Knees in the breeze

The boys and I spent two nights at the dropzone with our daddy/hubby this weekend and it was sooooo good for all of us. The boys loved their time there, as always. Elijah slept GREAT, which was wonderful (Sammy, too, of course). The boys were able to play with friends and run around the perimeter of the hangar approximately 8,000 times. We spent quality time with our amazing friends and that was a big highlight. We adore our skydiving family to pieces!

On Sunday night, after the boys were asleep and the tandems were finished for the day, Dan asked me for the 1,000th time if I would do a tandem jump with him. I have said "NO!" 999 times before. I have made hundreds of jumps on my own, so it has been really hard to imagine giving up that control and freedom. I had a weak moment, or maybe you could call it a moment of strength. I knew I needed to get in the sky and I didn't have time for a re-train. To make things better, the sunset was gorgeous! I think you can tell from the pics that I made the right decision. :)

Now I'm motivated to get my gear in working order and to get in the sky much more often! Dan is home for the next couple days, so we will have some family time together. An incredible friend of ours has offered to come over and watch the boys tomorrow or Wednesday so Dan and I can get away for some alone time. We have more dropzone time coming up this weekend (maybe three nights this time?) and I feel so happy about having the month of July "off." Elijah's ear is healing well and he has been in MUCH better spirits than in previous weeks. Life is good! Thanks for peeking in!

Back with the bad.

It is probably not the best time for me to sit down and write an entry because I'm feeling disheartened and sad tonight. The boys and I stayed overnight at the dropzone last night and I think Elijah got maybe a couple hours of sleep. Today was an all-around ugly day that I would love to erase from all of our memories. Thankfully Dan worked, so June 30th, 2014, can remain untainted in his mind! :)

I won't share Elijah's struggles because they were too ugly to report. But I will share about one of Sammy's meltdowns because someday this is one I may laugh at. He "really really really" wanted a cereal bar with his dinner (he is addicted to cereal bars and could eat them non-stop throughout the day), so he set one at his spot on the table. I put dinner on the table, opened the cereal bar and cut it in half, giving one half to each boy. When Sam saw that I had given part of it to Elijah, he started screaming. "THAT'S MIIIIIIINE! I WANT IT ALLLLLLL!" He took his half, threw it on the floor and.....STEPPED ON IT! I couldn't believe it! The following 20 minutes involved wall-punching and kicking, screaming like I've never heard, mommy-punching and kicking, name-calling, trying to run away from home (out both doors) and throwing a stool across the kitchen. All because I cut a cereal bar in half.

Tomorrow is a new day. Thankfully Dan has the day off work. Today was further proof that Elijah NEEDS to get his sleep or he cannot function. We have only been to the dropzone twice this summer, so it is once again "novel" for him (which always equals terrible sleep). And Dan and I think that the older he gets the more difficult it is to acclimate to new/different-from-home places (an NLD thing), which is kind of a tough thing for me to swallow since I love summertime adventure so much.

Speaking of NLD, I was reading some things on the internet today and found a few interesting tidbits.  If you are interested and have a few spare minutes, read this post. It is an interview with a successful man who has NLD. I read through a few of his quotes a handful of times. A few that stood out..

Information cited from
http://www.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=46014&w=9&cn=113
and quoted from Peter Flom, PhD

"I have a lot of traits -- and NLD is probably the problem that fits me best, but I have traits of autism; I have traits of areas where I'm gifted; I have things in common with Asperger's people. And I tell people I have 100 percent diagnosis of being Peter. And every kid, every adult, who has a disability of any kind, really, has a 100 percent diagnosis of being them. Nobody, or just about nobody, fits the profile of anything exactly."

"But this sort of -- I think a great thing is -- for people with NLD, for people with other learning disabilities too -- is I say it's like a way around the mountain. Like if a disability is a mountain between you and where you want to go, then there's a couple things you can do -- or four things I think. You can ignore it and say, "I didn't want to go there anyway. I'll just stay over here." That doesn't work too well, usually, because you really do want to go to the other side of the mountain. Then you can try to go through the mountain, which I would say is just like extra effort -- like work harder, do more, work harder. And that sometimes works. You can go over the mountain, which I sort of think of as taking more time than everybody does, and that can work with things like extended time or just doing more work. And that sometimes works. But then I say you can also go around the mountain, and that I liken to finding tricks.

