Yesterday ended a chapter

Brockton has been going to the same daycare since he was 11 months old, he’s now just a little over five years old. Yesterday I sent in his letter or withdrawal  At this wonderful, fancy place you have to give a two weeks notice, you can’t just pull your child or else they will charge you out the ass for it. 

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve loved this place and talked it up to people for years because even though it’s expensive as a son of a bitch they are great at what they do and he’s loved it there for such a long time. But, now I’m beyond ready to get him the hell out of there! 

They work on a two week tuition payment schedule, which is no big deal. It ends up costing around $200 a week for his full time care, which is a lot but I’ve sucked it up and paid them because I knew it was what’s best for my child. Well, when we had the whole plaque this year and Brockton was out and I didn’t know what week I was supposed to pay them anymore I just started shoving money at them weekly because I figured that as long as it came out to the total of the tuition there’s no way I could go wrong, right? Wrong! Apparently because of how they work it was showing one week that I had a $200 credit and then the following week when they were billing tuition it showed that I didn’t pay enough so they started charging me a $35 late fee. BULLSHIT, RIGHT?! RIGHT! 

So, basically last week, on Monday, I gave them $400 and it said that I still owed them an additional $130ish, so on Thursday I took them $140 and thought to myself “hey I’ll have a credit of some sort.” NOPE! Mother fuckers charged me a goddamn late fee because I didn’t pay them before Wednesday, even thought the assistant director told me that I wouldn’t be charged a late fee as long as I paid before Friday. 

Yesterday when I went in I’d had enough, I gave them my letter, told them that I want a pay schedule because I refuse to deal with their shit anymore and that we are done with all of the shit. I really have LOVED that he’s been there so long and I’ve loved all of the people that Brockton has been in contact with because of CH, but I simply cannot do it anymore. 

I’ve got him signed up for what looks to be an amazing summer camp through the ymca here in town and he’s beyond excited about it! It’s going to save me $60 a week in child care expenses alone, that doesn’t include the cost of gas because I drive him 8 miles to school and then drive 8 miles back into town for work and then have to make that trip all over again in the afternoon. The Y’s summer camp is going to be five miles from my house and only three miles from my office. Everything is just going to make so much more sense with him not going to CH anymore. 

Sorry to rant at this early hour, I’ve just finally had enough and needed to get things off of my chest because I’ve been furious about this situation for weeks and it’s finally gotten to the point where I couldn’t hold it in any longer. When I woke up this morning I felt much lighter, just giving them my letter yesterday made everything feel so much better. I can breathe a little easier now and feel secure that I’m doing the right thing by my child. 

Don’t ever let anyone tell you that parenting isn’t the hardest thing that you will ever do in your life, because if they try to tell you that it’s easy they’re goddamn liars. Being a mom is literally the hardest thing I’ve ever done and I struggle daily with my decision making because I want to make sure that I’m doing everything right by my child, I want to make sure that he’s not going to grow up and resent everything that I’ve done for him. I won’t ever stop worrying about the things that I am doing with my life because they have a direct impact on his life. At the end of the day I know that he will know that I am his mom and I did what I thought was best for him and I need to start taking comfort in that fact. 

Yesterday:

I got a call from a woman whom I’ve known literally my entire life, she wanted to tell me that she thought that Brockton was the most well behaved and handsome child that her and her husband have ever seen. Back story to this is we went to a confirmation at a church Sunday morning, this woman saw Brockton for the first time in about five years, she told me then that he was precious and that she couldn’t believe how big he was getting. Yesterday afternoon while I was sitting at my desk the phone rang, it was her, she wanted to tell me that her and her husband were both amazed at how well behaved he was through the entire hour and a half church service and that he is the most handsome little man she’s ever seen. I thanked her for her kind words and then she made it a point to again stress to me that he was great and that I was doing a wonderful job raising him. 

