February

His mother called shortly after this treat and he answered my phone, "hello Lauren, this is Sherri Baughman." Without missing a beat, she demanded to know if I'd given him ice cream. He was wild and she was suddenly in no hurry to pick him up. Mimi was busted.

Austin started the month with both Flu A and strep. The poor guy was miserable. His momma was too. However, he made a quick recovery and by the weekend needed an "epic lightsaber battle with Uncle Ty." 

Well darn it. This made me cry.

So many sweet goodbyes from some pretty wonderful people. 

I resigned from the school within hours of being offered a position with the Neuroscience Institute. The timing, despite my initial reservations, was perfect. I only felt relief. Passing along projects I'd sponsored or roles I supported proved more difficult. There are children and relationships I miss. And as it turns out, the new gig offers no hugs. This is disappointing. But we needed health insurance that wasn't $1500 a month through Marketplace so I'm grateful for the opportunity.

Physical therapy has not made much of a difference for my neck or migraines. Plan B will involve a new physician with our newest insurance plan. Apparently paying deductibles and changing plans is the theme lately. Sigh.

Mild weather days insist we hike. Diesel was able to run off leash for an hour or so and returned with his second bought of Happy Tail. This is practically unheard of so we fear he will ultimately end up with his tail docked. I don't love this.

Kristil and I continued our daily yoga challenge. Diesel is always interested.

It was near sixty degrees in early February so I sweet talked him into dinner on the porch swing. I just had to sit in the sun. My schedule was so packed otherwise, it was near impossible to absorb some natural vitamin D. He humors me.

The float center welcomed me back the day after some vaccines to ward off side effects. This is one of my happiest places.

Ty is not a scholarly student, to say the least. We are grateful he is no longer so anxious about school, he is vomiting or breaking out in stress hives, but now he says things like, "D's get diplomas." My eye has a twitch. I'm sure it's unrelated. He had several missing assignments and had the audacity to request a PlayStation gift card once he moved three failing grades up to D's. He's new here. After four daughters, whose high school years were challenging enough, I'm not sure we are all going to pull through the next four years. I attended a parent meeting at the high school for information about the latest graduation requirements and was disheartened to discover they still aren't providing magical solutions for survival. Sigh.

He isn't supposed to have this pillow.

I only purchase Little Debbie snack cakes for Christmas stockings and Valentine's Day. I surprised Greg with his favorite too. After his accident, twenty-four years ago, co-workers kept showing up at the hospital with Nutty Bars and Cheetos. This is how I found out about his work break snack habit. The memory made me smile.

This sweet baby ended up with flu B and covid just two weeks after battling strep and flu A. Kindergarten germs are no joke. He missed a week and a half this round. I hung out with him for an evening so his mom could take the dog to the vet. Days later, she also ended up sick. It was a rough month for them.

This dog.

#winning

It was gorgeous. It's too bad it was also only a real feel  temperature of 11 degrees.

Kate burst into the house just before the sleeting started, demanding the groundhog be fired. 

She stopped by briefly and made the mistake of leaning down to love on Diesel. Before she knew what was happening, she was seated on the floor and he was sitting on her lap; an 80 pound lap dog.

He not only gets the tea bag wrappers from my morning cup of tea but has recently decided he'd like to have the tag as well. 

My Bible study group attended Sweeny Todd at Derby Dinner to see Laura's son in the show. As dark as the plot was, I loved it. This surprised me. But Amanda drove in for the day and hugging her was the best part. I miss her close. 

He failed his vision exam at school while wearing his glasses. They aren't yet a year old. The optometrist verified that rapid vision changes occur with growth spurts. We've clearly had some of those. 

Lauren and Austin stopped by during homework time and Austin enthusiastically offered to help because "I am awesome at math." It's the dual hands on faces for me.

Then Ty demonstrated how to solve an equation and Austin was amazed, "what is THAT?" Apparently he'd never seen a calculator before.