Monday, November 27, 2006

Long time no see....

Well it's been a while since I've been able to post...please accept my apologies...with the Thanksgiving holiday, things have been hectic and my computer time became scarce!

My parents came to visit us for the first time in our almost 12 yrs of living together and marriage - there has always been one excuse or another and we've had our issues to say the least...I won't go into it now, but perhaps at some point I will...it might just be cathartic! Anyways, the day after my surgery, I poured my heart out to my mom and apparently it was very needed...I didn't plan on doing it, it just started coming out of my mouth before I even knew what was going on...and well after that she decided they needed to come see us and so Thanksgiving it was.

They arrived last Wednesday and left on Saturday afternoon and let me say from the bottom of my heart, it was an absolutely wonderful visit!

I am the youngest of 8 children, so my parents are 72(mom) and 78(dad) ...and let's just say time isn't on our side anymore. My father is very sick - you could basically say he's slowly dying and that would be very accurate. Dad has smoked since he was a teenager and it caught up with him the last few years. He was diagnosed with COPD - Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder and Emphysema. He finally quit smoking a few months ago. His days are spent on oxygen and using a nebulizer. I knew he was using these things, but I hadn't seen it myself, so when they arrived and dad got hooked up to the oxygen, it was a blow to my system to say the least. I was not prepared for what I saw! Here is a man who worked up until he was 76 yrs old - working circles around men half his age....a man who raised with my mother 8 children...and been together with my mother over 50 yrs now....all these things speak volumes about him as a man and father. To see him gasping for air...to hear his raspy breathes...to see him constantly hooked to oxygen...well it broke my heart. He had an episode on Thanksgiving afternoon and I seriously thought we'd be taking him to the ER - I thought we were loosing him.

I firmly believe this visit happened for a reason as I honestly don't think I'll see him alive again with the state he is in.

Trevor took to my parents so well considering he hasn't seen them in almost 2 yrs. And when they left, he kept asking for Grampy - even today he still asked for him. And while they were here, anytime dad coughed, Trevor would go up to him and ask him if he was ok or alright and told him to be careful. Isn't he a sweet boy?!

Mom and I did a huge amount of talking...laughing...catching up....shopping...playing games...just truly enjoying each others company. It was so nice to go out shopping with her...to just do things one on one. Usually when we go home to visit, our time is split between my family and then his dad, and his mom and by the time you've been to all three houses to visit for a day or two, vacation is over, and you've felt like you haven't seen anyone. This was nice, not having to be pressured to go visit anyone else.

Trevor was sooooooo good while they were here...he truly made me proud!!! He genuinely loves them both and had such a good time with the two of them.

Speaking of Trevor, I was getting him ready for bed tonight and he looks at me, and says, "you're my hero"...talk about melting my heart!!! Can he get any sweeter? It's moments like these that make you forget the times when you want to pull your hair out cause he's up to no good! :-)

My mom was looking at a magazine and the bottom of the page had the word, "Geico" and Trevor walked over and saw the magazine upside down and says, "car insurance"...now mind you we've never talked about car insurance with him or what it is, or that Geico is car insurance....how he knew just by seeing the word, "Geico" upside down is beyond me. Mom and I went out on Friday and when we got back, we walk in the house, and Trevor says to my dad, "so nice to see you"...lol!!!

I so wish I could box all these funny moments and precious things he's said and be able to take them out anytime I am feeling blue and relive them! He's growing way too fast and it's scary - I want him to stay forever my little boy full of innocence and kindness and unaware of the scary world around him. I wish I could protect him from all the bad in the world. I can't believe he's almost three and before you know it, will be going to school...how does this happen? How do you go from one minute cooing and aahing to the next minute you are talking about car insurance? How do you go from middle of the night feedings to "I can do it myself"? How do you go from little tiny baby to "I a big boy"? I swear it happened overnight! No one really fully warned me how quickly time would pass...oh sure I heard the obligatory, "they grow up so fast"...but no one stopped to tell me just how fast "fast" is. No one stopped to tell me how one day he'd no longer want to cuddle with me...how he'd want to feed himself...how he could do all these things on his own...I thought I had all this time before these things happened and I didn't. It's not like a new thing here or there...it's like 12 new things all at once and it just totally blows you away as a parent. I am constantly amazed by this child!!! Not sure if I mentioned it or not, but he's in love wtih vacuums...so Karl set up the computer so Trevor could log himself on and go the Oreck website and check them out...he's not even 3 yet and he can use the computer better than some adults I know...how does this happen? He scares me sometimes with how smart he is!!!

God, I love this boy so much!!!

And now to scrapping....its way overdue for a FREEBIE!!! Yes, I said FREEBIE!!!! Woohoo!!!

So without further ado....

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

**NO LONGER AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD**

Enjoy!!! I had so much fun making this kit!! As always feel free to leave a comment of email me @ erinshannondesigns@maine.rr.com

Hugs!

6 Comments:

Blogger BitsOScrap said...

I already have this kit from the daily download. I love it, thank you so much for all the hard work you put into this kit and giving it to us for free. Your awesome!

10:53 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I love this! Thank you so very much!

7:25 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thank you so much for this great kit! I love the papers that have the chalk-like edging and all the great elements. Thank you for sharing! BettyJoR

10:01 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

geeze erin that post almost made me cry it was so sweet!

3:49 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thank you for this very striking kit. I love the colors. cg

5:06 AM  
Blogger Neverland Scraps said...

I LOVE this kit. I LOVED working with it, I LOVE the colors. You definatly have an eye for these things.

10:42 AM  

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