Wednesday

6:30 a.m. - My alarm clock woke me up. I immediately jumped up to check on Harper, because my alarm clock woke me up!!! She was sleeping peacefully and I can't begin to tell you how refreshed I felt after a night with solid, uninterrupted sleep! I was feeling great and really excited because today was very out of the norm as far as what our typical Wednesday looks like. Yesterday afternoon Rick found out that he needed to go out of town for business and asked me if I would want to tag along. Um, heck yeah I would!! Harper woke up a few minutes later and I got her up and fed her.

7:00 a.m. - I had a little pep in my step because I love waking up to find The Hubster home. He usually gets up so dang early that I don't see him until night. It also makes getting me and the kids ready a million times easier with the added help of their daddy. I picked out their clothes and he got them dressed while I packed the bags for our day trip. He entertained them while I got ready. I'm sad to report that my flat iron died half way through fixing my hair. RIP, my beloved chi. I need to get my hands on a new one stat, because nobody wants to see my hair without that miraculous 30 minute transforming process. Trust me on this one!

8:30 a.m. - We are loaded up and ready to go. Wednesday mornings I have BSF (bible study fellowship - it's a great international bible study. I participate in a ladies' local chapter and I love it). Usually I take the kids with me and they go to their respective classes, but today Rick kept them while he went to wash the car. BSF is usually from 9-11 but I just stayed for my group discussion and skipped the lecture so we could head out of town at 10. I missed the last 2 weeks because of sick kids so I was really thankful I could make it this week. Before he dropped me off we stopped by Mornings Kolaches for some breakfast. YUM!

10:00 a.m. - Rick picked me back up. I nursed Harper in the car and changed her diaper. Then we hit the road! It's about a 2 1/2 hour trip. Both kids took naps on the way there. I relished in the silence and enjoyed the beautiful sunshine and good conversation with my hubby.

12:30 p.m. - We got to our destination. One of the reasons I was so excited to tag along on this trip is because it was to the town where Rick's family and my best friend Ashley live. My MIL, two nephews, Ashley, and my crew all had lunch together and I was so glad to spend time with them!



12:45 p.m. - I took Harper out to the car to change her diaper. Luckily I was just in time to prevent yet another Poo Situation. Her antibiotics are giving the poor girl some issues in that department.

1:45 p.m. - We got done eating and I fed Harper in the car. Harrison was very, very sad to see his Mamaw and cousins go. After she finished we went back to Ashley's work, which is also where Rick used to work many years ago and where he needed to handle the business we came to do. Pretty convenient, right?

2:00 p.m. - The next hour and a half was spent trying to keep Harrison from destroying the office. Actually, trying to keep both of them from destroying the office. Harper might not be mobile yet, but she has her own weapons of destruction.

3:00 p.m. - The approximate time I realized I had poop on my leg. Thanks, Harper! I've come to terms with the fact that I can't avoid the vomit, but I draw the line at poop! Unfortunately, however, I didn't pack any extra clothes for me, so I spent the rest of the day with poop on my leg. :/

3:30 p.m. - After I cleaned up the leaky diaper mess and changed her clothes and changed Harrison's diaper, the three of us went with Ashley to pick up Joel from school while Rick wrapped up his meeting. We went back to Ashley's house and hung out and Rick met us there. I fed Harper and the boys played. I didn't hear a peep out of Harrison -- I really need to look into borrowing a big brother for him to play with when I need to get some things done. Ha! Oh, and she had a giant bowl of left-over Halloween candy sitting out on the coffee table. I'm pretty sure I consumed no less than 4,000 calories of sweet goodness. I have zero self control!

5:30 p.m. -  Since we didn't want to get stuck in Houston rush hour traffic and our small group meeting was canceled anyway, we hung out and stayed for dinner. We decided to take the kids to Chuck E Cheese. We are nice parents like that. This was my as well as my kiddos' first time here...and for the sake of a good time I just chose to not think about all those icky germs. I also let Harrison have a root beer for dinner. It was really more of a he-stole-Rick's-and-refused-to-give-it-back-without-a-giant-nasty-fight-so-we-shook-our-heads-and-surrendered type of situation, but whatever. Regardless, I'm learning to let go a little...it's only taken me two years but it's progress. We all had a great time playing!

7:00 p.m. - Back on the road again. We decided to start driving and see how far we could get before Harper wanted to eat. We got about 5 minutes, ha! So we pulled into a parking lot and I fed her and we changed both their diapers. They were both extreeeemly tired and overstimulated after our busy day. After we got them back loaded into their car seats we put on Madagascar 2 for Harrison to watch (for the gazillionth time...but strangely I'm still not completely sick of it yet). Harper had other plans. She sometimes gets to the point of exhaustion where nothing consoles her. This was one of those times. She screamed and screamed until I couldn't take it any longer and made Rick pull over. She was just so worked up and my stomach was in knots.  I rocked her for a few minutes and then put her back in the car seat. She was wide awake but at least she was calmed down. The second go around she only cried for about 2 minutes and finally fell asleep.

8:30 p.m. - We stopped at Buccee's for a drink and restroom break. Love that store! It's pretty much the only public restroom that doesn't make me shudder. I drove the rest of the way while Rick slept. Harrison, however, did not. That boy is a fighting-sleep champion. He was deeply engrossed in his movie and his sucker.

10:00 p.m. - Finally made it home. Rick gave Harrison a bath and brushed his teeth while I fed Harper and then fixed Harrison's lunch for Pee Wee School tomorrow. My heart was filled up from our great day and I didn't want it to end, so after some persuading I got Rick to cave and let Harrison sleep with us. He doesn't get to do this very often (a. because he thrashes violently, and b. because he prefers his crib. As sad as it makes me, he is by no means a cuddler.) but he is leaving to go stay with his grandma tomorrow for the entire weekend. I really felt the need to try to steal as many Harrison snuggles as I could get.

10:30 p.m. - We were all so exhausted and ready for bed. And this is why this post is so late. Ha!

Total hours spent in the car: 6

Total minutes spent listening to an exhausted baby scream in the car: 30

Total number of germs encountered: I refuse to think about it

Total number of meals I had to cook: 0

Total number of hugs to and from loved ones: I didn't count but they were great