Emotional, Action-Packed Week

I have had quite an emotional week, or I guess it's been more like 10 days at this point. Early last Friday morning, I learned that sweet Samuel had passed away due to complications of mito. I wrote more about him two posts back; Samuel touched so many lives, and the whole mito family is mourning his loss and praying for his family. That Friday I kept Tucker home from school so I could take him to the pediatrician; he had been having a cold for about two weeks, so I brought him in to check it out. The doctor prescribed Omnicef, a broad antibiotic, but said he really looked fine. His cold didn't really go away until this Monday (8 days later), but I was reassured that nothing big was going on. The next day was Tucker's last TBall game. I don't know if we'd call this TBall season a success, but at least we made it! Anyone who has been to a game knows that Tucker spends 99% of the time trying to escape off of the field, either to sit in the stands or to "play" with trucks in the parking lot. Once my Dad was silly enough to park his truck near the dugout (of course so that Jessica wouldn't have to go far in her wheelchair), and Tucker could not contain himself! Dad had to move his truck farther away so that they could get some peace! By the 4th game, Tucker at least would sit in the dugout during his team's turn to bat, then go up to bat, swing the bat, and run to all the bases. So that's a big deal, I suppose. But forget actually fielding the ball; we all agree that it was just too hot and boring for any 4-year-old to really enjoy playing in the field, especially Tucker. Tucker got his medal for playing TBall, and we could not get home fast enough, I don't think any of us were sad to see the season end, although we will miss the great families we have met. A few hours later we learned that Chris's brother Justin got engaged to his girlfriend Jackie:) We are all very happy, Jackie and Justin started dating a few weeks before Tucker was born, and she really fits in. We love her so much, and Tucker seriously loves bossing her around. It's really pretty bad, he goes for either Jackie or Alexis as soon as he walks in the door over there. So they should be getting married next summer, and they want a beach wedding. That will be a lot of fun, and I'm sure Tucker will love it. On Sunday I went to church for the first time in months (Thank you Samuel, as my mom said!), there are so many feelings and thoughts that go right here, but that's for another time. Anyway, after church, I started making plans to go to Texas, as my whole family understood my great need to be present for Samuel's funeral and celebration of life. My only obstacle was finding people to care for Tucker. Tucker is not hard to take care of....at all!! I think that for the first years of his life, his care was so complex, so Chris and I got used to taking care of him on our own. We were too scared to leave him with untrained lay people, i.e., our family, so Tucker had nurses or us to care for him. My mom was trained from Day One to care for him...thank goodness, or I would have lost my mind. So anyways, now that I stay home with him, I often have the feeling that only I can take care of him, like I am irreplacable. I let that go, and his aunts took turns watching him afterschool, Chris had him at night, and Mrs. Mia and Mr. Ricky gave him his morning meds and got him on the bus. By all accounts, Tucker had a great few days, even though he did miss me enough to make me feel good about myself, just a little:) Traveling to and from Texas, attending Samuel's funeral, burial service, and celebration of life involved so many emotions. I have only been to a few funerals in my life; I could go on and on about Samuel's services, but I will just say this-Samuel touched so, so many lives, as shown by the huge crowd that showed up, and all of the stories people shared about him. The services were beautiful and were a real tribute to his life; I was blessed to witness them. When we got home Thursday morning (Mom and I spent Tuesday night and Wednesday night with the Poches in Lake Charles to cut down on driving and to see Aunt Kim for her birthday), I had a few hours to get myself together for Lacy's and Steve's rehearsal dinner. I have known Lacy since we were 10 years old, and I guess I met Steve about 3 years ago. Chris and I have become good friends with Steve, and we were both in the wedding this past Saturday. We have had a blast with all the wedding celebrations; we have met some great people, as well as had some nice, normal stress to keep our minds off of Tucker for a while. Thursday night was a lot of fun, and Chris of course cracked everyone up at the dinner. An added bonus was that our good friend Rachel drove in from Illinois with her boyfriend Sam. We hadn't seen them since January, and it was WONDERFUL to see them! We chatted Thursday night, then Rachel spent the day with me and the other bridesmaids Saturday getting ready, laughing, watching Glee, and eating. Chris and I ran some last-minute wedding errands on Friday while Tucker was at school. Chris went to Steve's bachelor party Friday night (which I hear was pretty tame, thank goodness), and Saturday morning Chris and Tucker drove me over to Heather's house to get ready. On the way there, we heard the Eminem and Rihanna song "Love the Way you Lie." As we all know, Tucker loves any music with a beat! I glanced back at one point, and he was dancing like a robot to the song; I tried not to laugh, then Chris saw him, too. We told him "you're a good dancer!" He was so proud of himself and he "danced" until the song was over, I loved it:) Saturday was wonderful; I loved having a girls' day, and getting my hair and make-up done, as well as wearing a "princess dress" as Molli would call it. After my hair was fixed, I wanted to take a nap! The bridesmaids all make fun of me, they warned me to get enough sleep before I came over on Saturday. I told everyone, it is hard for me to just sit around with nothing to do except relax, I am not used to it! When I sit down for that long, my poor body just wants to sleep, haha:) Lacy made an absolutely beautiful bride! I knew she would be, but it was still a nice surprise to see my childhood friend transformed into a bride:) We have been through so much together, and it is really amazing to see how far we have come in the last few years. Lacy and Steve are one of those couples that I am really proud to call my friends, and it was very nice for both Chris and me to be part of all of their festivities. After they cut the cake, all of the bridesmaids were called to the cake for the cake pull. I thought I shouldn't go, since I am married. Usually the cake pull is for single women, they pull a ribbon to see who will get married next. Well Lacy surprised us by picking 8 charms, and each charm was attached to a ribbon labeled with our names. We all lined up and pulled the ribbons with our names. The one that said "Leigh" had an angel charm on it. I wasn't sure what that meant, then I received the card that said "emotionally strong." Lacy had chosen a charm for each of us, and that meant so much to me that she took that time on her special day. By the end of the weekend, we were all exhausted! I spent a good portion of Monday in my bed, I needed to catch up on my rest:) I'm sure I missed some high points of the week, but for now I just wanted to document what I could. Mom had to pick up Tucker from school early today due to a nasty tummy ache (I was in Baton Rouge for a dentist appointment, but I quickly met Mom and Tucker at home). He has been sleeping well the last few nights, and today he woke up in a great mood, asking to "ride the bus, ride the bus." A few hours later the teacher called saying he had to be picked up right away because of his tummy troubles. He hasn't had runny stools in a very long time, so I actually asked the teacher if she was sure! He came home and slept for 3 hours, which is some kind of record for Tucker. He didn't have a fever, though, he was at 98.6....which technically is a fever I guess as his usualy temperature is closer to 97....weird, I know. He is still having nasty BMs, so he and I will stay home tomorrow. He has been running around the house like usual, though, so hopefully he feels much better soon and it was just a small stomach bug. It is October, which should signal the beginning of Sick Season....I would rather that it all just stayed away!