Its Quiet Around Here

The house is silent. Not a sound being made anywhere other than my fingers on this keyboard and the quiet breathing taking place in the crib in our nursery. Wow, I love that last phrase! Quiet breathing...taking place in the crib...in our nursery. Great words. When you've listened to the constant hum of an oscillator as it takes breaths for your child or the constant alarming of the conventional ventilator as it breathes for you child nothing sounds sweeter than their quiet breaths as their lungs push air in out and on their own. To top that off its taking place in a crib not a giant hospital bed and its in our own nursery just down the hall from my room. Life is blessed, but my house is too, too quiet this morning. Something Ashley Kate and I are going to have to adjust too. Dave took Blake to his first day of classes at the new school around 7:30 and then he and Allie climbed onto the back of his bike and road away at 7:45. As he pulled out of the driveway he urged Blake to hurry and drink his cleanse drink because they were half way there. He told me about the smile that crossed our sons face and the laughter they shared. Did I tell you guys that I bought a house across from his school? Yeah, I think I left that out, but don't kid yourselves, I knew exactly what I was doing. If my kid needs me I can be there in about 3 minutes. Literally. So for the next 5 years, his last 5 under our roof, I'll be no more than 3 minutes from him at any given moment. I'm ready and willing to run there if need be. I know it sounds crazy but we really do love the house. The whole across from the campus thing was just a HUGE bonus that God threw in for my own peace of mind. Honest it was.

So...I slept about a half hour all night long. So nervous. Butterflies in my stomach and all. You would have thought he was leaving for college not middle school. I'm just not loving the idea of him being surrounded by hundreds of kids from hundreds of families that we don't know. It does something to my insides when I consider all he is going to be exposed to. We've talked long and hard about who he is. We've reminded him that we are praying for him all throughout the day. We've encouraged him to stop and pray if it all gets a little overwhelming. We know of two Godly, Christian teachers that he has and one of them is keeping a close eye on our kid for us. That encourages my heart. A little. He has a good, solid group of kids that come from good, solid families that attend this school. I'm hoping he comes across them at some point today. I know they all start the day together in athletics and I can't think of a better way to start the day than that. Working out with your friends. Thats right up his alley. He's going to be great. On the other hand, his mom is a nervous wreck. I've done my best not to show it to him, but I am. I've been so excited with him and done tons of encouraging, but behind the scenes I've spent a night or two crying my eyes out wondering if this is where he's supposed to be.

Our Allie? She's a whole different story. Attending the school she's been in for the last 3 years with families whom we know have the same value system and faith as we do. Teachers who all love the Lord and pray daily for our daughter. As she climbed onto the back of her dad's bike I prayed for their safety as the two thrill seekers in our family sped off toward her school. Riding motorcycles? Blake has no interest. Allie will probably own one just like her dad's before she owns her first car. Its just the way they are wired. Completely different. Blake won't do anything that could jeopardize his ability to play ball. No risk taking in his department. Allie? Since the time she could walk has lived by the motto "everything is worth a beating". Live life to the fullest, most dangerous, most exhilarating, most exciting moment that you can. And she does. So needles to say at this point our plan is leave her exactly where she is. A controlled environment. She needs the structure otherwise I might find her swinging from the flag pole in front of the school just for the fun of it. She lives life a little wild like that. She's a blessing. A huge blessing that keeps me on my toes. I love her more than life and I'm praying she survives long enough to live hers.

Dave and I got a huge laugh this weekend as we visited about the different personalities in our kids. Ash's new thing this summer has been watching "Finding Nemo". She loves the movie. Loves it. We've seen it about a thousand times since the first of June. So Dave reminded me of the scene with the jellies. Remember when Marlin and Dory found themselves surrounded by them? Marlin says to Dory, "We're going to play a game."

"A game? A game? Ooohhh I love games."

"Yes, a game, but we need rules."

He goes on to explain the rules to Dory and she finally interrupts and says,

"Yeah, yeah, yeah ...Ok, something about tentacles. I got it, now lets go!"

So there you have it. Blake is Marlin and Allison is Dory. That pretty much explains the difference between the two of them. Yep, Allie is a Dory. Life is all about having fun and paying attention to the rules isn't that high on her priority list. Just doesn't seem that important to her.

We witnessed it over and over again at the theme park this weekend. Allie did EVERYTHING at least twice and the more dangerous the better. Blake enjoyed watching Ashley Kate hang out with the puffins more than riding the rides. He had just as good as time as she did. They just spent their time differently. Ashley Kate? Had the time of her life. It was as if she found herself in the middle of "Finding Nemo" and she couldn't have been happier. It was a perfect trip to take her on! I'm working on a slide show to share with you of her trip. The looks on her face are priceless! She was completely caught up in the moment. We had a wonderful time together.

So today Ash and I will have a therapy session this morning with her OT working on signing and such, then we will take the car to have the brakes replaced and the tires rotated, and then we will wait around for the kids to get out of practice this evening. Its going to be a long day. We won't see Blake until after 5:30. I can't wait to find out how the day went. We might get to pick up Allison around 3:30 if she doesn't have practice. We haven't heard just yet. So perhaps it will only be 7 or 8 more hours till we get one of them back. That will make Ash happy. She misses them when they are gone.

Guess I better go prepare meds, and then find something else to keep us busy. Maybe laundry? That's probably a good idea. Have a blessed day. Trish