Summer 2013 Fun!

Some of these pics go all the way back to May 2013 . . . but they are SOOO worth it. :) Love making memories with this family! :)

BGA - watching a movie on the plane - it's not a transatlantic flight any more boys!

Aunt Pam reads to AGB

Gavin gets "tossed" by dad!

Then Aidan!

Aidan was a little bit of a dare devil . . .

AAAAANNNND we called Gavin . . ..

. .  . SUPERSOAKER! Any questions as to why???

mmmmmmm . . . pizza. G just too tired from swimming to sit up while eating :)

A&G were jumping buddies

Aidan, moments after he saw me do a cannon ball!

Brady made his big jump! He looks like a frog!

Gavin using the outdoor potty. :)

Aidan LOVED Sadie.

Well, they all did, in truth. HOw can you not?! ABG

Watermelon at new friend Jude's 6th bday! BAG

Aunt Pam's errand car is DIRTY! BAG

Grandma V taking the boys on a scavenger hunt for shells GBA

Brady fits PERFECTLY!

We will MISS YOU grandma and grandpa V! BAG

Last day of preschool at Grant Wood - they picked their shirts themselves! BGA

A&B snuggle

ABG on their way to learn to ride bikes! We love our y-bikes!

We are PEDDLE BIKE RIDERS! BAG

Three Monkey's in our Tree (GAB)

Where Curt found Gavin after nap one day :) So sweet. He can't fit under his bed any more :(

Ostrich eggs at Blank park zoo (ABG)

A&G on the train ride!

Brady and Grandma K!

Yup. that's about what it felt like being pregnant with all three the last few weeks. . . AGB

Here we come Canada!

Toronto Blue Jays are . . . ICE CREAM! G

Check out the killer face paint! It was what we needed to keep them occupied . ..  Aidan

Brady shows off his cute cheek with mom!

Aidan and dad take in the game!

We ran the bases on the field! GBA with Williams' boys (tyler, reid, graham)

Gavin wanted to have his picture taken in this VERY BADLY.

A REAL TRAIN?!?!?!?! in downtown Toronto

All mesmerized by a movie (GGATB)

On our way home - Lake Michigan inSt. Joseph's. Yes, the water was COLD! ABG

The dunes of lake michigan BAG

Me and B and an old carousel in St. Joe's

Dad and G take a spin

Our very own super heroes - G

Even Brady wasn't quite tall enough for it

Aidan hanging on for dear life

a CORN DOG! BGA

making the climb in St. Joe's BAG

Aidan chills for dinner

Gavin likes wearing dad's sunglasses

I think we told them to make their mean faces BAG

Exploring Chicago - at the Bean ABG

They loved it! GBA

nothing is as fun as watching a cartoon upside down

A & Dad have a moment

Running the lines at Millennium Park (G&B)

I love how they are facing opposite directions in this one . .. 

ABG

Playing in the Crown Fountain - Gavin was an animal in that COLD water!

It's always more fun to splash dad - AGB

Check out the fountain - it is spitting! BGA Gorgeous day in Chicago

That is one LOUD train! mom and BGA

Slabas helps people get ready for bed! GAB

Baby Marcus! and Gavin's sad face (sigh) GBA

Child Insults and Other Hilarities

So while we try to make sure the boys all have their own water before we go anywhere, sometimes it escapes us. and them. so of course, sharing is caring blahblahblah . ..  One day when we were coming back from who knows where and the boys did not have their own water, but had decided to drink out of MY water bottle I had asked them to pass around and share. At one point Brady tries to drink out of it, looks over at Aidan and says, "REALLY, Aidan?" with THE. MOST. DISGUSTED. look on his face. Aidan had, of course, drunk all of the water in the bottle. I was dying.

Not too long after this, Aidan goes into the bathroom and yells, "Gavin, do you want to come and share the toilet with us?" I hear this and am immediately alarmed. Gavin (who normally prefers to sit when doing ANY kind of business) RUSHES into the bathroom. I peek in to see A&B standing next to the open toilet, peeing away. Next I hear: Aidan: "REALLY GAVIN? Did you REALLY just pee on my hand? REALLY Gavin! And all over the toilet! Now I'm going to have to clean it up!"  Again, dying. The good news is, Aidan REALLY did clean it up, though from my perch, Gavin probably should have been the cleaner since he was the "miss-er". I'm thinking we must say "REALLY?" a lot . . .

