Matthew Ajax: Our Gift from God

Normally it takes me a few days--or weeks--to write the birth stories of my children, but my heart is so full of joy and gratitude that this one cannot wait.



We have always wanted to have six children in our family--that was something we dreamed and planned about as an engaged couple talking about our family and our future. After Nathan's birth and the ensuing physical and emotional damage, it seemed for years that five children would be it for us. We gave away all of our baby things and moved on with plans for a family of five children under the assumption that my physical and mental health would not support the last child that we had dreamed and planned for so long. This was a period of intense mourning in so many ways, and I cried as each article of clothing or piece of baby furniture left our home.



What has become so clear to me over the past months and has been driven home with lightning-bolt force over the last 24 hours is that Matthew, our sixth child, is a very literal gift from God, sent to bring us joy that we could never have anticipated during the very dark years following Nathan's birth. I have been overwhelmed again and again by very clear impressions of God's love and tender care for our family. Last night as I was holding Matthew and praying I was literally in tears as I felt like the Savior was sitting there next to me in the dark of my hospital room, telling me that Matthew is the answer to so many prayers and so much wondering about whether we are doing the right thing with our lives, and a very clear confirmation that my choice to be a mother is the thing that God wants for me more than anything, and that this baby is a literal manifestation of God's love for us and His perfect plan for our happiness. I have felt so full of light and joy the past two days--all of my worries about adding a newborn at a very stressful stage in Neil's doctoral program and the potential for another bout with postpartum depression have literally been lifted from my mind and all that is left is peace, joy, and hope and an absolutely overwhelming knowledge of God's love that washes away all of the deepest doubts and worries I have been privately battling for several years--about our life choices, about our time in graduate school, and about my faith and relationship with God. I cannot even describe the enormous weight that has been lifted from my mind and my heart--I literally feel like I have been reborn with so much faith, courage, hope, and surety.



Matthew's name is derived directly from this knowledge--its Hebrew translation means "gift from God." As we were pondering what we should name him, none of the names we tried seemed to fit, but we kept coming back to Matthew as we listened to this John Denver song about a cherished son growing up in love and joy. Finally--after a lot of prayer and discussion--we reached out to some dear loved ones who had named their beloved son Matthew before his death in infancy. We shared with them that we felt that this name was one which would fit our son, but that we were hesitant to use it in memory of their son. They were so incredibly gracious and encouraged us to go ahead.

His middle name, Ajax, is derived from our love of skiing as our very favorite pastime as a couple and a family and our incredible time in Aspen skiing Ajax Mountain, which we have talked over and over and over about making a yearly family tradition as soon as we are able to do so.



My pregnancy with Matthew was so different from my past pregnancies. It has been--by far--the easiest of all of my pregnancies. I have been blessed with strength and resilience that does not match either my age, my medical history, or the reserves that one would expect from a woman going through pregnancy for the sixth time and who had been on periodic bedrest for my last 3 pregnancies. I was able to recover from a stress fracture just prior to his conception and continued running throughout the entire pregnancy--the first day I took off because I didn't feel up to working out was the day before his birth. The five miles I walked while I was in labor with him brought my total mileage to 931 miles for the pregnancy, including two half-marathons at 15 and 20 weeks. I kept my mileage at 30 miles per week right up to the very end--for comparison, with Luke and Nathan I was only running 12 mpw from about 14 weeks onwards!

My labor with Matthew is the first one where I felt fully in control, calm, and empowered throughout the entire process. There was never a time where I felt unsure or unable to process what was happening in that moment. This was an enormous blessing, especially after the trauma of Nathan's delivery, where things escalated very quickly to the point where I was literally voiceless due to a sudden blood pressure drop.

We chose to schedule an induction on my due date after a week of constant and unproductive contractions. (I have never gone into labor on my own, and after quite a bit of reading during the last week I think I may fall into the category of women who have prodromal labors, where an induction or C-section is the typical result after weeks of nonprogressive labor with consistent contractions.) Unlike my previous inductions where I really stressed and worried about whether we should continue to wait, I felt very assured and confident about the decision to go ahead with a scheduled induction.

