Week wrap-up

Not feeling organized enough to attempt a cohesive Seven Quick Takes, but it's been a post-deserving week, so here we go:

A) Matt was in Juneau for work from dark o'clock Monday morning until dark o'clock Friday evening, which was the longest I've parented solo since Kit was born. Under normal circumstances, I would have spent a bunch of time at my mom's house so Little Bear could play with my younger siblings, but they had the stomach flu going through their house all week, so we stayed home. And it actually went a lot better than it could have! Little Bear was helpful and well-behaved most of the time, and he and Kit both cooperated better at bedtimes than I'd had any right to expect. We're all SO glad to have Matt home now, though! 

2) Thursday morning saw us back in the clinic. Our pediatrician walked past and said hi while Kit was being weighed, then did a double take, put his head back around the corner, and asked, "Again?!?" Yes, I sighed, again. The upshot of that visit is that 

- I now have a better understanding of humoral vs T-cell mediated reactions in regard to allergies,

- I'm barred from soy as well as dairy, and

- he really would like us to have her seen by a pediatric gastroenterologist, but the closest one is a six hour drive away. So we're still trying to figure that out.

III) We feel ridiculous for admitting it, but -7 F felt bitterly cold today. This is January! We should be on the upswing from our first or second bout of -40s, reveling in these tropical temperatures, but instead we're wearing flannel and putting one more log on the fire, because the last couple of weeks have been right around 32 above and this feels so cold in comparison. Such a weird winter.

4) Most mornings this week, Little Bear and I found new photos of Juneau in my email from Matt. 

The mountains were beautiful, but there were a couple of pictures he had to explain to us: There was no snow in Juneau this week, but long ice crystals so heavily carpeted everything that each morning it looked like snow had fallen. 

E) I completely forgot to read and write about the 13th chapter of Luke this week, didn't I? Oops. And a new week, with a new chapter attendant, begins tomorrow... Okay, one quick thought. In Luke 13:21, Christ compares the Kingdom of God to yeast, which a woman mixes into "three measures of flour" until the whole dough is leavened. When I think about yeast, about dough and making bread, a few words come to mind. Patience: we have to wait for the yeast to proof, wait while the dough slowly rises. There's no way to make yeast hurry up; it goes as quickly as it does, and my timetable doesn't affect it a whit. Work: you don't just sprinkle yeast in the bowl, walk away, and come back to bread! The dough gets mixed, then kneaded—folding and turning and punching down, over and over again. Then after it's risen, it gets punched down again, before it can be formed into the proper shape. And thirdly, hidden activity: the yeast itself is working silently within the dough from the moment it's combined with the water, even though we can't always see movement or it seems to be taking forever. 

VI) Supper on Wednesday was supposed to be carnitas with homemade tortillas, which was absolutely ridiculous of me to write down for halfway through an entire week of not having Matt home. Supper on Wednesday was actually pigs in blankets with either sauerkraut (for me) or Swiss cheese (for Little Bear) wrapped up inside the pizza dough with the hot dog. If I could eat dairy right now, I think both of them together would probably have been good; as it was, the sauerkraut was definitely the best part of my supper.

I think there were more thoughts rattling around in my head from this week, but I'm too sleepy to come up with them right now. Too long of a week to be able to remember the week, or something like that. Have a good, hopefully restful, Sunday! We'll try to as well.