I had to go to San Antonio for a few days for work — it was the American Farm Bureau's 90th Annual Meeting. I left on Saturday the 10th — the morning that everything was covered in ice and I was to fly to Detroit before heading south...makes so much sense, I know. Thankfully the flights were just fine and we had no major delays. Tyler and Amelia took me to the airport — it was SO hard to say goodbye to them — and they went about their day.
I arrived in Texas with no problem and got settled into my hotel. A group of us walked around the Riverwalk (very pretty — the "river" - more like a canal - is surrounded on both sides by restaurants, shops and hotels) and stopped in for dinner at a nice restaurant.
Bad Day #1:Sunday was filled with work stuff so we were up pretty early and off to the opening session of the meeting. 10 minutes into the meeting I receive a phone call from Tyler — "I'm over it now, but you'll never guess what your daughter did to me!" Never a good sign when Amelia becomes MY daughter and not OUR daughter. "We were heading out to do grocery shopping but beforehand I needed to take out the trash. I was outside for 10 seconds and SHE LOCKED ME OUT!" Our trashcan is out in the backyard so typically Tyler just leaves the main door open and closes the storm door — which happens to have a deadbolt on it that is at the perfect Amelia height. Tyler tried to tell her what to do but apparently she just giggled and walked away. He eventually yanked hard enough on the door that he bent the door frame just enough to allow the bolt to slide past. The rest of the day was a normal Sunday in the Harris house.
Bad Day #2:5 a.m. Monday I get a phone call from my delirious husband. Amelia had been up all night coughing and crying which meant Tyler was up all night. He got her to calm down and relax in our bed and she fell asleep for an hour or two but he just laid there, awake, holding her. Knowing that she wasn't feeling well he knew he couldn't take her to school, but at the same time he has no vacation or sick days to use. By 9 a.m. we had talked about 4 more times. He had finally gotten ahold of his mom (who at least had a few hours of sleep after her 16 hour shift the day before). She was able to come over and allow Tyler to get a couple hours of sleep before heading into work. Thank God for Mom!
Bad Day #3:Amelia had a better nights sleep on Monday and went to school on Tuesday. But last week she started this bad habit of not napping at school. After work Tyler picked up Amelia at school and they drove straight to the airport to pick me up. I'm greeted by a tired husband and delirious daughter. I thought for sure Amelia would be just as excited to see me as I was to see her but she was SO tired that when I got in the car she just sorta gazed at me, put her hand out for me to hold and said "mommy" in this pathetic little voice. It was heartbreaking. It would figure she would get sick when I left. I know I couldn't handle it on my own but somehow Tyler did.
We put Amelia to bed early that night. It didn't matter though, she was up by 9 screaming and crying. I walked the halls with her like I used to when she was a baby. It calmed her down but didn't soothe her enough to go back to her bed. She ended up in bed with us instead. The whole time I was in Texas I couldn't wait to sleep in my bed and cuddle with my husband. That didn't happen. For an hour we tried to sleep all 3 of us in bed but Amelia had other plans. She was so tired she had no idea what she was even doing but she most literally kicked Tyler out of bed. He slept in the guest room and I slept with a kicking Amelia all night. But hey, at least she slept.
Ah, it's so nice to be home.
Amelia's friend from school, Isabel, had her 3rd birthday party at this place called Pump It Up! They have multiple rooms that you can rent for parties...this one had a huge slide, an obstacle course and a huge bounce house. The kids had a blast!
Amelia, Isabel and Stella.
Amelia and Stella in the bounce house...
