Pouring Rain

The old saying is true: When it rains, it pours.

1. We had planned our first vacation as a family and three weeks before DH comes home and informs me that he cannot go. So I sucked it up, changed his flight to the fall (he's got a convention in that city), and Connor and I went by ourselves. We had a wonderful time, introduced the little man to most of our friends, and hung out with one of my best girlfriends for a few days.

2. A week before our big vacation, I blew my knee out. Yea, me, who hasn't seen a tennis court or a ski slope in at least 15 years. I was chasing after C when I twisted when I should have stepped. Felt a snap*POP, and my knee is instantly 2.5x the size of the other one. Haven't been able to get on the floor and play with him for weeks! :( I had an MRI last week, and will get the results this week. All I know is that if I do need surgery, we're getting a nanny. I'm just not going to be able to chase after him ... that would be really bad.

3. The week we left to go on vacation, I got a call from home (not unusual, just the content of the call is). My uncle (Dad's brother) was diagnosed with inoperable stomach cancer. It had already invaded his liver. They sent him home from chemo due to an infection, and to make a long story short, he passed within 3 weeks of diagnosis.

4. So I got home from vacation (a week long)and had to turn around within 5 days and head north to my parents house for two weeks. My sister and I spoke at his funeral, his son played "Amazing Grace" at his graveside on his trumpet. They held an Irish wake (lots of celebrating of his life). The wake had over 400 people, and the funeral was lovely. My trip up there also straddled Father's Day, so we all met (My parents, myself, C, and my uncle's family, and grandkids) at his grave and released red baloons. It was touching, and I know that DH hated that he had to work and stay at home. We stayed with my parents, and C's job was to distract his grandpa and infect him with his innate happiness. It worked, C did his job so well, that grandpa's stress over the loss of his brother wasn't lessened by any means, but it was softened. My dad and uncle used to play golf weekly, and the two couples would do dinner every other month. I'm glad that we we able to play a small part in the discovery of a "new normal".

5. We enrolled C in a local Montessori school towards the end of the year. It was hands down one of the smartest decisions we've made. He was there the last 2 1/2 months of the semester, but at the rate it took him to transition to the class full time (3 hours, 2x a week), the year was almost over. He had seperation anxiety to the point where I had to sit outside the classroom for a month. Those tears were music to my ears. It proved that we are doing something right. It proved that his attachment is solid. When he begins in the fall, he'll be fine. No transition problems at all.

6. He's handled all the transitions over the past few months (vacation, home, trip to my parents, meeting all these new people, back home, and into a familiar routine and surroundings) like a trooper.

He's developed into a happy, loving, baby who loves to give hugs. He's always got a smile and a wave for anyone. He only hugs those who are very special.

We're so blessed.