I spent half of January and half of February in Utah this year. A month in Utah was so great!! It was hard to be away from Jene for 3 weeks but he flew out and joined us for the 4th week and flew home with us which was really nice.
The flight out to Utah was what I was most nervous about. I had a difficult time with just Eric let alone with Eric and an infant. I thought things would be fine because Ryan is such a mellow, happy baby and he was so little, I figured he'd just sleep. Also, the flight left at 7:30pm which is Eric's bed time so I figured he'd fall asleep after a little bit. Well, Eric never fell asleep, he was good but so needy and I was holding Ryan so it was hard to maneuver to help him. Then Eric told me his tummy hurt and that he felt sick...that was the straw that broke the camel's back....all of a sudden, I got this horrible rush of sheer terror and panic. It was the worst panic attack I'd had in probably 5 or 6 years. (I used to suffer from them badly). Luckily, there was the sweetest lady sitting behind me. She had been talking to Eric throughout the flight and I just stood up, turned around and looked at her (I probably looked crazy, with big crazy, watery eyes) and told her what was going on and asked her if she didn't mind holding Ryan. She totally understood and held Ryan for like 2 hours! What an angel!! I am always so blessed with someone just like this when I fly home. My guardian angels are really looking out for me. Anyway, I was able to calm down and things got better but I thought I would die right there on the airplane. Another blessing, we landed about 45 minutes early...hallelujah!! I was so beyond happy to get off that plane.
The first 2 weeks in Utah were rough because Ryan came down with RSV and Eric got a cold. Now, even with RSV Ryan was the most content baby full of smiles but he nor Eric slept well at all which was hard. We had to take Ryan to the hospital to get suctioned out a couple of times and once was at 4 am when he couldn't breathe...it was scary!! Even being in Utah with all my family around to help out, it was very exhausting for all of us. But I'm so grateful that all this sickness happened while I was around my family so that I had so much help and support. That was the silver lining in this miserable situation. Jene was so lucky to have missed out on all the "fun".
Although the boys were sick, it was nice to just be home bound. We wore our sweats all the time and just lounged around talking, eating, playing games and enjoying our time with each other. That's how I like it to be. I don't like having to rush around and see a thousand people and fill up our schedule so fast and so busy that we don't get to really take it all in and enjoy just being there. Of course, we do love to see old friends and other family members, don't get me wrong, but it was nice to not have so much to do.
I love and miss my family so much and living far away is hard. It only gets harder the more our family grows because then I feel like I am keeping grandchildren away and it gets more expensive to travel, etc...but I'm so grateful for my family and how they put up with me and the kids for such a long period of time and especially helping me out with sick kids. Who knows, maybe one day we will be back out west....? Maybe not Utah but somewhere closer than Georgia. I love our lives here in Georgia, we have wonderful friends who are like family and all that but I would love to live within a reasonable driving distance to my family. :)
Enjoy the pics!
Snuggles with Grandpa
Lots of story times with Grammy
Aunt Noni (Michon) with the boy cousins
Sleepover with Cousins! My older sister, McCall, is awesome! She took Eric for me 2 nights so I could just be with Ryan and hopefully get some sleep.
Uncle Bubba (Brett)...He loved snuggling with Ryan. Let me have my arms free!!
Making V-day Sugar Cookies...So fun!
Eric was such a "helper"
We played many rounds of Just Dance 3 with the fam.
