Our Dad is better than your dad!

He's patient.

He's gentle.

He's kind.

He's the best dad for these kids...and their sister (who was probably outside playing with her spider).

And he's smoking hot.  Who can ask for more?

Timing

It's interesting how things have a way of working out.

How frustrations can turn to quiet realizations.

Today was one of those days for me.

We have been planning to make the 9 hour drive to Texas to celebrate a graduation.

Our plans were to leave the big kids

Take the little Knight

Load up and head to Texas

Crash at my bother, sister-in-law, and niece's house

And celebrate graduation with some of our very best friends.

Instead...

We left the big kids

Took the little Knight

Loaded up and headed TOWARDS Texas.

We were about 30 miles into Oklahoma.  2 hours into our drive when we came to a complete stop on the Interstate.

Up ahead we could see some concerning clouds and I decided to check the weather radar.

What on earth did people do without SmartPhones?

The radar looked pretty ominous.

We flipped on the local radio station and within minutes the announcer started giving locations of Tornado Warnings.  We were 30 miles north of all storms.  But...our trip would take us right into the middle of what became four different tornado warnings all along our route.

Couple of thoughts ran through my mind:

First, before we left earlier in the day, my Prince had pulled me aside and said, "Mom, do me a favor.  Pinkie promise that you won't drive into a tornado."  I happily pinkie-promised.

Second, my thoughts circled around the fact that my life is not my own these days.  I owe it to 3 kiddos to be safe and cautious.  I get that it sounds extreme.  But knowingly driving into tornado warnings seems dumb.  And I am certain my family members, who would be left to raise my children if my husband and I died, are happy with my line of thinking.

After some talking and a brief stop for ice-cream to give the storms a chance to get better or get worse...we decided that our best option was to turn around and head back home.

In the end we drove 5 hours for ice-cream.

Back home we had dinner with Nana and Papa and the big kids.  Everyone played in the yard and enjoyed the evening, despite the change in plans.

Everyone except me.

I felt awful.

Sad to miss graduation.

Disappointed to change plans.

Guilty that we were not going to be able to be with our friends during this big event in their lives!

All of it.

As we drove home to put the little Knight into bed for the night, we talked about getting up in the morning and heading back out on the road.  If we left at 5a.m. we could make it just in time.  Just talking about it began to lift my sour mood.

As my husband was putting pj's on the Knight, he said, "feel his back?"

I did.

Fire.

I felt his head.

Surely not.

He had been fine all day.

I checked again.

But his skin was hot.

Turns out it was 102 and climbing.

All of a sudden, all of the frustration I felt about missing the trip dissolved as I considered a trip 9 hours from home, staying at someone else's house, with a sick baby.

And then he puked all over everything.

And I realized...those storms in the middle of Oklahoma today were really just a big nudge.  (**Ok, I'm kidding.  I don't really think the storm warnings were for me, specifically.)  But I found myself grateful that it happened the way it did.  That we turned around.  And that the moment my little Knight spiked a fever and puked all over the bed, we were in our house with our washing machine and multiple changes of clothes.

It really is interesting how things have a way of working out.

New Summer Experience

After about 15 seconds of thinking about it, we decided to hire a college student to help with the kiddos this summer. Just a few hours a week.

I wanted to be able to take the older 2 swimming. And not mess up the Knight's napping schedule. 

And, let's face it...a two year old at a swimming pool is a suicide mission...on a good day.  So basically, I didn't want to torture myself and the big kids with a toddler at the pool -- very often. 

An extra person allows me to send the big kids to the pool with her on days when I need to stay home.  Or take the bigs and leave the sitter here.  Or plan little fun trips and leave the Knight at home napping without a full disruption of our schedule!

I'm getting excited to see how it plays out!  

But I have to say, the big kids seem way more excited than I expected. 

Maybe it's because the whole idea of a babysitter is foreign to them.  And new is exciting. Or maybe, and highly likely, they hope the babysitter is not as lame as mom.

They are fighting over who gets to spend more time with her. They are asking a million questions about her and when she will get here.  Thankfully, she is on her way as I type. 

The Princess is standing in the driveway holding a skink and a broken egg shell waiting to greet her.

I can only imagine the stories!

Me and the 3 - Our DNA couldn't have created this much beauty!

Easter

Happy Birthday!

