Creative Kimpire: Q: 4y, 5m; A: 21m

Happy New Year!

We ended 2023 with strep and pink eye, yay 🙃. Quinn and I had strep, and both boys had pink eye. Philip and I ended up with lots of congestion and I have fluid behind my ears. It has not been fun in our household. Being sick while parenting littles has to be on the top list of shittiest things ever. I woke up Friday, Dec. 22nd with the worst sore throat of my life, and as the day went on, my entire body began to hurt. I literally couldn’t move without pain. All of my joints hurt, I had a massive headache (that nothing relieved), and I alternated being hot and then shivering.

We were supposed to make cookies with Lori and the kids that day, a make up plan from when two of them were sick the weekend before. As soon as I woke up I knew it wasn’t going to happen. My throat was so swollen. I had to take the kids with me to EZCare to get tested so that I would know whether or not it was going to be safe for us to participate in our planned Christmas gatherings. They did the testing trifecta—Covid, flu & strep—and I tested negative for the first two but got a winner with strep. While we were waiting on my test results, Quinn started saying his throat was hurting, so I asked them to go ahead and test him. Sure enough, he won the shitty prize, too. I felt bad once his was confirmed because I knew then that he had had it for a few days. The Tuesday of that week, he complained of a bellyache, so we didn’t go to his gymnastics class. His nose was runny and he still wasn’t feeling great on Wednesday and Thursday. He had even said something about his throat feeling like something was stuck in it on one of those days, but it didn’t occur to me then that it meant it was swollen 🤦🏻‍♀️. Unless he looks the part, it can be hard to tell when he’s sick. Even if you ask him how he’s feeling, he’ll often say, “Good.” Throughout this entire sickness, he only fevered slightly one time, so I didn’t have a lot to go off of.

Taking kids to EZCare is the worst because it feels like if they don’t have something, they will before they leave 🤦🏻‍♀️. Especially with the kid who practically licked the exam table 🤮😩😭. No, it wasn’t the one year old 😭.

I sort of panicked when we got home and I realized that everywhere except the ER was about to be closed for the next 3 days for Christmas. I wished I had just gone ahead and gotten Ash checked for the sake of knowing. I called his doctor’s office and asked them what they thought I should do, and they recommended taking him to EZCare 😂🤦🏻‍♀️😩. I decided to wait it out, knowing the ER would be our only option, but EZCare was only getting busier as the day went on (we went first thing that morning), and it was already about to be a shit show before we were done there the first time. Luckily, he never seemed to show any signs of our symptoms, so we got through Christmas without infecting him or Philip.

He didn’t get that lucky with the pink eye. As always, Quinn got it first, and just when he was beginning to feel better after the strep 😩. We had a play date scheduled with our farm friends, Mollie, John, and Iris, but Quinn woke up with a face full of snot and swollen eyes. His eyes weren’t red, so I wasn’t sure what was going on at first, but when he started becoming a goo factory, I knew then it was pink eye. According to google, since his goo was yellow, he had the bacterial variety, and not the viral one, which can be helped with an antibiotic. However, he was on his final day of amoxicillin for his strep, so I wasn’t sure one was necessary. He was much less gooey the following day, but still snotty, tired, and complaining of his eyes itching.

Poor Ash woke up the following morning with some eye swelling and became gooey as the day went on 😩. That was New Year’s Day, so no where was open aside from the ER, which wasn’t warranted for this situation. The following day I did an evisit through myWVUChart for Ash for red eye. His doctor was out, but you can choose to confer with the next available physician. I got a message back 40 mins later that another doctor called in eye drops for him. I still detest WVU Medicine as a whole due to my past experience, but I was willing to admit my appreciation for the convenience they provided. However, they met my very low expectations once again when I finally called the pharmacy after waiting half the day for his prescription to be filled to see what was going on. The doctor called in an OTC eye drop, despite me saying the discharge was yellow AND sending a pic 🤬. The pharmacy tech told me that the drops called in wouldn’t even help to clear a bacterial infection 🙄. So back to EZCare we went, where the competent doctor there called in prescription eye drops that worked to clear up both of their eyes quickly. We discovered at that visit that Ash also had a double ear infection, so maybe WVU did me a favor by forcing me to have him seen. I was also seen because I had finished my antibiotic for strep two days prior and then ended up with another sore throat and ear pressure. The doctor gave me a steroid to clear up the fluid behind my ears, but said I didn’t have an infection.

