Another Short Update

I'm not sure when Miciah became a grown-up little kid, but she's now a big little girl. :) I've been looking through older photos, trying to see when this magic transformation took place. I can't pinpoint it, but it's happened.

We're counting down days until school starts. It never occured to me as a kid that my mom would be counting down days until school started. Never realized she would be so done with summer, just like the kids. ... Miciah and Elijah are at each other's throats all the time. Elijah is hyper beyond hyper and Miciah, I think, is annoyed that she never has any time away from her brother. ... I told Rob that tomorrow, not only do I need time away from my kids, but we either need to do something as a family, or he needs to take one of them away so they're not with each other all day. Rob likes doing "dates" with the kids. They like it, too. Rob has only done one other date with Elijah. He liked that it was just him. It's a fun concept for him that he might be able to do something that Miciah doesn't also do.

Quick Trip to CA - K Marries S!

Other than being kid stressed (it must be Friday) and ready for school already (is it really still 3 weeks away? ), things are pretty normal. Rob and I did have a fun weekend, though! Friday we flew out to California. We got into my parents' house at 4 in the morning Ohio time and crashed. They let us nap Saturday, thankfully. We helped my brother move back into his place Saturday morning. Sunday we had a fabulous day in Carmel on the beach for my other brother, K's wedding party. K married S and it was a fun party. I thought about how much my kids would have loved being there, but I'm glad we didn't take them. It was a late night Friday and then an early morning Monday to go back home.

Thankfully we have friends who like us, or at least like our kids. The S's have 2 kids the same ages as Miciah and Elijah, so we left our two older kids with them. They had a fun weekend, I think, and hopefully the extra kids weren't too much trouble. Then we found a couple with older kids. They're just starting to have grandkids, so they were more than happy to take Teancom. They love babies and when we went to pick him up they told us we were taking their buddy away! I was glad that Teancom was good (like normal) and that they enjoyed having him around. Their two boys at home (older teenagers), they said, were trying to teach Teancom how to walk. :) Cute. ... She also said that Teancom was such a good sleeper, she should have sent all her kids to me for their first year. I told her that if Teancom's sleeping was MY doing, I would have done the same trick on Miciah.

"I Am Not An Authority As a Parent"

Which brings up a good point about parenting. I have a phrase that I tell myself, and others, often about parenting: I am not an authority as a parent. It's roughly the same phrase as the one I've heard my parents and other say about how you can't take much credit or blame (though I realize there is some in parental responsibility) for what your kids decide to do, or for how they came. Had I had Teancom or even Elijah first, I probably would have prided myself for being a great mom. An excellent baby who sleeps through the night and doesn't cry ever. What a good job I must be doing! But, instead, we had Miciah first. And she taught me to use, and love, the phrase: I am not an authority as a parent. :) Miciah isn't a bad kid, never has been (though she wasn't a good baby, that's for sure), but she does things her way and always has, probably always will. That's great! And I am not an authority as a parent.

Life is good. Count down with me until August 22nd. First day of school!

Tamra and family