The Silver Lining of a 3-year-old Throwing Up in the Middle of the Night

This week Blake has had a runny nose, cough and earache (which the doctor said is not an ear infection) so we've had some sleeping problems the past few nights. It doesn't help that she's getting back to normal after spending last week out of town in Houston and Galveston. So last night she woke up coughing and calling for Mommy, but Chris went in to see if she was okay. That wasn't going to do because it had to be Mommy so I went in and gave her some water. She seemed fine, but about 10 minutes later I heard her again and went in and she had thrown up from the coughing and drainage. Dealing with throw-up in the middle of the night is so not fun, but I wearily changed the p.j.s, wiped her up as well as I could and started changing the sheets. Blake obviously knew I was frustrated after several nights in a row of waking up with both her and Emma (who's teething finally-the two front bottom teeth are well on their way) so while I was doing the sheets she says "I can help you Mommy" to which I said "the best way you can help Mommy is to let me sleep the rest of the night... pleeease". She said "okay, I will". So she crawled in to bed and I leaned in to give her a quick kiss and she put her arm around my neck and hugged me really tight. It sort of surprised me awake a little more because it was so sincere and I could really feel how much she appreciated me. I went back to bed really happy to be a mom instead of annoyed that I had been woken up to deal with 3-year-old throw-up. Thank you God for the silver lining.

4th-ing with the Starrs

Why does that sound dirty somehow? So much for trying to be clever with my titles.

We had a wonderful 4th of July over at the Starr's house this year. They've had a party every year for the past 6 years and we were finally in town and able to attend. I'm so glad we did. We had a great time! It was so fun to hang out with the Bolstads, the Henlines, the Hendersons (inluding Blake's new boyfriend, Zachary, their 7-year-old son) and the Sutherlands. Cody and Jessica are always such great hosts and our family loves hanging out at their wonderful home!!! Throughout the rest of the weekend the girls were able to spend time with all of their grandparents. Saturday we continued our holiday weekend celebration with a day of grilling and swimming at Ami and Pappa's (Chris's parents) new house in Keller. They're moved in!!! The house is looking so great. It's been a long time coming, but I think it is going to be so well worth it. We love being there already and I know it will be even better now with the main house finished and all of their stuff back from storage. It was so great to see everything. Nana (Heather's mom) joined us for the day too and we all had such a good time. It was so nice all day to think it was only Saturday even though it felt like Sunday. It was such a gorgeous day with a beautiful blue sky so it was really nice to be out at their house. It's such a great place to enjoy the outdoors. Plus, the pool is a great way to beat the heat. Sunday the girls enjoyed playing with Grandpa (Heather's dad) while Mommy and Daddy dealt with the broken refrigerator and freezer and getting it repaired. With the slight exception of that last part I have to say what a great weekend!!! We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends and most importantly to have our wonderful parents living in the same town. I don't know what we'd do without them.