I walked into the gym, was greeted by Sarah who’s always working the front desk and was immediately told that I looked “adorable”. I told her thank you in a very embarrassed and dismissive way and she stopped me to tell me that she thinks that I am very stylish and that I am always dressed in “the cutest clothes” and that she’s jealous of me. Then she told me that I’m just “this adorable woman with this adorable child who’s living this adorable life”. I blushed harder than I have in a very long time and went out of my way to tell her thank you countless times for her kind words. 

Walking out of the grocery store last night it was pouring, not just rain, but thunder and lighting and a full on downpour of hard rain. I told Brockton that I wanted him to duck his little head down and that we would be running to the car. I explained to him that I wanted to get him out of the basket and into the car and then I’d start putting the groceries into the trunk. As we ran to the car in the pouring rain Brockton laughed harder than I’ve heard him laugh in a very long time. It was one of those really deep belly laughs, the kind that kids do that make you laugh really hard as well. We got to the car, I was in the middle of getting him out of the basket when a woman ran up to me, umbrella in hand and said “let me cover you while you put your groceries away”. I was to the point of almost tears because of her kindness. She told me that she hoped someone would’ve done the same for her if she was in my position and said that it was not a big deal at all to her. I thanked her numerous times and gave her a huge hug before getting into my car and driving away.

Kindness, y’all, it’s still alive and well and yesterday proved to me that life isn’t all that bad. I’ve let myself have bad days, I’ve let myself get dragged down by the trivial bullshit that life brings us and yesterday opened my eyes and reminded me that life isn’t so terrible. 

Morning thoughts

This morning I woke up and I didn’t particularly want to get out of bed, I have been doing yoga in the mornings this week and today I just wasn’t feeling it, so I just laid in my bed and browsed things on tumblr/twitter/facebook/instagram. 

When I finally got up and got around to actually getting dressed, making coffee, doing my hair & makeup I started thinking about my life. Not just about my life, but about Brockton’s life as well. 

It’s just a few months shy of when I found out I was pregnant…six years ago! That just doesn’t even seem possible. It doesn’t feel like it’s been six years, things have happened so fast that it feels like yesterday when I realized that I was pregnant. I found out just a few weeks shy of my 19th birthday, and here I am, turning 26 this year. How is that even possible? When did I get so caught up in things that life passed me by without me even noticing?

But, the thing that gets me the most is that I still to this day see Brockton and am sincerely shocked by the fact that he’s my child. He’s such a good kid, despite the day to day issues…not listening, having bad days and getting too caught up in his little world to stop and pee…he’s an amazing little human. 

I can’t wrap my head around what I did in my other lives to deserve him as my son, but I’m so glad that I did them because I was gifted Brockton. He has been a driving force for me, since the day I found out I was pregnant he’s driven me to be a better person. He’s made me truly understand life and he’s been the one constant that will forever put a smile on my face and warm my entire being. 

Today I’m feeling lucky, it’s not even that I’m feeling lucky…it’s that I’m realizing that I am lucky. I took a chance six years ago and continued with a pregnancy that scared me shitless because I thought that it might be my only chance at being a parent. There is no doubt in my mind that I won’t ever be able to put into words how grateful I am that I made that decision because Brockton is the only child that will ever share my DNA. Something told me that I needed to keep that fetus, that I would love it more than I’d ever love anything else in the world and I’m so glad that I listened to that voice because it brought me the greatest joy in my life.

After over five years of caring, loving and nurturing Brockton you’d think I’d get used to being his mom. Truth be told, I don’t think I’ll ever get used to being the woman lucky enough to have him as her son. 

What I forgot to add about me waking up at 4:42am…

When I woke up so early this morning I woke up feeling fresh, energized and very inspired. 

It’s been a really long time since I can say that I’ve felt inspired by life. For some reason I woke up this morning feeling very content with life and feeling like I could conquer anything today. I want to write today, I want to paint today, I want to get to the gym and kill a workout and I want to come home tonight and snuggle with my son while we read books. 

Today is going to be one of those days where I’m not going to let anything get to me. When my dad died I said that I was going to start really living life, and I have, but I’ve allowed myself to have bad days and I can’t allow myself to have bad day after bad day…there’s too much good in this world. 

