I feel like a horrible step mom, but of course Mike should feel like a pretty crappy dad. Except together, I think we both realize we had reason.

Our oldest daughter woke me up in the middle of the night about three times Monday night, into Tuesday morning.  Mike works the night shift, so I called and left a message, letting him know, she said she wasn’t feeling great. She isn’t the most truthful thing when she says she doesn’t feel good. Sometimes, she just cannot sleep. So I gave her some Pepcid AC which was prescribed by the doctor, and some motrin and send her off to bed. She woke me up at 5:15am again, saying she felt bad. She actually looked okay, except she looked tired.

She is a worrier. She stresses about stuff, way too much. So I wondered if she had a test, or homework assignment or even some form of public speaking assignment, that she was worrying about.

When we woke her up at 7am, she seemed alright, albeit a bit grumpy and tired, but within twenty minutes, was chatting away. So off to school she went.

We got a call about 2 hours later, that she had thrown up in the nurses office. Thank goodness for small miracles. If that had happened in class, the child would have been mortified. She is really weird about that type of stuff, just as most kids are, but she is overly.

Anyway, we brought her home, and she was home for two days. I have no earthly clue what was wrong with her. She seemed fine. We thought, bad food. We thought, heat exaustion. We thought, worry and stress. Regardless of what it was, she returned to school today.

Now, my oldest son is feeling like crap, but his is allergy related. Our three youngest girls are all suffering too. Allergies really take a lot away from a kid. In fact, I think they are more tired and irritable, when they have allergies. I think they have a harder time sleeping, in between coughing, sneezing and stuffy noses.

So anyway, that’s where I was the past 48 hours. Nursing one sick kid back to health, and trying to get some of my articles and writing done for two of my freelance clients. It wasn’t easy. In fact, it sucked. But I am happy she’s better, and hope nobody else gets it.

I suck.

Is there anything else left to say?

Would someone please, please tell me what this means? I am so confused.

Apparently it is a new word going around my son’s middle school. “If you do this, you’re EMO.” or “If you do that, you’re EMO.” I don’t get it.

Because I consider myself pretty well-versed on most of the “slang” kid language, I was surprised not to have heard it used apparently the way they use it.

When I look EMO up on the Internet, I get a page that tells me it has to do with emotionally-charged punk rock. Uhm okay. Then I also got one that said something about the word just being a shortcut for emotional.

When I go to “Emo” at Wikipedia, I get a slang definition, that says it began as the punk rock word in the 80’s. Ok, apparently I did not listen to punk rock then, because I do not remember that word. And for our wonderful modern age it says that it refers to a person’s fashion, personality, or both. Uhm ok. Again, still not sure I understand.

Ah wait, I get it now. I really do. Under the personality section @ Wikipedia, it describes a bit better where it came from. Several times over the course of the past couple of weeks, someone has referred to my son as EMO. He had NO idea what they meant, but apparently I do now.

Recently, my son had a fight with the cat. Or rather, the cat did not want to be held at that particular moment and scratched the heck out of his arm trying to get away. He had some pretty big cuts.

Apparently, some definitions of emo hold that typical “emo persons” are likely to inflict self-injury, most often by means of cutting, burning, or otherwise mutilating themselves. Uh, yeah that’s just great. And then it goes on to say that some assert that it is “cool” within the emo subculture to pretend to be suicidal and self-harm, or that participants self-harm purely for personal enjoyment. Terrific. My son has now been introduced to something I really wish I could have kept him from learning at twelve. And we wonder why I hate the schools and homeschool him. LOL

Ok, so now I get it. I am not EMO. And neither is any family member I have, so I guess we’re all safe. *whew* that was close!

 Oh!! And if you want to see for yourself … here ya go.

I can take thirty pictures at one time, and only find a handful that I love. I’m sure you know that feeling. But do you ever get a photo developed or uploaded and look at it, and it simply takes your breath away? For me, it’s this photo. She’s not even smiling. It’s not even very well composed. But I love it. It’s simply…..Her. All nine years of her.

Edited to add this second photo. This was the photograph I was aiming for. The cute smile, having fun. I got the camera ready and just snapped the other photo right as she got into place on the acrobat swing but before she was ready. I just love that look in the other one. 

It’s funny, now that I have had some time to really digest the poem my future step-daughter wrote for me. Recently, I guess about a week ago, we had a conversation about metaphors, which I was unsure if she understood. I tried my best to explain them to her.

The conversation stemmed from a song, that used a dozen or so more metaphors and she didn’t exactly understand the song. By the time we were done, she understood the song, but I really did not think she understood the concept of a metaphor.

Clearly, she does.

