Back in Arizona

I arrived back in Arizona today and visited with Rachelle. She really looked great. She is a bit uncomfortable...OK, I understated that, she is a lot uncomfortable but she will make it. There is just 13 more days until the scheduled C-section. Normally 13 days doesn't seem like very much but now it seems like a lot. In at most 13 days, all of this buildup with come to a head and we will have some interesting new challenges to think about. It is a little surreal I guess.

Something I forgot to mention yesterday was that I was really grateful for the haircut I got from Cassaundra and the help that our friend Natalie gave us in helping get our broken cupboards fixed. Without the help of all these people I would probably have some sort of breakdown. Having all these wonderful friends has made this whole experience bearable.

In coming back to Arizona, I also got to see my kids again. When I talked with them last, they asked me to bring one thing, their toy light sabers. I am not sure why these were so important (although anyone that knows me well is probably not surprised that toy light sabers were a thing of great value) but I was diligent and, wanting to be a good dad, found them and put them on my desk so that I wouldn't forget to bring them...which is where they are at right now. Of course, the first thing that Riley asked when I saw him was, "Hi Dad! Do you have our light sabers?" That was one of those moments that is kind of like those dreams where you suddenly realize that you signed up for a math class and forgot about it until the day of the final. I felt really bad because I failed in the only thing that he asked me to do and he gave me that look of extreme disappointment that I knew was my fault. So, I decided that it would be OK to go to Target tonight and get some new light sabers. They are only 7 dollars so I figured it was OK. I got lots of hugs for this and now I just have to keep Riley and Kaiya from hitting each other and any of the stuff in Aunt Jeanie's house.

On a non-related note, we went swimming again today and both of them did something new. Riley learned how to float on his back which was a major accomplishment and Kaiya jumped off the diving board. It was funny because at first, she didn't even want to jump into the 3 foot section. However, after I convinced her that I would be there to catch her, she was able to do that and we progressively got deeper and deeper until she said she wanted to go jump off the diving board. Then after a few times of fearfully jumping off the diving board, she suddenly yelled, "cannonball!" and actually jumped up and tried to grab her knees. It wasn't a great cannonball by some standards but it was one of the funniest things I had seen in weeks. She and Riley are just so funny sometimes. It is stuff like that that makes me realize that having kids is one of the best things you can do to get the kind of perspective that brings long term happiness. Seeing them accomplish even something as small as floating on their backs or doing mediocre cannonballs off the diving board provides such a feeling of satisfaction and makes all the difficulties of raising kids worth it.