Eli Turns 3, Shannon Cries

It's hard to put into words how I feel when Eli has a birthday.  So typically I cry instead of writing.

Most of the emotion comes from remembering the events of day of his birth.

I only had him perfect--without monitors, or scars--for a few seconds.  Then he was taken away.  The act of giving a child to another is heartbreaking (no pun intended).

I look back on those moments and wonder how I handled it all.  I think during the events I just dealt with it.  It is only now in retrospect that I morn and grieve.

Eli is a happy and healthy kid.  A 35 pound three year old (that's HUGE for a heart baby), with lots of energy.  I am very grateful for how things have turned out.

But the events of his first week of life will stick with me for a lifetime... I can easily imagine in 30+ years still weeping every April 13th.

My understanding of life changed that day.
I'm going to go eat cake.

My "Baby Chicks, Baby Cubs"

Sometimes when I look at my kids I see them as something else.  Lately it's been baby chicks and bear cubs.  I think it's because of their hair cuts, and the image of ducks is especially strong when all three are lined up together... and bear cubs when they are wild!  (Spring also helps with the imagery. Everything is so fresh and new!)

baby chicks eating cereal

baby bear cubs wrestling with daddy bear on mama bear's bed

 baby chicks look through books together on a bathroom floor

 baby bear cubs playing in water, enjoying Boise's Spring warmth

"We Have A Pw-an!"

Oh yes, I did just quote "An American Tail" character.
Oh yes, I did grow up loving and obsessing over that movie during my young years.
Oh yes, I do believe that is where my love of history and social classes/clashes were formed... just kidding, y'all!

We do have a plan, though.
And it is an adventurous one.  Get this: 4 states in on year.
Here's how it may possibly go down:


FIRST, active duty starts June 14th and Matt must report to Ft. Knox, Kentucky by June 19th.
"What's in Ft. Knox?" you say.
I'll answer: "Matt has been assigned to be in a staff position at a ROTC cadet training course.  Basically those that join ROTC in their second/third years and don't have any ARMY training must report to this 'camp' to learn some ropes.  It is not a basic training, but it's close to the same ideas."

He'll be at Ft. Knox from mid June to the end of August.  What me and the boys will do is still up in the air... do we try to find an apartment in Kentucky for just 2 months?  Or do we stay with my parents in B'ham, Bama and see Matt during the weekends.  (Ft. Knox and B'ham only 6 hours away.)


NEXT is South Carolina.  Matt's ARMY branch school is at Ft. Jackson, and he must report there by September 2nd.  That gives us only 2 days between Kentucky and South Carolina to move.  This school is only 3 months long, and he finishes at the end of November.

But here is the major issue we have about South Carolina:  Isaac starts kindergarten this fall.
-Do me and the boys move to South Carolina early (mid August) to enroll Isaac in a school for just the fall?
-Do I homeschool Isaac for that semester?
-Or do me and the boys move to our duty station, Savannah, Georgia, in August so that Isaac can start and stay with his kindergarten class for the whole year?
(Columbia, South Carolina and Savannah, Georgia only 2 and half hour away.)


LAST, we arrive at our duty station Ft. Stewart, Savannah, Georgia by the latest December 20th.  We can move earlier (and if me and the boys are there then that issue is null and void).  We'd love to live on base--because it's free!--but there isn't a lot of housing on the base.  So we'll most probably have to live off base, receive the "basic allowance for housing" (BAH), and rent a small home or a townhome in the south-westish part of Savannah.


AND that's pretty much everything we know.
We still do not know how moving across the country will go down.  The ARMY will pay, but probably at the earliest the move can be is June 14th (and we have to be here when they pack us up)... does that give us enough time to drive across country for Kentucky?  
OR do we move ourselves, practically sell everything (including the van), hitch up a trailer to the 4runner, and make an epic trek across the plains of the US of A?


LOTS of questions.  But I'm sure everything will work out... RIGHT?!

Truthfully...

... Sometimes I get overwhelmed with the internet world. Too many crafty blogs to look at, too many delicious recipes to try, too many "perfect" moments Im supposed to create. I'm doing my best, you know? So if me and my boys our in our pjs till 4pm, and we only eat popcorn and Easter candy, that's okay. I'll make yummy bread tomorrow. And clean the house really well. And do all those errands. I like me. I like my likes, and I'm okay with my dislikes. If I don't really see another "me" out there, then... Well, I have to be okay with that. I am who I am. And, truthfully, I hope to be okay with that someday...

Spring Break Dealie-o

The week before spring break Isaac had a fever. For 8 days! Under control with tylenol and ibuprofen, but still a fever for 8 days. He did not go to preschool, nor music class, nor swim class. He did go to the doctor's on day 6, and he did have a throat culture and a chest x-ray taken. Both turned up negative for any illness. (If the fever lasted another 3 days then he'd go in for blood cultures. But it didn't. Phew!)
Oh, Isaac's weight was 39.5 pounds--with clothes and shoes on.
He was very relieved not to get shots.

