Round Three

Ding Ding... Round Three has begun!  Emma is now sick, although she is feeling better than she did yesterday.  She finally caught whatever it was that we all had.  Friday night she was still refusing to touch anything that she had seen Hope touch, I even had to spray down a favorite doll with Lysol because it had been "contaminated".  Whenever Hope got near her, Emma would say, "Don't touch me Hope, you'll get me sick!"  I knew then that it was inevitable.  How does that saying go?  "Whatever you fear comes upon you", something like that.  Well, her faith worked (as Jesse Duplantis would say) and she got sick.  I'm not trying to come down on Emma here, it is obvious that she learned that fear from me... Mommy.  The one who has been going around all week saying things like,  "Don't drink from your sister's cup, she's sick."  "Don't touch your sister and then put your fingers in your mouth, you'll get her sick germs!"  "Don't LICK your sister, she's sick...and you NEVER lick someone.  C'mon kids!"  Can you tell we've been cooped up too long?  Anyway, I guess MY faith worked, she got sick.

Luckily for me it happened on Saturday and my husband was home.  I was going to a baby shower that day.  ESCAPE!  Sweet escape!  I was on to adult conversation in a land where no one knows me as "Mommy" and NEEDS me to carry them around or get them juice!  A land where I can just relax and be me amongst friends.  Oh, how excited I was to be going to that shower!

It was time, time to go.  I got in the car, started it up and noticed the glaring orange CHECK ENGINE light staring back at me.  I actually thought about it for a while, "Should I just take my chances and try to make it there and back?"  Of course, I came to my senses and turned off the car and opened the hood.  I looked at the greasy mess that the engine is and decided that it would go a lot faster if I had my husband do it for me. I courageously entered the house that I had just successfully fled.  There was my wonderful husband amidst our three girls.  All talking, except for the one that was screaming, "Mommy, Mommy, MOMMMMMMMY!" and reaching out for me to hold her.  I didn't hear what Emma was saying because she was on the other side of the screamer, but Hope, seeing me in an actual skirt was repeating, "Mommy, you look beautiful, Mommy, you look beautiful...."  This got louder and louder until I thanked her and then the only sound was the screaming.  I told Kim about the check engine light and asked if he would check the fluids for me.  He casually reminded me that the check engine light has been on for two years now.  "Oh, yeah, I totally forgot.  Thanks!"  I left again, despite the fact that the baby was still calling for me with outstretched arms.  Did I feel guilty, of course, but not guilty enough to stay.  Besides, for the past five days she's been screaming like that for Daddy when he left, now she had him.

I got back in the car, started it up, and POOF a huge cloud of white and grey smoke.  I hesitated, prayed, and felt like the Lord said it would be okay.  That's all I needed, I was off, down the road to freedom.  Big embarrassing clouds of smoke following behind but I wouldn't be dissuaded, I was going to that shower!  Fortunately, the smoke stopped by the time I got to the end of our street!

The shower was wonderful!  A great time with good friends, some I met while I was there.  I so want to share pictures from the event but forgot to ask everyone if they would mind me posting them, so I'll just share a few detail shots (because I HAVE to have some sort of pictures in the post)!

 That's "Mr. Baby Boy to you!"  Okay, so one of the ladies at the shower has the initials MR, but I still found it funny.

Well, I hear that my baby just woke up from her nap, so I guess that will be the end of this post.  I hope you are all enjoying a wonderful day full of family and freedom- both at the same time!


UPDATE/DISCLAIMER:   Okay, so my husband read this post and was totally embarrassed that I wrote all of that about our car without more explanation.  So, here it is.  Yes, the check engine light has been on for two years but it's not like nothing has been done about it.  The mechanic gave us a list of 10 things it could be, we've had 9 fixed, the last is just too expensive for the benefit.  I can't even remember what it is but it doesn't hurt the car to run w/out it being repaired.   There is also the possibility that it's just hit a certain mileage and needs to be reset.   Ironically, I drove the car tonight and for the light was not on.  Another thing that I said was that the engine was all greasy and messy.  To me, a girl who rarely dresses up but who was actually wearing a skirt, that is how it looked.  The truth is that it did recently get pressure cleaned, so as far as engines go, it's pretty clean.  The final embarrassing moment that I wrote about was the smoke.  It did stop by the end of our street and has been fine since.  I think it was just because the car hadn't been driven for three weeks and I suddenly turned it on, off, and on again.  Maybe?  Anyway, I in no way meant to imply that my husband doesn't take care of the cars.  He does his best and his best has always been more than enough for me.  Especially since he helps me out with so much, along with working full time and serving at our church whenever he possibly can.  He is an amazing husband and father.  Neither of us, however are mechanics!