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.......

Traveling with Kiddos

We made the drive from Columbus to Florida, as it has become a tradition with my husband's family to visit Disney after Christmas the last 3 years. Its a bit different this year of course, because he isn't here with us, but everyone thought it would be a good idea to do it anyways since the kids look forward to it so much.

And who is going to complain about spending a week in Florida swimming at the pool and spending a day at the Magic Kingdom and Disney Quest??

Not me.

So, here are the kids in the car. They proved once again that they are actually the best kids in the entire world. Hannah slept at her nap times, just like at home. One of her naps was cut short by Jude yelling. Just like at home. And the boys basically entertained themselves and kept the whining to a minimum. Eden read and Jude played VSMILE and sometimes they even played with their toys......TOGETHER!

Uncle Thomas drove the whole way. Thats right. The whole way. I think maybe part of it was he knew the baby was less likely to cry if I sat with her when she was awake. Which was true. Still, I really appreciated it.

When we stopped at a random gas station for snacks and potty breaks, we got some funny looks. I do tend to get these looks anyways, but Uncle Thomas is a few years younger then me and clearly people thought we were "Mom and Dad". Except for that to be true he would've had Eden at 12....... Anyways, he found the looks mildly amusing. I call it the "Teenage Parent Stare", and I've been getting it for 8 years so I don't tend to pay attention to it anymore.

The middle picture is Hannah chewing on her Daddy's sweatshirt that he left for me. She was using it as a blanket and to attempt to floss apparently.

This last picture is the boys being super good. Super, SUPER good. And I love them.

Round and Round we go

My Dad took this picture. We are sitting in an IHOP, not far from my house. Its the morning that Dean left to go back to Ft. Riley. When he sent me the photo today I was suprised. I don't look nearly as miserable as I was feeling. And look at Hannah.....she has such a great smile! Shes still in her PJs I didn't even have the presence of mind to get her dressed before taking her out. So I guess I wasnt that with it after all. Still, that seems like it was ages ago.....but its been just a little over a week. One week. 10 days if you want to be more exact. If I did math, I would figure out the hours and minutes. I'm just not that in to math. And besides, the point is, it hasn't been long enough.

Today none of us got dressed. We alll stayed in our PJs and played video games and took naps and watched TV and took turns helping Hannah push her highchair around the house. Its what she does. Round and round from kitchen to hallway to bedroom to hallway to kitchen......round and round. Its really very fun. For her mostly. Doing laps at times is the only thing that will make her happy. I think when she pushes the highchair instead of holding my hand she thinks shes really walking. I follow her around, gently trying to guide the chair away from the walls and furniture. Frequently our cat Patches will come along for the ride, holding on to a leg of the chair with her two front paws and allowing herself to be dragged around the house. Hannah thinks this is hysterical and tries to tromp on the cats head. Sometimes she succeeds and the cat lets go of the chair for a few seconds. Then tries a different chair leg. Oddly enough, she gets the same result.

I've got to get a video of it, but that could prove challenging since both my hands are occupied guiding the chair.

And round and round we go.

Today

Basically sucked. So if anyone has any good news or happy thoughts to send my way, please do. Cause I need it.

Donuts, Please!

My baby girl loves Donuts. She loves them so much in fact that she would not allow me to help her eat this one. She would not allow me to take it and turn it over so she could get the chocolate part easier either. She insisted on twisting her hand all crazy and tilting her head all funny trying to get that darn upside-down-chocolate part!!

The thing that is so awesome about her though is she wants to do everything HER SELF. There is no helping unless it is absolutely required. Otherwise shes all "I've got it covered, Mom, quit bothering me!"

And I thought I would have to wait till she was a teenager to deal with the attitude.....Lucky Me :)

Christmas in Kabul

In case anyone was wondering, this is what Christmas looks like in Afghanistan! Here is my sweet husband, with his paper Christmas tree. It was his Mom's idea, and the boys decorated it with little sticker ornaments. Then everyone in his family and me and the kids each wrote him a letter to open on Christmas and wrapped them up like little gifts. It really is just so cute!! He said all the guys thought it was neat, and wanted him to open his presents early, but he would not. It brought a little bit fo Christmas cheer to their otherwise kind or dark and crowded tent. And he loved the letters, of course.

It doesn't feel like Christmas to me today. We opened a couple of presents here at my Dad's, and there is a tree and we are having a big Christmas dinner.....but for me Christmas came and went on December 15th, when Dean was here and we celebrated as a family.

Because thats what Christmas is really about. Not to be all mushy or whatever, but it really doesn't matter the exact day of the year, its that feeling we had all being together.

I did talk to the boys this morning. They are having a grand 2nd Christmas at Daniel's, which is wonderful because I really don't have much Christmas cheer today. I love that they are happy, that they have two homes where they can feel so loved and cherished and whole. We have decided to stop "splitting" Christmas day, where the kids spent Christmas Eve and morning one place and then had to go to the other house in theafternoon. It just made it no fun for anyone, all the stress of going back and forth and having no time to really enjoy their new toys or feel like they are rushed into spending time with all the various family members. This year they sound so much more relaxed, fully engrossed in their new gifts and gadgets.

Dean is already sleeping, his Christmas Day has ended, and ours is barely half way over. Time zones are weird.

Merry Christmas Everyone.

Distracted

So, It turns out that the more I try to be "distracted" from my new reality the more in my face it becomes. The more I try not to think about it, the more I think about it. The only exception to this so far has been a 2 hour time period where I was laughing so hard I could barely breathe as I watched "The Birdcage". I completely forgot to be sad or stressed or lonely, and it was awesome.

On the other hand I realized today that not even a week has passed. How is that even possible? Its been like at LEAST 2 months in my mind! Come on time, catch up!!

Today someone made me feel guilty. A complete stranger no less. Its weird how people can say things when they "mean well" that can have to complete opposite effect of what they were intending. For instance, I believe this man was trying to comfort me, to make me feel better, to give me so advice he obviously thought I needed. The thing is, I don't recall asking for his advice. I don't want to feel guilty for wanting to talk to my husband, but here this person is going to tell me that talking to my husband may actually HARM him by causing him to be too "distracted" to do his job. That I should leave him alone and "let him focus so he can come home safe". The more I think about it the more angry it makes me. So maybe I will try and stop thinking about it.