just because

oh what a day. poor gabe was circumcised this morning. best.kid.ever. he hardly cried at all. the nurses could not get over how amazing he was. seriously, he rocks. he didn't even freak when his IV was being taken out. my mom & i, on the other hand, had to turn our backs. really, we are wimps. my mom assured me she'd sit down if she felt faint... one time i had surgery. she saw my incision and i could tell she was about to pass out. the doctor made ME get out of the hospital bed so she could get in it. yes, that happened. i hate needles.  we did have a little "heads up" (no pun intended) on what the circumcision would be like. sweet vasa wasn't circumcised either when he joined our family. so at 3 years old he had it done...shwew. i'll never forget josh telling us about vasa realizing something had happened... vasa was kicked back eating a popsicle waiting to be discharged. apparently he felt a jolt of pain b/c josh said   he ripped back the...

gabe is napping and i'm bored. i kinda wish he'd wake up so we could play. but waking him up is a bad idea. then he's grumpy. so i'll wait... nobody wants to know this but whatever. i had a "runners moment" twice this week. yes, yes it's what you're thinking. i almost pooped my pants twice. tuesday was REALLY bad. i was praying so hard that i'd make it home. barely friends, barely.  today i was laughing with madison about my tuesday emergency and dang if it didn't happen again. barely.made.it. why does this happen??? ha. gross. gabe is the most amazing kid. yesterday was soooooo not fun. he's having a procedure done next week. so we had to go to the doctors office and fill out some paperwork THEN go to the medical center and do some pre-op stuff. they failed to tell me about the medical center part or i may have had my mom keep g. poor guy. at the doctors office we played with everything we could while waiting. they had a waterfal...

I read the following letter yesterday and it broke my heart. I rarely blog about anything important but I had to share. I also got to talk to MIke  yesterday and he said that 15 of his soldiers that deployed with him to Iraq have been diagnosed with a brain tumor. He mentioned Tim specifically. He's only in his early 40's and is dying. His wife & daughter are having to figure out how to pay their medical bills b/c the army says it's not "service related." HOW can they say that??!  I believe if we (Americans) are willing to send our military into battle that we have to be willing to take care of them when they return.  I am amazed by military and their families. I am overwhelmed by what they do, how they give and what they sacrifice for OUR freedom.  I wish I knew someone "important!" to call personally. But I can (and will) write my Congressman.  This is Michael- Very rarely if ever do I get on Facebook but “WE” as Americans that ha...

i'm just going to type. so enjoy. i ate more than jay did on thanksgiving. yes, more than jay. i had THREE, count 'em, THREE plates of food. i couldn't even drink my tea i was so full. who's got time for tea? what i really wanted to do was grab the sweet potato souffle that jill made and sneak into the back with a fork...or just my face. i could take a nap in that mess.   so.dang.good. really, my heart still gets giddy thinking about jills sweet pot souf. oh my. gabe loved all of the thanksgiving grub. what a fun kid. i even ate a normal dinner. jay ate like a tiny sandwich. what? no need in skipping a meal just b/c one was LARGE and obnoxious, right?! we almost went to see lincoln last week. but then we saw that it's almost 3 hours long. homegirl cannot sit through a movie for that long. unless i'm on my couch in pjs. even then i will most likely sleep. we went to barnes&noble instead and read magazines. we love doing that. so relaxing. except for...

i am exhausted. i am mad. in fact, i am fighting mad. so (hold me accountable!) i am going to battle. i hate "giving credit" to the enemy. i hate when i let satan get a foothold in my heart & mind. i mentioned several blogs back about feeling like a bad mom... those feelings have not gone away. in fact they have intensified. it sucks. my mind has been overwhelmed with negative thoughts. constantly... - you aren't a good mom or wife. - you should teach gabe more. - you aren't good at your job. - you should feel guilty for having to leave gabe for work. - you should work more. you aren't as involved as you used to be. - your house stay messy. get it together. - you are a disappointment. - why can't i be more like my mom? she never seems to get tired. - i need to get myself together. - jay deserves better. - gabe got sick b/c of me. i should've kept him warmer, away from kids, etc. - you shouldn't run or workout. you should be at ...

marathon complete. yeet. last week was nuts. gabe was so sick. he had strep & pneumonia in his right lung. broke my heart. he had a horrible cough, heavy breathing and just looked pitiful. mom & jay did an amazing job doing the breathing machine with him. notice i didn't say i did a good job... i wigged out. i did not step up to the plate. i just watched sad & stunned at the whole thing. i did, however, threaten the lives of the pharmacists that tried to tell me they had to order gabe's medicine. i kindly (ish) told them they better drive around columbus and GET homeboys medication. they got it. i prayed (selfishly) that after months of marathon training that i wouldn't get sick. madison and i had worked so hard. i just wanted to DO this dang marathon. i was calm most of the week. but thursday my nerves kicked in. whew, i was a nervous wreck. all i could think about was 26.2 daunting miles ahead of me. it was not fun. friday i was a little more calm. m...