It’s really awful when my babies are sick. I want to make them feel better but there’s not much I can do, aside from treating symptoms and keeping the peace between them as they fight over whose turn it is to choose the show on the tv 🙄. Quinn can’t even ask if it’s his turn without Ash saying, “Morphle first!” 😂🤦🏻‍♀️.

Sickness is everywhere, so if you haven’t caught something yet, consider yourself lucky and hibernate until spring. Knowing now that Quinn had strep on the Wednesday before Christmas, I’m glad his school Christmas program was canceled. At that point, all he was complaining about was a bellyache, so we were planning to go. However, almost half of the kids weren’t coming due to covid and flu, so they just decided to cancel it. He was supposed to have a movie and pajama day on Thursday, but they scrapped that, too.

If we were gonna get sick, I’m glad it happened when it did. With strep, as long as you’re on antibiotics for 24 hours, it’s safe to be around others, so we were still able to do our Eagleson Christmas gathering the following day. We were also good to go for celebrating with my family on the day of Christmas. I figured with the week between Christmas and New Year’s being relatively empty—no story time, gymnastics, school, or playgroup—we would get a little break in the germ flow, but nope! 🥴

We were going to let the boys stay up a little later on NYE, but Quinn was feeling pretty rough and wouldn’t have made it past his regular bedtime. We let him think he was doing it though. He had never seen the ball at Times Square drop, so I found an old video and showed him what happens at midnight. I told him that was an old one but that we would watch another one later. He kept asking when it would be time to watch it. Philip made us an assortment of popcorn: buttery, buffalo, nacho cheese, and birthday cake (my fav! 🤤). Quinn loves popcorn and was having a good time, but he tuckered out fast and wanted to go to bed.

That was the day Quinn woke up with puffy eyes. I wasn’t at all surprised when Ash ended up catching pink eye, too. Quinn wears his spiderman suit constantly, and it has built in gloves, which, I have no doubt, served as a Petri dish after every time his eye itched or nose was runny 🤮. After three days I finally insisted that he let me wash it. That thing is a size too small and is falling apart anyway, so I ordered him a new one. When it gets here the one old is getting trashed. Most things get passed down to Ash, but if he’s into spiderman when he hits 3T, he’ll get the treat of a new one.

😩

I’ve struggled with the clutter from all of the clothes and toys I’ve kept the last four years. Clothes to save money, and toys to save money, but also to ensure Ash got exposed to the same tools and taught the same skills. However, I couldn’t tolerate the excess that was accumulating in their room, especially with Christmas on the way, so I did a clean out. I know there are things that they don’t play with, so my latest strategy is to covertly put those things away in our bedroom, and if they aren’t missed after about a month, I donate them or pass them along to others. As I was sorting, I realized there were many toys that were bought, not because they actually wanted them, but because they wanted something. I understand why they have that need. Consumerism sets us all up to value instant gratification and lack impulse control. That’s why there’s all of that random shit set up close to store checkouts and you can buy basically anything on Amazon with a few taps on your phone. I’m struggling to find the balance between cutting down on clutter but also letting the boys enjoy being little. Honestly though, it doesn’t take much to make Quinn excited. I went to get our Walmart pickup order the other day, and then stopped at DG on the way home to grab Philip some DayQuil that I didn’t get added to the Walmart order in time. I hate going in Walmart and I’ve been there a million times lately for the pharmacy, so DG was my reprieve. While I was there, I found the boys each a Good2Grow drink with Paw Patrol characters. Quinn, especially, was so happy when I got home and gave it to him. He told me, “Thank you,” probably three times for his. Those kinds of things feel way more worth buying, as he actually appreciates and likes what he got, versus letting him get yet another truck just because it’s on clearance for $4 and he wants it.

