THE COUNTDOWN CONTINUES AFTER DAY 3 & 2.....

My Mom, Karli and Chandler got in Friday night and Saturday morning we headed to the kids horse show. It was an incredibly hot day but they did great once again. Raelynn placed 2nd again and is doing so well. Coop had to use a different saddle and kept sliding out of it. I was about to panic several times and could not be more pleased when it was over. Unfortunately, he didn't place this time but all the kids got to pick a prize so he had not idea and was still super happy to have gotten to ride a horse. Today we started the day bright and early out at the Ironman. This year since Mom and Karli were here we decided to take the kids out too knowing that Mom could take them home mid morning. To our surprise they were a huge help. Raelynn filled water cups, helped get them to us so we could hand them off to the runners and picked up trash. Cooper stood on a cooler and actually filled water cups for a long time! Both kids were amazing. They stayed back from the road and did just what they were told and more. I was very proud of them. We left home about 7:45am and they stayed out there until around 1 pm when little Miss Raelynn got very hungry. She informed me her stomach was eating itself so I figured it was time for them to head home. We had a great time again this year. This is one event I could do over and over again. The athletes are so inspirational. Our good friend Kelly was part of a relay, she of course did the running leg. She does it with such ease it always amazes me. She too is an inspiration and I am always so proud of her. The whole day is humbling and make my complaints about my 4 to 5 mile runs seem so ridiculous!

So here it is, Sunday night, tomorrow is pre op and then Tuesday is the big day. I have found my self on verge of tears several times today when I have hugged Coop, or kissed him, or played with him, or even given him a drink. This is going to be hard. We have been building towards this for over a year and I keep thinking when the time comes I will be ready but here we are one day away and still, I am not ready! I will be though......for Cooper!

4 DAYS AND COUNTING................

Today they kids spent the day with their friends Kaden and Brooks and their Mommy, Kelly! They even got to spend time with Kaden and Brook's Grandma and I am telling you they had a great time! They were completely exhausted again tonight. I am getting kind of use to this easy bedtime thing. My kids have always been easy to put to bed but the last few nights Raelynn has asked us if she could go to bed :) Thank you Kelly so much for taking care of them today!!!

I almost got everything wrapped up at work but of course got slammed at 3pm so will have to go in sometime this weekend and finish up. As I left work tonight I felt sick to my stomach as I realized we are almost there, almost to surgery time. I began to think in my mind how I was not ready for this. I quickly put those thoughts to bed and am just glad that we are very busy this weekend so I will not have time to think of all the things that will transpire over the next month.

I think Raelynn is thinking about it too. I walked in her room and she was sitting on the edge of her bed just looking at this framed picture she had gotten from her daycare. I asked her what she was doing and she says, "I was just looking at this picture and thinking back to when I was just 4 not 4 1/2. Remember those little shoes I had then...they were my favorite but now they are way too small." Now I was trying hard not to crack up. She continues...."I don't know if I want to keep growing up, I liked it back then." I reminded her of all the great things she gets to do now that she is almost 5 that she didn't get to do when she was just 4 like make her own eggs and take a shower all by herself and read to Cooper and on and on and on. She seemed to feel much better then and back to her happy self. As she ran out of her room she ran past Cooper and then stopped and gave him a hug and kiss and said, I love you Boo! and then she was off.

Today Aunt Bonnie forwarded me some pics from yesterday's visit to the zoo.....

5 DAYS AND COUNTING.........

Today was an enjoyable day for everyone, I think.....

The kids had their last day at camp and then Aunt Bonnie picked them up for a surprise trip to the zoo. They had soooo much fun! All I heard about was the Choo Choo Train and Carasole (sp?) and Zebra Tigers and on and on and on. It was a great day for them. After the zoo, Aunt Bonnie let Raelynn make these incredible cookies. I love that they bake together but wish she did not send them home with Raelynn. These are the most amazing cookies and impossible for me to resist! While the kids were having fun I actually got a lunch hour so I treated myself to a pedicure. I know completely unnecessary but extremely enjoyable. After work I picked the kids up we all headed to get out hair cut. The kids like this as well and I love how cute Demetria makes them look with fresh cuts. Terry came by and picked up the kids while I got my hair done. I got home in time to help put them to bed which did not take long since they were exhausted.

Tomorrow the kids are with Kelly so will have another fun day! The days seem to be going by way too fast. Although, I did just finish up my last major project from work and just have a handful or two of things to wrap up tomorrow. I thought Friday would never get here but now can't believe it is already here!

THE COUNTDOWN CONTINUES......

So I guess if I am doing a countdown I should have started with "7 Days and Counting" yesterday instead of Day 1.........so............

