Kid...isms and Facebook bits 2015

Venice:"Is Daddy asleep?" 
Me:"he is on his trip." 
V: "Yes. Is he asleep?" 
Me:"Oh yes I think so." 
V:"Well if the sun is not there and it is not here, where is it?" 
Me (amazed, and guessing) "I think it's in China right now." 
V: "oh, so the people in China are awake. If we were in China, we would be awake too" 
She is 3. Blown away that she understands the sun and earth rotation based on one quick conversation.

A gorilla, Miranda Sings, Elsa and a Dragon are ready to brave the rain in the name of CANDY. Venice is walking around talking like Miranda as well. 

This old house has literally brought me to tears several times this year with things that break or leak. To fix it all would cost a small fortune, and it is frustrating , especially when I am in a field to fix house issues. It is lovely however to feel the heated floor work today and the fall light is gorgeous on the old wood and glass.

It's soooooo cold out today, that most of the middle schoolers are wearing pants!!! Logan, someday you will laugh at this one. 

Reading a bedtime book with Venice, she recognized the dogs similarity to dogs she knows. This is Carly, and Blue (on another page), this is Sampson, and Charlie.... And an elephant! She refused to believe the Weimaraner was a dog. I think we need to find a zoo with elephants to bring Venice to!

Another Friday Funday at the zoo. She loves rock climbing, the carousel, peacocks, dolphins and Mommy's undivided attention. We have to collect fall leaves for preschool so she designed an elaborate purse to carry them in. Love the creativity in our household.

Hi, Daddy!

To say Jorge traveled a lot this year would be an understatement. He rocked the mileage and had some amazing opportunities! 

Mom and I deserved our breakfast and walk through LaGrange doing the triple drop off/pickup! Thanks Mom for helping me keep my cool! Logan: Middle School!: 6th grade: Had a blast, came home with extra school supplies he has no idea what he is supposed to do with (I'm nowhere near shocked). Sylvie: 4th grade: Said today was wonderful and she loves school. Venice: Clung to me for dear life at drop off, but had a great day and 'The playground is open!!!!!' She was thrilled to be one of the big kids at our morning photo shoot with a backpack as well.

Splashing and playing with American Girl horses and tents and imagination.

As much as he will miss his iPhone games, he will come home sad because he missed his pup during the first week back to school.

Sylvie planned a script, made posters and invitations, and pre-recorded the narrator on her phone. Then Venice stole Sylvie's Fashion Show. When she dropped the arm of her dress she claims "That's when I turned into a Popstar!"

The Chicago Fire has ignited a fire for my Logan. He was serious and I started asking him "if this is what you want- to play soccer- you can have it. But if this is not what you want, you can still be a soccer player just not as your profession. He turned to me, full of vim and vigor and drive and testosterone and said through clenched teeth "I want it!" He is hooked. Thanks to friends for gifting us this opportunity.

My 9 year old rocks. She keeps me laughing every day. We were watching a music video from Dance Moms, and her battery less than 10% showed up and we both just started laughing. Of course. Also watched the worst remake of Taylor Swift. Her songs were not meant to be 'Africanized' by the otherwise talented Alex Boye. Age 9 has been good to my Sylvie, she is a lot of fun and spunk, a bit of sweetness and a whole lot of amazing.

This morning I woke up dreaming/daydreaming about our old town home. I was walking around living a normal day with toddler Logan. I could hear his laugh, I held his little hand, I could see exactly how he used to walk. It was the coolest thing to relive a phase of my child's life. They grow quickly but it was so much fun! Kinda cool that the brain remembers such strong feelings. When I hold babies I can remember what mine felt like. Playing with my puppy, I can remember what our old dog Abby was like.

Gorgeous views at Graue Mill today. Too bad the mosquitos were swarming us in droves to the point that my arms look like a drug addict and I was bitten so ruthlessly I was afraid I was going to pass out, and they were landing 5-10 at a time on us. Gosh Dang You Mosquitos, you are evil, pure evil, to ruin what could have been a fun adventure. No amount of mosquito spray could have cut these swarms. Grumble, grumble, grumble.

Sylvie and I ran through the neighborhood chasing local (illegal) fireworks (from a safe distance!). It was so much fun. Someday she won't want to share that experience with her mom, so I'll treasure this memory. Sylvie said this will be one of our "Core Memories from Joy" (inside out reference.)

Happiest Birthday wishes to my Jorge! A new decade with new adventures just beginning! I love you so very much!

Happy Father's Day to my sweet husband, Jorge. God knew I needed someone lighthearted, patient and fun to share in this parenting journey with. We make a great team and you are just amazing with each of our kids. Can't wait to go to the great mecca of fun with you and make some great memories in Disney. I hope you feel loved and appreciated today. So proud of all of who you are- the Designer, the Dad, the kind person you are with everyone you meet. Love you.

