Family of 3

Sometimes I wonder if we will always be a family of 3. Maybe it's not in the cards for us to have another baby....I feel like I am learning the hard way to be patient or that we don't always get what we want. I always thought I was a patient person. Maybe I am being reminded that I am not in control- that there are things beyond my control that I have to accept. Maybe I won't feel another life growing inside of me, maybe I won't nurse another baby, maybe I won't see Reid be the Big Brother he wants to be, one who would be so loving and caring, one who would teach his baby brother or sister everything he knew. Maybe....maybe we could have a baby in a year- maybe we could have a baby in 10 years. It's not what I had planned. I am REALLY struggling with that. Sometimes I get mad that my life hasn't turned out the way I "planned" but then I think of all the ways my life has turned out and I know I am blessed with a great life and I am happy. I look at the wonderful, busy, exhausting and happy little boy I have and look at the man I married and I am happy- I can't stop smiling. I am happy with my family of 3.

Sir Knight Reid

We had a Royal Celebration at the Skoubo Castle- Sir Knight Reid turned 4! We had knights and princesses in attendance. The Royal guests devoured dragon scales, dragon eyes and toes, dragon wings, and chicken legs. They also got to slay a dragon! We had so much fun at the party and it was so neat to see Reid playing with is friends. Enjoy the pictures! This wonderful boy always brings a smile to my face!

My Mom

We met with the Transplant team, again. My mom had to have one more test, a mamogram to make sure she is cancer free before they put her on the list. That's right! She is getting on the list!!! We have to meet with the surgeons next month to go over everything, and that will be the last appointment before she gets on the list. Our next step is to find a live donor (I am not a match) or wait the 2-3 years it takes to get a kidney from deceased donor. This has been almost 2 years in the making- getting her on the list.
She is doing well. My mom has lived with us for 14 months and is looking better than ever! Reid loves having his grammie around and she is able to watch him 2 afternoons a week when he gets out of schoo. The other three days she is at dialysis.

Love

As Valentines Day came and went this year, I really thought about was love is.
It's a husband who takes care of your sick mom, takes her to the bus stop 3 days a week and feeds her two pugs. It's a husband who makes your lunch, your son's lunch and your mom's lunch (almost every morning). It's a husband who can make you laugh through your tears, who knows what to say most of the time to make you feel better, and even when he doesn't know what to say he comes up with something stupid or silly just to take your mind off of your "real" problem. It's a father who wants to go to Toys R Us to buy more train tracks for a train set because our son HAS to have all the trains connected and the train is so long that it falls off the short track. It's a husband who takes his wife and mother-in-law shopping at the Coach store. It's a father who buys a sled the day it snows and brings it home right away so Reid can go sledding for the first time. It's dad who makes up his own version of Hush Little Baby- one in which there is a motorcycle, four wheeler and Harley Davidson.

Hello again!

As I type this I am looking at the clock. I pick my mom up from the bus stop in 42 minutes. In the mean time I can "blog", clean the kitchen and/or get dinner started. Tonight we are having a dish I learned how to make from my dear friend Lisa, she made it for dinner while we were roommies in college- stove top one dish chiken bake. When I get home it is go, go, go- always something to do or someone to take care of. It is very rare that I have a free 15 minutes to do anything, and when I do have 15 minutes, I usually snuggle up with Reid in my lap and watch Cat in the Hat or play motorcycles with him. A few weeks ago I really upset an "acquaintance" because I did not respond to a voicemail right away- (to be honest- it did take me almost a week to get back to them) but in my defense I was and am BUSY. I was so mad at her for the attitude she gave me that I wanted to recite my schedule and explain to her that at the end of my day there are about 5 other people I need/want to call before I would even think about returning her call. Of course I did not do that, I just cried to Rudd that someone could be so rude to me without even knowing what I was going through and who couldn't give me the benefit of the doubt. It has reminded me that "you never know what is going on is someone's life" and maybe she was having a bad day too. It seemed like every night last week I was working or had an appointment to go to. This week looks just as busy- thank goodness Rudd is so good to me. He doesn't mind spending the evening having dinner with my mom!
My life has been hectic and busy lately, but lots of fun too. I just celebrated my 31st birthday- much easier than my 30th, I might add. I had my very first facial and cannot wait to go back for another. We are gearing up to celebrate Reid's 3rd, and I just know we are going to have a great time. We have invited some of his friends from "school". Reid is into Buzz Light Year and Woody, so of course we are having a Toy Story Party. We have cowboy party hats and bandannas for the kids to wear along with sherif badges.
My mom is doing so much better since she has been here, she might get to decrease her dialysis to only 2days a week, which means one less day of traveling on the transit bus all the way to LongBeach and back (two hours each way). She has us hooked on Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy. For one hour every night, all four of us sit down together and shout out answers to the questions! My mom gets the seat closest to the TV so she can hear the questions- sometimes I have to read things to her because she can't see it on the TV, but we have lots of fun, even Reid shouts out an answer or two!

