The First Day of School

Anna received her first pedicure, courtesy of Aunt Esther. Cute toes, aren't they? Of course, her daddy feels this particular shade of red is a tad too sophisticated for the average 16 month old, but he made an exception this one time.

Issac officially began kindergarten today. For those of you wondering, yes I AM certifiably insane as yes I do work a full time job from home and yes Isaac will be attending school from home as well and yes I do have 2 additional children. Jesse and I have about 398,763 reasons for this choice which we are very willing to share with anyone interested. Please don't approach us with the intent of criticizing or trying to talk us out of this because we aren't going to listen. We are getting old and cranky that way.

Isaac is doing kindergarten and I have set Nathan up with a loose preschool curriculum as well. Anna must also participate in learning time, she LOVED the story I read today. You will find a slide show with first day of school pictures below.

Now for a helpful public service announcement.

WHY THUMBS ARE IMPORTANT
You may or may not recall from reading
this post that I, an International Baccalaureate trained educator, stabbed myself in the thumb while trying to remove a security tag that was not removed by a clerk who was clearly NOT International Baccalaureate trained. My thumb is still very swollen and hurts like I cannot even describe but I seem to have escaped without any significant infection. Score one cyber cookie for that! Because I like to be of help to the humans when I can, I have compiled a helpful list of things that you can do without the use of your thumb. You might want to keep this handy for future reference.

Things that you can do without the use of your thumb:

1. Nothing.
2. Not a damn thing. Everything, and I do mean EVERYTHING, requires the use of this digit. Without it you might as well give up and get back in bed.

I hope you found that helpful.

I hope everyone had a pleasant Monday! Oh yes, in reference to the second comment following
this post, PLEASE feel free to laugh at anything I write that makes you want to laugh. Odds are I found it amusing as well, hence my meandering narratives that make you want to laugh. If I have not blogged about it, I probably don't think it is funny yet and have therefor opted not to write about it in a manner that will make others laugh.

For example, until this very moment you have read nothing here regarding the fact that 2 very evil felines used my brand new living room couches, yes plural, as a litter box and the so called warranty that we purchased with these kinds of events in mind has not yet been honored. You have not read about it because I don't find it even remotely amusing. In fact I am still hopping mad about it and it happened, I think 3 or so months ago. That warranty company has until Wed of this week to deliver new cushion covers to my front door or they can anticipate a phone call that will qualify as something far more threatening than irate. See, not funny at all.

Go right ahead and laugh your little hearts out and rest assured that I am probably laughing with you.

PS. You will want to come back tomorrow as Esther let me in on the fact that she has preplanned my funeral, I assume in anticipation of my demise. I love you all too much not to give you fair warning.

Night all!

Anna's 15 month Checkup and Why we will soon need a new Ped

Are there any other moms out there who find well baby/child appointments a tad stressful? I realize that I am only dealing with 3 kids, but I have begun to absolutely dread these appointments and the chaos that reigns the moment we enter the pediatrician's mystic portal.

On Thursday of last week I finally got around to taking Anna for her 15 month check up. Granted she is now actually 16 months old, but this was the best I could do. Overall, her appointment went well. Isaac and Nathan both cowered in the corner, hands over their ears when she received her immunization. After the doctor left Isaac clenched his fists, scrunched his face up in that typical Isaac-is-really-angry way and stated firmly through clenched teeth that he would, "knock this building down with a shovel if that doctor hurts my baby sister again."

As we were leaving the office Isaac told me that his tummy was really itchy. I pulled his shirt up and discovered the enormous red, swollen welt that I photographed for you in a previous post. Since we already happened to be in the doctor's office, I asked the desk clerk if we might reserve a sick child appt in the next few hours and that I would take the kids to lunch while we waited. Bless her heart she insisted that we not leave but be seen right away and ushered us back into the exam room.

Anna immediately began screaming as she had just escaped this den of torture and had no desire to endure further use as a pin cushion. Isaac started clinging to be, begging that he not be given a shot. A physician's assistant came in to check on Isaac. While I was trying to untangle him from my leg while simultaneously trying to comfort Anna, Nathan decided to play with the round doctor stool, you know the ones with wheels?

OF COURSE Nathan caught his foot, cut his leg and fell to the floor, hitting his head in the process. I put Anna down to pick up Nathan and the PA thought she would be helpful by picking Anna up and tyring to comfort her.

That really didn't work out too well.

Anna doubled the volume and intensity of her screaming while Nathan sobbed hysterically over his cut leg and injured head while Isaac clutched my hand begging that he not be given a shot.

SIGH

The PA left the room, with Anna, stating that she was going to go and get us some help. I hear that people 3 blocks away called 911 over the disembodied, ear piercing screams they could hear in the distance.

I expect to receive the, "We never want to see you again." letter in the mail any day now.

In case you are interested, Anna is 20 pounds, 31 inches long. She is just over the 20th percentile for weight and around 75th for height. I choose not to mention that she is still nursing as I was not really very interested in having that conversation at that moment.

A good check up all in all. Nathan has recovered and Isaac's bug bite reactions has not spread any further.

I have finally figured out how to post recipes so that you DON'T need a magnifying glass to see them. The first one is posted below and I will put a link for it to the left as well. This "recipe" sounds dumb, but you really MUST try it on a rainy morning or evening. Add a cup of tea or hot chocolate and curl up for some quality time with your kiddos.

Love to all!

Best Ghetto Dessert EVER!

You know that extra loaf of french bread you buy, thinking you will need it for dinner but never end up using? You don't have this problem? You don't leave it sitting around until it turns into a brick and then end up throwing it away? Well then this "recipe" is not for you.

If you, like me, do have this particular problem, follow the quick and easy directions below to create a tasty, family pleasing dessert.

Giant Cinnamon Toast
Slice loaf of French bread length wise in half.
I use butter spray, you can use regular butter or spray: Cover both halves of bread with butter.
Sprinkle a cinnamon/sugar mix over butter
Bake at 350 degrees until desired level of toastyness has been achieved
Cut into slices and enjoy

You may laugh, but this was quite the crowd pleaser in my house!

He was supposed to be sleeping...

...but this is what he did instead. We found this lovely block tower when we checked on him at 11:10 pm. Perhaps he will become an architect?

Isaac appears to have been bitten/stung by a rogue insect or arachnid. Yes I MUST make the distinction, I am a science teacher for pete's sake! We have no idea what or where, but the other picture should demonstrate the severity of his reaction to the bite. We had it checked out at our ped and have called Children's Hospital for additional advice this evening as it has continued to spread. You can see where we have been marking it to track how fast and how much it has spread. Poor Isaac, he has unfortunately inherited his mother's sensitive skin.

Jesse is busily researching all manner of spider that may have bitten our beloved eldest child. He actually has one in quarantine at this very moment. As we are all familiar with how Jesse feels about spiders, I think we can safely assume that he won't sleep well until he is convinced the house is biting spider free. Can anyone recommend a good exterminator?

Motherhood is Fraught with Peril

I like to think that I am a fairly wise shopper. My kids are TOUGH on their clothes. Isaac in particular will wear an item until it is so worn that a good stiff breeze renders him stark naked on the street, wondering what happened to his favorite shirt or PJs. Generally, before it gets bad enough that people start offering them coins and antibiotics on the street, I like to hit some of the local discount stores and restock their clothing stash. You know these stores that take in "irregulars" from the larger department stores? Say what you will, but I am NOT willing to pay $20 for a Spider Man t-shirt when I know for a fact that it will age the equivalent of 12 years after 1 night in my home. Those stores are usually my best friend.

Jesse and I hit a few this weekend and walked out with total pay dirt in the form of little boys PJs and shirts. As we were leaving the store, the alarm indicating the presence of a security tag went off. We waited expectantly to be approached by a sales clerk or the manager, who happened to be standing right there. No one said anything so we moved through the security bars again. Alarm went off again. We waited. No one seemed remotely interested in making sure that we were not stealing anything so we proceeded to leave the store, setting off the alarm a third and final time. Outside we poked through our purchases, concentrating on the higher priced items, but did not find a security tag. We assumed a cell phone or some other benign object was setting off the alarm.