She uses quite a few of them in her poem, and they are what really make that poem special.

It isn’t just that she wrote that for me, but it’s that she understood what I explained to her.

I don’t think we give ourselves enough credit as parents. Sometimes we think that our children aren’t listening, or don’t get it. But when we least expect it, they shock the heck out of us.

Just goes to show that encouragement can be an incredible thing.

So, my “step” daughter is ten years old. And she loves writing, which is extremely cool to me, for very obvious reasons.

Over the course of the year we’ve all been together, she has showed me poems and stories and all sorts of things that she has written since she was about six. She writes a lot, and hopes to be an author someday, and I can tell you - that girl has IT. Yes, the IT you need to be a published author. In fact, she is so gifted and talented, sometimes when I read her stuff, I think - yeesh - the ten year old is better than me!

I haven’t seen her write one poem since I have been here, even though I understand that she enjoys writing them a lot.  She has been concentrating on her zillions of stories, instead - with lots of encouragement.

Well, apparently I was wrong, though. She has been writing a poem, but it has just been over the course of the past couple of days. Regardless, it was about me coming into her life, and I had to keep from crying while reading it. It touched me deeper than anyone has in awhile.

Tell me that this ten year old isn’t amazing: (it is not finished yet)

I never knew life could be so exciting.
Sunshine filled my days and not a strick of lightening.
All those awful memories packed deep into my heart.
I thought it was the end, but it was only  the very start.
You floated into my life, after the awful storm,
like a butterfly you drifted to keep me safe and warm.
Whatever I saw, whatever i felt.
Everything I saw made me feel better about myself.
You say I can do it, no matter what.
you could shield me from the world like a bandaid on a cut.
Seven wonderful family members, all loving each other,
Dad, sisters, brother and yes, even a mother!
Sometimes the air is filled of love,
And sometimes filled with hatred,
but time with my family isn’t what I wasted.
Day after day, I’m so glad that you’re here,
Whenever I need you I know you are near.
From morning, till night…. (and that is all she has so far)

 Am I the only one who thinks it’s pretty good for a ten year old?

One of the things that I have loved doing, since we blended, is celebrating “firsts”. Our first road trip, our first time at Six Flags as a blended family, our first Halloween, our first Christmas, our first time together at certain restaurants, our first trip together to different attractions around St. Louis, our first family photo, etc.

I have spent the year commemorating these events on scrapbook pages and layouts that adorn our family scrapbook.

Tonight marks the one year anniversary of the beginning of “us”.

A year ago I tagged along while Mike took his girls to Dairy Queen for a fun night out with ice cream. My kids were at their dads house, and I was lonely, so they invited me along. It doesn’t seem like an entire year since that day. And I remember so many details from it, that perhaps I should write down so I don’t forget them.

We are going to Dairy Queen in a little while so we can celebrate. What is funny, is that I am not a huge Dairy Queen fan. LOL I love ice cream, but I like the real stuff. But I will do it for the kids. Interestingly, this is the first time we’ve gone to Dairy Queen together, all of us. Isn’t that strange? I think we ran through the drive thru once.

I urge you as a blended family, to commemorate and celebrate those special events, no matter how insignificant they seem. Our first movie, our first outing, our first pet together. It’s is the birth of a blended family, and should be celebrated the same way a babies firsts are.

You will cherish these memories, when you look back - and relive the moment.

Today we took everyone to Purina Farms. It was soooo much fun! Mike’s kids had never been before (neither had he) but my kids and I have been a dozen times or more, so it was our turn to show them something.

The kids loved the place. Between watching two different dogs doing an interactive agility course, the three story (yes that would be three HOUSE stories) cat home, and all the dogs, cows, chickens, horses and rabbits - the kids could not possibly get enough.

They almost had the opportunity to milk a cow, but they passed. We did walk through the Easter village and we saw all the baby animals. Ducks, chickens, puppies, calves, lambs…you name it. It was such a great day for it too. Nice, warm, sunny with a light breeze.

We even took a hayride around the property and the kids loved it. Just before we were ready to head home, we snapped a quick picture in front of the water fall.

 On the way home we decided to stop at Rockwood Reservation and take a hike. It was loads of fun but exhausting. The entire trail we picked was UP HILL! And I was wearing sandals as were Jessie and Vanessa. We had a great time anyway, spent some time down by the creek, found a really cool glass bottle and then spent the entire rest of the ride home discussing how many cool things we’ve all had a chance to do in the past year we’ve been together. It made us all appreciate each other more and realize how much happier we are together.

This honestly WAS the best, most busy weekend we’ve had in quite awhile. Thank goodness for great weather!