Two Weeks Times Two

It's February.  Seven years ago February was just another month of an endless winter.  Six years ago it was the home stretch (though a shorter one than expected).  For the last five years it's marked the countdown to a holiday we mostly ignore followed immediately by Carter's birthday.  This year, it is a tale of two two-week spans.  The first two weeks are full of stuff--lots of work stuff for both of us, Jacob's sports, and preparations for the 100th day of school, Valentine's Day, and Carter's birthday.  The last two weeks will be the recovery from Carter's surgery.  Everything is sort of based on that before and after, and I'm having a tough time processing it all.

For a while it felt like the surgery would never get here, but now that we have less than two weeks, I'm in a panic that it'll all never get done.  I have so much going on at work and need to prep for most of two weeks off on top of it.  Jacob still has enough sports to keep us busy, and Craig's schedule is crazy as usual.  I've felt behind for weeks--my uncle's passing, Carter's strep, lots of crazy weather including two cold days with no school, Craig's roadtrips, and 4-5 days each week for Jacob's sports.  Last weekend I had a very random low blood sugar episode on Saturday around noon, which put me even more behind.  I never had breakfast because I slept in/dozed while Carter watched TV, and then I FaceTimed with my parents for a bit before settling on making pancakes for brunch.  But as I cooked I got very lightheaded and my fingers began to tingle.  I did everything I could to finish cooking so the kids could eat and I could get some food in my system, which I did just in time.  But it took most of the afternoon to recover, and by then I was behind on everything I'd planned for the weekend.  But what else is new, I guess?

I just feel like we're all out of sync and off our routine, and it's making everything that much harder.  I've barely planned Carter's birthday.  We decided to move his party back for a bit, but normally by now I have a full game plan for presents.  Yet I currently feel like he has too many toys as it is and nothing is jumping out at me this year.  As a result, I'm currently making do with whatever we've cobbled together.  I've only gotten the kids a couple candies for Valentine's Day, and now we have Carter's 100th day of school celebration to prepare for, too, and even with Pinterest I'm a little concerned about that one.  Our schedule just hasn't lent itself to me doing anything on my own, or even being able to escape the house with just one kid in tow, which makes it tough to accomplish much of anything.  It feels like a chore to drag either kid away from a screen, and when Craig is home he's generally either working remotely or napping off his most recent travels.  Sports are messing up our evening dinners at least a couple nights a week.  No one goes to bed when they should, and none of us can seem to get up and out the door on time in the morning.  We're just off, and all I can hope is that post-surgery we can do a wholesale reset.

Once we get through these two weeks, then we'll have two weeks of recovery to contend with.  Of course, we have to get through surgery first.  Anesthesia is always stressful, and I have no idea how Carter will do with that or the recovery.  I had my tonsils out around the same age, and I remember it being very painful in the beginning.  I also remember craving Doritos and being sad I couldn't have them for a while, but beyond that it's fuzzy.  After surgery we'll be on an every-three-hour, 'round the clock medication routine for a week or so, so it will feel like we have a newborn again.  Keeping him calm for 2-3 weeks to minimize the risk of bleeding will be a major challenge, as running is his favorite pastime and Jacob riles him up so easily.  I'm actually very worried about him bleeding and will probably wake up hourly to check on him as a result.  I'm looking forward to the snuggles but worried about keeping up with work.  I also don't know how we're going to keep our already-underweight kid fueled up when jello will probably be his main request.  On a related note, I had no idea how expensive Pediasure is.  Usually he's a pretty good sick kid, and considering how much he loves screen time I'm sure he'll be cool with that...but breaking the habit afterward might be tough!  I'm hoping new birthday toys will be a motivator to actually play a bit, too.  But either way, the recovery seems daunting, for so many reasons.

The good news, of course, is if we get through this, we should have a happier, healthier kid in the long run.  That's why we're going through all of this, and I hope someday Carter understands that.  But in the meantime it's left us with a very strange February split in two, very decidedly "before" and "after".  Keep us in your prayers that all goes smoothly...on both counts!