Summer 2015 ~ Part 1

Maliana ~

Yo. What just happened? Was that a vacation? Was this even summer? It definitely felt like neither. Good grief!

Allow me to explain.

First, I must tell you that I have been out of commission for the longest continuous period of time since beginning this blog due to all of the craziness of our summer. To say it's been a doozy is putting it mildly. With that in mind, I'm sorry if my memory gets a little spotty here and there. I will do my best.

*breathe in*

*breathe out*

Ok.

Actually, I think the best way to begin is to just dive in and attempt to remember what I can, providing several various posts from Facebook as we go along, starting around the time we attempted to embark on our OBX trip in early June.

Ready? Good. Ok, here we go...

The week that we left for vacation, Daddy had to go through a bunch of different doctors' appointments to even clear him to leave because of that health scare he had at the end of May. You remember the one, right? That crazy week in the hospital because of Daddy's pericarditis, pericardial effusion and emergency surgery? Ok, good. Well, anyway...all FOUR of the doctors he saw in June said, "Yep! You're good to go! That little pain in the bottom of your left lung is just pleuritis. It should get better. No need to worry! Go! Have fun at the beach!"

What else were we supposed to do? Needless to say we were feeling fairly confident that there was no real need for concern. I mean, FOUR doctors gave us the green light! That's gotta be good, right? So, off we went!

But only 4 hours into our trip, we began to realize how wrong we *all* had been.

Daddy started to feel bad (difficulty breathing, nauseous, and a growing tightness in his chest, etc) by the time we hit Beckley, WV. We assumed it was just car sickness and kept driving. After all, from our house to Crozet, VA (our destination for the night), there weren't a lot of top notch hospitals anyway. The entire 7+ hour drive, Daddy got progressively worse and once we got to Brad and Stacy's, he was in really bad shape. Brad ended up taking Daddy directly to UVA Medical Center (where both he and Stacy work as nurses) as soon as we got there. You stayed at their house with Lao Lao and the others and eventually I joined Daddy at UVA Medical Center as well because they had to do an emergency surgery to drain more fluid that had accumulated around his heart, AGAIN. We couldn't believe it. It was touch and go for a while (he had what is called a cardiac tamponade) but he was stabilized and doing much better. Eventually. Unfortunately, he had to stay in the hospital a while longer because of the drainage tube he had in place and to make sure things kept improving.

We made the decision for you to stay with the Williams family and Lao Lao, meeting everyone down at the beach while I stayed in Charlottesville with Daddy at the hospital. We knew you were in good hands and happy as a clam with all of the kids at the beach house. It definitely wasn't how we expected to spend the beginning of our vacation, but it made sense and we had high hopes of joining everyone in the Outer Banks in a few days.

While we were in the hospital, we got these updates and were glad we had made the decision to send you along with our 'framily' to the beach...

text from your drive down with the Williams family

from a walk with Brad on the first morning at the beach

breakfast with the 3 Musketeers

you and Lao Lao sent us a special message from the beach

out in the ocean with Stacy

fun with KK in the waves

beach life!

Lao Lao took it upon herself to do an
unofficial swim lesson with the littles

I was glad you were having fun at the
beach...this was my view (driving
back and forth from Stacy and
Brad's to the hospital)

but Daddy made friends with a nurse, Logan

and is what I sent Stacy when she posted a picture
of her feet up on the deck railing at the beach...
a comparison picture of my view
of the hospital cafeteria. ha ha!

 And here are some of the texts we sent back and forth while our little family was separated...

On Monday, Daddy was released from the hospital and we were hoping to hightail it to surprise everyone at the beach house that night. Unfortunately, we got a call just 20 minutes after leaving the hospital telling us that they wanted us to stay around UVA for the night to make sure things were ok. Daddy actually noticed a lot of swelling in his left breast that night which got us concerned anyway and so we decided to wait and see on Tuesday morning. We got him all checked out and cleared (once again) on Tuesday and headed down to the beach by afternoon. Daddy still wasn't feeling perfect, but we had been reassured by the doctors again, so...what else were we supposed to do? Right?!

