Give Me a Break!

I went to the urologist this morning to be told that before they try surgery to fix my issues with bladder infections they want me to have 6 weeks of physical therapy. After the doctor said that, I must have looked as puzzled as I felt. I was in the process of trying to imagine my bladder doing exercises when she stepped in to explain. I have to get physical therapy for my whole pelvic floor (thanks a lot Charlie, Sam, and Evan ). Not really sure how in the world that is going to work, but hopefully it helps!

I Hate Basketball

This is weekend #2 of the March Madness shenanigans. Jeff and Charlie are glued to the television, both of them being big fans. This is KILLING me because I just got season 2 of Dynasty in the mail. I cannot wait to watch it! The cliff hanger for season one was awesome...Joan Collins who plays Alexis walks in right at the last minute, and I can't wait to see what happens. Jeff and I always watch Dallas and Dynasty together though so I have to wait until he's done with basketball. Argh!

Swimbetter

Last night was the second swim lesson for Charlie, and luckily for his teacher, it went much better. I went in with him armed with a binky, some bath toys that are his favorites from home, and a toddler sized lecture in the car. All the way over to Swimtastic I repeated, "No slide! No screaming! Listen to your teacher!" Evan was plugging his ears by the time we got there, but I think it might have gotten through. I am discovering that Charlie is not a child that likes surprises. He wants to know WAAAAY ahead of time what is going to happen, and then he tends to react better. Anyway, he got into the water just fine, only went to the slide when his teacher told him too, and for the most part followed directions. She was able to just let him play with some toys and get used to floating in the water. She told me next week it will be on to blowing bubbles and putting his face in the water.

In other news, Evan's DS is fried. It will turn on, but the screen is shot, and as Evan tells me, the whole point of a DS is the touch screen feature. I am off to scout out the best deal. Thanks to everyone for all of your kind comments about him! It warmed my heart...I may be biased, but I do think he's pretty great!

Selfless Love

Evan proved his undying devotion to Sam tonight...I had the babies in the tub, and I was across the way throwing in a load of laundry. Evan happened to be coming out of his room at the exact moment that Charlie shoved Sam down, and Sam fell and slipped into the water. I heard and saw the commotion too, and was right behind him, but Evan went into crises autopilot and dove into the bathwater for Sam, giving no regard to the fact that he was holding on to his most treasured possession-his Nintendo DS. I watched in horror as it slipped into the water. Evan had pulled up a spluttering Sam, and I grabbed the electronics. We are letting it dry out to assess the damage. So far it will turn on, but the screen is blinking. I am hoping against hope things get better as they dry. After such a sweet act of love, how could I not get him a new one? The darn things are about $125 dollars though, and it was his major Christmas present this year. Argh. Although I am intensely proud of him, and feel like crying just thinking about it.

The Kleffmans Get Famous

Check out this link:

www.sekundmag.com/charliesamnursery.html

Wow! We're in a magazine! And...drumroll please...Sekund magazine will be publishing an article by yours truly in their May issue. My first byline! It's going to be about having two kids in one calendar year, and what a vasectomy is really like. (Jeff will be supplying the details for that one!)

Happy Easter!

Easter was fast and furious around here. I woke the kids up at 7:15 so I could get some pictures of them hunting for Easter eggs and cramming candy in their mouths before Evan and I had to leave for church at 7:45. I sang with the newly formed St. Charles Borromeo choir at the 9:00 Mass. It was kind of cool-we got to have our picture taken for the church's historical records since we are the first choir of the parish, and it was our first performance. Our church is new, and has only been in existance for about 3 years now. We are still holding services at Gretchen Reeder Elementary, but we are going to break ground on the new building on October 4th of this year. It was a nice service, and Evan did a great job sitting by himself during Mass, which I was a little nervous about.

