in his class were really sick too.

But it didn't snow too hard that Brian's beer of the month club shipment made it to our front door.

We decided no way no how were we going to be able to travel anytime soon. We would just have to lose the money we paid for the plane ticket and try our best to reschedule our trip for the next week. I have never seen Brady so sick before. He literally spent 90% of the day on the couch for days.

This kid, who never naps was taking naps on the couch and if we carried him upstairs, would nap there.

This is Layla and I hiding upstairs so we don't catch B man's germs! Oh and did I mention that since Brady has vomited several times from coughing that every time he coughs now she cries and screams? 

Oh and during all of this fun it was my first week to start training for my half marathon. YAY! Nothing like running in 12 degree weather and lots of snow! 

This is the kind of thing you do when you've been stuck at home for almost a week. 

But yesterday things started to look up! Brady was starting to get off the couch a little more, he was eating, and not coughing as much.

And then Layla woke up from naptime with a fever and a runny nose.

My two little sick babies all swaddled up.

So now we wait and see and pray Layla doesn't develop the horrible, no good RSV. Because I'm not sure my sanity can handle it and our suitcases are still in the car all ready to go!