TKD The Govenor's Cup

 Govenor's cup was an interesting experience we had this last weekend.  G man took home a gold metal for his poomse (forms) and a bronze medal for his sparring division.  He fought really really well and had better technique than the other child, I thought.  It was a great fight to see who ever you were rooting for.

That's the thing.  I feel guilty for rooting so loudly for our home town kids. All the kids need the support and encouragement of all the adults. One poor boy there fought without any coaching support and he lost badly. No body did anything wrong, just that we all pay to have coaches, and coaches protect you in the fight. They are there when you injure yourself, they fight for your points and safety and coach your fighting technique. This boy had no coach. I only saw the very end of his fight, and the way he held his injured hand.  My heart broke a little. These are just kids. His father sat next to him on the sidelines the rest of that division match set. Arms and legs around his son.

That just shouldn't have happened. Skill levels are all over the place and some of the scoring was too.  I think we all want to "help" and "protect" our kids. Especially when one takes a groin shot and picks himself back up and keeps fighting. It's hard to see scoring irregularities and keep your heart open. It might be that in the end I might be learning more than my son. The first lesson has to be that the score doesn't count. All these kids were gloriously brave for showing up!

My son handled him self beautifully and his poor bored sister struggled to keep her sanity. If she gets into sparring I'll be there to see her excellent training, techniques and roundhouse kicks too.  I never thought this would be my parenting road.

"Let's go see snow!"

Spontaneous trip to Maryland to see a big snowfall.  We were very excited.  I couldn't wait for my sister to help me get my kids sledding.  Unfortunately on the last day of the visit , on the last run down the hill, the kids were holding hands when they went over an unplanned ice bump, caught major air and ended up in extreme pain.  C-Birds face and shoulder, G-mans arm.  He stood up and said "It's broken, my arm is broken."  Didn't question that and ended up in the ER.

First they didn't xray . then they did and said 2-3 weeks, sent us home.

With an $80 splint.

Because in fact it was broken. Buckle Fracture of the Ulna.

She smacked the ground  with her face and shoulder.

Then they said this was a 6 week injury.  

Changing the cast...

 Textbook perfect.

Unfortunately a new cast had to go on for 3 more weeks.

Tree weeks with a crappy cast is about 20 days too long...

This is where the doctor said... three more weeks of caution.  It is a nine week injury. Yikes!

How to Be a Princess

Learn how to play Chess with Friends

Grind Coffee...

Get someone (your Mommy) to braid
your hair every day

and Enjoy the smell of it brewing.

Buy beads and share jewelry making
with you brother. 

Know what you are made of, even in a dress.

Wear hot pink...

Wear hot pink head to toe on the same day as your friend... without planning to.

Salt Dough Playdate

I'm not afraid of the word "playdate". I welcome it. It is a product of our modern life. If we can break free of our fear of labels, if we break free of ourselves and embrace the internet communities available to us we can break out of our self imposed isolation stemming from late 2001 and on. In our hyper protective, over zealous parenting, let there be big loud playdates in your homes - full of... salt dough and noise and friends.  Whenever you can, however you can , build your community and celebrate it.

My house was trashed and the kids were loud... but all these wonderful homeschooling families embraced an opportunity for community and when it was all said and done the toys were mostly picked up and the dishes mostly done.  I was only out a few peanut butter and honey sandwiches and salt dough.  Many hands make light work and for those who forget to see this.. this is the beauty of our life choices.

Minivan Life

Things we've left behind

Our Old house, and Gardens are missed, even tho we are excited about all the cool changes in our lives.  I found a few old photos I took of our empty home. Curious family and friends can see the last few changes we made... and the Grapes we'll never get to eat... but gosh darn it, I grew 'em.

Rest In Peace

Grandpa Bob has passed away.  His broken body can now rest and he is free.  I know I will never forget my last handshake from him for the stroke had not yet robbed him of all his strength.

My son has now attended his Seventh funeral. G Man has been to the funerals of two of his fathers friends, two grand fathers, one great grandmother, one great uncle and one second (or greater) cousin. He was present at the passing of both our dogs.  For my Daughter this was her second funeral. We went to Grandma Judy's funeral when she was a baby.

When someone asks me if a young child can attend a funeral I sometimes have a hard time responding.  I suppose I want to answer, 'Why shouldn't they?'.  We talk about death in a very honest way.  We are very Buddhist in our explanations of death and in our tone of voice we convey our sadness, but never fear.  We trust our children with the truth, the whole truth of life and death.

When we have been at an open casket funeral we have been able to explain that someone is gone.  It is very observable that our loved one is not really there.  When we attend an internment we talk of returning someone to where they came from, as all of us have come from the earth.  When we cry, we can say we are sad and if is OK to be sad.

