more pictures

Look really close the crab in Jacob's hand is in both of these pictures (actually there are 2 crabs in one piture. When I am less tired I will post some underwater pictures from our dives.

I have very few pictures of Benjamin on vacation on these disks so here are 2. These are both from Founders Park in Islamodora. The water was wonderful and not very deep!

Mainly Levi

As promised here are some pictures of Levi with his vacation. On the boat with Key Dives. He's driving the boat. He's washing tanks. Child labor!!

Here with the divemaster getting ready to snorkle.

The Key Dives boat!

Here are Levi and Capt Scott!

A big THANK YOU goes out to Jasmine, who from MN helped me learn how to post pictures.


Ok, so I have no idea how to flip my dad over, but he got up early one morning and we did not have to leave as early as he thought, so he took a little nap.

I'll get more pictures later!!!

FAMILY

I was not going to post today, but I saw that my cousin Gregory (yeah, he will never be a Greg to me) commented on my last post. It got me thinking...My dad's family are just as funny as their name. We all find some connection, but really do not see each other much and when we do see each other, it's like why do we not have a get together? My grandparents had only 3 children each is 6 1/2 years apart. My aunt Carla Jean, perhaps the nicest, quietest woman I knew died more than 10 years ago at 65ish, had 5 children who all had children. I have 2nd cousins older than I am. Jim (now James) had only one child Gregory (I think that I am the most drawn to him-he is the one I see the least, but probably have the most in common with), then the baby my dad, Jerry, who has this desire to pull everyone together and make everything good.
Gregory and I have an experience that few people in 1 family (especailly this small) share. We are both NICU parents, or should I say survivors. We both had children (me one, him two) that came too early and were too small and had to spend time with tubes and wires and alarms...We both had to take in a huge amount of bad news and deliver it to other people, who "just knew everything would be OK", when in reality things were not OK. I say very little about my NICU time to many, but I know that Kristina and Gregory know that know exactly what I am talking about. The journey is long and hard, the outcomes are never as you expect. I remember the exact day, January 11, 2007, that Benjamin had finally been home 74 days-he had been alive for 147 days (73 in the NICU) the relief...
Anyway, I think about family and the family of friends that we all have and find unable to live without and it is amazing the joy and concern that we have for all of them. Levi, out of the blue asked be what happened to the 2 babies in that place with the mountains. Of course, he is ready for another vacation so he wants to go see them...
always amazed by what we all think of...

lots of stuff

Ahh to return from vacation is amazing, right.
I have been reflecting a lot this last weekend, just coming back from Islamoroda, FL and then going to Branson/Table Rock Lake for a seminar on end of life (fun, huh?). I realized that I have been to 2 of the most beatiful places in the US, totally for different reasons. The Keys are so wonderful the laid back attitude the water, the sun, the lack of bugs, and just everything. The Branson area the trees, the hills (I won't say mountains, because they are just hills), the fresh water, and the mid-west stuff.
I also realized the I did something with my family that few families do. I spent Father's day with 2 fabulous fathers-underwater no less. My dad is an amazing dad and even better Papa. My children LOVE him so much that it fun to watch them interact. My dad actually changes diapers on Benjamin! I think that this father's day was a bit sentimental for me because there are few things that my dad and I share--I mean activities/interests. I'm not a teacher-I'm a nurse, I'm not into golf-nor is my husband. I have a very different lifestyle because of Jacob's and my professions. That being said, my dad took on SCUBA diving in his 60's and my husband taught him. This has become a new part in my relationship with my dad. It is something that we do together that is a bit unique and something we both love. He never thought that he would love scuba diving the way I do-but I think he does. SCUBA is the only thing that my dad, husband, and I do just us. Levi will be added as soon as he can. The effort that my dad puts out to dive is so amazing and means so much, it was such an amazing experience to have my dad in the water for 3 trips on father's day. Father's day also was special for Levi. Levi got to snorkle in the ocean with his Papa and his mom. Levi also got to help captain the boat--THANKS TO KEY DIVES. I gave my husband the opportunity to do as many dives as possible even doing a night dive. What a father's day. What a vacation!
Vacation could be the best reason to work. This one was fabulous! We had a big group and the only thing that could have made it better is more people. The adults were a wonderful mix and none of us thought we had to do everything together. My mom and her friend K were wonderful to watch my children so that Jacob and I could go diving. I think that they had a great time just playing. Our friends D and B brought a good balance and were not bothered by Levi's constant questions about where their children, who stayed home, were and why they did not get to come. I wish that more kiddos would have come, but that is purely selfish because I like all of my kid's friends parents...
I was only in the office 1/2 day before I went to an end of life conference in Branson. Wow, what a topic, but it does make me think about how greatful I am for what I have and my instinct on keeping an open mind about teaching my children. Both Levi and Benjamin come to work with me and have known and liked one of the residents that have died. Levi knows that it happens, Benjamin will learn. It is amazing how important it is to love life, but also to know that all things change. It really takes me back to when Benjamin was born and how little he was and how everyone thought it was amazing that he survived, but babies come into the world everyday like that, sometimes two at a time and sicker. No one ever can deny that moments like that are life changing, and this seminar reminded me that there are moments like that at the end also and it is all important. Wow, what a downer. As I said I have been really sentimental.
I will try to figure out how to post pictures and get some of the vacation on my next post...

