Life as we know it

So, it has been a while since I’ve posted any real details from life in the Armstrong house. Let me enlighten you to what life has been like in our home for the last three weeks, I think the lack of posts might make a little more sense.

Three weeks we drove to Andalusia so that we could spend time with my family for part of the MLK long weekend. We returned to Auburn and enjoyed a productive MLK Monday before returning to work. Shortly after we returned to Auburn, Mom called to tell me that she and Dad had some type of virus. Immediately we hoped that the sickness would avoid our home, but alas it did not. Turner threw up 5 times in 4 hours in the wee hours of the morning on Tuesday (the 20th), and then a couple of more times on Wednesday. (*Let me take a moment to brag on my husband here. In those 5 hours we went through 9 sets of pajamas between the three of us, two sets of sheets, and several towels. In between helping me try to get Turner calmed down and cleaned up; guess what Mark is doing? Washing the clothes. And he had some major events going on at work the following day – which he handled on 1.5 hours of sleep. In case you can’t tell, he’s pretty awesome. Helpmate = Mark.)

By that weekend life seemed to be returning to normal, filled with things such as picture hanging, baby showers, new furniture being delivered, etc. Mom came up to help entertain Turner, but again called with news of a stomach virus before she got back to Andalusia Sunday night (the 26th). Again we hoped that the virus would avoid our home, but alas it did not. This time it came after me with a vengeance and it pretty much knocked me down for three good days (out of work for two days). It is important to note that on the first two days when I was at my worst, Mark had major events at work again and this time he had to take Turner with him – she experienced her first official Auburn callouts! She was such a trooper and though she didn’t get settled in at home until 10:30pm, she went to sleep like an angel. Because of this virus, I had to cancel a dinner date with a friend, a doctor’s appointment, and not fulfill my school breakfast duties on Friday. As I am typing, I realize these events just happened last weekend, but it truly seems like an eternity ago.

This past Monday, I was hopeful that my virus had somehow avoided Mark and Turner. And so far it has – praise the Lord. Sunday and Monday I noticed that I felt a little strange, and I noticed some runniness in Turner’s right eye. By Tuesday (Feb 3rd) I had no voice, and Turner woke up with her eye stuck shut with “gunk”. I ran her to the doctor during my planning period, and of course it was pink eye. On the way to pick up the eye drops (while trying to call school and alert them that I wasn’t returning the rest of the day) I got pulled over for speeding. Bless his heart, once the officer heard my voice and saw Turner in the back seat sound asleep I think he just felt sorry for me and issued me a verbal warning – Hallelujah! Today is Sunday, and I still can’t talk normally and am coughing up a storm…so let’s just say I haven’t been well in over a week. I am ready to be well again and I am still hopeful that all this sickness will skip over the rest of my family. Feel free to join me in praying that they are protected from the germs!!

We have actually had a very productive and seemingly long weekend, and even accomplished a goal of ours to restock our freezer with Mark’s homemade spaghetti sauce and my homemade seafood gumbo! Boy we love nights when we can just pull those out of the freezer and have delicious dinner quickly! Today we had a surprise visit from my parents, Tootsie and Pop. We always enjoy seeing them and appreciate them driving up to spend the day with us! Words can’t express how thankful I am that Mark and my parents are so close and get along so well. He honestly looks forward to them coming to visit, and they treat him like he’s been in our family forever. I know I am blessed.

Here are a few pictures from the last few weeks and some from today with Tootsie and Pop! There are a few that will need to be viewed in succession as they move in the slide show....one set highlights her antics in getting in and out of her mini-recliner, the other set at the end highlights her expressions and dancing to the singing dog that Tootsie and Pop brought. We'll post video of this soon - Turner is quite the dancer! Enjoy!!