Are you ready?

Growing up the only team sport I watched on TV was football. When I think of watching football, I sometimes start singing Hank Williams's song "Are you ready for some football?". Well hopefully we are ready because our family's first foray into flag football started last night. The only downside to Tuesday night flag football practice is that I can't go to Bible study. However considering Paul left for work at 2AM yesterday and got home at 9PM, I wouldn't have been able to attend Bible study last night even if they didn't have flag football practice. Yesterday the boys and I were in the car for almost 4 hours altogether. Although Nadia is enjoying this theatre camp, I highly doubt I'll ever sign her up for it again because it's just too much driving (and costs too much when you factor in the cost of gasoline). The gas was a lot cheaper in Virginia last weekend; we are paying a little over $2.50 per gallon and in Virginia we paid a little less than $2.00 per gallon.

The boys and I were in the van from 8:15-9:45 and then again from 3:00-3:45 and then from 4:00-4:45. We got some pizza on our way to flag football. I dropped Nadia off and then drove the boys to Toys R Us as my sister had given them each a $25 gift card to Toys R Us because she hadn't given us any birthday or Christmas gifts over the past year. Ian picked (no surprise  here) a Star Wars Lego set. Oliver picked a Nexo Knight clock (I truly had zero idea what he would pick). Then I took the boys to their flag football practice and drove Nadia to Toys R Us. She picked out something for herself and also picked out a gift for Claire as she's planning to attend the 2nd half of Claire's birthday party on Saturday. I paid for Claire's gift. She used $1 of her money to cover the tax on the Elena of Avalor toy that she picked for herself. She took the longest to select what she wanted. We explored almost the whole store before she made up her mind. Then I drove back to pick up the boys, and we all finally went home (another 30 minute drive). The boys' team is called the Panthers, and there are only boys on it (K-2). Nadia's team is called the Chargers, and she's the only girl on the team (3rd-5th). Hopefully they'll have a great season!

Today is Wednesday, and that means we are half-way done with Nadia's theater camp. I keep reminding myself of that because I'd like to throw in the towel. It doesn't help that I have a cold and pink eye at the moment. Paul also has a cold, and somehow he is managing to work crazy long hours on a tiny amount of sleep. On Saturday she'll only be there from 9:30-1:45 so we won't make two round trips that day. I have yet to figure out what the boys and I will do to entertain ourselves during those four hours. We could watch her second and third performances, but that would mean buying six more tickets to the show. In light of my exhaustion, I decided last night not to sign her up for the 90 minute theater class on Mondays that I was considering, even though those classes would only be 25 minutes from our house. If she were an only child, I'd do it in a heartbeat, but it gets trickier when you have more than one child and they're not all participating in the same activity.

We're also gearing up for the NFL season. I called the cable company to schedule them to reconnect our cable in September. The good news is that they have a new feature (that doesn't cost any extra) which means we can watch tv on a tablet or other device. The reason this is good news is that sometimes the Giants and Steelers both have games being aired at the same time, and we only have one tv. This means one of us can use the tv and the other can use the iPad. The bad news is that they drastically increased the cost for connecting or disconnecting the tv. There used to be NO charge for disconnecting it. This time around it will cost us over $50 to connect the tv and the same fee to disconnect it in December or January (depending on how our teams do this season). But even though we'll spend over $100 to connect and disconnect, we still save money by not having cable for 7-8 months of the year.

I'm also starting to get ready for the two new classes even though I haven't been officially offered the job yet (which is a bit unnerving). The textbooks for one class arrived on my doorstep today. Thank you SO much, Pearson! I am starting to formulate my lesson plans for my first week of classes even though I have yet to see a syllabus or anything like that. My main focus next week (aside from our trip to Dutch Wonderland on Monday) will be preparing these classes and also hopefully obtaining things like a parking permit, a contract, a key for the computer in the classroom I'll be in, etc. Two different neighbors are going to help me with the four days the babysitter won't be able to help us out. Each one is going to do two days. That is a relief to know I have the childcare arrangements taken care of.

I also did Oliver's birthday interview today - only 9 days late (not bad!). It wasn't the best interview as he was in a rather silly mood and didn't answer some of the questions, but still it gives a little glimpse into his likes and dislikes at this stage of his life!

Thankful Tuesday

1. I was able to spend more than a week with my sister and her four youngest children (and about 5 days with her husband and four oldest children). That doesn't happen very often considering she lives in Turkey.

