Happy Wordless Wednesday everyone! My first since the holiday break started and I wanted to share a photo I snapped on Christmas Day of KG and her cousin Baby A (not such a baby any more though).  KG and Baby A have a special kind of relationship, one where A leads and KG follows. Both of my girls love Baby A as though she were their sister as well.  I hope that never ends. I love these girls. All three of them.

And Baby A’s mama too, I guess.

For more inspiring photos be sure to check out: Better in Bulk, From Dates to Diapers, Not Your Momblog, The Divine Miss Mommy, Colorado Moms, Rajean Blomquist, BrainFoggles, The Centsible Life, Rachel Ferrucci, Lil Kid Things, Resourceful Mommy and Zensible Mama and don’t forget to link your own photo stories.

Like what you read? Try these!:

1. Wordless Wednesday – Hanging with My Girl
2. Wordless Wednesday – Ringing in the Season with the Salvation Army
3. Wordless Wednesday – Missing Disney

Yes, I said tonight. I’m not always thankful and I am ashamed to admit it.  Often I am stressed, frazzled and frayed, over-work, under-paid, and everything in between.

But not tonight.

Tonight I am thankful for my sweet husband who is so patient and kind.  A true partner in my life, a devoted and well-loved father, and a truly brilliant man.

Tonight I am thankful for my opinionated, strong-willed, kind-hearted, passionate small people.  Their light shines so brightly in my life.

Tonight I am thankful for parents who love me unconditionally, completely.

Tonight I am thankful that I have beautiful, bright, heroines for sisters.  Real strong women whom I am endlessly proud of and who have more heart than many people will ever experience.

Tonight I am thankful for cousins who ‘get’ me, however that may be.  Their irreverent humor and intense loyalty astounds me.

Tonight I am thankful for extended family far and wide and the love they bring into my life.

Tonight I am thankful for my friends, both on and offline.  As real and dear to me as family.

For each person that has touched my life this year, last year, or in any year forwards and backwards…

I am thankful for you.

May you be blessed.

May I remember to be thankful year ’round.

Like what you read? Try these!:

1. Thankful Thursday: 12/9/2009
2. Thankfulness: Randomness
3. Thankfulness: Type A Mom Conference Edition

Today-I am grateful.

Today-I remember what God has given me.

Today-I am hugging my girls tighter and pulling my husband close.

Today-I helped a family in need provide Thanksgiving dinner for their loved ones.

Today-I smiled at a stranger, just because.

Today-I am thankful.

What are you thankful for today?

Like what you read? Try these!:

1. Thankfulness: 8/6

SO here it is. My paternal grandmother, the woman I lived with and depended on from the time I was 10, was hospitalized last Monday morning at 4am after a fall.  After some tests we were happy to discover that she had not broken any bones, however that happiness did not last.  Her blood pressure was 43/38, her heart rate was incredibly low, she is confused (and had to be restrained at one point), and they suspected she had internal bleeding; the doctors were worried.  Over the course of the last 5 days, we have learned that her cancer has spread rapidly from her scalp to her pelvis area and there isn’t much hope of successful treatment at this point.

Today she started thinking and telling everyone she was dead and I’m preparing to stay the night in the hospital.  Alone. And honestly, I’m scared to death.  I haven’t had anxiety attacks for the last four years and now they’re back with a vengeance. I’m having 3, maybe 4, a day now.  I told Jon I was having a little trouble with them, but I don’t want him to worry…so I won’t be sharing with him the extent.  Sometimes they’re so bad and I’m shaking so hard I can’t do anything…and it upsets me. I beat these things years ago without meds…and now they’re back and I don’t feel like we have enough help to take care of her.

Right now she’s 45 or so miles away and I’m driving down at least once a day, I miss my kids, and I’m falling behind in school.  Oh…and gas is way expensive.  There are only 4 of us (not including our spouses) left in the family.

——————————————————————————————————————————–

I wrote the top of this post last week…but honestly, so little has changed that I decided to just continue from there.

