We partied like it was 13 years after 1999!

I want to thank everyone for coming out to Tyler's 13th birthday party yesterday.  The kids....I mean, teenagers.....had a great time swimming, listening to music, and dancing!  Despite the rain at the end, the party was a success!  Thanks again!

To Tyler on his 13th Birthday…..

Dear Tyler,

You were a beautiful baby.  I mean “make all the other mommies who had babies born that day want to cry because their baby looked positively ugly next to you” beautiful! You had the most beautiful skin tone I have ever seen.  What very little hair you did have was blond and your eyes were blue-gray.  You were long and skinny.  You came earlier than I expected.  However, even though you were a preemie, you were big at 6 pounds.  

I can hardly believe the tiny baby I held in my arms became a teenager today.  I can hardly believe you are almost as tall as I am.  I can hardly believe I can fit my feet into your tennis shoes.  13.  You are thirteen years old today.  I can hardly believe I am now the mother of a teenager.  

Thirteen years ago, I became a mommy.  I practically kidnapped you from the hospital the day they allowed you to come home.  I didn’t even wait on the discharge papers.  I was so sure a nurse was going to come into my room and say there had been a mistake.  They couldn’t possibly let a new mom with no baby care experience take such a perfect baby home.  Luckily, the nurse on duty lived next door and brought the paperwork home for me.  Still, your Aunt Kristi and I must have looked funny sneaking you out!

The day you were born, I looked into your face.  I turned to your grandma and said, “Wow!  You love me this much?!”  I couldn’t believe the amount of love a mother holds in her heart for her child.  Until the moment I first held you, I had no idea.  I knew then I would lay down my own life to protect you. 
 

There is a scene in Forest Gump where Forest ask his mother what her purpose in life is.  She says her purpose was to be his mother.  That is exactly how I feel.  My purpose in life is to be your mom.  I always dreamed about what I would teach my child.  Yet, you have taught me more than I have you.  You have taught everyone patience, courage, and persistence.  You never give up once you have a goal in mind.  Most of all, you don’t listen to the doubts of others.  You never let anyone underestimate you.  I wish I had half of the determination you display!  I am so proud of the man you are becoming.  

Happy thirteenth birthday, sweetheart!  Remember to be patient with your mom.  It is very hard for me to let go and give you the space you need to try new things.  Remember, you may be a teenager now, but you will always be my baby! I love you!

     Mom

Who likes Rollercoasters?

On Sunday, Tyler will be thirteen years old....13!!!  I still cannot believe Aaron and I will have a teenager in just a few days.  I've been doing alot of reflecting over the last few days.

When I found out Tyler would be born with Down Syndrome, shocked does not even begin to describe the emotional roller coaster that followed.  While the coaster has gotten a little tamer, I don't feel like I have ever gotten off of it.  Only those parents who have dealt with having a special needs child can fully understand.  The ride has leveled out.  There are more fun sections, more exciting twist and turns.  However, every now and then, you are taken to the very top of the highest hill and plunged into a scary free fall taking your breath away and leaving you terrified.  When Tyler was three, he was on life support when his airway suddenly collapsed.  At one point, the doctors came in to talk to me about making decisions no parent should ever be faced with.  There were times I wondered if Tyler would ever make it to thirteen.

Yet, here we are!  I am currently working on Tyler's birthday letter.  I took a moment tonight to look at some of the letters I wrote to Tyler when he was smaller.  I spent some time in tears.  Happy tears for how far he has come.  Bittersweet tears because the time has flown by too fast. 


 

Joey goes to Kindergarten!

“I will not cry.  I am not going to get overly emotional.  I have three kids, for crying out loud!  I have already been through this with the other two.  This is just another day of school.  I WILL NOT CRY!”

This has been my mantra for the last few weeks.  I have said it to myself, my husband, and other people.  I have said it strong and proudly.  Yesterday, it hit me full in the face.  I walked around bursting into tears over small things.  What am I talking about?  SCHOOL.

