Evany at 8 months

This post is alternately entitled "Pilates with Evany."

This kid is all over the place. She's also eight months old today!

She's about 18 and a quarter pounds, which puts here either in the 50-70th percentile for an 8 month old or the 70-90th percentile for a 6 month old. I'll take it! 

She is funny and very, very talkative. Of course I have no idea what she's saying, but she will talk and yell and squeal all day long. She's content just about anywhere until someone pays her attention, and then they'd better not walk away, because she will scream her head off when that attention is taken away. 

She's not sitting on her own yet, although we've been working on it. She's so fixated on crawling that whenever I sit her up, she throws herself back down onto the floor. She's most comfortable being a wiggle worm, rolling and kicking and playing, and, as of a few days ago, crawling around!

She gets herself into some interesting positions that I'm fairly certain I would be incapable of doing personally. My abs hurt just seeing some of the things she does, but she thinks it's all super fun. 

Her personality is starting to really come out now, and I love it. She is completely in love with her brothers and sister and will actually act interested in toys for the first time ever. She's still close to bald, but the hair that is coming in makes me think she's not going be as fair as her big brother Seth, although their eyes are pretty much identical. 

All in all, she's a sweet, happy, chubby, perfect, pilates performing eight month old girl! I can't believe how fast the months are flying by...the other day I found a pair of her preemie pants, which she wore for over a month. They wouldn't even fit over her foot. It's surreal thinking of how small she was. 

Love you Evany Jane!

Birthday Boys

My next door neighbor slash best friend and I share a lot of things. We share food between our houses...ingredients...eggs, butter, aluminum foll. We share books and dvds and house keys. 

We share kids, in a way...our kids are in what feels like a never ending carousel of here and there, coming and going between our houses. We watch each others kids for therapy appointments, hair appointments, our kids switch back and forth between our cars to ride here or there all the time. 

Most of the time, I don't really care who I go home with as long as I get home with the same number of kids I started out with. 

Point is, our kids are together a lot, and they share a lot, too. The girls are beyond close, the boys are best buds, and the baby girls have already been declared best friends forever.

But one of the most fun things some of my kids and some of Mara's kids have in common is their birthdays. Both Ava and Ella and Seth and Fisher have birthdays just a few weeks apart. When Ava and Ella were younger, they had joint parties, and now it's Seth and Fisher's turn!

So tomorrow, on a day right smack in between their  respective birthdays, we'll be getting together with friends to celebrate these two sweet boys. We'll be hanging out in the insane heat here in Florida catching up with friends we haven't seen enough this summer, letting the kids hang out and play at our neighborhood park, decorate our basketball court with sidewalk chalk, and love on Fisher and Seth as we celebrate them turning three and two!

And so tonight, I'm baking. Baking about a billion cupcakes for two of my very favorite boys in the world. (Don't worry, I'm not leaving Jace out...he has his own birthday coming up before long!) Fisher has always been very special to me...he was the very first baby I held after Eli died and I can't tell you how much time I spent with him cuddled in one of my slings or perfecting the butt pat that made him fall immediately asleep. Watching him grow up into such a gorgeous, smart little boy has been a huge blessing for me. Eli and he would have been best friends, and there aren't many times I see Fisher without thinking about what Eli would have been like. 

And Seth...well, Seth is Seth. He is my miracle, the baby that came after I thought I might never be happy or hold one of my own living newborns again. Seth has helped heal me, his happy, hilarious personality, getting to see another one of my boys grow and change every day. 

So Seth and Fisher...they are very close to my heart. And I can't wait to celebrate their big day with them at their "Stoy Story" party. (That's Toy Story, for those of you who aren't up on adorable toddler language!) 

OK, enough mushy stuff...I have a billion cupcakes to ice!

Potty Time!

So you all were so awesome about giving me ideas and tips for Seth's speech that I have another conundrum for y'all, or rather, one of my friends does. It's another kid question, which is definitely a lot of your areas of expertise!

What are your thoughts on potty training? Both my older kids have been very different in that aspect...Ava potty trained before she was two and Jace was a little over two and a half. I used completely different approaches with them both and never read any books on the subject. I already have a feeling Seth is going to end up being more challenging.

In any case, the situation is this. A nearly three year old boy is about to start three year old pre-school class next month. Problem is, they have to be potty trained to go to the threes. He's not. It's just not clicking yet for whatever reason. He's incredibly bright, knows way more than my kids did at his age, but is just not getting the whole bathroom concept yet.

