Newport Beach

Last weekend we finally took advantage of Jason's company beach house in Newport Beach, CA. We had a blast. It was the first time our youngest had been to the beach and the first time our oldest had been to a west coast beach. I didn't take the camera with me on the day we spent at the beach because I didn't want my camera to get all sand filled and nasty, but I took it the first night we got there and then when we went back to watch the sunset.

This picture cracks me up. We got to the beach house at about 9:30 and decided to run to the beach because we were all so excited to be there. As we got closer my youngest decided that the ocean was a little scary and he did not want to be there. I tried getting him excited by telling him about all the fun we were going to have, he stared at me and then said "I'll dig" and dropped down and started digging in the sand.

me and my oldest on the beach at night.

My hubby and baby.

I just love this kid.

My youngest playing with his monster trucks in the sand.

He was so brave all weekend, he played in the water constantly and crossed a street without looking, (I wasn't proud of that one, but definitely shocked by his lack of concern!!).

This one hated the ocean, it all started early in the morning when my husband took him for a walk along the shore and a giant wave came and knocked him on his face. The story I got was about a huge storm coming and him swimming, and swimming, and swimming. He stayed miles away from the ocean after that.

My First Day of School

I wish I had a cheesy picture of myself with my backpack but I unfortunately don't, I would scan and post my ID card that I got yesterday but my picture is the worst ID picture I've ever taken, and here's why.

So my big plan for my first day at ASU was to just park in the covered parking lot with visitor parking that was right next to all my classes. Unfortunately everyone else apparently had that idea too and it was full. I seriously did not have a back up plan, which anyone who knows me knows that's unusual. Luckily for me my husband was home, (still recovering from surgery) and I could call him and have him look at the parking map online. He directed me to every parking structure that had visitor parking around the campus, all of them were full. Then we came up with another back up plan, go to the parking services office and just buy my parking pass. He directed me there and I went and got in line and then found out it was an hour and a half wait until I actually reached the front of the line. I had 40 minutes to park and get to class!! So on to plan D, someone mentioned that you could park in lot 59 for free until August 31st, great, except lot 59 is in BFE, but I was completely out of options and really just needed to get to class. So Jason directs me to lot 59, I park, and then begin the 25 minute hike to my first class. I'm not in walking shoes, it's 110 degrees outside and my hair was down. By the time I got to class I had blisters, was completely soaked in my own sweat, and stunk like a boys locker room. Luckily it seemed to be the look of the day.

By the time I made it to the Union building to get my ID card, two classes later, I looked and felt like I had just survived a natural disaster. I also felt incredibly old, seriously, college students look like they're 5!!

I almost died of a brain tumor

Okay, that's not quite true, but I did think I had one, or it could have been a lung tumor, or the early signs of MS, but it's not. So here's the story....
Probably about 7 months ago Jason pointed out to me that one of my pupils was larger than the other. I laughed, checked it out, and then made a remark like "guess it's official, I'm crazy!!!" and then moved on with my life never thinking of it again. Then a little over a month ago I was at the optomotrist getting my yearly check up and renewing my contact prescription when he said the same thing. Except he said, "one of your pupils is smaller than the other". I tried to laugh it off again, but he wouldn't let me. He tried to assure me that it wasn't a brain tumor, but that it might be a lung tumor instead. I had a full blown panic attack the second I sat down in my car. I went straight to my husbands office, cried to his office manager about how I didn't want to die, and then googled this lung tumor that he suspected me of having. I didn't have even half the symptoms that this lung tumor would have given me. I felt relief but decided I should probably go see a doctor anyways.
Fast forward a week or two and I'm at the doctors, sweating and almost crying as he does a full neurological exam. Definitely not a lung tumor, but might be something wrong with the brain. I was scheduled for a full blood work up, a CT Scan and referred to an ophthalmologist. The blood work came back normal, the ct scan came back normal, all that was left was the eye doctor who was out of town for two weeks. In those two weeks I googled my heart out, and then subsequently had massive panic attacks, and was then prescribed xanax to sleep, and then lost 4 pounds.
Today was my appointment with the ophthalmologist and ya know what I have? Adie's Tonic Pupil Syndrome. Ya know what it does? Makes one of your pupils larger than the other. Ya know what the worst symptom of this syndrome is? It takes a little longer for your eye to focus on things up close. It never progresses, it never causes blindness, it's not going to kill me.

At least I lost 4 pounds!!!!

2 weeks

My husband has been home for 2 weeks now recovering from his surgery. We initially thought that during his time off we'd get a lot of things done around the house. You know, cleaning out closets, getting rid of old toys maybe even finally buying a book shelf for the office. This is what we have accomplished so far.

