TGIF

When I returned home from the gym this morning, Brynn came to me to tell me that her legs itched like crazy! At first glance I told her that it looked like had mosquito bites on the back of her calves. I went to the medicine basket to find some cream to put on them. I had her roll up her pants so I could take a closer look. I realized that they weren't mosquito bites, but HIVES! We figure that she broke out into hives because of the anxiety and stress of all that has gone on in the past week. She inherited this tendency from my mom and me. My mom broke out in hives on her wedding day and I broke out in hives the weekend of my brother Scott's wedding, which also happened to be homecoming week . I was stressed about learning a dance for half-time of the football game.

After a dose of Benadryl and a short time of chilling with me and the boys, the hives completely went away. We had a nice talk about what's been going on and how she's adjusting to things here. She has received lots of positive attention in school and is making new friends, but it's been hard learning new routines and procedures... just learning the way her new school does things in general. She wants to do everything right and gets uptight about doing just that (she gets that from her mom). Generally, she keeps things inside and doesn't verbalize her feelings and so it's really hard to know just exactly how she feels. She misses Miss Reick and without totally putting words into her mouth,I gathered that she just misses the familiarity of our old life and is overwhelmed by all of the new. All things that are completely understandable, I am overwhelmed with all of it too. We had a good talk which I am sure will be continued on many occasions. We talked about the confidence that we can gain in life through doing things that are hard for us.

After we picked up Abby from school, we headed to the park to kick the ball around and play tag together. We then headed to Joseph's facility which is about 15 minutes from where we live. We toured his beautiful facility and then headed to the beach to play.
I learned that we need to wear the right type of shoes to the beach and clothes that sand can easily brush off of....I also learned that while I am not a fan of hot dry sand, cool, damp, hard packed sand feels great on the feet.

Isaac used his newly acquired "climbing-down-the-stairs" skills to make his way to the tide. He crawled backward, until he felt it was safe enough to make a run for it.

He learned quickly, by watching his sisters, how to brace himself for the waves. I loved watching him take his stance.

The feel of the cold sand was delightful to him. He just kept giggling and laying back in it. What a perfect way to end a BIG week.