6 Days and Counting

Today we spent the afternoon at doctors for pre op appointments. First we visited Dr. Kelley. Coop weighed in at 24lbs, yea! and 33.25". He is now in the 3% for height and 2% for weight. He is on the charts in both categories!!!! Everything checked out great there and Dr. Kelley cleared us for surgery. Then it was off to Dr. Green to check his eyes. His vision is not necessarily improving on the left eye like we had hoped and we are compromising his depth perception by continuing to patch. Therefore, Dr. Green has decided that we will take a break from patching for now. We will visit her again in August and we will decide what we will do from there. Coop will be thrilled that the patching is over. He has handled it very well but his skin is getting sore and he just knows he can see better when it is not patched. Stopping the patching for now will also just be one less things we have to worry about during recovery so I was good for that.

I am finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel at work and am hoping by the time I get done tonight I will be even closer to feeling like I have everything ready to be gone for awhile. I will be at work all day for the next couple of days with no doctors appointments to interrupt so that should help greatly too. I called my Mom this afternoon just to see if she was feeling as stressed out as I was since she too has to prepare to be away from home and work for an unknown amount of time too. She assured me she did so I guess I took comfort in knowing I was not alone, Thanks Mom! :) I did get done with doctors appointments and the pharmacy just in time to drop the kids off with Terry and be only a few minutes late to my tee time. This is the last week I will get to play in our golf league for awhile and even though I stink, I enjoyed the time to just relax and not worry about the million things I have going on in my head.

As for the kids they are doing great. Raelynn has been making me laugh with her increased maturity and willingness to help with whatever I need. Her new word is "lovely". I asked her how her bath was and she replied, "Lovely!" I was rolling with laughter so of course now she uses it whenever appropriate just to make me smile. She also has kept me busy brushing up on my Shakespeare. It seems that a Taylor Swift song that she loves references Romeo and Juliet. Of course my daughter can't just listen to a song she has to understand what they are saying.....she gets this from her Father! So anyway, in order to fully understand the song she wanted to know the story of Romeo and Juliet. I went online and briefed it as a reminder and then gave her a shorter version leaving out all the death stuff and inappropriate to a 4 year old material. She understood completely and now after listening to the song 1200 times in a row is explaining it to me. She also asked me about the Scarlet Letter but I told her we would talk more about that when she got a little older and that she knew enough now to appreciate the song. She is such and analyzer! She also informed me that the song "The Climb" by Miley Cyrus is really not about climbing a mountain at all. I asked her how she came up with this and she said, "I watched the Hannah Montana movie." Oh well how stupid of me, I should have known! Really???!!!! Is a 4 year old suppose to be able to analyze things like this? Anyway, regardless, she is an amazing little girl. Tonight I called home after golfing to see if I could stop at the store. I talked to Raelynn and asked her if we needed anything, she replied, "let me check". She then opened the fridge and proceeded to tell me how much milk and OJ we still had, that we were about out of peanut butter, there was only the bread in the fridge but none left in the freezer and that we were out of yogurt. Well who needs to make a grocery list!

Coop is equally as amazing. He is so darn cute and loves everything. He is just plain happy and ornery. He is loving the camp at the gymnastics academy and continues to melt everyones heart. He and Raelynn are the best of buds most of the time and he seems busier every day. He also is starting to have his own opinion about things which does not always sit well with Raelynn but I love to see him developing his own perspective on things. I cannot help but give him a little longer of a kiss on his forehead every night before I go to bed.

Well I better finish up and get to bed....only 4 hours until the alarm sounds again! I love my life!!! Really I do!!!!

THE COUNTDOWN HAS BEGAN..........

Today started the countdown to Coop's surgery. At this rate I will never be ready!!!

DAY 1
Up at 4:15a.m. -- Failed, Coop shut off the alarm yesterday when playing with my phone. Woke up at 5:37 a.m. instead! Not a good start!

Dentist Appt for Crown 7:30 a.m. -- Check

Back to work 10:45 a.m. -- Check

Pick up kids from summer camp and take to Jan's 12 p.m. -- Check

Back to work 12:30 p.m. -- Check

Pick kids up from Jan's 5:30 p.m. -- Check

LAC's Summer Blast Kick Off 5:30 p.m. -- Check (but a little late)

Home for dinner, baths, time together, medicines, bedtime snacks, story and bedtime 7-9p.m. -- Check

Start working on foundation, bills and catch up on work that I am behind on 9 to 11:30 p.m. -- still working on it just looking for my second wind!

So for the most part Day 1 down, 6 more to go! The kids had a great time at camp and loved being at Jan's and playing with their friend Emma. They were exhausted tonight and were actually asking to go to bed. Oh to be little again :)