Friday, December 14, 2012

Catching Up

Last time I sat down to write a post was in October.  I had started a post all about Chandler.  She turned 18 on October 19th.  Too many thoughts, too much to write and I got sidetracked.  So, if anyone has any patience, this could be a marathon-catch up post.

I wrote about Rylee's birth story, so with Chandler's permission, I get to write a little about her.  My due date for Chandler was October 25th.  I stopped working right around the 15th.  Doing last minute things to "get ready."  On the morning of the 18th, I had taken my car in to get new tires.  They ended up telling me that I needed all this other work done on the car.  At the time, we could only afford the new tires, and I drove home in tears and called Craig to tell him.  He got mad at me.  He was mad that I would be so upset, as he figures mechanics warn you about all the things you "need" but don't really need.  He came home from work and we weren't really speaking.  I made dinner, had baked chocolate chip cookies from scratch and went to bed.  Long story short, my water broke about midnight.  We drove to the hospital still without speaking.  

Once we were at the hospital and I got all situated, Craig fell asleep.  OK...I guess I tried to understand and cut him some slack?  It was 2:30 am, after all....

At 6:30 and with my contractions getting stronger, I decided it was time for him to WAKE UP.  I had made a decision that I thought I could do this without an epidural.  My doctor came in around 8:00 and I couldn't even focus on anything he was saying.  I was in miserable pain.  He left and my nurse strongly encouraged me to get the epidural.  Around 9:30, I was begging for it.  Ah...what a relief.  My nurse, by the way...loved her.  She was amazing and it is memories of her being with me that inspire me in my new chapter of life.  

Chandler was born at 2:21 pm.  After talks of possible c-section, I was able to push my little 6lb 6oz girl out.  We didn't know what we were having, so this was a beautiful surprise. There were a lot of tears in that room that afternoon...

Chandler was a beautiful, sweet, quiet baby.  Don't get me wrong...she cried.  A lot.  But, she was quiet like a mouse.  Shy.  Cautious.  Soft spoken. Gentle. Afraid to do anything wrong.  She's still very much like this to this day.  More than anything, I pray that she (and Rylee, too) are happy.  That Craig and I have done everything we can to raise confident, strong, caring, giving, happy girls. 

I kind of worried about her 18th birthday.  Her very best friend is on the east coast.  Her other good friend had recently moved away, and she had just broken up with her boyfriend.  Her birthday fell on a Friday.  So, with about 18 of her fellow cheerleader/sisters, we all went to dinner and followed that with them cheering at the football game.  It was a great night.  I think she was a happy girl.  

In November, Chandler and I took a trip to Norman, Oklahoma to visit the OU campus.  For the longest time, Chandler has had no idea where she wants to attend college.  She's a homebody.  She gets homesick and a little nervous being away from home.  But, the more we talked about it, the greater her interest in OU became.  I figured it was worth a trip for her to see what a bigger school was like.  

It was a great mom-daughter trip.  We stayed with our dear friends, the Youngs.  Craig's sister, Jana, drove us around Norman and attended the tour with us.  Friends (the Johnsons) we met in Tulsa met us for lunch and the tour, as well.  My dear friend,Traci, from Texas Tech happened to be in town, as well, and met up with me for a quick 15 minutes at our tailgate!  We tailgated before the game.  So much fun.  Weather was breezy, but great.  We had a blast watching the game from a suite upstairs.  Met some great people.  It was a great trip and Chandler loved it.  Application is in and we'll see what happens.  It's just one option out of a couple.  If nothing else, it was a wonderful experience.

Thanksgiving was great, even though we weren't able to get back to El Paso. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.  I love being with my family and friends.   We had old friends over, along with Craig's dad.  It was a day of football watching, being with good friends and great food.  

Fast forward to now.  I just finished up my second semester of nursing school.  It wasn't easy.  But with the support of family and good friends, I survived!  Yesterday we took our final and I managed to squeak out an A for the semester.  Yay...I got my A!  I know I shouldn't put so much emphasis on the grade, but I do. Halfway done!

And so now, I am going to try to be on cruise control.  Hoping to spend some good quality time around this house and not stress, at least until it's time to crack open the books again for N3...

Happy Friday.