This is day 8(or is it 9?) of our trip and we’ll be heading home tomorrow morning, hoping that by this time tomorrow we will be at home getting settled. Before we left home last Thursday night we found out our neice Brianna was in the icu at the hospital in Cincinnati. She improved and was sent home Tuesday. We spent time visiting w/ them, we went to lunch on Wednesday, a whole crew of us. The baby was doing amazingly better. Thursday we, Dean, I and our kids, were planning on swimming at the Y. before we left our neice came over to stay with my SIL while Dean’s brother and gf went out doing stuff. When we got back later that day Brianna’s leg was swollen, it was really bad. She was taken back to the hospital early Friday morning. She has a partial blood clot in the leg where her iv had been for her first hospital stay. This afternoon she was discharged again and will need meds injected twice daily for a month. She’s a trooper though, I’m praying that this is the end of it and that since she’s so young she’ll never have to know her first Easter was so horrible!
So we spent the first part of our trip planning visits to the hospital to visit w/ the baby and our family. The second half has been more relaxed. Today we had an appointment to get family pics done w/ everyone, but the baby wasnt home from the hospital til after that time so we had pics just w/ us and the grandparents. We went to JCPenneys for once and it was amazingly cheaper and the pics are awesome, but unlike picture people we have to wait for them for two weeks. I’ll post them as soon as we have them. We were able to get great ones of just our family of four, ones w/ the two boys, ones of just Boaz being adorable and us w/ the kids and Dean’s parents. Boaz smiled for every picture. You wouldnt think he was only 4 months old for how much personality he showed during the photo session.
I’ve spent the latter part of today packing up our stuff so we can leave when we wake up tomorrow morning. I’m exhausted and ready to be home, but not as ready as I normally am after long visits here. We’ve had a great week staying w/ my SIL and her family. We usually stay w/ Dean’s parents so this was our first trip not doing so. I’ve had fun w/ the kids. I really enjoyed watching the family dynamics of the big family, there are 5 kids living here and it’s a lot different than our family of four. We’re talking of baby # 3 and we know we want more kids but I cant imagine managing it all. Seeing Rach w/ the kids let me know it’s possible and on one income at that….which amazes me. she’s got great kids so that helps.
the most interesting thing to me this week was watching the eldest daughter, she’s 14. I see things she does and laugh as she gets in trouble for things I did as a teen. I know one day I’ll have kids that age, and I know you learn alot from your kids, but this week I was able to learn through other people’s kids, it’s a pretty cool thing. I think the best part was knowing that kids are kids and they all tend to do things they shouldnt but still do them despite what parents think or say. The more I thought about it I”m sure I was a handful for my mom as a teen, I was not the best daughter in the world. watching her do the things I did made me realize that maybe I did learn things from my mom that I never realized til now. You grow up hating your parents and all of their rules but years later you look back and think now I know why she (or he) wouldnt let me do this or that. I couldnt help but laugh at their interactions this week, but the more I thought about it I started to wish I hadnt been such an unruly teenager, I can now see what impact it must have had on my mom and how much stress it added to her life. You learn a lot as a mom, you think being a mom is about raising kids and helping them learn, but really they help us more than we’ll ever be able to help them! I only hope years from now I can relate to my kids and not be so strict, and even if I turn out to be a strict parent, that I can do it in a way that my kids realize I am only doing it for their best interest, but I doubt that will happen. Heck it’s taken me years to realize there were reasons parents do and say what they do!! it’s been an interesting thing, being part of this family dynamic for a week. I admire you Rach for all you do, you are an awesome mom and you do a great job managing all these kids(and the dogs too;-) )
This week Dean and I looked at ads for home for sale in this area. It’s hard to know we’re away from his family, especially now that his brother has a baby and another on the way. It’s harder knowing we wont be able to live here again. I love the houses here, they are so much cheaper too than the ones for sale in Baltimore. Everything is cheaper here. My SIL was complaining about how expensive the grocery store is here, I laughed because things I normally buy at home are so much cheaper here. If Dean could find a job making what he makes now but in Ohio I think we’d consider coming back, but it’s hard. we’ve got family in Ohio and family in Maryland. We’ve got an awesome church community that I know we would hate to leave. The closer it gets to time to go back home the harder it will be. it really has been a good visit, despite having the baby in the hospital. Ah, tomorrow we head home. it’s been a great week and we’ll miss everyone! But I miss my friends at home too. We missed my friends daughters birthday party today and that bothered me, but I know she knows we would have liked to be there. It’s so hard having family far away, but right now we know we belong in Baltimore, so even though we looked at the home for sale here I think we both know it’s not likely we’ll move here anytime soon.
once home I’ve got a busy week. Boaz has his 4 month check up(a few weeks late due to our trip) on Monday. We have a board meeting for the preschool being held at our house on Wednesday. I have to make the cake for my nephew’s birthday party for Saturday’s birthday party. I’m sure there’s more that will need done this week. like filling our empty fridge so we have food to eat! When we left I made sure the fridge was mostly empty but that means a big trip to the grocery store on Monday. At least my mom took off on Monday so I’m hoping after we go to the dr and visit w/ her for lunch that she’ll keep the kids while I go grocery shopping. well gotta run, we’re heading to dinner at Dean’s parents. It’ll be our last visit w/ them and his brothers family before we leave. well Dean’s telling me to get…..I’ll check back in on Monday after Boaz’s appointment.
