Catchin' Up

So, I'm right smack-dab in the middle of my Day o' Fun! This is a new tradition that Mark and I have established, where one of us is assigned a day (or more realistically, a part of a day) where the other person takes on all B-dogg duties so the first person can have their Day o' Fun. This also has to be a time when neither of us are working (otherwise it's not really a day o' fun - it's a day o' work) - so it can be hard to find. We've been planning our days o' fun for a while now. Mark's is on Tuesday.

So what am I using my day o' fun for? NON-STOP COMPUTER TIME!!! Working on the computer is incredibly limited these days, largely in part because our computer area is the one place in our home that is off-limits to Ben (just too hard to babyproof, and that flickering power button on the CPU is too tempting for him to push). So he hates, hates, hates it when one of us is in here and he is not. So that pretty much limits the computer time to naps and after bed. I'm pretty worthless after Ben goes to bed - I pretty much stick to reading or watching TV or reading email or other people's blogs, but never anything "productive" like responding to emails or posting on my own. And now Ben is transitioning to one nap a day, so it's even harder to get on the computer.

So my day o' fun is going to include briefly updating this Blog, downloading pictures to our Picasa picture site, organizing our digital photos (so I can find the dang things - the names of the folders are all over the place, which means whenever I want to transfer a photo, I have to hunt through all the folder to find it), and if there is time, maybe deal with a few things in my inbox. Ahh, the sheer pleasure of being on the computer.

Except of course, that I HATE the computer right now for losing all my photos from our Jacksonville trip somewhere during the so-called "Safe Delete" process of downloading the photos off our camera to the computer. That actually made me really sad, as we had pictures from our visit back to Starke, Ben's first trip to the beach (which included some very artistic (well, artistic for me)) photos, and our friend Kevin's wedding. Boo. :(

So to summarize the last couple of months - we enjoyed a week long trip to Illinois where we visited many, many friends - my friends from high school, and Mark's friends from college. We returned home to enjoy a brief weekend visit from Grandpa Howard, and then hopped back on a plane to attend our friend Kevin's wedding in Jacksonville, FL. Our trip to FL was actually very special for us. We went to visit our old haunts in Starke, and it was a fairly emotional experience. Even though we've been in Houston longer than we were in Starke, it's where our marriage was established, and we both have such fond memories there. We drove by the old house, took a walk around the block (where we had walked almost daily with Buster and then Will), visited the Starke Winn-Dixie (which has been remodeled), drove by the Walmart (which, surprisingly wasn't there anymore!), got drinks in the Taco Bell drive through, and took Benjamin to play at a pretty cool park. And that was all just on Friday! Saturday morning we took Ben to Jacksonville Beach - his first trip to the beach! He liked the sand, but was a bit intimidated by the water. Then we went to Kevin's wedding reception (no, I'm not brave enough to take a 14-month old to a 1-hour long Catholic wedding - so Mark went alone), and went for a dip in the hotel pool. Sunday we visited downtown Jacksonville and Jones Hall (where the JSO plays) before hopping on a plane to return back to TX.

It's good to be home. We've both been catching up on odds and ends and preparing for the next change in our lives. First, Mark returns to work next weekend (boo), and Ben starts school! After 6 months of searching, deliberating and doubting, we've decided to enroll him in a Montessori program three days per week. I'm a bit nervous about the transition - it will be hard on both of us - but I'm confident once he gets used to the program and the teachers, that he'll have a blast.

Whew, I think I'm caught up! Check the Picasa website later today for new pictures!

Healing

It has been such a long time since I've posted, and so much has happened since that last post, but since I don't have time right now to write about it, I thought I would just provide a brief update to give you all some relief from reading the sad post about Will when you check to see if I've updated my blog (be it weekly, daily, hourly) :)

But first, thank you all so much for the thoughtful comments and emails. It's amazing to see the amount of support that friends provide in times of grief.

The day after Will passed, I came down with a nasty cough. My mom and Mark also got it too. So we spent the last half of my parents' visit sad, sick and utterly exhausted. My mom amazed me, though, as she continued to cook, clean and play with Benjamin despite actually having pneumonia (which she was diagnosed with when she got home). I eventually also got diagnosed with pneumonia and had to take two rounds of antibiotics to fight it off, not to mention also fighting the nasty side affect of taking antibiotics without eating yogurt. :) I coughed so hard that I ended up bruising a rib, or pulling a muscle in my side, or something to that affect, so I also was taking some pretty strong pain meds to seek some comfort and try to continue to chase a 13-month old baby around. Fortunately, Mark had some time off and let me pretty much sleep and go to work, except for when he had to go to work himself. It was a difficult few weeks. We're still dealing with the aftermath of having our lives so out-of-order.

But then, I did get better, my ribs healed, and that nasty side affect went away - all in time for a glorious reunion with our friends in the midwest! We spent 7 days in two homes reuniting with my friends from high school, and Mark's friends from college. I hope to post some pictures and stories from these few days - it was such fun (although also somewhat exhausting chasing Ben around in two baby-free homes, along with the re-emergence of some sleep issues). And then we just finished with a fantastic two-day visit from my Dad.

So chin-up, life is good with the Griffiths. And we'll post more soon!