The Best of Both Poles

I'm so impressed with my boy! Yes, I'm talking about the same boy who gave me the card with the broccoli up the boy's nose. You all know that Josh has the diagnosis of bipolar disorder. I'm going to talk about how bipolar he is, but not in the way you think.

Josh could easily BE the boy on the Mother's Day card. This is the boy who started making weird sounds and noises as a baby and hasn't stopped since. He can do impressions almost as well as Rick can. Some of his favorites are Sheldon from "The Big Bang Theory" and just about all of the characters on "Family Guy" (how can I say he can't watch this rude show when Rick cracks up with laughter), although Lauren can do a mean "Lois". He was an accomplished farter, the kind you make with your hand cupped under your armpit. But wait, that's not all. He could do it not just in his armpit but by cupping his hands behind his knees and also make "the sound" with his hands cupped over his ears. I say he was accomplished, not because he can't anymore but because "that's juvenile" as he would say.

This is the kid who made the clothing list on his school's recent 8th grade trip. Actually, they're in San Antonio right now. When the director of the middle school, Mrs. LeBlanc, made the list of clothes to pack she suggested an extra pair of underwear because Josh would be making them laugh! She's known Josh since the beginning of 6th grade and has had many Josh Rainey moments in the past 3 years.

This is the kid who when he was about 4, and sitting next to us in the sanctuary of the church during the sermon, asked me if God has, ummmm, male genitalia (or the "p" word). That's one of those moments where you say "We'll talk about this in the car, LATER".

People who know him will just walk up to me and start laughing. I'm thinking "Oh my, what's he done now!" Whether it's his teacher at school, his best friend's mom or our youth director at church, they always have some kind of hilarious Josh story to tell me, while I shake my head in slight embarrassment and quiet awe at the same time. Sometimes I just want to find the off switch!

This is the kid that Josh thinks the world wants to see. He gets himself into trouble now and then because, as he puts it "Mom, I was just trying to make them laugh!" He's made us laugh hundreds of times and will continue to do so in the future, I'm sure. I know I can relate to how Jim Carrey's or Robin Williams' moms must have felt.

The other side of him, the 'polar' opposite, is so sensitive, kind, thoughtful and very introspective. Did you know that Josh is great with little kids? Two of our best friends since college, Cindy and Andy, have 2 children. Trevor and Victoria LOVE Josh. The moon rises and falls with Josh, and the cool thing is that Josh thinks they are special too. Lauren loves the Davies kids, but she loves them like a 16 year old girl who's in to makeup, I-Tunes, her friends and boys, would. Josh will spend an entire evening playing chase, encouraging Trevor as he rides his bike in our cul-de-sac, or just simply let Trevor copy every move he makes. It's adorable. So are those Davies kids!

Josh is the kind of young man who notices the homeless people on the streets of Houston. We pick up bags of non-perishable food from our church and carry them in our car. Josh can spot a homeless person a mile away. He's made me turn around, go the opposite direction, just so he can reach the guy on the opposite side of the freeway and give him some food. He tried to get his school to make the bags of food there at the school and then, as a community project, all of the kids could take them in their cars and pass them out. He was incensed when they decided to have a bake sale instead.

Josh is the kind of kid who values his friendship with his best friend, Major, so much that it doesn't matter who's around when he shows how much he cares with a hug or a kind word.

Many of you have asked where Josh is going to school next year. We narrowed it down to Rosehill Christian School, on the other side of Tomball, and The Woods High School, about 4 blocks from Monarch, where Lauren is. This decision was a BIG one for our family, because if we chose Woods High School then we would have probably moved to that part of town.

About a month ago, Josh had a day off school so we decided to make that our day to visit both schools. I'd been to both schools before, but really wanted Josh's and Rick's input. We saw Woods HS first and I thought Josh would have been enthralled with the place. The kids dress like him (slightly emo looking), have Anime-style drawings on their lockers (that's his favorite style of drawing), etc. It just had this creative, free-thinking, Montessori style, lap top for each kid vibe to it. Rosehill is a lovely, warm, traditional Christian school, where the kids wear uniforms and have chapel. It has that Rydell High (you know, from "Grease") kind of feel.

