A true "Jonah week"

Well you know those weeks that just....need to be done? Last week was one of those weeks! What started w/ a completely pooey weekend at work that totally made mommy me feel just drunk tired both emotionally and physically. Just one of those slam busy, short staff and add a demised baby delivery and it was just plain sucky. Sunday night I thought it was better when Madeline made the unit fresh fried green tomatoes which I delved into after a nice family delivery. Have to learn how to make those by the way!! Monday just couldn't sleep, couldn't sleep Monday night. Tuesday more fun started, halfway through my hot dog I noticed that my back tooth, my very expensive dental crown was gone. I had swallowed the dern thing! I called Brian and he came home so I could rush to the dentist. "Yup it's gone", he said, "and it's 600 dollars to replace......unless you can find it". So being the motivated cheap penny pusher I am, I rushed to local pharmacies to find some Ipicac. I knew from many viewings of Anne of Green Gables as a child that it was an old remedy for inducing vomiting. And....yeah, lets just say it works very well! Unfortunately after vomiting for several hours and an unsuccessful attempt to recover the lost tooth I countered it with some Phenergan to stop the maddness and sleep. Luckily Abigail took a nice long nap for the duration of the sickies and Brian came home just in time to rescue me to bed.

The week pressed on a little better with hair do's and application of a new acrylic tooth so I didn't have a hole in the back of my mouth. But Friday started with a bang again. We were scooting out for a birthday present and in my tired mommy rush I banged my toe into a wall trying to get around the Bit at an unsafe speed. Thinking I was just hormonal and tired I tried to get out anyway and take Abigail to our planned airport date to "watssss pwanes" but didn't last long before we had to return home to ice and elevate. One look at my toe after we got back confirmed it. Poop! I think I broke the dern thing. Add a fresh sinus bug and head ache to the mix and I couldn't wobble around L&D that night. They weren't happy w/ me calling out but I needed to just chill for one night anyway.

Things are better. We got through the weekend. Despite a yellow jacket sting and some cellulitits on Brian we are starting this week out fresh and determined! A short interrupted sleep yesterday thinking we were getting a couple showings on our house got our hopes up , but to no avail. We are still waiting. Things sure feel tight and frustrating some times. But at the end of the day, I still thank God for the sweetest little princess chatting away our silence and quieting our thoughts and a sweet hubby to cuddle up to at the end of the day. We keep waiting, working cleaning (!) and one of these days it'll all come together. God will provide and we will move on. Till then we keep laughing at these hurdles, it's all you can do. Come on...Ipicac and a broken toe who does that!?!?!? Crying only gives you a nasty headache! Lots of prayer and patience and loving the noise of the snorring man on the pillow beside me gives me peace and a smile to sleep with!

"Happy Birddday Jorrnan"

Yeah! Jordyn's one!! We had a blast Saturday with our good buddies Heidi and Dave and celebrating little Jordyn's first birthday. Man she's grown up fast! Abigail was thrilled to be a part of the party. She wouldn't go to sleep Friday night she was so excited about it. She kept picking her head up off my chest trying to rock her to sleep and asking me "mommy, Jornan have cake?!, paryee hats!! pink parryee hats?? clown noses and Jo-Jo's?? " It was so sweet. You don't realize what all a 2 yr old can retain but she knew full well what a birthday party was and would it be just like hers? I love that she remembered those little details I try to make special for her! :) She was all about the party and her adorable friend on her big day. It's funny, Jordyn really doesn't get Abigail yet but boy does Abigail love her! She got to play w/ some older kids all day on Jordyn's swings and "laadowww" and slide. I know she loved being in the heart of the action and Bri and I loved that she was old enough to sit back w/ our friends and watch her go off on her own. (course the broken toe thing kept mommy from supervising close up like I wanted to....maybe that's a good thing). It was a great party w/ good ole burgers and friends and beautiful weather to enjoy it all in. It's so much fun to watch our small group morph and change as we all grow up together. Two years ago our group events would have been a lot faster paced and crazier but we all laughed Saturday as we admitted we liked slowing down together and supporting each other w/ growing families....and bellies (5 girls are pregnant with their first babies!) God's been so good to our group and we are just loving life together.

wa-wa date

Last week amidst the chaos the Bit and I took a breather and got in some swim time w/ the Grooshooshkis. My good buddy Madeline has a membership to the YMCA and treated us to a guest pass so we could swim. It was heavenly to kick back and watch the kids play together in the warm pool w/ the most beautiful mountain view! Lilly, Zabien and Abigail had a blast together. Zabe was adorable trying his 5 yr old hardest to get these two 2 yr olds to play with him. Abigail learned fast to just go with it when he hoisted her up and drug her into the fountain w/ him. :) Go Zabe! And Lilly had to be reminded only a couple times that she would indeed sink if she continued to walk towards mommy in the deep in. Madeline and I both turned at the same time just in time to see her baby head disappear under the water as she took just enough steps to be under the surface. Oops! We scooped her up fast though, nice job lifegaurd! All in all a nice afternoon. We will seriously consider making that a regular play spot once we can afford it. Abigail is just too good at swimming and too into water to not allow her a regular place to play in it.

