A Monumental Trip

Sadie asleep in her car seat.

Our trip began in the wee hours of Saturday morn. Mike and I got up at 5 to start packing the car. We gave Sadie a bottle and got the kids up around 6:30. We jumped in the car and headed for Chic Fil-A. So cool that they serve breakfast now. There's something about Chic Fil-A that makes me feel a little better about fast food and a little less greasy. We were soon on our way and something felt amiss. I quickly realized what the cause of this feeling was. SADIE WAS SLEEPING! My heart was a flutter and I was inwardly doing jumping jacks of sheer delight. Though I did not dare verbalize my observation nor my excitement. Didn't want to jinx it, of course. Sure enough, Mike was quick to call attention to the situation. UGH!
"SHHHHHHH! You'll jinx it!"
He just shook his head and laughed.
Much to our surprise, she slept most of the trip. Not the whole trip, but most of it....like a normal baby. She cried for the last hour or so. But that is A-OK with me. I'll take it.
She proceeded to show signs of baby normalcy throughout the weekend. Now most of you know that Sammy was an extremely easy baby and Thea was rather good too! Do I want Sadie to be like them?
No.
I just want her to be a NORMAL baby. Crying is fine...in moderation. And I feel that is where we are. She still has a tough time during the dinner hours, which makes for a cranky wife when Mike gets home. But we are making strides and for each one, I am enormously grateful.
We went to the pool when we first got there and she slept in her car seat after her bottle...normal.
We went to lunch with the family after church and she slept in her car seat at the restaurant for a bit...normal.
We had soooo much fun at the pool. Now, this is the pool that Mike was willing to make a huge financial investment to be a part of. This is the pool in the neighborhood that we almost moved into. There is a twisty slide that he thinks is simply amazing. He had a blast with the kids, going down and down and down again. I took them a couple of time myself. By day 2, Sammy was going down on his own. Unbelievable, considering he hated the water last Summer. As we lounged in the sun, kids playing in the shallow end, Mike turned to me and said;
"See. Isn't this nice? Why would you want to have another one? We are at the point where we can actually enjoy times like this."
This is true. It was quite relaxing.
We had such a great time just hangin with the family. There are so many new little ones and more on the way. Jenny looks adorable with that little bun in the oven. Brooke is just as cute. Her little one will be here before we know it.
It was a bit strange, being there when we would have been living there by now. We drove by the lot where "our" house should be. There is a house there and it happens to be the same as the one we chose. Was I sad? Disappointed? Covetous?
NOPE!
I was relieved.
Do I wish we were living there? I would be lying if I said no, but I am also quite content where we are. I am content because I KNOW this is where we are supposed to be. We have awesome friends and a great church here. And as much as we can so picture NC being home someday, when I walk into our apartment upon arriving back, I always whisper a silent and sincere

"home sweet home."

Aunt Jenny. We miss her!

Uncle Chase (Thea is smitten)

The sun-bathing beauty. First time in the pool.

"Whew. All that swimming wore me out."

The hottest guy at the pool.

By the way, is it just me or is it completely inappropriate for the Life Guard on Duty to be texting in his chair? It was all I could do to not march over there like and irate soccer mom and give him a piece of my mind. So ANNOYING!
Jen would SOOOO not tolerate such an atrocity!