i feel like i am the only person whose status every day in november isnt something i'm thankful for. so i figured i'd just go ahead and list my thankfuls on my blog... these are in no certain order and Lord knows i will leave things out. i'm skipping all the obvious things too (ex: family, jay, gabe, God, etc.) random things i am thankful for: the tea at countrys. so very good. (unsweet) the person who created deodorant pb2 christmas everything. i love it. contacts. i would hate to have to wear my glasses all the time. madison montgomery. best running buddy ever. i love that girl. i dont have to dress up for church the butter at texas roadhouse gum target funny people handwritten notes when stores have hand sanitizer (especially when its just outside the bathroom door, brilliant!) salad bars. really, i love 'em. compression socks the one beautiful yellow (during fall) tree the mads & i run by at least twice a week. bites of jays food uncommon ath...

my sweet niece victoria gave me some blog ideas. she mentioned stories about my brother and/or listing our likes & differences. sounds fun. here goes... i'll list first. it's easy. he is very well-dressed. always looks super nice & put together. me = not so much! seriously, he shops at nice stores. i only shop sale racks at cheap stores. he even looks good when he's "bumming" it. yeah, its that ridiculous. i call him for advice on shoes, outfits, what goes with what, etc. its awesome. he doesn't even have to try to look nice. he has a slim figure (without ANY effort) so things just fit him well. not fair. he will give give give anything! he is willing to give anything he has for someone else. i am too...i just dont have anything to give, ha! he gives his time, energy and resources to help folks in his life. i love that about him. claire is the same way. they amaze me. he can have candy sitting around him and not eat it. i don't understa...

let's start with my 5:30am alarm. got up. got dressed & headed to uncommon athlete. nothing but green lights the whole way! seemed like a promising morning. then i read the board. sprints, burpees, awesome. 10 rounds of burpees, 10. uncalled for! haha. then ran an easy 6 miles with madison. perfect. came in, chugged my liter of water and started on breakfast. should've known things were headed downhill when i was standing at the toaster waiting/wondering why my toast wasn't popping up...only to realize i hadn't put it in yet. cool. started my coffee. i was just telling madison on our run that EVERYWHERE i go i have the change the toilet paper roll. it's humorous at this point. i mean, everywhere i go. reached over for paper towel. you know it. end of the roll. had to change it. things seemed a little better. started eating, watching the news, watching gabe play. hmm, gabe. he got a little fussy just before jay left. so we figured he might be gett...

madison and i were laughing last week about our random pet peeves. i know i've blogged about some of mine before. but i really have some strange ones. i have a feeling i'm about to embarrass myself... ok, we have 2 types of silverware in our house. one is this cheap stuff i bought from target when i moved out on my own. then we have our "nicer" stuff we got when we got married. i only like to use the cheap stuff! and i get irritated when jay uses "my" silverware. i need therapy. saturday is "dont make the bed" day in our house. i despise it! i hate the bed not being made. but i try to let loose once a week. but i do straighten it out before i get in it. i cant help myself. it drives me crazy when someone sits right in front of me at the movies. (unless its packed.) i want to prop my feet up. when people don't return their carts at stores. really? don't leave that mess sitting in parking space. ohhhh - when smart cars, motorcycles ...

i wanted to have a point to this post. but i am afraid it'll just be me rambling, again. maybe i'll end up talking about something that matters but don't count on it. i love having a pixie cut but sometimes i miss being able to do my hair in different ways. typing that makes me laugh b/c i really don't have hair skills. so my different ways would include: down & ponytail. i guess i just miss it when i see cut hair styles. i'll just keep the pixie. gabe can wave now. its so darn cute. the kid has a lot of spunk. laughing is one of his favorite things. he laughs at everything. he's also really into clapping these days. i was singing old mcdonald to him this morning and he clapped the entire time. too cute. its certainly the only applause i'll ever get for singing. last night while he was eating jay and i were "biting" his toes. he thought that was hilarious. his feet are big, huge chunks. i am absolutely diggin this fall weather. i say ...

