Progress and Amazement

Ellie showed significant progress Tuesday.  Last year Ellie was perfectly comfortable in the pool.  This year, she won't leave the stairs.  Up until last week, with a life jacket on and me holding her close, she still held on for dear life and screamed.  She's been perfectly comfortable to let her feet float while she's sitting on the stairs, so we've let her just stay there on her own schedule.  Last week, though, I decided to push her a little.  One day we spent a 30 minute session of her grabbing on tight and screaming.  The next session she was more comfortable, so a few times I pried her off of me and let go for her to float.  I don't have a picture of that because I felt it was mean enough just to do it.  She floated with her head up and feet down, spread eagle, frozen, with a look of complete terror on her face.  Moments later she'd start the screaming.  See, it just wouldn't have been right for me to take a picture.  I don't think it's as much of a fear issue as it is a control issue.  Surely that's not genetic...right?  Anyway, Tuesday I glanced in her direction, the stairs, and realized her whole body was floating.  She was sort of treading water in my direction!  She's now completely comfortable doing that and when I grab her she pushes away from me to head back to the stairs.  Great news, but now I've really got to watch her like a hawk!  She still doesn't know how to return to upright if something makes her tip.
Also, Tuesday at the pool, she way playing on the stairs.  She randomly said she was poopy, so I was about to change her.  Instead, we took a trip to the potty and she made her first successful attempt!  I don't expect much more of that any time soon, but still, it's a good start!
As for amazement, yesterday John amazed me.  He was playing with 3 heart-shaped beads on the table.  He looked at them and said, "Hey, I made a triangle."  I bet him he couldn't arrange them so they didn't make a triangle.  He tried a few things and realized that every way he put them made a triange, even if it was a really big, skinny, or tiny one.  I couldn't believe, though, when probably less than 2 minutes into the dare he put them in a line and solved the puzzle.  He's one smart cookie!

How Do We Know?

I can't believe I almost forgot this.  I was so disappointed I didn't have the video camera rolling.  The day we found out and told the kids we're expecting a boy, John stewed on it a while.  As we finished dinner he asked, "But, how does Mom KNOW it's a boy?"  We had forgotten to show them the ultrasound pictures, so Buck began to show them.  He got to the "It's A Boy" shot and started describing it.  "Here's one leg, here's the other leg, and what do you think this is between the legs?"  Answers..."His head!"  "His arm!"  "Nope."  As they guessed and we said no, John started to get that immature, slightly embarrased look on his face.  He knew what it was, but was afraid to say.  Finally Buck asked, "John, what do you have between your legs?"  John giggled, red in the face, and blurted out, "A peepee!" after which everyone giggled.  It was so cute and funny.  Now he's telling everyone that's how we know.

1/2 Dad, 1/2 Ironman

WARNING: If you're not a Buckingham, you likely won't care to see all these pictures.

Father's Day weekend was a special one this year.  Wednesday prior we started the long, LONG drive to Wisconsin.  There was lots of whining, wailing, and gnashing of teeth the first two hours of the trip, then there was a loud thumping sound...a blown tire.  After veering around an 18-wheeler on I-40 near Asheville, Buck unpacked the back to find the spare.  A few hours later, we continued with a shiny new tire.  Unfortunately that set us behind, and there were no vacancies in all of Kentucky, so we settled in in Indiana around 3am.

 The next day was much smoother.  We realized I needed to travel in the back seat so Eve could have someone to talk to.  Oh, and there were cool windmills and DQ icecream to keep everyone happy as well.  The kids (and us) couldn't WAIT to see their cousins, and we got there Thursday evening.
Friday we headed from Whitewater (where the Cushmans live) to High Cliff State Park to check out the race site, then on to Neenah, where Buck grew up, to stay for the night.

 This cannon was at Riverside park in Neenah.  How exciting!  I'm sure there's a matching picture from 30-few years ago floating around somewhere.

