Feeling Better Today!

I am not as dizzy today. I have been walking around without help and not having to touch the walls, still having to move slow, but at least I'm moving and not feeling like I'm going to be sick! My eye socket is still really sore and the area around the stitches feels like one huge bruise, but it is getting better. I was finally able to sleep last night and think that helped a lot!

I talked to my work and decided to just stay home all week. I was taking it day-by-day, but we all decided to be safe and just give it a week to get back to normal. Mark is staying home as well just because we were both pretty scared about the whole concussion aspect and he doesn't want me to all of a sudden have serious symptoms and be home alone. I have the best husband!

I could do without the head injury next time! Don't know how football players do it Sunday after Sunday for 16 weeks!

Photo's still to come...just waiting for Mark to upload them so I can get at them.

Kickball Playoff Photos

Here are some of the photos Mark took on Sunday. All are before me getting kicked in the head.

Josh tossed me the ball and I caught it for the out...that happened all day which is why I was the MVP of the first game!

Mark kicking...not sure who took this photo.

Kyle kicking...looks like he is dancing a jig!

Nice pose Kev!!

Mark and I waiting for the 2nd game to start.

Me and Kiera...have no idea what this new face is about!

ER Visit

We had a really great weekend up until about 5:00 last night. Saturday we spent the day at Summerfest with Bob & Michelle and girls, Josh & Meka and kids, and then BBQ'd at our place after. Sunday we had Kickball playoffs and our first game was great!

We won, Mark played short stop, I played first base and I ended up being the MVP of the game! The whole Sons of Pitches team played amazing and was the game we have had all season! We knew our next team would be a hard team and we would have to be on our game. Bottom of the 3rd, we are down by one run and the kicker kicks the ball, not sure who fielded it and threw to me at first, but it was a low ball, so was on my knees getting the ball, and putting my hand on first base for the out, and then it happened. The runner ran threw the base and kicked me in the head with his shin or knee, still not sure about that detail, and then blood, lots and lots of blood.

I don't do well with blood, so I just laid there in the dirt while my wonderful husband is putting pressure on it and wrapping my head to stop the bleeding. My whole team was amazing, holding my hand, helping Mark, calling 911, and even talking to me so I would stay calm.

My first ambulance ride ever and my first time being a patient in the new TG ER. 4 1/2 hours, 3 x-rays, one CT scan, 3 stitches, and one concussion later I was home.

I am supper dizzy today, have to move really really slow as any movement at all makes me so dizzy I feel sick. But, Mark is home with me and has been a champ taking care of me. He even washed my hair for me last night. After the blood, laying in the dirt, and irrigation in the ER my hair was a matted mess!!

There are a ton of photos, but honestly the idea of walking into the office to get them off the camera makes me sick, so will post the photos once I feel better.

Adoption Update

I haven't said much about the adoption as of late because there is not much to say, but we get asked about it all the time, so an update is in order.

We are waiting. Waiting for a birthmother that fits what we are looking for to choose us to parent her child. We found out the agency had some of our information wrong on the site, so that has been fixed. Hopfully that means there will be some positive action.

In the meantime we wait and enjoy the ease of living life child free while it lasts.

Photo's From 1st Softball Game

Even though Mark is not playing he still wanted to come out and support the team. He also used it a photo opportunity and got some shots. There are more on the SmugMug site, but here are a few...

Getting pre-game rules from the head umpire.

Mark is not only good about getting butt shots of me, but our whole team as well. To be fair we were standing in a circle so no matter where he was there was going to be a bunch of butts!

Me talking to the ump letting him know I'm not thrilled with catching because I don't want to get hit in the face with a bat or a ball. He said he would push me out of the way if needed.

Me catching after our chat. I did get hit in the glove with a bat, but that was about it.

Kaleena throwing it in from Right field.

Nice action shot of Bob running to 2nd base.

Ami making the throw from 3rd to 1st for an out!

After practice last night I have decided to go ahead and play. Thankfully one of the girls on the team is the head coach for Stadium HS Fast pitch team, so she worked with the ladies on hitting and helped me with my glove. After a hour and a half of hitting and fielding I'm feeling much better about it.

To Play Softball or to Not Play Softball

That is the question. First game was last night and we lost. But we were ok with that. We have not had a chance to practice with such short notice putting the team together. So considering most of us have not played since HS and we did not practice we were pretty happy with how we did.

I however am not sure softball is for me. I spent the whole game playing catcher, and the entire time I kept hoping that the batter would hit the ball so I wouldn't have to try and catch it. Then once the ball was hit I hoped that the runners would get out at the base so that I wouldn't have to try and catch the ball and get an out at home.

Batting was hard. The ball is coming at you so slow and while that seems like it would be easy there is way too much time to think about if it is a strike and should I swing or not. I literally wanted to vomit that is how stressed playing softball made me.

Just not sure that I want to spend the next 7 weeks feeling like I want to vomit! I love my team and doing something fun with friends, but honestly there was nothing fun for me about last night.

We have practice tonight. Will see how that goes before making up my mind, and will also make sure the team has enough girls so that I don't leave them stranded.

Your My Best Friend

My favorite conversation of the weekend was with Grace as she was going potty. I stuck my head in to make sure she was doing ok...

"Grace, how are you doing."

"Fine, I'm just going pee."

"Ok good, make sure to wipe and wash your hands when your done."

"I need you to wipe for me."

"Grace, when you pee you know how to wipe by yourself, you don't need my help."

"But Jen, you are one of my best friends and I need you to wipe for me."

I didn't say anything for a second and then she says...

"Sometimes you wipe my bottom better than I do and I just need your help."

I find it interesting that in her mind being one of her best friends means I have the privilege of wiping her bottom for her. Love how her mind works. :)

And, yes I did help her wipe.

Relay Photos

I know it is a few weeks late, but here are some Relay photos which are on a site that no one can access yet, so consider this your sneak peak. There are many, many more that will be available for viewing in the near future. :)

Event Co-Chairs Cara and Mike. It was a circus theme so they were dressed as ring master for the opening ceremonies.

Opening Survivor and Caregiver Lap.

Our Team Shirts, that were designed by my wonderfully talented husband!

One of my favorite Beckham family photos ever! Even Kiera is looking at the camera!

The High Striker was a hit! People where swinging away all night and people were spending $20 a pop to try and hit the bell.

Me and Bob's Dad, Robert having fun.

Our caged lion that was one of the prizes for hitting the bell on the High Striker.

Happy Friday Thoughts

-New Shoes: I hope to have a new pair of shoes waiting for me at home today. I always thought handbags were my fashion weakness, but I'm starting to think it may be shoes. As long as I don't spend money I don't have it is not a "shoe problem" though. ;)

My next new pair on the way from ShoeDazzle is Gwynn.

I love a cute pair of neutral flats for the summer! Even though it has a print to it the color is still neutral so I will be able to wear them with a ton of stuff! Can't wait!

-Hair cut: I can't wait for my hair cut tomorrow! I love getting it cut mostly because I love having someone else shampoo my hair. If only I were rich I would pay someone to do that for me every day! I'm sticking with basically the same cut, but am having her razor the heck out of it as it is way to thick!

-Softball Mitt: Mark helped me buy a mitt last night! I'm excited only because now I can start practicing so that maybe I won't be the weakest link on the team. :) Mark said he will practice catching with me all weekend which makes me feel better because that is what I need help with the most. Specifically pop flys. Plus, one of my co-workers who is a coach gave me some great pointers yesterday that address my fear of the ball. I am sort of looking forward to our first game now.

-Summer Schedule: We have so much stuff planned for the summer. The down side is I have to get our calendar under control. The last few days I have had one thing after another thrown at me and now I can't even find a weekend that Mark and I can have friends over for a summer BBQ! I have to start saying no to things. It is so hard though especially during the summer because we want to do fun stuff with friends in the sun. Plus, I made a commitment to the softball team, but am finding the practice schedule is causing some issues for me. But, as one of the outspoken ones who all but demanded mandatory practice I am not about to miss practice!

-Visiting with Jo: Jo and I have started booking back to back hair cut appointments so that we can meet early catch up and then keep each other company during our cuts. Plus, Jo is supper picky about the cut being perfect, so when I'm in the chair she makes sure Tiffany is doing exactly what I have asked for. Not that Tiffany ever doesn't do what I ask her to, but every once in a while there is a crazy hair that needs extra attention and Jo catches it every time. So looking forward to seeing her tomorrow!

-TGIF: So thankful this crazy work week is almost over!

Softball Fear Factor

That's right...with kickball almost over it is time for softball.

