Slowing Down

I know, I am the worst blogger. I promised more posts about MOPS convention and never got around to it. Sorry. I have so many other posts swimming around in my mind that I haven't gotten to either. Sorry.

My youngest son is sick with the flu. There is nothing like being forced to slow down and just be in the moment like cuddling a fevered, scared, lethargic little boy. Last night, after he had vomited and was scared by what his body was doing, I cleaned him up, gave him some Gravol for the nausea and some Motrin for the fever and just held him, his beloved blankie tucked up under his chin. We just snuggled in silence in the dark of his bedroom, him slowly relaxing and letting the Gravol soothe him and me thinking about how rare these times of cuddling are anymore.

There is no instinct like a mother's instinct. When my baby was sick, I dropped all thoughts of getting things accomplished to just be in the moment with him. When he tired of sitting on my knee and wanted to lay down in his bed, I sat on the floor beside him and rubbed his back until his soft snores gave me permission to leave. When he was up multiple times in the night crying from discomfort and fever, I forced my tired and weary body to get up and comfort him without wishing that I could get more than 2 hours of sleep at a time.

He woke this morning, still slightly fevered, but energetic and asking for breakfast. I cautiously gave him Cheerios, anticipating a mess to clean up when his stomach rejected food, but that didn't happen. He eagerly ate his breakfast then went off to play with his brother. I was cautiously optimistic that he was feeling better. I still am. So far, no more need for Motrin and he seems to be fine. He doesn't want to snuggle with his Mommy anymore.

We had plans for the day, but I'm actually glad to be forced to stay home and have a quiet day. To slow down. To tick things off my to-do list that never seems to shrink. To blog. ;)

I'm going to try to catch up on some of the goings-on in the lives of the Grahams for the past few week. I'm going to just make this a bullet point post, so skim if you'd like. It might be lengthy.

• Luca starts preschool next week! Eek! Where has the time gone? He was registered in town but there are a few factors that I was uneasy about. It was tough that I wasn't able to muster up the excitement that Luca felt because of my worries. The opportunity for Luca to go to playschool in Carstairs (15 minutes away) came up and after Chris and I discussed the pros and cons, we easily decided to enroll him there. We went to have a look and Luca was thrilled. Tonight is his meet-the-teacher night and he is so excited. I'm now able to be excited with him and put my worries aside as they are no longer applicable.
  






• I'm looking forward to spending 2 mornings a week alone with Levi. We haven't yet had the opportunity to have regular alone time so I'm really excited for it.

• MOPS starts again next week! So excited!
  
  
• I attended another birth last week and am continually amazed at the strength that women can pull out of the depths of their being to give birth. Each miracle that I am priveleged enough to witness is just that- a miracle. I lose myself in the moment each time a baby enters the world and I am there to be a part of it.
  
  
• Chris's youngest brother got married on the 21 of August in Edmonton. It was a simple, elegant, intimate and gorgeous wedding. Everything about it reflected the personality of Tom and Lisa. No fuss, no big shows, just love and family. Beautiful. {Side note: Tom and/or Lisa- what the heck were you doing checking my blog while on your honeymoon in Paris?! I have a traffic feed, I know you were here!}

• We haven't had the opportunity to get much camping in this summer. It just seemed that we always had something on the go, whether it was me being on call for births, Chris being on call or away for work, weddings, me going to Florida, or just plain, crappy weather. Hopefully next summer we will get more summer weather than we have had this year and will get more camping in.
  
  
• We did spend an impromptu day in Banff as a family and it was wonderful. We are so blessed to live close enough to the beautiful Rocky Mountains that we can just wake up one morning and decide to make the drive into Canmore or Banff. We spent our spontaneous day trip hiking, sightseeing, eating, browsing and just enjoying time as a family of 4. All 4 of us love the breathtaking scenery, relaxed atmosphere and fun that Banff and/or Canmore provides.

A photo taken by Luca (above)