Unsuperherolike

We are on the road today traveling South for the PurpleStride 5k and we came the back way to avoid the slowed traffic on 101.

We saw a fire truck on an overpass with its lights on, but I didn’t see any car that appeared to be in an accident, so was hoping it wasn’t anything bad. We kept going and we came up to another set of fire trucks on an overpass and it hit me.

I’d seen news articles and Facebook posts about fallen officers and their funeral processions and even seeing it and reading about it made me emotional. I think I may have seen them out once before, but I could be wrong, I do have 3 kids 4 and under so my memory isn’t as sharp as it used to be. I just imagine being in that family’s position and to be headed to their loved ones service and seeing all of these fellow officers, maybe some that didn’t even know them personally, but just being out there to show respect to a fellow officer.

Once I realized what it was, I told my hubby, but not before breaking down in tears. I don’t know who they are, I don’t know what happened, but my heart breaks for them. And my heart is so full of joy at the officers that are out there showing support.

I can’t say what I would do if I lost my spouse or one of my kids. I’d probably be a wreck. While I know that God is in control, and He has a plan, and His ways are always better than ours, and that I trust that He would get me through anything that comes my way… I’m still a wife and Mommy and I’d be so sad missing out on seeing any of them every single day. But, I also know that our goal is to go home, so I’d have to rejoice that they made it and don’t have to be part of this crazy world anymore.

To anyone that has lost someone close, my heart goes out to you. We lost my mother in love a little over 4 years ago. We will walk in her memory tomorrow and pray that through research they will find a cure for pancreatic cancer, and ever cancer really.

I’m not sure who is being laid to rest today, but I’m praying for that family. I hope you will too.

Short video of the procession

I realized I only had about 5 hours of sleep on Tuesday night, because after I nursed (and by nursed, I didn’t mean she only nurses once a night, she’s still going strong waking me up 4 or 5 times a night), I decided to get up and take a shower. My hubby had an early morning meeting, so he’d be getting up soon to shower, so my only chance of having an uninterrupted shower would be to take it by 5 am.

I’m not one of those moms that takes a shower every day, more power to you if you do get that luxury, but if I get more than 3 showers in a week, then that’s pretty incredible. I do get to work from home, so it’s not like I’m out in public every day. And since my signature hair style is a #mombun anyway, it looks pretty much the same on a shower day or a non – shower day. I do still brush my teeth and put on deodorant every morning, I can always find time to sneak those in between going potty and taking my Plexus.

Haven’t heard of Plexus? Now that is something that I don’t go a day without! These health and wellness products have been life changing for me. I was so exhausted as a mom of two and have more energy, better sleep, more patience, better health, and less weight as a mom of three.

So I got 7 hours of sleep last night. My average is between 6 and 7 hours a night. And when I wake up now I just climb out of bed ready to start my day. No more yawning or pressing snooze to get that extra 10 minutes of sleep. Plus…. The alarm usually wakes up the kids anyway, so if I can be up and going before it goes off, the kids might sleep in a bit longer.

Today, Alexandria (our 10 month old) was ready to roll, literally, as I tried my best ninja roll out of bed skills. So, we were both up at 6, she played with a breastfeeding flange while I did my business in the bathroom and she was happily nursing in the den 5 minutes later after we changed her pee pee diaper and sat on the couch to catch up on Grey’s Anatomy. I won’t watch that when my older kids are up, so I only get to watch about 15 minutes at a time on Hulu when I get up before everyone and don’t immediately go into my office and start working. We watched a little Grey’s then she wanted to play, so I got her a breakfast bar and I could hear her grinding her teeth! She only has 3 teeth now and barely got her one top tooth this week, so this is new for her. She’s been testing out her chomping skills while nursing… Not so fun for me.

Then I smelled poop. So I had to do diaper change #2. We came back out to the den and used the hand held vac to clean up her baby bar crumbs, and as I went to hang it can up I was caught off guard by my stealth 2.5 year old wearing his football footie pajamas. He was holding the crotch part away from his crotch area. So… He had another diaper leak. I got him his vitamin, probiotic, and greens and went to get him a clean diaper and outfit for the day. Alexandria lost her mind having my leave the room for a minute. She’s a major mommies girl and does not like to be away from me.

So… We got 3 diaper changes, 15 minutes of Grey’s, one kid his vitamins, one kid her breast milk and baby bar, and mommy got to take her Vitalbiome. Now the rest of the troops are up and we are ready to start our day. And we are starting it by watching the Incredibles… What else would you expect from #thesuperherofamily?

Ryan’s mom, Sandra was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer just 7 weeks before our wedding. Ryan was her only child, so she was thrilled to see him get married.

She was chosen to participate in a clinical trial and she kept a positive attitude her entire journey. She never questioned God or lost her faith. She actually used her diagnosis to bring more people to Him.

She also got bilateral bells palsy while she was going through chemo. Since her job was working at the call center for Jenny Craig and since it was harder for her to speak with bilateral bells palsy, she had to take some time off. But she didn’t just sit at home watching TV. Don’t get me wrong, she loved her San Diego Chargers, and you could hear her cheering from a block away, but she kept herself busy, still baking for her friends, attending Bible study, going to church, and knitting scarves that she would sell to still add to her income.

Her scarves were called Sensational Scarves by Semper Fi Sandi. And she included her story as well as a Bible verse on the tag she attached to each scarf.

Sandi went home to be with Jesus the day Victoria turned 4 months old. She fought the good fight, she finished the race, she kept the faith. She survived 16 months with pancreatic cancer, which is a really long time with that type of diagnosis.

Sandi was a former Marine and was always a great hostess. She loved everyone and she could meet you anywhere and be an instant forever friend. She was always prepared for fun! And she absolutely loved the 4 months she got to be a grandma.

The kids always talk about Grandma Sandi even though Victoria was the only one who met her, and looked pretty much like her twin at the same age when they were both 3 months old.

Since she passed away in July 2014 we have walked in the annual PurpleStride 5k at De Anza Cove in San Diego to raise money for pancreatic cancer researcher.

We will be walking in our 5th PurpleStride 5k this weekend along with some of our family and friends. Walking across the starting line is always so emotional for me, granted I have been pregnant 2 of the 4 times we did it. We plan to continue to do this 5k as a family in memory of the Unbelievable Semper Fi Sandi. 

We are not bloggers by trade, but… we are going to give this a go. I’ve heard it time and time again that we are “The Superhero Family”, and I guess we’ve earned that title, so we are going to embrace it. If it weren’t for my hubby, I would definitely not be a Superhero fan. I mean yeah, I did watch the old Batman show growing up, I think it was probably in reruns, because I know I’m getting older, but I’m not THAT old.

I was more of a Smurfs, Scooby Doo, My Little Pony, Strawberry Shortcake, Rainbow Bright, Jem and the Holograms, and She-Ra type of girl, but… my hubby knew of She-Ra since he was into He-Man and he also knew of Jem, so… I guess we had a little bit of a cartoon/comics type of connection.