Right about now I would give anything to live closer to my Dad so he can run drills with me like he used to do when I was in HS. Whatever sport we were doing in PE he would drill me on after school and on weekends all because I didn't want to get picked last for the teams. And, it worked! I was always able to hold my own and was usually one of the first girls picked for any team. That confidence in my sports related abilities has stuck with me, except for softball.

I feel pretty good about batting, but will admit when it comes to fielding I have a fear factor! Softballs can break noses, knock out teeth, cause bumps and bruises, and are easy to lose sight of when they are popped up. So why play...well the league we play dodge ball and kickball in is one team short for the softball season. We are such an awesome group of people they asked if we would be willing to put a team together and they would cut the registration in 1/2 for us.

So I figured why not challenge myself and step out of my sports comfort zone for 1/2 price?! Plus I like knowing I have scheduled fun time with friends every week.

This weekend I will get a mitt and give it a go...no time for practice before our first game which in the 21st. But after that there will be practice once a week and games once a week.

I hope by the end of the season I will feel much better about fielding!

As for kickball we played our last regular season games last night. Lost the first one, don't really want to talk about it, won the second, and the next game will be in the playoffs on the 27th. Since every team makes the playoffs not matter their record it is on great accomplishment to be in the playoffs. The great accomplishment will be not losing our first game!

River Rafting Fun

We spent the weekend camping and river rafting in Leavenworth. We stayed at the Tumwater campground, and even though it does not have hook-up's for the trailers, the spots are huge with lots of trees between each spot, so it felt like we were the only ones in the whole camp. It ended up working out that we were able to put both trailers in the same pull-through spot, which is great for Grace. She loves to go back and forth between trailers and it is so much easier when we are close together and can see what she is doing and no cars to worry about.

The weather was beautiful the entire time, not a drop of rain the whole weekend! The only time we got wet was when were on the river hitting the white water. It was a great mix of calm drifting which was great for photos, and exciting, drenching white water rapids. I don't have any pics of the actual rafting as we had water proof disposable cameras that still need to be developed. (I don't miss film at all!) No one was willing to risk ruining their nice digital cameras so we went old school and disposable.

We had three boats all together. I knew a few people from the other boat from Relay and they are Bob's co-workers, but I really only knew the people in our boat, and what a fun group we were. Even our guide fit right in cracking jokes and having fun with us. Once the pics are developed you can view them here: http://markyeatman.smugmug.com/ click on Wenatchee River Rafting 2010. Plus there are way more camping photos there than what I uploaded to the blog.

We made it to camp around 4 or 5 (can't remember) Friday afternoon, set up and had dinner. Saturday morning we headed out for our adventure on the river, and were back in camp by 4pm for some snacks, games and relaxing before dinner. We were loving the sun so much we decided to sleep in Sunday and play in Leavenworth until check out time at 2pm. We shopped, had lunch, found a few things we just had to have and then headed home.

What a great weekend!

Kiera...rubbing it in that she has more hair than Mark.

Grace...may be the only time she sat still the whole weekend. :)

Bishop, this was his spot the whole weekend. He made a little bed for himself and planted himself there.

This is how Kiera spends most camping trips...in the stroller yelling at whomever is closest to her in the hopes we will set her free to crawl around in the dirt. That girl is so ready to be walking!

Not sure why these are smaller...larger sizes are on the smugmug site.

Getting the boat ready...they inflated much faster than we thought they would!

Us after: Mark, me, Michelle, Bob, Alicia, Ben, Lance - our guide.

Back in camp after rafting hanging out.

What does one do in Leavenworth? Drink beer and eat kilbasa of course!...

...And tire yourself out eating a huge ice cream cone. Small was not so small!

Another Short Week

Today is my Friday. I tell you I could get used to working 4 day work weeks!

My long weekend kicks off tonight with a kickball double header...making up for two weeks of rained out games. Mark won't be playing as his back is bothering him, but I will be there doing what I can to help us win.

Then tomorrow Mark and I head to Leavenworth to do some white water rafting with Bob & Michelle, and Ben & Alicia (friends of Bob & Michelle's). I am so excited! Bob works with someone that has access to all the gear and guides for $20 per person, which is a great deal!

Tomorrow we load up all the gear and boats (there is another boat full of people from Bob's work, but our boat will just be the 6 of us and our guide). Saturday we will be on the water for about 3 hours, have a late lunch in town and then spend the rest of the day hanging out in camp and relaxing.

The weather is supposed to be great, mid 70's to 80's for the weekend. I can't wait for some sun!

Grown Up?

