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| This puzzle is waaay too easy Aunt Claire! |
The holidays can get stressful for anyone, but being a 26-yr-old mom of a 2-yr-old boy and having to have surgery to deal with The Big C right between Thanksgiving and Christmas increases that stress to a whole new level. Jamie is our sister-in-law-to-be and we absolutely love and adore her, Chris’ brother David, and their son Wyatt. Since I’m not working right now, I was able to go back to Tennessee to take care of Wyatt for the time Jamie was in surgery and recovering. Chris had to stay in England to work, unfortunately, but everything else about the trip was wonderful.
After a 9-hour flight from London (UGH!), I had a 6-hour layover in Charlotte which is where my mom and Benson live. Mom picked me up from the airport and we spent those hours talking non-stop! Skype is an amazing tool, but hugs and kisses and conversation with a person physically sitting next to you is a million times better. I got a little teary-eyed saying goodbye at the airport to make the second and fortunately short flight to Nashville but am so thankful that the timing of the flights worked out to be able to see mom! Chris’ parents picked me up from Nashville airport and by the time we got to their house the time change and flights had turned me into a total zombie. I slept until 8 the next morning which isn’t impressive until you figure that in ‘my’ time that was 2:00 in the afternoon.
David, Jamie, and Wyatt came over for dinner that day and I got my first warning that Wyatt’s Terrible Twos had just begun. Wyatt (the cutest, tallest, strongest 27-mo-old in the world) had always seemed independent and easy going. He was content most of the time, went down for naps consistently and effortlessly, ate well, etc. But whoa, he’s making up for that now! He had just (like, the day before) started really enjoying the word ‘no’ and everything it entailed. Is it just that he suddenly realized he could make decisions and wanted to practice refusing things, no matter how inconsequential? Is it to assert to the world that he’s growing up? Is it to drive everyone insane? I know most of the parents out there are nodding or smiling but let’s remember that I haven’t had the gradual, daily practice of this whole parenting thing and I think Wyatt could sense that. He totally smelled fear!
We went for a walk most days and would sometimes wander through the woods alongside the Schmidt’s’ house. My favorite memory of the entire trip is when Wyatt was in a little clearing deciding in which direction he wanted to go. Scott and I were talking to each other at least 15 feet behind him when we heard him say, to HIMSELF mind you: “This way? NO!” (He would turn a few degrees to the left after each shout of ‘NO!’) “This way? NO! This way? NO! This way? OKAY!"…and just started off in that direction. Scott and I laughed. We couldn’t take it personally that Wyatt told us ‘no’ all the time – he was telling himself the same thing!
By the end of my babysitting assignment me and my little buddy had tons of good laughs, fun walks, many, many hours of amazing playtime, and ‘read’ more books that are in some libraries (‘read’ because even as he insisted on my reading sometimes he just wanted to flip the pages as fast as physically possible to get to the last one and triumphantly announce “The End!”) I can count the number of hours he napped on one hand, but apparently kids go through stages with nap-time so I’m giving myself a pass on that one!
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| Wait, a nap at 4:30 PM is a good or bad idea? Passed OUT in the living room after fighting a nap for the last 5 hours... But man does he look so cute and angelic when he sleeps! |
The most important thing is that Jamie’s surgery went well, the malignant tumor was removed completely, her prognosis is absolutely excellent, and she was in great spirits! The last couple days of my stay she was up and about and baked five different varieties of Christmas cookies!
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| Our little helper! |
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| About 10 seconds before he flung flour to the far corners of the kitchen :) |
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| Me and Jamie holding up the raspberry chocolate chunk cookies. |
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| Trying to learn the thumbs up. |
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| Me and Monkey Boy |
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| Zoom Zoom mode around the kitchen... laughing histerically... drooling... no nap... 8:00 at night. |
Getting to spend those couple weeks with my in-laws (who are almost as wonderful as Chris!) and David, Jamie, and Wyatt was such a Christmas gift. Again, the only one absent was Chris and he really was sorely missed. It was so good to get back to him and England and my bed, but we’re pretty determined that next Christmas we’re both going back to the States! Chris’ boss invited us to his house for dinner on Christmas day. We were so thankful to spend some of the day with Lyn and Kurt, his mom and dad, their three kids, and brand new puppy that Santa brought that morning! It definitely made being away from family a whole lot easier.
Some big news is that we decided to transfer our Ironman race from Germany to the Ironman UK race in Bolton on July 22nd. Bolton has more hills and isn’t as scenic, but we know five people racing there (from our bike and running clubs) and it’s only a 2.5 hour drive from our house. Plus, it pushes the event back a month and as Chris awaits results from an MRI on his knee we are thinking he may need the extra time to rest, heal, and prepare. I thought this blog would be mostly about our travels but may start including a little bit about Ironman training since that will start consuming something between 8 and 20+ hours of each week. We need to start getting serious about nutrition, drinking less alcohol and more water, stretching every day, etc, but I’m waiting until we get back from Amsterdam to commit to all that!
Chris says thanks for all the birthday wishes!
Happy New Year!
