Not a whole lot going on around here, but thought I'd keep trucking with updates. One of these days I'll print out this baby and enjoy looking back at what life was like at this stage.
Starting with a nasty one...I went a little cleaning crazy this weekend and power washed some cushions, then decided to deep clean our supposedly white comforter. Yes, the photo below is pretty much true to life of the color of the bath water once I soaked in detergent, borax, and a couple other things for good measure. Disgusting. If you're just washing your comforter every now and then in the machine with regular detergent, you've probably got a bathtub sized amount of oily stuff in yours as well. Sorry for that thought.
Next up-- the always bold, never self conscious stylings of Miss Julia. Those are lime green capris with sky zone knee socks on top. Frilly purple sweater to go with that oversized tshirt. You truly never know what you're going to get with this one. Also, she's obsessed with doing her hair now that she has some (limited) skills. We needed to make our morning routine a little more hectic. Seriously, 50 minutes was not long enough to get her ready this week and she makes her lunch the night before so there is just dressing and eating.
The little one continues to be my sidekick at work every morning. She spends a good bit of that time sitting on her little potty, but she's still fun to have around. And this morning she got the necessities out of the way on (drumroll please....) the big potty on our way to my class, so she got to spend her time figuring out my keys. She's going to school in underwear now (specially ordered 18 month sized underwear, that is) and so far, so good. Work is going well and I'm really enjoying bonding with the kids. And I get a little giddy about some of the upcoming lessons and books we're going to do. :) Nothing like teaching a captive audience that thinks you're super cool.
Allie cried at drop off every day last week but no tears this week! And I've heard from a couple of parents now that their kids talk about their friend Allie when they are home. I think she's a bit of a novelty, as some refer to her as "the baby". Her teachers say she's playing a lot with the other kids and is happy. At home, she pretty much has one game: drink and pour water with regular cups. Her back up game is "please hold you" or lately "please hold you me". She's also picked up a couple of lines from songs. We were helping Joshua fill out his field trip form and Matt and I were calling out our insurance info ("BCBS of NC") and she finished with "dubbadee, x, y, and z". :)
Julia does not have the market on time in front of the mirror this week. Somebody else is experimenting with hair styles and gel.
This guy was my buddy while Julia was at dance. He loves his picture taken. This was one of about 5 pics of him with each one of these frogs outside a shop downtown.
And Gray with a happy Raven. Or weird Raven. Who still smells like skunk after an encounter 3 weeks ago.
No, they actually didn't plan this. Julia got dressed and then Gray dressed Allie, not having seen Julia. These sweet dresses were made by my very skilled mom, who by the way visited us this past week in case of jury duty. I thankfully wasn't needed so we just got extra hang out time with Mimi, which is always welcome, followed by a brief, but passionate depression from Julia when she leaves.
The girls and I found a super cool park in Durham Saturday during boys' lacrosse practice. So many fun things to climb on and spin in. I didn't take a pic, but got a kick out of meeting a family who had a giant boy I was amazed to find was almost exactly Allie's age. The were swinging side by side and it was hilarious.
Other highlights from the last week or 2-- Got to go out one night with dear friends, which was looooong overdue and so nice to be together and talk and listen. Matt got to take a brief beach trip with his friends too.
This week held a lot of ups and downs for us. Some of the highlights:
Gray and Joshua started back up with lacrosse and Julia started ballet at a cool little laid back studio downtown in Durham.
beauty salon with Allie
Allie is well on her way to being potty trained all of sudden! She will go pretty easily on her little potty if we're at home. So nice to not have so many diapers to wash and she's been pretty compliant with the idea this go round so it hasn't been that much trouble. Helps that I give her two tiny peanut butter baking chips when she goes. ;)
Matt got a new job! Starting end of next month he'll be on a Rapid Response/ICU Transit team...a small group of nurses with a big job. He's happy for a change and I'm happy for him, though not at all surprised he got the job. he's good at what he does and pretty marketable if I do say so myself. :)
We had our first week of teaching prek. By the 3rd day, I was hooked again. Love getting to know the kids and seeing their excitement for learning. We've got one or two that are going to give us lots of comic relief as well (imagine little boy with a highly Southern accent giving imitations of his Scottish born teacher from last year). Allie did well in her class and didn't cry a bit.
Joshua started FCA and Wyldlife Bible Study this week at school. Fun to see him growing up and doing these types of things I didn't do till high school/college. He's also been really into this chocolate selling fundraiser and I think it's helped him come out of his shell a bit more. He got to go to a Wyldlife night time meeting last night with a lot of friends and loved it. He hardly has homework and is pretty much loving life right now.
Joshua, Allie, and I had our first sickness of the season. You just forget that people get sick when you've been well all summer! The worst of mine fell on my birthday, which was kind of a bummer and led Matt to keep wishing me a "Crappy Birthday!" :)
We started the day with taking Allie to get her blood drawn for the genetic testing, which was not fun, but the lady was so good at her job, upbeat and singing and praying out loud for it to go smoothly. And it did go pretty well. Then we were going to do some other things around Durham but I couldn't get up the motivation with not being able to stray far from my tissue box. Even turned down the chance to buy truffles at Park and Otis, which if you know me is just waaaay outside my character. :) But resting and reading the rest of the day wasn't so terrible, and I got lots of treats delivered to me in bed too. Julia brought me a tea party and Gray very sincerely gave me a last minute gift after school-- a chocolate bar he bought from Joshua's fundraiser and coupons for helping take care of Allie (which is obviously a win-win for him!). Joshua also bought me a chocolate bar from his fundraiser, after he asked me if I wanted to buy one. Ha! And Matt gave me just what I asked for--caramel M&Ms that I had been wanting to try and new sunglasses, that unfortunately were so big that we all just died laughing. Also got lots of calls from family and friends and treats and flowers from my friend Robyn. We ended the day with pizza, my "mommy movie" Mom's Night Out, and leftover apple pie with ice cream from an early celebration with Matt's parents.
