Vurp!

Happy 2nd Birthday Landon I woke in the middle of the night after a nasty vurp (vomit-burp). A product of the pepperoni pizza, no doubt. The vurp, burned my throat. A few slugs of water didn’t cure it either. It kept me awake, tossing and turning for the next hour or so. I finally mustered enough energy to get up and take a Zantac. That took care of the trouble fast. I finally got back to sleep. Next thing I knew it was 7:30am and the kids were up. Mindy graciously got up to deal with the kids and closed the door behind her. I got to sleep in for a little while. The next time I looked at the clock it was 8:30am. I got up and headed downstairs. I was still feeling a bit out of sorts. I was slow getting my exercises underway, too, but eventually did. While sipping coffee in the living room, Mindy reminded me of Noah’s birthday party and the need to drop off Jacob around 10:30am. She headed off for a shower around 9:20am. She came back down around 9:50am asking me to get my run going so she could take Jacob at 10:30am. I quickly got into my running clothes and headed out the door. It was much colder than Friday’s run. Instead of 50, it was more like 25 degrees. I ran along Trabue. Despite the cold the sunshine felt great. Mindy left with Jacob soon after I returned. She was originally going to go directly to the grocery but instead opted to stop back home after dropping Jacob, in part to put two beef roasts in the crock pot for tonight’s dinner (Landon’s b-day party). I did my best to keep the kids in line until she got back. Mindy was back after a brief absence tending to the pot roast. But very soon she was off again, only this time for a couple of hours. My job, like always, was to peel the remaining Styrofoam bottom off the frozen roasts and then add seasoning once they began to cook. I fed the kids lunch around 12:15pm. Mindy was back home by 1pm, and after getting the groceries put away she put Landon down for his usual afternoon nap. Later, we’d be having a houseful. All the girls were coming over, as was Tommy and Dad. We planned to fetch Lindsey an hour earlier so that Mindy & I could talk with her about the kids. I went to take a brief nap around 1:30pm while Mindy did some house cleaning. After my nap and a shower I left to get Lindsey. I went by myself. Kelly’s monstrous dogs tried leaping through her screen door to get after the mailman. Good grief! Put ‘em down. Lindsey & Kelly carried two packages to the Honda from the back of Kelly’s Nissan. Soon Lindsey & I were on our way. I couldn’t resist the opportunity. When Lindsey & I got to talking about why we wanted her over early I told her that Mindy & I had a family announcement to make. I told her that we were moving to Oregon! I thought Lindsey was going to cry. She asked how we could do such a thing – leaving the larger family behind and all. Easy, was my reply! Since she bought it, I played along all the way back to the house. I never did tell her differently. In fact, once inside, I told Mindy that I’d already let her know that we were moving. Mindy played along, at least for a while. Finally, after toying with her long enough, we came clean. The real reason we wanted to talk was about the plan for the kids. Bottom line, the conversation went pretty much no where. And there’s definitely no action plan in place, at least not one we think makes any sense. She sees nothing but roadblocks and has no idea how to proceed. Realistically, she’s no closer to having her life together than she was two weeks into this experience. So here we are 90 days later… We ended the sobering conversation when brother Tommy showed up. The others soon followed. By 4pm, everyone expected had arrived. The roasts were slower to cook than usual. We re-estimated dinner to be 5:30pm, or even a bit later. We spent the time visiting/talking. Meanwhile, the kids were having a ball. Olivia was a hoot. Very loud! Meanwhile, dad was fresh back from Florida and sporting a facial tan. We finally got to eating around 6pm. Ashley & Courtney left soon after eating. Both had plans. I asked if we could keep Olivia overnight. Mindy & Ashley agreed. Wahoo! Dad & Tommy were there through the birthday event but left somewhere near 7:30pm. Mindy took Lindsey home around 8:00pm. I hoped she be able to talk with her more. I lazed on the sofa with the kids. When Mindy arrived home we got all the kids ready for bed. Much easier said than done. The plan called for Olivia to sleep with Bella. It was already almost 9:30pm but she didn’t want any part of going to bed. But Mindy never lets the kids dictate bedtime. She fetched a baby gate to keep her in and let her scream a little while. She eventually calmed and laid in bed with Bella. Once all the kids were down I poured myself a Jack & Fresca. Neither of us lasted too long. We were in bed by 10:30pm. Mindy joked that Sunday AM was my turn to get up. She said it jokingly but I knew she was serious. I already planned to do the deed anyhow.