The One

The one year old SBW had his one year old partay this weekend. We went to a neighborhood park and pool to splash around with family and friends.

I just can't believe that our sweet baby is already one. The folks that we invited to this party are friends and family that helped us make it through the first year. These friends fall into the categories of baby holders when I needed an extra set of arms, best buddies when our kids needed a break from the fam or beer buyers when mom needed a night out. I am SO thankful for all of our friends.

I love this picture of our kids so much. My heart has been captured on film while sitting at a party and saying cheese.


P.S. And thanks to our sweet AJ for not just being one of my BFFs but for also taking these incredible shots at the partay. She also took 204 more pictures, but I can't figure out how to get them off of Shutterfly to post on the blog.

Words for the nite...

I had plans for a big ol' blog post tonight. But I ended up trying my hardest to make a new banner for the blog. BLECK. Still not how I want it and I am too tired to go on. So I leave you with a few of my thoughts for today...

There are three sides to every story. Yours. Mine. And the TRUTH.

My very favorite area code is 785.

I don't like folding clothes or unloading the dishwasher.

My JC makes me laugh everyday. Even when we are fighting.

It is a bad idea to have a little buzz and decide to cut your bangs.

I love our Tempurpedic mattress. I am convinced that the only way we'll get SBW out of our bed is to buy him his own. Cause he is smart that way.

And I am looking forward to Sunday and a day of rest and quiet with my family before school starts.

The 50's

We have had over 50 days of triple digit heat. That is a record. I would take being in the gazillions for triple digits if it meant that our summer wasn't almost over.

I like these kids cause they always seem to find the funny side of things.

I've been watching them grow and change.

Each of them turning more and more into the adult that they will become.

I have been admiring the trust.

I am thankful that they have each other.

I am thankful for our community.

And most of all, I am thankful for funny homeless people.

369

 

Hard to believe that this guy has been around for 369 days.

It seems like he has always been with us.

We needed him in our lives. In his one short year, he has taught all of us more than you can imagine.

The nine months that he lived in my belly were some of the hardest of our 18 year marriage. Not because of him, but because of silly grown-up stuff. I cried a lot. And then I cried some more.

How perfect it is that this gift of a boy came out and hasn't stopped smiling.

He sleeps with us every single night. And I love it.

He nursed exclusively for 8 months and is still dining at the mommy cafe. And I love it.

We hold each other all day long. 14 arms holding on tight. My arms will never be too old, too weak or too tired for this.

I love to watch the fab four love him.

He is OUR baby.

We all love him so much.

Our Sweet Baby Wyatt.

What a miracle.

The chicken or the egg?

Up again before the rest of the world. Oh, except I guess the rest of the world was probably up and it is just my people that have taken to sleeping past 10am every single morning. Took #1 to his middle school camp at 8am this morning. I did not comb his hair, but JC did strategically turn on the water sprinkler so that #1 would get wet when getting into the car!

JC has had jury duty this week. It has been hard for him and even harder for me. Seems that someone was accused of doing bad things with a kid. A kid that was the same sex and same age as one of our kids. It hurts me. It makes me sad. I could not have sat in that courtroom and listened to it. I would not have been able to sit in that room and listened to a child talk about their innocence being taken away. Hard stuff. Hard hard stuff. The first night he came home and had a terrible headache. That was the day that the kid talked. He didn't talk to us very much that night. Ugh...

I don't know details or any information about the case. We talked last night and decided that once it is all over - we will sit down with our kids and tell them about it. We will tell them to protect themselves and their bodies. We will remind them that even people we think of as friends can sometimes do very bad things. We will hold them and remind them that we are doing every.single.thing. possible to protect them. The whole thing makes my stomach hurt. Talk about timing, huh?

I scrambled 8 eggs this morning. So that brings our grocery count up to 2 dozen eggs for the week - since Sunday. Boy these kids can fly through some food! The funny thing about the eggs is that I can cook a ton of them and I do not eat a single one. For some reason, I just can't do eggs anymore. They REALLY gross me out. bleck.

I am not sure what we are going to do for these final days of summer. I think I might lock the doors and keep them all inside with me.

Cause that sounds perfectly rational.

The Dangerous Road

I am sitting here this morning trying so hard to think of something witty to write on my polka-dotted mommy blog. I hafta call it that because last week I heard someone on the news talking about moms with their polka-dotted mommy blogs that spend hours and hours bragging about their kids. I mean seriously, what gives us the right to inflict all of our scraped knees and first kiss stories on you anyhow???

Heh.

Today the house is really quite. Three kids are still sleeping. Seems to run in the family - sleeping late is so good. SBW is sitting in his chair eating more blueberries than should be allowed. And my #1, well he is at middle school camp. Yep, that's right. 7th grader camp.

I was pretty teary this morning. I asked him to be patient with me over the next few weeks and to just humor me if I want to comb his hair or tie his shoes. I thanked him for letting me comb his hair before we left.

They let us walk them to the door and say good bye. So we did. And then JC and SBW got to deal with me. My poor sweet JC is surely gonna have his hands full when the last one of our kids grows up.

I've got an appointment this morning to see the doctor. Seems that I am imploding. Shingles. Rashes. You name it, I think I've got it. She said when I saw her last Friday that the only real cure is to not be so stressed out.

ha ha. What a comodian.

I am guessing there is something to be said for dealing with your past. Seems like I've worked so hard to keep the closet door shut. And now there are a few skeleton toes trying to peek through the cracks and I am trying and trying to push them back in.

It is funny how you can live 25 or more years without dealing with something, and then seeing someone or talking to someone from that time of life can bring it all back. One innocent question of your well being can send you into a full blown tail spin. A simple comment about wishing for one's peace can make things start tumbling out. I wonder how I am gonna feel about all of this reunion-ing once this trip down the dangerous memory lane is over?

Well, at least I've got perspective...most of the time. I know that we have so much to be thankful for. I know that we are the fortunate ones.

It all could have turned out so much worse.

I am so so thankful.

Barton Springs Full Moon

And here is one small example of the things that our kids will remember about their childhoods!



Barton Springs Pool on a warm August night.

Full moon in the sky. A ton of folks taking a dip and letting out a howl. There are hula hoopers, a drum circle, babies and grandparents. There are people swimming fully clothed and people wearing not much more than their birthday suit. There is a feeling of friendship and peace in the air. You just can't help but to smile.

When we were leaving, a couple that was sitting up on the hill asked us if they could sketch our SBW. Naturally, we said yes. We all stood and watched as this incredible artist turned a plain piece of manilla paper into a piece of art that I will cherish for my lifetime.

We all came home feeling a little bit better about the world. I am so thankful for these times with my family and our friends.

******************************

ARGH...by 2:30am, the good feeling was gone. I had a sat a the silly computer for almost 3 hours trying to figure out how to create and upload this video. I went to bed frustrated and irritated! And then this morning, it came to me. You Tube! Ah ha! Wa la! I never thought I'd ever say this, but thank God for You Tube.