Allori

Every baby we see, even on tv, Allori asks, "Is that baby preemie? Cause that baby looks preemie." It's a little funny to me. Funny that she thinks about that with every baby she sees.

I hope there is never an occasion for us to see a baby so tiny as Cayde was again. It was just too scary. I don't think my heart could take it. But if we do, we certainly know some helpful hints.

I love this girl, this child I gave birth too who is smarter and wiser than her years. Little Allori is growing too fast!

Nighttime antics

Cayde has been sleeping in his bassinet in our room all of this time. He has been in it much longer than Allori was. He is the same size at 10 months that she was (isn't that amazing?) but he does not sit up. He stretches out and fills it right up and won't be able to stay there much longer. He will roll right over and look up over the edge to see if anyone is around (pictured) and it is so cute! The bassinet is much to shallow for a sitter so the second he begins to pull himself into a sitting position, the bassinet will be taken down and packed away. So in anticipation of this Wayne set up his crib in Porter and Cayde's room. We put Porter to bed in his twin bed. This is what we found when we checked on him:



The quality is terrible but my camera died so all photos currently are via my phone. Anyway, we found him INSIDE of Cayde's crib, with his jammie pants inside out (they were on the right way when he went to bed) and all of his bedtime stuff was in there with him along with some extra goodies. (Duck pillow, blanket, tractor, books, teddy bear.) He must have thrown his belongings in, one by one, then climbed in. Such a nut!

Dude

My sweet aunt Peggy says that babies are so cute and cuddly so we have wonderful memories and build up lots of love for them so we have that to hang on to when they are teenagers. Funny, right?

I wholeheartedly agree. We need this time, these memories especially when they are two.

This boy tests me!

I must tell you though, that I LOVE LOVE LOVE when it is his time to pray. He is super cute. We can have the toughest day and Porter will pray and it just cheers me right up.

He is still at the age where we need to help him with things to say. My favorits part is when he is praying for a meal and he says, "Please bless this food..." which comes out sounding like, "Please bless this dude...." Hahahaha. Every time it cracks me up! Every. Time.

The sweet times get us through the rough ones, don't they?

Angels and Caravans

The other day I had the worst day ever. From the time we got up if it could go wrong, it sure seemed to. My pain level was quite high that day. In the evening I planned to go to a special Church activity. I nearly talked myself out of going. The day had just been to rough and I was having a hard time even walking (due to pain) and I just did not feel that I was up to it. On the other hand I knew some spiritual uplifting was almost a necessity and would do me really well. So I decided to suck it up and go. It was about a 30 minute drive so I gave myself an hour. I am still learning our new area. I was nearly half way there and driving along on the freeway when I suddenly found myself OFF the freeway. I had not exited and obviously must have missed some sign explaining how to stay on the freeway.

And of course there was not an easy way to get back on. I could only get back on going the way I had come from so I did that and thought I would find another exit to get off and reverse my direction. I choose an exit that also did not have an on ramp for the direction I needed to go. (So weird, this freeway! I called Wayne and asked him to find directions for me online and also stopped and asked a man who did not seem able to answer my question directly.

"Can you tell me how to get back to the 264 toward Suffolk please?"

"Where are you headed?"

"Suffolk."

"There all kinda ways to get there...." (He explained several of them.)

"My directions are from the 264 so I just need to get back on it going toward Suffolk."

"You could go a couple a ways really."

Ok. I speak English right? This was terribly reminiscent of half the conversations between Wayne and I. Please just answer the question I asked...OR tell me you don't know! Heavenly Father gave me no patience. None. This cannot be my fault! I have worked on it and worked on it and continue to work on it....

There are Character Qualities that I have mastered (at times) and Character Qualities I have worked on and been able to alter but some I cannot even touch no matter how much I am aware of it and how much I work on it. Patience is that way for me. It seems very much like my hair color. My hair color is brown. It is what is it. I can curl it, straighten it, keep it frizz free but brown it is! That's how I feel about patience. It truly seems to be a part of me, the lack of patience I mean.

On occasion I do have enough control to pretend. Although this is quite different than actually having patience. But if pretending to be patient is nicer than saying the impatient things that come into my head...well I guess that is something.

The nice man at the gas station directed me to the freeway, although as I pulled out I was still unsure if he was sending me to the freeway or another way to Suffolk. *laughing* Sure enough I reached the freeway.

Times a tickin here people! I knew now that I would be late. I detest being late.

When I was teaching I would drop someones grade if they were late too often or unnecessarily .

My day that was already in the toilet, continued down the pipes.

I thought of turning around and going home rather than walking in late, but again, I really felt I needed the uplifting activity for my emotional well being.

The event was lovely. I sat outside the chapel so that I would not disturb anyone with my tardy entrance. It was wonderful. We had the General Relief Society President from my Church came and spoke to us. There were a lot of woman there and the talk Julie Beck gave was exactly the spiritual upliftment I needed. I was so glad I went!

Because I was in a rush I had only written down directions to get there and hoped I could just follow them in reverse to get home. Do you see where this is going?

All of a sudden I think I have gone too far and passed my turn. But I had not looked at the speedometer so I really had no idea how far I had gone. (I always write how far to go on each road so I know what I am looking for and when. Yeah, hi OCD.) Again I called Wayne and asked for directions. He was having a hard time finding them for me cause I did not have an exact address to give him, just intersections. Finally I pulled over about 50 yards before a light. Some lame person pulled right up behind me rather than going around. So I turned my hazards on to alert them that I would be staying put for a bit.

