Swimming lessons, take 2

WOW ! what a difference a day makes. Both boys went back to swimming lessons and (vibrato)LOOOOOOOVED it.
They got right in and had to be told, too many times, to keep their bums on the stair. Spencer especially. He liked playing shark with Cameron and would go underwater and crawl along the stair to him, only coming up for a breath of air and then returned down under water.













dun-a dun-a dun-a dun-a....









Cameron like his little brother was more interested in the laay-deez !
"Hi, whatcher name be ? You know, I'm a natural blonde too."

















"Cam, can you put your eyes in the water and blow bubbles"
Ya, not so much my eyes, but here's your bubbles.





















and of course the diving board !









































This is what the rest of us do while the boys pee and then swallow the water and collect numbers from the hot teachers.

















See the lady in the blue shirt. The one with the lips and boobs. and I don't mean, HEY, look at her lips and boobs...that just happens to be all you can see of her.
ANY WAYS ! She has a set of 5 year old twin boys. There was a 2 lbs difference when they were born. Now there is a 14 lbs difference. They look 2 years difference in age. It was WILD. One was at least a foot taller than the other one.
It was interesting and fun talking to her. Of course IVF came up and luckily she too had successfully conceived her older son and the twins with it.
I got a real "family" vibe from her but then she spoke about tying her tubes to prevent future pregnancies.
Ah, who knows, I tell people that I had my tubes tide this last round too. But I SWEAR these are J's children. They HAVE to be. It was a preventative measure for us too :)

Sydney has 2 mommies

I came out today. TWICE !
I had Sydney's kindergarten screening.
The teacher recognized Sydney to be both competent and brilliant. ahem, ahem.
And then we sat together and she went over goals for this year and I said, "I wanted to talk to you about our family. Sydney has a unique family, she has a mama and a Mommy J." I had already filled out all of the necessary paper work, crossing out the word dad and changing it to mom.

I looked at this sweet, kindergarten teacher and religious, grandmother and her face only changed slightly. She smiled and said, "thank you for telling me"
(inside I breathed a sigh of relief...I DID it. It's over)
I took the opportunity to not count her a fool and added, "I'm sure you've taught other families like ours, but I thought it important to mention. you know, in case something comes up on the playground."
She smiled again and said, "Is her other family involved ?"
I wondered if she assumed that I must have been married to make Sydney and then hopped the fence. (not unheard of, and she did seem a little sheltered)
"What do you mean ? Is Mommy J's family involved ? Who's family ?"
She sweetly asks, "Who's mommy J ?"
I then realized she had no idea what I had said to her only moments ago....she thought Sydney had step parents. I clarified, "My partner. Sydney has 2 mommies."
Her eyes only lifted and her same nervous smile returned and she replied simply with, "oh yes. Thank you for telling me"

I went on to tell her that Sydney is fine with having 2 moms and that there was a great book, Molly's Family by Nancy Garden, about a kindergartner who has 2 moms and how the teacher deals with the issues that comes up about 2 moms one day before family day.
She jotted down the title and that was that. Well there was a little more, but that was it.

I came out. not once, but twice.
Practice for the MANY years to come with the kids in school.
Each year a new teacher and a new nervous smile. Maybe we'll get lucky. Maybe they will get open minded teachers. Maybe one day it won't matter.
HEY. we're all setting goals. we can hope. right ?

Here we are at kindergarten orientation Tuesday. I have high high hopes this year. I can't believe my baby is in kindergarten. 5 days and she will put on her backpack and walk a block away to learn and make new friends.

The last of the first hair cuts !

Just a clean up. Both boys were great. Neither of them cried or even pulled away.
Nathan kept trying to give Eskimo kisses to his hairdresser and Ryan wanted to see what everyone else was doing....over all....great experience.

Nathan


















flirting with the hairdresser...he's always had a thing for blondes. and brunettes. and......he doesn't really discriminate when it comes to the ladies.










































Ryan

Geesh, what a pain in my neck !

