Griffin and Kevin worked on preparing Griffin’s first ever pinewood derby car over the last couple of weeks. Griffin decided he wanted a Buckeye car and he chose the thin shape for the car. They went to the hardware store and had it cut down and then got to work sanding and painting and assembling. They made a trip to Buckeye corner to purchase some OSU things and Kevin purchased weights and other items online. The night before the weigh in the troop sent out some info and in it suggested that nothing on the underside of the car not be flush with the underside! Arrgghh! The weights they built into the car were not flush on the bottom. So they went to work modifying the car and adding the weight to the top – the shiny silver oval which is where the “driver” now sits.

Grandma and Grandpa Armstrong had been in town helping care for the kids so early the morning of the Derby Kevin, Jim, and Griffin headed over. Not long after Kevin texted to say I better make my way there as Griffin’s heat was happening soon. I took Reid (not the best decision, but didn’t want him to miss out) and we arrived just a short bit before Griffin’s heat. Reid wondered around the gym and made friends with older kids and inserted himself with the big boys playing cars in the corner. This kid, he knows no stranger. Griffin’s car did super-great. He set a new track record, followed by another track record (as in he beat himself, lol). In the end, he competed against 3 other kids in the troop for the championship. It was a super-tight race – and he ended up winning the overall champion! The final calculations took some time as it was down to hundreds of a second I believe. We had one super happy (yet shy) champ!

 

Later that evening we celebrated at Finn’s chosen dinner spot: Roosters. Only a few short days later Griffin woke up with a mild fever. I gave him some Tylenol and it went away and never returned that day. On Friday, when I got home from work I felt his head and he felt warm and sure enough his fever was back. Since it was the start of the weekend, Kevin took him to the Children’s urgent care where the result of the swab was Influenza B.  Ugh.  We had plans to go to a Magic Show with several neighbor families. We ended up quarantining Griffin in his room starting Friday evening! He hung out in there, we delivered food and drink and medicine. He had the tablet on which we installed the Spectrum app so he could watch the Blue Jackets. Really, he had it made! Luckily his symptoms weren’t too bad though he did have issues on Saturday night where he threw up in his room and then had potty problems. I think went from not drinking enough to drinking too much hence the puking.  But after that he was fine the remainder of the weekend.  No fever, no meds.  Then on Sunday evening he felt a bit warm and darnit – his fever was back!  Ugh, no school on Monday for him either. But luckily, the fever never returned after one dose of medicine and he was back to his normal self.

This was Griffin’s excited face when he was finally allowed out of his room for a snack and a bit of outdoor fresh air with a short bike ride.

Kevin and Reid went on a date to the Magic Show with dinner first at the Spaghetti Warehouse!

Being home while Griffin was sick gave me some time to finally get Reid’s car seat flipped around in the van. Wahoo!

Next up, Reid wasn’t feeling well and had an on/off fever with no real other symptoms other than he wasn’t sleeping well. The last time he didn’t sleep well he had an ear infection, so I decided to take him in to get looked at. Sure enough, his ear infection from December was still around despite two different antibiotics. Next step: injection antibiotics for back to back days! Ugh, because of the dose they split it up into two shots (one in each leg). His first dose was Monday. On Tuesday’s recheck it was looking much better so we only had to have the second set of injections (thankfully not a third on Wednesday) and a follow up with an ENT at Children’s. He was a tough boy but he was NOT happy during and immediately after the shots. Poor boy!

This year I took the easy route and bought the kids Valentine boxes at Target for $5. Ones that they can easily assemble and customize. The Taco one is perfect for Griffin and the Monster is great for Reid. They decorated them with Haya during the day and each took them to school for their parties. We did make our own valentine cards though – Reid’s a school of fish (his preschool class is the Guppy class) and Griffin’s was an awesome word puzzle greeting where his classmates could find each of the words “Happy Valentine’s Day Your Friend Griffin Armstrong Heart Candy February Flowers Treat Hugs Card Chocolate”. Kevin put it together and it was awesome!

Thanks for the Valentine’s cookies Grandma and Grandpa Beilstein!

On actual Valentine’s Day Haya made the boys an everything “heart/pink” breakfast!

Reid had his first dental checkup – and somehow – he was cavity free! He and Griffin loved playing in the playspace before hand. Griffin was a champ and went first to show Reid the way. His teeth were in great shape too – no cavities. When it was finally Reid’s turn he was really reluctant. I ended up sitting with him in the chair and the hygienist was able to get through the entire teeth cleaning. Dr. Bob was able to check out all of Reid’s teeth and get lots of giggles out of Reid in the process. Overall it was a great trip!

Reid’s specialist ENT appointment at Dublin Children’s showed that he still had some fluid in his ears, which isn’t abnormal after an infection. At this point it is what happens to the fluid – if the infection comes back, which the doctor thought we just need to give it some more time. If the infection reappears, we may then consider tubes. For now it is wait and see.

When playing with his neighborhood buddy Miles recently they each designed their own CBJ jersey’s to wear while playing hockey! And here are a few of Griffin and Reid from awhile back to now – they’re both growing up quickly! And another from google of 10 years ago (yikes!) when Mom and Dad helped me move into my house. Crazy it has been 10 years.

Kevin also got a message from Rafael that Base22 had met and was able to officially extend an offer to Kevin! They had been in discussions for some time, but this was the official vote needed to extend Kevin an offer.  Yippeeee!