Also during the week before spring break Titus had a check up, which of course the doctor saw two ear-infections.
"Does he cry at night, or grab his ears?"
"No. Well... he's whined just a little during the night, but that's it."
"He's one tough kid."
"Yup, he's the youngest of three boys. He has to be tough."
Titus got shots, poor baby.  Titus got amoxicillin (only the second time any of my children have been on antibiotics), happy baby.
Titus weight was 26 pounds, naked.

So the week before spring break seemed to be a dull one. Sitting around, getting children well, cursing the rainy Boise weather.

Then Friday came.
I did some p90x in the morning, and while doing so Matt's "request for orders" came in. Savannah, Georgia. I did not handle the information with as much grace as I would have wished--my heart was truly set on Hawaii--but I got over my little melt down, and started to pack.

We packed and set off towards the great and mysterious land of Rexburg. Our purpose: to visit with family before such family left for the even greater and more mysterious-er land of Alaska!
My middle sister and her huthband and little son are leaving this month for summer jobs in Alaska. We are leaving, possibly in June, for Kentucky then South Carolina then Georgia. (Specific dates to come.) Spring break was a "now or in a really long dang time till we see them again" situation.

For four days we crashed their little home. For four days we had very close family time!
Overview:
Friday night  we arrived in Rexburg, Titus fell and busted a tooth through his bottom lip, and Ashley and I saw The Hunger Games.
Saturday we went to Idaho Falls, then I went on a run in Rexburg, Matt went on a run in Rexburg. That evening we had a bon-fire with some of Ashley's friends--yummy smores, and roasted Starbursts! Later that evening me, Matt, Ashley, and Dave went and played pool in the rooms next to the large movie theater, then all of us watched The Hunger Games.
Sunday was church, Dave's birthday, my haircut, and some chill-out time with Matt's brother Chase.
Monday me, Matt, and the boys went on campus. I talked to lots of old professors. Chase and Jenese met up with us, and we toured all the new and pretty buildings on campus. (WOW! Campus is sooo pretty.) We left late Monday afternoon to go back to good old Boise.

The rest of spring break had some highlights too.

Matt studying, Shannon studying, and the boys healthy and running around (expect Titus had a fever for 2 day, blah!).

3 specific highlights:

Story 1:

We asked for Matt's sister, Caitlin, to come by Wednesday morning to watch the boys so Matt and I could go on a run in the Boise foothills.  She comes, and we leave.  While we are driving we some some clouds off in the distance.  

I say, "They are coming our way."

Matt says, "Maybe they are going the other way."

Me, "Since when does storm systems travel west?"

Matt, "Um, don't they go west?"

Me, "Hardly ever."

Matt, "Why?"

Me, "The jet stream in the northern hemisphere goes west to east."

Matt, "Well maybe this one is going south and will miss us."

We park on the trail head and start our run.  After 20 minutes going up hill, heading northeast, we felt a HUGE bust of wind on our backs.

We turn.

We see black rain clouds literally on top of us!

We start to sprint down hill--being on foothills/mountains in a rain storm is dangerous, namely lightening. Our whole way down little hail hit us. Yes, hail. Which is always fun... not. It felt like little rocks were pounding on our legs, arms, and face. 

Story 2:

Friday night Matt's parents took the boys for an overnight sleep over. We went out to eat--Cafe Rio, of course--went to the movie theaters, then rented two movies for home. We also got to sleep in till 9am in the morning! The boys were dropped off Saturday at noon.

Story 3:

Matt found a tooth cavity in Isaac's back tooth. Great! Not sure what to do about that, but we get full dental after Matt's commission. Is it wrong to wait 2 months to get it looked at?

Shorn Sheep

After four months with no hair cuts, and only one trim, it was time to for a major overhaul.
Matt brought out the shears, the boys were stripped down to nothing, and the buzzing in the bathtub commenced!
Tears flowed from all boys, and each were grateful for the shower afterward.
(Each boy was shorn down by himself, then transferred to another shower/tub to be washed off. It was very stream line and efficient!)

It is always a little shocking to see them, seemingly bald, after such a long time of hair growth. Kind of funny, and totally reminds me naked sheep!
But Isaac loves it! He told me: "Wow, I like Titus' hair. He looks like Angus [a friend]," and, "I like my hair a lot. I like how it feels on the back." I believe you, Isaac. You overgrowth of hair created amazing bed head! It must have been frustrating to feel a rats nest on your head everyday.

I call the first two pictures "hairy tub mosaic." Can you guess which color goes with which boy?

 And wondering what these boys are eating? Well I found this pretty cool recipe for "energy balls." Basically no bake cookies which have a little more of a punch for power, and similar to granola bars. I patted my down into cookie shapes so the boys would be willing to try them. And tried them they did! They are fans. Recipe here!

Beautiful to Me

Their hair maybe over grown,
They maybe constantly sick,
Pink eye may gunk their eyes,
And they probably are always pants-less,

But they are mine,
And they are beautiful to me.