Life 'n Legos: Nothing Could Be Finer Than to Be In Carolina!

Well...its been a while since I last updated. A lot has gone on so I will do my best to get everyone up to speed.

Last I was on here I wrote a tribute to my good friend, Evan, who passed away on December 8th. I am still struggling with the fact that I won't see him again, its an incredibly hard pill to swallow. Him and his family have been on my heart and mind constantly and I am trying to send lots of good vibes of strength and healing during this most difficult holiday season for them. The beautiful photograph at the top of my last post was taken at our wedding by the talented Brian Mullins. When he learned of Evan's passing we spoke briefly and I told him about the plans that I had for that photo (to blow it up, frame it, and send it to Evan's parents). Upon speaking with him he graciously offered to have the photo sent to them in the size of my/their choosing straight from the printing that he uses. I was floored by his generosity (although I shouldn't be because I have known him quite some time and know what a great guy he is), it brought me to tears. I had the photo sent to Evan's sister so that she could give it to his parents when they are ready and she shared with me that she received it, loved it, and it brought her to tears. I can not say it enough times, "thank you, Brian". You are so kind and there should be more people like you.

I had planned to return to NC for the holidays on Dec 14, but when I learned that Evan's funeral was going to be on the 16 I decided to stay for it. I couldn't not be there. I wanted to be there for his parents and I wanted to be there for my own personal closure. I'm not sure that I will ever get that, but I needed to say goodbye. It was heartwrenching and painful, but the stories shared by friends and family were beautiful and therapeutic. It always helps to grieve with a lot of people feeling the same sense of loss. The service was beautiful and there was a luncheon afterwards where a good friend of Evan's helped us celebrate his life with a song that he had written. After lunch we headed to the airport for me to head back to NC.

Mikey's first flying experience went really well. I failed to get any pictures even though I carried my camera on...oh well...I still have the memories. I was really stressed out and exhausted from being so emotional all week, but my little boy was such a champ. The timing of everything turned out perfect. Mikey woke up and ate in the morning and then again right as we got to the church before Evan's service began. He then ate right after we got through security...which went really well. I have never had such an awesome experience with TSA agents. They were helpful, didn't make me go digging in one of my 3 bags to look for my liquids bag that I knew was somewhere in one of them, and they didn't make me take Mikey out of his carrier to go through the metal detector.

So anyways, right after getting through security I headed to the ladies room to change Mikey and prepare a 3rd bottle for him. I had brought 2 with me that were refrigerated, but thought that I would need 3 for my trip. I'm sure I was quite a sight in the bathroom. Mikey and all of my bags were laying on the changing table. Once his diaper was clean and dry I was standing there pumping and warming a bottle and then pumping and feeding him a bottle...and on my cell phone. Why was I not breastfeeding him you ask? Because I friggin hate it and haven't done it in almost a month...woohoo! When I finished feeding, changing, and repacking my bags I headed to my gate. I showed up right as they were starting to board. I was able to walk right onto the plane and was delighted to find that I was sitting bulkhead. Of course the fattest guy on the plane sat down next to me, but he was really nice to both Mikey and myself so I couldn't really complain. Mikey flirted with the flight attendant and was all smiles the entire flight (when he wasn't sleeping). Since I had one room temp bottle and one refrigerated one I needed to keep the cold one on ice. So I asked the flight attendant for a cup of ice and instead she brought me a barf bag full of ice! PERFECT! I gave Mikey the room temperature bottle right as we started our decent and I didn't get a peep out of him! The other passengers helped me get my bags down (they had helped me put them up earlier), I just couldn't believe how well this trip was going!

