Friday night in the big town............

Well long time, no post!! Spring has sprung and we are now quickly transitioning to summer mode. The weather has been so pleasant and the days getting so much longer, we are getting shorter on sleep and crankier by the day, as we count down the days until the end of school. The last month of school has been chock full of field trips, celebration days, super kids days, award ceremonies, teacher appreciation week, and on, and on. Quite frankly, it seems we quit having school about a month ago and we're all just coasting until May 22, 2008. Just in case you think I might be upset about this, NO I'M NOT!! I am loving these easygoing, no homework evenings as we are running around to t-ball games and end of the year events. Only 4 more days to go now, but who's counting? Logan has decided that he only wants to go to 2nd grade if he can have his same teacher. Logan has had one of the best 1st grade teachers on the planet this year and has really thrived under her teaching. He has become an avid reader and is currently reading on a 4th grade level. He rec'd the top speller award as well (following in his mother's footsteps with a natural ability to spell). He did not, however, win the penmanship award despite his ongoing efforts to teach himself to write in cursive. He has taken to school with ease and we couldn't be more pleased with his success this year. I know he's ready for a break and is excited about all the field trips he's getting to go on over the summer.
I am cutting back my days at work to 2/week for the summer to spend the most time possible with the kids. On those days the kids will continue to go to the daycare where they go after school now. They have a neat summer program for the boys with an "Around the World" theme this summer. The boys will get to go on trips to lots of fun places, have water/swim days, etc. It is not cheap but cheaper than I could take them most of those places as they get group discounts. I also promised the boys that I would take each of them separately wherever they wanted to go as a 1-on-1 day with mom. I am relishing the fact that at least for now this really excites them. I want to stay 'cool' as long as possible.
I had my first big episode of life lesson/accountability with Logan this past week. His school hosted a Ned's YOYO show (part of those crazy non-educational days we've been having) last week and of course there were yoyos to purchase for the bargain price of $6.50. Logan apparently mentioned this to his father who proceeded to tell him that he could use his own money (what money?) but he wasn't providing it. So Logan in his creativity basically pulled a fast one over on his sweet, unsuspecting brother by convincing him that he would share this 'really cool' yoyo if Garrett would give him the money to buy it. (Garrett just happened to have $6.50 in his piggy bank.) So the two of them gathered the funds, zipped it up in a zip-loc baggie, and stashed it away in Logan's backpack while mom was none the wiser. Unbeknownst to Logan I was looking through his backpack as I do every day and found the ziploc, counted the money, and not knowing what it was for, questioned it. When Logan became quiet and remorseful looking, I knew something was up. He reluctantly confessed what they had done. Now this discovery of mine happened in the morning on our way out the door to school so while I confiscated the yoyo fund, I simply reminded Logan that this was not ok and while I loved him none the less, we'd resolve it that evening. I must admit that as I was driving home from work several hrs later, after I had relaxed from my initial dislike of his dishonesty I was feeling somewhat softer and really dreading the confrontation ahead. It really is true what they say about punishment being harder on the parent that the child. I marched into the house determined to stick to my guns with the decision I'd made that morning to make the punishment suitable to the crime. Long story shorter, Logan was not allowed to purchase the yoyo even with his own money as he went about it the wrong way, lesson learned, another year shaved off mom's life.
I hope that with each of these parenting challenges I will become more hardened to the pain of punishment necessary for the ultimate good in the raising of my precious children. I know I've spoken recently of my own sadness as I am leaving my years as mother of preschoolers behind and transitioning to mother of school agers. I continue to reap the benefits of older children like more sleep, fewer diapers, independent seatbelt management, improved communication, etc, however the new challenges seem even bigger. Now I am trying to instill respect for authority, love for education, healthy lifestyle choices, prudent decision-making, etc, in a world that seems to teach just the opposite. WOW, what a huge responsibility.
I have had this book for a few years now that is by an author that wrote some books related to pregnancy and parenting of small children that I found both very humorous and helpful as I was passing through those years of my life. This book is entitled something like "Getting you Groove Back" and addresses many of the issues I am now encountering in my daily life. As I said I've had the book for a while now but have never actually read it b/c it didn't seem applicable until now. I've been reading it a little at a time as it has the tendency to make me even more crazy as she is bringing up issues that I am likely to face but just haven't come up yet. I guess forewarned is forearmed.
On a lighter note, I had a nice Mother's Day with my precious family. We went to church and came home for a quiet afternoon. Mark really tried hard this year and got me a great gift and coached the kids not to spill the beans before the big day. Garrett actually let it slip twice but the funny thing was he didn't even realize it. When I opened the gift he was like, "Isn't that the best surprise ever, Mom?" It was priceless! I've been reflecting on what it means to be a mom as I try every day to be an even better mom. I tend to beat myself up when I don't feel perfect but it leaves lots of room to do better the next day. I've really been taking it one day at a time and appreciating the small things, converations in the car, hugs when you least expect them, even growing together through life's lessons that require punishment.

