In the midst of Christopher’s hospital adventure (posted here), regular life still happened. Jason turned 45 in October and promptly celebrated with his first colonoscopy. Where I was already at my absolute anxiety max, he rolled with it like a champ. He’s certainly wired differently than I am.
October brought an end to our dahlia season as we had our first freeze on the 21st. I got a bit behind cutting during the hospital stay, so although I could have easily done over 400 bouquets this season, a good number of October’s blooms became an art therapy project on the kitchen floor. Admittedly it was pretty fun. I left it there for a day or two while we were going back and forth to the hospital and William and Andrew just walked around it like it had always been there. They just figure “mom’s doing something weird with flowers again”, and go about their day.
The end of October felt like a milestone when we made it to Halloween and everyone was well enough to go trick-or-treating. It was notable for being the last day that Chris used the wheelchair we had borrowed. With one bum shoulder and one sore heel, we had it on hand for a couple weeks so he didn’t have to walk to and from the school each day and in case we needed to actually get anywhere quickly. For Halloween the boys were dressed as a ninja, a headless horseman, and Perry the Platypus. (Writing this post 3 months later, I had to look at photos to remember what they dressed as…that’s the kid of Fall we had). The older two both went trick-or-treating with friend groups. Andrew made one quick trip down the block and then happily handed out candy at the house for the remainder of the night.
November was unusually warm. We did a lot of garden clean up and the yard is probably the most cleaned up it has ever been for winter. A winter that never really seems to have arrived. The dahlias were neatly divided and packed away in the garage and the flowerbed debris was trimmed and bagged. We raked 16 contractor bags of leaves from our front trees and hauled them off to the city park leaf dumpsters. I put up some privacy screen to potentially help the neighbors’ dogs not have a stroke every time they see us. We even managed to get the newly planted grass well established and pavers back down…I’d say “before snow”…but again it hasn’t really snowed. At least we were well prepared.
November for Chris was a series of lab draws, follow up appointments, physical therapy exercises and remembering to take antibiotics 3x/day. The school nurse did 1 dose at school (which was super helpful) and we were REALLY good at remembering right up until the last week. Happily he graduated from the watchful eyes of the infectious disease team and finished the last of his antibiotics around December 1st.
For Thanksgiving we got the treat of seeing the California cousins! The kids all get along so well I wish we got to see them more often. My SIL hosted at their new AirBnb and we took in a Utah vs BYU volleyball game after dinner that evening. Maybe with their AirBnb in Utah we’ll see them more often? I hope so!
So far ski season has been sort of a bust. Some combination of Jason, Autumn, Lee and the boys have made it out 4 or 5 times, but the early season was too warm to make snow and we haven’t had much in the way of good storms. I guess we can’t all ski powder all the time. Jason has the patience of a saint in getting the boys all loaded up and up the mountain each trip–for the amount we have invested in ski passes and equipment you’d think they’d fly out of bed and happily help load up the car, but they’re still tween boys and unhelpful at best. Spoiled.
December was a mixed bag of sorts. The weather was unnervingly warm. Christmas felt impossible to shop for. My gym trips were consistent, but my body felt unusually sore and tired. My MIL had a health scare and spent some time in the hospital. It was another month of trying to keep my chin up and look on the bright side. To manage, I went to my therapy appointments and tried to lean into some service and self care. I had lunch with friends. I meal prep’d for my in-laws to take some burden off of them. I got a massage and a pedicure. I did some artsy Christmas projects and sewed more bandanas for our cats than anyone should have. I made little gifts for my neighbors and friends. We enjoyed Christopher’s winter flute recital (he continues to improve!)
Christmas itself was pretty good. We unexpectedly got a second holiday with California cousins who made a last minute trip to check on Grandma (and we didn’t take a single photo!). Everyone was mostly happy and healthy during Christmas break and even though I felt completely lost in buying Christmas gifts this year the boys all seemed to enjoy their gifts.
This year Santa brought me a new fish tank. Actually black Friday brought me a new fish tank because the seals on our old one were starting to fail. After staring at the new fish tank taking up space in our living room for a month, my Christmas wish was for Jason to drop everything for a day and help me get the fish moved…which he happily did…possibly because at one point we had 3 fish tanks simultaneously taking up space. (Pictured from left to right –1) the new fish tank patiently waiting with cats inside, 2) the kitchen fish tank housing baby fish for a few days until the new tank was ready, 3) In process of moving fish where the old and new tank were up simultaneously, and 4) the official ‘before’ (top) and ‘after’ (bottom).)
In 2026 I’m going to keep leaning into the self care. I’m trying to be more mindful of all the blessings our family has. I’m going to do my best to take care of my friends, family, and community in the midst of it all and I encourage all of you to do the same! Happy 2026!
