Monday, May 17, 2010

Be still my heart

Today after Brayden and I hit the local Wegmans picking up some things for dinner...we arrived home and I {not wanting to make more than one trip inside with groceries}....grabbed all of the bags and carried them to the side door to set them down and get Brayden out of the van. 

Brayden asked me why I dropped the bags, and I chuckled and told him they were heavy!!!  He quickly bent over and grabbed a bag with all his little might and said "I help you Mommy-it's heavy!"  I opened the side door and he waddled up the stairs and all the way into the kitchen carrying it for me.  He worked so hard, and was so proud of himself for being a big helper!!! 
I thought for sure he would get inside the door and set it down before making it all the way, but he did'nt, he struggled and worked so hard!!!
 I was so proud of him for being such a great little guy!!! 
 Moments like these remind me we are doing something right....

♥ Be still my heart ♥

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Camera...

My poor camera has over 400 pictures stored on it now that I cannot get off and onto the computer.  It's seriously been like two months of taking pictures that are stuck on my camera card. My camera cord is not working {for some reason} and our disk drive is broken on the laptop so I cant even get them on a disk to upload them...argh!!!!  I promise I have tons of pics to post, just need to find a solution to my camera debacle first. 

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Mother's Day...

Since this is really the first official year that Brayden can speak well enough to actually tell me Happy Mother's Day...this day proved to be a very special one.

After some prompting from Daddy....Brayden ran up to me with a huge and beautiful smile and told me very gently "Happy Mother a Day Mommy!"

As soon as I smiled and cheered because he was so sweet...he got even more happy and gave me a huge hug and a kiss.

What more does a Momma need on Mothers Day?

I did it!

I did something I have feared doing for a long time. 

I got back on a stage, under the spotlights, and in front of an audience, and sang my heart out.

I sang "I love Paris in the Springtime".

I felt nervous at first, but it melted away the second I took one step back on the stage.

It was the old Shannon I remembered being growing up performing on a stage.

It was the old voice I remember hearing growing up performing on stage.

It's amazing when you think you've lost something you once loved so much...

It was the most amazing feeling Ive had in a really long time.

I was not lost...the old me is still very much there...and I cannot wait to do it again.

The song even sounded better on stage than it had during my rehearsals...

It's like I came alive on stage again ;-)

I felt strong, I felt confident, and afterwards...proud of myself...

Sometimes doing things you fear is worth it.  I showed myself that I could do it again. 

I did it!

{hopefully I will have some video to post soon}

Friday, May 7, 2010

A Beautiful Day to Play...

Today Brayden begged me to go outside in the yard to play with him.

He asked me with such zeal and excitement in his face...it made me feel young again.

We ventured into the yard and he told me it was a "beautiful day to play Mommy!"

Indeed it was.

I sat down in the damp grass with my camera to watch him play, and capture his zest for the most simple and pure fun two people could have together...the appreciation of the others company, and the joy we would soon find in it...together.

He picked Dandelions and handed them to me.

He then picked a few more and wanted me to place them behind his ears because he says he is a "rich princess"...something he has clearly picked up from his 4 year old cousin Ryleah.

Then he wanted to blow the white whispy weeds into the wind...and I took pictures because he was so determined and adorable.  I giggled quietly as I observed him.

He knew my undivided attention was on him, and only him.

He kept running over to me and giving me hugs and kisses.  He would stand behind me at other times and wrap his little chubby arms around my neck and kiss my head telling me he loved me.

He sang to me, danced for me, played hide and seek with me, and even sat with me while we took pictures of ourselves together. 

He melted away my day to day life for a few hours today.

We ignored responsibility...

We ignored the phone...

We ignored anything and everything else going on in the world except for the little world we created for ourselves in our own backyard...

After all....it was in fact...

 a beautiful day to play!

Thursday, May 6, 2010

This week...and weekend...

{I should first warn you I have no pictures because I can't upload them anymore on my computer-it's having issues...and my poor camera card is racking up more pictures than I can keep track of, so we are behind....my apologies.  Hopefully I can figure this out soon...have some cute ones to show...when I can}

This week Brayden has had the flu bug.  We spent most of Tuesday on the couch trying to catch up on some sleep.  Monday night as I crawled into bed rather late {or early I should say since it was morning} I discovered Brayden was running a fever.  I tried to give him Motrin to cool down his fever, but he was not even trying to take that at 4 a.m.  He started crying in hysterics, and rather than stress him out any more with that or the thought of a warm tubby...I decided to do the cold wash cloth over his head.  He eventually started to cool off, but only to wake with projectile vomit all over Ron and I. 

At this point it was almost 5:30am, and we decided to just pack up the sick arsenal and head downstairs.  Towels, blankets, pillows, thermometer and Motrin soon took residence in our livingroom, with Brayden laying comfortably on the couch with a bucket next to him.  We watched cartoons, and he found his second wind at about 6am.  Needless to say-and to make a long story short...I only slept for two short hours from 9am-11am roughly when he finally crashed again.  I then stayed up all day until 10:30 pm Tuesday evening before I finally hit the bed so hard I was a bit frightened I might never wake again ;-) At that point, I had calculated that I had been awake {-my two hours of sleep Tues. morning}...for 34 hours...yes...you read correctly...34 hours awake!!! 
Surprised I am still not asleep aren't you?

I have since figured out what day it is, and have sprayed my poor house from top to bottom trying to rid it of the ick.  Brayden is feeling a little bit better, but has not fully recovered all the way.  He keeps asking to go to the playground...so that's a good sign...but then he throws up again, and I wonder when we will ever make it back there???

I have also been rehearsing like a mad woman this week for a show I am in this weekend.  It's called "Come Fly with Me", and is put on as a fundraiser for Holy Family Catholic Church in town.  My childhood friend Ylsa and her husband run a company that puts on these fundraisers, and I am really excited to be a part of it.  I will admit though-that I am more nervous than I ever had anticipated I would be.  First I was supposed to be singing the song "Georgia on my mind"...but honestly...it's a really boring song to me-and although I had it figured out, just did not feel 100% confident with it...so we gave that to another girl...and I am now singing "I love Paris in the Springtime"...which is more in my range, and I can really have fun with it.  Did I mention the show is Saturday night?  Yes, and I just started this new song tonight....so wish me lots of..."break a legs". 

I am excited about it though...performing is something I've always done all my life, but had been away from it for so long that it feels good to be back at it.  Hopefully this is just me getting my feet wet before I decide to dive back into theater too!  Time will tell....actually my performance in this will tell.  Ha!

Ron has started a new job, and so far is enjoying it-so that is good.  He is also busy volunteering for the local fire department, getting ready to return to college, playing baseball on the adults men league and coaching Babe Ruth as well as the Allstars this year...so he is nothing other than very busy these days...and we are not in any shortage of a full summer calendar full of games to attend ;-)

So...other than all of that exciting news...we are just enjoying the beautiful weather we have been having, doing a little spring cleaning curb treasure diving {projects to come soon}...and most importantly we are hoping Brayden is back to his playground loving, sun kissed skin and rosy cheek days here shortly!