cough, cough, sniffle, sniffle

Paul and I are both sick right now. Paul had to stay home from work yesterday and today because he was so sick. Today I woke up sick. I'm just praying Cooper doesn't get this - he's just started with a wet cough in the past 2-3 hours though. 

Paul and I have runny noses, sneezes, sore throat and aches. Yesterday Paul had a fever all day, no fever today though, just extremely tired. Today I woke up with a sore throat, a stuffed up nose, and a killer headache that has lingered all day. 

I've been popping homeopathics, air born, and vita c all day... hoping that at least helps it go away quicker. We'll see. 

I just pray Cooper doesn't get sick. 

Phone Interview

Paul had a phone interview with a company in Cambridge, MA on Tuesday (while we were at the E.R. - he sat in the car for it). They sounded really positive about his job options within the company.

She told him that he was better suited for a job in Charleston, SC!!!! That's where we really want to be!!!! She said that we would hear back from Charleston within a week. I'm trying not to get too excited. But reallllly realllllly want this...

We'll see.

Our first trip to the E.R.

We had to take Cooper to the E.R. yesterday because he was choking.

Read the details here

He is okay!

I'm Scared

Paul will not have a job in 6 months - they are off shoring his job to India. He is training his replacements now. They want the training to be done by Jan 1 but are saying Paul still have 5-6 months left where he is now. Sooo Paul is looking for a job. This is the first time in his professional career that's he's HAD to look for a job. He doesn't even have a resume! Well he does now, he wrote it this weekend, but before Saturday he didn't.

We are most likely going to have to leave MI, which in turn means we will lose the house. We'll have to walk away... This is killing me. I love this house and so does Paul. We finally have a place of our own and have put so much money and time into getting it the way we want and we're most likely going to have to just walk away from it.

So as I said, Paul wrote a resume this weekend and is going to start sending it out. I've found 3 places for him to send it to so far. We're looking into Charleston, South Carolina; Raleigh, North Carolina; Cambrige, MA; Bentonville, AR; etc. Guess which one my mom is voting for?! LOL Of course Bentonville would be Wal-Mart. The only thing with Bentonville is we KNOW he would have to take a 20K paycut but we also know the cost of living is a lot lower there.... It's still scary to think of making 20k less we are used to. Bentonville will be our last resort.

I'm so jealous of Cooper. He has know clue any of this is going on. He gets to live his life, be a baby and has everything he needs and wants with no worries. Awww, to be a kid. I spent so much time trying to grow up to only want to be a kid again!! The irony LOL

Best case - we can stay here, Paul makes the same amount of $$ and we keep the house. (this will NEVER in a million years happen)

So realistically -

Best case - we have to move outta state, Paul makes the same amount and we sell/rent the house

Worts case - we have to move outta state, don't make as much and lose the house

Yea, our choices aren't looking so good. Oh joy... can't wait.

I was tucking Paul into bed just now and he looks at me and says "I hope I can always provide for you and Coop." and started crying.



I was proud of myself for not crying with him and just comforting him but damn that was hard. I don't know how to help him. He's having such a hard time with the work situation. This is the first time in 25 years that he's had to look for a job. He doesn't even have a resume! He's so afraid that Coop and I won't have everything we need. He's worried about not finding a job with equal pay to what he is making now. If he doesn't make what he's making now then we WILL lose the house and that scares and upsets him. If we have to move out of state for work then we'll most likely lose the house - there's no way we can sell our house for what we owe - our only hope of keeping the house would be a renter but the rent would be so high I doubt that would happen. He's also worried about the moving costs if we do have to move.

I said everything I could think of to reassure him that we're just fine and we always will be. I told him that we'll always have everything we need as long as we have him. I told him that I was frustrated because I didn't know how to help him and he started crying again and told me that I was helping him so much just by being here.

I love this man so much and I hate seeing him hurt like this. I don't know that I've ever seen him like this. Sure, I've seen him cry, but nothing that compares to what happened 20 minutes ago. He is such a wonderful husband, father, man. I just wish there was something I could do to take the pain away.

Coop's Blog

See here for Cooper updates... and lots of pictures!

http://raisingbabygreen.blogspot.com/

Eclipse

I'm 100 pages into this book and so far I'm a little frustrated.

I hate how Charlie is pushing Bella towards Jacob. If she doesn't want to see him then she doesn't want to see him! It's as easy as that. Why doesn't Charlie just leave her alone.