Wow, talk about amazing!

the "Fantasia" pool at our hotel, open and very much occupied until midnight

this was 5 yr old Joel, one of her many friends she picked up along the way.

You would not believe how much pizza this girl ate!

my sweet and very lovable pirate Brian

enjoying being turned loose at Grammie Adam's house

my most original 'fish extender' bag I made to catch gifts from other DIS members!

my sweet pea posing in front of the actual 'Flying Duchman' from Pirates of the Carribean
notice the only tiny 2 yr old squirt out on the platform would be the Bit

my little disco diva heard those steel drums playing on our way off the island and she had to grab mommy's hat and dance for a good while first!!! Man we were cracking up!
My sweetie on a 'secret deck' he read about just for us to play on one night

yeah, Dad would have loved this!
a good example of how much 'relaxing time' we really had.....ok, so worth it!
could be wrong....but I think she's having a good time!

Brian rocked w/ his dance moves this trip!! Abigail ate up every minute!
Ya know..... isn't there an old saying about a blood red sunset on the seas....we should have know we were close!
this was formal night, she wore a princess costume and we modeled our matching pirate tatoos from the night before....oops! I tried to cover mine w/ make up

she learned real fast how cool those Disney princesses are!
she loved what they could do w/ her 'woobie', and yes, there's her tatoo on her baby arm!

yeah, that's right....Mickey taught her the chicken dance!

notice the age and activity of the other swimmers, she soooo held her own in that big pool!

What an incredible time we just had circling the sunny side of the world...well..sunny most of the time. :) A couple little hurricanes might have shaken up the sky's and the seas just a bit! I have a mountain of stories and 902 photos (!!!) taken of our trip. A little too much to blog adequately about so I will be doing a photo/journal book of just our trip. But I didn't want to not do something on the blog to share w/ family so I'll do a sampler post here. I just may loose my sweet familial readers if I post all 900 photos and blog all the beautiful details. I think it might crash the eblogger site forever! :) So, in a nut shell...It was an amazing 10 days. Disney once again didn't let us down. They just know how to make a family feel special.

We arrived at our favorite All Stars Resort with smiles beaming from our faces. They pinned the Bit with a "My First Visit" button for her overalls. We hit Downtown Disney Thursday night after checking in and swimming a while. The Rainforest cafe was a hoot! Abigail wasn't too fond of the every 30 minute 'thunder storms' they put on but other then that we had a great meal while the skys conveniently opened up outside just long enough to cool things off. We hit the Magic Kingdom early Friday morning to 2 nice surprises. One they had their fall decorations out which was a hoot. There were mickey pumpkins and scarecrows everywhere. And 2!!!.......We got to see Michael Phelps!!!!!! Yes, his first American appearance back from China and he picked Disney World to do it and the day we happened to be there!! It was so stinkin cool! Of course Abigail was much more excited to see Mickey Mouse sitting beside him but we all had a great day enjoying all the above.

We hit Epcot and Hollywood studios over the next day. Abigail danced and had breakfast with Jo-Jo and the Little Einstiens which was so adorable. Actually Jo Jo was quite taken w/ her and kept getting her to dance w/ her!

We headed Sunday for Bri's grandmother's house near West Palm Beach and had a great time. Abigail was quite a hit w/ Grammie Adam and her little dog princess. We relaxed, talked a lot , did a lot of laundry and drank some good wine in good company. So glad we went out of our way a little to get some quality time in with her. So worth it!

Monday morning we were off to "Mickey's boat" as the Bit referred to it. That was an experience all in itself. Such an incredible ship and staff. We had an awesome time living it up like kings for a week. The best day was at Disney's own island 'Castaway Cay'. Photos will show what an incredible place that is. We were supposed to get two days there but good ole Hannah messed up day two the end of the week. It was a perfect vacation. All 3 of us slept great, ate huge and even didn't miss a beat of the 2 speeches during the Republican National convention. (Go Sara!!). We even saw the NFL season kick off on a 30 foot flat screen over the Atlantic ocean up on deck 10. So fun! Abigail ran the ship like the wild woman she is and had the time of her life meeting princesses and getting doted over w/ her squeaky shoes (that she rarely took off, thank you grampa Mike!), and Brian and I had the time of our lives watching her have her little "baby fits" as we would call them. She literally would get over excited, start spinning in a circle and squealing w/ giggles.

It was the trip of a lifetime (so far). We definitely love our cruising and want to keep the good times rolling. We have a lot to come home to but God is in control of all these spinning crazies this fall. I'm so glad! Thanks for the prayers for our fun and safety. The boat was rockin but we didn't mind. Nothing could spoil a trip like that. Mom and Dad, you rock for making it possible!!!

Mickey Mouse here we come!!!

Ok, just a quickie update. We'll be out of communication for a couple weeks. Just so you don't think we're anti social. We leave Wednesday night and will be back with lots of stories to blog about next Sunday. Until then keep us in your prayers and love you all bunches!!!