Celebrate Orlando

Today was my fourth trip to Celebrate Orlando, the big scrapbooking shindig that Mom and I go to every year. We look forward to it all year long, and this year was no exception. It was noticably quieter than years past. My CM consultant told me that there were 200 fewer people than in the past, so that's probably why it wasn't as crazy. It was nice, though. Mom won a packet of paper and some stickers, so that was nice that we finally won a door prize - after four years of showing up! This morning we dropped Julianne off at her Grammy's house and I was nervous - not because I thought Patty didn't know what she was doing, but because I didn't want to be away from Julianne that long. I missed her all day long - and it didn't help that I was looking at pictures of her all day, lol. I only called Patty twice, so I was proud of myself. And it turned out that Julianne had a great day anyway. But when I got there, she was so excited to see me!!! It was great. She was bouncing around and calling for me and just really excited. It was so nice to see her. I love that little girl so much... so friggin' much. Sometimes I feel like the love I have for her is going to suffocate me - that's how overpowering it is. My life is so perfect with Julianne... what did I ever do before she came along?!?

Tim's Birth Mom Update

So Tim went and met his mom and they sat and talked for about 2 1/2 hours... he said she's really nice, but it was just like talking to a stranger and he had no emotions at all. I told him that's totally understandable! It turns out she didn't know she was pregnant until she went into labor - she got her period all through pregnancy and only gained 15 pounds. When she went into labor she thought she was having a gall bladder attack and went to the ER - they told her she was having a baby, and there was Tim! (She named him William Charles, but he's just Tim). Tim wasn't actually adopted till he was 7 months old because his birth father refused to acknowledge paternity and wouldn't sign the papers, so Tim spent 7 months in foster care before he went to live with his mom and dad. So she's had three failed marriages (I told Tim that's why he can't hang on to a relationship!) and has no other children because she had ovarian cancer and had a hysterectomy. She's also an only child, so Tim was the only grandchild and he actually talked to his grandmother on the phone in New York. He said he's very glad he met her and talked to her but can't see himself having a deep relationship with her because they don't have much in common. I think he's in shock - his adoptive mom (Meg) is absolutely THRILLED and can't wait to meet his birth mom - she's more excited than Tim!

Holy crap, man!

Oh my gosh, yesterday was the craziest day! I took my kids out to the playground and I was talking to two students when another one came up to me and said, "Ms. Kubec, Clenzie broke his leg." Now, my kids are always telling me they broke this or broke that when it's really just a scratch (no joke). So I said, "Well, I highly doubt that, but let's go take a look and see." Clenzie was sitting on the swings, crying, and I walked up to him and as soon as I looked at his leg, I knew it was broken. His leg was hanging there and there was a huge bump in his thigh. I called the PE coach over and she took one look, then radioed to the office to call 9-1-1. The kids were all crowded around so we sent them under the pavillion because it was starting to rain. When the ambulance got there, it took about 4 of us to get him off the swing, because the way his leg was hanging was so painful. He was screaming bloody murder, and it didn't help that while all this was going on, it started POURING. Like, monsooning. They rushed him into the ambulance and had to put his leg in traction and while I was running to the ambulance, I realized I had left my cell phone and all the baby shower invitations for my friends shower sitting on the picnic table and both the invitations and my phone are now ruined because of the storm. I really didn't care much though because Clenzie was hurt so bad. I went with him in the ambulance to the hospital because they couldn't get ahold of his mom and I wound up staying a good part of the afternoon and early evening until they finally got ahold of his stepdad and he showed up. I saw the x-rays and they were horrible - it was a clean break, but he snapped his femur in half. He had surgery this morning to put rods and pins in, and he's doing fine but I just feel so bad for the kid! I told him when I was four I broke my leg by falling off a chair, but I don't think the story made him feel any better!

Big news for Tim!

Last night my text message chime went off on my phone about 1:45 a.m. I completely ignored it, and then it actually rang at 2:10. I answered it - it was Tim calling to tell me he had found his birth mother! He's been looking for her casually since he was 18 (he's 25 now) and last night he woke up and couldn't go back to sleep so he did a Google search jsut for grins because he was bored, and he found her. He was born in New York City and adopted there and moved here when he was about 7. The totally amazing thing is that he got her name from the Google search and Googled her, and she lives in Winter Garden, Florida, which is ten minutes from where we live (right down the street from each other)! So he sent her an e-mail telling her that he was her son and if she didn't want to be contacted he wouldn't, etc. Well, about an hour later he received an phone call from her and they're going to meet today at 11:30!!! Can you imagine? I'm all aflutter and it's not even me! Several years ago the two of us went to New York for a vacation and while we were up there we went to the adoption agency where he was placed and got a bunch of information and they registered him to be found, but nothing ever came of it, so we both assumed that was the end of it. I'm just excited! I told him he needs to take a picture with his cell phone and send it to me. He said, "We'll see." Lol!

We're home... boo.

So we're back from the cruise. Overall, I think we had a good time! Julianne had some issues with sleeping, but who can blame her? Her schedule was completely thrown off, not to mention the fact that she was sleeping in a strange bed in a strange place with strange people (Amanda) around. She woke up the first three nights and finally slept through on the last night (go figure). Then our first night back home she was up 4 times - it was like newborn days all over again! The last three nights she's had a hard time falling asleep and staying asleep, but tonight she seems to be doing okay (fingers crossed!). So anyway... the cruise was a lot of fun. The first day we were in Coco Cay and everyone went out to the beach. Julianne had a hard time because she was hot and tired and there was no place to lay her down. So I nursed her as much as I could and held her while she slept, but she eventually woke up so Mom and I played with her in the water. I think she liked the water but it was really cold so she didn't enjoy it too much. Mom watched her while Amanda and I swam out to the float - the water there is SO blue and SO clear, it's like a picture. Once we swam back in, Dad and I took Julianne back to the ship so she could get some proper sleep. The second day, we were in Nassau and she did very well while Mom, Amanda and I went shopping. The third day was a day at sea, so we went to the Splash Bash on the ship (again, water was too cold to enjoy it!) and we played with some toys in the afternoon and went to the sushi restaurant, Jade, for dinner. She was really crabby during dinner so I took her back to the room and put her to sleep, then finished packing. Once we got back in port, we collected luggage and drove home, where I realized I had left my breast pump in the cruise terminal and Amanda and I had to drive back to get it. The drive wasn't too bad because I introduced her to the celebrity letter game - I think we're still playing! Anyway... we had a good time on the cruise and I can't wait to go again!