This Too, Shall Pass...

Okay, so I should not have insinuated that there would a part 2 to my Holiday Recap. Enough time has lapsed since the holidays and my last post that it now seems ridiculous to write another post about Christmas or New Years. Moving on...Soren, Sofie, and I were lucky enough to spend last week with my family at a beach house in Coronado Island. We woke up every morning to this...
It was nice and relaxing, especially after all the hubbub of the holidays. Soren loves the beach. Of course the water was too cold to get in any deeper than our toes, but Soren loved it nonetheless.So, you don't even have to look too closely at that last picture to notice the boogies running out of Soren's nose. This leads me into the latest at the Theurer household. After an 8 1/2 hour (what should have really been 6) drive home last Friday, Soren and I spent late Friday night at the urgent care only so he could be diagnosed with Pink Eye. Gotta love it! On top of that, he had a whopper of an ear infection that initially went unnoticed because he hasn't had a fever or complained about it at all. Let's just say that it's WWIII every time he needs eye drops (every three hours), and the not-so-pleasant side effects of his antibiotic (diarrhea/diaper rash) have already set in. The poor guy. He really has been a trooper. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a healthy February. I'm tired of being quarantined to the house.

P.S. My Christmas decorations are still up. This should give you an idea of the shape I'm in. :)

Holiday Recap, Part 1

Long time, no post. I realize that it's been a while since my last post. The holidays are a crazy time, and when you're sick they are even crazier than anticipated. However, I am somewhat relieved to report that the sickness that befell my family and all our house guests skipped over myself and Sofie. Thankfully we were all feeling somewhat ourselves when Christmas Day arrived and we had a nice one at that. This year was the first time that Soren really go into opening presents. It took him a while to warm up, however. The morning started by Soren handing me each one of his presents and asking me to "open-nen it for me". (It seems that now several of his words come with an extra syllable.) By the end, he was opening them himself, casting each present aside, and asking for another. We got started on the festivities a little late because we spent the morning talking on the phone with Nate's brother and sister who are both serving missions in Brazil. By the time we finally got around to opening presents, it was close to Soren's naptime. So, you can imagine what a hardship it was for Soren to put down his new toys and take a nap. The look on his face in the following picture says it all.

I think he finally conceded when we told him he could take his new Spider Man to bed with him. By the way, I have come to the conclusion that each Christmas will now most likely be categorized based on the most predominant theme running trough his presents. This Christmas was a Spider Man Christmas. Perhaps next year we can better teach him the true meaning of Christmas. :) We got off to a bumpy start, but a good time was had by all. Thank you to everyone who brought by yummy treats. I'm pretty sure I ate most of them without any help. I'm sorry I did not make the rounds myself. I thought better of it when "The Sickness" took over my household. Hopefully I can get you all on the next big holiday. Stay tuned for a few more of the highlights.

The Joys of Parenthood

This entry is not meant to scare any of you prospective mothers, but I feel the need to share my experience so that perhaps I can laugh at it myself after I've put some distance between me and the last few days. In order to fully appreciate this rendering, I should start by explaining a few things about myself.

First- After becoming a parent, I was pleasantly surprised to discover a high tolerance for things that might otherwise give me a queasy stomach. For example, I didn't really flinch when my kid handed me his soggy, half-eaten cracker and I popped it in my mouth because I didn't have a garbage can handy. And I didn't think twice the time my kid pooped in the bath tub and made the polite request, "Uh-oh mommy, fix it." I went right into 'fix-it mode' and picked that piece of poop right out of the bath tub. (I should be embarrassed to admit this, but it comes with the territory of being a mother. You do things that you might not otherwise admit to.) For some inexplicable reason, things aren't so disgusting when they come from such a little person that you love in such a big way.

Second- For more than two years now I have dreaded that day when my kid comes down with the flu. We have managed to dodge that bullet several times (including the time I had the flu when I was seven months pregnant with Sofie, Nate was out of town, and I was left all alone to take care of myself and Soren). I would much rather have the flu myself than have Soren get it. I have dreaded having to clean up throw up and what comes there after. No matter how cute your kid is, it's the one thing I knew I wouldn't be able to stomach.

With that being said, you may now understand how interesting the last few days have been. Soren finally fell victim to the flu bug, and it has been a very sobering/comical experience to have. Thankfully, the first incident occured while we were standing on the kitchen tile. My bare feet were the only minor casualty as Soren informed me with tears in his eyes, "Mommy, I throwed up." After that, Nate decided to keep him in the kitchen watching a video on the computer for the duration. (Don't worry, he was isolated enough that the computer was safe. I would have taken a picture, but to be honest, it was the last thing on my mind.) Neither of us wanted to be scrubbing this out of the carpet or furniture. After five 'incidents,' Soren concluded, "Daddy, throwing up not fun." My poor, sweet boy. I will spare you the nauseating details that followed. Needless to say, we survived the crisis and we are all the wiser/more experienced for it.

Patriots vs. BYU

Soren has recently expressed a desire to play football with his dad on the XBOX. I didn't think an interest in video games would start for a few more years. Little did I know...

As the game was loading, Soren looked over at Nate and said, "Dad, you be Patriots. I be BYU." Now, if that doesn't make a father proud, I'm not sure what will.

A-ning-a-no No More

My sweet little boy is growing up. It's hard to admit, but some of the sweetness is being buried by the "terrible twos". Despite the impression that he might give to everyone as of late, I promise you his sweetness is still in there. It breaks my heart to think that he might give anyone the impression that he is anything else other than sweet. I am also sad to report that a lot of his Soren-isms are disappearing as he gets a better grasp of the English language. Here are just a few to give you an example:

Soren: a-ning-a-no (my personal favorite)
AKA: another

Soren: Lucky Arms
AKA: Lucky Charms

Soren: soda pop-pop
AKA: soda pop

Soren: hos pu-tul-pu-tul-pu-tul-pu-tul
AKA: hospital

Soren: coco
AKA: Chocolate Milk

I also have to admit that I think my son is a pretty bright kid. I know all parents inevitably say this about their offspring, but I really think mine is a smart little whip. He knows his colors, his letters, and he can now count to ten if he's in a cooperative mood. However, it has never occured to him that if he pushes a chair across the floor to the kitchen counter or even the pantry, he will have access to things that are otherwise off limits....until now that is.


I fear this is only the beginning of more mischievousness to come.

Sofie's Big Day

Nate blessed Sofie in church this past Sunday. I know I've said it before, but Sofie definitely exhibits the temperament of a stereo-typical redhead. She is feisty and full of sass, and in true Theurer fashion, she screamed through the entire blessing just like her brother did when he was blessed. And of course she slept like an angel for the rest of the meeting. We still love her! Here are a few pics highlighting the day:
This is not a great picture of the four of us, but none of them really turned out. We'll have to work on that before we get family pictures done professionally.

My little cuddle-bug!

Mark Madness

This post is a little outdated, but I wanted to give a quick shout-out to everyone who supported my family in the JDRF Walk this year! Thank You! You know who you are! The walk was a huge success and as you can see we had a great time. The Phoenix walk raised $2.3 million this year. We are already looking forward to next year. It was a great way to honor my dad and all that he's had to endure with this disease. Go Team Mark Madness!

My Cute Dad

You can't see my dad in the picture below. He's the one holding the "Be a Hero" sign. My brothers took turns pushing him in his wheel chair for the entire walk (3.2 miles). This was no easy task considering the walk had a few hills. My dad was moved to tears.

At the beginning of the walk we were like cattle moving in a herd, there were so many people. It was amazing to witness all the people who had been affected by this disease in one way or another.

We love our Papa!