It's currently naptime on my second to last day of summer break. Even though my sleepy eyes are telling me to partake in a nap myself while I still can, both my head and heart feel the need to blog. You see, it's been a crazy couple of days and since blogging helps me sort through all of the feelings, I can't help but want to write it all down.
If I could choose one word to describe my final week of summer this year, it would definitely be:
eventful. Let's start with the good!
1 | A quick trip to Iowa to reunite with my two best college friends and roommates.
Despite living only a few hours from each other, we don't see each other too often. Life is busy and between the three of us, we have seven kids. (I can hardly even believe I just typed that sentence!) However, one of my friends, Sarah, is also a teacher, the other, Casey, is
a SAHM an unemployed pharmacist, and the youngest of our seven children is almost one, so last Monday, I decided there is no reason we can't all get together! I offered to make the trek to Des Moines and both of my besties quickly obliged! It was a short little reunion (less than 24 hours together), but very, very sweet! It was fun catching up with Sarah and Casey and reminiscing about our old college days, but even more fun watching our kiddos play together. Casey--assuming you're still "unemployed" next year, I insist of making this an annual thing!!
2 | A visit from my cousin, Beth, and her little family of three.
It was fun having family in town for the weekend. Beth and her hubby, Gene, have a little boy, Calvin, who just turned one. We enjoyed some kid-friendly activities (Deanna Rose and our pool), introduced them to kolaches, and tailgated at/attended Saturday's Royal's game. I barely took any photos and the ones I did take are well below average iPhone photos...but at least I have record of them being here!
3 | I finally found Charlie Hustle shirts for the boys!
This photo is a little grainy, but how cute are they in their matching KC tees?! Craig may have freaked out when he learned they were $28 a pop, but Brantley's will definitely get lots of use as a hand-me-down, and assuming we have another kid someday, girl or boy--Holden's will, too!
Annnnnd, that pretty much takes care of the good. Now for the bad, or shall I say - eventful. Because in the end, everything has turned out okay!
1 | Kinnick was attacked.
Craig was taking Kinnick for a routine walk around the lake last Thursday. Apparently, they came upon another dog (quite a bit larger; a poodle of some sort) also out for a walk. The other dog broke free of his leash and before Craig could even register what was happening, the other dog was on top of Kinnick. Craig lifted the poodle-mix up by his neck, but only after his teeth had sunk deep in Kinnick's skin - enough to give Kinnick quite the puncture wound. Craig whisked our poor, blood-matted dog off to the vet to have the wound looked at. They gave Kinnick some antibiotics and pain meds and said that the dog bit into Kinnick's muscle. Needless to say, the owner of the other dog is taking care of our vet bill and now I'm a little nervous to take Kinnick for walks without my husband along for protection! Here is a picture from today, four days after the occurrence.
2 | Holden puked. At the Royal's game.
I have no idea what happened, but Holden randomly threw up at the Royal's game on Saturday evening. He didn't eat anything the rest of us didn't and he acted fine both before and after puking, which is baffling. Luckily, the people in front of us had exited their seats for whatever reason; otherwise, they for sure would have been covered in vomit. And bless the mom lady to next me who helped clean it off of me. He threw up again on the drive home and a couple of times on Sunday, but the story was the same. He played and acted completely normal both before and after puking. I only wish I could say this was the most eventful thing to take place on Saturday.....but lo and behold, there's more! And remember I said he acted fine before getting sick? Here's a picture of Holden clearly feeling okay just 45 minutes before throwing up!
3 | Kinnick ran away.
