Now Where Was I...

Right. On vacation.  Just in case anyone has ever wondered how challenging it might be to drive from Michigan to Texas and back with three children, we have the answer. 
We've been home about 24 hours now.  "Home" is still relative term to our youngest.  She keeps asking when we are moving back to Texas and when we are getting back to Michigan.  Along the way she asked at each stop "Are we staying here forever?"  So hard to explain a two week long trip to visit family to someone who has lived temporarily more times than years she's been alive.
The trip was about:
Seeing and Spending Time with Family: Check

Picking up and Bringing Home our First Four Legged Baby: Check

Not on the agenda was a bout of dental work related pain including a TMJ flare up beginning the week prior to leaving and lasting up until almost exactly 24 hours ago.  So frustrated.  That about sums up the way I felt on this trip and how I felt yesterday even with the relief of pain that finally came.  After 3 weeks of almost constant pill popping and obsession with finding what else could relieve the pain that started on the left side of my face and ended with one molar I was sure was cracked or infected or both, I am medication free and almost completely back to normal.  Just like that.

We pulled up to the dentist office just in time for the appointment I scheduled less than 2 hours before I started feeling the first bit of relief.  I had thought I was feeling better about 100 times prior, but it was the first time I was able to eat a meal without any pain and the first time I got progressively better as the dentist promised I would when I went back in the day before we left.

I know I was less than pleasant to almost everyone we saw.  I'm so thankful that most of you are related to me and required to love me anyway, but I was truly all consumed with the pain and how to relieve it.  My poor husband got a play by play of every feeling I had and just as I started feeling better, he started feeling bad himself.  We were back early enough to get him to a doctor and on some antibiotics yesterday afternoon. (As soon as I got home from the appointment I ended up not really needing).

Just as suddenly as I felt well, our little Hannah started feeling bad.  She was up several times during the night with fever, chills and aches.  It has continued today and has included one stomach emptying and lots of sleeping.  She wakes up every once in a while wondering where I am and I have come running from the office where I've been paying bills and checking on school and sport calendars and schedules.  I've also been making phone calls and paying excessive amounts of money to an a/c guy in hopes of preventing another painful electric bill from our constantly running a/c units.  I've also been trying to keep the other two little people (who at least at this point are symptom free) occupied and from antagonizing our little Max--who is handling all of the attention he's been getting very well.  Things are getting checked off of my To Do list, but nothing involving going out of the house like buying groceries or returning library books.

Daddy is busy at work today still feeling pretty miserable himself.  I'm hoping he'll be able to make it home early enough that I can get Little Miss Sarah to her swimming lesson and grab some perishable food items since we've eaten almost nothing but junk for 2 weeks straight and it is time to remedy that.

By sheer coincidence, today is our 5 year "Blog-iversary"...So thankful that I dedicated a post to our blog last year on the 4 year "Blog-iversary" because this year: not happening.

We have an 8th birthday celebration coming up and plans have been made and put in motion.  We are thankful that if we must have illness in our house that it is this week and not next.  Daddy's trips start up again next week and he'll be gone the entire week of his birthday the following week.  We'll find a way to celebrate because as a friend of his pointed out recently "No age is mundane" and all deserve celebrating.

We didn't get to see nearly as many friends as we wanted to, but are thankful for the few we did see.  We are especially thankful for the time we had with family and especially for the extra time the kids got with their cousins.  We even got to meet both of the new babies in the family: two beautiful baby boys.  Thanks so much for all of the hospitality and the love.  Although I would much rather have felt better during our visit, we did have a great time.  Lots of sunshine, family love and a long awaited visit with Shamu--especially requested by this happy little girl below:

Too soon to say if we can handle that drive again at Christmas, although we are heavily leaning towards NO WAY!!  Definitely need a recovery period before we can even think about that...however the cooler temperatures of December are definitely tempting.  We had all forgotten how HOT Texas is in August and apparently we became soft after spending three summers in Belgium (even minus the a/c).  It felt great even coming home to low 90's yesterday. 

Still have lots of pictures to upload and go through once we get everyone healthy and some sense of routine going around here.  We have 4 weeks from yesterday until the first day of school.  Still trying to negotiate morning kindergarten for Hannah so that the preschool I have planned for Sarah works out.  There is no Plan B so I may have to get moving on that if I don't hear back from the school this week.  For now just trying to take one minute at a time...