It has been about two weeks since my last update. I can proudly say that we are healthy…for right now. This morning, Emerson started to cough again and I felt a bit down. My head felt stuffy and a bit like I was developing a head cold. If anything, I hope it’s just a normal cold for both of us and nothing that has us down and out like the last couple of months. It has been really nice feeling good this past week. I do not want to go backward!
Our Disney Trip is in exactly 40 days! Can you believe that?! Our magic bands are slowly making their way to my house. Shipping was a bit scattered. I can start scheduling our fast passes in about ten days. You can only do it 30 days out if you aren’t staying on a Disney resort, which we aren’t. I booked our car reservation and call to see what I needed to have handy when we actually get to the rental place. I also bought myself some Disney shirts. I’ll worry about finishing that piece up next month after I’ve slimmed down a bit. I’m going to do a bit of low-carbing in preparation. I don’t want to start too early, or I’ll be burned out before we even leave. Other than that, we are just waiting IMPATIENTLY! The kids don’t seem to really be that excited. Emerson is so small. He hardly understands. My nephew is going to be 13, but he is too cool to show his excitement. My sister and I are exploding though! We cannot wait!
This past weekend, Emerson, Kodie (the dog), and I had our very first sleepover at Tim’s house. It went surprisingly well. I was envisioning mass chaos. He has a dog and a cat too, so I figured my dog would act like a nut. Kodie was fine though. She peed in the yard, and was pretty calm outside of trying to get the cat a couple of times. I was extremely proud of her. I do not give her enough credit. Emerson did pretty well. He definitely tested his limits and touched any and everything. He was in cupboards, every room, the fridge, etc. Tim and I had a chat prior to us coming over. I mentioned him child-proofing, and moving things that he didn’t want touched out of Emerson’s reach. I think he underestimated Em’s impulses because he moved very little in the common areas. He did clear a room that will now be Emerson’s bedroom. It already has a bed, etc, but he moved things that Emerson would touch, or knock over. I know it’ll be a work in progress, which he already notated himself. He is working on moving some of his items out of the way, and he purchased a child-proof kit to lock up some of the cabinets, etc. That was pretty major to me. He texted me yesterday and said something like “Ashley, I am very serious about making this work”, which was in reference to making it work with us merging lives and homes. He sent me a gigantic list of things that he needed to do around the house to accommodate the dogs, cat, and kid, which again, I thought was extremely nice. The poor cat was locked in a room from Saturday night through Sunday morning. He had his litter box, food, and toys, but we felt pretty bad. My dog is small enough to fit into the cat’s hiding spots, so we decided to put a gate up in one of the rooms, so that the cat could jump over and escape when necessary. This way, he isn’t completely isolated, but still has the freedom to roam if he feels brave enough to do so.
When I was pregnant with Emerson, I could barely get his “dad” to discuss moving in together, etc. He always said “we have plenty of time to figure that out”, which angered me to the point of me picking arguments with him over it. I couldn’t understand why this person that I was with and having a baby with wouldn’t discuss merging lives/homes. I guess I have difficulty with that now. It’s hard for me to understand why Tim is so willing to do any and everything for Emerson and I to move in with him. It’s beyond incredible and baffling to me, but extremely scary. We both like the idea of having sleepovers to gradually work toward the goal of fully living together. We are very open and are able to communicate about what we need/want, and things that bother us too, which I have absolutely never had in my life. It makes life a lot easier when you can discuss these things. I am not entirely used to it though, which is where the doubt and fear comes into play. That’s just something that I need to work on internally. I definitely tell him how I feel though and he does the same, so we don’t have any secrets there. It’s pretty cool to be able to talk about future plans as well. Scary, but awesome. Emerson liked being at Tim’s house though. He slept all through the night in his room. I brought his blankets, toys, bath stuff, etc. Tim actually bought him some bath stuff too, so that was nice. Less for me to have to bring back and forth. I have never met anyone like this EVER. I don’t even know how to process this all. Is this really my life?!
He actually came with me on Saturday to the Children’s Museum. Emerson had a blast, and Tim was such a good sport about it. Imagine not having a kid and spending your entire Saturday amongst a boatload of them at a children’s museum. We were there for 3.5 hours. Emerson had a blast playing. It was nice because while he played, Tim and I were able to sit there just talking uninterrupted, which doesn’t happen often. It was nice watching him be so interactive with Emerson as we went through the different exhibits. We all had a good time. Afterward, Em and I went home. I attempted to give him a nap, which wasn’t successful, so we headed back to Tim’s around 5pm. We hung out, watched “Sing”, and then I cooked dinner. We ate, then watched “Moanna”, then I gave Em a bath, and put him to bed. Tim and I watched “Patriot Day”, and just hung out for the rest of the night, which was so nice. What else was nice was splitting the work. I was a lot less tired. Over time, we’ll have to redirect Emerson less because he’ll be used to the house and not so curious. It was nice because he helped me make dinner, and gave a hand over checking on Emerson. Em slept until about 7am. Tim and I were already up, so that wasn’t a big deal. We are both early birds, which I love. I am such a morning person. Tim made us breakfast and coffee, while Em and I hung out, and watched cartoons. Of course, he was running around like a nut, but that’s to be expected. It was nice to just sit there, but extremely hard. I’m used to keeping busy at home. That was one of the hardest parts for me. Sitting back and just not doing anything. That would obviously change if we lived there, but it was nice to hang back a bit.
Emerson and I headed home around 10am. We needed to take the dog home, get ready, then head to my parent’s house. My parents watched Emerson so that my sister, our friends, Tim, and I could go see Beauty and the Beast. It was such a good movie! It was also nice for me to be able to get to do something kid-free with my sister, and my beau. We had a nice time. The movie was great. Emerson was wonderful for my parents too. This weekend, I’m supposed to meet Tim’s parents, but he has to go out of town for the entire week for work. His parents are going to watch his dog, but Em and I are going to watch the cat. His parents live 3 hours away, so they were going to come up for the weekend. I’m not sure how that’ll pan out now, but I feel bad because he didn’t think he’d be traveling. The worst part is he has to work overnight, so that’ll definitely catch up to him after a few days.
Alright, guys. That’s about all I have for now. I hope you all have a great week!
