Take the Good with the Bad.

A lot has happened.
I slacked on blogging.
I can make up for lost time....maybe.

There has been bad and good.

Oma lost her battle with cancer.  Rest in peace, Oma.  We love and miss you.  Cole prays every night for you...to be happy in heaven and with the angels.

Every dark cloud has a silver lining though.

We got to spend lots of time with her.  Derek was amazing...amazing!  He was there with her every weekend and as many days of the week as he could be.  He took wonderful care of her, whatever she needed, and never lost his patience.  He took every opportunity to tell her how much he loved and appreciated her.  I am so proud of him.  So, so proud.

Derek was able to reconnect and take some time to spend with his friends.  They were able to provide amazing support to him.  It meant so much to all of us. 

We are able to spend time with Opa. It's been hard for everyone.  We've all shed lots of tears.  Bottom line though, we still have one another.  That's a lot.  

The support we received from everyone....family, friends, coworkers, friends of family, family of friends, etc...was awe inspiring.  It helped so much and there are no words that express our gratitude enough.  Thank you.

Oma gets to be an Oma twice over.  She was the first to know that we are growing from a family of three to four.  She was proud and got to tell her friends.  She will be remembered through the birth of Baby Albracht #2 and this child will know how wonderful she was.

We love you, Oma. 
We love the rest of our family and friends as well.  We are each so grateful for your kindness, prayer, and love.

Here comes a catch up.....

...in the meantime.  I want to always remember Cole this morning.  The child has a habit of waking up at 5:30 am every - single - day.  Today it was 5 am....not cool since Mommy had taken the day off to accompany Cole and his friends on a field trip and we did not need to leave home until 8am.  So, to keep him in bed I lay in his bed with him.  He's snuggly in the morning so I threw my arm over him and he drifted off...or so I thought.  As soon as I took my arm off of him to sneak into a more comfortable position his head popped up and said, "don't let go, Mommy."  Short story - I sacrificed comfort to hold on to my boy.  I love him to pieces and I never wanna let go.