His parents have tried the usual stuff...days at home naked with lots of juice and the potty, setting a timer,  lots of talks with him about it all, treats, rewards. There are only a few weeks before school starts and he's just not there yet. He just hasn't made the connection, although he's willing to sit on the potty and hang out.

What would you all do? There are two options, it seems.

He can repeat the two year old class, where he has two awesome teachers and which would take the pressure off, but he'd be repeating a year he just completed. If they give up his three year old spot they'll lose it for the entire year because there is a waiting list. So if they start in the two's, he'll have to stay there all year. He has to be in preschool because of both parents being at work in the mornings.

The other option is to get him on the road to potty training in the next couple of weeks. Does anyone have any big ideas that could help?

Give me some good ones, guys. I'm going to be filing these away for Seth when he starts potty training next year!

Strike Two

Why can't I take my own advice?  Seriously. 

This morning as the kids were getting their suits on to go to the spray park, there was a knock at the door and Mara stuck her head in. I walked out into the living room, holding one kid or another, wondering where the others were, and hoping that whoever had just come into my house was someone I knew. 

Luckily it was, and she was there to tell me there was a change of plan. 

"It's dollar bowling day! Let's go bowling instead of to the spray park!"

I quickly agreed, which was proof positive that I'd blocked out my last bowling experience, and we quickly changed wardrobe and zoomed off to meet my friend Laura (Who just started her own blog called Deen Bom. Check her out!). 

We arrived with our twelve kids in tow and in roughly six hours we had socks and bowling shoes on them all. 

Seth immediately ran out onto a lane and slid about four feet past where I could reach him, and that's when it hit me with startling clarity: This was a questionable decision.

Seth screamed like a banshee every second he wasn't literally throwing the ball down the lane (although the tenth of a second that he WAS bowling he was adorably excited and yelled "Go!" helpfully every time he rolled the ball). After he bowled each time, I carried him as far away as possible and plopped him into a seat, after which it took exactly one second for him to be back up in everyone's business, including the poor people on either side of us who had no idea what they were getting into. 

Evany decided she was starving to death right in the thick of a buzzing beehive of children circling around, arguing over whose ball was whose, which was heavier, and who was bowling on which lane. It was all good natured, but it was beyond chaotic for a while. Seth was draping himself over balls, Daniel accidentally wandered into another lane and come thisclose to getting creamed, his mom ran up to save him with Evany in one arm. The girls all circled around to cheer for each other and everyone was on top of one another. 

It took us two hours to play one game, and by the time we left, all four of my kids were tired, cranky, and beyond whiny (I was tired, cranky, and whiny within about ten minutes, to be honest). There were at least ten times I said "Why did we do this again?"

And then I remembered. Because as trying and stressful and as it was to be one of three adults facilitating an afternoon of bowling for a ton of kids, to Ava and Jace and even Seth today, they had a blast. Yes, I get tired. I feel lazy. I want to sit around and chat while eating ice cream while my kids play idyllically by my feet. But for my kids, these raucous, crazy days are the things that are going to be the building blocks of what they remember a their childhood. And that's what I want for them, to remember how they went bowling and slid down the lane or walked around Busch Gardens in the pouring rain or how we stopped at the guitar store and formed a pretend band. I'll remember the looks on their faces a lot longer than I'll remember that I was tired or stressed out. 

So I guess I'll take one for the team. It's worth it. 

(Although I would like to special order a couple of those ice cream days, too, if that's ok.)

Family time

We've hung out around the house for most of today...the kids had waffles with nutella for breakfast. Seth is not the neatest eater. I keep a hose out back to clean him up after meals. 

Kidding. 

Speaking of the stubborn wonder, though, I'm beginning to think he's speech issues are definitely based in his own little psyche. When we were at the store yesterday, the kid told me no less then three times "I need that!" while pointing and panting frantically at whatever random item he had fallen in love with. 

Yeah. Selective speech, my friends. It's worth pointing out that the big kids were at the pool with my mom, so he had undivided mommy time. Could have something to do with it. But he's been talking up a storm this weekend...I think we might be on the cusp of something big! I appreciate all the tips you guys left so much...we'll definitely be putting lots of them into play!