My kid's birthdays are Such. Amazing. Days. for me in so many different ways.

~Another year older...how is it even possible?

~What I was doing at that moment the day of their birth.

~How precious adoption is.

~How grateful I am that I get to spend my days raising this child.

Keeping it Real

Ever have one of those moments when you know for sure you can be a complete turd?

Ever have that moment caught on film?

I have.

Yes, that is my middle son reading a book to my youngest son.

Yes, that is me on my phone.

Pre-Spring Break Trip

The kids were off of school on Thursday and Friday.

At the last moment we decided to take a trip to Austin, Texas for a long weekend.

Some of our best family friends live outside of Austin...as well as my oldest brother.  Bonus and bonus.

We picked the kids up from school on Wednesday with the car fully loaded and hit. the. road.

9 hours of driving plus stops.

Given the minor detail that we are chaos on wheels, we were prepared for anything...including by not limited to:  DVDs, PS3 with controllers, books on tape, books (for real), snacks, drinks, headphones, paper towels, regular towels, throw-up containers, and the regular travel essentials.

The beauty of never knowing what to expect, is that sometimes the thing that happens is perfection!  We traveled 3 plus hours and stopped for dinner.  Bedded everyone down with full bellies and clean diapers (where applicable) and the entire crew slept for the rest of the 6.5 hours of drive time.  This meant that the adults...me and my guy...had 6.5 hours of pure bliss, together.

Trip Highlights:

~Sleeping went fairly well for the most part.  Big bonus for me, since not sleeping makes for a crank-pot mommy.

~My sweet forever friend was gracious the entire time (even with the moments of disaster that included her couch being scrubbed with a commercial vacuum-enough said).

~My Princess made her way to my friend's bed VERY. EARLY. in the morning to chat and sing songs from Mine Craft.  My friend said it was fine, even though it really wasn't.

~My Princess also made her way to the backyard pool before 8 a.m. to do a little cleaning.  The water temp was 62 degrees.  The outside air temp was 64 degrees.  She was undeterred.  

Big fun addition to our trip was visiting another CrossFit Box (read: gym).  After all those hours in the car, I desperately wanted to workout.  I made contact with an affiliate in the area and dropped in. Got a great workout in and met some great folks.

After being in Texas for 12 hours, I couldn't take it anymore...I HAD to see my big brother.  We got to chat and snuck in a quick lunch, just the two of us.  Wonderful.

Day Two was a trip to Sea World San Antonio.

Couple of details:  The place was like a ghost town.  The Friday before Spring Break is the best day to visit Sea World, hands down. The weather was a little misty and upper 60's to low 70's.

Also, The Princess, in Princess fashion, got plucked from the crowd during the Beluga show as the one and only audience member to feed the Beluga.  Here's how is went down.  She wanted to sit in the splash zone.  We didn't.  We took a big breath and sent her to sit alone.  She ended up sitting in the area with a large group of kids on a school field trip.  During the show the trainer and whale swam to the edge.  The trainer reached for a fish out of the "treat" bucket and in a flash my Princess was up and out of her seat headed towards the whale.  We gasped and then held our breath.  We had no idea why she was out of her seat.  We hadn't seen the trainer call to her. We also knew we couldn't get to her.  So we waited.  She grabbed that huge fish and flung it into the whale's mouth and clapped her sweet little hands.  Did a little dance and headed back to her seat.  We exhaled and laughed.  How does this happen to her?  She's special, I tell ya.

The day was fun.  Mixed with typical kid-flavored annoyances of begging and fighting and complaining.  But mostly fun.  That my internet-friends, is success in our little corner of the world.

The kids became obsessed with roller-coster rides.  We grabbed it up as opportunity to force them to be together.  They went on most of the rides sitting together.  Big smiles!

Parking Lot. I tell you, ghost town!

I wasn't sure we would be able to top a day like Sea World!

But we managed to make Saturday a fun-filled Texas day as well.

It was no where near warm enough to swim.  THAT doesn't stop my Princess.

The park seemed a little more reasonable for the Prince!

And then we got the chance to take the little Knight on a Choo-Choo ride!  He loved it.

A true vacation means no makeup and no flat-iron for me!

Snow Day!

It started with the announcement from the school district...

Here's how:

A phone call to my phone

A phone call to my husband's phone

A phone call to our land line

A text message to my phone

A text message to my husband's phone

An email.