I’ve recently learned the term “Velcro kid,” and it absolutely applies to Quinn. He’s always super attached to me, but it has seemed to be worse while he’s been sick. If he can’t see me, he’s constantly asking me where I am. If I leave the room he’s in, he’ll say, “Mom?” I say, “Yeah?,” and then he’ll respond, “Oh, I thought you were downstairs.” If I do go downstairs to do laundry, there’s an 85% chance that they’ll end up following me. I can switch a load of laundry in about 30 seconds, so I don’t like have the whole entourage come. It drives me nuts. Sometimes when Quinn asks where I am, I’ll tell him the attic. We don’t have an attic, that’s why it’s fun.

They even follow me around the house while I’m vacuuming! It’s so annoying. Whenever I start to change the bedclothes, Quinn decides he wants to do flips on his mattress at the foot of our bed. No! Go away! 🤬. We used to have two Boxers, Pretzel and Jade, who would wrestle and play, but only right beside me. I used to get so mad at them. That’s exactly what these kids remind me of 😅. One day I realized that the dogs didn’t do that anymore and it made me kind of sad. I wondered if they just grew out of that puppy play stage, or if I had just yelled at them too much and broke their spirit. I’m sure one day I’ll miss having littles underfoot, but it isn’t today 😂.

The constant company and the chatter that comes with it is so overwhelming at times 😢. Quinn tells me before he does pretty much anything. “Mom, I’m gonna change my shirt.” “Mom, I’m gonna put on socks so these boots don’t hurt my feet.” I. Don’t. Care. 😂. I love him so much. I love him so much. I love him so much.

He followed me out to the building on a warm day while I was trying to climb a ladder to reach our outdoor Christmas decorations. While I was trying to safely lower a 4ft wooden tree to the ground, Quinn asked me, “Mom, do you know what gratuity balls are?” I said, “Nope,” so he continued saying it, over and over again. “Gratuity balls. Gratuity balls. Gratuity balls. Gratuity balls. Gratuity balls.” After the sixth one I was like, “Quinn. Either stop saying that, or go somewhere else. You’re driving me crazy.” 😳 ugh. I have always disliked repetitive noises. He brings me to the brink sometimes.

For the record, I have no idea what gratuity balls are or where he heard that. There’s a good chance he just pulled that phrase out of his ass. Speaking of ass, he’s very into saying butt now. I’m not at all amused by bathroom humor, so his jokes fall flat with me. He just inserts the word butt into places it doesn’t go and finds himself to be hilarious. I’ll tell him to go get something and put it away and he’ll respond with, “Go get your butt,” and laugh 🙄. He sings about them, too—like, “Head, shoulders, knees, and toes. Eyes, and ears, and mouth, and butt.” Or “Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the butt.” I. Can’t. 🤦🏻‍♀️.

His sickness has really slowed him down a lot lately, and I’ve almost enjoyed the days we’ve spent on the couch, just chilling and recuperating. Right before he got sick, Philip and I were both at our wits’ end with the perceived disconnect between his brain and his ears. He would do something to get in trouble, and when you went to talk to him about it after his time out, you could just tell that he wasn’t actually listening and was instead waiting to say the thing that was on his mind, which was never related to what had just happened. 🙄. So frustrating. Let’s hope this downtime does some rewiring 🤞🏻😜.

He didn’t have much of an appetite for the last few weeks, subsisting on slices of American cheese, graham crackers, and goldfish. Oh, and milk. That’s all he ever wanted. He often asks me to bring him those items while he’s watching tv. Sometimes I will, if I’m already up and doing things in the kitchen. One day we were all laying on the couch, and I wasn’t feeling well either. We had the following conversation:

Q: “Mom, will you get me a graham cracker?”

M: “No.”

Q: “Why?”

M: “Because I’m laying here and I don’t want to get up right now.”

Q: “Well, what makes you think I want to get up?”

M: “I’m sure you don’t, but you’re the one who wants a graham cracker, so you’ll either get up and get it, or not have one 🤷🏻‍♀️.”

I’m not heartless. He is fully capable of getting his own snacks, otherwise I would. And I do, way more than I should. Most of the things he asks me to get are things he can get for himself. We need more self sufficiency around here.

Once I cleaned out the toys, and found homes for all of their new ones, I’ve been trying to be more on top of making sure the boys put things away soon after they’re done playing with them, so as to contain the mess. They’re both really good at cleaning up, honestly. Especially if it becomes a competition 😂. Parental manipulation at its finest. Having a clean space is best for all of us though. Messiness gives me anxiety, but they also play better when things are mostly put away. When they drag everything out in their room, they can’t find anything, and they don’t sit and play like they do when their room is tidy. I really hope my incessant need for organization influences the boys to be the same, rather than turn them into adult slobs, just to spite me 🫣😂.