December? Already?

I cannot believe it's December 7th. As I type this I am watching Reid run around the couch in his "super hero" shirt and cape. He is running across the finish line he made out of my nice christmas kitchen towels. Reid sings his super hero song that he made up- it goes "I super hero, i get the robot".

Tomorrow my dad is having surgery. He has fat tumors under his arm. This is the first major surgerh he has had. My mom is in Portland with him. I am staying home with Reid and Rudd; hoping the surgery goes well. If there are complications, they will send him to the VA hosptial in Seattle to do the surgery. It's just a wait and see kind of thing. The doctors are not sure what they will find when they "open him up". The tumors have come on fast and are very painful- which is not typical of fat tumors.

No. 7

Rudd and I celebrated our 7th anniversary on October 4. We went to a local Mexican Dinner in Raymond- it was yummy. We then went to Dairy Queen for some mini blizzards. It was a nice quiet evening. Reid was at home with my mom so it was just Rudd and I for a couple of hours. We put the phones in our pockets and reminiced our "life" together. I tried to remember our first official date but that was a little foggy. I am not sure a home made fajita dinner in Patty's apartment qualifies as a first date- but it sure is a good memory. I didn't even have the guts to invite him to dinner that night- Lisa called him and asked him over- it was an hour and a half drive from Umatilla to LaGrande and it was a Monday night- I never thought Rudd would be willing to come for dinner, but he did and the rest is history. We have had an exciting and busy and scary seven years together, but I still wake up everyday thankful that I married my best friend-really, we were good friends in high school. We never dated; flirted yes, but never dated- wait I take that back...I did take him to a Sadie's dance our senior year but it was strictly as "Friends" It was so cute because he really did not like me paying for things! Such a gentlemen!

Rudd and I have so much fun together and we have been through a lot together- I can't imagine life without him... here are my top ten memories of Rudd and I:
10)On weekends in LaGrande we would go "window shopping" for cars - I hate window shopping but what else is there to do in LaGrande?
9)Rudd and I took a theatre class together in college- we were supposed to go to a play and write a paper about it. I went to the play and wrote the paper, Rudd skipped the play and read my paper then wrote his own- he got a B!!! I think I did too! :(
8)Listening to Rudd read to Reid and sing him a made up version of "Hush Little Baby" that involves Harley's and monster trucks.
7)Rudd looking at me like I was crazy when I pulled into the trailer park in Raymond with my Bravada packed full to the brim. He looked at me with wide eyes and he asked "Where are we going to put all of this?" My reply: I don't care but if you want me to live in a fifth wheel indefinately then I need all of these things!
6)Escorting me to the trailer park shower every morning at 5am and standing outside the shower while I showered- all because the hot water heater in our 29ft fifth wheel was broken...did I mention I had to pay a quarter for every 15 minutes of hot water!
5)Finding a kitchen aide mixer in my car on my birthday!
4)Dancing the "sprinkler", "getting the mail" and "mowing the lawn" at the above mentioned Sadie's dance.
3)Going to a Cher concert with me and almost getting into a fight with a 60 year old man who wanted to "take him outside" The guy was NUTS!!!
2)Rudd driving in a windstorm to meet me halfway and follow me home- I called him crying and too afraid to drive home- he packed the chainsaw just incase he needed it and followed me home that night-
1)Making me laugh when it seems impossible to find something to laught or smile about
Happy #7 - Love you!