Mother Over Load!!

I cannot believe we are already entering October!! It has been such a busy busy month since Lilly has started school. I don't know why I was thinking it was going to be breezy. LOL Lilly started school and things just started whizzing by us.

She is doing absolutely wonderful in her class. She loves going to school so much that she dreads the weekends coming.  I am guessing that will change as she gets older but for now, you better believe I am encouraging that mindset. She is making lots of friends and seems to be very happy there. I have taken a very active role in her class as "room mom."  Her class or school doesn't really have "room moms" persa but I have volunteered my time and efforts anyhow her teacher chooses to utilize me. I  would just like to lighten her teacher's load as much as possible so that she can focus most of her time on actually teaching and not scheduling field trips, clubs, activities etc. So that's what I am doing. I send out reminders to the parents, schedule and book field trips, make all the phone calls for those trips, schedule and plan activities for them on Fridays(Kindergarten club they call it), set up parent volunteer schedules for lunch duty, create "special helpers" calendars for the class etc. So I have had a really, really busy first month. I also go in almost everyday to help with her lunch as well as every Thursday to help with computer class. IT sure has been great having my mom living here this month because most of this I did without having to drag Van all over. She has been such a blessing for that!! And aside from volunteering at the schools events, we are just all over the place here. But we wouldn't have it any other way, because we feel just blessed to have one another.

Lilly has started her 3rd year in ballet and is loving it. This year she will be performing in another recital in May and cannot wait to get her costume! LOL Typical girl :) We really enjoy her being involved in that organization. It is a christian based dance company called Studio 149 here in Fort Wayne and it is just a great place where she can interact with other kids and still glorify the Lord through her dancing.

I have stated to see a whole new "LILLY" since school has started and I am not sure what to make of it. I can look back at the past 5 years and know that we have done everything possible to teach her and mold her to live a life for our Lord. But some days I swear, I think WHERE IS MY DAUGHTER? I knew there would be many changes as we started the beginning of the next 13 years and more in school, but I had NOT anticipated some of these changes. She has always been very very smart, and has had a vocabulary of a grown adult on her...but never too much of an "attitude" and now with being around 17 other kids plus watching and listening to many more kids in school let's just say her sweet little girl days seem to be ending. And I don't mean she is not sweet anymore, I am just saying she is beginning to show how others are influencing her. Sometimes good, and other times bad. I wish I could keep her in a little bottle forever! It scares me, as her mom, to think of what and who is influencing her 7 hours a day all week long! But then I remember that we raised her right and just when I think there is no end to her "attitude" she will correct it herself or apologize on her own. Those moments I keep close to my heart. But I can most definitely see that her discipline here at home needs to be a bit more strict, which is never fun for anyone. She most certainly is growing up too fast right before my very eyes, and I wish I had all the time in the world to keep her little and tucked away safe in my arms. She will be 6 at the end of this month!!!! It just seems impossible. She is becoming more independent as the hours seem to fade in a day.

 I am recuperating from a major surgery I had done on September 7th, to help relieve and alleviate my back pain. I am doing great so far  and feel wonderful! So September was insanely crazy with all this going on!!

Van is Van!!! HE is 18 months now and I think starting his terrible 2's early. He is really starting to throw some serious fits when we don't jump when he says JUMP! He is really getting his "running" down good. Those little arms just go a swingin' and pumpin and his little toosh and hips going from side to side. It is the cutest thing ever!! He has really started to talk quite a bit. He knows probably over 40 words and has just recently started saying 2 sometimes 3 word sentences. My favorite words to hear him say right now are "yes" and "please" ..when he says yes, it is with a pretty good lisp because of how he pronounces his "S" so it's absolutely adorable. And when he says "please" he draws it out really long..."pppppeeeaaasssss" lol I wish I could figure out how to upload video cuz I would try to get it on here! But that would mean more time to sit down and dabble at the computer and quite honestly even now as I am writing this I am thinking about all the other things I HAVE to get done and should be getting done this very second!!! He has been pretty healthy for about 4 weeks now, and if you know anything about us when it comes to him that is a true miracle! We took him in to our Pastors to be anointed and prayed over in the end of August because we just felt like our family was under some serious attack. Van was sick for almost the entire month of August and before that well he has been sick every month sometimes 3 weeks at a time each month ever since he was born. It has been a very hard and draining first year with him. But I am so happy to say that aside from a tiny cold, which use to then amount for a long battle with fevers coughs ear aches etc, he has been healthy ever since we took him in and prayed over him with all our pastors surrounding our family. I feel very blessed to be a part of our church. It is an amazing palce where God is doing some serious work there. I love it!!!

