Smooth Sailing

Jeremy and I have had seven years of smooth sailing. Nothing ever goes wrong. Take for example last weekend. We have been wanting to go camping for a long time. We bought a tent a couple years ago as a Christmas present to each other. We set it up twice and slept in it once - in our living room. So, for our anniversary we decided it would be a cheap way to celebrate and something we really were excited about.  We tried to reserve the perfect campsite, but we ended up with one that sounded good near a place called Mormon Lake. The website showed pictures of  the beautiful trees and said there was good trout fishing, etc.  Then as we were preparing, we discovered our tent was MIA. We don't have a large place, there are only so many places it could be and it wasn't in any of them.  Since we had no tent, we grudgingly decided just to do a day trip. Then day of, Friday, Jeremy surprised me and bought us a new version of our old tent in UT Longhorn colors. (He had no idea, he's colorblind. :) But, he does still have school pride.) We scrambled around to pack up and were careful not to walk on the floors too much, because we had just had the carpets cleaned that morning. I  thought it would be easier for it to dry if we weren't around trying to spill things on it. We met Lynne and switched cars, so she would have the carseats and headed off. It was a beautiful drive and we loved the area we camped in. We got there about 8. It is just south of Flagstaff, so it was a bit of a drive.  After we got off the freeway and drove to the campsite, we saw an entire herd of deer, complete with babies. We also saw two other small groups of deer. It was so neat. I think I could live near Flagstaff.  Beautiful trees, very green and meadows full of wild flowers.  We set up camp, built a fire and had hot cocoa and soup. It was great. The next morning, I actually slept in, no little people waking me up. It was heavenly. Jeremy made us breakfast and did the dishes. :) Then we packed up to go explore Mormon Lake, hike and go fishing.  As we left the camp site, Lynne's car was acting funny and we discovered it was a flat tire.  So, we took everything out of the trunk and changed the tire. The spare was a small donut tire.  We decided to still go forward and made it to Mormon Lake Lodge and still couldn't find the Lake. Turns out there is no water in it!  It is a beautiful meadow surrounded by trees, but we were expecting some water! The map shows a blue body of water. Oh, well. After exploring the area, a bit, we headed back toward Phoenix hoping we could find a Discount Tire. We stopped for lunch in Sedona, which is beautiful in a completely different way, with red rock and a lower elevation. There was no Discount Tire, so we got back on the freeway toward the next stop on the map. But, the donut couldn't stand the pressure any longer and gave in. We called a tow trunk and a very nice tow trunk driver towed us to Anthem to have the tire changed.  While we were waiting on the side of I-17, I wasn't exactly sure where we were - so it took a bit to find us- the glue connecting the bottom of my shoe decided the freeway was too hot and didn't want to hold any longer :). Thankfully, everything worked out. Lynne's tire was under warranty and the Insurance should reimburse for the tow. Even though things didn't exactly go as we planned, Jeremy and I still had a great time together and were glad we went. And especially glad the kids weren't there.  That might have put us over the edge right around the second flat tire! :) 

Oh, and I didn't think about leaving the fans on or a window open when we left Tucson. So, when we walked in to our house on Sunday night, we were overwhelmed by the smell of near mildewed carpet. I spent most of Monday working on it and it even smells good now - like peaches. 

August 18, 2001

We were married seven years ago. It was such a wonderful day. I remember the ceremony and how happy I was to be there and to give myself to him and take him as my husband. I think I had no idea what I was getting myself into, but I am so glad I did it!








Now, seven years later, I understand what a huge decision we made and I wouldn't change it for the world.

Seven reasons I am glad Jeremy chose to be with me forever:

His love for me is real

He takes care of us and is a strength to our family

He makes me smile everyday

He is a good man with a good heart

Andrew

Jacob

Michael

There are so many more reasons why I am lucky to be his wife. Just wait for the 50th anniversary! :)

Yea, Jeremy!

Yesterday, Jeremy had an interview to teach two teach classes at Pima Community College. And they hired him! Hooray! He will teach two sections of Screen Acting. We are excited for the experience he will gain and the extra money will be really helpful! We also think that it will look good on his resume to have another class he has taught and a different school.  This is good timing, considering he will start applying for jobs for next year in the next couple months. It will be a crazy semester for him, though. He has two weeks of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof left, then will immediately start rehearsals for Loves Labours Lost, then job applications will start being due, etc. He will be co-teaching two classes because the other professor is going on tour for six weeks in the middle of the semester, plus his two classes at U of A and now two classes at PCC.  He is going to be busy! But, I am so proud of him. Our anniversary is on Monday - 7 years!

