Toes, Woes, and Deep Reflection

Ever notice how if the weather has been really nice, say, in the 70's, and suddenly it turns 50 degrees and everyone is freezing?  But if we had been experiencing 30 degree weather, a 50 degree day would warrant flip flops!  The same goes with my life.  Before I decided to stay home with Corbin, my life was a constant GO, GO, GO!  Being a teacher meant I never stopped working.  The gears never stopped turning.  And my brain never shut off.  I was beginning to think my life now was boring and mundane, and I started really missing the GO, GO, GO of working.

Then the proverbial rug got pulled out from beneath me...

Last Tuesday, I was getting ready to go with my husband to a work meeting over our new health insurance plan.  It was already turning into one of those moments where I felt the irritability rising up in me.  Corbin was teething and fussy, I was dreading the long, boring meeting with an infant, I didn't want to drive in rush-hour traffic to and from Nashville...I just didn't want to go.  But I was going to go anyway.  I had clipped Corbin's nails and for the first time in forever, nipped his thumb.  I don't know if you've ever cut a baby's nails before, but a.) it's impossibly arduous and cumbersome, and b.) if you do nip them, they bleed like you cut their whole little finger off.  Actually, the saying, "Bled like a stuck pig" should be recoined to "Bled like a nipped baby finger."  Anyways, I was running to get a bandage for his finger, barefoot of course, and wouldn't you know I kicked the leg of my coffee table full-speed.  I've done this a hundred times, and this time didn't even hurt that badly.  Until I looked down.  My toe was bent at a 45 degree angle...

...to the right.

Broken middle toe :(  (Red from the ice)

It wasn't minutes later that my whole toe was swollen twice its size and the top of my foot turned purple.  I couldn't bare any weight on it and even putting on a sock was excruciating.  "THAT'S IT," I said, "I'm not going to your stupid meeting."

Josh, clearly agitated by the fact that he couldn't show off his precious babe at the meeting (Corbin, not me), left while I laid on the couch with a bag of ice on my throbbing foot.  20 minutes later, he was back, obviously feeling the guilt of being less-than compassionate about my critical injury.

And this isn't even the worst part.  He had been home less than 15 minutes when his cell rang.  It was his sister, in hysterics, saying their mom had gotten into a four-wheeler accident and we needed to get over there.  We don't always take what she says seriously, or literally for that matter, but when other members of the family started calling, we realized it was serious.  Long story short, Josh's mom and dad were riding a four-wheeler without helmets, when she turned onto the asphalt from ground, and wound up spinning the back-end around and flipped it over.  His dad was thrown into a ditch, his mom landed underneath the four-wheeler...on her head.

She was life-flighted to Vanderbilt where she spent the next five days in the ICU and trauma unit for a fractured skull, swelling and bleeding around the brain, and three fractured ribs.  Her memory was spotty, her speech was muddled, and she acted very confused.

Through lots of prayer and a great medical team, she is home now.  Her speech is clear and she remembers everything except the actual accident.  She has an incredible headache and a gnarly case of whiplash, but she is going to be great!  Praise the Lord!  God had His hand over her.  It could've been much, much worse.

During this time, I struggled with a lot of thing internally.  I struggled with wanting to feel sorry for myself  while staying home with Corbin day and night while Josh was at the hospital.  I struggled with trying to not complain much about my broken toe/foot which made it hard to get around.  I struggled with my belief that God answers our prayers.  The last one I actually had been working through for a while.  I'm sure many of you heard of Lane Goodwin, the boy from Kentucky with cancer who everyone was giving a "thumbs up" to on Facebook.  My faith was shaken when he passed away.  I questioned why God didn't answer his parents' prayers to heal him, why God couldn't use his healing as a modern-day miracle, and if praying really did any good at all.  I found my own peace about it through lots of conversations, research, and prayer.  I won't share my beliefs on that whole situation, because who knows if I'm right or wrong.  All I know is, I found peace.  And I had peace the whole time Josh's mom was in the hospital.  And I was very adamant about remaining positive and speaking only positive and uplifting things over her.

