Why I Like the Dreary Month of February

It's the last day of February, a typically dreary month, some of the reasons for which my dad explains here. I agree with him for the most part, except that our Februarys get a lift midway through, when we get to celebrate two birthdays - and on the same day! So we have two reaons not only for celebrating this month, but even for looking forward to it.


I have to say that when I was pregnant with my third baby and looking ahead to my first February due date, it wasn't, at least at first, with joyous anticipation. We weren't in a great financial situation, and our house was hardly big enough to accomodate our family as it was. I wondered how we would be able to care for another baby. Certainly no financial advisor (or hardly anyone, for that matter) would have suggested we have a baby at that time in our lives. But from the moment I held him in my arms (after my first natural birth, which was a story in itself), I knew that the truth was there was no way we could afford to live without him. And not only was there room for him, but there would an emptiness without him! I know money is a reality we all deal with, but from the start Ryan was such a good reminder for me that people are what matter.

From the beginning, he was an alert, sensitive little soul, with such "knowing" eyes ( which you could see if I could make the image larger, but since I can't and you can't, you'll just have to take my word for it!). I had assumed (never do this when it comes to children) that since he was my third, he would be the easiest. That wasn't the case. If you've ever read anything about high-need, spirited children, then you'll know what life with Ryan has been like. But you'll also know that "high need" also yields high reward, and that's true of Ryan, too.

Then when he was still just a baby, at least as far as I was concerned, we had a surprise. A deja vu kind of surprise, since the dates were almost exact. And in the wee hours of Ryan's second birthday, he was gifted with a brother, who came into this world after a rather long labor at a birth center (my first birth with a licensed midwife, yet another story in itself!). It was a tumultuous time in our extended family when Jeffrey Chase was born, but we gave him a name that means "peaceful." It's such an ironic choice for him, since it's a word that doesn't generally come to mind when we think of him now (but maybe one day...we hope!)I had an incredible bonding experience with him after his birth - all ecstatic feelings that typically accompany a natural birth, and in large doses. It had been a long but rewarding birth, and he was quite a gorgeous baby, after all.

And I think that experience served to store up all the warm and fuzzy feelings so that I would be prepared for the wild ride that is Chase. So that in the years to come, when he was being so very, very...challenging, I could draw on those feelings and remember.

The thing about Chase is, though, that he can be so...ahem...challenging one minute, and be a perfect darling the next, reminding us himself how wonderful he is.

And with his newest sibling, he's always sweet and loving. There's a tender heart under that rough-and-tumble exterior. Truth be told, I love even the rough-and-tumble part of him, too.

So Happy (late) Birthday, my dear boys!

Rules to Live By

There's so much I plan to write, but for now, I'll offer another "Chase-ism."

We went out to lunch Saturday to celebrate the fact that we were able to rent out our house in SC (because what better way to celebrate an increase in income than dropping some cash?). At any rate, almost every time we go somewhere we review the basic rules of civilized society before we get out of the car. Apparently we do it often enough that some are actually sticking, and on this particular occasion, when Dave began, "Ok, boys, now remember...", Chase interrupted.

"I know, I know," he said impatiently. "No shouting, no kicking, and no calling people stupid."

I couldn't have said it better myself.

What's Your Superpower?

The other night at dinner Dave said that if he could pick a superpower, he would want to be able to teleport. One of the older kids said, "So you could get to work in, like, seconds?"

He said, "Um, no, I don't think I would use it for that..."

"I thought you liked your job!"

Thankfully we didn't delve into the complexities of a grown-up's world, but rather all began sharing what we each might choose for a superpower, as well as the pros and cons of each power. Dave drew a laugh round the table by suggesting that Scarlett's could be acid drool. And somewhere in the discussion, Chase, in his typical volume, offered,

"MY POWER WOULD BE THAT I COULD SPIT SPEARS!"

Sometimes there are just no words.

Southern Visit - Days 4 and 5

On Tuesday the kids and I went to visit some friends, while Dave stayed at my parents' house and helped put in a refrigerator (our almost-new one from the house in Lexington, since our tenants wanted their own). I'm guessing he probably also played some pool with my dad. (My mom is very cool, making her front living room a game room instead of a formal living room, which she figured would just be a waste.)

