Vacation Pics

Drum roll please..........

Vacation

We went on our first real family vacation. I had intended to blog every day about our adventures, but well, it didn't happen. I've discovered that blogging doesn't seem to be my forte. I really admire those that are able to do it on a daily basis. Or even a weekly basis!

Anyhoo... we left on Sept. 25th, and headed for Jacksonville, Florida. We flew, which was not as bad as I thought it would be with four kids in tow. The Baby was the most challenging, of course, but even he did pretty well. We were smart, and flew from San Diego to Dallas, had a two hour layover, and then flew on to Jacksonville. Each leg of our flight was just a bit over two hours, so the boredom and fidgetyness was pretty manageable. Plus I brought along the portable DVD player and Wow Wow Wubbzy DVD's. Wow Wow Wubbzy is my savior.

In Jacksonville, we were visiting The Man's family- his Granny and Dad, and a whole lot of cousins and aunts and uncles. We were there for two weeks, which was probably about 3 days too long, but we survived. We did a lot of sight-seeing: the Atlantic Ocean, Kennedy Space Center, St. Augustine.... and we drank lots of sweet tea. I love sweet tea.

The kids enjoyed being spoiled, and Granny and Grandpa (but Granny mostly) enjoyed spoiling them. They loved searching the beach for shells and shark teeth (the man found two shark teeth for them.) I think #1 enjoyed going to the Kennedy Space Center, and to the old Spanish fort at St. Augustine the most.

We came back home on Oct. 8th, and have been trying to recover, but jumping back into the daily grind has been difficult. I have pictures that I will post in the next day or two, so check back if you want to see them!

"But, but... it was an ACCIDENT!"

Boys. You can't live with them, and you can't tie them up and shove them in the back of the closet.

Today #2 got in trouble at school for "accidentally" punching someone in the face. How do you "accidentally" punch someone in the face, you ask? Well, you're a 7 1/2 year old with the self control of a 4 year old, who has to flail and exuberantly demonstrate what happened when someone got hit in the face with a ball. You can't just use words to tell the group of kids who asked what happened to Timmy. That would be too easy. Obviously the situation called for a re-enactment.

Now, I know what you're thinking- he didn't purposely punch the boy in the face. He didn't punch him out of anger. I wholeheartedly agree. However, he still hurt someone else because he couldn't control his limbs. If this were an isolated incident, it wouldn't be a problem for me in the least. But #2 has a looooong history of hurting people because he can't watch where he is going, or what he is doing, or because he's acting crazy, or because he wants to do something and someone is in his way..... I hope he outgrows this soon. I hate the idea that one of my kids has no regard for other people- most of the time he has to be told to apologize when he hurts someone else. It's like he's oblivious to the fact that his actions cause other people pain. Oh, but watch out if someone bumps into him or knocks him down! You'd think he had an arm chopped off in most cases.

The Man and I have warned #2 numerous times that one of these days he's going to hurt the wrong person, and rather than the victim running and telling the yard-duty lady, he's going to get punched in the face himself. I know this is evil of me, but part of me thinks a punch in the face on the playground is just what he needs to "get" it. Not that I want him to get hurt mind you, but he seems to be one of those kids that has to learn things the hard way.

Sigh.

Big Day!

Today we are going to the annual NICU Graduates Reunion at the hospital where #3 was born. We've only gone once before, when he was 2 1/2. It was a fun-filled, but emotionally difficult day for us two years ago. Hopefully today will be easier. #3 is old enough to have a little bit of an understanding of what a preemie is, and he knows pictures of himself when he sees them. (For a time, he thought any baby that he saw that had a breathing tube was him.) He is excited to meet the doctor who saved his life, and he plans on hugging and kissing his primary nurse- one of his favorite pictures is of the first time I bathed him, assisted by Nurse Imelda.

The hardest part of the day is seeing all the other preemies who have disabilities, or are still on oxygen and feeding tubes. It is just a reminder of what could have been. I know, I know. I should feel blessed- and I do! But I also question why we were so lucky to have come through this preemie journey basically unscathed, while others will struggle for years, if not for their entire lives. How does God decide which babies will be spared the long term health problems so often associated with prematurity? I know I will never get an answer to that question, but it doesn't stop me from asking.

Good Deed for the Day

Today I had to run a couple of quick errands. As I was unloading #3 and The Baby from the car, I noticed two women with two young children standing about 6 feet away from the open door of a car. The women seemed a little frantic as they stared into the car. I asked them if they were okay, and one of the women told me there was a snake in the car! I asked if it was a large snake, and she said she didn't know how big it was, she was too scared to look closer. So, I strapped The Baby into the stroller, and walked over to the car. I had to look, right? I have no idea what I thought I would do. I mean, NO WAY am I touching a snake! But I have a few sand toys in the back of my mini van, and a couple of beach umbrellas, so I thought MAYBE we could use something to whack the snake out of their car. Provided it wasn't a rattle snake or a man-eating anaconda, of course.

