Be careful what you wish for, I guess. We had almost a full week of everyone being more or less healthy, so I guess my prayers were technically answered (note to self: be more specific next time). While we were in Saskatoon with relatives, Brayden’s benign-sounding cough turned nasty and he developed a scary high fever, but we got the latter under control and he seemed to perk up. When we flew home yesterday he was tired and coughing, but he never complained about pain — but it turns out he has bronchitis and a double ear infection. How does a five-year-old endure air travel with two infected ears and not say anything? What a trooper.

You could argue the family visit was sort of doomed from the start. Janette was back in the Philippines for a school reunion, leaving Rob with sole custody of a two-year-old and a baby who hardly sleeps. They were all staying at Grandma and Grandpa’s house just like we were, so you can guess how much fun that was. Then Brayden got sick and the baby followed shortly thereafter, so not only was the little one not sleeping, he was also screaming. Good times.

And so begins 2013…

The grandparents requested a “nice” family photo of us for Christmas, so we dutifully had them done. This is the actually the first time we’ve ever done a professional photo of all four of us, and the kids really enjoyed the session. It shows.

My parents are scheduled to arrive for a visit today,which is usually the signal for someone in our household to come down with an infectious disease. We were early this time, though: Brayden caught some sort of virus last weekend that had him feverish, coughing and vomiting for a couple days. (A full half of his kindergarten class was out sick this week…ugh.) At one point this week he fell asleep at 5:30 p.m. and slept right through until 7 a.m. — and woke up feeling much better. It’s amazing what 14 hours of sleep can do.

The rest of us also fell ill, naturally, but the worst appears to be over, and we’re ready for company. Plus the sun’s out today. Things are looking up.

We just said goodbye to Dave and Tanya after a very enjoyable visit. We hadn’t seen them in over two months and they hadn’t been here in much longer than that, so it was nice to play host. We took the kids bowling yesterday, which was fun (Justin got his first spare!); Brayden was super hyper and lost interest in the game pretty quickly, but he didn’t fuss or complain, and everyone seemed to have a good time. The boys were pretty excited to get early Christmas presents from our visitors, including a very cool dinosaur egg that should hatch by tomorrow. Awesome.

I made a Greek feast for supper that turned out pretty well, then the kids played some Wii and WENT TO BED EARLY. That last point deserves to be all caps because ever since the time change last weekend, Justin has been getting up right at 5:00 and still not going down until 8:00 or even 8:30. I realize he doesn’t need as much sleep as other kids his age, but the fatigue was starting to show — most nights he’s been yawning by 7:00 and most mornings he’s been super cranky and argumentative. So anyway, he went down at 7:30 last night and slept all the way to 5:30 this morning, so maybe he’s finally adjusting. (You know you’re in trouble when you’re excited that your son “slept in” until 5:30, but whatever.)

Halloween was a success around here. The boys LOVED their Star Wars costumes and didn’t seem to mind that they were hardly the only Darth Vader and storm trooper on the street. We still had their Mario and Luigi costumes from last year, so I figured we could put them to good use on the pumpkins. Every eight-year-old boy who came to our door told us they were the most awesome pumpkins they’d ever seen, which was cool. (We ran out of candy early and had to turn our lights off at 7:30 p.m., though…not so cool. Oops.)

We had some restaurant coupons and a hankering to get out of town, so we went to Vernon today for lunch and a tour of the “haunted house” exhibit at the science centre. Justin was a little anxious at first, but he warmed up eventually and we ended up circling the place three times so the kids could go back to their favorite stations. The biggest hit was the static wands, which used static electricity to keep a piece of tinsel airborne (as Brayden put it, “I’m using the force!”) The haunted house concept was a stretch, but whatever. It was fun.

I always assumed Justin would be my scatterbrained child, what with all his Asperger-related organizational difficulties, but Brayden is taking “scatterbrained” to a whole new level. Every day when I pick him up from kindergarten, he comes out with his backpack hanging open and a trail of forgotten items behind him. We’re already down a hoody, a water bottle and a lunch bowl, and nothing is getting better. I talked to his teacher a couple days ago and apparently there are two other kids with the same problem, so she’s going to try to help. But even yesterday, Brayden came out without his coat, which we eventually found on the floor near the sink…then on the way out I found one of his inside shoes peeking out from under a table. Sigh.

I’m getting used to being alone for most of the day, but it can still be tough to find ways to be productive. I’m working through my tech comm course, and I seem to do a lot of shopping, and sometimes I get some extra exercise…but I think I need to find more ways to get out of the house. I hate being bored.

The world’s gone crazy: I now have an iPhone 4S, and Chris does not. This is big news considering Chris has been campaigning for an iPhone for at least two years and I’ve been telling him he doesn’t need one, they’re a waste of money, blah blah blah. (You might recall we had this same debate about the iPad, and I caved on that one a few months ago. Don’t judge me.)

But lately I’ve been thinking that I really do need a good phone now that both boys are in school and I’m not necessarily home as much (suppose I hadn’t been here when the school called about Justin’s head wound?) I’ve actually had a cell phone for years, but it was really only for emergencies, and I almost never turned it on. I could have kept that one, but I wanted an easier way to send texts and check email, and since we’re part of the Apple universe anyway, an iPhone seemed like the way to go. Now I just have to live down all the mocking (and get used to the monthly bill…sigh).

The fact that Chris was OK with me getting one and not him makes me suspect he has something else up his sleeve. Guess I’ll have to wait and see.

August has been a nice blend of busy and down time. Justin did a couple of science camps that he really seemed to enjoy: he came home from the last one explaining the difference between endothermic and exothermic reactions. (Methinks Grade 2 might be a bit of a letdown, but we’ll see.) Brayden also did a couple of play-in-the-park camps with his preschool teacher — and so ends our time with Miss Melissa, who has done so much for my kids over the last three years. We’ll miss her.

When they weren’t in camps, the kids and I have been hanging at the beach, going to the odd movie, chilling at the local waterparks and enjoying some play dates. I started my technical communication program a couple weeks ago too, so I’ve been working on assignments in my off hours. It’s a bit tougher to fit that in when the kids are here all the time (which they will be for the next couple weeks…ugh) but it’s working out all right. I’ll be doing eight courses over the next 14 months, so it better work out all right.

T minus 16 days…the school year approaches…

A few weeks ago it occurred to me that it might be time to update the boys’ bedrooms. Neither room had been decorated since before its occupant was born, and both have taken a beating from two rambunctious little boys (plus I was looking forward to taking down the 154 papers of dinosaur names that Justin had plastered all over his walls). Brayden agreed to do his room in blue, which came out really nice; Justin wanted green, so I did that, but then he decided he wanted the old color back, so I had to repaint (sigh).  Chris even bought some Angry Birds wall stickers to really bring the decor up to date. Anyway, here are the before-and-afters: