Good Luck and Bad Luck, We've Got It All!

Thursday morning my plan was to head out for a long run, 8 miles right now.  I know it's not really that long of a long run, but I still have 4 months until our October half-marathon, so I'm taking it slow with building mileage.  I had been wanting to meet Ty for lunch so we could go to Raising Cane's together and get chicken fingers.  They have a billboard perfectly placed on the drive I take to the trails to run and every time I see it, I want to go there.  I fall into the advertising trap so perfectly!  I wanted to get the run in early so we could play at the park before leaving to see Ty and I could shower and all that jazz.  It rained all night and when we woke up it said there was a 70-90% chance of rain all morning with the likelihood increasing as the day went on.  I decided to head out immediately following Carter's breakfast to try and beat the rain.  I put his rain cover in the bottom carrier of the stroller just in case it started to rain during our run.

We finished our run without seeing a single rain drop and then our good fortune continued.  While we were playing at the park I saw a man and a woman setting up and then checking microphones.  They were both dressed in somewhat silly outfits which made me think they may be there to entertain children.  I knew they do "Storytime in the Park", but I couldn't remember which day of the week they do it.  Then I began to notice lots of parents showing up with strollers and congregating in the area where the musicians were set up.  I headed out to the car to grab my sunglasses because the sun had finally come out and I saw a mom with 3 kids getting out of the car.  I asked her if it was Storytime in the Park and she said yes, it started at 10:00.  I looked at my phone to see it was 9:30.  I figured what the heck, we'd play at the park for 30 minutes and then enjoy the music.

Carter made friends with another child in need of more melanin who ended up being just 2 months younger than him.  His mom and I joked about how much sunscreen we go through and that instead of smelling like that luscious baby soap, our babies smell like sunscreen.  She showed me a spot she had saved in the shade and we ended up sitting by them.  Carter was really interested in the little boy until the music started and then he was all about dancing.  Typical for him he was dancing and loving it the entire time they played music and then in between songs when they stopped to talk, he was over it and running off to the park.  Eventually we ended up at the park with Carter dancing on the equipment as we listened to the music from afar.  It was still ridiculously cute!  I know he'll enjoy stuff like that even more once his attention span lengthens.  I hope we get the chance to see Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band, who have won a grammy, again when he is older!

We were so lucky that I started my run early to avoid the rain and therefore got to see Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band.  It was a welcome bit of luck this morning as we've had a bit of bad luck lately with some of our expensive material items.  The AC in the car Carter and I drive stopped working.  Lucky for Carter, it only stopped working in the front.  I'm sweating so much that I'm sliding around on my leather seat why Carter is riding in 60 degree style.  I do sneak my arm back and catch a bit of that cold air occasionally as we drive.  Really even with the misfortune of our AC going out, we were lucky in that the AC went out on a day that the high was 80 degrees after a week of 95 degree weather.  Since the AC stopped working our warmest day has been 90 degrees!

Our trusty microwave that has been slowly dying for months now, finally gave out yesterday.  We got the microwave as a hand me down which had seen better days and have milked it for years.  Yesterday I went to heat up left over enchiladas and all I could get out of the poor thing was 6 seconds.  It then turned into an experiment for me to see if I could get it to go for longer than 6 seconds.  I couldn't and once the microwave started to smell funny I ceased the experiment.  Well that and Carter was freaking out because he had eaten his entire nectarine and gosh darn it, where was more food?!!?  So I gave him cold enchiladas while I heated up left over spaghetti on the stove.  He and I had been eating on the spaghetti all week for lunches (obviously I made way too much) and he had been totally over it the day before, even resorting to wearing his plate as a hat to get the point across hence switching to left over enchiladas.  Luckily Carter was hungry enough he ate part of a cold enchilada and then ate some of that we have eaten this way too many days in a row spaghetti!  The car AC has been out for almost 2 weeks now and I have yet to take it in to get it fixed.  Maybe I'm just waiting for that 100 degree weather to force me into it.  The microwave breaks and Ty runs out to buy a new one that evening.  So now we have a gloriously huge white microwave and are crossing our fingers it lasts us 5-10 years because we will not be able to replace it if it comes to the same fate as our old one.  I'm hoping I can find one at a garage sale and store it until our current microwaves stops working.  We are just thankful the microwave died when it did because we have some extra cash flow right now because I'm still getting paid and we aren't paying for daycare.

Our lovely new microwave right next to our beautiful recipe boxes from Papa on our stainless steel shelving.

Please mommy, no more spaghetti!

So lately we've had some bad luck but if looked at in the appropriate way could be considered not so bad.  We've had lots of good luck mixed in there too.  No matter what happens I still feel incredibly lucky because I get to be with Carter all day every day, even when I'm on the toilet or taking a shower.  I am thankful for that every single moment and I am thankful for Ty for taking this chance with me and being scared about the financial changes right along with me.  It is so worth it.  So many people talk about how staying at home was worth it because they never missed any of the firsts (I never missed a first even working full time).  It's not about that for me, it's about simply being there.  To be the one serving his meals and snacks.  To be the one wiping his face clean.  To be the one consoling him when he gets hurt.  To be the one rocking him to sleep.  To be the one taking him to the library and watching his face as he sees something new and exciting.  To be the one picking him up from a nap.  To be the one applying cream to his bottom after a diaper change.  It's all of it.  It's everything.  It's getting to be his caretaker 24 hours a day rather than 16 hours of the day.  Today when rocking Carter to sleep he was tiredly looking up at me and I was looking down into his eyes.  In that moment I thought, it doesn't matter what happens when we die because I have experienced heaven while holding Carter close and looking down into his eyes.  There's nothing more I need.  Well other than food, water, air, family, and most of all, my Ty!

The after affect of said rocking.