The road to Kansas: Part two

We left off in part one on the road to Rome...

We arrived in time to drop Rags at the clinic (more on that later) and have dinner with DeeDee and Granddaddy before we headed to check into the hotel and get Emmy ready for bed. But, she had grandparents! To entertain her! It was not so easy to get her to settle down, for sure.  I believe somehow she had Granddaddy dramatically "crying" over who knows what, but let me tell you, she thought it was hysterical.  She still occasionally will mention that time Granddaddy was crying in the hotel. Ha!

Emmy made friends with DeeDee's scarecrows

The next morning we had breakfast together and then Emmy hung out with DeeDee while Charles and I took Rags to see Dr. P, a friend and fellow vet of Granddaddy's.  Rags had gone to the clinic to have her eyes checked out because she'd had a corneal abrasion since before Christmas that Richard had been monitoring.  Unfortunately, it didn't seem to be getting completely better, and he was concerned she might have glaucoma. Checking for glaucoma requires a special instrument/test that he didn't have, so Dr. P agreed to see us.  Fortunately, no glaucoma, but he did do a couple of things to her eyes (removed a little growth on her eyelid and a procedure to help the abrasion heal).  Oh, and they found she had a tapeworm, poor puppy went through a lot!  (And, as you read here, her eyes are still having trouble and she's been diagnosed with chronic dry eye. Her abrasions have healed but we will continue to treat her eyes regularly with ointments.)

That's one tired girl!

Anyways, with Rags set, we headed back to pick up DeeDee and Emmy and Granddaddy for a quick lunch.  Emmy was hilarious, at one point she put her head in her hand and looked at Richard and said "what are you thinking, Granddaddy?"  She also was definitely worn out from all the traveling, and poor pickle, she just couldn't make it through lunch, as you can see here.  We headed back to the house to gather up Rags and we hit the road! Emmy took a short nap in the car as we headed to Ikea for some shopping for our new house. 



Mary Ann and Joel had also planned an Ikea trip that day to look for nursery items, and we also scheduled to meet Sarah for one more quick hello. You can imagine how happy Emmy was to see all of them!  We wandered through, bought a few small things and then, per Emmy's request, we went to the Varsity (she'd been asking for an FO for a while). It was crazy crowded, which I know is the norm, but it was the most crowded I'd ever seen it. Emmy was tired and had fallen asleep on the way in and slept on Charles' shoulder in the crowds until we miraculously found a big booth for all of us.  We ate a quick early supper, and then had to say good-bye in the parking lot and I broke my promise not to cry. It was hard to say good-bye to two of my best girls!

We'd noticed Emmy coughing a little bit over the last day and sure enough, the coughing was getting worse and as we feared, a cold was coming on. Stink. This would ultimately lead to more puking (coughing makes her gag) and since I think her gag reflex was already on overdrive from the stomach bug, this made it worse. Of course she threw up in the car on the way home to Greenville. We were so glad to finally get back to Mom and Dad's and get out of the car.

Sunday was a relax day, thank goodness. I'd originally built Sunday and Monday into our schedule as time to stay at Mom and Dad's and visit with family in Greenville.  We went to church and to see Grandmommie.  We missed lunch after church with CC because she had gotten a cold, too, alas. Then we had a family dinner and Uncle Mike, my cousins, Jessica and Joanna and their respective husbands, Nick and Justin, came over for supper and so did one of my high school best friends, Cathy, and her husband Rafal.  It was nice to stay in and mom cooked tacos.  Unfortunately, I did not take any pictures of the evening, but it was good to see everyone one more time. (Are you sensing a theme here? Really, the last 6 months felt like one long good-bye, doing everything "one last time." )

Emmy had Pop covered in her blanket and
playing babies.

Monday our day of rest turned into a whirlwind day.  We had breakfast with Mrs. Raney, and Emmy gagged and threw up in the restaurant (puke was also a theme of this time of our lives).  Thank goodness my mom No. 2. The stomach bug had delayed us and we missed our planned trip to Grandma's.  So, we headed to visit with her and Pop on Monday morning.  Emmy had gotten to see them when she was with my parents the week after Christmas, but Charles and I hadn't seen Grandma since Thanksgiving, so it was really great to see her.  She cooked us a delicious lunch and Emmy of course got a stuffed dog that she named Furry Murray from Pop and some goodies from Grandma (stickers!). 

Showing Pop how it's done.

We had a great time with them, but soon it was time to head back to SuSu's for nap time.

Mom put Emmy down for her nap and Charles and I hopped in the car for one more quick road trip. Our dear friends Cindy and Kyle had a new baby girl, Haddie, who was born on the 9th and Eric and Erin had new baby Nora born on the 13th, and we really wanted to see these girls before we left! I knew Emmy would be sad she didn't get to see the babies (she'd been talking about holding Baby Nora) but with her having a cold, she didn't need to be around newborns. 

Snuggling with Nora.

We stopped at Cindy and Kyle's and got to spend a few minutes with them and see their sweet baby girl and her big brother Kale. They had just come home from a check-up and Haddie was sleeping soundly on her mama's chest and so I didn't even ask to hold her since she looked so content. She is precious! Then we headed back to Spartanburg to meet baby Nora.  They had gotten home Sunday so everyone was settling in at home. Poor big sis Stella was getting a cold, too, when we saw them the week before so she was not feeling great, either. We had a great, but brief, visit with them, too.

We hate to miss out on seeing these babies growing up in person, but grateful they decided to both come a little early so we could meet them before we headed west. I know their mamas were also glad they came a little early. :)

Then it was time to head "home" one more time. There was packing to be done and final preparations to be made!  That whole time I think I've blocked from my memory because I know I was just stressed. Ha!