2. I got to see my Aunt Tina for the first time in four years and two of my cousins (Vanessa and Brent) for the first time in ten years.

3. My dad and Margie are thrilled to be married.

4. Although Oliver has been sicker than usual over the past week or so, in general his health continues to go in a positive direction. So thankful for the five years of life God has granted him thus far! When I hold a baby and the baby itch hits me really hard, I stop and remind myself of how it felt to hold a baby before I had one of my own. I'm very thankful for our three miracles.

5. August 11 was our sixteenth anniversary. The last two years have not been easy, but I'm thankful we're committed to our marriage. I found

out over the past few months that two friends are both in the process of divorce. Marriage isn't easy. I'm grateful we've made it 16 years and hoping for many more.

6. The basement looks so much better. I painted the floor two weeks ago and then hung curtains to hide the water heater, electric panel, and the majority of one wall. I am planning to buy more curtains and keep going around the room. It was one of those moments I really wanted to show my mom. I was able to show my sister, which was nice.

She agreed that a project like this would have been right up mom's alley. I had to be creative in how to hang the curtains. I bought rings usually used for paper to attach the curtains to a large wire thing (don't you love my technically precise vocabulary) that was already there. This saved me from needing to buy any tension rods or curtain rods.

7. We have lots and lots of cherry tomatoes in our backyard. I do mean LOTS. They are yummy! We also have an apple tree that is very heavy with fruit which will be ripe in the

near future. My sister's kids ate some apples even though they haven't totally turned red yet. Her kids LOVE fruit. I have never bought so much fruit in such a short amount of time in my life before. In one week they ate as much fruit as we eat in a couple of months!

8. I have been offered a job to teach two classes next fall! Now to get everything ready in two weeks. I'm so very thankful to be able to teach again. Being able to teach part-time at a university plus homeschool my kids is like having my cake and

eating it too!

9. A homeschooling mom offered to watch my three kids for about 6 hours a day on Tuesdays and Thursdays. She has two boys (ages 4 and 6). She's homeschooling the older boy (1st grade) and the younger one will be in a preschool class for part of that time on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I've known her for almost nine years, and I think very highly of her. She was a public school teacher until she stayed home after having her first son. I taught a Sunday School class

with her for several years. She just finished her master's in reading at Bloomsburg University. She won't just "babysit" my three but will teach them for part of the time, which will be wonderful as I was thinking at first we'd have to do all our schoolwork in the afternoon on Tuesdays and Thursdays. There are four dates this semester she isn't available so I just need to find someone for those four dates. She will cover the other 24 class days plus 2 exam days. What a blessing!!! Originally I had contacted another woman (grandmother type), but she

wanted $15/hr (compared to $10/hr) and she would have just babysat the kids. The advantage to the older woman would have been that our morning would have been a lot more relaxed because she would have come to the house. The kids will have to get up and out the door a lot earlier than usual on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but that's the only disadvantage. I'm sure we'll all adjust to the new schedule.

10. Despite the illness in our family, we were able to go to the Renaissance Faire. We went on a

day it was free for children, and considering we had 11 children with us it was a good day to go. We saw a circus, an archery demonstration, some falcons, a jousting tournament, etc. Considering we are studying from the Roman Empire through the Reformation this year, I thought it was good timing to make our first visit there. We also were able to see most of the fireworks display in our town that night at the conclusion of the sesquicentennial celebration.

11. All three kids have ONE upward flag football practice each week, and

both practices are on Tuesday nights!! Because of this, I think I'm going to sign Nadia up for a 90 minute theater class that meets one night a week for 16 weeks.

12. Nadia had a great week at Camp Susque. Grandpa wins the prize for sending her the most emails.

13. The kids love the new spinning see saw that Oliver got from his grandparents! We discovered that Karyss (neighbor who is 5 1/2 years old) perfectly balances with Ian (7 1/2).

14. The boys and I enjoyed the National Night Out event on August 1. I'll never turn down a free dinner - free hotdogs, pizza, cotton candy, snow cones, popcorn, chips, balloons, inflatables, petting zoo, etc. - all free!

15. I am still enjoying teaching the Bible story for grades K-5 on Sundays this summer. I'm also thankful Joe was able to share about their work in Turkey in the adult class I attend during the school year.

16. Instead of coming home

yesterday, I took the boys to Treasure Castle Playland. It had been awhile since they had been there. We spent almost five hours there. Today I plan to come straight home after dropping her off because we'll have flag football this evening. I brought my laptop with me and got caught up on editing photos. I didn't take any pictures yesterday. I knew I had a backlog to use.

