Notes from a growing family

We have had someone sick in the house for 45 of the last 50 days.  We have been throw up sick. We have been flu sick. We have been sore throat and mouth sick. We have been lousy head cold sick.  Dear God I hope this is behind us. 

You see this little boy in the picture below.  I am inclined to believe he is a joyful little bug.  Except that he has been sick a lot (like all of us) and who is happy when they feel yucky all the time.

Departures for work have been aweful.  And on days when I am with him he asks for Papa hundreds and hundreds of times.  It makes me crazy. I am happy he loves Sean so much but when he falls and continually screams for Papa I am not very motivated towards compassion.

Anyway. what is clear is that this little two year old loves washing dishes, making messes and learning new words.   His new words lately: Come, Go, Night! Night! Thank you. Yesh, Home.

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This is snapshot of Junia through the front window.  Today she requested to walk to the bus by herself.  Did she read my mind?

This morning I thought, "I wish I didn't have to walk her to the bus stop.  Oh well someday she won't want me there. So I will enjoy it while I can." an hour later, "Mama can I walk to the bus stop by myself?" My heart broke a little bit.  Thankfully my swelling pride of having a girl who feels capable and confident in her routine took up all the space my broken heart had departed from.  I could say she is growing up too fast.  But she is not.  She is growing up at the exact pace for her.

Also, she got to beat the drum at the Chinese New Year's Parade.

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Sean turns 35 today. I like to say Sean is halfway to 70!  He requested an Earl Grey cake.  So over the weekend I made him one.  The last two birthdays we made mini-cakes from an 8inch round.  It makes a much more modest amount of cake. In the end we don't throw it away and don't use quite so many ingredients. It has been good for us.

This was one of my prettiest cakes.

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Finally My Mom visited over the weekend.  We had a great visit.  Though during my childhood our relationship was fraught with tension, we have managed, for the most part, how to be adults in the same space.

It was also nice to have her in our home.  The past 2 years most of the visits have been in her space where our kiddos are a bit more out of sorts.

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Busy days.  And a reminder that the world might feel like it is crashing in.  But life still happens.