Check... check... check... Is this thing on??

Hi... My name is Heather and I'm.... addicted to being a really bad blogger...

                 Hi Heather...

It's been months since my last blog...


Ok, that's all I really know about 12 step programs, but it kinda feels like I need one to break my addiction to NOT blogging.  I'm sorry y'all!!

Life here in sunny Florida is good, we're chugging along doing our thing!!  Greg is good, he has a few changes coming up that we're equal parts nervous but excited about... Perhaps I'll blog about it in the future when we know more... (don't hold your breath!! ha!)

I have fully launched Heather Peugh Photography and holy monkey's I didn't know word of mouth marketing would make me this busy!!  I'm loving it and really being challenged and it's good!  I'm also still working races and such and loving all of that too!  I broke my tailbone early this year and had to take a forced break from running/biking/working out in general and it's made me grumpy, but luckily for anyone who has to be around me, I'm slowly but surely making my comeback now and man does it feel good (in that painful kinda way!). 

Greyson (I know that's all you really come here for...) - Greyson is amazing!!  He graduated from Arnold Palmers earlier this year and I'm pretty sure everyone clapped and cried for us as we left that final day knowing that weekly therapy visits there were OVER!!  We're still in the weaning him from his meds visits, but he is doing so amazingly well!!  Yay and hip hip hooray and everything overly the top happy!!!  WOO HOO!!

2 weeks ago he had a pallet expander put in his top pallet to correct his cross bite.  His cross bite was bad enough that it needed to be fixed sooner rather than later to keep him from having jaw issues in the future.  At first he had the cutest little lisp you have ever heard, but as he gets used to it the lisp is going away!!  He's been a trouper with it and hasn't really complained about it at all!  I'm so proud of him.

He's continuing to shine at school!  He/We love his new school so much and couldn't be happier with how that all turned out.  He fits in very well with his class and we've made great friends there!!  Love it so so so much!

Last week was spring break - we had a nice relaxed week with movies and playing and camping out in the living room, and late night giggle fests... I missed him so much when he went back to school today.  Schedule is good for us though and I'll spend the rest of the week getting caught up on everything I let slide last week...

and now for the good stuff...   We went out yesterday morning, and caught a bit of the sunrise and few captured moments of the little guy I love so much.  He's truly my first muse, my inspiration, my heart, my love, my everything.  He makes me smile like no other ever could... I love you Greyson - to the moon and back, infinity...

4

4 years ago I was pregnant…

4 years and 1 day ago, I was not.

This doesn’t get any easier.  As much as I’ve said, “We’re done, no more babies for us, I can’t do it again” there was always this little whisper that said, “you will…”  We tried this summer, and it didn’t happen, and now as hard as I try to hear that whisper, it’s not there.

 4 years, and I still feel the shock, the pain, the anguish, a sadness that wrings me dry of tears and envelopes me so fully that every heart beat hurts…

 

Dear baby boy,
I’m sorry.
Love,
Momma

1st grade spelling...

So 1st grade spelling is no joke!!  This week (yes, just this week) Greyson is learning the phonic rule of "i_e" long i, spelled with the bossy e.

Therefore, his spelling words for just this week are:

slide
stride
price
slice
twice
shine
spine
airline
combine
sunshine
device
sacrifice
collide
decide
divide
entice

Yeah... pretty sure he'll spell better than me by 3rd grade!! Oh who am I kidding, the kid spells better than I do now!!  Oh and he's reading Chapter books and he's doing 4 digit addition (carry the 1) and lots of multiplication!!  He's definitely being challenged, but he loves it!!

Report Card Comments...

Dear Greyson,

 

Your first report card came home from your new school this week.  It was near perfect of course, just like you, but beyond the good grades, were the comments.  It made momma cry to see that others see you the way that I do, that your heart shines through.  I am so proud of you.  Here are your teachers comments straight from your report card:

 

Greyson has proven to be a wonderful addition to this first grade class!  Serious about his reading and considerate of others, it is a pleasure to welcome Greyson to the library each week.

