Whatcha Gonna Do

Whatcha gonna do when you have been snowed in for the better part of a week?? Well, if you are Emerson then you are going to insist on wearing your pink hat around the house all day and you are just gonna roll with the punches and work from home.

Then you are gonna get really tired from working so hard and subsequently lay in your mom's lap and pout for a while.

If you are are Evan, you are just gonna lay on the couch and watch t.v. because you are only 12 weeks old and too young for workin.

Then you are gonna eat so much that your face starts to look like this....

But that's ok b/c you are really cute.

If you are me, you are gonna think to yourself, "I should go outside and take a picture of the down spouts. They are so pretty with all of the icicles on them."  Then you are going to walk out the front door wearing slippers instead of proper snow boots, and you are going to slip and fall backwards down these stone steps (which are actually covered in a thin sheet of ice but you can't tell at all).

Then you are going to get up, look around and make sure none of the neighbors saw you, go get your camera that flew 25 feet into some far off bushes, and take the stupid pictures anyway (but you aren't gonna say the word 'stupid' in front of your daughter b/c she repeats everything you say).

See. Aren't the pretty.

Totally worth almost being paralyzed for.....

Then you are going to take loads of Advil and warm baths for the next few days to try to relieve the pain and bruising on your backside.  And then you are going to remember that you have to drive through the ice to take your daughter to her first dentist appointment ever.  And you aren't gonna mind because she is  so cute.

And then you are going to shamelessly plug your friend Dr. Brian Jones and his practice, Upstate Pediatric Dentistry, because they are awesome (if they can handle Emerson, they can handle anyone). And then you are going to shamelessly plug his wife Lindsey who has a fun little blog that you can find here. That is what we do when we get snowed in. Oh and we might have played in the snow a little.  But only a little b/c all Em's snow stuff was with Garrett in Myrtle Beach. Go figure.

The Conclusion

I know the blogoshpere has been waiting on pins and needles to hear how our trip home from the Myrtle went. Well, I changed my game plan up a bit.  The plan, no stops. Period. That plan actually worked well until we got about an hour from home and Evan starting screaming so loud that Emerson couldn't hear her Elmo DVD anymore, so she started screaming.  So, I pulled over at a rest stop.  Since it had been 4 and half hours since Evan had eaten, and he normally eats every 3 I figured I should feed him.  However, I stuck to my guns, there were no diaper changes just a quick refill of Em's juice, a quick feeding for Evan in the front seat and we were back on the road....no one got out of the car.  There was a substantial amount of crying from both kids (and almost from me) for the last hour, but I figure one hour out of 4 and half isn't that bad. And we made it home before the blizzard of 2011 hit.  

I would call it a mostly successful trip.  Oh except that Em's pants (and parts of her shirt) were soaking wet when we got home. It seems that the giant glass of water and multiple sippy cups of juice on the way back coupled with my refusal to stop created quite the diaper explosion.  I guess I should wash the car seat.  Now that your mind is at ease knowing we made home (well let's be honest, we don't have a home..we made it to my parents home), enjoy your snow day...if you are in the Southeast somewhere.

An Exciting Saga...Not Really

I did it.  I completed a 5 hour road trip with my 2 children (both under the age of 2), all by myself. It really wasn't that bad.  The kids were fine in the car and the minimal stress I experienced came from the snack/feeding/diaper change stop. We needed to stop in Florence, and well, there just isn't a lot there.  Any mom knows there are a few criteria for a road trip stop with little kids: #1. Clean (and preferably spacious) bathrooms WITH changing tables. #2. Good snacks/food.  #3. A nice environment to rest but one that is also tolerant of my cute and always obedient children. For the most part the only places that fit the bill are Chick-fil-A (but on Sundays, gotta find another option), Starbucks, and Panera.  If anyone has any other recommendations, now is the time to give them. 

