I Am So Very Thankful

The lull is back a bit - I'm still working on finding a new plastic surgeon, but with the plentiful and quick recommendations I received - all for "the best" surgeons, of course - I am confident that I will find a good fit to replace Dr. J and will soon feel like I actually have someone who is a part of my healing team, a partner in my care.

I have appointments with new plastic surgeons throughout the day on Wednesday and then I start chemotherapy on Thursday morning. So the long Labor Day weekend is now forcing a bit of a lull on me, and this time I am happy to just sit back and enjoy it.

I got to spend yesterday with my sweet baby boy. I can't believe he will be five years old in just a few months. His little brain is so amazing and creative. He's incredible with Legos. He got rewarded with a new set of Star Wars Legos yesterday and as he was putting them together, he announced, "I don't even have to use the instructions. I can use my brain as the instructions!" And he did. The starfighter looks awesome.

Greta wanted to go to the children's museum with Dave, but Fin wanted to stay home and play with me, so we got a much needed and overdue mommy/Finny day. It was perfect.

We played Lego Star Wars for a good part of the day, he curled up in my lap and asked for scary monster stories and we turned the bed into his house when he wanted to play kitty cat. He told me I was his owner, built himself a bed and house out of pillows and a laundry basket, made a tail out of a long necklace, hung a sign on the "house" with his name on it and drank milk from a bowl on the floor. He did this for over an hour.

And while I was having the great mommy day, I also got to use some pent up energy to have an impact on the house. I cleaned up the cancer room and our bedroom, reorganized my half of the closet and the linens in the armoire, and I washed and put away 9 loads of laundry. It was a very productive and fun day.

Turns out I’m sometimes really good with the lulls in my life after all.

I woke up a good three hours before anyone else in the house this morning. And I actually got a good night’s sleep, too; they all just slept in.

During those three hours to myself, I got to do some reading, think about my cancer and listen to some great music. And I realized that as I’m heading into this somewhat daunting week, the emotion I am most feeling right now is thankful.

I am incredibly thankful for my amazing children, for a husband who is working hard to support me through the roller coaster of this stupid illness, and for having my mom and sister close by and knowing they will be by my side in an instant should I ever need either of them for anything at any time of day. I’m also thankful for my dad who, although he is 1500 miles away, can always help me put my stress into perspective with a quick phone call and who reminds me that so much of this stuff is crap and not worth wasting my energy worrying about it.

I am thankful that my niece is healthy despite her premature entry to the world – and I’m thankful that she came early so she was already stable and home by the time I got my diagnosis. I am thankful I was able to support my sister and her family through the rough first weeks of Jillian’s life and that things have settled down for them a bit and I know I can count on their support now. I am thankful that my kids get to grow up close to their cousins. Watching the 2 yr olds play and have conversations with each other is incredibly entertaining.

I am thankful for a great job with really good health insurance. I am thankful for coworkers and supervisors who are supportive and helpful through this illness and who make sure I have the flexibility to work from home when needed and who have let me know my work and projects are covered any time I need to be out for doctor’s appointments, treatments or healing.

And I am hugely thankful for my friends. I have been blessed with an incredible support network and this last six weeks has really shown me how many amazing people I have in my life. I am thankful for my TMS cyber-mommy friends who have made sure I am always surrounded by their love and support. I am thankful for my tireless VL friends – I know a single day hasn’t passed in the last 6.5 weeks when at least one of you hasn’t contacted me, checked in, visited, called, or texted just to say you’re thinking of me and to ask if there’s anything you can do to help me more. You are truly wonderful people.

I am thankful for the high school, college and grad school friends who have gotten in touch after years of little contact just to let me know I’m in their thoughts or prayers, and I am thankful that so many people have added my name to their shirts in various Race 4 the Cure events, Relay for Life events or other fundraisers for cancer awareness and research. I am always honored to know you are thinking of me and wishing me well on this journey.

And as odd as it may sound, I am thankful that this disease has given me an excuse to spend time catching up with a few people who have always made my life more stable with just a phone call – Ray, Rachael, Steph, Allie, Chris – thank you to each of you for the hours on the phone just being normal, being my friend, not judging me, not lecturing me, always loving me no matter what, and for making me laugh until I hurt. You may all live very far away from me, but know you are never far from my thoughts and are always in my heart.

