Ramblings

We had a fun weekend. Brooks got to spend some quality time with his Opa on Friday night. Greg and I went down to a midnight run (5k) on Friday, so Brooks' Opa slept overnight at our house. The whole plan was super last minute but ended up being a blast. We ran with my sister Steph and her husband Keven. Steph and I ran together and averaged a tiny bit over 8 minute miles. We had a lot of fun and were amazingly refreshed after the run even though it was almost 1:00 in the morning.

On Saturday we were so tired from the run. We had a wedding to attend and we decided to bring Brooks to the reception. It ended up being a really fun night. Brooks did really well and had fun looking at the disco lights that were set up for the dance. By the end of the night (8:00 pm), Brooks was sweating and exhausted from running around the dance floor. We were able to capture a cute picture of me and Greg together! Yeah! That never happens.

Brooks continues to love the camera. Here are a couple of shots of his new "smile" when we ask him to "say cheese". It is so funny. He does his "smile" with food in his mouth and his pacifier in his mouth (which by the way, we want to get rid of but have not tried very hard!). Brooks language has also totally taken off. He is able to repeat lots of words that we say. He says things like shoes, no, bye-bye, apple, juice, please, yes, mama, daddy, cookie, cracker, Scout, blueberry (you have to be his momma to understand this one), ball, uh-oh, Uncle, Auntie, Jo-Jo, Kaa-Kaa, Opa, Oma, bath, naughty (naute-naute), nigh-nigh, soose (pacifier), dip-dip (ketchup or ranch dressing), and stop! I am sure I am missing some words, but it seems his vocabulary has really taken off in the last week or so. He is also able to answer questions like "What does a cow say?" He answers with a big, bold "MOOOOOO". It is so fun to watch him develop. I would have to say that within the last month or so he has entered one of my favorite stages. He seems to be getting easier and easier every day. It is fun that he can understand us now and communicate so well with us.

Say cheese, Brooks!

Another smile with his pacifier in his mouth. Brooks' daddy tied a dinner napkin to his head. It is so much fun having such a little Buddy. We love you, Brooks.

My Husband

Here is another story about my absolutely perfect husband. I know I talk about him a lot on this blog, but I am pretty sure I have the best husband in the world.
Each morning I go to the gym at 6:00 am. Each morning Greg takes care of Brooks which allows me to get my workouts in. I am the type of person who has to workout first thing in the morning or it may not happen. Greg understands this, and wants me to be happy and feel good about myself, so he willingly takes care of Brooks and allows me to exercise every morning.

Every morning I come home from the gym, Greg has a bath drawn for me. He doesn't only have a bath drawn, he also has a cup of Crystal Light with ice waiting for me. It doesn't stop there. He also lays out a towel and makes sure that my shampoo and conditioner are by the bathtub. A couple of weeks ago I came home from the gym and Greg had included a report card that was sitting on top of my towel. I had jokingly mentioned to Greg earlier that he "almost got a B" because he had forgotten to put the soap by the tub. I was totally kidding, but about a week later he left me a "real" report card to fill out. He is so fun, loving and compassionate. I could never have asked for anything better. Check out the pictures below...

What an amazing husband I have. Don't you agree?

Sadness and a Confession...

I have a confession to make. I am selfish. This is a long story, but worthy of being posted on this blog.

On Thursday morning I thought that my world was coming to an end. I (we, but mostly me) made the decision to give our smallest dog, Zackie, to my little sister. Zackie was doing very poorly with Brooks and had snapped at Brooks and also was consistently growling at Brooks. I knew that it would just be a matter of time before Zackie took a bite out of Brooks' face or finger or leg. So with a great deal of sadness in my heart, I made the decision to pass Zackie onto a new owner. I cried. My heart felt empty and I felt very sad. I really thought that my life was horrible because I had to make this decision to give my beloved dog away. I felt like this was the end of my world.

The same day, as I sat throwing myself a pity party, I received a phone call from my dad. I could tell something was wrong. Through tears he told me that our dear friends had lost their baby. Our dear friends were 16 weeks pregnant and had to deliver the baby. It was too late in the pregnancy for the baby to miscarry. Our dear friends were checking into the hospital on Friday morning to begin the labor process. Our dear friends would leave the hospital after going through labor and would not have a baby with them. Our dear friends would have to sit on the birthing floor for over 24 hours listening to babies cry and watching moms who were overwhelmed with joy. Our dear friends would go through something that "wasn't supposed to happen".

And there I sat. Crying over a dog. Crying over the idea that my dog was now going to live less than 10 minutes away and was going to be loved and taken care of. There I sat wondering if anyone cared that I was sad. There I sat having a really bad day because I had to give my dog away.

These last two days have been hard. They have been very hard on our dear friends. I have spent hours praying for them and spending time with them. I feel a deep hurt for them and wonder how I could be so selfish to believe that my world was so bad because I had to give my dog away.

The Lord works in mysterious ways. I by no means think that the Lord had this happen so that the sorrow of giving my dog away would seem silly. I do however believe that the Lord has used this situation already. I believe the Lord has used this tragedy to teach me to put things in perspective. I believe the Lord has used this situation to "ground" me and help me prioritize what is really important in life. I believe the Lord has used this situation to teach me to put others first. I believe the Lord used this situation to bring us closer to our dear friends and to bring us closer to Him.

I am unsure how the Lord will use this for good in the lives of our dear friends. This will have to unfold as time passes. Right now, they struggle to see good in this situation. I don't blame them. They went home today without a baby.

