Taking A Step Back

This weekend took me back to a time when the only responsibility I had was to keep my room clean and MTV was something that didn't exist yet.  I spent Saturday cleaning with the windows open and our radio/intercom system playing throughout the house.  I was cleaning and the kids were content each doing there own thing.  My girl helped out for a little bit and that always makes me happy, but I was on a mission and my girl had to move on to her own things at some point.  My boy was playing on the back porch in his sand table while I cleaned the living room.  I love being able to have the door open to the back porch it makes the house feel so open.  The day was peaceful because I wasn't listening to Phineas and Ferb on the TV and when I say Phineas and Ferb I mean that I am not listening to my boy play only the songs over and over again.  He loves the songs and I have to admit they are pretty catchy but today we turned the TV off and the day was perfect.  I am not sure why this day made me think of my childhood but I am sure it was more about the feeling I had experienced with my kids being content and happy with just being home.  My thoughts go to when I was a child and would lay in front of the TV on the floor watching some special that was on TV.  Seems like they did that a lot back then,  holiday specials or some musical special, it was all special. 

Since I am sort of stuck in the past right now I was going threw some of our pictures from when the kids were little and I can't believe that they are growing up so fast.  Time moves way to fast and I have always been about quality over quantity and I truly hope that the time I am spending with my family is full of the stuff that will make them look back one day with thoughts of happiness.

Shake Rattle and Roll

So things have been a little on the weird side of things lately.  Oklahoma has been experiencing earthquakes that are big enough to be felt by all.  I was just going to refer to the one we had on Saturday and realized I didn't have a way to refer to it other than 5.6.  I am going to name the one on Saturday Frankie Dee, why not.  If we continue to have them as often as we are we will need some kind of reference.  So Frankie shook Denis from his sleep sometime after 11:00 not sure on the exact time because I was also asleep.  Denis woke me up only for me to hear what sounded like a train outside our window.  Frankie was shaking the house like you would not believe,  the doors were shaking and that is all I can tell you because I just laid in bed waiting for it to pass.  It was all kind of surreal.  Even after it was over I was still wondering what exactly happened. Frankie was trying hard to wake up the kids but he did not succeed.  Frankie was felt in several states that I know of so he definitely made his presence known.  I know that Frankie can not come close to what others have experienced in the past because Frankie did not cause the damage that others before him have.  But Frankie was a big deal to a lot of people here in Oklahoma because most of us have never experience an earthquake before making this scary for most of the first timers here in Oklahoma.  Frankie was my first and I will always remember him.  He for sure left an impression on me.  Sure he came and went like it was no big deal and I am thankful for that.  I have heard several people say that Oklahomans would rather experience a tornado than experience an earthquake.  I have to say they both are something I prefer not to have happen.  They both can not be controlled.  You can not change the course of a tornado and you can not change how hard an earthquake is going to hit.  They both are unpredictable and I don't want to have anything to do with either.  My girl experienced her first earthquake last night and she come barging into our room with this huge smile on her face.  She was full of excitement that she finally felt an earthquake.  It was cool for her.  She did not meet Frankie but she got to meet Big Joe Turner and Joe didn't hit as hard as Frankie but he was still felt by a lot of people.   Who knows if we are going to have more anytime soon, but I am not going to be so surprised by it now.  With three earthquakes under my belt I am feeling like an old pro now.  No not really.  Oklahomans are totally trained and know exactly what to do in the face of a tornado.  But if one of those big earthquakes come our way the only training I have is what I have seen in the movies and that is hold on to the door frame and we know how the movies are, they always leave out the boring stuff so i am sure there is more to know.  So if a big one comes this is what I know.  We should be good here if another comes our way.

