wearing

i love the Pleated Poppy What I wore Wednesday posts. 

Love them.  

Every week I think- I'll take some pictures this week! I'll post! I'll link up :-)

Pictures of myself usually wind up making me feel like this

a little bit crazy :-) 

I start with good intentions... and a toy filled room

and an adorable daughter:-)

 and it quickly escalates to this

:-)moma momma mooooooooommmmmaaaaaa

Every day I wear a black shirt of some kind and a dark pair of trousers or skirt.  work.  

most days after work I look something like this

blurry and sweaty and what not- Love the Old Navy workout gear! 

This week so far I've done Zumba once, P90X once, butts and guts once, and taken a walk- not BAD at ALL :-) 

life has been full of sweet- and i'm focused again on finding it! here are a few of my favorites from ye olde Pinterest -

yes- my Abraham obsession is showing! 

and a gentle reminder to my self-

  

xo 

go on girl!

HA-Ppy Monday :-)

or whatever <---- don't get surly on me just because I have a vanilla chai latte sitting here at my elbow while I type, and it makes me all giddy and smiley and positively positive. ahhhhh

We are just a few days home from our annual Michigan trip ( crazy grammar, going with it).
I miss the beach.  

I miss the wake up, lazy breakfast, beach.... beach.  

Bo- non stop!!! he chased seagulls, built trenches,  shot his bow and arrow at fish/weeds/sandpiles... swam, swam, swam!!

Baby girl- all about the water, the dunes, the BIRDS!!! She tried her best to fill that lake back up with sand, one scoop at a time :-) 

Big Boy in his happy place.  Water for days- pouring and scooping, snack, repeat.  sugar.  

 

now don't be thinking it was a warm tropical vacation... it was COLD!!! really cold.  So yeah, sometimes the husband and I wore our sweats... while our kids frolicked in the water- OY!! they went down fully clothed, there just was NO way on God's green earth that they were staying out of the water!!   Polar Bear Club members in the making :-)

We took advantage of the cooler weather and roasted s'mores in our fireplace most every night. and we ate a LOT of ice cream.  I think our final count was 15 different flavors that we had tried throughout the trip- NOM!! My favorite was possibly utter-nutsense- a rich dark chocolate with chocolate covered pecans.  Or maybe it was CowCoNut!! Coconut ice cream with pecan pieces.... or maybe the aMOOse-mint- mint ice cream with chocolate covered mini reeces cups!! oh baby! 

Always good to go, always good to come home

(it's a periscope :-))

swinging machine! 

so happy to be back amongst her plants.  

xo

here

 here and gone.  

most of the time, whether I'm blogging or not, we roll from day to day- Ups and downs all part of the flow.  

Focusing on the positive. 

 Every once in a while this life seems far too big, far too overwhelming, far too full of GRIEF to attempt to sit and type happily away- la dah di, la dah dum.  Unless you lived inside my head (or, bless his heart, you are the husband who has no choice in the matter and has to hear it ALL) , I don't imagine you'd ever know it. I work pretty hard at keeping upbeat and happy.  a smile on my face and a soft, easy voice.  

 so.  

 so I go MIA from what I can... real life never, cyber life yes indeed! 

Then, when I'm ready, when I can stop 'just surviving' and move forward... I come  back to the blog.  

I'm happy to say I kept exercising :-)  and eating ice cream :-) and that we raised a BOAT LOAD of Fragile X Awareness!! 

over 250 people that we knew wore green on July 22nd in Honor and Support of Abraham !!!! 250!!! 2 different High school football teams and their coaching staffs, ER Nurses and support personal,  Students and Teachers at the elementary school, Nursing Students, Families ALL OVER the WORLD!!! it was amazing :-) 

my Zumba group! 

a collage that my sweet friend put together of the last 30 that she saw :-) 

my brother :-)  someday I'll squat like that... not with that much weight, for pete's sake, but like... i'll squat :-) 

the husband and his football team- see Bodie?? 

our family :-)  

If I had to summarize FX in just a few short phrases, I think I'd like you to know that it's caused by an unstable repeat on the X Chromosome of the DNA building blocks CGG.  This shuts of production of the FMR1 protein... and this affects EVERYTHING- gross motor, fine motor, speech and language, cognition, sensory processing, connective tissues, anxiety regulation... EVERYTHING.  Some people are really affected.  Some are not.  My Abe is really, truly, seriously affected.  No words- no consonants.  high motor- high anxiety. moving, flapping, rocking, twirling.  FX is the leading known genetic cause of autism.  FX is genetic... I'm a carrier.  I have a pre-mutation of this unstable repeat on my X chromosome, and in each generation it expands.  I have 89 repeats- Abe has over 200- anything over 200 repeats of the CGG repeats without  *** new information!!!*** AGG repeats leads to  Fragile X.  I have 2 X chromosomes- one affected, one not.  Abe received my affected X, Bodie received my unaffected X.  No one in my family knew about FX until we received Abe's diagnosis.  

crazy business.  

so, lovey lovies.  pardon the disappearance- it'll most likely happen again, but that's ok because

 ---->

thankgoodness :-) 

xo 

linking up with Molly  for Funday Monday 

Day 9....weak sauce

alright- I admit it!! I worked out exactly long enough to burn 100 calories- approximately 12 minutes, then I QUIT. and ate ice cream.  and cleaned.  and rocked my baby to sleep. 

my oldest baby :-) 

I think the flash from the first pic startled him and he jumped a bit!  sweetest Abraham in the whole world.  

