Quick Stop in Dallas and back to Unalaska

Early the morning I was to leave Amarillo, I received a text from Sarah letting me know that she was in the hospital in Dallas with contractions 4 minutes apart.  Their baby is not due till October so this was a worry. Thankfully, I was heading that way and would be in Dallas to help if needed. I caught my flight and Sarah was out of the hospital by the time I arrived, with orders to "take it easy."  Not so simple when you have a 6 year old and a 3 year old at home!

Elle just home from school

 Beck and Beau

Miles and Beck

Although she was not feeling 100% during my short visit, she seemed to be doing okay and I accompanied her to her regular OB appointment, during which her doctor stated everything seemed good and she was not sure why Sarah had been having contractions.

Meanwhile, we also met with the property manager and walked through the house that we bought in Dallas a few months ago, which is currently rented. I will tell you that I am already not a fan of being a landlord.  We have had one issue after another, not with the tenants, who have been fine, but with problems and repairs and $$$$$$.  The house has a pool in the backyard, which was never something I was dying to have but it came with the house so we thought, okay, why not?!  However we have had way too many problems with it and I am regretting being a pool owner, too!   Anyway, our property manager was nice enough and the house looked like it was being decently taken care of.

 Elle loves her doggie

It was great fun to see Elle and Beck again and to have time with them, if only for a couple of days.  Elle loves first grade and I got to help her with her homework a few times, which she whipped right through. She is an excellent reader already and knew lots of math facts.  Beck is a busy boy who  adores his sister and repeatedly calls out, "Elle! Elle!" so he can tell her something or show her something. He's a cutie! We took the kids out to eat and play one lunch time and ran into several of Sarah's friends and their kids.  In talking with one mom, we figured out that her uncle was one of my ex's and my good friends when we were all teenagers and young adults--small world from Abilene to Dallas, TX.

Off to school and work

 Sarah and Beck.  Mama still had 6 weeks to go at this point

Sarah, Miles and I went out to dinner to have a late celebration for both their birthdays.  It was good to have a chance to sit and chat about life and plans.  I wasn't really sure what to do--if she was going to have continued problems with her pregnancy, I thought I should stay and help out, especially if she was put on bed rest, but everything seemed to be all right by the time my flight was scheduled so I decided to go on home and hope for the best.

Practicing her roller skating

Approaching Seattle

I left DFW on the 5th of September, overnighted in Seattle, and headed home on the 6th.  There were only 13 people on my flight home to Unalaska, all of our bags made it, and we didn't stop anywhere for fuel.  Yippee!  The weather was decent and I didn't have to get all queasy and nervous about whether we'd have problems coming in.  Rich was there to meet me and Ajax seemed somewhat pleased to have me home; either that or he just liked lying on my suitcase.

I got home on a Saturday so I had the weekend to re-adjust after two months out!  Back to work on Monday and it was good to catch up with my coworkers and get to the job at hand--our radio pledge drive coming up in early October.  

We are having lots of high winds and rain today so I took a shower, put on some clean PJ pants and a hoodie, and have been working away at catching up the blog and a lot of other tasks at home--definitely not going out!  Sarah has been in the hospital again with more pre-term labor and is now back at home pretty much on bed rest so I am feeling like I should have stayed.  Her mother in law is there to help, so that's good, but I still feel guilty that I am not around.  Hopefully baby will stay put for a few more weeks!  

Lovely photos by David

My son in law David is a wonderful photographer.  He is a high school teacher by day but also has a very busy photography business on the side.  He took these pictures of Bonnie, Emery, and Luke before Ada was born, and these newborn photos of Ada.  Check out his website at http://davidwilliamsphotography.org/

Winding down in Amarillo

Snuggling with my newest girl

 Luke

 Playing in the yard

 Emery is going to be a hurdler like her Mama!

 Bonnie and Ada

 Emery and Ada

 Riding bikes in the driveway

 Silly boy

Bonnie and I decided to take all three kids to the park for a picnic on Labor Day.  It was a little more hectic than we anticipated!  We were so busy that this is the only picture I got--feeding the ducks once more.

