wait... what?

Did I used to write on this blog fairly regularly?
Was that me?
Did I try to regularly the record the daily life of me and my family in a somewhat entertaining fashion?
What happened?
Oh yeah, I remember:

Summer.

This summer began hard, as we went at it alone without Brian, but it picked up in fun and intensity once he came back to us. So since, I know everyone has been on pins and needles waiting for an update on what is happening in the Swanson household, I will grace you with an update.

This summer Jonas has honed in on his tween personality traits. Especially the "Friends are like, so much cooler than family. For Sure" trait. Also the "eye rolling" and "whatever, Mom" traits are coming along rather nicely. The big event was he managed to get really sick one night and it was really nice. It was nice because he was so sick, I was able to touch him a handful of times without him breaking out in a hyperactive, allergic to mom fit reaction.

This summer Hailey has been a fury of crafts. She started as a tropical storm but has recently escalated to a full fledged hurricane of glue, paper strips, felt and buttons. Hailey has also began perfecting the arts of list making, and event planning and task mastering. She has created a neighborhood book club, babysat nieces and nephews, performed puppet shows and involved us all in the Swanson theater performances, and done it all while keeping us in line and making sure we are crossing things of our summer to do list. I swear, she is going to be the mother/wife of the year, or the worlds best drill sergeant when she grows up.

Caleb decided to add another personality to his life this summer: Luke Skywalker. His brain has become filled with interesting" facts about Luke and Yoda and Darth Vader. He has decided he needs to wear black everyday, because apparently that's what Luke would do. (I bet you didn't know that). Also, I don't know if I have mentioned this before but Caleb has a sound track to everything in life. He has theme music for eating, playing, falling asleep, swinging, riding his scooter, and uh, using the bathroom. He has spent much of this summer passing his theme song capabilities onto Porter. Porter now believes everything should be accompanied by the theme music from Indiana Jones, Harry Potter and Star wars.

Porter has spent the summer learning major life lessons, most obnoxious important: whining. The kid can whine. He has learned how to annoy the crap out of someone until he gets what he wants. I know all two year olds have the corner of the market on this typically, but he blows all of them out of the water. Porter has also deepened his irrational fears of:
large amounts of water (i.e. bathtub)
movie screens
people in costume
trampolines
and basically any other thing deemed fun by the average child.

Brian has spent the summer repeating the words, "There is no place like home", to which I am glad, but if he starts wearing sparkly red shoes then I am really going to worry. He has restored the yard to it's pretty state, undoing all the work I did to get it all crappy looking and stuff.

I have spent my summer soaking up my family. Some days, I think they almost drowned me, but most days, it was good. It was chill. It was everything summer should be.

But don't think for a minute I am not ecstatic for school to be back in session!

the daughter

I love Hailey's natural desire to obey. (don't you wish every child came with that chip installed?)

I love how Hailey has 100% focus on the task at hand. I think her teachers enjoy this quality as well.

I love Hailey's dedication to teaching.

Hailey has this deep desire to nurture. It is so awesome as a mom, to watch my daughter mother her little brothers.

I love how to most of the world, she is serious and shy but at home her shell disappears, and the crazy comes out.

I love her desire to create. From Nature journals to self illustrated novels, to plays, to invented games, she is always creating.

I love having Hailey in my family.
She is a strength in my life,
An example to me,
And one of the brightest lights this earth has ever seen.

Our home is a better place with her there.

ode to friends

Everybody needs a friend.

A friend to be extraordinarily silly with:

A friend to laugh with.

A friend to share you inner most snobbery with:

 A friend who shares your excitements, your indignations, your heartaches, and your triumphs:

A friend to lean on:

Lately I have been thinking about my friendships. 

I am so grateful to have so many amazing friends. 

Friends who get me, 

who laugh at me, 

laugh with me, 

who feel for me, 

friends who are there for me.

Thanks friends, new and old, for sticking around.

I am proud to call you my friends.

Well, most of you, anyway.

Putting me in my place

We were out and about this weekend when we spotted a group of teenagers clearly on their way to a dance. The couples were dressed to match one another. Some were wearing spandex circa 1982. Some were fresh off the farm with fake sleeveless flannel shirts and fake beards. They looked ridiculous, seeing as it was so far away from Halloween and all.
But mostly what struck me was how loud and really obnoxious they were.
Brian and I looked at each other and smiled. We remember being loud and obnoxious. In fact, we were loud an obnoxious together on several occasions back in the day.