We guessed after the email, they were probably serious.

Goodness sakes.

How on earth did my parents ever get the memo to keep us home from school when I was younger?

((Sarcasm))

And then it snowed and snowed and snowed.

Today we are having the greatest day.

Photo Blog in 3, 2, 1...Go!

My college friend!  We met for a mini-girls trip.  For the record...I canNOT take good self-photos with a cell phone.  I'm (1.) too old, (2.) not coordinated enough (3.) usually smiling like I'm on drugs.

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I said, "The trash can needs to go to the road."  They said, "Oh!  Can we do it...it'll be fun to get out in the snow!"  I said, "Sure, I'll follow you in the car and pick you up at the end of the driveway to head to school."  **Pushing, dragging, sliding, screaming, and hitting all in blowing snow at 7 degrees before 8:00 a.m.**  My best guess is that next time the conversation will go a different direction.  But it was fun while it lasted.

DVD in the car anyone?  I say, Yes!

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Thankful for dirt.  And water. And ultimately the union of the two.  And thankful for little boys and country homes!

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I'm really glad I went to all that trouble to set up the train table.

I am certain that the only reason I take his picture SO much is because he's around all of the time.  Also, he's very cute.

See this...it's my hand.  Dying to know what happened?  100 pull-ups.  So, don't tell me you can't do something...this is proof that if you want it bad enough, it can be done.

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My husband, who is also the best dad ever, made this Valentine's-Day-School-Box for the Prince.  It's easy to see why I am madly in love with him.  :-)

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While it may look like a pain face on the little Knight, he was actually squealing!  And possibly struggling for air.  But mostly squealing.

Just when I think I can't love them any bigger...they go all group wrestling in the living room and make me feel like the luckiest mom alive.  

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Healing

Babies are incredibly resilient.

We've all heard it said.

Well, it's true.

A week makes a huge difference.

Not so much for my heart or emotions.

But he is healing so beautifully.

And then I got a glimpse of Hell

We had an awesome day.  

That van that kept having issues needed to be serviced.  They didn't find anything "wrong".

We decided to get out while the getting was good.

So we traded it in.  Found a newer-used van.  Drove home excited.

We picked up the big kids and had a quick pizza dinner with Nana and Papa.

At 6:30 we headed for home.

I had plans with my 3 girlfriends for a long night of snacks, drinks, and talking until we ran out of words.  I love these girls.  I also didn't want them to see my dirty house.  So I went into cleaning frenzy.

The big kids were told to shower and get into bed.  My little Knight was toddling around.

He followed me into the storage room, which is down 3 concrete steps.  I picked him up and held him out in front of me to lift him back up the steps and I tripped.

Even as I type I am taking deep breaths.

I screamed before he hit.

But he hit.

Hard.

Everyone came running.

I had already grabbed him but blood was spraying everywhere.  It was hard to tell exactly how bad the injury was.

What follows is chaos and trauma...

~phone calls

~driving like mad to the E.R.

~big kids not really dressed

~blood

~more phone calls

~lots of prayers OUT LOUD

~lots of swearing via the Princess...turns out she knows some choice words and isn't at all afraid to scream them

~more blood

~arriving at the E.R.

~I was not in my right mind at all.  I will say this once and I mean it to the core of my being.  I thought I had killed him.  I knew how hard he hit.  I can still hear it.  I know about traumatic brain injuries.  I didn't think there was anyway that he was going to escape without a skull fracture and a brain bleed.

~They grabbed him from me.

~The E.R. doctor was quite possibly the best E.R. doctor I had ever been around in my lifetime.  He was IN CHARGE.  He wasn't interested in my opinion.  He was going to fix it.  I am so very grateful.

~Additionally, my beautiful doctor friend found childcare for her own babies and came to the hospital immediately and took over.

~I completely fell apart.

~As they stitched his beautiful little face, my husband sang and my little Knight laid still and relatively comforted.  In awe.

~The doctors sent him for a CT scan.

~My baby laid perfect for the scan.

~The news was good.  No brain trauma.  No skull fractures.  One nasal fracture but it was not displaced.

~Following the accident countless friends and family called, stopped by and supported us.  The power of community is not something to take lightly.

~I made a list of things to be thankful for.  The list is very, very long.

~My emotions are still out of control.

~But my baby is healing.