So now I'm at the point where Bella is with Jacob. Edward went to hunt so she went to see Jacob. I hate that she's sneaking around to see him. I feel like she needs to make a decision, Jacob or Edward... She can't have both. I mean they are mortal (or is it immortal hehe) enemies. She can't have both!

But I can see that this book is going to be a tug of war. Bella is going to bounce back and forth between Jacob and Edward throughout the book.

That's brings me to another thing!

Edward doesn't bash Jacob. He doesn't call him names, doesn't make fun of him, doesn't put him down.... Jacob is ALWAYS calling Edward names and talking trash about him and his family. Which is my mind means that Jacob is essentially putting Bella's family down.

Bella is so dead set to become a member of their family, how can she stand to be around someone who is always putting them down!?!?

These books are driving me nuts!!!

Twilight and New Moon

I have read both of these books. Here is my review (Spoilers alert)

I absolutely love Twilight. I read this book in 48 hours, all 450 pages! I loved every part of this book.

I was extremely disappointed in New Moon. I felt cheated throughout the whole book. After Edward left - 50 pages into the book btw - I actually walked away from the book for a day. I'm still pissed that Edward was gone for 450 pages. I loved when he came back and they were in Volterra. I was completely thrilled when the Volturi told him that Bella had to become a vampire. I must say though, I'm still pissed about this book....

Knitting

Today I learn to knit!!! WOO HOO!!! I am super excited about this. My first project is a scarf and I can't wait to get started.

Coop and I are walking to Ms. Lynn's at 10 and Grandma Alice is going to meet us there. Grandma Alice is going to teach me to knit while Ms. Lynn plays with Coops, of course! lol

I also have a new blog, one just for Cooper. You can see it here -

http://raisingbabygreen.blogspot.com/

Enjoy and wish me luck with my new adventure!

Toothie Woothie

Toothie Woothie

After 4 days of teething HARD (up most of the night, fussy all day, etc) a tooth finally popped through today!!

I woke up this morning and stuck my finger in his mouth to see about the tooth situation and I felt it! It's just a little nub, but it's there, and it's gotten bigger as the day has gone on. Woot!!!

Milestones so far -

1 hour - held head up for the first time
4 weeks - slept in crib
8 weeks - first smile
3 months - slept through the night
10 weeks - first laugh
3 months - first tooth bud (below the gums)
3.5 months - started teething
4 months - stopped sleeping through the night
4 months - rolled over for the first time
5 months 1 week - pushed up on hands
5 months 2 weeks - sat up with little to no support
6 months 2 weeks - first tooth popped through

My Dad

Just talking... nothing too special....

I just have to say that I my dad. We haven't always had the greatest relationship... well that's not exactly true. If I'm 100% honest he didn't have ANY relationship until I was 20. When I got married he gave me away which was really the first big step to forming a relationship with him. Even though my dad wasn't in my life much growing up I still love him and wanted him to give me away.

Anyways, so him giving me away was the kick off to our relationship. Now we talk on the phone a few times a month and email on a regular basis. It's great to have him in my life. So when we got pregnant and I told me dad he was super excited about being a grandpa and insisted we were having a boy. Two days after I told him we were pg he went and bought a fishing pole for the baby! My dad is a HUGE fisherman.

My dad lives in TX and is about to be SLAMMED by hurricane Ike. He was planning to come to MI to see Cooper for the first time on Sunday and staying for a week, but now he can't. He spent the day today working (at a processing plant) getting everything ready for Ike and he has to go back to work on Monday.

They are fully prepared for Ike, so that's not a big worry. My dad is big into camping, so they have a generator, Coleman gas stove, stored water, lanterns, lights, coolers full of extra food, etc. But still, please for him and everyone else affected by Ike.

