Dance Party Perspective

How often do we think we just don't have our shit together?

We walk into a Monday with a list of 10 to-do items, and instead of knocking them out one at a time, the list suddenly expands to 30 before lunch? Or, we walk into the house after a long day without a single plan for dinner, clutter on the counters, and three screaming banshees wanting dinner? I used to think that was just "Mondays at the Godinez house", but as I visit with my friends and co-workers, I realize that it isn't just me.

This adulthood business is hard. Frankly, sometimes it sucks. Whether it is not being able to figure out our kids, trying to solve complicated work projects that consume our existence, or household responsibilities that overshadow all else, it can be a daunting task to simply seek balance.

Delusional Melissa used to think the answers came with age, more work experience, or more time as a parent, but that is a lie. Just when I get cocky and think I have things figured out, some new, more perplexing issue presents itself. But, at work, that is simply what we are paid to solve, and as parents, that is our inherent task - to navigate the tricky road of raising our kids.

At the end of this Monday, like many others, I have no grand plan or everything accomplished that was on my to-do list this morning. We walked in the door after a busy day of work, school, and therapy appointments, and everyone was about to go into full throttle meltdown mode. So, we turned on some music, Luke yelled, "Let's jam!" and busted some kick ass moves while Claire and Aubrey "danced" in their seats. During that hour, the meltowns faded, the to-do list didn't matter, and we laughed.

We do have our shit together - it just takes a little dance party to realize it sometimes.

An earthquake, a baptism, and a wedding

This morning, Luke trotted downstairs at 6:45 wearing shoes with his pajamas.  "Hi mom! Shoes on. Blue car now?" he asked, pointing at the garage. A true Godinez child - always expecting an adventure.  Although we're disappointing him this weekend with a quiet weekend at home, we're all still in recovery mode after our epic adventures last weekend with an earthquake, a baptism, and a wedding.

We knew the weekend would be nutty, but thankfully, the kiddos were as good as gold (minus a few meltdowns in the car - by them, not me). Luke does tend to go a little crazy from all of the attention, so Saturday morning around 7:00 am, when suddenly everything in the room started making noise, we assumed it was Luke upstairs trying to do something to get attention. Then, we realized that the wall and bed were moving, and Patrick finally put it all together - "We're having an earthquake." Can we not have just one boring trip to Kansas?

Soon, it was time for round one of family festivities: Aubrey's baptism. As we were starting, the priest looked around the room and said, "This is a lot of people." Oh, it isn't normal to bring 40 people to a baby's baptism? Weird. Back when Luke was born an spent some time in NICU, we decided to have a large fiesta for family and friends to meet the little dude.  Because grandparents are far more fair than parents, it was only natural that Claire and now Aubrey would be welcomed to the craziness of our family with a Mexican fiesta with all of our family and friends.

Aubrey and her godparents - Mike and Blake

                                             

 After brunch with the Malone clan, it was was time to celebrate Jeff and Tricia's wedding.  The wedding was beautiful, the food was delicious, and the DJ was excellent. Luke, Claire, and Aubrey never left the dance floor.  They boogied with friends and family the entire night, while I prayed they would be so exhausted that they wouldn't notice the three hour drive later that night to OKC.  To end the festivities, Tricia and Jeff bought lanterns for everyone to light and release. Obviously, they underestimated the abilities of their friends and family - after almost lighting the grass, a few trees, and each other on fire - the lanterns finally launched, and it was our cue to head south.

Although the distance between San Antonio and Wichita is less than ideal, nothing beats these trips home.  Truly, nothing is better than being with friends and family and seeing Luke, Claire, and Aubrey form the relationships with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins that Patrick and I were so lucky to grow up with.

In the words of Luke, "Shoes on. Blue car now?" We are always ready for an adventure, so, until the next one.....

Congrats Tricia and Jeff, and thank you to everyone who made time to celebrate Aubrey's baptism.

Hot Damn!

Watch out, the romance level at casa de Godinez is off. the. charts.

