Allow me to introduce you…

I’m finding it awkward to post about my family and not use their names.  I need to start.  I know I have people who read this who know them.
And I am just going to assume that there are also people reading who do not know us.   Please allow me to introduce you to them.

I’ll start off with my firstborn.
His name is Campbell. He was named after me (Campbell is my maiden name).  He goes by Cam and he is 8 – almost 9.  He is our crazy, frecklie, redheaded hockey playing, dirtbike rider.  He is a goalie for a AA team and he keeps his Dad in the rink for most of the winter while I keep the other 2 at home, refusing to allow them to turn into rinkrats.  He super smart, super cool and can drive me more crazy than I ever thought possible.

Next in line is Cuyler.  Pronounced Ky-ler.  It doesn’t bug me if you call him Tyler.  But I will try to correct you and it will be a few tries before you don’t look at me confused, asking “Tyler?”  He’s our miracle baby.  He was born with the cord around his neck 4x time (YES – FOUR).  He was born “blue” or “flat” and needed to be rescusitated.  We, along with our dr’s believe that his diagnosis stems from the lack of oxygen to his brain at birth.  So while we have had many challenging issues to deal with since his birth, we feel nothing but fortunate to have been able to bring a baby home with us that chilly day in November back in 2002.  The words used most often to describe him by the teachers at his school are “charming” or “awesome”.  I couldn’t agree more.

And lastly – our baby girl.  Eva.  Pronounced E-va.  Not A-va.  I won’t even bother correcting you because likely you’ll just call her Ava again.  Like everyone else.  She’s fun and funny and says things that make me laugh almost hourly.  I still look at her and marvel that I have a daughter and that she’s mine.  I always wanted a blue-eyed baby and I got one.  And she’s a beauty to boot.  She’s already much like Campbell in that she is pretty “academically” smart and I think she’ll be a strong reader.  My heart stays warm with the fact that she is Cuyler’s best playmate.

Ahh yes.  The man who keeps the ship afloat.  Sean is my husband.  I love his name.  I always said that if I didn’t marry a Sean then would name a boy Sean.  We will celebrate 11 years of marriage this May.  Thank God I said yes when he asked me.  I don’t think anyone else exists that I could have gone through all of this with.  He never missed a prenatal appointment.  He never batted an eyelash when I was batshit crazy dealing with post partum depression.  He never missed an appointment throughout the process of getting Cuyler diagnosed.  He didn’t miss a therapy session for him.  He didn’t miss an appointment at Sick Kids with Eva and he became what we called a “self taught wound care specialist” while we were trying to heal her ulcers for 8 months.  He coached Campbell for his first 4 yrs of hockey and will likely again next year after taking a year off to sit in the stands and just be a Dad.
He works his ass off to allow me the privledge of staying home with the kids. 
When I told him I was asked to write for urbanmoms, he was thrilled for me.  He texted me the next day out of the blue:  “I’m so proud of you”
I think I picked a good one.