Stress

Last week, Elias was vaccinated and Dr. Y was about to administer some vaccines to Leah because according to her chart, she wasn't up to date. We've moved back and forth between Louisiana and Mississippi over the past 13 years, though have been here in Mississippi for a consecutive four years. Luckily, Dr. Y discovered she was up to date and wasn't due for more vaccines until next year. This provoked me to call our past pediatricians to find tangible copies of ALL the shot records of Jac and Leah. Oh, and the nurse marked on Leah's chart that she DID get vaccinated, so I need to go back there and have them print a new one. I called the clinic in Louisiana, so they mailed me the records for Jac and Leah, then contacted the Brandon clinic and picked those up. I spent some time on the floor of my bedroom organizing all the vaccines and dates they were given and discovered that, yes, they are all up to date. I'm going to bring the forms to Dr. Y next week and get them organized in the system so the mix-ups can stop.

Emily's birthday was yesterday. I didn't want to post about it on social media, but I also don't want her to be forgotten, so I posted a pic on Instagram. She'd have turned 34, probably baking her own strawberry cake with strawberry frosting, only the worst flavor ever. She was always the most silly when she was in the kitchen. On one of her birthdays, she smeared a glob of strawberry frosting across her gums and kept trying to kiss me. We were running around the kitchen island, laughing. She was shouting in a high-pitched croaky voice, "Have you got a kiss for granny?" and drooling. It was just so funny and stupid. We even tried to bake a pumpkin pie together once. We followed the recipe exactly so and it was so jiggly and sloshy, we couldn't eat it. We laughed at that, too. She was never afraid to be herself or say what she was thinking. It could be good or bad thoughts, but you'd know exactly how she felt about anything. She didn't sugar coat her honesty. If you got your feelings hurt, she would shrug and say "you asked." I miss her like crazy.

I had talked with Anna earlier last week about picking up a desk she had for sale. It's perfect for holding all the homeschool books and it's super sturdy. When Zac got home from work, he brought the three older kids to the library to eat pizza and learn about service dogs. They were able to meet-and-greet one named Gunny, though I was told Elias wasn't having the best time and just wanted to play on the floor. Meanwhile, I brought Cole with me to Meridian to sit with Anna and have tea before carrying the very bulky and heavy desk down the stairs and to the van. I like talking to Anna. She has the familiarity of Emily and we could talk about grief and family without it getting weird. It was nice driving somewhat alone, too. Cole slept the whole way there and the whole way back. I could listen to Spice Girls without interruption and I still know all the lyrics. I had never heard the entire Forever album, so that was fun. I even made it home before 11pm.