I am thankful for the strong and positive women I have met who have been down this road before me. I am sorry we have all had to experience this journey, but I know my travels down this road have been made easier with your support, advice, recommendations for care providers, and just seeing how normal life can and will be afterwards. I very much appreciate all the trinkets and totems you have shared from your own breast cancer experience and I really hope I never have a need to pass them on to anyone else I love. Laura, Robin, Deborah, Tammy – you have all shared so much with me and I appreciate your strength and openness.

I am thankful to have two very thoughtful and open female doctors on my cancer team. Dr. Jennifer O'Neill and Dr. Robin Obenchain have both been amazingly warm, comforting, informative and approachable throughout this whole experience so far. They both start and end every visit with hugs for everyone in the room. I don't consider myself all that huggy of a person most of the time, but the obvious compassion and concern that these two doctors have for their patients is very appreciated. Everyone warned me that cancer doctors tend to be cold and distant, to forget that there is a person around the cancer rather than just seeing the cancer itself - my breast surgeon and oncologist are two of the warmest, friendliest and most competent doctors I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. I am thankful to have them as partners on my healing team.

I am thankful for good music – this journal entry is brought to you by Mothersbaugh’s Canon by Mark Mothersbaugh (my close-your-eyes-and-just-breathe song since grad school), Glitter in the Air by P!nk, and pretty much anything by Jack Johnson. I am thankful for dancing and laughing until I hurt.

I am thankful for having learned how much I love running before I got sidelined by cancer. I am really looking forward to getting back to it and I hope to run through many more sunrises soon.

I am thankful for sunflowers, butterflies, hedgehogs, watermelons, dancing women, duckface and remote controls – all of which make my cancer-be-gone sanctuary a calm, healing space. I am thankful to have the space to curl up and rest when I need to, even if I don’t use it as much as some of you think I should.

And finally, I am thankful for all of the comments you all have left me here and on facebook. I know so much of what I write is just blathering, navel gazing, getting junk out of my head – but it means a lot to know there are people who care about me enough to read it and let me know you are here to support me.

I hope you all know how much you mean to me. I am thankful that I have today to try to let you know what an impact you have made in my life. I hope we all have many more healthy days to share with each other.

<3

-B-

Well, That's a Different Kind of Letdown

Before I start blathering about today's cancer nonsense, I owe an apology to my mother and husband for implying that they were my captors in this house arrest. They are here because they love me, care about me, want my house to be clean and don't want me to slip in the shower or fall over anything while I'm on drugs that make me sleepy and dizzy. Because we all know I can do plenty of self-injury simply walking from room to room without anything additional in my system...

The true captors here are, of course, cancer and crazy drugs. But they don't really let me take a break from the house arrest in exchange for sweets, so it was much easier to consider bribing captors who were human in exchange for some freedom. That and I figured my family might like some cookies or ice cream or something. :)

But I worry feelings were hurt in my recent vents and that was not my intention, so please, do not assume I'm being held captive against my will. I mean, I AM, but it's part of the surgery recovery, not any maliciousness on the part of family members who care about me too much.

Okay, now all that being said - let's talk phantom amputee pain! I swear this is bizarre. I know as my nerve endings start to reconnect and wake up, I'll be feeling pain in more places. This is normal post-surgery, of course.

I've had a few surprise places that were numb suddenly start to hurt. For example, the back of my armpits... didn't realize I couldn't feel them until one day it suddenly felt like I had a band-aid in my armpit that was falling off. Strange. Now I have feeling in my armpits again and they're just kind of sore like I've done waaaay too many push-ups.

My mid back and sides are sore like I've over done a good lat pull-down series and my chest... well, it's a combination of too many push-ups and kind of like I've been trying to breathe with a 10lb weight on my lungs. But mostly, I assume all of this is fairly normal post-surgery recovery. My pain level has rarely risen above a 3 on a scale of 1-10 and a half a codeine once a day or so has kept me in fairly reasonable spirits. (Or mostly asleep, depending on who you ask...)

The weirdest part, though is the phantom boob pain. In the past couple of days I have had moments where I would swear my nipples were standing up... but then I don't have nipples any more. When talking with the plastic surgeon the first day, I referred to having "Barbie boobies" - his eyes lit up when he asked if I wanted Barbie's dimensions and I had to explain that of course I didn't want to look like that - I think only a man could even think that was my point - but instead she doesn't and never has had nipples. Barbie boobies are smooth and nipple-free.