Really the most special things about my birthday aren't the tangible stuff. Typically each year I call my grandmother and wish her a happy birthday. She hadn't remembered that she and I share a birthday in years and her reaction is always to exclaim, "OH!! Is it my birthday today?!" But I still love that we will always share that connection, even now that she's gone. The other special thing about my birthday is that it's the day we were given the opportunity to pursue adopting Allie...the first day I saw her sweet face. Can't believe it's been a year!
Up next week---full mornings of preschool for Allie (she had short days this week) and possible first time jury duty for me.
Some exciting happenings for Allie these days. She had her first taste of preschool on Wednesday. It was a bring your grown-up to school day so Matt was there with her. He reported that most of the kids were head and shoulders above Allie, literally and figuratively (speech and development) but some of them are almost 3. She seem to like playing and I think she's going to have a great time.
Today was also a big day as we went for a cardiology check up. We have been on an every six weeks schedule or even less than that since surgery. I wasn't sure how she was doing since she really seemed OK before she even had her surgery. I was so thankful to hear her doctors report that everything looks awesome. Areas that were enlarged are shrinking, areas with a flow problem are comfortably low, and he said best of all is that those tiny pulmonary arteries are growing thanks to the repair. He thinks she will be okay with no intervention for a good long while. And we get to wait 6 months for the next check. So, so thankful!
(Pics from doctor's office and sunning that rash afterwards on this beautiful day!)
Next up for Allie, 3 short days of preschool--only a little over an hour so they don't flip. We will see how drop off goes. Can't be worse than Joshua's first day of kindergarten!!😂
Been doing a lot of reflecting lately with the passing of my grandmother. The stories told about her before, during, and after the funeral were so special and definitely got me searching my memory for more of what it was like to be at Grandmama's over the years. Walking through her house filled with so many family members, but not her, was so surreal. You keep catching yourself thinking, "Now where is Grandmama?"....Oh. Right. I just wanted to here her voice going "Woo-ooh, in here!" when I called for her. And then as we visited two of her remaining sisters, I did hear her voice in theirs. They were devastated at the funeral, but at the end of the day, dressed in their nightgowns and ready for sleep by the time we stopped by with some roses from Grandmama's grave, they were just like Grandmama- joking and laughing loud. That got me thinking too.
Grandmama was fancy and proper in some ways, like her bright suits and super high heels and sparkly clip-on earrings as she dressed to teach Sunday School and sing in the choir. But she was not so dignified that she wouldn't be full of stories right after that service, cackling with laughter and saying whatever came to mind, inappropriate or not. 😂 Our family gatherings at her house were like that--full of old stories, lots of laughing, perhaps someone breaking out into song and dance, like my mom and Aunt Cheryl singing "Sisters" from White Christmas, or one of my uncles retelling an anecdote complete with impersonations that would have us rolling. And as my cousin Constance beautifully wrote for the funeral, that part of Grandmama- the warm, let your hair down and just be your crazy self sentiment- has spread to all of us and will keep living on.
When we all get together, you just never know what someone may come up with... When there were just 5 grandchildren, we all went to the beach and the oldest, Abby, wanted to reinact a fairytale. This is the kind of thing we are all over in my family...and those that aren't so keen on this kind of fun (ahem, Daddy), learn to not protest when we drag them in anyway. We brought costumes and everything and much drama ensued. A few pictures and clips (love seeing Grandmama here)...
A little way down the road and it was Halloween. We were headed out to the country to a fall festival near Grandmama's house. Someone suggested we liven things up by ALL of us dressing up for it. No costumes? No problem. We raided my mom's pile of dress up clothes and headed off. Yes, we dragged my dad into that one too. And I was the very pregnant fairytale princess.
Another year we were gathering for Thanksgiving and decided to do a race at Grandmama's. Our own Turkey Trot complete with medals and of course, some of us (adults) wore costumes. So much fun and something my kids still talk about.
One Christmas morning at Mama's we put on a play of the story of Jesus' birth. We made costumes out of whatever we could find and just had the best time with all our "skilled" acting.
During the summer of 2011, we had my cousin and her husband in from London, the host city of the Olympics that year, so we made up a family Olympics, minute to win in style competition.
This is what I love about going home to my family. I feel most free to be myself and be silly and just listen to stories and laugh loudly. At my house I get too wrapped up in the mothering of kids and keeping of house, but here, I can let my hair down, just the way Grandmama always did.
What a tough weekend it was, saying goodbye to Grandmama. We gathered at her house for lunch, all of us trying to hold it together in our own way, particularly the girl great-grandchildren, who were taking it really hard. Before the service, a huge storm blew in and we had a moment of comic relief as many of the kids, Matt, and I were loaded into a lift to cross to another area of the church, while the wind blew in the pouring rain over our way. The kids thought it quite an adventure! The service was very meaningful, particularly the stories that were told about Grandmama and the beautiful eulogy that my cousin in London wrote and had her mom read. And then there were many people to greet, more tears to cry, and hugs to give until finally it was over and we were able to go back to Grandmama's for the evening.
That night, Matt kindly took our kids back home so that I could stay with my parents and sisters for the rest of the weekend. It was so good to have time with family to talk, to remember Grandmama, and to just hang out together. Oh yes, and of course, to laugh. Grandmama wouldn't want it any other way. :)
