Makin' Waves...

Aaahhh... there's nothing better than lounging by the pool on a hot, humid day, baking in the blazing-bright sun, listening to the sound of water-play, watching someone else splish-splash around in refreshingly cool, chlorinated water!

Except, of course, when that someone else is your own kid and the hot, humid day is the day of her very first swimming lesson. Then, it just might be worth it... right?

Especially if, afterwards, you get to enjoy a yummy lunch you didn't have to fix yourself and dirty dishes you don't have to clean up afterwards in an air conditioned restaurant and then, after pigging-out, you get to settle down in a comfy reclining arm chair in a cool, dark theater and watch a funny movie, candy in hand.

Oh, yeah!

This was our Tuesday.

First of all, I dug deep into an old box of Jenna's clothes and found this adorable little Tweety swim suit that fit Hannah perfectly - thank goodness for hand-me-downs! It reminded me of how much I thought Jenna looked like Tweety with her big blue eyes and thick, dark lashes... and now all of my kids have 'em, but they didn't come from me, unfortunately!

I prepped Hannah for this lesson ahead of time, so first thing in the morning she's rarin to go, running around reminding us that she's going to her first swimmin' lesson. I have to remind her that she is not the only one who needs to get ready to go.  I had on summer-thin blue pjs.  They were comfortable.  But probably not appropriate at swim lessons.  

My sister-in-law, Julie, her son Josh, Hannah, Cohen and I all piled into the car and drove to the gym pool where Hannah's lesson would take place. We didn't have to go far; the gym is right down the street (Why in the heck is it so hard for me to get down there to work out?!)

Anyways...

Here's Miss Me, Me, Me, dressed and ready to go, poolside.

And here's to living...

Life on the edge! HA!
*


And takin' the plunge, finally.

Hi, mom... yes, I know you're back there...and I'm sendin' you a mental note - if I don't like it, I ain't doin' it and you can't make me FROM WAY OVER THERE! HA! :)

And then? PROGRESS.

Look at me! Wow, I can actually do this!

...As long as I have someone holding me at all times, with two hands firmly planted on a major part of my body and I'm able to stretch my neck like the true swan I am far enough away from the water to keep from getting so much as a drop of water on my sensitive chin, which means what you want me to do next is completely OUT OF THE QUESTION!

Bubble making?

Can I do that from up here?
Cuz this is about as close as I get!

And finally - finally! - finished after a trying, grueling, entire 30 minutes!
Whew! Tough Stuff!

And now I can tell everyone how great I was cuz, well, I'm not in the pool anymore!

But seriously, I was definitely a proud mommy; she did very well, considering it was her first lesson in the pool. She wasn't as scared as I thought she might be - just very, very firm on her limits! ;)

Having her own cheering section probably helped...

Josh has the right idea.
He is actually doing what I thought of doing myself cuz it was so darn hot. Did I mention that already? Oh yeah.

Cohen's not too keen on the heat, either.

Our little ball of enthusiasm...
Oh, yes, buddy! Someday, you, too, can be a Bubble Maker!

When we signed up for this gym, I had no idea how incredible the kiddie pool was.


While the kids were gearing up to go in, a buzzing/humming vibrated the whole pool area for a minute, and I'm thinking RUN FOR YOUR LIVES, PEOPLE! SOMETHING'S GONNA BLOW, but then the fountains kicked in and the water rushed down the slide, and these great big cones started filling with water and tipping over one by one to splash water into the pool below as they filled and re-filled. For kids who wanna stand underneath them and get dumped on.

Oddly enough, there are people fifty feet away or so, breathing fire and sweating like crazy on those crazy, electronic slave-driving machines - oh, yeah. I forgot where I was for a minute...

And then: the celebration luncheon ;) at Red Robin's.

Where Hannah ordered "Sgetti" and Josh ordered Pizza, but there was no marinara sauce, so Hannah settled for fettuccine and Josh, a burger - on the house! Gotta love that!

And then, across the parking lot we went to the ridiculously large and regal Palladium/IMAX theater for SHREK!


The inside actually has a restaurant and a sports bar.

Josh and Julie, bellies full, ready for the movie...

...which was pretty funny and the perfect ending to the day's events. Cohen watched over half of the movie, chuckling when the characters laughed and mumbling back when the characters got a little loud. It was very cute.