So now he's planning to come in Oct or Nov. He's thinking about Nov because he wants to see some snow I told him snow is *possible* in Oct but not guaranteed but you're almost guaranteed some snow in Nov... Dec and Jan for sure, but he's not willing to do the dead of winter

While we were on the phone I told him that we were saving up to get a new carseat for Coop (Britax Boulevard) and he asked how much we need... I laughed and asked if he was sure he wanted to know, he said yes. So I told him about $300. He said that he would buy it for us when he gets here!!!! That's so great of him, and takes such a worry off of me... I wasn't sure how we were going to come up with the money for it, but was hoping to have it by xmas.... He also said that he's bringing Cooper his first fishing pole and that he's going to "buy that boy some toys" (in his words )

I just felt like rambling about dad.... It's great that even though we didn't have a relationship when I was growing up we can have one now and that he wants to be involved in Cooper's life. I think me asking him to give me away made him realize that I was all grown up and he missed out on so much. My dad was always there for me financially, sometimes physically, just not emotionally... but it seems to have changed.... makes me wanna and

Anyways, I hope everyone is having a wonderful Friday and has a great weekend!!!

MIL surprise and 6 month check up

Yesterday was Coopers 6 month check up. He weighs 15 lbs and is 26 inches long. My boy is growing!

Anyone who knows me knows that we don't go to well baby visits. We're not vaxing so it's not necessary IMO, *I* don't need a doctor to tell me that my baby is growing just fine, getting big, doing what he's supposed to etc. when I can see this for myself. But I decided to do the 6 month check up just to see how much he weighs... literally that's all I wanted to know lol...

So as I was saying - 15 lbs and 26 inches long!!! WOW!!! He tripled his birth weight in 6 months! His weight puts him on the low end of percentage (10%) and his length is perfect (50%). I really don't give a crap about the percentages though. I can see that my baby is growing, thriving and developing just fine. And last I heard these percentages were based on white formula fed babies in the 1950's... yea that sums up every baby in the country... what a joke lol. (I don't know if this is 100% true or not, it's just what I've heard. So don't bombard me with emails calling me a liar please! If you've heard differently I am interested in hearing what you've heard)

Anyways, Cooper is doing great. Dr. Margolis wasn't concerned at all about his weight... he's a little chubbos with rolls anyways lol. He said we should try to get him to eat more solids (we're working on that) but isn't too concerned. He said we're doing everything right and to just keep feeding on demand and following his lead... which is what we've been doing all along!

We've been trying to get Cooper to eat some solids for the past week or so now; he could be more intersted in watching paint dry! LOL. He'll take a few bites (usually 5 or so), spit most of it back out, make the cutest funniest face, and then he's done lol. Which is fine with me. I know his body won't digest or absorb anything from the solids anyways so we're just going through the motions, trying to get him used to swallowing something other the milkies and getting him used to the spoon... so far it's not working lol.... but we'll keep trying!

Cooper has had baby rice (whole wheat organic of course lol) with milkies and avocado mashed up... He did okay with the rice the first night but after that wasn't interested, and he's not too fond of the avocado. We'll do the avocado tonight and then tomorrow we'll switch to carrots or sweet potatoes, haven't decided which one yet.

We are making all our own baby food... all organic of course! lol... So when I get ready to do the carrots I'll steam them, mash them up with a little coconut oil or milkies and give it to him that way... Must remember to ask Dr. Sandie about this today... When I do the sweet potatoes I'll bake them and then use coconut oil or milkies to smooth it out... we'll see which I do next... it'll most likely be carrots.

Anyways... moving on....

I called my Mother In Law (MIL) on the way home from the dr. to give her an update on C's weight and stuff and was met with a wonderful surprise! After telling her that he was only in the 10th% for weight and that I wasn't concerned and neither was the dr. she told me she wasn't concerned either. She said that Coop is obvioulsy a growing, strong, happy baby and there's nothing to worry about. Then she went on to tell me that she thinks I'm a wonderful mother and am doing a fabulous job with Cooper!!! I was shocked!! I told her how much I appreciate her saying that to me, she truly has no idea how much I needed to hear that (see previous post).

I always thought that my IL's thought I was the crazy one for not vaxing, natural parenting, baby wearing (not sure if they know I baby wear though lol), making our own baby food, pumping as long as I have, cloth diapering, etc. My FIL likes to make little cracks about stuff, it's his sense of humor, but it's always maked me wonder how he feels about our parenting style cause let's face it, Paul and I are parenting TOTALLY different then they did in the 60's and 70's... Hell, we're parenting different then the way his brothers and sister has as well... It's nice to know that they don't think I'm crazy for parenting the way we are.

I know I'm the *crazy* parent to a lot of people and I know that not everyone agrees with the way we parent, I am okay with that. I've come to admire the quirky looks I get from people in the stores when I'm wearing Coop or they realize he's in a cloth diaper. I know we're different then most parents, we are in the minority and I like it that way!!!

