More from Houston!

Here I am, on my third day of wandering the city all by my lonesome. I'm actually having a good time doing it, despite my anxiety over finding my way around! I haven't been seriously lost yet. The worst was yesterday evening on my way to get Chris. I could see his building but I couldn't get to it.

So far, I have been to my old stomping grounds, I have eaten fabulous food in large quantities, I have been to the Museum of Natural Science, the Houston Zoo and Hermann Park, and I have been pooped on by birds three times. This is not a joke.

I should explain that I have a long history of being pooped on by birds. It started in my early teens, and back then it only happened once a year or so. It seems to be escalating. Last April in Cancun, I was surprised to note only two seagulls in the entire beach area. This thrilled me, since I know seagulls are notorious poopers. Nevertheless, I got pooped on. Twice. In one day. I'm not sure if it was the same seagull, or one of each. I'm not sure I care.

This brings us to yesterday. I parked in the middle of Hermann Park, which is centrally located between the zoo and the museum. I got out of my car and took two steps. I bird pooped on my hand. This, I took in stride. After all, it happens a lot. But when I was walking around the pond and a bird pooped on my head, I began to be annoyed. Do you know how hard it is to wipe bird poop out of your hair with leaves??? After visiting the museum, where the only birds are dead and stuffed, I headed to the zoo, where A BIRD POOPED ON MY CHEST!!! Sorry about the caps, but by this time I was really put out. On my way back to the car, I ducked and put my bag over my head every time birds flew over me. A well-meaning gentleman tried to tell me the birds weren't going to fly down and peck me or anything. I'm not sure he believed me when I told him about my afternoon. Next time I go exploring, I'm definitely wearing a hat!

Blogging from Houston!

Hello, everyone! Here I am in Houston, and still capable of blogging! Isn't technology wonderful? I have planned two new blog entries, but they require pictures...and I forgot the cable to dump my camera onto the computer!!! I suggested last night to Chris that we drive home real quick and pick it up. He threw a pillow at my head. Eight hours in the car apparently killed his sense of humor.

Anyway, I just dropped him off at his training, and now I'm free to explore and probably get very, very lost. Nevermind that I used to live here. That was years ago, and I didn't have a sense of direction back then, either.

So, off I go to explore. And eat. I have a huge list of places I need to eat while I'm here, and if I don't get started I might not make it through them all this week. I'm off!

The turmoil of having a smart kid...

Gabe never ceases to amaze me with the things he deduces and then makes me explain. The other day, he came home from school and asked me, "Mama, do I have any half brothers?"

Now, Gabe knows he was adopted. I'm not sure exactly what that means to him, but he knows it. So I've been expecting this kind of question for some time. When I answered yes, he seemed incredulous, and wanted to know who and where they were. When I explained that Timothy is, technically, his half brother, he was even more incredulous. He kept asking me, "Are you sure???"

I explained that half siblings have one parent in common and the other parent...not in common. I told him that in his case, he and Timothy both grew inside of me, but they didn't have what we like to call "the same biological father". Then I sat back and thought to myself, "Here it comes. A big question. 'What's a biological father? Who is MY biological father? How are babies made?'" The silence grew as I prepared my answers to these unasked questions. Then Gabe asked:

"Then who's Timothy's dad?"

Oh, the humor of it all! Years of preparation down the drain! I explained that Daddy is Timothy's dad, but Daddy wasn't around when Gabe was born, so Daddy adopted Gabe and became his Daddy. Then I held my breath again, waiting for more questions. I could see the wheels turning in Gabe's head. And the next words out of his mouth were: "Cool! Can I go ride my heelies now?"

In case you're wondering, I sent him out to ride his heelies and left that can of worms yet unopened. Maybe next time he gets to wondering about life, the universe and everything, his father will be the one to field the questions! I can only hope!

A [Rare] Moment of Serious...

I've been meaning to write this for a week now, and haven't found the time. Both boys had their check-up with the ophthalmologist last week, and the news was all good. Gabe's lazy eye has finally stabilized, and the doctor doesn't think his vision will get any worse than it is now. He's a good candidate for corrective surgery when he's done growing, and it looks like we could be done patching for good. This thrills us all! Some of you may remember a couple of years back when he broke his nose running into a light pole, which he didn't see coming because of the patch over one eye!

Timothy, who now knows all his letters, was reading 20/100 with each eye. For those of you who don't eat, sleep and breath eyes, this means that he sees as well or better than many near-sighted people see without their glasses or contacts. While his vision isn't expected to improve much more than this, we're pretty happy for our "blind" child to be seeing this well. Nearly three years ago, we were told we would be lucky if he had light/dark differentiation, so this is nothing short of miraculous. The doctor is amazed. Kids with occular albanism rarely reach this level of of vision. Timothy's life will never be perfectly "normal". He probably won't drive a car or play on his high school sports teams. But he also won't attend a school for the blind or need help navigating outside of his home. We're more thankful than we can say for how far he's come in his short life. God has blessed us. Again.

There, serious moment over. Please put away your hankies and prepare for the return of silliness.

The things I do...

Have you ever been stopped at a red light, singing loudly and dancing flamboyantly to some ridiculous kid's cd, trying to keep a cranky kid from screaming and thus stealing your remaining sanity, when you happened to glance at the car next to you and find its occupants laughing hysterically at your expense?

No?

Umm...me either.

Glad we got that straight.