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MY LIFE AS I LIVE IT

I'm a single mom with two great kids living near Dallas, Texas. This is my life; day to day things that are probably only important to me. This is my record of my ups, my downs and the road that I've taken along the way. For whatever reason YOU'RE here, I hope you find something you can enjoy and/or relate to. God bless.

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Location: Dallas, Texas, United States

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Gifts

So, yesterday neither of my boys appreciated my post. Being the ever thoughtful and loving mom that I strive to be, I responded with "tough". However, I do want to give a bit more insight to my boys. Talking about one of the very few mistakes Casey makes may not be completely fair.
Casey has always been a responsible kid. He is 18 months older than Charlie, so they've grown up best of buddies and worst of enemies. Depending on the mood, the time of day and all the other crumbs of human nature thrown in. Hey, my feelings about them change from moment to moment too, sometimes.




When Charlie came home from the hospital, Casey loved him. Charlie was a Christmas eve baby and his first day home we had him in a bassinet in the living room with all the extended family "oohhhing" and "aahhhing" around him. Casey wanted to show 'Bubba' his new Christmas gift, a Fisher Price recorder with a microphone attached. He was too small to see into the bassinet, so he threw it in, hitting Charlie in the head with it, as a handful of adults watched in horror. Casey did it in love, but Charlie still blames Casey for any trouble he has thinking...lol. But, Casey has always loved and tried to take care of Charlie. Every morning we'd find Casey in Charlies crib. He'd climb in and cuddle with Charlie sometime during the night or early morning. It was cutest thing we've ever seen.



I don't ever remember Casey being jealous of Charlie...or vice versa. I've always been blessed with them. Both boys were great babies, sleeping through the night 90% of the time from the time they were newborns. They've never had any major illness, rarely been sick at all. Being so close together, and Charlie being such a big baby, they've nearly always wore the same size clothing, played with the same age appropriate toys and have always had each other to play with.
Don't get me wrong, they were total nightmares on occasion. Charlie has never felt fear in his life. He'd jump on and jump off of anything thing he could climb (still does). He's had two black eyes at the same time from different accidents.
Taking them to the store was pure hell as soon as they were big enough to walk, with them hiding in clothes racks at the department stores, disappearing down isles at the grocery stores. Lord...my hands shake just remembering it.
They giggled together, they fought together, they controlled my mood and my life together. I wouldn't change a thing. They made my days worth living. No exaggeration. I waited 15 years to have kids with every specialist from every fertility related field telling me it was impossible, that I could never get pregnant. Look at my miracles. I look back now and realize why it would have been a mistake to have had them any sooner. My life wasn't where it needed to be until the day I got pregnant with Casey. Thank God for His greater understanding.
Okay, back to my kids. They've always held up for each other. Our neighborhood was full of kids near their age while they grew up. My best friend, Mac (who lives across the street), has a son, Dusty, that is right in the middle of the boys ages. Also across the street was Abi (that leaves comments on my blog all the time), and her younger brother, Jason, that is also Dustys age. Abi and Nikki (who lived next door to Abi) are 5 years older than the boys and when they were old enough, they babysat for the boys. We've been very blessed in our neighborhood. There were four other families that had kids that were in the boy's age group on our block, so we always knew who our kids were with and where they were.
This is a picture of Jason (Abi's brother), Charlie, Dusty, Shelley, Abi (behind Dusty) and Casey.
While I'm here, let me show you a couple more recent pics
of Abi:This is one of my favorites, I made it into a magnet on our fridge.
And one more she sent to me recently:
So when you see Abi comment, give her a wave and tell her she really needs to set up her own blog.
So, again, back to my boys. They've always been best friends, always wanting to be together.
People have always told me that I must've had my hands full with them being so close. Maybe, but I can't imagine it having been any better than it was.
Casey has always been the big brother, the one who looks out for them, takes care of things. He'd always want to help me take care of Charlie, by bringing diapers, bottles, putting ice on his boo boo's, whatever.
I've always been able to depend on Casey.
I suppose the last blog about him messing up wasn't quite fair. No, it was fair. But my point is that it was something rare, and though he is more than trustworthy...things happen and because they do, parents worry.
Casey cooks, better (and probably more often) than me, cleans up after himself and others and does his own laundry. He gets himself up every morning at 5:30 a.m. to go work out, comes home around 7 a.m., and goes back to bed for an hour before getting himself up to go to school. He drives himself, and works out for football for an hour after school each day. He's an amazing kid.
This first picture was Christmas of '03 in Taos:
The second picture was Thanksgiving of '04:

And, of course, my favorite picture of them, while the three of us were having dinner on the Riverwalk in San Antonio last year:
These are my guys, and my greatest blessings. I can't begin to tell you how my life changed because of them, how many smiles and laughs a day they provide me with.
Yes, this weekend Casey had a lapse in judgment and it scared the hell out of me. But, I think if that's the worst he has done in 16 years, I can deal with it.
Casey...Charlie, I love you both so much it hurts. I'm so thankful to have you. You'll never know until you have your own kids how much joy you bring me.
Thanks to all of you for reading this. Pride is a hard thing to keep hidden for long.