So not too long after that Larry had come into town to help out with our menagerie of house items we need to do but can't seem to 1) find the time 2) the intestinal fortitude or 3) the ability to complete. The boys had been trying to hang out with Curt and Larry in the basement, to get them to watch them do (whatever), to "help". And by help, i mean pick up some random tool and swing it around/hit someone with it/nearly impale themselves with it. Finally, Curt had had enough. I am in the kitchen and I hear him say, "THAT'S IT! Up stairs. All of you. NOW." So all three come trouping upstairs. ON the stairs I hear Gavin say clear as day, "(uugggh!) I'm TIRED of those guys!" Awesome.:)

Now, since my last post I have been a VERY bad blogger. But it has been summer, and I started a new job (which is GREAT, BTW), we have done some traveling and just enjoying being together. I am getting back on the horse though - we have lots of fun, funny and oh-my-lord-did-he-just-do-that? moment to remember! More pics to come . . .

BGA on a "Corn dog" in St. Joseph's, MI on our way back from Canada

First Bike Riding - this is so overdue . . .

I have been meaning to get these up here FOREVER. . . the boys learned to ride their bikes Memorial Day Weekend (last weekend in May 2013) . . . And they were SOOOO cute about riding their bikes then . .now they are MACHINES!

ABG - on their y-bikes on the way to learn how to ride pedal bikes!

We are PEDAL BIKE RIDERS! (BAG)

Anatomy of a Nightmare

I will start this blog post by letting you know that everyone is OK.

Picture it, it's Friday June 7. Around 1:45AM, Aidan is at my bedside and says his head hurts. I get up with him and we go in the bathroom to check him for a fever. He immediately goes to the toilet and motions for me to turn on the light. I do and he vomits several times. I get him cleaned up and then take his temperature. It is reading 98.2F, so I get him a puke bucket and comfort him and he goes back to bed. Curt wakes up to hear Brady coughing around 545AM, so he goes in to check on him and possibly give him medicine. When he goes in the room, he sees Aidan sitting in bed, catatonic. He tries to talk to him, thinking he is dreaming/half asleep, only to hear Aidan talking gibberish, and then he notices his left hand is shaking. He asks Aidan, "Do you know who I am?" and Aidan just stares at him with no recognition. Curt picks him up and brings him into our room. When he wakes me up he tells me what happened and he needs help. He says Aidan is not holding on to him at all and he is stiff. He puts Aidan on my lap and I can feel the convulsions getting bigger. I realize this is a seizure and say so.

Curt immediately begins to get dressed and as the seizure is NOT stopping we realize he cannot take him to the ER himself, but we need to call an ambulance. Aidan continues to seize, for about 15 minutes total. The EMTs have to give him medication to make it stop. The wait is interminable. Terrifying. Exhausting for everyone. Brady and Gavin are woken by the sirens and Curt brings them to watch TV in the living room so they won't see Aidan. Brady peeks in on his way past and I can tell he is frightened. Our neighbor, Marla, is in our house with the boys and says she has them. Curt goes to the ER with Aidan in the ambulance and I call his folks first to let them know what happened hoping they can come and help, they are practically in the car by the time the phone call is done.

Marla takes B&G to her house for cartoons and breakfast and her daughter Kate will watch them when she has to go to work. I head to the ER calling my folks on the way to let them know what has happened. It is only 6:15 AM by now.

When I get to the ER, they are still doing intake stuff with Aidan. Several times, he appears to be having seizures. They are short lived, but typical Grand Mal seizures. It is frightening. They finally get an IV in him to provide anti-seizure meds that are more long term. They are talking about him being admitted to the PICU. I climb in bed with him once they have stopped messing with him and am just holding him. He feels warm - by now it is probably 7:30 AM or so. The PICU Dr. on call examines him and says that based on his vitals, he does not need to see him in PICU. We tell him politely we hope he never has to see him and he agrees with us. Soon after the pediatric Neurologist comes in to see him. He also notices his fever. When they take it it is 104F. Dear God. It goes down to 102.5 before they are even able to give him meds, so that is good.

