Bean returns!

July 11th I got to hold Bean in my arms once again! He just returned from Australia at 3:45 in the afternoon. We were all there to greet him upon his return with a celebratory dinner at Red Robin, the central most meeting place for all. I was so excited to see him and couldn't believe how much I missed him.

He was very tired, but very happy to be in our company. He passed out souvenirs which took the recipient's likes in to account. Grandpa and Dizzy got license plates with their names printed on them, which read Australia of course. Neil got genuine Australian licorice. Rissy and I got a necklace and earring set which he split, I got the earrings and Rissy got the necklace. Amy got a frog. Then he brought out more, and I received a genuine opal necklace that is beautiful and I shall treasure it always! He also later told me that htey taught him that real opals do not have a black back whereas lab created opals do. Charissa a pen (she is a writer) with an opal at the end. Bean later told me that her souvenir cost the most! He passed out a few more souvenirs and shared a few stories including how it hurt when I picked him up and hugged him as he slammed the edge of his boogie board into his stomach...whoops. Apparently the edge of the board caught in the sand and Bean took a leap over the board, that is until it met with his hips.

I also let a cat out of the bag as I asked Neil what time his flight was the next day and wondered if there was anything I might do. I failed to realize that they had not yet told Bean that his Nana was very ill in the hospital. Neil was leaving for England the next day. Dizzy was starting camp and I was preparing for my father to visit. I did get Dizzy from camp that afternoon so he did not miss his first day.

Little time to revel in being home, but I was glad to have Bean back on American turf!

And so it continues

So, neither of my Moms has their babies on the 4th, which was a nice surprise, probably not for them, but for me.

Tuesday after the 4th, now the 6th I got up at 5:30 to take Jeff to work. I went to bed at 11:45 that night exhausted TWO minutes later at 11:47 I received a call from my clients stating that labor had begun...fast forward to the 8th around 11:00 at night...my mother is now ready to push. My other mother called...in labor! 4 hours later my first mom delivered...5 hours later, I went to be with client number two after not sleeping since Tuesday 5:30 a.m. I was asleep on my feet! I was so lucky to have my back-up doula present for their earlier labor and birth. Friday 9th, July 11:30 I was home, in the shower and I FELL ASLEEP shampooing my hair! I didn't even know it was possible! Friday night came about 6:00 p.m. and I awoke for a whole three hours, and retired again until the following day.

Okay, so my back-up doula looks significantly more awake, but all in all considering I had virtually no voice, and less than two minutes sleep in 76 hours...yep that's 3 days and 4 hours, I say I didn't look too bad!

So, that sums up the first 9 days of July...it gets busier!

Busy July continued

Independence Day! Jeff and I had a pretty laid back morning and afternoon which literally means we cleaned, took care of business etc., BUT quiet for us.

Evening was different though. We had all (save Brandon) decided to gather at our former firecracker watch spot from years ago. Jeff wanted to have a picnic dinner. So I brought a salad for Charissa and I which I adapted from a hot pasta dish I enjoyed in Panama City Beach. I fried chicken in the morning and let it get cold. We bought chips, and watermelon. We had blankets, and sheets and oh yes, poppers (the little things you throw on the ground that make a popping sound) Neil and Charissa brought OMG good sweets, doughnuts, and cookies oh my!

It was also fun to watch Charissa interact on a different level as a 'mom' as she took up a conversation with a woman who came over to compare babies. It was just neat seeing do the mom thing, comparing stories, babies, respecting the other woman's opinion though it differed from her own, making new friends.

After we ate I took Dizzy over to play on the playground equipment. He dazzled me with his new found abilities. He reminded me so much of Charissa as a little girl I couldn't help but laugh. She is a little older in this picture, I think by about 2 years, but if there was a bar that stood still, that child was hanging from it. Swings were as good as a trapeze. Dizzy was actually hanging from the swing in another shot, but you couldn't see his face.

After it started to get dark we settled on the blankets and it got REALLY cold! I can't say as I remember a cold July 4th when I was little in the Midwest.

Finally after a long wait the firecrackers started and the 'oohs and ahhs' resounded, OH and did I mention wailing. Donovan did NOT like the noise of the fireworks. Dizzy a few years prior shuddered and covered his ears. This year he climbed up in my lap and oohed and aahed along with the rest of them. I went to cover his ears remembering the terror it struck for years to come and he said "It's ok Grandma I like it! It's all part of the fireworks." I do hope Donovan follows suit!

Crazy Busy Summer continues...

If you read before my life has been most busy since the end of school this year. When school ended I had Jordan. Then I had little time for study, which is freaking me out, but I'll cope. July proved to be equally busy, BUT I am happy to say that I took a little rest from study to give myself a few minutes for blogging. Sometimes one has to stop reading in order to ingest everything. I have been reading since about 7:30 this morning, with nary a break.

