I haven't posted much in the past few months. Partially because I've been dealing with my diagnosis. Partially because I spend my free time doing things like lifeguarding our backyard pool, taking the boys to the town pool, attempting to tidy a disaster area of the house or working outside in the yard. And there's also a big focus on fun right now with and for the kids. I've been trying to rebalance the scales - for all those times I had to say "no," and "not right now," and "we need to reschedule,"... now I'm trying to say YES. Let's go do those fun things. Let's focus on healing and happiness. On rebuilding my strength and being outside in nature. On making memories. Trying something new. Making sure I'm in more photos with the kids. Focusing on the good things. Because while not every day is a good day, there is good in every day.
So here's a few highlights of the spring:
In April I started going on lots of walks to rebuild my strength and our local park has so many lovely walking trails. My goal was to get back into hiking shape so we could hit the trails again like we were doing last fall. I had felt so weak since my surgery and then my condition worsening, this took some serious effort and a lot of walks... but I got stronger and my stamina improved a lot.
We started our "hikes" with some easy ones. We enjoyed the cherry blossoms and tulips at the local arboretum. They also have really nice walking trails with some decent hills here and I was proud of myself for building up to a couple of miles. And the flowers were divine.
The boys started baseball and t-ball respectively and LOVED it. It made our schedule REALLY busy between baseball and tae kwon do (there was literally a practice, game or class every night, sometimes both!). I love watching them play baseball and I only missed one game this whole season (I was recovering from anesthesia).
We hiked Jockey Hollow National Historic Park in early May. This was my first real hike since my surgery last November, and it felt so good! Oliver is also really into history so this was a lot of fun. Matt was a trooper over the long distances and hills. We were rewarded with a lovely view too.
We celebrated Matthew's 5th birthday. He had a great day with a little party at school and a celebration at home with grandparents and best friends from next door. I had to bake two cakes because his first one collapsed in an epic disastrous fashion (I was in a rush and foolishly frosted a triple-layer cake when it was still warm, leading it to break apart into pieces and fall on the counter and floor).
A small group of us visited our friend's lake house and we went out on their boat, went fishing on their private dock and held little baby goats. The goats were DELIGHTFUL. I'm now fully convinced I need a second career raising tiny therapy goats. For myself.
A week later we went fishing again, and this time boys caught tons of fish.
I celebrated my birthday on the 21st day in the 21st week in the 21st year of the 21st century. Definitely a good omen for this year.
I planted my collection of aqua pots on the porch with birthday flowers from our local nursery and it looks lovely.
Baseball has been SO good for Oliver this year. He even earned the MVP ball (given to the player with the best performance during the game) after a particularly epic game. It now has a place of honor on his wall. This is a big deal for him because it was the tipping point of the season where he went from being a solid player (on a team of mini professionals) to a really good one. He had so much confidence after this game and it followed him all the way to the championship where he played the best game of his life and they won.
Oliver ALSO discovered he loved being the catcher on his team. He has a natural talent for it and spent the rest of the season covering half of each game in this position. I'm really proud of him for his - being the catcher takes skill and requires A LOT of muscle tone to to hold the squat for so long.
Oliver also turned 9 in June. I can't believe he's in his last year of single digits. He's such a great kid with a big heart. I could go on and on about how amazing he is as a person, but as you know, I'm biased.
The boys spend a lot of time in our backyard inflatable pool. They swim almost every sunny day. The pool has such a gift - the boys can swim and play while I work from the deck, it's easy to say yes to and they have so much fun in it.
We picked strawberries like crazy in the month of June, bowl after bowl after bowl. It's been our best year for strawberries ever - we've made strawberry jam, strawberry ice cream, strawberry tart, strawberry pie, strawberry liqueur, strawberry juice... and just eaten a million strawberries for snacks.
Mike turned 40 and we celebrated with a COVID-safe Met's game at Citi Field. We had SUCH a fun time and it was a magical night thanks to the safety restrictions still being in effect. The boys were treated like kings, we parked like right out front, there were no lines... because there were so few people there. It couldn't have been better.
Oliver's baseball team won their divisional championship and it was AWESOME. I am so proud of him - he worked his butt off all season it showed. He put his whole heart into it and it was his best game of the season for him - he never got out, he made the first run for his team, he stole third base three times, scored another run and his final time at bat he had his best hit of the season - a line drive that made the bat ring like a bell (it was beautiful). I'm so happy for him that the season ended on such a high note.
Matt graduated from preschool and had a drive-by graduation before running straight to a t-ball game. His teacher made him a sweet sign for our yard and a graduation goody bag to take home. (Excuse me while I go sob in the corner that my youngest baby is going to be a kindergartener.)
We went on another hike with Morgan at a local park.
We went camping. In the WOODS. In a TENT. We did all the camping things like cooking over a fire, roasting marshmallows, hiking, fishing. We even brought Morgan! It was 95 degrees and really hot, but so much fun.
While camping we also hiked part of the Appalachian Trail and climbed Sunrise Mountain. Those views! It was almost worth nearly dying from heat stroke climbing the steep inclines of the mountain in that ridiculous heat.
Oliver earned his red-green belt at Tae Kwon Do and now there is only one belt between him and his first black belt. He did this crazy kick to break the board on his first try.
Matt finished his t-ball season and earned his first baseball medal. He is SO proud of this. After watching his brother get trophies and medals for the past 4 years... it's finally Matt's time to shine too.
At the end of June, I had a much needed a mom's day out with one of my besties at the American Museum of Natural History in NYC to see the rocks and minerals exhibit (and it was AMAZING). That first geode is like 1.5 stories high and I never wanted to leave.
And finally, on the fourth of July we blew things up America style at my in-law's BBQ.
Not shown but deserves an honorable mention in this crazy list... all the trips to our lovely community pool where I hardly ever remember to take pictures. The thirty baseball and t-ball games we went to. The long evenings outdoors with friends and neighbors and family where we are all finally able to reunite after the long covid winter. There have been so many little things we've been able to celebrate this spring and it's felt so good.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment