The Never Ending Night

So Dad made it up and we had a lovely visit. I always wish he could stay longer, but I know how it is to want to get back home. He arrived with Randy White's BBQ in hand...YUM! We ate too much and sat and visited. He decided he didn't need to go shopping after all, and as I looked at him holding Hana Grace, I had to agree. Why get out and about when we can sit at the house and I can watch him interact with his granddaughter? It's so surreal. It might sound weird, but the only thing I love more than holding Hana myself is watching the family hold her. When Joe gets home from work, I always hand Hana over to him and sit and watch. I love every second of it. It's the same with my parents, my brother, Nana, Dian, Jennifer, Angela, Victoria, the list just goes on and on. I sit there and try to comprehend that that's my beautiful child in their arms. I still don't grasp it. I have a daughter. Joe and I are parents. My parents are grandparents (not just to a dog anymore). My brother is an uncle. It's such an overwhelming feeling, it truly is. Okay, okay, I'll get on with "the never ending night."

We didn't shop, we visited, which was nice. Yesterday evening Joe cooked steaks on the grill along with his famous baked potatoes - and he did not burn the steaks! He did joke once he put them on the grill that he felt the need to play Guitar Hero, though. =) Dad fed Hana carrots and green beans and got to see her "Josh out" over her sippy cup. She loves that thing! She sure seems to be a lefty because she grabs it with her left hand and slams it up against her cheek before she finally gets it in her mouth. Just as we were finished eating, Joe removed Hana from her high chair to find a big surprise oozing from the top of her diaper. WARNING: THE NEXT PART OF THIS STORY IS NOT FOR THOSE WHO GAG EASILY! This was one of the messiest poops yet. It came out the top of her diaper and was under her shirt, all the way up her stomach to her chest. It was more than a two-person job. The only resolution was for Joe to get in the shower with her and wash her off. While he took care of that, I cleaned up everything else that she had come in contact with. Gross. I can't believe she did that while sitting right there at the table with us as we ate. We had no idea what was going on under her highchair tray!

After the poop-capades we watched some TV and turned in for the night. I was the first to announce my departure for bed, I was exhausted. Then it began. All of a sudden around 11:00 pm I woke up and said, "Joe, the electricity just went out." I don't know how I knew, but I did. I guess I'm just such a light sleeper now, but it freaked Joe out that I knew it the second it happened. So there we sat in the dark, and I mean dark. (We had our storm shutters down so there wasn't even light from the moon shining in the windows) And it must have been cloudy because the moonlight wasn't even shining through our skylights! After an hour or so Joe called TXU and after being on hold for approximately 30-45 minutes he finally spoke to a man who told him the power should be back on around 2:00 am. It grew hotter and hotter. I slept with a wet washcloth on my stomach to cool myself down. I say I slept, I really didn't. I fell in and out of consciousness for the rest of the night. Every once in a while I would call TXU's outage hot line and check the progress but they never had any good news. Finally at 7:05 this morning the power came back on. I was soaked with sweat and very angry. I was actually planning a day of hanging out at the mall with Hana, maybe catching a movie with her. Anything to get in the A/C. This was one of the longest nights of my life. It was so hot and so creepily quiet. That's another thing, I can't sleep without a lot of white noise in the background and there wasn't any of that to listen to last night. Of course Joe's version of the story is probably more entertaining. He would mention my somewhat silent temper tantrums due to the situation being out of my control. I choose to not talk about that. =)

We've had a couple of strange nights, actually. Wednesday night the carbon monoxide alarm in our guest room malfunctioned at 1:00 am. Now that's a time when I wish we had hidden cameras in our house. It had to be entertaining watching Joe and me wander from room to room trying to figure out where the extremely loud beeping was coming from. Not to mention that the beeping was amplified by Hana's monitor because it was coming from the room right next to hers. What really amazes me is that Joe could've slept right through the events of the past two nights if it weren't for me waking him up. Will I ever sleep soundly again?

But we made it through the night and Dad fed Hana her oatmeal with apple juice and he's back on the road to the lake. I'm glad he came up and got to be entertained by Hana Grace in person, I'm just sorry it was such a weird night.