Over Memorial Day Weekend

Wm's teacher has been trying to get him to write as expressively as he speaks (and use proper punctuation).  He was so happy when she gave him a "P" ("progressing" as opposed to "I" for "improving" or "N" for "needs work") for this essay.  I won't save the paper, so writing it here for my blog files (but maybe family out there will enjoy reading it).  Kind of hard to type with the special spelling, but I'll try.

All he missed was Saturday dinner at his aunt's house with one grandpa and the cousins -- and going to Adventure Park (see this post)!  I'm really surprised he forgot to write about being up in the trees, though I can understand how the excitement of the mini scooters, s'mores on fire, and pool time were exciting enough to crowd out memory of a big family dinner.

Also made me think - had we been overseas, this weekend most certainly would have been spent traveling somewhere, likely at a nice resort with a pool (if we were still in South or SouthEast Asia), and excursions to some super old temples or strange land formations, or something like that.  The description below is much more "normal American"- which doesn't always seem interesting to blog about, but, in reality, is as much a learning experience for our family as an excursion to an exotic locale.

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Over  Mamoryial weekend I saw my cozends and went to the pool.  First we road mini scooters.  I mad smors and my cozond Lexi got her marshmelo on fire my brother tride to get his mrshmelo on fire to. then we went home I was criing because I wonted a sleepover.  Next, the next day I went to pool with Ry and Ari.  After that, I went on the diving bord.  It was very fun  I even took off my gogels for the first time in my life.  I had a very fun time with my family and frendis.

Subset of Cousins.  It's near impossible to get a picture with all since our three are so wiggly!

Adventure Park

With the impetus of cousins visiting from Blackburg, VA, we finally took the time to have an adventure.  I'm not sure why we've been such home bodies since arriving in the US - maybe it's just because we can.  Weekends revolve around Saturday morning shopping, quiet afternoon at home while Ian naps, late afternoon at park, dinner and bed.  Repeat on Sunday, substituting church for shopping and Wm's soccer game during Ian's nap.  Dull and repetitive, but without the stress of having to plan or be somewhere at a specific time.

This weekend, though, we visited Sandy Springs Adventure Park -- and had a great time.  Well, Wm and I had a great time (Patch was too small, and after three hours of waiting to watch us since it was so crowded, went home with a cranky Ian who only napped an hour in his stroller).  Since it was *almost* Wm's birthday, they let him go on the medium courses as long as I went with him (of course!), so it was a great activity for him to be a big kid -- rather than always having to find activities that suit all children (very hard when Ian isn't yet 2).

He faced one zip line where he was in tears because he was scared, but a staff member on the ground coached him through (where my soothing words in the tree next to him didn't work), and he did it.  Listening to him and his cousins chat about their experiences at dinner after was priceless - and resulted in Patch making us promise that we could go again next year when he is five and able to try out the two easy courses.  Monkey see, monkey do!

Wm crossing a tightrope

Getting back into old habits

As probably apparent from many posts on this blog, baby #3 upset many routines.  Or, maybe it's just that baby #3 came, then we only had six months left in Manila, then we returned to DC, and our routines would have been turned upside down anyway ... but I "blame" it on baby #3.  Not that we resent baby #3 at all. Au contraire, he's usually a joy to have around, assuming he's not banging things on the coffee table or hitting anyone out of frustration for not being able to actually fully speak yet.

This week, though, I was reminded of what a doctor told me in high school: my minor scoliosis would be fine as long as I continued to dance or do other things that kept me limber and gave me a strong abdomen.  After I stopped dancing in high school, I took up various activities - pilates, swimming, yoga, among others - to accomplish this goal.  I was doing pretty well, until June 2012, when my neighbor-yoga-teacher moved away and I just couldn't bear sitting in two hours of Manila traffic for a one hour yoga class - especially in my last trimester OR with a nursing baby at home.  Self-practice attempts with three boys at home failed miserably.

Flash forward almost two years, with no activities other than my daily walk commute.  While that cannot be undersold (I've regained a good amount of strength, actually, and returned to my pre-William pregnancy weight), I haven't paid attention to my high school doctor's warning.  And after a weekend of Patch using me as a jungle gym and Ian being insisted to be carried, I found myself just barely able to walk.  GACK.

After a week of hot packs, ibuprofen, and a screaming toddler (sad I wasn't carrying him), I can finally just barely reach my fingertips to my toes.  My normal is a full palm on the ground, but I can't complain too much given the pain of the last week.  A friend at work suggested that I take advantage of my cave-like office, shut my door, and do 20 minutes of self-practice yoga each day before lunch.  Brilliant.  And no ability to complain about baby #3 interrupting things.

Wm has "DEAR" time at school ("drop everything and read").  Come tomorrow, I need to put a yoga-equivalent reminder on my Outlook.  Anyone out there good at coming up with catchy acronyms?