Spring Forward and Fall Back

It is that time of year again, time for daylight savings to end by setting our clocks back an hour.  It is just an hour and it shouldn't be that big of a deal, but it is.  We have to adjust our internal clocks to not want to eat at 4:30 or go to bed at a time that will have us getting up way to early.  I get up early anyway with my boy.  He generally gets up anywhere between 5:30 and 6:30 but when you throw in daylight savings we are getting up at 4:30 in the morning.  Today was the longest day ever.  We were all tired and ready for dinner at 3:00 and yes we started to make dinner and we all showered getting ready for the wind down, you know when you are just done for the day.  We ate, watched TV, played cards, downloaded a new game for the iPad and spent the next hour or so playing with that only to realize it was just 6:30.  My kids both went to bed at 8:00 and I didn't even make my girl go then she just was ready because like I said it was the longest day ever. 

So why do we spring forward and fall back?  We have been doing it since 1883 and it was instituted in the U.S. and Canada by the railroads. In 1918 it became law.  I am not real sure why we still participate in daylight savings.  Hawaii and most of Arizona does not participate.  I see no benefit none what so ever. Oh sure we all think we are going to get an extra hour of sleep, but is that true?  Not for me.  Let's do away with daylight saving time.  I think it is no longer needed.  What are your thoughts on this?  All I know is it messes with me in a bad way. 

Family

I was raised in a huge family, going to reunions every year, camping out, roasting marshmallows and jumping off an old bus tire into the lake.  I love and cherish all these memories and wish my kids could experience the same.  Times have changed and we stay connected with family through Facebook and other social medias.  It works but there is no late night game of cards or swimming till your fingers are unrecognizable and I always loved the game of baseball where we played families against each other.  Yes these are my childhood memories and now we all have families of our own creating indiviual family memories.  Don't get me wrong we do still get together but not always at the same time.  It is funny how the day to day gets in the way of connecting with loved ones.  Sometimes I think family takes each other for granted, knowing that if we miss that certain get-together there will always be another one.  Sure we get together at holidays, but what happens when you miss one and then it turns into three.  We will for sure talk about you but be so happy that you joined us again in the circle of people that always forgive and forget.  Family is my safe ground.  I can always show my frustration, anger and insecurities to them and nothing changes.  The love that was there before is still there.  We are not perfect and we need this safe place to go when we need to let it all out. 

My kids are lucky because they have a handful of grandparents that love and celebrate them everyday.  I love that they are in my kids life surrounding them with all that they have learned that I have not quite grasped yet.  I have selected a few pictures of family that we have celebrated reunions with or see on all of our special occasions.  Not everyone is pictured that is near and dear to me.  I could post pictures all day long and I am sad that I don't have pictures of me at the lake jumping off that bus tire.  Here are some of my favorite pictures of my kids and family.

My family that supports me and my family through all of our ups and downs.  I am celebrating them for all that they give everyday. 

Mr. Cold Weather

Mr. Cold Weather is moving into town and I can feel it in the way my head feels all stuffy.  The thought of Mr. Cold Weather finally arriving is always fun and exciting at first.  You know you can pull out all your favorite sweaters and make all my favorite cold weather foods that are meant to bulk you up for the long winter that is just around the corner.  I have a love/hate relationship with Mr. Cold Weather.  I can't stand to be cold, but I love hot drinks, hot soups, boots, sweaters, hot chocolate and snow.  I love it all, but like I said I hate to be cold.  So as I sit here listening to the wind pick up and the leaves fall from the trees I am reminded of all the warm weather fun we had.  I won't go into it because as you all know it was a good summer. 

Mr. Cold Weather hosts a great movie night with blankets and little ones all curled up in your lap or sleeping a little bit closer to Denis so I can keep warm.  This is all fun at first because it is always fun when Mr. Cold Weather first arrives but as the months pass and there is no sign of Mr. Sunny you start to get what we all know as cabin fever.  My family likes to be outside.  Just tonight as the wind is picking up my girl and Denis head for the backyard to kick the ball around.  So what does this mean for a family like us.  Well we switch gears.  Still active but we move the sport inside.  Ok well kind of.  We have been known to play in the garage during cold and bad rainy days.  So with all this talk of Mr. Cold Weather I am still not sure I am ready for him to move into town just yet.  I need more time to have the windows open.  Either way I know I will be wearing my clothes that I save specifically for when Mr. Cold Weather comes to town tomorrow.

