The Bergs: Happiness

Showing posts with label Happiness. Show all posts

Monday, February 20, 2012

Oh My Goodness

I would like to take this little moment to just sit down and say, "Oh My Goodness!" I can't believe my little man is growing up so fast!!

These days he can blow kisses like a champ, he can actually catch a ball, he's RUNNING - everywhere is a sprint, he jibber jabbers like crazy, he's even receiving Valentines from little girls?!! And my least favorite development, he pushes me away when I give him kisses. It just breaks my heart. I didn't see that one coming so quickly (17 months).

This is just all too much, too fast! Before I know it, he's gonna be driving off on a date. YIKES?!

Birthdays

This time of year is busy at our house. We have TONS of birthdays!! My mom, Grandmother, James, me, and about 8 close friends all have birthdays in February. My dad, sister, and about 4 close friends have birthdays in March. Busy!!

This year, James is turning 26. I couldn’t be more proud of him! He is such an amazing man. I am so proud that he is a successful Medical Student, a superhero Father, and an amazing Husband! He has accomplished so much!

Birthdays are a funny thing. If it’s not a momentous 16 or 21, it doesn’t seem to get the same celebration. As we get older, we tend to almost dread birthdays. I have had mixed feelings about turning 30 in a few weeks. But when I’m feeling a little down about “getting older” I remind myself that, I would give ANYTHING to celebrate another birthday with Paw Paw . . or my childhood friend that passed before starting high school. When I think of them, I am grateful to be celebrating a birthday.

I am also a little bit guilty that I get to have a 30th birthday. There is no logic in taking two best friends, inseparable from birth, and picking one to continue a life here on Earth, and the other not to. One to experience the dramas of high school, the freedom of College, the pride of a good career, the magic of love, and the beauty of having a child. All while the other experiences cancer treatments, pain on all levels, the anguish of telling everyone she knows goodbye, and facing the uncertainty of death. There is no logic, only faith that there is a greater being, and He knows why these two paths parted so drastically, ripping apart two friends. I find myself taking an extra pause in all life events, to be noticeably grateful that I am getting to experience it. So I take it in, and breathe it in deep, and try to live it for both of us. Now don’t get me wrong, life is hard. But I’m expecting Heaven to be an amazing place . . . and I can’t wait to see my loved ones again one day!

As for now, I’ll just soak up my memories, and be grateful for every single second that I have with loved ones. I’m lucky to have experienced loyalty and betrayal, pain and hope, heartbreak and love, desperation and power. I’ve been swindled, and I’ve been outsmarted, but I’ve also outsmarted others, and learned. I have made some really poor decisions, and I have made some wonderful decisions. I’ve been mad as hell, and I’ve felt the power of forgiveness. I have wrinkles (already!!) from crying frantically, and also from laughing - so hard I have literally peed, yes I’ve done that. I have scars from paint-balling, barbed wire fences, hiking in Palo Duro Canyon, and from having a baby. . . but they make me -ME. So here’s hoping that I can take what I’ve learned and experienced from the first thirty years and use it to make the next thirty years even better!

THANKSGIVING 2011

This past week we loaded up and drove to Duncan, Oklahoma to visit my side of the family! My sister and her husband live in Duncan - they both work for Halliburton. Duncan is a perfect holiday place because it has a population of about 22,000. It's small, quiet, and relaxing! My parents and Aunt and Uncle met up with us there for Thanksgiving Day and we FEASTED OUT! oh it was so good!!!

Sadly, we watched the Aggies lose to Texas in the last Thanksgiving Day football battle ever - but everything else was great about the trip! After Thanksgiving day we all drove 3 hours to the hunting lease which is outside of Childress, Texas. We stayed one night and then drove back to Houston (10 hours from the lease). It was freezing cold - and it was wonderful!!