I asked Mark last night if he felt like a grown up and he said he was not sure what that meant exactly.

Even though I have a "real" job, pay a mortgage/car payment/camping trailer payment/bills, grocery shop, cook dinner, clean the house, babysit our friends kids, volunteer in the community I can't say that I feel like an adult.

I now have a lot of responsiblitites that my parents had and I remember thinking they were so grown up when I was little, but now that I am reaching some of the same milestones in life that they did I don't feel the way they looked in my mind gowing up.

I for sure live a responsible life, but at what point will I start to feel like a grown up?

Mark thinks when we have a kid of our own maybe that will change. But I'm not so sure. Despite all the responsible stuff we do life is just so much fun, and we enjoy our activities, family and friends so much that it just doesn't seem like being an adult should be this much fun.

I should probably sto pquestioning it and enjoy it while it lasts.

Weekend Update

What a great weekend! I can't think of a better way to spend a sunny 18 hours than with friends at an amazing Relay For Life Event! The sun came out at about noon on Friday, set up was at 3pm, event started at 6pm and ended at 12 noon on Saturday and there was not a drop of rain the entire time!

So many great memories I don't know where to start. First let me say that I have only ever participated in two events...Tacoma and Lakewood, so if I compare it is not to be derogatory, but it is simply because I only have the two events to compare to.

It was really strange to not have a responsibility to take care of. For the first time in a long time I got to attend the event and just enjoy it and soak it all in. I can honestly say I didn't do a single thing along the lines of volunteering other than what was needed for my team, and you know what I loved it!

The opening ceremony was wonderfully simple. No TV crews queuing when to start, stop, or where to look, not a long string of honored guest making speeches, it was so great to be told to Celebrate. Remember. Fight Back. and then just get down to it! The focus was on the community, survivors, caregivers, and raising money. There was no image to uphold, no one to impress and that in and of itself was impressive.

Team captains would stand out on the track and high five every walker that went by...it didn't matter if they were on the same team or not. Everyone was there to support each other and cheer each other on!

I was so impressed with the team participation. All the tent sites on the field were decorated and all the teams had on-site fundraisers going on. And the youth teams were amazing. Not only were they enthusiastic, but they were well behaved. Not once did they get out of control, obnoxious, or do anything crazy like going through other peoples tents etc.

It was really nice to have the field open for running around and playing. Grace was able to run around at will and we didn't have to worry about her getting run over by teenagers or getting lost in the crowd. She loved being able to run back and forth between the team tent site on the far side of the field to the DJ area to hang out with her Daddy.

The event goal was $125,000.00 and we were over $145,000.00 at the end of the event, and there is still money coming in. Prior to the event the teams had turned in so much money that we only needed a few thousand more to reach the goal...that is unheard of!

There was no quite time! There were live bands, Karaoke and DJ'ing all night, non-stop, something else I'm not used to and I loved it! It was fun knowing that even though I was catching a few hours of sleep that there was still a lot of fun going on. Also, I think it helped occupy the youth teams, that and leaving some of the stadium lights on. Much less opportunity to get into mischief when it is not dark!

I will admit I was burned out by the end of Relay season last year, hurt by some decisions, and I had lost my joy and passion for Relay. I am so thankful that I had the Lakewood event to turn to, to get my joy and passion back.

I can't tell you how many times members of the team would say to me, "this is what it is supposed to be about", or "this is what Relay is meant to be".

I feel like I have found my Relay home, I know I have my joy and passion back, and I can't wait to be at full steam again next year!

Yes there are a ton of great photos, but Mark needs to process them and edit them before I can use them. So once they are ready I will post a few. I was going to wait for the photos before posting this post, but that could be a week or so.

Relay is Today!

Relay For Life of Lakewood is today! I can't believe it has been a year since I completed my co-chair duties and celebrated the 25th Anniversary of Relay. What a lot of changes a year can bring!

I have enjoyed this last year of Relay so much more than I thought I was going to. It has been liberating to be part of a smaller event that is so focused on the community, teams, survivors and caregivers and focuses on the heart and soul of what Relay is about.

It has been fun to be a captain and team member again and the biggest worry is what is our tent site decoration and activity going to be.

The fact that I'm at work today speaks volumes as to how much things have changed for me. It has been at least 5 years since I have been able to participate in Relay without running around like mad and taking the week leading up to Relay off just to make sure everything is handled.