Aidan was admitted to the pediatric unit to watch him for seizures. The neurologist said that he thinks it may be a febrile seizure, even though it doesn't LOOK like a febrile seizure and until he can rule anything out he will treat him as though he has meningitis. They begin pumping him with antibiotics and antivirals. He sleeps some, but is then asking for food. We can't give him anything to eat or drink until they have completed the lumbar puncture (LP) in the event they need to sedate him fully for it. Fortunately, they are able to have the LP around 2PM that day. By 230PM we are back in the room and ordering him food and drink. By 3PM he is eating yogurt and drinking juice. By 5PM he is eating pizza and more yogurt and milk. His tummy is so distended, he looks like he ate a whole ham. Curt stays with him that night. Brady and Gavin came to visit with grandma and grandpa K and aren't real happy about leaving Aidan in the hospital, but they do OK.

We get home late and put them to bed with the promise that i will sleep in their room on the floor. I don't really want to sleep on the floor, but I won't fit in Aidan's bed and I want to be close to them. It is uneventful until Brady wakes me up at 6 AM putting his face on mine. We snuggle for a half hour until he hears other people up. Gavin does the same and tells me he dreamt that Aidan didn't have a seizure.

Peggy and Larry and I take B&G to the Arts Festival downtown. There is TONS of stuff for kids and it is a good distraction from the worry in our lives. Walking to get water, I break down in the middle of Iowa Avenue. I just feel awful. B&G keep saying things like "when Aidan is out of the hospital, can he come to this?" They take some pictures for Aidan to have in his room. We all go to visit after lunch that day and when it is time for Curt, the K's and B&G to go home it is terrible. All three boys are crying and hugging each other and Aidan is saying he wants to go home and Brady and Gavin are saying they don't want to leave Aidan. It is truly the definition of heartbreaking. That night we are told he is out of isolation and he can go to the playroom. He walks all the way there and back by himself before dinner. After dinner he wants me to carry him there, but he tries to race me back to the room on the way back -WHAT?! Especially impressive since he had complained of major leg pain much of the day.

Poor Aidan blows his IV around 7 PM. They don't get people there to get him stuck until close to 9PM so he can continue to get his antivirals/antibiotics as we have to wait until sunday to see how the tests came out to see if he can go home. It takes 4 pokes and nearly an hour and a half before they get an IV in him. It is MISERABLE. he falls asleep nearly as soon as we get back to the room. I am wired. Around 4 AM i hear the nurse. Around 7AM Aidan wakes a little and says his hand hurts (where the IV is). I see it appears to be swollen, so I call the nurse. He has blown another IV. A doctor we haven't seen yet comes in and tells me that he HAS to have an IV, he will NOT be able to come home that day - the test results take 3 full days, not 2. I nearly lose it then and there. Aidan's nurse, sweet Katie, comes on duty and she and April (night nurse) have talked about how awful the IV process was the night before. She talks with his team to see if they can offer him oral meds since his feet, elbows and both hands have all been poked and not able to hold an IV. Thank GOODNESS they agree. His neurologist, Dr. Banthius, comes to tell us the results WILL be back sunday and based on everything he has seen, we should be able to go home. Aidan began complaining about headaches during this time, so they were treating with ibuprofen.

We are released around 3PM and we are joyous! Brady did NOT want to leave Aidan to go and get lunch until we had promised he could come back and hang out. I don't know what we would have done had Aidan not been released that day. They say they think it was a febrile seizure, even though it was not textbook. We are following up with his pediatrician this week since he still had some headache issues, still has pain in his back (and a big bruise!) near his LP. Luckily a nurse from UIHC called monday to check up on him and shared some more info about post LP concerns - all things Aidan had experienced, but we had not been given info on.

The first night, we all slept like rocks. Around 1AM curt woke up, but didn't know why, so he went to check on Aidan, only to find him sitting up in the same position from Friday morning. SO SCARY! He is able to get Aidan to talk, but Aidan is whispering so he can't hear what he is saying. Aidan is able to walk into our room and i am able to get that he is having a bad dream. Monday night was worse, with him being awake and in and out of bed until nearly midnight. At one point, he must have heard curt and i coming to bed, because he opens the door and says "I want to give you a hug and kiss" - who can deny that?! I ask him, as i'm putting him back to bed, what is wrong and if he is scared. He shakes his head yes and says he doesn't want to go to sleep. Around 1130PM he is up and asks for a snuggle. I bring him into bed with us and shut off the lights. After about 5-10 minutes, he asks to go to his bed.