At home I again dug through our items, searching for a pair of baby girl PJs I purchased for $6. Can't beat $6 eh? And there, mocking me mercilessly, was the rogue security tag that kept setting off the alarm. We never dreamed that a pair of $6 baby jammies would have a security tag so we did not bother to look. I MIGHT not have been so upset IF I had not been through this exact same experience several weeks before. That time I left the store with a pair of running shoes and got home only to discover the stupid tag was still attached. I had to drive all the way back to the store, not at all close to my house, with the receipt and ask them to remove it. I was less than thrilled.

There I was, standing in my house with a $6 pair of baby jammies, irritated as anything, thinking there is NO WAY I am driving all the way back out there for a pair of $6 baby jammies.

Did I mention this was a $6 item?? WHY are we marking $6 items with security tags?????

My irritation with this repeat lack of security tag removal, the fact that I planned for Anna to wear those jammies that very night and my general outrage at the apparently inept staff of this store motivated me to grab the nearest steak knife and start hacking at the security tag.

Can you see where this is going?

In my haste and annoyance, I grabbed a long, thin knife with a particularly springy blade. A knife that had, incidentally, not been through a recent trip in the dish washer.

Now feel free to laugh because it IS pretty funny, but please also have a teeny tiny bit of sympathy for the fact that this very flexible knife bounced off of the tag and firmly embedded itself in my left thumb. OH DEAR GOD THE PAIN. The knife hit a solid object which I can only conclude, given that it did not go clear through my thumb to the kitchen counter, was my bone. You must also allow Jesse some time to gloat as he was standing right next time me murmuring helpful things such as, "Honey I don't think you are going to be able to get that off." "Honey you are going to hurt yourself." "Cherith, be careful." "Cherith I don't think that is a good idea."

You get the idea.

There you have it, I stabbed myself in the thumb while attempting to remove a security tag from a $6 pair of baby jammies. What sort of award do you think I can/should get for this?

The appendage is quite swollen and painful. I have decided to give it 3 days to return to an acceptable size before I even consider seeking medical treatment. If the worst should happen and it has to be amputated, don't worry because I can have one of my toes grafted onto my hand, thereby replacing my thumb AND securing a nice discount on all future pedicures.

Liz and I have decided to start an anti anti-theft security tags blog. At this point they seem about as effective at preventing shop lifting as car alarms are at preventing car theft and break-ins.

I have not yet decided what to do with the offending $6 baby jammies. I will keep you updated.

My hand hurts like hell, particularly after typing this post. Anna spent the better part of the day patting the splint on my thumb and saying, "Owie. Owie. Mama Owie." Since laundry, dishes and most other housekeeping chores are currently out of the question and since today was the first day of school meaning that I spent the better part of the day typing with a very painful hand, Anna and I spent the evening laying on the floor flipping through a Hanna Andersson catalogue and commenting on how all the babies are night night. Anna very clearly now says, "Night night baby, baby night night." She is almost cute enough to render one oblivious to blinding, throbbing pain. Almost.

My Brother and Me

It is clearly no secret I am thoroughly convinced my kids are THE most darling creatures on the face of this earth. Amazingly enough, Nathan and Anna managed to reach a whole new level of adorable when Anna, realizing that Nathan planned to curl up with a favorite movie, toddled over and plopped her little diapered butt next to him. Nathan responded by tossing his arm around her and the two sat transfixed, sharing a cuddle and movie. I, of course, scrambled for the camera and managed to snap this picture. There is no love like sibling love.

The S blog will likely remain quiet for a while. School is starting this Monday which means that, for a while, I will have very little time for recreational computer use.

Isaac is also starting kindergarten on Monday, attending online via my current employer. Jesse and I are really looking forward to working with him. Nathan asks on a daily basis if he has the same teacher as Isaac, he just does not seem to accept that Isaac is starting "real" school and he is not. We plan to keep him as involved as possible, no harm in his getting a head start.

Our (Isaac's and my) school has a yearly Fall picnic during which we will snap a few pictures of him with his new teacher. He has met her twice and he loves her.

Updates if/when events warrant. Love to all!

I can't think of a clever title...

...so I am just going to jump right in. Anna has discovered Isaac's Baby Alive. She is quite fascinated by robo-baby's response to her toddler mothering skills. It's actually pretty damn cute.

Jesse is apparently currently suffering from a phenomenon called Trigeminy. Usually I can find a good link to help explain what these obscure medical terms mean, but this one is not yielding much decent info from Dr. Goggle. You just always have to be SO interesting and unusual, don't you honey?

Initially he only felt this when he was exercising or working hard, but recently it has happened even while at rest.

We have a call into his cardiologist who wants him placed back on a monitor for an as yet undetermined amount of time. The general consensus is that this disorder is not typically dangerous, but his doctor feels that, given Jesse's history, a "better safe than sorry" approach is the way to proceed.

Assuming that this is in fact Trigeminy, treatment options include doing nothing, medication changes and/or another ablation.

As I am sure you can imagine, my heart skips a beat whenever Jesse's does, so prayers and positive thoughts are much appreciated.

In other news, Anna has recently become fascinated with the more mundane aspects of my role as work at home mom. Meaning she follows me around like a little shadow and insists on "helping" with whatever it is that I am doing at the time. Her favorite activity is folding laundry. Whenever I start folding laundry she "helps" by going into her room, emptying out her bottom dresser drawer and then either stuffing those clothes into one of our dresser drawers or throwing them off the second floor landing. She has also emptied Jesse's underwear drawer and thrown them all off the landing. I would LOVE to put a stop to her "help" but she is just so terribly pleased with herself! Today I tried to refocus her attention by giving her some old, outgrown underwear of Nathan's and asking her to throw them in the trash. Generally she LOVES throwing things in the trash. She looked at me as if I had lost my mind and stuffed the outgrown underwear into my PJ drawer.

Suggestions?

Folding laundry only when she is napping is probably the most obvious solution, but the day I manage to stick to a schedule that specific is the day we all go 100% organic vegan. Not that I have anything against organic vegans, more power to you, rock on veggie lovers rock on!

I think I will go to bed now.

Love to all!

PS Should I be chastised for pitching rather than donating or freecycling the old undies? Correct me if I am wrong, but I figure there is probably not a significant demand for used little boy unders. It goes against my waste not mentality, which applies to most anything other than leftovers, much to Jesse and my mother's chagrin, but I don't suppose there are a lot of people in desperate need of used size 4 undies. Mary, I can Fed Ex them to TN if you want.

S Family Late Night Jam Session

Sorry the lighting is so bad.

Sisterly Love

(Written by Jesse)
This blog is appropriately labeled “The S Family Chronicles”, as it generally discusses events that take place in our lives that influence one or more people in our family. Most of the posts are related to something to do with our kids, chronicling something silly or cute they’ve said or done recently. Sometimes, however, posts are written here that are a bit more reflective; observations and thoughts that usually are brought forth by some recent experience in our lives. This post is one of these…

I’ve known at least one of the Dye sisters since 1988, when Esther and I were friends in middle school. Over the years, I met and got to know the others, and even had the privilege of marrying one of them. Over these nineteen years, I’ve seen them grow and become the wonderful women that they are. I’ve witnessed them overcome great adversity and seemingly impossible circumstances, and instead of becoming bitter or disconnected, they’ve gracefully embraced life.

Among the many things which I find admirable about them, their love and dedication to one another is the most compelling. People have a mental image of what a close family should look like: a true love and appreciation for one another; a sincere desire to spend time together with the occasional bouts of silliness; concern for one another, unabashed openness, trust, respect, devotion and friendship. These qualities are personified in their relationship, and I count it a privilege to not only know them individually, but to know them as sisters.

