What a yesterday and HOME 6 months

First of all, sweet CiCi has been home 6 months today. She is absolutely the apple of our eye. She is loving and clingy, happy and serious. She has the funniest sense of humor and she is a total mess. She gets into everything!!!!!!!! She is stubborn and smart. She crawls up and down stairs like a champ, but at 14 months still refuses to walk. She loves her brothers and she is jealous of my attention to them. Her personality cracks us up. It is so not what I expected out of a little girl and at the same time it fits our family perfectly and I can't imagine her any other way. She has truly and completely stolen our hearts and I am forever grateful to all the wonderful, selfless people that took part to make her part of our family.

Yesterday...

Glad it is over. Started the morning early with a moving company that came to our house to completely rearrange it for me. Our house has a strange layout and I have tossed and turned over where the kids rooms should be so that they are close to me, but also so that they are all near each other. My boys have shared a room for the past 2 1/2 years. Arby (at almost 9) really wanted his own room. To do this he has taken a small room that is really probably an office and Kenz got the playroom. Kenz is very excited that he gets the big room with all the stuff, but is not at all excited to have his own room. He is honestly scared to death and I feel so sorry for him. DH is sleeping in his room for a few days to help him adjust. Anyway I worked all morning yesterday moving stuff and setting everything back up with CiCi attached to my hip. I knew yesterday by the way she was acting that she was not feeling well and today she and Arby woke up with a stomach bug. Lots of fun.

Arby started back to school yesterday (but stayed home sick today). I picked him up , stopped by TCBY for an afternoon treat and headed home. I was on the main very busy street in our city and it was close to rush hour. All the sudden the car in front of me was at a dead stop (in a moving lane) with his left blinker on trying to get into the turn lane. I hit my brakes hard and the anti lock kicked in and I could feel my car stopping in the strange way that it does when those anti lock brakes kick in (definitely not on a dime). I don't know if I would have or did stop in time when all of the sudden I was slammed in the back - at which point I did hit the car in front of me (if I had not already hit him which I am not sure) Thankfully all of us were OK. The kids were freaked out but no one was hurt. We all moved over to a parking lot and called the police. Had it just been me and the car in front of me, I think we would have just said "No harm done" and walked away. I expected the back of my car to be all messed up and unbelievably it was not. I had a few scratches and a small dent, but that was it. Unfortunately the Toyota Tundra (big truck) behind me was pretty smushed in the front. The police officer talked to each of us separately and talked to the other two drivers first. They both said that the last car hit me into the first car. I told the officer I wasn't sure, but he went with their stories which gave a ticket only to the guy behind me. I really feel it was the first guys fault, but it seems they never ticket the cars in front - always the ones that actually do the hitting. I left feeling very sorry for the guy that hit me from behind. His first reaction after the wreck was to ask me if my kids were OK - the other guy never even acknowledged that I had kids nor that he caused the wreck and could have prevented it by moving forward (since there was absolutely no one in front of him) once he (should have) heard brakes screeching behind him. The guy behind me had a damaged truck and he got the ticket while the front guy got completely off the hook (He wanted to just leave from the beginning and not even call the police). I have been bothered by this wreck all day today. I am a nervous wreck driving now and I just can't say enough how thankful I am no one was hurt. I am also very much appreciating the toughness of my SUV and lost a little guilt for driving such a gas guzzling, air polluting vehicle knowing that if I had been in a smaller car or wagon (like I had considered driving) Kenz, who was sitting in the back seat, would probably have been hurt.

The weird thing - the last time I had a wreck was on this same very busy street when I was 16 years old. I was going in the opposite direction and in the left hand lane. Someone a few cars up from me was making a left hand turn. At some point everyone in front of my car started slamming their brakes and I started slamming mine while staring straight at two little boys. They were in the car in front of me, not in their seatbelts, but on their knees facing backwards (looking at me). All I kept thinking was please don't let me hit that car and I held my brake as tight as I could knowing that I was about to be hit from behind. The guy behind me never noticed the brake lights ahead and never made any effort to stop which I could see looking in my rear view mirror. He was very nice and apologetic and completely admitted this to the police. His car was damaged as well, but he knew, as all of us did , that we were all very lucky because that wreck could have been so much worse. It is amazing how vividly I remember that wreck and how often I have told my boys about it so that they know not ever to take off their seatbelts. It is so strange the similarities between my only two (real - I have definitely bumped into a few things - like a mailbox and a basketball goal...) wrecks - 18 years apart. I hope never to be involved in another one!!!!!!!!!