Tonight has been better for his sleep. He only got up twice to pee but appears to be sleeping. I woke up around 1 AM thinking I heard someone trying to open their door, and now 2 and a half hours later I am typing this. I am hoping once this is off my chest I can go to sleep too.

We have had such an outpouring of care and concern and offers for help, it has meant so much these last few days. We are counting our blessings. We were supposed to be in Atlanta this weekend to celebrate Lindsay Coco and Justin Jeffery's wedding, but I can only imagine how awful we would have felt had this happened once we were already there. So while we are completely bummed to have missed that, we are glad we did not have to have a day of travel between Aidan's seizure and being able to see him.  And tonight, all three boys were excited to sleep in their undies since it is warm out and to watch some soccer before bed together on the couch. They are darling.

Aidan on day one - showing his army tank he got for getting his LP. What a trouper!

Mom and Aidan - Day 1. Can't get close enough to this little boy.

BAG - one week since the seizure. They are "dressed" as a police man, fireman and EMT, respectively. Impact them much???

Happy Mother's Day 2013!

BAG - a nice book and icing an ankle are all we need for a good day!

This is my 5th Mother's Day and it has been special and it isn't even over yet! At preschool this week, the boys got to work on a painting for me attached to a fill in the blank paper about me and then gave me a lovely carnation. Their answers are hilarious and adorable and are scanned in below. Curt also gave me the gift of mowing the yard and letting me get my long run in this morning, even though he has a huge paper due in 3 days. He got me a new running shirt (all of mine stink, even after being washed!) and he and the boys gave me a lovely card with an even lovelier message. I am spoiled!

Aidan - so sweet . . .

Brady is right, i DO know everything. And when it's time for bed!

I"m noticing two themes with Gavin - trains and me asking him to clean up . . .

As i write this, I can't help but think of the family in Doha who lost their triplets in a mall fire just under a year ago. I have been able to stay in touch with Jane and know they have moved back to New Zealand and she is pregnant with twins right now. I could not be happier for them, nor feel more fortunate that we are not in their situation. Their kids were only two years old when they passed and I can't imagine every year thinking of all of the things we would have missed out on with the boys, had something that terrible happened to us. It certainly does make me hold my kids a bit tighter and a a bit closer.

The boys are trying out their banter with me and each other. Some days it is cute, other days it is NOT. "Button your bumper!" (from Chuggington) has morphed into "Shut your bumper!' to "Shut your butt!" Uh, no. They are also all REALLY getting into reading. I pretty much spell words every meal. And of course we read books, all the time. The library is actually getting "old" for them, if you can believe that!? At least according to Aidan today when, offered the choice of library story time and then hang at the library, or farmer's market and then hang at the library he says "but we ALWAYS go to the library. I want to do something different!"

As Curt and I are getting ready to swap roles, I am finding myself mourning these last two years a bit. I feel so fortunate to have been able to spend this quality (and quantity) time with the boys, and I am also really happy Curt is going to get to do the same thing this year. I am certain our lives will feel more balanced than they did this year, but I also don't want this year to go by too quickly. I like having preschoolers! :) 

A few pics that should have gone up last month:

A&B enjoy the Chicago Children's Museum at Navy Pier in April. This was an AWESOME exhibit!

B&G check out the climbing exhibit. It was two stories high and led them to an awesome rope bridge (see below) and shaky bridges they could run across. G would climb the two stories, then just do a loop on the rope bridge and shaky bridges on the second level for as long as we would let him.

Aidan in the rope bridge!

Lunch at Harry Carey's with Raber and Slabas! (G did not want to be in the picture so only A&B)

Aidan the performer on the bus on the way home.

Did I mention Aidan likes to perform?

Waiting for the el . . .  (from the top ABG)

Aidan showed us how he can stick out his ears to listen for the el! It looks painful!

I like pics of the boys sleeping - Brady

Aidan snoozes

Gavin is out

BAG - the "Birthday Rhinos" at Julie and Shelly's bday

Gavin chills while i'm running my race

Aidan does an "artsy" photo

Gavin did NOT want to get up from this nap. Even after using the toilet. :) He is SOUND asleep here.

Aidan also did not want to wake up from nap today.

Brady on the other hand was ready to roll and get his coloring on!

