Day 101

Friday November 26, 2010

I woke up exhausted!! Nina had been up from 2-6am. She couldn't sleep! Poor baby!! After tossing and turning for a while, we went out to the living room so as to not wake up Todd and Teddy. Insomnia was a side effect of the chemo, as well as, the steroids!!! Eventually, around 6am she said, "I think my head is ready to sleep." Precious girl!! We returned to bed and she slept until 9:30am.

In addition to waking up exhausted, I woke up sore, but not nearly as sore as I had been yesterday. Yesterday whenever I bent or sat down and the tried to get up, I was left in pain. But as the old adage says No pain, no gain! When I sent out hilarious pics of me squatting and lifting weights, Mendy replied, waring me I might end up developing a ghetto butty!! She is some funny chicky!! The pain from the soreness reminded me Mendy's joke :) I was now determined to develop a ghetto booty just to make Mendy laugh!!!


For the majority of the US, today was Black Friday. For us....it was Yellow Friday :) It was yellow Friday because we rented a huge limo (originally it was suppose to be just a regular black stretch limo but the owner upgraded us for free!) that turned out to be a huge, yellow stretch Hummer!!! I had decided to do this on Monday as a treat for the kids, another way of building memories for Nina, Teddy, and the cousins!!

For a couple of months, Nina has been asking to go on a limo ride. Given how special it was that we even made it to Turlock for the holiday, I thought we'd celebrate our honey-girl in style!! Earlier in the morning, I accidentally let the surprise slip when talking to Adelae. She practically flipped from excitement!! She was so excited that we eventually had to call Sosie and tell her too! Then over lunch, Todd forgot to filter and let it slip to Dan and Joe (in front of all of the kids who were playing Wii!). Luckily, all of the younger kids (including Nina and Teddy) were so engrossed in the video game that they didn't pay attention to a single word any adult was saying :) Too bad children's lack of responsivity isn't always this appropriate and timely!!!

At 5pm sharply, Phil showed up in the yellow stretch Hummer. What a monstrosity!!! Teddy was psychotically happy. Nina was unsure, overwhelmed. She was unhappy that Todd had not planned on coming and started to cry. Todd agreed to ride with us and then we'd drop him off at the Turkey Soup Feast at the Jerners before making our way to see Tangled at the movie theatres!

Once inside the limo, we cranked up the music and played around with the lighting until we were basically in Studio 54! Teddy was a dance machine and made Nina burst into laughter!!! I must confess that I was a bit mortified by his suave moves.....where he got them I have not a clue....but all I could think was I gotta get this boy into stamp collecting otherwise adolescence might be a total nightmare!!

My mom hopped in and the first person we picked up was my cousin Lucy. Lucy just cracked up at the site of the limo trying to round her cul-de-sac!!! Then we went to Shannon's and picked up the four cousins (Sosie, Adelae, Silas & Teague) plus Sosie's best pal Sierra. The kids went nuts!!! It was such a treat to sing and dance and go nuts with them!!!! They couldn't believe how lucky they were!!! They hung their heads out the window, shouted, danced, screamed, shook their booties, went all out!!! It was the most raucous fun I think I've ever had!!!

All along, Nina was a bit quiet! She didn't want to get out at the Jerners and when we went in for just a minute she started to cry. In the bathroom, she explained she didn't want anyone to stare at her. My heart broke. I squatted down so that I was at her eye level and told her we didn't have to stay, that we didn't have to do anything she didn't want to, that she was in charge and just needed to tell me. I hugged her and the tried to get up, but winced like a big baby....this made her laugh. I wiped away her sweet tears and we said goodbye to the Jerners and Todd and climbed right back into the limo. With the pressure of seeing people off, Nina came to life! She was happy and laughed at her cousin's antics, especially when we pulled up at Nana and Papa's for a quick hello. She thought it was super funny that Papa said they'd heard the limo coming a block away because the music and screaming were so loud :)

On our way to the movie theatre, I took down orders for popcorn and drinks. Nina made sure I understood she wanted butter on her popcorn and a hotdog! I knew we were going to have a great evening when she patted my leg twice to ensure I had gotten down her order :) Tangled was a darling movie and the kids (and grown-ups) loved it. The limo picked us up in front of the movie theatre at 9pm, drawing stares from everyone standing in line for tickets. We were very much V.I.P.!!!

Phil, the limo driver, dropped us all off at my folks and said goodbye. I think we may have traumatized Phil with all our antics!!! While I drove Sosie, Sierra, Silas, Teddy, and Teague back to their respective sleeping headquarters, Adelae

I pulled up to the driveway and wiped away my tears. Inside, I found the girls finishing up bowls of cereal in the living room. We brushed teeth and washed faces before climbing into bed. It was just the three girls, like so many other times before! Nina lay between Adelae and me. She complained that her head wouldn't stop and let her sleep. Adelae and I proceeded to tickle her for about 20 minutes (Addie tickled her back, while I tickled her tummy) until she fell asleep. As we tickled her in silence, I watched Adelae and saw her tear up! She lovingly, tenderly, tickled her sweet cousin's skin. With each stroke, I could see a growing sadness in Adelae. She felt the same heaviness that I do. We adults mistakenly think that we protect, insulate our children from sadness and grief but the reality is that they see and absorb everything, especially what we keep silent!!

Once Nina fell asleep, I crawled over to the other side of the bed and wrapped Adelae in my arms. I hugged her tightly and kissed her porcelain skin. I whispered how much I loved her, how much she meant to us all (especially Nina) and how thankful I am for having her in my life. Adelae fell asleep quickly. I wish I could say I did the same.