First and foremost, thank you everyone for your prayers for Cody's financial aid appeal! It has been accepted pending a meeting with a financial aid counselor. But before he does that, he needs to officially change his major over to the business school (he's decided to become a paralegal, for those who didn't know) and figure out if they'll still let him go for an associate degree or if he needs to do the bachelor program. His first meeting is this afternoon, so we'll keep you posted! Yay, he's going back to school!
Joshua got sick over the weekend =( He had seemed fine for the majority of it, but soon after church on Sunday, I noticed he started feeling quite warm to the touch. Cody had to work that day (he only has to work one Sunday a month, which is nice--and he got to go to church with us, which was even nicer), so Kirsti and Rich came over to have dinner with me and play games. Joshua had seemed pretty lethargic and a lot more cuddly than usual all afternoon, laying his head on my shoulder and being very clingy to his mommy. I had stripped him down to his diaper, but he was still super warm. I finally took his temperature around 6:30, and it was 102.6. No wonder he was so hot! I called the pediatrician's office and they made an appointment for 7:30 that night. It's a good thing Kirsti and Rich were there, because they were able to drive to Target and bring back the car so I could take Joshua in (thanks so much, guys!). Our game night was cut short, but they did manage to make us some awesome stir-fry =).
Luckily, Joshua didn't have an ear infection or strep throat or anything. The pediatrician on call said it looked like it was just a virus, and that all we could do was keep him on Tylenol and Motrin and give him lots and lots of fluids. He slept a lot all evening and the next day (I stayed home from work all day Monday and Tuesday morning, since I am the source of his fluids, after all), and his fever finally seemed to break yesterday morning. His temperature is still a little elevated, but he'll be fine. He's a lot more fussy than usual now, though--I think it's because he finally has the energy to cry. He was such a good little trooper during the worst of it, smiling at the doctor and just laying there quietly as I rocked him and kept a cool washcloth on his back. Now that the fever has gone down, I think he still doesn't feel well so he fusses and cries a lot. But I'm so glad he's on the mend!
Yesterday and today are pretty special days for us...yesterday marked three years since Cody and I met and had our first date, and five years ago today I entered the CTM (Centro de Treinamento Missionário) in São Paulo, Brazil. Both of these days bring back so many memories...
On October 29, 2003, I remember arriving in the São Paulo-Guarulhos Interntaional Airport after an overnight flight from Atlanta, Georgia, going through customs, taking a bus through the crazy traffic-filled streets on our way to Casa Verde, entering the CTM, getting a companion (if she reads this, Hi, Sister McMurdie!), moving in, meeting our district (44-A--five of us going to Brasília and four going to Belo Horizonte), eating our first Brazilian meal (kind of), and finally crashing for the night. My mission changed my life. I'm so grateful for that time and for the things I learned, and I'm eager to pass on those memories to my children.
On October 28, 2005, just about six months after returning home from that mission, I went on a blind date with a man named Cody Alleman. We had texted back and forth a few times since he had asked me out via email earlier that week (for those that don't know, we met through an online social network called ldslinkup), and we found out we only lived about five minutes from each other. I had gone to a BYU soccer game that night, and he came to pick me up afterwards. We ended up getting tickets to an after-midnight showing of The Brothers Grimm at Movies 8, had shakes from the Malt Shoppe, played Yahtzee in his apartment, and went to the movie, where Cody boldly held my hand and definitely showed me he was interested in me. The months after that are unlike any I've ever known, and I'm so grateful to know that, now, I am married to this man who treats me like a queen and is a wonderful daddy to our son.
Anyway, I'm just rambling now, so...here's a cute picture to end this post. I believe I took it on my way to go get groceries one night, or maybe before leaving for work one day...sorry for the poor quality (once again, gotta love cell phone pictures). For those that haven't been to our house, the stairs lead down to our front door, because we live on the top floor of a duplex:
I just love that little guy. And the big guy. The two most important men in my life =)
And here is our little lion! Isn't he adorable?
And this last one--instead of putting the candy, Joshua put the wrapper in his mouth. This is me trying to fish it out:
Oh, and funny story: Joshua and I sat outside on the front porch to wait for trick-or-treaters, and I let Joshua crawl around a little. As a woman and her costumed son were approaching our driveway, I heard the woman say, "That's not real! Oh, wait...that's a baby!" Apparently she saw Joshua crawling around and thought he was a toy! I guess his crawling just looked too methodical or something? But I assured her he is quite real and she said he looked very cute. We got a lot of comments on his costume. Don't you think he makes quite the darling little lion cub? =)