Nothing says romance quite like taking the circus to the grocery store on a Friday night. Don't worry though, we kept it classy by going to H-E-B - the best grocery store in Texas. This was no Wal-Mart Friday night. I even put on my good flip flops and a headband for the occasion. 

That was actually last Friday night's festivities. This Friday, we decided to up the romance level. The week was what we shall call "rough", so loading up three midgets, dressing up for H-E-B, and venturing out into the public universe seemed a bit too daunting. So, we opted to keep the party at the casa....and went to bed at NINE O'CLOCK!! Hot damn.

It was glorious until both Claire and Aubrey decided to wake me up briefly around 3 am. Not a big deal because they went right back to sleep, but I was wide awake. Apparently, my body has adapted to minimal shut eye, so it was time to get up. I did have a movie to finish and some online shopping to get done, and the house was quiet. Except no sooner did I turn on my movie and the computer (far away from all sleeping creatures), when the littlest midget could sense that I was not snuggled up in my bed.

Nothing is a more appreciated in our house than getting to sleep longer while the other person deals with an insomniac midget. It just happened to be my turn to show the love.

We might just venture back onto the social scene next Friday...you know....back to H-E-B.

Naked in the fridge

Why is it that the laws of the universe dictate that kids must suddenly need parental supervision the second you get on the phone?

Case in point:

Late Friday afternoon, I was on a call for work  after our nanny was already gone for the day. Luke was nicely playing on the iPad, Claire was playing with a toy, and Aubrey was asleep. Of course, as soon as I answered my phone, it was like I had turned on a giant magnet for 6-year-olds, and Luke was immediately at the door signaling that he had to potty (why do all my stories start like this?!?)

I waved him off, heard the toilet, and then the patter of his feet running back to the living room.  Success! So, I continued my call until I started hearing, "Help!" and then some other muffled word. I gave it a few minutes, but of course it didn't stop because I was still on my call. So, I walked into the other room to find Luke inside the refrigerator....naked......trying to get a glass of milk. Apparently, his trip to the bathroom made him thirsty and putting his pants back on was just a little too much effort.

"Help. Mom. Cold!"

Yep. If you climb into a refrigerator while naked, you will get cold. Lesson learned.

Don't tell me we haven't had an educational summer vacation.

Luke always tries to help supervise his sisters....fully clothed and without a glass of milk.

Squish - 4 months

It is hard being four months. Just ask Aubrey...aka - "Squish".

I mean.....

First, her travel schedule has been overwhelming: Waco to see "Fixer Upper", Fredericksburg with grandma, Austin to see friends, and Chicago and Shreveport for work.

 

Work??? Yep! She definitely wins the award for cutest Executive Assistant. Occasionally, I have to explain some strange noises on a conference call, but overall, she is a stellar sidekick while I work.

 

 When we're not busy working, she enjoys exercising and spending time at the pool....

Who doesn't just pass out sometimes after a good party???

 And at the end of the day, nothing beats a good bath.

It's a tough life for Squish, but she stays happy 99% of the time. Watch out for that 1% though....

It's Time

There is always an excuse....
....I'll lose weight later....
....I'll save money after this one last vacation....
....I'll clean that storage room next week....
 ...I'll start blogging again when I am not utterly exhausted....

Well, enough of that. It's time to start writing again.

Throughout the long nights when we are awake with Claire while she doesn't feel well, nothing brings me more happiness than reading old posts from when Luke and Claire were babies. I had convinced myself that I wouldn't forget all of the "little moments", but considering that I'm lucky I remember my pants most days, my memory is sub-par, at best.

Consider this little gem of a conversation:

(After a night of about 3 hours of sleep and a loooonnnnngggg workday, I had just slipped into a hot bath with a glass of wine, when my little sidekick charged through the door.)

Luke:  "Mom, I gotta shit."
Me: "You have to poop?"
Luke: "Yeah...shit."

(sigh....I don't know where he ever heard that...)

Me: "Ok. Go ahead. You don't need me - you can take care of yourself."

(Luke proceeds to finish his business.)

Luke: "All done!"
Me: "Did you wipe?"
Luke: "Yep. Look!!"

