How I feel

 

This is how I feel today.

Its not pretty.

I have a cough that sounds like a barking seal and feels like my lungs are going to vacate my body in protest. I am so congested I think my head might actually explode. Or maybe implode. Either way, it would feel much better then it does now. I have fever and chills, and general total body ache reminiscient of this one time I was run over by a college student on a bicycle...I think I was like 6 or 7 years old. But its a feeling you don't quickly forget.

Major props to Daniel though, who came down yesterday to pick up the boys for the weekend when I told him how sick I was. Its a long drive and I know he didn't want to, but he didn't complain about it and he even gave me some advice for how to make some soup which may make me feel better. OF course, that requires a trip to the store which I am not sure I am up for just yet.

So today its just me and Hannah and the Barking Cough. It totally sucks.

Spaghetti-O Madness!

Hannah likes Spaghetti-O's. As you can plainly see.

She is thrilled to be covered in orange, sticky, slimy goo. Contrary to what these pictures might indicate, she was not in fact using that spoon she is holding. She cleverly held the spoon in one hand, and shoveled gobs of ghetti goodness in to her mouth with the other. Occasionally she would shift the spoon to the alternate hand, to make sure that each hand got a chance to be completely immersed in the wonderfullness that was her dinner.

She liked them so much in fact, she didn't even share any with the dog! And that is really saying something because Hannah and Mac are like best friends. Its practically a rule that he gets half of whatever she is eating. Not so in the case of spaghetti-O's. The emptier her bowl became the more frantic he got, realizing there would be none flung to the floor for him. He whined, and circled her chair, but she just laughed and continued cramming.

I think he is still pouting on the couch.

Anyways, a dinner like this clearly required a bath afterwards. This may have been Hannah's master plan all along since every time we pass the bathroom during the day she says "Bath! Bath! BATH!" She had a bath this morning. She had another one tonight. She is very, very clean.

My Sister

This is probably the most recent picture of my sister and myself together. The sad thing about that is, this was Christmas 2004. And since this is simple math, I can do it. Thats 3 years ago.

How can it have been that long?

I miss my sister.

The thing about Shannon is....well, shes awesome. Shes smart and pretty, and fun to be around. She has lots of friends, and a really cool boyfriend, and I am sure she has a totally rad apartment, but I've never seen it. She always had fun games to play with the boys when she came to visit. We didn't talk on the phone all the time or anything, but she called me pretty frequently for advice, to share a story, or just to say hi. And I did the same.

Then three years ago, it all stopped. Rather suddenly. I made a decision she didn't agree with, I hurt her feelings by not telling her about it ahead of time, and she got so mad she said she never wanted to speak to me again.

I guess I didn't think she really meant it.

I guess I thought that old "Time heals everything" or whatever, would be true. That eventually she would forgive me. Because, hey, we're sisters. Right? Isn't that what sisters are for? Hadn't we been through worse? Wouldn't she be able to see, once everything calmed down, that nothing had to change between us? That I was still the same? The same sister who defended her as a little kid, who shared a room with her till we were practically teenagers, who never fought with her or called her names, who was always glad to help her out, share my things, and have her around. Who she could call crying from New Zealand and be comforted. Who she could ask for advice about boys. Who was always, ALWAYS proud of her.

I still am.

I hear about things going on with her through my parents, and I wish that I was hearing it from her. I hope that someday she will call me. That she will remember the good things, instead of focusing on this one thing that upset her. Big sisters aren't perfect, but I was a pretty darn good one. And I still could be, if she would let me.

I love ya, Shannon.

Eden and his Glasses (or: I can't believe my baby is so grown up I want to cry)

Here is Eden. Here are his new glasses.

First of all, he LOVES them.

Second, I love him.

Third, Jude wants a pair just like them.

And fourth, Eden looks so grown up I want to cry.

It was obvious from the very beginning that at some point he would need glasses since both his dad and I have terrible eyesight. When he was 4 years old he decided to give us all a good scare by walking around smacking his hands together in front of his face and saying "Look Mommy! Don't you see the colors? They're everywhere!" I promptly freaked out, as only a mother can, and took him to the eye doctor. The eye doctor examined him and proceeded to tell me that I had a very imaginitive child, with perfectly good eyes, who was probably getting a good laugh out of telling everyone he was seeing spots. At that point, Eden began giggling uncontrollably. Not only were his eyes fine, but his sense of humor was well developed for a four year old. I think this may have been only one of a handful of times I would have called Eden "mischevious", because thats normally not his nature. But when he does pull a prank, its a good one.

So, now here he is in the third grade,eight years old, with his first pair of glasses. Hes turning in to such a big kid. Notice also the tight-lipped smile. He refuses to smile with his teeth showing since two of the top ones are missing and his very front teeth are now those akward too big for his face grown up teeth that he will someday grow in to, but which for now make him feel self-conscious.

How can such a beautiful child feel self-conscious I wonder?

I wish he could see himself the way I see him.

Disney

Disney-fied

We went to Disney, and it was very, very Disney-like.

Eden had taken a map of the Magic Kindgom the night before and planned our route through from one end to the other. It ended up being so crowded that we didn't do everything exactly in order, but we did get to all the rides he had marked wanting to do. Plus one or two that Jude saw and we added in "spur of the moment." Very Jude. Very Not Eden. But Jude wanted to ride the carousel as we walked by, so we did. And Jude wanted to ride the Rocket ships when we saw them, so we did.

There was a new attraction since the last time we were there called the Mosnsters Inc Laugh Floor. Its a "live" show, ev nthough its animated. The animated characters interact with the audience when a spotlight comes on certain people and the characters ask questions. The last person who got picked was......Eden! The little monster on the screen asked him what his name was. They both had Mickey Mouse on their sweatshirts and the monster said "Uhm, you have some kind of rodent on your shirt. That must be your brother because he has a rodent on his shirt too!" He asked Eden what he wanted to be when he grew up and Eden said "A Scientist." The monster said "You better start drawing up your plans now....oh wait, that would be an engineer." Eden was so thrilled to be up on the big screen though, and have the monster talk to him. It was very cool.

We managed to not see a single Disney Character though. Which was odd. I guess we just weren't in the right places. The kids didn't seem to mind. Hannah really liked riding the Winnie the Pooh ride, she clapped her hands and shrieked to the music.

We also spent lots of time at the pool, but not as much as we would have if the weather had been more like Florida is supposed to be. Like, you know, warm instead of cold.

We are home now though, and it feels really good. Thomas drove the whole way again. Which was good because Hannah was fussy basically the entire drive. Now all the kids are sleeping and I am having chinese food with Thomas. Yum. Im going to post a few Disney pictures, if I can choose just a few.......