Quinn has a score of about negative two for situational awareness. I can identify with the memes that say something to the gist of, “I’ll be dead and at my funeral, one of my kids will ask me to open a snack for them.” I was scrubbing the bathtub one day after their playtime with bath paint sticks and foam soap, and Quinn came in to ask me to find his cape. I told him I was busy, which he could clearly see. So then he asked me to zip his Thor costume instead 🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️.

They sure had fun making that mess!

One weekend day Asher fell asleep on Philip, so he took him to the bedroom to nap, while Quinn and I chilled on the couch. Once Ash got up, I went in to wake Philip up, and I just laid in bed with him for a minute. I was curled up to his side, and Quinn kept stalking the doorway, trying to figure out if we were asleep or not 😂. I was highly amused, so I just stayed put to see how he would respond. He eventually came into the room, and when he saw my eyes were open, he wanted to know what to do next. He said, “Mom, what are you doing to Dad? Are you just hugging him, or are you making a pile?” 😂😂😂. I laughed until a cried.

I had another good laugh at his expense when he had the hiccups. For over twenty years, Philip has been trying to scare away my hiccups, which has worked maybe once. Maybe. When Quinn got them, Philip told him he knew how to make them go away and what he would do. Quinn said he wanted Philip to scare him, so he waited a few seconds, pretending to be doing something else, and then turned back to Quinn, yelling, “Boo!” Quinn yelled and cried, and I laughed like a fool 🤣. Quinn got so mad about it, it was hilarious. It’s happened two more since then, and each time Quinn has said he wanted to be scared but then got mad 🤦🏻‍♀️.

He may not be brave during sneak attacks, but I’m proud of how he’s adapted to his newest sleeping arrangement. While it’s not quite as far as we’d like, we managed to get Quinn to stop sleeping between Philip and me when he sneaks back to our bed in the middle of the night after he wakes up and gets scared alone. Now he sleeps at the foot of the bed 😂. I’m proud of him because I thought this new boundary was going to be fought against at 2am, but he went there without incident. I moved his pillow on our bed to the spot, and Philip explained to him that that’s where he needed to lay if he’s going to come in our bed. This ultimatum came after many sleepless nights from Quinn’s feet and arms in both of our faces. Once everyone is back to good, the plan is to relocate Ash to Quinn’s floor bed, with hopes of the two of them keeping each other in that bed all night 🤞🏻. Once I moved Quinn’s pillow to the foot of the bed, and scooted myself over toward Philip some, it left an empty space above Ash’s head, who didn’t have a pillow. He has slept directly on the mattress since we first started co-sleeping. He would wiggle himself over until his head was touching me or my pillow, or up until he touched the headboard. Once I put a spare pillow on Ash’s side, he sleeps much better with the top of his head touching it 🤷🏻‍♀️. Just not while he’s been sick 😢. He woke up rubbing his eyes one night and then jabbed his finger into my eye while flailing around, so I’m shocked I haven’t gotten pink eye. That one was an accident, but it’s not abnormal to be awoken by a finger poking my face. I never know which Ash is going to wake me up—the one who wants to cuddle, or the one who wants to touch and name my facial features. The first phrase said of a morning shouldn’t involve telling someone to remove their finger from your nose 😑.

He’s been quite the instigator the last few days, taking things Quinn is playing with and running away. He will say he had it first, even though he didn’t. He even argues that with me. He followed me downstairs to do laundry one day, and as I was switching clothes from the washer to the dryer, he grabbed a costume out of my hands. When I asked him to give it back because it was still wet, he said, “No! Had it first!” 🙄🙄🙄.

He is saying so many words now, sometimes four word sentences, and sometimes shorter phrases put together. His two longest to date were: “Oh no, Ironman down!,” and “I would like….Morphle,” while choosing the show to watch. He picked that last phrase up from Quinn. He always makes his tv selections that way.

“Oh no, Ironman down!”

