It's been so long since I've been here, Google didn't even remember me!!! We arrived back home from our month plus vacation last week and it's been a nonstop run towards getting ready for school. We had a wonderful time in Alabama and in Virginia. We got to see all our close friends and relatives and spend quality time with Tony's mom and my parents. My dad was home (on leave from his surgery) for most of our visit so that was a real treat.
We spent a little over a week in Alabama with Tony's family. We stayed with his mom and the cousins, Jackson and Caroline, came and stayed as well. Every year it gets easier - the kids slipped in together like they'd never been apart. We went to the movies, golfing, bowling, went to the McWane Center in B'ham, did a few chores around Gran's house and saw friends. After that, we spent almost four weeks with Monica's mom and dad in Vienna VA. We went to museums, visited with her brother and sister that live in VA, went to see the Lion King at the Kennedy Center (totally worth it!!!), and even took a side trip up to CT to see Kathleen and all
her kids. Lucy, Florence and I took a train up for Kinneely's bday and then drove down with her so that Rob wouldn't need to take time off to bring her. It was an adventure traveling down (in the RAIN!, complete with potty on the side of the highway), but the kids were so excited to be together, it hardly mattered we were 
stuck in the van. Mom took Charlie and Alexander up to a friend's (Elmer) home in NY to go fishing and they absolutely loved it. My mom says there is nothing like being with a child when they catch their first fish. Shamefully, I wouldn't know - all my kids have been fishing with her, but I have never been there. Now that I write this down, I feel a little guilty.
her kids. Lucy, Florence and I took a train up for Kinneely's bday and then drove down with her so that Rob wouldn't need to take time off to bring her. It was an adventure traveling down (in the RAIN!, complete with potty on the side of the highway), but the kids were so excited to be together, it hardly mattered we were 
stuck in the van. Mom took Charlie and Alexander up to a friend's (Elmer) home in NY to go fishing and they absolutely loved it. My mom says there is nothing like being with a child when they catch their first fish. Shamefully, I wouldn't know - all my kids have been fishing with her, but I have never been there. Now that I write this down, I feel a little guilty. 
While in VA, I had a wonderful opportunity to meet up with some other craniokid families. 5 families met in Springfield, VA one Saturday for lunch. It was slightly insane, but beautiful to finally meet these people who have been my friends (over the internet)
for the last several months since Florence's surgery. Florence was the only girl, but we thought it interesting that all babies present were metopic. Anyhow, it was fun to meet the other families with whom we will be linked forever because of the timing of our circumstances. 
School started this week and while I miss my older kids (Charlie (3rd grade) and Lucy(1st)), I'm loving having only Alex and Florence to be with. Alexander is amazingly smart and so easy to be with. He listens to everything I say, but you have to be careful because he WILL repeat it back to later on. Lucy and Charlie are (sort of) glad to be back in school. They have good teachers and the perfect combination of new friends and old friends in their class. Grandma had taken them shopping for their back-to-school outfits and new lunchboxes, so they were ready to head in, complete with Sparta bags for backpacks. It was cute to watch the 1st graders on the "big kid" playground now that they had graduated from their Kindergarten area. You could easily spot them wandering around, awed at the size of the kids around them, searching for their peers in 
the midst of the giant aggressive upper level students. It didn't take them long to connect with their buddies, though. Charlie is in school in time for his birthday - tomorrow, as a matter a fact. It confuses me that I'm old enough to have a nine-year old son, in my heart, I'm still a child myself. But time marches on. We are enjoying watching the olympics on TV. Lucy loves the gymnastics since that's her current interest. 
Florence officially started crawling today. Of course, she will only do it if you bribe her with small chokables out of her reach so she has to crawl. And when I say she has begun crawling, I mean, crawling forward....she's been crawling backwards for a few weeks. I have pulled her out from under couches, out of corners, from behind bookcases.... We had an appointment with her NS last week and she got a clean bill of health. Her scar is practically invisible and unless you look at her really closely, you can't tell she's been through anything. She is extremely alert and doesn't miss a thing. She is eating baby food very well and even starting to take on table food such as bites of chicken and fruit. She loves her siblings - loves all children really. She is still not sleeping through the night, but I haven't been pushing this too hard, so I'm probably to blame. But it's hard for me to push her in any way...After all, she is my last baby. 
