I can't quite explain how it feels to send a child away for the good of the family. I keep thinking that I can make some profound statement that will help you understand, but I'm at a loss for words. My good friend Carol Young from the awesome website Why not Fathers is going through something very similar with his son Marc. Honestly, I don't know too many people that have had to do something like this. I think that I've known, on some level, that this was always going to happen. In reality, we really did make it work for a long time. Having said that, this was long overdue. I've said this before but I'll say it again. At this point, I'm still pretty numb because Gavin's been…

Elliott has taken his love of the game Bad Piggies a step further and is physically making his ideas come to via via paper, crayons, glue and a pair of safety scissors.  He was working together, with Emmett, to bring these things to life.  For the record, you heard me correctly.  I did in fact say, they were working together. He wanted me to share these with all of our friends. So, here you go.  :-)

I wanted to share a personal victory with you all.  You may or authorized not know that I used to body building, before I hurt my back.  Over the past 10 years,  I have allowed my weight to get a bit out of control. I was walking about 25 miles a week but with Lizze's failing health, I've not been able to get away.  Anyway, I have decided to make some more subtle lifestyle changes, so that I'm at least doing something.  I really try to watch what I eat but I make sure to include tons of whole grains, fish, fruit etc.  Something that I hadn't been paying much attention to was how much water I wasn't drinking.  For the past week, I've been drinking nothing but water and…

Elliott has a new fascination, er, more like obsession.  He absolutely loves the new game, Bad Piggies. This is very different from Angry Birds in the sense that it requires you to think, imagine and plan ahead.  Basically, you have to create these contraptions to help the Bad Piggies to navigate their world and complete objective.  This really is a thinking game and Elliott loves it.  Anyway, it wasn't long before he began pre-planning his contraptions by sketching them out on paper first.  Below are a few of his favorite ideas that he built inside the game and managed to successfully transverse the level.  If you haven't played Bad Piggies yet, grab it in the Google Play Store or in the App Store.  It's a free game,  and worth every…

I feel like I have put my overwhelmed, exhausted and unmotivated butt into gear today, at least a little.  I gave both boys tubbies this morning and went to the grocery store.  It's so nice to be able to leave Lizze and the boys at home, while I make a quick run to the store. Both boys are still struggling quite a bit. I think that until we get them in a better place, there won't be much time for rest and recovery. However, the very fact that we are even living in this moment means that we have made progress. Even if only temporary.  My goal for today is to end the day with the house a little more organized than it was when we woke up. While it…

Gavin has been moved out, at least temporarily.  What now? How do we begin to move forward? How do we start to put the pieces back together? These are all things that are racing through my head today.  I think the initial response to the reprieve was one of rest.  However, we have to figure out how to move forward and where to begin. That seems to be a stumbling block for me. Our lives are in a state of dishevel, how do we chose where to start? The only thing that I know is that we have to make sure Elliott and Emmett get what they need to recover from years of their big brothers behaviors. As of today, they are both struggling to process that Gavin is not…