Like, for instance, I live in Manhattan, and Manhattan's on a grid, and one thing about the numbering, the house numbering, is that on the side streets the odd numbers are always on the north side of the street. Now, if I go into a building and I come out, I have no idea which way I'm supposed to turn, okay? Most people just remember. But I can say, oh, if I'm on the side street, I can look at the canopy or the building number and say, oh, it's an odd number. That means I'm on the north side. That means I'm facing south. I want to go east. And then sometimes I'll turn myself around so I'm facing the building and facing north, and then I remember east is on my right. Now, that's a little bit complicated, but it's better than wandering around lost."


We are constantly learning about this disorder/disability. We are moving in the right direction (as Dan told me a hundred times today via text) even though sometimes it doesn't feel like it.

Thanks for checking in! Have a great week!

ps. Both boys have been soundly sleeping since 6:55. Total tiredness.

Hand it over

The boys and I made it to the dropzone last night for our first time this season. They were SO EXCITED about going and had a blast! The fresh, open air, the attention (they are always given MUCH love by our amazing skydiving pals), the playground, our trailer that is totally stocked with toys.. The dz is such a novel place for them and they adore their time there...every time.

I told Elijah last year that he probably wouldn't fit into our toy car this year. Well, he squished himself in! He made it work. We're looking into turning it into a convertible. He loves "driving" this car around the perimeter of the hangar....over and over and over, and usually with Sammy sitting in the "trunk." Sammy is closing the door of our trailer in the below pic. The boys call this our "second home." I can only imagine what Elijah's teachers and friends at school must think when he tells him about our second home having wheels, in a trailer park. :) 

Being so close in proximity to the boys' beds last night, I was able to accurately determine what time Elijah was awake for the day. That would be 3:10am! I have a feeling this has been going on for a few weeks. I'll put a call into his development ped tomorrow. We are not entirely certain that the sleep meds are helping any longer, so I would like to discuss other options.  He was a very very tired boy all day today.

I packed the boys into the car fairly early this morning and headed to church, unshowered and all. I refuse to let our church attendance fall to the wayside this summer, despite our dropzone-ing, fun and busy-ness. I was glad I made the effort because our amazing Pastor Londa put a message into my head that I absolutely needed today. The stress, worry and fear I've been feeling lately NEEDS TO GO. It's not mine to hold, and I need to hand it all over. I've felt much better today. 

Yesterday was a different story. I sat on the hard cement at a playground for over an hour, watching the boys run around while my wonderful mother-in-law's arm was wrapped around me. I had a near panic attack as I walked out of the gym with each of the boys' hands in mine. It hit me hard and very suddenly. I hadn't had that feeling in YEARS. Dan's incredible mother came to my rescue and helped talk me through my feelings. I felt much better after a dose of her love. The next few weeks are filled with...so much! Work, work, work, work, time spent apart from each other...and my mind has a difficult time thinking about anything else. But I just have to GIVE IT TO HIM!

On a much lighter note, the weather was beautiful today! Aahhhh.. finally! And I'm not sure I've mentioned it here yet, but the little boys and I will be departing on a 2-week road trip on June 6th, the day after Elijah's last day of first grade. We will spend five nights in Louisville with our incredible heart friend Evan and his family. Then we will head to Charlotte for another week where we will spend time with my dad and stepmom. We are EXCITED! My cousin Trevor (the Car Doctor, as E and S call him) just did some work on my old but trusty car and will do a final peek before we leave. We feel ready!

This coming week is going to be so absolutely and totally nuts, but...I'm handing everything to Jesus! He can take it all on and lead me. I'm taking it day by day...hour by hour. Look for the blessings!

Thanks for peeking in! xo

And the sun shines!

We spent a nice (mostly sunny and warm, yay!) weekend at the dropzone. It rained for a bit on Saturday, so we spent a bit of time in our trailer. Coloring..

And playing on Mama's phone..

