6 months.

six months.

today is the 6 month mark since my sweet baby boy died.

half a year.

it still doesn't seem possible, it seems so much longer to me, to my heart.

one of the hardest things about being home, here in illinois, is that i haven't been able to visit my sweet boy's spot.  i haven't been able to go to the cemetery every day (or every other day, as i was trying to limit myself from going every day).  it's been hard being so far away from his sweet blue spot.

luckily, i have several friends who have been by, they have visited my beautiful boy's grave and sent me texts and pictures to show me he's alright.  it's all ok, everything's still the same.

i am so grateful for their willingness to help me out, to ease my worried mind.

but it's still hard.

i wish i could go myself.  it feels like something his mommy should do, it feels like something i need to do myself.  it's something i want to do.

on the 23rd of each month, aubrey and i take a new tiny blue stone to add to a little bag hanging from a hook above his grave.  i made sure to add the 6 month stone before we left.  i am just sad (and a little guilt-stricken) that i won't be there today to acknowledge this new month, this new anniversary, this new milestone.

i miss him so much.

i wish i could explain to you how much my heart aches for him.

but i can't, because they don't make words heavy or strong or sad or empty enough to do so.

it hurts.

it's hard.

in some ways, it's killing me.

but it's also giving me the strength to live.

my sweet boy----during his life, and now in his death----gave me all the reasons i need to live this life the best way i can.  he taught me what the important things in life are, and has made me strive to be better every single day.  just because he's not here in my arms anymore, doesn't mean his lessons have stopped.  he is still teaching me, guiding me, strengthening me, showing me the way.  i am still learning his divine lessons, even though i sometimes feel like i'm sure to fail the class. 

some days i don't even know if i'm on the right subject, i feel so lost.

but i keep trying.

the lessons are harder for me to learn because it takes much more effort on my part to 'hear' my teacher.

in order for me to feel my sweet boy i need to be in a state of being that allows his sweet presence to be near.  i have to try so much harder to just feel his sweet love, so different than when i could just hold my beautiful boy, kiss his sweet face, and soak in the perfect spirit that he embodied.

i cannot tell you how much i miss those days.

how much my soul misses having my own perfect little piece of heaven in my arms at all times.

all i had to do to feel his spirit was just have him in my arms.

my arms are still so empty.

 6 months later, they are still longing to be filled with the perfect little boy i was so privileged to call my son.

6 months have passed but my heart would say it's a lie.

my heart knows it must be longer than that!

my heart is broken, so i think it has forgotten how to keep track of time.

my mind knows it's been 6 months.

and there are 6 tiny blue stones at my sweet boy's grave, so it must be true.

whether it be 6 months or 6 years, my heart will miss you just the same.

mommy loves you, buddy boo.

i miss you more than you know.

<3

"at home"

i'm home.

my home, Illinois.

but i don't feel at home.  there isn't anywhere that feels like home anymore, it seems.

home was when i was holding my sweet boy in my arms.

home was when i was kissing his sweet face and taking care of his every need.

i don't feel at home in my own skin anymore.  there is a constant feeling of being lost---like i'm missing something, something important and necessary to survive.  something required in order for me to navigate my way through this life.

i am missing something.

i will forever be missing a most precious part of me, the part of me i was most comfortable with and treasured the most.  the part of me that was home.

i miss my beautiful boy.

i just do.

i am learning to find my way, blindly without him.

i am lost, but i have faith in the path that i am on.  i have faith in the destination it will eventually lead me to.

i have faith because i wouldn't know what to do without it.

i have faith because i need it.

i have faith.

in the last week i have gotten 2 phone calls that, if i had received them just 6 months earlier, would have made me so happy.

it seems as if all the opportunities we had been waiting for, been wishing for, are now becoming available to us.

my beautiful boy had been on the waiting list for the Division of Services for People With Disabilities for 5 years, almost his entire life.  on tuesday i received a phone call that there was great news!  funding has now become available and Connor can start receiving help!

..................................................

 

today i answered the phone to a very nice lady from an organization called SWAN (Syndromes Without A Name).  she was very excited to inform me that Connor was chosen for the exome sequencing i had entered to win several months ago.  this phone call would have meant the world to me if my sweet boy was still alive!  this kind of genetic testing is very expensive and was beyond the realm of possibilities for us to pay for ourselves.  this could have been the testing that lead to answers for my beautiful boy.  this could have been a possible end to the endless frustration of not knowing.  this could have helped my son.

but i cannot live my life wondering what could have been.  i cannot exist in that space of 'what if' or 'why me', or especially 'why him???'

there will never be an answer for that question that i will understand.

i don't understand any of it, but i trust in the divine plan for all of it.

i choose to live in faith, and i am trying my very hardest to embrace and accept what is instead of what could have been.

i am still here, still breathing, still surviving.

i am still living, still loving, still caring for my sweet girl.

i do still feel my sweet boy around me, can still feel his love.

i don't understand God's timing or reasons, but i do have faith in His plan.

and while i may not feel at home ever again, it is nice to look out the window and see countless fireflies flickering in the night.

