Last week after hearing the news of my Grandma's passing, life didn't stop. I guess it never stops for anyone. Let me walk you through this past week, it's been interesting and very much an emotional rollercoaster for our little family...
THURSDAY SEPT. 8 - Because the news of my Grandma's passing hit me so hard - I didn't do a darn thing in regards to housekeeping on Wednesday. I knew the weekend was going to be busy, so I planned to get mostly caught up with laundry on Thursday. That was a good plan for the most part, but my brother in law's girlfriend, Sava was going to come over to redo my nails. (Planned this before my Grandma's death and hadn't called to tell her not to come)
Sava is such an awesome person and I'm so glad I know her! Besides making my nails look so cutesy and feminine, she is a great person to talk to. She hadn't heard that I had lost my Grandma before I told her and she was great to lend an ear. She lost her mom a few weeks ago and could understand the pain. We were also able to talk about many other things and time went out the window - so the laundry didn't get quite as caught up as I hoped. But - my pain was lessened.
FRIDAY SEPT. 9 - Greg and Sava invited us to go to the fair with them. We had never been to the fair as a family and I can remember only going twice when I was younger. Once my friend, Katie invited me to go with her and her parents and the other time I went with my cousin, Katie, while her mom had a booth at the fair. So, it'd been awhile.
The kids were ecstatic to find out that we were going to the fair. We even heard comments about how it was even better than Lagoon (Okay, so my kids may be a bit deprived...). After a miscommunication about where to meet up with Greg and Sava, we eventually found each other. We took a potty break right away, but then it was time to play.
We first let the older kids WALK ON WATER. Okay, this looked like so much fun and if I was more sure about myself, I may have tried it. Our kids LOVED this and for a good part of the time were the only one trying it. The pictures don't do this thing justice - but if you watch the video you can see how fun it was.
After they walked on water, Greg and Sava got some ride tickets for the kids. They chose a couple rides to ride on and had fun doing so. We got Nate to ride on the little Dragon Coaster and even though it looked like he was crying, he wasn't. He was just unsure of what to think - but he said he had fun.
We then did the BIG SLIDE with the carpet squares. Originally it was going to be all the kids (minus Ailey) and Greg and I. Well Lex backed out and halfway up the stairs Nate decided he didn't want to ride. But I'm a mean mom and wouldn't take Nate back down the stairs so we went down the slide with Nate hanging onto my neck. Fun times!
After the group went down the slide, Greg still had the one ticket left. He asked who wanted it and Shaylyn automatically spoke up. She was so excited that she grabbed the carpet, ran past the ticket guy and up the stairs. She got halfway up the stairs when she realized she didn't give the ticket to the guy. She then made a Mom proud, by running back down the stairs and giving the ticket to the guy. It made us all laugh.
Greg and Sava then wanted to get each of the kids a trinket. Tanis chose a turtle necklace, the little boys chose light swords (sabers....I get corrected everytime I say it wrong) and Shaylyn found a jewelry shop and spent 15 minutes trying to find the perfect thing. She found a necklace with feathers in black and another in yellow and THOSE were perfect for her!
We had a good night and we were so thankful to Greg and Sava for getting us out of the house and giving us something to do then to dwell on what had happened...
SATURDAY SEPT. 10 - We had family pictures planned for this day. Like BIG family pictures. Meaning my parents and siblings. Yes, we still did the pictures - even in light of my Grandma's passing. Now, lest you think we are all so callous as to not cancel something like this - let me explain. I have a brother leaving for France for a job opportunity this Friday. This was honestly the last time we could get together for another year or so to get family pictures done. So even though our hearts were heavy (especially my Dad's), we decided it was best to get it done.
Eric had a friends bachelor party to attend in the early afternoon (What can I say - the guy's on his 3rd marriage and Eric and his friends are a bunch of geeks), so I was on my own getting kids ready. For the most part the kids cooperated, but the 2 who usually give me trouble (Nate and Lex) gave me trouble AGAIN.
We get in the car and I'm only running 10 minutes behind (Which is actually good for me) and just as I back out of the driveway I hear the wonderful sound of puking. Nate has puked all over his shirt and pants for pictures. I run into the house and luckily find another shirt in the agreed upon color and another pair of pants. I don't change him yet cause I'm running late.
While driving to Eric's friends house to pick him up Nate pukes again. I've been chalking it up to drinking too much milk/bad milk and leave it at that - thinking it'll be okay once it clears his system.
We get to the place for pictures and get Nate cleaned up and meet up with the family for pictures. (Luckily I had let people know that I was running behind and told them to do what they could without me and so they weren't waiting the whole time) Just before we get together for the big family picture, Nate pukes again. Thankfully Eric caught it and bent Nate so that he would puke on the ground and not on his clothes. We get the pictures taken without any other incident.
After pictures we drop Eric off at his buddy's house to pick up some stuff he had left. While Eric was getting his stuff Nate pukes yet again. I tell Eric he needs to stop and pick up some Sprite and Gingerale and I'll take Nate right home. Nate falls asleep in the car and stays asleep while I transfer him to the couch when we get home. We are thinking, "Good, now we can get some peace and he'll get some sleep."
When Nate wakes up he is back to himself and we are thinking, "Yay, we are good now. He's better." A few minutes later Lex stands up and pukes. We tell him to get to the bathroom and he gets halfway down the hall and pukes 2 more times before Eric grabs him and puts him in the bathroom.
