A Post About the Posts I Meant to Write

So, it's been a few days. I couldn't write on Friday because Landon and I made an impromptu trip to Houston for my dad's birthday. Birthdays always make him sad and my mom has been so overwhelmingly busy with school work (both from teaching two preps and being a full time masters student) that I thought Landon and I could make the weekend a bit more cheerful. Plus, JP had a ton of his own schoolwork to do, so I thought we'd give him the weekend to be extra productive in a quiet house. (Too quiet, as he kept telling me when he'd call just to hear our voices; I love how my introverted, only-child husband has come to dislike an empty house.)

On Saturday Landon, my dad, and I headed to the Houston Zoo. If you live nearby and haven't been, go. It's awesome.

Landon, crawling through a piranha tank

Unfortunately, despite a morning weather report titled "No Rain for a While," it rained, a lot. And it was cold. We were all dressed in shorts and short-sleeves and failed to bring an umbrella, something my uber-prepared dad found rather horrifying. He'd even asked about bringing an umbrella several times that morning, only to be brushed off by my mom and me. But still, we had fun.

Landon, popping his head up in the prairie dog habitat

For whatever reason, Landon alternated between being delightful and whiny/crabby for the first two hours we were there. This meant that I, without thinking about my easily injured back, my 31-week pregnant state, and my 35 lb. dead weight of a toddler, leaned over to pick him up many, many times. My dad always took over and spent much of the time carrying Landon on his shoulders and making him laugh by running into tree branches, but I still did way more bending and lifting than I should have. I honestly just forget how quickly things become "too much" and by the time we got home my back was very, very angry.

That evening I made my dad a carrot cake birthday cake from scratch with this amazing recipe. I don't even like carrot cake and I could eat this one until I burst. Landon was sooooo excited about the "cake with all the carrots in it" but waited patiently while we ate an delicious steak dinner, sang the birthday song, and then finally cut the cake.

So that is what I intended to write on Saturday night, but instead I passed out around 10 pm. Landon woke up cranky and went on a long walk with his papa while I packed our things. He returned full of smiles and we piled in the car for what should have been an easy 3 hour drive home.

But it was not. It was 4 hours of hell. Landon screamed and yelled for 75% of the trip. He slept for 30 minutes, and he talked and sang happily to himself for the other 30. My back was in a lot of pain, with a constant dull ache accompanied by spasms of sharp pain shooting up from my tailbone every time I moved my foot from the gas to the brake. I tried to use cruise control but ten million people decided it would be a great idea to take pictures in the freaking wildflowers on the side of the highway, and even though they could pull over with plenty of room on the shoulder, everyone else who drove by thought they needed to slow down to 10 mph and create a stop-and-go traffic situation for miles and miles along Highway 290. We finally entered the Austin city limits, only to be stuck in terrible traffic on I-35 and I was in so much pain and Landon was yelling and I was having very strong and very frequent braxton-hicks contractions and I wanted to cry.

We finally pulled into our driveway and I got out of the car, abandoned the yelling Landon, and walked in the house. JP came out to the kitchen with a huge smile on his face, so excited that we were home, and I just glared at him and informed him that his son was still in the car and I was taking a bath and please just leave me alone for a few hours.

I took my bath, took a muscle relaxer for my back, and crawled into bed. It was 4:30 p.m. JP took Landon somewhere (to the grocery store and park, I later found out) and my braxton-hicks contractions slowed to a stop. I then slept for 15 hours, not waking up until 8 a.m. the next morning. JP said he checked on me a few times, and even shook me a little at one point to make sure I was responsive, but I was out.

And that's why there was no post on Sunday. Then I didn't write one yesterday because I was still nursing a bad mood hangover. But today I'm much better. Landon is cheerful and charming, my back is much recovered, and today's perinatal appointment revealed no bad effects from my four stressful hours in the car. I head to Chicago tomorrow for a 1-day recruiting trip to the law school and I am SO EXCITED about 36 hours in my favorite city. Perfect spring weather, meals with friends, a night at the Four Seasons, a slow stroll down Michigan Avenue... oh and a few hours chatting with 1Ls about the firm. Hooray!