8 is enough

Although I am 100% ready for baseball season, I will admit that this last weekend of Cooper's basketball season was pretty amazing. It has been a long, but good season for his team. They moved up to a more competitive division this year and it was a bit of a struggle in the beginning, but they really came around. After losing their first game 54-8 (not a typo), they ended up with a 5-10 record, winning 5 of their last 6 games. And, we found out from the coach that this was the most successful 6th grade team Frederick has had at this level.

The tournament over the weekend was in Littleton and only the winner of the 4 teams in their bracket would advance. They lost the first game and won the second game, so their season is over, BUT Coop finally got a huge monkey off his back. He had not scored a single point in their first 13 games and he didn't complain. He knew defense was his job and he was causing turnovers and getting steals, but he would by lying if he said he didn't want at least one bucket. Well, he got his wish and then some. Of course, Doug was in the bathroom when the game started. First play of the game, Coop got open under the hoop, got the pass and drained it. I made a huge fool of myself standing up and cheering. Doug walked in about 30 seconds too late. So, to make his dad happy, Coop did it again. Got open, got the pass and drained another one. He then went on to score twice more and had 8 of the team's 19 total points by the time the game was over. He tried so hard not to smile, but the grin on his face was priceless as was the reaction from his teammates and coaches. Unfortunately, they lost the game, but then they went on to win the 2nd game and Coop got to the free throw line and made 1/2 free throws. Nice way to end the season!

Thank you, Kris, for the awesome pics!

Pretty good form

On its way in the hoop!

Playing some D

Birthday Sweetheart

I am the first to admit that I love that Kinley's birthday is on a fun holiday. In fact, I had the option of being induced on Feb. 13th, but I talked the doc into waiting one more day. It helps, too, that Kinley's personality fits the holiday. She really is a sweetheart! She is also our comic relief, our peacemaker and our snuggle bug. She made me a card for Valentine's Day that said, "Dear mom, later do you want to snuggle with me. put your answer here _____."

I spent the day in her classroom on Friday helping with their Valentine's Day party and having lunch with her, etc. I brought a healthy snack for her birthday treat since they had so much junk already. She felt the need to explain to the class that she was really sorry it was healthy food, but her mom is a nurse and there was a little piece of fudge if they ate their healthy stuff first. Her teacher, the lunch lady and the librarian all pulled me aside at one point and told me what a crack up she is and how much they enjoy her personality. I was afraid to ask for any more details. :)

Getting sung to in class

Queen for the day

She decided she wanted a pajama party this year and it was a huge hit. I was nervous about having 10 little girls in my house by myself, but it turned out so good. Doug was gone helping take care of his mom who was recovering from major surgery, so I was the only adult there. Kaiya and her friends did an amazing job helping me and I think they had fun being the big kids in charge. They had heart-shaped pizza and then it was craft time. They painted some little boxes, made candy necklaces, and got manicures and pedicures. They were all so well behaved and I think they really enjoyed themselves. After everyone left, Kinley gave me a huge bear hug and said it was the best day ever. That made it all worth it!

Pizza!

These girls were focused!

Window pane cookies were a hit

The home spa

Present time!

Cake time!

On Saturday, Coop had two basketball games in Denver and they won them both! Coop played his best ball of the season. Still no points, but several good shots, a couple of steals and he played hard. His coach e-mailed me the nicest comments about him, which made my day. After the game, we went out to dinner with friends and without me even realizing it, Kinley told our server it was her birthday. The girl really knows how to make a birthday into entire weekend celebration.

On Sunday night, we had my whole family over for dinner and she impressed everyone by reading all of her birthday cards with no help. Her reading has really taken off. She got some great gifts and has been busy playing with them every spare second she has.

Six candles

Getting some help on a really hard word--such concentration!

Sporting a new suitcase

Her fav gift--her own Snuggie

It was a bit of an exhausting weekend, but so worth it. We love our Kinley Girl!

Most Improved

Kaiya had her big end of season gymnastics banquet this last weekend. It was a very nice evening and one of the dads did an amazing job putting together a slide show and even made every girl a collage that was poster-size.