I started a long time ago keeping a journal for each of my kids to jot down funny things they did as kids, special attachments, 1st favorite movies, etc. Just stuff that I know I won't remember down the road as my brain gets more and more crowded with information. As you might imagine, maintaining these journals is a chore in itself, so I am continually jotting down little blurbs on random post-it notes. These are a few of my random notes and thoughts related to the joy/pain of what it means/involves to be a mom.
1) Secretion manager: Moms are expected to be prepared to wipe, scoop, dry, or provide any other maintainance of secretions of any sort without generating a gag reflex. Fortunately God seems to build something into moms that makes the possible with your own kids, although it's a little harder with other people's kids. This week Addi was riding in the back of the van with her bubbas (something she loves to do) and Garrett says, "hey mom, Addi has a snotty nose and needs a tissue, no wait she's lickin' it, yep she got it all!"
2)Fashion coordinator: When a mom picks out clothing for the day, so much goes into that decision than meets the eye. For example when Mark picks out an outfit it is basically a shirt, pants, shoes and socks. They might match and they are generally weather appropriate. When a mom picks out the wardrobe for the day she is taking into account the events of the day-including potential to transition from general play to dinner out with company, weather -including OK sudden weather shifts, menu at school (no white on spaghetti day), P.E. day or not, school dress code, and lastly whether or not the child even likes that outfit b/c if they don't and you just bought it b/c you liked it and it looks nice they are guaranteed to complain!!
3)First Aid: (a big one at our house) You all know about Addi's recent misadventures with injuries so we are still on heightend alert with regards to her safety. The other day as I'm routinely transferring the laundry from washer to dryer, I hear a undisputable shriek from the living room where Garrett and Addi were actually playing harmoniously just seconds before as I passes through. I go running and am met by a very scared looking Garrett who is coming to get me dragging Addi along by one arm as they are leaving a trail of Addi's blood behind them. Apparently Addi was 'surfing' (being pushed by Garrett on one of my laundry baskets turned upside-down with Addi standing on top). The surfer landed on the pusher face first and proceeded to bite her tongue in 2 places, bloody her nose, and bust her top and bottom lips.....lots of blood. Besides looking like she was in a fist fight I am happy to say she's fine and making a speedy recovery, already surfing again!!
4)Time management- Coordinating the lives of 5 very busy individuals is one of my biggest jobs which brings me to my conclusion for tonight. It is 12:09 am and I need some sleep. More later, all my love,

Traci

A couple of medical emergencies................