The new two year old also had his official check up today and overall things look good. He's in the 70th percentile for weight and the 85th for height, which I'm thrilled with. He's a healthy kid, although he is definitely headed off for a repeat visit with the neurologist thanks to his persistent balance and one sided weakness issues. His pediatrician's only concern was that we get to the root of that, and I can deal with one concern. One concern is great! I can deal with one specialist...to think he started out with seven in the beginning...this is good news!

Someone else hit a special milestone today...

Evany had her first taste of solid food. Well, baby oatmeal, which isn't really solid, or a food. I haven't had much luck with baby cereal for any of the kids but thought I'd try it again. She's been howling at us when we eat in front of her and drooling up a storm, so the signs of readiness were definintely there. 

She hated the cereal, basically, despite her expression in that picture. I think she was smiling because she had managed to spit out almost the entire bite. She is only 6 months adjusted, though, so there's plenty of time. I think she might have a little tongue thrust reflex going on, too. In time it'll fall into place...my kids tend to be a little older before they get into food. Evany is so chubby and happy I know I don't need to stress about her caloric intake!

In the meantime, Ava and Jace have been spending the past few days as the biggest couch potatoes in the world.

They wake up in the morning and the first thing Ava does is hook up the Wii and find a good kids show to start the day. She is kind of a whiz with the wii. I had no idea she'd figure it out so fast! I set up some kid shows for them in the instant queue when we set up the streaming video, but Ava has branched out and now goes hunting for her own viewing material. She always picks appropriate stuff for the most part, although she and Jace have been wanting to watch Mythbusters and Dirty Jobs a lot. 

They they curl up on the couch with a blanket and believe me, if I let them, they would stay there all day. It's a lot of lazing, but we only have five weeks left of summer, so I've promised myself that I'd let them veg out if that's what they wanted to do. We'll be on a non stop crazy schedule soon enough, and they usually spend the afternoon crafting it up and playing outside, so we're staying pretty well balanced around here. 

And now I'm exhausted. Good night!

The Man of the House

He's my very own bug killing, imaginary animal swording, cuddle bugging, non-stop talking, man of the house. 

I was shopping for his school uniforms tonight online and it hit me...he's growing up. He'll be five soon. He's finally starting his educational career at the best school ever, where he'll be right down the hall from his sister. I thought this day might never come! He is a bundle of contradictions. He is wild yet sweet, very distractible and very bright, and even though he's a non stop ball of energy he will stand holding a door open for anyone and everyone until I physically drag him away. He is a gentleman in the making in the midst of being a fun loving little boy.

He's the best. 

Until next year!

Whew! VBS is officially over for this year. I'm exhausted! I always look forward to VBS all year, then in the weeks leading up to it, I dread it. The stress, decorating rooms, wondering what the kids will be like. Then it starts, and I love it again, the comaraderie of the workers getting ready, the tee shirts (I love a good tee shirt). The first day always flies by and is so fun, meeting the kids, going from activity to activity.

And the week goes on. And then, suddenly, it hits. The day I dread every year.

VBS Thursday.

It's an official day, I'm sure it is. It's a day when babies are cranky for no discernible reason, toddlers throw impressive tantrums worthy of the record books, and older kids are suddenly bored with the songs they loved singing the day before. Everyone is exhausted...leaders are dragging and forget why they signed up in the first place. The hoedown throwdown gets stuck in your head and it won't go away. Ever.

This year, there were a few things that kept VBS Thursday from taking me down with it.

Amazing snacks. Especially the S'mores. This year, the amazing snack leader (Who is also Ava's first grade teacher) made a special treat for the leaders in addition to the snacks for the kids. I made way too many trips to the canteen, let me tell you.

The best preschool workers ever. Ever. This week was the first week I have ever put Evany in the nursery, and at the beginning of the week, it wasn't my intention. Mara and I were considering just keeping the girls upstairs. But we tried it out, and every single person in the nursery was awesome. Amazing. I miss them already, and Evany loved them all, too. Seth also lucked out and had a great time in the two year old room. He even deigned to speak out loud to his teacher after the first couple days, which was very exciting for me. I hope this means good things for when he starts preschool in September!

Getting to work with my best friends.

Worker kids had lunch after VBS every day. Getting to take them home and have to do nothing but put them down for a nap? Heaven. Enough said.