Hannah did really well too. I was surprised she didn't fall asleep in the dark theater. She actually lasted until the second she was strapped into her car seat and on the way home.

No wonder: it was a busy day for her!

I was so proud of my little mermaid in the making. Is that corny? Probably. Yes. Oh, well. When she refused to go under water today, I reminded her that mermaids swim under the water and mermaids are beautiful when they swim. She came home and repeated the very same things to grandma Judy over the telephone. And they say kids don't listen...

And I figure swimming lessons were a much better idea than the 60s rock revival she had in mind...

Right?

And the Winner is...

JIPPED!

DOH!

So, we baked brownies, got out the ice cream, settled down around 8 o'clock and called up the pre-recorded American Idol on our DVR (cuz we're on crazy central time now and everything starts at 7 O'CLOCK - pre-bed-time for kiddos).

We went through two hours of stuff. Two hours of sometimes interesting, sometimes not-so-interesting fluff stuff.
My sister-in-law and nephew even delayed ogling the final DVR'ed episode of Lost - SHOCKING, I know!

We were at the last commercial break.

And then?

Nothing. Abso-freakin-nothing!

Turns out our DVR stops exactly ON THE HOUR, and if you know FOX, you know nothing ends ON THE HOUR on that network cuz that's how they roll. Which would be fine if I would have remembered that (we missed DAUGHTRY last night for the EXACT same reason!), but then, that makes it even worse cuz our DVR has this nifty little feature where you can actually change the time to exceed the hour - and of course, I didn't remember. So it was my fault. But, oh no! I refuse to take all of the blame! I went to the guide, chose the SHOW - not the TIME - so it should have recorded the ENTIRE SHOW, right?

Oh, Whatever! Just a show. No big deal...

So we deferred to the Internet to see who won. I figure at this point they're all going to be winners, anyways. And I don't mean that in a sympathetic, idealistic Paula Abdul way, I mean it in a look-at-Daughtry way. That's right. Booted off last year and the biggest out-of-the-gate hit from American Idol, surpassing Taylor Hicks' record sales by over a million.

I always think it's funny to see all the ex-Idolers out in the audience. Like that guy, Constantine Morales? Was that his name? Cool name... but the guy? Not so sure. But why-oh-why was his mug ALWAYS in the background tonight?

And then the humor they add with their little awards segments? Not so funny, at least not to me. That stuff gets old. And sorta cruel, in a way. Like the Sanjaya performance. Maybe it's just me...I dunno.

Anyways, enough about American Idol. Congrats to what's her name. Blake will go on to do great things, I'm sure. That beat-boxing rocked! How does he do that anyways?

But, I have to admit: I loved seeing Bette Midler on the show. Really surprising, and she totally reminded me of BEACHES (ummm, maybe had to do with the song she chose? Wind Beneath My Wings) - one of the few movies I still actually have a copy of!

And then there's--
"You've got to give a little, take a little, let your poor heart break a little.
That's the story of, that's the glory of, Love..."

Ahhh... C.C. Bloom and her reliably sane sidekick Hillary Whitney.  Little pint-sized cynic Victoria.



Oh, yeah!! My sister in law's in for a treat - I told her we're going to watch it sometime soon because she's never seen it before. She laughed; I'm serious. Total chick flick! :) And I need someone to tortu-- uhumm -- watch it with me! ;)

Okay, I'm super-tired and a little looney because of it!

My Little Lefty

I've been meaning to post, but kept putting it off because my hubby wiped my laptop clean and reinstalled software that does not recognize my flash drive, so my computer can't "see" my pictures.  Bummer! Hopefully, we'll have that fixed in the next few days, but everything I wanted to post has pictures to go with it and the stories just wouldn't be complete without them!

In the meantime...

