MS Walk in Kennebunkport

On April 25th our family and friends walked in the MS walk in Kennebunkport to raise money for the MS society. Team Brenna was our name and our captain was Erinn, ofcourse.

Team Brenna made sure that we had enough water for our 6 mile MS walk (it was only 4 but some people are saying 6). We also loaded up on doughnut holes to help hold us over
Tyler, Nicole, Beth, Maddie, Keller, Caleb, and William on the push bike posing before our walk.

John, Matthew, Jennifer and Aunt Sue. (Jennifer is making sure Matthew looks dashing for the walk. "Here honey let me get that doughnut off your face.")

Erinn's good friend Lynn with one of her students

All of Team Brenna! (Minus team captain who was taking the picture, and Uncle Hippie who was in the bathroom) There were a lot of us, and we had a great time. Thanks to everyone for your support and for walking for Bren.

Help Fight MS

As many of you already know, my sister, Brenna, passed away a year and half ago from MS when she was 32. Brenna fought MS for 13 years and was an amazing example of perseverance. Our family is walking in the Annual MS Walk in Kennebunkport on April 25th. Please copy and paste this web address to help us fight MS. Every little bit counts.

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR/Walk/MEMWalkEvents?px=6340418&pg=personal&fr_id=10355&s_tafId=103325

For those of you who already supported me, Thank you so much!

We are having custom Brenna's Team t-shirts made for the walk that are Andy Warhol inspired. They should be pretty cool. To purchase a custom T for $20 contact me at bethiemac1@yahoo.com More pictures of the walk to follow.

Grateful

Last night at 4:00 am, shortly after William had weaseled his way into our bed and snuggled comfortably in between us, Tyler got up to use the bathroom. I assume that William is asleep and wait for the bathroom lights to go out before I resume my sleep. Then I hear this perfectly awake voice.

William: "Mommy, Daddy peeing".
I think about ignoring him so that he will think that I am asleep but I cant resist his adorably innocent and completely inquisitive voice.
Beth: "Yes William, daddy is peeing".
William: "Daddy flush ed the toilet".
Beth: "Yes William Daddy flushed the toilet, now go to sleep please".

I gave William a kiss and then lay in bed a long time thinking about how grateful I am and wondering if he was really going to sleep, which he did. We are reading books about potties and bribing William everyday to pee on the potty for a jelly bean. So far no success but as you can see there is a lot of interest in the potty.

Its so funny being a parent and how just two sentences in the middle of, well, the morning, can actually make me smile and be so grateful for this little man and his personality that is growing and learning so much everyday.

Last night I watched a program on Discovery Health, about autism. (I probably shouldn't be allowed to watch Discovery Health because it makes me so paranoid.) The program said that 1 in every 150 children born has autism. I can't even believe it, I mean I don't really know that many people with autism, do I? The more I thought about it, those odds are horrible, really horrible.

This mother on the program had 4 children and her youngest had autism. She seemed like a normal mom, living in a nice but modest home, living an average life. She got her son involved in speech therapy, occupational therapy, one on one special play therapy and even oxygen therapy where her and her son lie in an oxygen chamber for a couple of hours a week. She accompanied her son to all of these therapies and was involved during hours of appointments daily for him.

She cried when she said that he, a 3 year-old, had never played peek-a-boo. The little boy doesn't respond to his name or look into his mothers eyes. The mother said when he was very young, he would wake up in the middle of the night laughing and that is when she knew that something was terribly wrong. My heart really went out to this women and other parents I personally know who have children with autism. I cant imagine not being able to connect with William, through looks and cuddles and now words.

I told Tyler a long time ago, before we ever had William, that I wanted to be grateful for my life, myself and the things I have not because I notice someone else's lack thereof, but because I truly love what I have. I feel like if we are only or most often grateful when we see the lack in others lives then the opposite happens too, that we feel envious or jealous or treated unfairly when we perceive that others have more, or are happier than us. As I watched the program last night I was reminded of the goal I had set so long ago. The truth is I am grateful for William everyday and seeing these children with autism didn't make me more grateful for him but increased my gratitude of his health. I think however, that William maybe the only part of my life that I am almost always grateful for. I remembered last night as I heard this mothers sorrows, that I need to be grateful for all I have not because she has less compared to me but because I have everything important that I ever wanted.

Fun with Friends

In March we went to the Children's Museum with our good friends Kelley, Alexander and Lillian Boston. Alexander and Wild William (who runs from one exhibit to the next) had a great time.

William was a little preoccupied in the Greek kitchen and insisted on wearing an apron. (no joke). Mom always said, "a good cook is a clean cook". I think it finally sunk in a generation late.

William has a very natural cheese face.

Can you count how many times Kelley says "Alexander"? (JK)

We had so much fun but towards the end of the day the boys started to get a little disoriented, as you can tell.

In this video, William is thinking, "Hey he has shoes on. How do I get these blasted things on? Oh I give up, where is my mom, she will do it. Oh, your not my mom".

William thinking, "oh crap, I just got these suckers on".

Skiing with William

In March, Tyler finally got a few days break from school and so we loaded the car and went to Sunday River in beautiful Bethel Maine. Tyler spent the first day skiing with John. The next day he was ready to just lay back and ski with me and William. We had a great time and even found a covered bridge where Aunt Sue and Uncle Larry went parkin' in their wild and crazy teenage years.