OK...so my Mother- in- law passed away Tuesday of last week.
It was a blessing that she died so quickly...she was in alot of uncontrolled pain. From the time she found out she had cancer to her death was 2 weeks. Henri and I took Carlie and Rufus to Ct. this past weekend to see his Dad and meet up with Henri's Aunt Leila and cousin Lorena. Lou and Liz (Henri's brother and our sister-in-law) were supposed to show up, but didn't make it.
We got there late Saturday afternoon( our 5th wedding anniversary too by the way:)), Lorena who is my age and Leila who is Lorena's mother were there already from Boston. We hung out on the deck with everyone, had a couple cocktails and enjoyed the peace and quiet of the area. It's definatly BOONIES Connecticut.
Carlie was having a great time running up and down the deck...unfortunately it was pretty high up and not exactly "kid friendly" so we all took turns saving her life.
Rufus stayed right around the yard which I was surprised at, but Lorena brought her dog Sebastian with her and the "cousins" had a good romp together, that was what kept Rufus from going somewhere else for entertainment. It was good for him to be able to blow off some steam and run a while. Me,Henri, Carlie,Rufus and Lorena all slept in the camper in the driveway. It was kind of like a slumber party. We ended the night by
Lorena giving me a belly dance lesson....good visual? or what?
Sunday,Lorena and Leila left for home, so we took Dad with us to the butterfly gardens in Deerfield. http://www.magicwings.com/ I have been wanting to bring Carlie there since I was first pregnant. The place is amazing, and beautiful. Henri took me there while we were dating. As a matter of fact, We almost got married there.
Anyway.... Carlie had a BLAST . The butterflies are all over the place, there's so many that all you can feel is wings brushing past you... It's absolutely enchanting.
Henri and I were going to go to our favorite restaurant in Springfield Saturday night to celebrate our anniversary just the two of us, but we decided to invite Henri's Dad to go and I decided I wanted Carlie to go too. (Lou and Liz were going to babysit) I would tell you the name of the place, but it's German and I would absolutely BUTCHER the name....so if you want to know that bad, call me, I'll say it to you. ANYWAAAAY......... We had some time before our dinner reservations after the butterfly garden, so we took a ride up to Mt. Sugarloaf http://www.mtsugarloaf.com/ and walked up to the observation tower. What a beautiful day it was up there! We even got to see 3 juvenile parogren falcons!! After that we made our way thru Springfield and we all had an FABULOUS dinner, and for dessert, Bananas Foster ...The waitress made it at the table and Carlie was AMAZED with the whole prep...and then they set it on FIRE!, You should have seen her eye's bug out when flames came up!!!
It was a good day and a good end. We got back to Ct. and all went to bed early. I was EXHAUSTED!
Monday morning we left for home. It was 2 days that felt like a week. I don't think I appreciated my A/C enough before this trip...I do now!!! I think Dad is bringing his camper to my friend Andy's boat yard and leaving it there for the summer so he'll have his own space and can visit whenever he wants. That's good, I think Henri's a little worried about his dad. He seems a little lost. I imagine I would be a little lost too after 43 years your other half is suddenly missing...I don't even want to imagine what that's like. I just hope he comes around often and visits Carlie. She ADORES him and he adores her. It's really something to see.

Bad news/Good news

My mother in law passed away Tuesday afternoon.
My husband is doing fine....He went to see her in the hospital knowing that she was dying and said goodbye. He got his closure. I'm sorry Carlie won't remember her Grandmother, she adored Carlie and called her " little darlin'". She's being cremated, no funeral.
Henri, Carlie, Rufus and I are heading out to Ct. this weekend to spend the weekend with his Dad. Saturday happens to be our 5th wedding anniversary, we are going to do a little Western Ma. tour I hope. I wanted to go to our favorite German restaurant in Springfield on Saturday night, but Henri's Aunt and cousin are going to be visiting at his parents house on Saturday, so we'll have to postpone that dinner till Sunday. Maybe we can pawn Carlie off on Uncle Lou and Auntie Liz for a while for that.
I really am looking forward to being back in Ct. and Western Ma. again...too bad it's for this.