My son held his Grandpa's hand at the viewing and patted his chest.  He express his sadness and his love.  He and his sister sleep soundly each night. At the memorial he stood up at the microphone and told everyone he cared about Grandpa Bob and he would miss him.  He sat close to his father at the interment and shook the ministers hand.

With our children there can be only truth.  For me, for their father, there is no other choice.

Planning a trip to Emerald Isle

We are planning to go see the children's Grandpa Bob in the nursing home. He has been recovering from a severe stroke and will be returning home to his wife in about two weeks. I found a decent resource to help explain somethings to the kids.

Online Book about a Grandpa recovering from a Stroke.

Reflections

Sometimes... Sometimes I get a bit weary.

Sometimes I'm not a picture perfect mom who embraces all of my child's feelings.

Sometimes I'm selfish and tired.

That is ok.

I love imperfectly, I try and I cook.

Sometimes I even sleep.

Fevers

So my kids have come down with illness right before a trip to Maryland for the second time. This time is has been a draining 102.3F or so fever. With each child I monitored the fever for the first 12 hrs or so and kept them comfortable and hydrated. When they asked for it I provided them with a dose of Advil. One dose each. Then this fever tapers down to the 100.1F or so. In another day it seems to be all better.

Unfortunately this results in a lot of TV watching. It is eTV, but still it is TV. Otherwise I am so very good at keeping it off. When they are little zombies it does seem to help the day. Besides my brain is fried from being p all night long monitoring fevers and being prodded for "milkies".

G-Man

G: Look at me mom!

me:(Thank God!!!)

G: I can swing my self!

me: Look at you, bet that feels Great. (thank God!)

This moment in Time

Mothers Day with a dash of Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease.

Still in love with Rosie Hippos

Snow!

Scenes from the Big Snow of 2010. Charleston here recieved four inches of snow that promptly melted away. We battled the big melt to make a snowmman that quickly fell over and "died".


Cora is working on her precrawl. Up on all fours and rocking. She loves to scoot around, roll over and other exciting body movements.

Birth Story

I finally edited CBird Birth Story.

35 Weeks

Belly photos from the Fourth of July, so that is probably around 35 weeks.

New Life

Here G is running and enjoying the fountains along the river at Riverfront Park, a bit of a "secret" hot spot in town.

Mark meets his beautiful Granddaughter El, Nates new daughter.

A mommy wish list-All things are going well with the pregnancy. Baby is head down, my blood pressure is great and we are at 35 weeks nearly. The nesting thing is kicking in, and I suppose I'm geeting a bit anxious to get everything ready because practice contractions are comming on more frequently and in greater varieties. My Chiropractor tells me that he has a great track record with fast labors for the pregnant women in his care, including his wife.

All this has me wondering if I feel at all ready for this big event to happen. Mentally I've done a lot of work, and we have the dresser stocked up with cuteness (thanks already to Lindsey). However there are a few things still missing.

Making Adjustment

Hello! We have continued to chip away at our house projects and by shear luck I have aquired a really great new dresser for G. I happened to see the craiglist post first... saw the piece first... and snatched it up. Pictures to come I think. From the moment I agreed to the purchase G has talked about his new white furniture. I called someone on the cell phone shortly after we left the ladies home and he was saying "Mom tell them about my new, my new, my new white, my new white furniture, my my my dresser!"

Now his old dresser, with a changing table on top is freed up for the little tiny summer dresses I just picked up at Once Upon A Child.

G has tons of energy these days. He's full of conversation, ideas, imaginary ball games we must play, and opinions. He runs up at random grabs my stomach and says thing like "I love sister" and "put your head down sister"(my request), and "shes kicking shes kicking (whether she is or not).

Tonight G had a ton of extra energy so I pulled my new trick out of my hat... "hey get the Yoga cards and have your daddy help you". A deck of ilustrated yoga positions that definately did the trick for G's Daddy. I feel really good about it because it is another sign we haven't turned our TV on all DAY!

I try to be anti-TV and I've had my moments... but we have cable and I get really tired. My most recent cure for TV use has come in the form of the DRAG ME TO HELL trailers that network after network has shown... even twice in one commercial break while our whole family was watching the Stanley Cup finals. Enough already, ya know. Mark and I just looked at eachother one night... and that was it. Maybe I can get us out from under the cable bill for a while. The only bright spot is the public TV, full of educatonal kids shows until 5pm or so... this does come in handy when I have been laid up with contractions or back pain.G with Mark, and Me with a 31 week belly heading to another new restaurant.

Don't slap a cactus

G has now learned that getting splinters of glass in your foot is a lot like slapping a cactus. Oh the information available to us in a weeks time.

No really, he slapped a cactus 'cause I told him not to, a prickly pear.

Real Birth

BIRTH, real birth...

G got to watch a baby cow join this world while we were in PA.Unfortunately for the little boy bovine his arrival was not really celebrated on the dairy farm.