This week is difficult for me. I am just really missing my mom and I think I know what has triggered it. I think it’s because I’ve been watching the Olympics and over and over again, it’s been pushed in front of me, the amazing story of Joannie Rochette; the Olympic skater, whose mom passed away on Sunday. Her story is one of courage and sadness… and WOW, I can’t believe she pulled through to get the bronze. I remember that week. The one after my mom died. I didn’t have the whole world watching me try to keep it together and do my best at what I’ve worked my whole life for. But I think I almost would have appreciated the distraction. I feel sad that she has to go home and not fully celebrate her victory. She and her father have to, instead, deal with the “business” of laying a loved one to rest. It’s all too familiar. It sounds like we both had similar relationships with our mothers, calling 4 times a day…best friends.
What’s brought back sadness is Britain. He is my medal; my badge of honor and courage displayed. I always, ALWAYS knew I wanted to be a mother and I always thought that I would have my mom to help me, advise me and cherish this grandchild.. And now, Joannie and I are in the same place. We both don’t have a mom now to share this time with. It makes it so bittersweet. I just love on Britain and look into the eyes he inherited from my mom and whisper to her how I love her. I know she’s listening through him. So, in honor of my mom this week, I’ve posted the last picture that was ever taken of the both of us, on her birthday in Dec of 2005.
Last week was quite exciting in the small McCaskey household. Britain’s Aunt Joy and cousin Duncan came to visit. They came just in time for my 32nd birthday and were able to come to my birthday celebration at Chuy’s! Yum, love me some queso and chicka-chicka boom boom sauce. Britain had a lot of fun observing his cousin playing video games and chasing our poor morkie around. (“Jumpy Henri,” as he calls him.)
Britain also had his 6 month check up last week. He’s 19 lbs and is 27.25″ We started him on solid foods and we chose sweet potatoes as his first food. I must say it’s quite overwhelming figuring out when to give a bottle…when to give him the food and how much of each? Then I’m trying to figure out if he’s irritability afterwards is because he’s still hungry, upset stomach, or the new hiccups he’s developed. We’ve never really dealt with that before. Lucky us, right?
Britain, Joy and Duncan
Yummy Sweet Potatoes
Well, our family is one gall bladder short now. Last week we spent the week at Vanderbilt hospital dealing with this tiny organ. It should be a rule that all organs that you can live without, not be able to cause pain. Why do you even exist? Good news is that Skye is doing much better and is on the road to recovery. In fact, while I type this, he is at his first Apple shift since surgery. We wanted to send out a huge note of gratitude to all of you that came to visit us at the hospital and checked in over the past week. We felt very loved and knew if we needed it, we had help. We also wanted to extend a huge word of praise and thanks to my dad. He really came through in babysitting for us. We had to call on him about 10:30pm and he came over and slept on the couch while we sat in the ER all night. He then remained on call the rest of the week, while I made trips back and forth to Nashville. I think it really gave him some good time with Britain though. They know each other a lot better now.
Well, for those that don’t follow me on Twitter, I have been doing this new detox. It’s not officially a “detox” but it’s just called a “no-crap” diet. I started off one week alongside the group from The Biggest Loser and figured I’d give it a go. All I had to do was no dairy, no preservatives (all that stuff you can’t pronounce on labels), no meat, no caffeine and no alcohol. Let me tell you the first week was rough. I was HUNGRY. But I felt really good that I made it through. I felt healthy and pro-active about my current physical state and in fact, I lost about 6 pounds. I’ve decided to try eating this way for about 5/7 days of the week. I get weekends off. I’ve motivated some friends to do the same and Skye even jumped on board. Well, the days that he ended up eating some fast food, he realized that’s when he was having his gall bladder attacks. So, this “detox” was able to help us pinpoint symptoms and etc. I guess there were more advantages than we thought, huh.
Well, that’s really what’s been going on in our world lately. We are all back at work this week and so just keep praying for Skye’s recovery progress. We go back Wednesday to Vandy to have things checked out again.
Today, Britain turned 5 months. We can’t believe how the time has flown by. Here’s a list of things he’s doing these days:
* Weighs between 17-20 lbs.
* Loves to blow bubbles
* Getting his first tooth
* Rolls over from back to front
* Laughs when tickled
* Smiles a lot
* Loves the sound of his voice
* Maybe still allergic to cow’s milk
* Favorite toy: stuffed bunny from Aunt Whitney
Well, the whole holiday season I went back and forth on the decision to take Britain to see Santa. I know that he doesn’t understand Christmas yet and definitely not the story of Santa. I also didn’t want to do it unless Skye could go with me, and he unfortunately hasn’t had many days off the past few weeks. Finally, last Sunday we decided to head over to the mall with our friends the Holts after church. I’m glad we did. We got this cute picture, which was very expensive to us this year, but I’m glad we grabbed the memory for Britain’s first Christmas.
Santa and Britain
Well, turkey day started off freezing this year. Skye and I woke up to our heater being out of commission. So, we packed up enough things to stay at my dads for a while. Thankful we didn’t have to spend money on a hotel or something, considering fixing the heater is an expensive project!
We had two new additions to our Wormer Family thanksgiving this year…and both don’t eat turkey! Newcomers included our new son, Britain (formula), and our new sister-in-law, Whitney (vegetarian). We had so many new things to be thankful for this year and a lot has changed. It still makes me a bit sad my mom wasn’t there to help prepare the feast. This would have been the complete table she always prayed for.
In other Britain news, he turned four months today. We celebrated by going to see Dr. Hood, who said he is progressing perfectly. He now weighs 17 lbs. and is 25 inches long. He is definitely a growing boy. He got his shots like a trooper today and also had his first bites of rice cereal. Pictures to come soon!
Last night I heard the most wonderful sound. Britain giggled and laughed for the first time. The past few months, he’s squealed and made happy noises, but last night he did a full-on laugh. I was so happy that Skye was home to hear it too. He’s been working so much and doesn’t get to spend a lot of time with us, so that meant a lot. I’m glad Britain saved it for us both.
Speaking of work, I’ve been very fortunate to have found a job that allows me to work part-time from home. I get to spend my days with Brit at my side and, for the most part, make up my own schedule. It allows me to work the same days that Skye works and be off the same days. If I were sitting in a cubicle working 9-5 someplace, that would never happen. We’d also be paying for day care. Yuck.
Lately, gearing up for the holidays, the realization that we don’t make as much money as we used to also hangs over us. The trade off is worth it, in order to spend time with kiddo, but I usually like to be more generous with gift giving at Christmas. It disappoints me that we have to tighten our belts more this year. We also might have some upcoming dental expenses that we might have to prepare for. Please be praying for that because it could be in the thousands of dollars (and that still with 50% dental coverage.) It makes me sad that we have to say no to ski trips with friends and possible family road trips we were hoping to take in the spring, but I’m trying to keep a positive outlook. Some day, right?
In other news, we are also thinking about putting our house up for sale. That’s a little stressful too, thinking about what we could sell ours for and what we could actually afford in return. We need more space because we definitely want to expand our family some day. We are thinking about this now because of the new tax credit for home-owners that have owned for 5 years. It ends in April and we would qualify in March. Plus, the market is getting back on track with the 1st time home buyers and prices are semi-reasonable.
Well, we didn’t do too much to celebrate Halloween this year. Skye had to work during the day, so Aunt Whitney and I took Britain to a friends for a Halloween Brunch before heading out to Pumpkinfest in Downtown Franklin. Uncle Brad ended up coming to meet us for lunch and we ended up running into this guy on the square. (Britain actually slept through the introduction as you can see.)
Darth Vader, Brit and I
