Baseball, Father's Day, Quarantine, and Loss

We hit the ground running when we returned from our RV trip with Judah's first baseball game ever first thing in the morning the day after we returned.  He asked me so sweetly in May, "When will I get to play baseball?"  I told him I'd try to find an easy going summer league.  I got him signed up for i9 coach-pitch baseball league.  This is perfect for young kids in a big family because it is only one day a week.  They combine practice and a game into one day.  Judah, being number 5 in our family, hasn't ever been on a sports team before.  He takes piano and he's done PE classes with our homeschool co-op, but he didn't express a ton of interest in sports until recently.  Bob asked to play soccer, but when I double checked with him about actually playing on a team without his brothers he backed out in a hurry.  We are looking into doing First Tee again in the fall, and Bob will be more happy with that since the boys can all do it at the same time.

Anyway, Judah did great and hit a "home-run" which only means that the other team was too slow to get his ball, but he didn't care about those details.  He couldn't believe his first hit was a home-run!

The next day was Father's Day and Brian got a book, an Aggie bleacher chair for all the kids' basketball games, and a bunch of home-made cards.  We went to my sister's to swim and eat dinner.

Even a pop-up dragon card!

Hannah and Isaac felt bad on Sunday so they stayed home from the festivities.  Then there was a phone call from our friends in Arizona that two of their relatives that were visiting while we were there had tested positive for COVID-19.  I got tested because I had a stomach ache for several days plus the exposure.  Brian didn't get tested because he's been vaccinated.  We decided to wait on the kids because I was negative.  By Tuesday, Hannah was still feeling bad and we called her doctor.  She sent us to an urgent care on Wednesday and the doc there said at first look that she probably didn't have COVID-19 and not to worry.  There's lots of other things it could be.  Three minutes later she returned with a, "Well, boy, was I wrong!"  At those words, I was dialing Brian because he was at that very moment dropping Genna off at her strength and conditioning camp at school.  He turned around and went to pick her up, and that was the beginning of our quarantine.  Hannah felt better on Thursday finally and we began our count down for our quarantine.  Brian didn't have to quarantine because he is vaccinated and so he was our errand boy.  I was sick in the middle of the night for one hour and so I tested myself again with a home rapid test and was still negative.  Either those tests are false negatives for me or I am naturally immune.  In hindsight, Drew had a 24 hour bug before Father's Day and it was very likely COVID-19.  Genna felt terrible the day of the Grand Canyon and lost her sense of smell, but we dismissed her feeling bad to dehydration or overheating and dismissed the loss of smell because it wasn't taste too, plus she was stuffy.  This is a sneaky virus.  Anyway, we are all better now and to our knowledge we managed not to spread it despite the lack of clarity in the beginning.

This picture was taken before our trip.  I was taking a shower when I heard this knock and tiny voice asking if he could read to me.  How can I say no to that even though my shower is one of the few times I get quiet in the day?  So Bob laid down, butt in the air, and began to read to me through the crack under the door.  Once I was dressed, I opened the door and Trinity and I found this sight.  I grabbed my phone and snapped a picture.  I was very glad I did because this turned out to be one of the last pictures of our beloved cat.

We knew the time was drawing near before our trip, but we got a cat sitter with detailed instructions on what to do if her situation got worse.  We were just hoping she made it until we got back without any new problems and she did.  However, once we were back she was moving around a lot less and seemed not to be going to the bathroom at all.  She wasn't eating much and Hannah started hand feeding her.  I brought her water bowl to her and she drank like she hadn't drank for a long time.  At this point we knew it was time to put her down.  Unfortunately, that decision was made as we were dealing with our COVID-19 positive Hannah and beginning our quarantine.  So, we all said our good-byes as he took her alone to a fellow vet who has a clinic nearby.

The children wanted to bury her in the backyard with a funeral like we did with Hyacinth, the parakeet.  I chose a few Bible readings.  Brian was a bit saddened by the fact that no one decorated her box like with Cinthy's.  And so he took it upon himself to print out a couple pictures and had Genevieve hand-letter her name for her box.

