Daily Journal - November 2009

Saturday, November 7th
We flew to Pensacola today for my PawPaw's funeral. The girls were FANTASTIC on the plane. I think it helped that it was only 4 hours of total travel time, including layovers. Having 2 parents made it much better. And every flight we took (a total of 4) had an empty seat available next to me, so I was able to bring on Rachelle's car seat and buckle her in. She was able to sleep comfortably and play with her toys like she was riding in the car. Hallelujah!

Sunday, November 8th
My sister and her family flew into Pensacola last night, so my whole family is here. We're trying to have fun together in spite of the reason for gathering, because we don't get to see each other all that often. Today my sister's family and we went to the Naval Air Museum on the Pensacola naval base. Thank goodness I had been there before as a kid, because I didn't get to do a lot of site-seeing as I was chasing around Shaelyn and pushing around Rachelle. Michael ventured off for a while since he had never been there before, and I stayed in the kiddie land with the kiddos.
Tonight was the viewing at the funeral home. A lot of people came. It was so great to see all the people that loved PawPaw, and how many lives he touched. Several people I didn't know came up to me to tell me what a great man he was. I got choked up hearing it every time. I didn't go up to view him. It was just too hard for me. I have some good "final memories" of him from my recent trip in August, and I was fine to stick with those. I kept it together the whole night and stuck around til the end for my mom. Then she said her final goodbye to him and I just lost it. A lot of my grieving is tied into my mom's grieving.

Monday, November 9th
Today was the funeral. Since my PawPaw fought in WWII, he had a military graveside service. Hurricane Ida landed the morning of the funeral, so we were all hudled under the graveside awning, trying not to get wet. My great-uncle spoke about how my PawPaw lived in service of others, and how he was a man of character and compassion. My dad spoke about how my PawPaw was a Christian and followed Christ's admonition to serve others. He said that if we want to honor my PawPaw, we need to live our lives in service of others. They played taps and folded the flag that had been laid over his coffin and handed it to my mom. Shaelyn liked watching them fold the flag and started to clap when they were done. My little 3-year-old cousin said "triangle!" when she saw the flag's shape. Overall, it was a very moving service. I am so proud to be named after my PawPaw and hope to live up to his legacy and expectations.
Afterwards we went to the gravesite where my Granny is buried and saw the placard that marks where they buried my PawPaw as well. In a military cemetary, the graves are placed really close together (think Arlington), so my PawPaw was buried on top if my Granny so they could occupy the same space.
That night, we went back to my great-uncle's house for some food and fun with family. It was fun to see relatives I haven't seen in a long time, and might not see again. I got to reconnect with a favorite cousin - and found out she reads my blog on a regular basis!

Tuesday, November 10th
Because of the hurricane, our 6:00 AM flight was moved back to 10:45 AM - no complaints here! The only reason we even chose the 6:00 AM flight was for the price. So not having to wake the girls up at 4 AM was a good thing! We basically flew along with the storm and came home to really stormy weather here. And a dead battery. We had to get airport security to give us a jump so we could go home. But luckily Shaelyn was a trooper for the whole delay and Rachelle just slept through the whole thing, so no stress or theatrics. Hooray!

Wednesday, November 11th
We studied farm animals today in preschool. And I had the girls "milk a cow" - really a latex glove filled with water with a pin hole pricked into each finger tip. They loved it. When Michael called Shaelyn from work to ask her what she did in school today, she said "I squeeze milk from a cow. I SQUEEZE! Like this." And then proceeded to squeeze her fist really hard and make a grunting sound.
Later I called Michael to see if he could pick up some blue crepe paper for me so I didn't have to go back out in the rain (we've had so much rain, our back yard is flooded...). He didn't know what crepe paper was. I had a frustrating-yet-hilarious 15-minute conversation with him trying to explain what it was. He Googled it. He read off to me the description. And all I could say was "haven't you ever been to a kid's birthday party ever in your life?!?!" It turns out he was confused and I was wrong. He kept saying what I wanted was "streamers." I told him I didn't want streamers, I wanted CREPE PAPER! "Like butcher paper?" he would say. Finally I took a picture of the green crepe paper I have at the house and sent it to him. On the package of the green crepe paper it said "crepe streamer." Dang it!

Thursday, November 12th
We've had three days of non-stop rain from Ida. Our backyard is flooded. And our roof is leaking. Grrr! I hate this kind of stuff. It just means hassle and work. And Shaelyn's been totally bummed to be stuck in the house for days on end. Rain, rain, go away!

Friday, November 13th
I scheduled a surprise babysitter so Michael and I could go out on a date tonight. We waited until Rachelle was in bed and went out from 8-10. We used a gift card Michael got from a co-worker to go out to Cold Stone and then walked around outside and talked. It was unplanned, simple, and nice. I got pumpkin ice cream (yay!) with whipped cream, graham crackers, and caramel mixed in. Delish!

Saturday, November 14th
Today was such a GREAT day! I guess we haven't had a Saturday like this in while, because this one really stands out to me. Partly because we had sun and could play outside after days of being cooped up, and partly because both girls were just so happy today, ALL DAY. We had no where to be, nothing to do, no schedule to keep, so we got to spend a lot of time together as a family. And went to Sam's Club and Target (on a Saturday during the "holiday shopping frenzy season" - CRAZY!) and bought all the girls' Christmas and birthday presents. With both girls having birthdays right near Christmas, I buy everything all at once, so things aren't sold out later. Whew! Glad to be done!

Sunday, November 15th
Shaelyn pooped in the potty for the first time tonight. BIG DEAL! Whoo hoo!

Monday, November 16th
Rachelle has figured out that she can stand up in her high chair. I had taken out the padded cloth covering on the seat, as well as the seat belts for easier cleaning. And for a week or so, she would eat all her food first, then stand up as a way of telling us she was sick of being in her high chair. Now she won't even look at the food before standing up. So I put the seat belt back in. And now she just screams at the top of her lungs when we buckle her in. And no matter what you put in front of her, she never calms down. So she is currently not eating any solid foods right now. And mealtimes are a bit of an annoying endeavor right now. Which is annoying, because we had about 3 months where they were our happiest family time of the day.

Tuesday, November 17th
Shaelyn is sick. Really sick and pathetic. It's so sad. I took her to the doctor today and she was SO GOOD! Unbelieveably good. And the most amazing part? She peed in the big potty at the doctor's office. I always take her potty chair with me in the car everywhere, because the big potty is not something we've conquered yet. But while we were there, she said she had to go, and I didn't want to have to go out to the car, so I asked her if she would use the big potty. She said yes - no tears! And when we got home, she sat on the big potty again and told me that she was going to sit on the big potty like Mommy. Cool.