I don't brag enough

I'm not a big public-bragger. I even (aside from my blog) attempt to avoid bragging about William. Not everyone has a child and, I've learned all-too personally, it may sting a little for others to hear excessive bragging. And - not everyone's child is as gifted as mine - though the flip side would be not everyone's child is as painfully stubborn and argumentative either. Anyway, my point is - I try my best to keep my bragging and doting between people I know appreciate it and won't feel a bit of salt in their wounds. The same goes for Austin. Austin is a truly amazing husband and father - but some people aren't as blessed in that area of their life as I am. Maybe it's coming, or maybe their blessings come in other ways. I would just hate to be the one to twist the dagger in the heart of a friend who is struggling with her marriage, or a friend who wants badly to be married and isn't yet.  Plus - at the end of the day, I'm not the most public person with affection and emotion. All that is to say that generally my doting on Austin is saved for Austin.  I don't usually take to Facebook or the blog to profess how blessed I am.

But today, with a harmless little story, I will! Because I should. We all should from time to time.

Yesterday morning I got an email from LOFT with a coupon for 50% off your entire purchase in the store from 12:00-5:00. I was disappointed because there was a skirt I wanted a few weeks ago but refused to buy at full price, and I'd been hoping for a good 50% sale. But 12:00-5:00 - how could I do that? Bummer, no new skirt for me. 

But then around 1:00, in the middle of what had become a very frustrating and stressful day, Austin sent me a text asking for me to email him the LOFT coupon. He had driven to the mall to buy me the skirt! They were sold out but they were able to order it online through the store and still use the coupon. Yesterday was the worst of his wisdom tooth pain and he still got out of the house to get me my discount skirt :) love him!!!

It turned out to be unnecessary effort as I got an email at 5:00 that the sale was extended online until midnight...but we won't tell him right? It was such a sweet gesture.

Reason #5,000,000 I love my husband.

William Wednesday

I gotta say, this half marathon training is beating me right now - I fell asleep at 8:15 last night in William's room with a half-written William Wednesday sitting on the computer.  Oops!  Hopefully soon I will be conquering the running rather than the other way around.

As for William, he's had a great week!  He's enjoying his new class and talks about his teachers and friends a lot.  He's had a couple of potty hiccups, but I'm trying to be patient and understand it's normal for transitions.  Especially from a child as stubborn as mine.

Speaking of stubborn - he is.  100%.  Casey has a theory of math in relation to his stubbornness.  She says some of us have one stubborn parent, so our chances at turning out stubborn are pretty standard.  Some people are, some aren't.  I would call my mom a lot of things, but I don't think I'd call her stubborn.  Knowing my dad's mom as well as I did, and knowing my dad to the best of my knowledge, I'd say my stubborn genes came from that side.  As for Austin, we don't know if his dad was stubborn but we can say for sure his mom is - and we can say with certainty he is too.  So, by Casey's 1+1 calculation, William was doomed to be stubborn and we were/are in for it.  Just a side note there.

Back to William and his week!

As of a few weeks ago - or maybe it's been over a month now - William has decided he likes to pick leaves for me.  Or leafs as he says.  Some boys pick their moms flowers...mine picks me leaves.  He's picked me flowers I think three times but I am starting to regret not saving the leaves now...I'd have two dozen or more.  Yesterday when I picked him up from school I found a leaf sitting in his cubby.  He picked it at playtime outside and took it through the classroom and into the front where his cubby is.  I love to think he's always thinking of me :)  Last week he told Austin he picks leaves for mommy "because mommy likes to eat leaves" - I'm not sure if he was being silly or making the connection to salad, but I'm just going to take it as a loving gesture.  And start saving my leaves!

Tuesday morning Austin had his wisdom teeth removed. (OUCH)  William didn't know it was happening so on our way home from school I was trying to explain to him why he'd need to be gentle with dada and just lay with him rather than try to play.  Looking back, a simple "dada doesn't feel well" may have been sufficient.  But, I decided to explain the actual situation in the simplest of terms.  The result?  William has asked Dada at least 5 times/day "but dada, why did they take your teeth away?  will you get new teeth?"  He's very concerned!  He almost cried on the way to school yesterday when I told him new teeth wouldn't grow in their place, so if I get asked that question again I may have to tell a little white lie.  And in the future - even simpler explanations will do.