We drove the 4+ hours to OBX, with Daddy feeling more uncomfortable by the hour. We got to the beach house and no more than 4 hours there, we got another call from the hospital telling Daddy they had found bacteria in the fluid around his heart. What?! Are you kidding me?! So, after another long night with Daddy hightailing it to the OBX hospital in Nags Head with Memaw and Papaw (while I stayed with you). The beach hospital ultimately determined that he needed to come back up to UVA again the next day. Uggh.

So once again that next morning, I was planning on heading back to UVA with Daddy (Memaw and Papaw were going too) and you were to stay at the beach with everyone and salvage what you could of our vacation. It was an extremely tearful goodbye and you did NOT want us to leave. It was so painful. Broke both of our hearts. As we drove about a mile up the road, Daddy and I discussed me staying at the beach with you while his parents stayed with him. It felt like my heart was being ripped in two. I wanted to be both places. It was a no win situation. However, we ultimately chose for me to stay at the beach with you so that you could get better sleep and feel more comfortable. The first stop at a gas station and we switched Daddy over to ride with Memaw and Papaw while I drove back to the beach house in tears.

Here are just a few of the ups and downs as updated on Facebook, to give you an idea of the roller coaster we were all on...

And here is a little comic relief we received from Daddy via text after he left OBX and was back up at UVA...in spite of it all, he has kept his sense of humor.

Our week at the beach was most certainly bittersweet. I am hopeful that you still had a really good time though. You seemed to truly enjoy being with family and friends (aka our 'framily'). I tried so hard to keep a smile on my face and maintain a sense of normalcy for you, but Daddy was always on our minds. We actually ended up leaving a couple days earlier than expected so that we could have Daddy ride home with us from UVA that Friday.

While at the beach I was able to capture at least a few pictures of our time at OBX. I didn't take nearly as many as I usually do on vacation, but I think you'll get the gist.

helping Sammy put pads on for skateboarding

giving KK a skateboarding lesson

giggling together after the skateboard
flipped up and 'ran away'

lessons with the pro ~ Uncle Forge

making adjustments

and off they go!

with Stacy's fun dessert of sand and seashells

all ready for our dinner night with
a pirate theme ~ arrgghh!!

the Seaside Farmer's Market where we bought the
shrimp and crabs for our boil

turned out amazing ~ wish Daddy was here to enjoy it!

and of course our traditional pinata ~ pirates and their booty!

Sierra did an amazing job of helping equally
divide the candy among the kids

And also - I didn't get a picture of this, but as you can see from the summary below, it was quite the discussion.

so excited to be riding in KK's minivan...you want
a minivan SO bad!

crabbing at night!

check out my little fish...finally swimming like a champ!

woo hoo! look at you go!!

the grown ups missed Daddy terribly ~ here we are sending pictures of us
toasting Daddy at the Beer Garden, an OBX favorite for our crew

Now, jumping back ahead to where we had begun our trek to Ohio. Here are some pictures from when we swung back up to UVA to reunite with our beloved Daddy and bring him home from the hospital...you were very relieved to see him again.

helping tie Daddy's shoes so he could get the heck out
of that hospital!

all tuckered out ~ finally able to rest easier
knowing Daddy was with us again

Happy to say that by the following Friday evening, you, Lao Lao, myself, and Daddy, as well as Memaw and Papaw had all made it back to Ohio. Safe and sound.

Needless to say the events of the week had put us in a tailspin and then a hazy blur of just getting from day to day. It was nothing like any of us had expected and plunged Daddy and me in particular into a mixture of feelings that ran the gamut from unbelievably grateful to relieved to indifferent to thoroughly pissed off. It was a lot to take in. A lot.

At this point in the game, we were just glad to be home and getting back to normal, even if our new "normal" included a PICC line in Daddy's arm and administering medicine through that for a while.

We thought it was smooth sailing from there on out.
Unfortunately, Daddy's body had other plans.

*to be continued*

Love,
Mama

Homecoming, Graduation, and a Baby

Maliana ~

Just like my last post, I will lead this one off with the big news. Daddy is home!!! We were so happy that he got to come home on Sunday. The day before Memorial Day was perfect timing because we were all home together for a full day to make sure he was all settled in before my work week began.

