Feliz Navidad!!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone and "Feliz Navidad" as Oalin just told me. He really says the funniest things lately. Last night he told me, "When Kheenan gets bigger, and grows a lot of teeth like me, I will bring him to Grandpa's and take out the container out of the cabinet and give him a DELLLLLLICIOUS cookie and he'll say, 'mmm. That's good." and then I'll show him how to dunk it in milk and he'll say, "Oh! That's wonderful!" I just can't help but smile every time he talks. (I don't smile when he whines.) This weekend, was, busy. Come on. When is the Vivathana Family not busy. We had plans the whole weekend to go and cut down our Christmas tree. (Last month, we tagged "The perfect tree to celebrate Jesus"). Friday and Saturday flew by with no tree. So, Sunday before we went to my nephew, William's, 1st birthday party (how exciting!!) we decided to go and cut it down. Of course, Kheenan was exhausted and fell asleep 30 minutes before we were supposed to go. I really wanted to go as a family, but I knew Kheenan needed to sleep so thankfully, "Uncle Brett", was at the house and was willing to stay with him. We sang Christmas songs all the way to the tree farm and stopped to wave at every horse, cow, and llama. Oalin, in the spirit of Christmas, wore his elf hat. As we stepped out of the car I suddenly realized I had forgotten Oalin's jacket at home! We had quite the laugh as we put my jacket and mittens on Oalin and I wrapped myself in a blanket! Oalin could have cared less that he was flopping around in my dress-like jacket. We had a great time "finding" our Christmas Tree and Oalin was very excited to get to cut it with Daddy. Oalin even helped carry the tree to the car. The only thing missing was our sweet Kheenan. But, as we walked in the door and I saw him sitting on Uncle Brett with the biggest smile, I knew that rest was a much better choice for him. I love Christmas time. I love cutting down the tree together. I love putting up colored Christmas lights outside that look so cheezy and hearing Oalin say, "AHH! They're so beautiful! Beautiful lights for Jesus' birthday!!". I love reading about Christmas to the boys. I love Christmas music. I love family time and refocusing my priorities. I hope all of you are enjoying the season as much as us!

"Mommy, I gave Kheenan a toy."

"I'm going to read the directions. (It's actually a map to the tree). It says, 'First, cut the tree.' Then, decorate it."

Silly Christmas outfits didn't stop us! Brrr.. it was cold out that morning!

Uncle Brett and Kheenan!! (Shhh.. don't tell Uncle Brett, I'm sure he wouldn't approve of me posting his picture!!)

I Love Doing Laundry

YEAH! It's been one week since Sung got home and we moved into our new place. It feels so, incredibly good, to finally have life settling down (or at least going back to its usual chaos). Since I've last blogged Oalin, Kheenan, Nana, and I went to Philly for my friend Danni's wedding. Though it was a very quick trip we had a lot of fun together. To be honest, it was probably something the boys and I really needed in order to catch our breath from everything going on at home. Here are some pics!

Oalin on the plane. He was so excited; it was as if he'd never been on a plane before!

The happiest baby... Mr. Kheenan!

Oalin could hardly wait to get to the hotel and go in the pool with Nana! They were there for hours!!

Time for a train ride! Could this trip get any better?

Okay, because I was IN the wedding I didn't get to take any pictures of the beautiful bride!! I'll post some as soon as I can get them from Nana's camera. Here's one of Oalin smelling Mommy's flowers. Both the boys had on these little bow ties. They looked so cute!!

After we got back to NH Oalin kept asking to, "be a monk like Daddy." Oalin was so excited, at first. I took out the buzzers and at 7:00 at night I started to buzz his head. Of course, I had no clue what I was doing; I don't exactly buzz my head everyday. I got one cut up the middle of his head and his big eyes began to water. "I don't want to be a monk anymore." Oh, boy. There we were with a big cut up the center of his head. "Well." I said. And then a dramatic pause for the next 5 minutes. I didn't know what to do. He had wanted to get it cut, but now the sound of the buzzer was just too much for my sensitive boy. After much deliberation, I finally brought out some finger paints, put Oalin in the tub (without water, of course) and was able to slowly, over the course of an hour, cut the rest of his hair. When I was finally finished , I lifted Oalin up to see himself in the mirror. He was SO happy! "I look just like Daddy!!"