We just got back from visiting Boston for a few days. My mom, myself, Lilly and Van surprised my brother and sister for a quick visit! It was wonderful o see them! They had no idea we were coming and were shocked to see us standing at the door. LOL Sam, my nephew, literally picked Lilly up and spun around in a circle lifting her off the ground! It took us about 13 hours to get there, by car. Van did absolutely wonderful in the car. But from the moment we got there and got out of the car, he never stopped crying/whining. I don't know what his deal was, but it was not fun with him like that. I think it was just pure overwhelming for him. The kids were always running around, playing..we were sitting around talking, laughing etc. So I think it was just too much. So I can say he was a great traveler, but not a good companion once we reached dour destination! LOL

Apple Face on ride to Boston

Happy as a clam to have whole back seat alone!

 

 

The kids really did do awesome in the car! We were able to take my Aunt's minivan and that was a huge blessing! They had room to spread their stuff out, and Lilly could move around, lay down whatever. Probably safe to say the day for minivan mom is nearing!!



This was about 10 minutes before we got there...apparently he was tired of being in his pjs and ready to get them off! LOL

 Ben, Van, Sam and Lilly- 4 out of 5 grand kids

Lilly, Ben and Van playing sandwich shop

 

Now we are home and detoxing Van from his whining days and getting back on track with two naps a day! Thank the Lord for naps!!!!!!!

 

 

Anthony is still with Comcast and living the dream!!!!!! :) And now with my Dad working there as well it is quite funny to hear them talk about all that stuff at night. I am sure Antho is loving it, cuz its not like I knew or understood much that he said when it came to that stuff. He has been a huge help around the house this past month since I had surgery and all, now I don't know what happened...j/k! LOL

 

 

Mom and Dad found a house about 1 mile from us and are very very anxious to get in!! As are we! just kidding!!!! But it will be kinda sad when they do move out cuz the kids won't know what to do without waking up and going to bed with Papa and Mamaw not here. These few months that they have been here have actually gone surprisingly well considering. lol I mean let's face it, a woman almost 60 years old is pretty set in her ways on how she lives and does say to day activities...so to move in with her 30 yo daughter with 2 young kids is a HUGE change!!! There could have been some blood shed, but luckily there wasn't! lol

 

So it seems, things might actually be starting to slow down a bit around here....all though I think that, my calendar says otherwise. Apple picking, pumpkin picking, birthdays to plan, bible studies to attend, ballet, possible cheerleading adding in there, field trips, school fundraisers...thanksgiving then AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I better stop while I am ahead.

 

Maybe my next post I will just do some updated pics! (and more news to come!! ;) )

 

Watch Out Kindergarten!

Well it is that time of year again! Actually it's that time of year for us, for the first time ever! SCHOOL!!! We had Lilly's orientation last night and it was wonderful! She got to take a good look around her new room, meet some new friends, see her name tag and cubby...she loved all of it. It was a bit overwhelming for me, mentally and emotionally, but still very exciting. So after it was all over, we went home to prepare her lunch and off to bed. She just kept re-peating, "I can't believe tomorrow is school mom!" She walked around all evening with a bounce in her step and the biggest smile I have ever seen on her face.  So we prepared our lunches and off to bed we went. I tucked her in, pulled her blanket up to her chin, kissed her goodnight and then we prayed. I prayed for her safety, her emotions, her mental state, her nerves, for a great day, new friends, new things, ...and right about the middle she broke down in tears. I had the biggest lump in my throat that I think I have ever had and holding back the tears so that she would not see them was one of the hardest things I have ever done. I didn't want her to see any sadness from me, I wanted her to always know that I was excited and happy for this new chapter in her life. So when we were done I comforted my little girl and told her how great she would be, how everyone would love her, how smart, funny and what a great smile she has for everyone to see. Things were all good after that. We went to bed in peace and that was all I could hope for at that moment.  I looked down at her and thought to myself, yeah I can do this I feel good right now, tomorrow won't be a problem for me!!!!

