Waiting...

Every afternoon around 2:00, there is one little dog in our house who watches out the window for Davin Boy. He waits and waits and waits until it is 2:30 and Davin's bus backs into the driveway. Usually Davin is greeted by Rocky who then has to sniff his wheelchair and figure out where Davin has been and what kind of smells he has on him today. Cute:-)

The Year was 1990

I have now been a parent for 25 years! It is hard for me to believe that. To make things worse, my BABY is turning 18 in just a couple of months!! Next time someone asks me my children's ages, I am going to include my dogs' ages because that will make me feel better. Having children who are 18 - 25 is not good! They are way too old:-) They are still fun, though and I do like to be around them. Still, I think using the dogs' ages is a good idea.

Of the 25 years of parenting, I have been changing diapers for 24 of them. It has been part of my life for over half of my life! Wow! HOWEVER....there was that one year....it was blissful....there were no diapers...

When Bethany was 2 1/2, this cute little 4 year-old named Ashleigh potty trained her. I am not even kidding a little bit. I would always say that Bethany was fine, but Ashleigh would drag (sometimes literally) her into the bathroom and insist that she "wanted" to go to the bathroom. Since Bethany has always adored her older sister, I guess she decided if Ashleigh thought she wanted to go to the bathroom, then she must have. So, Bethany was potty trained. I was not yet pregnant with Cheney Boy. Alan was home from his med-cruise just recently. Life was pretty good:-) I knew it, too. Sometimes when people have small children, they think life is so crazy and hectic and can't wait for them to grow up. Not me. I knew having two little girls was the best and having no diapers made my life just seem like a breeze.

It was a whole year until our little Cheney Alan Scott came into our lives in January of 1991. Even though changing diapers is no big deal and it is just a part of my life, sometimes, I still think back to 1990.....ahhhhhhh.....:-)

Happy 25th Birthday

25 years ago, my life changed forever. A little 8 pound, 5 ounce little girl came into my life and I was no longer strictly known as Heather. I was Ashleigh's Mom. It is a title that I have had for 25 years now and am so proud of. Happy Birthday to the baby girl who changed my life, stole my heart (and her Daddy's) and set my course on a different direction. I love you!!

25 Years Ago Today....

25 years ago today I was waiting and waiting and waiting. I had been given a due date of September 6th and here it was the 14th. 25 years ago, I was about as big as a house;-) Seriously. 25 years ago, I had a husband, but we didn't yet feel like a real family. We had been married such a short amount of time (6 months) and over half of that we had spent apart while Alan attended Navy boot camp and his first ET school. 25 years ago, I was writing letters almost every day telling Alan what was going on in the day. We got to talk on the phone some, but it was not like today where we have email and communication is so much easier. Phone calls were expensive and money was not something we had a lot of:-)

25 years ago, my whole life was about to change. I had been through the most terrible time of my young life. I had felt the stares of people in my church, heard the whispers, missed the eye contact, saw the disappointment in faces.

But now....now it was different. Now my baby was about to be born. The baby God had decided to bless me with in spite of who I was and what I had done. I was ready. I don't know how I was ready, but I was.

I made a decision to never make my baby pay for my mistakes. I took that to heart. I would welcome this baby and never look back.

When I think about that time in my life, the most amazing thing is the transition. When did my teenage heart become a mother's heart? I can not look back and see the day, but it is so obvious that it happened. I went from being a senior in high school concerned with soccer practice and homework and now 9 months later, I was ready for this new challenge. I didn't feel like I was missing out.

Thankfully, this day 25 years ago, I didn't realize I had another 9 days to wait!!!! She was worth it, though.

Be Specific

Davin came home from school today with a bit of an attitude problem. His note from school said he had a great day, but when he got home, his sister was on his sofa that he usually rests on. I was asking Davin questions, but instead of giving me a yes or a no, he decided to start hitting his sister. I firmly explained he would not be hitting his sister or he would have to go spend time in his room. I guess I needed to give the full list of things he was not to do since he then pulled Bethany's hair instead. Ugh! Really Davin? I told him he was going to have to adjust his attitude and give his sister a hug as an apology. It took a while, but he eventually submitted. Attitude, attitude, it's all about the attitude.

I Got It Right Today

The reason that Davin was in his bed crying (my previous post) was because he had a fever:-( I felt pretty badly that I let him cry and cry for so long. Needless to say, it was a long, rough night. Sleep did not come easily for him and his fever was not quick to break. After several hours, I took it to the Lord and prayed over Davin and his fever finally broke and he was able to rest.

On Thursday, Davin was feeling much better and we got up and got ready for school. His bag was packed, breakfast was eaten, straps were done on his chair. He was ready. The bus did not come. We watched out the window. Rocky watched out the window. The bus still didn't come. I called the bus garage. This year, Davin's school decided to observe the Jewish holiday. The bus would not be coming. Oh yikes. Just a couple of days into school and already I am confused! This is not a good sign;-)

Today, we got up and got ready. The bus came. Good day.

Giving In

Alan left today for Rochester for the week. Bethany is spending the night with her sister. I have one little 17-year-old boy who is whining in his bed. I am ready to call it quits and go and get him, put him in my bed and he will be asleep in no time. Little twirp:-)

Today was Davin's first day of school (the second for everyone else;-) and the day went well. For dinner, I took Davin and Bethany to Friendly's to celebrate the first day of school. Davin had a HUGE strawberry milkshake (thanks to his bus driver Leslie who gave him the Friendly's gift card) for dinner. We stopped by Costco and Joann Fabric on the way home. I even made up a special first day of school song and sang it to Davin on the way home. You would think he would be tired and want to go to sleep.

Sometimes you just need your Mom... I can relate to that.