Arboretum

Having Brigg home the last few days has been great. We have packed almost as much as we comfotable can at this point and have enjoyed the sunshine. Tuesday we went to the Holden Arboretum, one of my absolute favorite places in the Cleveland area. I feel bad it took me so long to discover it. It is so beautiful. I think it is the place where I can most see what people were excited about when they came to Kirtland. As it happens, it's just down the road a couple miles from Kirtland. If we had time to do another round of family pictures before we moved, this is where they would be.

And you think he doesn't cause trouble?

In the Rhododendron Garden.

Stratton shows off some sweet moves

A rare shot of the whole Neibaur family, Piper included. Not perfect, but we're all present.

The Best Laid Plans...

We were supposed to be in Alaska this week looking for a house, but we are still here in Cleveland. Just another change in plans! Monday Dashell started to get a fever and it just got higher and higher. He was getting up to 105 at night and we were doing everything to keep him cool. The doctor said we needed to wait and see if it was roseola or something different, and we were hoping that the fever would break and he would be fine so that we could fly on Friday. But although he was improved, he wasn't fine. So here we are in Cleveland with one SUPER grumpy baby who is going back to the doctor tomorrow and a little boy who still doesn't know that we aren't going. He has had a bag packed for Alaska since Christmas, and we had finally told him that we were going to go again and now he will have to wait a few more weeks with the rest of us. This week he kept telling me, "Mom, I love Alaska. I think Grandma and Granddad will be happy to see me when I'm a good boy." But, Brigg has finished all of his requirements to graduate and had already taken the days off of clinic, so we are going to try and get ahead on some packing and get in a few more fun things in the area. It makes things with the move a little more uncertain, but we have 3 weeks after they pick up our stuff before it makes it to Fairbanks, so we will just be working fast in May!

Stratton has been so funny this week. The older he gets, the funnier I think it is to hear what is going on in his little head. This week our schedule was a little off with Dashell being sick, so a couple of nights we let him watch a few minutes of The Fantastic Mr. Fox with us. We finished watching it together last night, and at the very very end, Mr. Fox turns on his little Walkman and they all start dancing- as much as stop-motion animated woodland animals can dance. Stratton was sitting on the couch and said in the most genuine little voice, "Wow, I wish I'd done that." I asked him if he meant their dance moves, and he said, "Yeah. I like them dancing. I wish I'd thought of that." I told him he could dance like that if he wanted to, and when we were saying bedtime prayers he prayed to learn to dance like the foxes. If any of you have ever seen his dance moves, you know he doesn't have too far to go. At least he has a goal! Dashell, before he got sick, has discovered playgrounds are his job. He takes playing with all the equipment very seriously. He could be hired as playground quality control. We can't leave a park until he has tested and approved everything there. He has alot of fun, but in a very serious, business like way. I just wish he's get back to being that headstrong little boy who doesn't live in my lap. Now on to another unpredictable week ahead.

Unbelievable

Do your kids ever take your breath away and leave you completely speechless? You know that feeling like the rug has been taken out from under you and you aren’t even sure what to do next because you cannot believe that your child just did that? And that sometimes you aren’t even sure you believe your eyes or know what you are looking at? That’s what I felt like this morning when I came downstairs to this....

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Well, I was feeling that, and thinking ‘There goes my morning’. And if you too aren’t sure what you are looking at, it is about 15 cubic feet of shredded polyurethane foam that used to provide the stuffing for the boys bean bag. 15 cubic feet can go a long way in covering a living room. I was so shocked, I didn’t even feel mad. Who was I supposed to be mad at, anyways? From what Stratton told me, I think this was a team effort by all three of the troublemakers at our house- Stratton, Dashell and Piper. Here’s a breakdown by the numbers.

2 little boys

1 dog

15 minute shower for Mom

3 hours clean up time for Mom

4 garbage bags

16 times emptying the vacuum cleaner

12 times unclogging the vacuum cleaner

-1 bean bag

At least Stratton helped me clean up for a while with his dump truck. After about 15 minutes he said, “Mom, I think we should call a guy to clean up this mess.” A great idea, but not an option. Then he got distracted by finding all the different shapes of foam and what they looked like. A brief list of his finds: A rocket ship, a zebra, a dog, an alligator, a hairbrush, a triangle, Lightning McQueen, a dump truck, a dinosaur, a mountain, a monster and a horse. Given the amount of foam we were dealing with, I can’t believe he didn’t find Abe Lincoln and the Taj Mahal, too. It was quite a morning, and definitely memorable. I think our vacuum cleaner is in shock. When I finally had finished the clean up, Stratton said “ Okay. Let’s make a new bean bag.” I didn’t think it was funny.

