Only 35 More Days of Baby

With this summer rapidly flying by it appears that somewhere in the midst of it all my little Oliver is growing up. It is hard to believe that in just a little over a month he will be a one year old. Where did the time go? I remember so vividly the looks of horror I received when I was pregnant and strangers would ask, "How far apart will they be?" and I replied, "15 months". Just make it through that first year, just make it through the first year, just make it...It became my mantra. Well, not only have we made it, but we did it with style. Oliver made it easy on us. Demanding as little as a newborn could possibly demand. He remained calm when Josiah and I were losing our minds. I think he may have even talked us through a couple of moments that were touch and go. He is a little angel and because of this I feel like sometimes he has been looked over and sat aside. So Ollie, this blog is for you and only you.

My baby Oliver with eyes so bright, so blue
I never knew I could love TWO boys so much
until I met you

You have gone from nursing ten times a day
to an unhealthy obsession with ChicFilA
Your older brother plays with you mean and way too rough
For 11 months you are extremely tough.

You love to dance and always have a twinkle in your eye
You wait until something is really wrong before you start to cry
I love the way you smell, I love your fuzzy hair
A surprise at first, but an answer to a prayer.

Thank you so much for being my boy
you have brought me so much happiness and so much joy
You're handsome, you're bright, you're clever
Everyday I wish I could keep you a baby forever.

Love you!

Summa-time and the liv-in's easy

So, it has been almost 3 weeks since my last post and before you go thinking that I have given up my new found blogging hobby just as quickly as I found it...let me just say that we have been all over the great state of North Carolina and I have gone through 2 camera's since my last entry. We truly have been living it up Conley style this summer and haven't stopped to take a breath. Here is a little update on some of our recent adventures.

Mid-June the whole family took a trip to the raging metropolis of Greensboro, NC for 3 days of non-stop fun. Jaime was in a CPA conference (Note: Pocket protectors WERE required at this Accountant Lalapoloza) and the boys and I decided to see what the Emerald City had to offer. As it turns out there is way more to do in Greensboro then one may have expected. We hit up a water park our first day there and Josiah surprised us at how brave he was sliding down the water slides all by himself! It was so much fun and I am glad Jaime was able to share this with us.

While Jaime worked the next two days Josiah, Oliver and I hit up the North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro with my cousin Maggie. In spite of the raging temperatures we still had an awesome time. The boys rode a carousal, saw Dora in 4-d and even caught a glimpse of an animal or two. I am pretty sure the polar bear had passed away from heat exhaustion but Josiah was still thrilled to see him never the less.

It is important to note that while in Greensboro we stayed at a Ho- TELL. That's right a hotel. Ask Josiah and he can tell you all about it. I think if it were up to him he would pack his bags and move asap. They had free breakfast, a pool, a big TV in his room, a little dispenser that shot out Goldfish in the lobby and an all glass elevator. Why wouldn't we live at the hotel?

Upon returning to Asheville and convincing Josiah that our house really wasn't so bad we continued our summer fun by visiting Camp Mishemokwa with the JCC. What a blast! With all of our awesome adventures this summer I can honestly say this has been our best day yet. Josiah learned to jump off the diving board solo and even went down a super fast water slide. Ollie and I had quality time in the hot tub and we all feasted on a delicious catered lunch. The Jews sure know how to party. Mozeltoff!After a great weekend at the camp, the good times continued bright and early Monday morning when my friend Brooke and I loaded up her daughter Taylor and the boys and headed to Wrightsville Beach for 4 days of sand, surf and sun. The kiddos had too much fun and even little Oliver enjoyed learning a thing or two from the big kids.

We hit up the big beach, the little beach-where I threw my little boy of the dock and made some unforgettable memories-, braved the bouncy houses at Monkey Joes and were even able to visit Mimi and Grandad for a swim in their pool. Brooke and I partied like rockstars (Well... as much as two exhausted moms, who have to wake up at 6am, can party) every night after the kids went to bed and laughed until it hurt. A great time was had by all and we were sad to see it end.

