Midway

I shall now attempt to document a little bit of what Corey and the kids did when Peter and I were in the hospital over the weekend. After Peter was admitted last Friday, I was told that he was likely going to be staying in the hospital for 4-5 days. I called Corey to relate that news to him. An hour later he left a voice message for me - I could tell he was in the van with some kids. He told me that he "consulted with his mental health professional" who told him he couldn't stay home, so he had loaded up some of the children (WALSNOD) and they were off to take refuge in the mountains (aka Midway timeshare). Here are some pictures of their stay. A little bit before 5:00 - watching tv while Corey probably making dinner

...I was able to figure that out since they were eating a few minutes after that pic was taken.

Lucky kids - they are eating out of the kitchen! Not that they follow that rule at home.

At 7:00 everyone was swimming in the pool.

Owen likes to go swimming.

More tv watching after swimming was over -

And everyone watched themselves to sleep...

More tv the next morning. People weren't feeling very well, so it wasn't much of a vacation. 

Corey said "There's lot of coughing and tissues on the floor, but I think it's better for my mental health to be here." You will notice Owen is not present in the picture above. That might have been taken around the time that Corey called my phone on Saturday morning. I had just gotten home from the hospital to check in on our teens and to grab some things. I was sitting on the stairs with Hyrum as I talked to Corey. I wrote down the conversation right after it happened cause it made me laugh - there was screaming in the background and Corey let me know the reason for the gnashing of teeth that I was hearing... "I'm in hell" he said, "...but its' contained." He continued, "Owen wants to talk to you..." and he passes the phone to Owen, who it seems actually does not want to talk to me and just cries and screams for Corey. I try to talk to him "Owen!! Owen!! How are you?" Soon Corey takes back the phone and lets me know "He wants his binky..." "Oh no, did you leave it at home?" "No, I have it...." Ah, so this is a self imposed hell? "Well, he also wants to hold hands all day...." and that made laugh out loud, as I remembered Owen cuddling up to him the day before and Corey's look of exasperation...

Oh Owen, my poor Corey, what can we do to help the two of you have a functional relationship? I hope this isn't a sign of drama between the two of you in the teen years to come. Then Corey seemed to beg for mercy -  "I can't handle kids! Can we have a nanny or a nurse do this? I can take them when they're 8 or 10, but I don't think I should see them before then..." I was laughing, but I know he was also being serious. But we're almost through this newborn phase, sweetie. It will get better at 3 months, I promise. He did ask me in the days that followed "If you love me, you'll let me get a maid or a cook or a nanny, I can't do this anymore..." We both googled "nanny" and both registered for accounts at Care.com. I didn't join, but I think Corey did (since I saw the charges place on our bank card). He didn't hire anyone then, but has since been taking appliations for a job he posted there, so I think there will be a maid coming sometime next week. Yay.

These photos are titled "Watching tv - from two perspectives". That's what they did on Saturday.

And the kids made a big breakfast on Sunday morning -

And soon I called to let them know I was back home, and then they came back home. See, that wasn't so bad? Actually Corey looked like he'd been through the war, and on Monday after I got the kids off to school, I insisted that he go back up to Midway and enjoy the quiet room there. We had it until Thursday. He said I wouldn't be able to manage alone, cause he can't manage, and he doesn't have a baby in his arms like I do. I told him I'd be fine, and that he really needed a time out. I was glad that after he left for work, Life 360 showed him on his way to Heber. Yay, I'm glad he can take a break from the noise and interruptions. Not a break from work, poor guy never gets a break from the pressure to be on the clock, but a break from us will be good for him. He stayed up there Monday night and Tuesday night and came back here tonight, cause he had a youth activity that he needed to be back for. But I'm glad Midway helped him survive while I was gone, and that it gave him a place to recover in peace after I was back home.