'Bama and Birthdays- Planning for Mav's Special Day

I made it back from Alabama. Three of my girlfriends went - Amy, Dejah, and Dovie. They went running around while I was in class and we all hung out together in the evenings. It was such a nice trip. I'm so glad they went with me - do I have amazing friends, or what? The first night class let out kind of late, but I really wanted to go to the beach. We went, but by the time we got there it was dark :( This pic is a bit blurry - my camera had a hard time focusing at night.

It was still so peaceful and beautiful - even in the dark. Something about beaches makes me relax. Maybe someday we'll have a home by the beach - okay, really, I'd be satisfied with just an occasional vacation there.

I learned a lot in the classes: how to suture (put in stitches), how to do coding (for billing), how to suit up for a bio terrorist attack (it's some kind of new requirement for NP programs), how to do pelvic exams (fyi - it was on a simulator/dummy), and I learned all I could ever want to know and more about STD's.

The last day of class we got out a little early and were able to get to the beach before dark. I am so glad the girls went. I would have been lonely without them. We were all ready to get back home to see our hubbies and kids, though.

Greg and the kids did well. Maddie didn't start dance until this week, and Chloe starts next week. Chloe started Mother's Day Out while I was gone and she loves it. I picked her up today and she got in her car seat, let out a sigh, and said, "I'm exhausted!" Oh, the life of a preschooler... We're trying to keep C-man in line with his school work, so he's not in any sports right now.

My birthday was yesterday, but I'm not counting them anymore. We had a September birthday party with Greg's family Saturday. My b-day is on the 8th, Mav's is on the 12th, Marilyn's (Greg's mom) is on the 13th, and Chloe's is on the 29th. It's kind of been a rough week - my birthday without one of my kids and Mav's special day coming up. We couldn't decide what to do. We didn't want to not celebrate it. He's our baby and we celebrate all our other kids birthdays. We talked to the kids last night about what they wanted to do. They want to have a cake, then let go of balloons at the cemetery. I know there will be a lot of tears shed on that day, so I think it will probably just be us. If you'd like to remember him by sending up a balloon where ever you are, I'd love for you to send me a picture of it. I'm making some little notes to attach to our balloons and on the back of the notes I put the blog address and these CHD facts:

Anyone can have a child with a congenital heart defect. Out of 1,000 births, nine babies will have some form of congenital heart disorder.

Congenital heart defects are the most common birth defect and are the number one cause of death from birth defects in the first year of life. Nearly twice as many children die from congenital heart disease in the United States each year as die from all forms of childhood cancer combined.

www.babymaverick.blogspot.com.

I don't know if anyone will ever even see these, but if they do, they'll be a bit more aware of CHD.

Here's why we're doing the balloons. We have a tradition that we've done with all the kids. Around their first birthdays we take them to have their picture taken with a cake and balloons. The pics were all taken at the same place with the same backdrop and the cake sitting on the same stool. It's fun to look at all of them at the same age and see how similar and different they were. We can see who was tallest by their relation to the stool height. They are hanging in the hallway. We won't be able to do that with little Mav, so these are our balloon pictures for his birthday. Here's my email address if you want to send any balloon pics: julesclarko@yahoo.com.