While I don't regret volunteering as a member of the Leadership Team that planned a large Relay I can't say that I miss being part of it either. I truly love being a strong team member on an active team. (Plus having so much personal time is really such a treat!)

Relay always makes me stop and be thankful for my health and the health of those I love. It makes me think about my Grandma and all the wonderful memories I have. It also makes me think of the final week of her life and how ugly and cruel cancer can be. It makes me think about all the milestones in my life and my sisters life that she is missing out on...sometimes I just want her back so bad it hurts.

But the memories remind me of why I am so passionate about fighting cancer! Every step taken at Relay is taken in support of survivors and their caregivers, every step is taken in memory of my Grandma, and every dollar raised is raised to fight back and put an end to the disease.

There are a lot of people in my life, close friends and family and others on the periphery of my life, that have had cancer scares, diagnosis, treatment, and successful remission. For all of them I walk, for all of them I fight back!

4 Minutes

I am a pretty efficient person. I usually pick stuff up every time I leave a room and make sure things end up back where they belong. I am good at doing two or three things at once, and find ways to make use of waisted time, such as putting laundry away or doing dishes during commercials. (Don't even get me started on how much less I get done now that we DVR everything! I have started letting the commercials run just so I can get a few little chores done here and there.)

From the number of mommy/parenting blogs I read I'm getting the idea that these habits will come in handy after Sky is here.

I got to thinking last night I wonder how much I can get done in 4 minutes. Why 4 minutes...well that is how long I heat my water in the microwave when I make myself a cup of tea. Usually while it is heating I just stand there and daydream, think, scratch my back on the corner of the wall, decide what color I'm going paint my toe nails next...you get the idea. I kill time instead of make the best use of it.

Well last night I decided to start unloading the dishwasher not expecting to have time to put all the dishes away, but thought it would be nice to get a start on it. Well when the timer went off after 4 minutes I had put all the dishes away, washed the "good" chefs knives by hand and re-loaded the top shelf of the dishwasher. That is a lot of stuff to get done in just 4 minutes!

I was kind of surprised and sort of proud of myself for getting so much done in so little time. It did make me wonder though why unloading the dishwasher when I was a kid seemed like such a huge task...but that is for another post.

I may start practicing to figure out just how many tasks can be accomplished in only 4 minutes. When I'm tired from multiple feedings in the middle of the night I may only be able to keep my eyes open for 4 minutes at a time and want to make the best use of it!

Memorial Day Camping Weekend

We decided to hit the beach and visit Westport with our good friends the Beckham's, Josh and Dev, and some HS friends of Bob and Josh's for the long weekend. Even though we got rained on most of the weekend we still had a great time! We even had one whole day of sun that was spent playing ultimate frisbee, beach football, and ended with a big bonfire on the beach with smores and word games around the fire. Good times were had by all!

Michelle, Bob, Grace (on Bob's shoulders) and Kiera.

Not sure why this photo is so small! We spent Friday driving around (in the rain) seeing the sights. We had no idea there were thousands of acres of cranberry bogs in Westport. Most of them are farmers that grow for Ocean Spray. Interesting fact, Ocean Spray is actually a co-op that is owned by the farmers that grow the product. I would love to see the bogs when they are ready to harvest...I bet the color is amazing! (Another interesting fact...they no longer flood the bogs to harvest. Apparently that is old school these days.)

We say a lot of wildlife including this bald eagle, we were really that close to him when he decided to take flight.

Bishop and I chillin, or as Mark says it looks like I'm strangling him.

Don't ask me why we decided to find the highest point we could in the middle of wind and rain, but we climbed to the top of this observation tower and were literally getting blown around and drenched. Bob was back at the truck because Kiera was asleep and decided to moon us. Didn't get a photo of that. I was cracking up at Grace because she held my hand on the way down, and with every step she was saying "holy crap". It was a little scary as the wind was really strong and the stairs were wet.

Michelle and I showing off our pirate wear.

Again, not sure why this is so small. We saw these baby seals during one of our walks. We were able to get up really close, but were careful no to touch them. These were new, as one still had the umbilical cord attached.

Mark and I on the beach with Bishop. We were able to let him off leash a few times as the weather was so bad there were very few people around. Him and Lucy (Bob and Michelle's dog) ran around and chased balls together, and he didn't run off!

There are a lot more photos here: http://markyeatman.smugmug.com/ click on the Memorial Day Camping 2010 link and you can see the rest and a few videos as well.

Can't wait for the next camping trip!