We’re nearing the end of Spring Break.  It’s been good but way too short, as usual.  The kids and I spent a few days with my parental units at their Port Ludlow beach house.  I have spent this little ‘vacation,’ as often happens, exhausted and coming down with a cold.  It’s impressive but also frustrating that somehow my body ‘knows’.  I haven’t had to use any of my built-in make-up days for music class this year as I’ve managed – when I have not felt well – to do so only Tuesday-Sunday or during vacation.  It’s convenient and yet annoying at the same time.

At any rate, the biggest thing going on with me lately is my constant thoughts of house projects!  I don’t know if it’s the Spring that brings this on (you know, new beginnings and all that) or the fact that I still have a couple of big house projects lingering from post-move last summer, but I’m ITCHING to have endless resources and endless time to do endless projects.  Obviously, none of that is realistic, but a girl can dream, right?  And dream I have!

Thanks to the time-suck that is Pinterest (pinterest.com, if you don’t know it) and thanks to a tip from my book club friend, Molly, a – dare I say? – even-more-magical-than-Pinterest website called houzz.com (perfect when it comes to all your house-planning-dreaming needs), I’ve spent probably an unhealthy amount of time planning projects that will last me the next ten-twenty-plus years (but in my head I can somehow manage to do them all by myself this summer).

My first priority project is getting our master bathroom painted and the big mirror reinstalled.  When they remodeled the house before we moved in, they’d taken down the enormous wall-sized mirror above the sinks and vanity (and put it in the garage) and installed two small oval mirrors.  Sure, they’re cute and all, but they’e tiny…and low.  Mike actually has to KNEEL to see himself for shaving. Because of how they installed the little mirrors (with light fixtures above), we will also have to rework the lighting.  I’m all about the painting and easy projects but the more involved stuff like lighting will require Mike’s help.  We’ve had the paint – a very light sky blue – since last summer when I was on a total project-roll, but then, huh, funny! For some reason, getting our old house ready to move (with tons of projects to do from the inspection list), plus packing, then moving and then painting nearly every room here and then Deck Restoring the entire quite large deck, I just kinda ran outta steam.  Weird!  But, now I’m ready!  In addition to the light sky blue on the walls, I’m going to paint the long vanity a deep, dark teal.  My mom had done that at their condo at Port Ludlow and it looks fabulous!  There’s also an old ladder in the garage and I’m toying with the idea of removing the boring ‘ol towel bar and painting the ladder the same teal to use for a multiple towel rack between the shower and tub.  It would fit perfectly and (at least in my head) look awesome.  Get on board, Mikey!  I’m getting all sorts of crafty! 

 

I know, technically, you shouldn’t post crappy, junky “before” photos ‘til you can at least show a good “in progress” photo or, even better, an “after” picture, but seeing as these projects will take me a while and I want you to be able to see what I’m talking about, I’m going to break the rules! 

One outdoor dream I have is to upcycle or repurpose some old cabinet, table or shelf thingies and install a big potting bench/garden storage area on the ugly backside of the garage (which is also by the office window).  Nothing grows well there due to the shade and because of the swamp nature of that particular part of our yard, so it’d be a good place to put it.  Plus, the empty walls are ugly, it would be convenient to have my gardening stuff out there AND it would open up storage space in the garage.

Just below the deck (where those four square stones are), we removed a small maple tree that was planted WAY too close to the house.  We replanted it at the bottom of the ravine and so far it seems to be doing great!  In that open bark spot, I’d like to put a small stone patio and either build or buy (either second hand or end of the season sale) a fire pit.  So fun!

 

Another huge project right now is building an L-shaped raised vegetable bed in the backyard just beyond the deck.  The longest part of the L (along the retaining wall where those three pots are) will be about 16 feet long; the shorter part (right below the deck) will be 10 feet long.  After lots of research (thank you, Pinterest and Houzz), I think I’m actually going to use the same retaining wall stone blocks that we had at the old house.  I know how to work with them; they’re sturdy and permanent and look good.  But they weigh a butt-ton and figuring out how many we’ll need and how to get them all here is tricky…and again, will require Mike’s help.  It’s not that Mike doesn’t want to help, he just has other things (like working, installing new garage door openers and assistant coaching Matthew’s little league baseball team) that he needs to be doing.  I’m also thinking that I’ll upcycle the sides of our old crib (that we can’t donate due to the now-illegal drop-down side) to use as a small fence along the back of the garden bed.  They can also be used for plant trellises.  I’ll sand them down and stain them with some of our maroon deck stain.  The garden stones will be gray, the little fence maroon – do you see how it will all perfectly tie in with the deck colors?  I know no one cares about these details as much as I do, but oh well.  You’re reading my blog, you’re along for my ride!  Plus, it’ll be fun for me to look back and see how I wanted things to be…and compare to how they actually turn out. 

 

 

I know this project is way bigger than it seems in my head (where I actually think I might be able to get the bed built AND planted THIS season.)  Huh! We’ll see about that.

 

 

 

In conclusion, I’ll post a picture of the one little beautifying project that I have done recently.  Thanks to some seriously frugal finds I was able to set this up at the front door.  The pillow, vase and dried fleurs were all found at a thrift store and are the PERFECT colors for us and I bought the chair at Lowes for less than $20.  I’m a huge fan.  This is my new morning coffee spot as the sun is actually on that side.  I can still sit on the deck (once the weather warms up).  Plus, I can sit here and wait for the boys as they come home from the bus stop (on the one day a week they walk home sans me but with their neighbor buddy).

