Daily Life

How old do you feel?

2011-11-06T20:58:00.000-08:00

I wrote this post last year but for some reason hadn't published it. I'm not sure why but I got a kick out of reading it so here it is with a picture from this year's football season:

Aaron had his football party tonight and as I was talking to some of the other parents I realize how I either feel really old or too young depending on which of my kids I'm referring to. As Aaron gets older and more responsible I feel too young to be raising a young man. He'll be going into middle school next year. I think about my experiences in middle school and wonder how in the world am I going to handle these things with Aaron. I'm not old enough, wise enough, or mature enough to handle a pre-teen and I can't even think about the teenage years yet. Then on the other hand there is Elsa and Wayne. The two of them run me ragged and it is all I can do to keep up. By the end of the day I feel old.

Wayne's Words

2011-11-06T20:50:00.000-08:00

Wayne turned two on the 2nd of November. Words have been slow in coming for Wayne and the journey has been interesting. I'm probably one of the few moms who got to enjoy having 'mama' be their child's first word, unfortunately his only word for a long while. This week it seems like words have started flowing out of him. First, I noticed him starting to say 'up' and 'down', very exciting and anytime he asked I obliged when possible. Next was 'dada' and 'no'. Tonight had to be one of the most exciting however. Tonight as I was carrying him to bed he noticed the TV as we went by and called out 'fubal'! Daddy was watching football! Of all things! Makes sense though since he has been inundated with watching his big brother play football that one of his first words would of course be 'fubal'. So we chanted all the way to bed 'fuuball', 'fuuball', 'fuuball'! Bedtime was then long in coming since he continued to chant on his own in bed 'fuuball', 'fuuball', 'fuuball'!

Jack Theodore Smith

2011-11-06T20:37:00.000-08:00

Jack Theodore Smith

July 2, 1931 - April 21, 2011

I met Jack the summer of 1997. At the time I was going to college at the University of Portland and was looking for an inexpensive place to live close to school. I came across a room to rent just a few blocks from school. Little did I realize the lasting friendship and love that would find me there. As fate would have it I only lived in that house for a few months but mine and Jack's friendship would continue and grow until his dying day.

Who was Jack Smith? That is a question I've been asking myself a lot lately. It's a question that I wish I had asked Jack more often. Jack was one of the strongest, proudest men I know. He was a military man, a protector. When he spoke about being in the Army I could see the pride he had in his country even if he didn't necessarily like the way the country is now.

He was a man who loved to make you laugh and loved to pass on a good dirty joke. Jack didn't talk about his past life much. We got along well because I didn't pry but if he wanted to share I would gladly listen. The few times he spoke of his wife, Lela, I was astounded by the love I could see in his eyes. He had never remarried after she had passed away. Jack's love was powerful and could at times be overwhelming.

I wish I could say more. It is difficult to sum up the life of a man in just a few paragraphs. I feel like there is just so much to his life that I didn't know about and there is so much more that I just don't know how to put in words. Why did he choose me to be the one to take care of him when he was no longer able? He loved me like a daughter and he will be missed.

Jack I hope you find peace.

Rocking Chair

2010-11-12T20:23:00.000-08:00

Let's just say the rocking chair has been put up and only brought down when there is proper supervison.

Bath time

2010-11-02T20:11:00.001-07:00

Well let's start by saying that Wayne loves taking baths. I think that is a major understatement. Wayne is crazy about baths. I can start running the bath water and no matter where in the house Wayne is he will make a bee line, as fast as his crawling will take him, to the bathroom. I can't even imaging how quickly he'll get there when he can run. But then Elsa is only steps behind simply because she takes the time to go to her bedroom and strip down first.

I want to try to get some video of bath time with Wayne but as it is it takes all my energy and attention to just handle Wayne. Spalshing is his favorite activity followed by putting his face in the water. He starts out by squatting down and then with both hands smacking the water in front of him with all his might. The water showers over him and all over anyone in proximity which of course would be me since I don't dare leave his side. I generally spend much of this time holding a towel in front of me so I don't get completely soaked. It doesn't seem to matter what toys are available for him to play with these only distract him from splashing for a minute or two. Wash clothes have been banned from the bath. He likes to take these and splash with them. So imagine him squatting down swinging his arms up over his head then with all his might hitting them on the water. Then imaging this same manuever with a wash cloth in hand the amount of water sprayed is impressive.

to be continued...