In the past, I have tried lots of different methods of pain relief--epidurals, morphine, Lamaze, the Bradley method, hypnobirthing--and every single delivery has been marked by a lengthy and protracted labor, extreme pain, crying, and a feeling afterwards that if only I'd been more courageous, or more determined, I would have been better able to deal with the pain. I've felt ashamed of my physical and mental weakness, which really peaked during Nathan's birth when both the midwife and the nurse were very demeaning and ended with several months of treatment sessions with a birth trauma specialist.  

This time, I decided that I was going to get an epidural as soon as I started feeling uncomfortable. I wanted to be an active, calm, and reasoned participant in my final childbirth. My beloved OB, who delivered both Isaac and Luke, broke my water just before 8 am. Neil and I walked 4 miles up and down the halls (I wore my running shoes and my Garmin so that I would be able to time things effectively and wouldn't have the sore feet/ankles that have resulted from too much barefoot walking with other births!) and then spent about twenty minutes in the delivery room so that the nurse could get a better record of Matthew's heartbeat, since the wireless monitors were not working well. When we began walking again, my contractions increased dramatically in intensity. From my previous labors, I knew that the early stages of labor would go quite slowly and then very quickly once I passed 4 cm, so if I wanted to get an epidural, it needed to be very early on before most conventional wisdom would suggest its use. For a few minutes, I wondered whether I was making a mistake and would slow my labor down too much, but then I felt very clearly that I should trust my understanding of my body and my recollection of previous labors. During Nathan's labor there was a lot of conflict with the midwife, who did not believe my assessment of my labor's progression, and so it was so calming to me to feel much more in charge of this one, thanks to a wonderfully supportive OB who told me that I was in the lead and that she was working on my timeline and what I felt I needed at the time when I felt I needed it.

So--I asked for an epidural based on how I was feeling and my predicted estimation of how I would be feeling in an hour when the epidural was complete, and my OB approved the order without ever checking my dilation. This was the first epidural I had received early enough in labor to not be shaking and contracting miserably while it was installed, and it made all the difference in the world to be able to breathe quietly through contractions that were 3 minutes apart rather than shaking violently through contractions every 60 seconds! I was so grateful to feel like myself in terms of being able to remember the name of each of the medical staff who came in the room, talk clearly with them about my care, and thank them for their efforts--one of the things that has distressed me most about previous labors is feeling like I lose the ability to be patient, courteous, and grateful for what the medical staff are doing. In my daily life, I really value being able to talk with people, use their names, and thank them for their help, and it was SO important to me to preserve that during this labor.

Once the epidural was in just after 12:30 I was able to rest quietly for about twenty minutes before my doctor came in, checked dilation, and told me I was at a 4, which was exactly where I was hoping to be. Based on previous labors, I knew that getting to a 4 was the hardest and lengthiest part for me, and that getting the epidural before 4 cm was integral to managing the pain before things accelerated to the point where any pain relief efforts would never catch up before delivery. We agreed to start a Pitocin drip to regularize my contractions, which had slowed after all of the fluid administered just prior to the epidural. This was something that I had expected and anticipated, so it wasn't at all distressing. I asked the anesthesiologist to adjust the epidural dosage, as I began feeling quite a bit of pain again with the Pitocin, and he brought things to a point where I could feel each contraction, breathe quietly through it, and still feel like I was aware of and controlling the process without being overwhelmed by pain. When I began to feel shaky and cold after another hour, with increasing pain from the contractions, I knew that delivery was close. My nurse agreed, reminded me that all of the running I had done had resulted in a very strong pelvic floor that would minimize the pushing stage, and told me that I would be meeting my baby in a matter of moments. She called in my doctor, who came in quickly and within minutes everything was set up for Matthew's birth. The doctor told me that they were ready whenever I was ready, and that we were working on my timeline. I waited just a moment longer for a clearly-defined contraction before I began pushing, and Matthew was born before the contraction finished. Everything was peaceful, calm, and I felt totally in control of the process and utterly in harmony with my body and the messages it was giving me. I was so grateful for the quiet joy that was a constant presence throughout the labor and delivery in such marked contrast to all of my other deliveries.

And then they handed me my beautiful son and I felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude and peace. I know I'm saying this over and over, but it was the most calm birth environment I could possibly have imagined or hoped for. Everyone was quiet, unhurried, and completely supportive of proceeding at my pace on my timeline. I held Matthew while Neil cut the cord--something which he's never done for any of the other babies, but I asked him to do it for this last one and he obliged.

