So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehn, Good-bye.

Well, it's just me, the baby, and the cats again. Sigh. I really miss my parents. It's not as bad this time, though. When they left to head back home in November I cried for days. Mind you, that was pre-Zoloft. But still. I cried every time I thought about it for a few days beforehand and for about a week afterward. Yeah. Postpartum depression is awful. I mean, right now I really miss my parents, but I'm not a freaking mess with mascara running all over my face and racing through boxes of Kleenex.

But, I shan't be alone for long! My BFF KJ will be coming out here the end of May-ish. She called me this week to tell me about the wonderful deals that she's finding on airfare and to ask me how long she can stay. I told her forever. LOL I'm hoping she'll stay like two weeks. You know how you love you have company, but after a few days you start to get annoyed by their little quirks or foibles? That NEVER happens with KJ. She once lived in my room with me at the sorority house for a few months, off and on, and it never got old. I could probably see her everyday for the rest of my life and not be sick of her. This, my friends, is why she's my BFF. That and we have the same interests (read: Wylie, food, video games, nerdiness).

Also, my friend SummerSausage* is apparently coming out for a visit too. But she's said this before and I've still yet to see her here (I'm going on three years living here). So, sadly, I'm not actually planning on this happening. My MIL is making tentative plans to come out here and visit in June, I guess, and then at the end of June, Wylie and I are flying back to MI to hang with the fam and friends for two weeks. Then in August, I guess I'm going to WI with the baby, and then in October is cousin Holly's wedding in the Chi. So it'll be go-go-go soon enough. But for now, I'm just a little blue.

Lotsa Excitement

So here I am in Wisconsin visiting the in-laws.  Well, actually, right at this particular moment, I'm actually in Sheboygan visiting with friends, but we're going back to the in-laws tomorrow.  Wylie has already accumulated like 10 more outfits between Grandma Sharon and Great Aunt Patty.  And you guys, these outfits are ADORABLE!  One of them, my favorite, is a St. Pat's sleeper with little clovers all over it and a ginormo clover on the butt that says, "My 1st St. Patty's Day".  Sigh.  Too cute.  And will probably never fit another kid, unless I can time a pregnancy just right that the next one (or the one after that) will be wearing 6 mos. clothes at St. Pat's day.  But I'm getting ahead of myself here.  Let me backtrack...

Thursday was terrible.  Absolutely awful.  Chad had to climb Pike's Peak on Wednesday.  In one day.  Carrying a 38 + pounds pack.  And he didn't wear sunscreen.  Oh yeah, and they all ran out of water with about 6 miles left.  And they started at 3 am.  So when he got home, he slept 11 hours straight.  In the guest room, because frankly, he STANK.  And when he got up, he had AMS.  So he was useless (his words, not mine) all Thursday.  Thursday, the day that I had to wash all of the laundry, do all of the dishes, pack my bag, Wylie's bag, and my carry-on/backpack/Wylie's-travel-diaper bag.  And take care of Wylie.  And Chad.  And make something for dinner that would help to speed Chad's recovery (read: protein).  And, Internet, this is the worst part - I had to wake up at 2 am the following morning to get ready to leave at 3 am for the Denver International Airport.  Of course, since Chad was still suffering from AMS, I had to drive.  To the DIA, which I swear to you is damn near located in Kansas.  And our flight from Denver to Las Vegas was delayed by about 45 minutes, which severely cut into our time in the Vegas airport (I didn't get any slots time, dammit!), meaning we almost missed our Vegas-Milwaukee flight.  Wylie did pretty well on the planes, considering the fact that he woke up at 2 am, with only one catastrophic diaper failure (on the plane, mind you), which necessitated a Wardrobe Change.

So we landed in Milwaukee, and, miracle of miracles, our bags made it too!  We were fully expecting to be spending the night without our bags, considering how closely our time was cut.  But, thank God, someone at Southwest airlines has actual, honest-to-God, good ideas - the put a neon pink tag on your bag is it's a transfer.  Bless you, Southwest.  Bless you for your transfer tags and for two free checked bags per ticketed passenger.  Bless you for your affordable fairs.  So here we are in Wisconsin having a good time.  Wylie is chewing on my finger, like he always does these days, you know, since he's teething.  Except now, it's a lot more painful.  I mean A LOT.  So I run my finger along his lower gum, and lo-and-behold, there is a sharp tooth-ridge poking through his gum!  Where have the last 19 weeks gone?

(Did I mention that I started Wylie on cereal this week?  No?  Well, I'm mentioning it now, in this aside.  Chad took pictures, and as soon as I can steal them from him, I will post them here, promise.  At first, he did not enjoy the cereal.  He only ate about a teaspoon of the tablespoon I had prepared for him, so I put the rest in the fridge and tried it again later, with MUCH success.  And on Thursday, he ate about 2 teaspoons of the 1 tablespoon I prepped.  My plan right now is just to make him one tablespoon at a time until he's eating a full tablespoon at a time.  We'll up serving size as he gets more used to actually eating.)

So amid my joy in my son's newest accomplishments and at visiting with family and friends, I received a devestating blow today.  I received a text from my cousin that they've placed my grandmother on Aricept.
I guess that she's not doing as well as I thought she was.  They haven't officially diagnosed her with Alzheimer's, but that's what the drug treats, so....

Edited to add: originally written on Saturday, March 20.  Posted later...