HAPPY BIRTHDAY

To my other FAVORITE Ben.

Today we celebrate 37 years.

 

 

Happy Birthday to my 'wombmate'. :)

KALEB'S HEARING UPDATE

I took Kaleb up to Dartmouth on Friday for his hearing exam/ENT appointment.  There was no school that day so Stevie joined us for some fun.  We are NOT good office sitters.  Too much fun in the room to sit still.

They started off okay, but things got out of hand really quickly.

 (Kaleb got into some nasty sumac over the weekend and ended up on steroids...check out his left arm.)

These kids puzzles only held their attention for so long...

There was much playing with things they should not be touching.

Sitting and twirling in the doctor's chair.

Putting our feet up like we own the place.

It was plain chaos all around with these two.

Up and down, up and down went the chair.

Here I am giving them "The Look".

I tried to be the good mom and told my kids to STOP touching.  Kinda didn't work.

The result was that his hearing test came back normal.  It's always up and down.  His ENT doctor wants to repeat surgery in the spring and fix his hearing for good.  He'll turn his case over to an actual Ear Specialist.  Then we can retire his hearing aid for good.

FAMILY PICTURES (part 5)

Are you tired of seeing our photo session yet?

Too bad cuz there are MORE. :)

These are a few of my favorite shots.

(but not the ones for our Christmas cards)

FAMILY PICTURES (part4)

 I have a confession to make...I do NOT like family picture days.  It's stressful getting everyone dressed in their clothes, keeping them clean until we can get to the shoot AND keeping everyone happy and cooperative.  Don't get me wrong, we always have fun...but there are moments where some of us are not excited to be there.  Namely Kaleb.  He's not a fan of cameras.  He's not a fan of bare feet at a picture shoot.     I think that simply put...he's not a fan.  But, we survived and we have some great pictures as a result.  And Kaleb's mood?  By the end he changed that frown for a smile. :)

 

FAMILY PICTURES (part 3)

We are NOT an easy group to photograph.  (Just ask EP and check out these pictures from two years ago) In fact we are high maintenance.  Our poor photographer had to put up with a lot...mostly from the biggest kid of all.  Somehow she survived but I'm thinking she was WAY underpaid for all that she endured.  We can't thank her enough though.  There definitely are some keepers...and then there are these. :)  

The End

FAMILY PICTURES (part 2)

Here is a little taste of what we have been working on.  I can't give away all of the surprises as we haven't decided WHICH one to use for our Christmas cards this year.  But since I can't keep them ALL a secret...here's a teaser. :)

FAMILY PICTURE DAY

Stay tuned...

HELPING HAND

Today it's one of those rainy days.  The kind of day that makes me want to do nothing.  Of course there were all kinds of things needing to be done...and I did do them, but now at 3pm I want to do nothing.  That's when I saw the kids walking down the street from the bus stop.  I was happy to see them, happy that there were no after school sports.  That meant I could continue to do nothing while sipping hot chocolate with whipped cream.  Then I see a boy rounding the corner with Kaleb onto my driveway.  Here are the things that ran through my brain at that very moment:
Oh no...Kaleb is going to ask me if this boy can come over.

I don't really feel like entertaining at the moment.

UGH!

I don't want to get off this couch.

Can't we just have a quiet afternoon with just US?!?

And then the door opens.
Kaleb peeks his head inside.

"Mom?"

"What is it Bubby?" I ask

"I was wondering if I could carry my friends school bag home for him, he broke his shoulder."
(gulp) "Of course you can.  Thank you for being so thoughtful."

So now I'm sitting here doing nothing AND feeling guilty for assuming.

But at the same time I'm feeling proud of Kaleb for recognizing a need and then acting upon it, which included walking an extra mile to this boy's house in the POURING rain and then the mile back. It was a proud moment for this mother.

(I must be doing something right)

THE 29th

Today I was walking through Walmart.  I was looking for some sweats for Kaleb.  I am not a fan of sweat pants at school, but then check out what I'm wearing on a daily basis. (above)  I go for the comfort, not necessarily style.  I mean, c'mon.  Most days you can find me wearing my children's athletic jackets, a t-shirt and stretchy pants.  So I don't say anything when he requests them.  Besides,  a $6 pair of sweat pants is way better than a $40 pair of jeans, right?  But I digress.  I passed the boy section where sometimes I would pick out some comfortable 'stretchy' pants for Ben too.  We lived with comfort.  Today was a first for me regarding clothes and Ben.  I didn't shop much for him because I would usually buy big and let him grow into it for a couple of years.  Because he wasn't walking, it didn't matter if the legs were too long.  I would just fold them up, or fold them down as he grew.  I happened to glance over at the warmer clothes starting to appear on the racks and noticed some fleece outfits that were similar to ones I have purchased for Ben in the past.  A sudden rush of emotions swept over me and I had to duck into an empty aisle full of men's underwear so that I could avoid tears in public.  The underwear was enough to snap me out of my instant sadness thankfully, because I didn't want to linger in the men's lingerie section longer than I had to.  Besides, how weird would THAT look.  Today is the 29th.  A date that over four months ago wouldn't have meant anything to me now gives me a stomach ache every month.  It causes anxiety as it comes and goes.  It causes me great sadness and longing for things to be different.  But they're not different.  And so I move on.  Sometimes kicking and screaming and crying.  But I move on.  And it's hard.

FOUR MONTHS

Four months down...a life time to go.