So, that brings us to today. We are in our new place and very happy despite the crazy amount of boxes we still have to unpack. It's, "intimate" (tiny, sounds so negative), but it's great. Having everyone together under one roof absolutely makes our house a home. And, if you're wondering about the title of this blog, well, yes, I have found pleasure in doing the laundry. There's just something so glorious about daily routines and chores; dishes, making the beds, and doing laundry have never felt so comforting.

One of the first pictures in our new house! The boys sporting their new PJ's from Nana. BTW, Kheenan's first tooth is starting to poke through!

A Taste of Normalcy

In the midst of all of this chaos, I am desperately trying to keep a shred of normalcy for the boys. Today, Oalin and I carved his pumpkin and painted the others. Oalin was very excited to finally get to see a pumpkin "turn into a Jack-O-Lantern". I painted a tractor on Daddy's pumpkin and when I turned it around for Oalin to see, his eyes lit up. I thought to myself, "This, this moment, is why I'm not packing, or calling to shut off services to the house, or packing for this weekend, or doing anything else but spending time with Oalin." Oalin has been having a very hard time lately without Daddy. There have been many tears shed and a constant repetition of, "I love Daddy. I want Daddy to come home." Getting ourselves full of paint was exactly what both of us needed today. I did hear from Sung's mom. She said that "Cooba Sung" (Monk Sung) was doing well. Though she later went on to tell me that he said,"This is worse than any boot camp I've heard of." Now, some, who have actually been to boot camp may disagree, but for Sung this has obviously been difficult.

Here's Oalin with our pumpkins. Once he saw the tractor I painted, he did his own. I thought it was quite cute that he included a smoke stack and grass. He even put himself in the tractor, but he did it in black so you can't see him. He decided that he must be, "driving the tractor at night."

Pumpkin Picking

I took the boys to McQuestin farm this morning to go Pumpkin Picking. Kheenan had a great time... he slept in the Bjorn the entire trip :)! Oalin and I had a lot of fun riding on the vedry bumpy hay ride out to the pumpkin patch. Oalin decided to pick out a pumpkin for each member of the family. Afterwards, we walked around and looked at all of the farm animals and tractors. Oalin is really into telling me when things are "similar" or "different". "Oh, look at that! That Kaboda tractor is similar to that John Deere because they are both green!" He's so funny! His conversation always makes me smile. When we got back I tried, desperately, to take some photos of the kids. I had forgotten to take my camera to the farm. Not a big surprise considering that my mind is on overload right now. Unfortunately, Kheenan was way more interested in picking the grass and licking the pumpkin (the bottom photo) than he was in picture taking!! Which pumpkin do you think Oalin picked for himself?

The biggest one, of course!!

As for Sung, this is the latest from his sister, Sing:
I spoke to my aunt and my dad VERY briefly as they were all very busy with preparations for the Temple. My dad said that Sung slept at the Temple last night and everything is going well. Dad said that yesterday they had about 400-500 visitors at my aunt's house and they expect the same today and tomorrow. Everyone was getting ready to head to the Temple when I called.

My life makes sense

I heard from Sung last night. He was preparing to get his head (and eyebrows!) shaved and go to the temple. He said that people had been up all night preparing for the ceremony. Though our talk was extremely short he said,"The living conditions are so poor here. It's so sad. Everything my parents have done, decisions they have made, now all make sense. My life seems to make more sense." Obviously, being there just a few days has already made a profound impact on him.
The boys and I are doing well, but we all miss Sung so much. Oalin asks about him constantly. After being together nearly ten years, it feels revitalizing to hang up the phone each of us saying, "Bye." five times over waiting for the other to hang up first. :) I'll let you know when I hear from him again!!

Found this clip of Lao monks collecting alms (that's the rice I talked about earlier).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaKciqlmkdQ&feature=related

Hear Ye! Hear ye! We've got news!