Easter 2013

It’s been a big week and today is an important day for our family.  It’s my dad’s birthday.  Today also marks the day that Mike’s mom died.  Yesterday was Easter.  We had a two and a half hour baseball practice on Saturday…I am  pooped!

 

 It’s been a FULL few days – weeks, actually.  I haven’t cleaned the house in…who knows how long.  Two weeks ago I was sick, right after that we were gone all weekend for an Engaged Encounter retreat.  Then last week was crazy nuts with basketball, baseball, a playdate, I had ladies’ Bunco night and Holy Week services.  I’m ready for summer vacation!!  We only have five more days until Spring break though, so at least that’s coming.  Last night, after getting home from Easter dinner at my parents’, I checked the calendar to see what this week has in store.  I was elated that we only have one thing on each day.  This morning it was just my 6am run with Andrea and tomorrow is Spin class at the gym.  Is it strange that I can’t WAIT to clean this house and do some serious yard work (yet at the same time all I really want to do is nap also)?  The place is a pit though so any picking up will be a vast improvement.

 

We did have a lovely Easter yesterday.  The day was GORGEOUS and super warm – 70 (basically bikini weather for Seattle)!  The cherry tree in front of our house is in full bloom and the daffodil bulbs that I planted in the fall are up and perkily blooming.  We had a good little photo shoot before heading to noon Mass where, thankfully, we were able to get seats without arriving TOO early.  We were asked by one of the ushers to bring up the gifts which we’ve done a few times but felt even more special to get to do on Easter Sunday.  Sitting in front of us during Mass was a family with two boys and a girl.  The boys looked to be about the same age difference as ours but older (probably 14 and 12ish), and then the youngest – the girl – is maybe 10 or 11…and obviously going through Chemo.  She had a nasal feeding tube and a pretty floral scarf covering what little wisps were left of her hair.  My heart broke for them…Especially any time I saw the mother look down at her daughter and put her arm around her little girl’s thin shoulders.  After Communion, the music group sang “Lord, Prepare me to be a Sanctuary.”  That song always gets me, but one of the lines in the chorus: “And with thanksgiving, I’ll be a living sanctuary, for you,” really hit me.  I could see this poor mother in front of me as she repeatedly wiped tears off her face.  I don’t know these people and even if I did, there’s nothing that I could say to ease the pain they’re experiencing.  I wanted to wrap this stranger – this fellow mom – in a tight hug and cry with her.  In the end, all I could do was look at my three healthy children and say prayer after prayer of Thanksgiving.  Then I’d look at this family in front of us and pray and plead and hope that that’s enough.   

Full Moon Madness

It’s been a full moon, right?  That must explain some of the crazinesses that have been going down under our roof.  First of all, Monday night was Zachary’s last basketball game.  I’m bummed that the season is over – especially because Zach has just been getting better and better! – but I’m also completely relieved at the same time.  It was pretty frustrating to watch the other teams’ coaches actually coach their kids while ours couldn’t keep track of our players.  My mom and brother Chris made it to watch the last half of the game.  Ironically, we were playing the team that we’d played very first – you know, the team that’s apparently comprised of the semi-professional seven year olds.  While we still got our butts handed to us, you could tell that (despite the lack of coaching) our boys had come a long way. 

 

Zachary had the ball to pass it in to a teammate.  Most of the time he goes for a bounce pass rather than a chest pass.  His bounce pass involves taking one enormous step forward and then dramatically dropping the ball (often way too far away from his teammate). For whatever reason, Zach suddenly decided against the standard bounce pass and in front of all the players, family members and friends, he turned around, bent over, stuck his butt up in the air and passed the ball between his legs behind him.  The new patented ‘Zachary Martin Pass.’

 

Later that night, Matthew came down to talk to me in private.  And whew, sheesh, did I narrowly dodge a bullet!  He started to tell me how some kids were talking inappropriately at school – body parts talk especially about how boys and girls have different parts.  Matthew kind of asked some questions but then sat there waiting for me (I thought) to ‘lift the curtain’ so to speak.  Now, Matthew’s only 9 ½.  We’d planned on having The Talk (the birds and the bees one, yup, that ‘The Talk’ – as if there’s any other) this summer before he starts 4^th grade and turns 10.  I had my first sex ed class in 4^th grade and we definitely want to explain things to him our way – ideally before some kids on the playground beat us to it.  But we really didn’t want to tell him during his third grade school year.  I told him as such. 

 

I basically said, “You know, there’s a lot of stuff about body parts and why boys and girls have different parts and about relationships that we’re going to explain to you.  We were just hoping to wait until this summer.”

 

I asked him if kids at school have talked about sex.  He answered, “Well, yeah, I mean, they say ‘sexy.’”

 

“Riiiight…and do you know what that is?”

 

“Well, it just means like cool or hot.”  (Funny how those words are complete opposites).

 

Anyway, I tried to get back to the BIG topic here.  So, Matthew’s understanding was: there’s this big TALK we’re going to have this summer about sex (whatever that is!) and boys and girls and body parts and why they’re different…

 

“Yes,” I said, “But, are you going to be able to wait for this conversation?”  We had already talked about how this isn’t something we want him asking friends about or talking about at school, etc.  Obviously, he knows that body part talk isn’t appropriate but… “Do you have questions?  Are you very curious?”  I asked.

