Where Have I Been the Last Week???

The Beautiful Cooper River Bridge































A house on the Battery. The porch is called a Piazza in Charleston.....















































Ok, I have to admit, I kind of went into hiding, but not intentionally. David and I took Pickles to Charleston, SC for her birthday weekend. If you remember from her last post, she was running a pretty high fever the morning we were suppose to leave. I was able to get the fever under control, so David said: "let's go.......nothing a little motrin and tylenol won't take care of." And for the most part, he was right......until the ride home when she got reallllllllllllllly sick. After a trip to the pediatrician on Monday morning, we discovered not only did she have the flu, but she had bronchitis too (the deep cough started early Monday morning). And if this wasn't bad enough, I ended up at my doctor's on Tuesday diagnosed with a sinus infection and Pickles ended up with the stomach virus on top of everything else. Last week was one of those weeks you wish you could just erase from the calendar.

So, let me tell you about our trip to Charleston. We decided to be adventurous and leave the pack and play at home. Why not, we thought, she's TWO!!!!!! She's almost ready to come out of the crib into a big girl bed, let's give it a try...how bad could it be??? Let's just say we won't try that again. Honestly, I think a lot of the 'middle of the night' crying was more related to not feeling good than anything else. By Saturday night, we moved the mattress of the sofa bed on the floor and she slept through most of the night....but the damage had been done to this set of "OLD" parents....and we were pretty worn out!

But the weather was perfect......high 60s on Saturday, low 80s on Sunday. We went to SC Aquarium at the Charleston harbor, the Ft. Sumpter museum (pretty cool stuff for those Civil War buffs), walked the Battery, had a nice dinner overlooking the Atlantic ocean, and finally, on Sunday, took a historic carriage ride around Charleston. Oh my.....I have fallen in love with Charleston. The old homes, the history......it was just beautiful. It reminded me a lot of Newport, RI.

The rest of the last week was spent nursing a very sick little girl and just getting through it.

We also got this precious update from Mary,,,our fabulously wonderful casework at Gladney:

"Big S & Little S received your packages the other day. They were so excited to get them. They both loved the crayons and coloring books. Big S is so patient with Little S. He had been coloring carefully in his coloring book when Little S suddenly wanted it. He gave it to her,letting her color all over his carefully colored page, while he happily colored in another coloring book. Big S wants to know when you come if he can send gifts to his friends when he gets home with you. Little S was very generous with her gift and went and tried to share a crayon with one of the older girls. The older girl wouldn't take the crayon and Little S was a little disappointed. Big S and Little S are both doing well."

I've also started cleaning out the girl's room getting it ready to move Pickles into a big girl bed. I'm almost finished, but have to clean out a closet before I can put away all the toys I organized and sorted in plastic tubs. I did put their new quilt on the girls' bed, ordered sheers for the windows and have started trying to pick out a color to paint their room. So we are making progress in getting ready for Big and Little S to come home.....

I also wanted to extend a heartfelt thank you to a dear friend at church: Mitzi. Mitzi.....your words today meant more to me than I can ever express. Thank you for understanding how I feel and for your kind, kind words. You truly were the angel I needed today!