Most Improved Gymnast

Kinley was pretty proud of her sis

Being a goofball

Kaiya was awarded Most Improved Gymnast and she was pretty pleased with that. Her coaches talked about how amazed they were at how quickly she progressed from a girl who fell on beam all the time to a girl who made it to state. She was all smiles listening to them. After the parents put away all the tables when it was over, the girls were having handstand contests. You would think they would enjoy a night off, but they are a bunch of addicts! I got talked into joining them and was pleased that I can still hold a handstand for quite a while--the difference is that my wrists were sore for days. Ugh!

These girls can't get enough

She has been working so hard on the new skills she needs to move up to Level 5 and it's looking pretty promising. Her hands have been ripped to shreds lately from bars. The video is bad, but you can see her progression on this new bar routine. This is about half of the routine. She keeps adding on each week.

Cooper's basketball team continues to fit the title "Most Improved" as well lately. They lost two heartbreakers this last weekend, but they are so competitive in this league now. Cooper got to start the first game, so he was pumped. He is not a scoring machine, but he hustles and his coach loves his attitude and hard work in practice. He got a clean steal from a huge kid in the first game, so he was quite pleased. He admits, though, that he is very ready for golf and baseball season to start!

Star struck!

I hate having to choose between my kids' activities, but Saturday was just such a day. Cooper had back-to-back basketball games and, of course, they were running behind. Kaiya and I had tickets to a DU gymnastics meet, so we had to split early and miss Coop's second game. Grr!

Coop had two good games and finally fouled somebody (his uncles are always telling him to make sure and at least have a couple good fouls) and had two good shots, one of which went almost all the way in and came back out. The best part is that both games were good games--close all the way to the finish and though we lost both games, it was only by two points each. After getting blown out the first couple weeks, it was nice to be so competitive. Even better is that it is now getting close enough to baseball season that his coaches are talking about some pre-season tournaments. Bring it on!!

Kaiya's gym had special VIP tickets to the DU meet, which means it included getting to go to the autograph session with Alicia Sacramone who was a member of the 2008 Olympic team in Bejing. Kaiya was so star struck--it was so cute. She almost couldn't speak when it was her turn to get her autograph. They were being super strict about one autograph per person and no photographs. After that, they had a little Q&A session with Alicia and it was cute to hear all the questions the girls asked her.

Kaiya's coaches saved a group of seats right down on the floor and shortly after we sat down, Alicia sat directly in front of us. A couple girls got brave enough to ask to have her picture taken with them, but I was really hesitant. I always worry about being so intrusive. One of my old college teammates was at the meet too, and she grabbed my camera and told Kaiya to go for it. She didn't hesitate and we got a great picture of Kaiya with Alicia. She already knows what frame she wants to use to put it in her room.

Proud of her autograph

Listening to the Q&A session

My star struck girl with Alicia!

I am sure enjoying my kids being old enough to go to events like that and really enjoy them together. I don't think Kaiya moved for two hours. And, DU won the meet, edging out BYU, which was AWESOME! BYU has the same coach that was there when I competed for USU and it just doesn't seem possible that it has been 16 years since I finished my college career. I realized that the girls who were competing on Saturday night were BORN when I was in college. Holy crap! I felt so ancient!!!

The video clip is of a skill on bars Kaiya has been working on for months. It is called a kip and is the hallmark skill on bars because everything else from here on out builds on it. She was pretty pumped.

Runnin' in the Desert

I have decided that running long distances is a little like childbirth. It doesn't seem nearly as bad after the fact as it does while you are in the moment.

This last weekend, my mom, brother, sister-in-law and I flew to Phoenix to run in the Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon. My nutty brother decided about half way into our training that he would show us all up and run the full marathon. We had a great weekend and I'm pretty luck to have a husband who not only stayed home and ran the kids all over the place, but was my biggest cheerleader. I had to miss Kaiya's piano recital and two of Cooper's basketball games, which I hated missing.

