Making It Meaningful

Tonight was an event Alexa had been anticipating for weeks, if not months....BFF's Gabriella's birthday party.  Jenny arrange for a cute girls' night out at Make Meaning, where each of the girls made cupcake soaps and received glitter tattoos, followed by Grimaldi's Pizza and Sprinkles cupcakes.  Yum!  Although Alexa and I were both a bit tired, we had a wonderful time celebrating Gabriella's four-year milestone.  I think we need to do girls' night out more often!

As we drove home from the party, Alexa began to discuss how we will celebrate Granty's birthday (Monday).  It was cute to hear her plan his birthday party from the backseat of the car - - she wants to bake a cake for him and decorate it herself.  I'm not quite sure how big the cake will have to be to capture the message she proposed (I'm not even making this up):  "Happy Birthday, poor baby.  I love you very much, and I miss you as my baby brother.  I will blow out your candle for you. I love you, Granty."  Hmm....maybe a Sprinkles cupcake with no room for decoration will be my best bet.  As long as there space for a candle for Alexa to blow out, she will be happy.

Without a doubt, this is going to be a very tough week, but I know we will start a new tradition to honor Granty on his birthday every year.  June 3rd will always be a day of celebration and remembrance of the remarkable life, albeit way too short, of our beloved Granty.

Showing off her new "ink" (or glitter & glue).

Part of Something Big

During my hectic travel and work schedule of the past few days (another call with my boss tonight around 9:45!), I have barely had time to catch my breath, much less check my non-work e-mail.  However, tonight as I was on the runway in Phoenix, I did see an e-mail from my sister Terri that I found extremely touching....

As I have learned over the past eight months, there are some fantastic cancer-related charities and research organizations.  It never ceases to amaze me how many people are affected by this horrible disease.  My sister sent me some information regarding Stand Up to Cancer, a research-based initiative, and the celebration of its five-year anniversary.  As part of this anniversary celebration, SU2C is creating a constellation of stars to honor those who have received a cancer diagnosis.  Today I received a message that Terri launched a star to honor Granty (https://constellation.standup2cancer.org/48325).  Thank you, Terri.  What a great tribute to our Granty!

Our superstar.

Signs on the I-15

When my boss scheduled a meeting from 8-10pm tonight in the lounge of the Embassy Suites, I knew this business trip wouldn't have any fun elements (like a Dodgers game) of the last one...  I am wiped out!

As I flew out of Phoenix bright and early this morning, I knew I was going to have a long day ahead of me.  The airport situation in Temecula is not the greatest for commercial flights, as Temecula is about an hour drive from three different airports (Ontario, San Diego and Orange County).  When I landed in Ontario this morning, I knew I had another hour ahead of me simply to get to my meetings.  As usual, whenever I have time to myself, my thoughts always drift to Granty.  I think Granty wanted to make sure he knew I was thinking of him.  Out of nowhere on the I-15, I suddenly passed a huge wooden giraffe peeking over one of the highway's embankments.  I passed it going 70mph, so I have no idea why it was there or what type of store even sells 25-foot wooden giraffes (maybe it's like the wooden bowl shops off of I-70 in Missouri); I just shook my head in amazement.  Not even 15 seconds after passing the giraffe, the song "Home" came on the radio.  Coincidence?  Maybe....but I prefer to take it as a sign that my little guy knew I was thinking of him.

Too bad I'm flying out of San Diego instead of Ontario....otherwise I would allow extra time to find out more about this wooden giraffe.  Maybe that will be on my next trip; afterall, there isn't too much to see in the Inland Empire.

"Mom, I'm listening." :)

A Wonderful Life

I am leaving for Temecula, CA, for a business trip tomorrow morning, so I planned to take a night off from my normal workout routine and use the time for packing.  My workout buddy and personal trainer Alexa wasn't having any of it...she wanted to do abs and weights tonight, so of course I had to oblige.  I've created a workout monster!  Good thing I only had to pack for one overnight.

As Alexa and I were getting out of the car tonight, our neighbors were driving by and stopped to say "Hi."  Bob and Catherine are a very sweet retired couple, and they were heartbroken during our ordeal with Granty.  After catching up for a bit, Bob asked me if I heard about our other neighbor (the ambulance ordeal from last Thursday); unfortunately the neighbor passed away at 91 years-old.  Catherine told me he had a good life, but nevertheless, it's always sad to have to deal with death.

When we were walking into the house, I could only think about my neighbor living for 91 wonderful years, versus my Granty's five short months.  I know there's no logic, but I oftentimes try to rationalize as much as I can for my own peace of mind.  I'll never understand the "Why" of what happened to Granty, but I can only surmise that my amazing little boy accomplished everything he was intended to do in just 175 days.  Just as Catherine assured me that my neighbor had 91 good years, I know that Granty had five wonderful months.  I should only be so fortunate to live five months of my own life as fully as Granty lived his.  He was (is) nothing short of remarkable.

Living his life to the fullest - - enjoying an
afternoon on the patio in his Bumbo seat.

Go Bling!

