March 2019 – Kelsey's Kaleidoscope

Ten Lessons

Ten years ago today our lives changed forever as we welcomed a beautiful baby boy into the world. Ten years, a decade, has passed in the blink of an eye. Lessons have been learned abundantly through the years. These stand out as the ten most important:

Life changes. Thomas Rhett sings the lyrics well. Take each day as it passes. Some days you will yell, some days you will cry, some days you celebrate, and no two days are the same. Celebrate today and take the ups and downs as they come. From diapers to puberty questions, life changes. Embrace it all.
Family is everything. We have not been strangers to challenges, nor triumphs. At the end of the day, our family is there. No questions asked.
Laugh. Anxiety can build at any age. We rush to say, you’re young, enjoy yourself. Kids can be complicated and challenging. Laugh with them and listen to them.
Be present. Put the phone down and listen to your children. Play with them and let them know you are there for their stories, big and small.
Show up. We do not recall each game or event our parents attended but seeing the way our children’s eyes find us on the field let’s us know they are watching. They know we are watching them. Win or lose, we show up and we celebrate their effort either way.
Make the milestones memorable. We missed our child’s first Christmas because she was hospitalized. Since then, we enjoy every celebratory milestone and make some traditions up to celebrate just because… Missing one makes each one to follow more important to remember and cherish.
Don’t be so hard on yourself. We all make mistakes. Get back up and be vulnerable. To your children, you are still the best.
Be grateful. We are grateful for all we have and want our kids to look on the bright side, strive to be the best version of themselves, and celebrate their natural talents and strengths.
Capture the moments. Traveling through ten years in photos makes it all seem more surreal (& real!). Technology has made it easier today than it was ten years ago to capture the moments with clarity for today, tomorrow, and the future.
Don’t Blink. Kenny Chesney’s words bring a tear to my eye because ten years have gone by in a blink.

Here is to listening, loving, and savoring the moments. Happy birthday to our baby boy.

Salt

Experimenting is a new favorite past-time for Kelsey. She is either baking with chocolate, making slime, mixing pantry products, or combining kitchen ingredients for a variety of fun and curious reasons.

A recent day of baking and cooking led to some interesting conclusions from our persnickety girl.

Today’s ice cream sandwiches smelled delicious until they were ready to taste. The amount of salt was difficult to stomach, and we realized our error with the butter after a review of ingredients.

Dinner was the opposite. The taste seemed to be missing something. It was, most obvious to our connoisseur, salt.

Later that night, she equated our salt disparity today to her medication recently. “I guess I’m like a recipe the doctors are trying to figure out,” she pondered.

And continued, “some think they have the right medicine and doses, but it is missing something. I hope they figure out the salt for me soon.”

As do we.

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To support our salt intake and enjoy a fun event, consider attending our inaugural golf outing:

INAUGURAL GOLF OUTING

International Women’s Day

To celebrate International Women’s Day and Women’s History month, Kels worked on a project at home.

Together, we colored and read about a few special women. Then laundry and chores consumed our Saturday.

A few hours later, the page was more closely examined and revealed the following:

When asked why she added herself, the answer was simple and direct, “there was an empty box for me to use even though I’m still writing my story.”

Smart girl.

Here’s to strong woman- May we know them, may be be them, may we raise them.

To all the woman still writing their stories, those who fight battles every day and still strive to be the best versions of themselves, we acknowledge you and wish you Happy International Women’s Day (a few days late).

Oh, the Places…

Oh, the Places You’ll Go! is a family favorite. Recently, while reading aloud before bed in anticipation of Dr. Seuss’s birthday, we thought, not only of all the places we hope our children will go. However, we also considered Oh, the Places We’ve Been…

You’re off to Rare Places!
You’re off and away! (Like it or not)

You have genes in your body.
and a rare disease to face
You steer yourself
in directions you don’t choose

You’ll look up and down google. Look it over with care.
About some you will say, “I don’t want to click there.”
With your legs full of scars and your joints full of pain,
you wish for the smartest to keep you all sane.

And you may not find any
who’ll want to treat you.
Rare can scare doctors
Rare means something new.

OH!
THE PLACES YOU’VE GONE!

You’ve been admitted and poked!
You’ve had labs and IV frights!
You’ve transfused Christmas Eve right through midnight.

Sometimes, you’ve lagged behind, because you’ve lacked the speed.
You’ve cried with the gang and hoped for a new lead.
Wherever you’ve traveled, you’ve wanted the best of the best.
Wherever you’ve gone, you sometimes just want to rest.

I’m sorry to say so
but, sadly, it’s true
that Hang-ups and Bang-ups
have happened to you.

You’ve had some unpleasant bumps.
And you’ve been in a Slump.

And when you’re in a Slump,
you’re not in for much fun.
Un-slumping yourself
is not easily done.

You have been to a place where the docs are not sure.
Some think to test this way and others want to treat that.
A place you could biopsy your groin or your chin! Thigh or ankle, please carefully pick.

Simple it’s not, I’m afraid you will find,
for some med-maker-uppers to make up their minds.

Sometimes you move toward a most useless place.
The Waiting Place…

…for people just waiting.
Waiting for a call to come
or a lab to process
or waiting around for a Yes or a No
or the results to show.
Everyone is just waiting.

Oh, the places you’ve been!
But on you will go
though the needles be foul
On you will go
though your vessels may prowl
On you will go
though the dosage is due
Onward up many
a frightening path, too
though your legs may get sore
and your body feels weak.

So be sure when you step.
Step with care and great tact
and remember that Life’s
a Great Balancing Act.
Just never forget to positively think.
And never mix up your white pills with your pink.

So…
be your name Kelsey or Maggie or Hallie
or Trey Ali Vanessa Anna Maria,
you’re off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Show your stripes and get on your way!