Greyson is very kind and hardworking. He is always enthusiastic about Art projects and lessons. It’s been great getting to know Greyson this past month.

 

Greyson is a hard working, independent student. He takes pride in his work and greets each task with enthusiasm. All aspects of the curriculum seem to interest him, and it shows in his work. Greyson is a great reader and is working on slowing down to read each word and not skip or guess words. Math comes easily to Greyson and he shines during mathematics. Greyson is well-liked by his classmates and has a heart of gold. He follows rules and is kind and considerate to his teacher and classmates. It is a pleasure to teach Greyson!

 

 

I couldn't be more proud of you buddy.  You are such a special little person, who brings so much joy to every single person you meet.  I love you more than words can even begin to express.

Love with lot's of xo's,
Momma

Instagram Update...

 

Greyson can totally rock some big sunglasses... We love Florida because up until a few weeks ago, we could also still rock some big waves...  Today however, mid 60's and we bundled up in boots and hats and scarves... :)

 

Most days this is how we get home from school... His new school day is over at 2:30, but starts at 8:00 and with it being about 25 minutes away, it makes for early mornings, and car-cat naps on the way home... Which I find to be the most adorable thing ever!!

We're spending lots and lots of time at Arnold Palmer's Children Hospital which is like the Disney Land of Hospitals, the other day our nurses came in to tell us that the Dr. was running late for Greyson's treatment and with her she brought a portable DVD player and huge selection of movies and an extra blanket fresh from the warmer... So we snuggled up and watched about 30 minutes of the Lion King and I cried and thought how lucky we are to have such great care for our peanut.  **

 

Sometimes I find it hard to say "No"... and then we end up with Bears that are bigger than us, who we name Dexter and have to hug and kiss goodnight and put a seat belt on when he goes with us... and really, saying "No" is overrated (I might be a sucker...)

 

and you thought you were having a bad hair day??

 

 

Put a hat on it!  Instant cuteness!! :)

 

 

**  We are finally on the road to getting Greyson's tummy issues sorted out.  After a 2nd referral to a new pediatric GI, we were at the mecca - Arnold Palmer Children's Hospital and answers and concerns started flowing our way.  We were pretty scared for a while that Greyson had Hirschprung's, but thankfully the test they do to confirm was negative.  We did find however that he has a rare condition with the muscles in his bowels/rectum but with treatments and home "exercises" and a lot of work and a lot of trips to Orlando (that's where Arnold Palmer's is) hopefully in about a year (9 months if he continues to be the rock star he has shown to be) we could be off all the meds, done with all the treatments and I might be able to retire Greyson's poops as one of my main topics of conversation, which I can assure you makes most of my friends cheer for joy! 



New School – Whoa!!

Last week was Greyson’s 1st week at his new school, and honestly it already feels like we’ve been there forever. He has been such a rock star and is SO excited to get up every morning and head to school. It is a bit of a drive, about 25 minutes each way, but worth it. His old school was 9-4:00, this one is 8-2:30, which even though that means he’s up at 6:00, the out at 2:30 is making our life pretty dreamy!! I love, LOVE the extra time I’m getting with him every afternoon!! Before it was always a rush to do homework and get dinner ready, now we have time to spend on homework (which we need!! More on that later!) and we still have time to play before I need to start dinner, and that my friends is excellent!!

Speaking of homework, hello crazy whoa!! Greyson was head of his class in his old school, could pretty much sit down and rock out his homework on his own and be done in 10 minutes – those days are gone. The curriculum is definitely more advanced, especially in reading, writing and vocabulary. I mean a few of his spelling words this week are: people, important and farewell – not easy words by any stretch, and the reading and writing every night about what we are reading - keeps us super busy for sure! Math Greyson still finds ridiculously easy and a week and a half in, his teacher is working hard at keeping him challenged and still maintaining the concept learning. Honestly though I’m almost thankful now that math is his one easy breezy subject!! Science and Social Studies are also two subjects that are focused on much more, we have our first big project due in 2 weeks!! It’s a life in the past poster project and I’m super excited to help him do the research and start creating his poster!