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Who was I fooling?!?!?!?!

6:30 comes awfully early to a 5 year old who probably hasn't gotten up at that hour since she was breastfed! She had no problems getting up though. All I had to do was rub her back and whisper, "it's time fro school Lilly. It is our first day of Kindergarten!" She rolled over, opened her eyes, and was all smiles! Not a twinkle of fear in her eyes, only excitement and anticipation. On the other hand, if she could read my eyes she would see, fear-for her safety, sadness-for her leaving me&daring to grow up, joy-for her excitement and, hope-for the beginning of many things, nervousness-that SOMETHING might go wrong, PRIDE-for the young lady she is becoming.

She practically ran me over to get out of bed, saying "Mom I can't believe I am going to school today! I am so excited!" lol Straight to the kitchen we headed  where she decided on chocolate chip pancakes and orange juice for her first school breakfast! This girl was all laughs, all morning. I was so glad to see she wasn't a bundle of nerves, like her mommy.

We had already packed our lunch the previous night so it was off to do hair and get dressed. Each step Lilly took that morning my heart skipped a beat. I couldn't believe this was happening, myself. Where had the past 5 1/2 years gone? Where was the baby I rocked to sleep int he middle of the night after feedings, where was the little girl who truly meant what "I like" meant as she was watching the weather channel saying "I liKKKe (hard K sound) purple. I liKKKe red. I liKKKe red......" where was the little girl who used to hang on every word that came out of her Papa's mouth as if it were pure gold, where was the little girl who would run into my arms for every tiny scratch....She was there, still standing in front of me, packing her book bag now for her first day of school. She is growing up too fast for me. I remember snuggling her as a baby, thinking to myself how long 5 years is, until i would have to worry about sending her to school. But now I look back and think geesh, it's already been 5 years!!

Dressed and ready to go we went outside to take pictures. she is such a smart, funny, beautiful little girl! I am so blessed to be her mom. I was so overwhelmed with pride as I stood there watching my precious girl pose getting ready to make this huge world she already knows even BIGGER! I could not be more proud of the person she is becoming- loving, kind, considerate, eager to learn about God, wanting to live for HIM, smart, witty, everything and more that a mother could want her child to be.

Not one tear was shed, on her part! She seemed a bit nervous once we got into the building, and asked if I was going to walk into her classroom with her. Of course I said! But her teacher was great, had a big smile on her face, crafts set out for them to start on...It was wonderful. Lilly sat down and started crafting. She seemed fine, in fact a little to fine fro my liking lol. It wasn't her at all who had the issue with leaving, it was me!!!!! I must have said to her like 5 times that I was getting ready to go, and she just  kept replying "ok." Lol I stayed there fro about 10 minutes, just watching her and thinking to myself, how am I going to leave her? I knew I had to go, I didn't want to make this hard for her and since she wasn't having a breakdown of any sorts this was as good as time as ever to leave. I kissed her little lips, told her how much I loved her and to have the best day ever and turned my back.

I wasn't even out the door before the tears just started coming and wouldn't stop. IT was the hardest thing I have ever had to do with her. I wasn't just sending her off to school. It is so much more than that. I am ultimately putting my pumpkin in the hands of strangers and trusting them 110% with her. Trusting they will protect her, lead her, teach her the ways of the Lord, guide her, help her, correct her when she is wrong, comfort her, laugh with her, ...everything that I now cannot do with her all day. That's scary!

Oh begin the the true times of worrying as a parent now! This face of an angel is all I think about from 8 am until 3 pm everyday! I already miss the annoying questions and constant bickering between her and Van. lol  Cheers to the next 13 years!



Gypsy, gypsy where to next?