Hailey who was watching them carefully, said, "Why are those big kids being so loud and acting so crazy?"
I said, "Because they think they are super cool and super funny."
She asked, "How do you know?"
I said,  "Because I did the same thing when I was their age. I thought I was so cool and so funny...only really I was just annoying."
Hailey, not missing a beat, said,
"So,  not much has changed."

I laughed, shook my head, and realized how much I love my kid's sense of humor and their quick witted, little quips.

Even if it does bruise the ego a little.

it's everywhere

I looked around my house this morning.

There were annoyances in every room.

Hailey's laundry that I lovingly washed dried and folded was still not put away.
The boys room was a mess.
I almost tripped over a basketball on the stairs:

There was caravan of vehicles on almost every surface:

An empty sippie cup lay abandoned on the kitchen floor:

Breakfast sloppily consumed, but left for me to clean:

Books strewn around the library floor:

shoes laying in the middle of the playroom:

Breakfast toast on the library couch:

And a backpack plopped by the front door and left there all night long:

I started to get annoyed.
Kids: Professionals in the art of mess making.
Does it even cross their minds to pick up after themselves?

Then I stopped.
Took a deep breath.
Did some meditating. (not really, but wouldn't I be so much cooler if I had?)

And I realized.
I remembered.
All that mess means childhood is alive in my house.


And that is something I am grateful for.

Today...

Today...

 I am thankful for recent sunshine giving my children something to do again.
There's been lots of rock hunting,
Sidewalk art:

And Chinese jump roping, sans rope:

Today....

I am busy gathering pictures to make a spotlight poster for this birthday boys class tomorrow:

Today I am completing all the details for the worlds greatest super hero training camp happening here tomorrow in honor of the afore mentioned birthday boy:

Today.....

Jonas and I will be wrapping up the work on his state report, which has taken FOREVER and a day. We will be so glad to see that one done.

Today....

Jonas will also be in a permanent state of red, thanks to his attendance to his maturation program. (See, I told you he is growing up.)

Today....

I have big plans to play battleship with Caleb.

And to eat left over pizza for lunch.

Today...
I will blow up make some balloons bombs to be popped detonated by superheros in training.
I will make kryptonite to be strewn about the lawn and temporarily weaken those superheros.

I will make fruit kabobs.

And some top secret superhero files.

It's going to be a good day. 

Children growing up, turning older, and having fun.

I told you spring rocks.

You win some, you loose some

Yesterday at my kids' school they had a day where you dress as what you want to be when you grow up.
We have talked much about what they want to be and the list is so long, I could get my laundry done faster than I could name everything on their lists.

 

Hailey settled on this:

A photographer. But she dug deeper and specified it. A photographer for National Geographic.

Jonas.

Well Jonas had a field trip and so he left for school dressed like this:

Things looked well. An accountant? A businessman? A police detective even?


But he came home dressed as what he aims to be:

 A bum.

I was so proud at least one of my children knows how to set their sights high.

eight

Eight years ago today

I had my smallest baby. 8 little pounds and 9 teeny ounces.
I gained a daughter.
I spent that day studying her, as I did every day for the next few weeks.
I wrote this down in my journal:

You have my hair.

May you let it down more than I did.

You have my eyes.

May you always see yourself the way I see you.

You have my hands.

May you accomplish all you dream with them.

You have my feet.

May you always walk on solid ground.

You have my ears.

May you only hear the good things people say about you.

You have your own thoughts.

May you always share them with me.


You have your own heart.

May you always keep mine close to yours.



Eight years later as I re-read that I said,

"Amen."

Gratitude post 3: 1st Anniversary

A year ago today,
                         we were scared.


A year ago today,
                        we were overwhelmed with confusion.


A year ago today,
                        our lives as we knew it, changed.


A year ago today,
                        modern medicine saved her life:



 

Today, we are still overwhelmed with confusion at times,
                                                                             but we are no longer scared.

And that change in our life, is now our new normal.

And today,
              we are so incredibly grateful and forever thankful for that modern medicine that is now
                                             her life support:

For record's sake...

The family I have is a good one, if only for the fact someone is always making me laugh.
And I am almost always in need of a good laugh.
(I would say chuckle but I really despise the word. Almost as much "moist". Ew... I can barely even type it.)

This week's highlights:
[Hailey, during dinner] Mom, is this healthy?
[Me, grateful chicken nuggets aren't on the menu tonight] Yes, yes it is.
[Hailey, surprised] Wow, I don't even taste the health in it!

[Caleb, upon arriving home from school] Mom, next time I go to school please don't comb my hair!
[Me, confused but not surprised because this is Caleb I am talking to] Why?
[Caleb, frustrated:] Because none of the other kids have to go to school with their hair combed! You be like their moms ok?