well gabe is taking a nap so i figured i'd blog. (mainly b/c it will keep me distracted or i may EAT all afternoon. ravenous.) i asked jay to hide the cheerios today b/c i've almost eaten the entire box. he put them on top of the fridge. well done, jay. i keep waking up at 2am. not sure why. but when i do, i eat cheerios. i found one by my pillow while making the bed the other morning. oh yes, i ate it. i asked jay what i should blog about. he said funny people in my life. i feel like almost everybody in my life is funny. i'll just think of people and tell you about them... my dad. ohhhhh norman. here's why he's funny. he LOVES to give unnecessary information. like last week, he called to see if we wanted to use their gps to get to the mountains. i said yes. keep in mind - gps gives directions. he couldn't help himself. he STILL started giving me step-by-step directions to north ga. i even said, "dad, i am not listening." he kept talking. THE...

last night gabe & i went to eminent worship. i was going to put G in the nursery but i hardly ever get to be with him during worship so i kept him with me. it was sweet to watch him watch jay sing/lead. i love that gabe will get to grow up watching his dad sing, play guitar and lead worship. i am also glad gabe will get to grow up watching his dad read his Bible, share scripture over supper, write songs about Gods faithfulness and help lead others in their faith. i'm also glad he'll get to grow up watching jay: play bass, play acoustic, play electric, play keys, sing beautifully, ride a motorcycle, drive a big truck, take care of my car, treat me with respect (always), pray for our family, grill, put things together, take things apart, etc. what a fabulous dad gabe has. good job, kaci! ha. anyway, after a while of worship, TAs went to hear a lesson lead by aaron wall. i love to hear aaron teach. he always makes me laugh and teaches me something new about God. last night...

so i said my next blog was going to be about Uncommon Athlete. i am a woman of my word so here it goes! there are so many reasons why i love it. i actually have a love/hate relationship with it. but we'll get there... i just want to start by saying how much i like/admire/appreciate Mike & Dennis (the owners.) i know it may sound strange that i say i appreciate them. but i truly do. you can read more about them on the UA website (like background, etc.) i won't go into all that. what i appreciate is that they care about their clients. they care enough to learn people's names. they pay attention during workouts and make sure people are doing things correctly. they don't just care about memberships/numbers. they care about helping people get stronger, healthier, and fit. they demonstrate every  stretch and move we do during the workout and will answer any question we have with patience. they can work with people who've never worked out or train the toughest ar...

training for this marathon is a huge challenge AND makes me less "girly" ha... why you ask?? well, i am in a wedding this weekend and i'm about to lose 2 toenails on my right foot. awesome. that is going to be lovely. runners trots. enough said. calloused feet. but whats really random is only my right foot is gross. the left is normal. weird. things happen to your body when you run long distances that are just strange and gross. burping like a man. why? yuck. the good news is i have a running buddy that experiences the same trials/issues to at least i'm not alone. reading blogs about running make me feel better too. i have wayyyyy too many pairs of running shoes. i have more running clothes than "real" clothes i think. i hardly ever match when i run. i'm wayyyyyy too cheap to pay for nice running stuff. i have shorts from old navy that dont even have their new logo on it. some are entirely too big but whatever. just wait til i start wearing m...

i dont feel like a "real mom" sometimes. is that weird? i feel like i'm faking it. i wonder if that's because gabe is adopted or if other first moms feel that way. i cried talking to my mom today about motherhood. i saw on GMA that some women are born with the "mom gene" and others arent. i dont think i was born with it! i may have played with cabbage patch kids as a child but i never enjoyed babysitting or desired a house full of kids! i didnt daydream as a child of being a mom. NOT because my mom wasnt FABULOUS. she was...and IS. but i had friends that only ever wanted to be a wife & mother. i never really understood that. i wanted to be a wife but i was ok without the motherhood part. of course i LOVE being a mom now. i sometimes just feel like i'm more keeping him alive and laughing than teaching him important life skills. i guess i shouldn't beat myself up. but today i have been. i want to think of creative things to do with gabe. i ...

i don't really have anything to blog about. that's always a dangerous place for me to start... when i read other peoples blogs, i realize just how pointless mine is! oh well. gabe just got his 2nd tooth. it is perfect. so darn cute! i feel like all baby teeth should come in at one time. i admit it'd be creepy but with all the pain, crying, fussing, etc. it'd just be easier on us all. especially the poor babies who don't understand what is going on! i have never bought gabe a toy. well, maybe one or two. but most of his stuff came from other people and/or as hand-me-downs. i almost bought him something yesterday. but then i remembered that he only plays with things that aren't really toys. so i saved my money. right now he is in love with our laptop. he gets upset that we wont let him mess with it. it makes me laugh. he's not laughing...but i am. i know who's in charge! he LOVES power cords. i tried to trick him yesterday and make a shoestring l...