Twins? Nope!

Okay, this is kind of a crazy, random post...however! I thought it'd be cool to share these 2 recent photos of Ethan and Abby.

Pretty crazy look-alikes, huh? ;-) 

Everywhere we go, people are constantly asking if they're twins. I mean CONSTANTLY! ;-) It's pretty cool, actually...even if they don't see the humor in it all the time. (Well, I should change that...ETHAN doesn't see the humor in it because he doesn't like being mistaken for a girl. Hee hee! But like I told him, that's to be expected if he's going to keep his hair long.)

Okay so, not only do they look alike, they're also nearly the same height and only 16 months apart, which REALLY ups the "Oh! Are they twins?" factor because they look like they're the same age.

So, what do you think? Would YOU mistake them for twins??





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It Can't Rain All the Time

That's what I have to keep telling myself, at least. Despite all the extremely difficult days my family's been through lately, I have to remember that sooner or later, the sun has to peek out from among the clouds.

Sometimes a ray of sun takes on the form of a good conversation with a cherished friend, or a bottle of wine and a funny card brought over by that same friend. (Thanks again, Tina.)

Other times it comes in the form of an outpouring of generosity from friends and church family who, despite how dumb your woes seem to be in the grand scheme of things, come rushing to your aid. If it wasn't for them, our church website, family website, and a massive amount of data (some super-critical, some not so much) would be lost.

Building websites from scratch is a royal pain (to hear my husband tell it), but from the looks of things, Dean's going to be able to salvage most of the Roots website data from the failed hard drives. A few things may have to be re-done, but nowhere near what he was thinking before. And now with new hard drives and soon-to-be-refurbished drives in place, we'll have backups of the backups of the backups!

A lovely patch of sun came out yesterday in the form of time spent with my cousin, Ryan and other family members. We haven't hung out much at all, outside of hospital vigils and a depressing funeral service. He wanted to make me a margarita, which I declined. So of course, Dean made me one anyway, but it was just too bitter. So Ryan made me another one, this time adding Sprite or something to it (???). Anyway it tasted like a soda pop! I'm not sure how he did it exactly, but it was good. Until he added another shot of lime something-or-other. Then it was back to semi-gross. Oh well. I drank half of it. The rest of the evening passed by in a happy blur. However, despite what the pic to the right shows, we did not drink the Everclear. It was purely thrown in for silliness.

Anyway, as I'm trying to say in a not-so-eloquent manner, my family is trying to put the pieces back together and keep moving one foot in front of the other. However, my mom, Aunt Bobbi, Aunt Melinda and cousins are still in need of constant prayer support and encouragement. Please keep them in your minds and hearts. Their sadness and grief far exceed my own.

My son turned 11 years old on the 5th. That was also a nice, sparkly ray of sunshine. We had a very simple family party--cake, little gifts. He'll have his actual party-party this weekend. (Tons of wild 'n crazy boys coming..yikes!)

I can't believe how old they're getting. Sierra will be 14 next month (gag, choke) which hurts just to put into print, much less accept as reality. But speaking of all this--growing older, etc--I find it so interesting how time stops for no one. Whenever I'm in the midst of grieving the loss of someone I love, I think that the whole world should just stop and take notice. Why must the world and all the inhabitants thereof not just take a moment and stop what they're doing and grieve right along with me? How can snappy TV commercials be allowed to air? How can people go around smiling and having a good time?

It just seems to me that the world's perpetual motion is almost like a slap in the face. Mocking you and making you feel even worse.

But then, almost inperceptively, that constant flow of time becomes a sort of aid in itself. It doesn't take the pain away, but it does provide something else to focus on. At least for a moment. The sadness tends to envelope everything you do for a very long time (even the rest of your life), but for just a moment, the world has a way of shifting your thoughts and focus off your pain.

Well, that's my philosophic moment for the day!

I guess I should get back to work and focus on what needs to be done. My routine's nowhere near "on track" these days, but I'm trying to get it back. I did a short workout this morning, which is one of the many things I've been avoiding lately. (And my rear end's growing swath is a testament to that fact.)

Even though it's pouring down rain right now (literally), I've got my list on the table next to me, and plan to check off every single one of my tasks. I'm determined to have a productive day and make the choice to be happy.

The Older THEY Get, the Busier YOU Get!

So the other day, Dean and I were lamenting over how busy our lives have become now that the kids are older. They've got their own various activities during the week, most of which happen in a rapid succession. Bam, bam, bam!

Quite honestly, we never expected this...at all! I mean, sure we've heard of families that had Kid 1 doing this, while Kid 2 does that, and the parents kept zipping along in two different directions, barely meeting in the middle for more than 30 minutes at a time. That always struck me as incredibly stressful and unnecessary.

Well, here we are, just a few years later! We’ve officially joined the cast of Busy Parents, running this way 'n that as we shuttle kids 1-3 back ‘n forth to their respected classes (by van, foot, or bus) around town.
Our weekly schedule consists of:

• Ballet (M/Th for 1-1.5 hrs depending upon the day)
• Taekwondo (M-F for 1-2.5 hrs, depending upon the kid in question, with starting times overlapping with ending times for ballet)
• Dean’s physical therapy sessions (T/Th which overlap with ballet start times)
• running errands in between classes or Dean’s side jobs
• and finally Sierra’s month-long cake decorating class (which overlaps with taekwondo).

In addition, we recently added Youth Group to Sierra’s Wednesday nights. (This I felt was a necessary edition, therefore I’m not stressed about adding it to the mix.)