She did so good!

We flew out late Friday night and got into Scottsdale just before midnight. My mom and stepdad stayed at a hotel while Brandon and Erika and I stayed with my dad at our condo a/k/a "The Pad" in Scottsdale, which is the same place I have spent every spring break with very few exceptions since I was about 9 years old. My dad has been there since the day after Christmas, so I think he was ready for some guests. We spent Saturday checking out the race expo and figuring out where to go on Sunday morning. For dinner, we did some serious carb loading at an Italian restaurant and then went to bed early.

Brandon's race started at 7:40 a.m. and the half didn't start until 8:30, so we got dropped off in shifts thanks to my dad and stepdad. Our hope was that the slow ladies would finish before Brandon so we could cheer him through the finish line. Turned out we finished about the same time because we didn't even cross the START line until 9:00. So many runners!! In fact, there were so many runners that we had a hard time keeping a decent pace at times just because we were trying to navigate around so many people, especially those that decided to stop and walk with no warning right in front of us. We got lots of comments on our matching t-shirts that my mom got us and saw lots of inspirational stories on other people's t-shirts.

The weather was perfect and the course was pretty flat until about mile 10 and then we hit some hills. There were live bands every couple miles and that made it fun. My courageous sister-in-law probably shouldn't have even been running because her poor stomach gave her such grief while she was training. I know I would have quit. She did SO awesome! We didn't set any land speed records, but we never stopped--even at the water stops, we drank on the run. It was a little scary as we neared the finish line seeing someone in full cardiac arrest off the side of the road being attended to by EMTs, but we made it! We hurried over to the full marathon finish line and because my brother is a speed demon, he had just crossed the finish line about the same time we did, so we missed him. :(

After the race, we headed straight to our absolute favorite Mexican food place--Baja Fresh. Then came a long soak in the hot tub, a long shower and a nap. We ate dinner at a fun local spot called AZ 88 and went to the Sugar Bowl for ice cream. Nothing like rewarding ourselves with food. Ha!

So, even though training in the snow and ice was not much fun, it was worth it! What a great weekend!

Friday night greeting

This is gonna be a piece of cake

Picking up our race bibs

Photo op at the expo

Putting our tag in our shoes

6 a.m. on race day--ready to go!

Finished!

Feeling special in our matching shirts

How we're all related . .

The big 1-2

I am having a hard time believing that in one short year, a teenager will be living under our roof. Cooper turned 12 last Thursday and it just doesn't seem possible that it was 12 years ago that our lives forever changed. I can still remember the tiniest of details surrounding his birth and the days and weeks that followed. And, I remember some of his early years really well. It's from about kindergarten to now that it is all kind of a blur.

Everyone told me when we had kids that it goes by fast and I'm not sure you can really understand that until it happens to you. When you are in the moment of a tantrum or an endless potty training day or strapping kids into carseats, it doesn't seem possible that it's all just gone in a flash, but it is!

When I tucked Cooper in bed the night of his birthday, he asked me if I was going to cry. Duh! Of course I am--I do every year on his birthday. He was a little embarrassed by it, but at the same time, he now has a firm understanding of how lucky he is to be alive. He also deals with a little more of the awkwardness that comes with being different than his peers, but he really handles it well. I am so proud of this kid and so glad to be his mom.

On his actual birthday, all Cooper wanted to do was have wings, pizza and football and have his Uncle Brandon come over to watch the BCS title game with us. He got his wish and I must say it was a pretty easy request. It was just too hard to have a party with school starting back up and his basketball schedule, so it made it easy. He loved getting his gifts just like he did when he was 2 and I will admit having him be a little older made for a nice night.

Over the weekend, Doug's parents came to visit and to be a part of Cooper becoming a Deacon. Now that he's 12, it means more responsibilities at church, but it also means he doesn't have to go sing in the primary anymore, which thrilled him. He loved having his grandparents here and they have such a special bond with him. We really just had a very nice, relaxing weekend with them. I'm so mad that I forgot to pull out the camera more often while they were here.

