It has been nearly a year since my last post - how in the world did that happen? I've thought about capturing events and memorable non-events in this space so often over the last twelve months, but as the time ticked by it seemed more and more daunting to "catch up" here.
So, in order to "just do it" I've decided to save the catching up for later posts and instead start writing about now.
My now is quite peaceful actually. Surprising since it comes at the end of another day-long car trip with our expanded family. J and I are so blessed to have such amazing travelers in our boys.
This is the 2nd road trip as a family (our first was at the beginning of June to NC that I will hopefully document soon) and our first hotel stay. We are heading to Charleston for a long visit with my family and decided to break up the journey with an overnight in Greenville, SC. As I write in our hotel room at The Phoenix - an old, nicely kept, and barely occupied hotel - I am serenaded by the ocean sounds of A's Sleep Sheep and the pop, pop, pop of 4th of July fireworks a few miles down the road in Downtown. N sleeps soundly in his Moses basket, arms up in the Touchdown position, on the other side of the bed. He'll likely be down for another hour or so before asking for a final meal and then settling in for the night. As friends and relatives have heard me say, this boy has a set of lungs on him during the daytime, but at night, he found a way very quickly to sleep so soundly. He even wakes at night very quietly - an incredible gift to his parents, weary of his pterydactyl-like cries during the day. (You have gotten so much better over the last few weeks, though, honey)
J sits in a chair beside me reading. He is off of school for the summer and still chooses free reading books related to his studies - a telltale sign that the path he is on is indeed the perfect one for him.
This being the first time in a long time that we have slept in the same room as A, who is now 17 months old and much more aware of things at bedtime, we have minimal lights on and are speaking in whispers. So far so good.
A is a Wright road tripping veteran and even with his toddler-sized energy and attention span, he continues to amaze us with his ability to stay mostly happy in the car. The downside to these trips is the lack of physical exertion due to being strapped into a car seat for hours on end - yes, we do take breaks and a big THANK YOU to Truett Cathy for his Chick Fil A restaurants with indoor playards, reasonable kids meals, and amazingly helpful staff who are more than willing to help a momma juggling an infant in a carseat, a diaper bag for two, a wallet, and beverages. We do our best to give A chances to stretch his legs a little, but still, there's no way to work out all of that energy. So, when we arrived at the hotel, he was busy busy playing with the hotel stationary, mommy's nursing pillow, the hotel shampoo and conditioner (some yummy Bath and Body Works flavors, I might add), the hotel phone (Mommy unplugged it in order to avoid some unintended "incedentals"), and anything else he could get his hands on. He would walk around with the shampoo and conditioner and then hand one of them to you with such joy on his face you'd get a tear in your eye. But, best not try to take it from him :) He also found climbing and sitting on the ottoman good fun . . . we managed to let him do this by himself without injury and were as pleased as he was when he maneuvered himself down on his belly, feet first. Our boy grows up by the day.
We began this journey by bidding farewell to Wawa (J's mother) who flew back to NC after spending a wonderful and eventful week with us. As she said this morning, she came to Nashville with three grandsons and left with four - J's sister gave birth to a baby boy (her second son) on Saturday morning. Wawa drove from our house to IN for a quick visit with her older daughter, son-in-law and grandson and just hours after she left to return to Nashville, C went into labor! Talk about timing! Mom and baby were doing wonderfully at last report.
In the week that transpired since we returned from our trip to NC and prepared for this current venture, we've packed a lot in, including beginning demolition on the back of our home for our renovation, taking advantage of Nashville's summer Musicians' Corner series, and attending the incredible U2 360 concert (this will likely warrant its own post, but suffice it to say that it was quite an entertaining spectacle).
But now...all is quiet except for the sporadic bursts of sound and light from the holiday celebrations outside and I am content.
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