(Not checking wasn't a gamble I was about to take.)

Me:  "Luke! There is no toilet paper in here!!! You said you wiped!"

Luke: (slapping his hand to his forehead) "Oops!!! Forgot"

Here's to hoping that I remember these funny conversations and that Luke remembers to wipe.

Throwback picture to last year......

 

The Rest of the Story

Think of everything you heard or read today. We are incessantly bombarded with information – 99.9% that is meaningless because it has no actual bearing on our lives. Then, there is the .1% that forever changes things. 

In early October of 2012 when Claire was admitted to LSUS for initial medical testing, I was handed a note scrawled in black pen that Claire’s brain had atrophied. The case manager had no explanation other than a brief sorry that she had no details and the doctors were at lunch. As I sobbed and stumbled through the hospital looking for someone who could help me, I managed to find Claire’s geneticist. When I asked her what the news meant, she replied, “Some kids with atrophy do ok, and others do not.” Then, she turned through a doorway without a second look back. 

It was after that experience that Patrick and I swore we would never settle for sub-par medical care. Claire has now been to nine hospitals, so we know a good doctor when we find one – Praise God – the stars have aligned, and we have found the right specialist at the right time.

No, you haven’t missed an announcement – we still have no answer as to what Claire’s underlying genetic condition actually is. Patrick, myself, Luke, and Claire have all undergone every genetic test possible, and there is no answer. Our goal is to treat symptoms as they present themselves – we do annual MRIs to monitor her microcephaly (small brain size), she is in PT/OT and wears leg braces to help with the hypotonia (low tone), she is monitored frequently by opthamology to track her optic nerve hypoplasia (small optic nerve), GI/nutrition are on speed-dial to address her weight loss/GI issues, and now we’re in the VIP club where we get the orthopedic surgeon’s personal cell phone number.

We have always known that her back wasn’t growing correctly; however, we didn’t quite know the severity. After a few experiences with orthopedic surgeons brushing us off, we insisted for a second opinion off base. Claire was finally seen on Friday, and it was a day where the .1% of information changed things.

Claire’s scoliosis has worsened to the point that her spine is curved 48 degrees. Due to her underlying condition, the doctor believes that she is going to need a spinal fusion surgery around the age of 10 to permanently correct the issue. For now until she is old enough for surgery, Claire will be in a cast or a brace that covers her from the shoulders to her hips to prevent the curve from worsening (I wasn’t a math major in college, but if I count my fingers correctly, that is not just around the corner). As the doctor says, “We are just treading water while we try to buy time (until the spinal fusion). If the casting is ineffective, then she will have metal rods (growth plates) inserted in her spine. The bad news about that is that those have to be redone every 6-12 months as the child grows until the final spinal fusion surgery. The double bad news is that the doctor says casting typically isn’t as effective on children with an underlying genetic condition. Clearly, this doctor hasn’t known Claire Godinez for very long! She is a stubborn little pain in the rear who doesn’t really care what scientific research says.

I think it is safe to say that this isn’t our first rodeo with getting shocking medical news; however, getting Claire to the best doctor possible made Friday as opposite as possible from our experiences at LSUS. When Dr. Faust walked into our room, he looked me in the eyes, shook my hand, and said, “I know it is 5:30 and your appointment was at 2:30, but I have had one complicated case after another, and your daughter is no exception. I’m not leaving this room until I answer each and every one of your questions.” Hello new BFF. After a very tear-filled appointment, he called me at 8:00 PM that evening to check in on me since he knew I was by myself and that was a lot of information to absorb. We’re never leaving San Antonio.

So, today Claire got her first cast. It’s a two hour procedure that has to be done while she is sedated since so much “adjusting” is required. Everyone’s prayers have paid off – she stayed happy as could be the entire day (once the anesthesia wore off – she hates that feeling) and the doctor has her spine positioned so that the curve is less than 20 degrees. When we were discharged, the nurses didn’t say “See you later”, but rather it was “See you for the next cast!” This was the first of who knows how many, but at least we have our new BFF leading the way.