This year is a monumental year in the Campagnone household.  My oldest is starting middle school and my baby is starting Kindergarten.  Today was their first day.  

 It did not help Joey absolutely insisted on riding the bus!  I spent most of yesterday trying to convince him to let us take him.  He would have none of that. 

 Finally, he squared his shoulders and very firmly said, “  MO-OM, I am not a baby.  I am a big boy.  I have been waiting to ride the school bus for years!!!” 

My husband looked at me and said, “Let him ride the bus.  He’ll be fine.”  

Then, Logan chipped in, “I’ll show him where his class is!  Trust us, he’ll be fine!”

I relented since I was so outnumbered!  

This morning, I tried once more to persuade Joey to let me drive him the first day.  Again, no luck.  So I took him to the bus stop.    He squealed with delight when he saw the big, yellow bus come over the hill and proudly hopped on board.  

What a big boy!

A Chicken Kind of Day!

Whenever I need a laugh, I am drawn to a blog my BFF steered me towards years ago.  I love it and it makes me laugh every time I read it.  I think I laugh because I can sooooo see Steph and I having the “chicken conversation”  or doing something like this.  I apologize for some of the language in the blog.  I am going to copy and paste it here but I also want to give the link to the blog.  It is http://thebloggess.com/2011/06/and-thats-why-you-should-learn-to-pick-your-battles/.

So for your amusement, here it is:

And that’s why you should learn to pick your battles.

June 21, 2011

in Random crap

This morning I had a fight with Victor about towels. I can’t tell you the details because it wasn’t interesting enough to document at the time, but it was basically me telling Victor I needed to buy new bath towels, and Victor insisting that I NOT buy towels because I “just bought new towels“. Then I pointed out that the last towels I’d bought were hot pink beach towels, and he was all “EXACTLY” and then I hit my head against the wall for an hour.

Then Laura came to pick me up so we could go to the discount outlet together, and as Victor gave me a kiss goodbye he lovingly whispered, “You are not allowed to bring any more towels in this house or I will strangle you“.   And that was exactly what I was still echoing through my head an hour later, when Laura and I stopped our shopping carts and stared up in confused, silent awe at a display of enormous metal chickens, made from rusted oil drums.

Laura:  I think you need one of those.

me:  You’re joking, but they’re kind of horrifically awesome.

Laura: I’m not joking. We need to buy you one.

me:  The 5-foot tall one was $300, marked down to $100.  That’s like, $200 worth of chicken for free.

Laura:  You’d be crazy not to buy that.  I mean, look at it. IT’S FULL OF WHIMSY.

me:  Victor’d be pissed.

Laura:  Yup.

me:  But on the plus side?  It’s not towels.

Laura:  Yup.

me:  We will name him Henry.  Or Charlie.  Or O’Shannesy.

Laura:  Or Beyoncé.

me:  Or Beyoncé. Yes.  And when our friends are sad we can leave him at their front door to cheer them up.
Laura:  Exactly. It’ll be like, “You thought *yesterday* was bad?  Well, now you have a enormous metal chicken to deal with.  Perspective.  Now you have it.”

Then we flagged down a salesman, and we were all “What can you tell us about these chickens?”, as if we were in an art gallery, and not in a store that specializes in last years’ bathmats.  He didn’t know anything about them, but he said that they’d only only sold one and it was to a really drunk lady, and then Laura and I were all “SOLD.  All this chicken belongs to us now.”

Insert-inappropriate-cock-joke-here.

So he loaded it onto a trolley, but Beyoncé was surprisingly unstable, and the giant 5 foot metal chicken crashed over onto the floor.  And Laura and I were all “CHICKEN DOWN!  CLEAN-UP IN AISLE 3″ but he didn’t laugh.  Then the manager came to see what was causing all the commotion, and that’s when he found the very-conservative salesman unhappily struggling to right an enthusiastically pointy chicken which was almost as tall as he was.  The salesman was having a hard time, and he told everyone to stand back “because this chicken will cut you“, and at first I thought he meant it as a threat, like “That chicken has a shiv”, but turns out he just meant that all the chickens’ ends were sharp and rusty.  It was awesome, and Laura and I agreed that even if we got tetanus, this chicken had already paid for himself even before we got it in her truck.
Then we got to my house and quietly snuck the chicken up to my front door, rang the doorbell, and hid around the corner.

