Sickness, Surgery, and Significant Memories

August was a crazy month for us. I kind of feel like we just skipped August and went straight to September! On Saturday, the 7th, we had a family reunion in St. Joe. On the 8th, I went to a baby shower in IN for my sister-in-law, who is expecting their 1st child. :-) On Monday, the 9th, I was exhausted...and just chalked it up to a busy weekend. Tuesday, though, I was just as tired, and couldn't figure out why. Wednesday afternoon, I started feeling like I was coming down with something...and by Thursday, I had a fever and my throat hurt so much I couldn't swallow anything, even my own drool. On Friday, I was so miserable I could barely get off the couch...but I did go to the doctor, who thought I might have mono. :-( Unfortunately, that Friday, Doug had back surgery to correct a herniated disk, so he couldn't take care of Elli, and I was so sick, I couldn't take care of her either! Thankfully, my parents came up for a few days to help, and then Doug's brother and sister-in-law and nephew came up for a couple of days. After that, we went to my parents' house for a week and half, so that I could rest and recuperate and they could help watch Elli. Doug spent 1 week of that time in Chicago at a conference, but Elli and I laid low at my parents' house the entire time. We did find out that I didn't have mono - apparently it was just a nasty flu-type virus of some sort. By the time we got home, it was almost September! Both Doug and I are in considerably better shape now, for which we are both thankful!

It's a toss-up as to who enjoyed the time at my parents' house more. Elli LOVED playing with her Pake and Nana, but I have a sneaking suspicion that her Pake and Nana loved it just as much. I thoroughly enjoyed having the ability to rest and recuperate fully, without trying to constantly keep up with my sweet, very active, 2 year old. :)

At times, while I was sick, I thought about how frustrating it was to be so sick that I couldn't really function, especially given that Elli is extra cute and fun at the moment. She says so many fun things, but I couldn't fully appreciate them! So, I decided I needed to write down some of my favorites to remember down the road. I posted some to Facebook, but here they are for me to enjoy at some later date:

1. August 1 - I watched Elli put her glasses on her stuffed bear. She said, "Bear. Glasses. See better."
   
   
2. August 4 - I was listening to Elli, who was supposed to be napping, play Ring Around the Rosie with her babies in her crib. "Ashes, Ashes, All Fall Down!"
   
   
3. August 5 - I heard Elli say "Santa Baby. Pretties in hair." And sure enough, she was trying to put "pretties" in Santa Baby's hair. Then when it wasn't working, I heard her tell Santa Baby to "Cooperate!"
   
   
4. August 6 - I heard Elli say "I can't get dis bwock in! I fwustwated!" (Translation: I can't get this block in! I'm frustrated!")
   
   
5. August 8 - We were standing in the bedroom at Dad & Lonna's, when Elli walked over to the register on the floor, stood on it, and proudly said, "I standin' on the rectangle!"
   
   
6. August 13 - I was at the doctor's office, and they were taking my blood pressure. Elli looked at it and said, "I have little pressure at home. Mama has big pressure at doctor's office," referring to the toy blood pressure cuff that she plays with in her medical kit at home.
   
   
7. August 14 - Elli asks me to do something. Then she says, "Mama too tired." That almost broke my heart. She was right - I was too tired and too sick to do anything, but I felt bad that I couldn't do what she wanted!
   
   
8. August 18 - Elli tells me "Yesterday, Amy stay couple a whiles." Translation: Amy stayed here for a few days. :-) She also has talked many times about how "Last night, Ronnie play sandbox with Elli." Apparently, anything that happened previously to her last sleep is "yesterday" or "last night".
   
   
9. August 18 and following - Elli's new favorite word is "Sorry." She says "Sorry" about 100 times per day. I don't even think that's an exaggeration. When I ask what is she "sorry" for, she generally says, "Sorry 'bout the kids" or "Sorry didn't mean to get you." But sometimes she doesn't know - she's just "sorry."
   
   
10. August 27 - Elli says, "Janelle Collins is Elli's mama. Nana is Janelle Collins' mama."
    
    
11. August 30 - I watched Elli open her children's story Bible. She flipped to the middle, then said, "I finding Jesus."
    
    
12. August 31 - I watched Elli sit down at an old broken computer (that we let her play with), saw her start typing, then heard her say "I checkin' my email."
    
    
13. September 1 - I heard Elli say "Swiper, that sneaky fox, swiped all of Elli's stuff!" Um...apparently somebody's been watching a little too much Dora!
    

I feel like there were many more that I missed, but these were a few of the quotes that, in the fog of illness, I didn't want to forget!