Lightning and Lincoln

What a week! We had such a wonderful time as a family. Free of hiccups? Um, no. It was crazy. Crazy stressful at times and crazy good the rest. I would have it no other way. Well, maybe a little less stress. But I think I'm the only member of the family who felt the gravity of the situations that caused the stress. My husband and children obviously found it fun to drive straight through two horrid hail storms on our trip down. Come on, isn't it fun to think about the front windshield breaking in allowing water to gush all over your family in the middle of no where with two babies in the back seat? (Yes, Parker is still my baby. Plus, it makes the story sound more dramatic.) Anyway, I'm going to have to break this trip up into different posts or I'd lose you to boredom before getting to day 3. I'll begin the montage of vacation blogging with the trip down and meeting Mr. Handsome (aka Lincoln).

David got home from a half day at work around 1:00 pm and the amazing mommy (yes, I know it's a bit prideful) had the boys ready to go in the car. Let's just say, it is miraculous that I didn't forget everything with the way the day had gone. It was rough. Graham had decided to get a mysterious fever the day before and was wreched all morning. He cried and cried and cried. You get the point. Graham never cries like that, well, not since the last vacation when he got dealthly ill the day before we left. We had a chat about his timing this week and he's promised to work on it. I had checked the weather report before we left, and it said isolated thunderstorms throughout West Viriginia, Virginia and North Carolina. Concerned? Not really. Maybe if it would have said the words scattered or severe I would have been a little more cautious. What it should have said was, "Dunn family: you will be followed by lightning-crazed, 60 mph wind producing thunderstorms that will pound hail all over your car." I'm not typically an uptight person, but the beginning of the day had already set me off and the storm almost killed me with anxiety. I would almost gain my composure and then the radio alert system would come on warning of another severe storm and to seek shelter. Nice. We drove on. It took us 7 1/2 hours to reach Charlotte, NC and it usually only takes 4. We made it to my parents house at 4am after 14 hours in the car. I remembered why I normally fly.

We slept a few hours and got up to find that Graham had shared his fever producing virus with his brother. Sounding familiar to the last trip? Yeah. The good part was that the nasty little bug produced no other symptoms and the boys were both better within 48 hours.  The bad part about the whole ordeal was that I was planning for months to go see my friend Sheena Howell graduate from dental school. The ceremony was on Sunday when Parker was at his worst and i was too worried to leave him. I hated missing her big moment, but if you ever read this Sheen, I just want to say I am soooooo proud of you! You'll be the best dentist ever. CONGRATS!

The boys being sick also put off me getting to see my Heidi and her new little one. Finally, I made it over to her house and met Lincoln. I don't think he was as excited as I was since he slept the whole time but I won't take it personally. Heidi is rocking it as a mom. They hand us these little things when we leave the hospital and it is up to us to figure out how to take care of them. For all of us, it is a learning process, but there are some mothers who have a head start with gobs of natural instincts. Heidi falls in this category. I smile as she tells me stories that I remember telling her a few years ago while I learned with Parker. It's not that she didn't listen to me back then, it's just that she now really GETS it. I love our new connection as friends. Heidi, you are doing sooo great and can I just say, you and Mike made one beautiful baby.

Me and Lincoln meeting the first time.

Me and the trooper of a mom who had to endure 3 hours of pushing to get this big boy out.

Parker was really into Lincoln. He loves babies. Here's Parker holding lincoln the first time.

We let Graham in on the action...doing some inspection here. I had to keep removing Graham's finger's from Lincoln's ears and eyes.

Love these boys.

I may not know ow to work a camera, but i do know how to work a baby. I helped Heidi get a few shots of Lincoln before he grows out of the fleeting newborn phase. Look at this face!

Heidi and I and possibly some future best buds???

I still can't believe he is here. Crazy to think that between the two of us, there are 3 boys. Heidi, you and I have some wildly fun days ahead of us!

More Florida trip to come!