The rest of our time was spent outside running around in the fresh air, hugging friends and playing at the park and in the hangar. The boys and I even took a mini trip to Stillwater on Sunday morning while Dan jumped out of airplanes. We had a picnic by the river and ran around, soaking in the SUNSHINE! Elijah kept saying to me, "Mom, it doesn't make sense that this city is called 'Stillwater.' The water is not completely STILL! LOOK! It splashed! See? It's not still." :)

We were happy to spend some time with our awesome daddy on Father's Day. I did not get a single photo of the boys with Dan, but this is actually a good thing since it means he was working! Work has been scarce this season due to the weather, so all of the instructors were elated to finally be jumping.

I have some more Sammy funnies to share, but first I thought I'd share the "professional" photos taken at my recent mud race! This fire that we jumped over SCARED ME! Can you tell?! I thought my shoes were going to catch on fire!

The giant slide was SO MUCH FUN. 

Finishing felt very sweet. I couldn't repress a little happy holloring.

Ok, a few more Sammy funnies!

Any time Sammy sees a water tower, he says, "Look, Mom! There's my FACTORY!" The Waterpark of America is Elijah's "factory," and somehow every water tower is Sammy's. Then he will ask if it is open. Hmm, I'm not sure that water towers open and close, Sammy. Or that we'd want to go into one!

Almost every time I am driving with the boys in the car, Sammy will say something like, "MOM! Be careful not to drive on the grass!" Or, "MOM! Don't run into that truck!" Today when I pulled over to get the mail, he said, "MOM! Please be extra careful not to smash into that car!" :)

Flip-flops = flip-floppers
Don't copy me! = Don't coffee me!

I think he's catching up to his brother on the funnies!

And last but not least! If you want to join us on our Heart Walk this coming Saturday, please shoot me an email. We currently have nobody walking with us because I've been a slacker and haven't told anyone about it. We would LOVE company! mmporta@gmail.com

Don't be an angry bird

Since it is summer and Dan is working so often, we have designated Mondays and Tuesdays (Dan's days off) as family days. On Mondays and Tuesdays, I do not typically do much work. That leaves me with little to no time to get my work done! Soooo...I have been bringing the boys to daycare (their favorite place in the world) one day every week. 

Today was Daycare Day! The boys came home dirty and tired, and I got about a million things accomplished. I have approximately 200 hours left of things I wish to accomplish, but I am happy with what I was able to get done today. 

Last night the boys and I made Angry Birds pizzas! Elijah was sooo excited about this. We were happy with how the pizzas turned out. It was a little bit sad to eat them. The recipe will be coming soon on my food blog.

Elijah's potty business is going well. Much improvement has been made, although we still do have setbacks (umm, today). "Setbacks" now, though, are much less of a hassle than they were a month ago. Progress is definitely (slowly) being made.

We have had issues lately with Elijah being unkind to people, including his friends at daycare. Please pray with us about this! It makes me sad to try to understand why he would think to be unkind to his friends and family. :( We have done a lot of talking about it, but it just doesn't ever seem to sink in.

We will be heading to the dropzone tomorrow for the weekend. My kind friend Jess has offered to watch the boys in the afternoon as an early birthday gift so that I can skydive! That will make two weekends in a row! Thank you, Jess!

Thanks for checking in! Have a great weekend!

Peaceful skies

Dan is wrapping up (I think?) six consecutive days of working hard. The boys and I are looking forward to spending some quality time with him tomorrow!

We did get some time with him over the weekend at the dropzone. 

Here is one of my favorite parts of being at the dropzone.. PEACE at the end of a busy day.

Elijah had one accident over the weekend, but many successes, too. One huge milestone occurred. While we were driving to the dz, he told me he had to poop! So I pulled over and he pooped at McDonald's! His first away-from-home spontaneous pooping request!

Here are pics of Elijah (and Sammy, too) enjoying one of his potty "prizes"...Coldstone ice cream!

Stuff it all in, Sammy. :)

Elijah's pick: cotton candy ice cream (because it was blue) with brownie chunks and M&M's.

We also got to spend some time with friends over the weekend (in between skydiving and dropzone-dwelling)! Sammy loves Myla. He talks about her CONSTANTLY.

And Elijah and Kale get along amazingly well. They played hard together, and Kale taught Elijah how to drive! :) 

Another beautiful dropzone sunset..

Thanks for checking in. I'm tired. I'm going to kick back for a bit and head to bed..