Unbelievable teenagers. We had three teens assisting with crafts this week, and I was nervous before the week started...I didn't know who was helping and whether they would actually be helpful or not. But we lucked out and we had some of the most engaging, helpful kids in the place. It made the week so much better!

So when the going got tough, I had enough good things to keep on going, which is good, because without the lows of VBS Thursday, you never get the highs of VBS Friday.

On the last day of VBS, it always hits me how cute the kids are, how sweet, how old the 4th graders are and how huggable the 1st graders remain for a little longer. It's so great to see the friends that the kids have made within their classes, how excited they get when their leaders get slimed on stage on the last day. It's great to see them getting to be kids for a week, surrounded with age appropriate fun and activities, encouraged to ask questions and have fun, with the knowledge of Christ right there for the taking.


And look at that...even though I could sleep for days, I'm officially excited for next year!

Speak Easy

So I need anyone that has any speech ideas to jump in here...please!

I happen to have a very stubborn, newly two year old boy.  Who has cochlear implants. Who refuses to talk for most people.

I'm stressing boy because I feel like Seth embodies a lot of the stereotypical "boy" traits...independent, stubborn, quiet, mechanical, physical.

I have a list of over fifty words and phrases that both I and Seth's therapist have heard him say.

He can talk. If he wants to. 


I have never met a kid quite like Seth. He will not, under almost any circumstances, mimic or imitate a sound. He can understand it, will nod and let me or someone else know that they're doing it correctly, but will not do it himself. Receptively, he is well above his age level...he listens and follows directions well. When asked, he'll point out the correct animal or item from a group. He'll go get a toy when it's verbally described to him (Go get the puzzle, go get the blue bear) without gestures.

He just won't freaking talk!

It's making me crazy. We're in a rut with speech and I am desperate for Seth to get re-engaged with his voice. At home or in groups of people he knows, he'll babble and talk when he initiates it. But he's an extremely shy and reserved little boy and it takes him a long time to warm up to people.  As soon as anyone tries to get him to verbally respond to them (by saying "Seth, say hi! Seth, can you say _______?"), he shuts down and hides his face or just looks at them like they don't get it.

I don't mean to make it sound like he's mute. He's not. He called out for his therapist today and said her name, and we've been hearing a lot of "Noooo!" as is typical of a two year old. But I feel like we're missing a link somewhere, that I'm missing something that will make Seth want to talk.  Two year olds are supposed to pick up a new work every day and we are not there.

We're nowhere near there.

So any tips anyone has about kids and speech and maybe some out of the box ideas...I want to hear them! You don't need to be a professional...any experience is welcome. I feel like I'm stuck in a rut and my brain isn't working to think my way out of it. I feel like we've done it all, tried it all, and my kid is the most stubborn child in the world.

So. Discuss. Please. =)

Dear Seth: Look who's TWO!

We've had a crazy busy weekend celebrating this little boy's second birthday! He turned two on Saturday and we spent the entire day following his every whim. He is now one bossy kid, let me tell you! All the gifts and catering to Seth totally went to his head and now he thinks he runs the show. 

Which he kind of does, actually. 

Dear Seth,

Well, you're officially two! You've been acting two for a while...being bossy, throwing two year old tantrums, screeching like a barn owl when things don't go your way. But you're finally really two. You're a tall, solid boy, big for your age, but that doesn't stop you from insisting I carry you all over the place and hanging off my legs. You're just a little attached. You are the sweetest kid in the entire world and you give the absolute best hugs and kisses, too. 

We went to pick up some new ear molds for your cochlear implants the other day, and we saw the Audiologist who did your initial ABR test, the one where we found out you could hear. She was an intern then, just starting out, and you were her very first profound kid. It was so cool to catch up with her and let her see how well you're doing. It was kind of emotional for me, thinking back to those days when I had no idea where you and I would end up, whether you'd ever call me Mama or hear me tell you I loved you. Two years ago, you were one sick kid, not even breathing on your own. 

And now...two years later, we have come so far sometimes I can't even believe it. You're happy, healthy, and you have been a bigger blessing to all of our lives than I could have ever imagined. You have blessed us beyond measure. Your older sister told me the other day that she didn't know what she'd do without you, and neither do I! 

You're funny, silly, and incredibly strong willed. You will fight to the death to get a sip of my soda or other junk food. You don't let your brother and sister push you around, either. You stand up for yourself and you get your point across remarkably well, with words or without. 

