Time is Flying

My mother emailed the other day and asked why I hadn't written since the beginning of the school year.

The short answer - I don't know why. I kept a list of things I wanted to write about, but never put them down here on the blog.

The longer answer probably lies somewhere in the answer I gave my mother - that every time I write about things happening, it kind of bums me out. It gets me a little down to think about how quickly the kids are growing, how soon they will be on their own. And really, are they going to be interested in reading this stuff? Maybe they will, maybe they won't - so that kind of bums me out as well.

Having said that, I'm going to effort, again, to document more of their and our history as it happens. I'll begin with this entry.

The Big O turned 13 last week, a real live teenager living in my house. She's a wonderful young lady, and I wrote her a little letter telling all the things that make her wonderful. She's recently been inducted to the National Junior Honor Society, Florida Young Scholars, took the ACT, won the Florida Free Throw state championship, and on a daily basis does things to serve and help others. She has typical 13 year old troubles, such as issues with friends, or forgetfulness at home, but she almost always handles those issues with toughness and grace. She is an optimist that believes she can do anything, and I believe she's right!

WOW - WHAT A WEEK!!

We are wrapping up the first week of school, and wow, what a whirlwind!

The week began with O starting school on Monday, while the rest of us took Bear up to Tampa for an appointment with the pediatric cardiologist. That was a stressful trip for us, but ended wonderfully as we got news that Bear is just fine.

We headed back home, to find the painters had begun working on the house, and the house looked like a wreck. Scraped paint, busted soffits, the outside just looked terrible. We picked up O, she told us she had a wonderful day, we grabbed a quick dinner and headed to the gym for basketball practice for Bear and the Tornado.

Tornado had his meeting with his teacher early Tuesday morning, and seemed very excited. He's got a good class of kids, and we like the teacher, so we are optimistic for the upcoming year for him. Bear had her first day of school as well, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I had a physical therapy appointment before school ended, then took the kids up to the gym for their fitness class.

Wednesday the Tornado was still at home, so we walked the dog, played some games and watched a movie. We spent the afternoon driving carpool around town, getting haircuts, and catching up with each other. Wednesday night the CEO went to school for elementary school orientation.

Thursday began with the Tornado starting his first day of kindergarten, and boy was he excited. he couldn't wait to get there. After dropping the kids off, I headed to PT again, thinking of the wonderful summer we had and how I'm going to miss having them around the house. I got home in time to meet with three separate roofers to discuss repairing the house. When I was done meeting with them, I went and ran at the Y, then headed to school to pick up the Tornado and watch the girls tryout for volleyball. They both did well, we will know next week if they made the team, but they both said they had fun. We ran home, grabbed a quick dinner, and I went back to school for an amazingly long 3 hour middle school orientation.

Today, after school, the gang is headed up to Tampa to watch the Rays take on King Felix, and do the tornado's favorite thing...the centerfield shuffle and dance party! Tomorrow will take Bear to the Y for what will hopefully be a more pleasant basketball game than last week, while the Tornado will possibly try to dribble between his legs again in his game. Afterwards, the Bear is going to a sleepover while a friend is coming over to help finish putting up the new basketball hoop.

I'm feeling a little overwhelmed by how must faster the pace picks up when everyone is in school compared to the summer. Is this a typical week? Is this what it's going to be every week of the year? If so, it's interesting to say the least!!

Goodbye Agent F

Agent F (for fish) passed away while we were on vacation. He was with us for I'm guessing about 9 months. He was the Tornado's fish, and he took care of him by feeding him every day. When we told him that Agent F had died, he just kind of took it in. A little later that day, he went over to the empty bowl, and took out the plastic coral that had been in the bowl. He took it over and laid down on the couch. He rolled to coral around in his fingers a little, staring at it. The CEO went over to him and asked him how he was feeling. His lip quivered a little bit, but he never cried. He said he missed Agent F. It was very touching, as you could tell he was just envisioning Agent F swimming in his bowl.

Later that night, at dinner, as we said grace, it came to the Tornado's turn for special intentions. He said his usual "everybody in the world" then paused a little, and looked up. Then he added, "and Agent F". It was a sweet and fitting remembrance for Agent F.

A Bear-Sized Heart

The Bear went for her annual physical a couple weeks ago, and because she is so active, the doc suggested she get an EKG. The EKG showed a slight abnormality, so the recommended an echo cardiograph to get a better look.

We got the echo back on Thursday night, and it turns out Bear has a "hole" in her heart. The medical term for this "hole" is an atrial septum defect. Apparently it's not that uncommon, about 25% of people are born with it, but for most folks it closes by the time they are 3. Also, supposedly, it's not something that will affect her as a youth. Unfortunately, as she gets older, it is something that could affect her health. Complications can be things such as high blood pressure, heart failure and stroke.