A bit of crazy fun at Oakbrook. Venice was "a little bit mean" all day in her words. So she has been behaving while the other two torture each other while still being helpful and funny.

New Heelies for Sylvie, and "ro- yer bwades" (roller blades) for Venice. The girls spunky personalities bring them much determination to keep trying, and from yesterday to today they have both improved so much with these new challenging toys.

School supplies. Recess. Projects. Costumes. Studying for tests. Packing lunches. From rushing home to build with Legos in kindergarten to shyly checking out the girls this year. Broken arm, Intense soccer and kickball - getting hurt and jumping back into the game the next minute. Learning teachers, learning friends, learning an incredible amount of school subject matter, learning to annunciate, learning how to learn. So very proud of all my kids but especially sentimental for Logan's last day of grade school. Next stop - Middle School!!!!!

Loganism: (King of the 'What if's): "Mom, I'm just so glad it's spring now. I'm SO glad it's spring that if I had to make a choice between Winter coming back and Losing my Million Dollar winning lottery ticket, I would definitely choose losing my winning lottery ticket. I hope winter never comes back. It's just miserable and way too cold." Logan, you have my DNA in there for sure!!!!!!!!! (and this is the kid that ponders what he will do with his million dollar winning lottery ticket way too often, so giving up that dream is a huge deal.)

Who they are now....

We begin the end of the year slide.....

Logan- just turned 12!!!! Middle school has arrived and with it first pimples, blushing at the mention of girlfriends, and rough and tumble guy time. You no longer ask for playdates- you wait for mom to set things up, or for other moms to call and invite you places and then you are super excited. You are polite, fun, and happy. You are responsible and fair. Your favorite things are your laptop- terraria is your choice right now, your dog- Carly has given us a run for our money this month with emergency vet visits and getting into and out of things constantly- and. your. soccer ball. You looooooved playing soccer this season and your coach rocked at teaching and helping you to love the game. Still plenty of youth in this gentleman, but also steps up to be "man of the house" when Dad traveled ad nauseum this year. Did I mention he flew to Dubai this morning?

Logan-ism: When I kick you off of video games, you choose to go out and play soccer with the dog. Every time. Come winter, I expect you to use one of the neon balls in the snow.

Venice is counting down the days until the magical day arrives that will bring with it 4 birthday fingers, cake, and toys, toys, toys. She is darling in her actions (dancing around), in her words "Mom, you are so crazy." and in her habits (Carly, I loooove you with hugs and kisses). You are handling preschool well, skidding through the basics like colors and shapes, starting to like the concept of letters, and memorizing songs by the bucketload. You listen so well in ballet/tap the teacher calls you an angel. And you are almost at the next stage of gymnastics- again. You are the typical little sister and female with your dad's DNA who obsesses over how much mom played with you today, hates sleeping at night (and is hard to wake from naps should you choose one in the daytime), and if your siblings play you hate for it to end. You love all little dolls, Frozen, playdoh, kinetic sand, and 300 meals a day.

Venice-ism: "Mommy, you didn't PLAAAY wif me yet." "Mommy, I need some yittle kid scissors." 

Sylvie- seriously, I should wrap you in bubble wrap before you get a boyfriend and take off on the back of a motorcycle never to be seen again, AmIRight? You have turned from a cute bubbly kid into a beautiful young woman. This school year has been fabulous for you, you feel needed and loved by your friends, and you are working on organization skills and get real consequences for doing well or poorly on homework. You decided on a whim to play ukulele and your Abuelita has spoiled you with your first instrument and lessons. I think it sparked your musical gene, you dragged out the keyboard and have been writing songs. Your dance skills impress me and you obviously are perfecting the art of the 'selfie.' You sent this picture to your Dad, your knight in shining armor who manages to say yes most of the time to our endless ideas. I am good at allowing your creative juices to flow by handing you up-cycled materials and showing you ideas of what to do online. Plus, we are squeezing in as much girls only time as we can.

Sylvie-ism: "Mom, I just had my shoes, where are they?" "Mom, my new favorite thing is.... (insert new awesome creative endeavor)" "Mom, wait until you hear this amazing ghost story....."

Love you three kiddo's, I hope you have great birthdays and the start to the next wonderful year. 

And for our family... I wish for so many things. It's hard to say if it's just that my husband traveled extensively to some great places that it would be nice to move to... or that our house keeps managing to fall apart on us and has turned into a money pit we just do not have the heart to keep spending money on.... or that we're really ready for the next adventure. This December we will celebrate 11 years in this house, and while it has served us well, I desperately miss the west coast and I regret that we moved away from some of the things I was so excited to have in our children's lives. And yet they had family to grow up with so that has been amazing. I'm back at an old job and while it's a great fit, it's not providing much inspiration in a year where my husband has had some amazing things happening. I feel like we're in a good groove mostly on top of everything even with the 3 schools and many after-school activities, but I'm longing for a bit more. A nicer place, a better job, a new place to live perhaps? I'm not really sure, but I really hope I'm not still sitting here in a year wishing for the same things. If none of those things change, I hope I find something new here, in our current lives, to dive into and enjoy a bit.