 

After a LONG dramatic pause (gulp), he said, “Well, yeah.  I’m super curious.  I have all kinds of questions.”

 

Deep breath.  OK.  Here we go.

 

“Like, I wonder about math equations.”

 

Huh?  “You wonder…about math equations?” I asked.

 

“Yeah, like I’m really curious about how the tricky ones work.  There’s a bunch of stuff that I don’t understand.”

 

And that was pretty much the end of the prelude to The Talk.  It reconfirmed for me what I already knew: he’s a NINE year old boy.  One moment, he can be enjoying the endless humor in farting, the next moment he can wonder why boys and girls have different body parts, but before we’ve even delved into it he’s moved on to…math equations.

 

Phew.  

March 21st

It’s a funny phenomenon – the memoies that come flying at ya sometimes.  I’ve had the stomach flu for going on two days now.  Two days, in the big scheme of things, is not that long of a time...however, when the time is spent curled around the toilet or lying in bed whimpering and shivering because you’ve never been so cold in your life and then two minutes later, you’re sweating and cursing ‘cuz holy dooty, who turned up the heat?!...Walking hurts....Breathing hurts...Your brain aches like crazy...it feels like longer than two days.  It especially feels long when, not to toot your own horn, but you’re pretty sure the world (or at least the world of your family) revolves around you – or in the very least relies on you a heck of a lot.

 

Thankfully, I’m married to a husband-father rockstar.  Mike has totally rocked at taking care of the three mini-Martins.  Getting the boys off to school, entertaining a toddler who lacks any reason what-so-ever (and is still slightly disturbed by the shadow – of herself – that constantly follows behind her), making sure that I have everything I need, etc., etc.  He’s even somehow managing to work in and around all of this.

 

Hmmm, kind of reminds me of March, a few years back – seven to be precise – when I did a lot more than lie around for two days.  In fact, I laid around, in a hospital room for 49 days.  I told Mike this morning, that there’s no way I could’ve done bed rest at home.  It’s just too hard to chill on the sofa having to watch Mike take care of everything.  It’s too hard!  No wonder I was whisked away and essentially locked in a hospital room!    

 

Anyway, my current (and very brief, I pray) reminder of bed rest had me curious.  What was I doing seven years ago on March 21^st?  Well, lying in a bed, yes.  I’d been in the hospital for six days already, completely unaware that I still had six weeks more to go (not just 3 weeks as the doctors were saying at that time).  I also depicted an episode of the boys’ brotherly interaction (yes, Zachary was still in utero, cooking away in me, the mama oven).

 

Let’s take trip down memoy lane, shall we?:

Tuesday, March 21, 2006 1:44PM “Life without an IV is bliss! Who knew how easy getting up to go to the bathroom or taking a shower sans plastic covering and arm apparatus could be?! I'd certainly forgotten! So, that's the big news today -- I'm off the Magnesium IV drip (woohoo!) and have been put on oral meds that I'm given every six hours to keep those contractions down. Dr. Anton came to see me this morning and said that she definitely agrees with Dr. Walker that I need to be here on monitored bed rest at least until/through week 32. They'll be monitoring me along the way and if there are any changes, then obviously the plan will change. On average my graph/monitor reading shows that I have four contractions an hour (though they're very little and I don't usually feel them). The doctors said that they'd be OK with up to six an hour as long as they weren't getting painful or long. It's interesting to have the nurses explain my graph though. They can look back along the squiggly line and say, "Ahh, yes, and at 12:23 you had a contraction that lasted for 17 seconds." When we monitor Zach, they can look at his graph and tell me when he is in a sleep cycle, when he's awake, when he flips over thus accelerating his heartbeat, when he settles back down, and when he has the hiccups (which they don't need to tell me as I definitely feel those)! He's a very active little guy, that's for sure. Today Matthew had a good time bumping my tummy monitor (that was tracking Zachary) and making a big thumping noise come through the speakers over the sound of Zach's heartbeat. So, poor little Zachy is already getting abuse from his big brother! When Matthew first heard the baby monitor the other day he looked so confused. I said, "That's baby Zach in Mommy's tummy. It sounds like horses galloping, huh?" Matthew responded, "Yeah, horses in Mommy's tummy." So, now the already confused little man, thinks that I'll be having a horse-baby! As if this whole ordeal wasn't weird enough already. Guess we better start saving up for therapy. Who needs college, anyway?!”

 

Little did I know that my cute anecdote was, in fact, a very realistic foreshadowing.  Zachary is very active. Matthew does still inflict abuse upon him (though Zach dishes it back, for sure).   And, really, we should be saving up for therapy for all of us.  I bet even Suze Orman would agree that therapy would be a more sound investment than college!

Cheers and fears

A few weeks ago, we got a phone call from the principal.  I wasn’t all that surprised…it was only a matter of time.  And I’ll admit that I REALLY wasn’t surprised that she was calling about Zachary.  To my utter amazement, she went on to congratulate us on sending such a great kid to their school.  Zach was the recipient of a “Great Kid of the Week” award.  He got to have lunch with the principal where he received a school keychain.  And his teacher wrote the NICEST note about him.  (Totally a keeper).  One of the things that Ms. C. wrote about Zachary was that he is an “eager learner.”  Zach has taken these words to heart and we’ve been reminded repeatedly when he factually states, “Well, I AM an eager learner, you know!”