BGA - all wearing two hats! It was March, I swear it wasn't this cold out!

IRISH CHICKENS!?!?!? (Brady)

ON SAINT PATRICK'S DAY!?!?!?! (Aidan)

Ummm, i THINK they taste OK . . . (Gavin)

Aidan the doctor.

ABG - Happy Easter!

You Are a Bad Mommy!

GAB - showing off their cool socks before school one day. How cute are these kids?!

Well, at least I know I'm doing something right! Last week I took the boys to City Park to ride their Y-bikes, enjoy the nice weather and play on a new playground for awhile. We will be getting them new peddle bikes after Curt's semester is over so I want to make sure they get plenty of balancing experience now! When we got to the parking spot, I had told the boys they could ride on the bike path that went behind the little pond, but that they had to stay on the path and i would walk over to them once I was done getting stuff out of the car. After I had shut the car and begun walking toward Brady and Aidan on the path, I see Gavin has made the full loop around the pond and is RIDING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE PARKING LOT! Now, it is the middle of a weekday on the far side of City Park and there is no one in this area but us, but the point is I don't want to them to think they can do that anywhere! So I yell Gavin's name and for him to stop a few times and he doesn't stop. I begin running back to our car, which he is heading for and I meet him there and let him know why I am angry. I take his Y-bike and tell him he is not allowed to ride it for 10 minutes. He is angry. ANGRY. He stomps off toward the grass with his bike helmet still on, looks back and yells, "You are a BAD MOMMY!". I literally had to turn my head away to stop him from seeing me laugh out loud at that.

Aidan - during "nap" one day he did not sleep, but was putting hats on himself. Yes, he was wearing two when i went in to get him.

AAAAANNNDDDD . . . Aidan also put two on Gavin while sweet G slept. Little scamp!

Brady after the UI Pow Wow - apparently waiting for nap time to be over just wore him right out! Nice monster face paint, huh?

Now, all of my boys show their anger at me from time to time, and I am OK with that. I don't let them say rude or disrespectful things without a consequence, but I do let them know that if they are feeling angry with me, they have a right to feel that way, but they will need to work through it without making things miserable for everyone else. Gavin usually spits, which usually gets him a consequence he doesn't like. Aidan usually pouts (which is rare, he usually does what we ask). Brady is working up a whole volume of comebacks saying things like "I won't EVER think you are pretty!" or "I don't need you for ANYTHING!", which of course he almost immediately (ok, within about 10 minutes) comes and apologizes for. It does take a lot more self control for me to not react to him when he says crazy stuff like this, but since he knows beyond getting consistent consequences, he gets nothing else, his defiance is short lived and his apology is pretty immediate. I still think my favorite example of learning the boys were listening to me was the first summer I stayed home with them. We were arriving at the Carroll's and Aidan was whining about something, and Brady says, "Aidan, whining gets you NOTHING." LOVE!

BGA - a little trip to Molly's Cupcakes is a great way to start off the weekend! Gavin is the best at picking out "good" flavors. A&B weren't as impressed with the ones they chose.

BGA and mom - cool counter seats at Molly's

Dad's done with the week! Time to celebrate Gavin!

This evening I was washing dishes after dinner and the boys were playing in our sun room since many of their toys were moved up there after our basement flooded a few weeks ago. They had been listening to Peter and the Wolf before dinner and were on to Barbar the Elephant. Now, they have heard this CD about a MILLION times, since when we lived in Doha, we pretty much listened to it 8 times a week on our drives to and from Creative Child. Aidan shoots out of the sunroom and stops in his tracks at our recliner and says "MOM! Barbar's mom DIES." I look at him and I say, "I know honey." His eyes are WIDE. He says "Barbar is really sad about his mom being dead." I tell him I know, I think it is sad Barbar's mom died too. He quickly stomps over to me in his walk he gets when he is on a mission and THROWS himself around my legs which just MELTS me. We give each other a big hug and a few kisses and he says, "Mom, if you die, I will be sad and miss you, but I am giving you hugs and kisses so they can go in your body and stay with you even if you die so you will know I love you." OH MY GOODNESS, how sweet is this kid? I tell him that I was giving him kisses and hugs so that they would stay with him forever and he would always know how much I love him. It was so priceless and perfect and I'm so glad to be in a place where we could have that moment and take the time for each other.

