I am writing this particular post so that I won't forget the conversation that I had with Colin last night. Colin is 8. He has never been one to fall down and get right back up....especially when there is blood involved. He can be somewhat dramatic (the apple doesn't fall far from the tree). Last week Colin fell not so gracefully off of his bike at a friend's house....several bandaids later, he decided that he could walk well enough to get home. During the week, the wounds have done their best to heal forming pretty scabs over his knee and elbow. Last night at Pryce's baseball game, Colin fell not so gracefully again, this time taking the pretty little scabs off and leaving two fresh wounds on his body once again. Now, I was not there when this occured....I was off having some "me" time playing Bunco with friends. During one of our transitions, someone said "a phone is ringing, whose is this?"....mine, of course. The caller had hung up but they had left me a message....it was Colin and the only word I could understand was "sorry" through all of his tears. Given our recent history of shaky phone calls (Ryan's wreck call) and the fact that Colin was crying hard in his message, I panicked and started dialing frantically to see what was going on....of course, no answers on either the cell phone or the home phone! Unbelievable! So, I begin to dial again....then the phone rings in the process and it is home calling me. I practically yell "hello" in the phone in my own panic.....then, I hear the pitiful sobs. It is Colin calling to tell me how horrible his summer is going. In between sobs he explains to me about his fall and how he is bleeding profusely and how he doesn't want anymore bandaids or any medicine and he doesn't want to take a bath because the water will sting.....then he says "the two worst things in my life happened today....one, my 'air passage' got blocked at the pool and two, I fell...." At this, I had to smile.....the whole "air passage" comment was just too much for me. Colin has such a serious, old mannish side to him....how many 8 year olds would state that their "air passage" was blocked?! He makes us laugh without even trying and that is one thing that we love most about him! So, I had to write this post for me....so that I will remember that serious little boy who was convinced the world was crashing one day when he reopened old wounds and got his "air passage" blocked at the pool.
***Note: Colin swallowed water too fast at the pool today while playing ball with some others. He came to me and told me he was choking....he was talking, breathing was happening and he went on to play after I assured him it was all good.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Thursday, May 29, 2008
School's Out For Summer!
Next week my mother will walk down the halls of her middle school for one last goodbye. She is retiring after 30+ years of teaching. I honestly never thought I would see the day but it is coming fast and she is not looking back. Summer for her will be all the time now. She deserves a good, long break doing everything that she wants to do....of course, we are all a little selfishly excited to have her all to ourselves....with seven grandchildren to account for, she will be kept very busy! Congratulations Mom!
In other news, my good friend Sandi and her sister, Tammy, were able to visit us over the long weekend. Sandi is a friend for life. I have not visited with Sandi in 5 years yet we sat and talked like we had seen each other just last week! She had a huge impact on my life growing up.... Sandi was the friend who always made sure I kept both feet on the ground, she always knew what to say and when to say it, and she always listened before giving advice. The boys were so excited to meet a friend of mine that knew me when I had brown hair! The children all got along well and we hated to see the visit go by so quickly! We also made a trip to visit the grandparents. The faculty and staff at my mother's school held a reception in honor of her retirement. The highlight of the party was visiting Gran's schoolroom. On Wednesday, the boys and I visited a little water park. My niece and sister joined us and the children had a grand time welcoming in summer with a little splash party.....the pictures tell the story. On Thursday, an early intervention speech therapist came to do an evaluation on Mason-Kate. To my surprise, the speech therapist told me that Mason-Kate is really not delayed at this point. She says many of the appropriate sounds, she points to objects when asked where they are on a page, and she will try (sometimes) to mimick what we say. However, Mason-Kate does qualify (thank goodness) for speech therapy services due to her cleft. So, they will begin services in a few weeks and hopefully come every week. Mason-Kate continues to make us laugh. I think the funniest, yet saddest, thing she has done this week was pretend like she was eating pretzels out of a bag I was holding....she would pretend to put her hand in, pull it out, open her mouth, pretend to put something in, chew and then just laugh at me because I was laughing at her. One day we noticed that the house was a little too quiet and we discovered that MK was no longer playing in the spot we had last seen her in....we went straight to the stairs thinking that she was on those for sure....nope....we turned around and there she sat with Finley....they were both beside the back door, MK had Finley's leash and she was trying her best to get it on him. It is funny....many people are just now meeting Mason-Kate for the first time. People continue to comment on how lucky she is or how they admire us for taking on the challenge of a special needs child. She is lucky....she has parents who love her and will do anything possible to care for her....she also has two brothers who adore her....and she has a dog who can't get enough of her attention. BUT, we are the luckiest of all.....by having the opportunity to adopt her, she has given us the joy of becoming parents all over again, she has given us the opportunity to have another child, she has given the boys a sister, we now have two more arms to wrap around us for a hug, we have another sweet little face to kiss goodnight, but mostly, we now have another child to love and she is the one we have dreamed about for years,....it is truly a win-win situation.
In other news, my good friend Sandi and her sister, Tammy, were able to visit us over the long weekend. Sandi is a friend for life. I have not visited with Sandi in 5 years yet we sat and talked like we had seen each other just last week! She had a huge impact on my life growing up.... Sandi was the friend who always made sure I kept both feet on the ground, she always knew what to say and when to say it, and she always listened before giving advice. The boys were so excited to meet a friend of mine that knew me when I had brown hair! The children all got along well and we hated to see the visit go by so quickly! We also made a trip to visit the grandparents. The faculty and staff at my mother's school held a reception in honor of her retirement. The highlight of the party was visiting Gran's schoolroom. On Wednesday, the boys and I visited a little water park. My niece and sister joined us and the children had a grand time welcoming in summer with a little splash party.....the pictures tell the story. On Thursday, an early intervention speech therapist came to do an evaluation on Mason-Kate. To my surprise, the speech therapist told me that Mason-Kate is really not delayed at this point. She says many of the appropriate sounds, she points to objects when asked where they are on a page, and she will try (sometimes) to mimick what we say. However, Mason-Kate does qualify (thank goodness) for speech therapy services due to her cleft. So, they will begin services in a few weeks and hopefully come every week. Mason-Kate continues to make us laugh. I think the funniest, yet saddest, thing she has done this week was pretend like she was eating pretzels out of a bag I was holding....she would pretend to put her hand in, pull it out, open her mouth, pretend to put something in, chew and then just laugh at me because I was laughing at her. One day we noticed that the house was a little too quiet and we discovered that MK was no longer playing in the spot we had last seen her in....we went straight to the stairs thinking that she was on those for sure....nope....we turned around and there she sat with Finley....they were both beside the back door, MK had Finley's leash and she was trying her best to get it on him. It is funny....many people are just now meeting Mason-Kate for the first time. People continue to comment on how lucky she is or how they admire us for taking on the challenge of a special needs child. She is lucky....she has parents who love her and will do anything possible to care for her....she also has two brothers who adore her....and she has a dog who can't get enough of her attention. BUT, we are the luckiest of all.....by having the opportunity to adopt her, she has given us the joy of becoming parents all over again, she has given us the opportunity to have another child, she has given the boys a sister, we now have two more arms to wrap around us for a hug, we have another sweet little face to kiss goodnight, but mostly, we now have another child to love and she is the one we have dreamed about for years,....it is truly a win-win situation.
The family at mom's retirement party; Future teachers at work
MK showing off her pretty dress, then saying "Enough, Already!"
Pryce and Katie Beth; MK and Emerson
Fun at the water park with Emma
Sunday, May 25, 2008
No-Nos
The no-nos needed a little makeover so this morning we took them off and added a little pink to them :) The blue was so distracting. Enjoy the pictures....
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