Typically Chick-fil-A is my first choice for obvious reasons BUT the CFA on my route through Florence is a DTO (drive-thru only) so it's a no go.  No Panera in Florence.  Starbucks it is.  Which is fine except on occasions, you come across a Starbucks with no changing table in the bathroom.  Guess what, the Florence Starbucks is one of those (As is the one on Harbison in Columbia... I have changed Emerson on the bathroom floor there before).  So, I had to change Evan on one of the tables in the middle of Starbucks (maybe make a note to not eat on the table closest to the door at the Florence Starbucks). And little Em had to get her diaper (which she swore didn't need changing but definitely did) changed in the drivers seat of the car.  Which wasn't so bad b/c it was 50 degrees outside instead of 15. While in Starbucks, I was smart enough to put Em in our little umbrella stroller to keep her contained and I just carried Evan in his car seat.  My hands were full (literally) but we made it work. And it was worth it because we have gotten to spend the past few days with Garrett.

Garrett is living in a corporately furnished apartment which is furnished just enough to be able to call it furnished.  However, it has 3 bedrooms and his company provided 2 cribs for the kids.  So, we were able to spend the night as a family of 4 for the first time in a "house" by ourselves AND everyone had real beds.  It has been nice. But it all ends tomorrow when I make the 5 hour drive (i should note the drive only takes 5 hours with kids, more like 4 without them) again to head back home before the big snow storm hits.  Hopefully the return trip will go as smoothly as the first leg did.  However, it is Sunday so no CFA and as I noted earlier, no changing table at the Starbucks.  What will I do??? Stay tuned for updates to this exciting saga.  Another exciting saga to look forward for updates on, Emerson's first dentist appointment next week, Lord help me.

No pics from our trip the Myrtle, which is super sad  b/c I got to hold little baby Fisher and I didn't document it. Lame I know.  But here is a pic of Em being sweet to her brother. They love each other.

On second thought...maybe she's hurting him.

A Joyful Moment

I know I said I was taking a blogging hiatus but I'm so excited right now I can hardly contain myself. My best friend, Mandy, aka my boo, is in labor as I write this. If you are new to this blog, get familiar with Mandy....I reference her often. If you are not new to this blog, you may be sick of me professing my love for her. Sorry. Can't help it. Her friendship makes my heart happy. You ever had a friend that just understood you??? You never have to explain why you did or said something (whether it was right or wrong) because they understand your heart and intentions. If not, I pray you will experience this type of friendship one day because it rocks.

Little Adam Fisher Brantley will be born some time in the next few hours and the world will be forever changed. This little baby has been prayed for so much and I know the Lord has a beautiful plan for his life. Over the past year and half I have cried for Mandy and her husband Adam as they have had several miscarriages (2 of which resulting in emergency surgery), but today I cry tears of joy as the Lord shows his graciousness to the Brantley Family. Read Mandy's thoughts on Fisher's birth here....they are beautiful.

Mandy and I enjoying a joyful moment in Paris back in June of 2004. Who would have thought we would both be the mother of 2 only 6 and half short years later. I love that the Lord has allowed me to walk through life with her, the good and the challenging.

The Blogging Crossroads

Well I have reached that point in every bloggers life (ok, maybe not every blogger reaches this point, I just like to add a little drama to things)....the blogging crossroads. I started this blog 2 and half years ago mostly as a way to keep our siblings (who were scattered all over) and families up to date on our lives. And because our lives are so exciting, there has been a lot to update on since then. :) However, the time has come where I just kind of don't feel like doing it anymore. I asked myself the other day, "Allison, why do you blog?" And I responded to myself, "I have no idea." So, maybe I will take a blogging hiatus until I come up with a good answer to that question. Maybe not. I really don't know. I do know that I will either quit blogging all together or blog more but with more intention. Only time will tell. The suspense. The good news is, Garrett says he wants to take the blog over if I quit. That would be win for everyone I think. Only problem is he and Em have the same attention span, so you may be royally entertained for a week or so until he forgot about the blog.

