we made it in for gma mary's visitation on tuesday evening. the funeral was wednesday morning, followed by a luncheon and then family hang-out time. it was really good to see my parents and my aunts, uncles and cousins; to be able to have some quality time and so that they could all meet our L. we left thursday early afternoon to head back to charlotte. our trip definitely shortened the week up! friday rolled around and we had laundry and other miscellaneous stuff to get taken care of before maxwell came into town.

friday morning, max had been scheduled to get his last two wisdom teeth out, so his buddy mark drove back with him (which was a good thing since max was a little loopy from the drugs, lol). we had a good time, watched a movie friday night. saturday, i woke up with a terribly sad, upset stomach. ended up staying in bed all morning, while max and mark took L out to the coffeeshop and to do a few other things. i think max really enjoyed having L all to himself! whenever he has been in town, we are always together, trying to spend as much time together as possible, but since i was sick, he got to be solely in charge of her, which was a first for him! i was feeling a little better by the afternoon, so we all snuggled in for a movie (L watched too, ha ha!) and then mark had to head back to base. max gave L a bath, we played a few games, then passed out by 930! his sore mouth and my sad stomach made quite a silly pair!

sunday was a much better day. we all slept in, played with L, ran errands, hit up the coffeeshop and then max made his way back to base. it ended up being a decent weekend, in spite of crummy physical stuff! i posted pictures from the weekend and from today, down below the chicago pics. L is getting so big (ok, to me she is big! i know, i know, she'll only get bigger...) and is holding her head up so well. so it was time for her bumbo! which she likes and is super cute in! it is this hard foam seat thing that you sit them in and it helps them learn how to sit up. it's pretty cool!

this week holds more....thank-you notes...gosh, i feel like i am always saying that. i made a good dent in them today, so will keep trucking along on them in the next few days. it's crazy to think that i have only three more weekends with max before he deploys and we come back to MN. it's getting closer and closer and becoming all that more real. he and i have lots on our list to talk through/work on in the next few weekends, as well as just spend some good quality time together! i guess i get so excited about each upcoming weekend, that i tend to not get so caught up in his leaving...although i know it is going to hit me hard soon. i'll have to deal with that when it comes, relying on a Strength that is not my own, cause i sure as heck couldn't do life on my own!