Back in the Saddle... Again
It has been far too long since I have posted an update.
We are finally out of the post surgery heartache and struggle and settling into our newest temporary normal.
Cole's resilience just amazes me. He has been going to bed all by himself and staying asleep all night long for about a week and a half now. Once in a while he will wake up and want to be tucked back in, but he's not in a terrified panic anymore. And he couldn't be more proud of himself! Every morning he exclaims, "I sleeped all by myself!!!"
Right when Cole was having his hardest time, Dust had the inspired idea to have Aunt Annette teach Cole horse riding lessons. We watched his paralyzing fear of bedtime slowly melt away as he became more and more comfortable in his riding lessons.
His first lesson was filled with tears and frantic begging to get off. With Dust and I on each side holding on to him and Annette and Bruce helping with his more experienced cousin riding along side him, he made it through that lesson. During his last lesson, we were all so proud to see him hop right on that horse and tell everyone "watch me!" I'm so proud of him and who he is.
Haley's skinny little bum is walking around like a maniac! She has learned that she can survive on one word:
"That?"
With raised eyebrows, a smile and a tilt of the head, she points to the fridge, outside, a book, a drink. And she generally gets whatever "that" is! Yep. We are suckers for that sweet little thing! Also.... if she doesn't get "that" immediately, the high pitched scream she emits is enough to make you jump right out of your chair and give her whatever she wants. Yep. We are in trouble!
I can always tell when Dust is starting to feel more like himself - he wants to go, go, go and work, work, work!
Cole told me the other day, "My daddy is a GOOOOOOD worker! He can fix all of things. He can fix the basketball hoop, he can fix this, he can fix that and that. Yep. He can fix all of things!"
Dust insisted on heading up to his very favorite place... the Hale family ranch for the big work weekend. It is something he NEVER misses. I thought he should maybe take it easy this year, but I wanted to get him to his "happy place". So, up we went! And wouldn't you know it, he was out there working all day long with the rest of them! I think he was a little bummed to not be handling the chainsaw up on the mountain, but he found other things to be productive and busy and helpful.
On Sunday we headed over to the cabin with my family. My brother and his little fam were in town.
Needless to say, going to the ranch and the cabin all worked together to create Cole's dream weekend!
We came home on Monday and the men loaded a U-Haul full of stuff to finally get my brother completely moved to Arizona.
After they got back from the storage unit, I went into the garage to find Dust leaning against the car all red-faced and sweaty, drinking a Gatorade. I couldn't help but to smile. Little things like seeing him worn out from working so hard are things I never even noticed, let alone thought I'd miss.
And I, I am just as happy as I could be knowing that all of my people are happy. It's a good feeling. That's for sure.
We had a really great holiday weekend with so many people that we love so much. Tin foil dinners, Red Baron shakes, playing with cousins, s'mores, swing-sets and four-wheelers, beautiful weather, and a whole lot of smiles. That about sums it up!