Jan. 14th is the anniversary date of his open-heart surgery and that day is forever etched in my memory as well. I post the picture to remind myself that even when he's being ornery, he is still our miracle kid.

How it all started . . .

At age 3

Sun kissed towhead

As a 2nd grader

Such a baby face

Just wanted a cheesecake this year

One very loud game chair!

Looking so old

Ready to become a deacon

An extra special visit

*Warning - emotional post.* There is my disclaimer.

I get very emotional every year around the time of Cooper's birthday simply because I reflect on how scary he started his life 12 years ago on Jan. 7, 1998. He is so on to me that he asked me today if I had cried yet. Although we are still fighting some minor battles with his cardiac anatomy and pacemaker, I'm not sure I believed 12 years ago that he would be as happy and healthy as he is today. I wanted to believe it, but I think I was afraid to be overly optimistic.

I have Cooper to thank for pushing me into the nursing field as well. As I take care of other cardiac kids now, there is such a sense of giving back and I sometimes feel guilty that I get paid for what I do. And, every once in a while a patient comes along that just grabs my heart and won't let go. Little Matthew is a case in point. With his mom's permission, I get to share his story.

Matthew lives with his family not too far from us and he was like any other active toddler, except that he just couldn't seem to keep up on the growth chart. Despite a huge appetite, the poor kid just couldn't gain weight. He eventually found himself in the failure to thrive clinic for repeat evaluations, calorie counts and repeated weigh-ins. No one could find an underlying cause for his poor growth. At 16 months, he got some sort of flu bug and wound up at urgent care and then back at his pediatrician's office for follow-up. Out of the clear blue, the doc heard a gallop when listening to his heart--almost always indicative of fluid overload in and around the heart.

Off to Children's the family went and after an EKG and echocardiogram, he was diagnosed with Scimitar Syndrome--a very, very rare heart defect in which an unneeded extra vein connects the pulmonary venous circulation and the systemic venous circulation. The extra vein drains into the inferior vena cava instead of into the left atrium of the heart. In other words, two systems that are supposed to run parallel to each other were intertwined. This also resulted in too much pressure to his lungs. And, as if that wasn't enough, he had an aorta that was going the wrong direction and was encircling his trachea, which would have eventually been disasterous. Every calorie this kid was eating was sustaining this crazy circulation pattern in his body.

In mid-November, Matthew had surgery to repair his many defects and the sugery was incredibly successful. Things were moving along nicely and the breathing tube was pulled a couple days later. Unfortunately, he started a downward spiral and eventually was reintubated and the tube was unable to be pulled. He was taken back to the O.R. where a tracheostomy tube was placed creating an artificial airway. After many more weeks in the hospital, my little buddy was able to come home. Doctors are very optimistic that the trach will be able to be removed in the coming months, but until then, he does not leave his house other than for appointments.

I fell in love with this little guy right from the start and quickly signed up to be one of his primary nurses meaning that if I was working, he was all mine. :) His parents are amazing with him, providing so much love and yet keeping some structure and normalcy for him.

Today, the kids and I got to go visit Matthew. After dousing my kids with hand sanitizer, we stayed and played with him for an hour today. We brought puzzles and books and toys and yet the greatest gift we gave him was an hour of our time. He warmed up to the kids so quickly (and recognized me enough to greet me with a hug . . . oh the tears in my eyes!). He is now walking again and doesn't even seem to notice his trach and the ten feet of hoses and cords attached to his neck. He is just the sweetest little boy who seems to know that he is lucky to be alive. I know that sounds weird, but I've had the same types of experiences with Cooper over the years. He has a twinkle in his eye and a smile that melts you instantly.

After we left, the kids were kind of quiet and reflective. Cooper finally told me that the whole experience made his day and the others said they wanted to go back sometime. I'm hoping I can babysit him sometime soon so his parents can take a much needed break together! Stay tuned. :)

Do they get any cuter than this?

Play time!

See if you can read his shirt :)

Happy boy

So playful

My new boyfriend