In preparation for him to come home, you kept asking questions and here was one of them:

Me: "Yep, that's right. Daddy can't lift heavy stuff for a while."
You: "So...he can't lift your purse. Right, Mom?"

During some of our alone time at home together, we had various discussions. You shared that when you grow up, you want two tattoos: a heart on your foot and a tattoo of a family somewhere else. Well, okay then! You also showed me a couple of pictures you drew at school, during your last few art classes.

you with your M costume

a W made into a lion

The day Daddy was discharged, we sat in his hospital room with Memaw and Papaw (as well as Aunt Connie and Uncle Pat) for a few hours waiting. Running out of things to talk about, Memaw asked you if you played poker. You replied, "No. I play Pokemon!" He he. Touche!

one last stroll before discharge

riding out in style

That first morning that Daddy was home was so nice. We took it as a lazy morning, letting Daddy sleep in until almost noon and just lounging around together. It was a simple pleasure but just having all of us back under one roof again made me feel so warm inside, at peace with the world.

catching up on 'daddy snuggles'

and here is your Memorial Day drawing...a picture you drew upon
waking up and it includes a Marine with a gun, a Navy boat, and
an Airforce plane, it reads "We love you"

I took you to Barnes and Noble later that day to pick up some books for summer reading to keep you in gear for second grade. You chose a 'Junie B. Jones' book and 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'. When you got home, you decided that you wanted to read some with Dad. I don't know what it is, but in the last few months this whole reading thing has really clicked for you. It's almost like magic. I love it!

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end and I had to go back to work on Tuesday. When I called home later in the morning to check in with everyone, Daddy told me that you had woken up early and got yourself all ready for daycare on your own, telling him, "I wanted to let you sleep, Daddy." It was incredibly thoughtful and definitely did not go unnoticed. You are a very sweet kid.

Audrey snuck this one when we were out for ice cream...
I just love your eyes

The next couple days of the week you decided you'd rather stay home with Daddy instead of going to daycare. Thursday was your day o' fun together and you went to California Pizza Kitchen for lunch, to visit Daddy's friends at his work, and then he surprised you with two rounds of putt-putt. You were happy as a clam when I got home from work. In spite of the circumstances that led to Daddy staying home this week, I'm glad you guys are taking advantage of the time together!

cool dudes

hole in one. whaaat?!

This weekend we all got to spend some time together. You also finally got to meet Aunt Lindsey's little baby, Caleb when we went to their house for dinner on Saturday. It was nice to spend time with them again (which we don't do nearly enough!) and while you were a bit nervous about holding Caleb (he's only 3 months old), once you did, you couldn't get enough and were excited to hold him and even got to feed him a bottle too! It was so cute and definitely ramped up your talk about wanting a baby sister. You're working that angle for all it's worth right now...I just wish it was that simple. *sigh*

7 years vs 3 months old = same size noggins

Sunday brought Natalia's graduation party. Daddy and I have known Lalie since she was 5 years old so it's amazing to now see her graduating and all grown up. Such an exciting time for her! We are very proud of the kind and beautiful (inside and out) young woman she has become.

As for the rest of our week, you began attending the summer camp with the Y and we stayed busy preparing for our beach trip coming at the end of the week. Luckily, you started on the right foot with your camp and so far, enjoy it. It sounds a lot like the "Fun Center" program that I used to attend as a child (where I met Audrey Ayi, well over 30 years ago!) and had some of the best summers of my life. Speaking of Audrey, she graciously agreed to help us out and keep you entertained this week while we finished planning and packing. On one particular night, she took you to Easton for shopping and ice cream. I think the best part was that she was still wearing her security uniform and of course you wanted to join in the fun as well.

and voila ~ this was the result!
a suit and tie kind of night!

How cute are the two of you?! I'm sure everyone at Easton wondered exactly what kind of business meeting the two of you had just wrapped up. Ha ha. What a great auntie!!

And now...we are beach or bust!! See you later, Cbus!!
Peace out!!

Love,
Mama