Epcot Inspiration

I should probably write a long blog post about the in's and out's of our amazing Disney adventure, and perhaps I will. But right now I'm working on a 4 am wake-up call with a midnight clothing and bedding change for the 3 year old while tearing through packed luggage on our last night of our trip. So I'm tired. But there is a lot on my mind. I've been itchy to move up and on. The night before we left for our trip, I attended curriculum night and was disappointed in the middle school. I know Logan will do well and the teachers really do amazing things. But between a lack of resources, 1 teacher who will be on maternity leave the rest of the year with a substitute that doesn't sound quite ready, no librarian, no music, foreign language if and when you want it only, and a few poorly worded comments, I was a bit of a wreck. From the reading teachers, "yes of course it would be nice if the children read every day, but time in class is plenty." I have a reluctant reader and these teachers were very girl-student oriented about everything, a sorority girl type- including cheers that I could not imagine my son doing. I just didn't hear anything that spoke to me on my Logan. Also, there are huge shifts in curriculum because of Core curriculum and every teacher mentioned "we're going to try this tactic to fulfill that requirement but we are not sure if it will work." "We have 9 math books for all of the 6th graders." "We don't have money for a librarian." "We are planning to tear apart the school to accommodate all the extra students, and hack apart their community spaces." "Well I'm not sure if the substitute is capable of teaching this whole concept, but she'll do her best. There's always next semester! (he won't be in the class next semester). "

So it was in this frame of mind that we headed to Disney for the days the children were off of school for this long Labor Day weekend. What an adventure! The Epcot ride pulled at my heartstrings. They spoke of our children's future, of entrepreneur-ship and pushing the limits. I feel like we have not raised our children to do this. There was a bit about Apple and ingenuity and the children being the future of our world, and it left me sad. More of our time is spent keeping the kids from fighting, trying to encourage them to do the minimum homework they have, keeping up with school skills over the summer, than encouraging some deep-seeded need or desire for learning. I'm not really sure how to encourage more, or to shift their thinking about learning to a different level of understanding. And knowing the children are in a school situation that is less than ideal, it just saddens me. There is never enough time for everything, but this one I'm kind of stuck on what would make it all better. And it makes me want to switch schools even more.

Y2K

I have this memory..... It was those days between the celebration of ringing in the year 2000 and the day I left for my Mexico Design Trip, sometime around January 3, 2000. We really ate up those days, enjoyed them. Now with work we try to enjoy the weekends, but there was something about those breaks from school that were downright amazing. I had the day to myself, and a car, and of course I was running around doing things to get ready, but I also wanted to do something just for me before I ran to another country to help others and lived with a large group of people.

I chose Alki. It's a beach in the Seattle area. It's such a pretty place, lots of action but the view of the city can be just stunning. I got out and walked to my favorite areas- the quieter neighborhoods where moss and concrete looked soft, clapboard needed re-staining, and the staircases went into the water for low tide days. It was chilly and windy, I'm sure I was wearing my favorite windbreaker or fleece. And just enjoying the day. I brought a sketchbook but I'll have to see if I can find the sketch. Life was about to get crazy and it was nice to just center myself.

I think I need an Alki some days, a place to go to just re-align. Re-center. And chill out for just a bit. No glass of wine. No friends time. Not physically intense, just a leisurely walk. And quiet salty air to clear the lungs.

Y2K is one of those words the kids will come across and ask "what did you do for the year 2000?" Well, we partied like it was 1999 of course! We got a hotel room for a few days in a nice place, they had a huge event with a swing dance band and a salsa band, and a dinner as if you were attending a wedding. It was a lot of fun and I think there was a lot of alcohol. Yes, it was definitely there. Tipsy, Jorge and I stepped away from the partying for a bit and went to the lobby. There was a couple there from afar, and they had a baby in a backpack carrier. We were chatting and both started getting excited, maybe this would be our year of parenthood? Oh for sure, this would be the year! The next day, that idea got tucked away somewhere but the dream was real, just not timely. We had Logan in 2003! We refer to the 7 years post-marriage and pre-kids as "our Seattle honeymoon." It was intense, emotional, and amazing. "First year, first kid- let's do this on our own." And we did. And of course, go figure, Logan was a very unsettled baby to have as a firstborn. But thank goodness I did not have a big sister or two to deal with alongside the fussiness right?!

Stepping away from gray Seattle in winter to Mexico it was chilly at first and then warmed into spring, flowers blooming, it was surreal. The colors exploded. I ended my trip with Jorge, in Mexico, visiting family and enjoying the sun after 3 months apart. He heard me speak to the cab driver in spanish, it was so much fun.

