31 Days of Gray

Day 2 - Weather showing support ;)

It's a gloomy, chilly, rainy day here in CT...I'm trying to cheer myself up by saying that it's just trying to go gray in May too...lol ;) Today David had physical therapy and speech therapy. I'll go into more details about that once I get caught up on the last year...but he's been going to therapy the last couple of weeks. He definitely should have started sooner, but I'm thankful he's finally getting the help he needs. He's very dizzy and imbalanced, not to mention weak from the months of recovery. He also had some word finding issues after surgery...it's gotten SO much better, but the therapy should help get him all the way back to normal. This surgery was at the back of his head, the cerebellum...his first two surgeries were the front left lobe...we were not at all prepared for the side effects. He had such incredibly easy (for brain surgery) recoveries that when this one didn't go so smoothly we were thrown for a loop. He struggled with vomiting for months...not nausea, just straight up vomiting. The word finding, so crazy tired, dizziness, imbalance, etc. were the other issues he was left with. It's been just over four months since surgery and only lately is he really starting to make some improvements...but still slow going! I am ready for some successes! and I know he is too!

David had gray on too! and even my jacket is gray :)

So the Aetna building in downtown Hartford actually had a big Go Gray in May banner up to support the brain cancer awareness!!! I was so excited when a friend told me about it...we passed it coming home from PT, so I tried to get a pic...but got a big ole raindrop smack dab in the middle...hahaha

Freckles didn't know what I was trying to get her to do! lol Got my official Go Gray in May shirt from last year on!

Y'all know I always love having guest appearances, so make sure to send me pics of yourself in gray and it'll go up on my blog!!! Can't wait to see how many we can get this year, so don't be shy! :P

Okie dokie, time for a bit of a recap!

June 2015

David wound up heading to New Mexico to work for the summer. He always hates working away from home...I don't mind too much :P hahaha...jk...I think. Anywho...back to business.

me and my girls finally celebrating their birthdays!

Do I know what to get a friend or what??? lol

Field day picnic lunch!

Mike finally made it back from Qatar. We were all so glad to see him, no one more than Sparkle though! Nothing like your daddy! We wound up having such a great visit! He hung out for about 2 weeks before he had to head to his next assignment. Most of the time we just relaxed...but we had some fun outings too. It was so great to reconnect. We haven't spent that much time together since we were teenagers! So crazy when you think about it. We really enjoyed getting to know each other's grown up selves better. I'm really grateful we had the chance to finally do that. We've always lived so far from each other since we both left home, got married, moved, etc...

so little! lol

We had some great heart to heart talks over drinks ;) hung out on the porch, did some thrifting...took him to some local spots. He LOVED Cosmic Omelet! I knew that would be right up his alley! It's the coolest breakfast joint in town...it's got all different geeky spaceships painted on the walls, including the TARDIS! and Serenity (from Firefly), and so many more!

Mike Burns with Mary Catherine Woolley at Cosmic Omelet.

June 19, 2015Manchester

Great restaurant! Omg! How does my sister find these cool places! The floor is painted with the milky way and it's all spaced out inside!

To be fair, they are pretty fantastic!

The kids enjoyed hanging with their uncle too! They had a lot of fun together!

Playing soccer with Uncle Mike...Daddy would be horrified! lol

silly boy

Strawberry picking!!! so much fun

Hahahaha...he just doesn't know how to smile on camera!

Me and my bro!

Beach day!!!

This dude was just walking along strumming on his ukulele...hahaha

Cold!

I like this pic!

ice cream!

hahaha, he and Sparkle got SO burnt! They refused to put on sunscreen...I told you so!!! lol

Sadly, all good things must come to an end. He and Sparkle left at the end of June, literally hours before David flew home from NM for the long holiday weekend for 4th of July! They just missed each other :/ Lucky me, I got to drive Mike and Sparkle to the local airport around midnight, then straight to the Boston airport to pick up David, as his flights got all messed up and rerouted, then back home. Ugh! That was not fun! lol...

It was weird to contemplate Sparkle leaving...she'd been a part of our family and routine for almost a year! The following weeks felt weirdly quiet...and calm. lol... She left a big hole in our lives! It wasn't always easy, I wish we had been able to connect more, but it was so worth it. I know she couldn't wait to leave to be with her dad and try to get back to normal...and my girls were looking forward to more space...they'd been pretty crammed together so she could have her own room. But I knew they were gonna wind up missing each other...and sure enough, they really did!