July 4th's Big Challenge!!

We had a pretty good 4th of July, considering....

We were at my parents house the morning of July 4th and ate breakfast and then by 2pm we were over at my in-laws home for some 4th of July food! My father-in-law LOVES to cook, so he was up about 4-5am cooking. He fixed up the regular barbeque, barbeque'd chicken, ribs, hash and rice, etc. They had tea for a few of us, they had yellow lemonade for some, and pink lemonade for others! There was something for everyone! They even fixed up some cheesy mashed potatoes and green beans for Joshua!

Our visit to my parents home in the a.m. was not planned, as was the visit to my in-laws. It was an emergency. Not to worry. No one was sick really. But it all started at 9pm July 3, a day earlier than we were expecting.

We pretty much knew that our new neighbors would do fireworks sometime this week. But for some reason, we didn't expect it to be done Tuesday evening. From what I've already experienced from afar, even though our houses are pretty close, they LOVE fireworks and parties. And no dinky party either. Hey, what's a 4th without fireworks and a party??? They have a humongous and POWERFUL display. Powerful as in "when it's shot off the ground it sounds like a canon going off!"

The problem with this type of activity is that where they have the "humongous canon sounding display" is on the side of the nursery. And we have Joshua in bed no later than 9pm MOST of the time.

So the first time Joshua woke up crying was about 9:30 - 10pm when the party people starting coming into the neighbor's drive (which is also on the side of the nursery). They had the radios booming....you know where the bass is heard over everything else and it shakes the whole street. Possibly the whole town.

Ok. I managed to get him back to sleep in a few minutes.

The next time he woke up was about 12:10am with the "canon" still going off! It scared him and the whole thing made me mad. Not mad at Joshua, but mad at the outside situation. Call me crazy, but it's very difficult for me to deal with the fact that they have no consideration for the people who actually have young children and the whole family is trying to sleep. Or call me very pregnant. Whichever one. Cause I was in the bathroom with the exhaust fan going trying to block out the noise and it.didn't.work! AND I was CRYING! Which Joshua thought was funny because he'd never seen Mommy with a red face, water come out of her eyes and a snotty nose!

Oh boy. Anyway.

My husband asked me if I wanted to go to my parents house. I said YES! Because they have a room in their house that is so much like an apartment! This one huge room has it's own couch, recliner, TV, bathroom, shower/tub, and its own heat and air system.

So, we get over there around 12:45am fully expecting Joshua to go on back to sleep.

Well. Something I learned over the next 4 hours, is that things don't go exactly like I think sometimes. Although he'd been yawning the whole 10 minutes on the way to their house, and he was still sleepy when we got there, he did not want to sleep. My DEAR husband and I tried EVERYTHING!! Finally, we broke down and did something we've NEVER done and hopefully Joshua will NOT remember (just because we've got him in a routine and he goes by it most faithfully, except this time). We lay him in the middle of us on the futon that folds out to a bed....that had sheets and pillows......and was so DESPERATELY calling my name! And I was SO trying to answer!

Joshua rolled around like he normally does when he's tired. His little eyes slowly closing. Around 4am He finally went to sleep with a flashlight that he'd been tinkering with still in his hand. I made the mistake of trying to pull the flashlight from him. OH how he cried!

Anyway, needless to say, at those wee hours, I did return the flashlight to him. By then, my husband had sat up on the side of the bed. He COULD have gone to sleep just sitting up. While he was sitting up, Joshua flopped down on my husband's pillow......the same pillow that just a few minutes before, my husband was laying on.

Guess what my sweet husband did?! Just let him stay RIGHT there and SLEEP! Cause my husband is just sweet that way!

So I found another pillow and told my husband he could lay the opposite way so we'd all fit on the futon/bed.

So that's the way it was at 4am July 4th. I got up at 7:30am because I heard the coffee maker going in the kitchen. And I was soooo hoping that mom was going to fix her homemade, made-from-scratch, wonderful biscuits! And she did.

After that, I tried to stay awake, but failed miserably. I slept somewhere between 9am-12:30pm, and then we managed to go to my in-laws for lunch.

So. There. Happy July 4th!