After Matthew was born, there were some complications with the placenta, and it ended up taking about 45 minutes to complete the last stages of delivery. Even with this, I was still calm and trusting that everything would be fine--I somehow managed to carry on a conversation with the medical team for the next 45 minutes even while they were forcibly extracting the placenta (I was SO GLAD I had an epidural at that point). While I knew all of the things that could go wrong and all of the complications that could result, I was so at peace and able to just relax and trust that everything would be fine. If you know me at all, this is not characteristic of my personality! 

After the delivery concluded, we spent the next few hours very quietly in our room with Matthew--he weighed in at 8 lbs, 3 oz, measured 21.5 inches long, and was born at 3:37 PM on September 27.

It has been a beautiful, calm, wonderful recovery with him ever since. He is bright-eyed, alert, and such a happy and beautiful baby. We are so grateful for the light and joy that he has brought with him from heaven to our family. 

 

August/September photos

Taking some photos from Instagram to create more of a record for my blog...sorry they're recycled but that's the amount of time I have these days! (And I only have time to blog right now because my kids are on antibiotics for pinkeye, so we came home early from church as soon as sacrament meeting was over to avoid passing on contagion to all the Primary kids!)

My adorable little bunch before church this morning. Aren't they so sweet? Confession: I bribed them all with a piece of saltwater taffy each to smile. It took about 10 seconds to get 5 good photos as opposed to the 15 minutes of cajoling it would have taken otherwise. Oh well.

Note that everyone's hair is done--that's a miracle!!! 100% due to the fact that I had a 9 am meeting at church this morning so I had some extra time afterwards to do everyone's hair instead of putting off getting ready until the last minute...



Some pregnancy updates. 38 weeks before church today...

37 weeks after my 8-miler last Monday...

...and 34 weeks a month back.


Also--swelling is super super super bad. This photo is maybe a month old? Nerve pain is getting really bad too. In general I'm just super uncomfortable. Florida was AMAZING because I was swimming so much that I slept all through the night most nights (I only woke up to go to the bathroom 2 of the 7 nights!). Most days my right foot looks like a balloon, then I run and it goes down briefly, then I stop running and it balloons right back up. Yesterday I left my running shoes on all day as an experiment and the swelling went from my ankle to my knee and was CRAZY painful...so I've decided that the foot is better. (But I'm really sick of not being able to flex my toes and having to completely relace my shoes before/during/after runs.) I have an appointment with my OB tomorrow and I'm anticipating that we will discuss an induction based on the swelling like we've done for the last 3...ever since I had surgery during Isaac's pregnancy it's just been crazy bad at the end. (And after one pressure ulcer on that leg I do not want to EVER EVER have one again, much as I dislike inductions--having a 6-inch open sore on my leg for months that's constantly weeping pus and blood is much worse.)



Moving on. :-)

Loved catching all the kids gathered around Neil as he was reading to the two littlest boys...his voices are just so good that they invariably grab everyone's attention!

One morning right before the kids went back to school, we got up bright & early and headed to the peach orchard. We picked over 70 lbs of peaches and then turned them into jam/canned peaches before Neil got home. The kids are the most amazing helpers these days!!

We watched the first season of the Great British Baking Show over the summer (one a week...it was a highly anticipated event in our household!) and the kids got so into it! We've had lots of family baking adventures and Juliet made her own birthday cake. She was super excited!

A random dinner. I don't know why I took a picture of it other than the fact that it was really good. Also--I have probably eaten more watermelon this summer than in any other 3 summers of my entire life. It's one of the few things that I actually want to eat these days (really struggling with my appetite right now). 

The kids all started school and Nathan was so unhappy to see them go! Luke is in kindergarten for just 2 hours a day--that was the compromise that the school and I came to and I'm still not super thrilled about it. They are all at a new school this year and I love it for Juliet and Isaac and I'm horribly sad about it for Luke--I just really love the kindergarten and 1st-grade teachers at our old school, but it was pretty vital for Isaac & Jules that they switch. Isaac is in the high-ability 2/3 class, Jules in the high-ability 4/5 class, and Abigail has started middle school!!! (where they now only have 2 advanced-track classes...boy has that been an adjustment.)

