One time I rode a banana boat out into the ocean.
What started out as a nice leisurely ride turned into holding on for dear life with white knuckles as it rivaled a bucking bronco.
That's a perfect description of what 2018 has been like. So let's do a quick recap.
We rang in the new year with Joy, Audrey, Heather and Hazel. And Snapchat.
Little Landon boy was along for the ride, too; what a great sport.
We also played tons of games and puzzles. Emerson beat four college graduates at the matching game. How soon is it to apply for scholarships?
On New Year's Day we had a play date at McDonald's. I watched in absolute awe as Nicolette sat at the table, picked up her own food, and ate the meal in its entirety. What is this life? We literally have to CHASE Emerson around the table or house most nights and bribe her to eat.
This gets particularly interesting during dinners with gathered family.
"Get back here! Just one bite, I say!"
I can assure you that no waiter at any restaurant where I've eaten would say the same about me.
The first major event on the social calendar was Luke and Lexie's wedding, and several of us hosted a bridal luncheon for her the first weekend of the year. Mind you, there had just been a major snow and ice storm and the restaurant didn't even have running water. It was nuts, but they managed!
The kids really enjoyed their first snow together!
Then came our family trip to Charleston for the big wedding day. I was mildly nervous about Emerson's first trip for such an occasion but talked gradually to her about it in the weeks before.
Because let's be honest...this is total truth no matter which parent you are:
"Your cousin Lexie is going to wear a beautiful white dress like Mommy did and walk in front of everyone and get married."
I think "dress" was all she got out of that sentence.
She is one of the girliest girls on the planet; and yet she can make her way around an obstacle course like an Olympian. She's a perfect mix!
At the wedding we were escorted to the front, and I nervously looked around as I realized that there wasn't exactly an easy way to exit the Summerall Chapel discreetly.
"Please be quiet; please be good..." I pleaded.
And all it took was for Lexie to walk in. Emerson was absolutely mesmerized.
Not only is Lexie strikingly beautiful, but seeing her in that white "princess" dress was the icing on the (later devoured) cake.
"Honey, she has lots of people to speak to; we'll go talk to her...I promise!"
When we finally did you would have thought the Pope had walked in the room. Emerson was absolutely enthralled and asked if she could touch her white dress. Granted, Lexie's refinery was a far cry from the usual Pink sweatpants and old t shirt of my Dad's - with spit up on it - that I'm usually wearing.
:::Enters daycare:::
"I'm here to pick up Emerson."
You see, there are many important people in life.
First, there's Mickey.
Then there's Cinderella.
And then there's Lexie.
Magic Kingdom ticket price: $85
Wedding reception with Princess Lexie: FREE
Wonder which one Ryan prefers?!?
We had an awesome time with everyone, and when we got back home Emerson helped us feed Landon solid food for the first time. Poppy and Nana had been on duty with baby boy the whole weekend. They received their typical A+ for being phenomenal.
And poof! Just like that, four months had gone by.
Emerson also named all of her toys Lexie in the weeks that followed. This included her bath toys and stuffed animals. In fact, if I were to ask for a theme right now for her big girl room it would probably be...you guessed it; Lexie.
Don't be surprised if I get creative on Shutterfly and plaster her face on Emerson's bedspread and pillows.
Hahahaha.
A few weeks later when the happy couple received their professional wedding photos there was one in particular that stood out. Would you call it a wardrobe malfunction? Not exactly. I'll let you make the call...
I remember this happening and hoping that the photographer missed it, but Candace; you have a great eye and shutter speed. This was absolutely hilarious.
Timing can be a huge factor in life; take for instance different sleep schedules. It is virtually impossible to get them both to nap at the same time.
For parents with four or five kids I imagine that every night is like a giant game of Whack-A-Mole.
"SAM, GO TO SLEEP! I THOUGHT YOU WERE ALREADY DOWN! POTTY AGAIN, TIMMY!? BUT YOU JUST WENT. OLIVIA, DON'T PULL YOUR SISTER'S HAIR. CLOSE YOUR EYES. LEAVE EACH OTHER ALONE. AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!"
Getting your kids to doze off at the same time is about as rare as a solar eclipse.
But how sweet it is when the stars align, and it finally happens.
#TotalEclipseOfTheHeart
Wait...so THAT'S what the song is about? Mind. Blown.
Next up was a Shopkins Concert; you may remember her Shopkins Birthday parties. When I found out that a concert was coming near us I knew we had to go. She was SO excited and had lots of fun at the souvenir station (Jesus be a fence).
Throughout the show I kept telling myself that these people needed to meet - and hire- Dorothy and me for what we accomplished while I was on Levaquin during that Birthday party. I think they'd be super impressed...