So often in life, we take our most treasured gifts for granted: a petty quarrel, jealousy, past resentments – the list goes on and on. Unfortunately, these can go unnoticed for far too long, tragically sometimes until it’s too late. The Dye sisters seem to be immune to this, however, as I do not recall a specific incidence in which they’ve done so. And even though one of them has recently moved out of state, their love and fierce devotion to one another remain as strong as ever.

I write this today because I think their story is remarkable: it is a unique glimpse of something that many people have never experienced, though is one of those things in life that just ‘ought to be’. It is a blessing to be able to witness the unique dynamic of their relationship, and I find myself longing for others, especially those who are close to me, to embrace the opportunity to have what the Dye sisters share.

Computers stink

Mine in particular, but Jesse's too.

The 2nd power chord that we have purchased for my laptop has gone the path of the first chord. It will not charge the battery and likes to shut my laptop down at any given, random moment. Needless to say, I have opted not to plug the irritating thing in rather than risk the frying of my hard drive.

I am currently on Jesse's laptop, but we have a seriously intense mutual loathing. I don't plan to get back on here despite the fact that a vein in my head starts to twitch after 24 hours offline.

And, really, nothing interesting is going on around here anyway. We are frantically seeking a nanny for fall, cleaning like mad people so that the house is as low maintenance as possible when school starts, going to swimming lessons, trying to deal with numerous technology woes, barking at each other in a distinctly unspouse like way and sleeping when we can. Not a heck of a lot that is blog worthy.

I hope everyone is well! When my computer is working and I have some cute pics or something interesting to say, I will be back. :)

First Owie

Anna suffered her very first scraped knee this week. She took it pretty well. She picked off the band-aid Esther applied about 13 seconds post application, but she would not quit picking at the scrape so I was forced to put on another.

Can you see the pattern in her band-aid? Poor baby, we have to get some girly themed band-aids in this house!

(Ninja turtles, in case you cannot see.)

Cute Factor: 1000x

On the way to swimming lessons this morning:

Isaac: Oh no, no tummy, no, not now.

Pause

Isaac: Mommy, my tummy is getting all nervous butterflies but I don't want it to be nervous. I want to have fun at my lesson today!


After dinner last night:

Anna was drinking, or rather attempting to drink, milk from her brother's cup. She was making quite a mess so Jesse offered her a sippy cup instead. Anna has thus far rejected all sippy cups and everything they stand for. Jesse filled the cup with the vitamin D milk we keep on hand just in case she decides that a sippy cup might fit into her plans. She took a drink, spit the milk all over herself and flung the cup away with a thoroughly disgusted/irritated look on her face.

Confused as to why she was rejecting the very liquid she had just been consuming from her brother's cup, we realized that the milk in Isaac's cup was skim, not vitamin D. We refilled her cup with skim milk and voila! She drank the whole thing.

Is Anna counting her calories already??? In her defense, if she inherited her mommy's thighs this might not be such a bad idea. Considering her varied and oh-so-nutritious diet of skim milk, watermelon, banana, yogurt, Jesse's cardboard flakes in a box-I mean cereal, guacamole, Spanish rice and my home made chili, it is probably a darn good thing she is so hell bent on continuing to nurse. No I am not joking, those are the foods that she eats most regularly and rarely does she deviate from this menu. She LOVES spicy food, it is the funniest thing. She did meet her match in a chili con queso the other day, but that is the only food I have ever seen her reject due to spice level. She is definitely her daddy's girl!

This evening at Cold Stone:

Esther: Um...did you see what your youngest son just did?

Cherith: No..Nathan, what did you do?

Nathan grabs himself and does an excellent imitation of one of Michael Jackson's more appalling dance moves.

Cherith chokes on ice cream and tries not to look the complete strangers who are now laughing hysterically in the eye.

Cherith: Nathan! Where did you learn that????

Nathan: The Little Mermaid.

Enough said, I am going to sleep.

Surfacing...

Why hello there! Liz, we are not dead. You were spot on when you guessed that we walked away from every phone and computer within a 12 mile radius.

The S Family completed a rather grueling 8 days during which the kids endured much babysitting, I drove 4 hours a day, we ate more fast food than we want to remember and saw very, very little of each other. This past week capped off a month during which every weekend included an obligation away from home. Convinced that we deserved a break, we decided to take a few days and get out of town, away from jobs, computers, phones, etc. and just relax and spend time together.

Considering that we had only two days to work with, travel too far from home was not logistically possible. Instead we opted to enjoy some of the lovely scenery of our beloved home state. Honestly, we love living here and it was nice to be reminded why.

We took the boys hiking and for a trip on a scenic railroad. They LOVED both activities. Previously our trips with the boys have been marked by significant griping and complaining about the heat and how hungry they are and how much they just want to go home. Regardless of the excitement they express prior to the event, they never seem to enjoy it much once we arrive. I am not sure of the explanation for this phenomenon. Perhaps they were too young? Well whatever the reason, they thoroughly enjoyed this extended weekend.

I FINALLY got around to purchasing the Ergo Carrier that I have wanted for Anna. I could have mail ordered 24 of them by now, but for some reason I never got around to it. Fortunately, a retailer that sells this item was conveniently located on the way to our hiking trail.

If you have a child who weighs 40 pounds or less and either walks very slow or has a tendency to wander, frequently need to take that child with you on your daily excursions and desperately need both hands free at the same time, I highly recommend an Ergo. It weighs almost nothing and is very comfortable. I LOVE IT!

I have included a slide show of our activities. Please forgive the unsolicited and somewhat biased commentary that I am sure you will notice.

Everybody's Crazy 'Bout a Sharp Dressed Man

This past Friday the boys attended their first semi-formal evening event and what a splash they made. I did not bring my camera or I would have some wonderful pictures of them tearing up the dance floor. I did snap a few pics of their snazzy togs before we left and thought you would enjoy seeing what they look like when they are clean and well dressed. A tad unsettling to see them looking so sharp, isn't it? Personally, I think they look adorable if unusual.

Anna was being a complete goofball and when she realized that pictures were being taken and she had not yet been invited to join the fun, she invited herself. WHAT A HAM!

I have just completed two 10 hour work days for my job, have Monday off and then have 3 more work days that will probably be about 12 hours each. You will likely not have another S Family update until sometime next week.

I must now be off as it is Sunday night and I am only on page 67 of the new Harry Potter book. THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE!
Have a great week!

BON VOYAGE!!

At 2:50 pm Friday, my sister Mary embarks on a new chapter in her life. This chapter is set in the lovely, albeit humid, state of Tennessee.

Mary is the first, and thus far only, of my 5 siblings to move out of this state. Having lived in the same state near family and friends for...well however many years old she is (when you have 5 siblings to keep track of, you may feel free to judge my lack of knowledge of their actual ages)this move has been a tad difficult and not a little traumatic on everyone who loves Mary, her husband and their darling little guy, Sammy.

We will miss you family West! Whenever you feel homesick or just need to smile, the boys ask that you refer to following videos, written and recorded just for you.

And honestly, the world is a much smaller place than it used to be. When in doubt, simply consult with my dear friend Liz. She is a great friend and I love her dearly, but we see each other "in the flesh" probably less than once a month. IM, e-mail, Skype, the phone, blogs, the list goes on and on, are fabulous ways to keep in touch and maintain relationships from a distance. We might not be able to go on our little play dates or have lunch as often, but our relationship will not change and you will not be alone.

Have fun and enjoy your new adventure! Whenever Sammy acts up, tell him that Aunt Cheri said he is to be a good boy for his mommy!

SQUEAK

Nothing in Particular

Nothing particularly interesting happened today. Well, nothing that anyone other than an S might find interesting.

A lack of interesting events is clearly not a good reason to deny you the adorable pictures of my kiddos that I captured today. The boys will be attending their first formal event on Friday, an occurrence that warrants actual haircuts as opposed to their typical summer buzz cuts.