On a brighter note, my Mom had an appointment with her Oncologist yesterday and got good news. She has one more chemo appointment and then back to Jordan hospital for a PET scan to see if she needs ANY MORE CHEMO!!!.... She might not need it anymore!!!....How cool is that?
I can't believe how well she's tolerated the whole thing. She's exhausted all the time, anemic and her O2 levels are a little out of whack at times but overall, she has done Amazingly well....Everyone including her doctor is impresed....WHEW!
Guess I better start my day. More later....bye

My lovely neighborhood

The weekend visitors next door have turned into a week long war with a house full of 20 something year olds...Henri had to run to Ct. to see his Mom who is in the hospital from her pain and I was here with Carlie by myself. Wednesday night, those little bastards were so obnoxious it was ridiculous. I woke up at 11:30 to-Hooting and hollering, 2am-screaming and loud music, 3am-car alarm, 4am-car alarm...now I am PISSED. 5am-car alarm, 7am- Carlie. I was so tired and so angry.... 10am Carlie and I marched over there. The yard was so full of cars, they were parked all over the front and back yard. The first car I came across was full of guys getting ready to go to the beach by the looks of it. I snapped at the first kid that made eye contact- "I want to know who's in charge of this house. You guys kept me awake all night and I.. AM.. PISSED!"
I think I scared him because he looked stunned and muttered..." uh, I don't know" Then ducked his head in the car like he was asking one of his friends but then he wasn't brave enough to make eye contact again with me. So another kid got out of the back seat after they decided I wasn't going away and said " I think the gentleman your looking for is inside, I'll get him." A couple minutes later this guy came out...( damn he's fine.) He introduced himself as "Jay" and listened politely as I told him off. ( the whole time Carlie's blowing him kisses...not helping!) He was apologetic and said that Thursday night was the last party, then they were leaving. He promised that they would bring it inside at 11:30pm and that they would try to keep it down until then. He seemed sincere, and as I said before...I know what it's like, I've been there. So I shook his hand and left on a positive note. Later that day, he came to my door and brought me a bottle of wine all wrapped up with a bow to thank me for coming over and speaking to him and not just calling the cops. ( which I did already that week) Nice of him, so I shook his hand again and he got a kiss blown to him from Carlie. That night they were pretty good, I slept the night through. But THEN...
I woke up to BLASTING country music, an arriving parade of motorcycles, and the entire house next door chanting "U-S-A!- U-S-A!- U-S-A!" Happy fourth of July.
This went on all day....Needless to say Carlie and I didn't spend much time outside.
Well... I survived, This morning they all left in a long parade of cars, and as they passed my house, they honked and waved....little assholes.

WHAT I DID ON MY SUMMER VACATION

Today is the end of my week long vacation with Carlie..... I am going to miss her so much tomorrow when I go back to work.

Just in this past week she's done so many new things....I can't believe how fast she's learning and how many new words she has....I LOVE it. We went to the Strawberry festival and went shopping, we visited my girlfriends at work in Hyannis. We went for trike rides and dips in the pool...I think my favorite part of this week was just swinging on my glider with Carlie. When I got that glider, I sat on it wishing and dreaming of having a baby....Then, while I was pregnant I sat there dreaming about swinging with the baby when it was born.

When Carlie was in the NICU in Boston I sat there and prayed ALOT for her... And can't help but to think of that while she's sitting across from me now , singing twinkle twinkle little star and smiling.... What a blessing she is.

We had the weekend renters from HELL next door again.

My neighborhood is pissed about the parties they have when they come down.

I heard 3 neighbors today complaining about them and telling me that they called the police a few times last night. It's a big group of kids ( yes i said kids) in thier 20's and having a damned good time....I've kept my share of neighbors awake till the wee hours of the morning....I figure this is payback. Two of the "kids" came over this evening and apologized for last night. Unfortunately they are still there, so I fear this might be an all week thing.... It'll be interestiong to say the least.

It's almost bed time...Gotta get up and go to work tomorrow....wish me a quiet night??!!

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