Well I am happy to report that after a very eventful 48 hrs the entire Stites family is home safe and sound in good health. The last 2 days have contained some very stressful moments as our little Addi Grace took a spill off the couch that landed her is some respiratory distress with a mysterious bump on her chest. Poor Mark was home with all the kids early Tues evening while I was stuck at work. While he was trying to prepare the dinner I had set out that morning the kids were playing in the living room on the couch as they always do. Suddenly there was a crash followed by screaming and a very nervous dad. Unable to reach me for backup Mark felt strongly enough about the situation to call 911 and thus started the chain of events that would culminate with a trip to the ER for a chest xray. Long story shortened the Piedmont police and fire dept were on the scene is what Mark said felt like seconds. They proceeded to bring in lots of equipment and went to work on Addi who was still very upset at this point. This is about the time I realized Mark had been trying to call me as my cell phone was vibrating in the floorboard of my car. Expecting nothing out of the ordinary I called home to let them know I was on my way, only to hear "Addi fell off the couch, wasn't breathing right, and I called 911, so get here!!" As a mother who is a good 10-12 min away these are traumatizing words. Fortunately I could hear Addi screaming in the background so I knew she was at least breathing at that moment. Upon my arrival about 6-7 min later she was still sobbing but seemed more scared of all the people and activity. I beat the ambulance to the house and by the time EMSA arrived she was peaceful and content in my arms, making her poor daddy feel terrible. No if you've ever been around a 2 yr old with two older brothers you know how much of a daredevil and carouser that kind of a kid can be so it is safe to say that Addi falls at least 20 times a day with no repercussions. Having said that, I don't know what protuberance Mark saw on Addi's chest but I can only imagine how frightening it must have been to get him to call 911.

Well after everyone was gone and the neighbors had returned their lawn chairs to the garage and gone in for dinner, we felt like Addi's chest 'bump' was continuing to grow, so after a phone call to my trusted doctor, we took her to the ER for a chest xray to rule out any real problems. After what I am sure will be a few thousand dollars and a long wait, we were relieved to hear that she was perfectly normal, or at least her chest xray was!! So we made it home around midnight and Addi proceeded to promtly wake her daddy up to play with her. We knew she was fine, attitude and all.........

And then came Wed...................
Now the 1st incident happened right around 6:15 Tues evening and oddly enough our drama started all over again Wed evening at approximately 6:15. After a very pleasant meal at church Addi was playing in the church gym with her brothers and several of the church kiddos. She was running and having the time of her life being big. Mark and I had been watching her closely as some of the kids who kept coming in and out of the play area were significantly larger than Addi and we were concerned she might get hurt. Well we were rightly concerned b/c out of seemingly nowhere came a group of older boys playing football and running full-speed toward Addi with their eyes in the air to catch the ball rather than looking where they were going. You guessed it, the pummeled Addi head-on and she went flying backwards and landed flat on her back the the back of her head hitting hard on the concrete gym floor. Once again, long story short, withing minutes I knew she wasn't right as she was excessively sleep and then began vomiting, all symptoms of a closed head injury. So much to my dismay and anxiety we jumped in the van and headed for the ER. This time we got right in and the doctor was waiting for us. They just watched her for about 30 min and decided that she wasn't getting better so we needed a cat scan. Now Addi was very much out of it until we tried to put her in the scanner, so we ended up getting an IV and some sedation medicine to get a good study. The news was good that the scan was normal but we ended up spending th night on the pediatric floor for neurologic observation. Addi remained out of it with intermittent vomiting, irritability, etc, until between 4-6am this morning. We had been waking her every 2 hrs to check on her and when we woke her at 6:00 she was back to her old self, what a relief!! So we got home around 11:00 this morning and she hasn't stopped since. I am completely spent but glad to be home with my healthy baby girl. So please pray for us around 6:15 tonight!!!

April showers bring May flowers...............

