Journal entry by Barbara Bradley — Jul 26, 2015

Summer has arrived. This is how summer goes…Day 1 – nutritious breakfast, little TV, play “school”, crafts at kitchen table, followed by a nutritious lunch and we even created a video. I was an awesome mom. By 4pm on that same day Nathan was on his ipad and Katie had peed on Big Joe (the bean bag) and was only wearing a diaper. Oh well, it was a great start. 

We are a month out from surgery already. That seems crazy to me. The time has really flown. It is amazing how the days fly when everyone is sleeping. The days were long when we were up all hours of the night and started our days at 4am.

Katie is doing well. One month out from major brain surgery…number 3 and she attended her first VBS. She sang, danced, and eagerly participated in crafts and games with her peers. She even performed with the kids that following Sunday to sing the songs learned from the week. It was a long week for both of us but it was a joy to watch her. After four days she slept in until almost 10 am and took a two hour nap, but she enjoyed her week. My boys were tired too after spending the week at scout camp so we all needed the rest.

Katie attends 3 therapy sessions per week and Nathan has been in tutoring twice a week. We try to fit in some outings and trips to the pool in between.

I haven’t quite decided if the highlight of the day is when she wakes up or when she goes to bed. It’s a lot of energy to deal with all day. She wakes up happy; singing and hungry like a baby bird. One of us always ends up in her bed for a last moment of calm before the new day begins. I love to gobble that sweet, soft spot on her neck right below her ear but after about 60 seconds, give or take, it is go time. Then the multitasking begins. I do it every day but I’m not certain I am very successful at it. A couple days ago I held a phone conversation on speaker with one hand holding a knife and the other hand up the business end of a chicken. I also had a load of laundry going all with 2 kids and a dog interrupting me. I can’t even hold two thoughts in my head at the same time. 

This past week Katie and I shopped in CVS while Nathan went to tutoring across the street. I walked around for half and hour or so with an Elsa sticker stuck to my boob that must have been placed there some time after Katie’s therapy session an hour earlier. I don’t know about you but if you see a grown woman with an Elsa sticker stuck to her side boob, upside down and slanted perhaps you should TELL HER. That’s just my opinion.  At least it wasn’t the same day I somehow managed to get toothpaste on my calf (hmmmm…) and put Katie’s shorts on backwards. (complete with zipper and snap….That is talent.)

Katie’s new career goal when not spending time in timeout is to annoy her brother. That and seeing if she can set the world record for shouting “mommy!” the most number of times in a day. I will be visiting the DMV next week. I am changing my name to Ophelia Gertrude Guadalupe.

I have learned quickly that when she isn’t saying Mommy I better check on her. Quiet is not good. In the span of one hour yesterday she got into the dog-food and then scooted to my purse where she got my wallet out and then took out my credit card and was trying to see how many places it could fit. After I shooed her from that corner of the house she knocked over a plant in our bedroom before making her way to the laundry room where she removed the wet clothes from the dryer and the dirty clothes from the hamper. I found her with the hamper on her head shouting through the mesh fabric into the open dryer because she like the sound of her voice. If I am not chasing her around the house I am playing referee. Katie really knows how to destroy legos. A ten year old boy does not want his lego creations disassembled.

So much for the lazy days of summer.