Before I go in to meningitis and swimming lessons I have to ask the question.
WHY ? WHY is it that you can shave your legs and cut several places on smooth, soapy, flat service skin but when TRYING to cut the skin tag from under your armpit the blade just gliiiiides right over it ? flips it. plays with it, if you will.
Oh and just for your in4-1-1...if you tie a string around a skin tag. It hurts. BAD and it will cauliflower out and turn dark pink, then darker pink, then purple and then kind of a blackish purple before it falls off (like 2 weeks later). (note : a new and harsher pain comes with each shade of color change)

Ok.
Syd said that the back of her neck hurt on Friday.
I just figured she hurt it playing.
Saturday she complained again but we were on mini vacay and we all just brushed it off.
Her eyes had been swollen a little. I thought it was an allergy to something.
Sunday she got a fever. 103.2. neck hurt.
Sunday nap time she had what I can describe as a small night terror during nap time. burning up 103.2 on Tylenol.
Sunday evening. getting ready to eat dinner. she had yet ANOTHER "night terror" only she was awake. lasted 5 minutes. She would say she was afraid of something on the floor and ask where she was.
I called the doctor on call at about 7pm. He called me back at 6:30 this morning. (ANY WAYS) he said he didn't get my message. and you thought you should call me back NOW. at 6:30 am. are you friggin' kidding me.

After I made the call to after hours...J took her outside to see if she would snap out of whatever she was in. Her fever was down at the time to 101.1 so I didn't think that it was a fever induced hysteria or anything. (I don't know if that is a real term...I just made it up :)
She acted better and her fever kept coming down...this morning it was fine. Although she did have another bad nightmare this morning.
I talked to my mom last night and she said....."You know, one of the signs of meningitis is neck pain"
I googled it and it scared the SHIT out of me. She met nearly every symptom.
Either way. Today my doctor said watch for the signs to come back.
Her neck is fine. no fever. acting normal. eyes still a little swollen but otherwise great.
WEW !

The boys had swimming lessons today. first time. alone. in a pool with a perfect stranger teacher.
Cam screamed nearly the whole time. Spencer only screamed when it was his turn and then screamed on his way out and was fine on his way back.
Both boys jumped to her from the side at the end and each got a sucker for making it through their first lesson.
Cam said 5 minutes before it was over, "I'm happy mama !" and then cried when it was time to leave.
Cute.

Our vacation spot....20 minutes north.

We took a holiday. on a holiday. You see, the 24th of July is our founders day. and you know the rest...founders keepers.

We decided to hit a local hotel about 20 minutes from our house.
The hotel came complete with a one bedroom suite, a full kitchen and a DVD player AND a water park. (well a large pool sectioned off in to 4 areas with a 180 foot slide and a splash and spray kiddie area)
There is a theater next to the hotel with a mini amusement park inside.
The babies went to my parents house for a few hours so that we could take the kids to G-force (very cute) and go on a few of the rides.
We played for 2 days.
Today. we relax.
Oh and defrost the freezer in the garage.

Mommy J worked while playing. or maybe she was calling someone to say, "get me off of this crazy train"

















"I want the Dragon....I want the Dragon....I want the Draaaaa-goooon"


















"I'm on the Dragon, I'm on the Dragon, I'm on the Dragon hey-hey-hey-hey"




















The ONLY way to travel. (if you happen to forget duct tape)






















Some shoot hoops, I shot the kids.






















Ring around the rosey, pool style.



















Sydney exiting the 180 foot slide. Did I go on the slide you ask ???????

















Blurry proof....

A whirlwind.......

of family, weddings, hair and the ongoing, no end in sight...diarrhea.

J's nephew was married on Tuesday. We've had family staying at the house and visiting. It's been a busy and wonderful week.
The kids played with their California and Seattle cousins and had a ball.
It was SOOO nice to have family want to help and play with babies. All they did was carried them around all day. How relaxing. I WISH they lived closer.





















I did Syd's hair in a fancy updo....she looked gorgeous.
She continues to talk of marrying her friend Nate. She was concerned in the car on the way back, saying..."What if he doesn't want to marry me ?"
If she knew what a catch she was, she wouldn't worry at all. ;-)