When we do actually get their hair professionally cut, we take them to a fun shop that caters just to kids. They always offer to put some colorful goo in their hair after the cut. Today Isaac opted for red and Nathan for pink. Nathan's shows up better in the picture. Does he not look about 12 years old with his hair done like that???

Yes Isaac IS still wearing his new Spider Man costume. It has not left his back since entering our home. Fortunately, he has two more costumes on the way. Maybe they will get here before this one disintegrates.

Anna spent the better part of her evening trying to swaddle her baby and bring it outside to show daddy. I put together a little slide show to help you appreciate her efforts. Pardon my partiality, but she is just so darn cute! I have NO idea what happened to other shoe, a complete bummer considering that we just bought them yesterday.

PS You may or may not be able to tell from these pics, but we did break down and trim Anna's bangs. We absolutely REFUSE to call this her first haircut. I totally regret doing it, in case you are wondering.

Enjoy!

Errands or Erin's

The other day I told the boys that we needed to run some errands. During these errands, Isaac became the proud owner of a new Spider Man costume. Very excited about his new togs, he asked if he could wear it while we went to errands. Chuckling over his lack of understanding of the word errands, I told him he was welcome to wear his costume while we did our errands.

As we headed home from those errands, he exclaimed in outrage, "But mommy! I was going to wear my costume to show errands!!"

Confused, I told him that we had just completed our errands and now we were going home and that he did wear his costume.

Still outraged he insisted that we had not yet been to errands and that he really wanted to wear his costume when we got there.

I tried to explain again.

Near tears, he informed me that he REALLY wanted to show errands his new costume and could we please get Esther too because she might want to see errands as well.

It dawned on me that he was talking about Erin, not errands. When I said errands, he heard Erin's. Poor baby! He thought we were going to go to Erin's house to show her his new costume.

So Erin, for your enjoyment, the above picture of Isaac in his new bad Spider Man costume.

PS I fixed the poll so that you can actually vote in it. DUR!

It's a Mystery

I have decided that the mystery of the LC must remain just that.

Many have applied their mental prowess in an effort to crack this code but none have proven victorious.

Clearly I suffered from some sort of grocery related dementia when I wrote that.

I think Lemon Chutney was my favorite suggestion.

Esther, Mary, Erin, Liz and Jesse, thank you all so very much for your suggestions. Apparently this is one of life's little mysteries that prefers to remain mysterious.

Lesson learned: NO ABBREVIATIONS. ABBREVIATIONS ARE BAD. Everyone take out a piece of paper, write the word abbreviation, circle the word and then cross it out.

Edited to add: OMG! I was just watching the corn video again, has the sound always been messed up like that or is it just my computer? Must not have uploaded correctly. Sorry about that folks!

For your consideration...

Do you expect your child(ren) to live a better life that you have lived? Better seems a rather crass and simplistic term, given the infinite characteristics by which a life can be measured, but I am really tired so it is the best I can come up with right now.

Consider your life. Is there any glaring issue that you see as "wrong" in your world? Small issues? Assume now that your grown child(ren) have lives in which those issues are "fixed." Would you be happy for your child(ren)? Would you be proud? Would you feel threatened? Jealous?

Support the Arts

Self reflection is a lost art. The ability to think about and reflect on one's actions and when necessary make amends for those actions seems pretty low on many peoples' lists of priorities these days.

This is a rather unfortunate societal problem, in my opinion.

This particular dysfunction seems especially prominent in people in positions of authority. I am amazed by the number of educators and parents who honestly believe that they are actually always or must always figure out a way to be right about everything.

Why is it so difficult to say you were wrong? What does it cost to say to a person that you made a mistake and you are sorry? Do people who rationalize, justify and make excuses for their every action and sentence honestly feel good about themselves? Is such a self deceiving way of life fulfilling? Can they look themselves in the mirror every morning and feel good about the person looking back at them?

I am by no means a perfect person. Many a fault I have and I have no problem admitting that. I do, however, try to be self aware and reflect on what I say and do, in the hopes of not causing pain to the people that I care about.

Examples:

Liz, I am sorry I was so inattentive and distant on the phone the other day. My anxiety and fear does not make it ok for me to be rude and inconsiderate when you are talking excitedly about your new undertaking. A gracious friend who be happy for you regardless of their own situation.

Isaac, I am sorry that I did not purchase those roses you picked out for me in the grocery store the other day. You are such a sweet little boy and I know you were just trying to make me feel better about loosing my ring. I know that I cannot and should not buy every pretty thing that you pick out for me when we are shopping, but those flowers were very special, you put a lot of thought and energy into picking them out and you do not appreciate that there is money involved in actually bringing them home.

Isaac and Nathan, I am sorry I spoke harshly to you when I was talking to the pool manager about my lost ring. My stress and grief did not make it ok for me to be impatient and angry at you.

Esther, I am sorry I hopped into the front seat of the van, completely and totally forgetting how carsick you get when you have to ride in the back. I am especially sorry that it took me over 24 hours to figure out why you looked so distraught at the time.

People who are willing to admit when they are wrong and atone for the pain they may have caused are trustworthy and credible in my opinion. I am about ready to write the others off.

Hopefully without sounding preachy or annoying, please consider what I have written and think about whether or not you may have hurt someone and might want to make amends with that person. Words can hurt. They can hurt a lot. You may have unintentionally hit a very sensitive nerve or touched on a topic that a person has a lot of insecurities about. Or if you did mean the hurtful thing you said, maybe a rational discussion between the two of you will accomplish more than harsh words spoken in anger.

Personally, I plan to continue to believe that most people are kind and that they really do not intend to cause pain in those they love. I have been burned by this optimism before and I will likely be burned again, but I hope I will never get cynical enough to assume that most people are jerks who would just as soon step on your face if that made it easier for them to get to their desired destination. I came close to that level of cynicism this week and I needed to write this in an effort to organize and understand my thoughts. Sorry you had to come along for that ride. I hope you are not scared, confused or offended.

In Other News
*A new S Family poll is up! Now that we have all had the chance to view the summer sequels, which one did you like best?

*No word on my ring. We are casually shopping the replacement possibilities. I am still very sad about the loss but I am trying to appreciate the big picture. My darling Jesse went to the pool and posted signs offering a reward for the ring's return, but I am still not holding my breath. Any prayers for its safe return are much appreciated. I DO find ring of power jokes amusing, so feel free to go there if you like. :)

*I dropped the center piece of a rather heavy kitchen table on my foot. Very painful. OW.

*Still no clue about LC. ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*We have new license plates. The last 3 letters are OVY. Jesse thinks that our license plates say ovary and he is mortified. I personally think they are quite appropriate for a mini van. I am pleased.

Happy weekend all!

Advice Et Al.

Advice
If, like me, you suffer from acute short and long term memory loss due to an intimate moment between your head and a car windshield, please take the following dos and donts under advisement.

DO keep a running list of needed grocery items as you think of them. If you don't you will end up dragging three bored kids around a store, unable to remember a single thing that you actually need and come home with 12 new toys that were on clearance and a frozen food item that you will put in the freezer and never think about again.

DON'T abbreviate on your list. Consider that since you are keeping the list so that you do not have to remember what you need, abbreviating is rather contrary to what you are trying to accomplish.

DO (and this is for everyone, memory loss or not) help me figure out what on earth I was referring to when I wrote the letters LC on my grocery list. I have wracked my mind, nearly to the migraine point, trying to figure out what I meant when I wrote these letters on my grocery list. I remember that I was looking in the fridge when I wrote it. I remember that I thought to myself that I should not write letters, I should write the whole word, but it was two long words and I was convinced that I would remember with the abbreviation prompt. I remember that it was something I needed but did not necessarily want the rest of the world to know I needed, hence my choice to abbreviate.

That's all I have. Thoughts? Ideas? HELP ME!!!

Et Al.

*I saw gas for $2.99 today!

