He's home!

I'm very happy to report that Dad is home from the hospital! I just talked to him and while he's very tired and weak, he's very happy to be home. And the timing couldn't have been better because today is his birthday! I told him I thought getting to go home was the best birthday present ever. So grateful Dad is home!

A little bit of irony

JR truly, truly struggles with spelling. However, he is such an incredibly hard worker and we are really proud of him for that. We go over his spelling every evening, and whatever words he misspells he must write 10, 15, or even 20 times, depending on how close we are to the test. Last week, for the first time in I couldn't tell you how long (possibly all year) he got all of the words correct the night before the test and didn't have to practice any. He was so excited! He decided to take the opportunity to celebrate by writing "NO REWRIGHTING" on his paper. We then laughed at the irony that he had spelled all of his words correctly but had managed to spell his "victory lap" incorrectly!

Taking a moment to breathe

Today is my first full day off in almost two full weeks. Even our weekends haven't been full days at home with our travel schedules. It won't last long as I'm scheduled for the next three days, and it's not exactly carefree with my dad being in the hospital, but at least for a few moments, I can just breathe. I've poured myself a cup of coffee and I'm waiting for a load of laundry to finish. We are back in some heavy duty rain patterns, and will be through at least Wednesday. It means no ball practice though, so even that has a silver lining. I have so very much that I need to accomplish today, but I have 6-1/2 hours until the kids get home and I plan to enjoy at least a few minutes of it by just relaxing!

On the upside

On a more cheerful note than the previous post, we had a nice weekend. We hadn't seen my in-laws since Christmas, so it was nice to be able to visit with them. My brother-in-law and his girlfriend were over for dinner last night and we got to see them again for breakfast this morning. The kids loved getting to make the trip, and they especially loved the things that the Easter bunny brought them this morning. Apparently, my mother-in-law heard JC and HT sneak into the family room this morning to check to see if the Easter bunny had found them. What amused me is that they were sound asleep an hour later when I woke them up so apparently they had found the answer they wanted!

Sometimes you just know when something is wrong

This morning was a very, very rough morning. For almost four hours I cried on and off (mostly on) with absolutely no explanation. Not exactly the Easter emotion one would expect. I was hurting (emotionally) so deeply, and I couldn't really explain it. I closed my eyes as we were driving home from my in-laws for about 40 minutes and although I didn't sleep, when I was done resting I just felt better. I decided that perhaps I was just overly tired. The last 75 minutes of our trip was very pleasant and my husband and I chatted about some things we wanted to get done this evening and about our crazy week coming up. As we were pulling into town, my cell phone rang and it was my mother. I told her we were just around the corner from home which she was glad to hear, but was calling to tell me that my dad is in the hospital. She said it had been a very bad morning, especially since he was alone up at the lake. She ended up driving to the lake to get him and drove him directly to the hospital. It's on the way home and only about 45 minutes from the lake. He is incredibly weak and in a lot of pain, but early indications at this point are that it might just be a "bug". Mom had something awful about a month ago and if Dad has that he's in for a long haul. The strange thing is that I somehow feel that I "knew". I know that sounds weird, but I just can't help but feel I knew that my dad was in trouble. What I am incredibly certain of is that it's been a very long and draining day.

Adjustments

This has been a really long week, and I think we've all learned some valuable lessons while learning to adjust to new things. I worked Wed - Fri last week, and then I've worked every day this week. I did have this afternoon off, but then I'm scheduled to work again tomorrow. This was the first five day week I've had since before I became a mother, and I'll be honest, I just don't know how working mothers do it. I pointed out to my wonderful husband and the kids that they've all become very accustomed to "mom can take of it while she's home all day". I'm pretty sure they all think that dinner, laundry, and house cleaning happen magically while I'm sitting around eating bon bons all day. Okay, I'm overdoing it a bit, but it's been a rough couple of days. Tomorrow we are headed to my in-laws for a very quick Easter trip. The timing is not the best, but we haven't seen them since Christmas. I'm trying to balance life as a working mom, but my most important job is "mom". I hate telling the kids no when they ask me to play a game because I've got laundry to fold or 101 other tasks to complete. The nice thing is that my job doesn't happen in the summer and I'm so looking forward to our time together. At the same time, I'm so very aware of how fast they are growing, and I certainly don't want to wish away the next two months!

