July 4th Weekend Recap

We had such a great, long holiday weekend, full of all the things a holiday celebration should have. I'm going to include bonus days since it was an extra long weekend!

Thursday:
Things started off stressfully, since Cara had some fever and eye goop. I scheduled her a dr. appt for the afternoon after I finished teaching summer test prep at school. I raced home to pack us all for the weekend while she napped, then we raced to the dr. She doesn't look sick, does she?

The diagnosis was a virus, but since it's the 3rd one she's had since May, we got an antibiotic and some eye drops and were on our way. We waited for Chance to get off of work, and we hit the road to Irving. Cara was happy in the car, and when we got to Buck & Mimi's, we had a quick dinner and put her to bed!

I had taught all week and was exhausted, so we went to bed and slept for quite a while. It felt lovely.

Friday:
July 4, our "mental Saturday," started off slowly, but it was just what we all needed. Cara was still a touch feverish, we were tired from the week, etc. So Nana and Grandad came over to play and we hung out at the house.

After Cara's nap and lunch, we got ready for the day and played big time!

N&G brought over the princess pool they bought for Cara, and she got to splash and play. Do you know how you know you are a spoiled great-grandchild? When Nana fills up the pool with warm sink water because the hose is too cold. :)

Cara had fun splashing and pouring while 6 adults stood around watching her. Ah, the life.

We got re-dressed and took some Fourth of July pictures! I loved Cara's little dress that I found at Old Navy for a steal. And I love that we have inadvertently started a tradition of taking pictures with little flags. Quite a difference on July 4th from years past!

Dad cooked a fabulous meal of BBQ chicken, and Mom & Nana made baked beans, Jell-O salad, and all kinds of other goodies. We ate lots of yummy food (plenty of ketchup for Cara!) and stayed up hanging out for a while. We decided to forgo fireworks for ourselves this year, even after Cara went down to sleep. Cara started having major sleep issues this night and subsequent naptimes. Crying in the Pack-n-Play, SCREAMING for me "Mama, HOLD YOU!" and tearing my heart out. I sat in a chair and cried and cried because I thought she was so lonely and scared without me. She has to learn to sleep in lots of environments, but it was so hard to leave her there wailing for me by name. It was a rough weekend for her sleep. Maybe we'll see fireworks next year-it's one of my favorite things ever.

Saturday:
Our second weekend day! Another quiet morning and some playtime with all of us. We went to run some errands (including Babies R Us to buy a bedrail!) and to see Nana and Grandad. Cara demanded a diaper change in Nana's big closet, seemingly so she could be closer to the shoes. She pulled out one, put it on, looked for its pair and put that one on. Then she shuffled around their house while we laughed. This girl LOVES to wear other people's shoes, I'm telling you!

Later, Buck wanted to give Cara a "ride" on his motorcycle, but she got scared when he fired it up because it was loud. So she posed for a barely-contained-emotions picture and then we went inside to watch Mickey Mouse on the iPad. All better.

Chance took Cara and Harleigh on a walk, and I couldn't tell which little one was more excited. Harleigh wouldn't look at the camera because she was ready to go, and Cara was glad to be outside.

Another good meal (BBQ ribs this time!), a trip for ice cream and another late night rounded off our day.

Sunday:
We went to "Mimi's church" and then had to hit the road to coincide with Cara's naptime. She didn't sleep the whole way home, but it was good enough.

We got home and unpacked, and Cara started telling us she needed to be in time out. She sat herself down against the wall and said, "Time out!" Haha, I guess she sees it happen at school (I've been assured by her teachers that she is not ever in time out.) and mimicked it. Later, she helped Chance outside with a project on our shop door. She likes to help Daddy!

Before bedtime, she asked for her big bear to play with, and she rolled around on the floor with it. It was so reminiscent of when she was a few months old in a similar situation.

Monday:
Cara and I spent the whole day at home, with the exception of running a few errands. When I got her dressed in the morning, I showed her the shirt and shorts, and she said, "Flip flops! Big hairbow!" Give the girl what she wants!

We ran lots of errands, played with lots of toys, read lots of books and endured lots of fussiness and clinginess. I had to remind myself that "The days are long, but the years are short." and that even during days that are more trying than others, they will be gone too quickly, and I will dearly miss the times when she was small and spending the days with me.

So that was our grand-sized holiday weekend. Lots of fun, travel, good food, and sweet times together. Next weekend I will have a recap (hopefully a successful one!) of our adventures in potty training. Oh boy-wish us luck!