That's right. Just two days after being attacked, he was spooked so much that he ran away. Now, let me just say, Kinnick is
the best dog. He is
not the dog that wanders from his mom and dad or from his house, for that matter. We don't have a fenced in back yard, but the chance of Kinnick escaping has always been the least of our worries. He goes out, does his business, and comes right back to the door. On Saturday night (after returning from the Royal's game and cleaning our pukey kid and carseat), Craig let Kinnick out. In those same few moments that Kinnick was outside, our backyard neighbors decided to shoot off not one,
but two, fireworks leftover from the 4th. Kinnick hates fireworks. And I mean H A T E S. Because they were so close (and SO loud), he took off. We spent the next hour (plus!) searching for him. Craig + me + Beth + Brantley + multiple neighbors. Yep, even Brantley. Why he wasn't in bed you ask? Because the fireworks were so loud they woke him up and he was too terrified to do anything but stay attached to my hip. So what's a mom to do? I put him in the car and we started searching together. It was the sweetest thing hearing Brantley yell "Kinnick!?!" out the window of our car. At 11:30pm, nonetheless. At one point, we got wind from some people out walking that there was a stray dog walking around the lake, so with some direction from our neighbors, I drove our Highlander on the walking path halfway around the lake. After an hour or more of unsuccessful searching, I was convinced Kinnck was long gone and we'd never see him again. (We live in such the outskirts of KC. With that, comes coyotes and other wild animals. We're also close to a pretty busy highway and I was convinced he'd find his way there and get hit.) I had tears streaming down my face as my neighbor friend told me the best thing to do at that point was probably give up and call around to animal shelters in the morning. As I was debating what to do next, Craig called me with the news that Kinnick had been found. Huge sigh of relief. But with that relief came even more tears. He was found {by Craig} just a couple blocks from our house. Who knows what he did that entire time and where he went, but reunited we were.
4 | My cousin and her family were in a car accident on their way back to Iowa.
The most important thing is that, with the exception of some minor injuries, they are all (including 1-year old Calvin) okay. Their car? Not so much. But cars can be replaced. I think Craig and I were both in shock for part of the day yesterday though. It's scary how quickly everything can change and makes me appreciate returning home safely each and every time we leave our house. God definitely kept their little family safe yesterday and for that I am very thankful!!
5 | Brantley displaced a tooth.
I mean, seriously, enough is enough, right?! This morning, in the same manner he did
almost two years ago, Brantley fell tooth-first into the corner of the arm of our couch. We tell him all. the. time. the couch isn't for jumping on or diving into. But he's a boy. And he's three. And he just doesn't think about the ramifications or injuries that could result in such a thing. In this particular instance, he was jumping from his PB Anywhere Chair into the couch. Well, he hit the corner of the arm and by the time I got to him, his mouth was full of blood. I could tell he tooth was pushed back, but I was too scared to see if it was wiggling. I tried to put on my big girl pants and remain calm, but there's just something about an injury to teeth that freaks me out. I called Craig. Then the dentist. All the while, I held Brantley and refused to look inside his mouth. The receptionist told me to bring him in immediately and they would work him in as quickly as they could. (Side note: We visited the dentist last week for his 6-month check up and it was an all-out brawl between him and I to get him to open his mouth. For some reason, he freaked out and refused treatment. Needless to say, I was less than excited to tell him we were headed back to the dentist to have his tooth looked at, so instead I told him he was tough like Alex Gordon and we were going to the doctor so they could fix his owie, just like Alex Gordon had done.) Brantley fell asleep on the ride there and his tooth stopped bleeding. Craig met us at the dentist,
thank goodness, because my stomach (and mom heart) just can't handle this kind of stuff. The dentist took some x-rays and inspected the tooth. She said it was the best case scenario and that he hadn't damaged the root of the tooth. The tooth was definitely displaced (which is only a problem cosmetically), but some neighbor friends have assured me that it's not at all noticeable. And Brantley did such a good job at the dentist. Opened his mouth, allowed them to {easily} take x-rays, etc. I tried to snap a few photos. You can see the injury in the first photo and the displacement in the second one.
At this rate, I'm ready to go back to school on Wednesday. Or at least some normalcy in my life that includes less eventful days! Thank goodness this is Monday wine night with my favorite neighbors!!