I'll try not to cry anymore. For more reasons than one. 2/8/13

My mom left us yesterday morning not long after Parker, Jake, and I had made it to work and school.  Waaaaa!  I picked them up and then a pizza for dinner, and when I pulled into our driveway I couldn't help but be a little sad.  We got inside and I saw that she had left their Valentine's Day gifts on the kitchen counter and a note for me (or for them depending on interpretation).  "Cindi, Thanks for letting me keep Parker.  What a blessing he is to me.  Him and Jake both.  I love them dearly!  I will miss you and the boys.  I am sad as I leave.  I love you so very much!!" ~Mom 

We ate our dinner, and we left pronto to kill the last few hours of waiting for Jim to make it home from his Florida swing (work terminology) at the book store.  We looooove the bookstore.  The books, the train table, the quiet, the "real" (aka stuffed animal) versions of the characters from our favorite stories, the littles-sized chairs and benches, the stage where they do story time.  It all makes for the perfect way to not spend a night alone, to squash our sadness because our Grandma went home, to make bedtimes sooo much later than normal but who cares because the next day is Friday, and to unintentionally skip a homework assignment (parent fail right there).      

P.S.  My phone has officially been restored to its factory settings with zero backup.  So I lost all of my contacts, all of my previously downloaded apps, etc., and my entire camera roll including videos.  The only thing I was able to recover was my photo stream which was everything minus videos that I had taken over the past thirty days.  At least that's something...like Parker's first emergency visit to the dentist.  But to repeat what I stated to the Apple customer care rep..."I'm not crazy.  I'm just a mom who took her two year old to the dentist for the first time today because he fell and broke his tooth, and that's something I can't get back.  The video of him blowing out two birthday candles on his cake - I can't get that back.  And the ones of my five year old and I sliding down the jungle slide on our vacation - I can't get that back."  I also thanked him for listening and told him he had earned every cent of his paycheck for the month of February.  Sigh.  Since yesterday, I've adjusted my settings, so I won't ever be without a backup ever again.  Moving on...