We came back and I wanted newer, better. We painted a wall bright red in our rental (whoops!) and started hunting for the next place to live. If I could settle something, it would be my intense need to keep moving forward in different things. A drive that I just cannot turn off. It gets in the way of logic. Right now for instance the best place for us is right here in this home, in this town. And yet, I spend every waking moment dreaming of more. Better/bigger home. Better things for the kids. Even the next job someday. Or the next project within my job. There is the promise of a big house to work on and I cannot wait to devour the lines and nuances of a 1909 home, to draw it to understand it to recreate it for a family living today, now. I'm not energetic in that I'd like to sit here instead of get a move on with the day, but my mind is energetic, it never settles. It is imaginative and creative and makes up whole scenarios that I play out and obsess over. I guess it's not boring? I can tell Sylvie is the same, she has a huge imagination. She however is physically energetic so maybe that helps distract from the internal chaos.

I feel a pull to a next adventure. Perhaps returning to Seattle. Perhaps somewhere new. I'm pretty set with the 3 kids we have, and Venice is no longer a baby (finally no diapers!!!!!). We have a trip booked to Disney and I'm super excited to let them experience it. But that's no the adventure I feel called to. That's a vacation from our reality. Which will still be here when we return. I want to paint our walls red. And our railings (oh wait, I did!). But in reality, I want more than a red railing. I want to feel so strongly and viscerally that seeing the moss grow makes me cry and immersing myself in a place fulfills me in a way that I long for it 14 years later. It's not about moving from family because gosh, they're the reason I moved away. I think in the  big picture, a sense of place has a huge impact on me and my soul.

Kid....isms

Logan: "Mom, if I won 10 million dollars I would give it to...
-1 million for cancer
-500,000 to Nan (my mom), 500,000 to Paco and Lilia (my husband's parents)
-A $10,000 shopping spree to American girl for Sylvie and Venice
He went on and on but it also included....
"A few nights at that luxury hotel on an island we just watched on tv...."
"I would hire an engineer to make a robot out of a Yug-i-oh character...."
Get this kid a lottery ticket, hope he's lucky!

Logan: "I think B is a sister to Ella." Sylvie agrees. I had recently heard B is 'popular'. Me: "Hey Logan, how do you like B? I haven't heard you talk about him before." Logan thinks about it for a minute. "He's okay. He's good at sports. My teacher says he's cocky, and I agree." I don't know in what context the teacher talked about that but it had me laughing!

Sylvie in the car ride home.
"Mom, I would just love to be in a hotel. I want to sleep in a hotel tonight."
Me : "Well I agree, it's so nice and luxurious to stay in a nice hotel. But I'd rather stay in one when we have a chance to explore a nice city."
Sylvie: "Like Seattle. I want to go back to Seattle. " Logan "Me too!" Venice "Me too!" Maybe it was and is our love of the city, but they certainly mention it and the San Francisco vacation often and ask to move back often too.
Sylvie "What if it was a day where parents couldn't say no? I would say 'Let's move to Seattle and we would have to do it." "And then I would ask to t.p. (toilet paper) someone's house." This one, she is going to be trouble when she can get out and about alone!

New... Old Job

I lost my job in October due to a lack of work. I had really enjoyed this job and I had a hard time letting it go. So by December I had a new job and big hopes  that this would be a good fit. Bigger company, they had more work, bigger projects, a traditional firm that used the software I enjoyed. Full time meant a huge change and we headed full-force into this new stage of life.

Well wouldn't you know this was the winter of everyone being sick all the time. Even I was out for the count for an entire weekend and dragged myself into a walk-in clinic to find out I had a sinus infection and bronchitis. Ugh. All of the kids each had something or more than one something. Jorge had multiple things including kidney stones. Our parent babysitters also had things going on. Full time for me meant Jorge took a lot of days off!

And the job wasn't a great fit. It was a big learning curve at first, and then well, you can't really discuss logistics on a public website but it wasn't bringing me joy or enjoyment or fulfillment. I'm just shy of 6 months in and I have given my notice. I was asked back to my old job and jumped at the opportunity. I'll be starting back in my favorite place to work- Oak Park. Should be crazy being back in action and also see some old projects.

My kids have seen so much interviewing, job hunting, working hard to make a career- I'm hoping this is at least a life skill that they can learn from, that if the first real job isn't fulfilling, try try again! And not to burn bridges because you never know when you'll go back to an old job. For me this is the 3rd time I've gone back, and I had interviewed before I took the job the first time but accepted a different job. It's been a long time to say the least. I guess I know a good thing when it's here!

Trying to clean on a Sunday morning....

Carly pup whines and wakes first. I get up with her and think "oh goody! I can be productive." Start putting away groceries. Garbage and recycling are overflowing. Logan arrives and starts chatting a mile a minute. Stop every 3 minutes trying to digest and respond to him.