[Brian on the phone with me shortly after I asked him to pick up some red grapes on the way home from work.]
"Umm... I am not familiar with red grapes. There are just green and purple."

Truly they make me laugh.
They can make me cry to, but that's a whole other post.

OCD

Anyone who has ever had or been near a toddler frequently know that they have obsessions. In my observation, there is usually one major obsession. One thing to hold over their head. One thing you can use to distract from public melt downs. One word that you can say that stops them dead in their tracks.

For Jonas this was any animal. Giraffe, zebra, elephant, ring tailed lemur, narwhal... You showed him an animal and you showed saw a light straight to his soul. I thought there was no other career path for him other than veterinarian.

For Hailey it was princess. Or Purse. Or pink. Or Pretty. Anything doused in glitter or adorned with jewels was a treasure to revere. I never thought I would see the end of that. At 7 but dangerously close to 8, pink is no longer her favorite color and glitter is on hiatus.

For Caleb it was SUGAR. Candy. If he saw some, his mood changed, his countenance changed, his heart beat quickened. His desperation to be near the sugar, to touch the sugar, to taste the sugar was palpable. The child loves his sweets. And that is how I know he is my son.

Now we are to Porter. I have been waiting to see that one thing would be...
Trains? Nope.
Music? Sort of.
Cars? It's a definite like.
Balls are close, but it doesn't hold a candle to the excitement his whole body registers when he sets his eyes on an infant car seat.
Because inside those are the greatest creation in the world:
Babies.
He spots them like a mile away.
Baby, Baby, Baby. Baby. BABY!!
I can calm any impending tantrum by simply uttering the word.
His fascination is total and complete.
He would make a GREAT big brother.


But we all know that ain't gonna happen.


Thank goodness for the handful of cousins coming his way.

camp normal

Every child wants to be normal.
until they are a teenager and normalcy suddenly becomes too bland and the need to shock kicks in, and they are desperate for hair dye or torn clothes, or strange music... anything that will push normalcy far from their minds. (was that just me?)

But at this moment in time for the children in the Swanson household, normalcy is where they long to be.

Since November 19th of last year, Hailey has been struggling to earn that normalcy badge again. She is embarrassed of diabetes, and shots, and blood tests, and glucose meters, and that dang pink bag that carries it all:



She won't be seen holding it.
She won't be seen getting her blood checked.
She hates an audience with her shots.
She is mortified by diabetes conversations.

But yesterday, I took Hailey to diabetes camp.

A camp where everyone counted carbs like a religion.
A camp where a bell rang and everyone checked their blood sugar.
A camp where every girl had the same humiliating, scarlet letter pink bag.
A camp where she had fun and laughed and played and she felt normal.
A camp where she came home with treats, but also a sheet informing us of the carb count.

I could see that she felt included again, less alone, lifted up, heard, understood, educated, and empowered.


And when we left, Hailey carried her pink bag.

I am not going to lie, tears were involved.

Is it just me?

Ever have one of those nights?



The kind where your baby is being very cute and you decide to sit down and capture some sweetness?




Things are going well, when suddenly...



The other children come?

And those other children seem to have snorted some kind of illegal substance and are running around like tiny crack addicts? That ever happen to anyone else?



And the craziest crack headed child is screaming... "I'm N A K E D!!!" Like it's some kind of freedom cry?
And the other crazies are running and they are chasing and they are making your ears bleed with a screaming that only crazy crack addicted-like children can make, causing your head to split open and your ears to bleed spontaneously? Is that just me?



And you look at your watch praying for salvation which can only come in the form of bedtime and see 8:00PM! Its here! At last! It's here! And you turn and loudly announce it is bed time. You ignore the instant protests, and whines, and moans and you tell the crazy crack head child screaming proudly about his indecent exposure to society and you tell him, sternly, that he needs to get his clothes on. You've been here right?

Then you get this:



And your child knows when its time to obey and he does. But he doesn't have to like it. So then you move on to another situation.
The crying. The drama on and on.
All the while cuddling a beloved ball.
Sound familiar?




The baby, the adorable subject in the beginning, looses interest in you and crawls over to the crying crazy, and you think, "how sweet... the baby is going to be a comforter... and he does:




he gently taps his brother somewhat calming him.




And then, quickly, before anyone can realize it, he swipes the ball away from his crying brother like some kind of con artist prodigy.



You know what I am talking about, right? Then you, silently laughing, realize that being a parent to these crazy, drug addicted, hoodlums has got to be the most entertaining thing on this planet?




Don't you love it when that happens?