Phases, My son the over-achiever, "Date Day", and senior prom revisited

We all go through phases.

Some are not so good, some good.

My son is going through a phase right now, and I am not a fan. He doesn't want me to leave. Be it in the car, to the front yard, to change the laundry, etc etc... I am unsure if we will survive the "drop off" at preschool come September. He keeps telling me that he wants me to call his teacher and inform her that he will not be attending. This concept I cannot grasp as usually the report from various caretakers (grandma, daddy, babysitters) is that in the long run he survives my departures. It is a phase. I am hanging on. With 2 more children to follow to entertain my patience level...

This parenting thing deserves a gold medal, a Heisman trophy, a big heavy silver Lombardi football, a Pulitzer prize, and an honorary doctorate degree from the college of Family Operations of Parenting in the special ops department. Did I mention I am hanging on?

I am going through a phase right now, and I am a fan. I love that my life will change again with the ebb and flow of being a mother to a newborn (+ two). I love that my life has been constant change since July 15, 2003. I love that I have been unsure, scared (no petrified), and uneasy at some points all at the same time. Sometimes we don't appreciate these time until we have realized that we made it through.

I used to hate change. I hated that we moved from the beautiful secure surroundings of familiarity and family to a place I was unsure with. I hated that I didn't have any control. I (lets not use hate) disliked that I was growing into a young adult and I had to start thinking about what I wanted to do with my life come the real dress rehearsal was over and I did become an adult. I disliked that once that period of time came, that the decisions that I made might have disappointed some people. Freeze frame.

Life. That's what happens. Phases are what makes us who we are now. Its what drives our personalities and forms our opinions and makes us tick. I love phases. I love that I can say with a straight face that I have no regrets. I love that I can thank my parents for moving me here to T.C. I love that even if the dress rehearsal is or isn't over that I'm still making decisions about what I want to do when I "grow up". Phases are good. They are healthy, and as my good friend John would say;

"Fear is a friend whose misunderstood, and I know the heart of life is good ."

I suppose these things we accept to be are just the bumps in the road of life. They are the entries in a life long, hard bound, log of "accomplishments/bad choices". Phases are good. You don't need a self help book to tell you this. We get through them, we look back and smile, we don't look back and move forward possibly in some cases flipping it the bird. You choose.

So to make a very short thought long, I am going through a phase. I will soon no longer be in the child bearing phase of my life but the raising children phase of my life. I have been raising children for 4 years now but I am moving on to the stage where I will take my memories of the days that I wanted to find out I was pregnant, the days I didn't want to find out I was pregnant and the pregnancies themselves and tucking them away to tell my kids later in life. I will be honorably discharged from child carrier to child carrier. You know what I mean? I am excited and a little sad & scared but this time I will look back and smile. No flipping off the past needed. :) Onto the new phase.

I had a 4 week check up this past Friday. The heartbeat is great although he was not an easy man to pin down to get it. It took her a good 5-7 min to get him to set still. (Hmmm...lets not over analyze this one.) I gained just shy of a pound and my very tiny torso (damn all you tall girls!) is growing and still happily accommodating this little growing monkey. The only issue is that I think, lets put it this way, he might be an overachiever. It turns out that one of his kidneys is growing a little faster than the other. Or vice versa. (I like to consider myself to be a half full kind of gal) All is fine, I was told that there is no need to worry or be concerned as this is normal. He has 2 functioning kidneys and there is no blockage of any kind so they will follow up in another 4 or so weeks with an ultrasound to ensure that the other kidney caught up. Twist my arm to see his little body cruising around again. Yippee! Other than that I am half way there and looking fine fine fine.

Jeb and I had an awesome "date day" on Saturday. We woke up early to drive to Frankfort to run in a 5K. What a beautiful morning. The trail that it was on was completely flat and this one had only around 200 people running. Jeb ended up posting his best time 17:30 and managed to take away 2nd place in his age class and in the top 10 overall. (cool trophy too!) I was so proud! Yours truly finished in 31:29 and got a medal for 3rd in my age class. Yup, that's right, the girl with the belly ripped it up. I managed for the 3rd time in a month to find myself a 60+ year old man to run with. :) Nice run, beautiful scenery, great company. hubba hubba We stuck around for their little awards ceremony by the water and then trotted ourselves down to a local bakery that once again for the second Saturday, tasted better than anything I have ever eaten. My husband proceeded to inform me that this only clearly for the fact that I am very easy to please. Hey, is that a bad thing?! We came home and hung out with the kiddos until my very wonderful babysitters (Grammy & Papa) returned to allow us outing #2 for the day. (I told my mom that I would be willing to forgo a couple birthday's & Christmas' for the exchange of this wonderful treat!) We took off with "our gang" to Glen Lake for a beautiful boat ride and then dinner at the "We take reservations but no reservations will be honored" WAG. We were like a bunch of kids at senior prom. We had a blast as always. I don't know why I am always so surprised and blown away by this but I seem to walk away every time more thankful for the adult friendships that we have acquired as a couple. Hopefully we will have many many more crazy,fun, hilarious memories to make together. I know that we all appreciate the grown up time considering by the end of the year we will have 13 kids between 5 couples. :)

"Date Day"

The Gang

I am very hopeful that I will be able to run another week. I think that may be how I will take it from now on; week to week. I added up all of the miles that "Tres" and I have run together since the second week of April and its 101.5 miles which includes 3 5K races! I have joined an online group of women who correspond through RunnersWorld.com. Today was my 1st day but I missed them all as they were all on around 5am my time. They are all running stay at home moms and their conversations are hilarious. They all live out West around CA some in TX. It will be fun. Hopefully I can get some feedback from other woman who have run while pg. We will see.

Well, that's all to report on the home front. We have a new member of the family. "Frog" the beautiful beta fish has joined our household. I will enclose a pic later. He is happily perched in "Grand Central Station" (the kitchen) and seems to be adjusting well. Isaac got him for a birthday present from his Auntie. I adore him and talk to him just like I talk to Cody. I know, I am pathetic. Hopefully he will last for a long time. Thank you auntie!

My calendar is empty for the entire week. I love it! I will catch myself up on housework, office work, playing on the swing set, playing in the sprinkler, finding worms in the dirt, you know the important things. :) Last week of July is here. Enjoy yourselves, before we know it it will be Halloween.

My love, all my love,

Cassy

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Please no hate mail over remarks from beginning of blog. If you don't agree, you don't have to. If you don't like my comments, please refer back to rules in original blog. Take me with a grain of salt.

(then close your eyes make a wish and throw me over your right shoulder. :)