Trying to put groceries away from yesterday that require reorganization in cabinets or bringing to the basement. Knock a hidden glass down off the counter. It's in an odd spot and takes awhile to clean up. Later I vacuum and find even more shards all over the place. Place gently into the overflowing garbage.

Fifteen minutes later, Venice is up. Hold her, get her a drink.

Logan keeps yelling at the dog to get off the couch. I ask why and he takes 3 full minutes to get to the  point in a roundabout way about the fact that the dog is covered in burrs. Good grief! Spend time on the phone with Petsmart signing up for the last haircut slot of the day. Spend lots of time picking 100 burrs off of the dog (there are 300 more). She of course is still a puppy so she's ever so helpful by sitting still- not!

Try to get the garbage cans unloaded to the alley but I'm interrupted 4 times, including realizing Sylvie just let the dog into the yard and the gate is wide open. Sylvie is now up and running around 300 miles per hour trying to modge podge (so I'm digging in the basement for sponge brushes while starting laundry including Venice's blanket that needs to be done by nap time). Realize I need yet another thing from the store (fabric softener).

Venice and Logan got into the pistachios so now there are shells all over my couch. I sit next to Venice to open the remaining pistachios and then haul out the vacuum, deal with the broken glass and the pistachio mess. Venice is now on the other side of the room tearing into the toys making a mess.

I get the trash cans outside because something leaked and they are a mess. Trying to hose them down is hilarious as Venice of course needs to come outside. Which requires shoes. And Sylvie needs to roller blade. Which requires knee pads. In the locked car. And the dog needs to come outside and cause trouble. Again. Oh, and Sylvie comes out crying that her tooth hurts and I lead her to the toothpick kid flossers. Later she comes out- a piece of her tooth has fallen out. These kids and their teeth are ridiculous!!!! We just dealt with emergency dental visits for both the girls last month.

Finally get the cans washed while Venice demands my every ounce of attention.

Come inside "Mom I'm hungry." All three kids.

Trying to wash the dishes but the dog is in the dishwasher, and Venice is demanding to use the dirty dishes and throws a fit that I threw away the old juice from a juice jug that we bought yesterday.

Venice poops just as I'm trying to wipe down some toy shelves that have a three inch layer of muck on them.

It's about 8 am.

I have all day to get bits of cleaning in but honestly I'm already exhausted from trying!!!! Going to take a few sips of coffee and then try to get back to the toy shelves... which means someone will have a crisis right?

Sweet Dreams... Sweet Memories.

Tonight I was reading the Richard Scary book to Venice, looking for goldbug. I had some very visceral flashbacks to reading the book to Logan and Sylvie. Up on Logan's bed, in the room that is now the girl's room, one child on each side. I remember just how adorable Sylvie sounded saying "Goldbug" with a thick accented "k" to the end. And the pages that Logan liked (Army guys, airplane, anything with a ball in it, anything funny).

It was really neat flashing back to that. Someday when I'm reading it to my grandchildren, I'll probably flash back to reading it to Venice.

April Catchup

It's finally SPRING! So very excited. We spent some time preparing for Easter. New clothes, freshening the house, baskets, eggs and making plans. Easter was at my Mom's house this year. It was busy, emotionally intense, and one of those days you get through and then in the evening you sit and think "Wow we did it!" and mull the emotions of what Easter means to a Catholic. 

This Venice lady sat well with us in the main church for mass. She liked her spinney dress and especially her white heels. She anticipated the bunny and gave him 10 million suggestions of what to bring. By telling us. She wanted nothing to do with the actual mall bunny. Venice-ism: "Mom, I'm melting! Mom, you are in jail! Mom, this pretend smoothie isn't a banana smoothie, it's a sand smoothie!" 

Sylvie is turning into a little lady for sure. She's been pretty mellow, enjoying the end of the school year and finding her way through math fact families. She looked adorable in her dress and pink heels.   She loves time with her friends, and if I can manage to bring them to our house she is thrilled. They spend their time singing karaoke, using her Easy Bake oven, and being silly by torturing her brother. Sylvie-ism "Mom, can I get new jeans? All of my 50 pairs have holes in them. Mom, can I get more clay? Mom, that was the best day ever! Mom, let's go for frozen yogurt. Mom, it's okay you can go relax- I'll take care of Venice." Love this lady- she is really such a great connector for our family.

Logan is a bit emotional about the end of the school year, the end of his hot spot as top grade in the school, and the beginning of the next school year in middle school. We interviewed a private school but so far we are staying with the public school. I think having his group of friends is something he is looking forward to. He loves soccer, still lays on his Husky stuffed animal all night long, and is also very into his friends and social hour at the park when it happens. Logan-ism "Mom, it's so nice outside I never want it to be winter again. If I had to choose between losing a million dollar lottery ticket and having winter again, I'd lose the lotto ticket."

