Have you ever been flabbergasted? That happened to me a few times today. I’m not sure which moment tops them all, but it’s somewhere between the romper and going upside-down. This evening Jack and I went to Elijah’s last basketball game of the season. Afterwards, the boys wanted to go to the mall. This has been a twice or thrice yearly occurrence in our household, in my estimation. I’ve been wanting to try on a pair of jeans for a few weeks now, so thought I’d utilize this opportunity to do so. I grabbed what I thought was a super cute shirt to try on as well. Since I was there. It was super challenging to pull over my head and felt very twisted around. After taking it off and examining it a little closer I found out it was indeed a romper, not a shirt. I had stuffed my entire body through one of the legs. I kind of felt a bit flabbergasted to be wearing a romper. I think the last time I wore one, I was my daughter’s age. But it was cute and the red color made me think of another moment of shock I had today.
It was the afternoon chaos of snack time and getting myself ready to head out the door to Elijah’s game, when my cell phone rang and the caller ID read “Arizona”. I almost always answer my phone, because you just never know who might call. My surprise wore off about five seconds before I hung up the phone. So basically, for the entire call, I walked around with a big grin on my face while making wild and crazy hand motions at my kids. Harry was crying in the background. It was Plexus corporate calling to congratulate me on last month’s rank up to Ruby. There was a whole room of people cheering for me and I just stood there dumbfounded and shocked. I knew it had happened, but the past two weeks have zoomed past me like a bullet train and it hasn’t sunk in for real yet. What a special treat to receive such a fun phone call!
Every day I’m flabbergasted by the insane amount of growth I see in each of our kiddos. Harry especially makes me chuckle and sigh all in the same millisecond. He trots around with confidence and can’t decide whether he loves books or snacks best. 
He loves to drag things around, like heavy bags of rice, or his little toy train attached to a string. Ninety percent of his vocabulary consists of the word, “buggah”, with the inflection on the “a”. It means everything from hungry to bagel, to water, to milk, to every other food besides banana… which of course is “nana” or “noo-noo”. His lips make the most darling “oooh” shape and always get a kiss when he says it. His baba is his pacifier and his bobo is his elephant. His elephant which I hope we never lose, because it is no longer made or sold by the UK-based company. He takes after his brother Jack by eating a man-sized portion of oats every morning. I have never used soap on his skin before, since we only use water and everyone has their own special body cloth for all of their showering/bathing. This week he got a bottle of shampoo, which I thought was empty, and there happened to be some suds left in it. I peeked over to him crying in a pile of bubbles, unsure of what was going on around him and scooped him up laughing. Fifteen months old and he’s never had a bubble bath. 
Another flabbergasting moment today was when I found myself actually flipping upside down in the basement on our pull-up bar. It’s been a couple years since I did that move. The best part? When Elsie exclaimed, “Mommy’s still cool!” Then Jack looked at her and said, “She’s always been cool, Elsie.” Insert as many laughing emoji’s as possible here. What a way to make this mama feel amazing! Because at that particular moment, every muscle was yelling at me for the strange contortion I had put it through and my inner ear buzzed a little at the notion of being upside down. But this mama has goals, and they don’t happen by being sedentary.
There is always more to write, but I need sleep like I need that romper… or something like that.
It’s been a wonderful yet challenging summer for us! Living in a half-torn-up living area, and lots of doctors visits for Matthew. This morning was his 10th visit this year to his ENT’s. It included another tube put in the one ear, which should provide some much-needed relief from a ton of pressure he’s been having! In addition to the infusions last month, it’s been a lot. Frankly, it stinks. Because even though everything looks really clear (yay!) his entire ear nose and throat anatomy is not the way it was before Wegener’s. It’s not even the same as it was a few years ago! His body doesn’t have the ability to naturally move mucous from his nose and sinuses to his throat. He rinses 3-4 times a day with saline just to keep it as clear as possible. Even then, junk starts to collect, because there is only so much a couple pints of salt water can do. We take stock in sea salt, and (next to me) the neti pot is his best friend. We live in exciting times, where super smart people are inventing things and even surgeries he’s had done in the past are more laparoscopic than ten or two years ago! So, perhaps something will become available in the future to help repair the scar tissue and missing parts in his upper respiratory system that have gone AWAL from this disease. We are incredibly grateful for the good care of his doctors. We have been encouraged by them to keep taking our favorite supplements, which target gut health, balance and inflammation, and to stay consistent with an anti-inflammatory diet. What a gift to have doctors who have the incredible expertise and knowledge as they do, and who also encourage plant-based medicine as much as possible!
Our four oldest kiddos went to soccer camp last week. It was wild being a mom of two again. Betty couldn’t stop saying how “peaceful” it was. She cracks me up every day! Like yesterday, when I pulled up to the curb to park. Parallel parking in Silver Belle is becoming more second nature, but it’s still challenging to line up a 12-passenger van on a city street. As we got out she said, “Let’s see how you parked.” Thankfully, I “passed”, because she gave me two thumbs up. “Pretty good!”
Yesterday we celebrated Kids’ Day. This is our sixth year doing it, and it is never a specific date… just someplace in August when the time is right. The inspiration of this day is due to my sweet friend Ruthie.
Have a delightful last few weeks of warmth and summer!
Grow Old With Me 