I could go off on a nice long feminist rant about what that tells generations of kids about the purpose of breasts, but I'll leave that for another day...

But aside from the phantom nipple reactions, I realized last night there's another pain I've been feeling and it's one I know many of my dear friends will recognize and understand.

When a woman has a newborn baby and her milk comes in the first few times, there is often a bit of a painful pins-and-needles sensation while the newborn learns to latch and get the full milk letdown to happen. But then there is the comfort and release of oxytocin and all is right with the world as the mom and infant bond.

In the past day or two, I have felt like I'm having a milk letdown a couple of times. And instinctively, a woman experienced with breast feeding will cross her arms or press the heels of her hands into her breasts to stop leakage if there is no nursing baby nearby to benefit from the nourishment. Yet when I have this instinctive reaction, I realize I am only pressing the damn compression vest into my scars and there are no nipples to be leaking milk. Because it was the damn milk ducts that grew the cancer that lead to the removal of the breasts anyway.

She swallowed the spider to catch the fly. I don't know why she swallowed the fly, perhaps she'll get new boobs that still have no feeling in the nipples but at least look pretty in exchange for having phantom lactation letdowns with no newborns around.

And the weirdest part? I'm most likely to get the letdown feeling when one of my kids is sad or upset... just like when they were babies and my body knew the best way to comfort them was with my milk and cuddling.

My brain knows what it should feel like to provide comfort to a crying baby. My body hasn't done it in years and never will again - not in that way, of course - but the connection is still there. Which is somewhat cool and somewhat really, really bizarre.

I know amputees occasionally have phantom pains when limbs are lost, but I wonder if there's ever such an obvious mental and emotional connection or if it's more of just a random itch on an elbow that doesn't exist...

Time to tie on my happy shoes and take a walk. Hoping the drainage tubes will be out in a few days and I'll be cleared for a little more distance soon even if I can't get back to running yet...

And my dad is coming to visit today! Just to make sure I'm doing okay. :) I'm sure I can find some project around the house to help him feel like he's taking care of me, too.

Feeling very blessed and loved, even if I'm not leaking milk these days...
<3
-B-

How To Give Mommy a Heart Attack

I've been down with the flu for about a week now. I spent a couple days at my mom's house to try to avoid exposing the kiddos to the worst of it and Dave really stepped up to take care of the kids 24/7 while I've been sick. I came home a couple of days ago because I missed being around them too much, but he's still been making sure I'm getting naps and rest and such.

So today, I decided I was going to get him a break even though I'm not yet 100%. I got him a chiropractor's appointment and told him to go out to play poker with his friends tonight.

His chiro appointment was in the afternoon so the plan was that I was going to get Greta down for a nap and hang with Finny while he was gone. My mom ended up stopping by just as Greta was about to fall asleep, so that reset that plan. By the time she left, it seemed a little late to put Greta down for a nap and she and Finny were playing really well together, so I just decided to let her skip it in the hopes that it would mean an early bedtime while I had both kids on my own tonight.

Fin and Greta were playing and coloring while I got the kitchen cleaned up and they even helped me sweep and mop a bit. I took the recycling out the side door to the backyard and Greta followed me outside. As she ran into the backyard to play, I went back through the house to put the recycling can back in the kitchen and met her in the backyard through the kitchen door.

She was out of my sight in the backyard for less than half a minute and by the time I opened the kitchen door, she was already at the top of the ladder and about to go down the slide!

This child is fearless.

It was a gorgeous day, but I knew Finny was inside alone and I planned to take both kids outside to play in a bit when I had a chance to get shoes on them, etc. So I brought her back inside despite her protests and left the side door open to air out the sick cooties through the screen door for a while.

The kids went back to drawing together and were playing very calmly, so I decided it I could take a bathroom break and not worry about what they were up to.

Fin decided to join me and said he had to wash his hands. (I wonder when I get to have privacy in the bathroom again. Why does mommy always need an audience? Who decided that? And why don't I get a vote?) He proceeded to use about half the bottle of soap, got water everywhere and made a huge mess. His selective hearing was on and even though I was saying, "Fin, PLEASE stop making a mess! Don't touch the soap again!", he'd simply reply, "Okay, Mommy. I just need some on thiiiiiis finger."

And then squirt more soap all over.