Knock-knock, motherfucker.

Victor opened the door and looked at the chicken in stunned silence for about 3 seconds.  Then he sighed, closed the door and walked away.

Laura:  What the fuck?  That’s it?  That’s the only reaction we get?

me:  That’s it. He’s a hard man to rattle.

Victor was surprisingly pissed that I’d “wasted money” on an enormous chicken, because apparently he couldn’t appreciate the hysterical value of a 5 foot chicken ringing the doorbell.  Then I said, “Well, at least it’s not towels” and apparently that was the wrong thing to say because that’s when Victor screamed and stormed off, but I knew he was locked in his office because I could hear him punching things in there.  Then I yelled through his door, “It’s an anniversary gift for you, asshole.  Two whole weeks early.  15 YEARS IS BIG METAL CHICKENS.”

Then he yelled that he wanted it gone, but I couldn’t move it myself, so instead I said okay and went to watch tv.  Then, when the UPS guy came I hid, but he was all “Dude.  Nice chicken” and Victor yelled, “IT IS NOT A NICE CHICKEN”.  Which was probably very confusing to the UPS guy, who was just trying to be polite, Victor. Victor seemed more disgruntled than usual, so I finally dragged the chicken into the backyard and wedged it into a clump of trees so that it could scare the snakes away.  Then I came in and Victor angrily pulled me into his office so that I could see that I’d stationed Beyoncé directly in front of his only window.  And I was all “Exactly. YOU’RE WELCOME.”  I told him that he could move Beyoncé if he wanted to, but he totally hasn’t.  Probably because of all of the giant rocks I piled on Beyonce’s feet to dissuade burglars.  Or possibly because Beyoncé is growing on him.  Still, I can’t help but think that we wouldn’t even be having this argument if Beyoncé was towels.  Honestly, this whole chicken is really a lesson in picking your battles more carefully.  Plus, he’s awesome and I can’t stop giggling every time I look at him.  Beyoncé, that is.

Best. 15th anniversary. ever.

UPDATED 2012: It’s been half a year and people still continue to laugh, scream indignantly and to ask questions, so here are a few follow-ups.  Victor and I are still (of course) happily married and after a few weeks he got over his giant rooster aversion.  Beyonce stares at him from outside his office window.  I eventually got new towels.  ”Knock-knock, motherfucker” is embroidered on all of them.  Victor was not impressed.  Beyonce-the-giant-metal-chicken now has her own Facebook page with over 30,000 highly imaginative fans, and you can buy your own travel-sized Beyonce right here for under $20.  You’re welcome world.  Now please stop yelling at me.

There is a season...........

When I was growing up, it seemed my parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles were invincible.  I couldn’t imagine a world where those people would change.  Yet, here I sit in 2012.  I have lost both of my uncles, one set of grandparents, and our family has shifted.  My cousins who I use to play with have families of there own now.  I watch our children play together and think of how strange it is we are the adults now.  We have taken the place of our parents, our parents have taken over the role of grandparents, ect. 

Now, my own grandparents are not doing very well.  Grandpa still gets around okay, but struggles with heart (and vitamin) problems.  He still drives, although we are starting to worry about that now.  My main concern now is my Grandmother.  My grandma and I have always been close.  When my mom and I would be in the middle of an argument when I was a teenager, she only needed to call my grandmother and I would do whatever she asked.  My sweet grandma who I love so much is having problems.  She has fallen several times, is now on oxygen, and has a great deal of trouble getting around.  When my mom called last night to tell me grandma had fallen again, I could hear the stress and worry in her voice.  It is also hard because I cannot be with her constantly.  I have the boys, a job, and I live 3 hours away.  I would bring her to my house but I know she wouldn’t come.  Her siblings are there, her friends, and the other grandchildren.  Questions are unanswered right now.  What can we do?  What does the future hold?  It is also hard because I cannot be with her constantly.  I have the boys and a job.  Pray for our family, especially my mom.  She lost her brothers and now is caring for her mom without their help.  Thank God for my cousins who live near her and are pitching in as much as they can!