Okay, here comes some news.
First, Sung is currently en route to Laos. He left yesterday morning at 6. As of noon today, he was in Thailand.. though I haven't heard from him and probably won't until next week. He is going to be practicing as a monk in a Lao Buddhist temple. Essentially, 500 villagers will be celebrating his arrival and will help to shave his head and put him in Buddhist monk clothes. He will then spend the next 7 days praying and living in the temple. Every morning at 5:30 he will wake up and have to walk down the dirt roads of the village holding a bucket in which the villagers will give rice as an offering to Buddha. Sung will get breakfast and lunch, but will have no dinner. Sung's biggest worry though seemed to be that he had to poop standing up over a hole. Okay, that does sound a little tricky. On the 7th day, he will be given tasks such as cleaning the "toilet" to show that he is ready to live on his own. Then, his sister, Sang, will prepare a HUGE noodle dish for all the villagers. At this point they will drink lots of Lao Lao, the countries beer, and party till all hours. Pretty wild! I can't begin to tell you how excited, scared, and proud I am of Sung. For his parents, doing all of this will bring a tremendous amount of good Kharma to his family. The weeks and days before his departure he was very scared. I tried so hard to be strong and brave for him. I'd often say things like, "No worries. Lots of men do this." Of course, the truth is I'm scared out of my mind for him. This is one piece of information I read right before he left:
Travelers should also be aware that between 2004 and 2006, seven Lao- and Hmong-American citizens were murdered in northern and northeastern Thailand near the border with Laos. During the same period, a number of non-Americans with ties to Laos were murdered in this region of Thailand. In addition, in March 2006, a Hmong-American disappeared from his residence in Chiang Mai along with seven other individuals. In most of these cases, no arrests have been made. If U.S. citizens, particularly Lao-Americans or Hmong-Americans, must travel to these areas, they should exercise caution and remain vigilant with regard to their personal security. It is recommended that persons wishing to travel to border areas check first with the Thai Police and the U.S. Consulate General in Chiang Mai or the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok or the U.S. Embassy in Vientiane. In addition to these cases, three Hmong-American men went missing in August 2007 after reportedly going on a business trip to Xieng Khouang Province in Laos. The Government of Laos stated that the three departed Laos for Thailand, but none of the three has contacted family members in the U.S. since they were last seen in 2007.

Little scary to say the least. I am just unbelievably proud of him that he got a plane (something he absolutely hates to do), is traveling days to get to Laos, and will spend most of his time without anyone he knows because he knows that it is so important to his parents. What a powerful role model for our own children.

So.... now onto life back in NH. We're moving! Yup, a week ago we got an offer (only $5,000 less than asking!). Appraisal and inspection were done on Monday. Everything came back positive so we will be closing on the 28th of this month!! Crazy! Sung will be back only 3 days before! So, while my husband spends the next 7 days practicing as a monk, I will be diligently packing our house. We spent a day last week looking at houses to rent (no time to buy right now) and just got approval yesterday for the townhouse we wanted. Amazingly, there were TWO other people trying to rent this one place! It's in Manchester off of Bodwell Rd. Not an ideal location, but it'll be fine. Here's a link to it... http://www.beangroup.com/real_estate/listings/Condos/NH/Manchester/622159

We are really happy and excited for the move! Oalin really likes our new house. When we toured it, the tenants had a "Lightning McQueen" car which probably plays a big part as to his positive outlook:) So, there's our news!!! Here's a picture of the boys! You gotto love that they can be so happy at 5 in the morning! I couldn't help but wake them up to say bye to Daddy. Look at Kheenan John!!! He's sitting up now!