My oldest son reminded me of this today as we were running in the pouring rain as I picked him up from after school. I really haven't minded the rain except for the challenges it adds to our everyday routine. I know we need the moisture but it's starting to get a little scary as it started raining in Piedmont about 11:30 this morning and unless I've missed it, it has not ever stopped completely. It's either been pouring or a very steady downfall. It sure has made me sleepy but unfortunately I've had too much to do to rest. Things cont to be busy and hectic around here b/w work, school, and extracurricular goodies. We've had a few add-ins such as some minor oral surgery I underwent last evening. I had a damaged salivary gland in my lower lip from where I accidentally bit my lip. Unfortunately the gland became clogged and I was informed by my oral surgery friends that it would not go away on it's own. So after work yesterday my sweet and caring doctor friends removed it for me. It went great but boy oh boy is it tender and sore today. I haven't really been able to eat and talking is painful which is really painful for me as I love to talk. Hopefully a few days from now I'll be all fixed up. I am glad to have it out as it was making me crazy but my mouth is still really swollen so right now it's like I traded on problem for another. Mark has been working late trying to get his employees trained on their new computer system. The kids are status quo just counting down the days to summer vacation.
Last week we had parent-teacher conferences and both boys are doing well in school. Although I don't want to wish their lives away I am looking forward to having Garrett in all day school next fall which will make scheduling and daycare much easier for me. Addi and I will have some fun mother-daughter time while the bubbas are at school. I do worry though as Addi already misses her bubbas while they are at school and she loves it when Garrett comes home at 11:00 even though he's only been gone 3 hrs. Today due to the rain our satellite wasn't working and the boys couldn't watch the tv show they wanted so the 4 of us had some quality art time together at the table. How nice it is to be home once in a while.
Despite Mark's ongoing efforts he still hasn't been able to get my camera to download so I am still unable to post pics but rest assured we are cont to work on it. I of course want a new camera as I'm tired of waiting but that's just not in the budget this month. So until then you'll just have to hear it as best as I can describe it.

Technical difficulties.........................

It's about time, I know, I know. I've been hearing it from everyone, when are you going to blog again? Well the long and the short of it is due to technical difficulties. For those of you who really know my skill level or lack thereof related to modern technological wonders like digital media, computers, etc, should not be surprised that it took my 15 min just to login to my own blog after a month's time. Honestly the real reason I haven't posted is b/c I haven't been able to download any of my pics to my computer where I can access them to post. I finally recruited my more technical savvy husband and even he couldn't fix it so I am not sure what we are going to do. Of course I think it warrants a new camera and computer but Mark seems to think we need to try other options, imagine that! I figure a new camera and computer would certainly fix the problem. For some reason unbeknowst to us the docking station and the computer cannot communicate to successfully transfer the photos. We have not been able to identify whether the problem is with the camera, the docking station, the software, or the computer, so this is a rather daunting problem.
But enough about our technical difficulties, let's get on with what we've been up to.
March has been a great month overall, capped off last week with Spring Break. The weeks prior to the break were routine with the ongoing business of spring activities I mentioned prior. T-ball is in full swing with our 1st game next week. Cubscouts continues strong with the spring Camperee just around the corner. (Only Mark and Logan will be attending the weekend campout despite the fact that it is a family event. Mark and I decided Addi isn't quite ready for tent-camping just yet, so I will be making the sacrifice to stay home with her.) Addi and I are taking a break from gymnastics as we are plenty busy with the boys schedules. Work is status quo and busy as ever. So back to spring break, we had a great week other than it coming and going so quickly. The first weekend we traveled to my grandparents in SW OK to Hollis, a place we love to be, on the farm. The kids had a real "farm experience" getting to feed a baby calf, seeing newborn kittens, kicking up some dirt, and eating good food. My sister, Auntie KK, went along and we all 6 crammed into Mark's truck for the 3 hr trip in order to take the boys 50cc dirt bike. This is where I really want to be able to post some pics b/c I got some great shots of the dirt bikin! I even survived my 1st lesson and made several laps around the hay barn all by myself without crashing (my motorcycle/scooter history isn't so great). Logan is 'a natural' according to his father and he can sure ride and does seem to love it. Garrett has recently mastered riding his bike without training wheels, a balance skill obviously required prior to riding the dirt bike, but he isn't quite ready to ride the motorized unit just yet without help. It is quite a sight to see he and Mark together on the bike, again I need to show you a pic. So the weekend was a blast and was over all too soon. We did make it a long weekend and came home Monday afternnoon. Tues Mark and I had to work but Wed we loaded up in the luxiously spacious minivan and traveled to Tulsa along with some friends for a day of fun. We started out at the Tulsa Aquarium and the kids had a blast. We went 2 yrs ago when Addi was a baby so she and Garrett didn't remember it but Logan did some. They all had fun but I was the most surprised at Addi's reaction. She just couldn't get enough, she squealed and laughed and carried on like it was the greatest thing she'd ever seen. She was really amazed. Lunch was at Fuddruckers followed by the new Dr. Seuss movie for the boys and a nap at the mall for Addi. I made the sacrifice to skip the movie and walk around the mall while Addi slept, haha. Then we headed to the Bass Pro where we met Mark's mom to swap the kids out for a day or two. Jiji took all 3 of the kiddos back to Sallisaw where they dyed Easter eggs and got to visit a farm and hide the eggs. They got some great pics and had lots of fun. Mark and I worked Thursday while they were gone but did manage to have a quiet dinner that evening. Friday while Mark was at work, I met Mark's parents and the kids at the Jasmine Moran children's museum in Seminole and we spent the afternoon checking it out with what seemed like 1/2 the kids in OK. It was really busy being the last day of spring break but we managed to have a good time. My advice to any considering a visit is to go when the weather is nice as some of the great stuff is outside, including the train ride, and being a hands on place, the kids got dirty, dirty, dirty. Mark's parents came on into OKC with us and we met Mark at the Cattleman's Steakhouse for dinner. Oh, how we love the Cattleman's, thank you Papa Don for dinner!! Our Sat was uneventful for the most part. Sunday was Easter of course and we had a nice day. The boys had their 1st ever ties which they requested and wore with such excitement. Even Mark donned a suit and tie not to outdone by his boys. Addi Grace had a great dress which I found on clearance online over the winter. She was precious and even I had a new dress that I had found a great deal on. We even managed to set the timer on our camera for a pic of the whole family which turned out surprisingly well (wish I could show you). The weather wasn't so great so we hid our eggs inside but the kids were pretty well done with that after all the Easter hoopla they'd done earlier in the week. This week was back to the grindstone as we count down the days to the end of school. The warmer weather has been awesome and we are making the most of it. Well I hear my husband telling my daughter to go find her mother so I must be going. I promise to do better with my updates and I will post those pics when I overcome my technical challenges. Happy spring to you all...........