I just got Jenna off on the bus - yep, that's right. 6:30. You think that's early? Well, the last three nights have been late to bed/early to rise, or even worse: no bed at all - all night long! The fun's returned to our crazy household. Two nights ago, Jenna was up all night with a stuffy nose, which probably means allergies and an ear infection (or two) again. *sigh* But she ran crazy all day long yesterday, laughing and running and laughing and running... oh, and wreaking havoc, breaking things. Oh, yeah! Shattered glass, in the bathroom, everywhere. I took both girls in there - mind you this is our half bath, so it was pretty cramped - and had the big one sit on the potty while the little one got her diaper changed on the rug on the floor. Well, the big one did not wanna sit on the potty so she jumps up and then keeps right on jumping - up and down, up and down, grabbing anything for leverage - including a black shelf I had above the toilet, which I thought was high enough to be almost out of reach. Well, almost doesn't cut it. Isn't that what we tell our kids? Oops! Anyways, she grabs onto the shelf and jumps up and down while she pushes up and pulls down alternately, laughing like she's having a good ol' time, while I'm on the floor, trying to get up in seemingly slow motion (ummm... hello? gym? Yeah, it's me. I know I've been neglecting you, but I'll be right down!). So all of this pushing and pulling causes the darn shelf to lift up off the screws and fall on top of the toilet while its contents (four glass vials filled with glass rocks and flowers) come crashing down to the floor. Luckily, only one of the glass vials broke, so it could have been worse, but still, glass went everywhere. I grabbed both kids and lifted them up out of the bathroom to the hall, then carefully made my way out of there, too. I'm happy to say there were no injuries, except the lid on the toilet tank, which now has a crack-- or, I should say is now split completely in half! How expensive are those things anyways? Do I have to buy a whole new stinkin' toilet? Anyways, I shut the door and walked away, locking the handle and warning everyone to steer clear of the wreckage until I could muster up the energy to go back into the crime scene and clean up :) Said mess is now, happily, in the bottom of the trash can.

Needless to say, I figured if Jenna was feeling well enough to wreak all of that havoc yesterday, then her little booty was going to school today! And so off she went.

But the drama does not end there. As I sit here, hubby sits at the hospital with severe stomach pain that has had him doubled over off and on since yesterday morning. He thought it was getting better last night, but no. I'm worried, but glad he is now where someone can help him. (update: he just called, hooked up to an IV pumping fluids, oh-so-annoyed, and apparently the victim of food poisoning)

And then there's Hannah, passed out on the couch cuz she had another late-night puke-fest. These awful nights are coming more and more frequently lately and she seems to be in more pain than ever when they do come. Seriously? It's getting really old, really fast. Someone needs to help me figure out how to help her; it made me wanna cry last night. WAAAAHHHHH! (I only get to do that here, so sorry if I get a little repetitive!) Not that I can't handle this, I can, I just don't have the medical knowledge to nail down the cause of it all. Her blood tests came back negative for blood sugar problems (ie., childhood diabetes) so that's not the cause. Maybe when Cohen's blood test results come back, we'll have an answer for Hannah too (if it's genetic). But we're waiting for a sleep study now to rule out (or not) sleep apnea. It's amazing how many children are having trouble sleeping at night in this neck o' the woods - seems like just about every parent I talk to is struggling with sleep issues with their little ones and is waiting for a sleep study or a doctor appointment. I joked that it must be contagious (lack of sleep) but no one really finds it funny - go figure! Hey, laughter helps keep me sane.

We took Cohen in to get blood drawn for chromosome testing on Friday - finally! Only two weeks late! He was not happy - especially when they took his thumb away (which, I might add, he is becoming really dependent on again - ugh!) They say 2-3 weeks for results. If you happen to be a medical doc and are reading this, I would love suggestions - not to mention a little free advice. The medical bills... Just when ya think you're headin' for good times, the bad ones come along and knock you off your feet. What's that saying... in for a bumpy ride? That's us all right. Note to God: When, oh when, are you gonna fix those soul-jarring ruts in the road? Isn't that your department?

Finally, Jenna and I colored together for a little -- or rather, I colored while she doodled and watched her reflection in the window doodling ;)...and it was really nice. But I couldn't help wondering...she's left handed, or seems to be, at least. Her dad's left-handed. The neurologist says her brain activity spikes on the right side, which would explain why her right side is weak and her left side is stronger, right? Well, would she have been left handed if she hadn't suffered brain trauma? Not that anyone can really answer this and not that it really matters, but sometimes thoughts like that pop into my head, even though I know better than to think them! Like, would she have been a dancer? An artist? A swimmer? A singer? (although, I can tell you, judging by her very loud, very off-key attempts to scream/sing, I think I already know the answer to that one!) Would I be going to cheerleading or softball or swim team practice right now? Or getting ready for a dance recital, buying costumes and such? :( I think lack of sleep is making me a drama queen.  Ugh, sorry. Anyways, regardless of which hand she prefers or what her strengths and weaknesses are, I love her so much.