We are hoping to go see Monsters University this weekend.  William is SO excited.  I'd like to pretend he's the most excited person in the house, but I'd be lying.  He does come in close second!  He's been talking about it for weeks...partially because I made the mistake of telling him it came out on Father's Day weekend (long story, but that was not correct...) and then last weekend he knew it was out but we didn't go see it.  So - hopefully this weekend is THE weekend.  Finally time to see when Mike and Sulley became best pals.  I...I mean William...can't wait!

And, I've saved the best randomness for last.  On Sunday Austin and I were both working in kids' church.  Austin was assigned to the "lesson" station and I was assigned to the 2nd-5th graders.  The structure over the summer is more of a VBS style setting than a regular Sunday school setting as there are 4 stations that each class will rotate through.  One station is memory verse.  My 2nd-5th graders struggled a LOT with their verse but apparently the pre-school class has some rock stars.  One in particular :)  He was so proud to tell us he got a new car for remembering his verse, and he has recited it a few times this week.  Genesis 1:1.  He breaks it up (maybe that's how they were taught to remember it) and he says "genesis 1:1 in the beginning"  then pauses before moving on.  It's pretty precious, and I love how excited he is to learn it.  We are very glad we found a church that we both like so much and also has a great kids program where William can learn even more.

So - that's William's week in review.  Random and all over the map, but as always - full of learning!

Relay Friday (on saturday)

I planned to post my Friday update yesterday, but then because we were having a 'community blitz' today I decided to wait so I could report results!

Today my staff partner and I set up a table outside of Walgreens in town. We had hoped more people could join us and split some shifts but the date just didn't work for other teams and we didn't want to push it back further. Hopefully we can get another blitz planned soon on a better date. Summertime is hard!

But - we had a successful blitz! I was excited leading up to it and then once I got there I had a panic moment of 'what if no one wants to look our way? What if we try to tell people about relay and they walk by like we're those people at the malls with the sea salt scrub from the Dead Sea?' (Oh come on - you know that salt scrub - you've ignored them too...) but, my confidence was renewed quickly because in the first 45 minutes we had 2 survivors sign up and one team! A woman literally jumped out of her car and ran to our table and said 'tell me when relay is! Where is it? When is it? I have to be there!' Her enthusiasm was almost overwhelming, but that's awesome!!! She is a cancer survivor and signed up to create a team. 

The interest in our table had a lull for a little bit. Luckily Jiana and I had plenty of entertainment in our new friend Mike. I wish I could tell you all the things we learned from mike - that may make a good post on another day, if I feel like being slightly politically in-correct, but I don't want to take too much away from relay here. So - ill just say Mike was an interesting character who loved to take breaks from his job holding a sign on the corner...and he spent quite a few breaks talking our ears off.

Then, just before we packed up shop, we had one more interested party. He told us his wife is currently fighting breast cancer and would love to sign up as a survivor. And he also wants to form a team! 

So - that makes it 3 survivors and 2 teams for the quick community blitz. As a comparison, last year our relay had 4 (but really 3) teams and 4 survivors. Now we are up to 12 teams (assuming our last visitor does sign up). I'm BEYOND excited. I'm so stoked to get out there with more relayers and blitz again. Maybe target? Costco? Car dealerships? Maybe all of the above. I'm EXCITED!!!

Thanks for sticking with me through my relay journey. Even if all you're doing is reading my blog and cheering on my excitement, the support is wonderful. Having the blog in which I can express my excitement is wonderful! And as always - ill include our website just in case you want to donate money or just keep track of how we're doing :) two months will fly by and then I hope to be reporting back to you that thanks to our community and your help we exceeded our goals and had a wonderful relay!

 www.relayforlife.org/seasideca

And pictures too

I think the reason the previous post wasn't working might have been the pictures...so I removed them, here's to hoping it works now!

One adventure to the next

This was written after Memorial Day - no idea why it never posted 

The Wallis family had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend together. Friday I took the day off work to pick Austin up at the airport at 10:30. We had lunch and went on a tour of a vineyard before we went and got William after his naptime. His class has outside time from 3:30-4:30 so we went out onto their playground to get him. He was riding a tricycle around the little circle and when he saw Austin he flung the tricycle away and ran into his arms. It was such a happy greeting. He hugged him so tightly and laid his head on Austin's shoulder for a few minutes. He was so incredibly happy to have dada home.

