Demons

I guess we are all chased by some demons. Whether we let others know about it or not. Over the summer I faced a couple.

Since Little d was about nine months old she's been getting carsick. I've posted about it before, so I won't belabor the details. But it changed my life. Instead of David and I travelling to long distance birthday parties or weddings or whatevers, we stayed close to home. Or one of us would go and leave Little d at home. I made enemies with my ex-sister in law and my mother in law over it. Which to be perfectly honest, probably would have happened anyway.

I've spent hours and hours stressing over how to get her to and from things. Over calculating minutes in the car and sleeping times and dozens of other things that no one else ever gives a thought to. I know carsickness is not the end of the world, but somehow it became my arch nemises, my own personal demon. And I spent countless hours making sure it didn't happen--not on my watch! D seemed much more nonchalant about it, but he was a good sport to humor my fanaticism.

Then last year I bought a box of Dramamine--chewable for kids. I thought that it was for kids 6 and up and finally Little d was old enough. Imagine my surprise to read the label that had dosing for kids 2-6 also. Anyway. There never seemed to be a right time to use it. Until this summer. Our POC trip.

The arrangement was this. I would drive down with Little d and Little m. (Little m has absolutely no problems in the car.) D would drive down with my mom and Little md--whom we have yet to test out on car trips while awake. I waited until after lunch to give Little d her tablet. Then exactly one hour later we set out. She was sleepy before we left which I took as a good sign that the medicine was in her system. After about 15 minutes of driving she would look like she was dosing off, and then she would wake herself and say "mom turn on the radio" or "mom sing Twinkle Twinkle" as if to keep herself awake. She had asked repeatedly if she would get sick if she stayed awake and I told her that I was very sure the medicine would help her even if she was awake.

My daughter and I talked and visited the entire trip down. One whole hour with her in the car and awake and not throwing up. By the time we reached POC I was ecstatic. In fact beside myself with joy! This was a day that I had waited for for so long. I pointed out landmarks and got to hear--for the first time--"mom, are we there yet??" And I loved every minute of it. Little m fell asleep and drooled the whole way down...

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Something else that I conquered in POC was going to Memaw's house. I haven't been in the house since she passed away. My grandfather lives with my mom and dad, and we needed to go get a recliner out of the house for him while we were in POC. I went up with D to load it up. It was kind of weird to be there, but not as emotional as I thought. Of course here I am writing about it a month later, so the feelings aren't as strong as they were.

I had a dream about her the other night. She was playing the piano at a wedding and I was desperately searching for a camera to take a picture. I was so happy to see her again and to get a second chance to see her play the piano. I kept thinking I need to take a picture of this because I never did it when she was alive. I woke up with a mix of happy and sad.

I still haven't been in Grandma Hawes' house. I think that may be hard too. I probably won't find out until Christmas...

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I have a new demon now though. I'll have to write a post about that soon.

Swing of Things

Namely the swing of my toe against the door frame leading to a "beautiful job" of breaking my toe. That was over two weeks ago and my foot still swells, hurts and is purple in places. Supposedly it will be healed by week three and I can stop taping my toes together everyday.

So you shoulda seen me shopping the mall for Little d's school clothes last week. Or doing laundry. Or stepping over the baby gate and hearing (and feeling) my toe pop again.

This post is going to be like all the rest of late. (Like the entire last year.) Meaning--rambling and not even remotely entertaining. But I need to document somehow and goodness knows I'm not scrapbooking. (I mean, how could I? When the office is still not set up.)

We came back from POC. I tackled not one, but two demons on that trip. In fact I started a whole post for it....which is still in editing.

We finally got a new table and chairs for the kitchen. Now we can all sit around the table together. And it's glass topped so I can clean fingerprints--and let's be honest, faceprints--off of it several times a day. But it was my pick and I do love the way it looks in the kitchen. Wait---I may have a picture for you.... well no. I guess I don't have one on the computer. Anyway.

School is starting soon. In 10 days to be exact. I am so depressed about it. Little being gone again. I hope and pray that her classmates and teacher are good matches again this year. We were so blessed last year.

Little m is completely potty trained. I am not sure if I mentioned this before, but I guess it still amazes me that it ended up being so easy.

Little md is growing like a weed. He eats big folks food now, rarely does he eat baby food. And he's even started sporadically sleeping through the night. Wish I could say the same for the girls. Little m does better than Little d--can you imagine??

Last night we celebrated my parents 40th anniversary here at the house by cooking a Thankgiving style dinner. It was delicious. Mom and Dad had to go back to POC with Poppy, but my bro and his little family stayed to swim. {We bought one of those little above ground pools when we got back from POC this summer and it really is nice because all of the kids can stand up in it, and the grownups fit too!}

I am spending my time this last week of summer cleaning and organizing the house. I need in the most desperate way to be able to start this year of school differently than last year. Last year was a completely chaotic mess, with us out here at an unfinished house and D working nights. Just miserable. This year we are at least all together and secure in our home. But it would be nice if the dining room was not filled with tons of leftover stuff from our old house, and office was set up and organized so I had room for paperwork and scrapbooking. Paperwork-so the kitchen counters weren't filled and scrapbooking-so I could find a little de-stressing this school year.

I started back on WW again. This first week I'm down three pounds, so I'm feeling energized about that. I'm hoping my foot heals so I can do some working out as well--although housework counts too.

D is off this week. Yeah!! His job is going through a changeup and I am hoping everything works out. He works for Dow Chemical Company and the unit he works at was bought by a Brazillian company. So technically he'll be working for Braskem. I think that's how it's spelled--anyway--we don't know how this change will effect his 401K, or insurance. Hopefully they will get that info to us before the changover in September--or whenever it happens.

I could talk about politics, but really things kind of speak for themselves don't they? I mean if the economy wasn't so far in the toilet it would be comical, right? Spend more than you make and then just get a bigger credit card?? Makes perfect sense to me!

I haven't been on the computer much these days--three kids require a lot of time!! :) But this morning I sat (to rest my swollen foot) and I happened to click on this blog I've read since before Little d was born. It first intrigued me because the blogger and I share a first name, but she writes so well, I was hooked. I check in every once in a while and over the summer I have maybe looked in once. She slowed way down on updating so I didnt' check that often.

Anyway-today I looked and am shocked beyond belief. Her family was in a head on collision in July and her husband was killed instantly. I felt it in my gut to read the story. She suffered broken ribs and one of her small sons has a broken leg. It horrifies me. It makes me want to hold on to D and never let go. I am not strong enough to cope with that. I mean I guess I would have to be, but how on earth?

In honor of my Mom and Dad's 40th anniversary (tomorrow), here's a picture of them last May at a wedding. I am so proud to call them my parents.

Have a good weekend!