Family Life a Little More Normal

Mom continues to improve.  She sent me to Starbucks today to pick up her signature mocha.  :)  The nurses were impressed.

It is still too soon to know what we will do, but it will be all okay.  As long as she lives, I can stop crying and the rest is easy.  I took one of my favorite down napping quilts in for her because she has been so cold in the hospital and I want her warmer.  People heal faster if they are not shivering all the time.  I also told her to eat more and put so fat on.  :)  The nurses are amazed at how much I get her to do.

Rookies.  I have have dealt with so much worse.  For the rest of my life I think everything will be measured against what I personally call the Alex Standard.  He has really set the bar fairly high.  He is a normal little boy today but that took time and work.  In what I find to be the funniest interaction of all is Alex telling his babushka that the last tube needs to come out - and she should have done it days ago.  Alex has been celebrating as the number of tubes became less.  He knows about this issue well.  They are so terribly sweet with one another.  I never truly understood before now how deeply connected they are with one another. 

My mom complains that I sound too much like the nurses and they have too many rules.  Again, I have done a lot of time with the medical people so I get it and I then explain it to her in detail.  Then she does what is needed. 

After our visit today the kids and I went to a crafts store to stock up on science kits and art projects.  I think we spent a little too much but they were so happy with what we decided upon so that is what we did.  As I am swooning a little during the swiping of my debit card, Alex races back to the valentine stuff and picks out a sticker book for both him and his sister.  He then pulls out his money he has saved from chores and plops down the payment.  He was so proud.  He is a paying customer too.  And his sister was ecstatic.

My children are so terribly sweet with one another.  I would like to think it is my influence but I am not sure.  Maybe it is all the sappy Disney movies we all watch.  I do not know.  I am just so terribly grateful that we have such a wonderful family life daily.  That is our normal.

So then we went home and I stacked the projects in the work area while they tore around the house playing.   For the first time in weeks I made a dinner which had some of my creative flair with the baked chicken - and all the right portions of everything.  Given my kids were so lacking in nutrition when they came home, it has been my most important priority that they get the right foods, and plenty of them.  For instance, my children guzzle bottled water like other kids drink soda. They love broccoli.  They think snacks are always a fruit or vegetable.  Last couple of weeks it has been a struggle, with me falling back on the plan B heat and serves options, while still good, they lacked inspiration. 

The fact that I walked back into my kitchen and created food with joy, is a sign things are getting better.  Now if the eggplant in the frig can remain good for another day, I will be a happy camper. 

We are the lucky ones.  We found one another.  Our family is happy and getting back to our normal happy pace.

Alex goes to rock climbing class tomorrow.  He is always such a hoot hanging off that wall.  He races through the exercises and is absolutely fearless hanging by a mere grip and dangling.  He is amazing to watch.  Daria and I will practice her dance routine simply because she loves it so much.  Life is good.