The increase in his confidence and assurance is just as apparent as it was when Austin got home from Afghanistan. If I didn't already know it, it's further evidence that a young child needs both of his parents. It's a balance he couldn't have otherwise.

Saturday after I worked out and Austin took William to breakfast we all went up to the Capitola boardwalk for the day. It is in/near Santa Cruz, about half an hour up the bay from our house. The weather is slightly warmer and sunnier there than on seaside and it was a gorgeous day. We had lunch, played on the beach, went on a walk and had some delicious cupcakes before heading home.

We liked it so much we're debating renting a house there for Christmas! Our Christmas plans just got more complicated. 

Sunday we went to church in the morning and then William got to go pick out some new pet fish. Austin and William have been working on getting this fish tank for months. Apparently around January William started asking for one so Austin has been trying to use it as a manipulative tool to coerce William into listening and keeping his pants clean. It finally worked, but even if it hadn't I'm pretty sure Austin had his heart set on getting a fish tank this weekend regardless.

He said he needed 3 fish - one for him, one for dada and one for mommy. He picked 2 black fish named Donald and goofy, and his fish is a Mickey fish named Mickey. Look at its tail - it really is a Mickey fish!

He loves to feed the fish and watch them eat their food. He really seems to thrive with responsibility.

Naturally Monday came all too soon and we headed up to San Jose for a haircut, lunch and an afternoon at their children's museum before saying goodbye.

It was hard to say bye but we switched gears fast. The old bait and switch trick - works every time. Now it's on to Houston! Time for William to meet his newest cousin. 

But Did he HAVE to be born in MAY? Wish me luck - this Monterey weather has spoiled my blood.

William Wednesday

William officially graduated out of his toddler class into the preschool class last week. Friday was his last day in 'angelfish' and he now rolls with the big kids. I remember when we started at Goddard - looking at the 'other side' of the school, the kids seemed light years away from where we'd ever be with our baby. And yet - Monday morning we ran down the hall of the 'other side' as William excitedly showed dada his new class. My how time flies.

So you know how you always hear that you reap what you sow? And how when kids are bad teenagers you hear adults telling each other 'see? That's payback for what you did to your parents.' ?? Well, I always heard that and smiled inside because I knew I was a good kid. I didn't rebel, didn't act like a bad teenager...I always thought my 'payback' would be picnics and roses.  I paved such a nice pretty path, I'd love to reap what I sowed!

But - apparently when my parents told me at age 5 I should be a lawyer it wasn't because they were just dazzled with my brilliance. They were probably gritting their teeth as I argued endlessly and slapped them in the face with unarguable logic. How do I know this? Because that's what I'm doing now.

How do you respond when you tell your son he can't have a cookie until all his macaroni is off his plate, only to find that he has removed all of the macaroni from the plate to the placemat? Clearly I need to rethink my instructions because he is going to find loopholes.

There were actually a plethora of stories from our trip to Houston in which either I or another adult found ourselves staring Blankly/laughing nervously at the sound logic and argument skills coming from my 3 year old. On the one hand I have a little voice inside saying 'go William! Stand strong!' And proudly cheering as I know how beneficial the skill of argument can be. But on the other hand I have a much louder voice saying, 'do we REALLY have to argue about where on the floor to sit when we put on our shoes???'

Apparently we do! Among many, many other things. So, I may never have found myself in law school. But I better be saving my pennies because it could be that one day I'm paying for it nonetheless. I already am figuratively!

Oh and happy late Father's Day :)

It's That Time Again

Saturday William and I spent most of our day at the Salinas Relay for Life.  One year ago we went to our first Relay having no idea what to expect or even what it was all about.  We went because my office is a big sponsor and had a team set up...and let's face it, I needed friends! But I had no idea the journey upon which I was about to embark.

Over the last 12 months Relay has done so much for me personally and has meant so much to our family.  Saturday I realized that - as silly as it might sound - over the last few years I had started to feel like grieving should be over.  It has been over half my life, I shouldn't have bouts of deep sadness and days when all I want to do is cry.  It's my turn to be stronger because it's someone else's turn to grieve.  My time in the tainted lime light should be over.  But one of the best gifts Relay has given me is the understanding that it's not anyone's "turn" and our grief and sorrow over cancer and death doesn't have an expiration date.  It's ok for me to Celebrate, Remember, and Fight Back.  It's ok, no matter how many years it has been.