When I changed planes in Chicago I had to walk quite a ways, but I had about 10 minutes of down time once reaching my gate. I boarded first again and aside from 2 different people sitting in the wrong window seat next to me (I was on the aisle) everything went well. Mikey was asleep before we even finished boarding and didn't move the entire flight, to include landing. I thought he would wake screaming due to the pressure in his ears, but he didn't budge until we put him in the car! I had the flight attendant warm the bottle for me for the landing, but didn't need it until we got home (it was a good thing because she definitely scalded the bejeezus out of it). I did end up sobbing the majority of the flight from Chicago to Raleigh, it had been a rough day, but thankfully it was dark and most people were sleeping, so no one noticed me. When we landed in Raleigh we were, of course, at the farthest gate possible from baggage claim so I hauled myself, my 3 carry ons, and my baby strapped to me the full length of the terminal *Why do they always do that? There are never any other planes at the airport late at night and they still proceed to put us at the farthest possible gate? Its stupid.* I saw my mom waiting for me immediately outside the secure area and when she saw me she screamed "MY BABY!" (referring to Mikey...not me). Everyone else standing there and waiting got a kick out of it. She could hardly wait to get her hands on him. We hurried down to baggage claim and I unstrapped him and handed him over. It felt awesome to shed my load of bags and baby. I left baby with her while I used the restroom and claimed by bags. Once we got home he ate and we stayed up until almost 3 am talking...it felt so good to be home!

The next day we all slept in and then headed out to shop (at REAL stores). I had forgotten how awesome it was to live near real places and just wandered around the stores in awe of all the stuff. Sounds simple, but there is really slim pickins in Lawton and Wichita Falls. Brian came in later that night and I got him from the airport after a fun day with my mom. We spent the entire day on Sunday at the crazy crazy mall. Mikey met Santa and sat on his lap for the first time. It was very anticlimactic. A 2 month old does not care about Santa or people in general enough to have any type of reaction. He slept the whole time...only waking when we snatched his paci from him. He still did not care. We have some cute pictures, but I will have to scan and upload those later. We got most of our Christmas shopping done and were exhausted from the chaos after a long day. Biggest perk of the day was discovering that if you drive a Lexus you get free valet parking at the mall! SCORE!

Maddi got home the next night and was completely exhausted from exams, so we didn't see much of her. After getting her rest we were able to catch up on the last couple weeks though.

I don't remember everything that we have done day by day, so I will just share some of the highlights from our trip so far.

-Mikey met Colt (Franny and Christian's son) and they actually interacted with each other. It was absolutely adorable.
-Brittany stopped by for a visit.
-I got Philly's, the first place I stop every time I come home.
-We attended 2 Carolina Hurricanes games...although its kind of depressing. The 'Canes games used to be insane and crowded, now there is hardly anyone there and no one is excited. I miss the glory days.
-I got Philly's again with ScReema and Annie, two friends that I have not seen since our wedding almost 2 years ago. That was such a blast.
-I have relaxed in the hot tub, although not nearly enough.
-We attended an ugly Christmas sweater party and Christy and Trey's...which was a complete blast! It was so much fun to feel like real people again with no responsibility.
-We went to Kanki with a group of friends and occupied an entire table...which is totally the way to go. That is the most fun that I have had at Kanki since I had a birthday party there almost 20 years ago (eww...that made me sound old).
-Mikey met Tyler (Kaitlyn and Jared's son)...they both napped.

I also have to brag about how awesome my mom has been. From the moment I handed Mikey to her I can probably count on one hand the number of diapers that I have changed and the feedings that I have done. I have not gotten up before 9 am either. She has completely taken over and is happy to do it. Every time I try to do my motherly responsibilities she says "No Way!". She has also been kicking Brian and I out of the house to go see movies, go eat, and just spend time together. It has been such a vacation for me and its been nice to sleep like a college student again. She had taken such great care of my baby and I can't thank her enough. The only problem is that now Mikey loves her more than he loves me and I don't know what he's going to do without his new best friend and NayNay when we get home. Seriously...the kid doesn't cry at all with her...in fact, he smiles and giggles non-stop with her. She has such a way with babies.

Enjoy the photobomb and stay tuned for my post about Mikey's first Christmas!