Never Doubt a Mother's Intuition

Ethan woke up this morning and his eye was really red. Like, not just bloodshot red, but like eyeliner red. I asked him if it was hurting and he said no. I wanted Jan to looked at it to see what she thought but Ethan refused. I told him if he didn't let her look then I would probably have to take him to the doctor and they would want to give him a shot.

Still no go.

So he went to school and I went to work with the intention of calling his doctor.

So I did. And the nurse confirmed he needed to be seen.

So off I go to pick him right back up. When I walked in the office to have the secretary call him up, he and his teacher were already in the office. She looked at me surprised and said she was just getting ready to call me to come get him.

When we walked out of the school the first thing he said to me was "Am I going to have to have a shot at the doctor?" He doesn't miss a thing!

And, yes, it is confirmed we have our first case of pink eye in the Bordman house. I just dropped off his prescription and need to go back out in a bit to pick it up.

I hope it looks better by morning. Tomorrow is his Gingerbread House Learning Experience at school and I would hate for him to miss it.

As a side note, don't the boys look handsome? I love hair cut day!

Let's Set the Record Straight

Don't things look good in pictures? You know why? They are quiet. That's right - pictures are quiet. They don't portray the floor shattering thumps of boys jumping off dressers. They don't tell the story of babies up at night screaming. Pictures are quiet. And words. They are quiet too. For the most part anyway, unless of course you are typing LIKE THIS!!!!!!! And even then it is quiet, but you get the feeling there might be yelling going on.

I had a conversation at work today about our "perfect" family. How sweet we all look. How loving my words are. We are, aren't we? Sweet and Loving? If you don't count the Ultimate Fighting Championship that happens in my living room (or any other available room) a few times a week. Or the Nascar race around my first floor and Ethan conveniently, accidentally, of course, tripping Owen as he turns the corner. Or at night when Owen is supposed to be going to bed, but instead he is singing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star rather enthusiastically. Either that or he is yelling "I want my daddy!" because he has just gotten in trouble for the final time. Ah, sweet and loving indeed.

But then there are the moments of reckless abandon. The laughter. The smiles. The hugs. The kisses. The words. These three children are beyond anything I could have ever imagined they would be. They love unconditionally, passionately. Whatever they do, they do it with gusto. But they are not quiet.

And then there is my marriage. Oh, my wonderful, delightful marriage. And it is; wonderful and delightful - now. Chris absolutely fulfills me and I couldn't imagine a life without him. That is not to say that we haven't had our dark days when neither of us were sure we would actually pull out of it. At one of our lowest times, I actually left and stayed in a hotel for a night. Most likely because I was OVER IT picking his clothes up off the floor. Now, I will add I was in the depths of postpartum depression at the time. Chris had no idea what to do or not to do to help me. I was hateful and mean and sad and lonely and all the rest of it. I cried more than I did anything else and I am sure part of him didn't really want to help me. Who could blame him? I wasn't pleasant. But then I read Brooke Shields book "Down Came the Rain" and a light bulb went off in my head that maybe, just maybe I needed more help than I could possibly give myself. Things started to turn around after time but Chris and I were still just kind of co-existing. And then the heart attack. And suddenly everything that I thought was a sure thing in my life was in question. And right there, just like that, I knew it would change. And it has. And that is why I can say without a doubt that I never want to live a day without him. Now when I write loving things about Chris they are from my heart. A can't wait until Valentines Day this year because I am completely head over heels smitten with him and I can't wait to celebrate. Yes, he does still leave his clothes on the floor occasionally. But that's a small price to pay for everything he brings to our family. That's not to say that I don't roll my eyes - HONEY!

So the lesson is let's be honest with each other. Raising children is hard. Hard on a parent, hard on a marriage. You spend many days trying to come up with one more recipe for chicken breasts or just getting through the day one step at a time. It is rarely ever glamorous unless you call being pee'd on, pooped on, spit up on, wiping bottoms, or cleaning up vomit (which is the one thing that I can't do without gagging) glamorous, and it doesn't do anyone any good to pretend that it is. We have struggles just like everyone else. But at the end of the day, they are our struggles and we will work through them as a family. What is it that Jon and Kate + Eight used say? It may be a crazy life, but it is our life.

Look Daddy!

Look Daddy! I didn't get out of my pajamas today!

Look Daddy! I wrote on my face during writer's workshop! (and I wrote about G Force!)

Look Daddy! I am practicing pulling up on my knees!