Stolen: Velcro Sneakers

As you probably already know, both of my boys were born with big feet. So much so that Sung used to say Oalin had feet like the characters in Lord of the Rings. Halflings, maybe? Recently, I put Oalin's sneakers on his feet after a long summer hiatus only to find him spicy and resistant to wearing them. Only after I saw him walking awkwardly did it finally dawn on me that perhaps they were too small. Indeed, they were much too small.
Today, we journeyed to the mall in search of the perfect sneaker. The last time I bought Oalin sneakers it took us almost an hour to find them because he wanted "red ones" and nothing else. Our first stop was a running store. After measuring his feet, the woman said, "He's an 11." Eleven? Gosh that sounds big. "So, we can choose from any of these shoes?" I ask, pointing to the children's section. "Oh, no. They don't go up that high. He's over here." As she points to the Big Kid Section! I nearly fell down. How could this be? He does have big feet, but he's only 2! The sneakers looked so big. So grown up. They had, dare I say it, laces! Real, big boy, laces! Oalin tried a couple on, but I felt so sad looking at them. I know they are just sneakers, but in my eyes someone had come from behind me and stolen my sons world of Velcro sneakers. The ones that made his smile light up just as bright as the lights on the sneakers themselves. The ones that seemed to scream,"I'm the happiest little boy in the whole world!" These sneakers with the... laces... were much, much too sophisticated for my... baby! Weren't they? So we left. We went to our old faithful, Stride Rite, and immediately both of our eyes landed on the perfect pair of little boy sneakers. Monster trucks that would light up when he walked with Velcro and not laces. He could hardly wait for the sales woman to come back with his size. "I'll just take these." He repeatedly said as he insistently took them off of the shelf. Having gone into the store with sandals the woman had put those silly, old-woman-looking, peds, on his feet before she tried the sneakers on him. Need I say, those silly "stockings" are now sitting on Oalin's bedroom floor because he absolutely had to wear his Monster Truck shoes home. I may have bought Monster Truck shoes, but bigger than that, I realized that I needed to hold on a little tighter, as if I were Velcro, to Oalin and Kheenan's childhood. In the blink of an eye, it truly just.........

The number THREE

What is it about the number 3? In Feng Shui 3 is often considered the number that is most harmonious. In religion, we have many three's such as the trilogy: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. When we are about to take a leap of faith, or otherwise, we say, "1, 2, 3!" Today, was Oalin's third day of school. From the second he woke up, he kept asking, "We're not going to school yet, right?" We kept saying our prayer, "God, when I am afraid I will trust in You. Because of your love I am never alone." He was crying before we even left the house. Thank goodness for "Uncle Chad's Book" that Oalin brought with us in the car or the tears might have kept coming all the way to school. As soon as we were there he started really, really crying. I reminded him that he had two choices at school (I had written them on a piece of paper with some stick figure drawings) "1)Be happy and have fun at school until Mommy comes back or 2)Be sad and have NO fun until Mommy comes back" He told me he was going to choose number 1, but bless his heart he just couldn't stop crying. I continued on into the school and his crying turned into screaming. Ms Mary Lou joined us outside and after I reminded him to make a good choice, I ripped my hysterically screaming child off of me, handed him to Ms Mary Lou, smiled and blew him a kiss. I felt, yet again, horrible. I spent the next 2 1/2 hours trying to accomplish errands, but the world seemed against my efforts. At 11 o'clock I went to pick him up. One child comes out.. miserable. The second child comes out looking shell shocked. The third child comes out still crying. Oalin is the fourth child out and he's... happy!! Yes, I said HAPPY! Ms Mary Lou and Ms Nancy tell me what a wonderful day he had. Oalin says, "I had a good day. I was sad a little bit though." Ms Mary Lou says he cried for less than a minute! Less than a minute!! She said he was a big helper, a real preschooler, and that he even talked. ( a big accomplishment :) I felt like I wanted to dance.. Okay, actually.. I DID dance and clapped my hands and hugged him SO tight! Of course, then he said, "Okay, let's go in the car now." On the way home we talked about his day. He told me, "I hugged Ms Nancy. I painted. I did Lego's. Ms Sara came in and she played different songs than last week." Then I asked him if he had gone to the playground.
He said, "Yes! It was a lot of fun. I shoveled!"
"You shoveled? Shoveled what?"
"I shoveled... hmmm.. what's that called?"
"Dirt?"
"No."
"Bark Mulch?"
"No. Hmmm... Compost! I shoveled compost into buckets."
"And this was fun?"
"Yes! Compost is kind of like snow. I love shoveling!"
He does love shoveling. Who knew a perfect day at school would consist of shoveling worm poop. :) I can only hope day number 4 goes just as well. I told him that we'll get to go back to school next Tuesday. His reply, "Can we go on Sunday and then Tuesday?" Awww... my big preschooler!