Brian dug a hole in the backyard and we had our funeral.  Many of us shared memories of her life after the Bible readings.  Things like how in her younger days she always appeared during our family prayer time and would plop right down in the middle to get pet, how she pooped on my side of the bed when she was a kitten immediately after I sprayed her with a water bottle for climbing on the Christmas tree, how she got stuck inside the basement wall as a kitten, and even how difficult it had been to fly with her over to Germany and back each time.  Bobby started sobbing uncontrollably during the funeral and pretty much couldn't say a word until after we went upstairs and I read him a story to get his mind off of it.  There were many tears, some of them from my dear, typically very stoic, husband.  She was with us such a long time, in 7 different houses and through 2 oversees moves.

Trinity was a tiny kitten when almost 16 years ago she was brought into Brian's stray clinic in upstate New York with her front leg dangling and no nerve feeling left at all.  He did his first non-standard, major surgery on her one Friday afternoon and brought her home for the weekend to watch her as she recovered.  Hannah and Brian fell instantly in love and she was ours from then on.  We had two dogs, one toddler and a baby on the way so I was less than enthusiastic about keeping her, but over the years she has been a wonderful cat.  She was running around without her leg within a day of her arriving at our house after her surgery and she has been an excellent three-legged cat.  We miss her.

Father's Day: This Year with No Broken Bones

The same Culinary Hike we went on last year on Father's Day where Isaac broke his arm on the bouncy house, Brian was dying to return to for Father's Day this year without being interrupted by a broken arm.  We invited everyone we know (three other families ended up coming) and brought a new friend along too.  Brian is a "the more the merrier" kind of guy, so this was just what he wanted for his Father's Day.

All of the culinary hikes are in the "middle of nowhere" so to speak.  The villages are spread out here and that leaves a lot of "middle of nowhere" space in between which is absolutely beautiful.  A bunch of families came straight from Mass, but we were not all following each other so we arrived at different times slightly.  There was a one way road and some construction this year that caused us to go to different starting points.  Two families ended up on one side and two on the other.  We decided to just all park and walk towards each other. We met up and had a fantastic day!

At each stopping point there are food and drinks for sale with a smattering of tables.  They were not prepared for four Catholic families though.  There were not enough tables in most places and we sat on blankets.  I was happy to see that the death trap of last year's bouncy house was replaced with a new one.  However, upon closer inspection, this one was pretty dangerous as well.  Kids were climbing up in the top where the holes are in the "soccer ball" (see picture) and it was causing the house to start to collapse on the kids inside.  There were so many big kids in there that I didn't let Bobby go in.  He wasn't thrilled about this, but he's too little to hold his own in there.

This was the day three of Bob's potty training, but he had no problems here since he could pee anywhere, and who doesn't love to pee in the bushes?  Besides me, I mean.

After we made it home, Brian had to leave for the airport for his Father's Day present.  He went for a week to Scotland to go fishing all by himself.  

A Memorable Father's Day Culinary Hike

Sunday morning we got going a little early to get to Mass early so Isaac could serve for the first time as an altar server.  He was nervous, but the other boys he was serving with made him feel really at ease; I could tell.  He did an amazing job!  I was concerned because during the practices he was swinging the rope around and fidgeting instead of standing still with templed hands.  Apparently, he's been holding out on us because he could totally do it!  We are very proud of him.

First Day of Altar Serving- at age 8, on June 18th, 2017 at the chapel where he was baptized so long ago.

 Then we left Mass, got changed at home, and drove a short ten minute drive over to the culinary hike to meet our friends.  Boy, was it a hike!  Straight uphill!  It was steeper than the first one we went on.  There were tons of stations with food and drink.  The first station was wild boar and deer sausages and salami sticks.  The second station was cheeses and ham.  The third station had coffee and cakes with a slide for the kids.  The fourth station had a bouncy house where I had to stay and watch Bobby and the rest of the kids, so I don't know what food and drinks they had there.  The tenth station had liquors and Kartoffelpuffer mit Apfelmus (potato pancakes with applesauce).

