Normal Chaos

Good morning! I guess you can already know that I did not write yesterday morning. That had nothing to do with not having anything to say and everything to do with having plenty to say and not nearly enough time in the day to spit it out. Right now, things are in fast forward and over the next few weeks I don't see any slowing down.

I think much of our feeling of extreme busyness has to do with the pre-olympic Tae Kwon Do schedule. Right now, we are practicing every day of the week. On most days though, we are only practicing for an hour or two. With the kiddos out of school that really doesn't seem to be adding that much time to the day. After all, they used to spend far more time than that in school. However, with practices occurring in the evening hours, it isn't replacing the time they were spending in school. It is chipping away at our evenings. With Lynley and I both working full time, it just means less time for us to decompress. Right now there are no relaxing summer evenings in the pool and ad hoc dinners on the grill. It is rush, rush, rush.

From the moment we get home from work it is about getting the kids geared up and planning out when, where, and how we will eat dinner. With those two tasks alone we are rarely finished by the kiddos normal bedtime. In fact, I can't remember a time we were home before 8:00PM. Add onto all of this the fact that we have guests in from out of town and you can begin to see why Lynley and I both are feeling the stress. Actually, it isn't the stress. It is the fact that we really just don't have any down time. On Tuesday night Lynley and I went out on a little mini date after the kiddos went to bed hoping to relax a little. We ended up having too much fun. We staying out too late and the next thing we knew we were already further behind for the next day. We are both hoping that this next week end will bring with it some relaxation.

The good news is that if you forget the stress of feeling like you don't have a moment to breathe we are actually doing pretty spectacularly. Kiddos are happy, nanny Stephanie is in the groove, and Lynley and I are doing great.

There are a few minor stresses though. In time for Sydney's scans we are seeing the usual rise in unexplained anomalies. Her latest ailment is a headache. They come and go but they are more frequent than Lynley and I are comfortable with. She also has had some fairly regular bouts of the hiccups. Take into consideration that this is scan season coupled with the fact that this is June (her diagnosis month) we are pretty skittish. Sure, we can come up with all kinds of excuses for the headaches but we can't get the fear of neuroblastoma out of our the forefront of our minds. Rational or not, it scares us. It is a good thing that scans are next week so we can put these headaches, or at least the fear of them, hopefully to rest.

Graham has an issue as well and we are working through it with him. He is going through a period of crying about everything. This is especially noticeable at Tae Kwon Do practice. He is being very dramatic and he is guilty of overacting with nearly every punch or kick that he receives. It is unlike him and we don't really know what is going on. He has always worn his feelings on his sleeve but it has grown out of control. I am guessing this is some type of call for attention. His sisters do a relatively good job of alienating him many times a day by playing "girl" games. He feels left out and unloved by his sisters. It is amazing how, if I begin spending more quality one-on-one time with him, his injuries become less severe and his emotions on the mat are far more under control.

This all makes me wonder. What should I be doing? How do I help him? How do you grow a great human being?

As usual, no damn manual.

Before I go, I would be remiss without mentioning Ainsley. She is her usual self. She is awesome. Just keep the sugar coming and her entire world is right.

Well, I had best be off. Purpose is already wrestling this morning.