June 1, 2009
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To a close, Sunday’s update (5/31)
Sunday morning came just as early as the rest. About 7:00 I guess. I probably, normally, would have slept later… but like I said before, I didn’t want to miss a thing.
At 5:00 I woke with the worst charlie horse I have ever had. It was so bad that I had to wake Tancy to help me get it to stop. I couldn’t move! After she got it to ease, it still took me 5 minutes to be able to get up and stand, then I had a limp, it was so sore. When I got up at 7:00 I could barely walk on it. I dressed and put on shoes before too long hoping that the support from my shoes would help some.
Jeanette and Luca were up, I could hear Luca talking… a big change from most kids that stay here… usually they wake us up screaming, laughing, running, etc. Funny stuff. She’s a very well behaved little girl who looks, and acts, just like her Mom. Very adorable. Like Jeanette’s very own mini-me!
I think Mom was up already too. My memory is a little foggy about yesterday morning, of all mornings, for some reason. Oh! She was up because the coffee was ready. We all made our way to the living room and/or kitchen. I told Luca she needed to wake Tancy up! So Jeanette carried her in there to rattle Tanc. She was up soon. She even made Luca scrambled eggs.
We all ended up moving a bit faster than any of us wanted. There was still a bit to cram in to the last moments together and I was already dreading taking Mom to the airport. Now, I always hate to see her go, but I don’t usually feel so torn up about it. It’s sad usually, but it was close to devastating for me at this point. We had coffee, we talked, we got dressed, we tried not to think or speak about her leaving. Jeanette and Luca got ready and Tancy took them to the playground. Luca had been inside with too much TV and not enough activity. Mom and I cried together before they were even out the drive way good. I wanted her to stay longer. I am sure if I had pressed the matter, she would have conceded, but I just couldn’t do that to her. It’s not fair to guilt someone and it isn’t fair to use emotional black mail either. I understand why she needed to go home, why staying wasn’t a good option and although I couldn’t hide how I felt I refused to make her any more upset than she already was on her own. We decided to leave the house a bit early for fear that we would either sit and squall together or clean the house. LOL.
I took the back way, not sure if it’s longer or shorter, but I like it better than taking 85. Aunt Jan was at the airport already and waiting for Mom so they could have a bit of time before going home.I was respectful of that and even tried to get her there a bit earlier so they could have some time. Mom asked if I wanted to see Aunt Jan and tell her bye. I was relieved to not really have to make that decision, I knew she would already be past security. But I knew in my heart that would be the final blow for me… to have to tell them both bye… my Mom and my second Mom… that would just devastate me for the rest of the day. No way I had that in me. Mom knew it wasn’t even an option and also understood why I wouldn’t have been able to if it were. We talked and cried and laughed along the way. Boy did I hate pulling up to the door at the airport though. We hugged, she told Lillie bye, we hugged again. I told her to stay out of trouble with Aunt Jan. She smiled. I watched her walk in to the airport and drove away sobbing. I don’t remember the last time I cried so hard over leaving family or having family leave me.
I sent Tancy a text message telling her I had dropped Mom off and I was torn up. The even harder thought, at that moment, was that I couldn’t just come home and fall apart in her arms. We still had family, still had good byes to say, still had to pull it together. That ended up being a great thing… but at the time the thought made it that much harder for me. I called Pops to tell him that I had dropped Mom at the airport. He was washing Mom’s car. We talked for a bit and then I got off the phone to collect myself.
I ended up stopping at Burger King to get lunch for us (Tancy, Jeanette, Luca and myself). I made it home just minutes after they got in from the park. Tancy’s Mom, Jessi, Missy & Zach were there waiting on them when they pulled up. We visited a bit. They were all tired. Missy didn’t sleep well… probably at all to be honest. Jessi said she really didn’t sleep much either. Mrs. Sue was tired from all the running and going and doing all weekend after working all week and then the drive down. I know as much as they hated to go, they were ready to be home. I can completely understand that! They left around 11:30 – 12:00ish.
