{iPhone Photos for January}

Someone please explain teenagers to me.  He couldn't stand the smell of the dinner in the oven and stood there with his mouth open.  HA!

Oh what a month!!!  We spent the better part of the month of January sick or having surgery or recovering from surgery.  Thankfully, things got better by the end!

We discovered Bear had a hernia just two days before the New Year and the surgeon wanted to get it fixed quickly.  So he had surgery the first week of January and did very well!  He's recovering beautifully and is just about done with his one month of no lifting anything over 5 pounds!  He even asked his surgeon if he could keep the marking pen he used to mark which side his hernia was on...and then had his daddy draw a tattoo similar to his own on his arm.  Bear also was a big fan of the free bright red grippy socks & pediatric bear cap to keep his hair out of the way....he wore them both for about 3 days nonstop.  Gracious, that kid makes me smile!

So, just before his surgery, I took AG in to the pediatrician thinking she had an ear infection...which she did.  Three days on omnicef and she was worse...which was the day after Bear's surgery.  So, back to the pediatrician we went and he put her on another antibiotic.  Interestingly enough, she was starting to perk up just before I took her in and she started the new drug.  And then Bubba has a positive flu test the next day...so, we think she probably had it too (which is why the omnicef didn't help).  She was a tough cookie and definitely had it worse than the rest of us.  Scott had it for about 4 days, mine was awful and turned into bronchitis & Bubba...oh bless him!  He got his 3rd ear infection of his life afterwards.  Thankfully, Bear did pretty well...he only ran a fever for one night and really seemed to shake it faster than anyone else.  I couldn't imagine him recovering from surgery and having the flu and thankfully he was spared!

All that to say that we spent A LOT of time at home snuggling and painting and playing laser tag (our absolute favorite at night with the lights off. Thank you, Nana!) and even managed to get some random cleaning done to keep the germs away from everyone else and keep from catching something else, too!

We did manage to make a day trip to our Charleston for biometric fingerprinting for our Immigration application for AJ & enjoyed our favorite Mex 1 while we were there!  

Also, we had given the kids tickets to see Mack Brock in concert at a nearby church for Christmas so we made it out to that and sat way away from anyone else...which was perfect because we were literally on the 2nd row and AG had all the area to the side to dance.  It was a special night to spend together!

By the end of the month, we were all well again & got back to date nights...both for me and mine & me and Bear.  Something we are really trying to be intentional with especially before we add another sister to our brood! :)