 

Ironically, we just got a phone call this morning that Matthew has now been selected as a Great Kid.  Woohoo!

 

Matthew, last week, told Zachary and I, “So, it’s not like I have crushes on all the girls in my class, but I really like to make them laugh.”

 

“Oh really?” I asked. 

 

“Yes, I just really like the sound of girls’ laughter.”

 

Kayli, unfortunately, has been a little bit less girly-laughter lately.  She’s dedicated herself 100% to the terrible two’s.  Holy Majoly, her tantrums are something to be seen and heard (or not, if you have the option).  She’s also decided to go nap-free about 99% of the time which only fuels the cranky-fest fire.

 

She’s had a new issue lately that we really need to work through. Let’s say a piece of fuzz is on the floor or a little bit of hay got out from Scout’s cage.  Someone walks by causing a slight breeze and the little object then moves on its own.  She screams and shrieks in such terror you’d think that something seriously horrific was occurring.  (Apparently, to her it is).  So, we’ve taken her over to the fuzz or hay and pointed out what it is and maybe blown on it to show how it can move.  (This usually results in her just clingy to us all the more).  Well, this whole phobia has taken another turn: the child is now literally scared of her own shadow.  For the past couple of hours she’s refused to walk across the hardwood floor where the kitchn ceiling lights cast her shadow about.  She will just stand there completely frozen in terror refusing to move.  It’s a little funny (at first) but then also kind of sad ‘cuz she’s genuinely scared but then also annoying and frustrating because we can’t get anything done!

 

Mike’s the one who’s been dealing with this fear factor this morning.  He’s working from home as I’m sick.  Like sick-sick.  Yesterday afternoon, I started to feel not awesome.  Thankfully, Mike was home in time to be the awesome back-rubber that he is when I’m puking.  He can tell you (if anybody really wanted to hear the details) that I am an AWFUL puker.  It is not one of my gifts.  Our family in general is a puking people.  The boys handle it like champs.  I’ve always been a puker myself but I’m SO terrible at it.  I freak out.  Actually, I’ve looked into it and there’s a fear of vomiting – emetophobia.  My fear is more that I feel like I’m choking and can’t breathe so then I freak out.  Puking, to me, is seriously, the Worst. Thing. Ever.  And I was so (oddly) proud that I’d made it many months without throwing up in this house.  I was hoping to keep my puke-free streak going for as long as possible, but shoot, I didn’t even make it a year!

 

So, now with my fear of vomiting and Kayliana’s fear of things moving on the floor, maybe we can get a group rate for therapy!    

White smoke!

Yesterday, the smoke turned from black to white.  We have a new Pope!  I’d turned on the Catholic radio station on my drive home from running errands.  It was late evening in Rome and they were reporting from their spot right above St. Peter’s Square.  Sistine Chapel chimney-a-watchin.  They anticipated smoke at any moment.  They were speculating – would it be black again (for the fifth time)?!  Could it possibly be white?! Who might the new Pope be?!  It’s actually pretty entertaining to listen to people try to kill time when you know everyone is dying of anticipation and just wants to hear the news!

 

When I arrived home, I quickly ran into the house and turned on the station so I could continue listening.  I hadn’t listened to any of the other coverage live, but for whatever reason, I just could NOT miss this.  Hmmmm...as if I knew something extra exciting was abouts to go down.

 

As the commentators were talking you could hear a dull roar building in the crowd below them.  I ran over to the TV and turned it on so I could not only hear what was happening but watch as well.  I set the manual record up so I could show the coverage to the boys when they got home from school. 

 

Pope Francis.  First Francis, first Jesuit, first South American.  Humble guy.  I’m pretty pumped about him!

 

I couldn’t wait to tell the boys when they got off the bus.  Matthew told me, “I know!  Mrs. K. told us after lunch.”  Mrs. K is awesome and, oh, also happens to be Catholic.  So, despite teaching in a public school she thought it news-worthy (which it obviously was as it was all over ALL the news) and announced the news to her class.  Matthew said, “I was so excited that they elected a new Pope, I jumped up from my seat super quick and knocked my water bottle off my desk by accident!”

 

That is SO awesome. I’m totally proud that my kid is the Nerdy Catholic! Mrs. K. sent me an email saying that she was so amused by his thrilled reaction. 

 

Later in the afternoon, I had the boys watch what I’d recorded.  Turns out, Matthew thinks the fact that the Pope has his own guards is definitely a draw for that as a potential career path.  Who knows? Maybe my own kiddo will someday be Pope Matthew the somethingth!

Cirque du Martin

Sporty-Sport-Sportums.  We’re those people.  For a little while anyway, we will be those people.  What people?  The multiple sports practices/games-a-week people.  Last night, Zachary had his fourth basketball game (where he scored at least thrice, thank you very much)!  Wednesday and Saturday, Matthew has his first baseball practices of the season.  Our neighbor has asked Mike to be his assistant coach which will make the season just a little bit extra cray-cray for us.  Until basketball’s done, it’ll be a three-ring circus, getting to all of our events.  In terms of baseball though, I’m hoping – as much as I’m able – to assistant coach the assistant coach.  Mike and I would make a good team as he has the baseball knowledge and I’ve got the herding-kids gift from years of teaching.  It also turns out that I have secret mad baseball playing skills that no one ever knew about and I can pretty much school anybody out there.  (Or I like to think so, anyway).    