I think God allowed my faith to be shaken for a season because He knew this would bring me closer to Him.  He knew I wouldn't settle for vapid responses from people who really didn't know the answer, either.  He knew I'd find my peace.  And I truly believe He did all this because He knew I'd need to be strong for Josh and his family that week.  He used me to help minister, support, and encourage.  Even as I sit here writing this, I am amazed as I reflect back on how these events unfolded and what it did to me as a person.  All I can say is, I serve an awesome God.

So, aside from all the injuries/drama associated with last week, there were also some light-hearted tidbits.  We finally painted the walls in the living room and dining room (yay!), I completed all my Pinterest projects/crafts (yay!), and I got Corbin's 6 month pictures scheduled and planned (yay!).

Coffee Filter Wreath

Wall Hanging

Wall color before... (notice the coffee table is GONE?!)

Painting our 20ish foot walls...

Dining room after

Living room after

Hallway after

Sometimes going to the mailbox feels like an accomplishment for the day.  Other times, it's making it through a family crisis.  Today was a going-to-the-mailbox kinda day.  Which is alright with me.  I could use a little boring in my life right now. So bring on the 50 degree weather - I'm wearing my flip flops!

Blessed :)

I can't feel my fingers

I'm aliiiiive! I feel like I've been in hiatus a while. There's been a whole mess of events going on in my life. None of which are terribly demanding or outrageous, but staying home all day, everyday, makes the little things count.

Like going to the mailbox.  Am I the only one who sees if there's anything interesting, then puts the bills and junk back in? Gotta give Josh something to look forward to at the end of the day.

But anyhoo...

So, we had this little cold snap here in Tennessee. We went from 80's to 50's and suddenly everyone is busting out the hoodies and ugg boots. I, myself, have a giant bookcase blocking the closet door where my hoodies and ugg knock-offs are stored, so I just wore my 80 degree attire and made fun of those people all snug in their warm clothes. Because, after all, people in the northern states probably laugh at us just as much for wearing thermal underwear in the 50's as they do for us shutting down school for a chance of snow.  Regardless, I still froze my butt off.

Speaking of yanks, my good friend, Brittani, aka the southern yankee, came to visit us from New York. I got to hold her teeny baby which made my baby look like babyzilla (Where did my teeny bubs go?!). We had a little mini reunion on Sunday at Cracker Barrel. Between all the adults and kids and babies, there were 15 of us total for Cracker Barrel to squeeze into their dining room. At lunch time. On a Sunday afternoon. And between that and the inevitable spilt drink or two from the kiddy table, I'm sure they looked forward to us stuffing our faces and shuffling out the door. But during our time there, we had great conversation about things I don't remember because my child was being a wild tazmanian devil trying to pull everything off the table. And I was nodding and saying, "yeah...uh huh...oh...really?" but had no clue what they were saying because instead my ears were full of the melodramatic screams resulting from taking said items away from said child. By the way, if you want to know what to get Corbin for Christmas, make it drinking glasses. The boy does not hold his own bottle yet but will turn a glass up lickity split and dump ice all over his face!  It's hilarious.
 
Also this weekend, I made some squash for Corbin. FYI, one squash makes 18 jars of baby food. The boy will be pooping orange for the next two weeks. Thankfully, he loves squash. I mean, really loves it. He bangs the table and screams for more between bites. Then, when he finally gets a mouthful, smiles and squeals with joy. I do the same thing while waiting for more salad and breadsticks at Olive Garden, so I understand. Go ahead and picture it. Funny? And we're moving on...

Squash!

Also in my household, it's been sick-pet-week. My yorkie, Sammy, has been yipping in pain whenever you touch his sides. So, I did what any responsible pet owner would do and wisked him to the vet... only to have the vet tell me he didn't know what was wrong and that I should take him home and monitor him for the next few days.

And this guy makes double what teachers make.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Mrs. Smith. I don't know why Jim Bob is failing all subjects. Maybe you should just keep him home to watch and see if he spontaneously learns to read in the next few days. Mmmk - that'll be $45."

Sammy trying to squish on the glider with us.

So then two of my cats managed to get sick with a cold, which Google had me convinced was actually some sort of deadly disease. For a minute, I lost half my brain and considered taking them to the vet, but ultimately decided to take his previous advice and just wait it out. I found it quite humorous that my female cat was up running around and carrying on with business as usual, but my male cat was slumping around the house like he was just hit by a bus. Typical man.