Thankfully our spirits were lifted when we returned home to an action packed Fourth of July weekend. Complete with; red white and blue waffles, a trip to the Biltmore, a parade, fireworks, a pool party, a birthday party and Shindig on the Green.

With almost two more months left of summer I don't expect the Conley Crew to slow down any, at least I hope we don't, I am having the time of my life! And while the blog posts may suffer in quantity, given all of our material, you can rest assure that they will not lack in quailty. Until next time... try and grab some sunshine!

Ode to the Sound

This weekend we had the privilege of gathering together 20 of our closest friends and their families to engage in the traditional summer BBQ. It was outrageously fun and everyone left happy, full and exhausted. We are so fortunate to have the group of friends that we have. The girls and I have been through so much in the past few years; from the early days of trying to figure out what to do with the babies, to large family vacations, embarrassing nights on the town, surprise pregnancies(some of them twins!), losing loved ones and jobs and gaining so much more. In just two years I feel like I have lived a lifetime with these people and they really have become family.
I can not put into words the joy I feel when I see my little boys making memories and having the times of their lives. These are days I will never forget and hopefully, neither will they. I feel almost as if I am getting to live life twice, once as me and now through their eyes. Watching them experience all of the things I did as a child has got me feeling strangely sentimental.

I grew up in a picturesque setting. The type of place where movies are made (and some have been). My grandparents moved to the sound when my dad was a kid and made it home. Nestled on Whiskey Creek under a mound of oak trees and Spanish moss was their house, all brick with a detached garage and a swimming pool. If you continued up the dirt road you would pass a barn, a pasture, a shed-complete with picnic tables, a pig cooker and oyster roaster- and then an open area that would one day become my home. We moved to the Sound in the summer of '87 just before I turned 4 years old.
Every memory I ever made has this place in it. Even before we moved there we would drive down from Raleigh every Memorial day, Labor day and July Fourth to grill hamburgers on the side porch and fight with each other in typical family style debauchery. My Grandpa, Baa, would shoot firecrackers out over the water and my cousins and sister would ignore me while I tried so hard to play with them. We would go for tractor rides and make the craziest Oreo cookie sundae's you have ever seen. Nana would always stock up and get everybody their favorite junk food. Justin always got a case of Mellow Yellow, Maggie got Coke, Johnny got Miller Highlife and my Dad got a pack of Vantage cigarettes stuck in the sterling silver tea pot. Baa would tell us stories of Indian Joe and how he lost his head somewhere on our dirt road... A story that haunted me until I finally moved out when I was 20. I never walked down that road at night. Even the times that were bad were good. I remember one time in particular where my dad was supremely pissed off because we all wanted to go to the Piney Woods Festival. For whatever reason he did not want to go. Probably because he hates crap like that. Anyway, being the type of guy that he is, he took one for the team and went anyway but was complaining the whole way. He had just gotten out of the car at Hugh MaCrea Park, when another car sped by and hosed, I mean COVERED, him in mud. We all had to return home immediately but I remember thinking it was the funniest thing ever. Another laugh at his expense, sorry Dad, was when we were cruising along the Intercostal in our john boat and my mom and I turned around to find that he had flipped out a few seconds back.

He wasn't the only one who made me laugh, everyone had their moments. I especially, had mine. From the time where I stuffed a popcorn kerrnal so far up my nose that Nana was forced to drive over 100 mph (just on the dirt road) in Baa's bullet to get me to the doctor, to catching Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever with her in the woods.

Everyone drove my go cart like a bat outta hell. One girl ended up with a broken arm, Sabrina smashed into a tree and even Baa put us in the ditch one time. Once, I almost lost my finger to a snake at the shed. I ran to Nana's house and told her and she promptly grabbed a hoe and smashed it to bits. Gotta love how tough she was.

I was payed a penny per pinecone every fall and wouldn't be able to touch anything for a week after I collected my 4 dollars because my hands hurt so bad. Basic math will tell you that 4 dollars is equal to 400 pine cones. And 400 pine cones is a LOT of pine cones.