When we were in Florida, Juliet and Isaac had TONS of homework--their teachers had prepared huge packets in advance and we did SO much before we left and then quite a bit while we were there. Abigail hardly had anything and it was stressing me out so much!!! Like I said...it's been an adjustment. I can't remember if I mentioned this, but she started clarinet lessons over the summer in preparation for the school band, and she has been doing SO well! Her teacher is fabulous and has told Abigail repeatedly that she has a true gift for the clarinet, which definitely motivates her in practicing and performing. :-) (And from my perspective I'm totally blown away by how quickly she has mastered principles that (according to her teacher) take most students a year or two to learn. All that piano theory sure helps!) Isaac has also started piano lessons and he is totally loving it to the point where I have to kick him off the piano bench after 45 minutes because the girls are waiting to practice! He is seriously in heaven and it's pretty nice not to have to ever repeat my request that he go put in some practice time. :-)

A grocery-store visit with Nathan one day...he loves wearing stickers over his eyes and always has to exit the store like this (holding my hand and walking very slowly...but we take them off once we hit the parking lot!).

A game of Chubby Bunny one night for Family Home Evening. Neil was the hands-down winner and none of the rest of us even came close. I'm not really a big marshmallow fan so once I got to 4 I couldn't handle the taste anymore! We played Pie Face too and got our fill of sticky-faced fun...the kids sure loved it!

Abigail was super excited to get her own Chromebook this year! The middle school uses these pretty heavily in class but it's been interesting troubleshooting connectivity and issues like that (honestly seems like more of a pain than anything, but hopefully it will be smoother soon). 

 And Nathan saying goodbye to Neil one morning. It's been a pretty rocky adjustment for Nate having all his buddies gone all day...most days we go for a really long walk and count dump trucks. :-)

Florida 2016 Part 3: A Tale of Two Houses

This trip was a looong time in the making!! In October of 2015, my sister Ruth and I were talking about wanting to plan a vacation for our entire family--parents, siblings, grandchildren, everyone. We really wanted it to be relaxing and beautiful and idyllic. As kids, we used to go to Sunset Beach in North Carolina every other year or so, and those were some of our best childhood memories--so much slow-paced time just hanging out with family and friends and having the time of our lives. My mom always talked about how great those trips were because they basically planned themselves once you arrived.

So we decided to try to convince everyone that we should do a beach trip (kind of funny because we had a whole-family Christmas get-together taking place the next month, but we needed a beach one in the future too--and we were trying to plan it early enough so that Rosalind and Chris could be there before they moved to Hong Kong, since we knew they would be gone for the next year. Unfortunately his start date got moved up at the last minute and they just barely missed the Florida trip!). We chose Destin because my little family had such a great experience there the previous year, and housing for a group as big as ours was more affordable on the Panhandle than both the Carolinas and California. And then we started working on finding some beautiful beach houses and convincing everyone else. 

Ultimately, we settled on this house. It checked all the boxes--a private bedroom for everyone, tons of bathrooms, enough eating space that we could all eat together, plenty of room to cook, an awesome pool, and a really cool game room. We booked it over Thanksgiving weekend and then we had ten very long months to wait!!

When we arrived at the house, everything seemed awesome--it was huge, lovely, beautifully decorated, and with gorgeous finishes and fixtures. The beds were super comfortable and the private bathrooms attached to each bedroom were enormously luxurious.



Ruth's family was the first to arrive, and I asked her how they were settling in as we were en route. "Pretty good," she said. "The house is gorgeous but it was a little dirty when we first got here...I ended up sweeping up a lot of crumbs. Not a big deal but kind of weird, and I found a bunch of dead bugs in the game room and trash in the fridge out there. And I can't find one of the pack and plays."

We searched the house, but couldn't find the pack and play, so we ended up calling the homeowner, who directed us to a tiny little closet in the guest house. I also mentioned that the hot tub wasn't turning on, and she told us that we hadn't paid for the hot tub heating. My mom assured her that we had, forwarded her an email confirmation, and the owner excused herself by saying that she often forgot to write down who had paid for the hot tub, but assured us it would be on that evening. I confirmed that she knew about the missing big-screen TV that was supposed to be out by the pool, and she muttered something that I couldn't hear and then assured me that she was aware of its absence.