Ash has seen way too many of the shows Quinn likes because now he hears invisible werewolves. He’ll come near me and say, “Werewolf! Heard it!” I confirm what he said, and then he’ll say, “Check it out!,” and grab my hand to pull me to where he needs a grownup monster scarer-awayer. He’s really great at speaking his needs. When he couldn’t quite reach the toy he lost behind my desk, he yelled (dramatically),” Help! Help! Stuck!,” and then two seconds later, “I got it!” 😂🤦🏻‍♀️. He goes to the freezer and ask, “Sausage biscuit, please?” He’s very polite ❤️. He remembers his manners more often than Quinn does.

He’s never one to be left out, so if someone else asks for something, you should just go head and grab two. If Quinn wants yogurt, you’ll hear his little shadow say, “Yogurt, too!” He even wanted to even the score anytime Quinn took medicine. I’d bring it to Quinn and then Ash would say, “Medicine, too?” 😂. Unfortunately, he’s had his fair share now. He takes liquids like a champ, but those eye drops were brutal 😩. He took the first round easily because he didn’t know what was coming. Every time after, which is supposed to be every four hours, I had to hold him down to get it done 😩😩.

He amazes me with how fast he’s learning different concepts. He has mastered colors on sight, even though a few have some funny correlations. Green is often identified as Hulk, of course, orange is orange juice, and he calls white “skeleton.” 😂. I discovered this while trying to occupy him at ezcare by asking him what colors things around the room were. His shoes are black with a white sole. The sole is what he said was skeleton. He told Mimi the same thing a few days later when we saw her. Even more impressive is his ability to recall colors from memory. He can tell you what color Spider-Man, Captain America, and Hulk are when they aren’t around. He often defaults to green first with any color question, but will correct when asked again.

Ash can really be a shit sometimes, but he’s a little love bug. I love how much he and Quinn love each other and I hope that’s always the case.

Ash has a whole routine he does as soon as he gets home, which involves removing every article of clothing except for his pants, and he only leaves those on because we make him 😅. He wanted help getting undressed the other day and Quinn volunteered to do it ❤️.

We had several days of gift opening leading up to Christmas. Mimi and Kiki dropped some off, Nana and Juju mailed some from across the country, Pap Preston brought over something he made for them, and our neighbors, Tina and Jim, even bought them something. Not to mention, gifts from each of our brothers’ families, and us. We are so grateful and feel so loved!

They loved the cowboy shirts Mimi got for them on her vacation to Phoenix.

She also got them these beautiful ornaments with their names on them. I made them each an ornament, too.

Quinn is lucky he got Kiki’s gifts on the day that he did, because he was being a royal butthole. Kim texted me to say she had dropped them off on our porch, but I didn’t tell him right away. He ended up seeing them a while later, so I let him bring them in.

Ash got gifts, too, but Quinn is much quicker and reactive while opening 😅. They both loved their stuff though.

Fort Hulk, built by Pap Preston.

We got to FT with Nana while they opened gifts from her and Juju on Christmas Eve. Q couldn’t wait to check out his science kit.

And Ash loved beating the crap out of his new bop bag. The front of it has the avengers on it.

I got very few quantity and very low quality pics from our dinner with Nathan and his family. Maybe my brain wasn’t functioning well from the strep 🥴. All of the kids seemed to love what they got, though. I know mine have been using the 18 cans of play dough every single day since 😂.

They put Paw Patrol dogs in it,

Money,

And their feet 🙄🙄🙄🤦🏻‍♀️.

It kept ending up all over the place (thanks, Ash), so when Mimi told me she had a Spider-Man desk we could have, I knew that would make a perfect place for playdoh. Quinn even wanted to show me that they can both fit on the seat 😂. For now, anyway. It has a little pull out drawer, so I gave them a few different colors, and their tools to keep in there. It has been quite a hit ❤️.

Even Thor likes playdoh.

They got a RoboAlive lizard, which Ash liked at first, but he’s now scared of and calls it a dragon 😅.

The one thing Quinn wanted for Christmas was a Robin costume. We have no idea why, Robin isn’t even a cool superhero 😂. We don’t tell him that though. He was super excited that Santa left it for him, unwrapped, to find on Christmas morning.

Quinn got a lot of clothes and dress up things.

