much sickness. very fun.

So remember how Matt was sick during our vacation and it was super lame? Yeah, well. What I didn't mention is that he'd also been sick (although not THAT sick) the week-ish before vacation. And then we came home and he was just progressively sicker. And so it turns out he has mono. Yep! MONO! Like a high schooler! And I am also sick, although hopefully not with mono. But let me tell you, we were one heck of a household last week. Sick Erika. Sicker Mattie. 

Did someone say something about "in sickness and in health"? Okay, got it.

Poor Millie was trying to raise herself...it was pathetic. It's convenient that she can walk now, though. Millie, go get Mommy some tea. Good girl...

Just kidding. Maybe.

Maybe I'll get your tea if you get yourself together and PUT SOME CLOTHES ON ME, WOMAN!

Fortunately, we're both feeling a good bit better so far this week. Tired, but functioning. And even MORE fortunately, Millie seems to have escaped our House o' Germs unscathed this time. Miracle of miracles. Despite our under-the-weatherness, we still managed to get Millie to the ENT last week so that we could schedule her surgery for tubes for THIS week! I am seriously so excited. I am so incredibly tired of the poor thing's constant ear infections. I can't wait for her to feel (and hear) better!

So between sickness and trying to take care of Mattie and Millie and still go to work on occasion, too...there hasn't been a whole lot of excitement in the last week. Except for Millie. She's always exciting. Since her parents have been total duds, she's taken a renewed interest in befriending animals.

Heeeeere kitty kitty!!! Come be my friend!

Lolas are a girl's best friend.

And this has nothing to do with anything, but one day I went to pick her up at school and she was napping like Spiderman. It was basically the greatest thing ever.

Even sick mommies can manage to pull out the baby pool for hours of saying "SIT, Millie! Sit on your bottom! NO, Millie, no jumping. SIT, Millie!" fun.

But what kind of chump would sit when they know how to JUMP? "Sit" is for dogs, I tell ya.

Um, is anyone going to pull these weeds? Seriously, this is humiliating.

Between traveling and being sick, I've managed to do a lot of reading the last weeks. Since it's been awhile since I've done a good 'book report,' here are a few of my recent favorites (and not-so-favorites).

We Were Liars (E.Lockhart): LOVED it. Ten out of five stars. I mean, maybe I'm exaggerating, but I knew basically nothing about this book and it was just awesome. Easy, quick, well-written.

The Girl on the Train (Paula Hawkins): Enjoyed it. Four out of five stars. I think this one was just overhyped for me. It was a good read, but I just didn't feel like it was anywhere near the caliber of Gone Girl, which is what most folks seemed to compare it to. Decent mystery, good character development, but like...at the end of the day, it really wasn't anything super special, I felt like.

Dark Places (Gillian Flynn): Awesome. Seven out of ten stars. (Note: there may be something flawed with my rating system; I can't seem to stay within my own parameters...) This was a much more satisfying mystery than Girl on the Train- nearly up to Gone Girl level, if slightly less twisted. It was definitely still dark and probably disturbing to some, but I really enjoyed it.

The Nightingale (Kristin Hannah): Captivating. I'm running out of adjectives, I think. ;) Five out of five stars. But to be honest, I didn't finish the last third of the book. HA. This was my book club book for this month and my reserve copy didn't come in until late and so I just wasn't able to finish it before we met last week. I LOOOOVED every single minute of it up until I had to stop reading, and then at our meeting, the other girls filled me in on how everything wrapped up. Annnnd I cried (along with the girls describing it) the whole time that they told me what happened, and now I a) know how it ends and b) can't bring myself to suffer through actually READING it, so I'm not sure if I will. But still, this is an amazing historical fiction about two sisters living in German-occupied France during WWII. Read it.

Matched trilogy (Ally Condie): I should probably rate these separately. Book 1: 5/5 for YA Dystopian. Extremely similar to Hunger Games and The Giver, with a few new elements thrown in for variety. Very enjoyable and left me wanting more. Book 2: 2/5 for anything. Seriously almost gave up. The pace crashed to a halt and this book was trying WAY too hard to be deep. Teenage melodrama, blah. Probably wouldn't have pressed on to Book 3 except that I already had it sitting on my table...Book 3 (50% through): 4/5 for YA Dystopian. So far I'm loving it. The pace has picked way back up and we're getting to some good action and not just love-conflicted soliloquies. So although I haven't finished, I think I will overall end up liking the series. You can skip book 2, though. I can just summarize what happens in about 3 minutes and you can save yourself a lot of eye rolling.

So anyway, now I'm all accounted for. No time for blogging thanks to household sickness, the ridiculously cute baby, and a whole lotta "summer reading" (ha, although I read this much all the time, but it sounds peppier if I call it "summer reading," right?). My "to read" list is getting low, though, so let me know what I need to get to next!

PS. If you have a few minutes, would you pray for Katie Hall and her two boys? They are friends of my friend Colleen, and they lost their husband and daddy unexpectedly earlier this month, three weeks after the birth of their second son. I can't imagine that kind of loss at a time like that (or any time, really), but I know that the prayers and support even of strangers can be a comfort during painful seasons. You can visit Colleen's post for more information about David's life and how to pray and support his family in this difficult time. Thanks, friends.