Aunt Claire's Garden

Last week, Kheenan, Oalin and I went to visit Aunt Claire. We had a wonderful time reminiscing and touring her garden. We were amazed at all the great fruits, vegetables, and flowers she is growing. Squash, tomatoes, strawberries, broccoli, grapes, peaches, mushrooms, pears, cranberries... and even peanuts! I must admit that I was beyond excited to see a peanut actually come from the ground and not a bag! After our delicious lunch with some garden treats it was time to go and Oalin was very sad :( In the car, Oalin told me he wanted to have a garden. I asked him what he would like to grow and he said, "Grapes, strawberries, and ice cream!" Considering how many things Aunt Claire is able to grow maybe next year she'll be "growing" ice cream, too :)

Oalin was worn out from our adventure to Aunt Claire's Garden, but was sure to cling tight to his Black Eyed Susan that she let him pick. (I think she should charge admission to see all of her fruits and vegetables!)

A night to REMEMBER?

Life has been SO busy lately! I am definitely not a traditional blogger who blogs every day... sorry!! I have so many stories I don't know where to start!! This past weekend was a wild adventure. Kheenan and I went on a road trip down to PA. We stopped in NYC on Friday to spend the night and visit "Auntie Diane." It was quite the treat to get so much alone time with Kheenan! I was even able to capture some pictures and video without a certain someone skootching into the frame :) Here's Kheenan in the stroller... he was the happiest boy looking at the NYC sky!

The next morning Kheenan and I left early to go to Philly where I was hosting a bridal shower for my friend Danni. (She's getting married in October - YAY!) . The shower went well and Kheenan was, for the most part, asleep and therefore pretty content. Here's a pic of the beautiful bride-to-be, me and guess who is under the blanket?:)