So, I cautiously approach their car, and what I see laying along the door jamb, is a dead blue bellied lizard! From end to end the lizard was at most 5 inches long. I was actually impressed that I was able to control my urge to laugh hysterically! I used a shovel and a bucket from my mini van, and scooped the poor deceased lizard out of the car. At first the two women didn't believe me when I told them it was a lizard, and it was dead. It was only after I pointed out the legs, and the fact that it wasn't running away from us, that they believed me!

The women thanked me profusely, and #3 thought I was a hero of epic proportions. Although, he was very concerned about how the lizard met his demise.

Poetry

I used to dabble a bit in poetry while I was in college. I've been thinking about trying to write again, and then someone on the mommy board that I run wanted to start a writing group, so I thought I would try my hand at it again. I don't know if I'm any good, but I miss being creative, so here goes nothing!

Untitled

I longed to see the tiny blip of you on the screen
to feel the swell of my belly
Finally, you became reality and grew within my womb
I treasured every kick from within
every flutter of movement
every heartbeat heard with the doppler
And then you were gone
your body tiny and battered
with transparent skin
ripped from your home within me
I laid on the table and tried not to breathe
I could not remain in this world without you-
the child who skipped through my dreams
I held my breath
wishing to be taken from this life
but his voice called me back
pleading for me to remain with him
begging for me to open my eyes
promising you would fight
and live
and together we would cherish you for an hour
or a day, or a week

A Funeral and Flooding and Swimming Lessons, Oh My!

Ahhhh..... time to blog again! I'm not sure what happened. It wasn't a planned hiatus, I swear! Time just got away from me, and for a while I was really lacking in the motivation department, and for a few weeks I really just didn't have much time. So, here's the run-down of what has been going on under the laundry heap:

• The Man and I lost another friend to cancer. It was brain cancer this time. Our friend, Robert, was 42, married, and has two young sons. Really a tragic situation that hit close to home for The Man. Robert fought a long battle, and he did it with such grace. He never pitied himself. Instead he lived every day to it's fullest. He will always be missed.
• We had a plumbing leak in the living room wall, which resulted in a ton of drywall being ruined in both the living room and kitchen- as well as my kitchen floor and living room carpet. We had these huge industrial fans all over the place for 5 days to dry all the wood and carpeting. The contractors will come next week to repair the walls. The silver lining is that I wanted new carpet and kitchen flooring anyways, only now insurance will be paying for it! It's been a bit of an inconvenience though.
• The kids were on summer vacation, but since we have year-round school, they went back on July 27th. It was a good vacation. We saw some friends that The Man and I have known for about 15 years, but haven't seen since before The Baby was born. The kids and I spent time at the library, the zoo, and swimming lessons. #1 has turned into quite the fish. Last summer, he could barely swim, and this summer, he moved up to the highest level of lessons that our YMCA offers. The next step would be trying out for the swim team, but we decided against that for this year. #2 still can't swim. Well, that's not entirely true. He can swim a little when I am in the water with him. But at lessons, he just won't show the instructor that he can do it. He would rather play. #3 started out the summer very nervous of being in the water. Not scared, just timid. He has overcome that ten-fold, and loves being in the water now. At the end of his lessons, he was even able to swim a few feet on his own.
  
• School is back in session, and #1 is in 5th grade. He was selected for safety patrol this year, and he also qualified for GATE. It should be an exciting year for him. #2 is in 2nd grade. So far things are good. He has a strict teacher (that I requested) and I think she will be wonderful for him. He still has serious impulse control problems, but he is starting to understand that he can't do anything he wants. #3 started preschool last week. Talk about a bittersweet day! Just 4 1/2 short years ago we weren't sure if he would even survive, and if he did, we were told to expect developmental delays. He sure showed all the experts!
• Oh! I almost forgot- #1 broke the pinkie finger on his left hand, and has a cast all the way up to his elbow. He was playing catch with a football, and got his finger bent backwards. He told The Man when it happened, but The Man figured it was just a jammed finger. From what I'm told, that's a common injury in the male species. But the next day, his finger was very swollen, and he had no feeling in it, and was losing feeling in the ring finger next to it. So we went to urgent care for x-rays. Sure enough, it was broken. He thought it was kind of cool to have a broken finger, but now he's two weeks into having a cast on his arm, and the novelty has worn off!
  

So, that's the nutshell. I'll try my best to not take two months to post my next blog!