I wish I had a better reason for not updating the blog yesterday, but I can only attribute it to the Alexa Factor...she absolutely wore me out this weekend.  Damon was in Las Vegas for the holiday weekend, ensuring Alexa and I had plenty of time together.  The blackout curtains in her room only do so much to block out the very early morning sun in Arizona, so she's had a lot of pre-6am wake-ups over the past few weeks.  She goes 100mph all day long...it's pretty amazing how much energy she has.

After finally seeing some results at swimming, I have decided to apply my persistence towards Alexa's academic focus, concentrating on learning her numbers.  She does a great job counting, but she's having trouble recognizing the visual number for each.  This past week, I bought some bingo stampers and dice to recreate one of her favorite lessons from Montessori school, and I've been subtlety pointing out numbers whenever I see them (she is not a fan of blatant lessons).  Perhaps inspired by Damon's Las Vegas trip, I bought Alexa her first card games over the weekend...two sets of Barbie cards with numbers.  The first game, "Gems!" is a simple match game, and we our working our way to playing "Go Bling!" (yes, that's Barbie's version of "Go Fish") once a few more numbers are mastered.  We must have played "Gems!" fifty times over the weekend, but if it helps her to recognize her numbers, I'm in!

When I was recounting the events of the weekend for Damon, I told him about Alexa's rope climbing feat at gymnastics and also let him know that her number recognition wasn't quite there to play "Go Bling!"  Damon simply reminded me that most collegiate athletes have tutors.  Oy...... :)

Hard at work on my knock-off Montessori lesson....
(Thank you for the idea, Ms. LeAnna!)

Playing a rousing game of "Gems!"
I'm looking forward to upping the ante with "Go Bling!"

Six Months...

It's hard to believe it has been six-months since we lost our Granty...I miss him so much.  He continues to be my first thought of the day and the last person to whom I say "Good Night" each night.

Thankfully, I was able to spend the entire day with Alexa, and she always manages to provide a good distraction and unknowingly lift my spirits.  Today was no exception, as Alexa had another great swim lesson and even told me she wants to swim every day.  I don't know what exactly caused this change, but I will take it...my fourteen months of persistence at swimming is finally paying dividends!  Alexa topped off this fantastic swim lesson with an even better gymnastics class, making it all the way to the top of the rope (at least fifteen feet in the air).  I had to smile as all of the mothers in the waiting room commented on her strength and were in awe that a girl who just turned four made it all the way to the top.  This was a good distraction on yet another sad anniversary.

As Damon quickly learned one afternoon, Alexa is becoming very aware of the songs and lyrics on the radio; she exited his car one day singing, "I'm gonna pop some tags...I've got $20 in my pocket."  Oy.  I've made a conscious effort to make sure my radio is tuned to more family-friendly stations.  

This afternoon she began to repeat one of the lyrics from the song "Gone Gone Gone" - - "Like a drum, baby, don't stop beating...."  When we came home from the store, I pulled up the music video on YouTube so she could hear the song again.  As I listed to the words, I began to tear-up, thinking about Granty, and Alexa took one look at me and began to do the same.  "I miss him so much, Mommy."  I could only hug her and remind her that all of us miss Granty.....When is this going to get easier???

The portion of the "Gone Gone Gone" lyrics Alexa was reciting (amazingly appropriate):

Like a drum, baby, don't stop beatingLike a drum, baby, don't stop beatingLike a drum, baby, don't stop beatingLike a drum my heart never stops beating for you
And long after you're gone, gone, gone.
I love you long after you're gone gone, gone.

Our hearts are still beating for you, Granty!

Peace Like a River

I took the day off of work today so I could enjoy the Spring Program at Alexa's school in the morning and spend the rest of the day with her.  It was a much-needed break from my very hectic work schedule and a nice chance to have some quality time with my little girl.

Jenny and I planned a playdate for the girls after the performance, a trip to the zoo for its spray ground, so she was kind enough to pick us up this morning so the four of us could ride to the school together.  Alexa was so excited about the prospect about riding to school with her BFF and mom, that she began to ask me if it was time to go starting at 7am and continuing every 5 minutes until they arrived at 8:15am.  Jenny is quite the chauffeur - - in addition to the doorside pick-up, I had a skinny vanilla latte and an iced water waiting for me in the car.  Hmm....I wonder if she wants to start driving to Mesa (where I work) every morning.  lol

The Spring Program was organized similarly to the Christmas one, in which each class came up to perform a signature song.  Alexa's class sang the hymn "I've Got Peace Like a River," a song Alexa had been practicing  for months.  It was so cute to see all of the kids file into the church in their Sunday best; they were arranged by height, so Alexa and BFF Gabriella even got the chance to sit next to each other.  As their class stood together and performed, it definitely sunk in with Jenny and myself that our little girls are not so little anymore.     Then we realized the girls will be graduating high school in 2027....oy.

The program was cute, and their class did a wonderful job belting out "I've Got Peace Like a River."  I have a feeling Alexa will continue to sing this for the weeks and months to come!

A very proud mom...... :)