 

Lenten Update.  We’re on week four of our six week Lenten journey which for Mike and I means week four of being Vegan.  Not that it’s all about weight loss, buuuut…I’ve lost about five-eight pounds (depending on when I weigh in) and Mike’s lost around ten.  Just this weekend Justin Timberlake danced as a piece of Tofu on Saturday Night Live singing a medley about “Veganville.”  Apparently, Mike and I are very cool and sexy hopping aboard the Vegan train. “Hey, eat some kale, it’s so much fun!...Ahhh, Veg out!”  Anyway, it’s going well.  What’s most amazing thus far is how my taste buds have changed.  We’ve gotten rid of the super sugary cereals and the most sweet/treat cereal we have is “Oatmeal Squares.”  I don’t eat it for breakfast, but mix it in a little snack mix for the kids (with raisins and a few chocolate chips).  The Oatmeal Squares definitely still have a little sweetness to them, but now when I eat one, I can’t believe how sweet they are – they’re like candy! 

 

This Saturday, we’re going to the school auction where we’ve given ourselves special Lenten Dispensation (I’m sure the Pope would be on board…oh wait…we don’t know who that is yet!) to eat the expensive (and cheesey-meaty) meal that we’d paid for pre-Lent. I wonder how we’ll be feeling afterwards!

 

Cirque du Martin Memories!  On Saturday, we took the boys, my parents and brother Chris to Cirque du Soleil’s show AmaLuna.  If you’ve never seen Cique du Soleil, you should put it on your bucket list.  Yes, it’s ridonculously expensive, but the memories WILL last a lifetime and is such a fun experience.  Our cirque experience was a little more stressful than would be ideal for sitting back to enjoy the spectacle.  The boys, when we first arrived, were both pretty freaked out and nervous after seeing the poster of the mutant-serpenty guy.  Then, at the beginning, the place goes pitch black, the kinda-different-sounding music starts and this piece of red fabic stats levitating in the middle of the spotlit stage floor.  You can imagine the little fingers that were digging into my arms.  Thankfully, once the lights all came up, they relaxed and sat back thoroughly entertained.  It IS funny how not entirely stunned they were by what those performers can do with their bodies.  The rest of us sat there with jaws on the floor as people did the most crazy contortion-y things and the boys didn’t seem to really ‘get’ how impressive some of that is.  They both, however, now want to work on perfecting certain skills.  Matthew wants to work on his juggling.  Zachary wishes that he was still doing gymnastics and also wants to work on dumping popcorn on people’s heads like the serpent guy did.  Ha ha ha, mr. clever. 

 

The second half of the show was made stressful, by Zachary’s writhing in pain from a ‘tummy ache.’  The poor child has suffered occasionally from serious bouts of constipation in the past.  Last spring, it had gotten so bad on a couple of occasions we nearly took him to urgent care not knowing what was causing him to be in such agony.  After going through some tests with the peditritician she determined that he was suffering from the painful but common-for-kiddos issue of constipation.  Our ‘perscription’ was to start giving him Miralax everyday.  Zachary calls this his “Poopy Potion.”  We’d been doing it regularly (ha! Get it, REGULARly) and he’d definitely gotten better, so we’d cut back – still giving it to him some but not as often.  Then, recently, it was starting to become an issue, so we HAVE been making sure he gets his Poopy Potion.  However, on Saturday, DURING the show, he got one of his super bad tummy aches.  And, unfortunately, there’s really not a whole we can do about it (especially if we’re not home – where he could try a warm bath)…we just have to wait until he can go.  Anyway, sorry for the details, but all joking aside, Zachary is a tough cookie and these issues have caused him seious pain!  So, sadly, we spent the last half of the show trying to help him stretch out a little and nimble on a granola bar that was in my purse (just to give him something to try).  In some ways, it was maybe a good place to have it happen, as watching the show definitely distracted him a bit.  AND, he did enjoy it and has talked about it nonstop for the last few days.  For the time being, anyway, we’ll be stepping up the Poopy Potion and upping the fiber intake (though I don’t know how that’s possible).  As we know and JT so eloquently rapped, “We got the cure for constant constipation — fiber.  It’s a dope ingredient. The thing you want to make your bowels expedient.” 

Last week in review

Zach stayed home from school yesterday with an “ookie tummy.”  I’m sure this is an official diagnosis.  The real bummer is it was storybook character dress-up day for “Read Across America” week.  Zachary was SUPER pumped to get to wear his Ninja costume to school, AND we were going to have three boys from our neighborhood (a 3^rd grader and his twin 1^st grade brothers) over for a playdate in the afternoon.  Had to reschedule that!

 

Last week was mid-winter break.  While I was a little jealous to hear about all the wonderful places some people would be traveling to (Mexico, Hawaii, Disneyland – to name a few), I must say that we had a really nice, relaxing break.  The boys – with our encouragement – have given up TV, computers, etc. from Thursdays-Sundays during Lent.  (That way we can still do family movie night on Fridays and they get a little time to play the Wii or on the computer on Saturdays).  So, we went into break screenless.  This seemed daunting even to me at first, but it ended up being wonderful!  The boys – after adjusting to the concept of some serious quality time together – played awesomely pretty much all week.  They built extravagant pillow-couch cushion forts and had all sorts of creative “set-ups” with their Legos, toys, etc. . 