As a teen my memories, while less innocent and a little more blurry, always come back to one thing: The never ending love. Yes, we are a dysfunctional bunch, but you will never meet anyone more loyal than a Smith. When I crashed my car, my 75 year old grandmother took me everywhere I needed to go. I hated it at the time and would walk a mile so no one would see her dropping me off, but thank God for her. She was my savior. And when I ended up seeing what the downtown jail looked like from the inside, my mom and dad were there to pick me up. Both literally and figuratively.

With July 4th approaching I wish so much that I could go back and do it all over. But life goes on...even in the Western part of the state. I am so grateful for the memories and can only hope that Josiah and Oliver will one day look back with as much appreciation and gratitude for their own childhoods.

Stamina on Sunset

This past weekend I joined 74 other runners in a 10 mile foot race over Sunset and Town Mountains. Yes, only 75 of us signed up and that little number is a reflection of just how difficult the course was, even for hardcore Ashevillians. I don't really know why I chose to spend my Saturday morning sustaining prolonged stressful efforts up the side of a cliff. Maybe it is because Theodore Roosevelt once said, "It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat." Or who knows? Maybe I just enjoy a challenge.

Standing at the start I line I glanced around at the other 74 participants and their huge quadriceps. The girl next to me said, "This is like, all real runners." I told her, "We are real runners too! We wouldn't have signed up for this if we weren't." That, was at least what I said out loud. Silently, I was thinking this may be the first time I finish a race in last place. Here we are,

The gun went off and I hit play on my Ipod. I had carefully crafted an excellent playlist. Starting off with The Distance by Cake. I listened to the lyrics, "Reluctantly crouched at the starting line,engines pumping and thumping in time. The green light flashes, the flags go up, churning and burning, they yearn for the cup. They deftly maneuver and muscle for rank, fuel burning fast on an empty tank."

We hit our first hill 1/2 a mile in and continued up hill the next 5 miles. Here is an elevation map of the course,
I was completely in the zone heading up that 5 mile assent into the clouds. I thought about all sorts of things and listened to the music. I chugged along at an easy pace and felt completely fine. One by one the people around me began walking and I continued on. My brain started playing mental tricks on me. I began thinking," If they are walking I must be tired, maybe I should walk? What if they are all resting and I am wearing myself out over here? " Running is so mental. Once you are beat mentally you may as well sit down and call a cab. I started telling my brain to stop it. The reason I wasn't tired yet is because I run these hills all the time, I swim, I bike, I work-out 6-7 days a week! I DESERVE to be here and I am gonna keep going. And that's what I did for about 4 more miles. When I reached Crowning Way I felt like I had been climbing forever and I didn't know when it would end. My legs couldn't take it anymore, so I walked. And honestly, I didn't care. I gave it everything I had and didn't walk one second before I had to. I was enjoying the view and catching my breath when a group of firemen came running up beside me. One of the guys started walking and the other 4 continued on. About 10 seconds later the firemen came running back and grabbed the walkers arm. He said to them, "Go ahead" and they replied, "Not without you." and he started to run. I began to run too, choking back tears. Maybe it was the adrenaline or the rush of endorphins but I felt like I had just witnessed real life heros being, well, heros. It was the highlight of the race for me.

