so many stories to tell :: part one of two

So much has been happening – so many stories to tell. I know I haven’t posted in a long time… but I do have a good excuse. To echo my friend’s comment on her blog – I have been suffering the insufferables. Not to mention trying to keep my head above water. Like I said before – so much has been happening here on Woodburn Drive... this is just the half of it.

I guess I should go back as far as Mother’s Day – and say that I had a very pleasant one. Apart from having a horrendous headache, my first Mother’s Day was very special. Brian got Ammon ready for church, allowing me to catch a few minutes of extra sleep. I was able to attend all my meetings at church that morning – Ammon cooperated for the first time... ever. He did have to be taken out of Sunday school by his daddy – he had a slight meltdown but did manage to flash a huge I-got-my-way-smile at the entire room on their way out the door. I tell you, this one has a heap of personality.

After church, Ammon and Brian gave me my sweet, homemade Mother’s Day card and gift – my new, juicier, iPod. I have needed a larger capacity iPod for a while now – my old iPod was only able to hold about 5% of the music in my iTunes program… and 80% of that was Ammon’s. Now, I don’t have to change things out quite as frequently. Thank you, my dear boys, for making my Mother’s Day special. Thank you, Ammon, for making me a mother. I should thank Brian, too – without him and his support, I couldn’t do what I do.

That afternoon, we went down to Brian’s parent’s home for the afternoon. There, all the mothers were treated to a steak dinner – while everyone else had hamburgers. We were spoiled for the afternoon – and had a lovely time. Mother’s Day was also Brian’s grandfather’s “39th” birthday, so after dinner we celebrated with ice cream and cake. Brian’s grandmother made her famous coconut cake; however, Brian doesn’t like coconut cake (also know as hairy cake). His loving grandmother remembered this, so a corner of the cake was left hairless. Such a spoiled boy.

The rest of the week was a blur – I got into some honeysuckle Sunday evening, and because I am allergic to honeysuckle, my body turned against me. What started off as just a minor allergy attack turned into something much more heinous – I spent the week with a fever, terrible cough and, risking being too graphic – green goop oozing from my nose and throat. I had no energy whatsoever – barely being able to feed and change Ammon. Poor boy – he is always excited to see his dad in the afternoons, but he was especially happy last week… his dad at home meant that he could finally get out of his swing or bouncy seat.

Needless to say, this funky-cold was not what I needed that week. I did not have time for it – never do, but I really didn’t have time for it then. That weekend we were going to Atlanta for a family wedding and had Brian’s graduation. Here it all is – our happenings, if you will. The adventurous weekend we had.

THURSDAY, MAY 15th:

I was still feeing cruddy. Pure cruddy. But, whether I felt like it or not, I had to get ready for the weekend. I forced myself to do laundry, straighten up the house, pack – in a nutshell, force myself to do everything on my to-do list. Something that wasn’t on my list, but something that crept into the day anyway, was a meltdown. Only one, though. I don’t know where the energy came from, but I was successful at having everything packed and ready to go Thursday night – we were leaving early Friday morning, which meant an even earlier start to the day. I knew that I wouldn’t have time to do anything besides getting myself and Ammon ready, so I wanted everything else to be done. Brian was a big help – he was done with campus classes, so he was able to take care of Ammon. We were excited to be going, excited to be able to spend time with family – but with everything else we had to do, we weren’t looking forward to the go, go, go.

FRIDAY, MAY 16th:

We woke up to a rainy, rainy day. Not a day to be travelling. But, despite the weather, we got ready to go, packed up and got on the road right on time. Our decision to go through Enterprise was multi-faceted: we had something to drop of at my mom’s office and we wanted to stop by the hospital and see our friends’ new baby boy. We also stopped by the Wal-Mart there, to get some snacks and last minute things for the trip. We quickly saw my mom and everyone at her office – and then headed to the hospital, where things got complicated. By the time we got there it was storming, making getting out of the car with a five-month old nothing short of challenging. I hadn’t been to the hospital in Enterprise in years, so I really didn’t know my way around. We got on the elevator, pushed the button for the second floor, and got off. We walked around for a few minutes, seeing a herd of sickly geriatrics – and I got that we’re-in-the-wrong-place vibe. I finally asked someone for assistance – and after looking at me like I had two heads, she said, “Well, dear, you need to be on the second floor.” Flabbergasted, I respond, “Well, isn’t that where we are?” I mean, after all we did push the button for the second floor in the elevator. She snipped, “No – you are on the third floor.” She then, very slowly so that I would comprehend, explained how to get to labor and delivery. I thanked her, with a “… thank you. Pardon me for assuming that your elevator would take me to the second floor after pushing the number 2.”