Most doctors say that preemies catch up by the age of two. That hasn't been the case for you...you're still in several therapies with no end in sight. I won't say it wasn't frustrating to adjust to therapy long term. For a long time I thought you'd have graduated from all of your therapy by now, but that's just not the case for you. You have something called ataxia...your gross motor muscles just don't always cooperate with you, but you're learning to compensate for those issues every day and you don't let it slow you down for a second. You run, climb, play, and the fact that you fall more often than other kids doesn't seem to phase you at all. 

Your hearing, though, is remarkable. You amaze me with what you hear and understand, and you frustrate me mightily with your stubborn attitude about just who you will deign to speak to. You're shy, reserved, and you don't perform for anyone. If left to your own devices, though, you'll talk up a storm...if you're in the mood. You don't make anything easy, but it's always worth it. Hearing you call my name or say "Thank You" when I hand you a glass of milk still amazes me. Watching you drop everything and break into joyful dancing when music comes on is the best thing ever. 

Your therapies and hearing and speech and physical issues are nothing, though. I mean, it's miraculous to me that you can hear, but it's even more miraculous to me that you're here, that you're my son, that I have the privilege of watching you grow up with your brother and sisters each and every day. Your older brother didn't get this chance, and I'll never forget how blessed I am to wake up every morning to you shouting my name and shaking your crib back and forth, putting dents in the wall we painted so carefully. When I pick you up in the morning, you lay your head on my shoulder and you pat my back with your hand, and it's one of the best parts of my day.

I'm so proud that you're my happy, joyful, cheerful, loving, demanding, clingy, stubborn, strong willed, adorable, feisty, cuddly, beach bum of a little boy. I love you more than words could ever say. 

I love you, Seth B.

What speaks to you?

I have a confession to make.

I don't read a lot of blogs.

I know, I know. It's horrible. I try to, and there are so many I want to be reading, mostly belonging to readers of this blog who go way back, and new readers I want to learn about. But there are so many hours in a day, and I don't get many for blog hopping. I want to, though, and I love checking in on all the blogs I read. I need to do a better job commenting. Usually I read on the fly on my phone and am off to tend to a kid before I get to say anything. Because it's so tough for me to keep up, all of you who take the time to read here get my never ending gratitude. For reals.

 Every once in a while, though, I'll find a blog that calls to me, that I must read right away in the evenings when I get on the computer (about the only time I open the computer lately is after the kids are in bed).

It's not that these blogs are the most popular, or the funniest or silliest or best written blogs out there, although sometimes they are.

I'm drawn to these blogs because their writers are crying out, just like I was after Seth's diagnosis, or after ny marriage fell apart, or when Evany was born so early. For some reason, they have been chosen to walk a tough road, and I am inexorably sucked into their journeys. I feel a kinship with them, if you will, although in most cases, our stories are so, so different.

And I thought, tonight...what's the point of having an readership at all, any people who keep coming back to check in on my family out of the goodness of their hearts, if I'm not going to share these people's stories with them as well? I know how much every comment, every prayer helped me then...how much they help me now.

So without further ado, here are a few blogs I can't stay away from these days.

The Schros - The story of a young family of four, the head of which (Jordan) is battling Ewing Sarcoma. Katelyn's post about how she and her husband had laid all their future dreams and goals on the altar at Jesus' feet brought me to tears. So worth reading, and so, so worth praying. Please check out their blog. Jordan is returning home to spend time with his family and they could really, really use prayers for peace beyond understanding, miraculous healing if that's God's will, and that they would be incredibly blessed in this time together at home.

Loving Baby Daylon  and Care for Anabella- I found both of these adorable babies through little Jonah's blog. They are both just over a year old and suffering from Epidermolysis Bullosa, as Jonah is. Daylon and Anabella have both recently received blood marrow transplants from their siblings in an effort to help their rare skin disease. While the transplants seem to be working, the side effects from the chemo and all the interventions are taking their toll and both kiddos are on ventilators and battling a host of issues right now and they could definitely use prayer.

Thanks for taking the time to read about the blogs that are speaking to me these days. Thanks also for letting my blog continue to speak to you, and, and please always feel free to send prayer requests my way. I love having the opportunity to give back even a little bit of what we've been given.

Now I have two I can call "Trouble"

Seth has always been nicknamed "Trouble" around here. He gets into things, he makes messes, he climbs things he shouldn't.

And it looks like his sister is following right in his footsteps.