Carly the pup is growing into a dog, which makes my life easier. She likes to hang out at the windows and whine at the squirrels. If she is let out to chase them she can fly like the wind. I have to upload the photo but this weekend in Michigan I caught her literally off the ground chasing the soccer ball. She's a lot of fun and the kids adore her- she's a great family dog.

Jorge and I are on 18 years of marriage this year- wow! We're right at the point of knowing each other for longer than we have not known each other. We're feeling itchy for adventure right now- we'll see what we can scrounge up! 

Happy Spring everyone! 

Numerical

WTTW infomercial comes on after Wild Kratts. 

Logan starts spouting off "What? That much for a ticket to see Sesame Street Live?!" 

"Lemme see....." Gets out the calculator on his phone. 

"Okay Mom, if 19 Kids and counting wanted to go to Sesame Street Live, it would be $1,750- Geesh!" 

His numerical brain is so much like my Dad's. I wonder if Dad loved his calculator at age 11 too. 

Rotten October

Sylvie had a little contest with her class where the first person to text their teacher would have good luck all month. She won! And boy could we use some good luck this month- September/October was ROTTEN!

Mid-September: Jorge got a nasty cold that just dragged and dragged.

My Dad was having back issues again and having bad days. He had a cancer scare and was continually going through testing to see if any cells had reappeared. He got an all-clear for the next 6 months. This is from May at my in-laws restaurant patio downtown.

My car, my beautiful BMW started blinking lights and warnings at me with an engine failure. It died on me and I had to have it towed- booooooo! Did I mention it was ON my Birthday? Luckily I was decently close to home so after I passed the baby to Jorge, I waited forever for the tow truck and then headed home by foot. Warranties on expensive cars are a requirement, phew! Didn't cost us toooo much. We low-keyed my birthday celebrations this year, but I did get to go out for a girls night with cousins and family to celebrate my birthday buddy cousin Jenny's 40th birthday. Fun!

I have been doing a diet called THM and have had some success so that's been nice.

Late September we went to a wedding for my Dad's cousin. It was a crazy day. Jorge was at a convention all day presenting and dealing with soccer amidst the heat, the bees and then an injured Logan with the girls was no small or fun task.  So rushing to the house to get ready for the wedding was sheer chaos. By some miracle my neighbor was outside in the alley gardening. I asked if I could leave the car running and Venice asleep in the car and she could make sure no one stole them both. We changed clothes and Logan showered in 10 minutes flat- makeup, jewelry and everything!  It was crazy! We made it to the wedding, and then drove to meet my parents, who had spent the day before in Ann Arbor at a wedding for my brother's in-law family. We all went to the reception near their home and had to bow out early as the kids hit their limit. It was great to see them and spend time with them even if we were a bit flustered. We came bearing White Castles. My dad was newly gluten free so he was super excited by the vanilla shake I thought to bring after checking their online allergy-free menu.

In early October, I was doing homework with my kids on a Monday night that my Dad had gone to the ER with my Mom and was having trouble walking. Given his knee and back issues and diagnose like "sciatica" and "arthritis" I was not thinking this was an emergency but that they would give him some cortisone and send him home. By Tuesday morning, I was at work and got a text from my mom that he was going in for emergency back surgery. I took off running and was able to see him before he went in. He was in a lot of pain, scared out of his mind and miserable but so happy to see us again before the surgery. His sister had died in recovery from her surgery the September before. So many memories. Anyway, my sister and I were there in time with my mom and dad and sat waiting for hours on end. His brother, Tom, also came running from Indiana!

The surgery was for what they called "Spinal Stenosis" due to "Cauda Equina". His spinal cord was pressing on nerves and causing paralysis. Scary stuff. Post surgery, there was no miraculous recovery, but a few days later there was some additional feeling in his foot. We all worked together finding specialists and routes of action. My mom was by his side unless one of us stepped in. When he was up to visitors, they all came in droves. This was from his room Sunday after the Tuesday surgery. That's my kids on the couch doing Minecraft, of course.

My brother Joe drove in from Ann Arbor with his wife Emily and baby Miles. Dad couldn't believe they came, and they had their bonding time. How cute is this photo? We all had our quiet time with Dad, chatting about the "to do's" of the Michigan cottage, and life. A cousin who went through a similar surgery came to chat about recovery, and people from his office offered specialists connections. We all dropped tons of activities and obligations and found time to get to the hospital just to be there.

One of the big things they tried to do was get him started on Rehabilitation. It was driving my mom crazy as it wasn't going to plan, things were getting hung up in insurance-approval land and nothing happens on the weekends. But we all celebrated as he was given the all-clear and moved to RIC Chicago to begin intense rehabilitation therapy. He was buddies with all the nurses and doctors, and took forever with his goodbyes, they all loved him. He was a big ball of mush gushing emotions to everyone who came. Wearing his heart on his sleeve.