Mom with her boys before the 2013 10K River Run (BAG)

Waiting to give me my high five to get me through to the finish line! (GAB - bottom to top)

Curt is in the final throes of the semester and thank goodness for that! :) For all of us! We have already started talking with the boys about how I am going to go to work part time (in a few weeks, YIKES!) and dad will get to stay home with them and my work won't involve as much night and weekend stuff that dad's school has needed. At first they were a little skeptical, but now they talk about it (especially Brady, our external processor) a lot and how dad loves them so much and wishes he could be spending more time with them, but he will when school is done and i go to work. I feel so blessed to have had these last two years staying home with the boys and i wonder WHERE THE TIME WENT. seriously, because it has flown by. even on the long days, it has flown by.

Aidan wearing his thobe from Sulayim and Hamad!

Gavin and Grandpa K eat fritos on their PB&J - WHAT?!

Brady at the HyVee cooking class and story hour

Last night I was cleaning up a bit after the boys went to bed and I found Aidan's big rabbit and little rabbit in the middle of the living room floor. It stopped me in my tracks and made me a little sad, but also happy at my little boy growing up. In the beginning of March, I found Brady's froggy in between the car seats, THREE DAYS after we had come back from Des Moines, where he must have thrown him. He hadn't even mentioned that he was looking for it. Now, even 6 months ago, not having their animals would have sent us into a whole house search in order for the boys to go to bed, and let me tell you, we have DONE that a few times. Now, they are big enough that their lovies aren't as NEEDED by them any more, which is a good thing, but just another reminder of how much further away from being babies and toddlers they are and how much closer we are to them being school aged and more. I read something from a blogger not too long ago that talked about how we have all of these milestones we celebrate for the "firsts" - the first steps, words, solid food, smiles, bikes, etc but that we don't do anything for the "lasts" - the last time your kid holds your hand as you are walking with them, the last time they let you kiss them before they go to school. I thought to myself, "the last time we have morning snuggles. the last time they ask for a snuggle on the couch after dinner. the last time they just want to sit and talk with you about their day or things they have been thinking about . . ." This blogger said, in some ways we don't WANT to memorialize those things, because if we knew they were the "last" would we ever allow them to end? and they might make us more sad than just being able to see it as a natural part of the maturation and letting go process that is parenting. This struck a chord with me in so many ways. Man, do I love these boys.

Paul Ramsay - Hypnotist extraordinaire (AGB)

Last weekend Curt and I were able to meet up with our old friend Paul in Amana, IA. He was in Iowa doing his college circuit and we were able to have lunch with him and the boys before his flight left that day. The boys were asking all kinds of great questions based on what we had told them hypnotists do, like, could he make one of their brothers act like a chicken? I'm sure Paul appreciated that. After a lively lunch Brady asked him if he hypnotized kids and we were all like, "uh, no, not usually." when he asked why (of course Brady asked why) Paul had such a GREAT response. He said "You know why? Because kids are great at just being who they are and having fun, but adults aren't as good at that as kids. So sometimes, adults need to be hypnotized to relax and have fun and just be themselves. So you should feel really good that you are good at being yourself." I just LOVED that.

After the lunch the boys didn't eat because they were too busy playing with or drinking their chocolate milk, we still had more time before Paul needed to go and Curt and I wanted to catch up with him. Fortunately I hadn't had time to return the library books, so Curt brought the whole bag in from the car. After trying to get our attention for a few minutes goofing around, we were firm about telling them they needed to read their books on the couches and allow the adults to talk for a bit. And they did. Not for 5 minutes, but for what seemed like a half hour. All three of them sat on a couch and looked through their library books and giggled at the funny parts and traded books and were SO WELL BEHAVED. Now, here it would be tempting to think it was all because Curt and I are awesome parents. and certainly our philosophy of helping them learn to entertain themselves and not always sticking them in front of a screen aided this moment in happening, but I really credit this to our kids. They love to read, they are interested in learning new things, they like spending time with one another, sometimes they like spending time away from dad and I (blessing and a curse all rolled up in one), and they like the independence I'm sure they felt sitting separate from us on cool, cushy couches just reading books like they saw other adults do in the cafe. I tell you, however long or short that was, it FELT like an actual break for Curt and I too, which does WONDERS for getting back in the game of parenting after a long week (or semester!).

Brady the photog!