Things seem so unfair. I often wonder why certain people seem to get all the "bad luck". I then remember that it isn't really "bad luck". The Lord does not give us anything we cannot handle. The Lord uses good and bad to show us how much he loves us. The Lord knows what He is doing.

I pray tonight for my dear friends. If you believe, I ask that you say a little prayer tonight for them as well. They need prayers and they need to feel God's presence. Please pray specifically that the mom would heal from the surgery she went through after the birth of the baby (it was a boy by the way, Drew is his name). Please pray specifically for their marriage. They are so strong but as we all know, stressful situations can either drive people apart or bring them closer together. Please pray specifically that my dear friends will sleep and will regain some energy to be the good parents they already are to their other 3 sons. Please pray specifically that the Lord will reveal some "good" in this situation.

This is so hard but we hold tight to the idea that God planned this and knew this was going to happen as soon as Drew was conceived. God's plans are always so much bigger (and better) than our own. Please pray that our dear friends can see this...even through their tears and sorrow.

We love you dear friends.

XOXO

Heather and Greg

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those who are crushed in spirit. Psalm 34:18

More pictures...more adventures...

We visited an awesome candy store while on our trip. It was really fun to enjoy it from the eyes of Kennedy and Maggie. They were so excited. Maggie was especially excited because she is allergic to sugar. This candy store had a WHOLE SECTION of sugar-free candy. It was so fun to see the huge smile on Maggie's face...(we won't talk about the tummy ache after all the sugar free candy)!

Our "sweet" (hee, hee) family outside the candy store.

The boys enjoyed checking out race results from their tri and duathlon. Greg also finished the vacation by competing in the Lifetime Triathlon. He did great, but was disappointed with the 6 minute bike penalty he got. (He didn't read the rules until after the race and broke the rule about staying on the right side of the road. It was a closed bike course, so he didn't realize that he had to "stay right") He still got 120-something place. Amazing.

It was a good day because we got to cheer on Andy Baldwin aka the "Bachelor" at the race. He even gave Stephie a high five. It was the highlight of the day! :)

I got some quality lovin' time with my little Jo-Jo. She is such a sweetie. She is the kind of girl that will come up to you out of the blue and say "Auntie you are so pretty" or "Auntie can I have a kiss?" She is just a sweetie.

A cute picture of a cute family. The trip was great, the company was even better. We are excited to do it again every year. Getting back to routine is hard and we already look forward to our next vacation!

More pictures of vacation...

I guess we are becoming the "playground" family. We have checked out lots of playgrounds this summer. We visited this one during our vacation. Brooks seemed to have a blast. The park was really "little kid" friendly. Brooks had a minor accident (see pictures below) on the pavement while he was chasing his cousin Jo-Jo while she rode her bike. Greg saw it coming from a mile away, but we were helpless. It broke our hearts that our little Buddy got hurt. He immediately cuddled up to his Auntie S'ers which allowed us to get a picture of the injury. Brooks was back to playing in a few short minutes and seemed to forget about the goose egg on his forehead.

Kennedy and Brooks enjoying the airplane.

Brooks climbing up the slide. The child is non-stop and climbs like a 3 year old. "No fear" really should be his middle name.

Ouch. Poor baby. So sad.

Brooks getting some love from Auntie S'ers after his fall.

Vacation in Pictures...

We spent the last week at the lake about 45 minutes from our home. We started our vacation in the Twin Cities to compete in a triathlon. I ended up getting a terrible neck pain and could not participate. It was a very down day, but Greg did very well. He is an incredible athlete. He placed very well and had his best performance of the year. We arrived at the lake on Saturday afternoon and hung out. Early Sunday morning we woke up and drove into our hometown for a duathlon that Greg and Uncle Keven participated in. It was scorching hot outside, but Greg and Uncle Keven did well and were satisfied with their results (they did do a triathlon the day before!).

Brooks had a blast eating Cheetos (at 10:00 am--maybe I should not admit this) and playing in the dirt. Look closely at his face. You may think it is just cheese on his face, but really it is mostly dirt. I am sure I won't be winning any "Mom of the Year" awards based on this day. Brooks had fun though and was able to be the 100% pure boy that he is.

After the race we headed down to the river to cool off. Brooks had no fear and was only happy if we were not hanging on to him and he had freedom to crawl up the river. Of course we did hang on to him--but he was happiest when he had freedom.

Brooks started with clothes on and eventually went down to his diaper. Shortly after that he was completely naked. It was so hot that getting cool and taking a swim was very good for him.

Brooks was amazing in the water. He loved crawling on the rocks.

We all got dried off and headed out to the lake for the start of 6 glorious days...it is so hard to be home.

We've been BUSY!

We have been on vacation the last 10 days which explains our lack of posting. Before we left for vacation I snapped some of the pictures below. Brooks has enjoyed eating food "big kid" style. He prefers his pizza by the slice and enjoys taking "bites" out of his sandwiches rather than having them cut up for him. We captured a pizza experience on camera below.

Auntie Linda continues to be a very important part of Brooks' life. This picture was taken when my uncle (my mom's brother) from California came to visit. Brooks was very fearful of Great Uncle Robin and immediately found comfort in Auntie Linda. It was very precious. He did warm up to his Great Uncle Robin within a couple of minutes.

We got out to play at the park the day before we left for vacation. It was fun to see how Brooks has grown in how he plays. He is much more confident on his feet and is a little climber. Brooks was much more independent during this trip to the park.

Brooks actually enjoyed the swing during this trip. Last time I tried to put him into a swing like this he cried. This time, he insisted on staying in the swing and cried when I took him out. We love living where we live. The weather is PERFECT--in the summer is it usually not too hot but not too cold. We never want to move away from our beautiful city.