Haley's Comet and Vampires

As I settle in for my "once every two months anymore" journal entry, I can't help but think of my friend Gary complaining how long it was between Def Leppard albums. This is different though because there was no accident in which anyone lost a limb, no drug addicted family member dying of an overdose, etc.. No, this is just a very busy...well...balding 30-something in Cherry Hill, as the title of this blog says....

I feel that, in some ways, I am doing a disservice to my family by not posting more often. Then I read all the stuff already here and get motivated to write more because life didn't stop!! My free time certainly did...but life has gone on and there is so much going on!

I could write a book about our dear friends Richard and Karen. Their rollercoaster of a ride seems to have settled down now - for the better. I could write another about our dear friends Gary and Nancy, who traveled the same road as Richard and Karen but somehow, someway, ended up in the middle of nowhere. Their story, for now, has no happy ending. We think about them every day and hope and pray that a little angel will show up on their doorstep someday too....

For Richard and Karen - their happy ending is in the form of a little bundle named Joshua Aaron. He's beautiful, adorable, happy, and most importantly - THEIRS!

Spencer and Lynne added a new one this week as well! Sophia Rose joins sister Sydney and everyone is happy and healthy! Our families are growing!!

Speaking of growing...Elijah will be playing BASEBALL this season. He is signed up at the CHYAA to play T-Ball. His first practices are this month and we are going to learn how to hit and field. The other night when Elijah was going to sleep, we were laying on his bed talking about baseball and he told me he wanted to be #5 and play left field. That's because his favorite baseball player is Pat Burrell. So I said OK and he said maybe Uncle Richard could make him a #5 baseball jersey. Then he started asking me about getting three strikes. He said, "Daddy, if I get three strikes and I am out of the game, don't get mad and do this (shrugs his shoulders)." Interesting, I thought. We all know Elijah is a rather sensitive kid but he's already worried about striking out? You can't strike out in T-Ball!! So I smiled and gave him the line that I will probably give him 10,000 more times..."It's not about winning and losing, it's about how you play the game." Then Elijah asked me a question...

"Daddy - if I get three strikes and go out of the game, maybe I can ask the vampire to let me come back in?"

I lost it.

I was laughing so hard my sides hurt. I told him to be careful because if he ever went up to the men in blue and called them vampires, he would NEVER be coming back into the game!!

It was an all-time Elijah moment.

He's getting so big - not just in body - but in mind. He's getting so independent it's scary. He's had a bit of a....hmmm how do I put this......poop problem the last few days. Anyway - about a month ago he began to clean himself up after going to the bathroom. He does a good job - not perfect - but pretty good. Anyway - he has this loose thing happening this week. He gets on the toilet and BAM - you know - and he says, "WOW! That wasn't good!" So I go in there to maybe help him out and he gets MAD at me. "No Dad, I can handle this. I want my privacy. Go outside." Fine. I go back to the dinner table. He finishes up and gets back in his seat to finish his dinner. So I ask him, "Elijah - how was your day? Did you have the same kind of poopy at school today?" He gives me the ANGRY face and says, "Dad - don't ask me about that. I can handle it - DON'T ASK ME ABOUT THAT." OK!!! No problem. I'm learning.

Hannah, meanwhile, is ALL OVER THE PLACE. She absolutely cannot be in one spot for more than.....4 seconds. We find her on top of the piano, on top of the couch, climbing over things, running with glass picture frames, etc. We joke and say that she's going to get stitches somewhere before the year is out. We have to get her in gymnastics or something.

It's funny because everything I heard about how two kids will be completely opposite of one another is totally true. Elijah can sit and watch TV for 3 hours - breaking to go potty or eat a piece of cheese. Hannah will watch TV for 4 seconds then do 150 laps around the inside perimeter of the house, breaking only to climb on the fixtures. Then she will eat a 4 course meal for lunch and Elijah will eat a few pieces of hot dog. The beauty of having two children.

It's important to spend as much time and energy as possible on the positive things in life. I've always said the important thing is to make the important thing the important thing. Otherwise you end up wasting time and energy AND being miserable. Bad combination. My folks need to recognize that now more than ever before. For years, they have been best of friends with Nora & Pat and for years it's been one happy occasion after another. Once celebration followed by another celebration.....

Last month, Pat, who had never been in a hospital before in his LIFE, got sick. Several tests later we found that he had Stage 4 lung cancer. He's been receiving his treatments since then and has had his ups and downs. My parents have been unbelievable - traveling to the hospital and to their house all the time to spend time with Pat and to help out Nora. It's been very difficult for everyone. Adding to Mom's worries is another friend of hers, Alicia, had a recurrence of her cancer recently and has been going through treatment. Add Buba Pearl to all this and it's surprising Mom is not a basket case these days. I think Hannah and Elijah help keep her in the here and now and keep her smiling. I wonder how Mom would be doing if I had gotten that job in Atlanta and moved down there with the kids.

Oh yeah - the Eagles lost the Superbowl. Oh well....the way I look at it - it's one step closer to BASEBALL SEASON!!! Pitchers and catchers in 7 days!!

So that's the update. Another baby is due next week with Adam and Kim expecting their first. Everybody is so BUSY!!!! It makes your head spin...

I'll try to be more frequent with updates..this one took all day to write - 8 hours on and off!

Always more to come!!!

JB