July was busy almost from the word go. The following blog entries will address the reasons why.

July 3rd we celebrated Neil's birthday, so that he could enjoy the benefits of our "Birthday Adventure" as every year we get together on the 4th which is also his birthday and most things are closed. Neil chose rock climbing at an indoor gym. We started the afternoon off with a trip to The Cheesecake Factory. It is truly a wonder any of us could climb after that! I dare say those who were responsible for assisting us in scaling the walls had a bigger job than they originally bargained for following dinner!

While Brandon's presence was obvious and missed we hoped he was having a good time in Australia. So, Neil was first to climb the wall followed by Dizzy who took to it like a duck to water! In fact we registered him for a morning camp, he loved it so. One might think climbing rocks for three hours would wear him out, but one would be RONG:-)

Diz was a trooper the entire night and in fact wanted to stay longer. As for me, one climb was sufficient, but I was reserving my physical strength for two impending births.

Jeff was next to scale the wall. His physical fitness was apparent from diving, carrying tanks etc. I think I can safely say that a few years ago when he smoke, ate too much fat and was more sedentary, this climb would have been much more difficult! He enjoyed the climbing enough that he and Neil signed up for classes to learn how to do this without instructors.

Amy was up the wall next. She showed incredible stamina as she climbed the wall for the first time. This is her as she touched the top and I found a better vantage point for shooting. pictures. Amy did mention the soreness in her arms as opposed to her legs. We were told that it is your legs that do the work...HA I say! As you progress to inverted walls, you must use your arms. Amy seemed to enjoy the experience as much as the next person.

Charissa was next to scale the wall. Charissa displayed the determination of a tigress stalking her prey, one carefully considered step after another. I think it is safe to say she was not only proud of herself but pleased with her own accomplishment! She may also be hooked! I think it would be a fun activity for their whole family to enjoy together.

I was last to try and climb the wall. Let me say from personal experience, it is tougher than it looks! I had to use all my limited resources to make it up the first bit of the wall. I dare say the guy at the bottom probably did more work that I would have liked to have needed. The shoes were a major discomfort. They are supposed to be tight, but these seemed to be made for someone MUCH more petite than myself! I now understand what the women who bound their feet endured though this was for safety not for beauty. This was my one and only climb for the evening. It was fun enough, I will likely return. I must say DOWN is really the payoff, NOT the great feeling of accomplishment one receives once they have scaled the wall.

We finished the evening at our house opening gifts. It was a lovely evening and Jeff and I are glad that Neil got to experience his own day and birthday adventure even if a day early.

not 1 but 2 visits by a police office

As promised I would detail the reasons for saying that taking Diz to the Balloon Festival was a disaster.

Sunday morning Jeff and his crew returned to the lake. Diz and I headed for the Tigard Balloon Festival...too late to see the mass ascension. But not to be daunted I thought I would take him around to the booths, and see the other things including the rides.

We stopped at the first thing that was open the hook and ladder truck for Tualatin Valley Fire. They let him in the rig, he got a hat and sticker. So far so good, but nothing was open yet. so, I suggested that rather than put the sticker on his shirt where he had an applique that would likely come off with the sticker when it was removed. Apparently, and I still don't know to this day, he didn't like the idea of the sticker on the hat. So he sulked...for 45 min! I left him there to sulk as he is entitled to be sad like everyone else.

After 30 minutes of sulking I brought him over to where I was sitting at a picnic table. I tired of standing and it was beginning to get crowded so I couldn't see him every second. SO I picked him up and he continued his sulk for a couple of minutes. Then he did something (I can't recall now) unacceptable, so I stopped the behavior. I remember it was something minor like pick at the gum underneath the picnic table etc. Anyway that ticked him off more and he started to cry which quickly escalated to a tantrum. I had no intention of giving into this, pleading with him or bargaining with him, so he continued his tantrum as passers by looked on at his carrying on and my evident boredom and unwillingness to give in. This continued for some time until he then escalated it further in to a rage. I let it go on for a couple of minutes thinking it would soon fizzle out. I knew he was tired from the night before as he had not slept well at all and awoke extra early! NOPE, no such luck. A police officer assigned to the festival came over and asked if he were ok. I said "Yes, he is just having a fit." Once it was clear that he was in no mood to drop this rage I picked him up and carried him out of the festival. A nice man brought us back up the hill to the open field. He said "I understand. I have two kids of my own." I said nothing, but thanked him. I plopped Diz down in the open field where nobody would have to listen to him and figured without an audience he would soon be finished. HA!

He finally took a break and said he was finished. So we proceeded to my car. On the way he said "I am done, I want to go back now." to which I responded "No, we are NOT going back, you lost your chance." So he took off where he left off...raging. Then I needed to go in to the store, so I pulled in to a parking lot but did not get out...he continued. I did feel sorry for him when his rage disappeared and it dissolved in to tears. He tearfully pleaded through sobs "I can't stop". I brought him up front and tried to decipher the reason for the rage and help to calm him so he could stop crying. He fell asleep...in the front seat...exhausted...two hours AFTER his initial sulk. No way was I going to wake him. He NEEDED sleep. I thought he would not sleep more than 30 minutes.

2 hours and 20 minutes later he awoke as the police officer pulled up to my car and got out. It went something like this:

P "Good afternoon Ma'am."

T "Good afternoon officer."

P "Would you mind telling me what is going on here."

T "Sure he chucked a wobbly and fell asleep."

P "Chucked a wobbly? What does that mean?"

T "Oh right, it means threw a fit, a temper tantrum. (His Dad uses this term and I try to stay consistent with their vernacular) He then fell asleep in the front seat. I don't live far from here, but I didn't want to wake him and he obviously needs his car seat, so I decided to let him sleep."

P "How long have you been here?"

T "2 hours and 20 minutes!"

P "Where is your husband?"

T "My husband? I beg your pardon." (I was at this point sat in the back because the sun was shining through the drivers side window roasting me)

P "Well, your partner, boyfriend, whatever."

T "Oh, I drove, but hopped in back when the sun started shining through my window." (It was 85+ degrees)

P "Is this your car?"

T "yes"

P "Do you have your license and registration?'

T "yes"

P "Well a few people have called because you have been out here for so long. Does he have water?" I thought 'Yes HE does, but I am out, and parched I might add. Further more I need to use the restroom and have needed to for the past 4 mind numbing hours!'

T I replied with a simple "yes"

The whole time I was thinking PUH-LEASE do NOT ask him if I am his Mommy. I would hate to have to explain that to officer friendly. I could just see me calling Rissy from jail. Yes, could you come and get your kid. I have to explain why I had a child, who was not my own, in my front seat, in a parking lot for 2.5 hours!

Diz was positively delightful before and after the fit. I was worn out!

Saturday at the lake

Today was another busy Dizzy day, but this was more geared with things HE liked. Water, sand and play. About time!

We had a plan to go out to a lake in Washington for Jeff's SCUBA rescue class. Diz and I were going to go and play in the water. Okay, I was going to play in the sand. I DON'T do lake water, no matter how hot it is.

We got there early and played all day in the sand. We built sand castles, moats, served tea, stepped in to the shoes...er fins of a merman including surmising what their lives would be like, and watched as other people crowded the beach. By mid-afternoon he was getting a bit sunburned despite the sunscreen so we headed to the shade of the tree that Jeff's dive class inhabited. He watched as the students learned to rescue others from the water. He got a big kick out of one of Jeff's dive buddies "Dive Master Mike" because instead of saying hello he walked up to Jordan and made a face and gestured at him like a zombie might. Diz giggled in delight. THEN Mike taught him how to use "nunya' in context. I asked Dizzy to please tell his parents that it was "Dive Master Mike" who taught him that, NOT grandma!



He fell asleep in my arms on the blanket under the tree and slept peacefully until we attempted to carry him back to the car. Then he awoke, BUT DMM carried him back to the car all the same. So, J-Bug found a new friend...pity he's 40+ years older:-)

Friday-hot air balloons and strawberries

Friday of Dizzy's week BUSY! We took Amy to work because her car was sick:-( So early up and at em...no problem for Dizzy. On the way to pick up Amy we saw hot air balloons as the the Tigard Balloon Festival was just starting. Dizzy was enamored! This now became my new resolution to take Diz to see the balloons on Sunday, clients providing. You will read later what a cataclysmic mistake that was! Then we stopped by Kohls to get flip flops for Brandon's trip along with some sand toys to take to the beach Saturday.






Following our shopping trip we headed out to the strawberry patch. Jordan took his own little bucket in which he put the strawberries he collected. While at the strawberry patch I heard my name called. There stood a woman with two children, neither of whom I recognized. I also did not recognize this woman underneath her straw hat. Thankfully she regarded me and named herself. Believe it or not it was the one woman whose labor went to incredibly fast that I ended up catching the babies head. She told Diz the 4 year old version of the story. Grandma helped my daughter in to the world. He looked at her with an unimpressed uh-huh, we are going to collect strawberries. We were off. So I explained how to find the "right strawberries". Little did I know, he would need no explanation. He picked the reddest, ripest, and juiciest strawberries, leaving behind the smaller ones to ripen on the vine. He delighted in finding the best strawberries, and we really had fun. It was so quiet and such a beautiful day at long last.



