Mama Called the Doctor and the Doctor Said...

"I think you better bring your child in." It all started innocently, just a runny nose, and a slight cough. I say to myself, "he's getting better, tomorrow he will be even better." A couple of days go by, he's almost himself and then...then...it all went downhill. Now he's running a fever, runny nose all the time, lethargic, irritable, pale, clammy, diarrhea, inconsistently consistent cough, sleeping for no more than 2-3 hours at a time. Finally, I called. Bring him in. After further examination the verdict came:"Congratulations, I am 90% sure your child has H1N1, he has a double ear infection and Rotovirus. If you would've brought him in when he initially got sick we could've done Tamiflu and it probably wouldn't have turned into such a severe case. Now we get to hospitalize him." My gut wrenches, my heart is suddenly heavy, I'm now nauseated. I shout, "No! We're to poor to hospitalize our son. It's either we celebrate Christmas or hospitalize him." The doctor concedes. 10 days of antibiotics and other prescriptions, follow up in 3 days. The next day was my birthday, guess what...didn't celebrate it. Instead took care of my little guy who had a temperature max of 105.8 degrees and would sweat and cough and look up at me like "help me mama, why do I feel this way!?!" After 3-4 days of antibiotics and alternating Tylenol, Ibruprofen, Benadryl, Chestal, Zarbee's, Vicks, Florastor, etc...we got him better. It's now been 6 days since any fevers. We're done with antibiotics. We survived.

Then we finally went out to celebrate my birthday. Benihana's (because I had a gift card from work).

Now we're back to being normal Brody Joseph Hall. Eatin' the chicken and tater tots, and doing his piano practice.

One Good Thing About 2010

Just FYI to all 2 of you who read this blog. Do NOT even THINK about bothering me on January 4th, and every night of The Bachelor there after. I will not be checking email, faxes, mail, my phone, the blog, bird pigeon messages, telegrams, or if you come to my door etc. All I have to say is: Yes Jake, I will accept this rose.

Why You Shouldn't...

Wake up at 3:45 a.m. to go to work on a Sunday morning. Work an 8 hour shift. Go straight to church. Wrestle children for 2 hours in primary. Head to choir practice where you can hardly keep your eyes open while your trying to play the piano and then you say, not thinking before you say it,

"When we sing the Gloria's in 'Angels We Have Heard on High' like that it sounds like an STD. You know the GLooooooooooooooo-RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR-EEEEEEEEEEEE-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA, It's just like gonorrhea

If You Give A Little Boy Prunes

Really, no explaination is needed. Just that I let him go crazy with the leftover baby food in the cupboard.

The New Game We Play

Brody loves to be in the middle of everything. I think it's first child syndrome where they spend so much time with adults, rather than other children that they constantly need the attention and notice of adults. I came up with this new solution to help Brody stay involved while I am making dinner. I get out the step stool and he crawls up, most of the time NOT safely, to the top.

He stands up and helps me stir and bang the utensils around while I cook. The other night I was making Taco Soup and he slopped the soup all over the place and had so much fun while doing it, I didn't even care that it took 13 Chlorox wipes to sanitize and clean the backsplash and floor.

What a good little helper boy!

Yes, It Would Be Easier To Go To A Lot

Not wanting to ever brake Hall tradition we loaded up the 4-wheelers, the saw, and a case of hand-warmers and set out Christmas tree hunting. Every year on the Saturday after Thanksgiving Blake drags me on a death march, on most occasions across canyons and up 30% grades looking for the perfect Christmas tree. This year though, we went to a different area up the canyon and found 2 of the most beautiful Christmas trees. Only once did I complain about the cold to which Blake replied, "It's all part of the experience Rus."
In years past we have scraped the crud out of one of the sides of the Christmas trees by dragging them back down the mountain, so this year, we wised up and straped it to the front of the 4-wheeler and stratigically positioned the other tree on a sled. Worked much better, I won't have to hide one side of the tree this year.

Blake always cuts down one tree, and I cut down the other. Thanks to Yoga and lifting my child I was able to cut down the tree quickly. Blake even commented on my "Yoga Master" muscles. (And the fact that the tree was really only like 4 inches around made it pretty easy.)

All that is missing is the beam of light from the heavens and the clouds parting signifying that the tree was meant to be cut down.