Mommaw is home now, so it will be easier {theoretically} for us to stay with and take care of her.  The incredibly nice Hospice nurse came in yesterday to do her initial evaluation and shared with my Aunt that she did not believe my grandmother will live much more than two more weeks.  Honestly, it wasn’t a shock. You can look at her and know she isn’t going to last much longer.  She’s a shell of the powerful, headstrong, loving woman she was even two weeks ago.

In many ways, to me, she has reverted back to an almost childlike state. The innocent or spiteful expressions that she casts resemble a child so much…it’s almost heartbreaking.  There are times when you get a glimmer…but she’s not really there any more. And really…that’s for the best.  Mommaw would hate this. This dependency that has formed. The role reversal that has taken place. The not fighting….letting cancer win.

In her case, cancer will win.  It will take away one of my girls’ favorite people, a much loved and adored great-grandmother…cancer will rob my cousin’s little girl Baby A of ever knowing this woman who so shaped the women we have become.  It will take away a second mother to me, and a grandmother, a confidant, and friend. We will lose so much. And yet, she will gain eternity in Heaven with God and Poppie.

I’m sad. And yet, not. We’ve been fighting this battle for 3 years.  I’ve watched the stress nearly kill my Aunt and the cancer succeed now in killing my grandmother.  We’re tired. All of us. What will we do without her here? Who will boss us? And guilt us, the way only she knows how, into doing what’s right? I guess now it’s up to us to use what she’s taught us.

I’m getting ready to head over to L’s house for a while and sit with Mommaw for a few hours.  She doesn’t say much anymore and I wonder if she knows what is really going on…somewhere deep inside I’m certain she does.  Tomorrow we will take the girls to visit…perhaps for the last time.

Please pray for our family. Pray for my girls who will miss really knowing this woman who so shaped me.

Has your family experienced a loss that is devastating to your small people?  How did you explain it to them?  How much did you tell them?

No related posts.

My grandfather passed away In February of 2007. He was a father to me. He walked me down the aisle, taught me everything I hold dear and was my favorite person in the world. The week after his passing, I had to stay with my grandma and get the funeral arranged. All the while though, I was stressing about my lack of content and possible decline in traffic. I was supposed to spend a weekend with my grandfather the month before he died, but I was far too busy….blogging.

My oldest son had to be hospitalized for post traumatic stress and attempted suicide in July of that same year. He was only eight years old at the time. It was a five day period of utter hell. I got someone to take care of my blog while I was away, so I didn’t have to worry about that on top of my family emergency. (Why was that even a thought in my head at the time? I could kick my own butt when I think back on my skewed mentality.)

By December, my extended family started to despise me. I have a lot of in-laws…26 to be precise. I had to choose between holding onto the respect of my husband’s family, or having my successful blog. It is a long story and I won’t bore you with the details,  but in the end, I chose the former.

The story didn’t end there, in fact, it was just the beginning. I had to step back and take a good hard look at my life. I was forced to reevaluate what my priorities were. Obviously, my blogging obsession had begun to cost me more than any amount of money could make up for. It took me months of rehabilitation. I know the idea of blog addiction rehab is sort of silly, but it was brutal. I went through withdrawals like a crack head would. I had to delete my Twitter account, get off of the internet and seek out ways to create inner peace and balance. I’m still trying to repair the relationships that I so badly damaged. Recovery is not a short, smooth road, but I’m so fortunate to be walking it anyway. My once glorious mom blog sits abandoned to this day and although I miss blogging about my funny motherhood moments, I don’t regret my choice.

I still blog on occasion, but never again on that blog. I host Tweetups, am involved in online community and broadcast a web show. I love social media.  However, I come at all of it from a new perspective. Had the three incidences above not happened, I may not be able to look at life the way I do now. Yes, they were hard to live through, but they taught me an invaluable lesson. The lesson was this:

We are bloggers. We blog about our lives, but our lives are not our blogs.

I learned this lesson the difficult way and I believe that it was for a greater purpose than just turning my own life around. My story will serve as a lesson to many others who are trapped in the place I was once in. Take it from me, having the most popular blog,  most comments, most awards is not what life is about. Life is about making each moment memorable and mom blogging is about recording those memories for posterity. Let’s keep it that way.

