miles and miles of adventures

Hey, do you remember that time we went on our New York roadtrip with the kids? Well, it's been feeling a bit like that in my trusty red ford...
School's out so I imagine it was time for vacations. Or in our case, wedding, lake and pre-mature babies. That's what has been going on around here. I've literally driven hundreds of hundreds of miles in this frickin' gigantic state of Texas. And me-no-likey. BUT. Yes, there's a but. It sorta has been nice visiting with family and relaxing and getting worried sick and then everything turning out okay.
I met up with my mother at the hospital, came upon my very drugged up 7-month pregnant sister, and a note on the white board:

It's too early for her to have contractions. This was all going wrong.

We all prayed that her contractions would stop. That baby Leo would wait a bit longer to cook. And after 3 days of being medicated and monitored, they gave her the go-ahead to go home and be on bedrest for the rest of the pregnancy. SUCKS! 

After my family and I headed out from the hospital, we drove 2 hrs to get to our destination in West Texas for a grand wedding. The husband has a dentist cousin and he was finally getting hitched! The wedding was at a beautiful country resort. The weather was perfect! 

And once we arrived in our room, the boys knew exactly what to do. 

Giggles and sore shins and tumbles made them all giddy.

And after all that hyperness, it was time to get handsome. 

The location, ceremony, the dress, the reception, the food....everything was perfect. The dancing, the music, everything was fantastic! By the end of the night, our faces were stuffed with great food, we had all drank too much, danced to an embarrassing level, and had throbbing feet. 

The next morning, we ate breakfast and went off on a wagon pulled by a tractor to feed some amazing steers. The rest of the stay was full of napping on a hammock and swimming the day away. No news about contractions and such, so I was hoping that was the end of it but worried about what the outcome might be and guilty for not being there. 

Early the next morning we headed to our lake house 2.5 hrs away. And not even 1 hour after arriving and unloading cars, I got a call that my nephew did really want to make his entrance into the world! So off I headed out, sans kids and husband, to be with my sister. Crying on my way to Fort Worth because of what could happen and I just didn't want to accept it. By the time I got there, she was back from her c-section. 

At that point, everything was uncertain. The daddy, Roman, had gotten videos and photos because he was in there with her, so we all OOOh'ed and AAAhh'ed over them.  She whined about not even getting big and how she missed out on that baby bump experience. I told her not to cry over it and showed her the results of two giant pregnancies--stretch marks and belly flab. She need not cry. For real.

Finally, late late in the day, I was able to get my big baby {my camera} in the NICU and take pictures of that tiny little baby boy with such a fierce name--Leo.

 And Momma got to see him too for the first time.

Born 10 weeks early, he has a long way until he gets to be taken home. But he's already loved by so many, it's hard to know what will be, but our trust is in Him above. We will leave it up to Him and the doctors' expertise and caring hands. 

After spending a day in the hospital, I had had enough. I don't care too much for hospitals to begin with, and it's not that it was a bad experience but who wants to stick around those places anyway, right? 

I really missed my babies so I had to get back. Another 2.5 hrs traveled on Texan highways. 

That next morning, Nana had planned some "Minute to Win It" challenges between all four grandsons. They had a blast. Among them, there were some sore losers {mostly my kids} but we all had fun. 

And after that, it was time to go swimming in the lake. Man, it was nice.

After riding on the boat and the tube, we came back, ate lunch, and took long naps. We all lazily lounged around with our iPads, phones, tablets, laptops, you name it...and then it was time to go fishing. 

Papa is a great fisherman. All the fishes are attracted to his line. Must be the worms he uses. And his patience.

After today, I will head back to Fort Worth to be with my sister again. I can't stand living 4 hrs apart. She's hard to live with but still, I miss her. And now I will miss her more when I do get to go home to Houston. I will get back to blogging properly too. There was just too much going on that I wasn't sure what to start with first.