Sorry!

Sorry it has taken me so long to update on our weekend – it’s just been a long couple of days!

Saturday morning we got up and got ready to go. We left the house around 8:40 to go catch the Riverline – the shuttle train that takes you to the Trenton train station. Shayla was pretty good on the shuttle train – she just wanted to be switched back and forth from mommy and daddy the whole time. We got to the Trenton station and stood on the huge line to wait to get our tickets. By the time we got them, we knew our train was already boarding so we ran to the platform….but we were too late. As we were running down the platform the train started pulling away! Luckily, the Trenton train runs every ½ hour so we didn’t have long to wait.

The train ride was…interesting. Shayla was extremely bored so she was getting kinda cranky. We finally gave her a pen and newspaper and let her go to town with her coloring – lol. We got to the city and took the subway to M&M’s house. We got there and Shayla immediately ran to a chair that had some stuffed animals on it for the baby. It was so cute. After some playing we sat down to eat the delicious vegetable quiche MA had whipped up for us. Oh it was so yummy! Unfortunately, Shayla is going through a stage where she doesn’t like to try new things so she wouldn’t even try it. So she ate French bread and bacon for lunch – haha! After that I laid around trying to get the baby to kick for M&M but she wanted nothing to do with it! So I gulped down some OJ hoping it would help. A few minutes later she was kicking away so MA put his hand on my belly and she gave him one or two good kicks. Then MB took out his stethoscope to listen to her kicking. After that M&M were showing me all the clothes they’ve bought for the baby. Watching them get all excited over their great finds melted my heart. I just stood back watching them and how happy they were and it all made sense. Not that I’ve ever questioned why I was on this journey…but it just hit me like a ton of bricks exactly why I was doing this. They were just so happy. :-)

After hanging out at the apartment for awhile we walked over to the playground. We put Shayla on the swings and MB stood in front of her tickling her feet whenever she came toward him – she was laughing and laughing. It was sweet. Then Shayla became a big girl and started climbing all over the playground equipment and going down the slides. The only problem was the other kids on the playground weren’t quite sure how to share the slides with other children. They were climbing up while Shayla was trying to go down, they were cutting in line, they were trampling the little ones, etc. And the moms would just sit on the bench and go “don’t do that honey” “please stop doing that” “let that little girl go”. Do you think the kids listened? Of course not! They probably knew their mother would never get off that bench so it didn’t matter what she was saying! I found it quite rude…but it showed me the type of parent I want to be. Now I’ll be sure to teach Shayla some manners and show her how to share playground equipment. And when she’s older, I’ll make sure she uses those manners! Anyway – we then walked over to another playground which was much more tame. There were still plenty of kids but they were more Shayla’s age. And even the older ones had parents that stood nearby to make sure they were being polite and sharing. Our biggest problem of the day was getting Shayla off the playgrounds! She wanted absolutely nothing to do with leaving. Unfortunately, we had no choice. We still had to grab some dinner, take the train to Trenton (about an hour and a half), and then take the shuttle train back to our car (another half hour). So we got to Penn Station and started heading towards TGI Fridays to grab some dinner. I looked down and noticed Shayla was passed out in her stroller. <3 She really wore herself out with all that running around! So Paul and I had a nice quiet dinner (well, as quiet as you can have in Penn Station – lol) and then headed for the train. This time we were prepared – we had bought coloring books, crayons, and stickers while we were at the station so that Shayla would have something to do on the train. We got our train at the very last minute – it was just about to pull away when we got there! Unfortunately that meant a very crowded train and no seats. I had a very nice man get up and give Shayla and I his seat and he stood in the back with Paul. Of course Shayla wasn’t very happy about having to sit on mommy’s lap and kept trying to get up. After a couple of stops, a 3 seater opened up so we all got to sit together. Then we pulled out the goodies we had bought at the station - that kept Shayla occupied for quite awhile. When she was done coloring she kept saying nap so I moved over and let her lay down on the seat. She didn’t fall asleep but I think it helped her just to lay down for a little while. The shuttle ride was the funniest part of the whole day. I guess that laying down on the train helped because Shayla was wide awake and singing at the top of her lungs the whole time. The other people on the shuttle train were trying to sleep and kept looking over at here but there was nothing we could do. We kept trying to get her to shush, give her snacks to keep her mouth full, etc. Nothing worked. She just sat there singing as loud as she could. The guy across from us opened his eyes and started laughing at one point. I was happy to see that…I mean, what are you going to do? Get mad at a 2 year old for singing? Nah…much better to laugh at her.

So that was our Saturday. Sunday was not bad – we watched football most of the day. But then I got a call from my dad that my mom was in the hospital. She woke up with severe pain in her abdomen that morning while they were on vacation. They packed up and drove home and immediately went to the ER. She was admitted with gallstones. They wanted to keep her overnight because she was in so much constant pain. Apparently with gallstones you are only supposed to be in pain after eating, when your gallbladder tries to contract – not all the time. So I took off of work Monday to go be with her. In the morning we found out they were not releasing her like we thought so I hurried out there to see if there was anything I could do. They did a few more tests and found that she had pancreatitis. They think a gallstone escaped and got caught in a duct below her pancreas, causing her pancreas to become inflamed. The really bad news – they can’t remove the gallbladder until the pancreatitis clears up. The really horrible news – the only thing they can do for pancreatitis is let her lay in a hospital bed with nothing to eat and nothing to drink for a few days. My poor mommy!!!

Last night I talked to her and she was feeling a lot better. They even let her have some chicken broth and Jello for dinner! Yay! And it looks like they are going to schedule her for surgery on Thursday! Yippee!!

Of course, this does kill our weekend plans. We were going to a family luncheon on Saturday, Shayla was getting her pictures taken Saturday night, and we were doing a Breast Cancer walk on Sunday. There is no way my mom is going to make it to the luncheon, and I highly doubt she’s going to walk 3 miles on Sunday. I still have to get Shayla’s pictures taken – I’m hoping my mom can at least come with us!

The other big thing this week was Aria’s birthday. You all remember my friend who passed away during childbirth in July? She was supposed to turn 25 on Monday. :-( I had been planning on going to the cemetery Monday after work but I had such a long day with my mom in the hospital that I didn’t get there. I was sad but I know Aria would understand.