There's A New Kid In Town

And a good bit of catching up to do if we want to keep our memories stored here. But for now...

Introducing Cooper Gray born June 30 2015

He has a great birth story which I will share if I ever find the time to come back here and update again. 

Photo Update

Since life has been so nuts, and I have like, 5 minutes left to update the blog, you're getting pictures with a few words.

We got some family photos taken a few weeks back. my kids are SO. CUTE.

One day for school we made caramel apples at home:

It's FALL Y'ALL!! Piles and Piles and PILES of leaves are in our yard!!

Today was the end of soccer season celebration and the kiddos got some bling! Their first trophies ever. I'm so proud of how they've played this season. By that I mean with sportsmanship, and kindness, and as of the past two weeks, some serious skills :) Their coaches are just amazing, and Konnor and Mckenzie have really enjoyed the season. We wish we could always have the coaches we had this season. The kids on the team are also awesome, and Konnor has found the girl of his dreams and informed me a few weeks back he is going to marry her. Mckenzie has also got a huge crush. On a MUCH older man. The program director, Simon. LOL Girlfriend is head over heels. I mean, he is British. ;)

Tomorrow (and a few other days)

Tomorrow I will run 14 miles. That is the farthest I've ever run, and it's been almost two years since I've run that far. If it weren't for my mean right shin I would be so excited to have finally made it to this point. Well, I'm excited either way because,with all of the injuries so far, I never thought I'd get to this point. Last weekend I went out to run 12 and in my attempt to not be a hood runner (** see note) I added too many extra roads in and wound up running 13. While this shin has me running MUCH slower than I would like, the pace was such that I could have kept going a while longer and been fine. I also had to cut out one of my short runs this week in hopes it would help my leg, or help it not get worse. So I'm accepting that this time around with training I'm very injury prone, which means the best case scenario for November 10th is that I'll be in Richmond and toe the line very undertrained because of the time  I'll probably continue to take off to nurse these things. It's so frustrating to be physically capable, in every way but one, of doing something you want terribly to do. It really makes me think about what it would be like to have SMA and be fully mentally functioning and know how to do things, but not be able to do them. Which then makes me grateful to just have injuries from doing too much, or doing something wrong. I'm just hoping to go up there and run, walk, crawl or roll 26.2 miles in less than seven hours. We'll see how tomorrow goes.

Things are starting to come together for our rummage sale, "Cookies for Callie", that's one week from today. This is going to be one heck of a crazy week. All of the last minute preparations for what looks to be a huge event, Aarik is switching to second shift Monday, I'm required to start going to the Y two mornings a week for training until my classes start the first week of September, adjusting to putting the kids to bed by myslef when it's really been a two person job so far,  it's supposed to be a 30 mile week (4, 7, 4 and my first ever 15), getting ready to have some major work done on our house, then add in the normal cooking, cleaning and preventing disasters, and the rummage sale itself. A week full of great things that, combined, are a little overwhelming. But, come Saturday night we'll hopefully be in rest/celebration/happy mode. If there aren't any updates until then, I'm sure I'll be excited to update after Cookies for Callie.

If you're wondering, we DO still have our three kids. They still do funny, busy things every day, and they are still wonderful. Right now it's just easier to shoot a picture onto Facebook or Instagram to update family about how Parker, who is barely one year old, is climbing EVERYTHING in sight. Like things that adults and monkeys can't climb. Or to quickly type a status update about how my 6 year old Konnor figured out how to crack the family lock code on Netflix. I can let everyone know at the same time that if they see us out in public Mckenzie picked out what she's wearing, bless her sweet heart. It certainly was not my idea. But, to hold you over until we start school the first week in September and Mckenzie starts soccer, and Konnor starts swim lessons and Parker starts... whatever craziness he starts next, here are a few random pics from lately.

**This is my own made up term for running only in neighborhoods. Every other time I have trained for a race I have been a hood runner. This time I am slowly venturing farther out with each run and am determined not to be a hood runner. The most I stay in the neighborhood anymore is about 2.4 miles, then it is out on main roads to stretch my legs and avoid most dog traffic... MOST. You can expect to see this term used in the future on this blog.

Happy Birthday Parker (a few weeks late)

The past few weeks have been brutal. Aarik has been working six days a week which has left me to deal with all of the many things that have been going on in our home life during the same time period. While I won't bore you with the details of those many things, I will say it's been a lot to do alone. So much, in fact, that at least once a week I have a complete melt down/ borderline nervous break down of some sort and then have to continue on with whatever I am doing, without feeling any relief. Sleep deprivation and overwhelm have lead to too many accidents, from what I still believe to be a broken toe (it's been 2 weeks and I'm still in CRAZY pain), to running over a tricycle, dropping things, unexplained bruises on various parts of my body... I could go on but won't. Luckily nothing to do with our kiddos (well Mckenzie doesn't know about her trike yet. I'm sure that won't go over well...). Yesterday I finally reached my limit and hit the kind of wall, from whence you do not return. SO grateful Aarik took the day off, especially after Parker was up all night, so that I could sleep in until almost nine, do my grocery shopping, and do a few other major things that I'm on a time crunch to get done. I have been trying to get this posted for a while now, and it's basically come down to this: either I blog about Parker's first year using whatever pictures I have on the computer already, or I never get this post up so... Parker just turned one!! What a long journey we've been on just to get to that point! After seeing so many families struggle through so much for so long, and sometimes still not be able to have children, I'm so grateful that we only had to suffer through a few years of heart ache and pregnancy loss to get him here. This past year has been nothing short of insanity. Since he was about six weeks old he has been a demanding little cuss and has spent a majority of his life screaming about something. Truthfully, most of the time he had very good reason. Half of the time it was ear infections, which we had never experienced with our others. Luckily the past couple of months have brought more peaceful times and we have been able to finally enjoy our sweet boy. He seriously has such a fun personality. He loves to help clean up around the house, he LOVES other kids and socializing and he is quite the explorer. He is, by far, the most independent of any of our kids, although you wouldn't know it if you were to meet him when he was in one of his "mommy" moods. He loves both of his siblings, but he and Mckenzie have such a sweet and special bond. He absolutely adores her. They'll play together for hours and she never acts like it's a bother to her and he LOVES her for it. It's obvious he looks up to his big brother as well. He likes to wrestle Konnor and also makes attempts to play legos with him, which is a heart attack inducing situation for me. Parky (that's what we call him) only wants to eat if everyone else is and only wants to eat what everyone else is eating. He loves to give kisses, and will do so upon request, says mama, dada and no no, loves to watch Super Why, loves to go places, has no fear, is a climber, loves water, isn't a huge fan of sweets, loves chicken and makes the "aaah" noise after he sees someone else take a drink, after he takes a drink or sometimes when he's done nursing. We are so blessed to have our sweet, cuddly and finally ear infection free little 1 year old with us! He was worth the wait and we are so grateful to have filled the hole that was in our hearts knowing he was missing! Not necessarily in order, here are some pictures of Parker's first year: