On a more serious note......

I’ve been thinking about the two miscarriages I suffered quite a bit lately after reading this post, and because three of my friends are early on in their pregnancies right now. After Weston was born I suffered two miscarriages. In both cases, I was about 8 weeks along.

For me, coping with the loss of a pregnancy amounted to a fairly brief period of intense sadness. Once I got past the first trimester of pregnancy with Garrett, I felt like I was finished with the process of grief, but certain things will still bring those feelings back. For instance I found myself in tears on the phone with a friend one day who was considering terminating a healthy pregnancy because she had just begun her relationship with the baby’s father. The idea of choosing to end a pregnancy is abhorrent to me after having that choice taken from me on two occasions. Apparently my tears made an impression on her, because her beautiful baby girl will be a year old in October.

After reading the follow-up to the post, I considered my own approach to coping with the loss of two “potential children”. That is what a lost pregnancy is; the loss of who that child could have potentially been. When I look at the child I did end up with I can’t be sad about the two I didn’t have. There is some sort of magic about Garrett that is impossible to miss. If two miscarriages are what I had to suffer to have him in my life every day, the price was worth paying.

Skate Camp

This week Weston and Garrett are at skateboarding camp at the Campbell Community Center. They have taken a six week skating class there before and had an absolute blast, but three intensive hours for five straight days sounded like a great idea. When they only went once a week they didn't get enough of a chance to get really comfortable with whatever trick they were working on before it was time to leave. Garrett could almost drop in on the elbow with lots and lots of help, but once class was over and his favorite instructor was not able to work with him, he wouldn't even try it.

The first two days of camp they both pretty much stayed in their comfort zone, practicing tricks that they already knew how to do. Yesterday however, I went to one of the instructors and told him that Garrett is capable of much more than he lets on and that without a little pushing he would spend the entire week rolling down one little ramp and practicing ollies. I felt like one of those pushy show biz or athete moms thats constantly pushing their kids into more spectacular feats of daring, but darnit, they need a little nudge every now and then!

Well, the pushiness paid off! When I picked them up today Weston came tearing up to the fence of the park with this ear-to-ear grin as I got out of my car. "Watch this, mom!" Up he went to the top of the start ramp, where he proceeded to drop in on the second-hardest ramp. Prior to starting the camp his response to that ramp was "maybe later". Then Garrett hopped up onto the elbow and dropped in all by himself!!! Woooo hoooo! I'll be rich rich rich when they go pro!!! Oh! Did I just say that?