We finally found Jerry and Kristy’s room and met their sweet, lovely new little boy, Caleb. How darling he is. We stayed and visited for a while. Funny enough, while we were in their room the meal-lady came in for Kristy’s menu – and guess who it was? Surprise, Surprise –it was my nice, snippy, friend that I had met on the third floor. Ha Ha Ha. After a while, we needed to get on the road, so we said our goodbyes. We then proceed to get lost trying to find our way out. What a start to our day.

Our adventures at the hospital put us a bit behind schedule, and the rain didn’t help. However, Ammon was very good during the drive. He slept the whole way, except for our stop in Montgomery for lunch. Traffic was fairly light, considering we rolled into Atlanta during rush hour. We decided to stop at our hotel first before going on to Brian’s uncle’s for our family get-together – this way, we would have Ammon’s pack-n-play ready to go when we got back. Our hotel – oh, so fabulous. For a room that we paid a little over $40 a night for (normally $100+), we really lucked out. Our room was simply luscious with its sectional couch/leather ottoman, mini bar, raised king-sized (I might add comfy) bed – and 42-inch flat screen television. The room was divided into two sections, with a floor-to-ceiling half-wall separating the living area from the bedroom area. The television swiveled to face either section. The place was nicer than our home – heaven. All of our family that wasn’t staying at Brian’s uncle’s home was staying at the same hotel. We were really looking forward to spending time with them here. We were originally going to leave for home right after the reception on Saturday – Brian had a final exam to do for an online class that was due by 10:00pm on Saturday (it didn’t open until 12:00noon on Friday, so he hadn’t even started on it). However, we decided that it would be easier to stay an extra night – just to play it safe. I’m sure that our lovely room had no influence on that decision at all…

After settling into our room, we drove to Brian’s Uncle Ron’s. Traffic was very light, and we made record time getting to Conyers from our hotel. It was lovely to see all of our family there: the South Carolina bunch and part of the Texas crew was there… and of course all of us from good ol’ Alabamie. The only folks that were planning on coming and were not able to were Jacob, who just returned home from Afghanistan, and his wife, Laci. Ammon was quite the hit – he was passed around all evening.

After a nice visit, we decided to head back to our hotel so that Brian could get started on his final. I put Ammon to bed – his pack-n-play just happened to be right in front of that big television. He just stared in awe at the screen, munching away at his bink. I ended up having to turn the television off so that he would go to sleep. I stayed up quite late, putting things away, ironing our clothes for the morning (my first in a long line of little white shirts, I’m afraid)… and watching a bit of television myself. Brian ended up finishing his final that night – pardon me, morning – it was about 1:30am.

SATURDAY, MAY 17th:

We got up very early Saturday morning – we needed to leave for the Temple by 9:00, and needed to feed ourselves and Ammon prior to that. What I thought would be a nice, fairly leisurely morning – since I had taken the time to put out mine and Ammon’s clothes and pack Ammon’s bag the night before – turned out to be far from nice and leisurely. Brian, understandably, had a hard time getting up. Ammon had a hard time getting up. I got out of the shower, after giving Brian instructions to get Ammon up and feed him, to find them both asleep in our bed. I started to get dressed, and realized that I had not tried on my skirt since Ammon had been born to see if it still fit me. It did – but not the way nature intended it to fit (I spent the day in an extremely uncomfortable fashion). I took over Ammon duty so that Brian could get ready. When he started to get dressed, he realized that he had left his white shirt at home (the one time that I don’t double check what he has packed). Now, we had to leave even earlier for the Temple so that Brian could rent a shirt. I hurriedly wrapped our wedding gift – our iron had tipped over the night before and drenched the box with water, so I let it air out over night.

We finally got downstairs to eat breakfast. Of course, everyone else was running late. This wouldn’t have been an issue, if not for Ammon – Brian and I could have easily just gone on to the Temple, but we needed someone to watch Ammon at the visitor’s center. Finally, after Brian’s mom, dad and brother’s family came downstairs, we decided to just drive our cousin over to the Temple to watch Ammon – she was ready, but the rest of her family was not. Brian and I went on ahead with Ammon – arranging to meet everyone else at the visitor’s center in a few minutes. After several minutes of waiting, Brian called his brother – only to find out that someone had spilt nail polish on the carpet in one of the hotel rooms, and everyone was desperately trying to get it out. They would be there in a few minutes. I ended up sending Brian on to the Temple to rent his shirt and change. I waited with Ammon. And waited. And waited. And waited some more. Finally, our cousin came in and took Ammon so that I could run up to the Temple with Brian’s brother, Craig, and his wife, Rachel. Once inside, I was able to meet Brian – looking much more the part in his new white shirt – and the rest of our family. Whew. What a day.

