He's off the hizzy

This poor kid. I don't scrap stuff about him as often as I'd like because he refuses to cooperate with the photo taking, and I don't blog enough about him because we're so often butting heads. Thomas is a really cool kid. Sometimes I lose sight of that fact when he's being a typical 12-year-old butthead and picking at his sister.

Last week we during parent teacher conferences I met with the school psychologist, who sees Thomas weekly. The conversation led to a discussion of how Thomas views me, and I immediately tensed up, imagining the stories he must have shared about his mean, abusive mother. (He has several times threatened to report me for "child labor." Hah.) Many nights I go to bed feeling certain that I have failed him yet again, that I have not hugged him enough, or have been too hard on him. I often wonder whether he really knows that I love him, even though I tell him often. I tell him, "Actions speak louder than words," but are my own actions showing him that I love him?

We have always believed that God gave us exactly the children we were meant to have, just via a different delivery service than we had planned. Nonetheless I worry often about whether another mom would have been more wise and more nurturing. A different mom might have known instinctively how to raise Thomas to be respectful and honest and kind.

You can imagine my surprise when the psychologist said that Thomas sees me as "stalwart" (her word, not his), as the glue that holds the family together. She said that in his eyes, I can do no wrong. I cried then, because I do so much wrong where he is concerned. The most important, most moving thing she said to me that day was that in almost 30 years of working with children, the ones who were adopted almost always wonder whether their parents really love them, and she sees none of that doubt in Thomas. It feels, at least temporarily, like a thousand pounds has been lifted off my shoulders. And it makes me want to do better, to be more patient and less control freak-y.

I'm appreciative to the psychologist for lightening that load, just in time for Thomas to hit puberty and decide that I am an idiot. :)

The Before Photo

On April 3rd, Annamarie is having surgery to graft bone into her upper jaw where her cleft palate ran through her gum. One of her adult teeth is actually in the roof of her mouth, and they will at some point move that tooth into the grafted site. Of course braces will come later this year after the graft heals, assuming it "takes." The bone cells will be taken from Annamarie's hip, and everything we've heard leads us to believe that it's the hip, and not the mouth, that will be painful afterward. Annamarie is a tough cookie and I have faith that she will get through it all as cheerfully as she handles everything else.

Her recovery will feature lots of soft foods, lots of good dental hygiene to keep the site clean, and lots of guarding her mouth from accidental injury. Please send prayers and good vibes to my scatterbrained family that will enable us to follow the care instructions to the letter.

Annamarie is both nervous and excited about the surgery. She is fascinated by medical procedures and equipment, so she is stoked to get to see them up close. She has a ton of questions about what the scalpel will look like, who will be in the operating room, whether her bed will have rails, what kind of controls will the bed have, and on and on. Her favorite TV show--really the only one she watches--is TLC's Baby Story, and she can quote entire episodes from memory. She's a little disappointed that she won't be having an epidural, but is cheered by the fact that she might have a catheter.

We hope that this is the last required surgery in her cleft repair process. If she chooses to have cosmetic surgery in the future to fine tune things, we will support her in that, but it will have to be her choice. We think she's perfectly beautiful as she is.

Thinking of turning pro

I think it's great that many scrapbookers have been able to turn their love of photography into business ventures. My mom and my sister-in-law both think I take great photos (although their standards are pretty low), so maybe I should consider becoming a portrait photographer. I could really use some extra money. I thought I'd spend a few minutes practicing with my son this afternoon. He insisted that I include the dog, but I figured it would be good practice for dealing with difficult clients.

Hmm, first I should probably remove distracting items from the background.


OK, everyone look at me.


How about a nice hug?


Well, hello.


Let's quit goofing around and get serious here. Show me your best side.


Now that's more like it. Whew, this is work better left to a trained professional.

Now I have been tagged

My fellow Booya Girl Shawna Webster took pity on me and tagged me. :) Shawna is an amazingly talented scrapper with two adorable little subjects. Check out her blog here: 2 Kids and Some Paper

Here are the rules: 1. Link to the person that tagged you and leave a comment on their Blog. 2. Post the rules on your Blog. 3. Share 7 random facts about yourself on your Blog 4. Tag 7 random people, linking to their Blog. Let each person know by leaving a comment on their Blog.

I wrote 5 random facts for my Booya Girl page, so I'll try to think of seven different ones.

1. I love to play word games, with other people, on paper, or on the computer.
2. I won my school's spelling bee in fourth grade.
3. I believe dh and I would make a great Jeopardy team. He would take the history, geography, and political questions, and I would take the questions on pop culture, word origins, and the Bible. We would kick butt.
4. I despise talking on the phone, except to my closest friends and family.
5. I have serious social phobias, but I usually hide it pretty well.
6. I get totally starstruck and tongue-tied when I meet my scrapping idols. Donna Downey and Tara Whitney probably saw me as a babbling idiot. I am seriously having a few drinks before my upcoming classes with Karen Russell and Heidi Swapp.
7. I love to be in my house alone.

I don't know whether I can come up with seven folks to tag, but I'll try.
Michele
Karin
Gale
Amanda

OK, four is good.