 Here's cousin Jimmy with Ellie on the awesome rocket playground.  Unfortunately I didn't take more pictures at the park.  We were so excited to see so many cousins, Aunts, Uncles, and friends that live nearby.  What a treat!

Saturday morning Buck and I left for the race at 5:15.  I dropped him off and returned to Neenah to get the rest. 

There he is...off to the races!

We managed to catch up with him minutes before the start (thanks to lots of help from family...the theme of our day)

Walking with his wave to the swim start.  Buck's suit has the white writing on the back.

I couldn't capture the distance of the swim.  The buoys were SO far out!  I had to use the telephoto lense to even see the dots that were the swimmers' heads across the back stretch.

Finished with the 1.2 mile swim

They had "wet suit strippers" at the end of the swim.  That made me chuckle, but was kind of fun to watch.

Off on the second leg...56 mile bike.

Unfortunately the nifty trick of setting up his shoes on the bike with rubber bands back fired.  One shoe came off, so he had to stop and fix it.  He asked John if he wanted to ride with him, but somehow John knew better.  Buck handled it well and got off to a good start on the bike.

Meanwhile the support crew headed back to the cars for a snack. Tommy, David, Jimmy, Lee, and Ellie (like I said...couldn't have done this alone)

Kendra, Christopher, John, Shannon, Eve, and Ellie

Uncle Rod made it out for the swim portion (we also saw him at the park the night before).  It was quite a support crew!

I made shirts for everyone to wear during the race.  The fronts all said, "GO BUCK!".  This is the only picture I got of the back, swim bike run.  I wanted them to be a surprise, but the kids were so eager and excited to tell Daddy about, "our new shirts that we can't tell you about, because it's a surprise."  Still, I was pleased with how they turned out, and we got several comments from both racers and spectators.  Everyone was so happy to see everyone cheer them on, shirts, cow bells, and signs.

We barely missed his first pass at our first stop, so we had a little time to wait before we caught him his second time by.  Bubbles and games in a corn field...just screams Wisconsin.

Here's the cheering squad, minus Kendra and Lee, who were manning cameras and serving as lookout.

And there he goes!  This was around mile 30 on the bike.

On a whim, we managed to catch him several miles later (bright shirt to the right of the frame)

Into the transition area for the second time.  By this time there were dark clouds and sheets of rain heading our way across the lake.

Buck hurried out of the transition area hoping they wouldn't cut him off because of the storm.  Only 13.1 miles to go!

And then the storm hit!  Kendra, Christopher, and the Cushman boys were running toward the cars with Ellie squealing with glee in the stroller.  They didn't beat the rain  We were headed toward the port-o-potties and the monsoon hit us several yards away.  John and Eve were in no hurry to seek cover.  When we finally got to the port-o-potty we were already soaked.  The wind was so bad it was shaking the port-o-potty.  Can't say I've ever done that before :)  Fortunately the storm came with a vengeance, but only lasted a few minutes.  Buck said it was refreshing for him.

By this point the kids were past done.  To catch him on the run, we'd have to go up a big hill.  Shannon and David were nice to watch the kids while the rest of us went to cheer.  Here, around mile 7, Buck said, "Here's a hint, never EVER do this!"  But still he had a smile on his face.  We saw him again at mile 10...he wasn't really smiling anymore, but almost done.

David and Ellie had a blast with the swing.  He's such a fun cousin!

On the way to the finish line John ran with Buck part of the way.  He was nervous, but so brave to support Daddy that way.

And crossing the finish line!  6:45.  It was truly amazing.

Here's the crowd.  Jimmy, Ellie, me, Lee, Christopher, Kendra, Shannon, Ellie, Tommy, Buck, John, and David.  Since it was Father's Day weekend, we made a shirt for Buck that said "1/2 Dad  1/2 Ironman"

Afterward the kids had a blast covering him in silly string!  Poor Ellie cried because she was worried about him, but the rest of the kids loved it.

