My mom went back to San Antonio when Landri was a week old, and Jay went back to Midland when she turned two weeks old, and so being alone 24-7 w/2 kids was TERRIFYING! I went through major depression and anxiety attacks, but I prayed for inner peace and day by day it got a little better. One of the things that helped was reaching out to my sister-in-law, Ashlin, and having playdates with my nephew Bentley. It was nice to spend a few hours with another adult and not have Braden at my heels like he usually was.
The first time she came over and they played and then we took them to a park right down the road.
Sleepin' while the big boys play :)
It was only mid-April and yet we were dripping in sweat within 30 minutes. Had to be at least 95 degrees...yuck!
Some days we would meet at Sonic so they could take advantage of the monster playground! Plus they had a shaded area where Landri and I could hang out and the boys could snack and still be right next to the playground.
Then the boys would come home and literally tear the house apart and have an all-out good time ;)
On April 10th, the world lost a great man. And, more specifically, my family lost a Big Jack.
My grandfather was born Jack Harold Bonner in Webb, Mississippi on April 14, 1924, and was raised in Cruger, Mississippi until his service in World War II as a Marine. He married my Meemaw and moved to Dallas where they raised four kids, grandparents of eleven, and great-grandparents of too many to count.
My grandfather, my Big Jack, was a strong man who I admired greatly for his perseverance and love of life. I remember him as a man who always wanted to try new things, from karate to guitar playing to culinary arts to reading sheet music.
What I remember about Big Jack are things like the Saturday mornings when we lived at the Lippitt house, he and Meemaw would come by and pick up my sister and me and take us to Braum's. We would have lunch, tell him about our week at school, and then we got to go order our own ice cream cone. I remember him showing up at my softball games at Paschall Park and other places and giving me his critique of my pitching and hitting performance (especially hitting!). I remember endless days of sitting in "his chair"...my family knows the one I'm talking about. The spinning easy chair right next to his guitar and amplifier and tuner. I remember sitting in his lap, fiddling with every single synthesizer/timing button it had and then watching him pluck a few songs for us. All the while, Meemaw would be sitting in her chair watching whatever show she had on (usually the news or NASCAR). He was there at my wedding, my college graduation, and he got to meet Braden and see photos of a just-born Landri.
The man I remember was tall, fit, and the expression on his face for most signaled that he was either measuring you up or thinking deeply about something. He was an intimidating figure. But to his grandchildren, he was just our Big Jack and he saved the spoiling for us :)
For the first time ever, I wanted to go to a studio to get holiday
portraits done of Braden. And, since Easter would be after Landri was
born, I thought this was the perfect opportunity. I chose Target because
it was cheap and I found some awesome coupons. Unfortunately, the nearest Target Portrait Studio was in north Dallas about 30 minutes away. We got the kids all dressed up, drove across town, and when we got there she said we didn't have an appointment. We definitely DID have an appointment (had made it online), but it didn't matter anyway because their camera was broken and their photographer wouldn't be back with a replacement until after 2pm. We were beyond bummed. She was sound asleep and Braden was being SO good and had let us put on his tie, finally. So we went to my Grandmother's to visit (which was just slightly closer to Target than our house) while waiting until it was time for us to go back up there. Plus, Grandmother got give Braden his Easter basket :)
Not a big fan of Peeps
(me neither!!!!)
After the visit, we went back to SuperTarget and had to wait forty-five minutes because there were now like 5 people ahead of us (even though WE HAD AN APPOINTMENT! But I'm not bitter...). Jay kept Braden entertained by putting him on the counter where he bugged the woman working behind the counter who should have kept our appointment in the first place :)
Somehow, Landri stayed asleep and remained asleep even as we took pictures. It took about ten minutes of coaxing, but finally Braden agreed to hold her. The photographer did a good job (though I definitely could've done better...but that wasn't the point of this outing) and managed to give us some good photos to choose from. Here's the ones I picked:
Oh my GOSH! I adore this one of Braden (LOL)
All in all, it could have been much worse and I left there happy :)
On Easter Sunday, there were some complications and we didn't get to give Braden his Easter basket until that night. He didn't really get why he was getting it, but the basket was way cool! I put it together myself with art supplies and candy.