We figured it was a one-off thing and settled down to enjoying the AMAZING enormous pool and all reveling in our reunion. It was so great to see each other again, but we were really missing Rosalind, Chris, and Addie (who are in Hong Kong for a year having their own adventures).



Neil and I went to the store with my dad to pick up groceries for the next couple of days. I was super excited to join everyone in the hot tub when we got back, but they were all inside when we started unloading our groceries. Total bummer--the hot tub wasn't working! We texted the owner, who said she would send someone out the next day to check on it.

As I was brushing my teeth that night, I noticed that the sink in our bathroom wasn't draining. "Weird," I thought. "You'd think that the housekeeping crew would have noticed that, but I guess it's not a huge deal. We can live with it and just get some Draino or something."



The next day was Sunday. As I was helping the kids get ready for church I noticed that the bathroom attached to the boys' room still smelled kind of iffy, which I'd also noticed the previous night. I flipped the fan on as I left the room and didn't think about it again...until it still smelled that evening. I mentioned it to Neil. He looked closely at all the rugs and said, "Oh my gosh--there is dried-up feces encrusted on that rug."

I was SO grossed out. And then I noticed a Q-tip buried deep within another rug.

I came downstairs and mentioned what I'd found--and then everyone started chiming in with the little things they'd been ignoring in their own rooms. Deep sand inside a dresser drawer. A used hairbrush in a bathroom drawer next to an old makeup palette. Towels with swipes of fresh makeup across them. Dark red stains on bathmats. A beach cart full of beer cans. A distinctly smelly/dirty fridge & freezer in the game room. A dishwasher that took forever to run because the heating element wasn't functional. Sheets that looked like they'd been slept in to the point that my sisters were washing their bedding before using it. And the hot tub still wasn't working, despite a visit from the pool guy.

After a lot of conversation and some very careful word-smithing, we emailed the owner with a list of our concerns. I went off to take a shower, and when I came out, she had arrived in the interim and was busy working down our list. We felt awful that she had come out on a Sunday night, but were super grateful that she was so responsive to our worries about the cleanliness of the house. She mentioned a few things that struck us as kind of odd--their family had come over to the house the previous week but hadn't actually stayed there, just used the pool, but then she did some really quick cleaning inside the house later and had maybe missed a few spots...(so much for the $600 professional cleaning fee, right?).

The next day was Monday. The pool guy arrived bright and early and tinkered around with the hot tub equipment before announcing that the heater was fried and a replacement part wouldn't be available until our last day. We were pretty bummed, as it was too chilly at night to swim comfortably without the additional heat, and the evenings in the hot tub/pool after the kids were in bed were something all of us had really been looking forward to.

We decided to make the most of it and spent almost the entire day in the pool, since there was so much seaweed at the beach that we were coming back literally coated in green slime underneath our suits (NOT a fun surprise when you head into the shower!). 

We were having a pretty idyllic day--snorkeling, diving, swimming, watching the fighter jets overhead--and then we started to smell that additive in natural gas. It got stronger and stronger, and we pinpointed the scent to the pool equipment. We called the owner, who sent the pool guy out again, and while we waited for him we evacuated the pool and the guest house (where my dad was working) which was directly over the equipment. The pool guy identified a gas leak in the hot tub line--it was not a very fun little interlude (especially when Neil quietly said as he walked away, "Um...that guy has no idea what he's talking about. That problem is impossible because of xyz").

Neil and I were in charge of food that day, so we headed in to make sure everything was set up for supper. As we started unloading the dishwasher later that night, I noticed that something black was coming off of the utensils and covering my hands, and it wouldn't come off without some serious scrubbing. I don't remember whether it was my dad or Neil who identified it as black mold, but it was due to the non-functional heating element that Neil had pointed out to the owner the previous day, which she had brushed it off as inconsequential. The mold was EVERYWHERE--coating utensils, dishes, baby bottles, etc. We decided to carry everything over to the other house to wash it in that dishwasher--and as we were going over there my dad tripped on the unlit steps by the pool and started gushing blood from his toe. 

When I came in and saw the blood all over the kitchen floor and my dad ignoring his pain and  working away at trying to sanitize the dishes to make sure his family was safe, I just about lost it. At this point I was so upset. I was exhausted after a long day (I got up early to run and then spent literally every minute swimming that I was not cooking--the kids were in bed by this point so it was pretty late). And at 8 months pregnant this was NOT what I wanted from a vacation--I felt like we were literally spending our vacation in enumerating problems with this house, and I was so tired of constantly going back and forth with the owner instead of just relaxing and enjoying this house that had looked so great online. 

