Testosterhome

Thank you to all who have been praying. I am thrilled, THRILLED, to finally get to tell you that my sister and brother-in-law have adopted their son. Today, it’s all official. The wait is over. God is so good.

1. I just discovered that I’ve finally worked up the taste buds stamina to eat greek yogurt plain. Just about. As in, just now I was eating my Fage (pronounced Fa-yeh! and I always want to say Heck-yeh!), and I ran out of the strawberry jelly. I was able to stomach the last few spoonfuls on its own. Mad skillz, people.

2. We lost Isabel at Costco on Sunday. THis morning as we discussed it, Paul and I put our heads together and calculated about seven minutes where she was on her own. That’s a lot. Here’s the best part: Augie walks up to me as I’m heading to the check-out (he had been, I assumed, with his dad).

“Are you looking for Isabel,” he asks me.

“Not really,” I reply. We did the “divide and conquer” approach yesterday — me taking an older child and grabbing our requisite five gallons of milk (to hold us until Wednesday) and our giant tub of turkey.

“Because she’s right there.” My eyes followed the arc of his point over to where my favorite Costco employee was holding my three-year-old daughter. I have a bit of a friendship with this guy because he happens to be a ref at many of our soccer games.

“Um, hi!” I said, taking Isa from his arms.

“Is this girl yours,” he asked as I hugged her with a squeeze.

And right behind him pops the head of the man who found my sweet little girl sort of wandering without a grown-up. That man? Why he’d be none other than my dentist — the man who knows exactly how many cavities are in each Balducci boy mouth. I was blessed by God’s protection and love for me while equally mortified and wishing the gigantic concrete floor would open up and swallow me Kirkland’s style.

3. Am I diminishing the raw emotion in all this? Kinda. I was saved a lot frenzy because, um, I didn’t realize she was not with her daddy.

4. Time for carpool pickup. INSERT SMILEY FACE HERE.

5. Parting thought: it’s always a good idea, when you are dividing the crew, to let the other spouse know you’re handing off the littles. I had one of the boys bring Henry and Isa to Paul, who had no idea that he had been officially “charged” with their care. He assumed he caught sight of them as they were heading off with me when in reality he caught sight of Isa as she was heading off with herself. It happens to the best of us, but my goodness it’s no fun.

1. I missed yesterday’s daily posting. Rats.

2. My article on De-cluttering the home is up over at the Catholic Digest website. Wanna Clear Out Clutter? Go read!

3. My beloved, my RHL, got me some amazing sunglasses for Mother’s Day. I love them! The only problem is they are slightly too big. Ever so slightly. I took them to the eyeglass place in the mall and they adjusted the ear pieces but I still want them to feel a tad more snug. Any suggestions? I might try warming up the nose piece with my hairdryer? Maybe that will do the trick.

4. But still, Loving them! Isa loves hers as well.

5. This week has included but not limited to the following: Fifth Grade play (super cute and fun!); getting ready for Spring Dance tomorrow night (including pants shopping, twice); all the details that go along with planning the pre-dance dinner, etc (kinda tiring); swim lessons (hooray, Henry! Ready for swim team!); driver’s license (hooray!); Augie’s “crossing over” ceremony from being a Webelo to being a bona fide Boy Scout (oh my, the emotions!); etc. etc. etc.

6. Someone mentioned in a previous post that blogging might be a young mom’s game. It’s possible, and I think about it a great deal after posts that include No. 5 above. Once you get to this stage of the game, your thoughts on the day tend to focus on the million places you’ve gone and done and all there is left to do. Oh it’s such a wonderful season! Just so different from life ten years ago.

7. Parting thought shot: Paul and I went to a wedding Saturday night that was so much fun. Both the wedding and the reception were downtown and in between the two, we decided to grab a drink. It was one of those perfect 45 minutes — we were all gussied up and we popped in to our favorite watering hole. The music was perfect, the Stella was divine. I never get dressed up like that just for date night (I’m usually so thrilled just to have extricated myself that I don’t worry too much about heels and dress). But this was fun and I was on a happy cloud for days after. It’s the little things, isn’t it?

Thanks Jen! 

Thought A: My brother just texted to say: he and his wife (my beautiful, amazing sister-in-law) just had a baby girl! That pretty much trumps every other thought swirling in my brain. I’m so excited! Oh, nieces and nephews are the best. God is so good!

Thought B: I texted that bit of news to…my son. Who took two of his brothers to get half-price shakes at Sonic. There’s a limit to how many kin are allowed in the vehicle, which is fine because Elliott wouldn’t go. I can’t tell if he was too nervous or if he wants Ethan to prove himself first or if he was still so AMPED about dunking on our driveway basketball hoop. Um, yes, dunking. Seriously. Too many milestones in one day.

Thought C: Now I’m waiting for my phone to download the pic of my new NIECE. Technology is so awesome, y’all.

Thought D: Last night I was chatting with a few friends and my friend Suse told me about a perfect conversation she had with our friend Co.

“Isn’t the point of all this,” asked my dear, frazzled Suse, “to get these children into heaven?”

To which Co responded, “In May, all we focus on is getting through May.”

Granted, both these girls have daughters about to graduate from high school — next week. May, the last month of school, is notorious for being a butt kicker. I’m sad to report that I’m not allowed too much complaining this year because several of my BFF’s have children graduating, which makes regular end-of-school living look like a cake walk. Seriously.

Thought E: I won’t lie. I’m glad I don’t have a Senior.

Thought F: For Final thought…I’ve managed to only text Ethan four times while he was out. Victory.

Do you remember the day you got your driver’s license? I do. It’s still so clear to me. I got my license in a borrowed car. At the time, my dad was the headmaster of the school we all attended (and that my kids now attend) and our family car was one of the school’s 15-passenger vans. I didn’t want to take the exam in that (parallel parking would be a drag), so I borrowed a car from a neighbor — the parents of a boy in the grade above me. That boy, John Forde (all my life-long friends will know him!), came with me to the exam!! (yes, I just used double exclamation points, totally valid use I might add). And he stood outside the gate with my dad watching me as I took the test. Ahh, memories.

I got home from getting my license and promptly borrowed the car of another neighbor, the one next door. Obviously, I had the best, most generous neighbors. My friend Suse (see above) rode with me and we went to get our paychecks from Eckerds, where she worked in the pharmacy and I was a Front-end Associate. I almost killed us when the clutch died as we were waiting to turn left at a light and oh how we screamed. It was all so hilarious in my memory, until today, when I now have a son out driving in our van with two of his brothers.

Thought Really This is The Last Thought: the patron saint of Iron Clad Vehicles and Mad Driving Skillz would be…