Expertise:Can listen to 3 conversations at once and know where the baby is. Occupation:Full time plus overtime mama Industry:Home management, child rearing
LV and I have split finally. I lost my rental due to the foreclosure, so I am homeless and at my mom's to regroup and save a little money. I feel like I'm walking slow motion in a dream, and I will wake up and we will be back in our big house in North Carolina, happy, swinging in our swing in the back yard. I hate this, I hate that he turned out to be just another guy, not my partner, my love. No different than all the other men in my past who have turned out to be disappointments. I feel really bad for Elliot. He will never know any happiness as a family with him, and know him differently and not as well as the other kids. He'll never remember us living together, never know that he once said he loved me and openly showed that. I'm not sure Riley will remember either, maybe not Lauren. They are so young. Lauren doesn't understand and keeps asking when he's coming. It is unfathomable to her that he is not with us and won't be. I sure hope this is worth it to him. I hope he's happy in his silent, clean, orderly house, being a bachelor again.
We have been out and about a lot lately and I have enough to share for a Florida Friday. This is Little Manatee River State Park. On a whim we rented canoes. After the initial freak-out by all 3 girls, it was super fun. Little Elliot and Lauren were my first mates. The big boys had a canoe of their own. The very next day we went to Honeymoon Island. The area of beach we walked was rocky, but there were many cool shells to find and we saw two pods of dolphins. It was beautiful, but cold. Honeymoon Island with cool sky. Big boys in this shot. This incredible little park is in the city, only 15 minutes away from Riley's preschool, so we hit it Tuesday after picking her up. It's Cypress Point park, and it has a canoe launch, picnic tables a couple shelters and a small stretch of beach. The horseshoe crabs were mating and were everywhere. So cool. The rock-like bumps in the surf line are the crabs.
Shout - out to my Arizona girl Jackie for handing down the cute suit on Riley. Thank you Jackie!
Next week is our spring break and hopefully it is late enough that all the vacationers returned north so we can enjoy the beach. My mother is also coming for the second half of break and the week after and we always try to get her out to see different stuff so there should be more Florida on the blog horizon.
Things are okay at home. I still don't know what is going on with the living arrangements. I don't think he wants to move out although I could be wrong. He's keeping his feelings about it locked up tight. I'm trying to be understanding and it is hard, but makes us still being together happier than if we were fighting.
I'm trying to function like everything is fine. I went to IKEA in Orlando yesterday. I had Elliot in the Bjorn, so it felt like I had climbed a mountain by the time I left and got him out of there. He's getting big and heavy.
All the monkeys at Hillsborough River State Park a few weeks ago. Curtis got all of his hair cut off and now looks a lot less like Shaggy.
I don't know why I like this picture so much. It's Curtis holding Riley on his shoulders with Ben following. We were walking from the parking lot to the gates at the state fair. I guess because my kids look so big and healthy. Curtis looks like a man there, not a 14 year old.