You might be asking what happen to stations five through nine.  Well, we had to skip them because Isaac got really hurt on the bouncy house.  Luckily, there was a short cut to the last station right from there.  He climbed up on the bouncy ledge that all the bigger kids were climbing up to and sitting on.  Hannah was trying to get back up when she grabbed his hand to help pull her up.  This pulled him off suddenly and he caught himself with his left hand, but it hyper-extended and immediately his hand was just dangling there and he said that he couldn't move his hand.  Brian came over to look at it and thought it was a sprain.  He wanted to keep on going with the hike but it became clear that just the jostling from walking was killing him.  I tried to make a sling out of an extra shirt, but there wasn't enough support for it to help.  I volunteered to take the short cut with him back and wait so he could just be still, but everyone agreed to just take the short cut back.  Brian still thought it wasn't broken and so he didn't think a trip to the ER was warranted.  We iced it and I wrapped up a long thin board book and then taped his arm to it with medical tape.  Then I used an ace bandage to wrap it good.  We gave him pain meds and let him watch a movie with the girls after the little ones went to bed.  He couldn't climb up to his bunk, so I made him a bed on the floor with a mattress.  I decided that I'd reassess in the morning and probably take him in for x-rays.

The ledge he fell from in the bouncy house.

Happy Father's Day!

Backing up to Father's Day for a second...

For Father's Day, we went halfway home-made gifts and halfway store bought gifts.  For my father, Papa Boat as he is known by around this house, we sent him a Harry & David's gift set and made him this pillowcase.  The big three did their own drawing of themselves and signed their names.  I drew the little guys and did the family tree on the back.

We made these XL cards for each of the three dads.  Here is Papa Boat's card before we mailed it off.

These are made with the kids' handprints.  I had each child sign (or I signed for them) by his/her handprint.  It was in pencil, so I'll tell you whose is whose:  Hannah is the Hulk.  Genna is Captain America.  Isaac is Spiderman.  Drew is Wolverine.  Judah is the Flash.

For Brian's dad, Poppy, we sent him a Harry & David's gift set and the home-made giant card.  For Brian, big daddy of this house, we made him an XL card and bought him a t-shirt that says, "DAD^6"  He wears his shirt with his DAD to the 6th degree proudly.  I just keep neglecting to get a picture of him in it.  :(

Answer Me This: Father's Day

I'm linking up with Catholic All Year again this week!

1. What’s something you intended to do today, but didn't?
I really wanted to plant my tomato plants, but it won't! stop! raining!  The summer's going to be over before I get these things in the ground.

* Since writing this post, it did actually stop raining, but somehow I still haven't planted anything.

2. What's your favorite grilling recipe?
It doesn't really have a name or a link to the best of my knowledge and Goggle's as far as my search terms held up, but my sister-in-law told me about this one.  You stuff a whole cabbage with a mixture containing ground beef, ground sausage, bacon, and some of the chopped cabbage that you dug out of the center with some onions all cooked in a skillet.  Add in BBQ sauce before you stuff the cabbage.  Wrap it in foil and grill it for 45 mins or something like that.  Really good, but not for the faint of heart because it is meaty and fatty!

3. What movie did you see most recently?
I can't remember the last movie I saw.  Brian and I have been watching TV series stuff lately and not bothered with a movie in a long time.  Hmm, let me think...yes, I remember now.  The Book Thief.  I read the book and got in on Netflix one night when Brian was out.  He didn't want to watch it with me.  I liked it, but as always, the book was better.  There was too much in the book and some had to be cut for it to be a movie and not a mini-series, obviously.  Come to think of it, they should have made a series out of it.

