Little Country Girl

All in all, she actually likes just about any kind of music.  Chelsi seems to have the most favorites within country songs.  At daycare she watches/listens to CMT and has most songs mostly memorized.  Of course, Taylor Swift is her absolute favorite.  She screams if she hears her sing.  But, she likes the 'Dancin' song and 'Bone' song as she calls them.  Here she is watching CMT at home.  She loves to mimic the dance moves on the 'Dancin' song and she thinks it's hillarious to do the hand motions Trace and Blake do on the 'Bone' song.

How's the acid reflux you ask?

Getting better, I believe.  He hasn't signed 'more' for over a week.  He's content when he realizes he's done eating instead of constantly wanting more whether he's full or not.  He doesn't need food to feel better.  The only problem we've had is that he hates the meds.  It has a strong peppermint flavor and I mean STRONG.  So, we got the pharmacy to flavor it the best they could.  It's still a little overpowering, but better.  However, he still doesn't care much for it.  So, tonight we only gave him a little juice with dinner, infused with his meds.  He took it just fine, thank goodness.

So hopefully, soon we'll have him sleeping through the night too, 'cause after almost 1 year of not sleeping well, this momma could use some rest.

Lisa

Can I replicate evenings like this?

Some nights are just so, relatively, smooth that I just want to replicate them.  The kids listened as I gave one of my speeches about school and studying and homework.  There were no excuses or arguing.  Everyone ate dinner well.  Not even a fight from Jaemin.  Such a calm evening.  If only it were like this all the time.  :)
Lisa

Our visitor is no longer with us

He found his cheese this morning.

Lisa

There's a new mouse in the house

It's not Chelsi or chwi (mouse in Korean).  It's a real, live mouse.  It's bound to happen when you live in the country...heck, I'm pretty sure if you have grass with some trees, it's bound to happen eventually.  But, I guess the boys left the basement door left open one too many times and one got in.  Brian saw it run across the basement floor tonight, so the kids and I were trying to catch it.  We failed....miserably!  It ended up under the entertainment center by the end of the night and we couldn't get it back out.  So there are several traps under there just waiting.   We'll try to get this little mouse out of our house.  We only have room for one mouse here.

Lisa

How do they process trauma?

It's impossible to know how little kids process trauma.  We don't even understand how we, as adults, process trauma sometimes.  I mean we're all different.  I really never expected this to affect Chelsi so much, but now I know it did.

Chelsi was 2 1/2 when Brian had his accident.  That was the last time I cut her fingernails.  She has chewed them every since.  I thought that may that's what she did out of being nervous and she just couldn't stop and the accident really never bothered her anymore, but I think it does.  More than she can explain.  The other morning at grandma's she announced that "daddy broke his neck the last time he played basketball".  How do you take this?  Is she associating sport with accidents?  I don't think so.  I guess you really just never know.  I do know that we're all still really dealing with the repercussions.  Especially, the two of us.  There is very seldom a day that goes by that something doesn't remind you that it happened.

While we're happy Brian could walk again, it's very apparent to us how much our lives have forever changed.  He and we will never be the same.  Part of it is good and part of it is just okay.  Part of it we're still just adjusting to, even 2 years later.  Trauma is not something you just go on and say 'oh well'.  It's a process.  A process to get through, not over.

Lisa

Finally found a way to get them closer.

I moved the living room furniture around a bit last night and the big part of the sectional is now off by itself with the chaise end.  They ALL want to be there.  Before this they'd all fight because the next person was just TOO close.  Now they don't seem to mind.  Go figure.  I thought no one would sit there.