An unofficial official diagnosis

We were able to get in to see the Pediatric Neurologist yesterday, a few weeks earlier than our original appt. The Dr. says it is pretty likely Michael does have Neurofibromatosis. He has order an MRI and a blood test to check the DNA. The DNA test should be conclusive because they have identified the two genes where the mutations for NF are located. So, now we are waiting for pre-authorization from insurance and we will get this going. It will most likely be almost two months until we know about the DNA. It takes a month to do the DNA test and it will probably take awhile to get the pre-approval. The forward motion though will begin with therapy. I need to contact our insurance to do PT and ECI.
I was hoping the Dr would be able to tell me what to expect. But, this disorder has a huge range of severity. Some people have a benign problem, just cafe au lait spots and small learning disabilities, while others have severe pain and a small percentage have tumors which lead to death. So, he told me we had to just wait and see what life would bring. The not knowing is hard for me. But, I have high hopes for our little Michael. He is such a sweet boy and we love him so much.

Kindergarten

Today is Andrew's first day of school.  When I woke him up, he said "Is this a practice day?" We had been practicing waking up. He likes to sleep in - he is like his Daddy. :) He was so excited last night, he had a hard time sleeping. And this morning he could barely eat his cereal. Everything was all ready and set out last night. He picked out his outfit and his book to share. I wrote out his name tag and set it on the desk. We were ready. This morning the name tag was no where to be found. Which drove me crazy, I wanted everything to go perfect. Jeremy doesn't start teaching again for a couple weeks so, he stayed home with the boys that were still sleeping and I took Andrew to school. Andrew gave Jeremy the biggest hug goodbye and said," I am so excited. It isn't a practice day. I am going to kindergarten!" We only had one practice day, it must have had a big impact! I couldn't get a great picture, because of where the sun was. Oh, well.  I drove him to school and I took him inside with all his school supplies. He got a new name tag.  :) He put his backpack and dinosaur towel in his cubby with his name on it. Then gave me a hug goodbye. He put his book in the pile and went to sit down on the couch with a different book. He sat down next to one of his classmates - he had down syndrome, maybe that will be Joy someday!- and starting looking at it. I tried to take a picture, but it didn't come out well. He looked nervous when I left him. I didn't expect it to be so hard to leave. I know he will be fine, in fact I think he will do great. He was so excited to come to school and make new friends. But, I cried - not until I was far away from him and he didn't need my brave face anymore. It made me so sad to leave him there looking unsure. I don't know exactly what he'll be doing. I am worried the kids won't be nice to him. I am worried he will fall through the cracks. I am worried the teacher won't like him. I am worried he will be scared in the cafeteria. I am worried he won't learn anything with all the distractions. I am worried he will misbehave. I am worried he will be won't be nice to the other kids. I am worried he won't like his teacher, etc, etc. I know I am silly. I really know that he will be okay. I do.  I am one of THOSE moms. I didn't think I would be. Maybe I'll be ready by the time Jacob goes to kindergarten :)

Monsoon Mondays

This was a post I meant to publish before we left on our cross country trip.  I will post on the trip next. :)

We are in the midst of Monsoon season here in Arizona. Crazy, quick storms that dump a ton of rain down in an amazingly short amount of time. It does bring down the heat a little, but also adds the humidity. It is fun to watch the huge drops of rain, but Andrew hates the thunder.
We had a funny day. Andrew and Jacob found a can of sardines in our emergency kit/food storage and really wanted to open it. I made them wait until Jeremy woke up. SO, we all had sardines at ten in the morning. ugh. But, everyone thought they were okay, even Michael. :) We all had a couple bites. I thought it would be just lots of tiny fish, but it was two small fish sans heads and tails. It was in water, so it pretty much just tasted like fish. I was really expecting the boys to be grossed out, but they weren't. They loved the can and wanted more. Not a bad addition of protein to a 72 hour kit or food storage.
Then in the evening we visited the Tucson Children's Musuem for Monsoon Mondays. It just means everyone can get in for a $1 a person. So we spent $4 (Michael was free) instead of $24. Hooray. They all had fun. They had a dinosaur exhibit, which is the reason we HAD to go. I thought it was great, but not great enough for $24. :)
We are all so excited for our trip. We can not wait.
Michael is drinking out of a straw now, so we are hoping that it will be easier for him in the car. You don't have to hold the cup up as much.
Jacob keeps finding things and saying they are his babies. And if he loses them , he starts to cry. Mostly, they are small things like a bouncy ball or rocks, but he is so cute as he takes care of them. I wish he was as soft with his brother as he is with his 'babies'. :)

Michael Duncan Selim

Our baby is a year old. I can't believe how fast the time has gone. He had a fun party in Phoenix. We got a blow up pool out and the kids had a really fun time. Justina, Taylor, Aiden and Eva had just come into town, so we met Eva for the first time and the boys loved playing with Aiden. The boys love being at Grandma Selim's house and soaking up all the attention. We loved seeing Emily, too. She saved us when the pool we had planned on using had holes in the bottom after we cleaned it all up. :) She is a great Aunt. Our boys are really lucky to have so many people to love them on both sides of our family.

I took Michael to the doctor yesterday and he weighed 22 pounds, 1 ounce. He was 30 and 3/4 inches long. He is our big guy!