Home.

Q had a little play date with friend Natalie & girls last Tuesday afternoon. They were going to play while I ran out to get a few last-minute things done before flying back to New York on Wednesday morning. I drove to Natalie's house (just south of mine), thinking several times that I was getting pulled over - only to realize that the flashing lights were coming from the lightning in my rear view mirror. By the time I pulled into her neighborhood, the sky was black overhead & the wind was starting. Just as we entered her house, the lights flickered, & then went out. 

Go ahead, we'll be fine!! 

I pulled out of her driveway, hoping that the rain wouldn't come & soak me as I popped into the post office. By the time I turned out of her neighborhood, it was raining like I'd never seen it rain before in Texas (which is saying a lot). Just a mile or so from her house, I knew I had to turn around. I couldn't get calls to go through on my cell phone, there was a giant tree across the road blocking traffic coming the other way, & the trees all around me were swaying in a way that said, Go home. I'd probably only been this scared in my car when driving to Dallas several months ago through tornadoes (driving through tornadoes is scary). 

I finally made it back to Natalie's house & found a happy boy who was staring out of her windows, fascinated by the storm. What's that, what's that?! We stayed at her house until the storm eased up, & then made our way to an undisclosed fast food restaurant (I'm so ashamed - rhymes with Macho Hell) to grab some dinner, knowing that our power would be out for a long time in our neighborhood. Mike had since been reached (after multiple attempts) & told to come home right now. Three hours later he walked into our dark house, after making it through the storm (which had moved south down I-45) & traffic. 

Our neighborhood looked like a hurricane had come through (in fact, it almost had, really - 70 mph winds!) - twisted signs, lots of trees down, & branches & leaves littering the streets. It's still a mess. They were smart in naming it The Woodlands. 

We packed in the dark that night (albeit with a lantern), tried to sleep through the heat (Mike did, I couldn't), & finally heard the power buzz back on just before 5am, right before we had to get up & drive to the airport. 

(I'm currently working on re-vamping our emergency supplies, especially given the giant sign driving home from the freeway on Saturday that said, "HURRICANE SEASON! BE PREPARED!")

And then we went to New York! We had the craziest, most wonderful couple of days! We didn't see nearly enough friends (per usual), but we got to celebrate Dave & Kylie getting married (!!) & this was beyond happy! In between wedding festivities, Q & I spent some good time at the park with Suzi & Corinne + littles, ate some yummy food & really loved being back in the city. And now - as of Saturday afternoon - we're home (Mike said goodbye to us at the airport & headed straight to Singapore for the week), & we're happy to be here, too. By Saturday night, I'd cleaned out & bleached our fridge (12+ hours without power isn't a good thing for dairy products, ick), re-stocked it with all sorts of goodies from Trader Joe's (hooray!), unpacked, & finished all of the laundry. 

(This explains why I'm still so tired.) 

In the midst of my grocery shopping that night, I saw those familiar black clouds rolling in, & soon enough it was a total downpour & the store was shaking from the rumbles from the sky. I'm happy it was quick & that our power stayed on. 

Q's newest word: Thunder. A true Texan toddler. 

Yesterday - we made it to church before the opening hymn even started! I was proud of myself, even wearing makeup! Q was merciful to me during Sacrament Meeting (& thankfully made a few new teenage friends down the aisle), played happily for 2 hours in nursery, & was generally an agreeable little buddy to me for the day. 

I have a to-do list a mile long to do while Mike is away (#47 - watch all two hours of The Bachelorette tonight uninterrupted by toddler or basketball, #1 - go through the 1,000+ photos I took over the course of about 2 1/2 days in NYC), & we'll manage to keep ourselves relatively occupied (pool, errands, naps, obsessive organizing projects, eating inappropriate food at inappropriate times [me], etc). 

I'm 26 weeks pregnant. I'm not quite sure how this happened, except for the fact that I have a happy little boy keeping me busy all day long. I'm feeling great & am really pleased to not be throwing up every morsel of food I consume all. day. long. anymore. I'm not sure the details of those months will ever fade (people say that they do, but they never did after my pregnancy with Q), but I'm really grateful to be finished with them. My OB asked me the other week how I was feeling. My response - not even pregnant! That's happy, but at the same time - Q was born at 38 weeks & all of a sudden I'm feeling the need to get ready right this second (or at least before I leave to Priest Lake for three weeks!). I've pacified this initial anxiety by having a few rooms including the nursery painted (surprise - grey!), but there's still a lot to be done. It's exciting! And a little overwhelming. A double stroller?! Eek! 

Doesn't Q look like he's going to be running in the door with his group of friends asking for a Sunny D any second now?