This picture is of Evany in her bouncy seat. A seat that is ramped up. And yet somehow, she has rolled over onto her stomach. She was rocking herself back and forth when I took this. Then she slid out of it. Then she practically did a forward roll. 

I think we've officially outgrown the bouncy seat and I am not happy about it! But she's just too much of a daredevil these days. 

And now we've got two kids who answer to "Trouble" in the house!

What have your babies gotten into way before their time?

They're ready for their close ups!

Ava and Jace were in the mood for a photo shoot the other night after we finished reading. They wanted to pose with different "faces". This was there take:

Show me mad!

Show me....sad!

Okay, now let's see happy!

Okay, how about excited?

Alright, now show me your very Jace-est face!

And show me a look that is totally Ava!

My oldest two get less blog time than the babies, since they rarely sit still enough for me to photograph them and they're busy being big kids. But I thought their different expressions of, well...expressions, was pretty great. Of course, they are my kids...I think they're pretty great regardless, even when they drive me up the wall being the little know it alls they are!

Yee Haw!

We had a long day.

I am simultaneously loving and hating VBS right now. 

Our VBS is next week and my friends Mara, Laura, and I are heading up Crafts this year. 

I'll pause while you all laugh. Not laughing? Then you don't know how non crafty I am. =)

The leaders of the various grades have been heading up to church all week to decorate the classrooms and main areas of the church. All week. You know. Monday. Tuesday. Wednesday. Thursday. And today, of course. 

We rolled into the place, eleven kids in tow, and busted our room out in one day.

Not the smartest move, but last time we had to decorate a room we LIVED at church. We were there every morning and night, glittering and cutting and sticky tacking a room to shreds. Other people came in and in one day far surpassed our room, which ended up looking like we set the kids loose on it.

Except for our bridge, which was amazing. An intensely awesome rope bridge hanging from the ceiling surrounded by the least convincing jungle and pyramids ever. And don't ask why we had jungle and pyramids mixed together...it was a metaphor that fell apart halfway through the week, when we were exhausted and delirious and slapping stuff up on the wall in hopes that we'd be able to go home one day.

 

So fast forward to this year, and we decided that one day was more than enough to achieve our very own special level of amateur craftiness.

We planned to be early birds and knock it all out. And we totally came through, showing up at nearly eleven. We're nothing if not punctual! After we'd corralled our kids upstairs, the director of the VBS came up to bring us some supplies and say hi.

"Oh my goodness! Where did all these kids come from? This looks like way more than you guys usually have" She asked, her eyebrows raised. 

"Nope...only eleven...it just looks like more because they won't sit still!"

Eventually we lucked out and found a television so we could hogtie them in front of it, and we got to work.

The theme for our room was Saddle Ridge Ranch, and I think it came out okay. All the furniture still needs to be moved out, and we'll be putting the finishing touches on after church on Sunday, but I'm pretty happy with how it all turned out. If you like it, I did it, all by myself, by the sweat of my brow. If you don't like it, the kids did it. Really.

Vivi the Bathing Beauty

Hey, Evany, want to take a swim?

I took that as an appropriate response and Evany had her first dip in the pool this week. She loved it! She didn't fuss once, just splashed around and hung out with me. 

She did summarily refuse to look at the camera, though, no matter how many toys were rattled and kids shouted her name. Nope! Not looking!

She deigned to look at me, though, as she performed her favorite trick, standing. She wants to stand up all day every day. If you try to sit her down she stiffens her entire body and screams bloody murder. As soon as you stand her up, though, she's all smiles again. 

Finally! Eye contact! I am in love with this hand me down elephant bathing suit from my friend Lanie. It's just Evany's size and it worked out perfectly for her fist pool photo shoot, although her cute bald head is begging for a ridiculously oversized flower or bow,  I have to say. 

She spent a little time sunbathing (don't worry, she was wearing a super strong sunblock...nary a burn in sight), and hamming it up for the camera, and then, suddenly...

All the swimming and playing caught up with her and she was out like a light. 

I think it was a successful first swim!

Grease Monkey

So today...today was one of those days. Those days when you just stop and go "Seriously?" Apaprently when I mentioned my toilet plunging prowess someone out there was laughing at me, saying "Oh, you think you're good? Just wait, we'll see how good you are!"

On the way to visit some friends and hit the pool this morning, we headed outside to find that Mara's van was dead. 

