A first Thanksgiving

In my mind, Thanksgiving is a big get together with extended family and lots of food and fun. This year it began to dawn on me that we were going to be alone for Thanksgiving. My family was all going to be together in Kentucky and Norm's family was all going to be together in Georgia. We were going to be here in New Hampshire. I put a lot of energy into being depressed about that. What were we going to do? Do I make a turkey and a lot of food for the four of us? Do my kids even like turkey? Will they realize what Thanksgiving is about? I was really sad about the fact that I have not been home for Thanksgiving with my family for 12 years. I can't imagine ever trying to brave the airlines for Thanksgiving! So in the midst of my struggle, I set out to make a Thanksgiving for our family. Number one, nix the turkey. I bought a turkey breast! We only eat white meat and I throw it in the crock pot and not put my hand up a turkey's, you know what! Number two, DVR the parade! So I can watch it and we can fast forward the commercials and those performances that are not so entertaining. Number three, catch a live football game. This was Norm's idea and I really liked it. We went to the Dover High football game with some friends and ate popcorn and hot dogs and had a great time.

So on Thanksgiving Day I threw the turkey breast in the crock pot and we went to the football game. We came home and watched the parade on DVR and relaxed. Then we made mashed potatoes and salad and cranberry sauce. The turkey breast was delicious. Even the kids ate it! We had a nice dinner together and the clean up was really easy and fast. To top off the evening, we made oreo cookie turkeys. It was a fun first Thanksgiving with my family.

H1N1 comes to our house.

For weeks I have been chasing my kids around with hand sanitizer and obsessing about taking care of ourselves and getting our rest. My best efforts were thwarted though, when Brayden tested positive for Flu A the first weekend in November. I had been watching the positives at work. They were all kids and I knew it was coming. Brayden has virus induced asthma so I was concerned about him getting a secondary infection. So, I sprung into action, calling the doctor, getting him medicine and taking temperatures around the clock. It was somewhat like the early days with a newborn. Every four hours, checking temps, giving medicine, waiting for the temp to come down, and back to bed. For me, the middle of the night vigil was very lonesome and stressful. When Sophia spiked a temp a few days later, I knew that I was in for a long haul. I hardly slept and neither did the kids. I was obsessed with fevers and listening for wheezes and difficulty breathing. Thankfully, about four days later, the fevers were gone and only the cough remained. That is when I had my meltdown. I had caught what I believed to be a derivative of the flu without the fever and I was exhausted and mad! I worked really hard to keep us well. I paid copays for vaccines and took care of everyone and we still went through it.

The Sunday before the flu, in church the Pastor preached a sermon about David and Goliath and he was asking us what the giants in our lives were in which we have to trust God. I had a hard time thinking about what it was for me but in the midst of this experience, I realized that the giant in my life right now is dealing with the illnesses of my kids. I can't control them, I just have to trust God for the strength and the energy to go through it with them and not be paralyzed with fear about what might happen and just take one temperature at a time while keeping my eyes on God to carry us through.

For those of you that think I have it together...

One day last week I had to take the kids to the doctor for their vaccines and I was in a rush. Brayden had just gotten off the school bus and Sophia was just up from a nap and I had only a few minutes to get them in the car and ready for the 20 minute ride to the office. I decided to appease them by giving them both a Capri Sun juice and a pack of crackers if they got in the car super fast. True to form, Brayden gobbled his treat down quickly and Sophia still had three quarters of her juice when we got to the office. So, we got out of the car and I put the rest of Sophia's juice on the drivers seat so that I would remember to give it back to her when we got back in the car. We went in and took care of the kids and then we jumped back in the car to go home. I was already dressed to go out for a date with Norm and I was looking forward to getting back so that we could go. We had an unremarkable ride home until I pulled into the driveway 20 minutes later and realized that I had been sitting on the juice and it squished out all over the seat and the back of my pants and up my shirt and I had not noticed. Oh boy! That kind of stuff used to never happen to me.

After the transition...back to blogging.

My intention has been to blog about our transition into the fall for a few months now. Obviously, it has been a busy and tiring transition. I haven't felt like blogging for one reason or another. It is now November and the leaves have started to settle on the ground and I feel like we are starting to settle into our new routine and I can now go back to blogging. Whew!

The biggest change in our household is that Brayden has gone off to full day kindergarten. Wow, the house is so much quieter without an active, 5 and a half year old boy here day in and day out. He is doing well. He loves the bus, I am convinced it is his favorite part because that is all he talks about consistently. The first few weeks of school he came home and just sat on the couch and stared. He's a little better now but by Thursday, don't even try to talk to him. He's burnt. I am amazed at the things he has picked up. He has a working knowledge of things like Star Wars, GX racers, Transformers and Bakugan. When I asked him how he knew about this stuff he said, "From the bus" Mind you, he only rides 20 minutes each way! He also is learning how to sound out words. If we prompt him, he can sound out a lot of one syllable words. I have discovered that I have to catch him off guard to find out what is going on at school. He tells me things when I am putting him to bed and not when he gets off the bus. Some days he offers information. One afternoon, he told Norm, "Dad, I wish I could burp anytime I want to! That's so cool." We always find out what kids are getting in trouble too, I am not sure if he is excluding himself from the list or not but it seems that he is trying to play with the kids that are not in trouble, most of the time it is the girls. Our first parent teacher conference is this week so maybe we'll find out more then. I would love to be a fly on the wall in his classroom!

Sophia started preschool this fall too. She goes 2 mornings a week and she loves it! Her teachers make a big deal about her and she loves them! I am so happy about that because I was afraid that she would be too shy. One by product of Brayden being at school all day is that Sophia now talks twice as much or maybe even more! Her sentences seem even more complex and eloquent than Brayden's were at her age. I don't know why I am surprised but I am. She is such a girly girl. She knows just how she wants things and she loves the Disney princesses, lipstick and wants to pick out her own clothes. I have found that if she doesn't like something that I choose for her, she just won't wear it. I have returned very very cute outfits because they would never have gotten worn. Her teacher and I have also noticed that she has a flair for coloring and matching color. She sorts and organizes her colors into matching or complimentary piles and according to her teacher, colors above average for a three year old. Her favorite colors to use are yellow, red and orange. She also prefers lavender to pink. I am sure some psychologist might have some insight as to what that means but it is pretty entertaining to watch her.

So, with everyone being in school, I have had a small amount of free time that I did not have before. I am still trying to figure out what to do with it but one thing that did happen was that I get to work out a little more. I trained for and ran my first 5K in October and my house gets cleaned a little more often than it did before. I think I like this phase of life, now that we are getting used to it. Now to think about the holidays...stay tuned.