Pockets

Earlier today, Nolan was standing on my bed, admiring himself in the mirror over my dresser (yes, he does this often).  He was jumping and twisting around when he made a fascinating discovery.  I was cleaning the master bathroom when he started shouting.  "Mom!  Mom!  I have a pocket over here!"  Nolan had just noticed that he had a pocket on his right hip.  I asked him if he also had a pocket on his left hip.  He leaned and twisted and discovered that yes, he had pockets on both sides!  He is just getting out of size 4T and into the slightly longer size 4.  Apparently, this is when they start using pockets on pants. I put my hands in my pockets and said, "Now, you can do this!"  Nolan nodded, but then had an even better idea.  "You can give me pennies to put in my pockets!  And other money!"

If Nolan ever puts his hands in YOUR pockets, you've been warned.  He's looking for your money.

Any volunteers?

I am taking volunteers for people to sit next to Sam in church. It's not that he's naughty or annoying, he just asks so many questions. It wears me out! Here are a sampling of this morning's questions:
*Why isn't Methuselah still alive?
*What does Jesus look like?
*Do you think the Holy Spirit knows what Jesus looks like?
*Take the words 'there', 'their', and 'they're'. Would you spell them and use them each in a sentence?

TJ listened to Sam's questions and chimed in one. He informed me that if Methuselah had lived 31 more years, he would have been 1000 years old. The Children's Bible TJ was reading from said Methuselah lived to be 969. TJ's math was right on.

I can remember these things. Unfortunately I didn't get a whole lot out of the sermon this morning. I wonder why.

Funny kids

Things that made me smile this week:

Nolan keeps losing the stylus that goes to his Nintendo DS. We have a package of extras, but I would prefer not to give him a new one every week. But he forgets to tuck it in the back of his DS when he's not using it and then it vanishes. I think the cats help with that.

At any rate, Nolan lost another stylus this week. I was talking to him about taking care of his stuff. He calmly looked at me and said, "Mom, you know I can't be responsible for that."

Sam had a good week. He was in the first grade musical and even had a speaking part. He did so well. Wednesday night we were at church. TJ participates in the weekly kids' drama and he thoroughly enjoys it. Until this week, Sam has had no interest in the drama. But they were short-handed and TJ sought out his little brother and asked him to be in the drama. Sam was quite flattered and very enthusiastic. As he and TJ ran up the stairs to rehearse, Sam said, "I may be only six, but I'm a challenge." I think he meant 'up for the challenge'...

Nolan wasn't feeling well Wednesday night. He was running a fever and was quite lethargic. I took his temperature to see how bad it was. Helpful TJ took a look at the digital numbers after the thermometer beeped and said, "Whoa! A hundred and twenty! He's really sick! No, wait! One THOUSAND twenty!!"

The thermometer said 102.0. I assure you, all of Nolan's brain cells were intact.

I missed you

I was at a scrapbooking event this weekend from late Friday afternoon to the middle of Sunday afternoon. It was great. I finished our family Disney album and worked quite a bit on Sam's album. It was a nice weekend away.

On my way home, I stopped by the grocery store and did our shopping for the week. So my car was quite full by the time I got home. I walked up to the back door, arms full of groceries, and Bill yanked the door open. He didn't even say 'Hello', just announced that 'You know, I miss you for completely different reasons than I did ten years ago when you would go to these things. You see, you're on my team.'

Apparently, he's saying that ten years ago, he missed me and was lonesome when I was gone. Now he just misses me because he's a man down. How touching.

In his defense though, I have been where he has been. I don't think I've ever met him at the back door, but I have felt tremendous relief at hearing the back door open when he's been in Detroit for a few days. Being alone with three boys is scary!

The facts of life (according to TJ)

Background information
1. I hate to bake (if this is new information to you, you clearly don't read my blog very carefully).
2 My sister Amanda loves to bake.
3. TJ loves to bake.
4. Amanda and her girls spend at least one day a week visiting my mom. Amanda needs some occasional adult interaction.
5. Today was a snow day.

TJ walked into my mom's house this morning and was quite pleased to see Amanda was there. He announced, "We need to bake today. We haven't baked in AGES! You've been too busy having babies!"

They baked brownies together at nap time.

TJ has no idea why Bill and I were laughing when Bill related this story to me at the dinner table. He was quite offended that we laughed. He insists that Auntie Boo's babies truly are the reason they don't bake much these days....

Glimpse into the future

Bill and I signed a contract with Tony VanOyen Builders yesterday to build a new home. It's the four bedroom two-story home we wanted when we built our current home (but due to the hit we took on our Comstock Park home, we had to settle for a ranch instead). The only downside of this new home is that it's a nearly two hour drive from Grand Rapids. We will be living in New Hudson and the boys will attend South Lyon public schools.

Here's a portion of the development we are moving to. We will be on lot 31. We won't have acres of property for the boys to explore, but we will have neighbors and lots of kids for them to play with.

And I also snapped a picture of our lot on Magnolia Drive. This is the 'Before' picture. You have to wait until August to see the 'After' picture.

An illustration of my life

People ask me to explain to them what's wrong with me, and that's tough, because neurocardiogenic syncope (NCS) is so hard to understand. I came across a funny blog today that really helps explain it. Pardon the language.

Click Here to read the blog.

Dysautonomia is another name for neurocardiogenic syncope. And yes, those symptoms all sound familiar. I even have some bonus symptoms. Because my blood pressure is low, the blood pools in my legs and doesn't go to my head. This makes me lightheaded, but it's also giving me problems with varicose veins. I had one fixed the year after Sam was born and I'm getting another one fixed next month. Oh joy.

I have days where I feel almost normal and other days I can hardly get out of bed. My medication causes me to retain fluids. I have gained over 30 pounds in the past two years. I am so thankful I am married to a very patient person who never gives me a hard time for feeling ill and never makes me feel unattractive. He's a rock.

My sister deals with lupus on a daily basis and I know she feels worse than I do most days. She also has to put up with having a confusing illness that most people don't understand. But that doesn't mean it isn't real.

I am not complaining. NCS stinks, but I could have it so much worse. Some people with NCS faint multiple times a day and are unable to drive. But I am still a mostly-functioning, somewhat normal member of society. That's my story. And I'm stuck to it.

Consider yourself educated.