It takes a village...

...or at least a couple of strong boys willing to help.

Last weekend Charlie finally got to cash in on his Christmas present from Blake and Ellie when they all went away for the weekend to a camp on a lake.

Fishing, games, boat rides, kayaking and all without any of the usual interruptions. Just Charlie, Blake and Ellie for some father/daughter quality time. To steal a line from Martha Stewart, "It's a good thing."

The problem with all of them being gone at the same time is that it leaves just the Toodle Bug and me.

Home. Alone.

And for those who do not know already, I can't lift her myself due to her size and my terrible, horrible, sucky, stupid, fibromyalgia which, as an added bonus on top of the daily chronic pain, causes acute muscle spasms in my back when I over exert myself.

So yeah, knowing that I was all alone with a kid who may need to be lifted out of her wheelchair for something as simple as a diaper change, to something as serious as a seizure, left me feeling rather stressed.

Enter Bobby and Hunter. Literally.

For those who don't know (though most do), Bobby is Blake's boyfriend and Hunter is Ellie's.

Late morning on day one, as I smelled a familiar odor in the air swirling about Tessie, I began to wonder how I was going to get the poor kid into a clean diaper. It seriously stinks (pun intended) to know that she is stuck sitting in something that has to be uncomfortable and can cause other issues (skin breakdown is a real issue for kids who don't move much and add a dirty diaper into the mix and you up the ante considerably on getting problems) all because I couldn't move her myself.

I was starting to feel like the worst mother in the world when, to my ever so happy surprise, in strolled Bobby. He had just gotten in from haul and even before going home to shower, he stopped by to see if Tess needed to be moved. Now that's a good guy.

Bobby got Tess on her bed so I could change her and when she was decent for boys' eyes again, he came back in her room to put her into bed for her afternoon nap. When I told him I thought I would most likely have help getting her back up, he said he would stop by in a couple of hours anyway, just to be sure.

But a couple of hours later, in walked Hunter. Again, just checking to see if Tess needed to be moved. Again, good guy. Plus, yes, she did need to be moved. So Hunter got her back in her wheelchair with plenty of assurances to me that he would be around and to just call if I needed him to come back to put her back in bed for the night (but Bobby had already said he would do that so Hunter got the night off).  Bobby came just after Hunter had left to be sure Tess had gotten out of bed from her nap.

The rest of the weekend went much the same way with the boys either just showing up at the right time or with me sending them an SOS on Facebook to which their immediate response would be, "No problem, I'm coming."

Basically, those two boys kept Tess's life running just as it usually does, just because they knew help would be needed and because they knew I was worried about being home alone with her.

Good. Guys.

Not to mention,  Tess got the thrill of being carried around by her sisters' boyfriends. Trust me when I tell you, she just LOVES when that happens.

I'm just thankful they were willing villagers last weekend.

Bobby cruising Tess around the house 

And Hunter doing the same thing