Sickness has struck our household for the first time in a long time. I was beginning to think we were immune to all the winter colds and flus or maybe they had just forgotten to stop by this year. It was as though all those rotten and yucky sicknesses that strike so many ill around the world during the colder months had just decided to skip our house this year, like a trick-or-treater does on Halloween when the’ve decided the chances of someone being home isn’t likely and better they stick to the houses that are guaranteed to be loaded with giant king sized candy bars. Our lights were off and we had most likely gone to some fabulous Halloween party. Only healthy people were invited, by the way. But sadly, no. The charlesworth clan has spent the last few weeks recovering from an attack of a particularly snotty cold. This was Jude’s first sickness. He was surprisingly brave though … much braver than both camden and me. For the most part, he kept his spirits up and tried his best to play as though nothing was the matter. However, his little coughs and sneezes were particularly heartbreaking for us, newbie parents and all. Although, I have to say, I did enjoy all the extra snuggles his sickness brought along … it was as if his cold was saying “Hey, I know i’m infecting your sweet babe with an extra sniffly nose that comes with a side of cough that sounds like a smokers lung, but just to show you I’m not all bad, I’ve brought along my friend snuggles here to ease the blow a little” … pun intended.

This picture was quickly taken mid-vacuum. Kramer, a hater of the vacuum, jumped on the bed to warn the worlds largest fan of vacuums that his trust had been misplaced and it wasn’t to late to turn back should he want too. Kramer, playing the roll of protective brother here, that is to say until the vacuum came too close for comfort, which is when he decided to leave his self-appointed post of loud, large, moving appliance protector and take shelter within his kennel. Still, it was pretty cute.