*The pic above is Anna's first mini skirt. She is only allowed to wear them until she is 3 so we figured we needed to get started. :)

*I have lost, likely forever, my wedding ring. Devastated does not even come close to expressing how I feel. Sick would probably be a better word for that oh so unpleasant feeling in the pit of my stomach. We are offering a reward and posting signs in the location of the loss, but recovery is not likely. I have been given much advice, some good, some not so good, some down right hysterical, on how I might go about locating and/or dealing with this loss and I am grateful. But for the moment I still feel pretty darn lousy so please be gentle if you feel the need to comment. Any joking or teasing will likely earn you an uncomfortable silence and a good look at the back of my head. Not trying to be unkind, just very upset, emotional and raw for the moment. Perhaps we can joke about it in a few months.

If you happen to see a tall, dark and handsome Hispanic man with three cute kids and a ringless white chick, please do not assume that I am his mistress. We are married! I swear!

Pictures and a video below. Anna discovered a non purred veggie that she actually likes!

Corn Princess

We are BACK!

Did you miss us? We missed you.

Despite two power outages today, we actually have Internet again! I am completely ashamed to admit that I got a LOT of things accomplished around here when I could not be online. Clearly I spend too much time online. {Cherith hangs head in shame.}

This past weekend was one of the last semi-free weekends that the S Family has for the next few weeks. We decided to make the most of our time and visited a few local attractions. Below you will find several slide shows and videos. I solemnly swear that no animals were harmed in the taking of these pictures.

In case you are wondering, I have been very thoroughly lectured regarding the germy aspect of reptiles. I figure as long as no one licks a snake and they wash their hands afterwards they are safe. Life is too short to not pet a 9 foot Burmese Python or have an Australian Tree Snake around your neck, don't you think?

Tree Climbing and Petting Zoo

Renaissance Festival

Isaac on the bungee jump (Of course I forgot that if I turn the camera sideways I get sideways videos. Send me those chiropractor bills folks!)


Nathan on the bungee jump

Hiatus

There are TONS of things that I could and would love to write about, pictures I would love to show you. Unfortunately the S Family's Internet was knocked completely out by a lightning strike a few days ago. I am currently hacking a neighbor's wireless signal to bring you this very brief update. Very low signal, not even going to try and upload. Must go, don't like to steal when I don't have to. ;)

Little Patriots

The S family happily celebrated our first illness free 4th of July in the last 3 years. We spent a lovely evening picnicking with family, waiting for the fireworks to start. Unfortunately the end of our evening was plagued with a very tired baby, wind and rain, but all in all we had a great time and the boys loved it.

I have no idea why, but my computer and/or Internet have decided to run very slowly. I am having a nearly impossible time uploading video and pics to my usual hosting site. I will patiently keep trying, the slide show and video below took over an hour to create, but we might be a bit mia for a while.

Anna has started blowing and giving kisses. It is absolutely adorable. That is Esther coaching her in the background.

Baby Steps

Anna has been rather uncooperative when it comes to letting us take video of her wobbly first steps. As soon as she sees the camera she drops to a crawl and zooms across the room in the hopes of getting her hands on that shiny, cool looking, silver box. For now, she actually does prefer to crawl. She CAN walk, but in her mind it is a slow, cumbersome process and she has a much faster alternative so why bother?

We did catch a few of her cute steps on video today. I know you will be very amused by the Nathan interlude towards the end of the clip. Enjoy!

PS The S family washing machine was unable to handle the load(ha ha)and collapsed from exhaustion. Unfortunately, it quit working WHILE the water was running to fill it for a new load. Even more unfortunately, it quit working about 5 minutes after I went to bed the other night. The water ran and overflowed all night long. If not for a drain in the floor of our laundry room, the S house would have suffered a lot of damage. We are very thankful the flooding was not worse. I am seriously rethinking our plan to remodel our 2nd floor and move the laundry room upstairs OR to purchase a home with main or 2nd floor laundry. If the machines are going to occasionally quit working and send water spewing forth, the basement seems a much better location for such activities, don't you think?

I have taken some clothes to the dry cleaner and sent a load home with the divine Esther and another with the divine Mary. I also bought new undies for the boys, Nathan is quite proud of his as you will soon see. We are going to try and tough it out until the end of the week when the repair service is coming, so please forgive us if we look a little disheveled in the meantime.

Debut

The casa de S has had a rather busy week, hence the lack of posts. My apologies. My best excuse is that I have a nasty chest cold and am once again plagued by God awful allergies. I am sure the allergies are connected to our new addition. I am hoping that I will adjust and that my eyes will quit weeping soon. If not I will be forced to seek medical attention yet again.

But enough about me!

The boys attended their very first vacation bible school this week. They had an absolute blast. The week ended with a wonderful program featuring all of the kids. You must forgive Jesse and myself as this is the very first time we have had the pleasure of sitting in the audience and watching our boys perform in a school production. For your viewing pleasure, I have included some of the rather sketchy video I was able to take. In the first clip, Isaac is in the far right side of the frame, in sun glasses and a black shirt. Nathan is hidden behind the little girl on the far right in the print dress. I moved mid song in an attempt to get a little footage of Nathan, which you will see on the second clip. He is the little guy in the center top in the sun glasses.

Aren't they talented and adorable!???! Mary took some still shots with her awesome camera and we also have better video on the actual video camera. I will get this media ready for sharing as soon as I can.





I'm back! I added a very short slide show so that you can you see 2 of the FABULOUS pictures that Mary took this afternoon.

What a Difference a Year Makes

Today marks the official one year anniversary of Jesse's surgery. We spent the evening at one of our favorite haunts, sipping pineapple martinis with oysters on the half shell, reminiscing and reflecting on how different we felt one year ago today.

Later in the evening we went out and bought a new all in one fax/scanner/copier/printer. Isaac tripped over the cord of our previous printer and sent it flying. I tell you, they are fascinating machines when you see them in 437 pieces.

In the years to come, we plan on many more evenings as scintillating as this, free from anxiety and fear over the health of Jesse's heart.

With hearts full of gratitude and love, we bid farewell to this significant milestone. Thanks again to all who have supported us through these experiences.

PS Anna is much better today. No more vomiting, she is nursing well and she even consumed a few solids for breakfast. Hopefully she will quickly gain back the weight she lost and be back to her old self. She slept VERY well last night, which means mommy did too. In the words of our darling nephew Sammy, "Yay Anna!"

Life is Exhausting!

Not at all meaning to make a joke out of Jesse's post, I am probably 2nd only to Jesse in the feeling of relief and joy that this past year is in fact past.

However, this past week has just been so exhausting, I am having some trouble focusing on anything other than how much I want to go to sleep.

Anna was up again last night, vomiting and miserable. We just don't know what is wrong, the stomach bugs I am familiar with are the 24 hour sort, is it normal for it to go on like this? Help me out moms. I am seriously sleep deprived and feeling quite desperate. Nathan appears to have a touch of the same bug, but he is not nearly as miserable as Anna.

Honestly, I don't feel all that great either. But that is likely due to the fact that I have not slept more than a few interrupted hours in several days.

I have nothing particularly interesting to report. In my current frame of mind, I am far less enthusiastic about cleaning up puppy poo than I was a few days ago. Bummer.

Thought you would enjoy this picture I took of the boys. Aunt Mary came to take them to a movie one day this week after Anna had been up all night. They look pretty cool, if you ask me.

Please send me mom sympathy vibes and sleep wishes. I think that only other moms can truly appreciate how desperate, tired and frustrated I feel right now.

I hope that all is well with you and that you are NOT visited by this God awful virus.

Life Is Wonderful

Written by Jesse
As I’m sure my darling wife would tell you, I am a sucker for anniversaries - always have been. I view certain dates in our past as a kind of temporal landmark - a point of reference for where we’ve been, what our experiences were at that time, and how we’ve grown since. There are many dates in our lives that I view as such, including the obvious ones, like our wedding anniversary and birthdays, to more obscure ones, such as the day I asked Cherith to ‘go out’ with me, the day of our car accident, and the day we brought Nathan home from the hospital after his 17-day NICU stay.