Okay, I'm outta here, I've written enough!

xoxoxo

Amanda

I'm a failure

I'm such a failure

Let me count thee ways....

I couldn't give birth to my son. I wasn't even given the chance to push him out, they went in and sucked him right out of me. I was made to feel that I wasn't able to push him out in a timely manner and therefore somehow failed my son. Stupid, stupid doctors.

I wasn't able to protect him in the hospital. They took him off to the side and deep suctioned him, put gunk in his eyes, and gave him a vita K shot... all of which were against my will. I wasn't able to protect him and failed him once again... That's twice I failed him in 15 minutes... 15 minutes! My son was 15 minutes old and already I had failed him.

I can't breastfeed. This is a failure all of it's own. I have failed my son so many ways in this category. Not only can I not breastfeed, I barely even tried. I gave up before I was able to completely fail because I was afraid of failing... yea, that makes a ton of sense. I tried in the hospital, I really did, but when it didn't work I resigned to pumping for the next year. I gave up when we came home, I didn't know how to do it or who to turn to. Well, that's not entirely true; I've had people offer to help me and my son learn to breastfed but I have yet to take them up on that offer because what if I fail again?

I can't take care of my son by myself at night. Paul always has to get up and help me. That drives me absolutely insane. I am a mother, I should be able to do this alone. I'm the one that wanted kids and I begged and pleaded with Paul telling him that I could do it, and now I can't. I get snippy with him at night when he gets up because it just reinforces that I can't do it myself. Paul ALWAYS has to get up, I wish he would just stay in bed, but then I get mad that he isn't helping. It's a catch 22, no matter what that poor man does I get angry with him. I can't warm up a bottle and take care of a crying baby at the same time... and I can't leave Coop in his crib to cry while I warm up the bottle.

I'm going back to bed... this sucks....

We're still here.

I know, I know I need to be better about posting. Sorry about that, but we are still here and everyone is doing great....

Cooper continues to get bigger day by day. I'm amazed at his growth and development. He's a baby now, no longer an infant, that's for sure.

He sat up once with very little support, it won't be long now until he is mobile. He rolls and scooches all over the living room, soon we will have to baby proof. There's a few things we'll most likely need to remove from the living room, and we definitely have to put up a few gates; the joys of owning a 3 story house with a basement. *snicker*

Because it's been so long I think I'll just post some of our latest pictures... (the second one is my all
time favorite!!)

Stuffy nosed baby... :(

I think I've figured out why my poor baby hasn't been sleeping - he keeps getting a stuffy nose at night. It's only at night though, nothing during the day.

The stuffy nose makes it so he has to breath through his mouth and he's having a hard time learning how to breath through his mouth. He also can't use his pacifier with a stuffy nose! He only uses his paci when he's sleeping but with his nose stopped up he can't suck and breath at the same time... Poor guy. Which means he doesn't sleep well because his learned self soother is gone... that's where Mommy holding him all night comes in. I love holding him, but I don't get any sleep at all. And I'm sooooo

I changed the sheets on his mattress and even wiped the mattress down with vinegar/water (just a little vinegar and a lot of water). We have a humidifier (cool mist) in his room and an air purifier. And every time he wakes up I have to suction his nose... is there a better way to go about suctioning his nose? He doesnt like the sucky ball thing.

He does not have the stuffy nose during the day, nothing, nada, he breaths perfectly well through his nose all day. There's no other sickies involved here. Although he's only eaten 20 ounces today!! That's scares the crap out of me! He's still a happy, playful, laughy baby though. He doesn't act like he's hungry or sick.

I thought he was coming down with a cold but it's only at night. He did do a lot of coughing yesterday, but not much today... and again, seemed happy and playful.

Tonight the stuffiness started around 9, it's not 11 and I've had to suction his nose twice already. His nose is not runny at all. It's not a wet stuffiness, and actually I'm not sure I'm getting anything when I suction...

I'm ready to call the doctor tomorrow but I'm afraid he'll tell me to start giving him cereal at night to help him sleep and even though I'll ignore that, I just don't feel like hearing it. I just worry that the doc will tell me all these things that I'm not ready/100% willing to do (cereal, cold meds, etc.). If he truly is sick then obviously I will do meds, but he just seems to normal during the day!

