Jake was away the last four days (Friday-Monday) at a conference in Florida. He was invited to represent UCLA, which was such an honor!

The last time he attended a conference to present his paper, only about 3 people showed up because his session was the very last one on the very last day, so attendance was very sparse. He was pleased to have around 15 people at his session this time!

What made the trip especially exciting was his brother from D.C. decided to tag along to the conference and then fly back to LA with Jake. It felt special to show his brother this side of his life. His brother got a peek into what it is like to be in the field of economics.

While it was a fun time, it was far from relaxing. Jake had days packed full of sessions and events. It was a lot of networking and socializing. And maybe it was the time difference or the fan in the bathroom that wouldn’t turn off or maybe because he missed Cindy & Baby R, but he had a really hard time sleeping at night.

During breaks and free time, Jake and his brother adventured through Fort Lauderdale. They got caught in a downpour on their way to a restaurant. Had they known the downpour would be over in 10 minutes, they might have waited it out. But they decided to run through the rain, arriving drenched. They watched a World Cup game and had a real bro moment.

Jake had a great time in Florida, but by Monday was missing his girls and was ready to be reunited with Cindy and Baby R.

---

The last time Jake went off to a conference, Cindy was terrified of solo parenting. But this time around, she was excited! She had a fun weekend of activities for her and Baby R to do. And once Baby R went down for the night, Cindy planned on relaxing, doing some face masks, reading her new book, and catching up on her shows and movies… The Crown, The Kardashians, and Disenchanted…to name a few. But of course, man plans and God laughs. Her perfectly planned weekend quickly descended into chaos.

It started Saturday morning when the water heater broke. Of course, these things always have to happen on a weekend. And of course it had to happen when Jake was out of town. Cindy thought about sticking out the weekend with no hot water, but because Baby R had a pretty nasty diaper rash going on she decided to go home to her parents. Good thing she did, because Baby R’s diaper rash had gotton so severe that it hurt to wipe. So whenever Baby R pooped, Cindy would rinse her off in the shower.

Sunday, Cindy and Baby R started to come down with what we initially thought was just a mild cold. But it turned out to be a nasty stomach bug. They spent the next few days sleeping it off. And barely eating a thing. Cindy had bought tons of snacks and soda to indulge in. But she barely touched any of it. Baby R slept so much, she grew right out of some clothes, literally overnight!

The weekend was far from relaxing and far from perfect. But the silver lining is that Cindy got to spend lots of time with family (both hers and Jake’s). Jake’s dad came over Monday morning to be around when the water heater was being replaced. Just having another adult around gave her peace of mind. We are so thankful and fortunate to have family close by. Cindy’s not sure how she would have survived the weekend without all the help.

And another positive is that Cindy did get to have a very fun and enjoyable Friday with Baby R. Maybe because the other days were so awful, the memory of Friday is even sweeter.

Jake is back home and we have a busy week ahead of us! We have Thanksgiving celebrations and a trip!! We haven’t really had a moment to relax and enjoy being together again, but it is much better to go through the busyness and craziness together rather than alone.