As for me – well I’ve adjusted pretty well. It was hard to leave the people (well, some people – ha ha!!) so I made the decision that I would jump in and get as involved as possible… Ha!! I’m now on the board of the PTO and have volunteered multiple times in Greyson’s classroom!! Yesterday his teacher came out to traffic circle (pick-up) with Greyson with a garbage bag full of empty water bottles for me to take home to make “shakers” for Friday’s pep-rallly, we’re decorating the bottles tomorrow, and yes, I have volunteered to help organize a decorating table!! I have 2 major fundraiser’s to start planning and so far today have received about 15 e-mails from the other moms on the PTO board. So yeah, I’m thinking you could say I jumped in with both feet and got involved! I kind of love it though and am super excited!!

At the end of the day Greyson is THRIVING in the new environment and that is all this momma cares about!!

On the eve of Seven…

Seven years ago I had no idea what I was in for.  I had walked around Sams club that October 1^st, huge and miserable, lots of people asked, “Oh! When are you due?” to which I would reply, “TODAY!!” I walked and walked and ate spicy food and did all the tricks we could think of, after all it was your due date and I was ready to meet you!

Later that night I went in to labor and hours upon hours later, you were here.  That’s the day, seven years ago, that I found out who I really was in this world, your mom.

Now here we are seven years later… and because it wouldn’t be your yearly letter without me saying it, this past year was by far my favorite!  You have continued on your course of amazing.  You are so bright and kind and special.  You’ve come out of your shell even more this year, but continue to be reserved and mellow, you’re a thinker and rule-follower, yet a leader of your own.  You’ve gained a voice and an opinion, your own point of view, thoughts and ideas for this world around you.  You inspire me every single day to be a better person, I look at you and see only goodness, you strive for good even at the young age of six, (now seven) and it floors me. 

You have a laugh that makes me smile from my toes, together we can giggle for hours at a time and the harder we try to stop the more we giggle, giggles turn to belly laughs, belly laughs into faces that hurt when we try to smile.  You are clever and smart, at this age academics come easy, you excel in math and in reading too.  You put concepts together and you work hard to understand, never taking for granted how easy things come, but always working to do your very best.  You recently started karate and so far you love it!  You play basketball and golf with your daddy.  Your new school offers tennis club and you can’t wait to give that a try.  Speaking of new schools, you started there today and you shined like the super star you are!!  I’m so proud of you, handling the change, the newness and un-familiarity so well!!  You continue to be that go with the flow, laid back, relaxed and easy child, we love you so much!

This year you took up cards!  You play Euchre and you are really really good at it!! Everyone who sees (or hears) you play is amazed that at 6, and now 7 you not only play, but get the game and are so good.  You’re fearless and we all fight to be your partner!!  It’s just another one of those little facets that makes you so you.  You are equal parts, smart, kind, funny and oh so stinkin’ adorable!!

We continue to be the Disney fanatics we’ve always been.  You still love it and I still love seeing your face light up at the things you’ve seen hundreds of times before.  This year you figured out that the Characters you see there are not the real Mickey and Minnie (etc…).  “Mommy,” you said to me, “I know that it’s just people inside of costumes, I could feel them when I hugged them.”  Oh it made me laugh… So I told you that yes, they were people in costumes… Then you went on to say, “I mean, Mickey has to be so busy filming his show and making movies, like he can hang out at Disney all day…” and that my son is why you are my favorite person ever!!  You’re just so clever and smart and innocent and honest and everything I love.

I cannot thank you enough for all that you bring to my life.  You are my true joy.  I promise to continue to work each and every day at being the best mommy I can be, the mommy you need and want and deserve.  Thank you for teaching me all that you do, for making me a mommy, for everything that you are.  I love you more than words can ever say, I am so proud of you.  Seven years old, amazing…

I love you more,
Momma