Relay has also been a wonderful family-focus to center our focus and efforts on.  I can't explain how it feels to sit at a committee meeting with Austin by my side, both passionate and engrossed in working towards a big, successful relay.  And when I hear William's excitement about being dragged to yet another Relay meeting or Relay event or Relay decoration party...he loves it, and he gets excited at recognizing the Relay for Life logo.  It has become a big part of our family and I had no idea a charity or organization could have that type of unifying impact.

Then last weekend William learned exactly why we Relay.  Hearing him say that he relays for his grandpa in Heaven both breaks and mends my heart.  Relay has brought closure, healing, openness, and unity to my heart and our family - and I am so, so grateful.

So, with the Salinas relay behind us and fire re-fueled it's time to gear up my Relay Fridays in my blog!  I'm sure you remember my efforts last year in getting the Seaside Relay started.  While I was very proud of the event, I'm SO hopeful that this year will blow it out of the water. We've been planning since January, but we really started getting the ball rolling after busy season.  And this year we already have a bigger event planned!  Last year we had 4 teams who, together, raised almost $13,000!  This year we have 8 teams - imagine what we can raise with more time, talent, efforts and resources!!!  I am so excited.  With 2013 being the 100th Birthday of the American Cancer Society, we are looking forward to a big Happy Birthday Party on August 17-18.  It is going to be a fantastic event.

But - as always - we need your help.  I am the event coordinator, Austin is a team captain, and William is a willing member of our committee and team.  We are very involved and very busy, and we need all of the support we can get.  Motivation (for days when I am self-concious that no one is going to show up to my meetings!) Prayers (for our endurance, focus, and eventual fatigue) and Finances.  If you think you can help us in any of these ways, we very much appreciate it.  I hope you all know that I wouldn't publicly beg for money if it didn't come from a place so deep in my heart, and I wouldn't use the blog to benefit anyone financially if it wasn't so incredibly important.  But it is.  Relay has given us so much, and with your help I hope we can pay it forward to those who are battling now or may battle in the future.  And, ultimately, with your help I hope that we can finally put an end to cancer.  As they say in the Relay family, we won't sleep because cancer doesn't either and we will walk until no one else has to hear those 3 words: You Have Cancer.

Will you join in our efforts?

Click Here to Learn More
Thanks for all of your love and support.  With the help of this blog, Team WTB raised almost $3,000 last year.  I am beyond thankful and hope this year can be another great success for Team WTB.

HE'S HOME

DADA IS HOME!  YAY!  His plane was scheduled to land at 12:30 tonight but at 6:55 we got a surprise call saying he caught an earlier flight and would be home at 8:10.  So, the rest of our evening went just about the same as the past 2 months did - a fast, hectic whirlwind.

We were driving home from the grocery store (needed eggs to make green eggs and ham for dinner) and I told William that we had to go home, cook fast, eat fast without choking, do a really quick clean up, and then I would have a cool surprise for him.  Less than an hour later we were back in the truck and headed to his surprise!

To all of our future visitors: you should check flights into Monterey and see if you can find a deal.  9 times out of 10 its way pricier than San Jose, but it's SO COOL!  Primarily because it's 10 minutes from our house, but it's also cool because you can stand in the parking lot and watch the planes land, park, and deplane right in front of you.  It's one of those tiny, exotic airports (am I the only one who finds them exotic?) where you walk down stairs and onto the ground rather than through a tunnel.  So we watched two planes land and watched the deplaning process when all of a sudden William spotted....DADA!!!!!  Then we ran into the building to meet him at the door.  It was so much fun :)

I have to say - the past 8 weeks went by REALLY fast.  Really fast.  There I was thinking I had all the time in the world on my hands with my 20% reduction in work hours, and yet somehow 8 weeks came and went and I'm still trying to get my head back on straight.  I didn't accomplish much of what I wanted to in that time and I'm struggling to figure out why my life feels/seems so hectic - but, at the current moment, I'm not too concerned.  8 weeks flew, that's good enough for me.  And now I'm enjoying listening to Austin read the safety information card to William in bed.

Oh- betcha didn't know William is now a thief and stole a safety information card on our flight to Houston didya?  I'll have to fill you in on that too.  Thanks for sticking with me through all of the slow times.  Some day I'll figure out how I manage to be more busy with more time than when I was a single parent in Colorado, writing up a storm.  But not tonight. tonight i'm gonna go lay with my boys :)