<3

breaking down..

this has been the hardest week for me since my sweet boy died.

i don't know why, exactly.....i just know that i can't breathe again because the ache and the hurt is so strong.

the grief literally takes my breath away.

i have broken  down more times this week than i have in a while.  every night, multiple times throughout the day, while i'm driving, in the middle of a store,  while i'm just sitting doing nothing, while i'm just trying to survive and breathe.

i am breaking down so many times a day i don't feel like i ever really build myself back up.

i am feeling all this hurt, i feel like i'm drowning in this sorrow and grief and i honestly don't know how i can handle the next moment.  i truly feel like this time it could be too much, and there's no physical way i can handle any more of this pain.......

and then i look up and see my sweet girl.

i see her laughing and playing with her friends.

i see her draw me cute little pictures (almost always including little Connie).

and i know that's my reason.

she is  the reason i am able to pick myself up, piece by broken piece, and somehow find the energy and courage to continue on.

and i know my beautiful boy is there, pushing mommy along, giving me those oh so gentle nudges when i need them most, when he sees me at my lowest.

i know all this.

it just doesn't make it hurt any less.

i am going home on Sunday, back home to Illinois for a summer filled with friends and family and love and familiarity------yet there is that painful reminder that my most familiar companion, my precious little boy will not be there this time.

and that hurts so deep down in my soul i don't even think i can comprehend it.

my soul hurts.

my soul aches for my perfect little companion, my truest soul mate.

i miss my sweet boy.

i am a mess.

i am trying.

i am grateful for my sweet, sweet girl.

she saves me every day.

i trust in my Heavenly Father that he has a plan and purpose for me, even in those dark hours where i can't see past my own heartache.

i will see my beautiful angel again someday.

i just wish it didn't hurt so much in the meantime.

<3

feeling blue.

it's Sunday again.

one more week until we leave for Illinois!!

i am excited to come home.

but i am also sad about not being able to bring my sweet boy with us.

it will be hard.

every day this week has been so hard for me.

i am trying to 'push through it'......i am trying to be strong and 'keep moving forward'......

but it's so hard.

the ache in my heart is constant and at times so strong i can't breathe again.

i can't catch my breath and sobs come instead.

i crawled into my beautiful boy's bed last night and cried as hard as the first night i came home without him.

being home alone when aubrey is away for the night is harder than most other nights.

but i survived, i always do.

i am surviving, it's just a constant hurt, a constant ache, a constant void that cannot be filled.

i am trying to live my life positively.

i don't want to be a negative influence for aubrey.  i don't want her to see me sad all the time, or give her the impression that she makes me any less happy than her brother did.  because she makes me so happy.  happier than she realizes.

i just miss my sweet little boy.

and i'm so grateful i have my sweet little girl, otherwise i don't think i could do this.  i really don't think i could go on if i didn't have my sweet girl to walk this heart-breaking journey alongside me.

we are walking it, every day we are taking this journey we didn't choose or plan for.

life is moving on, as hard as that is for me to grasp or accept.

my sweet girl finished 2nd grade this week!

she's getting so big and i'm so proud of her.

this had to have been the hardest school year of her life, and she handled it with such strength and grace, and still did so well on her schoolwork.

she's such a good example to me.

i am trying to handle this life---and how it keeps moving forward, and how i have no other choice but to move along with it.

i painted my front door blue.

it makes me happy because it reminds me of my perfect little blue-eyed beautiful boy every time i see it.

his ribbons are still up, and that makes my heart happy.

 

 

my garden in front is filled with blue.

 

finding blue treasures to add to his graveside and my garden helps me in some way.  it makes me feel like i'm still able to do something for him, to honor him somehow, even if it's small.

i even have solar lights that glow blue at night.......they help me feel less lonely at night time.  sort of.

 maybe if i surround myself with enough blue, it will help fill that endless void----somehow, someway...

or i will just become 'that crazy lady with all the blue stuff'.

either way, if it helps------i'm going for it.

happy blue Sunday to you.

<3

moving forward.

it's been a long time since i've written.

being sick for a week really wiped me out, and then my dad was here so i was (happily) busy spending time with him.

but he's been gone for almost a week now, and i really miss him.

i have tried to sit down and write a couple times this week, but haven't been able to come up with the words that are on my heart.

my heart hurts.

i miss my sweet boy so much, and i can't find the words to describe any of it.

i keep having these really vivid dreams.

these dreams are so real, and in them i'm always searching for my beautiful boy.......and then i always realize that he's not there.  that he's gone and he's not coming back.

it's like reliving his death over and over again in my sleep.

and then i wake up with such a heavy sadness that it overwhelms me before i even step out of bed.

i miss him so much.

i was laying on the grass beside his grave the other day, watching the clouds roll by on the perfectly blue sky.

i was laying there wishing that i could just go back!  i wanted to go back in time so i could just hold my sweet baby boy.  i wanted more than anything to go back to the time where i could just hold him in my arms and pretend everything was going to be ok.

i just want him back!

and then i harshly realized that there is no going back.

as much as i wish or hope or as many times as i plead or beg------there is no going back.

it's just not possible, it cannot or will not ever happen.

it just can't.

and that's hard to digest.

that's hard to wrap my grief-stricken mind around.

but it's true.  it's a fact, and it's reality.

it's my reality.

and i have to accept it.

i can't go back, i can't have my beautiful boy in my arms again, not like it was before.

so i laid there, on the ground next to my sweet baby boy's headstone, and i thought about the options i do have.

i cannot go back, this i have come to accept.

i can't stay where i am, time does not stand still.  (nor would i want it to, i've realized)

the only option, and the one that makes sense, is to just move forward.

and really, this is the option that will bring me the end result that i so desperately desire----to be with my sweet baby boy again.

moving forward is the only way i will see him again, and each day that passes is another day closer to having him in my arms again.

oh, but it's so hard!!

how do i trick my heart into believing what my mind knows logically to be true??

most days, my heart just aches to go back.  

five months......if i could just go back five months and hold my little boy again!

it's hard to convince my heart that it's five months closer to an eternity with my son.

i'm trying.

every day i'm trying to embrace this new reality and to not try and wish for something that cannot exist.

i'm trying, but it's hard.

my heart just doesn't understand most days.

but i will keep trying, keep moving forward,  knowing that it's the only option i have.

and trusting that it will lead me to where i want to be......

where i need to be.

happy Sunday to you.

<3