As many reading this are probably aware, we are fast approaching one of these ‘landmarks’ in our lives. Saturday, June 23rd, will be my one-year anniversary of having open-heart surgery to replace my defunct tricuspid valve and decrease the size of my right atrium. As seems so often the case, I can hardly believe that a year has passed since this momentous occasion.

Over this past week, Cherith and I have been reflecting on how we felt around this time last year: the fear and anxiety; the doubt, the dread, and that forever nagging question of “what if?” lingering at the forefront of our thoughts. Our lives had been turned upside down when we first heard the news, accentuated all the more by an initial prognosis that equated to a death sentence. Thankfully, this doom scenario was nullified by a cardiologist who actually knew what she was talking about, though having my chest split open and my heart stopped for a couple of hours while it was being sliced into wasn’t exactly my idea of a good time.

Speaking of which, and with some risk of sounding a bit cliché, going through such an event tends to sharpen one’s perspective on what life is truly about. Life is full of the unexpected, and the manner with which we deal with these events help define who we are. Saying good-bye to Cherith and the kids was by far the most difficult thing I’ve ever had to endure, especially with that nagging WHAT IF? screaming in my head. But ultimately, I had to trust… I had to trust; to trust that my family was not alone in that waiting room, to trust that they would be okay if the unimaginable happened, to trust that I was not alone in fighting this monster.

I remember waking from the surgery, and for a very brief moment, I imagined I had dozed off one lazy Sunday afternoon. Then reality flooded in, and I remember being overwhelmed with a sense of tremendous relief: I made it! From that moment, the burden of the fear and anxiety, the doubt, the dread, and that constantly nagging question of ‘what if?’ was lifted. Looking into my Cherith’s eyes, hearing her sweet voice and feeling her soft touch did more for my heart than any surgery ever could. This was behind us, and our healing could now begin.

Since then, as is always the case, life has been filled with ups and downs. Having to deal with arrhythmias as a side effect was certainly not something I had hoped to encounter, but thankfully these too have been remedied (though having a radio-frequency ablation earlier this year brought a whole new appreciation to the term ‘heart burn’). And now, we are able to bask in the freedom of burdens lifted; to savor the spoils of a hard-fought victory; and to live life to its fullest in constant gratitude and appreciation.

I will forever be grateful to all those who helped my family throughout all of this: to those who brought meals, who folded laundry, who mowed our lawn, thank you. To those who cared for our kids, who came to the hospital, who sent ‘get well soon’ cards, thank you. To those who prayed for us, who spoke words of encouragement, who offered a shoulder to cry on, thank you. Your contributions showed an act of love and kindness far beyond what I though possible, and I am forever indebted to you.

So one year has passed, and instead of looking forward to a summer full of hospital gowns and beeping monitors, we look forward to swimming lessons and cleaning up puppy poo. I actually don’t even mind that it has been so hot lately, and I’m really looking forward to taking Anna to her first 4th of July fireworks display. I know that other challenges will come, and I’m sure they will be accompanied with their own questions of ‘what if?’. But for now, at this moment, life is wonderful, and it feels really good…

Phantom of the S House

List of names considered before the boys settled on Phantom:

Snowball
Golden
Baby Jesus
God
Zombie
Venom

I am very happy they settled on Phantom.

Anna is doing ok, she is still pretty run down and tired. She has not eaten all day and we have been working to push her fluids. She did have some "other end" issues today, indicating that she is not quite over this little bug.

It's about that time of year, right?

The S Family has some sort of weird cosmic connection to Children's Hospital in mid to late June and early July. Last year it was obviously Jesse's surgery that kept us there. The year before that Isaac was hospitalized for 3 or 4 days with a nasty illness. And just to keep the pattern going, last night we spent the evening in the Children's Hospital ER with our darling baby Anna.

At about 5 pm yesterday Anna started throwing up. We did not think much of the first two times as she did not appear or act sick, did not have a fever and did not even seem all that upset about the fact that she threw up. We even tried to go out to dinner, thinking that it was just a wonky banana that her tummy rejected and that she would be fine.

If you happen to be one of the people who had the unfortunate pleasure of watching her vomit all over the restaurant floor...I AM SO SORRY! Send me a cleaning bill for your shoes, I feel really bad! My apologies also to the wait staff as under ordinary circumstances I would have cleaned up the mess myself. It was about this time that we realized we had something more significant than a rogue banana on our hands and I left without so much as an apology or an offer to clean up my child's vomit myself. Again, I AM SO SORRY!!

Anna continued to vomit about once every 10 to 15 minutes throughout the evening. In consultation with our pediatrician and at about 8:30 when she started getting pale and listless, we headed for the ER.

I will spare you the gory details, but we became more and more concerned as the appearance of the vomit started changing. By this time she was VERY upset at the intensity of her vomiting but falling asleep between vomits because she was so tired. Poor, sweet baby girl.

The er staff refrained from giving her an IV, for which I am eternally grateful. They let us try syringes of Pedialyte every few minutes until she finally stopped vomiting. She evidenced no symptoms other than a nasty virus that hit her really hard. For most of this time, she was not even running a fever.

She did have a rough night and I am sure we will all be pretty tired today. Around 1 AM I broke down and decided to ignore the doctor's directions about not nursing her until morning. Anna nurses to sleep, always has, and she just could not get herself settled down. I am now very glad I chose to ignore those directions, as my good friends at La Leche League tell me that breast milk is actually NOT considered a dairy product and is therefore not irritating to an upset tummy as cow's milk might be.

This morning she is acting a bit run down, though she is currently swatting at my hands as I type which means, "Mommy get off that thing and pay attention to me!"

Guess I better run, have a great day!

Update: She just went down for her nap about 2 hours early. She kept putting her head down on my shoulder. She refused to nurse before her nap, unheard of for Anna. She just let me put her in her bed, rolled over and closed her eyes. I don't think she is feeling all that great.

Fancy Myself a Photog

I like to, but really I am not. I do not have the camera or the training. But I would LOVE to be an actual photog, clearly I get a huge kick out of photographing my children.

The pics in the slide show below were taken with Mary's FABULOUS camera. If any of you are sitting around wondering what kind of present I might like, the material think I currently want most in the world is an awesome camera like that one. It does not even have to be that cool or professional grade. I really must update my digi cam.

Given that I am hopelessly unphotogenic, is that a word?, it is a damn good thing that my kids are. You cannot EVER take a good or even decent picture of me. Staged or natural, it does not matter. I look like a chubby golem on crack in every picture I have ever appeared in.

My kids, on the other hand, photograph beautifully as evidenced in the following pics. I think that last one in this series, the one where she has a little grin, is my all time favorite picture of Anna.

The Many Faces of the Divine Ms Anna S

Father's Day Slide Show

Good evening all! Scroll down if you have not had a chance to read my original Father's Day post. I poured out my feelings via blogland earlier today, but I thought you might also enjoy some pictures of our Father's Day fun.

We started our day by attending church. The boys are doing REALLY well with their Sunday School classes. Anna is less than thrilled with staying in the nursery, but she is adjusting. We had brunch with grandma and grandpa, then home for naps.

In the afternoon we checked out an awesome museum, dedicated to the history of flight. I am thinking this will be a great location for a birthday party. The boys got to sit in the cockpit of a Vertol H-21 Shawnee/Work Horse, Click here to see a picture of this helicopter. They were SO excited. Is there anything more intriguing to a 4 and 5 year old than a huge, flying hunk of metal?

After the museum we had dinner, played in the fountain and then hit Starbucks for dessert. What a lovely day with daddy.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

I know there are many people out there who view Mother's and Father's Days as nothing more than an attempt to put more money in the pockets of the greeting card producing set and to an extent I am sure that is true,

BUT...

