Born From My Heart

So about 11p last Wednesday night I was sitting on the couch in my PJs watching TV and playing Candy Crush on my phone.  My husband Adam was in the garage finishing our daughter’s field day costume and my son was on his iPad next to me.  Out of nowhere I get this crushing, squeezing, pushing, vise-like pain in my chest – just below my breast bone.  It was so intense and so instant.  I sat there breathless and confused for a minute and then felt nauseous.  I tried leaning back, standing up, laying down, walking, etc. and nothing was doing anything to relieve the pain.  It wasn’t getting worse or better it was just constant.  My (split) brain starts having an argument with itself that went on for 30 minutes something like this: Right Brain (RB) – OMG is this a heart attack?! Left Brain (LB) – No, don’t be silly, it CAN’T be a heart attack. RB – Are you sure because I think it is a heart attack and I’m about to freak out! LB – Nah, we are ...

On Monday, August 18, 2014 my baby girl started kindergarten at 5 years 8 months 2 weeks and 1 day old.  Um, exactly how did that much time pass from this: To this: I swear I only blinked liked two or three times.  Moms of newborns right now, don't blink! So to backup just a bit, on Thursday, May 29, 2014, Reagan graduated from VPK.  I barely held it together through the ceremony and Reagan was her true funny little self throughout which helped.  Here is her graduation video clip.  She speaks so fast but she is saying "In Pre-K I learned how to read".   She had a great year in VPK and learned so many things and loved her teachers, Ms. Cara and Ms. Michelle.  Her least favorite part of her day was naptime so she was very happy to learn that you don't sleep in kindergarten!   She had a long, fun summer full of fun and family time and visits from relatives and late nights.  The late nights came to screeching halt the nig...

Boy did we ever luck out with the people in Trevor's life.  We started him in preschool a year ago to help his speech and his teacher is AMAZING!  We love her so much and have become friends with her and her family too.  Her 17 year old daughter is actually Trevor's girlfriend. ;-)  He sure loves his 'NaNa'.  Anyway, between his therapist, who we also adore, and his teacher, Trevor has come so far. When he started he pretty much used 'Ma' for everything.  Quite quickly after beginning preschool he added new words and began babbling in his car seat after school everyday.  Yellow was one of his favorite words for a while and he still will say that is his favorite color.  His teacher, Miss Mary, was so eager and willing to work with his therapist, Miss Tina, and the two of them implemented so many things in the classroom that helped not only Trevor but his classmates as well.  He loves to go to school every day and he loves the routi...

I try to expose my children to the same kind of faith I was while growing up.  I was raised in a couple of really, really good United Methodist churches.  They were open, friendly, supportive, non-judgemental, fun, loving, etc.  We were taught the fundamentals of Christianity but we were also taught so much more.  To be honest, I was shocked as I got older and realized that all religions and all churches were not so welcoming of everyone and anyone because that wasn't what I had been taught.  I am thankful for those churches of my childhood because I have now grown into an adult who is secure in my faith yet respectful of others who share my faith differently, more, less or not at all.  I will gladly tell others about my personal walk if they desire however I do not expect others to have that desire and feel everyone is entitled to their own beliefs or non-beliefs.  I do however like to read of others' walks in faith so there are a couple of blogs I fo...

Something the other day that made me remember how kids sometimes perceive things.  One of my BFFs has a son who we used to joke that I had shared custody of him.  This child's heart really is a sight to behold.  He has always been very sweet, loving, caring and empathetic beyond his years.  He always seems to understand things on a deep heart level even when his young mind can't quite grasp all that is.  One of those instances happened when I was in the trenches of fertility treatments and he himself had his little world off-kilter.  Without going into too many details, he was 4 years old, his older brother had been horribly injured in Iraq (he is miraculously fine now thank God!) and his mom had to fly out for an undefined period of time to be with his brother as none of us knew if his brother was even going to survive.  While his mom was away, he stayed with me and up until that point had never been away from his mother even overnight.  D...

For as long as I can remember, my mom would go around to all of the family graves for each major holiday and put flowers.  Of my mother's 3 daughters, I was the only one who enjoyed doing this with her.  I can actually distinctly remember the last time she ever made my two older sisters go but I will get to that a bit later.  I have very fond memories of visiting each grave and paying our respects and after I moved 800 miles away from where I grew up I really missed doing so with my mom.  This past Christmas the kids and I spent the holiday up with my mom.  I was so excited to visit the graves for Christmas and made my mom promise not to do it until I could be there.  It made me feel good to be there for this tradition. This is for my grandmother and grandfather:      This is for my much beloved great-aunt: This is for my aunt (my cousin had also been there): This is for my grandmother's best friend who was always part of...

As mentioned in my previous post, both kids started preschool on April 8th.  I was excited and terrified at the same time, plus a little sad.  Since Reagan was born she has been home with me, her dad or close friends.  Of course Trevor was too and these arrangements were great for us all.  I started looking at preschools in February to get a jump on picking one for Reagan to start VPK (voluntary pre-kindergarten) in August as I was told that if you wait then your first choice may no longer have open spots.  I have a tendency to procrastinate so I wanted to get the choosing and registering done well before August approached and sent me into a panic-driven choice.  After visiting several daycare centers and talking to other moms who already use daycare I narrowed down my choices to tour.  The center I decided on is small (no children under 2 and no children older than VPK), has lots of teachers and assistants in ratio to the number of kids, d...