Good Morning! A very calm morning here, after the weeks of busy preparations and celebrations of Aubrey's birth, Molly's birth, the last week of summer school, and the last week of WORK! Shauna is safely back in the country, and Aubrey is safe at home and growing! I am on vacation!! Originally planned to go and help Gabe and Ally prepare for the birth, but little Aubrey messed up all that careful planning with her early arrival! You can follow her progress at her new blogspot!
http://breybrowning.blogspot.com/
It thunderstormed all night, and there are branches all over the yard, but this morning it is cool and quiet with a light rain washing my world. The windows are open and the house is cooled by nature and smells fabulous.
I have a few days to myself as 'the sarge' is off to Field Day. This is a weekend set aside nationally for all ham operators, law enforcement, homeland security etc....to go to a remote location, set up antennas and generators, and practice their emergency communication skills. They do this to keep those skills honed in case there are natural disasters, which this year has been frequent. These guys are the first on the scene, and head communications when power is out...like immediately after a tornado. They start the rescue coordination and all emergency communications until power is restored to 911. All of the guys doing this, do it of their own time and at their own expense. Many are career Public Servants...like Larry. He may have hung up the badge, but he never will hang up his sense of duty to his fellow man. Very Honorable. They all get set up across the nation and start communicating with each other....look for them in your area, and make sure they know you appreciate those that work for your safety and protection....even in thunderstorms, with no sleep.
I'm taking these days to clean and prepare my home for family arriving. Everyone had set up to come in mid-July, to celebrate the new addition to the family. My parents are driving down from Nebraska, and Shauna will be flying in from DC....yea she seems to be logging a few air-miles this summer! She's bringing Hattin the Cat, originally from my garage, and letting "gramma" take him for a bit. He's been too lonely with her increase of hours at work. My Lucifer is going to LOVE a playmate!! (eventually)
Molly slept in and is now up, but quiet, under a blankee on the couch watching spongebob. I don't like to "use" the television, but do allow her some wake-up time with that little disgusting yellow character. She is mesmerized by him and thinks he's hilarious.
One of our routines... and the stronghold of life with Molly.
She runs for snacks during commercials...always the same snacks...pretzels and sugar free popsicles. Funny, we may be out of toilet paper, yet mommy never runs out to THOSE two staples!!
Routine. It makes our world go round. She gathers her security from it.
She's already been to the window, and saw that Larry's vehicle is gone. (Like her father, she knows every make of car made, and who drives it.) That's ok, for awhile....tonight, when he doesn't come home and tuck her in, there will be a price to pay. Tomorrow morning? when he isn't here to wake her again? We'll be taking a little drive to the area to visit. I can't explain to her verbally where he is, but she will understand when she's sees he's working. She won't like it, but will understand.
We will be busy the next few weeks, with all the company and travel to Springfield and then we'll rest up. I do notice that she can handle only 'so much' stimulation, then we have to schedule a 'down' day. This works out fine with all of us, as I have found after raising all the others, that there is something to relish and appreciate in taking some 'quiet' time. I complain about all that we are foregoing due to the high cost of fuel, but in reality....Home is always where i want to be.
The last two days of school, were just too much! I'm forever grateful to her teacher-mom, Stephanie, that also recognizes this in her. If she overloads at school, she has a little place (supervisor Janice's office) where she can go and work in quiet or take a little rest or rock in an office chair with another mommy, who confesses to me that she enjoys a minute to love and relax also. They know that if they want her cooperation, she has to be allowed this space. We have the most wonderful support system at school imaginable. They know her need for routine, but are using pec boards (pictures) to teach her that sometimes life throws a few curveballs. She seems to be more apt to handle changes, if she has an idea of what's coming up. Like her mom, she is not fond of surprises! We ended up forgoing the last two field trips of the year. Although we made arrangements to be there, we opted to stay home based on Molly's threshold, and she had reached her limit. A necessary decision, not made lightly but made none-the-less "for the best".
She did however, allow us to celebrate her birthday!! Molly Kate is EIGHT!
We went back up to Springfield, and took her to Incredible Pizza, which seems to be becoming an annual event! Little Bill was on board to come with, but got a cold at the last minute, and opted not to expose all of us and the new baby to his virus. Him and Angela took some time the week before to come up for HIS birthday, and him and molly had some quality time then:
Molly loved the spaghetti, and of course, the timed basketball shoot, her all time fav, and something she is REALLY good at!
(warning, never move from the 'overhand' throw motion of a timed bball shoot, to skeeball...i now know why the upper section of those little alleys are covered in steel cages!)
Gabe and Ally even got to play a little, while 'big momma' manned the stroller. They even had a little train!! You cannot believe how much Molly loves Trains!!
And after spending ten dollars trying to 'crank out' a spongebob for her, mom gave up....only to have Gabe come right behind, and pull it on the first try!! Molly actually jumped up and down, cheering and pumping arms at this feat!! It was a good time! (for her, anyway....more on my lamentings at her growing up so fast at another time) and as always, her brothers remain the ultimate heroes in her world.
We have another guest staying with us right now...a Killdeer
A little bird has set her nest up in our side yard, caught under the keen eye of Larry the Lawnmower Man. We thought she was hurt, but as it turns out, she fakes an injury to lead predators away from her nest which she sets up in the open ground! She's got a piercing cry, and fires it up if we get too close...so we've been keeping track of her with the zoom lens. I ran out this morning to make sure her and her nest of 4 survived the storm.
They are all safe and sound, (and i took a 'chewing out' for interrupting her) and larry is off lawnmowing duties on that side of the house, for 24 days. We understand she will move her new family closer to the lake after they hatch. Unfortunately, 24 days with this kind of rain will mean bringing out the bushhog...but it's ok. It's not nice to fool with mother nature!
http://www.nhptv.org/natureworks/killdeer.htm
I hope this week finds you all able to take a little quiet time with those little ones you love so much, and send good thoughts that me...the original ADHD girl, can complete the tasks at hand, freeing me up to go spoil little Aubrey ROTTEN!!
And as always, my prayers are with my prayer angels, especially little ben
http://www.carepages.com/
cp name "BenTheBrave"
and his mom, amy. He copped an infection, so instead of going home to prepare for a particularly hard course of chemo, they both ended up staying in the hospital. It's sad to know as he gains strength and recovers from a life-threatening infection, that he has also gained enough strength to start this round. They give them the chemicals until they are almost killed by them, and then let them rest up, regain the white counts and start to feel better...and then start the whole process over again. This will go on for 2-3 years primarily, and then continue on in smaller doses as maintenance. Such a horrible disease, with such a horrible way to a cure. There has GOT to be a better way. Pray hard and give generously!
We honor our Cancer Heroes....and their moms, and hold them up in prayer constantly.
