Us3

Us3

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

So Thankful

Every day I think to myself how lucky I am to have such an amazing little boy in my life. I honestly cannot imagine my life without him. He brings me so much joy and happiness. He makes me laugh, makes me cry, makes me think, and he challenges me.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been hearing stories about families who have been struck by horrible tragedies and each one of them break my heart and remind me just how lucky I am to have my life- even on the days when things are extra tough and seem unfair- I am lucky because AJ and I, along with the rest of my family, are healthy.
There’s a story of a family in Orange County who in May 2007, lost all 3 of their children in a car accident. Reading that story back then was absolutely devastating. I followed it online for months just wondering how something so horrible could happen to these people. Yesterday, the family- along with their 2 year old triplets- were on Oprah and as sad and devastated as they were- they were surviving. It really showed me that if they can get through that horrible time, anything is possible.
Then, there’s another story of this little boy- a little younger than AJ- who has had an aggressive form of cancer since he was an infant.Click here to read his story He has spent most of his life getting pricked by needles, at doctor’s appointments, in hospitals, and laying in a bed with a feeding tube. He’s not even 2! Being a parent, I don’t know how I could possibly watch all of this happen to my son. I guess when you have no choice, you do what you have to do. I know when AJ gets a black eye or has to get a shot, it breaks my heart, so I can’t even fathom how they handle this.

There have been many times over the past year when I didn’t think I could handle what was going on. HOW could I survive being a single mother? HOW could I possibly work full time and not be home with AJ 24/7 like we were used to? HOW could I move out of the house that Jason and I bought 4 years ago? HOW could I go days without seeing AJ because he’s with his dad? But now, since I have been able to do all of those things, I realize that all these things weren’t nearly as bad as I imagined they would be. AJ and I are happy and healthy and going strong. I see good things in our future and I’m so incredibly thankful that I’m his mom.

Monday, October 25, 2010

We Carved...

I'm going to be really honest here...I wasn't quite sure I wanted to carve pumpkins alone...with a 2 year old...who's favorite words are "I DO IT!!" It felt stressful and not fun to me. But, on the other hand, how do I NOT carve pumpkins with AJ days before Halloween??? So, tonight I decided to go for it. I put on my "patience hat" and we did it. And of course, it was fun and not stressful at all! AJ didn't really get it, which was ok, but he had fun helping me clean out the insides of the pumpkin and I even let him use a real knife- well, the kind that come in a pumpkin carving kit- still totally sharp, but he did well. We decided on the shapes of the eyes and nose and ears together and then I cut them out. It was a ton of fun! Here are a few pictures from our evening:

Working hard!

Cleaning it out...

Cheese!!!

 The finished products!

The pumpkin AJ made at art class with Mamna today :)

Pumpkin Patchin'!

Yesterday Mamna, Papa, AJ and I went back to Anderson Farms Pumpkin Patch. It was a lot of fun! It's so pretty and so well put together there. This time AJ was lucky enough to go on TWO pony rides! He just loved being a "cowboy". Here are a few pictures: