My oh my. Why I somehow let optimism overcome my soul and make me believe that my plans will play out like they are in my head I'll never know. This, my friends, is why I am an eternal pessimist. If you truly expect the worst then there will be nothing to be disappointed about. Ok, I kid a little. But just a little. I had this grand plan to make a Sunday dinner for the family. This may not seem like a big deal to most but for me it's a rather large undertaking considering I am not known for making what you'd call "complete meals". I am amazed at how people prepare Thanksgiving and Christmas feasts all by themselves. I thought I'd give Sunday dinner a shot. I bought this big beautiful brisket while shopping the other day and thought I ought to share it with more than just the two of us (not counting Hallie...she seems to be a little herbivore as of late). I had everything planned out Saturday night and figured I would be able to make it to church and Sunday school and still have everything ready just in time for lunch. I marinated the meat yesterday evening and popped it in the oven right before we went to bed. Riley was worried about me burning the house down. What he needed to be worried about was the nasty stomach bug that had him in its sights. The darned bug must've been lurking around our house since it left my system a few weeks ago...watching and waiting to choose its next victim. Victim #2: Riley. Just like me he woke up in a stupor around 2:30 and he got up feeling sick when all of a sudden I heard a bang, bang, THUMP. It was the sound of my poor guy passing out on the floor. Gave me a heart attack!!! I found him lying there face down with this confused look on his face. From that point on he had a pretty rough night. But I guess I shouldn't get ahead of myself now...let's start from the beginning of our weekend at home.
Friday night was a fun one for Hallie. For her parents, not so much. Riley had a work dinner we had to make. I'm all about making new friends and getting out of the house, but on this particular night I just wanted to play with Hallie and rest. We are blessed with wonderful babysitters and I have a feeling that Hallie looks forward to having younger, more energetic playmates on hand. Cassidy was a doll and watched Hal while we were at dinner. This girl is amazing let me tell you....she cleaned Hallie's playroom and straightened up her toys. Are you kidding me?? Her momma must've taught her well. Hallie was a giggly mess when we got home and she rode with us while I took Cass back to her house. I think she's found a new friend. Oh but who am I kidding....I guess she's not a new friend after all....they go waaaaaaaay back.....
All the way back to 9 months old
I spy a teenager in a crib ;)
I think the stomach bug attempted to come after me late Friday night when I suddenly felt like I my body weighed a thousand pounds and my head started pounding. Sleep didn't come easy because my stomach was driving me crazy. I woke up feeling sluggish and found very little energy to leave the house like we'd planned. Hal and I were going to make a quick trip to Enid to look at furniture. I've been itching to complete the living room and find some side tables and lamps. Saturday seemed like the perfect day to do some shopping. Not gonna happen. No how, no way. I was pretty bummed because Saturday morning is usually my super-powered, full of energy moment when I feel like I can take on the world and win. All I wanted to do was go back to bed. Instead we stayed inside in our pajamas and played every bit of the morning. I was mostly an observer and picture taker. ;) I can't remember a time we just sat and played for that long...I'm still trying to figure out who had more fun. I adore this baby girl.....
Have you ever seen a blue-eyed red head???
Puzzle time
"Mickey!"
Riley got home from his morning at work and took over as her play partner. Playing chase and wagon rides galore....she was sufficiently worn out so we put her down for a nap around noon and put ourselves down for a nap too. I was hoping to wake up feeling back to normal. My plan worked and I woke up feeling great. I kept thinking she'd wake up any minute seeing as how we'd napped for so long. The minutes (and hours) kept ticking by and we found ourselves dumbfounded when the clock showed 5:15 and she was still snoozing. I thought for sure she was in there chatting with herself but I found her snuggled up with her lamb looking so peaceful. The sleeping queen finally got out of bed at 5:30 and had an extreme amount of energy to burn off. While Riley worked on hanging some new light fixtures around the house Hallie used her energy to help me grocery shop. As a reward for being such a sweet baby at the store we went to play with cousin Carmen. Carmen was getting a sponge bath when we arrived and we were happy to find a sweet nakey baby rolling around on the floor. Hal sat back and took it all in for a bit. She finally spotted Carmen's toys and got busy playing with Aunt Katie while I got to practice on Carm's sitting and squatting. The cousins said goodbye and we made our way home to start prepping for Sunday dinner. Riley grilled out some steaks while Hallie played with our surprise house guests: Nanny and Papa stopped by. I couldn't help but laugh as she waddled to the door squealing with excitement and began banging on the front door and waving. She was ready to play. And so that's what they did. Riley had finished the steaks and Nanny had a great idea to kidnap Hal so that we could eat just the two of us. Full bellies of steak and cheesecake...happy campers were we. ;) Nanny returned with our snuggly and tired baby and couldn't help but rock her to "sleep" with some books. She was pretty zonked as she carried her to bed. I couldn't help but creep around the corner to get a picture of them reading last night....
