Lend a helping hand

As I sit here this morning watching coverage of Hurricanes Irma and Jose, images of 9/11, and my son playing in the foreground, the fact that I am extremely lucky does not escape me. We are safe, dry, warm and happy here in Hays, Kansas. I have food to feed my pets and family. We have cars to get us where we need to go, and this warm cup of coffee makes for a great start to my day. Granted, this baby in my belly sure is making my stomach growl right now, but I plan to get up and take care of that in a few minutes.

My heart breaks for the people in Florida that are waking up to devastation. I have to remind myself that the people who dealt with Harvey two weeks ago continue to wake up and deal with it. These people will be stronger because of their resilience. While I know they don’t have much of a choice, I applaude them for pushing through what has to be one of the hardest times of their lives.

I have many friends in Florida, some that I know well, and some that don’t even know that they are friends of mine. That sounds weird. Let me clarify. We are social media friends. I enjoy seeing posts of their kids, adventures and business successes. We might not know each other personally, but I am rooting for them and thinking about them during this very hard time.

9/11 was one of the most defining days of my life, and not only because of the tragedy that struck that day. The sense of comradery that we felt as Americans was so comforting. After 16 years, I am still reminded of it every time I see the images of that day, and when tragedy strikes again, as with Harvey and Irma, I love seeing people in our country go out of their way to help their neighbors.

While I wish I could take off and go help clean up in these areas that are hardest hit, I know that in my current state, it is best for me to manage my family, love my little boy and baby-yet-to-be-born, and make sure that I teach them about the generosity of mankind in times of need. Whether it is donating funds, offering a helping hand, taking in displaced families, or just offering up your good thoughts and prayers, I hope that we can all put aside our differences over the next few weeks to give our best to those Americans that need it right now.

Lots to say, little time to say it

I feel like I have been thinking of a million things to blog about lately. The problem is getting the time to actually write them up. Finally tonight I decided to take my Big Brother watching time and use it to write for you all. Life is changing so dramatically lately, and it’s time I filled you in.

As I am sitting here typing this, my next little boy is kicking me like crazy. That’s right. Another little boy. I can’t even remember if I announced to you all that I was pregnant again, so if I didn’t, SURPRISE! February 13th there will be another wrestler joining Team Thompson. Because of everything that happened with Quinn, I had a special test done call a Q-Natal at week 10. Besides finding out that the baby is a boy, we also found out that the baby is genetically perfect… that sounds funny to say. What I really mean is that there are no genetic abnormalities like Quinn had. Great news for us!

Speaking of Quinn, my due date was last week. And to be honest with you, I didn’t think I would get as emotional as I did. It was a very hard day, and honestly I felt it the entire week. I know she’s watching over us and making sure Cub and his new brother are safe and sound.

I have been getting into a really great routine lately working out most mornings. My friend Melanie and I have running and walking together. She is 7 weeks post-delivery, and at week 14 of my pregnancy, it’s great to have someone to stay in shape with. I am sure it won’t last forever, as I get bigger and the weather gets chillier, but for the time being I am enjoying it so much! It’s great to have a little adult conversation, commiserate about “mom things” and of course get a good workout in. A Best Running Friend makes the nastiness that can be a hard workout a lot easier!

 

There is a season

The year 2017 has been filled with a lot of heartache, as far as I am concerned. As summer approaches, I continue to hope for better things on the horizon, and I think they are out there. We have had some interesting developments since my last post, so I decided I would take a few minutes to share them with you.

Fact #1:
Cub got tubes in his ears about a month ago. A year ago, he was learning new words and talking like a champ. Once he started daycare in August, it was like he was a totally different kid. He (we) have constantly been sick since he started, and according to the ENT, all that build up created big problems for my little man. 4 weeks post-surgery, and I have a different kid. He can hear, is making new sounds daily, and is quickly turning from a baby into a big boy.

Fact #2:

Our baby was a girl. Chas and I had the opportunity to visit with a Geneticist a few weeks back and definitely got some reassurance that going forward with our family plan was the right thing to do. We also confirmed that our baby was a girl, which I knew all along anyway.

 

Fact #3:

Dealing with something like a miscarriage never goes away. It just takes different forms. Some days are fine, other days torture, and I constantly worry about the future, but it still only comes one day at a time. Cub quite often stares into space and will just start laughing hysterically, and I know it is Quinn making her presence known. Cub is so lucky to have a guardian angel like her.

