Drama and uncharted waters...

Well, let's see...Drama...

On Thanksgiving not long before dinner, I called my father's house to wish my family a Happy Thanksgiving. My brothers and grandparents were all at my father and step-mother's for the holiday and I wanted to see how they were surviving with out me. ;) A few minutes into my conversation with my youngest brother he yelled "I gotta go! I gotta go!" and hung up on me... Figuring it was nothing more than someone was reaching for his last beer or the last slice of pie, I thought nothing of it. Then about a half an hour later my other brother called and asked if the baby was in my arms and if I was sitting down? Not catching the drift, I remained standing as he informed me that our father had just had a heart attack and was on his way to the hospital via ambulance. Stunned... I sank to the edge of the tub not knowing what else to do, I listened to Rory describe how the entire horrible episode unfolded. The rest of our Thanksgiving was spent with phone in hand trying to get updates out of anyone who would answer the phone back east; in addition to updating my uncle as news came in. As it turns out we have a lot to be thankful for this year. My father did not have a heart attack, and while there has been some speculation about a small stroke of sorts, we are still waiting to hear from neurologist. But he is home and seemingly better and my step-mother is keeping a vigilant watch over him, so I know he is in good hands.

This scare has made my entire family stop and take stock. With a renewed sense of urgency we are all revisiting broken New Years resolutions to get healthy, eat better and take better care of ourselves and each other. This New Year, the resolutions may be the same old, same old, but I think a greater effort will be made on all our parts. Sometimes you just need a wake up call...

As for the uncharted waters...

Well the Hurley's are on our own. Just the four of us for a little more than 24 hours now. Yesterday we spent some family time, a walk to the playground to get some fresh air and the Ya-Ya's out before a nap. Then just some relaxing and following Grace's lead. We played whatever she wanted andallowed her to set the pace... She has been a real trooper since Lily came on the scene and robbed her of some of her "Mommy Time". It was so easy to drop what I was doing for Grace before, but now... For the most part Lily is not all that demanding of my time, but I cannot exactly drop what I am doing for Grace when what I am doing is feeding Lily... So far it has not been too bad, but it's only been one day.

Brian cancelled his out of town trip for this week to be home in the evenings to help, but today was my first day alone with both girls. I have been writing this post for several hours now. I started before the girls woke up this morning and have been completing it during nap times, but... man oh man, when Lily stops sleeping all the time... I am going to be in deeper than I anticipated. Guess the mother who rebelled against the scheduling of her child will have to revisit that theory...