It's So Hard To Say Goodbye

I am currently fighting a horrible case of mastitis, an infection that develops from plugged milk ducts when breastfeeding.  My fever has finally gone down, but it had gotten up to 102.7 at one point.  It hurts like the devil to nurse Myers on my right side, but nursing him combined with taking oral antibiotics is about the only thing that is going to make it go away.  I had mastitis twice while nursing Reagan, and the second time that I had it with her I ended up having to go to the hospital daily as an outpatient to receive IV antibiotics.  So far, this time around, I have been able to avoid that hassle.  Ironically enough, the first time that I had it with Reagan started one day after her one month birthday... the EXACT same day that it started with Myers.  Too bad that if I was going to get it I couldn't have gotten it about a week and a half sooner... then my parents would have still been here to pamper me back to good health!


If you have been reading this blog for any length of time, you know by now that saying goodbye to my parents after our visits is NEVER an easy thing for me to do.  Over time, the goodbyes had gotten a little less painful, but I honestly think that this last one was just as hard as the very first one when I originally moved to Canada over eight years ago.

I am blessed to have such a wonderful relationship with my parents.  My mom is my best friend in the world, and there is rarely a day that we don't talk numerous times on the phone.  My dad has always been my hero, the man that I turn to for fixing things or solving problems.  As I said, I am lucky.  But I feel even luckier to know that my husband feels the same way about my parents.  The goodbyes are often just as emotional for him as they are for my parents and me!   I know that is not often the case between a spouse and their in-laws, and I will never take that fact for granted!

My parents flew up to be with us to help during the transition phase from one child to two, and I don't know how we would have done it without them.  They were with us for almost 6 weeks, and we could have had them here for 6 more weeks if we could have convinced them to stay.  Most people would think that is way too long of a visit... not us.  We never felt like they were in our way or that we had to entertain them as guests.  Maybe it's because other than the small act of giving birth and then breastfeeding a newborn, I didn't have to lift a finger from November 4th through December 13th!  They took care of Reagan, shuttling her from home to gymnastics and to school and back.   And when they weren't going from activity to activity, they were playing at home literally from the moment that Reagan woke up until her head hit the pillow again at night.  She has become so accustomed to having a constant playmate, usually Momsey, that she thinks that anyone who comes to our house now is supposed to get down in the floor and play with her non-stop...  I think that she would now invite the mailman inside to play with her if I would let her!  I made the comment to my mom one afternon that I knew she must be exhausted from playing... she said it didn't matter because she loved playing with Reagan.  I then told her that I was sorry that she wasn't getting to have tons of snuggle time with baby Myers since she was spending so much time playing, and she responded by telling me that Myers wouldn't have a clue if she was holding him or not, but that Reagan would know and remember that Momsey played with her endlessly.  What can I say... my mom is wise beyond her years!

What else did my parents do for 6 weeks?

They cooked all our meals; they spotlessly cleaned my house every day; while Momsey played, Pops would fix things in our house; while Pops played, Momsey would do the endless loads of laundry; they decorated inside and out for Christmas; Pops even installed new lighting and electrical outlets in Ryan's shed; they did all of our grocery shopping... heck, they even footed the bill for all of our groceries!   But most importantly... they gave us all their LOVE!

They snuggled with their new grandson...

They spoiled our dog Dixie...

Pops shoveled snow...

 

They all played in the snow, pulling Reagan on the sled and helping to build a monster sized snowman...

Pops lost his computer to Reagan and Momsey during this visit...

And he became a jungle gym apparatus for Reagan to climb on...

They even cooked a full sized Thanksgiving dinner for us to enjoy at home with Ryan's boss and his family as well!  This picture is of Reagan helping to get the turkey ready for the deep fryer!

So as you can tell, the past week without them here has been quite the adjustment for us all.  We ALL miss them like crazy, and can't wait for April to hurry up and get here.  The next four months are going to seem like an eternity until we can finally see each other again!