My beautiful little lefty :)

So anyways, much more to tell, but I gotta get those pictures on here first! I promise my next post will be funny or uplifting. Sorry if I'm rambling-- and again, I really, really, wish I liked coffee!!!

TIMBER!

Two nights ago my husband walked Hannah into the bedroom and turned on a twenty-minute movie in anticipation of bedtime. He walked back out and two minutes later we hear this loud, horrifying, heart-stopping CRASH!

I took off running a split second before I heard her scream. I'll never forget the first impression I got. She was lying face-down on the floor with a very tall, very heavy chest of drawers on her back. Her chin dug into the floor as she fought to look up at me with her tear-streaked eyes, pleading for help. I grabbed the top corner of the dresser and tried to lift, but it was no use: the more I pulled back, the more the drawers fell out. I yelled for Craig, who was really right behind me all along, but time sslllooowwweddd to a virtual stop, so he might as well have been on another planet or swimming upstream in a raging river.

I was terrified, thinking broken bones, cracked ribs, internal bleeding...well, you know how it is. It usually always looks worse than it actually is.

You can imagine my relief when Craig and I got that offending pile of solid wood off my poor, freaked-out kid. I grabbed her up in my arms - yeah, thank goodness there was no internal bleeding, right? - and covered her in kisses. Other than a curved, scarlet scratch stretching down her back, she was fine and dancing around - pain-free - ten minutes later. Could have been much worse, I know, but her ingenious little plan (!) to transform the dresser into a ladder helped - at least the drawers were open to break its fall.

I can't help thanking GOD for my husband. For the fact that he was there and able to help. I couldn't have done it alone, that's for sure.

But this scare got me thinking about how hectic our lives have become, about how we've been "hit" with multiple different issues lately, mainly health-related, that have caused us to pool our strength together and fight back!!! Just as I needed Craig to help me lift the dresser for Hannah, I need him to help me lift the weight of everything off our shoulders when the drawers won't stop falling on us and we're already down.

This brings me to the latest tag, you're it thingy... what five things do I love about my husband and in what five ways do I want to be a good/better wife? This is perfect timing. I think my marriage needs a pick-me-up, mainly because our kids get all of the attention lately! WAAAHHH!

So here goes:

1. I love my husband's stay-the-fight attitude. He's in it for the long haul and in his mind, there's no backing down - even when the going gets tough. We've had a lot of bumps in the road lately that neither of us anticipated and we're making it through them, together. I love the fact that he would never think to leave or cop out because he can't handle the stress. Hello?! He knows how devastating that would be to his family, to his wife - whom he loves very much ;) In my heart I know a lesser man would have walked by now. And that's the truth. I'm so grateful for his devotion, for his commitment to his family! He's a loving father, a supportive husband and we're so lucky to have him. When Jenna wakes up in the wee hours of the morning, it's DADDY!!! she calls for. When Hannah wants to run around and get a little rowdy, Daddy's up for the challenge. And Cohen... well, I can see many father-son memories ahead.

2. My hubby is all about taking care of his family. He knows he has a job to do and he does it because he wants to. His desire to shelter and protect his family drives him, lights a fire under his bootie and motivates him like nothing else would! He's willing to work multiple jobs and long hours if he has to in order to reach our financial goals without going under as the medical bills drop from the sky like rain! He has big ideas for the future and I love that he is striving for something more than the everyday mundane. Paychecks aren't enough; living a life debt-free and full of investment return is our ultimate goal. Ultimately, we'd love to live somewhere relaxing because, hey, if we have to be stuck at home a lot, we might as well live where we can enjoy the view! So as long as he continues to dream big dreams, I continue to hope big hopes! :) HA!

3. My husband and I always joke that we're turning into nearly the same people. Note: I said nearly, not the same! We're able to talk about life and people together and share many of the same views. I know when I'm out somewhere and someone does something that totally bugs or offends me I can go home and share it with someone who will understand where I'm coming from. He hears things that I can't talk about with anybody else. He is my confidante. My partner and my supporter.