But after two or three days of this slumping, I started getting worried because he wasn't eating or drinking much. So off I went to Walmart to buy some pedialyte to choke down him. While there, I found a photo album to put 160 of my 500 recent pictures of Corbin in, a teething toy for Lil Guy, and some delicious lollipops for dear husband and me. At check out, the cashier smiled and said, "Aw, you have a sick lil one at home, huh?"

$20

 For those who personally know me, you might remember the embarrassment of me having to buy incontinence pads for my leg-hiking-dog's belly bands, and having to stare the cashier in the wondering eye and explain, "No, I did not mean to buy Always pads. Yes, I realize those are incontinence pads. No, they're not for me. They're for my dog. Yes, my dog. He wears a diaper because he pees everywhere. Thank you, have a nice day," every stinkin' time I checked out. If you do, you'll understand why the next thing out of my mouth was not, "No, this is for my cat."

Instead, I just smiled and asked, "Yeah, how'd you know?" She smiled back and said, "Poor guy. Well I hope he feels better."

And I felt no shame.

So in between all that, I ordered my handsome boy some wintry clothes. In size 9 months.  *sniff sniff tear*

Love me some Carter's

Moved the bookcase that was blocking my winter closet just in time for 80 degree temps to return...

Preggo sweater from last year.  You gotta do what you gotta do.

 Decorated my house for fall...

And bought Corbin this adorable hat. I could smother him in chocolate and eat him up!!!

Nom Nom Baby Yumminess!

Ok. Blog overload. My hand is going numb, as is your brain I assume. So until next time...

I wake up in the morning feeling like P Diddy

So, allow me to tell you about my FABulous, wild weekend. Giiiirl, it was full of shopping, clubbin', fine dining, and partying. Ke$ha would be proud.

First, the shopping. That included a trip to Wal-Mart for cleaning products and toilet paper, a trip to PetSmart for fish tank filters, and a trip to Babies R Us (the happiest place on Earth) for baby spoons, bowls, and a Sophie the Giraffe. Yes, I caved on the Sophie thing. But Corbin wanted one. Really.

Let me tell you, for those who don't know what Sophie is, about this toy. Basically, it is a natural rubber squeaky toy in the shape of a giraffe. Supposedly it was invented in the 1960's in France and it is the rage all over Europe. Which makes it "cool." And if you don't own one, you most certainly get left out of the I-paid-$20-for-a-dog-toy-but-I'm-better-than-you-because-my-baby-is-happy-and-yours-is-crying club. But the real appeal is the long spindly legs, neck, nose, and ears are great for baby to chew on. And after buying every other teether known to Wal-Mart, I decided to give it a try. Worst case scenario, Sammy got an early Christmas present.

Bottom line: he really likes it. And that justifies my purchase.

Next, the clubbin'. Well, not really. But we did visit another church this Sunday. I kept hearing about this new church in town that everyone loved. I call it a "club" because everywhere I went in town, I saw people wearing bright orange t-shirts with the church name on them, and yet again, I felt very left out of the club.
So, we visited. And it was...different. Not bad different, just...different. The music was loud. Real loud. Like, I had to practically shout in Josh's ear to ask for the Sophie out of the diaper bag, and I wasn't even afraid anyone would hear the squeaking, loud. Surprisingly, Corbin slept through the whole thing. Which is hilarious since I can think too loud and he wakes up at home. Hmmmm...

The preaching/teaching was great. It was about finding your passion for God and not getting stuck in the mundane ins and outs of our daily routine. He talked about finding your purpose and feeding your spirit with Godly things. Very good message. It was refreshing.

Then we ate barbeque at the in-laws. That was the fine dining. No really, it was delish.

Then we headed out to party it up for the night...at our best friends' 6-year-old's birthday. It was fab. Captain America was the theme. The kids shot each other with Nerf guns. Then we told the dads to give them back to the 6-year-olds. Since bananas went so well, I decided to let Corbin eat cake, ice cream, and pizza. He loved it.

Not.

Now it's Monday again. I used to hate them, but now I look forward to the quiet routine and order. I'm too old for these wild weekends.

Someone pass the Bengay and prunes.

Exhausted