Well, it's that time of year again...or years. Another Toerne is making a move. This time it's my big sis, Anna. She and her fiance Kyle are moving to Rhode Island where he will be attending IYRS. So on her way from Colorado, she ofcourse had to stop in the mid west for a family visit. We had a great time seeing her and visiting. You don't realize how much you miss someone until you see them again. The laughter, the joke, the smiles....skype just doesn't do it. The kids had such a good time with Auntie Anna. Van is changing daily with new words and new laughs, that it was fun to watch him interact with Auntie and Uncle Kyle. He really took to Uncle Kyle, which is incredible. Van is a tough cookie to crack when it comes to new people. They were eating freeze pops and "we said something like " Van, are you easting with you buddy?" He looked up at Kyle and said  "Buddy!" lol It was so cute, but what was even cuter was when Kyle got up to throw the wrapper out and Van jumped up and ran after him yelling "BUDDY!!" lmao!!! It was the absolute most precious thing ever. I was like omg did that really just happen? lol

Speaking of buddies, Lilly had herself a buddy as well in Uncle Kyle. She has been saving her money from the tooth fairies, chores etc to buy herself the new BRAVE dress, from the disney movie Brave. Finally she got to go purchase one and when we got home you couldn't get that dress off her if you tried. And before we knew it, Uncle Kyle had made her a bow and some arrows for her shooting practice. She spent the entire day outside shooting. I am not kidding. She was out there for HOURS!!!! She got pretty good at it too.

We were able to make a trip to Pokagon for the day to spend at the beach. We had a lot of fun. Van loved playing in the sand, as if I should be surprised. lol Look at those wet lashes!!!

So now, that Aunt Anna is off to the east coast, that's one move down and one more to go. Yes you heard me another move on our plate. My parents, Papa &Mamaw are moving to Fort Wayne!! My Dad has taken a job at Comcast working as a business account executive. He started in July and is currently living with us. He loves the job so far and I am soooooo happy for him. Mom is back in Maumee packing up the house...man, how I hate moving. I can't think about moving without cringing. So they will be moving in with us around Labor Day and staying until they are able to find a home themselves. It might get a little crowded around here, but we are just glad we can help them out. But you better be sure I will be "collecting" in babysitting hours!! j/k! lol

So we are busy around here, as usual. But I have a feeling it never ends, especially once school starts!

Next time I update, I will have a Kindergartner!!!



Good Times in Texas

I know, who woulda thunk it?? Me having a good time in texas?! j/k! lol We had a blast! But let me start off by my all time favorite quote of the trip. Of course it was from me, and we weren't even in
Texas yet lol, it was on the plane after we had JUST boarded....

(looking over to Anthony with an evil eye and the death look)

"I'm never doing this again!"

And remember, we had only just gotten on the plane to head down there! lol Our flight was at 8:30 at night and this was Vance's first time flying. So, we, well I, was very nervous about it all. Lilly had her bag, I had mine, and Antho had his....We all shuffled into our seats as quickly as possible, since for whatever reason the person behind us always seems to be in such a hurry to get back in their seat on a plane that isn't going anywhere for another 20 minutes!!! So we sat down as I frantically sanitized  as much of all the plane as I could see in front of us. By the time that was over, I was SWEATING!!! I thought it was just me, the nerves, the work, the getting situated etc...then our captain came over the intercom saying their was a problem with the air conditioning. OF COURSE!!! Lilly was all set, I was all set, Van was finally all set...and so it started. Van just wanted to climb back and forth between me and Anthony. He never sat still the whole trip, never went to sleep, was just wired! And all that had started while we were still at the gate...so you can see why I turned to Anthony and said that I wasn't doign this again! A 15 month old on a flight is not fun times. I will say though we obviously did something right between offering him snacks, his sippy cup and pacifier..he never cried or whined once about his ears. He was perfect the entire flight. So good in fact that as we waited for everyone to exit the plane almost everyone stopped to tell us how well behaved and wonderful our kids were during the flight. Nothing makes a parent more proud than receiving a compliment about their child(s).

Texas, we are here!!!!! So after a 2 hour flight, and 2 hour drive back from the airport we finally made it to Paw Paw and Melmaw's! It was around 2am by the time we finally got into bed, and Lilly was exhausted! She actually woke up a bit as we carried her in and started hysterically screaming that the floor was eating her and it would stop eating her! lol OMG, it was so cute and funny, we had to really almost scream at her to stop it. She was going nuts, obviously still sleeping and having this nightmare. I asked her about it the next morning if she remembered anything, but nope. lol

Lilly was over the moon to be there and went for the horses and mule first thing that morning! she absolutely loved them all! And believe it or not one of the first things Van went for was a mouthful of, what I can only hope was, dirt! But it was right by the horses, so I am sure there were other particles mixed in with it! Eeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

We all had such a fun time there. We were there for a week, and it seemed like it was only a couple days we were there. The kids did so many things down there, and made such awesome memories. We swam, went horse back riding, 4 wheeled, went to the zoo, went fishing, had a big bbq party, hot tubbed every night, and not to mention the hundreds of treats the kids got to eat anytime even breakfast!! It was an amazing time! Van warmed right up to Paw Paw. We think it is his cowboy hat that scares him, cuz every time he wears it Van won't go near him, but if he doesn't have his hat on he has no problem with Paw Paw. lol Everyone really enjoyed this trip. Time sure did fly by while we were down there. The kids got to see Grandma for a couple hours at the bbq too. It was the first time Grandma had met Van, so that was cool.