We hung out with Jeanette and Luca. They painted on Lillie’s wall. Jeanette was worried sick that Luca would paint on the wall. Luca did fine. We so enjoyed having them here and really wished we had more time… we only got a little more than 24 hours with them. Though we completely understand. Jeanette made a huge sacrifice by coming… she left her 4 month old son (whom she’s breast feeding) at home with her husband just to come be here for us… So as much as would love more time, how could you possibly not be overwhelmed by the gift of that 24 hours?! They left our house at about 1:15 I guess?
Still no “call” from my cuz…. I think that hurt even more than the text saying she wasn’t coming… no call, no word, all weekend… Nothing to be done about it, but that doesn’t change the fact that it hurts. I don’t know how sick she is, if she’s ok… I don’t know anything…
The house was instantly still. Too quiet. I didn’t want to fall apart again. I didn’t want to start tearing the house apart cleaning either. So we started with all the gifts, still piled up in the utility room. I started with the gift bags. Tancy started with the big items that needed put together, or played with. LOL. She put the stroller/car seat combo together first, we were most excited to get this put together and check it out. I used the coffee table as my staging area for everything… which proved to be much too small for everything when it was all said and done! Tancy got the combo put together and took the base out to put it in the car… she came right back in for keys and headed back out. She came right back in again, she’d been stung (and yes, she has an allergic reaction). I gave her some benadryl, doctored her and she was back out to kill it! She did so successfully without getting stung again and then put the base and car seat in the car. She moved on, itching, to the next item after rolling the stroller into Lillie’s room (for now).
I worked diligently on going through everything. Setting duplicates to the side for return. Items to be washed in one spot, bath stuff in another, shoes over here, diaper/lotion/grooming over there, trash (wrapping paper, tissue paper, ribbons) between my knees, cards to my left, ribbon on the arm of the couch, bags folded and put behind the cards (which were in a wicker basket). I had baby shit everywhere…. which you’ll probably read again in the coming weeks… only then it will literally be baby shit! Haha! Tancy got the baby to toddler rocker put together, she liked it alot and it’s now by the love seat waiting on Lillie. She got the high chair out and put together, minimal work there, and put it in the utility room. She got the pack ‘n play out and put it up in our room, I know it seems early, but putting it up now is part of getting the dogs acclimated to it and all the new smells. She was really feeling terribly by this time. She’d gone through all the big stuff and would normally have been going through the “toys”, but was getting really drugged feeling from the benadryl and trying desperately not to scratch all the itching. I started laundry going, one full (and big) load of bedding and bath. I had all the bath stuff, toys, wash, etc., together and Tancy took it into the bathroom for me. I started putting things away, at least in the area it belonged.
Tancy ordered pizza and I worked diligently to get everything picked up out of the living room. Another load of laundry, another good sized load, on full of clothes this time. Once everything was relatively put away we let the dogs in. They had ended up being outside most of the weekend. Just too much going on in the house for them to be under foot. The pizza came and we ate dinner and relaxed. Tancy fell asleep laying on my lap on the couch. I felt so bad for her and was really quite concerned. The sting site started out about the size of a nickel. It was already swollen well past the size of a silver dollar. I had draw a circle around it with a pen in the very beginning to keep track of the swelling. At 6:00 – 6:30 I told her to go to bed. I was folding the bedding and towels I had washed and would be back soon.
When I went to the back she was sacked out. I checked her arm again, it was swelling more. I drew another circle around it. I got a bath and got in bed… found that I wasn’t sleepy at all and headed back in the utility room for the other load of clothes drying. I moved the third load (red stuff) into the dryer and headed to the back to fold everything. Tancy never checked up. Around 8:00 or so I checked her arm again and it had swollen to the size of the palm of my hand nearly. I was worried and wasn’t sure what to do. She said she was fine, just sleepy from the benadryl, so I just kept checking her. Before it was all said and done I got all the laundry folded and in some order to be put away. She snored most of the time. LOL.
By 10:00 I checked her again, swollen a bit more, but it was progressing very slowly so I took that as a good sign. I had done all I could do without “working” and decided it would be best if I went to sleep. Tancy’s family had made it home safely, so I was happy for that. It didn’t take me long to go to sleep, surprisingly.
Another incredibly full day. Love, laughter, smiles and tears. A truly amazing 4 days!