Nothing will bring me down today, nothing will uninspire me today, nothing will stop me today. 

Weekend Update:

I don’t really know where to start with this update about the things that happened over the weekend. I guess in order to start I need to flash back to Easter Sunday. 

Throwing in a read more here because this is going to be a long post and I know that not everyone is going to want to read it. 

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I’m just going to say now that I’m too sure if any of what I’m going to say will make sense, but I need to say it. It probably isn’t going to be the best thing I’ve ever written, but I need to write it because there are things that are heavy on my heart. So, brace yourselves for whatever is about to follow this.
I’ve sort of been living in a swarm of thoughts. Things are happening but they’re only happening because my body knows that they need to. I spent all of last week doing things and not realizing that I was doing them. It was almost like my body and mind went into an autopilot mode and functioned without me. 
Everything from last week is sort of a blur, I remember how things happened and I remember everything that happened, but I can’t really tell you on what days certain things occurred. Monday was a mess of getting things in the office done and finding out that we were taking dad out of the hospital. Tuesday morning was spent thinking Brockton would get to have a fantastic birthday and get to go to the care center to see his Pappy to give him a hug and kiss and then by 9:10 everything changed. Dad passed and everything after that is a blur. 
I’ve said before that if I only learned one thing from dad and his battle with two different types of cancer it’s that I was taking life for granted. I wasn’t really living, I wasn’t doing anything close to really living. The entire time dad fought his cancer he never complained, he always said he felt great and made sure that he worked every day. I’ve sat idle too much, told Brockton “no” too many times and not taken enough chances in my 25 years of life. 
Now is the time for me to really start living, I’m going to stop over-thinking things, I’m going to stop doing things so by the book and I’m going to stop complaining about my life because it really isn’t a bad life at all! 
Yesterday when I woke up Brockton begged me to go to Austin and I almost told him no and then I realized that I need to stop saying no to him. We got breakfast and go on the road and spent the entire day doing things that Brockton wanted to do because I want to make sure that I do things with him and for him because life is too damn short for me to tell him no when he asks to do stuff with me. 
I don’t know if anything I’ve said makes any sense, but I already feel lighter just getting things off my chest. Dad taught me a lot in my life and I am so thankful that I learned from him because I couldn’t have asked to learn lessons from a better person. 

I’m just going to say now that I’m too sure if any of what I’m going to say will make sense, but I need to say it. It probably isn’t going to be the best thing I’ve ever written, but I need to write it because there are things that are heavy on my heart. So, brace yourselves for whatever is about to follow this.

I’ve sort of been living in a swarm of thoughts. Things are happening but they’re only happening because my body knows that they need to. I spent all of last week doing things and not realizing that I was doing them. It was almost like my body and mind went into an autopilot mode and functioned without me. 

Everything from last week is sort of a blur, I remember how things happened and I remember everything that happened, but I can’t really tell you on what days certain things occurred. Monday was a mess of getting things in the office done and finding out that we were taking dad out of the hospital. Tuesday morning was spent thinking Brockton would get to have a fantastic birthday and get to go to the care center to see his Pappy to give him a hug and kiss and then by 9:10 everything changed. Dad passed and everything after that is a blur. 

I’ve said before that if I only learned one thing from dad and his battle with two different types of cancer it’s that I was taking life for granted. I wasn’t really living, I wasn’t doing anything close to really living. The entire time dad fought his cancer he never complained, he always said he felt great and made sure that he worked every day. I’ve sat idle too much, told Brockton “no” too many times and not taken enough chances in my 25 years of life. 

Now is the time for me to really start living, I’m going to stop over-thinking things, I’m going to stop doing things so by the book and I’m going to stop complaining about my life because it really isn’t a bad life at all! 

Yesterday when I woke up Brockton begged me to go to Austin and I almost told him no and then I realized that I need to stop saying no to him. We got breakfast and go on the road and spent the entire day doing things that Brockton wanted to do because I want to make sure that I do things with him and for him because life is too damn short for me to tell him no when he asks to do stuff with me. 