Then, in spite of my intent to have a picnic lunch, things just didn't play out that way so I took him to Mc Donalds where he could play indoors as the weather was getting really hot and muggy. He looked at me in amazement as he knows how I feel about Mc Donalds and junk food in general. After we got home I tossed him in the bath as he was muddy! He was so funny because he asked for his goggles. I thought 'for the bath'? He informed me that he wanted to see what the bubbles looked like from underneath. Never occurred to me. So if one day I am all alone with nothing to do (I know, unlikely right) I may myself don some goggles and see what bubbles look like from below.

Dizzy week summary

So Wednesday must have went by fairly uneventfully as I can't recall a single detail. Mind you I am attempting to catch up with this after a 3 day birth marathon. I have slept now, but my memory of that week seems to have gone along with any dreams last night:-) Thursday I was awakened at the usual 5:45-6:00 wake up call of "Good Morning Grandma." I opened one sleepy eye to see Jordan standing there smiling ready to read. As we sat quietly reading he looked up and asked if I help "fat women have babies". It seems the night before when he got up from bed to ask for something I had the television on featuring a mother who was unaware that she was pregnant. We also chatted the day before that there was a chance that I might need to go to work and help a mom have a baby after hearing from my client. Apparently these things stayed with him.

I then took Dizzy to the bike/skateboard park to watch the kids do jumps etc before going to the library again. This time, we chose books featuring a giraffe to go with the giraffe puppet he selected to take home. We also go a book called Wombat Walkabout by Carol Shields in keeping with the Brandon is going to Australia theme. I figured this book would give him the counting factor he likes, introduce a new animal, along with the rhythm, rhyme and cadence he likes. Little did I know by Friday afternoon he would have it memorized. Sometimes the giraffe read it and sometimes I read it.

Tuesday...crazy busy

Today Jeff had a recheck appointment for his eyes. This required his eyes be dilated which took time, and wasn't exactly a great time for Diz, BUT he made his own fun under a table out of the way, playing with his Ben 10 characters. I thought he looked cute so I shot this.

I worried that our crazy busy schedule would mean a memory of being with Grandma and being incredibly bored. Nothing could have been further from the truth.

After Jeff had his eyes dilated and pressure checked, and was released with an all clear, we headed for his office. THEN he was excited because he got to go in Grandpa's work. So we headed home for awhile to clean the house and grab Finnegan as we were showing the house. OH and did I mention that through all of this we were unable to use our patio, and every time we played outside, we had to dodge the people working in the front of our house as well, dodging flying leaves, avoiding paint. Fun, fun fun!

The day passes, and it is time to go and pick Jeff up from work. Jordan entertained himself in the back of the car looking at the books we got from the library and listening to music.

We dropped Finny off and proceeded to the homeowners association meeting. He was SO well behaved for 2 and a half hours! I was antsy by the end.

My favorite thing was singing along with the iPod to the very songs I sang with his Mommy:-)

Dizzy's week

Well, I had planned to do just one blog post per day, but int he interest of catching up and staying caught up, I shall summarize my week with Dizzy.

Dizzy came to stay the week after school let out, so June 21-28th. It was so nice to have the opportunity to get to know him again on a whole new level. I think initially he was overwhelmed as Bean made a remark about him being gone a week and seeing him in three weeks. (Bean was headed to Australia and is there still) Suddenly, while looking forward to his week with us for weeks prior, on the actual day, he declared that he did not wish to go. When I was told this I said I would come over all the same and we would see how things played out. By the time I arrived, less than an hour later, he kissed his Mom goodbye and hopped in the car.

If I could have planned a worse week, it would have been a challenge. While Diz still had fun, there were so many other things requiring my attention I felt pulled in too many directions, but all the same, he was apparently unfazed.

Monday after we got home I made lunch and he got to color outside on the front walk with chalk. This was oodles of fun as when he was finished with his artwork he got to spray it off and get wet! Oh boy. He drew a lot of pictures of his Ben 10 aliens, hence his people look a bit odd. But it was fun just to sit and listen to his reasoning, watch him put time and careful consideration to his color choices etc. His delight was when I off handedly mentioned that maybe if he drew the sun it would ACTUALLY come out. He did and the sun cooperated. He washed it away and the clouds fell in place to mask our sun.

Later that evening after helping me prepare supper we took Jeff to SCUBA and ourselves to the library. He dearly LOVES the library, especially this particular one, as it has puppets to take home. We found four books, played with puzzles and headed out. On our way home, at the car, I dropped my purse and keys on the ground. Diz promptly stepped on the keys. I in haste asked him why he would do such a thing. He was sad, sulked and explained that he thought he was being funny. So, lesson learned, he loves to laugh and make people laugh. He will do anything to get a laugh. Knowing that he was trying to be funny in his four year old mind, makes understanding his actions a WHOLE lot easier.

we came home from the library, got a bath, and snuggled in to bed with four new books!

My favorite thing was discovering that there is a whole lot to Diz, I have yet to learn.