Tuesday I went to work, it was my first day that work week. The week before had been brutal. I was scrambling to complete a ton of work, trying to fit in time to see my Dad, and my boss was at a mandatory conference for 3 days so all calls coming in had to be handled by me. I had been working Mondays as well, but that was the first week my boss had said "let's just go back to 3 days a week." By 10 am he walked in and laid me off due to a lack of work. I was expecting a possible layoff sometime in the coming months, but definitely never would have expected it that day. I still had a desk full of work to do, so I stayed until 2 pm finishing things up. It was totally awkward and strange and I was more angry than upset that day. Still gobsmacked.

I took a lunch break that day and saw this lady in a restaurant that looked so much like my late Grandma. She stared at me with a blank smile-less face and then winked at me. It was so very strange and so very Grandma. I felt like it was a sign from her that things would be okay on the job front. Perhaps she was actually preparing me for even worse to come. I also ran into my grandmother-in-law and her son walking their dogs. They asked about my dad, and they didn't know I had lost my job yet, I just burst into tears, it was nice to get a hug. Or 5.

Tuesday, October 7 at 7:30 pm Dad was at RIC, he spent his first night there. He sent us all emails of his view of the sunset and that all was ok.

Wednesday, October 8 was busy - I was running the kids to school and dropping Venice off at my in-laws. It was an atypical drop off and took a bit longer than usual. My plan was to go home and pick up the pieces of my job loss and start a job hunt and to claim unemployment.

I was driving home with my mind full of To-Do's and got the call from my mom that my dad had stopped breathing and they were rushing him to the larger hospital across the street, Northwestern. I said "okay, I'm on my way." I had to stop for some water so I wouldn't faint on the way there.

I prayed that whole car ride that if he was gone, and I just knew he was gone, that they would not call while I was driving. I texted them I was almost there, but the parking was near impossible and I was in tears with the parking attendant before he told me to try the top level , my car was just not fitting. I walked into the ER and knew right away. My mom was in a small room with my sister and a Rabbi. We are not jewish so then I REALLY knew something was wrong. It was almost laughable. Later, after the news hit, my mom told me the Rabbi's name was Paul (her late brother's name) and the nurse was named Joe (my brother who was 5 hours away). So Paul and Joe were there to help us through that insanity that was to come.

My dad had stopped breathing and had a heart attack. They were unable to resuscitate him. We got to see him and hold his hand and say goodbye. It was surreal and awful. We had trouble getting ahold of some people, couldn't open his blackberry to get some key work phone numbers, and it was kind of a mess. My mom's sister Donna and my favorite cousin just so happened to be "in the area" for an appointment. My cousin Amy and her new baby were in the building for a checkup. God threw people our way at the moment we needed them. When my mom got the news, she called a neighbor who had been a part of all of this with us and he drove her downtown. Big city driving is not easy or fun.

It was all a blur. We moved to Mom's house that Wednesday and food and drinks and people showed up. I had a huge migraine and had to step away for a bit.

My brother and his family had to turn around and come back after the long drive home the day before. I'll never forget when he arrived, sobbing, we all just hugged, the 4 of us left. I think it's the moment to me that will define my memory of all of this, 4 strong was still not enough to replace the 1 missing. Family.

The next days were full of planning and crying, mourning and surviving. Dad had a beautiful wake. They counted about 700 people who came to pay their respects. Who knows 700 people? My Mom had worked hard to make it a beautiful event. She had her moments with my 4 year old inquisitive twin nieces at the coffin asking poignant questions and she said it was only her angels giving her all the right answers. She had guards from the Knights Templar and a little presentation from the Knights of Colombus at the close of the ceremony. It all ended too quickly. My friends came. Relatives of relatives came. Co-workers from his companies came and shared stories of a hard-working man. I'll digest and reminisce all of it for years I'm sure.

The funeral was the next day at the church we were married in. Joe and I presented the Eulogy. We had worked together to write it. Venice was a pain and Jorge had to work extra hard to support an emotional set of kids and a cranky toddler. We all drove in pouring rain to Michigan to the gravesite near the cottage. Where the beatles that look like ladybugs but are not, clung to all of our clothing and  hair.

I bust into tears when we settled into the cottage, it was so hard to be there without him.

But my mom was so very cute, the played a song they had been hearing throughout the sick days "All about the Bass....." silly and upbeat, she had us all dancing on the grass and being silly. Before you knew it, there was a campfire and kids running everywhere. We ran out of food and they had to get more! Family and friends.

As the pieces are settling in on regular life it's continued to be a rough month. Job hunting and interviewing is something I despise and it's soul-breaking. Unemployment was messed up, spent a day there without food or bathroom fixing it, felt depleted after. Gearing up for Halloween and all its events and worrying about money has taken its toll. But we continued to celebrate. My in-laws both have birthdays in October so we found time to be with them.