Afterward we drove around Neenah to see the old stomping grounds.

Here's the rock Buck ran over with the car when he was 4.

Rainbow beach.  There were at least 8 huge dead fish on the beach.  The aroma was, well, disgusting.

Then we headed to the Hartmans (former neighbors) for a cookout.  It was fun to see the house Buck grew up in, although it used to be red.

The kids ate their weight or more in watermelon and dessert.  They deserved it after so many long days in a row.

The Hartmans were such gracious hosts.  Their son, Pat, did the race with Buck.

Here are the kids in front of the elm(?) tree.  Clearly our kids are done.  We got back to Whitewater WAY after bed time that night, but it was worth hanging around.

Sunday was the only day we didn't travel.  We did, however, spend several hours at a water park.  The kids had a blast!  We quickly lost track of how many times they went down the big water slide.  John even went down all by himself, and Ellie tried it 2 or 3 times hesitantly.

Needless to say, they were tired.  Time to relax with family.

Jimmy and John

David, Kendra, Tommy, and Christopher

John, Rex, and Tommy

Maggie and Eve

Eve talked Kendra's ear off while Christopher played guitar by the camp fire.

Silly kids.

Tommy, John, Eve (still talking), David, Ellie (David's tiny twin), and Jimmy.  What a great trip.  We left early the next morning for a 16 hour drive home, and the kids did amazingly well.  We are so blessed to have so many friends and family members that love and support us so much.

It's A........

A few weeks ago we had our anatomy ultrasound for Baby Buck #4.  It's always so fun to get to see what's going on in there!  Again, I have to add the disclaimer that for John and Eve I was sent to a high-tech ultrasound facility since my doctor didn't have a technician on staff.  For Ellie and Baby Buck #4, I had the low-dollar on-site ultrasound with mediocre pictures and no video.  Bummer.  Anyway, I couldn't sleep the night before.  I wanted desperately to know what we were expecting, although it really didn't matter either way.  I just wanted to know.  Also, I was so excited about making a cake.  Our plan was to make a cake during nap time, either pink or blue, and let the kids and Grandma cut it at dinner time to find out if it's a baby sister or brother.  Well, the cake ended up terribly, and was not salvageable.  I quickly looked on the internet, combined a few ideas, and came up with a plan "B" that was WAY more fun.  Even better, we were able to connect with Grandma and Grandpa Bucky on Skype, so they got to enjoy it with us.  We put scrabble tiles in several balloons, with some empty ones as well.

 Mom and the kids popped all the balloons to find the tiles.

 Then they arranged the tiles to decode the message...

 That was way more fun than eating an incredible Hulk green cake that has crumbled into a million pieces.

 John had the idea of hiding a baby in the cake.  Since the cake was a disaster, we had a small store-bought cake, and hid a plastic diaper pin in it.  Eve was the lucky winner!

 It was an awesome prize.

 And she was kind enough to share.

We actually thought we were going to have a cross-legged mystery.  In the ultrasound he was moving some, but kept his legs crossed the whole time.  We finally got a good, definite angle.  We didn't really get to see his face much, either, because he kept his fists up the whole time.  I guess #4 has to learn early to keep his guard up.  John has been wanting another little sister, while the girls haven't shown a specific preference.  Buck was really wanting a little more testosterone around the house.  Poor John was disappointed, but you could never tell from the picture above.  Even the next morning he seemed a little down and I could tell he was still disappointed.  We explained that his little brother would need somebody to teach him about Star Wars and Legos.  John said that would be great, but it wouldn't be safe to give him legos for quite a while, which both impressed me and cracked me up at the same time.  We've since talked about other things he'll be able to teach little brother and do with him, and I think he's coming around.  I think mainly, John is used to little sisters and knows how much fun they are.  I think he'll be pleasantly surprised at how fun a baby brother will be.  I've since started to feel Little Man moving around quite a bit.  Another boy to even the score!  How exciting!