Hurry home Daddy! We miss you!

And we are back to not so normal.....

Remember how I said our family just doesn't function right without each one of us here? Well, it is true. True. True. True. Chris is in Miami now and I am manning the fort with the assistance of Aunt Jan. We are doing ok and will continue to do so until Chris gets home Saturday, but still. I don't like it. I am not exaggerating when I say I don't want to live a single day apart from that man. I love him to my core. Besides, do you know how big a king size bed is for one person????

As for a run down of our day - I had lunch with Ethan today at school. He gets such a kick out of this and is really all "mommy-one" when I show up. Without a doubt this is going to change, I may have 1 more year for him to be so crazy about me in front of his friends and I am going to milk it all I can. When I picked him up from school today we went to the grocery store to pick up supplies for his class Learning Experience on Friday. They are talking about gingerbread men this week and Friday they are building gingerbread houses. We picked up white icing and marshmallows. Each child is to bring some type of candy for decorating and he wanted to bring marshmallows. As we were walking out to the car a plane flew over head and he said "my daddy might be on that plane." I smiled and said, yeah - maybe. He is counting down the days just like me for Chris to come home. 4 days he says, until daddy comes home and we can build more on my Star Wars AT TE Walker.

That's about it. Pictures will be slim if I even have a chance to post any this week. Chris usually uploads them for me and posts them to our web site so not sure I will get to that with everything else I am juggling. I am sure you understand.

Tomorrow is Wednesday. Chris says Wednesday is as good as Friday because you are more than half way there, like Wednesday is the peak of the mountain and all you have to do is climb down Thursday and Friday. So happy Wednesday all!

And the World Resumes A Routine

Yesterday was our last day of track out and Christmas vacation. Ethan will rise bright and early this morning to a crisp 18 degree morning and head off to school for the third quarter. Owen and Eliza will again have daddy to themselves and I am sure I will be hearing "I don't like car pool" this afternoon. Ah, and the world according to the Bordman's begins to resume some normalcy. Well, except for the fact that Chris is leaving tomorrow afternoon for Miami. I'm sorry, did you just say Miami? As in, THE Miami? White beaches, turquoise waters, and 80 degrees! Yes, he is leaving tomorrow afternoon for a meeting and won't return until Saturday. We will miss him dearly, but our wonderful Aunt Jan has come to stay with us so that I can continue to come to work at the crack of dawn and Owen and Eliza can remain at home with us for a couple of more weeks. Ah, yes, normalcy.

And speaking of normalcy, I rented G Force yesterday for the boys to watch and when I returned it I decided to live on the wild side and I rented Julie and Julia for me. I am really living on the edge these days with my late nights. Both movies were cute. G Force even made me laugh out loud a few times. You know you're a mom when........ And Julie and Julia just made my mouth water with all the food she was cooking. I suppose Paula Deen is onto something using all that butter.

Eliza was up again last night several times around midnight. Hopefully the final two teeth are pushing through. We ended up putting her in bed with us in the hopes of getting some sleep. She slept from about 12.30am until 4.45am. Not exactly a full nights rest for Chris and I, but we continue to muddle our way through the fog.

Happy Monday!

One Sweet Little Boy

This month is Owen's birthday month. He is going to be 4 in just 2 short weeks. I made our beach reservation this morning since he hasn't been in day care since Eliza was born. He requested a trip to the beach for his birthday and I got a really good deal on a hotel with an indoor water park. Three nights is costing us what it would normally cost to reserve a party place for him. So we are all very excited. He has requested a race car birthday cake so I have been looking online to see what I can find. This one looks pretty easy so I may try to make it or just buy one when we get there.

We aren't sure what we will do in the evenings since it will be cold, but maybe go see a movie or go to Broadway at the Beach. There is always the aquarium which is lots of fun and we may even get lucky and find a miniature golf place that is open. Should be a lot of fun.
So happy kick off to your birthday month Owen!

Boy, n.: a noise with dirt on it

Somebody missed their baby sister.

They missed Chris and I too, but Eliza definitely got loved on before us.

Tonight at dinner Ethan said I really missed you mommy. I asked him if he was happy to be home and he smiled real big and said yes. Melts my heart. As loud and active as they are, our family just doesn't function completely without all of us here. Chris said it best when he said there is a certain energy the boys bring to our home. They put a hop in your step and keep you moving in the right direction. This is my favorite definition of my boys:

Boy, n.: a noise with dirt on it.

So glad to have my noisy dirt home.