 

On Wednesday, the kiddos and I went to the zoo where we waited in line for 40 minutes to see the three month old lion cubs.  Kayli called them “Roar babies” and hasn’t stopped talking about the one that went “Ka-boom.” (He fell off a low branch he was trying to climb…which caused everyone in the viewing area to giggle and ooh and ahh over his animal baby cuteness).  Thankfully the boys agreed that it was worth the 40 minute wait in the cold drizzle!

 

We had a couple of fun playdates on Thursday and Friday.  Then Saturday, it was all work and no play.  Mom, Dad, and Chris came over at 10am loaded up with yardwork tools and equiptment.  ALL of us (kids included) worked out in the backyard trying to tame some of the overgrown ravine.  Mike and my dad dug up a maple tree that had been planted WAY too close to the house and deck.  It was transplanted down in the ravine where we hope it won’t drown (it’s fairly near the little creek at the bottom).  My mom worked at chopping down a big overgrown hazelnut tree/bush/growie thing.  Go moom!  I did whatever people told me to do, and also dug up a bunch of ferns from the woods (where I found two piles of coyote poop!) and planted them along the edge of the yard.  The boys attempted teamwork sawing up branches – that was not very successful.  Kayliana moved piles of dirt from one random spot to the next, got completely filthy and had a ball!  She’s definitely more outdoorsy than the boys combined!  I’m super excited about getting the back cleaned up a bit and hope to put in this summer – where the maple tree had been – a small flagstone patio and brick firepit. 

 

In other news: Zachary has started playing basketball for the first time and L-O-V-E-S it!  He’s on a team with five boys and for coaches has two of the possibly nerdiest, most non-basketball-playing dads I’ve ever seen.  (For example: at the first practice, one of the dads pulled out a print-out that basically was the “how to’s of coaching a kids basketball team.”) Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice that they volunteered to coach, but, wow.  They lack leadership experience, knowledge and, forgive me, but any personality!  I think three-toed-sloths are more entertaining and could coach better.  I know you really shouldn’t complain (though I totally am) since WE’RE not stepping up to help out.  But, for reals, you should see these guys!

 

Anyway, our first game was a bit of a disaster.  Like with most kids’ sports, they don’t technically ‘keep score.’  But this game was pretty obvious.  Our team – “Thunder” – shot two baskets total.  The other team probably had, mmm, 20+.  This week (our second game), Zachary was the first one with the ball.  He dribbled (mostly, with only occasional traveling and double-dribbling) all the way down the court and seamlessly scored his first ever (during a game) basket.  It was awesome!!  Right after the basket, the refs blew the whistle and announced that we’d have to start the game over after the other team took a quick break to take their team photo.  Yeeeah.  Kids’ sports for ya. 

 

The games are played three-on-three with the coaches basically standing in the middle of the court telling the boys what to do.  Well, unfortunately one of our players had broken his arm over the weekend so he’s on the DL.  We didn’t have as many kids to start with as the other teams, so we don’t usually have a sub for the every five minute sub-out time.  Zachary had already played for two “quarters” and was limping over to us.  (He said his foot just tweaked and felt weird – it only lasted a couple minutes, thankfully.  But he limped for the last minute before the whistle).   Zach hobbled over and sat down to drink some water.  One of the dads on our team went and asked the coach if HIS kid could sub out instead of Zach because HIS kid had already played two quarters (same as Zachary) and HIS kid really needed a break.  Um, OK.  Zachary, tired, but happy enough returned to the game.  It is REALLY fun to see how much he loves it!  Hopefully, Matthew will feel the same about baseball when that starts back up in a month!  In the meantime, Kayli serves as cheerleader and (literally) yelled at Zach, “Block your guy!!”



 

Kayli -- rocking the dress my mom made for me and that I wore circa 1982

 

                                                                     Roar baby!

  

 

Yard workers

 

Just chillin'

 

Future NBA star



Lenten Slacker vs. Lenten Rockstar

Crud.  I posted this (or thought I had) on Feb. 15th but it's not showing up (at least for me).  So, bummer.  Here 'tis:

It’s funny how some years I totally rock Lent and then others I’m a Lenten failure.  Last year, I was an EPIC Lenten failure.  I’ll blame the house situation – which is kind of a valid excuse for stress in this normal humanoid world in which we live but really shouldn’t actually impact my Lenten-spiritual journey at all.  We were getting the house ready to sell and then had it on the market for all of Lent.  It was totally stressful.  I couldn’t plan meals because I didn’t know if we’d be able to be home for dinner.  We’d get a call at 4:30pm saying they wanted to do a showing at 5:30 – and there went our evening.  I’m SO thankful that those crazy days are over. 

 

Last year, I knew, due to my stress level that attempting to give up say my top food/beverage vices: coffee, wine or chocolate would be a total joke.  I DID end up giving up Diet Pepsi but allowing myself one a week.  See, that’s how I’ve done Lent pretty much my whole life – just SORTA.  Sorta giving something up but then finding a way to basically cheat – a built-in excuse to indulge in whatever activity/food/beverage of which I’m supposedly fasting.  Cheater cheater dark chocolate eater.  I even told our priest at the time that I’d finally learned that the idea of me giving up chocolate is a joke.  God doesn’t want me to be a hater and, let’s face it, I’m just not pleasant to be around sans chocolate. Then there’s the whole “Sundays don’t technically HAVE to count during Lent…” During my chocolate-give-up days, this meant Sundays = chocolate-fest pig out days.  I’m AWESOME at finding the Lenten loopholes.