Fact #4:

The work/life balance never gets easier. I am up at 5 am everyday because I get some of my best stuff done prior to the boys getting up at about 7 am. My “mom time” is probably the best part of my day in most cases, and its great to start the day with Cub and Chas knowing that I have already put in a few hours of uninterrupted work. Plus I get to watch the sun come up, drink my coffee and listen to the latest Adam Carolla Show podcast with no background noise. It really is marvelous. It does, however, make me worthless after about 6 pm. Once dinner is done, maybe we fit in a walk, and then I am ready to hit the hay.

With lots of summer events coming up, I am doing my best to stay organized and keep everyone on track. I would like to do a fall half marathon, so that is something to look forward to. I hope you all have a great start to the summer!

365 New Days, 365 New Chances

A few weeks ago, I redid the bathroom off our kitchen. By redo, I mean I gave it a fresh coat of paint, changed out the shower arm and shower head, added a new towel hook and hand towel bar, and patched some holes for the previous owner’s mistakes. Oh, and I also replaced the outlets and light switches, of which there were way too many for a bathroom that is barely 12 square feet.

Anyway, I bought a sign to hang in the new bathroom that says, “365 new days, 365 new chances.” I love the sign, because it reminds me that no matter how bad the previous day was, I can change the day to come. Obviously no two days are alike, and this could not have been more true this morning.

I woke up to a 21 month old heel kicking my hip bone. This is what I call a rude awakening. (Insert ba-dum-bum here). After yelling for the pain to stop, I scooped him up and put him on the floor where he proceeded to swipe everything single thing off my night stand. Fine, I’ll get up….

Upon standing and taking a step, I literally fell over in pain. The inside of my right ankle felt like it had a knife sticking out of it. The usual “walk it off” did not help, so I hobbled around until I finally went to get dressed and pulled out my trusty KT Tape. I’m telling you, it is glue for the body. The best stuff ever created! I hopped on Google, figured out what the pain probably was, then went to YouTube to see how to KT Tape the shit out of it. Pain gone. Crisis averted.

My point in telling this story is that life is sort of like a long run. There are minutes where you think you can’t make it any farther, and then there are times when you are coasting and think you can go on forever. Every day, every mile, is a new chance to get better, change, move forward. This is hard to remind yourself of some days, and I have had a few of those days lately. We all have them sometimes.

Now excuse me while I go get my son out of the bathroom sink, because apparently that is a place we like to climb to and hang out now… Keep Moving Forward!

Crock Pot Pot Roast

crock-pot-pot-roast-5

Ok, this is my new favorite recipe, and it couldn’t be easier! Moms, get ready, because you are going to love this.

Crock Pot Pot Roast

1.5-2 lb. Beef Roast
1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 packet Onion Soup Mix

Ready for this? Just dump it all in the crock pot and set on high for 4 hrs. or low for 6-8 hrs. That’s it!

I like to serve mine with polenta and a veggie, like peas, but you could have it with roasted veggies or baked potatoes. Just about anything will work. And the leftovers are just as good if not better than the original dinner.

Enjoy!

 

A new season is upon us

And that’s it.

Just like that, wrestling season is over.

I have a love/hate relationship with wrestling season. My husband loves it, and I love him. He is gone all the time, and I am at home taking care of a stubborn almost two year old by myself, so I hate it. I love the team, going to watch them in the room in the afternoon, watching them interact with Cub and of course seeing them wrestle when I can make it. I hate the hours upon hours of wrestling watched at my house, the countless recruiting calls made/taken, and the disappointment on my husband’s face when he has to deal with a situation that he doesn’t want to handle, like disciplining an athlete for violating the rules.

Tonight I got to watch my husband coach in the national finals, the pinnacle for any wrestler. I cried, and not because we lost the match. I cried because I was so proud. I am proud of my husband for all the hard work he puts in, and so proud of Jon, his 197 lb wrestler, who has worked his tail off for years to get to this point. I cried because I wasn’t there. I cried because I wanted Cub to know what was going on and get as excited as I was, but instead he wanted to watch The Incredibles (Ok, fine.)

Wrestling season is over. That doesn’t mean I will get to see my husband a ton more, but any few minutes in the day it spares makes me a happy wife.

Charles Henley, I am so proud of you and the lessons and knowledge you instill in the minds of your athletes. No one works harder than you to make these young men great wrestlers and great people. And you still make time for Cub, Lucy, Milton, Rock and me. We love you and are so excited for you to come home tomorrow.

