Thursday, February 13, 2020

Brenson is Eight Years Old!

This past Monday, Brenson turned eight years old! Every single birthday my kids celebrate is exciting and wonderful, but is also hard on this Momma's heart. Watching them grow is the most bittersweet thing! I wonder if I'll always feel this way?

Sadly, this birthday wasn't the best for Brenson, and it certainly wasn't what we thought it would be. It was still good, but we have had a serious season of sickness in our house (since last October!) and I am so weary of it! I have thought often of parents who struggle with life-threatening or chronic illnesses in their children, and I seriously think they must be the strongest parents out there. 

I had written in this post about how we were so happy to have a good snow, but that the twins and I had all been sick during that time. Thankfully, I recovered after a couple of days, although I continued to feel tired and sluggish for about a week. Last Thursday evening - after the twins had already had a fever for about a day - Brenson also began to feel bad and run a fever. On Friday, it was worse, and he spent much of the night coughing. His cough always make me nervous with his history (and especially recent history) of pneumonia, so Saturday morning Chris and I decided to have him and the twins seen at our pediatrician's Saturday clinic. All three of them tested positive for Flu A 😢. While we were so thankful it wasn't pneumonia again, the flu isn't what we wanted to be dealing with either. Like I said above, it's been a rough season, and I'm just so tired of being sick!

As a side-note, the Sunday prior to me getting sick (on Wednesday), our friend Ross was at church not feeling well with what he thought were allergies. He found out on Monday that it was actually the flu. We seem to pass junk back-and-forth with them, so I was only a little surprised the flu made a visit to our house, too!

The kids were all diagnosed with the flu on Saturday, February 8th. We knew then that any plans we had for Bren's birthday (such as taking cupcakes to school or going skating) would have to be changed. Sometimes life is just like that.

Often on the eve of my kids' birthdays, I sneak into their room and just soak them up for a minute. Bren actually slept in our room (so I could monitor his cough) on the eve of his birthday, but I still want to remember all the details about my sweet, sleeping seven year old boy 💙. I love that he still snuggles the Littlefoot I had as a kid every night . . . I know those days are numbered and I don't want to forget them.

Thankfully, Brenson woke up on his birthday feeling better than he had in days. He hadn't been fever free (or feeling well) for 24 hours, so we decided to keep him home from school along with the twins. Chris also took the day off work to spend with us as he sometimes does for the kids' birthdays.

While Brianna was at school for the day, Bren discovered his new bike and bow and arrow. Just what he wanted!

This is the face of an excited boy!


Happy 8th birthday!

Our morning was pretty low-key. Bren did take his new bike for a spin, but after just one lap around the neighborhood he was out of energy. He did some reading, played with LEGO, and watched a bit of TV. 

While we certainly wished he felt better, we were happy he was out of bed!

For lunch, Bren requested Whataburger. We were happy to oblige since his appetite has been a struggle for some months now!

After lunch, we all took a nap before picking Bri up from school. Once she got home, Bren wanted to open his wrapped gifts, so that's what we did!

He was Where's Waldo? for Halloween last fall, so this card was just perfect!

We have an old Wii gaming system that we purchased before we had kids. Bren really enjoys it, and the best thing about it is that we can purchase games for it for super cheap at the local used gaming store. Win!

For his birthday dinner, Bren requested spaghetti and meatballs. I wasn't sure if he'd feel up for eating, but I went ahead and fixed the dinner he wanted. He enjoyed one plate (whereas normally he'd enjoy two or even three), but I was just happy he ate!

Brianna, Brenson, Brecklyn, and Brooke

For dessert, Bren didn't want cake, cupcakes, or even pie. He requested ice cream sandwiches, so that's what he got (complete with Batman plates and napkins)! Easy enough for me and made the birthday boy very happy!


One of Bren's birthday gifts was Uno Attack. After dinner, we enjoyed several games as a family.

Brenson, Daddy, and Brianna

Brecklyn, Brooke, and Momma

The day after Bren's birthday, Chris had to go out of town for work for several days. The Wednesday following his birthday, we met Grampy and G-Jo at our local Mexican restaurant for dinner before Bible study like we normally do. They hadn't seen any of us since we had gotten sick, so they brought Bren's birthday gifts to the restaurant. Our waiter noticed, and rounded up several of the waitstaff to sing Happy Birthday to Bren and bring him sopapillas. He even got to wear a sombrero and have whipped cream on his face :-). We never know how Bren will react to things like this, but he was a great sport and dare I say even enjoyed it! I took the photo below to send to Chris as proof that our boy is growing up!

While things were different than we anticipated, we still had a good time celebrating our boy. We are so grateful for all the joy he brings to our family, and we are looking forward to another great year with him 💙!


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