Happy birthday, Lauren!
Let me start by saying I am completely exhausted. Good thing I had a B12 shot a couple weeks ago or I don't think I'd be able to make it.
August is without a doubt my busiest work month and on top of the regular business of the season I had someone quit and I have someone else out on extended sick leave, so work is wild for me. Last Thursday I worked from 8 am - 10 pm, in my office, then came home and worked from about 11:30pm - 1 am. My office closes at noon on Friday and believe me I was outa there last Friday at noon.
Friday afternoon we went out for lunch, because we had NO food in the house. Then, we did some shopping for Lauren's birthday. This was tax-free weekend in Texas, an annual event where back-to-school clothes and supplies are not taxed. This makes the stores very crowded, and it's hardly worth it, IMO.
Saturday was all about Kenny Chesney for me. Lori and I went to the concert and we left around 1:30. We went out to lunch at a Mexican restaurant and had a good lunch, and a good margarita. Then, we headed over to Reliant Stadium and 'tailgated' for a bit. We went in around 4 and Luke Bryan was already playing. Next, Gary Allan, Leann Rimes, and Keith Urban played. They were all good, but the real show started to me when Kenny Chesney came out. I love him. I think I've been to like 9 or 10 Kenny concerts. There's just about no place else I'd rather be, seriously! Kenny played til 11pm so by the time we got back to the car and got through the traffic and got home it was 12:30 am. I was so tired!
The next day we did not make it to mass, we were all about the birthday party. We cleaned up the house and I wrapped Lauren's presents. At 1 pm the guests arrived and the party began. Lauren wanted to do presents first, and I thought what the heck, it's her birthday. After that Lauren wanted to go to Cici's. I hate Cici's, but again, what the heck. Then, we went to the skating rink, then to Dairy Queen. It was a full day. We got back home around 5:30 and the girls parents got them around 6. Then, we went to WalMart to get some things the kids still needed for school, like socks, school supplies, just dumb stuff (so I guess I fell for the tax free weekend after all). Then, I had to go grocery shopping. I got out of Kroger at 10:15 Sunday night. Then of course by the time I unloaded that mess and got everything put away it was late by the time I got to bed.
Today, August 18 is Lauren's actual birthday. I got home from work and made chicken alfredo, one of her favorites (I'll have to post the recipe - yummy) and I got an ice cream cake on my way home from Baskin Robbins.
Mom called a little bit ago and we were talking about 13 years ago tonight. Lauren was born in Kalamazoo, MI at 3:27 pm, and was so sick. I remember after I delivered her the dr. showed her to me quickly and said 'kiss her bye for now" and I did and they literally whisked her away. She was barely alive. The next time I saw her, a few hours later I could not believe the tubes and wires in that four pound baby. She was on a respirator and was hooked up to all kinds of wires. When I first saw her like that I was overcome with nausea. Thank God for the NICU nurses, they explained everything to me again and again and were just so nice. They are really special people to do that work. Back then I was so young and stupid I guess, that I thought preemies were just small. I had no concept of the health issues she'd face. We learned the next day that she had a hole in her heart and a pediatric cardiologist was paged to see her. She had to undergo a treatment to correct that, and fortunately it worked or she'd have had to have open heart surgery. When she was a few days old they removed the respirator and she did not breathe on her own. George and I had gone to eat lunch and when we got back she was blue and they were working on her. They got the tube back down her neck and hooked her up to the respirator and she 'pinked' back up. It was crazy. Her body fit in the palm of my hand, she was so delicate. She was born without a reflex to suck so feeding was a problem and she had a feeding tube until she came home, where it remained a challenge. She was jaundiced, too. We got so used to seeing our miniature baby that when we'd see a full-term newborn we thought they were gigantic! Lauren spent about a month in the hospital after she was born, and to see my beautiful teenage daughter you'd never know what a rough start she had.
Back to work tomorrow, it will be another busy day. Then, tomorrow night Cory has a football scrimmage. I don't see an end in site! But, I wouldn't have it any other way, either. I have been telling myself to take it all in, Lauren turning 13 has been a wake up call to me about how fast time flies...
3 comments:
What an awesome post! I had no idea that all of this happened to you, no wonder you feel so blessed and happy even through all the stress!
I tried to edit my response and ended up deleting it - whatever.
I was saying that both of my kids actually had rough starts. I had pre-eclampsia with both pregnancies and the dr. had to induce my labor 6 weeks early with Lauren. I made it a little longer with Cory, induced 3 weeks early. He only had to be in the NICU a week, so was in a lot better shape than Lauren.
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