Lauren and Jeremy’s sealing was wonderful. They always are. It was so lovely to be there with our sweet family. So nice to remember when Brian and I were sealed. So nice to feel the sweet spirit that is in the Temple.

After the sealing, we all waited outside for the new bride and groom. The weather was simply divine over the weekend. Crisp and cool. Such a nice change from clammy and humid. After the wedding, of course, was the inevitable round of photographs. Luckily, things seemed to be organized enough to prevent mass chaos. They were soon done with us, and we trooped over to the chapel behind the Temple, where the reception was to be held. Brian helped his dad set up the speakers, etc. for the music. I tried to entertain a melting-down-Ammon. My feet were killing me. My skirt was killing me. Ammon was lucky to be able to get out of his monkey suit… why couldn’t I?

Lauren and Jeremy chose to have a ring ceremony prior to their reception. Everything was just lovely. We all had a fun time dancing the afternoon away, and enjoying each other’s company. We learned that Ammon does not like his cereal mixed with straight water; we learned that he likes to dance; we learned that he loves “the boys”; we confirmed that he does not nap when there is anything going on around him. He finally gave up and fell asleep in his sling. Only for a short while, though. Around 3:30pm Lauren and Jeremy bid us all goodbye, and were off to enjoy their honeymoon. We stayed and helped clean up – breaking down tables, folding table cloths – just making ourselves useful.

Once we returned to our hotel, we changed clothes and joined our family at the pool. Ammon dipped his toes in the water for the first time; however, he didn’t care for it all that much. It was far too cold for his liking, I’m afraid. I wish we had brought our bathing suits with us – that cold, nippy water looked so inviting. That evening was all headed over to Max and Erma’s for dinner. We stayed for a long while – talking, laughing and enjoying togetherness.

Brian and I headed to our room fairly early that night. We had a long day ahead of us. We would need to leave around 6:00am to allow enough time to get home and get ready for Brian’s graduation. I got everything packed up and ready to go, so that all we had to do was roll out of bed and onto the road.

SUNDAY, MAY 18th:

Came too early. Far too early. We got up and fed Ammon and headed downstairs to load up the car and have breakfast. We were greeted by Brian’s grandfather and grandmother when we got downstairs. They were packed and ready to go – waiting for Brian’s mom and dad to come down. Brian loaded up the car and we quickly had a bite to eat. We got on the road only a little behind schedule, but still in plenty of time to get home. Luckily, traffic and Ammon were both good. The trip seemed to go by fairly quickly for me – I’m sure Brian would say otherwise – and we arrived home at about 11:30am.

While Brian got cleaned up, Ammon and I took a quick nap on the couch. Brian fed and bathed Ammon while I got ready. My mom came down (along with my grandmother and uncle) a bit early to help us get ready. Things were a little wild – we had literally just thrown everything in the house when we got home. Our dirty clothes bag had been dumped upside down upstairs so that I could find Ammon’s tie. I didn’t know where anything was and was running around like a headless chicken. My mom ironed Brian’s gown, and was a much needed helper around the house that afternoon.

Brian had to be at the Civic Center early, of course – we left shortly after he did, only to find that there were no free parking spaces. We parked about a block away – my blistered feet taking another beating. I’m no stranger to heels, and I’m willing to wear uncomfortable shoes if they are darling, but I will be wearing flats for a while.

We were able to find a fairly vacant area in the Civic Center, and were able to save enough seats for all of our family. We were all excited for this day – what we have all waited so long for. What Brian has worked so very hard for…

GRADUATION. Hooray! He did it. Such a lovely ceremony. Short and sweet. What a sense of accomplishment we all felt – I know that Brian was very full of this same emotion. Afterwards, we found him and offered our congratulations, our hugs, and our love. I’ve always been proud of him – trust me, it isn’t easy to do what he has done – go to school full-time, go to work full-time, support a family. But he has done it. Remarkably well, I might add. And hopefully, we will be doing this all again in about two years. As Brian said, “I’m getting my hood.”

That evening we had a little party for Brian at his parents’ home – a little celebration honoring his great achievement. We had a wonderful time enjoying each others company, enjoying the cooler weather and those succulent hamburgers. Brian and I went on a 4-wheeler ride around the country… until we were met face-to-face with some escapee cows, anyway. Our ride was cut short after that, as we needed to alert someone to the situation. Such a nice evening. Ammon sported his “I’m proud of my Daddy” onesie that I made him – we are all incandescently happy for our grad. So here’s to you, Brian: We are so proud of you. So, so proud. We couldn’t be happier for you and the man you are.

Thank you to all of those who supported Brian during this time. Thank you to those who attended his graduation, whether physically or in your hearts. We love you all – and wouldn’t be what we are without your support.