Home

    We got home early yesterday morning, just after 2 AM.  It took us FOREVER to get home, but we made it and in one piece with most of our sanity intact. There were SO many delays.  First, we forgot the cooler with Apollo's medicine and drinks in it, so we had to go back to Alex's mom's house and get it... and that was after a tearful goodbye, so Alex had to do it all again.  That set us back 20 minutes. Then we missed the exit off of I-24 for 840 by 20 miles.  We started thinking we'd missed it when we were 10 miles past, but there wasn't another exit for another 7 miles, so that was frustrating.  That put us back by almost an hour.  Then we were just North of Huntsville and got stopped for over 30 minutes in dead still traffic.  Turns out a truck had burned through on the interstate and it happened right when we got to the traffic - the fire truck had to squeeze through the shoulder on the interstate.  So at this point, we were almost 2 hours behind, plus we left 2 hours late as it was because Alex had to go to the ER, but more on that later.  So 4 hours behind and we stop at the state line for dinner, which took about an hour since we had to change both boys and both of us had to go to the bathroom.  You can see where I'm headed with this.  I had planned to be home by 10 PM, but we were barely to Clanton, Alabama by 10 PM.  Orion was fussy, so we stopped at McDonald's and got a late-night snack and some pick-me-up Mickey D's Sweet Tea.  So back on the road by 11 and as we're coming into Montgomery, the traffic comes to a stop again.  This time, it was a wreck.  I'm not sure still what happened exactly, but there was a semi across the oncoming lanes, though it didn't look like it had been involved.  maybe it was just blocking traffic from something.  On our side, once we got up to the wreck point, we had to go all the way around through the exit to avoid all the debris from the car on our side.  I'm not sure what hit it or what it hit, but there was no driver's side left.  The front passenger side was a little smashed up, the car was smoking and the driver's side was just...gone.  I don't know if it was smashed in that bad or if it had been cut off in a rescue.  What did freak me out a little is that car looked exactly like a car that nearly ran us off the road when it merged onto the interstate.  (I had moved over so they had the right lane to themselves and they tried to come all the way over into the left lane.  I had to swerve over the rumble strip to avoid them. Good thing I'm a good driver!) After that setback, I just resigned myself to getting home super late.  It was a horrible drive, but it wasn't too bad in the long run.  Alex and I figured out the details of our Halloween Party and worked out some stuff for Orion's birthday party.

   Now, the reason Alex went to the ER... there was an accident while we were in Tennessee involving Alex, Orion and Apollo.  Alex and Apollo were laying in the hammock in Angelia's backyard and Orion wanted up, so I put him in the hammock too.  We swung them once and the S-ring supporting the hammock snapped and they all 3 fell.  Orion landed on the soft grass and Apollo was mostly laying on Alex.  We did take Apollo to the ER for our first visit with a child.  He landed on his right arm on the support pole, so we were worried about a hairline fracture or a dislocation, but it turns out he just had a contusion and was prescribed Tylenol.  Two days later, we went to Chuck-E-Cheese and Orion was pulling and tugging Alex everywhere.  By Saturday night, Alex's arm was really bothering him.  So he went to the ER Sunday morning and he too had a really bad contusion. It wasn't a break or dislocation, but it was bad enough that they prescribed him Loratab for pain, put his arm in a sling and work sent him home for fear of liability.

   Which means I have to get a job and soon or this holiday season is going to suck... we're not even fully making ends meet when Alex works full-time and he just lost 3 days of work.  He only took 1 off to go to Tennessee, but they canceled the Wednesday truck, he took Saturday off and they sent him home Monday.  Now  I am just going to have to find a band-aid job to get me through the holidays, then look for something I really want to do.  Meanwhile, Alex has to lose 40 pounds to get into the military, which is something he really wants.  So he's going to pledge this winter if he can lose the weight and go to basic next fall.   I know he can lose the weight - it's just a matter of which branch - I want him to go Air National Guard and he wants to go Army National Guard.  I will support him no matter what and I want him to be happy, but I want him to do something he truly wants to do.  I also want him to keep the kids in mind.  Part of me just wants him to fully go Air Force.  He's always wanted to do something with planes and yes, his whole family (Dad and two of his brothers...the other is 3...) is Army, but I want him to do this for HIM.  The Air Force is just more accommodating to families, plus the thing he wants to do is stationed at NAS Pensacola, so we wouldn't have to move, at least not for a while.