17. The textbook representative said he has mailed me the two textbooks that I need for the courses I am teaching. He also sent me a digital

copy of one of them so I have started reading it. I will breathe a big sigh of relief when I am feeling more prepared for these two courses.

18. I have received 4 of the 5 employment verification forms. Hoping to get the one from my first teaching position (1992-94) soon.

19. I found out yesterday that the group Nadia really loves (Veritas) is releasing a new album next month. I am buying it to give her for her spiritual birthday. I'm excited as I think she's going to love it!!

20. Although he was holed up in our bedroom (with the stomach bug) one of the 5 days he had off, it was nice to see Paul more. In general his work hours have been even crazier than usual lately. The day we went to the Renaissance Faire (a Sunday) he went to work at 8:30pm and came home 12 hours later, which meant he had been awake for more than 24 hours straight. Yesterday he left for work at 2AM and got home at 8:15PM, which meant he didn't see Oliver at all yesterday and was home for 15 minutes before Ian and I went to bed and 45 minutes before

Nadia went to bed. He got up again this morning a little before 2AM to head back to work. Since it was his only "vacation" over the past 11 months and his next one will probably be in October 2018, it would have been nice if we had done something he would have enjoyed in Virginia like visit Monticello, but considering that was near where the riots were taking place, it probably was best that we avoided that area.

21. When there are 15 people living in this house, it gets much messier

than usual. The upside to this is that when we put things back in order on Sunday, the house now is more organized than it was before they came because we emptied all the toy bins to reorganize them, I totally emptied the linen closet and reorganized it while putting back all the extra bedding, etc.

22. I'm thankful the washing machine still works *some* of the time. We will buy a new washing machine in the next couple of weeks, but it's nice to not feel like we have to buy it immediately. I

also need to buy two new tires for my vehicle in the very near future. Have I mentioned I am very grateful I will begin receiving a paycheck starting next month? Tires and washing machines aren't cheap.

23. Nadia loves the theatre camp this week. She's a penguin! We look forward to seeing her first performance on Friday night.

24. Over the last couple of weeks I sold two toys, a weed whacker, and a carrier for a bicycle for $110 altogether.

Best laid plans of mice and men often go awry

If I had to summarize the past two weeks, I'd say it has been a time of constantly changing plans.

First, the boys were planning to go to a VBS the week of July 31 while Nadia was at camp, but they came down with a respiratory bug so we skipped that.

August 1 did go as planned in that Nadia was at Camp Susque, the boys and I attended the National Night Out event in Lewisburg, and I went to Bible study that night. I had no idea when I attended that night it would be my last Bible study for more than a month. I didn't go on August 8 because my sister's family was with us, and then I learned that all three kids will have flag football practices on Tuesday nights starting tomorrow, which means I need to join a Bible study that means on a different night. Even though I'm bummed about dropping out of the Bible study group I've been in for the past year, I am thrilled beyond belief that Ian and Oliver are on the same team (which means only two games on Saturdays) and

all three kids have their practice on Tuesday nights (5-6 for Nadia and 6-7 for the boys). Yahoo!!! This past spring between the three of them they had practice four nights a week. One night a week of practice is going to be SO much better. This was a big part of the reason why I wanted to try Upward Flag Football instead of AYSO soccer this fall, and I'm thinking of doing gymnastics instead of soccer next spring.

I thought I'd be taking the boys to the summer musical at 6:30 on August 2, but actually I ended up driving to Harrisburg to pick up Yvonne and her four youngest children to bring them back to our house. All ten of them had planned to drive to Indiana on July 31, but due to a GI bug that most of them had, only Joe and the eldest four drove out on August 1. All three kids also skipped the musical rehearsal on August 9 due to swimming with their cousins that night. Hopefully it hasn't caused any problems. I intend to take them to the final two rehearsals! The performances are on August 26 and 27.

Yvonne thought that all of her kids were healthy when she came up to our house, but actually Micah (who will be turning 3 next month) starting throwing up again on August 3. We went swimming that day not realizing he was sick, and so they had to shock the pool and we had to spend about one hour out of the pool while they cleaned it up. For months I had been planning to meet my friend, Cheri, at Knoebels on August 4 with my boys to attend two free concerts, but Oliver and I came down with the stomach bug that day so none of us went to Knoebels. Similarly, for months I had planned to take all three of my kids to a very inexpensive Building 429 Concert on August 10, but I was in bed that night at the time the concert was occurring. There are three free or almost free Christian contemporary concerts each year in our area (all in August). Hopefully we'll make it to hear Jordan Feliz next week.

