Forty-Four

Grandpa and Grace

Paul turned 44 years old two days ago! He drove back to Maryland in my mom's car on Thursday morning, and the Benners returned to Maryland from Virginia that afternoon. All twenty-two of us were together for about twenty-one hours, although I was in bed for eleven of those hours due to being really sick. Paul had a special birthday breakfast of Captain Crunch cereal. It's one of his three most favorite cereals, and I very rarely buy it. He had a very special birthday lunch as my dad took Paul, Maurice, and Joe to Outback Steakhouse. All four men really love steak! It was Maurice's last meal in the US, as he started his flights back to Brazil that evening. I was amazed he was able to enjoy eating steak, as Maurice had a root canal on Thursday. We were down to 15 people around the table for his birthday dinner, but that is still more than are usually with us to celebrate his birthday! We had spaghetti with meatballs, green beans with almonds, and garlic bread, which is definitely one of Paul's favorite meals. Yvonne made two delicious pies - cherry and blueberry. Paul had brought most of his birthday presents to Maryland, so he was able to open those on Friday morning. I gave him one last present yesterday morning (a Penn State sweatshirt). I had planned to make white chocolate macadamia nut cookies for his birthday; I had already purchased the nuts. I wasn't up for that task yesterday, but my fever is gone so I made his cookies today. Better late than never! I also made some brownies, and I told the kids that the cookies were only for Daddy.

Playing Uno

The drive home from 6:45-10:15pm wasn't the highlight of his birthday, but we were very grateful to be back in our own bedrooms that night. The previous night Ian slept in bed with us because his fever was so high, and Oliver's pack 'n play was in our room as well. I got almost no sleep that night between my very high fever, Ian's hot body kicking me, and an almost constant chorus of coughing between Ian, Oliver, and myself. I can say with assurance I have never been sicker on Paul's birthday (since I've known him). On New Year's Eve I unknowingly ate sausage in some spaghetti. I am allergic to sausage. It causes me to spend a lot of time in the bathroom. Then on top of that I had a very high fever (I went to bed under my sheet, blanket, and comforter on Friday night wearing my winter coat and kept it on almost all night if that's any indication), very sore throat, headache, and cough. I had little voice on Friday and Saturday. Last night I went to bed at 7:30pm with an extra quilt instead of my winter coat, and I was in bed for eleven hours straight. Today my voice has started to come back, but now I sound like I could sing bass in a choir, although actually the thought of singing anything causes me to wince in pain. Friday was the last of the intestinal problems, and now I know to ask before eating any spaghetti to make sure there isn't any sausage in it.



Nadia and Rachel both have the same size 11.5 Dora sneakers!

Nadia and Paul both succumbed to the bug so we are all sick at the moment. Nadia and Paul didn't get the fever that Ian, Oliver, and I had. Paul only has a sore throat, but it doesn't hurt him to talk (yet anyhow). It felt like my throat was being ripped to shreds every time I had to utter a word yesterday. Nadia has a little bit of a cough and a runny nose. You can tell Oliver, Nadia, and I have been blowing our noses a lot because the skin around our noses is bright red. Oliver's nose is still a little runny, but the nurse in the anesthesia department on

Six kids enjoying an iPad app together

Friday said that as long as he didn't have a fever and his cough wasn't constant, his surgery wouldn't be rescheduled. Originally my parents planned to come up to watch Nadia and Ian tomorrow, but that was before they knew my sister and her family would be staying with them until January 10. Paul's parents volunteered to come instead, but I don't think Paul's mom should be near all these germs. I would feel horrible if she ended up back in the hospital because they spent the day with Nadia and Ian. The current plan is for Paul to stay at

Paul's birthday dinner!

home with Nadia and Ian, and I will take Oliver to Philadelphia. It's a three hour drive each way, and we'll probably be at the hospital for about eight hours. We're supposed to arrive by 10am. I plan to leave at 6:45am. He's allowed to have apple juice until 8am, and after that he can't have anything. Hopefully he'll take a nice long morning nap in the Prius on the way there. Prayers for a successful surgery are greatly appreciated. The best possible outcome would be an uneventful surgery in which Dr. Canning is able to complete the entire repair tomorrow (otherwise he'll need a second surgery in 6 months).

Paul and Oliver napping on Saturday

Normally I am in super charged mode when we get back from Christmas, but I couldn't move at my that pace yesterday due to being really sick. I did two loads of laundry, one load of dishes, unpacked our suitcases, went grocery shopping, and took almost all the Christmas decorations down to the basement yesterday. Today I finished putting away the Christmas decorations and our new gifts. I put a few things in the basement to make room for some of the new toys.

These three cousins each have two missing teeth

Ian loved snuggling with Grandma, especially when he wasn't feeling well.