PLANS.........

Have I mentioned how they can change despite your best efforts and careful planning?

This week is another example of that.  But the good news is that things all turned out fine in the end.

First, Tuesday was James's 1st birthday.  We are so glad to have him in our family.  He is just a calm and happy baby.  Here is Scott cuddling him on his birthday.  We had plans to get together on Friday night to celebrate with them.  James was starting to get a cold which is never a good thing for the birthday day boy.

It was also, of course, the week of Valentine's Day.  Now Gary and I are not big celebrators of such holidays.  We may go out to eat, exchange cards or small gifts, or have friends over, but it is not a big thing.  That is especially true in a year like this one where Gary and I are taking a 9 day vacation in the fall to celebrate our 40th anniversary.  So the morning of Valentine's we were like "You didn't get me anything, right?  Because of the trip? Whew!"

We did send Valentines to our six grandchildren in the mail which the older three loved.  Niki is now checking the mail every day looking for more mail with his name on it.  Tosha and I decided that Niki and I are going to be Pen pals so he can enjoy more mail.  I am already planning my next letter for him.

Ben and Jena also sent us Valentines that they made:

From Jena:

Isn't that a darling idea with the puzzle pieces?

Ben colored the pictures below and gave them to us at our visit on Monday of this week:

Then this card came from Ben in the mail-- (It is fun to still get personal cards in the mail.)

So, even though we weren't big Valentine Day celebrators, I decided to take the day off so that Gary and I could go to the temple.  We made plans with his mom and his sister, Vonette and her husband, Gary to join us (Charon and Mike were in Hawaii with their adult children, so couldn't make it.  We felt sad for them NOT!)

We slept in a bit which always makes me feel like it is a holiday and then I headed to the dentist and then to get a badly needed haircut.  As I walked into the house, my phone beeped and it was a text from Scott--- the kind that you never want to see "James is headed to Primary's Children's..." and then I had to stop reading because Gary called out to me, "Hurry, Mom needs us, especially you."  and the rest of the text...."ER breathing issues." Scott and I texted back and forth while we made the quick trip over to Grandma Hall's.  She is one tough person and had taken care of everything pretty much by the time we got there.  Gary stayed with her to make sure that she was not having any more difficulties (they played a variety of games of poker, I understand, no money exchanging hands, however.)  And I headed home to wait for what Scott and Chantel needed next from me.

Scarlett spent the afternoon with friends and then with her Grandma Berenyi and I headed down to Primary's to wait in the ER while they waited for his room to be ready.  He actually was a happy boy and doing well with everything but his breathing was WAY too hard and too fast for a little guy.  The worry is that he might get too tired and just stop breathing.  I got to walk with him for a little bit while Scott and Chantel took a break and got some food.  Holding him and listening to him breath brought back lots of memories of sick kids.  Both Jena and Ben were both in the hospital at different times for lung problems. Jena actually was in this very ER (before the nice remodel) with two kinds of pneumonia.)

Although the doctor had indicated that he might be there for a few days, he only had to spend a day and got home on Thursday afternoon. Fortunately, he just used a little bit of oxygen in the early morning hours and then seemed to turn the corner and he is doing well now. 

I took off Thursday to spend the day with Scarlett.  I got to take her to preschool and pick her up afterwards....that brought back memories.  Little three year olds attended preschool in a cute little basement classroom of her teacher's home. 

We had so much fun together in the afternoon.  It has been awhile since I was alone with one grandchild.  I let her pick the activities and we had a busy schedule--toys, painting, books, singing, toys again, and finally she asked for a TV show. 

She was so happy to see her little brother at home when I dropped her off to join her family, but she had also had some fun times with both sets of grandparents and a friend.

We are so grateful that James had a short stay and required just a bit of extra help to get better as you can't help but be reminded that many families with sick children are there at the hospital for a long time and sometimes the outcomes are not what everyone wanted.

It was the best Valentine's gifts for us--Grandma Hall and James doing better.

Happy Valentine's Day to you---hope yours went as planned!