Months ago I had planned to take the boys to Home Depot for a project and then to the Children's Museum for Touch a Truck on August 5, but then a few weeks ago I had changed our plans to attend our town's sesquicentennial parade in the morning and a free outdoor symphony concert in a nearby town that night. Ian came down with the bug on August 5, and Oliver and I were still under the weather so we didn't go anywhere that day.

I thought I might need to find a substitute for myself for August 6, but Yvonne was right and it was a 48 hour bug for me and I was able to teach (grades K-5) that morning while Joe was teaching in the adult class that I attend during the school year. I thought we'd need to cancel our plans to attend the Renaissance Faire, but we kept those plans and made it back in time to watch most of the fireworks in our town from our vehicles that night.

Aside from Oliver's birthday party being cancelled on August 7, that day went mostly as planned in that six kids went to Good News Camp from 9:00-2:30 (my three plus three of Yvonne's). We only paid for one day for Yvonne's kids, but a few weeks prior I had paid $45 for my three to attend the whole week. It was Oliver's very first time at a CEF Good News Camp. Unfortunately the weather was yucky that day and it didn't give the kids the best impression (they couldn't do things like archery in the rain). So between their bad first impression plus the fact that Nadia and Jenna came down

with the stomach bug and also because Jenna and Andrew were too old for the camp (and Nadia didn't like being separated from them), none of the kids attended the camp the rest of the week. I had literally been planning for a solid 12 months as to what I would do during this week. It was going to be my first ever week of having so many hours without kids for five days in a row in the past 9 years (not counting when I was in the hospital). Ironically I paid $30 last year for Nadia and Ian to go to this camp and they didn't because of our trip to Ohio. So I have paid $75 total for two weeks and actually they only went one day. You save some money if you register in advance. I don't plan to register in advance next year as I certainly haven't saved money by doing so last year or this year!

On August 2 we had stopped at a large thrift store on our way home from picking up the Towfighis in Harrisburg. Almost everything is 50% off on Wednesdays, so Yvonne wanted to return there on August 9 when she'd have her eldest

children with her so they could try on some things. So I suggested we could do horseback riding lessons in conjunction with that shopping trip. We sent up nine horseback riding lessons for that day, but since Jenna was throwing up that morning only eight kids ended up going horse back riding. That was the fourth lesson for my three kids this year, which means they are done horseback riding for 2017.

Yvonne and her family planned to stay at our house until the morning of August 11 when we would all be starting out drive to Virginia for our dad's wedding. Then on Thursday they decided to leave at noon and spend several hours in Hershey with Joe's family, spend the night in Maryland, and leave from Maryland on August 11. I thought I'd just be staying home all day on August 10, but I ended up taking Ian to the pediatrician because he'd had a cough for 12 days plus his eye had been injured when a cousin shot a water gun at his eye the night before. The pediatrician didn't think much of his cough, but said he had an ear infection

(Ian said his ear didn't hurt at all). He gave us a prescription for Amoxicillin and said we needed to immediately take him to the hospital so an ophthalmologist could examine his eye. The specialist said that he had a hive on his eye from the pressure from the water gun and that it should heal on his own. So altogether it felt like a waste of time plus $70.
Let me just say I cannot wait until all of us are healthy again! I think at least one of us has thrown up every day for the past ten days. On August 12 (day of my dad's wedding), all three of my kids threw up. Unfortunately while my sister's family was here (and kids were throwing up on their bedding), my washing machine decided to stop working. My dryer is 21 years old and going strong, but it looks like we're going to have to replace the washing machine that is only 7 years old. On August 4 I ordered a $40 part, and Paul installed it on August 10, but it's still only working some of the time. Had I not gotten some wonderful news on August 9 that I will be teaching at Bloomsburg University this fall! I would be very concerned

about where we would come up with the money for a washing machine, but now that I know I'll be teaching two classes, that's not a concern (albeit I wish the washing machine had lasted a lot longer than 7 years as my first one lasted 14 years).

