Monday, June 2, 2008

Indoor Camping

Elijah loves to play in tunnels! We have one of those "play tunnels" and Eli will always pull it out and say, "tunnel?" I will then ask if he wants to play in his tunnel and he will respond with a very energetic "YES!"

While playing with his tunnel this afternoon, I got the idea of pulling out our tent and playing with it in the living room. Needless to say a very cool idea...and Eli loved it! This then progressed into pulling out the flashlights to make shadow puppets, attaching the tunnel to the tent, and even making smores. Such a fun afternoon!

Sunday, June 1, 2008

Life in "Lampano Land"

Being a teacher--I am lucky enough to bring home germs, germs, and more germs. While I try to avoid it as best I can, I still manage to bring the "yucky" home which occassionally results in sick.

Well, we got sick--all of us. It started with the stomach flu (me--of course) and migrated to strep throat (aaron) and ended with a nasty, nasty head cold (elijah/me) Boy o' boy! When the sickness begins it is not fun. I feel as though we have been living in a daze for the past couple of weeks just trying to keep our heads above water.

And wouldn't you know, aaron missed a full week of work (he claims he is going to become domestic now. A "stay at home dad") Elijah missed a bunch of days with the babysitter (sorry sara) and I was left working over-time trying to get my elementary students ready for their final orchestra concert. No longer did a routine exist in our house--chaos...ALL CHAOS!

I am happy to say that we survived! And what did I learn?

1) Aaron is an incredible dad/husband. He is so supportive to me. House cleaning, taking care of Elijah, shopping, laundry, etc can sometimes be overwhelming especially when I am sick. For a number of days, I was forced to lie in my bed, lights out with nothing but tylenol at my side. I was a little worried about how the "house" was going to survive without me but I trusted aaron and his ability as a father. He treats Eli well. They did not spend every moment watching tv, eating candy (I think) and in the end, Elijah was taken care of, the laundry was done (sort of) and there was food in the cupboards. (aaron is a really good cook). This was a HUGE burden lifted off of me while I was trying to get better.

2) Prayers are awesome! Sometimes Eli has a difficult time sleeping--whether it be bad dreams, or sickness. There was a couple of nights when I found myself rocking Eli in his bedroom trying to calm him down. I remembered what my mom used to do for me when I was a little girl. She would hold me close and say a prayer to Heavenly Father on my behalf. I tried this with Eli. I told him that I was going to say a prayer (and explained to him how Heavenly Father would help him) and then I held him close and said a prayer on his behalf. It was amazing to me how quickly Elijah's mood changed following the prayer. He calmed down very quickly and within minutes he was ready to lie back down in his own bed to go to sleep. WAHOO!!

3) A little sleep does wonders! Taking naps can save you!