The Perfect Evening

Normally, we head out to the beach in the morning, fight for a place to park, then fight for a place to set up camp on the busy beach. We last about 2 hours in the scorching sun and head home sticky and sweaty. Don't get me wrong, we LOVE the beach, but this week we wanted to try something different.

We left around 4pm, got to the beach at 4:45 and found the parking lot empty. It was still pretty warm and the beach as sprinkled with a few families. We swam, played in the sand, and took a zillion pictures until sunset. After a bbq dinner from a little hole in the wall place and ice cream from a little shop that I have been going to since I was a kid, we rode home with the sunset on one side of us and the moon rising on the other, singing along with the radio at the top of our lungs. Feeling nothing, but bliss.

They are growing so fast, I want to take these moments and freeze them.

Happy Father's Day

I loved him before I ever thought of him as a father. I never really had doubts, I just wasn't thinking that far ahead.

He wasn't the type to snuggle and coo at our friend's babies. I wondered if he had even held at baby. But the second Noah was born, those worries faded. He gave him his first bath, changed all his diapers, and even whipped up bottles with ease (I had a csection and couldn't do much at first). He shared night time duties with all three boys, even on work nights. I listened to other friends complain at play-dates, about not having any help and thanked my lucky stars I was so blessed.

He is more than a good dad. He is hands on, strong, active, loving, pretty much all the things I would put into a dream dad. He helps with homework, plays football in the evenings, and video games when it's too hot to play.



He is teaching them to be good husbands, by being affectionate, respectful and loving to me. Nothing brings on little boys squeals of disgust like seeming mommy and daddy smooch and every time he tells them, "It is when you DON'T see kissing that you should be upset".

Because they couldn't wait til the actual Father's day, the boys gave him home-made cards and sang him a song they made up just for him. He also got pirate beach stuff and a spanky new phone. The kids aren't the only ones who suck at holding out on gifts.

Happy Father's day to all the wonderful dads out there.

Why I Once Again WIN at Parenting

Today we went swimming at Wekiva Springs. For those of you who have never been swimming in a natural spring in Florida, let me tell you the water is COLD, 72 degrees all year round. It has been unbelievably hot here, with heat indexes around 105-109 all week. Today it wasn't quiet that hot, but it was more than warm.

We made our way down to the water... Having been there a million times I knew the only way to get used to the temp was to dive right in. I may have been a lot, but it's been several years since I was there.

I dove and came up literally GASPING for air, I *might* have screamed "shit". After a minute or ten, I started to get used to it. The kids however, were more reluctant and the water around the stairs was very deep. My hubby led them around to a shallow part, by the time I swam there, all three were in the water. Noah was NOT happy.

Let me preface by saying, Noah likes potty words. It's a daily battle, but with the Autism, I tend to lose.

I convinced Noah the only way to get used to the cold was to go underwater. So while he was holding me with a death grip we went under. As soon as I hit the surface I heard Noah scream, "Shitdamnfuck" followed by, "oohh sorry mommy but shhh shh shh shit it's cold"! I wanted to be mad. REALLY. But I couldn't stop laughing. I laughed until tears poured out of my eyes.

He never got used to it.

We got home three hours ago and I am still cold.

Favorite Children's Books

This is my first Girl Talk Thursday!
I loved reading as a kid, I mean LOVED. My childhood wasn't filled with happy fluffiness, reading provided an escape. I spent most of my time huddled up with a book. I still love to read.

My favorite books by far were the Little House Series, I can't even count the times I read them all. One of my few regrets of not having a girl is sharing these books with them. I am hoping at least one of the boys will like them

A close second is The Secret Garden, (happy sigh) I still love this book. It was the perfect parallel to my need to escape.

Another favorite was Matilda. I think everyone loved that book.

Like every kid in the 80's, I loved anything from Judy Bloom, Sweet Valley High, and the Baby Sitters Club books.

What were your favorite childhood books?

A Getaway and Eleven Years

Yesterday was our 11th wedding anniversary. All the fantastical I said about our marriage last year, are still true. We have faced a few more trials, had some more fun, and love each other even more than we did before.

To celebrate and to take a break from all the stress, we joined my sister and her best friends family for a beach weekend. We stayed at a little family hotel on Daytona Beach. The kids swam, ran in the sand, pigged out on bbq and had a blast.


After we thought the kids had fallen sleep, my sister came to babysit them and let us walk on the beach. It was incredible. The beach was very dark and peaceful we sat in the sand and listened to the waves, the only lights were the stars and a Ferris wheel in the distance. There was smooching, hand holding, slow dancing to the sound of the ocean and lots of general mushy love stuff. It was freaking amazing.
Of course we returned to our room to find three wide awake boys jumping on beds.

Ahem. Auntie Mandy is not a the best at discipline. But the time alone was worth it. Seriously, thank you sis.

We drove home today, relaxed, happy, sandy, and tired. Awesome weekend.

Momma Needs a Break

Noah "broke" his nose this weekend. He face planted into the train table after trying to flip off the couch. At first I thought it was just a scrape, then I noticed it bruised at bedtime. The next morning it was HUGE. It was a holiday, so we went to an after hours pediatric clinic. The doctor said there were more than likely fractures, but there was nothing they could do. We just kept ice on it and the swelling went down. One of the weirdest aspects of his autism, is his pain tolerance. The kid feels very little pain. When he fell, he just stood up, grabbed his nose and said ouch. He never complained about it hurting at all. I know I would have needed some serious pain meds considering how bad it looked.

Then yesterday, the oldest two went off to school and I took Isaiah to a swimming play date. He had a blast swimming for almost 3 hours straight. He also inhale two hot dogs, some cookies, chips, and juice boxes.

Can you guess where this is going?

On the way home, he started to scream and cry his tummy hurt. Isaiah is NOT a complainer, so I got worried. Then without so much as a gag, he went exorcist on me all over our van. We raced home, right as it started trying to escape the other end. He had a bath and fell asleep. I felt bad, but I had to wake him so we could pick up the other two. I grabbed a plastic bag on the way out the door, thank God I did, because he threw up again. Nothing like trying to catch puke while DRIVING in a car line.

I started to get worried. He looked horrible. Cold, clammy, shaking, very sleepy, getting sick on both ends frequently, and limp. I took to twitter to ask if maybe swallowing pool water could do this and someone suggested what I was already fearing, dry drowning...

So I PANICKED and called the doctor. We drove straight there. He got very sick in the office again. The doctor said his lungs were clear and he probably just drank too much pool water and in combination with hot dogs and heat made him very sick.
He was much better by bed time, he is still a little off today, but holding food down.

The van has been shampooed, In case you were wondering, hot dog barf is the the WORST smell EVER.