So, after our tour, Rick and I sat down with Josh and asked him his opinion on each school. We wanted to know his pros and cons for each one. We were shocked and impressed to hear how much thought Josh put in to his answers and what maturity and insight he had. Believe it or not, Josh chose Rosehill over Woods, for reasons we would never have thought mattered to him. We had already been leaning toward Rosehill and so we're now in the stages of getting in all of our paperwork and hoping that Josh will be attending the school in the fall. It's a great school, with a wonderful program that we feel will meet his special needs and the people are just so loving and vested in making the students feel valued. My kind of school!

Well, that's my boy! He'll tell anyone "I'm a mama's boy" and be proud of it. I've never been so thrilled to have this kind of bipolar child in my life. I'm a lucky mom.

Auto Mechanics 101, Here I Come

So, I'd just dropped Lauren off with our carpool and was on the way to Josh's school when I saw someone stalled in an intersection. We all see them every day. I don't know why but something inside told me to stop and help. So, I did. He might have wished for someone else!

Fortunately, the guy was in an intersection that's not very busy in the morning rush hour. I had a hard time pulling up beside him because I didn't want to totally block the intersection, but there wasn't any other way. I was aware that I had Josh, Astro and Allie in the car and my first priority was to keep them safe. The man got out his jumper cables and I lifted the hood of my car to get to the battery. Silly me, I couldn't remember which was the positive or negative post of the battery so he had to tell me. I felt a little foolish, but oh well. Jumping the car didn't work, so he thought that maybe I could tow him across to a parking lot so he could call a tow truck. We pushed his car behind mine and he asked if I had a towing hitch. I couldn't remember if I did or not! Ugh, another brain fart moment. At this point, he's probably wondering if there was anyone else who could stop and help. Anyways, we found this "big hook thing" under my car and attached a special nylon towing rope that he had to this big hook. We couldn't find anything to attach the other end to his car, although I was on my hands and knees looking under his car like I knew what I was doing. Yea, right! So, he attached it to something, but the minute I tried to pull him whatever it was, snapped. He wasn't that concerned about it, but I have no idea what it was or how serious it was.

We ended up with me parking my car, with Josh and the dogs inside, in a parking lot. Then, I ran back, got in his car to steer as he pushed the car through the intersection and into the parking lot. I felt a little foolish but he seemed grateful for my, ummm, help. :)

When I think back, and see the faces of all the drivers that passed us by, I bet there were some real auto mechanics in the crowd. They could have diagnosed his problem, known just where to hook the towing rope, etc. But, on a metaphoric level, when we need help, don't we just really want someone to understand and be there for us as we try to figure it out. I know I do. I just want to feel like I'm not alone.

At least that's what I'm telling myself this morning. The man was wearing scrubs. He's probably at his hospital telling the story of this nice but clueless woman who tried to help. Oh well, my kid saw me do something to help someone in need today. That makes it all worthwhile, doesn't it!

Habby Budder's Day!

So, I woke up this morning to my 3 favorite people standing over me with cards in their hands. This picture is a scan of one of the cards I received. The title of today's post was the caption on the inside of the card. Guess who gave me this one?

I just cracked myself up typing this because in most households it would be obvious that the silly boy in the home would choose this one, but I have 2 silly boys! It was Josh who chose the card, but it easily could have been Rick, right? Ya, you know you were thinking it.

What a great day I've had - cards, gifts, church, Sunday School (which has become even more important to us since the loss of Mike and Hilary's illness), lunch at one of my favorite restaurants (with a Mimosa, yum), Starbucks and then home for a long nap. Maybe we'll take a walk later. Awesome. My kind of day.

My hope for you is that you get to have "your" kind of day once in a while. If not, then create one for yourself. You're worth it!

Smiling Like a Gopher?

Okay, I'm on a Mother's Day streak here. Hmmmm, I wonder what my therapist will say about that statement!!!

Take a look at this and see if you can figure out, if Susie and I had been boys, which one would be me and which one would be her.

Mom Alert!

Right now, I'm listening to the various sounds of my family. Rick is doing dishes, Josh is feeding the dogs, Lauren is............. hmmm, I don't hear her. That's not necessarily a bad thing! Remember when your kids were little and NOT hearing them meant they were probably spreading Vaseline in their hair (or something like that). Well, now that my kids are teenagers, when I don't hear them yelling at me, at each other, at the hair straightener that just won't 'do right', etc., to quote Martha Stewart - "It's a good thing".