We spent a few ours with our dear, dear friends, the kids jumping back into ongoing pretend stories (they can do this without skipping a beat, no matter how many months it's been since they've seen each other), and we moms chatted. Lisa and I have been friends since we were 11 and 9, respectively, having met in our homeschool group. We met another close friend a few years later, and we've all been good friends since then. Lisa and I enjoy an interesting twist to our friendship, too, in that our families eerily follow similar patterns. She had a girl first, then three boys, then a girl. Same here. Corresponding kids even have similar personalities, which we always find a little bizarre. She's left-handed and so am I, and we just discovered that both our fourth children are left-handed as well. (Her fifth is also, so we may be able to make a pretty safe prediction for Miss Scarlett!).

But while that is all very amusing to us, I imagine it is only mildly so to the passing observer (or reader), so we'll move on.

Tuesday night my uncle (my mom's brother), who was on a business trip and staying nearby, came for dinner. More food! Only this time we went Italian, with spaghetti AND lasagna. The guys (and some of the girls!) played pool, we all ate plenty, then we sampled some Korean chocolate that my sister had brought for us. It's filling was fermented cabbage, so I passed, but everyone who did try it said that it just tasted like chocolate. I think this was also the day we finally managed to get all the cousins together in one room for a picture. Some were shoeless and others needed a good hair-brushing, but we figured we didn't have time to fuss over minor details like that if we were going to make this work. So we hastily arranged them in front of the fireplace, then two of my sisters and I stepped back and made crazy faces and noises trying to get the babies' attention (and possibly a smile or two). We got their attention, anyway, and everyone ended up looking in the general direction of the camera (although our biazzre behavior eventually made Scarlett cry, thus ending the photo shoot.

But isn't this a nice-looking group?

Wednesday morning was our last morning, so we all went to breakfast at Cracker Barrel, where we had a grand time stuffing ourselves with even more food, then we headed back to the house to get all our things together. After lunch (which we didn't need but happily ate anyway!), we said our good-byes (sniff, sniff!), and made our way to the Charlotte airport and eventually boarded our plane for home. When we landed, it was cloudy and a whopping 8 degrees. I'm so glad the kids were able to play outside every day during our visit, because it looks like it's going to be a good while before they have the opportunity for that again!

So - a great visit. Seeing my sister after her year-long absence was worth every minute in itself, but seeing everyone, and all at the same time, was a terrific bonus.

Southern Visit - Day 3

Let's see...we ended the last post with my happiness over some of the best nachos ever. Yum. Monday morning I watched the clock, waiting for the appropriate time to bring out the leftovers. When that time finally arrived, we pulled out all the food and gorged ourselves again! Yum.

I already said that.

Anyway, it was lovely to linger over lunch with my mom and sisters, including my globe-trotting sister, Erica Jane (insert lovely picture here...maybe I'll put up some pictures when I get home). After lunch, we took the kids to a play place, and enjoyed more of each other's company while the kids ran and climbed out some enegy for a couple of hours. Meanwhile, Dave drove down to Lexington with his dad to meet with our first tenants! Papers were signed, money changed hands, and a burden the size of a three-bedroom, two-bath house was lifted off our shoulders. We still own it, of course, so perhaps the burden is not entirely gone, but it's certainly a relief to have this done for the time being.

We also received other fantastic news yesterday...more on that in another post.


PS It's not another baby! Someone will ineveitably ask about that, so I thought I'd better nip that in the bud before it even starts.

Southern Visit: Day 2

We turned in very early after our first day here, so it seemed like a long night, but we were pretty well rested upon waking up the next morning, so we had a good start to day 2 (which was yesterday...I'm falling behind). We visited with my sisters at my parents' house in the morning, then went to Dave's parent's house for lunch. We returned to my parents' house for the rest of the afternoon, enjoying watching a UNC basketball victory before getting ready for our...


...Super Bowl party! Parties hosted by my mother mean food. Lots and lots of food. We had all kinds of tacos (including shrimp tacos -yum), several kinds of chips and dip, and these fabu-licious nachos. We had enough for leftovers today. Sigh of happiness.

Southern Visit: Day 1

We are at my parent's house today, after successfully navigating our way down South via USAir. If you remember from a previous post, this was the first plane ride for our children, some of whom had been nervous about the prospect and others very excited. We had a 5:30am flight, so I'm much too tired to say much about the trip and our first day here, but one of Drew's mid-flight comments deserves mention. He panicked a bit while we were waiting to take off, but his mood vastly improved once we were in the air, and once when the plane tipped a wing toward the dark clouds below, he exclaimed excitedly, "IT LOOKS LIKE WE'RE DESCENDING INTO A SWIRLING VORTEX!"

Who knows if the other passengers appreciated this as much as we did, but who cares! Great stuff.