The next weekend we celebrated GlennDaddy's Birthday, and Emerson and I made the cake ourselves.
We also took a quick trip home that Sunday for Lauren's bridal shower, had a super fun visit with Audrey and Dorothy, and Emerson got to go to choir and mission friends...one of my favorite things for her to do.
My Mom has been meaning to get new mattresses for a while and finally took the plunge during a recent sale. These kiddos were our professional testers and approved of our selections.
In fact, Landon even helped process the transaction.
...while Emerson played with the Lego table.
This girl is FAST. One price check or delay is all it would have taken to turn around and see this:
The original box mattresses they delivered were WAY too high, so fortunately my parents got them fixed quickly...but they did sleep like this for a few nights. Hahahaha.
#ThePoppyAndThePea
The weekend before Valentine's Day several of the Moms at daycare decided to get the kids together for a special treat. Ross's Mom found a craft class for $2.00 at Michaels. You can't beat that! And no cleanup. The kids were so excited about their "Love Bugs."
A fun time was later had by all at Chick-Fil-A.
These kids have been friends since infancy, and it's been so much fun to watch them grow. I've kept up with almost all of the teachers at their daycare except for one lady named Tabitha that came to mind a few weeks ago. I remembered that she was one of the sweetest ladies and wondered what she was up to now. Boy, were we in for a treat!
"Did you see Tabitha?!" one of the Moms asked me.
"Wait, what???"
"She's working here!"
And so, a huge reunion ensued, and she even got a little teary eyed to see all the kids again. Last time she saw them they were crawling around in diapers and babbling. What a transformation!
As usual I pack tons of excitement into a span of a few hours. I had been wanting to do something special for Jamie and Chris with the arrival of Cora, and we decided to all meet for a delicious dinner and shower their sweet girl with gifts.
Sure, much of our conversation is interspersed with "watch outs" and "don't spill that," but we all still pick up where we left off, and it's so nice to have friends that span decades.
Sometimes good things come to an end, right? For example, the last fry in the box or the last song on the radio that's really good but comes on right as you enter your destination.
And in this case it was a feeling of normalcy. Do you see the ice cream in the next picture? That's going to play a very important role.
As soon as we got home that evening Emerson was very hot, and she became worse overnight. By the next morning you would have thought that the State paper read the following headline: "Disney World to Shut Down in 2018." She was that pitiful. By the grace of God our pediatrician has an open office on Sundays, so we got the first available appointment. Upon a quick examination we got the news: FLU!!!
How in the world were we supposed to keep these two separated so that baby Landon would be spared?!
Despite the diagnosis, she got her second wind on the doctor's table.
Taking your kid to be examined by a doctor is like taking your car to the service station; neither the human nor the automobile will perform the same sounds or malfunction in front of the trained professional. It's just one of life's little facts.
But her precious smile faded quickly; on Super Bowl Sunday Emerson was so sick that she was lying on the couch staring at a blank tv and didn't even want to turn it on. All I wanted to do was cuddle her (and the nearest Lysol can).
Ryan and I had planned to team up and cook a really great meal that day, and somehow we still made it happen.
While my test was negative the doctor was pretty sure that I had it, too, because of the possible inaccuracy. How does that make sense?
:::3rd grade scenario:::
"But Mom, I realize that the report card has a C. It's what you call a false negative; it's really an A, I promise." Food for thought.
There was one thing on my mind during all of this: the Father/Daughter dance that weekend. Emerson had picked out the most beautiful dress and had been talking about it for weeks. Surely she'd be fine by then, right??? She ended up going back to daycare on Wednesday, so I assumed all was fine.
To further complicate things Ryan had an out of state meeting for two nights that week, and I felt so sick that my Mom drove up to help me with the house and children. She had just arrived and put down her bags when she called to let my Dad know that she was there.
"I feel terrible, Ann. Worse than I felt when I had the heart attack. I'm going to the ER now..."
Are. you. kidding. me.....
It was already pitch black dark outside and raining. I wanted to freak out and cry all at once. What should my Mom do? I was terrified of my Dad being by himself if this was something serious. My Mom and I made the executive decision: she needed to turn around and get to the hospital right away to be there with my Dad. No questions asked. As sick as I was I needed to power through it.
It's amazing sometimes what you can accomplish when you have no other choice.
