Every year, in May, I start to fantasize about the summer months. As a teacher-mom, summers are my survival mode. I begin to comprise a fantasy about cleaning out the garage, getting rested up, days on the lake, books to read, and most importantly: tons of quality time with my sweet girl. However, I am married to a wonderful youth pastor who is also a soccer coach. Essentially, all things family-wise must be completed by the last week of July because the first week of August means that my life is occupied by finding the rogue sock in the car that is making it smell like a dead rat. And rotten milk. And wet dog. You get the picture.
My first week off of school was a lot of catch-up around the house and getting ready for the beach. (What a great way to start the summer!) The beach was awesome with my parents, brother and Nannie. We headed to the "West Virginia Beach" of Myrtle. Nina was big enough this year to enjoy all aspects of the beach, but her favorite was definitely the pool. We stayed at the same hotel when she was 11 months old and I was overcome with how much she had grown since we were there last!
For several years now, I have been struggling with horrible sinus infections (mostly continuous). After enduring allergy shots for over a year, with little improvement, my doctor ordered a CT scan which revealed that my sinuses were basically swollen shut. While at the beach, the doctor called and scheduled my surgery for two days after we returned from the beach. It was a surgery I was deeply dreading (both physically and financially), but was so excited to not feel sick all of the time. Surgery went well and ended in an unexpected repair of my septum. It was a 3 week recovery and those of you who know me, know that it was a horrible 3 weeks for Lee, too. (Do you have any idea how hard it is to keep me still?!)
Speaking of, four days after surgery, we were scheduled to be at the church camp that we all love so dearly for two weeks (1 week for the week that Lee is the director and 1 week for the week my dad is the director). Recovery at Cowen wasn't an easy task, but a task I was ready to take on. Grandparents kept Nina for a few days since I wasn't allowed to lift more than 10 pounds. Many naps and lots of pain meds later, Nina was able to come to camp (Definitely not her first time, but the first time she was cognoscente as to what was going on). She has fallen in love with a place so so near and dear to our hearts (The place where we met, got engaged, and lived for the first year of our marriage).
Two weeks was awesome, but so so exhausting. (Did I mention I had surgery four days before going?!) A few days of rest, laundry, and pretending to be a normal family in the summer (What is normal?!) Lee headed off to Cedar Point with the youth kids and I soaked up a few last days with my Beanie before heading to
Alaska for an extra special wedding (Alaska has its own post: coming soon). Until this point, I had never been apart from her for longer than 3 nights and that was due to surgery. Alaska would be for five nights. I felt similar to the way I felt when I went
back to work after maternity leave. However, with Nina going through the "only my mommy can do anything" stage, I knew it would be good for her, her daddy, and darn-it, momma needed a break! We both did great and were so excited to be back together (Reunited and it feels so good...)
So, after hardly being home all summer, luckily, soccer season has forced us to finally be home and pretend to be a normal family (Did anyone ever define "normal" for me?!)
I'm sure in the next few weeks, Lee and I will say what we ALWAYS say in August "Next year, we won't schedule our summer so full." But sans surgery, it has been a pretty great few months!
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