I hit the 5 mile mark and the dirt road 58 minutes in. It occurred to me that this was the time the guy won the race in last year. I imagined someone 5 miles down the road breaking the tape and I was still so far away on the dirt road of death. Thankfully, we had begun our descent back into Asheville. I enjoyed the downhill and literally took off. I past mile six and mile seven in 16 minutes 20 seconds, an 8:10 mile. From miles seven to nine I chatted with Cindy, the girl who made the comment about "real runners" in the beginning. She told me about running the NYC marathon and living in San Fransisco. She was really cool and thankfully made me forget I was running for a short time. At mile 9 she left and I cranked up Time Bomb on my Ipod. I only had one mile left and I was going to enjoy it. My legs were slightly numb, but my lungs and head felt fine. How amazing that I just ran 9, soon to be 10 miles! AND I have had 2 babies in the past 2 years!!! One that I am currently breast-feeding!! I am woman hear me roar! That last mile I was having a party the whole way to the finish line-with myself. Runners high? Maybe. I felt great. This lady was trying to pass me at on the final stretch,
But I did NOT let that happen. I finished in 1:43:01. Meaning I ran the last 5 miles in 45 minutes. That's pretty good. I averaged 10:05 pace for the race and I am extremely happy with that. My high eventually wore off leaving me with a hurt body and an empty stomach. But I will put the stampede down as one of my greatest days out for a run so far... It is days like that, that make you go back for more.

Splash!

This summer will mark my sixth year away from the beach. Thinking back to those summer vacations with my parents where I almost didn't survive 6 DAYS away from the beach this is to say the very least, a total shock. Yes, I am the one who wanted to move to the mountains and go for long hikes and play in mountain streams and enjoy the seasons. But as it it turns out hiking with two children usually consists of packing up the entire house and driving somewhere that is kid friendly. Therefore, making it the most popular spot in WNC for all the other parents looking for kid friendly. We are usually 150 steps away from the car when someone starts crying and another 25 steps when someone else needs a diaper change. We then head back to the car and promptly drive home. This happens all the time, almost every time. But very rarely, we will have the most perfect day imaginable. The type of day that we dream about, so against all odds we keep trying. Jaime say's that is what separates US from the other parents.

Back to those mountain streams that I wanted to play in... They are actually around 5 degrees, year round. You can literally feel the ice hit your bone by merely sticking in one foot. I still have nightmares and get goosebumps thinking about my trip down sliding rock. The change of the seasons IS nice. At least in the fall. The leaves are beautiful for about 2 weeks and then they all fall off leaving you to freeze your ass off for the next 4 months. If your ass does manage to stay intact during the winter season rest assured it will burn off when summer comes. Don't get me wrong. I love hot. I love the sun-on Masonboro Island. I don't however, love sitting on Patton Ave in the hot sun. The past 6 years we have had no escape. But that is all going to change this summer. Yes bloggers, the rumors are true, the Conley family has joined a pool!

Never in my lifetime did I think I would pay actual money (and a lot of it) to swim in a pool. But desperate times call for desperate measures and I can't keep waiting for Global Warming to melt the polar ice caps and bring the beach to Asheville. No, it is time to suck it up, jump in some chlorine and chill out. Here we are on opening weekend, a few days ago... And let me tell you, it truly was, a little slice of heaven.







,

Two Years Later...

Well, here we are. Nearly 3 years since I first discovered I was having my first little boy. Life as we know it has been flipped upside down and turned completely around. It has become a life worth living and cherishing. Those two boys have become my heart. Jaime and I have gone from life in the fast lane:
(Circa 2006)... To life in the family lane. Complete with two kids, a mortgage, a dog and a minivan.

I retired exactly 10 months after graduating from college and probably never even earned one semester's tuition. I am now a full-time, stay at home mommy and love every second of it. Some days I may find myself online browsing jobs when the kids are really letting me have it, but most days I wouldn't trade my life for anything else in the world. I get to work out every morning and come home to eat fun kid food, ala chicken nuggets or PbJ's and strawberries. Then, there is the blissful "nap-time". I take a shower, read US Weekly and then take a nap. Then I get to wake up to two smiling boys who wanna go eat snacks on the porch. Sound's like a ferry tale right? Well, for the most part it is.
I LOVE my life.
Okay, now that THAT disclaimer has been posted I must say, raising two boys who are only 15 short months apart does not come without it's challenges. Sometimes I feel as if my brain is imploding and if I ever do decide to go back to work I think I should look into become a Military bomb disposal expert. I can literally keep my cool and continue cooking a three course meal while being screamed at, punched and dodging flying objects. I can change a diaper of a toddler running down the hall. I can walk two dogs, carrying a baby and pushing a stroller. I can nurse a baby while holding a two year old and singing a song. Yep, Super Mom.

