The weather outside has been absolutely lovely…high 70s…my favorite weather. On Saturday, Tommy and I took Tessa to a park just down the road from us. Tessa had fun playing in the sand, going on the slide, swinging on the swing, and watching the ducks swim in the pond. Beautiful weather, beautiful family!
A few weeks ago, I went to the grocery store and saw Kleenex on sale. I bought a bunch of boxes and after placing extra boxes around the house, I had 7 or 8 left that I stored away for later. Those boxes are no longer there. The sickness has hit the Van Hofwegen household again.
Tessa had a runny nose and bad cough all last week, but Wednesday night it became just awful. She woke up at 3:30 am coughing and choking on her own snot. She stayed up until 5:30 (I think she was scared to go to sleep) and slept for only 45 minutes before coughing awake again. She then cried off and on for about 2 hours. I called the doctor and got an appointment.
The doctor’s visit went surprisingly well. I was expecting the usual crying fit, but when we got into the room, the doctor asked to see her tummy, and it was pretty smooth sailing from there. If you have spent more than 10 minutes with Tessa, you probably know that she LOVES to show off her belly, so when the doc asked her to do one of her favorite things, she warmed up to her a little. The rest of the visit included pointing out her eyes, nose, mouth, and ears as well as my eyes, nose and hair between a few whiny cries. The doctor said she could she the snot drainage in her throat and that it was very red (which was probably painful…hence the crying and lack of appetite for the last week). We got a prescription and she has been doing much better since.
And of course she passed it on to me. Cough, Cough. I will blame the cold medicine on any typos or incoherent statements in this blog post. I think it should be mandatory that pediatricians write an extra prescription for the parents every time a kid gets one. It would certainly save me some misery and a doctor’s visit.
Last weekend, Tommy and I dropped Tessa off at Papa and Nana’s and headed to Las Vegas with our friends James and Erin. Tommy thought it was just a fun get away, but the rest of us had something else in mind.
Last August or September, the four of us went out for dinner. We were talking about concerts and Tommy and James both mentioned that they would love to see Garth Brooks in concert. Tommy’s family had gone to a concert when he was younger, but he missed it because he went on a hiking trip with some friends. As most Garth Brooks fans know, Garth is now semi-retired and only plays at the Wynn in Las Vegas on select weekends. We did a Google search, found out the price of the tickets, and Tommy said, I don’t think so. He thought it ended there.
So, when I told Tommy that James and Erin wanted to go for a little last minute vacation to Las Vegas before they have a baby in May, he was all for going the vacation, but kept saying, “Why Vegas? Let’s go snowboarding somewhere.” Luckily pregnant women can’t (or shouldn’t) snowboard, and I don’t either, so that option was out and the travel plans were made.
We got to Vegas Friday night and had fun walking around and gambling a little. Saturday the girls went shopping and the boys gambled some more. Saturday night we got dressed up (at least the girls did) and went out for dinner and just happened to end up at the Wynn. We gambled for a bit and all lost money, so Tommy said we should go back to our hotel. It was an hour to the show so I finally caved and told him our big secret. It went something like this:
Me: “Tommy, I don’t want to go back to the hotel because I thought we could go see a show.”
Tommy, hesitantly: “Ok….. What show?”
Me: “Garth Brooks.”
Tommy: “What?”
I pull out the tickets.
“Are you serious?”
pause.
“Why’d you do that?”
pause.
“Where’d you get the money for these? Have you been taking money from my wallet?”
Doesn’t that totally sound like my husband?!!! The concert was great. It was a little different than we thought it would be as he told about the music that influenced his life and sang those songs, then ended with maybe 8 or 10 of his songs. But it was still amazing. And Tommy loved it.
To be honest, I don’t think he really understood that we went to the concert until after we got home. He has since told me that if I want to get a better reaction from him, he’ll work on it, but that means I need to keep surprising him. Hmmmm.
The only picture we got there…this was Saturday evening before we told Tommy about the concert.
Meanwhile, Tessa had a great time back in Phoenix with Nana and Papa, who had the good sense to take some pictures:
I had high aspirations of writing a follow up blog to my 18 month report card blog with what Tessa is doing developmentally, but, what do ya know, it’s a month later and I still haven’t gotten to it. So we’re going to do a 19 month report card.
Tessa loves to learn new words. I am amazed at the words she picks up and repeats later on (we DEFINTITLEY have to watch what we say!!!). The other night she gave me a kiss and said “oh, dat’s nice” which was absolutely adorable. She kisses her stuffed animals and dolls a lot and I often say, “Oh that was nice” when she does it. Little did I realize she is picking up on everything we do and say!
Speaking of picking up on things we do, Tessa is also a hit when we go to the store because she knows how to swipe the credit card at the check out. She doesn’t quite have the dexterity to swipe it properly, but she always grabs my card, puts in it slot and tries to swipe it. She also know that after it swipes, she needs to push buttons and pick up the pen. Scary, yes. But the check-out clerks love it.
She still loves books (at least turning the pages). I think we read every book she owns and is allowed to play with every day. And when I say “we read” I mean she points at something and says “what’s that.” The whole concept of actually reading a book for the story has not yet registered in her head yet.
Tessa has become a lot more creative in her play. She often asks me to lay her blankets “flat” so I can “wap” (wrap) her dolls in them. She loves to play with her dolls and stuffed animals, and loves to play in forts. She is also constantly putting on my clothes and shoes and Tommy’s hats.
Having a picnic:
Reading in her fort:
Dress up:
She has recently taken up singing, or humming (?). I’m not sure what to call it since she doesn’t actually sing words. It’s usually accompanied by some dancing or head bobbing. Pretty cute.
She has also taken to shutting doors lately. As in shutting herself in rooms. At night. When the lights are out. Then she cries until we open the door and let her out. And then she does it again.
Tessa loves brushing her teeth. She runs to the cupboard to get her toothbrush and wants to do it all by herself. She does a pretty good job too!
She is also very polite most of the time. She often says “please”, especially when we ask, “what do you say” (then the response is “Pweeeeeeeeeeeeease”), and usually says “thank you”, which is sometimes accompanied by “your welcome" (that is what I say after she says “thank you” and is apparently part of the word phrase) so it comes out “tank you, you elcome”. Her politeness should not be mistaken for angel child as she is also becoming more defiant, is unable to sit still, and knows what she wants, wants it when she asks for it, and wants to do many things on her own without help.
Tommy and I are really enjoying watching her little brain process things and are amazed at how she is developing. We are so thankful that God has blessed us with such a fun, loving child!