So you already know how early, early Sunday morning went...I'll tell you about the rest. I woke around 7:30 after a restless night of worrying about Riley and trying to get comfortable on the less than accommodating oversized chair in the playroom. I really didn't know it was possible to contort by body the way I had trying not to roll over on the dog while keeping my body at just the right angle so that my head would stay in the corner of the chair to keep my feet from hanging off. Pure comfort. ;) I had already set the table and made it all pretty for our lunch but knew that there was no way that Riley would feel up to company by lunch time.
Begging for some food
After some quick planning I decided to keep Hal occupied with snacks, cartoons and toys while I cooked up a tornado in the kitchen. The brisket was "resting" while I whipped up some potato casserole, deviled eggs and a cherry pineapple dump cake. I felt bad for Riley and Hallie because all he wanted to do was sleep and all she wanted to do was love on her daddy. By the end of the morning he had been gifted an entire bedside table worth of binkies, cups, shoes and other random items that she thought he needed. I think she knew he didn't feel well because she was extra super quiet this morning and played so well on her own. The girl knows when church day is here because she brought me her church outfit that I'd laid out the night before. She was ready for some nursery playtime. I hurried and got myself ready, pulled the dessert out of the oven, checked on Riley one last time and we loaded up in the car. Problem is we weren't going anywhere. Because my car wouldn't start. This had happened earlier in the week while Hallie and I had gone on a very random late evening shopping trip for some ingredients I needed to make a late dinner. Riley to the rescue that evening. This morning, not so much. I didn't even tell him what was going on and swiped his keys and loaded up in his truck and off we went.
"Mom? Is everything ok?"
Ironically we made it fifteen minutes early to church. Go figure! The message was refreshing and new. Thought provoking. I ducked out right before the final song to go get all of the food and take it over to Nanny and Papa's house. No dropped pans or spills on the way over which I considered a success. Dinner transfer across town was a success. And so was lunch. We missed Riley and Grandma Ida though. But we had plenty of entertainment from Carmen and Hallie. Hal thought that walking around in her diaper with a wet rag on her head was a lot more fun than eating. Carmen sat and munched on Papa's hand which led to a very interesting end to the prayer before lunch. Instead of an "amen" we got an "ouch, owwwwww!!!!" Pretty soon after she set her sights on something else....
Looks like someone's having a nice little snack ;)
I wanted to keep the house as quiet as possible so that Riley could rest in peace. Papa stayed with Hallie while she napped at their house and I used the free time to go for a looooooooooong run. I'm feeling the effects now. I think my joints are still in shock and haven't ran that far in about five years. Anyone have a spare wheelchair because I may need it tomorrow? ;) Our sickly fella spent the afternoon posted up on the couch drinking what water he could and resting. Hallie was back home with us and we were getting ready for a much promised trip to the park. We found Riley in the garage getting ready to go somewhere....I was a bit confused as you can imagine. Where the heck does he think he's going and how far does he think he's going to get down the road before he feels like garbage again? This is why I feel lucky to be married to this man....he was leaving to go buy a new car battery for me. I'd completely forgotten that my car was not in running condition and I sorta would need it to start in the morning. He somehow made it back feeling okay, put the battery in and then felt the effects of getting off the couch. Hal and I left him in peace and had an absolute blast at the park. Her new favorite thing is to crawl up as fast as she can with me and then slide down by herself before I can even get back down to the bottom to catch her. She would just look at me and scrunch up her nose and laugh as if to say "nana nana boo boo." She was also pretty pumped up about finding one of her binkies lying in the rocks at the bottom of the slide. She must've left a spare one behind the other day for an occasion such as this.....
"I planned ahead mom. You've taught me well."
By the time I got back to the house with my red cheeked girl Riley was feeling better. Dinnertime, bathtime and reading left me with a very floppy and tired baby girl in my lap who was perfectly content flipping through pictures and videos on my phone for a good fifteen minutes. I couldn't believe my eyes. I guess if I want some good snuggle time I ought to whip out my phone....Lord knows I've got plenty of pictures on there to keep her occupied.
My two babes are sleeping away right now. So here I sit finding myself feeling both incredibly blessed and incredibly frustrated at the same time. The planner in me is disappointed in the way this weekend turned out whereas the momma in me is incredibly content. The wife in me hopes that my other half wakes up tomorrow feeling 100%. And finally the pessimist in me is being cautious about saying sayonara to Mr. Stomach Bug...I really hope he will stop lurking in the shadows and leaves for good this time.
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