4. Would you say your tendency is to over or under react to medical situations?
Medical situations, I feel like I don't overreact anymore, but I used to when Hannah was a baby.  I would panic and run to the doctor every time she got a temp of 104 which was every other week for a while once I stopped nursing.  I figured out how they got her temperature down and started just doing it at home.  It seemed like it was always a virus and nothing we could do but keep her as comfortable as possible.
Over the years, I have learned to trust my gut.  When Genna (at 18 months) fell out of the stroller and would not stop crying...ever, my gut told me this wasn't normal for her and something must be wrong.  Right.  Broken arm.
When Isaac suddenly stopped sleeping through the night and refused to take naps anymore, I took him to the doctor based on a gut feeling, but kind of thinking they are going to laugh me out of the office.  Lots of babies stop sleeping through the night and refuse naps, but it turned out it was the first of many many ear infections for him.  He just didn't present any other symptoms, like fever or ear pulling.
When Drew had a high fever and I noticed a big red lump on his knee, I knew I was going to the ER and again I was right to go.  He had a bad infection inside his knee and needed a needle aspiration and antibiotics.
And most recently, when Judah's cough turned into the worst sound I've ever heard over night I knew we were headed to the doctor then too.  He had pneumonia and needed antibiotics.
It's not a perfect system, my gut instinct, but it's been working for the big stuff.  However, I am the worst over-reactor to certain things that involve loud noises sounding like children falling down the stairs or other really dangerous things happening to my kids, especially when I can't see it.  I hate that and I am really working on that reaction since my house now daily sounds like someone is falling down the stairs, and I can't have eyes on everyone all the time.  I am working on letting it go.  (Great!  Now the Frozen song will be in my head all night.)

5. Do you squeeze the toothpaste tube or roll it?
I am a little bit lazy about the "clean up as you go" business.  I don't do things the easy way.  I feel like in my mind is a running ever-growing to do list.  My husband sent me this article.  All the parts where she is distracted by thoughts of new things she needs to do is just like me.  I can't manage to take the extra time to do something like hang up my clothes the moment I take them off or something as proactive as roll the toothpaste tube because of my inner dialogue of all the things that must be done right this minute.  That confession makes me sound a little bit nutty, huh?

6. What are you doing for Father's Day?
We are did our Father's Day stuff on Saturday because of an untimely work trip.  Our 13th anniversary is the next day and I have no idea when we'll get to celebrate that.  But I already got my presents!  Yay, eShakti dresses!  I am going to look very Lucille Ball in one of them while vacuuming.  Picture this:  Lucy vacuuming with one hand up poised and idle in the air and one hand on the vacuum with her perfect hair up with Little Ricky playing quietly on the floor.  Now change Lucy to me.  Keep the hand positions and the vacuum.  Keep the cute up-do, minus the curls.  Replace Little Ricky with one baby crawling around holding onto my leg, one toddler following me and whining that he is hungry or wants to watch Batman for the 4th time this week with his shoulders drooping, one five year old jumping on the couch...AGAIN, and two girls trying to tell me some story or show me their newest rainbow loom creation.  And there you have it!  Domestic bliss.

Here's one of my new dresses!  I wore it to Mass on Sunday.  No time for updo since we went to the 7:30am Mass because of Judah's nap during our normal time.  Plus, I braided both girls' hair so no time for mine.

I love that these dresses are stylish, modest, and button down (nursing accessible).  The last one is a big one since I am going on my 61st month of nursing if you add it all up in the last nine and a half years.

Domestic Exhaustion

Oh, yeah, Father's Day, we went to a brew pub for dinner and the kids made him some cute crafts and cards.  I got him two t-shirts with "Come and Take it" in Greek on one and "Don't Tread on Me" on the other.  Plus, I made my Primal husband some of his favorite flour-less brownies (secret ingredient = black beans).  We spent some good family time together this weekend.  Brian finally got to take the kids to the Lego brick store.