While you sit on the edge of your seats waiting to find out the verdict on my blogging status. Enjoy these pics I found on my parents computer of Em when she was a little baby (as opposed to the big baby she is now). I also found some interesting pics of a weird man brandishing a gun. I would post them but they are in a group of pics my dad took while he was in Russia a while back. I have been convinced he is a spy for some time now, so I would hate to post a pic that would blow someone's cover...but dang they are funny.

Undaunted Radiance

The Lord used Oswald Chambers (and my sweet new Kindle my in-laws got me) to rock my world today. After the struggles of the past year and half (and Garrett making the move to the Myrtle today), the following passage from March 7th in My Utmost for His Highest spoke to my heart.... a lot. Someone please remind me of this in the near future.

"In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us."

Romans 8:37

Paul was speaking here of the things that might seem likely to separate a saint from the love of God. But the remarkable thing is that nothing can come between the love of God and a saint. The things Paul mentioned in this passage can and do disrupt the close fellowship of our soul with God and separate our natural life from Him. But none of them is able to come between the love of God and the soul of a saint on the spiritual level. The bedrock of our Christian faith is the unmerited, fathomless marvel of the love of God exhibited on the Cross of Calvary; a love that is not earned and can never be. Paul said this is the reason that "in all these things we are more than conquerors." We are super-victors with a joy that comes from experiencing the very things which look as if they are going to overwhelm us.

Huge waves that would frighten an ordinary swimmer produce a tremendous thrill for the surfer who has ridden them. Let's apply that to our own circumstances. The things we try to avoid and fight against-- tribulation, suffering, and persecution--are the very things that produce abundant joy in us. "We are more than conquerors through Him" "in all these things", not in spite of them, but in the midst of them. A saint doesn't know the joy of the Lord in spite of tribulation, but because of it. Paul said, "I am exceedingly joyful in all our tribulation" (2 Corinthians 7:4).

Undaunted radiance is not built on anything passing, but on the love of God that nothing can alter. The experiences of life, terrible or monotonous, are impotent to touch the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Two Days

Two days, that is the total number of days our family has been well during the month of December (that may include November as well...my brain is too fried to think back that far). Keep in mind that two days is the number of days we have individually been well, we have not had two days of us all being well. Mostly because Evan has been sick since birth. Therefore, any vision I had of a dream holiday season was completely thwarted. When will I learn to stop having expectations of things???

Anyway, our little family had the stomach virus the whole week before Christmas, and Evan came down with an awful cold. Luckily the stomach virus was cleared up by Christmas Eve but Evan's cold was only getting worse and then after he broke out in hives after a bath, we ended up at the doctor with him in the late afternoon on Christmas Eve. And since the doctor's office is closed on Christmas Eve, we had to take him to the Children's Hospital. Garrett was at work when all this happened so my sister drove me to the hospital. Garrett met us there, so my sister took his car and drove home. Well, when we went to leave the hospital we realized we had failed to get my car keys from her (the hospital is almost 40 minutes from my parents house), so we had to wait for more keys to show up. We get home around 6:30 (after we had already missed church), only to discover that I had left one of our bags (containing my i-phone) sitting at the entrance of the emergency room. I cried (imagine that). We called. Praise the Lord they had it. So we scarfed down a quick but delicious Christmas Eve dinner and then made the trek back to the hospital. Then we came home and crashed.

We woke up Christmas morning, opened presents, and then packed up all of the junk it takes to go anywhere with 2 small kids. Then we headed to Spartanburg to spend Christmas with Garrett's family. We were there for two days (where we were all well except for Evan). During those two days we got to experience great time with Garrett's family and the most beautiful White Christmas. However, when we woke up on Monday morning, I looked at Garrett and said, "my throat hurts." He said, "mine too." We thought it was just allergies or something. By the time we got home that afternoon I had a fever of 101. Tuesday morning, I go to the doctor, Strep Throat. Seriously??? So, I've been quarantined (again). Garrett is going to the doctor this afternoon. Here's to 2011 being a healthy year. And here's some pics from the few seconds we were well.