I don’t know if anything I’ve said makes any sense, but I already feel lighter just getting things off my chest. Dad taught me a lot in my life and I am so thankful that I learned from him because I couldn’t have asked to learn lessons from a better person. 

I just found this picture of Brockton and I from Easter 2010, my heart is so full right now. 
Look at that little man! Sometimes I find it hard to believe that so much time has passed with him, he’s about to be five and I feel like I’ve taken his entire life for granted. Sure, I live in the days and I cherish the moments that I get with him, but I also feel like I don’t fully realize how truly lucky I am to be the mother to this amazing boy. 
If I only take one thing away from my dad battling cancer it’s that I need to cherish the days, really and truly cherish them and live in them and not take a single second for granted. When I stumbled across this picture, and numerous others from that day, this morning I could feel my entire soul smile. I remember everything about that day, I remember getting angry with Brockton for not listening, I remember getting mad at my mom and sister for telling me not to be angry with him, I remember watching him stumble around in excitement picking up eggs and throwing them into his Elmo basket, I remember sitting in the grass opening the eggs and him screaming with joy because they had candy in them. I remember so many things about that day, about all of the days he’s been alive, but I’ve never really stopped and taken the time to truly appreciate them. 
These pictures that I found this morning are helping me appreciate what I have been given. I don’t know what I did in life to deserve being the mother to this amazing little man, but I’m so glad that I was lucky enough to get him. 

I just found this picture of Brockton and I from Easter 2010, my heart is so full right now. 

Look at that little man! Sometimes I find it hard to believe that so much time has passed with him, he’s about to be five and I feel like I’ve taken his entire life for granted. Sure, I live in the days and I cherish the moments that I get with him, but I also feel like I don’t fully realize how truly lucky I am to be the mother to this amazing boy. 

If I only take one thing away from my dad battling cancer it’s that I need to cherish the days, really and truly cherish them and live in them and not take a single second for granted. When I stumbled across this picture, and numerous others from that day, this morning I could feel my entire soul smile. I remember everything about that day, I remember getting angry with Brockton for not listening, I remember getting mad at my mom and sister for telling me not to be angry with him, I remember watching him stumble around in excitement picking up eggs and throwing them into his Elmo basket, I remember sitting in the grass opening the eggs and him screaming with joy because they had candy in them. I remember so many things about that day, about all of the days he’s been alive, but I’ve never really stopped and taken the time to truly appreciate them. 

These pictures that I found this morning are helping me appreciate what I have been given. I don’t know what I did in life to deserve being the mother to this amazing little man, but I’m so glad that I was lucky enough to get him. 

I had a dream last night that he came to me

Banging on my door until I let him back in my heart

Craving the feel of my skin on his

Begging for the taste of my lips on his

Pleading with me to never let him run away again

And then in an instant it was all gone

Anti-glare glasses would’ve been a brill idea…
So since I’ve had a sick child all week y’all have missed out on asstons of selfies [I can hear the disappointed sighs] and life updates, so I’m putting them here. Too bad I can’t do a read more on a picture because I think this might be a long update. 
So Brockton started running a really high fever Sunday night, I took him to the doctor Monday and was told that he had bronchitis. I thought okay I can deal with that. Tuesday rolls around and he’s not doing any better and his fever isn’t dropping with the help of tylenol and advil. Wednesday morning his fever hit 103.6 and I decided that I’d had enough of what the regular doctor was telling me so I hauled him to the children’s hospital where they did blood work [to see if he was Hulk or Spiderman, it made it less scary that way] and chest x-rays. We found out that he had a pretty nasty case of pneumonia and the er doctor was not pleased that his regular doctor missed it. Moral of the story, mothers intuition is NEVER wrong! There was something telling me that it was not just bronchitis and I debated taking him to the er for a long time and just finally did it because I felt like I should. It was a great thing that I took him because the er doctor told me if I would’ve waited any longer we probably would’ve been admitted to the hospital for a few days. Brockton has been fever free since 10pm last night and I am so grateful for that because I was beginning to think he was never going to be well again. 
As for my personal life things are here, not much has happened. When we were leaving the er Mc called me to check on Brockton because he knew I’d taken him to the hospital. We didn’t talk relationship stuff at all, he just wanted to make sure that B was okay and that I was okay too. It was good to hear from him, it meant a lot to me that he called to check on Brockton. Mc was more of a father to Brockton than his real dad is, so having him call was really something admirable. We talked for about 15 minutes and that was it, I would’ve loved to have asked him a million questions about life and how he’s feeling about us and how he’s dealing with things but I left it alone because I was worried about getting home and getting B taken care of. It’s quickly approaching 2 months since the breakup and I’m still left with tons of unanswered questions about things and maybe it’ll always be that way. I know that time isn’t making me miss him any less, and maybe that’ll happen one day but for now I still miss my best friend *le sigh*
So, that’s my life right now. A lot of parenting, not a lot of sleep and a confused heart & head. What’s new with y’all? I’m actually on my computer and it feels so damn weird. 

