Limits and Consequences

This should be a blog post about Xander.  It should be something about how he is learning that he can jump from the ottoman to the counch when they are one foot apart, but that when they are two feet apart he falls and goes boom.  Unfortunately that isn't what this is about.

We have been working crazy hard to finish up the last few things in the basement.  I've been doing the wiring for cable an ethernet and we have been finishing up the painting together.  There have been a number of long nights and less sleep then we should be getting, espeically with me getting over being sick and Erin being so very pregnant.  We have both been pretty run down and tired.

Anyway, we have had on the books a trip up to Crested Butte with the Fossum's for a while and it was our last chance to go before Maya is born.  Erin was starting to get a little cold, but we really wanted to spend some time with the Fossums, and also we had planned to put a new floor in the kitchen while we were up there, I'm sure that will go quick, right?  We thought about not going, but Erin insisted.

Paul and I had a fantastic ski day on Saturday.  It was a beautiful blue bird day and Paul dragged me all over the steeps on the mountain.  He was nice enough to not lead me off any big drops, although he certaintly did manage to find some himself!  We headed back to the condo early that afternoon to start on the floor, which was only going to take "a couple of hours".  Erin unfortunately had been getting sicker, but we had a floor to put in, so she was stuck on kid duty while we started tearing out the old linoleum and putting down new floor tiles.  After 6 or 7 hours we finally called it quits, realizing that we were at most half way done.  Sunday was certaintly not going to be a ski day.

Paul and I got up early on Sunday and dove back into it.  Erin was upstairs on kid duty, but still not feeling well.  We worked and worked on the floor, it seemed like it would never end.  Finally near mid afternoon we could see the light at the end of the tunnel.  We were almost done, although we were pushing our time limit for sure, the Fossums had to get back to Boulder that night.  We finished up and the Fossums headed out.  Erin and I had planned to head back on Monday morning early.  I sat down with Erin and she told me that she had been feeling worse and worse all day.  I had been working so hard I hadn't been able to take care of her at all, and she had been trying to take care of the kids so we could get the floor done.  We decided that we should head home that night instead of waiting till the next day so she could see the doctor on Monday.  She felt really warm, and we took her temperature, 102F.  Scrap that plan, it was time to go to the hospital.  We headed for Gunnison, a 30 minute drive, and got her into the ER.  Maya's heart rate was sky high and Erin was miserably sick and flat out exhausted.  They got an IV into her and started pumping fluids.   We asked if we could go home that night, but the nurse took one look at Erin, lookd at me, completely run down, and then at Xander who was laughing and running all around and said no way.  They suspect that Erin had the flu (although the flu test came back negative), and with being very pregnant and working so hard she had completely run herself down.  After ensuring that Erin was in good hands, Xander and I headed back to Crested Butte to get some sleep, I was exhausted, and it was past Xander's bed time, even if he didn't feel tired.

Xander and I slept in and took it easy on Monday morning, we even went out to breakfast together and Xander charmed everyone.  I talked to Erin on the phone and she said that they wouldn't let her out until that afternoon and that Xander and I should have some fun together, since we hadn't had any together time that weekend.  So, since I had been promising Xander that he could go skiing that weekend, we headed up to the resort.  It was again a beautiful day, we didn't even need jackets.  I rented Xander a set of boots and skis and we headed for the bunny slope.  We did 3 "runs" together.  I held Xander's hands and walked behind him while he slid on the skis.  Most of the time he liked it, some of the time he wasn't so sure, but after 3 runs he was done.  I was really happy with how well he did, and he really liked watching the other skiers go by.  He exclaimed fun fun fun!

We packed up and headed for the hospital to pick up Erin.  She was looking much better, but still very very tired.  We got her loaded in the car and headed home.

I'd like to say that we have learned our lesson about taking it easy.  Xander has been in day care all week so Erin could rest, although that has been more of a necessity than a luxury for her, she has barely been able to get out of bed for a few hours a day.  This blog post took me a whole week to get around to writing, that's progress right?  Unfortunately we are still working on the finishing touches on the basement.  The baseboards needed to be caulked and painted before the carpet arrives, so we have been busy with that this weekend.  I think that this is a lesson that you are never too old to learn, and perhaps for some of us need to learn over and over.  Good luck with this lesson Xander!