In the upcoming months, I will try to remember, I am fortunate enough to have had my grandparents for as long as I have. They have not only held me but have rocked all my babies and watched them grow into boys! This I am grateful for. So I will trust in God now when things are a little harder and love them while I have them. 

I want to challenge all my friends with school age children to write a letter of appreciation to their teachers every year.  It is so easy to complain when a teacher does something we feel is unjust.  Yet, when our children get an exceptional teacher do you take a moment to give her the accolades she/he deserves?  Being a teacher is a calling.  Teachers do not get rich from doing this job.  Usually, they put more of their paycheck back into the classroom.  (Trust me, I know!)  I take a moment every year to write a thank you letter  to each of my child's teachers.  Then, I send a copy to the teacher, the principal, and the superintendent.  It doesn't have to be long or complicated!  I challenge ALL of the parents out there to do the same.  Here are mine from this year:

Logan's Teacher-

June 13, 2012

Dear Mrs. Westbrooks,

With my heartfelt thanks and feelings, I want to express my genuine gratitude for all the hard work you have done during the 2011-2012 academic year. I hope you realize how much we appreciated everything you did for Logan.  It was clear from the start you expected great things from all your students.  We appreciate the individualized instruction you gave to Logan.  He has always been a good student.  However, this is the first year I have ever seen him actually have to study.  You did not allow him to coast through the 3^rd grade!  I thank you for always challenging him and encouraging him to think more critically.  You have given a new dimension to teaching with your unique and innovative ways. 
I also appreciate how easy it was to get in touch with you and how every assignment was explained in detail so we knew what he was expected to do.  You truly made our 3^rd grade year wonderful.  You are an exceptional teacher!  Thanks for everything!

Sincerely,
Karyn Campagnone
Karyn Campagnone

CC:  Dr. Machelle Matthews(Principal) and Edmond T Heatley(Superintendent)

Joey's Teacher-

June 13, 2012

Dear Mrs. Covington,

With my heartfelt thanks and feelings, I want to express my genuine gratitude for all the hard work you have done during the 2011-2012 academic year. I hope you realize how much we appreciated everything you did for Joseph.  It was clear from the start you expected great things from all your students.  We appreciate the individualized instruction you gave to Joey.  I thank you for always challenging him and encouraging him to think more critically.  You have given a new dimension to teaching with your unique and innovative ways. 
I also appreciate how you worked with us on the ADHD issues.  You have the patience of a saint!  You truly made our Pre-K year wonderful.  You are an exceptional teacher!  Thanks for everything!

Sincerely,

Karyn Campagnone

Karyn Campagnone

CC:  Mrs. Shannon (Director)

Tyler's Teachers- 

June 13, 2012

Dear Mrs. Graham and Mrs. Robinson,

With my heartfelt thanks and feelings, I want to express my genuine gratitude for all the hard work you have done during the 2011-2012 academic year. I hope you realize how much we appreciated everything you did for Tyler.  It was clear from the start you expected great things from all your students.  We appreciate the individualized instruction you gave to Tyler.  We are sad to see leave your classroom and move on to middle school. In the three years he has been in your MOID class, we have counted ourselves blessed to have you in our lives as we take this journey with Tyler.  Thank you for your dedication to the special students in your class.   You have given a new dimension to teaching with your unique and innovative ways. 

Thank you for pushing Tyler to accomplish more and for never giving up on him.  You are exceptional teachers!  Thanks for everything!

Sincerely,

Karyn Campagnone

Karyn Campagnone

CC:  Dr. Machelle Matthews(Principal) and Edmond T Heatley(Superintendent)