Logan finished his soccer season. I got a chance to go and take photos and it was a beautiful misty morning. He Loves soccer. 

We went up to Michigan again and attacked the leaves. So. Many. Leaves! Mom was great at watching the kids while we wielded power blowers.

And Jorge and I ran off for the night and left a babysitter with the kids. Design Night at Navy Pier. So nice and lovely and inspiring. But also overwhelming worrying about where I was supposed to land next. 

Halloween festivities came yesterday and they were intense. Snow. Blowing howling gusts blowing down lifeguard huts at the Lakefront, and hail! Brrrrr! 

And the last piece of October , Halloween night, landed us in the ER with Sylvie. She fell and hurt her elbow and needs a sling for a few days. Hopefully not too intense and I hope my gymnast will be okay!

So yes, Sylvie, a Lucky November would be fabulous! We have Logan turning 11, Venice turning 3, Thanksgiving without Dad to survive, a job for me to find, and a fun outing to a downtown musical to enjoy! Cheers to a great November!

Two Big Kids, One Little or Two Girls, One Boy

Just wanted to write down a few bits....

Two Big Kids and one Little is : 2 adults each trying to help, console or demand a child does their homework- using the internet with them, teaching how to tell time. And the soundtrack to the homework hour is a 2 year old demanding your attention in any way possible, playing a paper guitar, and grabbing the dog's tail.

Two Girls and One Boy: is "hey, let's make cookies!" followed by 2 girls screaming. Grabbing stools and claiming firsts. Then a boy jumping in "I'll help." But Mom saying "Hey, Logan, can you just lick the dough in a few minutes instead?" because 'taking turns' has begun World War 3! Good grief, "my turn, she had two turns!" Uhm no she did not, you just took too long with your turn! Good thing there is a third kid- he was the one who noticed the dog lunge for little sister's dinner!

Two sisters is one little sister getting mad that big sister turned away from her and lays on top of her. Grabs her hair. Hangs on tight and laughs. Ouch! Little sisters need to learn the hard way that time outs end the fun sometimes!

Three kids is lots of pots and pans all over the place, more food, more spills, more needs, more love.

Three kids is packing lunches and running out of bread by Thursday so you make pasta on  Thursday night specifically to put into Friday's lunch!

Three kids is adorable outfits and Spiderman roller skates and puzzles with big bird that you remember, dig up, and sigh and shed a tear remembering your older children and how much they loved the same thing so many years before.

Three kids is a back door covered in coats on hooks and still kids saying "but, I don't have a coat!" when the weather changes and we're leaving the house for school.

Having three kids is overwhelming and awesome!

Peacocks and Back to School

The obsession with peacocks is strong. It started when we visited the zoo awhile back and the peacock looked right at Venice, spun around and opened its feathers. Oh wow Venice talked about that for a long time! "We went to the Zoo and the peacock looked at me and opened his flowers!" She has loved peacocks since then and when on our Seattle vacation, we visited a farm in Issaquah. There were many peacocks and often had open feathers. They also didn't seem to run from the people as often as the ones at the zoo. They even encouraged us to take some feathers home with us that had fallen off the birds.

So yesterday we went to the zoo and the banter was again all about the peacocks. My favorite was "Mommy, sometimes I am a peacock. Sometimes when I am asleep I am a peacock and I go to the zoo and see the other peacocks. Mommy, 'member when I saw peacock open hims fea-ders?" She brought her toy peacock to show him and unfortunately the peacock just hustled away disinterested. Poor Venice, she was convinced he would love her toy.

We're back to school! Phew we survived summer! And the anxiety and preparations leading up to the first week back. The first day or two were not too bad except getting used to the new routine. Logan's in 5th grade and suddenly he has a host of passwords to remember, Jorge found himself downloading software onto his laptop and troubleshooting. He typed a whole paper only to have the computer completely delete the darn thing when I tried to send it to print. Mac and Dell don't like each other right now. We for now- we email and print from Mac, and maybe get a little printer for Logan's Dell.

We also jumped into Soccer for Logan (woohoo!) and Sylvie was able to get herself geared up emotionally for gymnastics this summer (hell yeah!) and she's been rocking the back walkovers. She practices often which really helps her skill level, and I think it revs her up and settles her down all at once.

Late August/ Early September have been pretty school-focused. Venice is so cute lately, we are really enjoying her personality. She's really FUNNY! She keeps us laughing. Always making faces. Sylvie's my fashion rockstar. Always so vibrant and full of life. Logan finds joy in the daily fun stuff like spray whipped cream. My office was super busy last year and all of the projects are being built so we are getting a chance to see them- which is just thrilling. The photo of the kitchen in a photo studio/ gallery that we helped design. I was invited to a gallery event and it was a bit nerve wracking chatting with strangers, but fun to see the space.