Life happens.  Not done, not quitting. just not the best night for sweat.  

oh my goodness do I LOVE this picture :-)  

have a great night and see you TOMORROW! 

Day 9- zuuuUUUUuuUUUUUUUmmmmmmmbaaaAAAAAAAAaaaaaaa and a Harness ?!?

Busy, Busy day!  I headed up to Rush University to take part in a Carrier study at RUSH University Medical center.  I completed balance, motor, muscle memory, gait, and vestibular testing.  Fun times :-) These studies... I will forever do them.  They stress me out like nobodies business.  It's that type A sneaking out.... Here I am, doing activities, that because of my genetic sequence, are designed to be difficult.... I won't be able to get every.single.thing. right.  They are designed to poke and prod at my weak areas.  clearly, I've not yet learned to let go of the fear of failing.  

Totally Glamorous, right???? 

anything at all that will help the medical community understand and treat Fragile X and it's related disorders!    

so that's what I'm doing.  I'm choosing to focus on why I'm doing this- my Abraham, my mom, my sweet friends and their amazing FX babies, my self.  

This.  the day before.... I start to rev up.  I start to let the stress and anger and grief of the diagnosis flow over into my stress regarding the upcoming appointment/study/blood draw/therapy.  I let it fill me with thoughts about all that is hard.  pthttthbbbthhhhhh. 

This challenge has helped me let go of that stress and anger by using !!!exercise!!!! to move on.  

Blurry, sweaty, tomato pictures!!! 

1. Sweat time 60 minutes, Calories burned: 648!! 

I'm  choosing to focus on the sweet.  the amazing.  the good.  

xo

Day 8- move

Holla back, now! 

Day 8 is in the books- Sweat time of 32 minutes of run/walk + 10 minutes of vigorous hose hauling and flower water... yep :-) = 42 minutes total with a   Caloric burn of 441!  

so I love to shop <----- not a shocker.  and I really love to shop for shoes. athletic shoes, specifically :-) 

Here are a few that I'm eyeing, in a 'no i'm not really shopping for new shoes but if i should happen to need a gift for, oh say, Labor day or Columbus day, or Tuesday, these would be what I might like :-) 

ASICS GEL-Kayano 19™

or 

ASICS GEL-Noosa Tri™ 8

Asics Gel Noosa Tri-7

Clearly, I love staid single-color tenny's :-) The Gel Noosa 7's glow in the dark!!! 

 i guess I'm on a mission to be as truthful as possible in cyberspace... that glazed over, sweaty, zitty, babies head in the armpit look is reaaaaalllly gorgeous, no??? 

Found this on Pinterst tonight... 

REALLY???? Honest Abraham Lincoln said 'Hustle'???? bahahahahaha :-)  I think not!

go make it sweet, friends. 

xo 

Day 7- you, yourself.

I learned a little bit about Yoga, and chased a whole lot of kids today :-) 

my workout came from Pinterest-

this guy was fun to watch ... he was all calm and easy with these dogs and babies and 'sweep the leg's while i was sweaty and huffing and puffing and falling over :-) 

1. Time: 20 min total. The above workout and a bit of a second video that was so relaxing it put me to sleep.  waaaaaaaay more sweat than i thought I would generate <----- clearly, a yoga newbie.  

My daughter is teaching me more about what it means to be yourself....  You want to sit in the hostas with your raquet?? go do it! 

you want to fall asleep with your tutu on? More Power to ya, sister! 

Headdress???

gorgeous princess girl.  

I hope you all have a happy Sunday!

Here's to week 2!!! 

Day 6- quick, quick

as it's already technically day 7, just a quick check in to keep myself accountable! 

another perfect day for the pool! these babies and their LONG legs!!! look closely and you'll see the husband working hard for that eye-contact! a bit blurry... we can't slow down enough for these pictures, momma!!

purchased some new workout gear from old navy...yep. shopaholic. but it's on SALE!!!! big time. and it makes me want to workout <----- i'm pretty sure that's a sign i have a problem :-) oy.  

such a day in the backyard and at the replex that middle man fell asleep!!!! on the couch!!!! in the early evening!!!!! no way. such a beautiful boy, my Bode.  

then I woke him back up and made him race me around the yard- wind sprints to the neighbors twirly slide and back!! not ashamed to admit he beat me every time. eeeeeeevvvvveryyyy time!!!  love, love, love this boy!   That's my pouty face... 

Statistics for today

1. Sweat time- playing outside with kids, sprints, squats while swinging, leg lifts while bubble blowing + this crazy good at home circuit workout! 

50 minute total, 441 calories burned! not bad for a 'sweating between the bathroom, wasp smashing, drink fixing' sort of thing!!! 

so thankful for what i've got.  Gotta leave you with a little Pinterest Love

we each have our road to travel ( not always in a sunshine little VW bus, though that would be nice :-)) every day, get better. 

source.com

I have a serious thing for Abraham Lincoln.  really, For Abe's in general :-)  This man, his brain and sense of humor just make him obnoxiously beautiful!  

see you on day 7!