My dad called the owner and had a pretty lengthy chat, the end result of which was that the owner told us that they obviously would not be able to make us happy and offered a full refund if we decided to move to a different house (honestly, we would have been happy with a new heating element in the dishwasher and a refund on the cleaning fee, but I think they were fed up with hearing from us). My dad said we would consider our options and decide as a family what we wanted to do. At this point, Elise and Paxton were at the grocery store, my mom was on a conference call, and Mary Beth was resting, so my dad, Ruth, Jordan, Neil, and I were all sitting around discussing what we should do--and then my mom forwarded a text from the owners telling us that they were going to rent to someone else the next day and we had to be out of the house by 9 AM.

So this is the point when I really did break down. Fortunately, everyone else was in their element--my dad, Ruth, Jordan, and Neil immediately started looking for new houses (I sat there crying). It was pretty amazing to watch them though--they were in their element and within 10 minutes we had a bigger house in a really coveted area, early check-in the next day, and a 25% discount on the new house that meant we would save literally thousands of dollars after receiving the refund for the original house. Everyone was super excited (I was still crying. I was just so worn out! And pregnant! And it felt like it took every particle of energy I had to prep everything for the trip and get my family the 12 hours down to Florida in the first place while also getting all of the schoolwork to pull my kids out for a week and clear things with my doctor so that I could go--I was in no shape to handle any curveballs). My mom came in and just held me for a long time until I stopped crying, and then everyone went to work like crazy packing up and within maybe half an hour we were set for departure the next morning.

I'm skipping over a lot of drama with the owners, during which we became 99% sure that they had no other renters coming in and they were just bluffing, especially given that we had booked ten months previously and who books "backup renters" when a hurricane is on the way?!...but we arranged to meet them the next morning at 9 AM for a full refund to be immediately handed over in cash. They were not thrilled by this, but my mom was pretty darn insistent and we have a couple of experts in contract law in our family which is handy. And since they were doing all of this via text we had an indisputable written record.




So we drove on over to our gorgeous new house, which was situated a mile from downtown Seaside, which is literally the most picturesque beach town you could possibly imagine. So picturesque, in fact, that we had driven over there the previous night because Ruth had read about it online (it was the filming location for The Truman Show) and we all oohed and aahed over it and wished that someday we could come back to stay. WELL WE DID.

And we had the best time.



The beach was amazing there--we were really bummed about giving up our super-close beach access at the other house but I honestly think this one might have been closer, plus the water was much clearer! (And it had a spray-off station at the top of the bluff which is super important in terms of not making a giant mess in the house...it was positioned perfectly so you got all the sand washed off and then had time to dry off as you walked the rest of the way back.)

The house itself was fantastic--instead of being split between a main house and a guest house, we were all together. Instead of dividing our groceries between 3 different fridges in the house/guest house/game room, we had the most massive fridge I have ever seen in my life. Two dishwashers. A washer and dryer for both the 2nd and 3rd story. 6 king-bed suites with private bathrooms, two of which included a set of bunkbeds built into little tucked-away nooks. Private balconies on each level. A gigantic game room with foosball, air hockey, and arcade games. Two additional bunk rooms (six queen beds and two twins) with their own attached bathrooms. We actually felt like we were not maximizing this house because there was still so much extra space! And the hot tub heater worked, much to the joy of the general populace. :-)

 

I won't do a blow-by-blow recap of all of our days, but I do want to write down some of the things I don't want to forget.

First and foremost--just all of the TIME with my family. Such a luxury and so wonderful. My sisters and parents are truly some of my nearest and dearest friends and I can't even tell you how much I adore being with them. I love them to pieces and I am so grateful for the amazing men my sisters have married and the sweet children that they are raising.

The food--everyone in my family enjoys cooking and it was SUCH a treat to eat all of the outstanding food that everyone made! We divvied things up so that everyone was responsible for a breakfast, snack, and dinner on their day. We had tons of lunch stuff so that people could eat lunch at the house or go out on their own--no pressure and totally flexible.

