One of the best dads

No, this is not a brag about Brian.  While he is a great dad, I want to always remember and let my nephew know that he has an awesome dad.  His dad stood tall, told the truth always and acted as a good Christian through everything that was thrown at him.  He never shot low.  He never looked for revenge.  He only thought of his son and what was best for him.  And, now, he is rewarded.  After a very long year he gets to be a dad, fulltime, to my nephew!  And finally after 3 long years of 'someone' not allowing our entire family to see my brother, we should get to see him again in August and after 2 years of life I will get to meet my nephew for the first time in person; not through Skype.  I'm so happy and excited.  And mostly I am so proud of my brother for what he has demonstrated to so many people on behaviors we should all have.

B, just enjoy E.  I know it will feel so surreal at first, but you deserve this and so does he.  I know you have so much time you want to make up for and things you want to do, but you now have all the time in the world.  As you well know everything's unimportant compared to time with your child.  Just spend it.  Know that all of us here at home absolutely love and miss you two and I can't wait to be an aunt to E and give him a big hug!  And I can't wait for my kids to meet their cousin finally!

My little water bug - so cute ^-^

What can I say?  He is definitely my boy!  He loves the water and could swim all day.  He is really enjoying his first year of swimming lessons.

I wish I could be a pushover

Not that I couldn't, just that I know it's not right.  I mean those parents that don't stand firm....they have it easy.  Easy because partly they probably don't care enough to stand firm.  They don't care about the possible outcomes.  Tonight was yet another test.

Cole did well on his algebra state exams, but did not do well on many assignments through the year or his semester 2 final.  I talked to his teacher to find out what I could do or what he was struggling with and she thought his ADHD was affecting him and she said they had an 8 day course this summer that he could attend to get a better grip before starting Chemistry College Prep this fall.  Since the deal was no letter jackets without decent grades (Bs and above) I told him he either took the course and put out effort or he buys at least 1/2 the letter jacket.  If he doesn't get one his sophomore year it's pretty pointless.  Not much time to wear a $300 jacket after that.

He's in the 3rd day of the bootcamp and it's 4 hours everyday.  That is a lot of algebra.....I know.  Tonight he told me how boring it was and asked if he could please stop.  I told him no that I would never have expected a D for the semester and he started so I need to see progress and effort.  I finally told him that I would 'think' about allowing him to stop if he asked his teacher to explain what all he did wrong on his exam and reteach him how to do it.   Then he has to ask if there are online problems he can do (since that's pretty much what they're doing) similar to where he struggled this year.  I told him that after she confirmed he was getting it I would consider it.  You have to remember that tomorrow is the last day this week and next week is another four days, so I'm not expecting him to miss much.  Could be wrong, but we'll see.  For now, I'm standing firm.  I want him to take responsibility to get back what he lost.  We'll see what he does with it.  I hope I'm not disappointed.

Hmmmm

He's scared of the dark.  The boy who is so hard to understand most times was able to tell me that he's scared of his closet and the dark.  He's been spending a lot more time in my bed again.  Sometimes he's fine and sometimes he's not.  Tonight I'm going to try putting another nightlight in that's even brighter.  Hoping he'll stay put.  On the bright side he does fall asleep really fast and then I can just move him back to his bed and 99% of the time he stays there.

He was upset about staying in his bed last night.  I walked by to go to bed and he saw me.  It's always over when he sees me.  I tried to ignore him and stayed in the bathroom to pluck my eyebrows.  Then, I heard the banging on the wall.  He took his puppy which has a plastic end on it and was hitting the wall.  Then, he started to get quiet.  I think it was finally starting to tire him.  But, by then Brian was in there and it set him off again.  uuuhhhh.  So I went in to pick him up and I told him that he can't scream and throw a fit like that.  He said "I sowy".  I asked him what he was sorry for and he says "hitting you wall".  I know it's not really funny, but he's so sweet when he says it and he's finally starting to get the language to say what he needs to get out which eventually will trim the tantrums some.  So, we just bear with it until it comes, but it IS coming along.  He just snuggles up beside me in bed and off he goes every time.  Can't complain about that.

And last night Jaemin did GREAT at the dentist.  The boy with sensory issues opened his mouth wide, let them clean his teeth and look around and sat in the chair all by himself.  He is such a big boy and he is definitely changing.  He seems to be catching up in a little bit bigger strides now even though in some ways he's a little more reliant on me.  It's give and take and I'll take this.

It's so funny as kids get older

They begin to change and you begin to see their personality that's inborn, for better or worse.  Jaemin just gets better with age.  He's so funny, so cute and so sweet!  Brian and I were just talking on the way back from Texas how Jaemin can misbehave, but then he flashes that smile at you and you just melt.  He has a great smile and loves to hug and kiss mommy.  I'm so glad he's so attached from me.  Sometimes it's hard when you realize that you and your husband haven't been away, alone, in many, many years....I think around 11 now.  I mean, I know people outside of sensory may not understand, but Jaemin would not do well if I left for a couple of days.  And sometimes that's hard wondering when you can get away to work on your marriage.  But I also know it's for the best for Jaemin and it's only temporary  We just absolutely love Jaemin more than words can say.  He was such a blessing and I couldn't think God enough for him.

Home is good!

I have some pictures of the last day of swimming.  Jaemin had become such a great swimmer.  He's going to love his swimming lessons in a couple of weeks.  He just jumps in the pool and doesn't worry.  But, now we're home.  We drove 14 1/2 hours straight with stops to eat, gas and potty.  We made really good time and I'm almost done with all the laundry now.  The girls went off to summer school this morning and Cole will join them tomorrow.  He's there for tutoring though, through the A+ program.  Then, he wrestles every night.  The boys are just outside right now making up for lost time in the woods and with the pups.  The pups really missed them.  The kittens have grown a lot in a week and are already scared of people.  They're only 6 weeks old and we've been gone the last week.  That's a large part of their life.  Back to work tomorrow and regular life, but a vacation is such a good thing.

Now, we can say we're planning to go to Korea, next vacation and hopefully in just 12 months.  I'm counting...yes I am.  :)  After that long of a drive we have a better idea of what will work for Jaemin.  First, he must have mommy to hold.  He cried part of the drive because I was in the front and he wanted me to hold him.  Second....as many movies or videos as we can fit on an iPod!  Lots of stickers.  Stickers were a hit with a doodle pad.  I think I'm good now.

The fat lady has sung

It's time to go home.  They let us check out tonight so we can leave before they open tomorrow.  We're hoping to make it in before 10 tomorrow.  It's going to be a LONG day.  We got one last day of swimming in, we're all packed back up with loads of laundry (nothing new) and got officially lost in San Antonio and the TomTom was no help.  But we got to try Whataburger and it was pretty decent for fast food.  See MO tomorrow.....happily.