• Using up all 5 of our monthly in-store exchanges for blockbuster, plus actually paying to rent 2 movies.
• Number of hours spent playing video games, too many to count.
  
• Number of times we've gone out for lunch, 5.
• Books read: him 2, me 1.
• Number of times we've actually cleaned the house, 0.
• Number of fights we've had with insurance companies, 3.
• Number of fights we've had with each other, surprisingly only 1.

But hey, we still have 2 weeks left, anything could happen!!!

Some Stories

• Here's a "friendly" exchange that occured between me and my youngest today..
  

"Hey baby how you doin?"
"I don't like you!!!"

• My son received some money as a birthday gift in the mail today. He quickly grabbed it and went running, I assumed to his room. I was wrong. He stopped at the stairs and was shoving his money into the grates of our stair lighting (they're along the bottom of the wall going up the stairs, it's the perfect night light). I stopped him and opened the grate to find over a DOLLAR worth of pennies, nickles and dimes!!!!

• My husband had his one week post-op appointment today, he was getting his stitches out. My youngest was with us and initially requested that he be held so he could see all the action. After the first stitch was pulled out he changed his mind and asked to be seated in a chair. I put him down and noticed that he was quite pale and looked as though he might vomit!!! Poor kid, he might be traumatized for life.
  

• This next story is difficult for me to admit to, but I feel it may help others, and also atone for my sin.......I forgot my oldest at school. It was 2 days after my husbands surgery and I'd had an incredibly busy day. I had finally sat down to relax and eat a snack when suddenly my phone rang. It was the school wondering if I was going to pick my son up from school!!!! I was mortified and horrified and began crying almost immediately. When I got to the school he looked at me and said "you are really late!!!" I was almost half an hour late people!!! The school assured me that it happened all the time, but I'm not so sure. At least he didn't realize that I had full blown forgotten him, that would have crushed his sweet little spirit for sure!!!
  

My baby is in school

He was so excited to go too. Last week at the Meet the Teacher Night he had a complete conniption that I wasn't dropping him off. Here of course are the mandatory first day of school pictures, which I had to threaten him with not being able to go to school unless he let me take them.

I hope he has cankles forever.

Tryin to show off his cool spider-man backpack, I love that it's as big as he is.

Going into the bowels of his idea of heaven.

This is his teacher who he later told me noticed the cut on his lip, and also apparently asked him how he was doing today. He thought it was the coolest thing ever!!!

So I cried a little, but once again I was the first parent to leave so at least I have that going for me!!

When I picked him up and asked him what he did at school he responded, "I went potty and washed my hands!!!"

We're so proud of him!!!

This too shall pass

If you think it's another post about my out of control youngest child you're wrong. This post is about my husband, who recently had shoulder surgery to repair a torn labrum. I don't begrudge the man, I really don't, but I feel as though in one day I became a single-parent and added a 3rd child who is twice my size and handicapped. It's starting to wear on my nerves a little.

And it's not that I mind taking care of him, because I don't. I'm glad I finally have a reason to baby him and show him how much I love him. But he has this ice-pack thingy that keeps his shoulder constantly iced, and here in the atrociously hot AZ summer it's not easy. It requires a cooler full of ice-water that pumps the water through a tube and into this ice-pack....it makes a whirring sound, and I'm ready to murder it!!!

Also, he sleeps a lot which means I have to keep my two children quiet, and that is really difficult to do. He's also obviously very sore, which means he doesn't want to be bumped or jostled, which means I have to keep the children completely away from him. And they love their father so much, and they are just so happy that he is home all day every day.

The other thing that is bothering me is that he was the dishes guy, and he can't do dishes, which means it's one more thing on my list of things not getting done.

Thanks for listening to me complain, I feel better already.

Bullets!!!

• My oldest LOVES school!!! He especially loves that he is there all day so he can learn more!!! Man I have a great kid!!

• My oldest has also recently become interested in having his hair styled so that he can be "really handsome". I don't know where it came from because 3 weeks ago trying to get a little gel in his hair would have caused WWIII.

• We lost my youngest sons favorite stuffed animal Tex last week. Tears were shed by all, except my youngest who held up rather well. We then found Tex but decided not to give it back to him because he only sucked his thumb when he held him. It's been almost 1 week and he still has not sucked his thumb even once!!! But he does this weird thing where he starts to put his thumb in his mouth but then an invisible force field blocks it and he just puts his hand down again.

• My husband and I feel like really bad parents for hiding our youngest sons "best friend and baby" from him. But it really is in the best interest of his teeth.
  

• Now that my oldest is in school I have a lot of free time, however I still have not found the time to clean my toilets.