The day I left was the first day of preschool for the kids.  We were up much earlier than usual and it was a race to get there on time!

 Luke did not want to pose for us

Emery was pretty excited to go back to school, especially because her BFF Madeline was going to be in her class this year.

 On the way to school

Emery's a big girl in the "WAY BACK" all by herself now.

Although I was in Amarillo for a full month, it seemed to fly by!  It was wonderful to have this time with the kids and grandkids.  After Rich left, I slept in Emery's room with her. I told her we were "roommates" so we called each other "roommate" quite often.  She is a very funny girl and comes up with some hilarious stuff. I wish I could remember everything she told me. She was very concerned about my age and told me several times that I was "old."  I realized that this was partly because I wear glasses.  She asked me if I could see without my glasses and I told her yes. So she walked to various parts of the room, farther and farther away, and asked if I could still see her.  :)  One day she was eating carrots and I mentioned that old adage about them being good for her eyes.  She told me "Gigi, you need to eat more carrots so you can see better."  She told me my neck looked old and that my hair looked old (greys!) I couldn't help but laugh because none of it was malicious at all, just observational from her standpoint.

She also told me that Grandpa is very talented because he can juggle and she can't.  She told me when I called him to say goodnight, I needed to ask him if he could juggle with his eyes closed OR NOT.  Then she said, "Well, you should ask him before you say goodnight because if you say goodnight first, he might hang up and you won't get to ask him."

She doesn't like having her hair brushed. Sarah brushed her hair when she was there and Emery didn't complain. She told Elle, "Your mom is a good brusher.  My mom and Gigi are hurters."  LOL  Another day I brushed her hair and she told me I did a good job and was not a hurter any more.

One night she told me she needed me to come in bed and snuggle with her. I told her I needed to use the bathroom first and she scooted over and said "I made room for you."  So sweet.  Then she was telling me that a boy named Ethan "fell in love" with Madeline and that she also "fell in love" with Madeline and they were fighting over her. I asked, "who is winning the fight?"  She said, "Well, Ethan is a boy and he is stronger so he is winning."  She then told me a boy at church had "fallen in love" with her (Emery) but she didn't remember his name. She said he was cute and had spiky hair. And they sure had fun together playing pirates.

Luke didn't really want me to do anything for him when I first got there, especially if Mom and Dad were around. But after awhile he warmed up to me and didn't mind if I got him up in the morning or after his nap, changed his diaper when getting him up (though not at any other time during the day!) and played with him at various times. Toward the end, he even said he wanted to stay home with me instead of going with his mom to pick up Emery so I count that as a victory!  He has such a cute smile and a lively little personality.  It will be fun to see him grow and change as his sister has.

Bonnie and I joked that Ada was "the easy one."  She was nursing well, napping through the day and  not keeping Bonnie up TOO many hours most nights. We could put her in her swing and she would be fine while we took care of other things. I got to hold her and rock her most evenings while Bonnie and David got the other kids to bed and she would fall asleep on my chest or in my arms. She had a few bouts of fussiness but was pretty easily soothed, especially if we swaddled her in a blanket. She really liked that tight swaddle!  I'm sure she will change a lot by the time I see her again!

While the kids were in school, Bonnie took me to the airport for my flight to Dallas.  It was sad to say goodbye, as always.

Family and friends make life sweet

 Sweet girl

I stayed home with Luke while Bonnie and Ada took Emery to a bday party.  He insisted I wear this hat.  :)

Cute sisters!  Emery and Luke have both been very sweet and loving toward Ada.  We were a little worried that Luke might be jealous and unhappy but he has not been bothered at all and smiles really big when he sees her.  Emery was somewhat indifferent at first but then started wanting to hold Ada and every time she saw her with her eyes open, Emery would comment that "her eyes are so BEAUTIFUL!"  It was really cute.

 Bonnie's friends gave her a shower

 Lisa and Lilly

 Leigh Anne, Lindsay, Ada and Bonnie

 Hostesses Niki, Leigh Anne, Lindsay and Liz. These girls are all super nice and lots of fun.

My girl and me.