4. I like how comfortable I am in his presence. He makes me feel safe and secure and I can't imagine feeling that way without him in my life. He tries to understand me as much as possible and is willing to meet me half way on things. And he's always able to admit when he's wrong, even when he may be caving in to appease me a little :) In addition, he's always loved me for me, without requiring that I maintain a certain appearance or act a certain way - purely unconditional. When I was pregnant with my first baby I swelled. Very, very badly. I'm talking nearly unrecognizable. I remember one particular day I was really uncomfortable and depressed. I couldn't wear any shoes, and my socks wouldn't even squeeze over my swollen purple walking stumps! On that day, we went out to lunch together and before we got out of the car, Craig leaned over for a kiss. I started to cry. "Why do you still want to kiss me?" I asked. "Because I love you, silly." That was it. That simple.

5. I love, love, love how smart he is. Seriously, we used to watch Who Wants to be a Millionaire? and Craig would make it all the way to the top with lifelines still intact. He has this uncanny ability to remember stuff he learned in high school. Who does that at 30?! This knowledge carries over into all areas of life: home, school and work. At work, Craig jumps right in and learns whatever it is that he doesn't already know. He strives to be valuable, and he's so good at it that he climbed the professional ladder within his career field in what I think of as record time. This also comes in handy when I have a question about something - as long as it doesn't have to do with autos or major home repairs, although if he really wanted to learn that too, I know he could and would! (Love ya, honey!) - and it's great to have a personal human almanac along for this crazy ride through life.

Now as for me and my goals as a wife, I guess this is something I should think about more often, but here goes my list:

1. When the storms get turbulent, I want to find a better way to weather them. Sometimes I get a bit cranky when multiple things are going on at once and my lucky husband has to deal with my frustration. I guess I think he should be reading my mind and anticipate what I need!!! Unfair, I know, and I gotta work on that! I need to provide more structure at home, more organization for my family. With all the craziness, it's challenging to provide regularity, but this is a major goal for me. I know my hubby would love it. I want to make our home a sanctuary for us; the more organized we become, the easier our jobs will be as parents - and we could both benefit from that!

2. We need some more romance up in here! I guess this happens a lot when you have a large family, but it doesn't have to. Right? We need to spend more time on us and I need to do my part. Maybe more little surprises, a few love notes, some pick-me-ups when he needs it. And many more "I Love You"s to get us through... Oh, and we DESPERATELY need date nights! With just us. We never get those anymore. When you have a child with special needs (make that 2 now), childcare becomes more challenging. I want my kids to feel comfortable, special and loved by whoever comes into our home and that takes time and patience to find the right person. It's a bit more difficult since we've moved away from everyone, but we'll figure it out. We do have someone now who helps out occasionally and I'm loving that! Need to take more advantage of it, in fact. We did go see Spider-Man the other day and it was sooooooo nice! Totally relaxing - except when it was running late and I knew I needed to feed baby. We rushed home, but felt recharged nonetheless.

3. I need to be more supportive of his work. I know I said how proud I was of him earlier, but sometimes I get a little bitter. I start to feel lonely because I'm alone at home dealing with everything while he gets interaction... ADULT interaction. I miss that! And living out here has proved challenging for me. Cultivating new relationships takes effort and sometimes it's easier to hibernate at home. I know he would love to get out more with me and that would totally solve the issue. So what am I complaining about, anyways? I got the best job in the world - raising my kids.

4. I need to gather more strength from faith and God, and maintain a positive outlook on life. The stronger I am, the stronger my marriage will be. I want my husband to have confidence in me no matter what.

5. I want to find more humor in life, and in our marriage. This blog helps cuz I laugh at my own jokes and that makes me happy... and a dork! ;) But there's nothing better than laughter to help you through the day... and a marriage. We need that. Nothing has to be as gloomy as it seems unless you let it. Humor lets in the light and allows us to smile and to dream. Plus, if I'm happy, he's happy and vice versa. Gotta love laughter!

My husband and I just celebrated (well, in our heads and hearts, at least!) our NINTH wedding anniversary. Despite everything we've been through, we're still going, outliving many crumbling marriages around us. I don't know how we got here, but I do know that as long as we continue to work on our marriage we're destined for great things, together. As we should be.

Well, that's it! I am supposed to forward this along, but I don't have a lot of active blogger friends. I really started this blog to keep family and friends up to date on our lives out here. Oh, well. I'll just enjoy reading all of your posts...