Rollercoaster

The boys at Nelson Kennedy Ledges

This moving thing is not for me. I feel completely worn out, and the actual move is still 43 days away. Not that we are counting, but I AM counting down to getting a good night's sleep again. Every night I feel like it is a battle to get my brain to stop going over every detail and every little thing I need to remember to pack or address that needs changing or place I need to go. I truly do not envy insomniacs, because it is miserable! At the beginning of this week, it felt like light was breaking. We made some major progress on a few fronts that we have been waiting on and things seemed to be looking up. A woman at Costco even told me I had the nicest boys she'd seen. Yes, that is all it takes for me to have a good day. Things kept going well, and then they just didn't. I feel stalled again! And lately it doesn't take much frustration for me to feel completely defeated. Up and down, up and down! I guess the one advantage is to know that there must be an up ahead. I keep trying to remember to take things one step at a time and enjoy our last few weeks in our first home as a real family with the boys, but my brain just can't help racing ahead. Maybe this week. Or at least maybe one day this week. I am trying to be realistic.

Dashell running away from Stratton at the Arboretum

On the plus side, the boys are doing great. Dashell is perfecting teasing his brother. He is constantly taking a favorite toy and running away, laughing so hard he can't walk straight. And no matter how many times it happens, it still gets to Stratton every time. Stratton is loving the warmer weather and both boys are campaigning to live outside all day, every day. Stratton continually surprises me with what he is learning and what he remembers and is counting the days until we move, too. I think we will all breathe a little easier on the other side of graduation. But until then, I think we are still in for quite a ride.

My oh my, what a beautiful day

Today all of us are a little under the weather, but Stratton managed to really brighten up my morning. We were riding in the car listening to his favorite CD of kids songs. One of the songs is Louis Armstrong singing "Zip-a-dee-do-dah." Stratton asked to listen to it a couple of times in a row and then asked me to turn the music off so that he could sing. He then sang the whole song for me, Louis Armstrong style. It was the funniest thing I've ever heard. One 3 year old white boy busting it out like Satchmo. How could that not put a smile on your face?

Do you hear the word that I am saying?

A few weeks ago, Stratton was having a hard time listening and was helping himself to some brownies. I told him "No" several times and finally said, "Can you hear what I'm saying? No!" He promptly responded, "Do you hear the word that I am saying? Yes!" That pretty much sums up how the last couple weeks have felt. It feels like the more we try to push ahead with things for the move, the more it pushes back! But if moving to Alaska and having a 3 year old boy can't teach us patience, nothing can. Brigg didn't get much of a Spring Break since his WREBs overlapped with the school's break, but we were able to do a few fun things.

We played in all the snow ALOT. Stratton really likes playing in the snow now and built his first full size snowman and fort with his Dad's help in the backyard. He was very proud of his construction projects!

We also went on a ride on the Cuyahoga Valley train for their Food Drive. Stratton enjoyed it most, but we all enjoyed a nice, relaxing morning.

Dashell has been into all kinds of trouble. I love this face. "What are you looking at Mom? It's like you think I've done something naughty." His first artistic endeavors all over his face are just the beginning. He continues to have a fiery temper, but he makes up for it with quite the sense of humor and love of life- I really think he insisted on being born for Christmas because he couldn't bear to miss the party! He follows Piper around saying "Puppy" in his growly man-baby voice and makes all of us laugh.

Dash also had his first haircut. I resisted as long as possible because little boys look so much older after their first haircut, but I finally gave in after he started getting knots in his baby mullet. He liked going to the indoor water park that we went to one day to get out of the house, but Stratton was much more cautious this year over last. Maybe he won't be as reckless as I thought! Stratton continues to keep us laughing. He talks non-stop about everything. He told his friend's mom during preschool that he wanted to be a robot when he grows up. He talks abut everything he sees (and doesn't see) in the car and just the other morning when I asked him if he wanted some of Dash's eggs he told me, " Sometimes when I don't like eggs, I do." Not clear on what that means. We are glad to be on the other side of WREBs and grateful that they went as smoothly as they did for Brigg. It was one more major step forward. I am so proud of Brigg. He has worked so hard to become a great dentist!We are loving our little boys and the adventures that go with them. We just wish we were a little closer to the next big adventure. The stack of boxes in Dash's room is growing, but we don't have anywhere to send them yet!

Just Holding On!

We are just holding on for the next 3 months- I'm not sure we are ready for all the changes coming our way! Just so you know, right now we are planning to move to Fairbanks, Alaska following Brigg's graduation mid-May, but everything that has to be done to make that happen is a little intimidating. I think the hardest part is not being able to do much right now, but knowing that an overwhelming amount of stuff will have to happen very quickly in a month or two. So, for now, I think we will go play in the backyard some more. Get the boys used to living in snow!