I just feel like for my poor baby. I feel like I should know what to do and I just don't. I'm trying everything I can think of but feel like maybe I'm missing something.

Any advice? Something I'm missing? What else can I try before the doc?

Sleeping is for wimps!

This is the third night in a row that Cooper will not sleep.

Thursday night he woke up crying EVERY hour until 530 a.m. and then slept until 8, woke up, ate, and slept until 11.

He hardly naps throughout the day and that was no different yesterday, even tho he lacked sleep during the night. So he doesn't have his days and nights mixed up.

Tonight he woke up every 45 minutes crying. At midnight I brought him into bed with us and he cried for almost an hour. We've tried rescue remedy and calms forte and neither did any good. He finally fell asleep around 120 and slept on my until 430 in a very uncomfortable a position... well i'm sure he was comfy, I was not however.

I am up pumping because we wasted a bottle at 1 thinking he was hungry and he refused to eat it. He did just eat 3.5 ounces though.

That's another thing, he didn't eat very much yesterday (he probably ate 25 oz.; he usually eats closer to 30). But he was fine ALL day yesterday, no unusual fussies, he took his normal 20 minute naps, etc....

I just don't know why he won't sleep at night. This is very unlike him. He started sleeping through the night at 12 weeks but that only lasted about a month before he started getting up once to eat. And now it's been two nights in a row where he just won't sleep...

The only way for any of us to get any sleep is to bring him to bed with us and let him squirm around for 20 minutes until he gets comfy... which is usually him laying horizontally across the bed with paul and I having about 3 inches each to sleep on...

I'm wondering if maybe he has heartburn/acid reflux. He looks like he's trying to burp/throw up and then he starts screaming. Which would be from something I ate. We did have mexican for dinner on Thursday, but I've eaten it before he never had any problems. (I also had my leftovers on friday night).

I just don't know....

I am so and so and I know Paul is too.

Birth Story - Pauls Version

Paul finally wrote his version of our birth story a couple of weeks ago. Actually I typed it (word for word) while he spoke... Here is it!

We were up late Friday night visiting Janelle and Benjamin. It was starting to snow when we left their place, it was after midnight. Mandy was starting to have labor pains, I was getting nervous because it was snowy and we were tired. Labor pains were continuing and we didn't go to bed. We called the midwife and Jenny. Midwife suggested the warm bath to try to slow things down. A few calls going back and forth. This lasted roughly until 3 a.m. After the bath we were laying in bed and just fell asleep. I remember distinctly thinking it was going to happen and it didnt.

On Saturday we just hung out at home all day, we knew the Coop was going to come at any point. I don't remember what we did that day. Did we rent a movie? We couldn't have rented a movie because we didn't go out. I don't remember what we did, but we stayed home all day. Then we went to bed around midnight. We were watching All My Children before bed. About 3 o'clock Mandy started having labor pains, called the midwife, ran bath. The pains were really bad compared to the night before. Mandy just wanted to run the bath but the midwife said "come on in" so I told Mandy we were going in. We were rushing around getting everything Mandy had packed into the car. She had everything packed we just had to put it in the car.

I remember it was kind of an icy night that night. I was nervous as hell. I didn't know what else to do. We started driving and Mandy was telling me to drive faster and faster and it was icy and I saw I police car. We heard a Little River Band song on the radio. It was either Lonesome Loser or Cool Breeze. I think it was Lonesome Loser. That's the song that makes us thing of Cooper. It couldn't have been Cool Breeze, had to be Lonesome Loser.

The pains didn't seem to be as bad in the car, but they were at regular intervals. You wanted out (Looking at Coop). We got to the hospital and got checked in very quickly. It was very quick. We went to triage, I don't think we were there that long. Mandy was 7 cm dilated. Then we went to the labor and delivery room.

i was standing to mandys right, jenny was to my right. The midwife was to Mandy's left. all of us were coaching Mandy. The midwife tells us to shut up and let her coach mandy. I remember looking around the room seeing a lot of ppl standing around the room, and some people are yawning. i remember thinking "who the hell are these people that are yawning?" Then the dr. came in. We didn't know who he was. They were telling Mandy to push and count to 10 three times every minute, something like that, it seemed like a lot. Mandy was dozing between pushes, sleeping pretty much. Gave her enough energy to push, and she was really trying to push, her face was really turning red while pushing. Jenny suggested squating but the midwife came up with some reason why it wasn't going to be effective. They all just seemed to be in such a hurry. The midwife kept saying "The baby wants to come out" of course the baby wants to come out damnit, we knew that. That's not a medical term. She also kept telling Mandy to get angry, just to make her push harder.

