Wednesday
9:00 pm – called the doctor
11:00pm – admitted to the hospital

Thursday
1:00  am – text my good friend Julie who was also being admitted that day to have her baby
8:00 am – met with doctor, she told me…”You’re having your baby today”
2:07 pm – deliverd Cole David Hargrave

It was a fast, scary miracle, but we are full of peace waiting for our son to come home.

Part of his lung was not quite developed, so they had to put him on oxogen for about 24 hours.  He had to be feed with an IV, and his heart was being monitored.  All of this sounds (and it looked) very scary, but we had great doctors who always gave us hope and comfort.  So, believe it or not, Ryan and I have had a lot of peace.  Not to mention the vast amout of friends and family who were praying fervently for us.

So, as of now we wait.  Wait for our little guy to come home.  He is being treated for Jaundice (almost gone) and has lost some weight, and he hasn’t quite got the knack for eating.  But, all of that seems to be getting better every day.  So, I go to the hospital about every three hours and hold him if I can, talk to him and tell him about all the things we are going to do.

Thanks again for all the love, it has been amazing and we feel it.

Christy

So, as I sit and feel this new little guy and think about doing it all over again, it gets me kinda scared.  Am I a good mom?  Should I be having children?  Am I going to have rebellious children.  And then, one day…out of nowhere, my son says to me,  “I love you mom, thanks for playing with me.”  And then I remembered the verse from Proverbs…”Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn form it.”  It hit me like a ton of bricks.  I have been trying to control him, not train him.  I wasn’t giving him a reason to obey.  I was just expecting him to.

So, my lesson was easy.  Relax, keep doing what your doing.  And, tell myself what my parents always used to tell me:  That, discipline means freedom.

I’ll let you know how he turns out in 20 years.

This year, as always I asked him if he would go with me to visit Santa?  Yes, he said.  Will you sit on his lap?  And to my surprise the answer was, “Yes”.  I was thrilled.

So, I throw on his best red shirt and jeans (because my child has no vests, thank you very much) and headed to the mall.

We arrived to the Santa Place and I began to see my little man getting a little apprehensive.  I got down on my knees and told him he didn’t have to do it if he didn’t want to.  I told him I just wanted a picture, but I understood if he just simply wanted to look at him.  I held his little chin in my hand and said, it’s just for me honey, but I’m not going to make you do anything you don’t want to.  He looked up at me and said, “OK mom, I won’t say anything to him, I will just take my picture for you.”

I’m so proud of my little guy!

And of course I had to reward my brave boy with the messiest cookie ever!

Mile 1 – This is going to be the best Marathon ever!

Mile 2 – I should do the Iron Man!

Mile 3 – Gotta pass that skinny girl in the red.

Mile 4 – I’m totally going to beat last year’s time.

Mile 5 – How can that man smell so bad already?!

Mile 6 – Where is Ryan?

Mile 7 – What did that shirt say?

Mile 8 – Someone just won?!?!

Mile 9 – What time is it?

Mile 10 – Where is the pace setter?

Mile 11 – I think their clocks are wrong.

Mile 12 – I’m totally fine with not beating last year’s time.

Mile 13 – Half way, man my legs feel strong.

Mile 14 – How did that skinny girl in the red just pass me?

Mile 15 – I’m hungry.

Mile 16 – Look how weird that girl runs.

Mile 17 – I’m bored.

Mile 18 – I’m hot.

Mile 19 – I shouldn’t have eaten that power bar.

Mile 20 – My legs hurt.

Mile 21 – My ankles hurt.

Mile 22 – That girl just said, “Only four more miles”  She needs to shut up.

Mile 23 – I can’t do this anymore.

Mile 24 – Oh my good Lord.

Mile 25 – I just need to stop for a second.

Mile 26 – Oh I see balloons.

.2 – I think I’m going to cry.

20 miles of Hope…6.2 miles of Truth.

Run a marathon, it will change your life.

A lot of people know that I like to run.  I’m not very fast and I don’t call myself an athlete, I just like it.  When discussing this topic with many folks, I get a plethora of responses.  Here are my favorites:

“You mean you run all those miles at one time?”

“I don’t run unless someone is chasing me” followed by their own laughter.

“You running from the law?”

“How many miles is this marathon?”

“I hate to run”

The thing about running is that it is never really easy.  Every Saturday morning I have to talk myself into it.  It’s not the getting up early that’s a problem, it’s knowing what I am about to face.  The heat…and not just any heat…Texas humid wet oven heat.  The chaffing, oh my, if you don’t know what that is, trust me you don’t want to know.  The aches allllll over. I usually get some knee pains, followed by ankle pain, then the burning in my thighs and hamstrings, followed by the crazy tightening of the back…but I keep going.

I do, however get to watch the sun rise on some mornings, and experience running through patches of fog, seeing the deer, rabbits, and turtles all come to life as I run by them.  I love being the only one on the streets and hearing absolutely nothing except for the sound of my breathing.  Sometimes I even ask myself why, why in the world am I doing this?  Why am I going to bed early on a Friday night, leaving my family for hours on Saturday morning for this torture.  The only answer I can come up with is, the feeling I get when it’s over.  It is the best feeling of accomplishment ever.  Putting my mind to something and losing myself to get there.  It truly is the epitome of hope.  I love it.

Running is a big question mark that’s there each and every day. It asks you, ‘Are you going to be a wimp or are you going to be strong today?’
Peter Maher, Irish-Canadian Olympian and Sub-2:12 marathoner

This is my kinda vacation.