7 Quick Takes

1.

Well once again I’m glued to my TV today watching the manhunt for the Boston Marathon bomber suspect. I didn’t think it could get much sadder, but then I see how young these guys are and my heart breaks more. To be so young and so filled with anger/hate/confusion…. I’m just going to keep praying for healing and safety. Stay strong Boston, we are all with you!

2.

I got Damian’s candid “school pictures” back yesterday and couldn’t stop laughing. They’re pretty bad and show just how much he ‘lovesssss’ school!

3.

I’ve been running a lot more recently. It’s probably thanks to a combination of the nice weather, the family feeling healthy again, and everything with Boston. It’s been great to get back out there, and I need to find a 5k to sign up for ASAP.

4.

My BFF just got engaged and I’m throwing her a wedding shower in the next few months, so I’ve been party planning like crazy. It’s a sickness really. There are so many cute things on Pinterest that I’m almost glad I didn’t have it when I got married. Can’t.Stop! I’ve also started noticing things for Damian’s 3rd birthday… Really. I have a problem.

5.

I’m currently purging Damian’s toys. He has so many toys that he doesn’t really play with and they’re just taking up space. Of course as I’m cleaning out his toy boxes, he’s noticing every toy he owns and suddenly has to play with them. I probably should have waited until nap/bed time.

6.

Damian wants nothing more than to go on walks outside. If I could let him stay outside all day, rain or shine, he would. Today it’s pouring outside and I’m trying to get him in the car to run to the post office, and he takes off for the sidewalk saying “Walk walk!” Ummm no child… it is raining. Your mama isn’t that cool.

7.

I have a prayer request. A friend of mine that is a fellow SLOS mama just found out she’s pregnant with another baby. She lost her son to SLOS last summer and has one daughter with the syndrome as well. Please pray for her that her baby is healthy. She’s such a strong, faithful mama and I’d love for her to get some good news with this baby!

Hope you all have a great weekend!!

Prayers and Running

I had a much different post planned for today. But after the events at the Boston Marathon yesterday, it didn’t seem appropriate. I know I speak for everyone in the running community when I say the profound sense of sadness and shock are still very real. Even for non-runners, the event was horrific. But for those of us who run, yesterday was the dismantling of something we hold very dear. These runners are our heros, whom many of us aspire to be. Boston is a tradition and a moment of greatness. And yet someone was cowardly enough to try and destroy that… However, what tears me up most is the fact that many of those injured were spectators. Likely friends and family of those running. They are the ones who have made the sacrifice while their loved ones spend countless hours training–they’ve dealt with being a single parent, picking up extra chores, feeding their runner constantly, helping through injuries, and probably listening to the running stories nonstop. And then they stood to watch their runner finished, only to encounter this… They damaged our support system, our team. The people who support us runners are the unsung heros and so it saddens me most to know that they are the ones suffering from this.

I spent yesterday afternoon in front of the tv watching the dozens of people be wheeled away from the explosion site. I saw countless people running to help. And I watched the replay of the explosion over and over and over. Finally at some point I had had enough. I strapped Damian in the jogger, and we went for a run. I know it was a nice day, but there were many more runners out than I’ve seen in a long time. I’d like to think it was our way of showing Boston “we stand with you.” Because you see, that’s something us runners get blamed for… when we have something we can’t face, we go for a run. When times are tough, we go for a run. But on a day like yesterday, when something hits us so hard in a place so special to many of us, I can’t help but imagine that all we runners do is get out there and run. I know many places today are holding silent runs for Boston. I encourage you to get out there and do one, and if you can’t, just run. Run for Boston.

As time goes on and the story becomes more clear, I’m sure there will be more ways for us to help. I know many are showing their support today by wearing a race shirt or blue/yellow for the BAA. If you are in the Boston area you can donate blood by going to redcrossblood.org I hope to do more than just wear my race shirt today, but for now all I can do is offer my prayers for those who were injured, for the families of those who have died, and for the one who did this horrible act. God Bless you Boston! We stand with you!

Talking and such…

As promised, here is the post talking about Damian talking.

This April marks a year of attending Speech Therapy sessions. The usual session is about 30 minutes long, once a week and looks like a one-on-one focused play session. Damian usually doesn’t talk much during them and that frustrates me because that’s not how he is at home. But I guess I was the same way at school… very shy and quiet.

At home, I can’t get Damian to hush. He’s got a decent vocabulary of words–anything he uses or sees on a daily basis, animals, people, favorite items, yes, no, mine, and please. He’s starting to use words together unprompted such as “mama walk” “up please” and before he got sick he strung together his longest ‘sentence’ or phrase yet saying “oh mama byebye, going walk walk.”

My favorite talking moment of the day is our nightly prayers. I ask him to tell God what he’s thankful for, and it’s always interesting. The other night he was thankful for his stuffed cow, milk, and himself… Typical toddler.

I know he’s still not talking ‘like he should’ but considering all he has to struggle against, he’s far exceeding expectations! According to our last evaluation, he’s about 6 months behind for verbal expression but his receptive language skills are right on par. This is great news from a cognitive standpoint. Of course mama thinks he’s brilliant so I don’t need no stinkin’ test to tell me that! But seriously, most kids with SLOS are not talking at all by 2 and a half, so Damian continues to amaze us. We know we have been so blessed. Because Damian’s SLOS is so mild, I often say I’m not going to let it factor in to our decisions and treatment of him. We want to push him and not let a diagnosis determine everything. But it is a fact of life and there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t look at him and think that there is a miracle in my midst.

Lately…

I guess we haven’t talked in awhile, so perhaps I should catch you up on a few things…

Lent was harder than I expected (even if my priest during Confession didn’t seem impressed by my sacrifice haha.) I didn’t realize how much I like to stay up late and do things online. It gave me a little perspective though as to when I’m most productive during my day and when I am definitely not (any time before 10 am sounds about right.) It did give me a lot more time to get reading done and have focused prayer. I also felt like Nate and I connected more during lent. Apparently less screen time is good for relationships… who knew?!

Damian is still going to school once a week. He got moved up to the 2 to 2 and a half room (originally I placed him in the 18 months to 2 years room) because he seemed to do better with the teachers. He has been struggling to adjust to preschool, and I have questioned my decision more than once. Since getting moved up he’s doing much better. He still cries and says “no mama” when I leave him but the teachers tell me he’s fine during the day. It sounds like he’s still not sure about playing with the other kids and likes to hang out with the teacher’s aid, but I figure the more comfortable he gets the more he will explore. He’s bringing home quite the collection of artwork though! I’ve proudly displayed some of it in our kitchen.

You may have noticed in the last paragraph I mentioned “Damian says…” Little man is getting more verbal everyday. At the most recent speech therapy session, she said he was at about 18 months as far as expressive language goes, but right on track for receptive language skills. So we know it’s going in and he understands, his low muscle tone is just making it a bit harder for him to get the words out. I’ll do a longer post about all he’s saying and doing later.

Nate and Damian are best buds right now. I think it’s funny how Nate and I are already solidifying our ‘roles’ as parents. I am the comforter and Nate is the entertainer. They could laugh and “hang out” for days. Nate also has the beautiful virtue of patience, and I’m always amazed at his unlimited supply of it. We had the best time going to Stone Mountain Park and hiking the other weekend as a family. Seeing Damian and Nate explore together made me realize how good it is for Damian to have daddy time.

The fur babies still exist. Tibi has taken on the role of grumpy old dog (because he turned three and thus is old?) He is pretty content following me around all day and attempting to snuggle with me the second I sit down. Every morning at 6 am he wakes up and begs to get in the bed with me. Henry is getting large and in charge. He and I don’t see eye to eye on most things and he seems to be a manly man cat and only really likes Nate and Damian. Every morning when I get Damian up, Henry tries to beat me through the door and then hops in his crib with him. Damian then screams “Hi meow meow!” and they act like it’s been ages since they’ve seen each other. Henry’s favorite nap spots are Damian’s rocker or changing table (or Nate’s side of the bed.) One day I will convince the cat to like me… maybe…

I’ve been running some here and there. I’m ready for the weather to stay warm so I can really get back in the swing of things. I don’t have a single race planned and that’s weird for me. I may need to find one soon to keep me motivated. I did get to cross something off my New Years bucket list by volunteering for the GA Publix Marathon. It was so much fun! (And a whole lot easier than running it last year!) It was nice to finally give back and be on the helping side of a race. I will definitely be volunteering for more races in the future.

Anyone else going absolutely crazy because winter will not end?! I’m about to lose my mind. Winter is hard enough on me as it is, I don’t need 40 degree weather in April. What is this nonsense?! Thankfully things seem to be warming up so hopefully I will be able to thaw out soon. Damian’s been getting a head start with his “pants optional” wardrobe on our back deck. (Ignore the fact that our mat says “Merry Christmas.” Thanks.)