I left about 3:30 ish that day with the hopes of getting ahead of the tropical storm coming up the coast. Kheenan fell right to sleep as soon as we left Philly, but then 30 minutes later he woke up screaming. That was the beginning of the chaos. At this same point, the rain started really coming down. I've driven this route many times, but never have I seen the roads like this! I pulled over to nurse Kheenan, drove on, pulled over again and nursed again... each time I would get out of the car I would get completely soaked. Kheenan was miserable in the car seat. He was happy when I nursed him, but as soon as I got back on the road he would start crying again. I felt so bad for him because I couldn't even turn around to look at him or give him a toy. The roads were so bad and the NJ/NY drivers only made it worse. As I struggled to not hydroplane going at max 30 mph, big semi's passed me going at least 50 mph. After seeing SIX accidents on my journey, I knew that I needed to just make it back to Diane's to bunker down for the night. Clearly, I wasn't ahead of the storm... I was in the eye of the storm. With Kheenan screaming for more than 2 hours and the rain flooding the right lane of the highway I was ridiculously stressed out. I kept praying that God would help us to get home safely. I kept telling myself that Kheenan was fine and that even though he was sad my priority was to get him back safely. I wanted to hysterically cry, but I knew that if I let myself go I would surely get into an accident. There was simply no time for crying. And then, it happened. The battery light burst into my eyes. No, way. Last month, the battery had died while Sung and I had taken the kids to CT. We had replaced the battery and then, when we got home, I had taken the car into the shop to have it checked out just to be sure that nothing else was wrong. "Everything looks good," they said. OMG, what was I going to do. Last time, the car, literally just died on the road. The baby screaming, the rain, and now the battery. I thought I was going to throw up. Just keep driving, just keep driving I told myself. The GPS system which had been going in and out because of the storm (umm.. note to self, always have a plan B. In this case a map or directions on a piece of paper would have been helpful). The GPS had me going a way into the city that I hadn't gone before... into a one lane tunnel I went... I could tell on the GPS that there was water all around. I call Sung. I hate tunnels. At this moment, I just wanted another soul with me. Someone to say, "No worries. Everything is fine." I had forgotten my earpiece at home and I didn't dare take my hands off the wheel so I had Sung on speaker phone. With the baby screaming and me panicking I tried to explain what was going on. I could tell he didn't understand. "The battery! The battery!" I kept screaming. Then.. as if in slow motion... the wipers suddenly slow down..slowly they go up.. even more slowly they come back down. Then, they stop. My headlights go out.
"The car is going to die!! What do I do!" Sung just kept saying, "What? I can't understand you. I thought you were going to Diane's." I hang up the phone. No time to try to explain. I need to think for myself. Please God, please God.. let me make it through the tunnel. Like a mantra, I kept saying, "Please don't let the car stop. Please don't let the car stop." Amazingly, it didn't. Out of the tunnel and into the city. "Now what?" I thought. What do people in this city do when they break down? You can't just pull over. With the baby still screaming... the rain suddenly stopped. Thank you God! My wipers weren't working and it was obviously hard to see. Turn after turn. Right onto the ramp. Left onto the exit. Right onto the street. Left. Left. Right. OMG.. am I almost there??! With each turn I was so thankful to be a little bit closer to Diane's. It was now 7:30, 4 hours after I left Philly. A ride which should have taken no more than 2. Like a beacon I spot an open "hole in the wall" mechanic shop that's open. Without hesitation, I turn in. Please God, don't let this guy rip me off. Please let him be able to fix the car. Please let him be a good person. I get out of the car.. get the exhausted, screaming wreck of a baby out of the backseat and approach the mechanic. I tried not to look desperate, but I know I must have. I say, "It's the battery." He doesn't say a word. Just pops the hood and starts looking at things. I notice his hands. Greased, cracked. Someone who obviously works hard for a living. His blue coveralls seem to make me smile. I can't help but linger into memories of my dad when I was young.. of his greased hands...of his coveralls covered in black grease. "It's the alternator," he says. How can this be? I specifically had the alternator checked. I ask if he is sure. And he, unequivocally says, "Yes." How much? "Maybe $300, maybe $250." I try to keep from smiling. I thought for sure he would charge me 3 times as much. When could you do it? Remember, it's now Saturday night. "I'll come in tomorrow at 8 and get it done for you by 2." I am so blessed. I am SO incredibly blessed. Great! With Kheenan on my hip and the rain sprinkling down, I start to take out all of my things.. suitcase, stroller.. The mechanic walks up to me and says, "You drive me where you need to go and I'll take the car back here." This man. This man is an angel. He asks for my name and on a piece of paper with other names and numbers he simply writes, "KERRI MAXIMA" and my number. Even his writing reminds me of my dad. He charges the battery (it completely died only moments after I turned into the shop) and off we go. Kheenan is of course still screaming. The mechanic and I chat on the way and I find out that he has 3 little ones at home. The smell of oil, solvent, grease. This amazing sense of calmness, of peace comes over me as I continue to remember sweet moments with my dad. It's over now. Everything is okay. Every ONE is okay. We didn't get into an accident. The car will be fixed. We will have a safe place to stay the night. We get to Diane's, he hands me his business card (thank goodness or I wouldn't have known where the car was!) and we enter into her house where she and her sister have lit candles and dimmed the lights. (I had called on the way to let her know what was going on). We are so blessed. SO blessed. Sure enough, Andreas, as I came to know, fixed the car and though the part itself was $260 he still only charged me $300 and it was done on Sunday. The ride back to NH on Sunday night was not exactly fun. I had to pull over every 30 minutes to try and calm Kheenan down. He was miserable in his car seat. As I drove, I recalled the events of the weekend and thanked God for all that He had done. Things could have been incredibly bad. But instead, I ended up with a fixed car and some beautiful, forgotten memories of my dad. So, if ever you are in Long Island City, NY be sure to stop in at Andreas Auto Repair Shop to get your car fixed and maybe he'll spark some forgotten memories for you, too.

A little video of Kheenan feeling much better after the trauma of the trip from Philly to NYC.

Paranoia?

For a good couple of days now Oalin has been itching his legs and arms from what looked to be Mosquito bites. Everyday it seemed as if 5 new bites had appeared. Then, the other night, my Dad thought that one of them might look like Poison Ivy. I checked, but everything was so scratched up, I couldn't tell. Last night, while Oalin was playing, I caught a glimpse of one on his leg. It was puffy and white and completely looked to be Poison Ivy. I called the doctor and was lucky to get an appointment at 8:20 at night. For the next two hours my mind started to race. Was it Poison Ivy? If so, where did he get it? And where is the oil now.. I'm going to have to wash everything. Is it a spider bite? Is there a bug in his bed! Oh my gosh, somehow a spider is living in his bed and is attacking him at night. Should I throw the bed out right now? Should I spray it with something? I had come to the conclusion that it was in fact a spider and started my frantic search on the web to find some pictures of bites for proof. Sung assured me that this wasn't the case and that Oalin probably had mosquito bites and they just looked red because he was scratching at them so intensely. 8:20 finally came and the nurse led us into the room. She asked a series of questions... "Where is it?" Only on his extremities.. though particularly around his feet and now today the palm of his hand. "Hmmm..." Dramatic pause. Have you checked the inside of his mouth?" His mouth? No. I hadn't. How could I have not checked his mouth?! I pulled down his lip to find... this...