He’s probably the only 4 year old who has ever asked for a tie for Christmas 😂. It had to very specifically be navy blue, because it was a police tie. He got the badge and hat, too.

He got his own (giant size 😳. Mom didn’t read the measurements before she ordered it 😬) punching bag.

Asher loved his spiderman figure and the dog Quinn got that looks like our old neighbor, Steele.

He loves his stuffed Morphle. When he opened it, it was the first time I heard him say, “Awesome!” 😂

And his Maggie came the day after Christmas, in the mail.

Hulk was a favorite, too 🥰.

When Quinn was 3 months old, I got Lincoln a stuffed Hulk for his 4th birthday. That’s him with it on the left, and both boys with Ash’s on the right 🥹.

Their biggest gift was two sets of gigantic waffle blocks. There are just enough to make a fort, so three sets would’ve been better 🥴.

We’ve still had fun though.

Dad is quite the fort builder 😅.

💚

Lincoln gave Ash the sweetest gift. When we were last at their house, Ash really liked a Spider-Man backpack that belonged to Lincoln, and Lincoln said he could have it. I didn’t know though, so we didn’t take it home with us. Lincoln’s feeling were hurt when he realized we left it, but Lori explained it was probably a mistake. So Lincoln put it in a gift bag for Ash to open on Christmas ❤️.

❤️ 🖤 💚

Coen and Ash checking out the personalized basketball we got for Kate.

The only pic I got of all four of them 🤦🏻‍♀️. I was not on my picture taking game on Christmas. I also got Kate a wooden Suduko game like one I have that she and Haleigh used to fight over 😂. Kate had never actually played the right way before, so I taught her how to do it. She caught on really quickly.

Quinn loved the giant Go Fish game from Aunt Lulu and Uncle Greg. It reminded me of how my Nother Nan (Grandma Preston) would sit and play card games with me for hours when I was little. Rummy, go fish, war, slap Jack. She was a saint 😂.

Ash passed out before he came, but Quinn got to say hi to Santa when he walked through our neighborhood. He wouldn’t take a pic with him without me.

Our elf finished out his stay, hitching a ride home with Santa on Christmas Eve.

16. He made a self portrait, and left two for the boys to color.

17. Let me just tell you, doing a candy cane hunt at 7am with a kid who is incapable of finding anything is NOT a fun idea 🙄. The whining…OMG.

Do you see the candy cane hanging on the door knob RIGHT BESIDE HIM? He didn’t.

18. The night we went to Kate’s basketball game, Candy Cane made his own hoop.

19. My SIL’s mom sends out Santa letters for the kids every year. They are so sweet, and Quinn was excited to learn he was on the nice list 🙂.

20. Candy Cane made the boys a friendship bracelet out of Froot Loops.

21. They didn’t behave very well the day before, so Candy left them each a pair of listening ears.

22. On Christmas Eve Eve, Candy Cane caught the grinch trying to steal the gifts he left for the boys! He tied him up in the tree garland to keep him from succeeding. Candy Cane left the boys Santa suits.

It took me twenty minutes and finally asking Philip to help me figure out why there were only 22 pics when he was here for 23 nights. Philip immediately said, “Because he was in the freezer for a night,” after Quinn accidentally touched him 🤯. I wish I had asked him sooner 😂.

We never got to do our cookie day with the cousins (we planned to do them Christmas Day after having to cancel twice, but our boys were too tired and we went home instead), but they did get to make some with the neighbor girls 🥰. They all cut some out, and the three oldest decorated the cookies while Ash decorated himself 🤦🏻‍♀️😅.

2023 Wrap-Up

We ended our year with 737.5 hours outside! We didn’t hit 1,000 but that’s okay. We’ll see what 2024 brings!

One of the last warm days we got to be outside in 2023 was spent as Batman and Robin 😄.

Another day was spent as Thor, who is always up for digging in the dirt box.

With all of the sickness and cold weather, we’ve been cooped up inside and haven’t done too much, honestly.

Quinn practiced creating shapes,

Quantifying the different value of coins,

Tracing letters,

And identifying and correctly ordering the letters in short words.

Ash practiced Hulk smashing Blippi balls to find what was inside. It started with just bears, but now he likes when I hide something else, like a Paw Patrol dog, amongst them.