Monday Morning Madness

Happy Valentine's Day!

We had a great weekend...

Saturday morning, I got out with Mal and we picked up TJ to go to the RV Expo. Went downtown, parked in a garage, walked about a mile, got to the convention center... and the expo is next weekend!

Fortunately, crepes were only a block away. I accidentally took this picture of TJ's arm and Mal's face while we waited to order at Le Crepe Cafe. I kind of love it.

They were busy, maybe normally for a Saturday morning. But we waited almost half an hour to order, and then go get our food. Mal doesn't do sitting for that long, so he kept getting up. I let him. It made people nervous. Actually, his standing up in the high chair made one guy so nervous, he startled me as he'd gotten up and was at my shoulder when I noticed him.

Here's where Mal was playing, bothering no one. Still. I had to make sure my eyes were very obviously ON him, as people were craning their necks to see where his neglectful parent might be... about four tables away.

Mal met two dogs, and he decided it was time to leave about fifty times, each of which I had to go chase him down and bring him back to the table. He cried and fought some of the time, so to get him to sit, I let him play with a lidded cup of dressing. He got the lid off and spilled the whole thing in his lap, but fortunately I had an extra outfit in a Ziplog bag in my purse (I don't always, but I should!). I think at that point, the family at the table next to us was saying, "I can't believe this is happening, but it is," because I pulled his clothes off right there to put the new clothes on. Ehh.

After our unanticipatedly-long brunch, we walked to the Google Fiber space (past JW Marriott, which is hugely swanky), then to Toy Joy. I found Valentine's cards for James and Daphne, and got D a pair of macaroni and cheese socks.

TJ was a great sport about not going to the RV expo. Oh! We ran into a team from Aspire Beverages and they gave us free drinks in exchange for letting them take their pictures with us for a scavenger hunt. That drink came in handy toward the end of brunch, when I'd been sitting in the sun for an hour!

After Mal had had a good nap, we went to Bee Cave and ate an early dinner at Mandola's Market, a selection we made largely because they had a playscape. The food was legit, and Mal had fun playing.

I will say, if eating out with Mal is typically a challenge, doing it when James is on crutches (plantar fasciitis), is way harder! EVERYTHING is harder.

Sunday, I was going to take Mal to the gym before church, but he ended up working off so much of his energy that he fell asleep in the car. I went to Taco Cabana to get James and me lunch, and it took FOREVER, but Mal got a good nap.

For Valentine's Day, Mal colored a rock for Daphne. It was really pretty! I made a cheesecake for James and Daphne, and James got Daphne and me our own boxes of See's Candies. And for Mal... I made him warm fresh milk all day long.

Sunday evening, we went to Waffle House, where I had made us all reservations. They had a Valentine dinner special, and it was really cute. They'd put red and pink tissue paper on the white lamps throughout the diner, red tablecloths, candles, champagne flutes (plastic!) at each table, centerpieces, placemats, etc. It was nice. Ther "T-bone for two" meal was enough for all four of us.

We came home, and Mal wanted to go on a walk, so we "hiked" in the greenbelt behind our house. He thought of his dad halfway through it, though, and wanted to come back to check on him. When we got to the apartment, though, he wanted to ride my bike. I went on one round of the apartments, and he kind of cried and fussed on the downhill portion. I thought he wanted to come back, but when we rode down the sidewalk, he cried AGAIN. So we went one more round, and he fussed and cried some of the way, again... I decided we were done.

He was kind of weepy the rest of the night, and I put him to bed earlier than usual. He cried a lot going to sleep, and it took a long time. Then at one o'clock this morning, he got sick. At first, I thought it was just like when he was coughing up post-nasal drip, but he was actually sick for the first time.

Hey, remember what I said about James not being able to put any weight on one foot? There I was, trying to unzip the mattress cover from our king memory foam bed in the dark while James was sitting in the recliner holding Mal, who was fussing for me. James suggested that we wait until the morning to do that, but I couldn't sleep in the chair that long.

I got the bed remade, minus the mattress cover, and we laid down. Within a few minutes, he was sick again, but I could tell it was coming that time and caught most of it. So Mal and I got into the bathtub together and had a bath at one o'clock.

Sweet James was hobbling around on his crutches getting diapers, towels, pajamas, whatever we needed. He settled on the recliner in the living room and Mal and I laid on the couch. In a couple of hours, Mal was sick again, and I was having difficulty getting comfortable enough to sleep, so we moved to the recliner in our room.

That worked for a couple of hours, but then I needed to lie down. I spread an old quilt out on our denuded bed, covered my lower half with a small blanket Daphne got at church camp, and used a towel to cover my top. At this point, I'd given up on clothes for Mal or me; we'd already changed twice in the night.

He got sick one more time in the bed, and I had to sit him on the bathroom cabinet and give him a sponge bath that time. It was starting to get light when we both got back into bed, and I thought I'd never get to sleep, but I did. I even dreamed.

Mal's been sick twice again this morning, but I'm almost caught up on the laundry, and it's been five hours since he wasn't able to keep food down. Let's hope that means he's on the mend. I have no idea what was wrong with him. He had no other symptoms and didn't seem to feel bad, just tired and confused about what was going on with his body.

Now he's awake and raring to go, so I'm going to go play with my boy!