 

So instead of making a major sacrifice, I did the Diet Pepsi thing and also decided that I would DO something as well.  I’d spend quality time with each child every day.  Again, major epic Lenten failure.  Thanks to the house-stuff (and basically my lameness) the one-on-one mother-child bonding time just didn’t happen every single day.  It did work in adding to my mommy guilt though.  Awesome.

 

Here we are, a year-ish later, and it’s Lent time, baby!  For Catholics, Lent should be a time of reflection – reevalutating our lives and realigning them with Christ. And we’re even told to buck up!  We’re not to whine and groan and throw a pity party through the whole thing nor are we to brag about our sacrificial piety and general awesomeness.  Let’s see, we’re on what, Lent Day 3?  I – ever the open book – have already dropped the ball with this one.  Telling everyone I meet and their dog what I’m doing and how DIFFICULT – woe is me – it is.  Oops.

 

Getting the kids (the boys) on board with this sacrifice-idea has been a challenge this year.  They thought they were just SO funny with suggestions like: “I’m giving up school!” (Matthew).  And “I know! I’ll give up vegetables!” (Zachary).  Meanwhile I – not so subtly – suggest (several times a day) to Kayliana that she should REALLY consider giving up toddler tantrums for Lent.  No go, thus far. 

 

Since I was so Lenten Lameness last year, I’ve taken it to the extreme this year.  I’ve been way over zealous and for the first part of the week – and even Ash Wednesday – upon hearing what other people were giving up/doing, I thought, “Ooh! Ooh! I’ll do that too….Oh that’s a good idea, maybe I should give that up in addition to…and….and…!” 

 

Apparently I’m at a place where I feel the need for some major soul spring-cleaning. But seeing as this is MY blog – and will also be the lasting memoir for my children to read when I’m but a distant memory – I do like to catalogue my life ‘n such here, so I WILL explain my Lenten plan…or at least some of it.  A girl’s gotta keep SOME secrets.  A few posts ago (http://jenny524.blogspot.com/2013/01/nutritarian-wha.html) I wrote about some recent alarming discoveries that I’ve made.  This moved me to really think about what we’re eating and feeding our children and while I realize that Lent is not supposed to just be a convenient time to diet, the six weeks does coincide nicely with the six weeks that Dr. Fuhrman recommends as a sort of cleanse to a Vegan diet.  http://fatfreevegan.com/blog/2010/01/01/eat-to-live-6-week-plan/ So, Mike and I are trying it with a few exceptions (that we typed up).  We won’t make anyone cook Vegan for us, should we be invited for a meal.  I’m still having my one dark chocolate with my morning coffee.  And come March 16^th – when we get to attend the boys’ school auction – we will SO eat the expensive meal that we’ve paid for (and we’ll enjoy it, darn it).  Oh, and for the record, I didn’t give up alcohol, but I am definitely limiting my intake.  (Jesus’ first miracle WAS turning water into wine, afterall). Maybe I’ll give up drinky-poo’s for another Lent, but for this year, I’ve already got enough on my plate (mostly leafy greens).

 

To get into the groove, I made a version of Dr. Furhman’s “Anti-Cancer Soup” last week.  http://lowfatveganchef.com/how-to-make-dr-fuhrmans-eat-to-live-anti-cancer-soup-with-photos/ Due to our lack of high-powered blender/food processor, my version turned out quite textured and lumpy.  Essentially, it looked like vomit.  (Warning: this photo is not for the weak of stomach).  Matthew saw it and attempted to politely lie, “Mmmm, that looks good.”  I laughed and said, “No, it doesn’t.  It looks like throw-up.”  With which the boys were only too eager to agree.  Mike, Kayli and I all thought it was actually VERY tasty.  Matthew gagged down his required 9 bites (to correspond with his age).  Zachary sobbed through three bites (he just couldn’t get through six) and, as always when I make soup, questioned my love for him.  (“If you love me, why would you make me eat soup when you know I H-word it?!”  [H-word, of course, is that unacceptable four-letter word, H-A-T-E.]  He means business with his dislike of soup.)  I tried to explain that this soup was basically saving his life and he essentially has the most amazing mom in the world.  He rolled his eyes, looked down at his full bowl of steaming hot barf –  I mean soup – and shuddered.

Epiphanies

It’s amazing to have those ah-ha-Oprah-full-circle-come-to-Jesus-epiphany moments when clarity and the meaning of your life just hits you like a tanker truck.  Now, I realize life doesn’t always work this way.  I think more often than not, we DON’T know why some of the dooty in our life happens, but when the dooty comes and smacks us in the face (hypothetically, of course), it can really awaken us to the truth and we finally just…get it. 

Well, I had a moment like this.  It was a few months ago, actually.  But another more recent ah-ha-Oprah-full-circle-come-to-Jesus-epiphany moment of awakening reminded me of the aforementioned realization.  I’ll start with the more recent one and work back from there.

