Rollin' with the Punches

As a parent, I am constantly given huge in your face gentle reminders that a huge part of parenting is learning to roll with whatever challenges life throws at you.  As parents we plan, plan, plan, down to the littlest detail.  And then we have to be prepared to throw it all right out the window on seconds notice.

My Fourth of July was kind of like this.

Skip and I were so excited for the 4th.  He was off duty, which pretty much never happens and we were going to enjoy the day to the fullest.  Nothing too crazy was planned, just a morning parade, playing outside all day, and then a cookout with my baby-sis and her husband.  We knew Charlie would freak if we took them to fireworks, so we were just going to keep Emmy awake to watch them on TV.  Nothing too crazy, just a fun-filled family day.

I was so excited about our little day as a family that I really should have been paying much closer to the little signs that morning.  Mainly when Emmy kept complaining her stomach hurt.  Which is very unlike her.  Skip and I thought it was a bathroom issue, and figured as long as we watched the parade near where the restroom was, we'd be okay.

So we all got dressed in our red, white, and blue, packed a ton of drinks, snacks, and sunscreen, and headed out.  I was really excited to see the parade because our governor {who you might see running for President in a few years} was going to be in it.

We were just pulling into the town the parade was being held when everything changed for the day.  Poor sweet Emmy threw up all over herself.  Skip immediately turned around and headed back home.  No parade today. 

So instead of a flag-waving, hot dog eating, baby pool splashing, fireworks watching kind of 4th, ours looked like this:

Emmy in her jammies only managing to keep down a Popsicle all day.  She then took a long nap in the afternoon and was asleep by 7:00pm.  No fireworks for this girl.

We cancelled on my baby sis coming over, since we didn't want them to get sick.  So I spent most of the day bleaching the whole house trying to get rid of all the germs.

Charlie tried her best to keep up with the spirit of the 4th.  She rocked her dress and ate some red, white, and blue strawberries with her lunch. 

And even after I changed her clothes, she still kept up with some flag waving of her own. 

As Skip and I were watching The Help that night {by that point we didn't even feel like watching the fireworks} we both said how disappointed we were that we didn't get to have a typical Fourth of July like everyone else.

But when you have kids, you always have to expect the unexpected...and find joy in the small moments.  So even though our holiday was "ruined", it was so nice to take a relaxing day and have the whole family together.

Plus, I was taking the girls down the shore on Saturday for my sister's Fourth of July party.  So we would have a wonderfully patriotic time, right?  Right?

Stay tuned tomorrow to see how that went!