I had applied at Kutztown University but was leaning toward withdrawing my application because of the length of the drive and because I was told at some point I should be able to teach an online class for Gratz College. I really had no expectation that Bloomsburg might offer me a job this semester. I am thrilled! I don't know what my salary will be yet. I expect to get the official offer this week. I feel confident that what they pay me plus what Paul gets paid now will at least altogether equal what he got paid at Bucknell. That's a rather depressing thought to think that he is working twice as many hours as he did at Bucknell and it takes two of us being employed to equal his previous salary. I'm hoping what they pay me will exceed that gap, but still it is a HUGE blessing to know we can now afford things like

eye glasses and a new washing machine and a vacation that costs money next year (our week in Chicago/Ohio and week on Long Island put together cost less than $200). I'm praying they'll offer me a fair wage. I'm doubtful I will be put at the same rank and step I was at when I left in January 2013, but I'm hoping they don't put me back to square one and forget that I have a doctorate plus twenty years of experience. I love teaching and so I am very excited to return to the classroom. Ironically although I taught a very wide variety of courses there, the two I have been assigned I have never taught before so I have about two weeks to get ready to teach two brand new courses. Yikes! This change of plans meant that #1 we had to cancel our trip to Niagara Falls for next month (thankfully I was able to get a full refund of what I had paid for our lodging) and #2 I needed to find a babysitter to watch the kids from about 7am to 1pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Due to all five of us being sick, we almost didn't make it to my dad's wedding, but we went

even though we were ill. We had planned to visit three museums plus Luray Caverns and Monticello. In the end we only stayed one night and only visited one museum (skipped the other four stops). Due to a crazy amount of traffic on I81 that added 90 minutes to our journey we were 30 minutes late for the rehearsal, but we did make it there and also briefly attended the party at Margie's niece's house (Ruthie) that evening before crashing at the Holiday Inn. That was also full of challenges. They wrote down the wrong code on the card so we

couldn't access the wifi, we had to wait an hour and make a second trip down to the front desk to get a cot for Nadia (as two beds isn't enough for five people), etc. We didn't get too much sleep due to kids coughing a lot and also throwing up during the night. It really made me appreciate sleeping in my own bed on August 12. I'm not a fan of staying at hotels for this reason. At a time share resort we have multiple bedrooms.

The wedding went smoothly on August 12 even though Margie had two fractures in her foot (that

diagnosis came when she got an x-ray shortly after the wedding reception). What a trooper! This meant that their honeymoon plans were cancelled for the time being as she can't put any weight on that foot yet. Our drive home went more smoothly than on the way there. Let me say that drive is a lot longer than driving to Maryland. It's definitely going to be an adjustment having my dad live in Lynchburg, Virginia. Due to exhaustion from the trip and the fact that we were all still not feeling well (Ian was still throwing up, Nadia was still having diarrhea,

the boys and I still have a cough, etc.), we stayed home yesterday (skipped church). I also used the time to clean the van and the house (still found vomit on the wall of one bathroom from when my niece threw up there), unpack, do laundry, etc.

Nadia starts at Junior Theatre camp today. Right now I regret having signed her up for this, but hopefully I won't feel that way at the end of the week. The boys were going to spend a couple of days at Paul's parents, but they can't do so since

they are sick and Paul's mom can't be exposed to germs while she's undergoing chemo. I'll be driving 160 minutes a day to and from camp since I'll be making two round trips a day. That was another thing I loved about Paul working at Bucknell. He could help with chauffeuring in the summer. He actually has been off of work the past five days, which is more time off than he's had since last September when we went to Cape Cod. He had all that time off because #1 he had surgery last Monday and has 7cm worth of stitches on his chest so he is restricted in what activities he can do at work, #2 he also got the stomach bug on Wednesday, and #3 he had already planned to not work on August 11-12 due to my dad's wedding. Now he says we won't see him much at all this week because his brother will be on vacation. Since we cancelled the Niagara Falls trip and Paul didn't go with us to Chicago or Long Island, these last five days off (Wed-Sun) were the closest he will have for a vacation in 2017. Here's to hoping all five of us go on vacation together sometime in 2018.

Five Years Old!

My baby turned five years old six days ago. Six months ago he was in a phase of always saying he was "only four." Thankfully over the past few months he went from "only four" to "four and a half" and now "five." Over the past six months he also became totally independent with going to the bathroom. Yahoo! He had gone almost a year without using a nebulizer, and then on his birthday I called the Pediatrician and asked for Albuterol. For the past week he's been getting on average three breathing treatments a day - Pulmicort two times and Albuterol three times a day. The third treatment is usually around 1:00AM, which isn't exactly our favorite time to give him a treatment, but his coughing has been the worst at night. Several times his coughing spells have been so bad that he has vomited all over the place. I admit it has been discouraging as I thought he had outgrown this, but at least this is now the exception rather than the norm.