These days my life is so 'mom'ish. You know - wake up; open your eyes, for the 3rd time come downstairs RIGHT NOW; we're not eating hot Cheetos for breakfast; does everyone have clean underwear; did you shower?; let me smell your hair to see if you used shampoo; go brush your teeth; your teeth are not clean; go clean your teeth; grab your lunch; oh, you forgot to make one; I guess you'll be hungry; no, it's not my problem that you'll starve at lunch; get out the door; get in the car; I love you and now get out of the car; .............. whew, it's just 8:30 a.m.

Wanna know when I really knew I was a mom? I was in my gold mini-van, sitting in the carpool lane waiting to pick up Lauren from Kindergarten. Josh was about 3 and fairly newly potty trained. Josh looks at me and says "Mama, I have to go potty RIGHT NOW!". You know that look. It means it doesn't matter how nasty that gas station bathroom is, they've gotta go! I was trapped in the carpool lane so I couldn't take him in the school and leave my car unattended. Did you know it's a sin to block the carpool lane and not keep it moving? Anyways, I looked around my van to see a plastic glass of water. As I opened my car door and dumped out the water I was thinking about how I was going to have to convince Josh that JUST THIS ONE TIME it was okay to pee in the plastic cup. Well, he read my mind. As I closed the door and turned around to unbuckle his car seat, Josh was already trying to pull down his pants. He was, ummmm, doing his business (thank goodness he's a boy) when we had to pull forward in the line. So, I'm driving a mini-van with one hand in the carpool line, holding a cup full of pee while my toddler is finishing up. Yup, that was the glorious moment.

Somehow this was not what I envisioned when Rick and I jumped up and down with glee at 6:00 in the morning after finding out that "the stick" turned blue and I was pregnant. But, after 16 years of motherhood I wouldn't have it any other way. Actually, there isn't any other way but I'm trying to put a positive spin on this, okay. Work with me, people!

Happy Mother's Day to all my favorite "moms" out there, even the doggie moms! Love you all.

When I Grow Up!

Today, Rick and I attended the funeral of a friend from our Sunday School class. Mike Konicki's service at our church was the most unbelieveable thing I've ever seen. Never have I seen so many people at our church, not even on Easter or Christmas, and all of them said the same thing: what an amazing human being Mike was. The last time we saw him in class, he had no hair, was covered with a rash and was obviously not doing well. Still, he grasped everyone's hand in a sturdy hand shake and wore that huge smile on his face. Then he and DeLin turned to me and asked about my parents and told us they were praying for our family! Incredible.

Here's a link to the story and video about Mike on Channel 2's coverage of the service. Make sure you click on the link below the photo of the firefighter saluting. That will take you to the video about the service, the procession from Mike's high school, where he was head football coach, to our church. Take a look at this story, or this one and hopefully you'll get a small glimpse into why we'll all miss Mike so very much.

When I grow up I want to be like that!

Do Me a Favor, Will 'Ya?

Something is driving me crazy! It shouldn't, I know I'm being silly, it plays into my people pleasing nature that I'm working hard to get rid of, and yet I can't stop myself from the thoughts. What is "It", you ask? Well, I'm going bonkers over the fact that hardly anyone is commenting on my postings. There, I said it. The awful truth is out and I'm slightly ashamed!

At first I was having so much fun joining the world of blogging that I didn't notice the comments. Then, as I started to figure things out and visit other blogs I realized how much people comment. They are always fun to look at, see who came to the blog and what they thought about the postings. I don't write about what you think I'll say, cuz no one knows what goes on in this wild mind of mine, but I love to see how you've responded to what I wrote. I guess I want to know that my blog has a purpose and that I'm not just blogging to myself. If that were the case, then I wouldn't need to worry about spell checking and what color font I use. You know me; it's all about communication, baby! AND communicating is a TWO-WAY street. No, I'm not yelling (although I know that's what capital letters are supposed to mean). I'm just being emphatic in a kind way.

I've considered blocking comments for good, to stop the craving for more comments on my posts. I've tried to tell myself that just because you don't comment doesn't mean you're not reading my blog. I know this because a few of you are telling me how much you enjoy my site, and I appreciate that. But, nah, that's not enough! I want comments!

So, this is your assignment.................. Find the post that you've enjoyed the most from my blog and comment on it. Just this one time! I promise, after that I'll leave you alone. Angela, you comment often and are about to have your 4th baby, so you're off the hook. Hilary, you also comment frequently and have a lot going on, so you can be exempt from the task. The rest of you, GET BUSY!