Don't you hate it when every computer in the house breaks at the same time? I've found it rather annoying and VERY inconvenient! This one works intermittently at best....I'll take advantage.

Other news of the kid sort...

Gabriel: I continue to work through the acceptance that he will be repeating 1st grade. I struggle with my contribution to his educational falling apart by continuing to work and not doing better in the months after Lynneah's birth. I continue to be amazed how fast I get thrown back to just before he turned 2 and the process of "I think something's wrong...yes something's wrong...here's the hill you have to climb to fix it." I have to always remind myself denial never fixes anything. He's in basketball now and truly seems to get it. He's a rebounding monster and shows some real potential. I'm glad, he needs something to excel at and feel good about. He is very good at art and told me he wants to be a map artist when he grows up.

Garrett: Came apart at the seems in the months following Lynneah's birth. Again, I'm struggling with this one too. He wants to be a happy boy, but is miserable most of the time. He's really entrenched in that 2 year old stage of magnificent, body flinging, tantrum stage. He's getting big enough now that it's dangerous to those around him in public...not to mention the looks I get from people. I really really want to help him without breaking his spirit. He turned 5 and announced the next he was off to kindergarten. Poor kid is now asking if summer is over yet nearly everyday. He's in soccer and practice and games are pure bliss for him. His coach is very sweet about his inattentive bouncing on the field. He feels special there, wish we could manage that feeling for him more.

Lincoln: Has embraced all that being 2 entails. He's still our little "blonde sheep". He's talking like crazy! One afternoon he was sitting on my lap and gently took my chin in his hand and turning my head said, "Look at me." "You understand?" "Really!?!" Then jumped off and ran off to play. He's still a Momma's boy. He LOVES suckers, balls, and trying to be one of the "big boys". He falls ALL THE TIME. He's a perpetual bruise. He comes in now tells me "bunk", gets ice, holds it on his head for a second, then keeps going.

Lynneah: Is finally more like a normal baby. The pulmonologist said her lungs now sound the same. We haven't done any imaging but sounding the same is good. She continues on her cocktail of acid controllers but if it's working I'm not messing with it. Food introductions will be a slow careful process. The GI gave me some good ideas if food is not going well. Her kidney is still swollen but slowly going down. I hope it'll be normal size soon. We're anxiously awaiting the day she begins sleeping through the night. I love her laugh! Her brothers love her too...to the point of making her cry several times a day. :)

Stephen: Continues his "booter" year in his new job. He likes it. He's a busy guy and I'm grateful he puts up with the unbalanced, crazy life his wife causes most of the time. He's a quiet guy, but I know when something's up. They made a couple changes at work and my Stephen came back. I was happy to see him again.

Me: I'm working 2 days a week. The more I cut back on work the fatter (if I'm working I can't be eating) and busier I get. We continue getting medical bills on top of digging out of the unemployed hole we were in, so I keep working. I've decided for each year you free fall financially it takes 2 to recover. Our little house if feeling a bit claustrophobic with all the kids and noise. My mom fed the missionaries over here a while ago. They walked in to me holding a baby, then the big boys came banging in, then Lincoln came running in tripped, fell and proceeded to cry. One of them said, "Wow, kids everywhere." I'm running out of places to put kids down for quiet time that has them separated from each other. This may be a long summer.

In short ANY time we're all in public it's a full on embarrassing circus.