Weekend

Well, the weekend was WONDERFUL!! I haven't had an entire weekend break at home like that in, well, I'm not exactly sure if I ever have in my 12 years of motherhood and actually....before motherhood, I was only 18 years old (blog for another time:) so nope, never really had a weekend I could appreciate so much. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE being with my children but everyone needs a break every 12 years don't you think? Yes, I've had "weekend breaks" but what made this one neat is that I got to stay right at home and didn't have to travel anywhere but my kids did! That was really neat. Thanks to my amazing parents for making this weekend happen for us and for taking my kids to the beach. They had a blast and made memories that will be cherished for many years to come.

Saturday I had an amazing day! Went out to lunch, to the mall (hadn't been to the mall in a really long time) and look out world- I got a pedicure and my eyebrows waxed!!! Now this was quite comical because I apparently had some sort of reaction to the wax and the top half of my face was swollen and very red. I know it's totally normal to have redness after having that done, but this was drawing some serious attention in the salon. They sat me back out under the dryer (for my toes) after they peeled half my face off and even the ladies around me were so concerned, they were pulling out their compact mirrors, digging for lotion in their pocketbooks and asking me if I was okay. I said "Wow, it must be pretty bad" to which the 80 year old woman sitting next to me leaned over and said "Yep, it is!" Lol! I told them (my new, concerned variety of friends) that what we should all really be worrying about, was that it was 4:45pm and I had to leave home at 5:30pm for the gala and I was sitting under a dryer at the nail place with a massively swollen face that had caught everyone's attention. Boy did they think I was crazy! Luckily Jill was brave enough to swipe some aloe for me and put it on my face. Then they all wanted to know about my dress, how I was doing my hair, my shoes etc. It was a weird but funny time at the nail place to say the least. Jill and I thought one of the ladies was going to actually try and follow us home to help me get ready! I must have looked completely pathetic to draw all the attention I did. I don't get out much....and clearly I didn't plan this accurately but how was I to know?!? I called my mom who told me to put Balmex on my face for 5 mins and then wash it off. okay, I really didn't want to smell like a baby's hiney for my night out but I was willing to try anything! I raced home and by 5:15pm was walking around with hiney cream smeared all over my face. Jon looked frightened but we (Jill- my personal fashion assitant) told him to stay out of the way because we had some serious work to accomplish. The balmex trick worked!! Jon wasn't too happy for our pictures because State had literally just lost the game in the ACC tournament seconds before we said "smile." Ha!

The gala was wonderful as it is every year. As a parent, you feel so honored to sit there and take it all in. I was beaming on the inside saying "That's right, I have a child with Down Syndrome. It's the most amazing experience and only a selected number of us are hand picked for this purpose." Emma was included in the video presentation which was so fun to watch. Dr. Priya Kishnani from Duke, spoke on the research currently happening on certain aspects of Down Syndrome such as the link to leukemia, alzheimers etc. She also spoke on the biobank that is now up and running. It was hard to hear some of it, as it always is, BUT rewarding to know that steps are being made in the right direction for individuals with disabilities. A great evening!

In addition to these fun things, we were also able to take in a movie, catch up on sleep, watch tv, go for a walk and end the weekend with a birthday party for Jon's sisters at Outback. It was truly a great weekend and I feel revived and you won't hear any complaints out of me for at least a day or two!! :)