Coming Together

Our Buddy Walk is fast approaching and I always remember the very first one we went to and how it made me feel.  My baby boy was one and it was cold.  I remember this because we had him so bundled up you could barely see his face.  The Buddy Walk was the first time I saw so many people coming together to raise awareness and acknowledge all the people in our community with Down syndrome.   This was a celebration of the friendships and obstacles that had been overcome.  We walked with hundreds of people that day all celebrating different things.  I was celebrating the fact I finally found the courage to join this group.  I needed to see the joy that was overflowing from everyone.  Kids were dancing, and playing games while I was finding comfort in parents interacting with their children in a way I wasn't sure would exist for us.  This was a joyous occasion for me because once my boy was born I didn't know what was down the road for us and I found out that it isn't that scary. 

It took me a whole year before I could make that call to the Down Syndrome Association of Tulsa.  I know some parents who were able to make that call before their child was born.  I often wonder why I couldn't do it before I did and to this day I am not sure what made me finally move forward and do it.  That is something else I remember,  I don't remember exactly what we talked about but I remember talking to the President of the organization, Erin.  She had this voice of happiness, I could just here happiness when she talked, I wanted to find that voice in me.  She invited us in and before we knew it we were joining play groups and talking to other parents dealing with the same issues.  This is important because I suddenly realized that we were not the only ones that were having issues with throwing, or feeding.  We were no longer alone. 

This will be our 6th Buddy Walk and my boy has his share of buddies that donate money and/or walk with us.  We love our buddies and thank them for their support.  Each year the walk represents a different stage of development for us because each year our boy does something different at the walk.  He used to ride in his car and then he started walking with us and now he plays on all the Jupiter jumps and participates in the carnival games, I am excited to see how this year will play out. 

The Buddy Walk means different things to different people and for us it is all about being with our family and friends celebrating something that has brought us all together on this particular day.  We are getting ready for Sunday and will be sporting our team shirts while raising our flag for the person who has opened our eyes to all the love that can be found in just his smile. 

A Big Bag of Firsts

This weekend started off just like all other weekends, which meant friends,  pizza, and soccer.  This weekend my girl was able to have a couple of friends over to just hang out.  We miss our old neighborhood when it comes to being able to have friends over.  Our girl had several friends that could just walk over for an hour or my favorite moments would be when we would have enough kids collect at the house for a soccer game.  Those days were rare but they did happen and those moments were fun for my girl.  While my girl is enjoying her time with some friends my boy experienced some of his firsts and when those moments happen I tend to celebrate the moment over and over in my head.  Now I want to remind you that we do celebrate the little things around here and when I talk about these firsts they are BIG in every aspect of the word BIG. 

Friday my girl placed her brother at the bar in the kitchen to eat breakfast.  The reason this is such a BIG deal is because he has never liked sitting up high on things.  He has now eaten three meals at the bar while I am busy in the kitchen.  I like having him in the kitchen with me.  Everyday he takes another step closer to us and this is worth playing over and over in my head.  This moment would not have happened if my girl didn't react to something that bothered her brother in the dining room and move him quickly into the kitchen and sit him at the bar.  So this is number one of three firsts. 

The second came at my girls soccer game today.  My boy truly dislikes going to these and we set up a huge umbrella that shields the noise and creates his own space away from everyone.  Today his space was invaded by four other kids at the game.  Again this is one of those moments that I know I over think and try not to say or do something that will bring the moment to an end.  I truly don't know how it all happened but the kids were interested in the iPad and I told my boy that we were going to share and let the others watch.  He did point them away at first but they watched a whole episode of Team Umizoomi together.  BIG stuff here.  The third BIG thing that happened also took place at the soccer game.  My boy drank from a water bottle without a straw.  Ask me why all of this happened today.  I don't know.  We were just doing what all the other people were doing today and somewhere along the way we hit jackpot and found a big bag of firsts.