And most recently, and why this post didn’t make it up earlier, the stomach bug has invaded our house Damian woke up Friday night vomiting and it was our first ‘up all night’ with a sick kid experience. Yes, I know we are insanely lucky that this is the first time in 26 months. He’s the healthiest sick kid I know… Anyway…… He’s still battling it and now Nate is sick in bed with it too. I’ve become a major germaphobe and have sanitized everything in the house twice, and saying my prayers I don’t get it. Considering he spent all Friday night breathing on me and I’ve been doing nothing but changing gross diapers, I’m not too confident. Maybe my mom powers will keep me safe!

So that’s most of what you’ve been missing! Nothing toooo exciting, but it keeps us busy. Hope you had a great weekend and got to enjoy some of the sun!

 It’s time for another Real Life post with Be Merry, Kate!

I decided during Lent to take an unofficial break from the blog. During that time I contemplated just shutting it down, but I realized that there are treasured moments captured on this blog that I don’t want to forget.

hamming it up during lunch

It’s beating a dead horse to say that motherhood has been harder than I ever imagined it would be. I never thought staying at home with Damian would make me feel like a crazy person at times, or that I could literally count down the minutes until Nate gets home. But the other thing I’ve learned is that everything is a phase. When things seem really hard, they eventually get better. When things are going really well, there will eventually be a difficult period ahead. Coming to terms with the cyclical nature of parenting has made me appreciate the great moments and not fret a ton over the times I’d rather hide all day in the bathroom.

chillin’ like a dude

Thankfully, Damian and I have been having a good time together recently. I’m savoring these moments, because he’s still 2. The tantrums and whining could be back at any minute! But for now, he plays well independently, loves to help me do things and have me sit and read story after story to him. Everyday I look at him and think, you’ve grown 5 inches. Stop! 

I find myself more and more trying to hold and cuddle him despite the fact he just wants to get down and run around. The little guy who wanted “up” as much as possible is long gone it seems. And while this makes me happy because I know it is good and normal, the mama side of me wants him to be my little boy. Of course he’s still my little boy, he’s 2 not 18. I still change his diaper so I’m pretty sure I get my daily dose of ‘mama I need you’ just from that. But this change seems more permanent than the other phases we go through. We are leaving behind baby in search of becoming a boy. It’s a bittersweet thing that I look forward to witnessing despite the desire to keep him little forever. I swore up and down I would never be this way as mom… this way being “emotional” or something. I will want my kiddos to grow up and be independent people. But as with most things in motherhood, I’m sticking my foot in my mouth as I hold a tissue begging time to slow down just a bit.

‘Another picture mom!? Seriously??’ (Also Tibi totally photo bombed this one…)

Easter

This Easter with Damian has been the most fun holiday we’ve celebrated thus far. He totally got the concept of Easter egg hunting (the obvious reason for the season ) and we had a blast doing the one at our church, one at our house, and then one at the grandparents’. What can I say, he’s a little spoiled!

Easter bunny!

After looking at all the great stuff the Easter bunny brought we quickly got ready for the 9:30 Easter Mass. We knew we needed to get there around 9 if we wanted a seat, so that was an extra 30 minutes of keeping Damian still and “quiet.” *insert look of fear* He actually did really well the entire Mass so we got to participate/pay attention during most of it! I love Easter Mass–all the hymns, getting to sing the Alleluia again. As a kid Easter was never my favorite, probably because it paled in comparison to the excitement of Christmas. But now that I’m older and have been through a few “lents of life” moments, the celebration of Easter always fills me with such renewed since of hope and peace.

Before Mass I had told Damian if he were good during church the Easter bunny would come set up an Easter egg hunt just for him, so bribery must have worked. Sure enough when he walked in the door, there were eggs all over for him to find. He was super excited, especially when he discovered some had M&Ms in them!

Checking out his finds

mmmmm CHOCOLATE!

The Easter bunny even brought me something!

After nap time we headed on over to the grandparents’ house for an Easter meal– lowcountry boil style! I felt like I was back in Charleston for a bit Damian got to go on another Easter egg hunt with his cousin and racked up yet again. This time he was loaded up with stickers which means mama has been covered in them since then. Apparently stickers are more fun if you put them on other people! All in all, it was a great Easter weekend.

How was your Easter? Was the Easter bunny good to you??

Happy Easter!

Jesus Christ is risen today, Alleluia!

Hope you all have a wonderful Easter!

Love,
a written purpose