Technical difficulties.....................

Can you tell I had a few problems downloading my pics? I spent 30 minutes trying to fix the problem which I never really figured out what it was and then finally decided to publish what I had and start over. So if it works great and if not until next time goodbye and have a great week!!

On the mend...............

Well a week later we are mostly better, or at least those of us that were sick last week. Mark has succombed to a similar fate with a nasty sinus infection/cold/fever, etc. He stayed home from work today and we are avoiding him like the plague for which he is grateful or he should be. I kindly reminded him that while he stayed home in peace & quiet today, I took the kids to school/daycare and went to work. This was not a treasure of which I got to partake in last week when I had the flu. Don't get me wrong, it's my job, and I love it but it is hard not to remind our precious menfolk of the different expectations made of us moms whether we are 100% or 50% (most moms I know never get to function at <50%).>

The pics I have today are a few from this past weekend when we were just taking life easy. The kids built forts out of the couch cushions and every pillow/blanket we own. The pics are of them after the fort crashed and they gave up to watch cartoons. The others are misc shots including Addi modeling some of her precious new duds and Garrett in his president's day mask. A HUGE thanks to my dearest friend who took her precious time to sew Addi Grace some amazing outfits. We attended the Affair of the Heart a few weeks ago and saw many cute home-embellished outfits which my friend knew she could duplicate. So we scouted the cute material and xtras at Hobby Lobby and she whipped out the darling outfits you see above. Addi loved each and every one and danced around for an hour trying them on and changing from one to the next.

Hope you are all well. We have one more weekend of no real hard-core plans and from then on it seems like our weekends are booked. Mark and Logan have a cubscout sleepover at the Omniplex coming up and spring break and Easter are right around the corner. I know it's only the end of Feb but it seems as if school will be out before we know it and I for one am ready. Most of all I'm ready for the time to change and our days to seem longer. Ah the wait for spring!!