February

February 2012:

Daddy/Daughter date night for D and Anna - a corsage, dinner, and the ballet.

Daddy/son bonding for D and James at Monster Jam - complete with dinner at 5 Guys with a good friend and his son.

Super sweet Pinkalicious party for one of the most precious little girls I know.

Icky fever virus for Jack - four days of  fever + grumpy 2 1/2 year old.

The baptism of a beautiful girl (Baptist - not Episcopal - meaning she made the important decision about her faith of her own will, with her own mind, and her own heart).

Valentines Day - goodies for the kiddos, dinner at home + sick and grumpy 2 1/2 year old.

Annual Parish Weekend to Kanuga in the mountains above Hendersonville, NC + sick 2 1/2 year old whose virus that we thought had improved turned to pneumonia - scaring the living crap out of the urgent care doctor we first saw who sent us to the ER, thus scaring the living crap out of D and I, and followed with a complete debacle/disaster with our own local pediatrician's office - because we needed some extra drama, because having a 2 1/2 year old with a ridiculously high heart rate + low blood oxygen levels wasn't enough fun in and of itself.

James turning 5 - his actual birthday fell on the Sunday following Jack's shenanigans at the ER, meaning the birthday boy had the short end of the stick, but did manage to enjoy opening his presents, going to the local pizza parlor for dinner (his restaurant of choice -  where he was too tired from the parish weekend to eat one bite), and blowing out the candles on his Baskin-Robbins ice-cream cake (that he refused to take one bite of as well, that in all actuality, he didn't even want, but my mommy-guilt pushed me into purchasing because he HAD to blow out candles of some sort on his birthday.)

(more to come on my sweet boy turning 5 later)

Jack's pneumonia keeping him out of school for an entire week - following on the heels of my being out the week before with him with the virus that turned into pneumonia = zero credibility for me at work.

James' superhero birthday party - complete with a visit from the Riddler who tried his best to steal away the birthday fun.

Me missing my mom - and feeling with all my heart her absencee - as we celebrated yet another passing year in the life of my child that she was not a part of.  And feeling the ache and sadness that becomes overwhelming when my child's birthday goes by un-recognized by her (not through her own fault - that would be my stepdad - who is making it crystal clear that we don't exist in his world - but I know - I KNOW - that if she could - she would be celebrating along with us - or at least making note of his special coming of age.)

And that's February 2012 in a nutshell.