Friday, September 22, 2006

the pictures 7/11/04 (plus one from 2001

First off, a special THANK YOU to Paula Lerner for letting me put the photos on my blog.

This is day 2 of the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. It was my first night away from Rhys. Mom and I shared a little tent and were in tent city on Crissy Field in SF. this is at the first aid station on the walk that morning and rob was waiting with the kids. rhys was VERY ready to nurse and i was VERY ready to have him nurse, even though i'd pumped that morning, i was still quite QUITE full. irene had her little ponies and was playing as i nursed the boy. Paula Lerner was there. she was taking pictures for the book Why We Walk (go and check it out. we were almost in it *smile* - the pictures and stories in it are really amazing and Paula's photos are superb). i love that rhys' little feet in the picture. and irene is totally engrossed in her playing. on my shirt are the names of friends and family that have had breast cancer. they are my friends and family and the friends and family of those who donated $$ to my walk. there were too many on my shirt. it was a few weeks, i believe, after this walk that Paula Lerner was diagnosed with breast cancer. I am happy to say that she is doing well today. please do go check out her site b/c her photos really capture the moments well.

irene (4 1/2), rhys (newly 1) and mama.

Photo © Paula Lerner 2004

and here i am w/my boy
Photo © Paula Lerner 2004

The walk was an amazing experience. i felt so lucky to get to do it with my mom. to have her there with me. this june marked 5 years since her bout w/the disease. walking across the finish line - i just can't even describe how emotional it was. i was crying, i think mom was crying, actually, i'm sure mom was crying. one of the parents from my preschool was there - she had walked as well - i think she'd had breast cancer about the same time my mom did. she saw me as i was crossing and ran and gave me the biggest hug.

here i am with rhys after the walk


and, b/c i don't want to leave irene out -- here is one of the very few pix i have of me nursing irene - she's about 18 months in this picture - we were traveling to The Grannies in escondido. mom took this picture in buttonwillow - unfortunately, neither of us has a full sized image of it...so it's a little pixilated.

7 comments:

Karen said...

Good for you for doing this walk. I'm sponsoring a friend who is walking this Sunday. (Although shorter than yours.)

Cute kids, by the way! Michele sent me.

Moogie said...

How wonderful! What an amazing experience. Thank yo so much for sharing it with us. Your children are adorable!

I'm here because of Michele but I will definitely be back.

rashbre said...

Great that you have done the walk. I put your sall picture through Photoshop to enlarge it here


And Hiya, Michele sent me.

rashbre

Deb R said...

I love those pics! It feels weird though to see how little the kids look in them. They're getting toooooo big too fast!

Did your mom embroider the hat you wore on the walk? It's really cute!

Kristen said...

karen, thanks for stopping by and good for your friend (and for you too!)

moogie - thank you too! i was very pleased to share the pictures and a bit of the experience.


rashbre - thank you for enlarging the picture - i can't figure out how to link it correctly though - crumbs.

deb - aint that the truth? where is my little bitty girl? she doesn't have the super curly curlies anymore either b/c it's so dry here in nevada. it gets curlier when we go to california. and nope, mom didn't do the hat - that is a tinkerbell hat courtesy of disneyland. i made the mistake of washing it after the walk b/c it was a bit - um....sweaty? dirty? oogy? yep, all that. it shrank and shrank and it now fits irene. i bought another one when we went to disneyland in march. that's how much i liked it :)

Carrie said...

Good for you Kristen! I love to hear about your family. I also love the nursing pictures. It is beautiful!

Lydia Netzer said...

Awww, I remember how Irene used to nurse, she sat up with her legs on each side of your waist, and nursed like that. I was amazed.