Tuesday we had to make one quick stop on the way out of town, and then we were on the road to TN by 10:30 am. It was, as you can imagine, a stressful morning trying to get everything done, and to not to burst into tears.  I don't like to cry in front of people, and I knew if I started crying with my parents I wouldn't stop! Fortunately we all held it together pretty well. Almost. :) 

Unfortunately the first leg of the trip was very unpleasant.  About an hour in, I realized Charles was no longer behind me. Emmy was in the car with him so I immediately called, only to find that he'd had to pull off because she had thrown up from coughing in the car. Again. (I was SO tired of cleaning out her car seat. Those things are not made to be vomited in. Repeatedly.)  The location was an awkward one for stopping, or turning around, so he managed to get things under control and meet back up with me.  Poor girl, she was just so miserable with her cold. I realized she was running a fever, so we gave her some motrin. She wanted Mommy, so we switched drivers and she and I rocked out to some music for awhile until we stopped for lunch.  She finally took a long nap in the car, but we also had to stop more times than usual due to leaky diapers. I think we went through 4 outfits that day. We finally pulled into Charles' Aunt Betty and Uncle Bob's house in TN about 6 pm Central. A 5ish hour drive had taken us like 8 hours, and we were so glad to be out of the car.

Aunt Betty and Uncle Bob had never met Emmy and I had never met Charles' only cousin, Ashley, or her husband Zach and their kids, so it was lovely to see them. I just wish it were under healthier/less tired circumstances!  They had fixed us a lovely dinner and Emmy had fun playing with her cousins. Mac is the oldest and twins Avery and Ashton just turned one in November. So cute! It was wonderful to see them.

Giving Mac a hug. He looks thrilled, but really he was so good with her, showing her his toys, etc.

 Uncle Bob cooked us a delicious breakfast before we hit the road again Wednesday morning.  Destination this time was Missouri!  This was a long day of driving, but at least it was a little better. Emmy still didn't feel very well, but I think we avoided any puke.  Or maybe I just blocked it all from my memory. Ha! 

I did snap this photo as we headed into Missouri.  It's hard to see this size, but under the billboard is the Arch in St. Louis. Pretty cool!  I'd been to St. Louis before, but not by car so it was cool to see the scene as we drove through.

My Big Sis (from my sorority days) and her hubby are stationed at Ft. Leonard Wood and we planned to stop and stay with them for a couple of nights and give ourselves a break from driving.  That, as it turns out, was a brilliant plan. We didn't get in until supper time. April had been off all day so she had a delicious dinner waiting for us. 

Emmy was super happy to see "AA" and Uncle John again.  They came to SC for homecoming in the fall and they don't plan to be parents, but they love being and aunt and uncle and spoiling their nieces and nephews, by blood or otherwise, rotten.  Emmy definitely remembered eating skittles at the football game with them. Plus, they are just tons of fun so she had a great time with them. And, of course, Charles and I did, too.  They have been stationed far away for several years so we are super happy to be just a few hours from them this year.


We just hung out on Thursday, went on post so Charles could get a haircut (and they could buy Emmy guess what...candy).  We tried to stay close to home so E could nap and go to bed on time for a change.  She was feeling better, but still no where near 100%, and I think all the days of travel and being off of schedule were taking it's toll.  It was great to hang out and catch up. I had missed my big sis!

Living/Dining of our new house.

Friday morning we headed out and made the final leg of the journey to Kansas.  We pulled into the front gate just about 4 pm and headed straight for the housing office so we could let them know we were here and hopefully find out if a house was available for us.  They were soon going to close, so they gave us 2 sets of keys and let us go check out the two houses available.  One was move in ready, but had carpet downstairs in the living/dining areas, and the other had laminate floors downstairs, but we had to take it as is, or wait 10 days for it to be cleaned and painted. Ahh, decisions.  It was definitely exciting to be here, finally, and see in person where we would live. The houses were identical mirror images of each other.  Emmy was excited to be out of the car and to run around and up and down the stairs.  We spent awhile checking it out, then headed to the hotel. It was close to supper and bed time!

We chose this one! Laminate floors and took it as is.
Extra cleaning required. :)

Also, as an unrelated side note, Emmy decided as soon as we walked into the housing office that she had to go potty, and she pooped on the potty for the first time ever. And save a few accidents here and there, she's basically been potty trained since then. Hallelujah!

It took awhile to check in and find our room (the hotel on post is an old barracks building and it is an extremely confusing layout) and unload all our stuff. We got ready quickly to go to supper but Emmy was so tired and grumpy, she started crying and said she just wanted to stay there and snuggle on the sofa. Poor baby.  So, Charles went and picked up pizza and we had our first dinner in the tiny kitchenette of our hotel, and ended the evening with lots of snuggles on the sofa.

Our hotel. Well, this is the side where our room
was located. Not one of the prettier buildings on
post. :)

Thus ended our long, long trip from GA to KS!  If you actually read this far, wow, you must really be bored! Haha.

Getting Emmy back into a sleeping routine seemed to help, her demeanor greatly.  This was especially true once we were in our own house and she was sleeping in a separate room from us, as she started sleeping through the night again. (In the hotel and during our travels when we shared a room with her she would wake up and come get in bed with us from time to time.) It was great to see everyone, but it was also a relief to be "home" and start making our way in our new place. The last week on the road the combination of sickness, traveling, lack of sleep, change, all seemed to really affect her and she wasn't our usual happy, fairly-well-behaved girl.

I'll leave you with one final photo from our first weekend in KS.  We were browsing at the PX and Emmy was being particularly grabby and frustrating, shall we say. She wanted this, she wanted that. Ahh! And she insisted that she wanted a magazine. Hip Hop magazine, to be precise.  My, doesn't she have interesting taste in periodicals at 2 1/2?