Blessings,

Kadi Prescott

No related posts.

You know how it is, once you find your rhythm…your balance, something changes…evolves, and causes that rhythm to stray.  It causes you to take a step back and reevaluate that balance you had before {or thought you had}.  Monday was my first “official” day taking on a new marketing position with a local home-building/home remodeling company from home while continuing on with Parentella {and going to school}. First let me say, I am thrilled to be working with this amazing company!! However, as I have been learning this week, working from home can be a struggle. A struggle that makes finding a new balance between working at home and “being” at home imperative and ever elusive.

This week is Fall Break here so rather than one child home with me all day I have two.  Though truthfully, I love having her home and having KG here while I work makes things easier for me.  She is such an enormous help with her sister.  Putting on a movie, playing {mostly} nicely with KJ, and supplying themselves with easy to reach snacks….KG is a great big sister.  But I feel guilty, it isn’t up to KG to take care of KJ…it’s my responsibility.  I know the first week with a new company on any job is always the most difficult and that I feel so lucky that KG is here to help me.  But I want her to enjoy her week off from school too.

So Tuesday, while Jon & I went to see Clutch in concert, KG spent the night at LA’s house and KJ went to Lisa’s. Both of the girls were so thrilled at the prospect of going anywhere without the other they were almost shaking with anticipation by the time I dropped them off.  Yesterday it was the same routine {which by the way will change next week when KG goes back to school} and I was feeling weighed down with guilt again.  This morning I woke up at 5am, got all of my “work” done and declared today Kid Day.

The girls worked together to explore some new online educational games, made me deliciously multi-colored dinners from Play-Doh, soaked up the Indian Summer sun, and baked Halloween confetti cupcakes to take with them tomorrow.

And while this is a temporary band-aide, sometime next week {the earlier the better} I will have to start working on a schedule, probably the 5am-midnight gig again, that works for me and my family. Because the entire purpose of my working from home was that I wouldn’t miss these amazing moments with my girls.

Do you have a secret to maintaining balance? Share your tips and advice {or struggles} with us!

Like what you read? Try these!:

1. Ugh. Taking Back Control
2. Back to the Grind…Babies, Travels, Birthdays, and More
3. Frugal Living~Get the Best Hotel Rate Possible

Here are a few tips to help you save energy on your refrigerator:

• *Keep your refrigerator & freezer full.  I know this isn’t always possible, at least not for me. By the time Friday rolls around my fridge and freezer are getting pretty bare. But the idea is the more full they are the less hard your unit’s motor will have to work to keep everything cool.
• *Check your refrigerator’s settings and, if needed, adjust them to between 37 and 40 degrees.
• *Inspect your refrigerator’s doors and seals to be sure you are cooling as efficiently as possible, replace them if necessary.
• *Clean your condenser coils at least once a year {unless you’re like me and they’re contained.}
• *Try condensing your trips to the fridge into as few as possible. You can make up for some of that energy lost when the kids leave the door open just by not opening it often yourself.
• *If your current refrigerator has seen better days and is sucking more energy than the Energy Monster, consider upgrading to a newer Energy Star labeled version and be sure to consider cost of operation before purchase!

And while you’re at it, try putting out a sign on the fridge reminding your hungry little helpers to know what they want before opening the door. OR you could always put a lock on it

Please share your tips for energy savings this summer!

Like what you read? Try these!:

1. 5 Tips to Using Less Energy with Your Air Conditioner
2. Green Tips Tuesday~Earth Hour
3. Knowing Your Carbon Footprint can Encourage Green Living

Today is the first day of summer break and do you know what I have planned?

Nothing.

I am taking the next two days to do absolutely nothing. Nothing that is but take pictures, get some sun (with sunscreen on of course), and relax. This weekend we find ourselves with an over abundance of activities (as usual), between C-burg Day, the start of the summer reading program at our local library, AND Jon’s sister’s graduation (3hours from here) – and all on Saturday – our summer gets off to a crazy busy start.