Luckily, once I got a towel, he was happy to help me clean it up. Then he wanted to jump on the bed (which we allow him to do only on our bed because it's a king and it's on the floor with climbing crash pads next to it should he fall off. Is that weird?)

I thought to myself that Greta was playing very quietly in the other room, but she'd been doing a great job entertaining herself all day while I was around, so I didn't worry about it too much. I figured she'd come find me when she realized I was gone (she's not usually one to miss being an audience in the bathroom...) and I didn't want to leave Finny alone when I knew he was jumping on the bed, anyway.

A couple of minutes later, I heard Dave walking through the house. As he came in, I asked, "What's Greta up to?"

He looked at me blankly, peered into her room where she should have been asleep at that time of day and said, "I haven't seen her."

Ummmm, what?

I figured she was probably just looking at books quietly in the living room or something and he hadn't seen her, but as I dashed in there calling her name and hearing no reply, I glanced up to see the side door to the backyard open.

In my rush to get back through the house to meet her in the backyard earlier, I hadn't locked the screen door behind me.

I thought she was surely still in the house somewhere, just playing "hide seek" with the cat or something, but as I pushed the door open and yelled "GRETA????" into the backyard, her little voice floated over the house to me, "Uh-huh?"

M: "Where are you?" (running)
G: "Here. Ride bike!"

Sure enough, my almost-two year old daughter was in the far, far corner of the backyard on her tricycle, getting very frustrated that she could not make it move in the grass by herself. I don't know if it was her own frustration with the bike or the look on my face as I ran to her, but she was crying by the time I got there.

Dave was a few seconds behind me, but by the time I'd gotten her off the bike and hugged her, she was happy to scramble out of my arms and make another mad dash for the swing set and slide. Dave was there to spot her that time, then we scooped her up and took her back inside.

After all, we'd left Fin jumping on the bed by himself...

So I had a little mommy heart attack this afternoon. Luckily, we found her very quickly, but there is nothing quite like expecting your child to be in the house, then calling her name and realizing you have no idea where she is or even how long she's been gone. Not one of my better parenting moments.

Oh, and for the record, skipping the nap backfired too. She was so cranky she yelled all through dinner and then was too wound up to fall asleep until 9:30. And she bit Fin while he was trying to go to sleep. Next time, we're doing the nap at the usual time.

Halloween!

I provided a sneak peek of Halloween a few weeks ago when the kiddos were playing with their costumes, but now I have the main event. Trick or Treating!

As expected, Fin was Robin to Liam's Batman and Greta was a PURPLE witch. They were all pretty adorable and loved that everyone turned out for trick or treating. The 3 kids were accompanied by 7 adults (PopPop Doug and Carol, GaGa and PopPop Art, HaHa, Dave and myself) and we were eventually joined by our neighbors and their two boys as we trekked around the neighborhood.


In all we hit about a dozen houses and the boys were quickly asking the grownups to hold their pumpkins as they were getting too heavy to carry. Greta also got an absurd amount of loot, but she was protective of her haul and didn't trust anyone to help her carry it until the very end of the evening when we were headed home.

A great time and too much candy was enjoyed by all!

Finny and Greta actually started their Halloween (or "hah-o-ween" in Gretish) adventures with a visit to Grape in the nursing home earlier in the day. Unfortunately, with the flu going around the kids are no longer allowed in the nursing home to visit for a while, but Grape was able to come outside on the patio to give them their first Halloween treats.

They hung out on the patio and played with GaGa and PopPop Art for a while, too.

Have you ever seen a cuter little witch?

Hope you all had a Happy Halloween as well!

I Heart Bedtime

Well, I've pretty much always loved bedtime. I'm sure there was a time in my life when my parents would have argued against that statement, but for the most part, I am a fan of sleep whenever and wherever I can get it.

But my current affection for bedtime actually has nothing to do with sleep, nothing to do with the peace and quiet that comes after the little ones doze off for the evening and absolutely everything to do with those little ones themselves.

As a full time work-outside-the-home mom, I generally feel like I don't get to see the kids enough. I still wish I got to spend more quality time with them throughout the day, but I have to say that lately, we've stumbled into a really sweet and fun bedtimeroutine .

Sometime after dinner, whether there's a bath or not, we all end up in our bedroom. The kids may need to be led in there against their will or they may make their way in there by playing "hide seek" (Gretish) after dinner. Either way, there is playtime in the bed that usually involves jumping, tickling, reading books, snuggling and lots and lots of giggling.

