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My brother called me up the other day and the first thing he said was, "so when are you going to do another post?"  So here is a post for all the people (me included) who start to have withdrawals when I go more than 4 days without updating my blog.  

Most of this week was spent at Lindsey's house in Houston.  Brandon had to go to some training in the field so we went there so Lindsey could help me out with the kids while I recovered.  She was so great to open up her home to us.  I really have the best sister in the world.  I was able to spend a lot of time sitting on the couch feeding and cuddling with Veronica.  I also took a lot of naps.  It was so nice to not have to respond to my kids every time they needed something.  

The kids had lots of fun playing with Rocklong and Knoxx (and their toys).  Lindsey let Charlotte, Lydia, and Derrick join in on the little pre-school that she does for 4 other kids.  My kids were all younger than the other kids so they only participated about half the time, but they did have fun.  They learned about the letter F.

Lindsey took various combinations of the kids with on different errands or trips to the park.  One day she took Lydia with her while she went grocery shopping and picked up stuff for her enrichment activity. (Her own kids were with a lady who she trades babysitting with.)  Another day she took everyone except Veronica to the park.  On the final day we all went to the park.  Most of the car seats had migrated into Lindsey's car already so we just added Veronica and all drove to the park together.    

The original plan was to stay at Lindsey's until Friday when Brandon would be back from the field, but most of the kids were homesick by Wednesday.  Plus there was a cousin war brewing.  I felt recovered enough that I was comfortable going home early.  

Lydia kept asking to go home, but she perked up when I mentioned that we hadn't been to the splash pad yet.  So we went down the street to Lindsey's splash pad.  

Derrick had fun playing with Gretta the dog from the safely of the other side of the fence.

I was so proud of Charlotte for playing with the water at the splash pad.  Last time we went there she just sat by me on the bench.

Here is more proof that Charlotte had a good time.

Then we went back to Lindsey's.  I was hoping that Lydia would forget about being homesick, but she started whining and crying again.  So I hurried and packed everything up.  We were on our way back home soon.

We'd had to stop for a nursing break halfway to Houston on our way down there so I expected a stop on the way back.  We actually almost made it all the way home without Veronica waking up.  But she started crying about 30 minutes from home.  So we found a nice place to pull over and I let the kids play around while I nursed.

When I put the kids back in their seats Lydia started "writing" in her "jouwnal."  I asked her what she was writing about and she said, "Lindsey take me gwoswey shopping."

 

I was a little nervous about spending all day Thursday on our own, but it actually went really well.  We even made it to the park - twice!  Vin rode in the front pack and slept both times.  And in the afternoon there was a wonderful 40 minutes where all four kids were napping at the same time.  That was nothing short of a miracle.

Here is a picture of Veronica wearing an outfit that my friend Melissa sent for her.

And here is Charlotte watching over Veronica.  Charlotte adores her little sister.  She is always sitting by her.  If Veronica cries Charlotte will turn to me and say, "she wants you."  When ever we go somewhere Charlotte asks, "Verwanca comes too?"

The weather has cooled off to a point that I like spending time outside during the day again.  Here are the kids playing with the sand table while Veronica took a nap inside the house.

Brandon came home on Friday and we went out for our traditional ice cream.  This is the outfit Charlotte wanted to wear.  The shirt has hearts, the pants have Christmas ornaments, and the boots have polka dots.  She was so happy with it.

I celebrated the fact that Brandon was home by blow drying my hair and putting make up on for the first time since Veronica was born.  Funny how much healthier I looked once I had blush on.

This was supposed to be a cute picture of Brandon with both girls, but Charlotte had lost interest by the time the camera clicked.

We are so happy to have Brandon back.  We are also happy to have me "back."  I feel so much better thanks to all the help that Brandon and Lindsey gave me the past 2 1/2 weeks.  I'm still not 100%, but I feel really great again.  In fact I think I feel better than I have since January.  It's so nice to not be pregnant anymore!

And it's really nice to have such a cute little girl added to our family.  Everything was worth it to have her here.