We -- Mike, the boys, and I – were discussing the topic of the current ‘Google doodle’ contest for kids.  The line for which kids create a Google logo-themed design is: “My best day ever.”  We were discussing ‘best days’ ever.  Of course, the boys took this to mean the most amazing, magical (let’s face it, pretty unrealistic) day they could possibly imagine…which is fine; it can be interpreted however one wants.  I took it to heart and started to really ponder this: could I name one – just ONE – best day ever?  And without a second’s hesitation I realized that yes, yes I sure can.

Obviously, most people would name their obvious top days: your wedding day, the birth of your children, etc.  These are most certainly on the top of my list, but the issue with those days for me was – while they were undeniably joyous and miraculous and had great moments of awe-inspiring wonder – they will always be marred by the stress and worry that accompanied them.  Mike was so ill on the morning of our wedding, we thought we might have to cancel the whole thing.  Once through with the ceremony and reception (both of which did go smoothly), we headed to the ER where we spent our wedding night.  Not the most bliss-filled experience, honestly.  Matthew’s birth-date – while incredible – was full of surprise, delight and immense fear.  Five weeks early, our 5 pound peanut – thought to be a girl – was a well-endowed little boy who was immediately whisked off to the NICU where I wouldn’t get to hold him for over 24 hours.  An amazing day, yes, but also not the most ideal of circumstances.  Then a similar story with Zachary’s arrival into the world.  An even smaller peanut who I didn’t get to hold or nurse or cuddle for a long time.  I know so many people have way more tramautic labor and delivery stories than this, and we are SO very blessed because, in the end we have these two incredible healthy boys, but their first entries into this world weren’t exactly stress-free and nonstop joy.  None-the-less, their birthdays will always be special to me.  But these two momentous days were not The One.  However, I’d like to think – I hope, nay, I know – that Matthew and Zachary will understand that The One – my Best Day Ever – was in a huge part because of them.

My best day ever was the day we brought Kayliana home from the hospital.  That day was more intense and powerful than stressful.  Kayli was placed in my arms by her birthmom.  (Did I forget about the pain that Mia must’ve been feeling?  No.  Not for a second.  My heart broke for her while it simultaneously was beyond full of joy.  Just trying to understand how she could’ve made that ultimate sacrifice deepened my awareness of what a blessing our daughter – and her birth mom – are.)  Kayliana came home.  We introduced Matthew and Zachary to their brand new baby sister.  When they rocked in the chair before bed, they held her and sang lullabies; I stood in the doorway and after capturing a quick photo, wept tears of joy.  That was my best day – my best moment – ever because I knew…I knew from the depths of my soul that our family was complete.  Whole. 

So, that’s my Best Day EVER…to date.  I’m still open to having more awesome, amazing, incredible days, but it’s hard to imagine topping that day.

OK, so my other big ah-ha-Oprah-full-circle-come-to-Jesus-epiphany moment is…well…pretty different.  It, first of all, took place in an Applebee’s restroom.  I kid you not.  Hey, Jesus is everywhere, even in the bathrooms of casual dining establishments. 

Mike and I were on our way to present an Engaged Encounter retreat weekend to 30ish couples.  We’d stopped for dinner.  Maybe it was the glass of wine (does Applebees have especially potent wine?!), but I’m pretty sure Jesus spoke to me while I made a quick pitstop before we left the restaurant.  It came to me in one quick rush of understanding.  I suddenly knew.  I finally understood why everything happened why it had happened.  If Mike hadn’t had Cancer in our first year of marriage (and doctors, therefore, telling us we might not get pregnant or it might take a while), then we might not’ve tried to get pregnant when we did…which lead to the conception of Matthew (who we were told would be a girl but was a perfect, surprise of a bouncing baby boy)…two years later we get pregnant with Zachary but at 28 weeks I go into preterm labor and get locked up in the hospital for seven weeks of bed rest (which resulted in the birth of this blog AND…) another sweet little preemie boy…who was discharged from the NICU after one week and sent home with us…where I proceeded to be slapped in the face by a bad case of Postpartum Depression (is there such a thing as a good case?! I don’t think so)…because of the bed rest and the PPD…so I start therapy and begin the long (never-ending) process of working through some of this history…and after a few more years…we eventually come to the conclusion that we do want another child and that adoption is the best route for us…which lead us to the adoption agency Amara…which brought us the info on Mia…who picked us as her daughter’s forever family…which has automatically placed us in the longterm blessing of being automatic spokespeople for adoption…which lead us to, when needing to update our Engaged Encounter presentations last year…writing an entire talk on the discernment process that helped us work through everything that I just talked about and conclude that adoption was the way to go for us (full circle-y, huh?)…so that now, every single EE retreat we present on, we are planting the seed of adoption in at least 30 engaged couples…of these 30 couples, unfortunately, approximately five of them will experience infertility and may, just may, think back on their EE weekend and how they heard this amazing story of adoption and perhaps it will lead them to consider it and discern that adoption or foster-to-adopting is right for them too.  (And obviously, couples who don’t experience infertility can ALSO adopt, I’m just going with some stats here).  If we continue our average of the last ten years and present at least three wEEkends a year, that’s 15 couples annually who might be affected by our story and maybe, just maybe, that’s why everything worked out as it did. 

And, while I could’ve done without some of the stress along the way, as you can see by my Best Day Ever, I’m pretty glad things DID work out as they did.  And God Bless Applebee’s.

The Best Day Ever moment