In the month of June alone the girls have basketball camp, tball, birthday parties, and library activities…not to mention a family wedding, Father’s Day, and KG’s birthday. We don’t have a single weekend in June free. That’s just crazy.

I spent the last two weeks brainstorming ideas of how to entertain & teach the girls this summer and do you know what I came up with?

We already have too much planned.

I want to catch lightening bugs and butterflies.

Ride our bikes and go for hikes in the woods.

I want to plant trees and work in our garden.

Have picnics and go camping.

I’m looking forward to summer nights & “in-the-dark hide-and-seek”.

Late nights and later mornings.

What I’m looking most forward to this summer is…

relaxing and just being “quiet” with my kids

What are you looking most forward to?

Like what you read? Try these!:

1. End of School Countdown: Planning for Summer
2. Ruined Surprises and Happy Birthdays
3. Back to the Grind…Babies, Travels, Birthdays, and More

Did I really think we would rest? Really?

Well…I wouldn’t go so far as to say we “rested”…it was more like worked our butts off to get the house & yard cleaned before Monday afternoon which is when I invited my cousin (& best friend) and her family over for a cook out. Again, I would be lying if I told you my house was always clean…it’s not. But it’s my theory that the dishes can wait…kids will only be kids once.  So, of course, when the prospect of guests comes up it requires a bit of what we call “marathon cleaning” (otherwise known as “that time when we clean up the places that don’t normally get picked up”).

They call me Hilda, slavemaster extraordinaire.

It was beautiful weather wise here in the mid-whatever-we-are.  Yes, indeed. Hot too.

On Saturday we woke up bright and early (ie:10am) so we could hit up the local Farmer’s Market before closing and see what kind of goodies we could acquire.  I love our Farmer’s Market…it’s lovely really…you have the nicest people sharing their best with you, some of the best plants and fresh produce you can find, not to mention honey & jams…really…we love it. This Saturday the girls made a few new friends and we found four 4-leaf clovers!!

I also picked up some fabulous flowers (courtesy of the HCHS FFA), some local honey, homemade cherry jam, and 3 bushels of red-spotted lettuce. All in all a very productive morning in my opinion.

Why buy fresh lettuce when you can grow it?

We planted the garden with lettuce, carrots, cauliflower, watermelon, squash, and more! I can’t wait to see if anything grows! We’re looking at this year as more a trial year…you know, see if we can get anything to grow My Aunt & Uncle’s cherry tree was overflowing so I took advantage of the warm weather and collected hundreds of the juicy red gems. I’m still looking for a few good recipes…please share if you have one!

Saturday night saw the lawn mowed and an early bedtime.

But wait…there’s more!

Sunday brought with it a flurry of activity that did naught but wear down my feet even more. Between the emergency surgery we performed on a sickly evergreen (the people who sold us the house didn’t remove the root bag so the roots were dying), cleaning up the house, and a trip to the grocery I think it was safe to say we were totally wiped out come bedtime.

Today.

Today. Well, today was great. We had LA, NE, & Baby A over for a cook-out (eat-in) dinner of cheeseburgers, baked beans, mac & cheese (thanks LA it was delish!), corn on the cob, salad, and cut veggies w/hummus. Followed up by some to-die-for Oreo Pie..yep, dinner was goood.

Today I thought about Poppie, Air Force Vet, and missed him like crazy. Today I said a prayer for the families that wait breathlessly for their opportunity to have a “normal” holiday dinner with their loved ones. Today (and everyday) I am grateful for the life I am privileged to lead…and I thank God.

What’d you do this weekend?

Like what you read? Try these!:

1. Farmers’ Market Offers Many Opportunities
2. Labor Day Weekend @ KY State Parks Whrrl Story
3. Valentines Day dinner

The H family & Poppaw

This photo is happily shared at 5 Mins for Mom and Wordless Wednesday HQ.

Be sure to check out more High Impact Wordlessness!

Like what you read? Try these!:

1. Wordless Wednesday: The View From My Backporch
2. Wordless Wednesday: Decorating
3. Wordless Wednesday: 80′s Flashback