The past six months were certainly not the easiest as far as parenting Oliver. He went through a phase of being VERY clingy to me and not wanting me to be out of his eyesight. This made things like dropping him off at his Sunday School class and the kids' choir at church problematic as well as soccer practices, soccer games, homeschool gym class, etc. This hasn't been an issue the past few weeks, and I'm hoping that means he's out of that phase. In two days he'll have his first flag football practice, which means he won't be doing soccer this fall. We actually didn't have him participate in the performance of GPS at our church in May because of his poor behavior. Hoping he'll be well behaved in the two GPS performances at the Alliance Church in two weeks.

Turning five is a big deal because it means he's done with Cubbies and will be entering Sparks next month. He has started sitting with us in the worship service. He's done much better with that than I anticipated. He'll be playing Upward basketball in a few months for the first time ever.

He'll also be starting Kindergarten in a couple of weeks! Academically he's much farther behind compared to where his siblings were at this age. That's partially due to me spending less time teaching him, and that's partially due to his immaturity. I doubt I'd actually send him to school this fall if I wasn't homeschooling him, but since we're homeschooling I am declaring him to be in Kindergarten. Hopefully he'll make great strides academically over the next year!

When we first were planning his birthday party, I assumed it would be the "usual" guest list which is the five of us plus his three grandparents. My dad reminded me that the Towfighis would be in the US, and when I asked my sister she said yes they'd all come to his party. We were planning on a pool party, but a couple of days before the party I noticed that the weather forecast included rain and a high temperature of about 68 degrees. Not exactly good weather for a pool party, and certainly not normal weather for August 7.

So then the plans change to go bowling. I signed my three kids and seven of Yvonne's kids up for the Kids Bowl Free program. I knew that my dad, Paul, and Joe all really love to go bowling. Then on the morning of Oliver's birthday my dad called to say that he wasn't feeling well enough to drive up and back to our house that day considering he was going to Virginia the next morning. So we scrapped the bowling plans. I had purchased the traditional gallon of chocolate milk that I buy for each birthday, and I also had gotten a big container of

goldfish that I buy once a year for Oliver's birthday, but in the midst of the chaos of fifteen people sleeping in our house and many of us having a stomach bug, I didn't get Oliver his birthday donuts early enough to have them for breakfast on his birthday (which is our tradition). I usually buy 6 donuts. I ended up buying 18 donuts later that day, and we had them for breakfast on August 8. I did have a present for him to open (a Mickey lunch bag with two long sleeve Mickey shirts inside), and Paul's dad had brought his gift up and assembled it the day before his birthday (spinning see saw). Oliver got to see it on Monday morning even though it was raining. I felt like a failure as a mom that day because I didn't have his donuts, because we didn't do anything special that day, and because I forgot to buy his birthday shirt. The shirt was the only thing that bothered him. I ordered one from Target that night, and it arrived on Thursday. I also felt guilty that I hadn't written his birthday post. I usually put a lot of thought and time into their annual birthday posts and write them a few days ahead of time.

I also usually post a picture and such on Facebook on each of my children's birthdays, and I didn't do that either. I hardly touched my laptop over the past almost two weeks. Fewer than 20 people usually read the vast majority of my posts, but usually more than 100 read the birthday posts that I share on Facebook. My dad's fiancé posted a greeting to Oliver on my Facebook page on his birthday, and again I felt like a total failure as a mom that this woman who met him once was more on the ball than his own mother. We did swim at the pool two days later when it was warmer out and not raining, but the water temperature had dropped so much that Oliver only stayed in the pool a few minutes. We mostly went that day because some of the Towfighis wanted to swim and really wanted to eat pizza. The swimming photo shown above was from a few days before his birthday. The only swimming photo I from August 9 was of Micah swimming. The good news is that Oliver is not materialistic at all, and I don't think he feels slighted. Whew.

Memories of Oliver's pregnancy and delivery and NICU stay are firmly etched in my mind, and I know he's a miracle. I'm very grateful for Oliver Elliot Kennedy, and I look forward to seeing how he will learn and grow over the coming year! So sorry I'm six days late. Hopefully the saying better late than never is true in this instance. Now maybe tomorrow I'll get around to doing his interview.