The holidays were amazing. I'll have to find time to write specifically about Christmas but suffice it to say now that it was so much fun having a little one here. Of course she was more interested in the wrapping paper and bows than the actual presents, it is nice to see now how much she LOVES all the fun presents she was spoiled with this year!
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| Christmas Eve |
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| Christmas Day |
After Christmas, we went up to Helen, Georgia and spent a few nights with Preston, Beth and the twins. It was great catching up with them and even better watching the babies play together now that Mary Elizabeth is old enough to interact with them more. The one day, Beth and I took the kids up to Babyland General, home of the cabbage patch kids. I imagine that one day, Mary Elizabeth will love the place. However, at her current age, most of the CPK dolls are bigger than her and thus she seemed sufficiently freaked out by them.
After Helen, Parker and I left Mary Elizabeth with Nonna (my mom) to join Collette in visiting her friends Megan and JB in Nashville. We spent 2 nights up there, eating delicious food, drinking good wine, having adult conversation, and ringing in the new year. I don't know if it was because we'd already left her before but this trip was so much easier than previous ones. I'm guessing it never gets "easy" to leave your babies but as time goes on, it seems to be easier to enjoy myself while I'm away from her.
As 2012 started in high gear, I thought back to all the feelings and emotions surrounding the new year last year. I was 7 months pregnant and knew with (almost) certainty that 2011 would be an amazing year. (I say almost certainty because as more time passes, I realize that up until I held Mary Elizabeth in my arms, I was terrified I would lose her at some point in my pregnancy.) As I reflected back on 2011, it held more joy and love than truly I ever expected. It was by far the best year of my life to this point. I almost hesitated to write that because I feel that by saying that, 2006 (the year I got engaged and married) seems insignificant. However, having a baby has taught me and Parker more about how to love, support, and respect each other more than anything else in the history of our marriage. I can say without hesitation that our marriage is stronger and better today than it ever has been, by the grace a loving God.
After we took down the Christmas decorations and began getting settled back into normal life, what was about to be a month-long whirlwind began. I received a call from a girl I volunteer with at Browns Bridge Community Church. She is a Director in the Care Network and called to see if I would be interested in going back to work 2 days a week. At first, I really wasn't interested. I felt that I had just to come to full and final peace about my season as a stay-at-home mom. I had embraced the tiring days spent wearing baggy pajama pants and nursing tops, sitting on the floor for hours on end playing with toys that sang horribly annoying and repetitive songs that had become that soundtrack for my life. I was enjoying every second of it, in fact. I loved that I wasn't missing anything in my daughter's life. Not one smile, laugh, or new skill. However, after spending some much needed time in prayer over the job offer, I decided to pursue it. I remember at one point in my career telling God that I would not close a door that He opened. I happily accepted the job, which started the first week of February.
Leading up to my start date, I had a few projects I wanted to complete around the house. Nothing big, just getting things more organized to help me with the balanced act of being a working mom. In the midst of that, my mom's aunt passed away in Chicago. They had been very close when my mom was a child so she wanted to attend the funeral. I had been wanting to find a way up to Chicago anyway to introduce Mary Elizabeth to aunts, uncles, cousins and her only living great-grandfather. So my mom and I packed up the baby, loaded the car with everything we needed (and plenty we didn't), and with about 24 hours prep time, we made the 12-hour drive to Chicago. All things considered, the drive wasn't really that bad. Of course, it was looooonnnggg...but considering we had a teething 9-month old in the back seat, it wasn't too terrible. We had a great trip, despite the fact that we were there for a funeral. We visited with lots of family and even passed on the "baby bug" to my brother and his fiance. The drive home was significantly harder due to multiple stops to see family and friends not he way out, a carsick Nonna, and oh yeah, 4 hours of rain.
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| Me, Mary Elizabeth, my mom and my Grandpa Lob |
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| My brother Christopher falling in love with Mary Elizabeth |
After we had been home a mere 48 hours, we get a call from my aunt on my dad's side. My grandmother had been admitted to the hospital. She was in congestive heart failure and we were told to be ready to make a trip for another funeral soon. In a brief moment of alert lucidity, my grandmother even told me her goodbyes over the phone. I was heartbroken. My whole life, I've had a special bond with my Granny. Me, my mom (who remained very close with her even after my parents split), and my sisters decided we'd rather spend the money to visit her alive than wait until she was dead. Before I had even unpacked fully from the Chicago trip, we packed the car up again and drove 10 hours to Newport News, Virginia. The trip was bittersweet, to say the least. I loved being able to see Granny, even though she did not look well at all. She was fully lucid the entire time we were there but it broke my heart to think that it might be the last time I get to see her. I was also heartbroken that Mary Elizabeth was very timid about letting Granny hold her, which she wanted to do so badly. Mary Elizabeth is Granny's first and only great-grandchild and she had only met her once before. It was nice though to be able to spend a few hours a day at her side in the hospital. My sister Collette drove up with us and my other Krista flew in from California to meet us. It was great to have all the girls together. After a few days, Granny actually began to recover! The whole time, I was praying for God's will, thinking surely His will was to take her home. However, over the last few weeks, she recovered enough to discharged front he hospital into a rehabilitative nursing facility and then a few weeks after that, was sent home! Praise God! To me, it really showed how a person's will to live can have profound effects on their health. After 5 days up there, my mom, sisters, the baby, and I all loaded up the car and headed back home.
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| Hanging out with Granny, her great-grandmother |
We got home last Sunday night. Parker was able to have dinner with us and spend a few hours at home Monday night before heading out town himself for a week. He had a trial south of Atlanta so he stayed in a hotel down there. The following weekend, I had a weekend-long mom's retreat with my women's group. Parker kept Mary Elizabeth by himself for the first time all weekend. They had such a fun time together. I was happy to hear that she was sweet and easy for him. (By happy, I mean sort of happy in the sense that I knew I am supposed to be but also sort of annoyed that he didn't get even a little taste of how difficult a stay-at-home parent's job can be sometimes!) Throughout all the travels, Mary Elizabeth had been cutting some teeth and on the verge of crawling. When the baby and I were gone, Parker just knew she would crawl and he'd miss it. When she didn't, I just knew it would happen when I was away on my retreat. However, when you're staying in houses that aren't baby-proofed and hotels that aren't disinfected up to my germaphobic standards, it leaves little opportunity to actually get down on the floor and really try to crawl. The day that I returned from my retreat, we noticed the tooth had come through and we were both there the moment she started to crawl. Praise God for little victories and precious moments.
I started my job 3 weeks ago and am so perfectly content with the balancing act. I love being back at the church, surrounded by people I love striving for a mission I believe in. I cherish my days at home a little more now, knowing that 2 days I week I'll be away. I do love using my brain again and being affirmed in the talents God has given me, talents other than my exception abilities in block building and silly noise making.
In a nutshell (a rather large nutshell), I guess it has been a crazy few months. If anyone has actually read all the way through this post, thank you for doing so. I apologize that you'll never get the last 15 minutes of your life back but at least you'll hopefully be comforted in the fact that I haven't fallen off the face of the planet, nor have I decided to start ignoring my friends as a New Year's resolution.
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