Mother's Day

It's been a while.........

As many of you know, we had some sad news a few weeks ago. On April 22nd, Jeanine's mom passed away. Bean was fortunate enough to see her mom a few days before it happened - knowing Mom, she probably had it all worked out. A lot of our friends and family came out to support all of us, and we were extremely grateful. It is always nice to be reminded how positively we all affect each other in this hectic crazy thing we call life. I was especially appreciative of Lochlain, who noticed that I was more than a bit sad during the funeral. As one of the pallbearers, I had to sit separate from Bean, Loch and Sean. When Loch saw that I was sad, he walked up the pew and reached out to me. I grabbed him and he gave me the biggest, bestest, longest hug ever! It made me not-so-sad and he hung with me until he saw that Mommy was sad, and then went back to her. He's a good kid (Seaniebear was a good kid, too - he slept in the stroller during the whole mass)......

My mother-in-law was a great person - strong, wise, loving - she (and my father-in-law) have always made me feel like their son - not just some guy who married their daughter. She always marveled at all her grandchildren, and spoiled them beyond belief (curse you, Winnie-the-Pooh cookie jar!) - though according to Bean, the grandkids were not the only spoiled ones. Here are some pics of Memar (her grandmother alias) - she has been - and will continue to be - sorely missed:

So of course, Mother's Day was tinged with sadness. Still, we made the most of it - the boys made Mommy cards - Seanie went with a gemstone theme with his DVD gift while Lochlain put all sorts of little foam animal stickers on his (hoping his mommy had a "WILD" Mother's Day) card that accompanied his flowers he got for Mommy (he picked them out himself, going for yellow roses - apparently his favorite color). Daddy got Mommy golf lessons - she will be having class on Wednesday evenings after work at the park across the street. Daddy also made Mommy one of her favorite cakes - Devil's Food Cake with Vanilla icing (decorated with chocolate jimmies). Of course, the best present of all was Lochlain's almost 180 degree turnaround that day with going peepee (also know as pishy) on the potty! He started going to the bathroom that day and has been doing a great job ever since! Poops (also known as poopies) are still a little hit or miss, and there have been a few pishy accidents - but gone are the pull-ups (except for nap, bedtime, and looong car trips), training underpants and plastic overpants! Lochlain now wears regular underpants (adorned with Diego, Thomas the Tank Engine, Transformers, and Iron Man) and keeps them dry most of the time! He's by no means perfect, but we feel we're over the hump! YAHOO!!!

MOVIE OF THE MOMENT: Feath and Peepah were down last week (see next entry) and we went to see Iron Man. Great film - Robert Downey, Jr. really stole the show. Best Marvel movie to date, in my opinion - and make sure you stay to see the secret ending after the credits (comic book fans will totally geek out over it)!