Chicken Stock, Soy Milk and Goose Poop

2010-10-16T21:14:00.000-07:00

Chicken stock, soy milk and goose poop; what do these things have in common? Well, they certainly make for an interesting day. Today started off with breakfast as any other day does. Elsa decided that she wanted some soy milk to drink with breakfast. She ask for something to drink and I told her she was welcome to go get it from the fridge herself since she already had an empty glass at the table. Off she went to the fridge and then back she came with the box of chicken stock.

At this point I should explain that the chicken stock and soy milk are in the exact same types of containers, the stock has a brown label and the soy milk has blue. Aaron noticed it first that she had gotten the wrong box. We all smiled and chuckled a bit. She was so embarrased and got very upset. It was a good twenty minutes before she came out of her room. She can be so sensitive, a lot like me I'm afraid.

After breakfast we headed out on a walk. We followed Fanno Creek trail and the crossed Hall Boulevard to continue on Greenway trail and over to the playground. Aaron and Elsa rode their bikes. Brett and I walked the dogs and I pushed Wayne in the stroller. We had a great time at the playground. Elsa and Wayne played on the slide while Brett and Aaron threw the football around.

On the way home we stopped at Starbucks and got coffee and hot chocolates. I love fall days were a hot cup of coffee is so good after a brisk walk in the cool fall air. We then headed home. We had to cross Hall and Nimbus so we crossed at the lights. On our way across the second crosswalk Elsa suddenly got very upset and started screaming about something on her hand. You would have thought the sky was falling and I'm sure she did! Sure enough right in the middle of the back of her hand a big glob of green goose poop.

I can't even imagine what she was thinking. This awful green thing fell out of the sky and stuck to her hand. The green glob nearly covered the back of her hand and she wanted it off! Well we had to finish getting across the street first. As we are walking she starts trying to wipe it off on the handle bars of her bike. Did you know that goose poop is kind of sticky? We do now. I had decided to risk taking the walk without bringing the diaper bag so I didn't have any wipes with me at all. Luckily lawn works very well for rubbing green globs off. The rest of the walk home Elsa was very leary of any geese flying over head.

Bike Ride

2010-10-15T21:09:00.000-07:00

Elsa is one determined little girl. We walked down the creek trail this afternoon to go to 7-Eleven to pick up a movie. Aaron and his buddy Mason were riding with us and Elsa was on her push bike. She was determined the entire way to keep up with the boys. I'm surprised she didn't crash and burn in the process. She has a habit of looking down at her wheel which then causes a lot of zig-zagging.

By the end of the ride Elsa no longer had to keep up with the boys since they rode home ahead of us. So it was just Wayne, Elsa and I. By the time we reached our street Elsa had had enough of riding.

Bedtime

2010-10-11T06:24:00.001-07:00

I have to admit that bedtime is my least favorite part of the day. I really dislike going through the bedtime routine. Does that make me a bad parent? Isn't bedtime suppose to be this lovie-dovie thing. Some of it is impatience on my part since I am very ready for the kids to go to bed but they seem determined to prolong the routine.

As it goes I'm generally trying to rush them to get done and they in turn are dragging their feet. Aaron does what he needs to mostly on his own though he still wants me to tuck him in. It is very endearing that my big 10 year old still wants his mom. Elsa on the other hand is the worst about bedtime. I am usually focused on getting her moving. Last night she was doing her usual bouncing around and not really paying attention to my requests for her to get in the bathroom. To the bedroom I go, "Elsa get in the bathroom." To this she looks at me and states "I'm a Super Hero." Like that is the answer to everything. Of course she's not listening she's busy being a Super Hero.

We finally make it through brushing our Super Hero teeth and going potty. Yes, Super Hero's do have to go potty I assured her. We Super Hero our way back to the bedroom for pajamas. The pajamas she has are the footsie ones that is a full warm fuzzy jumper. Hers happen to be purple with lite purple pocka-dots. We like to call her the purple people eater when she's wearing them though it might be that she is the purple person the eater likes to eat. Anyways, she takes her purple footsie pajamas and puts just the arms on so that the rest of the jumper is hanging down behind her and off she flies around the room!

The make-believe capabilities of a 4 year old never cease to amaze me.

