Tuesday, July 19, 2016

I won't and I will

I won't miss hot summers, and the heat rash that comes with it.

I won't miss having to apply deodorant underneath them Every Single Day, and twice a day in summer.

I won't miss suffocating when I do downward facing dog in Yoga class.

I won't miss the pain associated with running, or any bouncing type exercise.

I won't miss being able to look down and not see my toes.   (I just slammed my toe into the kid's trampoline last night and thought I broke it, but turns out, I 'only' cut it and split the toenail.)  I miss seeing my feet when I walk.

I won't miss requiring a hot bath to soak my aching back and shoulders because there's so much top weight.  Well, maybe I might miss this one.

I won't miss being so embarrassed by my body that I hide behind things and people in photographs.




I'll miss nursing.  (I do already.  I miss having a little baby and an easy fix to stop their crying.)

I'll miss being able to pick up Jacob for weeks.

I'll miss being able to sleep on my tummy.

I'll miss having babies curl up on my bosom to nurse.  (These things provided comfort and nourishment for 3 kids for over 5 years total. That's a lot.)

I'll miss being able to just ignore tank tops as a possibility for wardrobe choices.  They've Never fit me before.  That'll be weird.  I might have to adjust my thinking about them.  Nahh.

I confess I am getting a little nervous.


Friday, July 8, 2016

The Blankee

Hello, my name is Cathy, I'm 41 years old and I have a blankee.

This blanket was given to me Valentine's Day 2012.  Chris picked out this picture of them that I took right outside our church from the fall prior.  But I put this blanket on my bed, and it stayed there.  When I was on bedrest for 5 months, I had this blanket with me all the time. When my big boys were at school, and I was unable to take care of them, they told me I had them with me on the blankee.   And I did.  And it gave me comfort.  Then Jacob joined our family, and he hated sleeping alone, and we coslept.  I didn't want to cover him with a heavy comforter, so we slept with this blanket.  Now I've become accustomed to sleeping with it every night, even with Jacob not in my bed anymore.  With my big boys gone, I've been snuggling with my sweetboys every night.

When I went to Utah, I took the blanket with me.  In fact, it was the first thing I unpacked when I arrived Wednesday afternoon.  I desperately needed to lay down before we went on the hunt for dinner, and I pulled it out to snuggle it and rest before taking on the evening's festivities.

I didn't get to talk to my boys yesterday either.  It was the first time since they were born that I haven't talked to them.  I cried when the clock struck midnight last night.  And I curled up with my sweetboy blanket, until I  fell asleep.

Today they called me, the phones finally worked.  I got to talk to them for about 10 minutes.  We were all on speaker phone together.  And my heart was full.

Now I'm going to go curl up with my blankee.  My boys come home tomorrow.

Thursday, July 7, 2016

Proof of Life

Half my family is at Scout Camp.  
It's weird for Jacob and I to have the house to ourselves.
It's also especially strange for me not to talk to them everyday.


This was my Sweetboys yesterday when we left.  
I left before they did, as I wanted to go to a swim class at the Y.  
Jacob was jealous I wasn't taking pictures of him. 


We were cool.  Jake and I weren't freaking out about anything.  


But it took over 24 hours for this photo to come through.  
The boys made it, and they were at the camp, and most importantly, Happy!
But I miss them. It's weirdly quiet around here. I am so Thankful that I received some sort of proof they were ok.  

Tonight, we had a date with Aunt Lisa, checking out the new Books and Brews in Zionsville.



We sampled some of the brews.  They had great names like Whinnie the Brew and Dubbledore's Magic.  We checked out some of the books. There were so many things just like my bookshelf, down to the textbooks that I had in college.


Meanwhile, it was Kids night, where the kids meals were Free, and they had Games out for a game night!


 and Jacob checked out the Kids Grilled Cheese.  I loved this place. 

Quite good, one and all.  But I miss my boys.  

  
Happy 4th of July!

I love a Long Weekend with Family! 


We started the weekend off with a bang!   
I had someone from Canvas Paintings with Katie come over and teach us how to paint this pretty patriotic landscape.  We made an evening of it.  There was wine, drinkies, and good times. 


It was really neat to see how many of my friends interpreted the same instructions differently.


What was really amazing, was that every painting turned out Gorgeous! 


Pretty Patriotic! 


And the next day, my blue delphinium bloom. 
It's not quite red, white, and blue, but pale pink and blue is pretty close. 



Poor Princess Dog.  
She doesn't handle Fireworks very well, but a little Lavender and Peace & Calming 2 in the diffuser helps.


On the 4th, we went up to my brother in law Karl's house for a nice cookout lunch.  
He and Erica live in a sweet neighborhood that we learned was having its own noontime Parade.


When the kids realized there was a Parade happening they made a mad dash for it.  


They found themselves a perfect spot to hang out.  
Cole wanted to join the Big Boys, but just couldn't quite handle it.  
So he and Uncle Karl watched, as the kids made two laps around the neighborhood.


Here they go! 



The whole neighborhood parade returned a few minutes later. 
With my children bringing up the rear.  


Then it was time for Smores! 
Honestly, though, my kids are happier just eating raw marshmallows and crackers.  
If we put them together, they give them to me. 


We're never up on this side of town, so we popped by the Lego Store for a what the heck present. 
They each made a character to bring home as a special treat.  


This child was exhausted.  He didn't nap.  He crashed on the way home.  
That was ok, we didn't do anything fancy for fireworks.  The kids had played hard all weekend, so we didn't anything fancy after dark on the 4th.  We came home and watched 1776 and Independence Day covering all manner of our Patriotic movie bases.  <3  And it was a great weekend.