The Smitty Gritty: A Visit with My Texas Twin

Last week I had the opportunity to fly to Houston to visit my dear friend, Melodee, in Houston, TX. I was there to help out for a few days, but it was such an easy trip that it didn't feel like I was really helping. Melodee and Stephen are great parents and their boys were such a joy to take care of. I learned a few parenting tips just by watching them interact with their children, and also enjoyed getting to know Mel's kids on a more personal level. Little Ryan and I spent the most time together, and I was happy to have an almost 3-year old at my side since this was the first time I'd been away from Cooper for more than a few hours since my last business trip to Atlanta back in 2011.

As soon as I got to the Charlotte airport, one of the TSA agents stopped me at security and asked if I should really be traveling this late in my pregnancy. I was like, "Excuse me? I know I look like a whale, but I do have NINE weeks left! There is no chance this baby is coming yet." Bet he'll never ask another woman that question again. Ha!

Mel and Stephen asked if I would exercise my love of all things green and help them fix a few things in their front yard. With a beautiful day upon us, I was more than happy to oblige. It was SO fun to go to the store and pick out plants and topsoil and stuff, and to get to spend someone else's money! I could have stayed there all afternoon drooling over all the different plants, but for Mel's sake, I tried to keep it quick and stick to what we'd already planned out.

Let's get to work!

Before we started, there were a bunch of dead plants and empty spaces.

We transplanted a few plants to other areas to balance things out. Keeping the bending and lifting to a minimum was easy since I physically just couldn't do it, but it was still SO hard to resist the urge to do it myself. Mel made a good assistant doing all the hard labor. I had her digging out clay and replacing it with topsoil, had her dig a riser sprinkler head to see if we could easily fix the over-spray problem killing her plants (nope--let the landscapers do that one, and have I ever mentioned how much I hate riser sprinkler heads?! Sheesh.), and such. She was a good sport.

And then came the fun of planting the new additions. Right about then Mel's oldest son, Kyle, came home from school, and so he helped me dig holes and put in the new plants.

Meanwhile, Stephen was busy putting up a hose hanger and the flag holder on the house.

I always love seeing things after all the hard work.

I look forward to seeing pictures of these plants in the future as they fill in and blossom.

True to form, on Tuesday, chemo day, we both got up and got ready for the day, not seeing each other until breakfast, where we were both wearing black pants, turquoise shirts, black sweaters, and turquoise dangle earrings. I had to laugh, since that is how our nicknames of "Twin" started for each other way back when. It was fitting then that we had at least one day out of the four that we dressed the same. We didn't capture a picture of our Twin-ness, but we've still got it!

I am so glad I was able to visit my BFF and help her and her family before baby #2 makes his debut in mine. Taking care of 3 boys also bolstered my confidence that I can take care of more than one child at a time, and that baby #2 is going to be more of a joy and less of an adjustment that I worry about sometimes.

My favorite part about the visit, besides the yard work, was just being able to talk with Mel. Some friends are hard to talk to after being apart for periods of time, but not Mel. From the minute she picked me up at the airport, to the time she dropped me off to go home, we were all chatter, just like it's always been. I love having a friend who knows me so well, and to whom I can tell anything. She always has sound advice, understands me, and seems to always give me more than I can ever give her in return, this trip included.