December? Already?

OHM'GOSH is it really December 13th? Already?

My youngest brother is getting married today. Across the country, in California. They are going to have the big ceremony in June, but decided to go ahead and get married now for a myriad of reasons (and no, she's not pregnant). His fiancee has no health insurance, and this way she can be covered. Apparently she had a sinus infection last month and her doctor's bills were nearly $400 by the time they ran all the tests and she got her medications.

So we will be listening by cell phone to the ceremony that's on the west coast, here on the East Coast. And we plan to be out there in June for the big to-do.

We have been absolutely slammed since Z's surgery, with guests in the house, holiday things with friends, church activities and projects, and life in general.

Of course, the activities and general pandemonium are nowhere close to being finished, our last guests that are staying with us arrive in a week and will leave just after the New Year (with another one arriving and leaving in the middle). Every single day we have had someone at the house, sometimes two different sets of people -- one in the morning and one in the evening. And they aren't always planned for ~ one of my other projects, painting the deer, bunnies, and stars in the church nursery has been delayed for a couple of weeks now because every time I start to head up there, someone else shows up at the house! But at least the bear, lamb, and duck pond are finished. Z's sister came up to help and she did the duck pond. It is absolutely fantastic, and all the babies want to try to pet the duckies on the wall.

Today is the first "breathing day" I've had since the beginning of November -- and it's only because my husband is out playing music with another guy this afternoon at a concert. I don't have a car, so I'm not going anywhere, and so far no one has knocked on our door. I probably shouldn't jinx myself, eh?

Don't get me wrong; I love having people over -- and somehow the house has managed to stay pretty straight even with all the unexpected guests, which really is a small miracle for me because I'm nowhere close to attaining my domestic goddess status -- but today's little break is also nice. We had some of Z's family come up and stay with us -- 7 extra people, for 8 days. There were 5 kids total, ages 5,4,3,2, and 1, so noise was a huge factor in the week. It was pure chaos, but we loved every minute of having mothers and sisters and cousins and dads all mixed in our little house. Luckily, we survived with only two chairs and a table that broke, and an air mattress with a slow leak. The picture window, aquariums, and glass front to the fireplace miraculously survived intact.

Let's see; what has happened since, well October, really? A is doing very well. He is in a "normal" pre-school class that has 21 kids in it. A still has difficulties in the areas of communication and fine motor skills. But academically, A is ahead of all the other kids! He can read, knows his letters, numbers, colors, shapes, what the weather is, etc. The biggest problem we have is that he doesn't always want to sit down and do what the other kids are doing. We just have to figure out if it's because of boredom, or because he's sitting down for too long at a time and needs to get up and move around. It is a delight to see the teacher realize our son isn't an idiot, he's actually a pretty smart guy -- he just has a hard time expressing himself.

A is also doing very well with all the upheaval in the house. He took some time off by himself when all of Z's family came up, for a couple of days, but by the end of the week was OK with it and actually trying to engage the other kids to play with him! Z had the brilliant idea of putting up the Christmas tree the day his family left, to take advantage of the already altered routine in the house. It worked! Last year when we put up the tree, A was in a funk for over a week because we moved a desk, thus changing his set routine and "normal" surroundings. This year, since everything was out of whack anyway, he seemed to just take it in stride.

Likewise with all of the friends stopping in unexpectedly -- A does still occasionally need some time off to himself, in the quiet, but he's getting used to it. Excessive noise still bothers him, but Z tried taking A to the mall with one of his cousins and Z's dad while they were up here. A did fine, he loved the huge train they had set up around the holiday decorations, and didn't seem to freak over all the people. Granted, it was the middle of the day on a weekday, so there weren't so many people about anyway, but this is still progress!

Having so many people his size (and K's size) in the house was also beneficial in the potty-training arena. K stayed dry most of yesterday, with only one accident, so we're getting there! Yay! And A has actually gone in the bathroom, taken off his dirty pants, and put on clean ones. By himself.

I'll have to post some pictures of the house soon. When I have a moment....