Life imitating dreams

Last night I had a dream that I was stung by a bee. This seemed a rather odd dream to me. I'm not necessarily terrified of bees, but obviously no one really wants to be stung by one. I was stung a few times as a child, but there are no traumatic bee incidents from my childhood. So while it was an odd dream, it was just a dream and that's that.

Until this afternoon. I was out hanging up a few pieces of laundry. It's finally stopped raining long enough to get some clothes outside. I was hanging up a rug and suddenly a bee landed on my shirt. It was only a split second and then it flew away. It made me flash back to that dream though!

Tornado watch

We are officially under a tornado watch. This is going to last until 5AM tomorrow morning. I am absolutely terrified of storms. Through my 20's, my chosen method of dealing with this would be to stay up until the threat ended. Now, though, I'm much older, and I no longer have the option of catching up on my sleep tomorrow. Seems as though it's going to be a long night...and probably going to make tomorrow a very long day!

Going to need an ark

The rain here in the last 24 hours has been indescribable. I've never seen anything like it, and I've never seen the results of it either. There are places where the water is so high that a currant has formed...this would be in places where I've never even seen standing water before. Road closures are abundant, and there is another one to two inches on the way tonight. I can't even imagine what tomorrow is going to be like. Needless to say softball practice was canceled tonight and I'm pretty sure there won't be any tomorrow either.

I guess that is the "upside" to the weather. After working Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, and being out of town all weekend, I'm scheduled to work every day this week. The timing of it stinks, but I so enjoy subbing and I'm not about to turn down the opportunity for extra money. Anyway, it's nice that at least we have a little bit of extra time in the evenings with practices canceled!

Back under one roof

We had such a great weekend away. The only real downside was the weather. It rained pretty much from before we left Friday afternoon until sometime overnight last night. Since we were planning to hit the road and get brunch on the way, today's sunshine has little impact on our weekend. I felt badly that we couldn't really show our friends the beauty of the area around my dad's cottage, but we stayed in and watched some movies and played some games and just had a blast.

The kids had an equally fun weekend. My sister signed them out of school early and they were in South Bend by about 6:30. It rained up there also all weekend, but they did get to attend the game for a little bit. HT has decided that Notre Dame is his choice of college. We've told him he better start studying for a scholarship! Anyway, the kids got to spend lots of time swimming at the hotel pool and even got to attend Mass on campus. And of course there was lots of fun eating out with Aunt Katie! The kids came home exhausted and all voluntarily decided to go to bed early. I'm just glad that they are home safe and sound and I'm looking forward to another crazy week!

Weekend Away!

My sister is taking the kids to South Bend this weekend for the Notre Dame spring game. The kids are SOOOOO excited and I know that they are going to have a great time. I also know that I am going to miss them so much. In fact, I already do and can't wait for them to return on Sunday. That seems a little ridiculous, but part of it is that I'll just be glad when they are back safe and sound. And I also feel like life is so unbelievably crazy right now that I hate losing an entire weekend with them.

It's been a crazy week between practices, scouts, tutoring, science camp, and my work schedule. I'm grateful for all of our opportunities, but I wouldn't mind a little time to clean my house...which is probably what I should be doing now!

Not a big fan

I'm not a big fan of this time of year. Sorry, just can't get excited about it. Don't get me wrong, I love baseball and I enjoy watching my kids play their games. Practices are obviously a lot less fun to watch, and this week, specifically this evening, is not fun. After school today, HT and JC have a science enrichment program that runs until 4:15. JR has tutoring until 4:30, then he has baseball practice at 5:30. I guess his dinner will be after practice. HT has to be at ball practice at 5:45 and then I need to have JC at scouts at 6:30. HT is finished with practice at 7 and JR at 7:15 and I can get JC from scouts at 7:45. Not all days are as crazy as this one, and by having everything in one evening it does make some evenings lighter. Don't get me wrong, there aren't any that are free and clear, but there are some that aren't so crazy.

