Collin turns 16 this year

 This year Collin turned 16.  It's almost unbelievable that how quickly life has flown by, it seems like just yesterday that I was holding this little baby in my arms and singing songs to him and now he towers over me and is taking drivers lessons.  

For his birthday we had some of Collin's friends cove over, I made cake and cotton candy and the kids/young adults played games together.  

Cregan's Graduation

 

This year another graduation happened!  3 years in a row, Clayton, Alex and now Cregan

It's hard to believe that he has graduated school, time slips by faster with each passing year.  

I remember, in what feels like the blink of the eye, when I got called into Emerson Elementary for a special conference where I was told Cregan was behind on all his subjects and on the verge of failing.  The teacher suggested testing him for ADHD and I was mildly annoyed but did as she asked and had him evaluated.  As I completed the paperwork and questions for his appointment, I noticed he met all the criteria.  He was diagnosed and put on vivanyse.  

Cregan was the poster child for medication helping a child, he went from failing to blossoming and then excelling.  He would read Stephen king or Shakespeare or whatever he could get his hands on.  

When he graduated he received the Presidental Award for maintaining his GPA throughout high school.  

He often stuns me on how much he holds in his brain, mostly now he maintains his knowledge base from watching YouTube (not the most accurate of information finding) but he still reads books and is wicked smart.

I know he can do great things in this world if he chooses to and I'm so very proud to be his mom.

Mother Day

 Mother's Day is always bitter sweet for me.  I lost my mom in 2001, the same year I became I mom.  I was pregnant with Clayton, swollen ankles, waddling posture while burying my mom and step dad.  It was a horrific time, but the moment I held my baby boy in my arms, all my trauma of loss only a few month earlier, all the moments when I felt I just could not bear to be in this world without my mom in it too, all the fear of how was I going to handle this life without my mom, was instantly washed away.  I looked at this beautiful boy and just knew, right away, that I was his mom, and he would know he was loved.  

I miss my mom, even now, 21 years later, I ache to hear her voice telling me how much she loved me, to feel her arms wrapped around me securing me in my place in the world.  Also, I know I was lucky enough to have a perfect example of what a mom should be for 26 years!  I knew I was loved unconditionally, I call myself very lucky to have her as long as I did.  

I hope I can be that type of mom to my 3 boys, because each one of my boys is so very loved by their mom.  And I'm so very lucky to be their mom!  Happy heavenly Mother's Day Mom