I know what you guys come over here for....and it isn't my writing.

Since swim lessons ended, we have attempted to return to a somewhat normal state of affairs, so that we can finally get some social time (read: play dates) in. However...



Last Friday we spent the day in the bathroom. I was concerned because it shaped up to be another April 27, however, we were extremely fortunate that our atmosphere stabilized. We did get AM tornadoes that cause extensive damage just a few miles from our home, but, we again escaped unscathed. I am glad to say we are prepared this time. I have all of our emergency supplies and our plan is as sound as it can be. The kids even seem to get a mild kick out of things. They take everything seriously, but I do not want to instill a fear of something they cannot control.

So. Tornadoes.



And then the diarrhea started....for me and Alya. I assumed mine is my stomach issues. But, for the kids it is higly unusual. My kids are rarely ill, and, when they are, it seems clearly delineated. This weird stuff started Tuesday. Alya has had fairly persistent diarrhea. She also had a loss of appetite. Meanwhile Ben came down with a head cold. So....I trotted them to the doctor yesterday. Virus. With weird bug bite looking spots on the neck. Apparently it is going around. Also, it appears to be benign, but no one is quite sure what it is. Some theorize that it is a derivation of hand, foot, mouth. All I know is I have had semi-puny kids all week (thus a lazy cereal breakfast Friday just to try to get them to eat...photo above) and I have concerns about Alya becoming dehydrated. I am pretty sure she is tired of drinking Gatorade.



Ben's Winter indoor soccer season ends tomorrow. Since I keep our last name, location, and personal info secret, I am going to take liberty with this soccer picture. This is the 2012 Black Panthers team. No one had the heart to tell them that was not a superb choice for a name. I mean, would you want to disappoint those kids? They did a great job this season, and Ben actually got his foot on the ball a few times. He is learning to keep up and be more assertive. No goasl yet though....maybe someday....



Finally, I am not entirely sure, but I think this video may not have loaded, which sucks, because it is Alya's dance class! If it did load, this is a snipit of her recital dance. Enjoy, because she is adamant that she is not going on stage....again, no location or names or express intimate info, so no one should be able to figure out who the other kids are ;)

So...soccer, dance, swim lessons...and now that we may have a little free time...tornadoes and diarrhea....somehow that seems to be an appropriate summation of how life has been since, oh, I don't know....November 2006 ;) We are together. We are happy. We are (relatively) healthy. I think that is all we can reasonably ask for.

Paycheck

I don't know how anybody does it. I don't.

If you work outside your home, how do you have time to do things with your kids, grocery shop, clean house, etc? If you do not work outside of the home, how do you have time to poop (amazing what these kids are doing for my vocabulary) alone? How do you do it? How does anyone do anything? I'm confused. I'm officially baffled.

Well, I guess the five minutes I am using to blog could have been put towards those ridiculous projects that are hanging over my head (shred the bills from when I was pregnant and on bed rest, save all the pictures on the desktop [which has not been turned on in over a year] onto the portable hard drive and then back them up onto cds, get the hernia checked before it ruptures, clean out the pantry so that I will not buy a 20th can of refried beans the next time I go to the store). We don't even eat refried beans. I don't get it.

The source of my confusion is this: I have a happy and healthy family. We spend quality time together...in fact...we should probably split up more often because the whole thing seems extremely co-dependent. But I just got JACKED by working on Mondays and putting my kids in swim lessons on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I never returned to life after my heart surgery, and, now, it seems I have no life outside the confines of my abode (not true...I lubs you folks out there...you are good people)...but when do I see you? When do I talk to you? ..."sometimes I wonder if they know that I'm gone...I'm drifting, drifting along...."

I know this is very dramatic and overly played....somebody (about 25 of you at least) are smirking and thinking...pshaw...I just saw you XXX....not like "Mother/Boy XXX" and not like "Jenna Jameson XXX", but just XXX (or XXI would be fine and true...thank you Heather for the Bailey's) fill in the blank...I was forcing a beverage into my bloated, herniated, gastritis laden belly. Ug. I'm just not fun any more. I want to sit at home and rock my 5 year old children and hike with them and the big guy and I got extremely excited this week because I got new tires and brakes and so the kids and I all piled in the van with the dogs and went to pick up my new eyeglasses and grocery shop. I was over the moon. Is this normal?

I know, my normal is not normal, because my OCD plays into every move I make. I have recently befriended someone who was most definitely destined to cross into my path, or I into hers, and she said, "well, I like to plan ahead" (referencing a possible future play date) and, I exhaled peacefully, because I am a planner...and being such keeps me from missing a lot of fun spur-of-the-moment things. And, trust, I have a lot of the "spur-of-the-moment ers" around me. I just can't jump up and go.

So, I know how most of you get it all done...you roll with it...you let it all come in waves and you rides those waves. I try to predict the tide. And, while you can generally have a window for high and low, you cannot predict things too far out, and, thus, my rigidity is what gets me. If I'd quit trying to control every moment, I could get it all done too and not be a bundled up knot of insanity all the time.

I know I wear you all out. I know I do. I wear me out. But the good must be ever so nice, because so many of you have chosen to stay for ever so long. SO...I am going to be able to master it all as well...as well...by being more flexible. I have already succeeded thus far this year with my resolve to have a better attitude, next up: flexibility (physically and mentally). In between I may try to situate this GI issue.

In the meantime, I know you want to know about the kids more than anything.

They recently had their 5 year check up. Alya is 46" and 45 pound and Ben is 44.5" and 42 pounds. They had perfect check ups and eye exams and are just a couple of super loaded 5 year old kids. What are they loaded with, you might ask....well were my Grampa Robey still alive, he'd say "moo juice". I say vim and vigor. They are smart and sassy and quick and they ask questions all.day.long. Alya is enjoying dance (as long as she doesn't have to "get on stage" and Ben is enjoying soccer. They did well in session 4 of swim lessons....almost swimming...it has been a slow go. Somehow, I ended up with kids who are scared of the water. They are kind of scared of everything. Hesitant. Cautious. Not sure how that happened......

I'd post a video, but Alya's first ever boyfriend is in all the videos, and I think his mom might not want his video on my blog. I don't know. Maybe she doesn't mind. When we know each other better maybe I will ask if she cares :)

We've done some schoolish things too. PreK should be updated soon. My brag is that both kids are reading now...Ben proficiently at about a 3rd grade level and Alya very well...ready for school for sure. I'll save the rest for over there.

Most importantly, they are having fun. They are free spirited and love nothing more than being outdoors. They prefer going for a hike over playing at the park (suits me) and want to explore everything and ask questions I have to (frequently) look up the answers to.

Alya in a post-dance pose and Ben sporting some "crazy eyes".





On second thought, I really am not sure how I keep up. This is way harder than it looks....way, way, way harder.....but more rewarding than anything I have ever done in my entire life. Who knew?