The Lavinder Family: P-Course

One week each year Daniel will attend a "refresher" course for the helicopter he flys in Mobile, AL. This year it was scheduled for March 21-25 but before he went down he ran an Adventure Race near Charleston with his friend Tom from the academy. On Friday, March 18 I dropped Daniel off at the airport to pick up a rental car. About 5 blocks from our house our van started making some noises and a burning smell was coming from the vehicle. I carefully drove the rest of the way home since I was so close and called our wonderful neighbors to come help me figure it out. It sounded like the brakes to me and our neighbor confirmed that. Within an hour of Daniel leaving for 10 days and a few hours before I needed to pick up my sister-in-law and niece from the train station I now had no vehicle safe for driving (with space for three kids/carseats and two adults). By the grace of God I was able to secure a rental literally minutes before they were going to call me and tell me that if I showed up there would be no vehicle available for me. After a long wait at the rental counter I secured a Tahoe for the price of an Altima sized vehicle until Tuesday when my sister-in-law Sarah was going back home. Saturday morning we hung out and the kids played. That afternoon we went to a birthday bbq.

Here is Felicity waiting to head to the party.

What a cutie! This hat was made by my great-grandma's sister for us when we were little but my mom said she never let us wear it because she was afraid we would mess it up. Clearly I snatched it on our most recent trip to Tennessee.

Nolan and Selia riding in the wagon at the party.

Swinging at the party...figured this out all by himself. No help needed, I was impressed.

Cheesing for the camera so we could show Daddy how talented his wee man is.

Sunday we had to meet up with Daniel on his way to Mobile because he forgot a couple of things. We ate lunch at a place that took forever and after Daniel getting his order of crappy chicken, the waitress suggesting he send it back, literally raw steak being brought out to us from an angry cook, and then him getting to eat something else for free...what was supposed to be a quick stop was closer to a two hour visit. We transferred stuff from vehicles and he got back on the road. About 10 minutes later he realized I forgot to give him the most important thing he needed. SO we turned around to meet him where he stopped for gas and then he was finally on his way :)

All 3 kiddos in the back of the Tahoe. Nolan and Selia entertained each other well.

Cousins playing in the bathtub. We skyped with Nana and Tutu so they could see how much fun Nolan and Selia were having splashing around.

Auntie Sarah with her newest niece Felicity.

Nolan teaching Selia all about the wonders of the fish tank light.

Playing peek-a-boo together.

We took the cousins to Forsyth Park for a little photo shoot!

My sweet sweet babies!

Selia trying to eat Felicity :)

This outfit was worn by my sister Karen her first Easter. The outfit that Selia is wearing is what I wore. My mother had us matching, how sweet. I was excited to be able to let these two wear them.

Trying to get 3 kids at the age of 2 and under to pay attention for pictures is certainly an interesting task.

But still so very adorable.

What fun these 3 will have over the years!

What. A. Stud.

Playing around :)

"Hi Selia"

While trying to get Nolan to stand here and take a picture I said "Nolan let's go try to climb the tree."

Which is exactly what he attempted to do...

Sarah and Selia left bright and early Tuesday morning. I returned the tahoe and some friends came for a playdate that evening. Wednesday morning the 3 of us relaxed and started to work at getting back to our "schedule." I laid Nolan down for his nap, fed Felicity and laid her down, then took a shower. I started to feel very sick right after the shower...assuming that I ate way too much of the huge lunch I cooked to have extras for dinner that night (which I did) I laid down to rest. Felicity woke back up and I quickly realized that I had a kidney stone and needed to get help fast. Lots of pain, vomiting, phone calls, help from church friends and neighbors, and a trip to the ER happened within the next few hours. Our church friend stayed the night to help in case I needed it while my mother drove to Savannah, she arrived at 2:30am.

This wonderful woman came to my rescue. Without her coming to help me while Daniel was gone...I can't even imagine it. I am so thankful she was able to drop everything to come help! I spent all Thursday sleeping and puking. Friday I was feeling slightly better. Daniel got home that afternoon. That night I had an allergic reaction to something after dinner. what it was we don't know, I didn't eat anything new. I think it was because my body ws just so out of whack in general. Two benedryls fixed me right up. Saturday Daniel fixed the brakes on my van. Sunday we went to church and bought tickets for the Savannah tour of homes and gardens (our church hosts it). The homes featured that day were in our neighborhood, as in one-two blocks away from our home. So Daniel watched the kids while Mom and I went to the 7 homes. The last house, which happened to be the Extreme Home Makeover house, was 8 blocks away. On the way there is started to rain but we conitnued hoping it was just going to be a quick shower. It wasn't, we decided to brave the weather instead of having Daniel pick us up because the kids were still napping. About 3 blocks from the house it started to hail. We continued running. Two blocks from the house the hail was too painful so we ran into Diva Dogs (where we get Audrey cleaned sometimes) and stood under the awning until it cleared up a bit. Then we made a run for it, some of the roads had above ankle level waters...not a quick shower at all. I eventually passed the stone on Monday afternoon. Doctors appointment Tuesday for a referral to a urologist (where I waited for an hour at the base pharmacy to pick up a prescription for Felicity that was supposed to be ready and it ended up not even existing...fail. Tuesday night we ran some errands and cleaned out my sisters car. My mom's car was in the shop so my sister was awesome and let my mom brings hers to Savannah. That night when we got back her parking lights wouldn't turn off. Of course Daniel was on duty and not home. Tried lots of things to fix it, called people and asked for help. Still nothing, no idea what it was. One neighbor came home and after trying several things he had an idea...check the hazards lights. I know, simple enough...that was it! While cleaning her dashboard i had pushed the button. But none of us thought of that because the lights were not flashing. Mom left Wednesday morning bright and early.

I hope and pray that future P-courses are not as eventful as this one was. It seemed like it was one thing after the other. But I am truly thankful to God for providing the help that we needed to make it through those hectic weeks.