Anti-glare glasses would’ve been a brill idea…

So since I’ve had a sick child all week y’all have missed out on asstons of selfies [I can hear the disappointed sighs] and life updates, so I’m putting them here. Too bad I can’t do a read more on a picture because I think this might be a long update. 

So Brockton started running a really high fever Sunday night, I took him to the doctor Monday and was told that he had bronchitis. I thought okay I can deal with that. Tuesday rolls around and he’s not doing any better and his fever isn’t dropping with the help of tylenol and advil. Wednesday morning his fever hit 103.6 and I decided that I’d had enough of what the regular doctor was telling me so I hauled him to the children’s hospital where they did blood work [to see if he was Hulk or Spiderman, it made it less scary that way] and chest x-rays. We found out that he had a pretty nasty case of pneumonia and the er doctor was not pleased that his regular doctor missed it. Moral of the story, mothers intuition is NEVER wrong! There was something telling me that it was not just bronchitis and I debated taking him to the er for a long time and just finally did it because I felt like I should. It was a great thing that I took him because the er doctor told me if I would’ve waited any longer we probably would’ve been admitted to the hospital for a few days. Brockton has been fever free since 10pm last night and I am so grateful for that because I was beginning to think he was never going to be well again. 

As for my personal life things are here, not much has happened. When we were leaving the er Mc called me to check on Brockton because he knew I’d taken him to the hospital. We didn’t talk relationship stuff at all, he just wanted to make sure that B was okay and that I was okay too. It was good to hear from him, it meant a lot to me that he called to check on Brockton. Mc was more of a father to Brockton than his real dad is, so having him call was really something admirable. We talked for about 15 minutes and that was it, I would’ve loved to have asked him a million questions about life and how he’s feeling about us and how he’s dealing with things but I left it alone because I was worried about getting home and getting B taken care of. It’s quickly approaching 2 months since the breakup and I’m still left with tons of unanswered questions about things and maybe it’ll always be that way. I know that time isn’t making me miss him any less, and maybe that’ll happen one day but for now I still miss my best friend *le sigh*

So, that’s my life right now. A lot of parenting, not a lot of sleep and a confused heart & head. What’s new with y’all? I’m actually on my computer and it feels so damn weird. 

Just when I finally got your taste off my lips

Your smell off my sheets and

Your fingerprints off my skin

You came back to me and left your memory all over me again

I really just want a Buddha tattoo so badly. I actually want quite a few different tattoos right now. I’m not even sure what all I want, I just know that I want them.

I want to add a bunch if different Buddhist things to the hamsa hand that I already have on my ribs. I’ve wanted to turn it into a full rib piece since I got my hamsa done a year ago.

And I really want a left arm sleeve. I don’t even know what the hell I’d cover my arm with, but I’ve always loved sleeves.

son of a bitch

Throwing in a read more because this is going to be a rant and I don’t know if it’ll make sense and what I even want to talk about. That’s not totally true, it’s about filing my taxes and paying down credit cards and how to fix the fucking mess that is my finances…

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