We got home at about 10:15 and were on the road to Harlan by 10:30. We went up to Jeff's dad house. Crazily enough, it was the first time that Charlie and Sam had been to Grandpa John's house. We have been up to Harlan of course for several family gatherings since they have been born, but they are always held around the block at his Aunt Sarah's house. I also have a heck of a time getting Jeff to go up there. He always has a great time once we are there, but before hand he worries about the money we are spending on gas, and what a pain it is to drag the kids. I love his family, his dad, and the town of Harlan itself, and I really wish we could go there more. Anyway, it had originally been just his dad we were going to see, but his dad got into the holiday spirit since the kids were coming, and he invited the whole family over!! Grandma Monica was there, 5 out of the 8 kids and their spouses, some of Jeff's cousins, and the great grandkids too. Most amazing of all was that John cooked a delicious holiday dinner for everyone-ham, roast beef, corn, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, and two kinds of salad. It was delicious! Since the kids were born, that man has really come out of his shell. Jeff was absolutely stunned when we walked in and his dad said everyone was on their way over and that he had cooked dinner. I think the grandkids have given him a reason to celebrate. It is so wonderful to watch him with them. He does a great job. Jeff's Aunt Sarah brought over desert-chocolate cake, peach and cherry pie, and a cheesecake. Too yummy. I did let myself indulge in a piece of chocolate cake, and it was the first time in forever that I have had a whole piece of something with a lot of sugar since I started my diet. I paid dearly by getting a huge headache. I think my body is liking the low sugar low fat thing.

The boys all had a great time. There are two other kids Evan's age, and after circling each other warily for about 15 minutes they made friends and had a great time the rest of the afternoon. Charlie was EVERYWHERE-eating candy, going up and down the stairs, conning everyone into playing with him. He went outside with Jeff and his dad where he fell in love with this electric Jeep that John got for him. I didn't think we would ever get him off of it! Sam was the amazing one. I have never seen a child eat so much in my entire life. When we got there, he started right in on bowl of candy John had sitting out on the coffee table. Then, someone set him up in a chair with a bowl of crackers and dip, which he finished with a relish. Then he had a FULL plate at lunch, and seconds on ham. Next he ate a huge piece of chocolate cake for desert. Then he went outside to run around for awhile, but when he came back in decided he was hungry again. He went back at the candy bowl, and then someone gave him a bag full of treats where he ate a small container of Pringles and then a chocolate "bird's nest". He ate way more than Evan and I put together. If we don't watch out we're going to have to send that kid to the fat farm.

Celebrating the First Day of Spring

Just in time for the first day of spring, our backyard finally stopped looking like a swamp, so we were able to make it outside for the first time in ages. Some of the highlights:

Swimterrible

Today was the first day of swimming lessons for Charlie at Swimtastic. The whole thing started off on the wrong foot due to a stupid easter basket Charlie got from daycare right before he left. When we got to lessons he wanted to carry it in with him, but I made him leave it in the car. He had a knock down drag out temper tantrum as soon as we hit the door. I knew that wasn't going to make for a good start, so I backed down and went back to get the stupid thing out of the car. Once we were in the changing room, and he realized he was going to get to go swimming too instead of just watching Evan he was willing to put it down, but by then the tone had already been set. We had to wait maybe 3 minutes for his class session to start which set him off again, because in typical toddler fashion he wanted to go RIGHT NOW. (Of course to make this Kodak moment even better I saw two of my families from school-so they got to see me in all of my mommy glory!) He entered the lesson as one FURIOUS toddler, so it took his teacher and I awhile to coax him into the water and calm him down. Once there, he didn't want to have anything to do with her plans for learning, he just wanted to go down the water slide. The first 15 minutes were probably spent with him screaming. Luckily he is the only person in his class so she was able to devote all her attention to his screaming squirming wiggly body. The girl had the patience of a saint. FInally, they hit on the idea of throwing some balls in the water for him to play with, and then he settled in happily for the last few minutes. The teacher, Charlie, and I were all completely exhausted by the end of it. When will I get to be the mom who blithley takes her child into sports activities and lessons where they happily follow directions and act like normal children? Sam's got a lot of pressure riding on him! I deserve one normal kid, right?

On the way home I turned around in the car and asked Charlie if he had fun. He gave me the evil eyeball glare he is famous for and shouted, "NO!!!!"

Thursday

I am so trying to get through one more day of school to get to our Easter break on Thursday. I am not sure if it is the warmer weather, the promise of candy arriving on Sunday, or that we started out the week with a dress down day on Monday (or maybe a combination of all that) but my students are CRAZY this week. It's almost like they've never been to school and have never heard of our classroom rules. I can't wait for a break.

