Ride Home

Every year for my birthday, I go to the greatest steak house.  The steak is always done to perfection, the sides are always the ones that I love and I get to spend time with some of my favorite people in the world. 

I love the way my dad grills steak!

For this trip, we decided to test out if we could all 5 travel back and forth to Houston in our Fusion, meaning 3 kids in close quarters in the backseat.  The drive up wasn't too bad, but the drive back was awful. The kids were tired and not happy when someone encroached on their space.  About an hour into the 3 hour drive, I had Darren pull over. When I opened Jackson's door and told him to 'get out', he looked at me and said in all seriousness "are you going to leave me here?".  I had to reassure him through my giggles that we were just switching seats so I could ride in the back.  For anyone concerned, we have a sensor in the front seat that turns off the airbag when a child rides up front.  Yes, we know it is safer in the back-that just was no longer an option since we just couldn't go any further with all 3 in the backseat.  It was brutal and I'm very glad we ran the experiment before making it a permanent choice!

So for the remainder of the drive back to Austin, I rode in the middle seat in the back.  Not fun, but a few minutes in, Matthew grabbed my hand to hold it and he promptly went to sleep.  I think this might have been the first time I've ridden with Matthew in the backseat since his first day-- the trip back from the pediatrician's, where we found out that he had no thumbs.  I remember that trip back from the doctor's office so vividly-- staring at Matthew's hands, watching Darren up front trying to drive without using his thumbs, crying, and generally just being scared out of my mind.  This trip was so different. Those 4 little fingers were intertwined with mine and I felt nothing but love, happiness, and total contentment.  So very different!

Mattie hanging at the park earlier this week.