A Visit With Grammy And Grandpa

Hands down, the most active family members in our children's lives, are my grandparents. They've given so much love and support, that it often overwhelms me. Eleanore is constantly getting letters in the mail, just little notes reminding her how special she is, and books and clothes are always arriving at our door for reasons none other than "we love you". The love that they give us warms my heart.

A few weeks ago, I noticed an email in my inbox, with the subject line "Lets make this short: Can we come visit?". I nearly fell out of my seat. YES! Yes you can come visit!

Eleanore would finally get to meet the face behind all of the handwritten cards that she had gotten. We counted down the days.

On Thursday night, on the 17th, after the kids were in bed and Christopher was relaxing on the couch watching some football, I headed off for the airport to greet them with hugs and candy canes. They looked, great.


We spent the next 3 days going through memories, filling plates with turkey and stuffing, nibbling peppermint bark and rum balls, filling our glasses with nog, and enjoying our time together. Watching my Grammy play in my daughters pretend kitchen with her brought back so many memories of my own childhood, when she would play with me. It was wonderful.



They colored. They baked cookies for Santa. They read stories.


Charlie is going through a phase where he doesn't want to be touched by anybody other than me or Christopher, so they spent a lot of time playing peek a boo with him from a distance. There weren't many opportunities for photos when it came to the little grump. Not unless we wanted a picture of him screaming, haha.




We took them to the air park while they were here. It was sunny and warm, but windy. Grammy and I hid our hair behind the hoods of our jackets, the boys talked air planes, Eleanore ran around in the open space, and Charlie screamed. He screamed a lot.

Right before they left, we took another trip to the North Pole. Charlie needed to meet Santa! Eleanore rode in their car with them, while Charlie slept in the backseat of ours, and when we arrived there, the heartbreak of knowing that they'd be leaving in just a few short minutes settled in. Before we said our final goodbyes, we asked a nice couple who was waiting in line, to take our picture. And it turned out just perfect...


We couldn't have asked for a better visit.

Week 22

This weeks flashback is going to be a little bit different. Usually I scan an old image of myself, and then write a little story to go with it. But this week, while most everyone else in the world is focusing on Christmas, the only thing that seems fitting for me, is to go back into the archives, and re post an entry that I wrote for my son, after he was born.

Tomorrow my baby boy turns 1 year old. Can you believe that?

It amazes me. As I write this, little Charlie is sitting in his high chair to the left of me, feeding himself little bits of turkey and and cheese, screaming at his Daddy for pain medicine to help numb the throbbing in his gums. Every day with Charlie is an adventure. Hes had a rocky start, overcoming both the swine flu and pneumonia, surviving everything that his big sister has thrown his way, and before I know it we'll be saying happy birthday to him again, not even having had a chance to soak up what we experienced in 2010.

Anyways. Here is the post that I wrote (without editing) shortly after he was born last year, introducing him to all of you...


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How can I put into type how much I love my son? I can't even get over the fact that I just wrote the word "son". I had to look at the keyboard to make sure I was spelling it right. One of my best friends, Miss Kristen, picked me up at 8am, and after a quick picture party in her car, we were on our way to Abilene Regional to have a baby. The plan was for Christopher, my mother, and my precious Elie Sue to meet up with us there around 11:00, an hour before my scheduled c-section. When Kristen and I got there, they asked me "are you here for your c-section?". I answered with a yes, even though I was only there for blood work, and my surgery wasn't for another 4 hours. Even when the nurse said "get undressed, we'll get your iv hooked up, and then we'll take you back and have a baby!", I still wasn't in tune with the idea that it might be happening much sooner than I expected. And then I get a funny phone call, from Christopher? Hes at home, and he says "guess who just called me?". I don't know, who. "Labor and delivery". Really, why? "They're ready to do your c-section now". Oh OK. Wait... right now?


Then before I know it, Christopher is in front of me putting on scrubs, I've got an iv in my wrist, and I'm holding a shot of what I can only describe as grape vomit that I'm supposed to drink in order to prevent my lungs from burning if I throw up during the surgery. I managed to get away with not drinking it last time, but this time I put on my big girl panties and went through with it. All eyes were on me as I struggled in silence for 5 minutes following, trying my best to keep it down. And then with a handful of tubes and wires, I was wheeled down to the operating room of doom, where I'd feel every second of my spinal, and nearly pass out from the extreme nausea and lung tightening once it took effect. I don't know what I would have done without Christopher. He was my rock through all of it. Usually they don't let the husband in the room during the spinal, according to a baby story at least, but he was there right in front of me, reminding me to breathe the entire time. He commented multiple times on the ridiculous amount of sweat pouring off of my body, but other than that, he was amazing. Thank you honey, I would have died if you hadn't been there. All of it was worth it though, when they finally announced that his head (covered in hair) was finally out, shortly followed by the final call of "Its a boy!".



They held him up over the blue curtain for me to see, and I cried uncontrollably until he left the room with Christopher and the nurses. I don't remember much after that. I closed my eyes and replayed that very moment in my head over and over again for the next hour until he was finally in my arms. I'm in love. Charles Vincent was born on December 26th, at 10:15 am, 20 inches long, 7 pounds 10 ounces. And hes absolutely one hundred percent, perfect.



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If you have a flashback that you'd like to share with us, add your link to the list below. Make sure to post the link to this post in your blog as well. The more the merrier!