That's when it happened....

It was very fast.

Across the street a large white truck had screeched to a halt on the side of the road. At the exact same time I heard screeching tires ahead of me and looked toward it. A maroon Grand Caravan had thrown it into reverse and sped backwards at an incredible speed then slammed on it's brakes two lanes over but parallel to me. (You will know for sure I lived in Albuquerque by how my mind thinks now.) My first thought-as I tried to process the white truck screeching and the grand caravan reversing so quickly-was that I could see a shoot out any second. I am sure my heart skipped a beat. (Hello Albuquerque!)

The caravan stopped right by me. I am pretty sure I missed another beat. Window rolls down and the passenger asks if I am ok. My heart started back up and I said, "No I am not. I am trying to get to Virginia Beach via the 264 and have lost my way!"

Driver: "I am going that way. Follow me and I will take you to the tunnel and onto the 264. We will exit before Virgina Beach, but my daughter (passenger) will roll downa window and wave ya on! You just keep on goin'!"

The white truck was apparently circumstantial but the timing was momentarily unnerving!

Just when I thought I couldn't take one more thing...I was sent an angel in a maroon grand caravan.

They did not have to back up, endangering themselves and their car to check on me but they did. They did not have to allow me to follow them and ensure I was safely on my way but they did.

I cried.

It was a kindness I needed. A kindness that I appreciated. It really was touching to me that they would take time to serve someone they did not know. And on that day it meant so very much to me.

Thank you Heavenly Father for my angel in the maroon caravan!

Signed, Sealed And Delivered...

Well, that's not completely true. We did sign a rental agreement today to rent our house out. Yeah! Hoping for the best in that arena.



On Saturday we took Porter to be sealed to us. It was lovely. He was so sweet. He was calm and lovely, which is exactly the spirit of the temple. He looked debonair (see here) dressed in his white tuxedo and it was a lovely and peaceful time amidst the chaos of preparing to move! I am so thankful to have Porter and thankful he is my son.



We left Albuquerque this morning. I won't miss the dirt. (Not even a little.) I will miss my people. There were lots of goodbyes. Some quick ones just cause that is what time allowed. Some sad ones cause that's a pain God gives us when we feel love in a big way. Some non good byes cause some people couldn't be bothered (I think there are multiple reasons for this, but that's another post!) and some good byes there simply just was not not time for. *breathe*



There has not been much time for breathing lately....



We left Albuquerque at 2:30 and made it to Amarillo. (So not quite delivered yet, but on our way!!!) We hoped to make it farther but SURPRISE! Porter got the trots today....poor kid. I think he was mostly freaked out cause his newly potty trained body felt a little out of control. Got him some medicine and some chocolate milk and he was cuddly with me til he fell asleep.



Its been a week I tell ya. We have been so blessed. Good friends. Good Family. Quality people are hard to come by. And I feel that I have an abundance of them. Thank you...thank you for being one of my people....



I have lots to write and lots of thoughts to share but I need to sleep. The next days promise to be trying. lol...

Training

I really should be no stranger to the land of overwhelm. I think it more irritates me than anything.

The other day Wayne and I had a conversation that went like this:

"Um...Wayne, I really have been training you for quite a number of years now...." pause

"Are you wondering when some of that is going to start paying off?"

"Kind of." LOL

*sigh*

The point is this. We can plan everything perfectly but people and situations still happen and we are only in control of ourselves...and honestly..I can't even really control my own self. (haha. I think I am funny!)

We have 4 days til we leave, 5 technically I suppose. The house is a disaster. The more we pack, the worse it gets. Somehow that doesn't seem quite right.

I am enormously grateful that Cayde is ok, but I was nearly knocked dumb when he was admitted to the hospital over the weekend. It was so reminiscent of his early days which ironically seem so long ago. They were so scary. He couldn't breathe well after he was put under anesthesia for a quick tongue clipping, a quick out patient procedure. But Cayde is obviously my son, and won't be doing things like other people..no, he will be taking a step out of the box thank you very much.

My thought process suddenly went from we "are" moving in a week in a half to we "are supposed" to move in a week in a half. We kept on with our plans but obviously he comes first and we did not know what was going to happen. Fortunately he opted to start breathing again and we are good. My heart can't take much more.

Oh! Speaking of hearts...Cayde has a little grouping of holes in his heart called an ASD. The Cardiologist said it should close on it's own between 18 months old and 3 years. he takes 2 meds to help with this. We went for a check-up and Wa-la! They are closed! so stop the meds and no more cardiologist visits. the Pulmonologist recently gave us the same clean bill of health. no more check ups with the Lung doctor which is amazing considering lungs are micro-preemies biggest issue! What a blessing!

(By the way-the reason he wasn't breathing well was because he was getting a cold and we did not know it...so that along with the anesthesia and his small lungs was just a bit much for him. a few days of oxygen helped him through it. Aged his mother, but helped him through! lol!)

Lollipop

There is a commercial, I don't even know what it is for-oh wait I think it's Dell or something, but they play the song, "lollipop." Porter pronounces Allori's name, "lolli," so he was so happy to hear that someone made a commercial just for his sister! It brightens our day each time we hear it!