Sometime in there, jammies get put on, a diaper gets added, hands and faces get washed (if it's not a bath night), and teeth get brushed. Eventually stories get read and the lights get turned off for stories in bed for Fin while I take Greta to her room for nursing and snuggles. One of the sweetest highlights, however, is Greta's almost constant request for singing.

Last night I was reading a counting book to Greta. I'd turn the page, ask her the animal and we'd count together. On the page with 5, the picture was of beluga whales. Greta saw the animal and immediately ordered, "sing."

It had been a while since we'd read this book together - maybe a few months - yet the girl remembered I once sang Raffi's Baby Beluga to her on that page.

Well, I made up some words and sang it to her, then tried to continue with 6. Nope. She turned the page back. "Sing. More Baby Nuga."

This went on for a while until I decided it was time to get her to her room. Even there, once she seemed to be dozing off, she raised her read and said:

G: "More Baby Nuga"
M: "No baby, it's time for sleep."
G: "Sing."
M: "No baby, it's time for sleep."
G: "Backin" (Thumbkin)
M: "No baby, it's time for sleep."
G: "Nemo"
M: "No." (laughing because I don't know a Nemo song anyway)
G: "Dory"
M: "No."
G: "Me." (pointing to herself)
M: "No baby, it's time for sleep."
G: "Me sing."
M: "You want a Greta song?"
G: "Uh-huh"

Well, how could I resist that? I sang her one of the love songs I made up about her and have sung since she was tiny.

G: "One more."

Oookay. I'm a pushover.

G: "More."
M: "No baby, it's time for sleep." (laughing again - she is persistent)

She finally seemed to be dozing off, until about 5 minutes later when she suddenly raised her head and said again:

G: "More Baby Nuga."

Well, it worked before, right? :) I snuggled with her a bit more - no more singing - and finally put her in her crib where she chattered to herself for a few minutes and went to sleep.

I returned to our bedroom to find Finny and Dave still reading superhero stories. We turned off the lights and settled in with a few kisses and goodnights and such.

Just when I thought Fin was dozing off, he was suddenly squirming and fidgeting and I rolled over to see him doing downward dog in bed. When he gets wound up like that, we've discovered it's easier to let him get the energy out (and try to tire him out) rather than continually telling him to settle down. So I suggested some exercise.

F: "What exercises should I do?"
M: "Jumping jacks."

He did jumping jacks - which at three years old is really just jumping up and down while waving his arms around - and regular jumping and rolling side to side and sit ups and backbends and bicycle kicks and reverse crunches before finally deciding he was tired. He snuggled into bed and then asked, "Can I tell you a story?"

Again, how could I resist that?

It went something like "*whipser*whisper*whisper*" (no idea what he was saying) "and there was a big splash *whisper* in front of Liam's house and there was a flood and it wasn't from rain and we got stuck in the mud and it was SLIPPERY! *whisper*"

Then he rolled over, said "Freckle," put his hand on my chest and was asleep in about 3 minutes.

I know our bedtime rituals are not exactly conventional. We don't make the kids fall asleep alone. We cosleep and allow the kids access to our bed for snuggles and family time. I might feel differently about these things if I felt I got to see the kids enough during the day, but I treasure our bedtime conversations and our nighttime snuggles.

Every night I get to marvel at their creativity and humor and share the wonder of their discoveries. Their personalities are so amazing and our bedtime rituals and games are so much fun. I've long been a fan of bedtime, but these days, it's definitely my favorite part of the day.

Happy Birthday HaHa!

Dave and the kids brought HaHa downtown today so we could all do a birthday lunch at Spaghetti Factory. There was much pasta worn on the clothes and ice cream eaten with hands and I think everyone had a really nice time. I know Boo was elated to have so much chocolate cake!

The kids made HaHa some great birthday cards. Fin drew a picture of one of HaHa's favorite things: getting a massage! Then he wrote Happy Birthday HaHa on the card and signed it. I think he got all of the letters from all of the words somewhere on the card, just maaaaybe not all in the right order. But he fit them in!

So, Happy Birthday, Elaine! Hope you had a great day and enjoy celebrating the rest of your birthmonth!

Nine Years Ago Today...

Dave and I had our first date.