I kind of feel like spring break was a tease last week, reminding us how wonderful and carefree our summers are. I have such wonderful memories of summer as a child, and am so grateful I had a stay-at-home-mom where I could pretty much be free of schedules through the summer. We are doubly blessed in this house with my wonderful husband also being home. While we've had to make some tough financial decisions because I've only started working part time at school and my husband doesn't take a summer job, I wouldn't trade our summers for anything. We know it isn't going to be too long until JR wants a summer job of his own or any of them are off doing their own thing, so we are making the summer time be all about us for as long as we possibly can, and oh goodness, it all just goes so fast!

End of break

The last week just flew by, as does any week that we enjoy I suppose! I spent literally all day Tuesday and Wednesday painting JC's room. The walls all required two coats, and then the trim took significantly longer than I had expected. I finally finished up Wednesday night and Thursday evening we moved some of her things back into her room and did some arranging. Her new bed will go up today, and then I will spend the evening getting things officially in their new homes. My wonderful husband took a personal day on Thursday and we took the kids to a Reds game. They were 5-0 on the season heading into the game, but in spite of a great 9th inning rally couldn't quite pull it out. The day was absolutely gorgeous though, and we all had a good time. It was the first time I'd gone to a game with the kids because I really, really, really don't like cities. I decided that it should be perfectly safe in the middle of the day though. I loved getting to see the excitement my kids felt at being at the ball park. On Friday I had planned to take them to our local children's museum, but I just had SO much work to do that had been pushed aside all week. The kids were disappointed, and to be honest, so was I. I had really missed them during the week when I was alone in the bedroom painting. I felt like other than the game on Thursday, I had completely missed their break. So while laundry was being washed and dried in the machines on Friday, we played some Monopoly and Quarkle games and we had fun together. That night JC got to attend an overnight birthday party, and my husband worked several hours late in order to get some grading done. By the time he got home it was after 7, and I made some quick fish for dinner. The boys, my husband and I all did some wii bowling. It was the first time we'd all really played together like that and we had a blast!!!! I was telling my husband that we really needed to buy another wii remote (we only have three, one for each of the kids). HT piped up and said that what we really ought to buy was an xbox 360. We laughed about how big kids can dream! This morning was children's mass at church and HT was assigned to do the second reading. He was all dressed in his dress clothes and shoes (and even a tie). He did a great job! JR was also involved in the opening and JC got to be a server. This afternoon JR has his first baseball practice of the season (coached by his dad again) and I think we are all going to go along to enjoy the beautiful weather we are continuing to be blessed with. I don't think it's fun getting back into the routine of things, but at least we are ending on many high notes!

Snoring

My husband has been known to snore. Some nights are definitely worse than others. While I treasure my sleep highly, I've always considered myself fortunate...when he snores, I think of all the military wives who would love to have their husbands home and snoring next to them. In some strange way, I find his snoring peaceful because he's there beside me. The other night though, yikes! I couldn't stand it. It was ridiculous. I finally got up and turned on the fan to try to drown out the snoring. It wasn't my husband though...it was our cat Wally! Neither my husband nor I could sleep through his snoring the other night and this isn't the first time it has happened. We seem to have a cat that snores like no other! We wouldn't trade him for anything though!

It's going well

Probably shouldn't write this, but break with the kids is going really well. Of course, today was only day 1. I continued the painting process in JC's room this morning, then this afternoon JR had an orthodontist appointment. After his appointment, we headed to do our weekly grocery shopping, and I couldn't believe how relatively well it went. Gone are the days of dreading when I had to take all three of them to a store...they've really grown up! They did so well in fact, I decided to treat us to Dairy Queen afterwards (yes, I'm addicted...it was right there and I wasn't going to pass up the opportunity). We came home and I put together a quick dinner of tacos and then went back to painting again. Throughout the hours spent painting, the kids have actually been getting along! I know I've jinxed myself, but I'm so proud of them!

