We are the mundane
Two weeks ago Steve’s 90 year old mother fell in the nursing home and broke her hip. Off to the hospital we were for surgery. Then, last Wednesday at 7:30 AMÂ Dawn called doubled over in pain. I went over to take care of the kids and after a mis-diagnosis at a clinic (sent home with pain-killers), Dawn went to the emergency room. By 11:00 PM she was having her appendix removed.
It’s been a crazy few weeks, but everyone is home and recuperating!
Here are a few pictures of our week in Orlando. Weather was hot but beautiful! The kids had a blast…Blake said his favorite part was his nightly trip to the ice cream shop at the resort with MarMar!
with the exception of Shannon…she already had plans to go to Sarasota. We leave tomorrow morning and return on Mother’s Day. We’ll take plenty of pictures and unlike Steve F. will post them when we return.
Blake’s birthday party was last Sunday. He had 12 friends, you’ll like this Larry…all girls! Of course Reid and Ethan were there, but they were no competition for the birthday boy!
Oh! There was a face painter, so it might be hard to recognize Blake. He was a blue lion!
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It’s been ages since I’ve updated the blog with any family news and we have some fun info to share. First, Brian and Andrea are expecting a baby in September (the 19th is her due date). It (as of now they are not finding out the sex) will be affectionately referred to as “Baby Wayne” (just a fun name, not one of the choices). Andrea is doing very well…no morning sickness, etc. We saw them Easter Sunday and she is starting to have a slight bump.
Shannon is in Italy visiting her boyfriend. Rook (a nickname given to him in culinary school) moved there over a year ago to start his own restaurant in a village up in the Alps. Yesterday was his birthday so he prepared an 8 course dinner for Shannon and a bunch of his friends. Dessert was an individual chocolate egg filled with ice cream and other sweets. At each person’s plate he poured molten caramel over the top of the egg. This began a melt-down of the egg so that one could get at the sweets inside. Shannon hit something hard, picked it up and Rook dropped to his knees and proposed. Kind of romantic, huh? She said “yes” and the party began! He did get on the phone to tell me that he was coming home within a couple of months. He has hired someone to take over the restaurant and is able to get out of his contract with the village. So fortunately they will be residing back in New Hampshire.
Next week (May 3rd thru the 10th) we’re off to Disney with Dawn, Chris, Blake and Reid. Should be a great time…Blake can’t stop talking about it!
That’s about it…hope all is well with everyone!
Here are a couple shots of the two newest members of the family. They are so excited to get to meet everyone this Christmas. They’ve heard so much about Uncle Larry and hope he’ll make it too!
It happened on Monday at the park. I took Reid and Blake for a walk. I had decided the week before that I can’t handle Blake at the park while trying to keep an eye on Reid, so we walked in the opposite direction than we normally do. After a few blocks, Blake started pointing and saying “this, this” (meaning he wanted me to turn this way. Thinking I was no where near the park, I followed his directions. Well, before long, Blake had directed me to another park. It was much smaller, only a few kids. I thought, OK I can handle this and still keep Reid in sight while he sits in his stroller. Unfortunately, within two minutes Blake was bored with the baby swings and slides (keep in mind he’s only 20 months old). After picking him up four times and carrying him away from the older kids’ slides, I decided he could go down one of the slides as long as he sat on GrandMar’s lap. Big mistake! Halfway down, Blake stuck his foot out. Obviously our momentum coupled with my weight didn’t stop us and his tiny little leg just snapped. I won’t go into any more details, but it was pretty traumatic…for me as well as Blake. He’s OK now, with a cast from the tip of his toes to the middle of his thigh.
Gary, his recovery reminds me of you as a child after surgery…how we had to find ways to occupy you on your tummy. It’s amazing how resilient children are. You never seemed frustrated and neither does Blake. I haven’t taken any pictures yet…maybe I’ll get one this weekend when Uncle Gary visits!
…far too much partying!
Reid looks more and more like Blake every day. Â Blake is very tall for his age…for 17 months he towers over two year olds! But Reid is on track to surpass that! I think Dawn will have two very big boys, and very big grocery bills!Â
I took Blake to a family music class at the local Gymboree yesterday. He wanted nothing to do with the class. Of the ten children (six of them were reserved oriental children), Blake was the only one who would not sit still, play the instruments nor sing the songs. He did participate in chasing bubbles around the room. I think it was even in beat to the music being played. Â
So, afterwards we went to the gym class. I lost control during the “Hello” song. I guess he felt he suffered through enough music for one day. Once we had free play he went crazy…jumping on the trampoline, dunking all the balls (about 25) in the 3 ft. basketball hoop, running through tunnels and climbing up and down the slides (yes, he didn’t use the steps, he climbed back up the slide).
At the end of class the instructor came and spoke to me and suggested Blake be enrolled in a Park District sport, that he really wasn’t suited for Gymboree. Can a 17 month old really be expelled from Gymboree??? Â
Guess Grandpa and Grandmar both have their hands full (not to mention Mommy & Daddy)!
Reid (no middle name yet), was born about 6:30 this evening! 8lbs. 8oz., 21in. long. Both Mom and baby are fine. Dawn says he might be a red-head…the name kinda fits. Hope Charlotte doesn’t mind sharing her birthday!