You guys, as a mom I swear that 80% of my time and energy goes to feeding people. Do you know what an amazing vacation it is to not have to think about breakfast, snack, and dinner for a week?!

IT IS AMAZING. Honestly like heaven. As encapsulated in this picture.

 I loved waking up and coming downstairs to see what tasty treat was being served for breakfast, and lounging in the pool in the afternoon when someone appeared with a tray of snacks/drinks and put them in my hand so I did not have to exit the pool, or taking an afternoon nap and coming downstairs to find someone in the process of grilling up dinner.



It was amazing and wonderful and I miss it so much. And everything was so darn tasty!!

I'm just going to insert this photo AGAIN in case you missed that bit about lounging around in the pool.



And I really miss looking over and seeing a kitchen filled with these lovely ladies, who walked over and handed me a dessert fruit pizza about ten seconds after I took this picture. And then asked me if I wanted another one after I finished snarfing that goodness down.

I loved the evening when my parents babysat all of the grandkids and sent us out for a fancy adults-only dinner. They are the absolute best. And aren't they so gorgeous together?!

We were some of the first people at the restaurant for dinner and were among the very last to leave--we sat there for hours out on the patio under the bubble lights as the dusk came on and just talked and talked and talked while we ate our crab legs and ribeye and whatnot. Again--I love these people SO MUCH that I am lucky enough to call sisters and brothers-in-law!

And the babies--oh my goodness, the babies. Abigail confided to me yesterday that the day our baby is born will be the best day of her entire life--she can't wait to soak up more baby sweetness after having a whole week with these two.

They are seriously so darling--just little rays of happiness. They are a couple of months apart but I think they are going to be the best friends ever as they grow up--it was so neat to see them light up when the other one came into the room!

We had another great evening where my parents took us all out for delicious seafood. I ate hush puppies and crab cakes to my heart's content and had some of the most delicious shrimp one could ever ask for, which I had totally been craving...and then my mom bought a ton more shrimp a couple of days later and peeled it for me and made me sit down and eat it all and I knew I was loved. :-)



My kids were HUGE fans of the game room and the big-screen TV...it was their first experience with an old-school arcade machine (it had about 60 classic games on it) and they were in HEAVEN. We also let them all chill in their beds for an hour one afternoon watching their little individual TVs that were in every bunk and I think it was the height of luxury for them. Definitely not something they get to do every day--I found Abigail in her bunk with Evelyn cuddled up in the crook of Abigail's arm while they watched Paw Patrol together, all snuggled up under Evelyn's blanket. Too cute.



And all the hours of just hanging out together--so glorious. Especially since we spent 90% of our time in either swimsuits or pajamas...it felt so horribly hot to put on real clothes when we left Saturday!

 



Some more pics from the night before Hermine made landfall--the lifeguards had cleared out all their stuff from the mound of sand that constituted the lifeguard station and the kids were in heaven racing the waves to climb back up before they broke over the side.

We went crabbing a couple of evenings after dark--once with just Dad, Neil, Elise, Paxton, and me, and then another night with all the kids. SO FUN. So so so fun. We found some seriously huge crabs and just had an absolute blast, plus the sky was so clear and the stars so bright that we could see the Milky Way!

The morning after Hermine hit, my dad got up early and took Abigail, Isaac, and Caleb down to the beach to see what they could find...like tons of shells and a big jellyfish with Isaac's foot for perspective! One of my favorite memories from beach weeks in my childhood are the early-morning walks with my grandparents and I am SO grateful that my children are able to have the same experiences. 

 And one of the really awesome perks to our second house was that it had 8 bikes (and helmets!) that came with the house. We made great use of those! One morning my mom and I biked 9 miles in and around Seaside (I probably drove my mom nuts with my constant comments about how gorgeous the town is!) and the next day Neil and I biked another 5 miles (not quite as fun since we no longer had the impending hurricane to cool things off, but I tell you what, the jump into the pool post-biking was the most amazing feeling EVER, and then Neil brought me a huge bowl full of Rocky Road ice cream, and...yeah it was heavenly).

 Loved
We loved the vintage Airstream food trucks in Seaside!!! Seriously, this place is amazing.

 And last but not least, the view we saw every time we walked down the bluff to the beach. I miss it so much already!!! Such an amazing trip and so many great memories with such fabulous people.