By this time we decide to be prepared. Lex was acting normal again as well, but we didn't want to take any chances. Before we know it, Tanis is taking a turn. Tanis pukes at least 4 more times during the night before bed. During which time we were trying to get Ailey settled down, so she was hanging out with us in our bed. When Eric got up to take care of Tanis, Ailey then puked on our bed. Thankfully, no one puked during their sleep and the 3 little ones seemed okay after they got it all out.
SUNDAY SEPT. 11 - We skip church today as we had sick kids and we needed to head to Eric's parents house earlier than usual, so we could have dinner before my Grandma's viewing. The morning wasn't anything out of the ordinary and no one else puked again. Tanis still felt a little off, but for the most part he was fine.
We get out of the house around 4, and get to Eric's parents with no incident....or so we thought. I overhear Eric's dad talking to one of the kids saying, "You threw up in the car?" We find out that it's Shaylyn and we go check out the car, but can't see where she might've thrown up. But we get her a bucket anyway and sure enough during the course of dinner she threw up a few times.
Eric's parents, Greg and Sava offer to babysit while we go to the viewing. Tanis is the only kid who decides to come to the viewing with us. I don't do well at the viewing - I never have. It's hard to see these people I love, at rest. My grandma looked peaceful, but it didn't really look like her. When I get to my uncle he pulls out this geneology book that someone had donated and he turns to a page to a picture of my grandma when she was 9 or 10 and says, that it reminded him of me. That made the tears flow even more, but it was so nice to see. Eric's parents came to give their condolences to my parents and they took Tanis back to their house with them.
Because of the time the funeral was starting the next morning and because I'd have to get 6 people ready, we stayed the night at Eric's parents home. They live closer to where the funeral was being held than we do.
Eric and I had to share a bed with Ailey, which meant none of us slept real well, but I slept okay and awoke mostly prepared for the next day.
MONDAY SEPT. 12 - Eric's parents were extremely sweet and took the day off to watch the younger kids. Because Shaylyn still wasn't feeling well she stayed behind as well. The viewing before the funeral I handled much better than I did the night before - until it came time for that one last goodbye before they closed the casket, then I cried and cried. Tanis even got choked up at this point. My dad offered a nice family prayer and then it was onto the funeral service.
The funeral was so nice. My aunt was able to read a life sketch that she had taken the time to write down before my Grandma's death. There were so many stories about my Grandma as a little girl and a mother that I had never heard before. My uncle portrayed wonderful stories about my Grandma that each of her kids remembered. There was a time where anybody could share stories/memories about my Grandma. My Grandpa said that he had "THE BEST WIFE IN THE WORLD" and told a story about if he served 2 more months they would promote him to something higher in the military world. When he asked my Grandma her opinion she simply said, "I don't know what you're going to do, but I'm going home." She was just that polite and kind.
Eric even got up and shared a special memory he had. Eric's own Grandma died when he was real young and the only memory he had of her was that she would always have a bowl of candy waiting for them. He went on to say how much it meant to him that one day my Grandma pulled out a batch of her freshly made sugar cookies and offered them to our kids. That was something I overlooked.
I shared about a time when I was young when my Grandparents were taking care of my uncle's dog for whatever reason. That dog then bit my finger. It wasn't bad - but it needed to be cared for. I shared how gently she took care of it and that she was the perfect example of service. Even the times when she was supposed to be laid up, she wanted to make sure we were all comfortable and had some of her goodies to eat.
The funeral brought out many tears and even more regret that I never took the time to get to know her better. So many little things I should've known about her life that I didn't. I am glad I know some of those stories now, though the reason why is hard.
We then went to the burial and it was very short and sweet. She is buried next to her mother in law and I'm sure we'll be visiting that place a lot more than we previously had. We went back to the church and had a wonderful luncheon. The people in my Grandparents ward went out of their way to serve us.
After the luncheon we headed back to Eric's parents to pick up our other kids and all our belongings. We had a piece of pizza and loaded up. We were so grateful to Eric's parents for all that they did, but we wanted to get home and I'm sure they wanted their peaceful, quiet home back! ;)
Towards the end of the night my stomach started bugging me. I was hoping I had just eaten too much, but knew I was probably getting whatever the kids had....
TUESDAY SEPT. 13 - I woke up at 1:00 a.m. and puked. Yup, it had finally hit me as well.
After I puked I felt like someone had jabbed me in the stomach and I felt that way through most of the day. Eric stayed home from work to take care of the kids and I slept most of the day.
Sometime after noon this sickness hit Eric as well. We then had to take turns playing parent - though he took the first shift and Shaylyn pretty much played Mom and fed everyone. I woke up at 8:00 and took the bedtime shift. It was hard as I still felt out of it and weak, but I managed.
We also found out that we got Eric's parents sick and Sava sick. I felt so bad. Thankfully it's a quick moving bug.
So yes, life goes on. Life doesn't stop for anything. I'm thankful that I was able to attend my Grandma's viewing and funeral before I got sick. I'm thankful to have family around willing to watch my kids when we need it. I'm thankful for a husband who takes such good care of me even when he feels just as bad as I do. I'm thankful for the knowledge of a life after this - otherwise times like this would be that much harder!