I made his day

This evening I'm supposed to be at a wedding. Instead, I'm still not feeling so well so JC got to go in my place. The kids were originally invited, but my husband and I had thought it would be a nice evening for just the two of us. Since the kids were invited and we had RSVP'd for two, we thought it would be nice if JC got to go on a date with her dad. It was cute to see JC be so excited, and yet a little nervous, because she'd never been to a wedding before. This is going to be a very nice wedding, and my husband mentioned that he was a little concerned that JC would get grandiose ideas for her own wedding in a few decades! I'm sure they are off having a wonderful time.

I had originally told the boys that I would order in a pizza for dinner. I can't really taste anything though, and it didn't sound good to me. Dairy Queen, however, sounds AWESOME! So I asked the boys if they would prefer to order in pizza or would they prefer to eat a quick bowl of cereal and make a trip to DQ and order anything they want. Needless to say, DQ it is! I especially made JR's day when I told him that he could anything he wanted in any size that he wanted. I'm getting excited myself!

Common sense is still out the window

Because I'm feeling so incredibly lousy today, my wonderful husband canceled his plans (that he had forgotten to tell me about in the first place) to stay home and let me rest and sleep tonight. It also meant that he would be the one taking JC to practice this evening. As I mentioned, JC practiced for over an hour in temps in the 30's on Wednesday. Today it did hit 50 degrees, but right now it's only 44. Shortly after practice began it started raining, and to be honest, my husband began to grumble. The coach finally called the girls together and asked them if they wanted to continue or to stop. Even the adults were mentioning how miserable it was out there, but several girls wanted to continue. My husband, taking my statement the other day to heart, decided to behave like an adult and he and JC came on home. Now trust me, I appreciate this man volunteering and I understand as well as (or even better) than anyone how much time and effort it requires to coach. However, he needs to start behaving as the adult in the situation and making the decisions himself. We've also learned that he doesn't know how to pitch in fast pitch and doesn't know anyone who can teach the girls. This ought to be interesting. I've already put in a call to my sister. Hopefully she can come and help us out a little bit...this is going to be an interesting season and we've only just begun!

Made it to break!

In about six hours the kids will officially be on spring break. My husband enjoyed his break this week. I ended up working 2-1/2 days this week, so he enjoyed his quiet time. Today we had planned to take the day and do something fun, but I seem to have caught a miserable cold so we are just going to hang out at the house. He has painted some of JC's new bed that my uncle made for my cousin and which is being handed down to her. I'm hoping to feel well enough to start painting and when all is done she will have a very nice purple room!

JC had her first fast pitch softball practice Wednesday evening. Things did not particularly go well. First of all, she is afraid of the ball, and not overly enthusiastic about it. I'm sure the weather didn't help at all. It was in the upper 30's when practice started at 6:30, and by the time it ended over an hour later it was even colder. By the time she got home she was literally frozen and was sobbing about how cold she was and that she hurt because of it. I was not particularly pleased with my husband, who was mad at the coach for keeping them out there in the cold. I pointed out that parent trumps coach every day, and that if he really felt it was unsafe he had every right to bring her home at any time. I've learned the hard way over the years that expecting others to have common sense is often expecting too much, and that as a parent sometimes we have to step in and do what is best for our children even if it is unpopular and goes against the "group think". On the upside, as soon as she had a warm bath she was our chipper little girl again. I think, however, that it is time to have a talk with her about her athletic endeavors. I'm not sure how much she really enjoys participating in the sports. I think it's time to chat with her about how she can enjoy (even passionately!) sports but doesn't have to participate if she doesn't really want to. I've always been that way. There are few fans that care more than I do about my teams, but I'm not about to run out there and suit up!