So, finally, finally, finally Landri was sleeping hard enough that I was able to dress her up in the props I purchased for her newborn photos. I was beyond thrilled! I had picked them out months ago and couldn't wait to see how they looked on her.
I wasn't disappointed.
First, my assistant (Jay, hehe) helped me take the basket and sheets outside so we could use our fence as a backdrop. Landri was such a trooper as I prodded her into position over and over again -- I think she secretly enjoyed the warm sunlight and it helped her stay asleep.
Then we moved indoors. I continued to pray for her to sleep as I placed the adorable crown on her head. Both the crown and the owl hat came from a local shop in Keller (purchased on Etsy) called Beanies by Stacie. She is fantastic! Highly recommend!
I saved the tutu for last because I had a feeling the fabric would rouse her. And it eventually did...but not until I got my shots in :) The tutu and headband are from JD's Chic Boutique which I mentioned in an earlier post.
On Tuesday, April 3rd, after a relatively peaceful morning, I put Braden down for a nap around 12:30pm as usual and set up to take newborn photos of Landri. Unfortunately, she was NOT happy with me trying to put hats on her while she was trying to sleep.
After she peed all over the blanket I was trying to photography her on, I gave up and started watching TV. It was a gorgeous day outside, so when I heard tornado sirens, I just assumed it was because one of those "First Monday" tests. But, then they didn't stop, and I started to get suspicious. I looked at The Weather Channel app on my iPhone and sure enough there was a tornado warning (yep, that means tornado/tornadoes had been spotted in my area). Jay was at a training class for work less than 10 minutes away (thank God he was in town!) and I tried about 20 times to call him but he had it on silent.
So, I got Braden up and told him we had to get in Momma's closet for a little while. I also had a 10-day old baby that I couldn't risk setting down somewhere while I gathered pillows because the warning said it was due to hit our area any second. When I say area, I mean they said the actual name of our neighborhood on the local TV weather report. And, to add to my fear, they said that 18-wheelers had been thrown by this tornado that was now charging at my town.see the footage from it in this video
Anyway, I gathered as many pillows and things as I could but I did not feel safe at all, so I had to leave the baby in Braden's arms (it was the first time he ever agreed to hold her, and I think it's only because he could see the terror I was trying to control) and take down the boxes I had stacked on shelves above our heads in the closet and try to get more pillows. I had seen way too many post-tornado videos to know that you can never have too much protection. About thirty minutes later, Jay finally answered his phone and said that (even though he was only minutes away) they hadn't heard anything (and he was inside a building with an entire police unit there!!!) but now that he had told them, they were forbidden from leaving until it was deemed safe. So, I just sat there trying to keep Braden from leaving the closet, and praying that my daughter would live to see her two-week birthday.
Finally, they let Jay drive home and after another 30 minutes, we were in the clear.
Then, we finally got to see some of the damage that had hit Arlington (in the neighborhood where I taught and where Braden attended pre-school/daycare). It was not good, but it could have been a thousand times worse.
We thought we were in the clear, when sirens started going off again and another tornado had been spotted and was heading toward our neighborhood again. This time it brought lots of hail. So we got back in the closet (though this time, I felt a hundred times better because Jay was there, too) and waited it out. Well, there must have been angels over our house because the tornado lifted just a couple miles before it would have hit us and then came back down a few miles after it passed us...I am not even exaggerating in the slightest. It hit Forney hard and we just prayed that no one was killed.
It was not cool at all, but I was very lucky to experience this not too long after, as we sat and watched the local news together.
Because of all the heat and rain in February and early March, the bluebonnets bloomed a few weeks earlier than usual this year. I was just praying that they would stick around long enough for us to take our annual photos, only this time with Landri, too!!!
We went to Northlake College in Las Colinas because Ashlin told us about them last year and it was a great, safe place. And, this year when we went the blooms were twice as big and thick because of all the warm, wet weather.
One minor problem, though: Braden wouldn't get anywhere NEAR the flowers because of his new fear of bugs (stemming from when he was attacked by fire ants in our house a few months ago). On the upside, we did get some really great photos of Landri :)
And, just for giggles, this shows exactly what Braden did the entire time.