Depending on the size of the hole, and we believe it's tiny, she will need a surgery. The hope is that it is surgery where they insert something through a catheter, as opposed to open heart surgery. We need to meet with a specialist to determine our next step. Hopefully she will give us good news.

We've been so blessed with all of our children's health over the years, I am thankful for that. The thought of Bear having to go through some sort of surgery on her heart is just terrifying for me. Sure, it's "simple" surgery, but it's still surgery on her heart. I'm not sure how well I'd hold up in the hospital while it was going on.

I'm praying that the specialist says it's so small there is no need for surgery, and that it won't affect her down the road. If not, I'm praying that it can be fixed without complications. She has such a big, wonderful heart, that is so full of love, like I said the day I created this blog. She is full of heart in so many ways. The way she loves the people in her family. The way she watches over her little brother - sure she bugs him and he bugs her, but she's always there for him. The way she stands up for her friends, even when they are difficult to love sometimes. The way she plays sports, never giving up, never backing down no matter the challenge. Heart - it's Bear's best quality, and I'm praying, that the strength of her heart gets her through this bump in the road.

Braces!

After about 8 months of wearing a retainer, O went in for her braces on Wednesday. She was so excited when the process started. but after a couple months of wearing the retainer, the enthusiasm wore off. I told her that the braces are actually easier to wear, at least I thought so when I had them.

She went back with the orthodontist, spent about an hour back there, and came back looking like this - she looks beautiful with them!!

It looks like we've got 18 months to two years wearing them, says the orthodontist. Hopefully if all goes well she'll have them off by the time she hits high school. She's adapted well in these first few days, chopping things up real small, not chewing any gum or candy. As usual, she's doing a good job with the task assigned.

It's kind of strange to look at her and see them, but I guess after two years of wearing them it will be strange to see her without them. It will be interesting to see the smile when they do come off though!

Another step forward in life, woo hoo!!

Fathers Day

Happy Fathers Day to me!! My beautiful family and I went to the beach this morning, had a little lunch and came home. We are about to sit down to dinner (ribs from the grill!), and we will probably read a little before bed. It's been a nice relaxing day, and spending time with my family is my favorite thing in life.

I want to say thanks to my Dad. I think about all the things I did with my Dad over the years as a kid, and think about what a wonderful time I had with him. Ballgames, coaching me, playing catch, going to the beach, running, trips all over the country, walks in the snow in Buffalo, playing golf, you name it. As a grown up we've done many of those things too, and I've enjoyed them just as much.

He has been such a great role model for me, I hope I can be the same to my kids. Today O asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, if I wasn't going to be a major league baseball player. It was a question that requires a very fatherly answer. I didn't really know how to answer, eventually settling on saying that I really didn't know what I wanted to be until I was already through college. I kinda of fumbled around, saying if I was 18 years old again I may have done this or that differently, but that changing things at this point would require too much upheaval for the rest of the family.

Then I remembered what it was I really wanted to be when I grew up. A Dad. From the time I was in college, I wanted a family, probably even before then. I wanted to have kids of my own, to help guide, to tutor, to love. I can only think that's because I had such a wonderful Dad, and I wanted to replicate that experience. I told O that being a Dad was what I wanted to be, and I couldn't be any happier than I am, blessed with the family and kids that I have.

(and if you are reading this Mom, you sure are a big part of why I wanted to be a parent :) love ya!!

Things I Wouldn't Understand

The Tornado is one smart dude. He's only going into kindergarten, and he can read on his own pretty well, he can do double digit addition and subtraction in his head, and he has a sense for other things too, instinctual things.

For example, we are walking down the sidewalk the other day, and he says "you know what would happen if you didn't have any toes...you wouldn't have any balance." He starts curling his toes and stumbling around. How does a 5 year old figure that out? What makes him think about something like that? Maybe I'm just amazed because he's my son, and that's not that unusual, but that's a curious mind at work. Powerful and awesome to watch and listen to.

However, sometimes it can be pretty darn frustrating. We are standing on the green the other day, before the start of golf camp, and I'm trying to show him how to putt. He tries "my way", and misses, and gives me a "see?". Then he putts a ball "his way", knocks it in, and starts off on a rant about how I'm trying to get him to fail!! Really? That's what I'm here to do - set you up to fail?

After golf camp I was asking him how it went, what they did, the normal debriefing questions. He tells me they learned about golf, some of the rules, and things like that. I asked what kinds of rules or things and he responds,"things you wouldn't understand". I assured him that I was pretty knowledgeable about golf related matters, so he "tested" me with some questions. To his shock and amazement, I got all his questions right. He gave me a wry smile, like the one in this picture, and we walked over to the creek next to the parking lot.

We took a couple pieces of bread over, sat down on the edge and fed the fish, turtles, minnows, ducks and ibis. The Tornado was tossing the bread, and watching intently as the various animals stalked the sinking morsels. He was asking me questions about the different wildlife, once again curious as to why things are the way the are. That made me feel good, as I guess there are some things I understand :)