The Shelter at the Hunting Lease

A Roadside stop to stretch our legs outside of Waxahachie, TX

Breakfast at Dawson's in Childress before leaving the Lease

Halloween 2011

This year was Grayson's second Halloween. Last year he was only about 7 weeks old, so this year being almost 14 months he was able to a) remain awake and b) walk! We started off at the Pearland LDS Trunk or Treat with some friends on Saturday. It was a lot of fun to get together for some home cooked dinner before hand and then go with our friends the Sittons! Their two kiddos Summer and Knox were ADORABLE as a princess and a cow! We also met up with our buddies the Woolards! Their kiddos Brayden and Brynlee were SUPER CUTE - dressed up as a fireman, and a fairy!

HALLOWEEN 2011 - almost 14 months old!

HALLOWEEN 2010 - 7 weeks old!

This is Halloween 2010 - Grayson was a bumble bee (in a doggie outfit) and Knox was a cute pumpkin!

Even last year at 7 weeks, he knew he was an Aggie!!!!

Back to this year! So after the Pearland Trunk or Treat on Saturday, we went Trick or Treating with the Woolard's again on Monday night (Halloween night)! The kids had a blast, and the dragon costume worked really well for when Grayson did take a nose dive on the sidewalk - he had a lot of padding!

I can't WAIT for next year!!

Galveston 2011

For the Fourth of July this year we packed up and met my parents, sister and brother-in-law, and aunt and uncle at the family beach house in Galveston! In addition to the beach house, our camp included one RV (that was where James, Grayson, and I stayed), one camper trailer (my aunt and uncle's) and one boat. Also along for the vacation were 10 dogs in total, my sister's dogs Tater and Ivey were greatly missed!

While my parents had planned to be there for 2 weeks, we had originally planned on only one week. But we had such an amazing time, that we stayed another week!! Here are some of my favorite pics that we took.

Grayson is ready to roll out to the beach!

I truly think my dad's favorite part about the beach are all the kites and flags! One of the first things that is included in "setting up camp" is getting the flags flying :) He always flies a Tech/A&M house divided flag, the US flag, the Texas flag, and a super colorful dragon kite. This year he added a TCU flag and another dragon to his collection of fliers. It is pretty cool b/c you can always tell which house / camp is ours from a distance. Grayson thought the flags and kites were just amazing - they were the first thing he looked for in the morning. He would just sit and stare in awe!

AMAZING!!! Staring at the Flags and Kites on the deck!

A shot of all the flags and kite!

A few days into the trip my dad realized that he had an ingrown toenail that had been bothering him for about a month, and he had had enough of it. So, we found a doctor and got it removed - the Dr. was pretty cool, he let me take some pics of the whole ordeal. This prohibited my dad from being able to get in the sand or water, but it definitely was worth it, he said it felt much better.

Midway through the nail removal! Pretty cool!

The best part of the Galveston trip was being able to just relax and hang out. The first week when everyone was there, we were busy working on the puzzle (we do one every year), and taking turns going fishing on the boat. All of the dogs LOVED the beach! Parker (our chocolate lab) really loved being around all of the other dogs - he LOVES to play! His birthday was celebrated with everyone July 5th - he turned 3 :) My sister took her jeep and had the top off - that was really fun to ride around in. Callie and Andrew also brought a volleyball / badminton set, so we had some pretty competitive tournaments! That was one of my favorite parts of the trip. (my mom has all of those pics)

The Whole Gang at Gaido's!

My parents and sister and I - out flying kites

Andrew chopping like a pro!

Grayson was able to spend LOTS of time with daddy!! We all liked NOT having to share James with Medical School!

The second week that we stayed in Galveston it was just us and my parents. Callie, Andrew, Uncle Mike and Aunt Ann all had to go back to work :( It was really nice to get some time with my parents since we never see them. We just played around at the beach, shopped at the Strand, explored the area around the A&M Galveston campus, explored SeaWolf park (the peninsula where immigrants with yellow fever were quarantined in the 1800's), and went to Grayson's first EVER movie at the theatre!! We figured since he is so obsessed with Cars, that he could handle Cars 2 in the theatre even though he's only 10 months old - we were right!! He did awesome!