Don't Panic

2010-10-10T21:02:00.000-07:00

What a night. Thank goodness Brett keeps his cool. I do but just not as well and I'm quick to calmly run off to the urgent care or emergency room when one of my kids is hurt. So with that here's the story.

I was preparing sandwich fixings for dinner tonight when I had everything ready I call Elsa in so that she could make her sandwich herself. She came in and got the step stool out so she could reach the counter. Unfortunately, Wayne likes the step stool and also headed over to it and climbed up. I was turning around to get him from the stool but in the time it takes to do that (less than a second!) he grabbed the large knife that I had been using to slice the sandwich fixings. I got a hold of his hand but he twisted in just the right way to slice his pointer finger on his right hand. My heart stopped. Breath.

Now for those who have cut there own fingers in the kitchen you know how much it can bleed, for those who are lucky enough not to have experienced this let me tell you it bleeds a lot. So at this point I'm ready to take him to urgent care and get stitches! Breath. Call for Brett to do something, I don't know what but something. I have a paper towel already on his finger and applying pressure to stop the bleeding. Yuck Marley is cleaning up the floor (Marley is my dog for those who don't know). Breath. Brett points out that it us unlikely to need stitches and that we don't need to rush off. Brett prepares a bandage of sorts and once the bleeding has subsided we get Wayne's finger bandaged up. To keep the bandage on his hand we wrap his entire hand with tape so he can't use the fingers and can't pull the bandage off.

Once things calmed down, I at least called the advice nurse. She agreed with Brett that given where the cut is at it is unlikely that the doctor's would stitch it and it would probably be less traumatic for Wayne if we just took care of it at home. We cleaned up the cut, it does look pretty awful, and got a fresh bandage on it as well as some liquid bandage to keep the cut together. Wayne is now sound asleep.

I think I'm finally breathing :-)

E's Abc's

2008-10-09T10:36:00.000-07:00

While getting ready for bed we were singing the Abc song. E was tapping my face while singing. Not sure why she was but it was cute. So I got my phone to record her and she proceeded again with the song and tapped on the phone instead!

"The Monster" - 1977 Ford F250

2008-09-16T12:16:00.000-07:00

I drove A. to football practice no problem other than the normal floating back and forth in and sometimes out of the lane. I notice that people generally give me a lot of space. A. and I decided on the way over that the truck was old enough to warrant having a name. So we decided to call it “The Monster”, not very creative but definitely appropriate the way it grumbles and roars to life. I parked it at the school and walked with A. over to his team. I didn’t stay long since I wanted to get back home to make dinner. The truck started right back up and off I went.

The school is right off Murray by the Nike campus. Traffic was thick and moving slowly. So I’m singing to the music (the only thing that works well in the truck is the radio, darn good radio) and inching along with the other cars. I just cross TV Hwy and the railroad tracks, I'm not moving fast because of the traffic and the truck dies. Dead. Oh goodness.

Were the heck are the flashers! I throw it in park (and yes made sure that it was enough over too the left because you have to push the shifter as far over as possible and hold your tongue just right) and turn the key. Something happens but it does not start. Oh goodness.

Okay move shifter to neutral than back to park (all the way over and don’t forget the tongue) turn key. Something happens but it does not start. Hmmm, shoot.

Okay maybe I need to pump the gas but I don’t want to flood it so try turning the key one more time and no start. The battery seemed to be draining so pump the gas and try one more time. Nothing. Call hubby. Shoot phone battery is almost dead. Hang up with hubby to quickly to call AAA. By this time I’m near tears and talking quickly to AAA.

Someone stops and asks if I want their help to push it to the nearest driveway. Handle this truck without power no way, no how, not me! Trying not to be rude to the nice guy but phone battery is very low, he leaves and I feel guilty for not saying thank you. Set up tow truck and police to come out for traffic.

Wow less than 5 minutes and an officer is there behind me with flashers on. By this time you can imagine I’m well closer to tears than I care to admit. It’s hot, I’m thirsty and nervous. Thank goodness they had water. They called for an ETA and the tow truck was set to be there in 2 minutes. Hubby and E. show up. Get the truck hooked up and head home.

Tow truck driver does a great job manuvering the truck into the drive. The guy pulls away and Hubby gets in the truck and the damn thing roars to life. Fine the one that can start the truck can drive the truck. Just out of principle it is going to the junkyard driven by the one that started it up.