we are ready

We leave for vacation soon and I doubt that I will write before we leave, so I thought I would write something now.
First our house will be getting a new ceiling in the kitchen, a new floor in the upstairs bathroom and a deep clean of all the carpets in the dining room, living room, stairs, and upstairs hallway. I cannot believe how lucky we are!
Levi has been going to summer school-not the kind that Jacob remembers...the kids do learning by play (my words not theirs) and they get PAID $100.00 for perfect attendance-which Levi will not get, since he will be missing to go on vacation. The can also win a Wii. Levi won a ball and bat (just what we needed) one day, and now he thinks that bat and ball are the coolest thing in the world. Tee ball is going good one little boy had to quit. He is amazing.
Benjamin is just as cute as ever. He is a mover and a shaker and sassy as all get out. He is officailly acting his age!
take care, Paula

what a day

Yesterday, Jacob called me at work-a hot water line in our upstairs bathroom burst. WHAT A MESS! Lucky for us that not only was he home (if he had been working we would not have known for 12+ hours) but the bus was late (otherwise we would not have known for 4 hours). We now have 2 HUGE dehumidifiers (one in the kitchen and one in the shower) and a total of 5 BIG carpet drying fans (3 in our kitchen and 2 in our upstairs bathroom). Benjamin is REALLY scared of the fans-he won't even go in the bathroom and really does not want to be in the kitchen. They tore down our ceiling in our kitchen and dining room. They pulled up the carpet in the dining and in the upstairs hallway and put a fan in there so the carpet waves (yet two more places niether of my children will go). Even as I sit here thinking about how HORRIBLE it is and how LOUD it is (no we are not supposed to turn ANYTHING off even to sleep) I am still very greatful about how little damage. I think the only things that got damaged were some toilet paper and girly stuff, and the ceiling that needed re-done anyway.
Levi had a tee ball game last night-he is starting to hit like his MOM! He got to play catcher again-which makes him very happy. We also had tee ball pictures. Levi is so amazing, he just continually goes with the flow!
Benjamin was a poop last night. His (well, both of their) favorite daycare provider was there. When he saw her, it was like mom who? Then he did not want to leave with me, which was alarming, because I was okay with it. Not that I do not ADORE him, but sometimes he is so attached to me that I cannot do anything without him. Last night was the first time I got to watch Levi play.
The hazards of being a MOM! I leave soon on vacation-I can not wait...

Friends

It is amazing how much I value my friends. I have 3 really good friends-you know the kind that it doesn't matter if you are in a good mood or not they love you anyway. One Jasmine lives so far away that I NEVER see her and we mainly keep in contact with each other through email and her blog- Ludwig Pumkin Wumpkins. One Amber I work with, however she lives about an hour from my (we both live about 30 minutes from work in opposite directions)- her blog is The misadventures of Frank and Boris. The other is Keri, who lives where I live her husband and my husband work together-she is my MOM friend and is amazing. Keri has 4 kiddos 6, 4, 3, and 9 mos, just finished getting her ADN-waiting for her board letter. Her 4 year old R and Levi are only 2 months apart. All of these ladies keep me hopeful that somewhere in my MOM life I still have a bit of PAULA still in there. I think that I have been thinking about this because I have been reviewing my Sex and the City DVDs-I have the whole series and I can not wait to go to the movie. I have to wait until Levi goes to bed to watch so I have been up late and then up early to go to work. Not sure why I am add this to this blog I just am rambling.
Levi has been doing the tee ball thing. He really likes to be the catcher which is actually the busiest spot in tee ball. He gets to put the ball on the tee and since they let everyone hit and the last batter ALWAYS gets to run all the bases he usually gets to tag them out and "make" the last "out" every inning!
Amber's husband Jeff gave Levi a BUNCH of water guns on Saturday, so Sunday we go the slip and slid and the water guns out and PLAYED! Levi was shooting me as he ran and slid down the slip & slide. Benjamin (Spiderman) was even shooting me and would walk down the slip & slide. It was so fun to watch them. Jacob was at work, keep the world safe from fire and saving lives, so it was just the three of us. It is so fun now that Benjamin is up and around and ready to play. I think that my favorite time is around 2 y/o.
Benjamin has started to climb and show his personality more and more. His language is exploding. As I write I am trying to think about the "new" things that he does, there are so many that I can't think of any-except we have a chair (one of those that are tall and have the steps that are stored under them-my grandma H had one in her kitchen too-I remember sitting on it while she cooked) in our kitchen (by our stove) it is there so that I can reach stuff in our cabinets. Anyway he now climbs up on it while we are cooking and says "hot" and blows on the stove. He does not touch the stove and we do not use the burner that he could touch (well, I did once before I knew he could get up there-imagine my surprise).
I am so greatful for my friends and family, they all together make any of the bad times good!