14 Days Later...

It's been quite a busy summer. I know, everyone's summer is busy. But mine hasn't been this busy, in a fun way, in 8 years. The boys having their trachs removed has opened a lot of doors for opportunity. Swimming (that's Milo in the pool above), beach, boardwalk, Pop & Grammy's house, the mall, the outlets, the supermarket, the park- when the air quality is safe. I've never taken all 4 kids anywhere by myself.
Now, I can take them a few places by myself as long as I know I'm going somewhere where I have help and an extra set of eyes. Such as my parents' house. Lije will dart for the nearest bookcase and start flipping pages at sonic speed, tearing a few innocent bystanders out. This is fine as long as it's not a book you actually want all the pages to.
Milo, will run to the closest television. He'll already have a movie in mind and sign it an inch from your face until you get your arse up and put that particular movie in the player. That won't last long as he really only enjoys the opening scene and the closing credits of mostly every film. But oddly enough he'll watch any movie that's on HBO at the moment, even if he has the DVD, it's more exciting to watch it spontaneously. And I totally get that. As a kid I remember freaking out on hearing the first note of any Duran Duran or Culture Club song that came on the radio. It sounded so much better than when playing it purposefully on my cassette player.

So it happens to be raining today, all day supposedly. Which brings me back here to blog on my sad, lonely blog with my 5 followers. Hi followers! I know you guys think I suck at blogging. It's ok, you all know I hate winter with a fiery fervor. I'll be seeking the comfort of my nylon, synthetic something-or-other ergonomically-correct computer chair from the first day of the last leaf falling. I only come out when there's leaves on the trees, is what I'm trying to say.





Up there's a pic of Lije eating lunch apres swimming. I really need to get my hands on that water-proof camera we apparently own. Do they make those in digital nowadays? I need one of those. I *love* seeing my baby boys in the water, up to their chins! I can't tell you how long I've dreamed of this day.

I think there's only a few days left of school for the summer session. I'll be planning the Twinkies' 8th birthday party. While I'm not much of a party planner these days, I'd really like to do something nice for their first birthday sans tracheostomy. I'm throwing around having a party on the beach but it makes me too nervous with the unpredictable weather in the beginning of September, our northeaster season.

Any ideas? I am not into having it at a "place". Such as a Chuck E. Cheese's or other petri dishes. I'd like to keep it ungimmicky. It really just ends up being my brothers' families and their teenage kids, my 3 BFFs and their families, a friend with her son from school...if I was really brave I'd invite the two moms I like at school, their sons are autistic. Milo's in the autism program because he shares a lot of traits due to his extreme prematurity. But Milo's very social and is never aggressive. He likes to comfort the kids who are having behaviors- which can get him hurt one day. If Milo could talk he'd say that's the price you pay for being awesome.

Ok, have to go sit out in the rain with everyone for whatever reason they want to...

Love Ms. Crabass

3 days later...and then some stuff about 2002

The last 2 days we had some visitors in town. My brother and his family came down from Vermont. My SIL is is awesome, and they have 3 kids under 13. We spent most of the day Monday and Tuesday at the beach and lots of time in the water which was a comfortable 70 degrees.

My brother spent 99.9% of the time talking about sharks and the who, what, and why of their prompt for attacking. He kept appraising which unlucky swimmer was out the furthest. He wondered if we should pay them, and how much would be appropriate to offer someone to act as shark bait for us. We spotted "Shark Bait Couple"...since couples kissing are always most likely going to be attacked by a shark. There was all kinds of shark- related nonsense coming from him at all times. My brother likes to "tell a joke until it isn't funny and then keep telling it until it's funny again".

I could never live in Vermont. If I could semi-reasonably move in the near future it would be to the eastern seaboard of Virginia or North Carolina. I love a good portion of the south, and I certainly wouldn't be heading any more north than I already am. This has to do with temperature and the less snow I see and cold I feel, the happier I am. I wouldn't even consider the west coast no matter how much I love it, I just can't imagine being far from my family and from Manhattan. And it's not like we have the flexibility with two disabled children to wander around from place to place.


I spent a little over 3 months "living" in Norfolk when my Twinkies were born, unexpectedly, while vacationing at my parents' (then) home in Duck, NC. Hated it at first considering the horrible circumstances, but left absolutely loving the city. The people were so good to me, the food ended up being just fine and it was charming.

This is me and one of my twins in Norfolk in 2002- what ended up being the longest "vacation" ever:


Love Ms. Crabass