Now I realize that this is nothing compared to other families out there. However, our activities—though limited to only a few venues—were causing confusion as to who-was-supposed-to-be-where-at-what-time. Dean couldn’t keep up with all we had going on, and was constantly asking “So, what are we doing tonight?” or my personal favorite, “So what day are we all going to be home for a 3 hour stretch?” (Uhhh…Sunday?)

Enter calendar synchronization!

Thanks to Google Calendar (a nifty feature, I must admit!), I was able to fill in everyone’s respected appointments and activities, then share/sync them with Dean’s Outlook.

Yes, you read right. We’re “one of those” people now. Scary, huh?

I think this will work a lot better than my color-coded calendar sheet on the kitchen counter that--although in plain view--seems to escape Dean’s eyesight, not to mention my own personal T0-Do lists I’ve got going on.
We’re still figuring this whole system out (apparently he’s added a computer job but I can’t “see” it….weird), but I think this may work out for us in the long run.

(Man, I never thought I’d see the day when I had to use the phrase, “sync my calendar”!)

So what about you? How does your family handle all the various “kid” activities going on during the week?

Warning! Gory Post! (Squeamish Folk Need Not Look...)

Honestly, it was hard enough for me to put this post together, and I'm a bonafide "fainter at the sight of blood". If you're half as squeamish as I am, then I emphatically implore you to not read futher.

On Friday, we were allowed to take Dean's bandages off. It was a slow process as the medical grade adhesive's about as sticky as Gorilla or SuperGlue. But we were armed with dual determination, a mirror, a pair of scissors and a bucketload of patience. :) Game on!

Things were going well until Dean pulled the bandages back far enough for me to see the incision...and then...as I was washing off the glue, I noticed something horrid. There's an opening in his neck from where the drain tube was.

By opening I mean, I could look into my spouse's neck should I be so inclined. (I wasn't.) It was ghastly, folks... (for me anyways)!!!

Immediately the room began to spin, and I thought for sure I'd either throw up or faint. I knew if I threw up I'd have to clean it up as Dean would be of no help, and if I fainted I'd hit my head on the nightstand, most likely spilling Dean's big mug of ice water onto his laptop cords. That would've been bad. (See how weird I am? I can't even faint without first making sure it won't hurt or create a mess!)

Anyway, I somehow managed to regain control of myself and successfully completed the awful task at hand. (Shudder) Here are the gory results....(don't say I didn't warn ya)

After that I was able to give Dean a shower. And actually that's the only time the collar can come off.

By the way, I've learned through that shower experience that I:

• 
  
  Use too much shampoo (Honestly, he hadn't bathed in 4 days, people...)
• 
  
  Not enough conditioner (I was trying to go easy after "GEEZ! That's a LOT of SHAMPOO!")
• 
  
  I don't rinse him off fast enough (So you shivered a bit...sheesh!)
• 
  
  I really shouldn't stand on the side of a wet tub because I might fall in on him (But I didn't)
• 
  
  I almost took off his toe when I dropped the doggy sprayer attachment near his foot (Oh puh-lease it totally cleared it by an inch!)
• 
  
  I'm not skilled in the art of combing his long hair out. I should always start at the top, not from the bottom (I prefer to start by removing tangles at the ends of the hair, rather than rake a comb through it and get stuck!)
• 
  
  Oh, and I shouldn't use a comb but rather a brush on his wet tresses as the brush hurts less. (But it also creates more tangles...!)

Moving on!

Dean continues to improve a little bit more each day, which is great. He's still not eating a whole lot, can't raise/lower his head on his own yet, and is growing very fed up with the whole "limiting and constricting" experience. But overall, his physical recovery is going well.

Oh, and here's one final pic. I could resist posting it as Ethan's expression was so similar to Dean's...(Hee hee)

Going Home...

My, what a lovely way to greet your wife first thing in the morning. Humph! :)

Hospital food's not so bad when you're *really* hungry...

At last! Fully dressed, seated in his stylish medical grade chariot (wheelchair), being escorted down to his larger chariot (Amanda's car) for the ride home...

It feels so good to have him home again. Just having him gone for one night is more than enough for me. I got maybe 2-3 hrs of sleep last night and I'm totally running on "fumes" right now. I actually fell asleep on the couch writing in my journal! Of course, I wasn't even aware I had even done so until Dean sent me the following text message:  Help Bathroom which made me jump out of my skin as the volume's set to concert decible. (Ahem)

Lisa-marie (bless her heart!) was so thoughtful to bring me a little bottle of Pepsi, a package of mini powdered donuts, and a King Size Reese's peanut butter cups when she brought Ethan back home. Woohoo! (Now that's what I'm talkin' about!)

He continues to battle a lot of throat, neck and now hip pain. But his spirits remain jovial and that's all I can really hope for at this point. He's set up in bed with lots of pillows, TV with free HBO and Cinemax for 90 days, ice water, ice chips, cranberry juice, his lap top, hard drives filled with music, his iPod, and his cell phone which he uses to text me when he needs something. :)

Please keep the prayers coming. He will surely need them in the days ahead...

Also, please add a prayer for Grandma Lindy (Dean's paternal grandmother). Doctors found a malignant tumor in her lung. She is Dean's favorite grandmother and an all-around favored family member. Thank you.

My Sister and Nephew, at The Pumpkin Farm

This was Alex's first field trip with his new school. As you can see, he had a blast! You can read more about this fun day by clicking here.

I sure do miss you guys. :o{