Count Your Blessings

I’m not a religious person. I never have been, and I can pretty much guarantee after our latest trial and tribulation, I never will be. But I do believe in being blessed. Whoever, or whatever, you think blesses you is one thing. I tend to think that your character determines your experiences, hence giving you blessings or challenges to overcome. Some are one in the same. That is the situation Chas and I currently find ourselves in.

Two weeks ago, we were on top of the world. I was 13 weeks pregnant with Baby T #2, who we saw squirm and wiggle in my belly just a few days earlier. After hearing the heartbeat and seeing that little baby move, I actually said out loud, “I am so in trouble! I can’t have a baby that moves more than the one I already have!” But that seemed to be the case. The baby crossed it’s legs, straightened all the way out, and did quarter turns in my uterus throughout the entire ultrasound. We went home thrilled. Thrilled that we could give Cub a sibling, and excited that summer would bring a new member to the family.

Even better about this whole situation, we were getting ready to head to Ohio to see all my family, and couldn’t wait to share the good news. My doctor had said that once you hear that heartbeat at 12 weeks there is only a 3% chance of miscarriage, which makes any mother’s heart leap for joy. We went to Ohio and told everyone that would stand to listen to us. I was fortunate enough to be inducted into my high school’s athletic hall of fame as well, so many family friends surrounded us over our few short days home. We were on cloud nine.

On our way home, I received a call saying that the Radiologist had seen something a little strange on the ultrasound, and they thought it best for me to head 3 hours away to Wichita and have a fetal specialist take a look. Knowing how much that baby was moving, I agreed, assuming that they just didn’t get a good enough look because of the the movement. Boy was I wrong…

Chas is in the middle of his wrestling season, so getting away for anything this time of year is really hard for him. Not thinking this was much to worry about, I had decided to go alone to my appointment. But at the last minute, my mom decided to drive out the day before and attend with me. I told her not to, because it was at least 12 hours each way for her, but she insisted, and I was secretly SOOOOOO happy. We stayed in a hotel the night before and got up early the next day. After packing up, we decided to go get some donuts, and sat down with a half dozen, splitting them all and picking out our favorites.

I signed in at the doctor’s office, filled out years of paperwork, and waited to be called back. I was excited to have another ultrasound and see that little baby move again. They eventually came and got us, but to my dismay, a nurse decided to take my entire history during the actual ultrasound. When she was done, which seemed mighty quick, I left feeling dissatisfied, like I had been robbed of the chance to see my baby because of the millions of questions I spent the entire time answering. The nurse escorted us to a room, and we proceeded to wait for the doctor to come in, which took almost an hour. Yes, a full hour.

Dr. Margaret O’Hara came into the room looking serious but soft, and immediately indicated that she didn’t have great news for us and was glad my mom had come with me. She proceeded to tell us that the fluid the radiologist had see on our baby’s spine in the first ultrasound was actually a disease called Cystic Hygroma. I won’t bore you with the details, but in many cases it resolves itself, but can sometimes be associated with a genetic disease like Turner’s or Downs Syndrome. My mind raced a little, but this was my baby she was talking about, and I knew in my heart we would be able to handle any issues that came our way.

Dr. O’Hara then said 2 words I will never forget- Hydrops Fetalis. She explained that some babies with Cystic Hygroma develop Fetal Hydrops, which causes fluid build up around organs like the heart, which is what happened to our little baby, causing it’s heart to stop, robbing us of ever being able to hug, cuddle or love on our 2nd little baby. I can’t explain to you how that moment felt. It’s unexplainable. I never want to remember it, but I know I will never be able to forget it. We had just seen that baby move a few days earlier.

Along with all this came a surgery last week, lots of heart ache and grieving, and a LOT of blessing counting. I am so happy that Chas and I got to see that little baby the week before, moving and showing off just for us. While we aren’t lucky enough to ever get to hold our sweet little Quinn, it makes me hold my Cubby so much tighter. It has made our marriage stronger, and I think we both see our family and future in a different light now.

I want to and don’t want to forget what has happened, and that is my reason for documenting it here on my blog. This is a really important part of my life now, and while it won’t define me, or us as a couple, the impact it has had, and will have, is tremendous.

Hug your babies a little tighter. Remember to cherish the small moments, and never take for granted the opportunities that you are given.

The day after that doctor’s visit, Chas had a home dual that I decided to attend, but hide high up in the coliseum. On my way to the dual, I thought about naming our baby. We heard that heartbeat and saw that baby dance, and it just seemed appropriate. I heard this song, and it pretty much sealed the deal. In honor of our Mighty little Quinn Lavelle, I hope you take a few minutes to listen.