I personally see NOTHING wrong with taking a little extra time once a year to say an extra special thank you to the moms and dads who make our world a better place, who tenderly watch over, teach and love their offspring. Yes, we should always be thankful and always make sure they know they are loved, but what is wrong with a little extra effort now and then?

{Cherith steps off the soap box}

To my husband Jesse, my best friend, my partner in crime, etc.

Thank you for being THE most wonderful father on this beautiful planet. I am thankful each and every day that our children have you to love them. We are all very blessed indeed to have you.

This Father's Day has such special meaning to me and I will admit that I have been holding back tears most of the day. I honestly thought I was going to loose it in church this morning. Rest assured they are happy tears. Our future was so uncertain at this time last year. All of your Father's Day gifts were chosen so that you would have something to do in the hospital during your recovery. There are not strong enough words in any language for me to express how utterly grateful I am to have you with us today. Your children adore you, I love you more than life itself and we are honored that we were given the gift of your presence this past year and for many years to come.

I may be a little weepy the rest of the day and especially during the week to come. Just turn your head and give me a minute to compose myself, don't hug me or acknowledge the tears or I will absolutely loose it. They are happy tears, the most happy tears I have ever cried. I LOVE YOU JESSE!

NOTE: If you are new to this blog and utterly confused by this post, here is a little background info. Jesse has a congenital heart defect called Epstein's anomaly. On June 23, 2006, Jesse, age 29, underwent open heart surgery to replace his tricuspid valve. At the time, our kids were ages 4, 3 and 9 weeks. If you would like to read the blog I kept before, during and after the surgery, you can find the "start" of our journey by signing up for a free account at Care Pages . Our former blog is called AnnaNathanandIsaacsDaddy.

Happy Father's Day to all the fathers out there, especially those who I know are in close competition with Jesse for the tile of "World's Best Father." ;)

Faces

Many of you know of Jesse's and my obsessive desire to grow our family by adopting from China. Well, ok, I am probably the only one who is obsessive about it. If you did not know, now you do. We do not talk about it much, save with a few trusted family members and friends, and I have never talked about it here. I do not plan to publicly discuss any further details on this issue as I feel it is a very private and personal matter, but I felt you would need a little background information as to why I am writing what I am about to write.

I follow several charitable organizations that work directly with the orphanages in China. You may or may not have noticed the link to one of these organizations, Half the Sky, in the side bar to the left.

Anther organization that I love, A Child's Right, recently completed a trip to China. They installed several water purification systems in a number of the orphanages. The pictures of their trip are absolutely amazing and I want to share them with you. I know there are a number of people who do not understand this obsession of mine, I hope that looking at all these beautiful faces will help you appreciate some of the reasons why this is such an important issue for me.

There are a LOT of photos here. Please, if you can, take the time to look through them all. This is such an amazing opportunity to see into these orphanages.
A Child's Right

Gross and really gross

What can I say about the last few days in the S house? Well, truly I cannot complain too much. Compared to events of years past, the past week has been a picnic.

HOWEVER...

I feel the need to whine for just a minute as I am in pain and whining is just want I want to do when I am in pain.

Last Sunday I was 2 miles into a run on a lovely spring evening when my right foot caught an uneven spot in the sidewalk of a neighbor. Before I fully appreciated the situation, I hit the pavement in what was probably the worst fall I have ever experienced. Thankfully, both my palms, wrists and right knee appear banged up and bruised, but otherwise ok.

My left knee, on the other hand, now sports a truly gruesome injury that has been unofficially diagnosed as 2nd degree road rash. Um, can we just all say a collective OUCH!? I do not mean to complain, really I don't, but OW! OW! OW! The twice daily scrubbing with soap, warm water and wash cloth earn an even more emphatic OW! OW! OW!

The strain, sprain, twist or whatever you want to call it, to my actual joint is also quite painful and will probably keep me from running for at least another week or so. Bummer. In reality, it will probably keep me from running for a lot longer than 2 weeks, given that I am caring for a home and 3 kids and there is no way I can stay off it as much as I should. Ah well.

Could have been worse I suppose.

I have decided against posting a pic of my knee because, really, it is pretty nasty and no one wants to see that. Mary saw it when it was a new injury. Esther saw it today and seemed convinced that I will soon have my leg amputated. If you want to know how gross it really is, give one of them a call.

In other news, the pic at the top of this post shows a nasty critter that Esther and Mary caught in the front yard and housed in a bug house for the boys' amusement. This thing was about 6 inches long, including that long, pointy, black thing you see there. Esther's brilliant Google skills, "wasp with really long thingy," informs us that
this is the critter they caught.

Again, not meaning to complain, but I live in this state and specifically in the city in this state so that I DON'T have to deal with too many creepy crawlies of this sort. EW!

We took it to babanana's house, wowed them with the catch and then released it. I hope we never see it again, though the boys DID think it was pretty cool.

For a post that started out with a statement about not wanting to complain, I certainly managed to complain a lot, didn't I? I will refrain from further grumblings and go ice my knee.

Love to all!

Thank you Aunt Mary!

Anna absolutely LOVES the Kangaroo climber that you gave her. I had no trouble putting it together. Here is a video for you. This went on for about 75 minutes before she fell asleep on the floor!

When you are too cheap/tired/lazy to travel to an actual water park...

The S Family has been enjoying all things aquatic these last few weeks. Even Anna has decided that water is not her enemy. Major breakthrough there folks. Until this week, that girl has sobbed through every single bath since birth. Apparently she has found her sea legs and we are in for loads of summer time water fun.

The boys also love the pool, the hose and anything else that is cold and wet. Thus far we have enjoyed an unseasonably cool Spring, but things are starting to heat up around here. We plan to spend quite a bit of our time lounging in and/or around the pool.

Below you will find both a slide show of recent pool pics and a video of what we do when we are just too lazy to walk the 1 looooooong block to our pool. I hauled myself up on top of the playhouse to position the hose just so. I did not break ANYTHING during my descent; not the playhouse, not the ladder, not my ankle, not even a nail. You should be VERY impressed.

(Yes, I am aware that the video is sideways. Just turn your head or laptop. Apparently when you turn the digi cam sideways to record, your video comes out rotated 90 degrees. I know that I COULD solve this problem by learning how to use my blasted digi video camera, but I just have not gotten there yet. Working on it, I promise! Send your chiropractor bills to me.)

PS Who, tell me WHO, taught my boys to say, "Yeah baby!!" with a weird little accent? I am not at all fond of this expression, probably related to my dislike of Austin Powers and/or my career, I am not sure which.

The Family Table my Backside!

I figured I should not title a blog post with a swear word.

I assume you have all watched those lovely commercials that encourage families to sit down and have heartwarming dinners together? Sit down! Have dinner! Communicate! Review your day! Debate hot topics! Share your thoughts, feelings and hopes for the future! It'll be great and all the world will be rosy.

Someone please tell me what I am doing wrong.

Without fail, the S Family sits down to dinner together every night. Most days we eat outside at the FABULOUS new picnic table on our deck, lovingly built for us by Baba. I cook healthy meals, packed with fresh veggies and whole grains. I love to try new recipes and am teaching myself to prepare dishes that I know Jesse and the kids will love, despite the fact that I am not crazy about them (read: anything that includes fish).

So what am I doing wrong?

Read, if you will, the following excerpt from a typical S Family dinner table.

Cherith, "Let's pray."

Nathan, "I have to go poop!"

Isaac, "Ha ah aha hahahahahha!! Nathan said poop!"

Jesse and/or Cherith, "You can poop after dinner Nathan, we are going to pray now."

Nathan, "I have to go poop now! I really do!"

Isaac, "Ha ah aha hahahahahha!! Nathan said poop!"

Cherith and/or Jesse, "Nathan you do this every night and every night we tell you that you need to poop before dinner. You can wait."

Nathan, "I have to poop NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Isaac, "Ha ah aha hahahahahha!! Nathan said poop!"

Jesse and or Cherith, "Isaac, stop it! Fine Nathan, go poop and then get back here so we can pray and eat dinner."

