6! The baby is 6!

How can my baby be 6 years old already?  It seems like just last year that he was born.  Have I told you about when Miller was born?  I never tire of it because it is so “Miller”!

I was induced in labor and things were going well.  At 2 p.m. the doctor checked me and said she thought it would be about another 4 hours, but that it may be a little sooner than that.  She told Allen he could get some lunch.  They topped up my epidural as I was in a lot of pain.  I was so uncomfortable the nurse checked me again after about 15 minutes and called the doctor back.  Miller was born at 2:20!

He is the funniest, sweetest, smartest and most fun loving child I’ve ever known.  He is so loving and has a hug and usually a kiss for everyone.  The other day he said, “I’m a lover not a boxer.”  I think he meant I’m a lover not a fighter, but he has his own way.

Watching him blossom in Kindergarten has been amazing.  His teachers loved him to bits and it made such a difference for him.  He is such a great reader.  It just works for him and that is incredible.

His love for Jackson is tremendous and absolute.  Sometimes Jackson doesn’t appreciate that enough.  Miller WILL NOT let Jackson get in trouble alone.  He will sit with Jackson in time out.  Even if Jackson is in time out for hurting his brother.

He recently lost his tooth.  Here’s what he has to say about that.

I have to tell you the whole story… He walked behind Jackson on the swing and it got knocked out.  He didn’t cry a bit!  Actually he was thrilled!

He is a total Geography whiz and will amaze you with his knowledge of random countries. One morning he ran and got this book about Peru.  He told me this is where Miss Cally and Miss Vazquez are today.  The book is about Peru and it has a picture of Machu Pichu.  He was right, they were in Peru on their way to Machu Pichu.

He knows about Machu Pichu.  He knows things that make my head spin.  You know when people say their kid is a genious?  Yes, he really is one!

He still gives us the thumbs up all the time.  It’s his thing.

It kinda means he is happy.

The other day we were in the car he asked me a question I’ll never forget.  “Why do people love me so much?”  It’s the truth.  When 4 teachers from school want to hang out with him over the summer it means he is extra special.

He is easy to love and at the same time he is tough to parent.  He has very strong ideas and when his ideas are different from ours we end up breaking his heart.  Usually he gets over it pretty quickly, but when he doesn’t give in……prepare for battle because he won’t give up!  It will serve him well in the future, but for now we will pick our battles.

He’s not easy, but he’s worth it!  Ask him a question and you never know what you’re going to get.  He will tell you things and go on and on and you’re thinking, “I just asked if you wanted chicken!”  and he has gone and told you everything he knows about World Cup Soccer and Bosnia as well as why chocolate milk is his favorite.

I could spend days wondering what he will be like when he gets older.  He has so many unique qualities that no matter what I imagine, it will no doubt be different from whatever I could dream for him.

Happy Birthday Butterbean!  We love you more that we thought possible

A Million Things

In the middle of July we went to SC and of course I meant to blog a little while I was there.  When am I going to learn?  It’s just too hard!

So I have a million things that I want to put down before I forget them.  Please bear with me as I sort pictures from several devices and get my thoughts down.  Also, to be honest, writing this post is going to hurt a little bit, but I have to do it to move on.

At the beginning of the summer we had the difficult task of saying goodbye to some of our closest friends here.  When you live far away from your family, your friends become family.  When you can’t ask your family for help, you have to reach out to others to fill that gap.

I’m not going to lie, I can’t think about living here without them without tearing up.  However I know that having good friends is a blessing and I have been blessed tremendously in my lifetime.

We had a lot of going away fun!

A couple of my friends in this picture have had a really tough time this year.  When I say tough time I mean incredibly tough.  For their privacy and security I won’t say what happened, but it is the kind of things that make you want to curl up in a corner and cry.  They didn’t though.  They showed strength and resilience.  It is still really hard for them right this minute, so I am hoping and praying that things improve and they can look back on this year with some happy thoughts along with the difficult ones.

The children have lost their friends too.  Learning to say goodbye is an important skill and I know they need to do that, but it doesn’t stop this mama’s heart from hurting for them.

We hope to see them one last time before they start a new chapter on a different continent and I try to remember that goodbye doesn’t mean forever, but that I’ll just miss them until I see them again.

This picture isn’t the greatest, but oh boy does it make me smile.  We had FUN!  Until we meet again!

Independence Day- Bahamas Style

We spent Bahamian Independence Day with some of our favorite Bahamian friends….s well as friends from Switzerland and Chile.  Unfortunately Allen had to work and then go to the official events, so he didn’t get to come with us.

We headed out of our neighborhood.  These boys do not look like they are having fun, but they really were.

And so were we…

As soon as we got to the beach, the boys did their thing….

And so did we…

Later in the day the clouds were amazing.

Not too long after this we saw a water spout off shore.  {A water spout is a tornado over the water.}  Fortunately for us we could see it from a safe distance.

The lovely clouds turned into a lovely sunset.

One day I hope that they will look at these pictures and see what an amazing life they have lived here.

The sunset made an amazing day even more special.

This special friend of mine is moving away soon.  When we come back from S.C. they will be gone.  It was a bittersweet day since we knew our time was limited.  However, that is a post for another day.

To end our amazing day we all piled back in the boat with tired, hungry, salty bodies and headed back home.  And went through a thunderstorm.

As they say storms can’t last forever.  However I hope our memories of this amazing day will last forever!

Cousin Bonding

We were so excited that our nieces, Miya and Romi, came to visit.  The boys were over the moon excited for them to get here and as soon as they hit the ground, Jackson and Miller were stuck like glue to them.

I could tell you day by day what we did, but it was something like this.  Get up, wait for the girls to get up, eat lunch, go to the beach, come home, shower, play, eat dinner, play and go to bed.

Miller was getting Romi pumped up to go paddle boarding for the first time.

They were awesome.

We worked on some Mandalas.  Romi had some serious skills.

We played some board games.

We cheered for the USA in the World Cup.  That was sad.

Of course there were Legos.

Lots of reading.

The 4th of July was great fun too!  I think the girls were thrilled/scared with how close we were to the fireworks!

We spent so much time on the beach that we may have sand in places sand shouldn’t be-forever!  The sacrifices we made for these girls!

One evening we hopped over to Atlantis to show the girls the aquariums and to go out to eat.

This is the “ There’s a shark behind you!” pic.

Romi has amazing drawing skills, so I let her go to town with some paints and a canvas.  She’s amazing.  If she had some real lessons, I can’t imagine how awesome she would be!  Hint hint Kirk!

We had so much fun.  The girls are amazing and such great examples to our boys.  I wish we lived closer!

Come back soon, Miya and Romi!