Challenges aside, our days are filled with an abundance of hilarity that I never want to forget. That, is the reason for this blog. Everyone tells you time goes by so fast and I want to remember every second. Hope you enjoy!

Another boy name? I'm fresh out!

20 weeks into pregnancy number two Jaime, Josiah and I headed into the doctor for the ultrasound we had been waiting for. I left my pink shirt at home this time and tried to remain calm. The head, the brain, the heart, yada yada... lets check for club foot, wait! "I just saw a penis" I thought silently. Ten minutes later I saw it again and this time she confirmed what I knew all along, boy number 2! Surprisingly, I wasn't disappointed. Josiah had taught me how cool boys can be. We decided his name would be Oliver Grey. Oliver because it's classic and awesome and Grey after his mama, great-grandmother and great grandfather. I had been saving it for a girl but yeah, you get it.

Now, I just had to make it twenty more weeks through blazing heat and the in's and out's of an almost one year old. I continued running about 15 miles a week. Here I am just after completing the Sunset Stampede 5K, 7 months preggers and in 33 minutes 40 seconds!
Around 9 months it started to hurt, so I went for hikes, danced,
hung out with Josiah
and waited, and waited... I was ready around 36 weeks. I stopped going to bars and letting Jaime drink as much as he wanted. This time I was ready! Why was it taking so long?

After too much spicy food, expensive raspberry tea and one false trip into the hospital, nothing appeared to be working and my doctor scheduled an eviction date for little Ollie. He would be born August 21st. However, on the morning of the 19th I didn't feel good and was refusing to go back to the hospital after getting kicked out one time already. So, I cleaned my whole house and mopped the floors. Eventually, as I was holding onto the side of the counter I began thinking, "Oh my god, I have to get out of here!" I dropped Josiah off at my neighbors house and told her I would probably be right back. I went into my doctors office and was 6 centimeters dilated. She said, "How did you get here?" and I said, "I drove." She informed me that she was writing up orders to send me into the hospital and I needed to call someone to come pick me up. Okay. I was off to have baby boy number two!

I wanted my water to break on it's own so when I got checked into the hospital I literally started running laps. I passed other pregnant women waddling around the hall again and again. One grandpa stared at me amazed. I heard him whisper to his wife, "This girl, she's a runner. But she's slowing down with every lap. I think the baby will be here soon." The anesthesiologist came in for a pre-interview. I told him I felt ok and kinda thought it would be cool to experience natural childbirth. He said he had seen me in the hall and thought if anyone could do it, I could do it. Then he left. I went out for more laps.
Then things started to get ugly. I couldn't run anymore and I felt an unfathomable amount of pain. Oh the pain! It was like nothing anyone could have prepared me for. I had the epidural at 2 centimeters with Josiah so I really had no idea. I went to another place. I started to think, "I have to get out of this hospital!" If only I could get away from the hospital the pain would go away. Talk about fight or flight! I beeped the nurse and told her I needed the man with the drugs back immediately. She called him. No luck, He would be in a C-section for the next 20-30 minutes. I sat there as quietly as I could. I refused to be one of those screaming fools I had seen on TV and remarked, "Is it really that bad? Come on!"

In that 20-30 minutes I learned a lot about myself. One, that I hated to be in pain. Two, that I wasn't nearly as tough as I thought. Third, it really WAS that bad, and fourth, probably most importantly, that I would never, ever, send away the epidural should I decide to do this again (not likely!). Finally he showed up and thankfully didn't say anything about my failed attempt at natural childbirth and gave me what I needed. Here I am blissfully happy, around 10 centimeters and getting ready to push.

After just 10 minutes of pushing, Little Oliver Grey made his way into this world, 8lbs and 7ozs.


My doctor, Dr. Harrington, who also delivered Josiah said to me after Oliver's birth, "It is a shame you're done having babies, because you are really good at it. You make my job easy." Here she is with him,