A three hour round trip later my Mom was back with him at the hospital. I called to make sure he had made it there, and given his history they took him back almost immediately. Guess what? He had the flu. Remember the ice cream picture from before? Emerson and Poppy shared ice cream at Chick-Fil-A a few days earlier. We almost never do that, but when Emerson decided she didn't want the rest Poppy's eyes went something like this as he finished the remainder of the treat:
The very next day I got a call from Emerson's daycare; she had a fever again, so I had to come get her. Would it ever end?!? I picked her up, gave her some Tylenol, and ran some errands. An hour later she was just as hot, lethargic, and she was complaining about a bump in her mouth. It was 5:30 in the afternoon, so the doctor's office was closed, and I had already dragged both children into two different pharmacies to see if they would take her temperature and was told "we don't do that."
I absolutely panicked with Ryan being out of state and my Mom being at home (her rightful place) with my Dad. Oh yeah, and my in-laws were also 2.5 hours away for a doctor's appointment. It was a perfect storm. I was so worried that she was going to get even worse overnight and that maybe her throat was swelling up. This was it. To the ER we went...but what about Landon?!?!
I cried and called a wonderful friend, Anne-Kathryn, who has THREE children of her own. She works close to the hospital and didn't even ask any questions; she just met me right there and took Landon home with them. They fed him, offered to buy more formula, etc. Does it come any better than that?!?
Also, her kids asked if they had gotten a new baby. Hahahaha.
Beloved cousin Rene and Jane were already on the interstate to pick up Landon and bring him back to our house. It is so comforting in uncertain times to know that you have an army of people who will do anything for you. WHAT would we have done without them?!?
Ryan finally arrived at 11:45 with some food for us, and we ended up getting home around 1:00. Turns out that Motrin is actually much more effective for high fevers. They did a chest x ray for pneumonia, which was also clear. Hallelujah!!! But- she still had the flu and was still very sick. This was simply a mid-week spike.
That meant no going to the Father/Daughter dance.
After all we had been through that week I couldn't have been more disappointed for her if I'd walked outside to find a $200 ticket on my windshield. I am 100% serious. She had talked and talked about that dance, and I wanted her to be able to go more than anything. But it just wasn't in the cards.
I guess there's always next year.
Oh, well. The important part is that we still have each other. Finally after about six days she was back to "normal"...or as normal as four year olds are.
Miraculously, Landon never got the flu.
By Valentine's Day she was all smiles again and was super excited about her class party and the surprises at home.
For Landon: Kissy Kissy pajamas, a crown, and some Cat & Jack outfits. For Emerson: a pink unicorn, candy, Shopkins super pack, and...a life size Belle.
Belle accompanies us in the car (and must be buckled in the middle before takeoff), while playing games, etc. Pretty soon she'll have her own chair at Longhorn, and we'll even claim her on our taxes next year.
But this doll is horrifying from across the room while feeding Landon at 3:00 am.
I'm just saying.
#BeOurGuest
She is so proud of her brother and shows him off to her class almost every morning.
I imagine this same enthusiasm should be interesting when she goes to college.
"Everyone, I'd like to introduce my brother, Landon."
::::all in unison::: "Hi, Landon."
Little Aurora was already back to work just a couple of days after recovery.
And we celebrated five months with baby boy, who is affectionately known as Bug.
The following weekend I gave the message and played/sang for Women's Day at West Hartsville Baptist Church. I met so many wonderful people who said they related to many of my stories. I hope you realize that you, too, have a story that can relate to someone as part of your witness.
Kay, you're a sweetheart!
And...through working full time, doing a million extracurricular things, Landon getting pink eye, you name it...OUR HOUSE FINALLY SOLD!!! I can't wait to share that story, so for now I'll cut off before March.
But until then...
I absolutely cannot get enough of my family and loved ones. My children are cuddled and squished and kissed like there's no tomorrow. Because let's face it; we're not even guaranteed a tomorrow.
So make time to visit your grandparents. Check in with your parents frequently. Make the most of every opportunity you have to let them know how important they are to you.
Because one day you may mistakenly pick up the phone to call them after they're gone.
And even on your Moody-est days (thanks, Jamie, for the hilarious shirt!)...
...laugh at at least ONE thing.
#LandonBug
Go for a swing.
Let your sister put a pink sheep blanket on your head. After all, it does compliment your rosy cheeks.
Take a relaxing bath.
Let yourself be surprised once in a while.
March to the beat of your own drum.
Get donut sugar all over your lips.
Know the feeling of resting in someone else's arms.
Hang out with your parents. In a decade or so they won't be so cool, but you'll appreciate them again after high school. I promise.
Walk in every meeting or social event like a total boss.
Dress up like a princess, because everyone deserves to feel royal once in a while.
Be willing to help those who can't help themselves...just yet.
...and never let a day go by that you don't love with every beat of your heart.
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