The dr. wanted to use the vacuum extraction. I think I asked about the pressure that is used and he responded annoyingly, like I was an annoyance. They had to do the episiotomy, I remember that, just before coop came out. Jenny said she saw the head. before we knew it we saw the coop come out. I was so excited to see him. I remember him coming out.

Mandy had him for a few minutes and they took him away. I went with Cooper, they had him over there too long, doing this and that, Vita K shot, stuff in eyes, foot prints. I got foot prints on my arm. Mandy kept asking when the baby was coming back. I kept asking when they were taking him back to my wife, they kept saying they had to do all this stuff. Mommy tried to breastfeed Coop.

Oh, I cut the cord. that's right. That was before they whisked the baby away. It wasn't that big of a deal, not like I thought. I cut the life blood to mommy.

It was nice to have peace and quiet, which was nice.

Paul's Reunion

Paul's high school reunion was last weekend. It was a three day event (yea, still haven't figured that one out yet lol). Of course AF decided to make her grand appearance on Friday . My first one since I had Cooper, and I think it's just because I started the mini pill last weekend... Anyways....

On Friday I dropped Cooper off at Toni's (sorry Toni!) I had to fight the urge to call her as I was backing out of her drive way but I managed to not call until much later!!! This was the first time I was leaving him longer then 3 hours and with someone other then dad. I headed to the hotel in Southfield for the "Meet and Greet". I was the ONLY spouse there... literally! Not even exaggerating. I was so upset lol. Paul seemed to enjoy himself though. We did have a good meal with some of his old buddies and had some good conversation, but I was extremely thrilled when Toni called about Cooper!!! It gave me an excuse to get the hell outta there! I told Paul he could stay, but he was worried about C as well so decided to come. C and J were setting each other off with crying. J wouldn't go to bed because C was fussing and she most likely wanted to stay up so she didn't miss anything important. Sorry Toni!!! He slept the whole way to the hotel and most of the night, only waking once to eat.

On Saturday I trekked all the way back out to Macomb for the birth fair. I enjoyed the movie, through most of it - especially the vacuum extraction. That is how C was born and it was so traumatic for me to actually SEE it. I almost had to leave the room for a minute, but managed to compose myself. I kept asking Eileen and Sandie what they wanted me to do and they kept telling "Oh everything is done"... I did set up the kitchen stuff and help a little with sign ins and a little with the info table but that's it. I saw that Sara posted she worked so hard... Sorry! I kept offering and was shot down... maybe next time will be better!

After the movie I followed Janice home (it was easier taking Hall to Mound wasn't it!?!? ). I got dressed for the formal dinner at Janice's and left C there. When I left C and James were playing peacefully on the play mat. When I got to the hotel I was starving and ready for dinner... I got there around 645-7 and dinner wasn't served until after 8 It was a very delicious dinner though. Paul won a couple of "awards" - youngest child and shortest time married (we've been married a little over 2 years). They are very nice plaques. There was a live band that was WAAAAY too loud so we sat in the lobby for most of the night chatting with the other white ppl that were there... Paul went to high school in detroit. It was funny to see that the black people hung out together and the 15 (literally) white people hung out together mostly, they did mix up a little to mingle, but I guess the cliques are still the same with your older too.

At 11:15 we decided to call it a night and go pick Coop's up. Come to find out he slept the whole night for Janice!!! She said he fell asleep at 8:12 after his evening fussies and had been asleep since. He slept in the car on the way to the hotel, woke up and played for an hour and then slept for 5 hours before wanting to eat, then slept another 4 hours!

Today was a crappy day. There was a BBQ at a private park that was supposed to be catered. Well something happened with the caterer so there was no food. They decided to take up donations, run to the store and get stuff to grill. Paul gave them $20 so we could eat (we were starving). After two hours of waiting we decided to leave ... we never did get to eat. As we were pulling out of the park they were pulling in with the food (that still needed to be grilled)... we stopped at Subway on the way home to eat...

I am so glad to be home!!! It is wonderful. I can't wait to in my own bed tonight!!! I am just glad this weekend is over and never want to do that again! (the reunion, not the birth fair! the birth fair was my highlight!)