Achy feet & a full heart

What a long day it has been! Got up early and rushed to get Julian and I ready as well as wake up hubby and make sure he stays on track with time! Julian had another bad night, fever, coughing, not being able to breathe and constantly climbing on top of me whenever he woke up (which was all night long) so of course I was fresh as the Freshbeat Band this morning *yawn* will I ever be able to sleep through a whole night again??

In the end we managed to leave at 8:30 am, all five of us squeezed into my car. We offered to take a second car in case Aunt Mary and Uncle John wanted to stay longer at Busch Gardens as I was planning on leaving to take Julian home for a much needed nap right after lunch. I felt bad enough taking him out while he had a fever two nights in a row now and coughed worse than yesterday. But hubby was so excited to take his relatives out... Oh well. At least Julian has been full of energy as always.

9:15 we got to Busch Gardens, a breezy 58°F but lots of sun and blue skies. $172 later Hubby and I got our Annual Passes and the little one got in free. First stop: breakfast. Croissant and hot chocolate for moi, cookies and soda for hubby and relatives, chocolate milk and some of daddy's cookie for Julian. Oh daddy is such a great example for him *sigh*

Right away we had great luck, it wasn't overly crowded and we first were able to watch three gorillas up front playing and frolicking around. Separated from us by only a glass wall - amazing! I think my favorite part was the little "freche" (I miss some German and some Thai words!) young gorilla flicking the silverback's balls and running away screaming and grinning as the silverback lashed out in annoyance lol oh yeah, where else can you see this??

The lions were out and roaming again just separated from us by a window, the hippos were feeding and swimming right by us, it's so fascinating to watch, so amazing to be so close.

And amazing to see Julian watch them, his eyes light up, his own amazement, the "whoaaaaaa", the excitement and wondering when he turned from a baby into this amazing two and a half year old? Just in the past three months he started talking like crazy and each day he says and knows more and more. I marvel at how much he has been soaking up all along, marvel at how apparently the endless stream of talking "at" him, reading to him, pointing things out to him have mattered and are paying off now. Last night we listened to "Twinkle twinkle little star" and he wanted to suddenly sing it with me, which he never does, and I had tears in my eyes because he sang it soooo cute, of course mostly wrong and only getting a few of the words right, but he was just so happy and proud of himself and had so much fun singing with mommy that I felt an overwhelming love for him. Can I possibly fall more in love with my baby?? Julian always sang the last word in each line with passion lol... "tinkle tinkle.... Staaaaaar..... wonder.... You aaaaaaare.... World.... Hiiiiiiigh.... Diamond.... Skyyyyyyyyyyyy"

Back to today, sorry I can get lost :) Julian enjoyed the sky ride, the train ride, and just running around having fun! He really was a really good boy, only the last 20 min he got more whiny. But that was at 3:30pm after having had a 5 min nap only all day long. His fever was gone, hardly any coughing, and since yesterday attached to Uncle John and Aunt Mary. Of course he passed out in the car on the way home and I had to wake him at 5:20 pm. He did eat quite a bit of his Hawaiian pizza but just had a bad cranky evening poor baby. Broke down when daddy didn't take him along with Uncle John to pick up the pizza, cried when he bumped his foot on his pirate ship right before dinner, fell apart when he bumped his forehead on the table when he leaned down to talk to Sushi (our cat) during dinner, cried at something else after dinner and fell apart before bath time because the shower head was on. Each time yelling "mommy, mommy" and coming to me with his arms stretched out whining "oom" (Thai for pick me up). Oh yes, of course it breaks mommy's heart!

Fever of course spiked again this evening at 101.2°F but now feels like around 99.6°F. More coughing again... With guests in the house and sick he spent the second night in our bed. And I couldn't help but giggle out loud when Julian mimicked his dad's snorring sounds each time his daddy started snorring. There I am telling Julian to be quite, no more talking... And my little clown has to make snorring noises copying his daddy! Ok so my laughing set him back another 15 min, of course he had to laugh too once he heard me giggle :) oh how I love my little boy... and the big boy aka hubby too :)

So now I am laying in bed with my feet propped up on a pillow (or two or three), my feet and my legs are achy from running around all day (shame on me), but I'm happy and my heart is full. Yes, despite my little one being sick... he is the love of his daddy's and my life!