Good Times

We have had just a really great weekend!! Saturday morning was our yard sale at Jenn and Matt's, so of course the closer we got the more worried I got about what time Brianna was actually going to wake me up. I advertised for 8:30am because I figured I'd need more sleep - she usually gets up for a feeding around 5 or so.

Then, Friday night after her bath, I was getting ready to feed her and noticed this awful rash on her neck. We started looking at her and these bumps were all over her neck, ears, chin, and upper part of her chest and back. I mean, it was grotesque! I almost took a picture of it - I should have. The first thing we did was think back to if she could be having an allergic reaction - but no change in clothes or detergent, and of course she's not eating yet so that wasn't it. Next we thought maybe bug bites? But the rash/bumps had come on so quickly we ruled that out after checking her pajamas and changing table thoroughly. We both Googled things like "red blotches baby" and other random phrases and in the end concluded she had either heat rash, a teething rash, or a combination. We gave her a half dose of Tylenol, slathered her in Cortisone for the itching, and laid her naked under a fan for a few minutes. Within about 15 minutes the rash and bumps had completely disappeared. So I guess we were right about one or the other! Of course when I put her down at 9:30, I told Stephen, "Well, if she itches, she'll be up all night. I'm not going to get any sleep!!" Imagine my surprise when my alarm went off at 7:00 the next morning and that little booger was still asleep! I was able to take a shower and get ready for the yard sale while she was still in bed! Then, bless her heart, I had to wake her up and run to Jenn's without even feeding her first. I naively thought I would get to Jenn's early enough to feed her before the rush started. Key word: naively.

I was almost at Jenn's at 8:10 (remember, the yard sale was supposed to start at 8:30) when she called me to say that there had been people there since 7:45 and they were all just parked outside. EVEN THOUGH she went out there to tell them it wasn't starting until later. I had to park at the top of her road because these crazy yard-salers parked where I was planning on parking! I ended up having to put Bri in Jenn's Bjorn and carrying her while crazy yard-salers helped us move things from the garage to the driveway.* Bri ended up not even eating until mom came, which was sometime between 8:30 and 8:45 I think. Thank God she was SO good even though I'm sure she was starving! Praise God mom was able to feed her for me! Dad was even there to help us put things out as well.

We ended up having a really good crowd and we were much more successful than we thought we would be! Mom and dad's leftovers have already made their way to Goodwill, and mine and Jenn's can be found either there, Fifi's, the Coalition, or THE DUMP!

You could tell Jenn became desperate at the end when I told a lady she could fill a bag for 50 cents and Jenn practically screeched, "25 cents!!" Okay, that's an exaggeration, but she was like, "I am NOT bringing this stuff back into my house!!" It was so funny. It was fun but it was definitely a lot of work - and HARD with two babies under six months. Mom got Bri to take a nap and Claire is so laidback she's no trouble, but it definitely could have been disastrous.

Today we had a special surprise service at church for our pastor since this is Pastor Appreciation Month. (Psst, tell your pastor how much you appreciate the work he does!) I was asked to do a special song of mine that he particularly loves, and people were encouraged to stand up and testify or thank him. After my song I said I wasn't going to say much but of course once I got started I ended up talking for like 3 minutes - which really isn't that bad. But about 10 seconds in I started crying, which made him cry, and then pretty much everyone else got emotional after that. But it was good crying. If it weren't for our pastor I wouldn't have gotten saved, and neither would Stephen, and I can't imagine how different my life would be without Christ. I may have hidden it well (I may not have) but before I got saved I lived in a very dark place. Since that day just a couple of years ago my life, my marriage, my thoughts have all been very different, and I'm so grateful.

After church we came home and watched a little bit of a movie and when Brianna fell asleep we took the opportunity to conk out on the couches with her too! She (and we) ended up sleeping for an hour, which in our household is unheard of! She never ever takes naps like that. Not sure what we did differently today from every other day. She also slept about 10 hours again last night - again, not sure why. She usually wakes up after about 8 hours refreshed and I'm still groggy! Then we had a great night at church. So this weekend was just really awesome! Lots of fun and stuff. Stephen is off tomorrow so he'll get to see what a typical day is like for me and Miss Bri. It'll be cool to have him at home, as long as he doesn't drag us down. :)

*Note - when I got home and told Stephen about this with huge hand gestures and a gaping mouth, he just grinned at me and said, "Honey... that's YOU!" Let the record show I do NOT show up at yard sales 45 minutes before the starting time!