Sammy is down with a horrible cold. He is feeling SOOOO miserable. I took him in for his 15 month check today and they put him on yet another antibiotic. Hopefully this will get him feeling more himself soon. We are supposed to go see the ENT in May to have his adenoids taken out like Charlie did. Jeff told me today that we are half way to our $4600 deductible already. How sad is that?

Charlie has discovered letters and print within the last 2 weeks. He is noticing letters everywhere and always wants us to stop and tell him the name of the letters. As he is talking to himself while he is playing he is always saying the first four letters of his name to himself. I am completely baffled. It is so different from Evan I can't believe it. I hope he can bypass some of the struggle that Evan has had to go through with reading.

Lent is almost over and I have done a terrible job with my Lenten projects. My goal was to try and stop loving my family like a prickly pineapple. I wanted to try and stop being so bossy and stop poking at other people emotionally. I am not sure how I change these horrible habits I have. I think I need to work on it for longer than the 40 days of Lent.

Ahhh....

I am typing this blissfully from the keyboard of our new laptop...it is SOOOO nice to have more than one application open at a time, and to have a speedy internet!!! I am loving it. The only bad thing-now I don't have an excuse to not do my homework.

Update on Dad

My dad is doing better today-they zapped him with the paddles and his heart went back into rhythm and he is now home from the hospital, so that is a great thing. Probably the most positive thing to come out of the incident was that he was treated by a different doctor this time, and he was a lot more helpful (incidentally I had his son in my class last year!) He suggested a surgery involving using a laser they thread up through the thigh to the heart that then zaps the cells that are giving the incorrect electrical impulses. This should stop it from happening again, which was a relief to my dad, but also to his kids who are nervous wrecks every time this happens to him. It also makes me feel a lot better about their trip to Ireland this summer, knowing that this problem will *hopefully* be solved before he is in a foreign country.

My Dad

My Dad went into the hospital this morning in atrial fib again. (A condition where the chambers of your heart are beating out of rhythm with each other). It is a dangerous condition that can cause heart attacks and blood clots. Please keep him in your prayers!

Honeybunches

I had the nicest lunch on Saturday...I got to see some of my favorite people in the whole world. I went to Valentino's with Adam and Christi and their adorable kiddos, (snuggling my godson is always high on my list of favorite activities), and Asten (aka Honeybunches) who I haven't seen in way too long. It was so nice to sit and catch up, and of course stuff myself with good food. The bonus was seeing Alyssa's face as she saw a clown in person. Too cute-part shock/horror/curiosity all wrapped up in one! Hugs to you Honeybunches!

Elections...

I am not usually one to be really absorbed with politics, or to have a particular like for one candidate over another. I guess this year is mostly the same, that I don't like one terribly much over the other (although I think Baraq Obama is drop dead gorgeous-Jeff had the chance to meet him in person and have his picture taken with him in October, so I blew up the picture to an 8x10 to put in our bedroom. More because of Baraq than my husband!!) I do however get sick to my stomach when I hear about Hilary. It's not that I dislike her policies or positions, she just makes my skin crawl. I don't know if I can make it through with her as president. I can't even listen to stories about her on TV or the radio, because I just find her so disturbing. I think it is her personality-she is so grating, and she seems to have bipolar mood swings. I am all for having a woman prez, but not that one.

Appreciating Me Day

Today is Teacher Appreciation Day and I am loving it! This morning from my students I got some wonderful letters written by parents and kids (each made me a little teary!), fresh cut flowers, gift certificates, and Starbucks coffee. This was exactly what I needed today after our fabulous day in school yesterday which included two children throwing up and a bowel movement accident (these are some of the NOT so fun parts of teaching small children). It's so nice to know that people are noticing what you are doing.

Beautiful Day

Yesterday was such a wonderful taste of spring! I took the boys on a long walk in the morning, Jeff had them outside in the backyard in the afternoon for quite awhile when I was at choir practice. I threw open all the windows and aired out the house after our many germs in the last couple of weeks. It was so nice to have that fresh air smell everywhere. And then....drumroll...we grilled burgers and dogs for dinner, which was sooooo yummy! I love that first grilled dinner after a long winter. It seems especially cruel though that it would snow today, after such beauty yesterday. I guess that's Nebraska for you though.

Today I am "alone" for a bit while Jeff is at the office, Evan is hanging out at my parent's, and the babies are down for their nap. I am trying to buckle down and get some homework done, but as you can see I am procrastinating. Maybe it's spring fever.