18 Comments:

Blogger Just Jan said...

You just go right on ahead and be a proud momma...you've earned the right to be....lol. Great post about your boys...and Abi is a simply beautiful...thanks for sharing so much.

12:00 PM  
Blogger kathi said...

jan ~ thanks, I KNOW you understand the feeling. HUGS!

12:34 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Loved this! :)

12:47 PM  
Blogger mikster said...

Nothing wrong with being a proud parent kathi. My two kids are 6 years apart and when they were younger fought all the time...now it's completely different...they get along great.

2:21 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

WOW OH MY GOSH WHAT A POST!! I cant believe it. I LOVE IT! I look so different, Jason looks so differnt, and your kids too. SO CUTE!! THATS THE GANG, ALRIGHT, or altleast most of them, Nikki? Kelley? You know you did a great job raising your kids, I am very proud of both of them, and of course their MOM. Casey cook? Oh even better. Its always good to have a big brother to look up to, have a friend that you can count on. I LOVE YOU GUYS ALWAYS!

xoxo
Abi

2:25 PM  
Blogger kathi said...

kellie ~ thanks cutie!

mike ~ thanks for the encouragement. I know they'll always be close.

abi ~ hey sweetie. I have a picture of Kellie on my picture blog with her dog and Nikki has her blog with picutes. If I find some though with y'all (I've got boxes to go through) I'll post them. Thanks darlin, glad you liked it!

2:34 PM  
Blogger Deb said...

This was an awesome post Kath! You truly gave us a great visual of what your life is like. You're so fortunate to have such a great family.

By the way Abi, you're beautiful!

You're blessed by many Kath, and they're blessed with you in their lives!

{{hugs}} Love you girl!

4:30 PM  
Blogger Read This said...

If you were not living in Texas, I would say you have a perfect life. Almost perfect is pretty damn good, you guys just need to move back to the Midwest.

5:08 PM  
Blogger kathi said...

deb ~ you're so sweet and you know I love you too.

cm ~ Well, hon...I bet when you come down here for your muscle man lifting thing, you're gonna be looking for a place to buy. :)
Thanks for the kind words.

5:41 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

hope you do have some, oh and thanks deb.

xoxo
abi

8:03 AM  
Blogger MOAB said...

Hide shame, never pride.
Your boys are beautiful...good job!

9:23 AM  
Blogger kathi said...

abi ~ me too!!

monica ~ thank you!

sweet hizzle ~ I can live with that...LOL.

2:09 PM  
Blogger j said...

my mom always wanted a boy. she tried four times and got four girls instead. she doesn't regret it though. great pictures. you are a proud mom and rightfully so.

6:14 PM  
Blogger Nabeel said...

great pictures .. u should store 'em in an album. And ya the first cartoon isn't that Zoey?

I hope that they remain illness free :) God willing !

9:05 PM  
Blogger BigBill said...

You have a great family and have a lot to be thankful for. You also have a wonderful way of putting together and describing events from you past which is one of the many reasons that draws me to this blog ... Much like a fly is drawn to a steaming pile...I mean that only in a good way.. I believe you understand my humor by now. I wish I could articulate as well as you do cripes I wish I could just spell properly... Anyhow keep on remembering and I know you will have many more years to come.... Just think (grandbabies) LOL!!!
I just had a child leave the house and it was a freakin godsend... Although I have a home full of women and I sometimes feel like Sadam H. in a courtroom when then gang up against me... but I always wondered what it would have been like to have a world that revovled around boys and injury and well just boy stuff like when I grew up. You know what I am talking about. You had to deal with snot and farts and insects and dirt and foul disgusting stuff you know the cool stuff. I had to deal with flowers and the color pink and wanting to be a princess and play with dolls and hormonal inbalances and bi-polar breakdowns and PMS and cramps and all kinds of shit like that.... Not that I would trade it but come on I even had to put a makshift pad on the dogs running around my house made with a pair of underpants a safety pin and some paper towels... I felt like McGuiver!!!! Anyhow enjoy, capture and remember life. It goes by too fast..
Peace

3:53 AM  
Blogger Shawn said...

Great post. I love the pic of them in the crib together.

5:02 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

This was sweet. Makes me want to write about my daughter. She is the nicest person I've ever met, and I have no idea how she turned out that way. Both her parents are hardasses.

BTW, Abi is a hottie!

Oh, and for the boys, I've learned two variations of "tough" from Oh So Wonderful's blog: 1: "Build a bridge, and get over it (which can eventually be shortened to Build a Bridge), and 2) "Take it, and rise above it."

My daughter will HATE that! :D

Love you Kathi. Seriously.

6:17 AM  
Blogger MZPEACH said...

You are the coolest mom Kathi. You family is so fortunate.

Abi is absoluley gorgeous!!! She should model.

Ofcourse you know your sons are very handsome and need to something in the entertainment/sports industy. They truly have the faces for it. Mark must be the bomb!!lol. Great genes..lol.

4:35 PM  

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