Hard to see in the picture, but it's a big white spot on the inside of his lip! The nurse looked at me with wide eyes. Oh, my gosh! He has Hand, Foot, Mouth. How could I have not thought about that! Where did he get it? School! Agh. I knew he shouldn't go to school.. look what's already happened to my poor baby! The Doctor came in and quietly looked over Oalin... his feet.. his hands... his mouth... and then said in a very calm and gentle voice. "Nope. Not hand, foot, mouth. It's mosquito bites. And that's a canker sore." Ha! I completely started to laugh. I had gotten myself all worked up over, yup, mosquito bites. The doctor was so sweet. Not once treating me like the paranoid mother I am. Silly, Mommy.

The Next American Idol?!

Here's Oalin performing a song he calls, "Uncle Brett"(Sung's friend Brett). He made it up over the weekend. Enjoy, but be warned that it gets stuck in your head :)

The Curse of Articulation

Today was Oalin's first day of school! Before Oalin woke up, Sung made pancakes in the shape of a truck and an airplane, I topped them with Oalin's favorite whipped cream, and set out a bunch of balloons.

It was, by all accounts, a wonderful start to the day! On our way to school I kept praying that my heart would be broken because he would walk into school and not turn around to say good-bye. But as soon as we turned onto the school's road and Oalin said, "I don't want to go to school" I just knew that it was about to be bad. My heart sank. I tried to keep up my "I'm so excited you're going to school" facade, but the first hit to it was a hard one.

Pre-Mayhem

We were the first to arrive and the first to find out that there had been a switch of teachers.. now his teacher was to be Ms. Mary Lou. Great. For Oalin, any change to what was "supposed" to occur today was not good. However, he walked into the class and seemed, again, "okay". That is, until the mayhem suddenly started.. 8 out of 10 children were hysterically crying. They called in "reinforcements"; two more teachers to try to help out. I didn't want to leave him there with everyone crying, but I knew that if I didn't leave soon it would only be harder and harder. I handed Oalin over to Ms. Mary Lou, walked out the door, and feel to my knees crying. Melodramatic, I know. But, I couldn't help it! The teacher brain told me not to worry and that he was fine, but my heart just couldn't handle it. A friend offered to go out for coffee with me and so we went 2/10 of a mile down the road. I managed to pull myself together for coffee. While there I said to my friend, "I wish I had a little TV to watch what was going on." What I didn't know was that I was about to find out every painful detail right from my little one's mouth.
I was ridiculously excited to go back and pick him up. I waited, somewhat patiently, for them to start bringing the children outside. I prayed that, somehow, he had managed to pull himself together and enjoy his time at school. The first child came out... miserable... Ms Mary Lou looked around naming the kids who were ready for pick up, but when she spotted me, she quickly said, "Oh, well, let's get Oalin next." My heart sank; I knew what she had meant. He walked out, still hysterically crying. He clung onto me and said, "Mommy, I was so sad. I was SO sad." I couldn't help but start crying. Ms. Mary Lou tried to encourage me to hold up that fake smile. It took every ounce of my being to stop crying. He wouldn't let go. We spent the next 30 minutes inside the classroom talking to his teacher. I asked her if she could tell me even one thing that went well so that we could spend some time reflecting on it for next week. She said, "Well, we did some coloring." Oalin said, "I didn't want to color." She said, "That's true. Well, we played with some little teddy bears." Oalin said, "I didn't want to play." She said with a smile, "That's true." She paused, thinking, and said, "Ms. Sara came and played her violin. We got his attention for that." "So did he cry the whole time?" I asked. "Oh, no. He stopped while Ms. Sara played the violin." "How long was that?" "About 15 minutes."