It's been wonderful and amazing ever since. I remember calling my mom afterwards and she asked what we did. I replied, "We laughed." It was great. There was mini-golf and Pita Jungle in there, too, but mostly it was just laughing and laughing together.

Dave was only supposed to be in town for a few weeks visiting his dad as he drove across the country to start his film career in LA. I was coming off a bad breakup of a long-term relationship and we both thought it would just be fun to hang out for a few weeks.

Those weeks turned in to months and before we knew it, Dave just never left Phoenix. We did actually take a road trip out to LA shortly after we started dating to find him an apartment, but he never moved. I did get a great picture of him on the beach in Malibu, though.


It's crazy that he was 22 and I was 24 when we met. Doesn't he look so young?




Now, here are a few more pictures from the last nine years as I stroll down memory lane today.

At Rachael's 30th b-day disco party in Austin.





At his mom's house in Florida when his short film was in the Florida Film Festival.

At his dad's wedding Vancouver in Sept 2003.



This is the closest thing we have to an actual engagement picture. We got engaged on December 10, 2003, then on January 15, 2004 we decided to scrap all the wedding planning and just get hitched in Texas in two weeks.



And we did. :) This is the big day, February 1, 2004. Could my grin be any bigger? Hard to believe we're quickly approaching the fifth anniversary of our wedding, too.

We took a great two week honeymoon to Hawaii a few months later.

And this is us celebrating our first wedding anniversary.




By the end of that year, I was Dr. Benah. Fin arrived and turned us into parents less than 24 hours after this picture was taken. No one believed me about being in labor during graduation. Heck, I didn't even believe it myself!



And this is the most recent picture that I have of all four of us. We've come a long way in nine years and I'm so lucky to have Dave as my best friend, husband and partner in everything.



I love you, cutie butt! Thanks for an amazing nine years already!

Using Fin's Full Name

We went out to dinner with friends this weekend and I found myself using Fin's full name twice while out in public. As you probably know, anything that requires the middle name coming out is probably not a good thing...

All day on Saturday we told Fin that if he used the potty all day with no accidents, stopped whining, didn't yell, and got his feet out of his sister's face (among other things) he could have some lemon cake after dinner at Joe's BBQ. He did a pretty good job, so we got the cake when we got the food. Turns out the temptation was a bit too great for the poor kid.

Joe's is a restaurant that is great for the kiddos because they have a huge (fenced-in) yard for them to run wild while still being mostly captive. So when Fin kept getting up from his seat to walk around the table, it was no big deal and very appropriate for the setting. However, I kept an eye on him and he would inch ever-closer to the tantalizing cake. I kept returning him to his seat and telling him he had to actually eat some food before he could have the cake.

But we were there with a fairly large group, kids were running all around, there were balloon animals being made and popped, and I looked up just as Fin was digging both hands into the cake and lifting it off the plate. Before I knew it, guess what came out of my mouth.

"Finian Xavier, put down that cake and eat some dinner! Two bites of corn is not dinner!"

I couldn't believe how much of a mom I sounded like in that moment. Little did I know what was to come...

Fin eventually sat down, ate some dinner, enjoyed a few bites of cake and then ate some more dinner - then it was time to play! He happily ran around with his friends and played in the dirt. Dave decided to take Fin's balloon monkey out to the car so it didn't get popped and I visited with my friends while we watched the kids play.

I suddenly realized I couldn't see Fin and peered around the yard looking for him. I could not believe the sight that met my eyes.

Pants at his ankles, penis out, peeing in the grass mere feet from other dining families and kids running and playing.

Yep - the whole name came out in shock, then I was completely speechless and laughing. Unfortunately, I was holding Greta at the time so I didn't have a free hand to help him pull his pants back up. Dave appeared a moment later and grabbed Greta, but all the while Fin was just confused and saying, "Daddy lets me pee in the grass at home!"

Niiiice.

Obviously, we didn't take any pictures of that special moment in the night, but I did get a few good shots that evening.


Fin and his friend Will doing what boys do in the dirt.

All the mamas. L to R: Meredith, me and Greta, Claire, Robyn and Jenn. And Greta kept reaching over and groping Claire while we were trying to take this picture. LOL. Yep, my kids were all about being socially acceptable that evening. *snort*

Fin and Greta wrestling. She's little, but she can hold her own against Fin already!



A sweet moment with Daddy.


We will be having a big talk about appropriate places to use the bathroom before we go to Joe's again.