Travis's uncle died suddenly on Thursday. I can't seem to find his obituary online, but he was only 63 and it was as sudden as you have ever heard of. One minute he was getting ready to go drive his school bus route, and the next, he was on his way out. Apparently, a post-mortem x-ray showed a pulmonary embolism; they weren't able to resuscitate him in the ambulance. His daughter, Travis's cousin, was on her way to fly to Iowa with her 2-year-old daughter to visit Tim and Nancy, and then come to Emily's birthday party on Sunday. We had visited them in California last spring, and had a great time with them. When she arrived in Dallas for her layover, she changed her connecting flight when she got the news that her dad had died, and flew to Minneapolis instead. I feel SO bad for that family. I really liked Gerry, and I've always had a great time with Travis's cousins. It's been weird to be planning a joyful birthday weekend in this beautiful weather, knowing the degree of mourning that people I care about are enduring.
So, Nancy drove the 7 hours up to Lake Park, MN (almost to Fargo) the very next day to help her sister, nieces, and nephew plan the funeral, and has been there ever since. I cannot tell you what an amazing heart that woman has, to drop everything in her life and do that for them. Travis and Tim drove up today to be there for the wake, and they'll come home late tomorrow after the funeral in the afternoon. It's been very, very weird. I would have gone with them and left the girls with my parents, but I was needed here, as you'll see below.
We moved Emily's birthday party to Saturday instead of Sunday, and fortunately that worked for everybody except Nancy. Everything was going just fine - the cake was ready, lunch was ready, everybody was here and eating, but Emily said it was too loud, too many people, and she wanted to just sit in the living room where it was quiet. She ended up falling asleep on Travis's lap, and he put her in her bed to sleep for at least an hour. She had a fever of 102!! When she woke up, we gave her a full dose of tylenol, and within half an hour she was chipper enough to enjoy the party. She loved the Frances cake, and the gift that Audrey gave her: a Chompo bar (a snickers bar in a wrapper I made) wrapped in pretty paper with ribbon. Those of you who know A Birthday for Frances will appreciate that!! She LOVED it. She opened all of her presents, and really enjoyed everything she got, especially the umbrella that she had picked out and wrapped for herself. Very thoughtful and awesome gifts! She's got some pretty great family. She was so excited about the gift that Mark and Lea gave her that she marched right over and hugged Lea. I thought it was hilarious that she already knows that it's the females who are to credit for things like that - ha!! :)
Travis and I thought Emily would be ready for a real bike, with no training wheels and everything, and she was kind of excited when she saw it, but not like I thought she would be. In her defense, she was still feeling sick, but she was a trooper and climbed up on the seat while Travis held it, and Grandpa took her picture. We're going to go pick out a helmet tomorrow, on her actual birthday, to round out the gift. Her head is so big that I wanted to be sure she was a part of the selection so we go something that fits!!
So, I thought I would be up all night with a sick kiddo, and have a lousy day taking care of her fever today, but she has felt fine all day. However, I was up all night anyway because she had to keep getting drinks, and pooping (? who does that at 2 AM?), and worrying about Audrey, who also took her turn being up crying. I was up every 20 minutes for a good 2 hours last night. Travis left at 6:30 AM, so i talked to him for a minute before he left (i don't think i opened my eyes, though!) and then at 7:15 Emily was in my room with a bloody nose, and my day was off to the races. Needless to say, I will be headed to bed shortly here!!
The girls and I had another nice day enjoying the beautiful weather, and for the most part, we had a lovely day. But wow, what a weekend. apparently, my sister-in-law met her biological dad for the first time this weekend, so it'll be interesting to hear how that all went, too! Life just keeps on happening...
p.s. since i've been posting potty training progress here, I will note that we started Audrey on probiotics that were specially formulated for children, and she is finally, finally not sliming every few hours. It's been AWESOME. It was seriously like finding a magic pill - within a few hours of her first dose, it was a whole lot better. Now she'll actually go a full 24-hours without going, and when she does go it's no problem at all. YAAAAYYYY!!! I am so happy for her!! and me, too, of course :)
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