Made in Richmond

I thought about editing this down, but then I realized that you all wouldn’t be able to fully grasp what my daily soundtrack is like.

(Please note the cheesy showbiz grins about 3/4 of the way through.)

Before I begin, I’d like us to take a moment of silence to officially mourn the end of our vacation in Hilton Head–a week of sun, naps, and (that most wonderful of wonders) grandparents who are willing to take the morning shift for six days straight.

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…

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Thank you.

***

Anyway, hey! It’s been a while. I bet you didn’t even know we WENT on vacation. Well we did. And it was awesome. I’m thoroughly exhausted, freckled, and hating the fact that we’re home. But I will say that I’m much more willing to return to life as it is now than what it looked like when I was working full-time. If that were still the case I probably would’ve spent yesterday’s eight(ish) ride back up to Richmond weeping and curled up in a ball on the floor of the car. Instead I just pouted a bit and clung desperately to the fact that at least the dogs are being boarded until Monday. Once I pick those (adorable!) jokers up, it’s all over.

Until then, I will stare at these pictures over and over. You should too.

He pretended to sleep for the first 15 minutes of the drive. Then he spent the rest of the time kicking the back of the driver’s seat.

Photo by his Mamaw. I was very much asleep when this was taken.

Swimming was his favorite. He’s still pretty nervous in the water, but I think we’ll have a little fishy by the end of the summer.

Freckles. All I get are freckles.

Mini golf was totally my favorite part of the trip. The kid had The Adorable turned up to 11.

First real ice cream on our last night in town.

***

Things look to be calming down a tiny bit for the summer, so I’m hoping to spend more time over here. I’ve missed you guys. What have you been up to?

When you get a moment, go on over to my latest Raising Richmond column and read about the tense relationship I have with my schnozzzzzzzzz.

(This is my great-grandmother, Jennie. She plays an important part in the story. Also, we seem to have similar default expressions that convey a message of “Dude, I will cut you.”)

Mess making.

Lego building.

Coffee drinking.

Responsibility learning.

Pill taking.

Heart breaking.

How about you?

(Costume based on this tutorial from Mighty Girl)

A recent text message conversation between Ross and I while he was in
Blacksburg at a football game.

I know I apologized for image-only entries in my last post, but good gravy. My heeeeaaaaart.

(Also: Go Hokies)

I know that, for whatever reason, this image is going to be burned into my memory forever. This boy…

JR came home from school yesterday “not feelin’ gooooooood” and complaining that his ear, tummy, back, and head hurt. Of course this was all revealed at 5pm, right when the doctor’s office was closed for the evening.

So we soldiered on and this morning it was obvious that he had gotten worse. See, he never gets sick and is so baffled by the concept of feeling poorly that he spends his illnesses both sick AND full of woe. I called the doctor first thing and snagged an appointment for 11am.

And then he threw up all over me. A quick call back to the doctor got us an appointment right away.

Turns out it’s just a stomach bug (as evidenced by the vomit he left strewn about the doctor’s office). All of the other symptoms are just from feeling like, well, ass to put it bluntly.

While I don’t like it when JR is sick, that’s when I feel most competent as a parent. His needs are concrete and usually involve lots of cleaning him up and holding him. The constant thought running through my head is “I’ve got this.”

Plus, I’m really good at spending the day on the couch.