2017: Expectations, Hopes and Goals

Happy New Year!

While I certainly wasn’t up at midnight my time, I did manage to make it to midnight Eastern Time while I was finishing a riveting episode of Dateline. I can’t tell you the last time I actually rang in the new year, or even a new day for that matter, at midnight. I am quite often awake at 1:30, 3:30, 4:30 and 5:30, as those seem to be Cub’s preferred times to start screaming and send me from dead sleep to complete and udder panic.

I normally write a pre-new year’s eve post where I outline my challenges for the coming year. I decided not to do that this year. I always have high hopes starting a new year, as I do this year, but I undoubtedly disappoint myself by not being able to keep up with my aggressive challenges.

So this year, I have decided to do something a little different. I have one resolution/goal, items that I would like to accomplish but am not going to kills myself over, then I hope to have a number of smaller goals for a month at a time.

For my Resolution/Goal: To be a better mom. I am an ok mom, but there are so many times of my day where I put Cub on the back burner so I can just do one more work thing, or start dinner, or get that load of laundry in. Honestly, it can all wait, because he deserves every bit of my attention, and in 2017, I am going to do my best to give it to him.

For my smaller items I would like to accomplish: I have wanted to get this plank wall done in my living room since we moved it. I also would love to organize my storage room, write more, and organize my pantry. All in good time…

My January Goal: I want to walk Lucy more. She has so much energy, and deserves a good walk every day, and some days, I just send her in the back yard with Milton to play for a while. She’s getting a walk today, and hopefully many more days this month.

I wish you all good and happy things in 2017. The Thompson’s have big plans on the horizon, and I am excited to reveal those to you in the days to come.

The State of the Thompsons

It is a big day here at the Thompson house!

  1. I already have our Halloween decorations down! YAY!
  2. Cub is at daycare, meaning I had time to take the decorations down without tripping over a sippy cup.
  3. I put creamer in my coffee. That’s right folks! Living large today!

Ok, really, I know those are non-important things that you don’t care about, but my point is that we are status quo here at the Thompson compound, and I  couldn’t be happier about it. Chas’s season starts on Thursday, and being at status quo going into that is an accomplishment with a 16 month old. Oh by the way, he thinks he is two and throws temper tantrums like it as well. In fact, I took him to school this morning, and before I could even walk out of the room, he hit his teacher. I bolted like I was on fire. I already suspect that they don’t like him there, simply because I spend half of my day not liking him some days.

My goal for November is to work towards a more regular week so that I can get more done. I spent last night creating an hour by hour list of how my day was going to go, and I am happy to report that in hour 3 of the day we are on schedule. Yes! The whole motivation for trying to start November differently is that I have some big personal goals in mind that I want to have time to work on. I recently went to a conference where the hashtag #StayHungry was used. I really like that hashtag for multiple reasons:

  1. I am always hungry, or hangry.
  2. It’s certainly motivating.
  3. It gave me something to write on my white board instead of a grocery list that consisted of diapers, toothpaste, and paper towels, all of which I finally just subscribed to on Amazon because I forgot every time I went to the grocery.

While I would like to continue to tell you about what I have in mind, I am on a schedule, and with only 4 minutes left in my “writing a blog post ans drinking coffee hour”, I have to wrap this puppy up.

I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween and a great start to November!

A lovely weekend and a lucky girl

Can I brag a little bit? Who am I kidding? OF COURSE I CAN! This is MY blog!

This weekend I had the opportunity to go back to my first Kansas home down in Parsons. My father-in-law, a long-time College Wrestling Coach and mentor, got inducted in the Labette Community College Athletic Hall of Fame. And to be perfectly honest, he should be enshrined in a bronze statue out front. That place would be nothing without his contributions.

It was incredible to see the wrestlers that came back to show their support for him and the wrestling program. He touched so many lives throughout his coaching career, and I believe it is probably safe to say that Kansas wrestling would not be what it is today if it wasn’t for Coach T. If there was a wrestling genealogy chart for the state, Jody would be at the very top with all the little lines stemming from him.

The best part is that in his actual genealogy, I get to be one of those little lines. Even though I am just married in, my son has his blood coursing through his veins, and that drive, passion and heritage will undoubtedly get passed along to him, as it has my husband. In terms of role models, I couldn’t have found a better one to lead my family. Between him and my own father, the amount of drive, pride, accomplishments, and dedication that have gone into their life endeavors is truly tremendous.

I am a very lucky girl, and this weekend proved that to me once again.