Update...

...this last week was a whirlwind.

Here's the bullet points update on life:

Last weeks events

-Andy made it home from Miami on an earlier flight Wednesday.

-My dear friends Ginn and Julie both blessed me by helping me clothe my children for the visitation, 2 funerals, and the burial. Do to the whirlwind of events I was doing good to find something for me to wear. I was grateful to not have to try and shop for multiple outfits for both children. I really don't know how I could have done it. 

-I was in charge of putting together items that reflected who my grandmother was to be displayed at both the visitation and the funeral home in the mtns. 

-We spent the weekend with family and celebrating my grandmother's life. The kids were great despite the crazy schedule and enjoyed lots of attention. We also spent lots of time discussing both of our kids' fabulously red hair. :) Having a red head is like having a celebrity. I thought we couldn't go anywhere without being asked about it before when it was just AG. Ha. Well, regardless my grandmother would have been elated to have two redheaded great-grandchildren.

Around the House:

-I'm attempting to regain the chaos that is the house these days. Throw in last week's events and a mountain of laundry plus a bunch of freezer cooking and that's where I'm at.

-Freezer cooking. I've been trying to take one day a week to put away a few extra meals in the freezer. Sometimes that is me doubling or tripling what I'm cooking for dinner. Other times it's me making a ton of chicken to be prepped for other meals. Or making breakfast food to be put up. The last few weeks I've been stockpiling baby food for Avi-Kate because solids are just around the corner. Last Tuesday, I made a bunch of chicken and chicken stock. My plan was to put up all the chicken over the next few days, however, that plan flew out the window. So, I've been doing chicken meals now trying to get it all put up. In addition to that, we also came home with a ton of food so I've been getting creative on ways to make things do double duty. For example what do you do with 2 gallon Ziploc bags worth of Chick-fil-A chicken? Throw together several chicken parmigianas with ingredients you have on hand (hooray, for stockpiling/couponing!) and put them in the freezer.

-I need to figure out what I'm doing with all the house plants I came home with from the funeral...I have lots of houseplants already and thankfully they spend from May to October out on the screened porch. It really might be jungle this winter and in 6 weeks we'll add a Christmas tree which requires even more shuffling. So, again I'm not really sure what I'll do. Meg, Caro, and Mis you may be receiving some new house guests...don't say I didn't warn you. I think I'm most excited about the crotons that were in the baskets. I've wanted some for years (yes, I love to garden and I get excited about plants!)

-I have a few odds and ends projects that I'm mulling and need to work on...in my free time. Ha. Whatever that is...

Andy

-Busy, busy, busy with work.

-Wishing he had more free time to complete some of his projects he's started.

Kate

-Trying to get over this sinus crud that I've had for over a week.

-Worn out. Ready to go on vacation and have a few days away as a family.

AG

-A mess. Never still. Quite funny. Has the temper that comes with being redheaded. Learning lots about boundaries and limitations these days. 

-Tech savvy. I'll be honest I'm not sure if I should be proud or worried about how tech savvy he is...he can navigate an iPhone without batting an eye. He has now figured out how to navigate the family desktop. For example he makes the dock appear, locates Safari, pulls up YouTube, and opens a playlist of favorite videos he's starred. This is all from his own exploration. Andy and I haven't taught him anything. For awhile we would minimize Safari but he's since figured out how to pull it back up. So, it's not uncommon to find our mouse hiding in the kitchen cabinets when Mom doesn't want AG to mess with the computer. 

Avi-Kate

-Four months old! Crazy!

-She has her check up on Monday. Due to everything that happened last week I haven't taken her four month pictures, yet. Soon enough. 

-She's getting big. Her body control is fabulous. I sat her in the high chair for the first time tonight while we ate dinner. She loves being included and hates being left out.

-She LOVES her big brother. She finds him comical and loves to smile/laugh at him. 

-Once I have pics and her trip to the doctor I'll do a four month post on her.
-Oh, and her hair is coming in and it's the same exact shade as AG's. She has this one piece on the top that is curling up and refuses to lay flat. We might have a curly headed child...I'd love it. As a baby my hair was a mass of curls all over my head.

Samson
-Adjusted to life with two kids. Takes it all in stride...when he doesn't want to be bothered he disappears to our room.
-Has started playing games with AG. Tug of war with a rope. Fetching. (Which should be noted as a big deal b/c Samson has never been a big fan of playing fetch due to his breed make-up. So, the fact that he plays with AG is quite endearing.)

Vacation:
-We leave in a little over a week for Disney. We are getting away for a few days to celebrate my birthday. To say I'm excited would be a huge, huge understatement. After the last few months I'm ready for some quality family time at the happiest place on earth.

CVS:
-Thankfully, AG hasn't had an episode. I was fearful that everything going on last week would trigger an episode. Praise the Lord it didn't. Although, we had a moment of panic driving to my parents on Friday. AG was crashed in his carseat dead asleep and suddenly woke up in a fit of coughing and then passed back out. Usually, he starts coughing in his sleep right before he vomits. Ever so grateful that it didn't happen. I know that eventually we'll have an episode till then we wait. I'm also looking forward to chatting with the pediatrician on Monday at Avi-Kate's appointment about this since I haven't seen her since we got the diagnoses.

I'm sure there are lots of other things I should mention but at the moment I can't think what they are. :) For now, I'm grateful for all that I'm learning these days...