Kiddos, Updates, and Ponderings

So, wow summer break is almost over. Gabriel starts school on Wednesday...why Wed...I have no clue. Crazy if you ask me, but they never do. I'm both dreading and looking forward to it. Gabriel is looking forward to it. He has a great teacher (I used to work with her when I worked there before kiddos). I asked him if he was looking forward to school...he said "Yes, so I can get away from you." Wow...brave kid. LOL Apparently I'm too strict, unlike his grandparents. Oh well.

Katheryn is talking non-stop now. She is a princess and will twirl everywhere. (seriously) We are not allowed to call Victoria (Tora as Katheryn has named her) a princess or Katheryn will have a fit. So she is Tinkerbelle (with Katheryn's approval).

Victoria is growing like a weed! She's pulling herself up and standing on things and she'll move if she's in the corner from one side to another, but that's the extent of her walking. She talks at home, but when we go out she puts her serious face on and studies everything. She's going to be my mastermind.

We finished the Pergola yesterday. YAY! Now I get to go get some furniture so we have somewhere to sit. We've figured that since we'll be moving around alot that we're just going to get some stackable chairs and a couple side tables. I'll post a picture as soon as we get everything done.

So something that I read recently and something my neighbor said sparked me thinking about people in general. There are alot of people who for one reason or another have to have every aspect of their lives scheduled. My neighbor recently lost her husband suddenly (killed in a motorcycle accident), said that she never realized how short life was and that you never know when you might die and that she has now just stopped worrying about alot of other things and has been spending more time with their 1 yr old daughter and enjoying the time she has with her. It is sad how tragety causes us to open our eyes to what we have been overlooking. Having been one of those people, I can see both sides. Maybe it took several people dying and the loss of a baby to realize how short and precious life is. The last 7 years I have really changed who I am and have "grown up". LOL I'll admit I was extremely selfish and things had to be my way and I couldn't see past my own nose to really enjoy things. That is one thing I regret when my son was a baby. I tried to make him fit my idea of a schedule in my head that I wanted. I was too busy trying to make sure I stayed to the schedule that I didn't have time to relax. Yes, I enjoyed the time with him, we had fun, but I always felt something was missing. I felt so pressured by "experts" that I tried to make him fit their idea of what he should be doing. After about 6 months, I kinda gave up because I was discouraged. I couldn't take a step back and see he had his own way of doing things. Having lost a baby really changed me. As hard as it was it caused me to take a step back and open my eyes. When I had Katheryn, I decided that I wasn't going to take the short time she was a baby for granted. I took a step back and let her set her routine and then I would tweak it here and there if we were going to do something (I knew she ate every 2 - 3 hours so if we were going to be somewhere I would start feeding her where she would eat right before I left for whatever it was I was doing). She probably started giving me 6 hours of sleep when she started eating solids. So I would give her some cereal and fruit before she went to bed. So, because the feeding on demand and a free flowing schedule worked so good with Katheryn, I have been doing the same for Victoria. Maybe I'm crazy, but this is what works for us. I guess what I'm really wondering is why it always takes tragedy to open our eyes to what we are missing? I've just been thinking about that alot lately. Ugh...

On another note, Tom had another test done (I forget what it's called, but it's where they poke you with needles to listen to your nerve) and has talked with the new specialist. It looks like he is going to have to undergo exploritory surgery on his shoulder to see what damage he has to his nerve. They have it pinpointed to a section of the nerve. The doctor told him though that he's going to have a nerologist in the OR with him because of the unknown damage. He was told he had 1 of 3 possible outcomes: 1) he'll regain movement in his arm/shoulder, 2) nothing will change, or 3) lose movement in his arm/shoulder. We're aiming for #1 with a stop to his pain. We are just waiting on a call back from his doctor with a date for surgery. Ugh!