But that's not the torture of it all. That came in the car. Usually I love the fact that Oalin can be quite articulate, but not today. Today, his words were like daggers. I couldn't even respond to him, because I didn't want him to know I was crying.. so he just kept talking... each word, like a stab to my already broken heart.
This is Oalin's account of his first day of school. (Though the order of sentences may not be quite right... the words, I am certain, are exactly as he said them)
"I was happy before I went to school. I felt sad when I got there. I was scared you weren't going to come back. The children were all crying. I kept calling for you, "Mommy! Mommy!" I just wanted to go home. Ms Mary Lou was holding me and she was telling the other teachers, 'Go get the violin! Go get the violin!' I didn't want my snack. I just wanted to go home. I kept saying, 'I want to go home! I want to go home!' I didn't want to go to the playground. The other children were obviously (yes he used that word!) sad. I don't like that school. School is NOT fun. I want you to find a school where you can come with me. Are you looking for a school like that right now?" We were finally home. I turned on Curious George, made it up the stairs, and balled my eyes out. I want to be brave for him. I want him to know that it's okay. I want him to have fun and learn new things. I know it gets better.. but I don't know if I'll make it until then.. I don't know if I can be brave enough.
So THAT, was Oalin's first day of school.

Field trip to Pawtuckaway

Today, I decided that I would take the kids to the beach (we haven't gone this entire summer!) in lieu of cleaning the house for a showing this afternoon. It was a last minute decision, so I, literally, threw things in the car until it was full and off we went. I set the GPS on the way because I didn't even have time to check where it was I was going. Half way there I decided that the GPS wasn't correct. Time after time, turn after turn, I would "disobey" my little machine and the man would tell us "recalculating" "recalculating" 30 minutes later Oalin asked, "Mommy, did you make a mistake?" I finally succumbed to the powers and said, "Fine, maybe it does know where to go" Sure enough it got us to our destination. As we drove in I couldn't help but smile.. so many memories of fun summer days with Aunt Claire burst into my mind. Suddenly, I felt like the kid in the car. As soon as we got there Oalin and I dumped as many things as we could onto the stroller, Kheenan had to go in the Bjorn because there was no room for him in the stroller, and then we quite literally ran down to the water. We had such a great time splashing around and playing together. It was a much needed reprieve from our hectic schedule lately. It reminded me of what was really important in life... taking time to make those beautiful memories that burn into a child's memory, just like Aunt Claire had done for me. Of course, in my haste this morning I left the camera sitting on the kitchen table, so I was forced to resort to taking photos with my cell.

During our trip I showed Oalin how to "pan for gold". He tried sifting the dirt and then jumped up shouting "I found a goldfish! I found a goldfish!" I guess in a 2 year old mind, finding a goldfish is better than gold. :)
No, Kheenan's hair is NOT blowing in the wind, that's all natural baby! We got many comments on it, today :) He loved splashing in the water with the big bro! Can you see our stuff in the background? We dumped it and ran in the water as soon as we got there.

Oalin's Open House

Today was Oalin's Preschool Open House!! He was, well, slightly overwhelmed. He was very quiet the whole time except for when he said, "I'm so happy we're all here as a family." Afterward, I dropped him off at Grandpa's so I could go tutor. When Grandpa saw Oalin he said, "Is he okay?? He looks sick." Oalin was looking like a deer in headlights. Hopefully, by next week, he'll feel a little better about school. He'll be going just one day a week from 8:30 until 11. Here are some pics from the day! Kheenan, meanwhile, was running a fever because of getting his vaccines yesterday. Of course, he was still all smiles. (I think he knows that some much needed alone time with Mommy is coming!)

Oalin and his teacher, Ms. Mary Rose

Oalin and Ms. Nancy, the Assistant teacher

Oalin at the water table with his friend from playgroup, Ethan

Oalin and his Daddy

Uploading Video

Now it's time to try to add some video... it was taken this morning. Kheenan with his mohawk hair :) is happily listening to his big brother, Oalin, "reading".

Adding pictures

Okay, posting was amazingly easy! Now to see how to add some pictures. I'll try to post some pics of our sweet boys. Oalin LOVES "Lightning McQueen"! And there's Kheenan smiling - as always!

Opening our Blog

So, I'm taking an online course about teaching writing. This week we are learning about the use of blogs in the classroom. As part of my assignment, I am to set up a blog. Hence, our blog! I have no clue what I'm doing right now so if you'll excuse me I'll just play around a little and learn.