Jesse, "Anna stop throwing food, you are going to sit in your high chair while mommy and daddy eat."

Cherith, "Nathan, hurry up!"

Isaac, "I don't like this! I'm not eating it!"

Cherith and/or Jesse, "You liked it when we had it last week, it is the same food. Please eat your dinner."

Isaac, "Can I have some catsup/dip/butter?"

Cherith and/or Jesse, "No Isaac you already have enough catsup/dip/butter."

Nathan, "Mommy I'm done! Come wipe me!"

pause....all return to the table

Cherith, "Let's pray."

Jesse prays.

Cherith, "Amen."

Isaac, "Amen."

Nathan, "Elephant!"

Isaac, "AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!! Nathan said elephant instead of amen!!"

Anna, while vigorously shaking head, "MUMUMUMUMUMUMUMU!!!!!!!!!" (Loosely translated, this means GET ME OUT OF THIS DAMN CHAIR NOW!!!!"

Cherith and/or Jesse, "No Anna, you need to eat your food. Mommy and daddy are going to have dinner now, you sit until we are done. Isaac stop laughing at your brother and Nathan, quit being so goofy."

Isaac, "I don't like this! I'm not eating it!"

Cherith and/or Jesse, "Isaac we already discussed this, eat your dinner."

Isaac, "Can I have some catsup/dip/butter?"

Cherith and/or Jesse, "No Isaac you already have enough catsup/dip/butter."

Isaac, "Can I have some more chocolate milk?"

Cherith and/or Jesse, "No Isaac you only get one cup of milk, you can have some water."

Nathan,"I'm done!"

Jesse and/or Cherith, "Nathan you only ate 2 bites. You need to eat your dinner, this is the last food today. No snack before bed and/or no dessert unless you eat more of your dinner."

Nathan, "How many bites do I have to take?"

Jesse and/or Cherith, "Nathan, please just eat your dinner."

Nathan, "How many bites?"

Jesse and or Cherith, "Ok, 2 bites of meat and 4 bites of veggie."

Isaac, "I love this now! This is my favorite food ever!"

Cherith, "That's nice Isaac, I am glad you like it. Please remember what you just said when I make it again next week."

Jesse and/or Cherith, "Nathan get off of the floor, sit in your chair and eat your dinner."

Isaac, "Here Anna, you can have this."

Jesse, "No Isaac! She will just throw it.....!"

Pause in conversation, frantic cleaning of unwisely purchased beige upholstery.

Jesse, "Isaac, thank you for trying to share, but please do not give Anna anymore food, she just throws it around."

Anna, "MUMUMUMUMUMUMUMUM!!!! AAAAHHHHEEEEEE!!!!!!!!"

Jesse and/or Cherith, "No Anna, you stay in your chair until mommy and daddy are done with our dinner.

Anna, "mumumumumumumumumdadadadadadadadad dadoooooo dadooooo dadoooo"

Isaac, "Look daddy, Anna smeared guacamole in her hair, all over her arms and onto her clothes."

Jesse with heavy sigh, "Yes Isaac, we see."

Cherith, "Nathan get off of the floor and eat your dinner!"

Nathan, "I'M DONE!!"

Cherith, "One more bite of veggie."

Nathan eats bite and takes off running.

Cherith, "Nathan, come back here, sit in your chair and ask to be excused."

Nathan sulks back to the table.

Nathan, "Can I please be excused?"

Cherith, "Yes Nathan, go play."

Isaac bolts from the table.

Jesse, "Isaac come back and ask to be excused."

Isaac, "I am not done yet, I will come back later and finish."

Cherith and/or Jesse, "No Isaac, when you leave the table your are finished eating. If you want to eat more, come back now."

Isaac sulks back to table.

Isaac, "Can I eat Nathan's food that he doesn't want?"

Jesse and/or Cherith, "No Isaac, you have plenty. You can have more vegetable/whole grain/low fat protein if you are still hungry."

Isaac, while bolting from the table, "I'M DONE!"

Jesse, "Isaac come back and ask to be excused."

Isaac sulks back to table.

Isaac, "Can I please be excused."

Anna, "SHRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Jesse, "Yes Isaac you can go now."

Cherith and/or Jesse, "I'll do the dishes and clean the kitchen if you clean up Anna."

Thus endith a typical S Family dinner.

Having read this, can someone now please tell me WHAT THE HELL I AM DOING WRONG???

The very next time I see one of those commercials I am going to hurl the lengthy list of interesting current events I was planning to discuss at our heartwarming family table at the TV.

Honey, I Blame YOU

Perhaps we can teach him some more words? Another song? The actual melody? SOMETHING?



PS Yes that IS another band-aid over Nathan's eye. He healed nicely, stitches were out...and then daddy threw a frisbe that clocked him right in the same place and re-opened the cut, Niiiiiiccceee.

Toddler's Creed

I don't think this needs any additional comment. It does do a great job of summarizing my typical day to day activities.

THE TODDLER'S CREED
If it is on, I must turn it off.

If it is off, I must turn it on.

If it is folded, I must unfold it.

If it is a liquid, it must be shaken, then spilled.

If it a solid, it must be crumbled, chewed or smeared.

If it is high, it must be reached.

If it is shelved, it must be removed.

If it is pointed, it must be run with at top speed.

If it has leaves, they must be picked.

If it is plugged, it must be unplugged.

If it is not trash, it must be thrown away.

If it is in the trash, it must be removed, inspected, and thrown on the floor.

If it is closed, it must be opened.

If it does not open, it must be screamed at.

If it has drawers, they must be rifled.

If it is a pencil, it must write on the refrigerator, monitor, or table.

If it is full, it will be more interesting emptied.

If it is empty, it will be more interesting full.

If it is a pile of dirt, it must be laid upon.

If it is stroller, it must under no circumstances be ridden in without protest. It must be pushed by me instead.

If it has a flat surface, it must be banged upon.

If Mommy's hands are full, I must be carried.

If Mommy is in a hurry and wants to carry me, I must walk alone.

If it is paper, it must be torn.

If it has buttons, they must be pressed.

If the volume is low, it must go high.

If it is toilet paper, it must be unrolled on the floor.

If it is a drawer, it must be pulled upon.

If it is a toothbrush, it must be inserted into my mouth.

If it has a faucet, it must be turned on at full force.

If it is a phone, I must talk to it.

If it is a bug, it must be swallowed.

If it doesn't stay on my spoon, it must be dropped on the floor.

If it is not food, it must be tasted.

If it is food, it must not be tasted.

If it is dry, it must be made wet with drool, milk, or toilet water.

If it is a car seat, it must be protested with arched back.

If it is Mommy, it must be hugged.

The conversation no parent wants to have with their son...

(written by Jesse)
The boys occasionally enjoy playing make-believe games that involve them asking me for money, and I oblige by handing them a pocket-full of air. They then take the air and go off to purchase whatever they are imagining they are buying.

So the other day, Nathan is playing this game with me, and asks me for three hundred dollars. I ask what he will do with this money, to which he replies "It's to fix my car...Oh, and for my baby!" As he walked away, I looked at Cherith and said "You know, I REALLY hope we don't have that same conversation in 14 years!"

In other news, we are happily approaching the one year anniversary of receiving my brand new bovine pericardial bio prosthesis size 33mm Edwards heart valve at the tricuspid position (try saying that three times in a row), which is on June 23rd. It is so awesome to be able to look forward to a summer without dreading a major surgery and the recovery time that follows. I guess it's true what they say: "Open heart surgery can really put a damper on your summer activities" (okay, truthfully, I don't think 'they' really say that at all; or rather, if they did say that, it would sound silly and out-of-place - but I digress).

Anyhow, Cherith and I intend to celebrate this milestone by going to my most favoritest (I'm well aware of the bad grammar) dining establishment in the whole wide world: Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steak House. What better way to thank the cow that donated its pericardium than to eat one of its relatives?