Friday, November 1, 2013

Halloween 2013

I admit it- I'm a Halloween freak.  I love the decorating, baking, costumes and all the hoopla involved with Halloween.  Princess Bear (PB) is a pretty big Halloween fan too.  We usually deck the house from lights with spider webs outside and the inside is all done up.  This year it just didn't happen.  Last week my dad was on his rolling layoff week so we'd planned on putting up the lights. Then PB got sick and was out of school all last week with a pretty nasty respiratory infection.  She is finally done with the round of steroids the Dr. put her on put is still doing breathing treatments every 4 hours.  She isn't anywhere not back to herself so I wasn't too sure how Halloween was going to pan out.  She usually goes trick or treating with my nephews.  My sister and bil take all three kids trick or treating while I pass out the treats at their house.  It was raining all day yesterday.  Actually torrential downpours for parts of it.  My mood wasn't improved by the fact that I was working on 2.5 hours of sleep.  I'd been up doing goody bags and decorating cupcakes for PB's class until the wee hours of the morning.

As the day went it it just got more chaotic.  I had to babysit Luke so my sister could make it to part of Tyler's Halloween party.  Luke is a good little kid.  He pushes it but knows when to stop.  Yesterday he evidently forgot where the stopping point is.  My sister got home and realized Luke was awake instead of napping.  I was getting ready to leave and she got a text from her sister in law who was 32 weeks pregnant.  Christine was having contractions and was dialated to a centimeter.  My sister wanted to go to the hospital if Christine wanted her there.  I called my dad and asked him if he could pick up PB from school if necessary. We hung out and I finally had to leave to get PB.  Right about then Christine said she didn't want company and the skies opened up with a crazy mad rainstorm.  They are doing all kinds of construction on 74 so I've been using the back country roads when getting to my sisters house.  I love these roads normally.  On a nice, sunny, dry day.  They aren't as frequently traveled and you can usually fly along them.  Yesterday I almost lost control of the car because there was so much water on the road.  My car went into a complete hydroplane slide.  I tried to correct but not over correct and damn near got hit by a car.  I'm not sure which would have been better: going down an embankment or getting hit head on.  I'm just very glad to be alive.

I got PB and her cough was still pretty bad.  My sister had said if it was raining she wasn't taking her kids out.  That made it easy to cancel that one.  Unfortunately PB's friend asked her to participate in her churches Halloween activities.  It took a little more talking to convince PB that wasn't a good idea.  Fortunately she's a good kid overall and I convinced her that she could have her fill of candy at home and dress up to pass out the candy to the trick or treaters.  She was thrilled and wanted to know if she could still wear make up.  She's  never allowed to wear make up unless it's Halloween or a recital.  I agreed and once again she was a happy kid. 

Around 4pm my sister called and needed me to come over and watch Luke.  Apparently he woke up from his nap sick.  The kid had a runny nose but was fine when I put him down.  WTF?  Her sister in law wanted her to pick up some items and bring them to the hospital.  At that point Christine was over 5cm and had an epidural.  There was no stopping this little guy from coming.  So I went back to my sisters on the same roads I'd almost bought it on a few hours earlier.  My brother in law was waiting to take Tyler trick or treating and trying to hold down the fort.  Luke wasn't too upset about not going out since his brother agreed to give him 1/2 his treats.  So Luke and I played on ipads and passed out candy.  That child is amazing at games.  His hand eye coordination is outstanding for a 3 year old!  It started pouring and I started wondering where Tyler and my bil were.  I was also getting nervous about driving home since the weather was getting worse and I can't see for s#&t at night. 

Since this is now over 24 hours later I obviously made it home.  Unscathed thankfully!  My parents had just turned out the lights since the weather on this side of the river was getting pretty nasty too.  PB was hanging out watching the Charlie Brown Halloween special and eating candy.  She said it had been the best Halloween ever.  OK.  I'll take that!!!

I was so ready to crash and got PB off to bed fairly early and was trying to turn in when my sister called saying that Christine had delivered and the baby was doing fairly well.  At 32 weeks he was 17" and 5 lbs.  Not bad at all for a baby who is 2 months early!  As of this morning he was even off oxygen.  He's a gorgeous tiny thing!  I stopped at the hospital for just a few minutes to drop off a few things for them.  I took a notebook so they could write down what was happening.  When you have a sick little one it can get overwhelming so it's nice to have a reference.  I also added a journal for Christine so she can give it to the baby when he's older.  I made a little sign that said Baby is _____ days old! and numbers so they can take his pic every day and see how much he's improving and getting big.  Tons of preemie onesies and hats and fuzzy socks for Christine.  I really didn't think they'd let me into NICU to see him but I'm sure glad I was able too.  PB has kind of adopted Christine and Craig as her aunt and uncle as well.  I don't know if it's because she is so close to her cousins so in her mind it makes sense that they aunt and uncle are hers or what.  Craig and Christine have always been wonderful to her so I'm sure that added to it.  PB was aware that Auntie Tine's baby was trying to come early so part of her bedtime prayers were to watch over Auntie Tine and her baby.  This morning when I told her the baby was born and doing alright she was still worried.  True to nature of being a child who has spent too much time in the hospital herself she started asking all kinds of questions like "does he have an IV?" "what kinds of tubes and tests does he need?".  So I was very glad to be able to tell her that I'd seen the baby and he looked great!

Here is a pic of PB in her costume and her Cinderella pumpkin.  Next time my parents buy her a mongo pumpkin they are cleaning it and carving it!   Just sayin'!  Hope y'all had a great Halloween!


Click to play this Smilebox collage
Create your own collage - Powered by Smilebox
Make your own photo collage

2 comments:

BonnieN said...

Hi Sarah, Your Halloween adventures are amazing! What stress! YourPB is beyond adorable!! Hope she loved her day.
Here is a short video I had no9t seen before,have no idea when it aired,but Pete sure talked great

http://better.tv/view/celebrities-celebrities2--quot-farm-kings-quot--dan-king-and-peter-king

Nary a word anyplace about the wedding! I guess we have to remember this program is about the vegetables,not so much the boys personal lives,darn! anyway, today is opur day to get our hour back,Yea for that!

Sarah said...

Bonnie I think she had a good day in spite of not trick or treating. She said it was the most awesome Halloween ever so you can't ask for much more than that!

I am SOOOOO happy to have that hour back especially so I'm not driving her to school in the dark! :)