Father's Day Dinner

We got a late start heading to the restaurant on Saturday night due to the busy schedule of the day and Judah had us all a little worried on the drive up there since he wouldn't sleep and was exhausted from being awake since 2pm.  He never did sleep until we got home around 8:30pm and could put him properly in his bed.  However, he was a stellar patron of the brew house eating his weight in Cheerios, avocados, and sweet potatoes and everything else I could find to give him.  "Just keep feeding me, Mom, and everything will be O.K.  I won't cause an uprising with food in my mouth."

Happy Father's Day and 12th Anniversary!

 So this is the first time in all 13 June 16th's we've been married that Father's Day has fallen on this day, at least I think it is.  For Father's Day, I made Brian a breakfast of eggs, sausage, and roasted potatoes and brought it to him in bed.  Then the girls cleaned out his car for him while he was out.  I talked him into taking the van, but it sort of ruined the surprise.  Anyway, we also practiced all week on a choreographed dance to our family song Don't Stop Believing by Journey.  The kids did a great job and daddy liked it!

For our anniversary, we took a trip to Lambertville, New Jersey/New Hope Pennsylvania on Monday through Wednesday.  My parents watched the children for us which was no small feat.  On our way there, we detoured slightly to a Sonic for me.  I miss Sonics so much!

We stayed at a B&B called Chimney Hill.  It was very nice.  They had Alpacas to feed, lovely breakfasts in the mornings, nicely removed from the town, and, therefore, very peaceful.

Yes, yes, I am about to pop...in about 8-10 weeks.

This was where George Washington crossed the Delaware River during the Revolutionary War.

We went to a Winery and had a wine tour and tasting.  We bought a bottle of their ice wine to save for when the baby is born and Brian passes his boards.   

We had a great time just taking it easy with good food and a little antiquing.  I just don't have the stamina that I had a couple pregnancies ago when I was able to climb mountains and trek around cities majorly pregnant. 

Father's Day

(In honor of the father of my children, I let the kids help me pick out their favorite pictures of Daddy with each of them. They all picked baby pictures, so I will label who is in each picture.)

Brian has been an excellent daddy to our children. I think he gets better every year. He is fun and loves to play with them. He is strict and yet has their total admiration and respect. I jokingly tease him that I get tired of all the Super Hero references and the "Daddy can do anything" comments fromt he kids, but really I am glad to have such a great helpmeet in this incredibly weighty reponsibility of raising these children to be holy and loving adults.

Daddy and Hannah

(Yes, I have the right kid. She really had that dark of hair when she was born!)

Hannah is very much a "Daddy's Girl" and thinks he hung the moon. I would say that she has him wrapped around her finger, but I really think it goes both ways. She will do anything to please her daddy.

Daddy and Hannah

Daddy and Genevieve

It was a long road for Brian to win Genna's heart. She was always much more of a "Mommy's Girl" and was for a while afraid of just about everyone else (except Hannah). However, he managed to win her over and when he was gone for a year, I assumed she would be the one I didn't have to worry about, but boy was I wrong! She had the hardest time with his absense and, since he has been back I think they have gotten even closer. I mentioned on our anniversary post recently that I think I have softened Brian up a little, but I think this little girl, with her heart of gold and her saintly character, has done more than her fair share of that.

Daddy and Genevieve (and Hannah too)

Daddy and Isaac

Despite the fact that Brian was gone for most of his first year, they have always had a special man bond or something. Although Isaac is a "Momma's Boy" to some extent, he needs his daddy for all the guy stuff. He likes to help his daddy on projects and go to the man store (AKA Home Depot.) Of course, Brian is also in charge of all rough housing and toughening up of this guy. Isaac loves his daddy and, I can tell he really wants his dad to be proud of him.

Daddy and Isaac

Happy Father's Day, Honey! We all love you!

And, on this Father's Day, I would be remiss not to mention my own daddy. I was quite the "Daddy's Girl" like Hannah. I lived to please my dad and make him proud, and from the way he looks at my own children I think I have. Love you, Daddy! Happy Father's Day!
My dad and me (I promise it's not Hannah!)