Now, this is a regular occurrence for both of us...we are cursed when it comes to cars. 

Of course, Tommy was gone at a Christ In Youth conference, and we really wanted to go swimming. So I dug out the jumper cables and Mara and I stared studiously at the batteries in our respective vehicles and I hoped I wouldn't run out of gas (also a regular occurrence for me) while I was juicing up Mara's van. After some telephonic advice, we made it happen and we were off on our merry way to the gas station. 

Of course, then we got lost four times on the way to our friend's new house, which is on a new road that neither one of our navigation systems recognized. How did I live before GPS? I didn't, actually...I was lost all the time. I was late all the time, and I could never find my way anywhere. I did not live before my GPS came into my life.  The joy is not in the journey, folks. At least not when you're lost all the time.

But we finally made it and we proceeded to spend all day hanging out...ten kids, Mara, Monique, and I, and we had a blast swimming, racing, turning somersaults, seeing how long we could hold our breath,  eating pizza, and admiring her new and lovely home. I was only a little bit green with envy, but Monique is just so sweet I couldn't stay jealous...she totally deserves a beautiful home like that. Especially if I can hang out there all the time. Kidding. OK, not really. Monique, can I come live in that fancy little closet in your play room? 

About 4:45 we headed out. I was in a rush leaving because it was John's night to visit the kids and I was sure he was en route to the house. The whole street we were on was new construction, so I don't know if I drove over some debris or what, but suddenly, out of the blue,  I was driving on a very deflated tire. Like, completely deflated. Rattly, driving on the rim, there is no salvaging this deflated. I made it around the corner and Mara pulled up behind me and we stared at the tire in dismay for a second, wondering maybe if we drove to Universal real quick and got a wand from the Wizarding World of Harry Potter we'd be able to fix this mess. Then I got real and called John. 

"Um, we're going to be late...I just got a flat tire."

He was not thrilled...flat tires, along with running out of gas and dead batteries, are kind of par for the course for me. Cursed, remember? But he listened to where we were and said he'd be there soon. 

After about five minutes of staring at the pavement and yelling at all the kids to stay in the cars, I shot Mara a look.

"What?" She asked, already onto the fact that I was probably up to no good.

"I wonder if I could get the jack started for him. I mean, I've seen him and Tommy change enough tires...who needs instruction? I'll just try it."

Mara looked skeptical but also a little excited. If I bombed, she'd be able to laugh at me for years, and if I managed it, she'd be able to say she was part of it. "Okay, but where's the camera? I'm documenting this."

It started out okay. I found the right tools and managed to hook them all up correctly. Or mostly correctly...it worked, regardless. 

Excuse my scrubbalicious attire. I had been swimming all day and threw on the cover up to drive home. I didn't realize I would be flashing everyone in the street changing a tire. As soon as I thought about changing the tire, all the dirt and oil in the general area flew onto me and made me look like a genuine grease monkey.

After a stupid mistake and a redo, I managed to get the car jacked up. John still wasn't there, so I started trying to get the lug nut thingies off. It was a no go...I wasn't strong enough to loosen them. Then I had a bright idea. Mara was merrily tossing everything from the floor of the van to the back so that we could access the spare tire, and I called to her. "Hey! You've GOT to see my system, dude!"

It worked.  Climbing on top of the tire iron and jumping up and down until it loosened the lug nut (or whatever that piece is) totally worked. And I have to to admit it was actually pretty fun. I did get some odd looks from passing cars, though. One drove by twice, the driver shaking his head. I think he wanted to stop but he thought perhaps he was being punk'd. 

After a rather comical wrestling match between me, Mara, and the spare tire that was stored in a teeny tine chamber below the floor of the van, it was all over. I threw that bad boy on and lug nutted it up. 

Of course just as I tightened the final bolt, John pulled up and stared at the van disbelievingly. 

"You've got to be kidding me!" He said, shaking his head. 

I don't know if he was more shocked that I changed the tire myself or annoyed that he'd driven all the way there to make sure the lug nuts were tight. As he checked out my handiwork, he asked Mara if she knew how to change a tire. 

"No!" She replied. "I'm just here to watch and throw out a woot woot when Ellyn does something cool. Woot Woot!" 

And from inside the van I heard a five year old voice yell out "Yeah Mama! Woot Woot!"

So now I can add mechanic to my resume, right?