And the funnies keep on going...

Oh Universe, you are HYSTERICAL!!! Here's a short re-cap of my last 24 hrs...
1. ran to Target last night for needed school supply and let Houdini dog out of kennel since he opens it anyway. came home to find 2 burners on my stove on because he apparently could smell the ridiculously small dried up amount of chili and thought he would heat himself up a little snack.

2. woke at 3am to SCREAMS on my deck. Sherman the naughty cat must have escaped one of the millions of times Houdini dog opened kitchen door to let himself in and was being beaten alive by some evil cat.

3. watched riveting t.v. on TV Land, finally fell back asleep somewhere in the 5-6am time frame, slept through my 6:45am alarm and woke in a panic at 7:15.

4. in kindest tone I could muster SCREAMED at boys to PLEASE(that makes the screaming o.k.) get dressed and come down for breakfast-which just to add to my Mom guilt tank they did without one complaint. Damn good kids.

5. Rush said darling angels through breakfast, vitamins, teeth brushing, lunch packing and we are in the car by 7:55. I should have known where my day was headed not only by how cooperative they were being but by how unusually calm Houdini dog was for the ride.

6. We hit some slow traffic, couldn't get upset since we've gone almost an entire month of easy travel. Arrived at school 8:27 and guess what...TWO HOUR DELAY!!! Yep, you know that day they gave you a slip of paper about the first week of school right when all hell was breaking loose in my house...so what to do. Long drive home or stick around. I've got dog with no collar on and no leash in car thanks to someone that removed it and didn't put it back(won't mention names). I have on a lovely outfit of 2 feet too long bell bottom yoga pants, tye dyed peace sign t-shirt and some fabulous I've been sick so kiss it greasy hair...decided the only option was of course to go to Wal-Mart.

7. Wal-mart. park, roll down windows for dog, lock car and start in. 10 steps later howling from dog but keep walking. hear one of those "oh my" from a stranger and just know it's about my dog so I turn. Cooper is half in car and half hanging out of car. Perfectly coiffed hair mom with child in full no germ is going to get from this cart to my child is glaring at me. I hold my head a tad higher than it should be held, avoid the urge to say something to judgy pants and march back to my car with two boys that are still being waaaaaay to nice.

8. release dog, make windows higher so he can't squeeze through and give dog a lecture about how sorry I am, that I know it's no fun but it's really out of my control at this point. I feel a little hand on my shoulder and Nick says," Mommy, you do realize you are talking to a dog"...I finally just laugh and thank both boys for not once complaining and they each said it was no big deal, we make mistakes and we think it's kind of funny. Huh, guess maybe I have taught them a thing or two. Now where's my Ritalin???

Darth Vader

Being a Mom when you are sick absolutely sucks. No way around it, it sucks. Being a Mom when you are sick and your husband travels constantly sucks even more. What's incredible is having a 9 year old tell you that you are breathing like Darth Vader and kick into gear to help. He knows all the steps we go through when someone is sick so he got right to it. Ginger-ale, check. 8 million tissues, check. Vick's, check. Favorite blanket, check. Off to bed he sends me offering to watch his brother until Daddy got home.( even though I had to hang up on a friend a few moments earlier because said child was going to attack darling little brother) Luckily Bob's flight was early and he was home by 5:30.
 Now the 6 year old...he's on an entirely different nurturing level. First it was...NO WAY IS MY DUMB BROTHER GOING TO GET ME A SNACK, I ONLY LIKE THE BANANA THE WAY YOU PEEL IT! HE PEELS IT TOO FAST!...Then, Nick being the ever clever child told Parker who happened to lose his first tooth today that if refused kindness the tooth fairy wouldn't come. Parker fell for it and Nick proceeded to set up crafts for them to do with Bob. Nice messy crafts for Daddy-hee, hee, hee! Parker painted a lovely clock for his room and Nick is working on making a solar system model out of paper mache. Now I am going to shut my lap top off, add a fresh layer of Vick's and laugh my ass off watching Bridesmaids again.

Whew, it's just normal

Tonight I thought the stress finally caught up to me. I thought I was like that person in the hot, hot desert dying of thirst and imagining an oasis. Between my body's shock of several days of consistent exercise, no sugar, and what had to be off the charts blood pressure thanks to my Houdini dog I was convinced I was creating magical happy place hallucinations. Then I heard, "MOMMMY! Why are you staring at us all weird looking? Stop it!" It was then I realized what I was seeing was real and it was what most of the world must see on nightly basis...normal! I thought I'd document it so I can refer back to it from time to time when I start to doubt it really happened. Here in lies the inherent difference between myself and Bob. I told him the story and he was all GREAT, Nick must be cured and I'm all, what a fabulous gift tonight was. Sure hope we get another night like this before Spring. We balance each other that way. OH, what was actually going on that startled me so...a big brother helping a younger brother with homework and the younger brother letting go of his resentment towards big brother long enough to accept the help.

oh the great outdoors

My husband, bless his heart, is a unique breed.  Bob can be somewhat of an obsessive compulsive. Not in the things need to be clean and organized sort of way-definitely not in that way! In the gets absorbed in things sort of way. Fishing, hunting, fishing, running, fishing, camping, fishing...you get my point. Currently he is consumed by camping. The thrill of finding an off the beaten path site, all the amazing new gadgets... This man can read about gear for hours on end. HOURS on end people! For the past two weeks UPS has made almost daily stops at our house with new goodies from Sierra Trading Post and what they didn't deliver he brought home from trips to Cabella's and Gander. Are you seeing what I mean yet? Today was the big day. Camping trip with our two boys plus a friend. They each were required to carry their own belongings to the campsite. BAHAHAHAHAHAHA!  Bob estimated it to be about 1 1/4 miles. So probably closer to 2 miles as he tends to be an under estimator. When the boys put their packs on...well, at some point all three of them fell backwards! It was like the hiking version of that poor kid in the Christmas movie overdressed in the snowsuit. They were flapping on the ground like flipped over bugs! Oh how I would have loved to be able to witness the walk in. I wonder how many times they stopped. How many times my children, especially the youngest swore his legs were not going to be able to take another step. Oh well, this is the stuff great childhood memories are made of and I love my OCD husband for giving my boys and their friend this opportunity, and most importantly, me some peace and quiet.

One journey ends and another begins

We have been on a very long 5 year journey. The past 5 days of this journey have been almost unbearable. But we made it through and now we begin a new journey. A journey of letting go, of forgiving ourselves for not always making the best parenting decisions and most importantly a journey of healing. We finally got ourselves in front of a doctor and team that understood Nick immediately. Yes we knew he had Tourette syndrome but there was always something else. Doctor to doctor, therapist to therapist we went. Year after year. All the right "assumptions" were being thrown around but no one would commit because of this or that. Mainly they thought he was simply "too bright". Well turns out you can be extremely gifted and have Asperger's syndrome and Tourette syndrome. Who knew? I did. But don't us Mom's always know. Of course I didn't want to believe it and for years have given every excuse I could think of why it couldn't be so. I think in time I'll forgive myself. I know if I would have "jumped" on previous suggestions of Asperger's I could have gotten help for Nick sooner. I'm just trying to believe it took as long as it did because we were supposed to get in front of one of the leading experts in the field. So that's where we are and we couldn't have made it this far with out all the love and support of family and friends. Some friends I have lost but I'm still grateful for the time they were there to offer a shoulder to cry on or a supportive hand. For those friends/family that have stuck by us through the good and the bad I have no proper words. Thank you does not seem enough. Especially those of you that came to the rescue these past few days. We are so blessed to have such fabulous and selfless people in our lives. We love you all!