Mixed Blessings

This past weekend was full of mixed blessings. Quite literally and figuratively. There were a lot of plans and quite a lot more happened that was unplanned. Needless, to say it was a filled weekend of family, food, fun, and not-so-fun happenings.

First off, the kick-off started with my birthday. It was a great day but was also a bit condensed since we were planning on driving across Missouri for half of it. But that was the other fun part. We got to FINALLY meet our newest nephew/cousin!! This cute little guy:

This is Brady Bell. My brother Quentin and his wife Natalie's newest (and first) bundle of joy! It's a shame he had a full month to grow before we could meet him in person! Luckily he was still such a tiny, small, and long and skinny little guy that was still rockin' his newborn clothes - so cute! He's adorable and was so fun to hold and put to sleep when I first got there. I even got to gift him with my newest sewing project. A blanket just for him. Yep, I'm a "sewer" now...um I mean "seamstress" that sounds MUCH better eh? Addison loved saying and seeing "Bady" or maybe she was saying "Baby"?? I guess either one is still applicable. She really loves babies lately - that's a good thing since we'll be introducing a new one to her in late August right?

After visiting w/Brady and taking a good long nap at our hotel, we were awake and ready for the rest of the festivities. We planned on uniting all of Brady's family and loved ones in our hotel breakfast nook to eat dinner, visit, and celebrate. There was lots to celebrate after all. Brady's birth, 5 other birthdays that had passed, and Quentin (the new daddy) getting accepted into his program at school. Unfortunately, just prior to the cake festivities, my weekend took a turn for the worse. I noticed Addison taking a poop squat in the corner which was regular routine and thought nothing of it. After I changed her all make-shift style in the hotel bathroom she promptly stood up to puke up everything she'd eaten, three times, once in each sink and one on me. Luckily a short call later Daddy and Aunt "Tassie" came to save us and we had it all cleaned up and joined the party. Just to have her throw up yet again. We banished ourselves to our hotel room for what was to be a LONG night. After six hours of her puking every 15 minutes and keeping nothing down, we headed of to the ER to get her re-hydrated. I was nervous for her but she seemed so tired and miserable to care. It's hard to tell if/when your baby is lethargic when it's midnight but after suffering through the IV process, and getting re-hydrated, she was jabbering away to everyone who passed by her and was back to her happy self. So glad to see after all we had gone through at that point. We headed back to the hotel and crashed for three hours before we were up and packing and moving on to the next big event.

Brady Bell's blessing! He looked sooo adorable in his tiny little outfit. It was so nice to have all of our cousins, aunts/uncles, grandma's/grandpa's on both of Brady's side of family there at church to support their cute little family. John and Addison quarantined themselves to the foyer just in case she was still contagious. Quentin did a great job blessing his little boy and it was an enjoyable time. We had a few quick pictures snapped soon afterwards and headed home quickly with our still sick (possibly?) baby and her Grandma which we were dropping off in Springfield at her home. Everyone else continued in the festivities. What awaited us on our drive home was not so pleasant.

Typically it's a fairly long drive. 5 hours but add on top a sick baby and it seems like 5 days. It started out well and she seemed still happy from her ER fluids. However, after 5+ hours in the car, one pull-over by a small city jerk cop, a quick lunch, a total of three throw-ups later, clothes and car that reeked, and back-tracking for a Grandma that forgot to unload half of her possessions, we were just ready to be home. It's not fun seeing your baby throwing up while in her 5 strap harness seat and miserable. I can't imagine she enjoyed living it anymore than I enjoyed watching it. A few tears later we rolled into our home just happy to be out of the stinky car. But the fun didn't stop there.

Once our baby was medicated (w/a suppository - lovely) and sleeping peacefully, Daddy got hit with the bug - full force mind you. He was miserable and achy and violently sick. At one in the morning we were saved by a friend and a Grandpa who dressed in their Sunday best to rush over and give him a blessing. It was a rough night for Daddy but he survived and now almost two days later I'm thinking we are all on the path to returning to our happy and healthy lives. So far Mommy hasn't been hit with the bug which is a good thing since one of us had to stay on our feet and be the errand runner/nurse/care-giver. 10 loads of laundry later our lives may just be getting back to normal. And honestly at this point, "normal" is definitely a welcome sight!

**Sidenote: Unfortunately I wasn't able to capture any pictures of the event since my hands were preoccupied with holding other yucky things. Mostly Addison's meals as they returned, and the towels used to capture it all, and the dirty diapers. I'll have to steal some pictures off of my sister-in-law's blog when they post. Stay tuned!**