                                               Grandma, Daddy, Van, Lilly & Paw Paw

I got a four generation picture of Anthony, Paw Paw (his dad), his brothers, his Grandfather, (Caseys dad) and Van. I was so very happy to get this pic. It is probably the only time I will ever get a pic like this. Awesome to see and pass on to my kids as they get older.

We couldn't have asked for a better vacation! The bonds we made, the relationships we strengthened, and all the love we shared was indescribable. I feel so blessed to have such an amazing family of my own and an amazing extended family who love us and my children.

Oh by the way, I swear I was in Texas!!! You wouldn't know by any pictures because like always, moms are the ones BEHIND the camera taking all the memory maker photos..but here's one.

To sum it all up, it was a trip we will never forget. The kids were great on the flight home, and we were all excited to be home. Now it was time for detox especially where Van and cookies were concerned! lol

Melmaw, Van, Paw Paw & Lil



Catch Up

This summer is just flying by, much faster than most others int he past! We have been super uber busy it seems like since March. So let's just catch up here a bit..Boston boys came the end of May, so soon after that Anthony and I celebrated our 7th year anniversary. I can hardly believe it has already been 7 years married, but then again it feels like 70  sometimes. Seven year itch was not an issue for us, probably though cause we scratched that itch around 6 years. lol We have had a rough past year or so, but thankfully we made it through it all with God's help and are stronger than ever right now. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful man as my husband. We have certainly had our fair share of ups & downs, allot more than I thought ..but we are strong in each other, strong in our faith and feel so blessed to be living each day with one another & our beautiful children.

On  a little bit sadder note, we had to get rid of Rosie. She was such a good dog, learning her commands, loving, friendly...BUT she had a peeing problem. I know most puppies have it where they pee when they get over excited etc. But hers was really out of control. We tried everything to keep it contained or at least minimal, but it just wasn't happening. So we decided, as a family, that it would be best if she went to another family who could give her so much more attention than we were able to. We just have so much going on this summer, some in which I can't get into yet, but it was too much for all of us and as she was getting bigger so were the pee puddles! So instead of all that to deal with plus some major things happening in our life we decided that it wasn't the right time for us right now if she was going to have this problem. We all  wished she didn't have the peeing problem, because she would be with us now. Lilly did much better telling her goodbye than I had thought she would. She cried  a very tiny bit, literally as they were putting her in their car, but after that it was like, Rosie who? So I am glad she wasn't attached just yet...Lilly thought she wanted a puppy, but what she really wants is a golden retriever, house broken, about 3 year old, friendly,playful dog she can play with, lay on, or tell to go lay down when she is done...essentially my parents dog! lol I had a hard time at first letting go of her, but am now ok with it. It took a lot of stress off my plate. of course that stress is now replaced with other ones, but eh what are you gonna do?!

Lilly finished up her ballet for the year in June. She was going to perform a special dance on her last day, but wouldn't you know that that afternoon she started throwing up with some 24 hour bug and was unable to attend her last day. We were bummed but she informed me that "it was ok mom. She will just show me next year." I had asked her if that's what she wants to do, go to ballet school again next year. Of course she was delighted to, but not because it was fun or she likes practicing ballet...she wants to go JUST IN CASE they do another big recital on stage! Leave it to her to want to do something as long as it means she is on a stage and center of attention! lol

I have been going to physical therapy twice a week now since the end of May for my knee. Just as I was about to have a one month check up, I did something to it in my sleep where it set me back a few weeks...it was very painful. I am  coming up on my last visit and then I am on my own! It isn't 100% healed but we will get there. I still have trouble with it and cannot turn it that well yet but like my doc said it is going to take a lot of hard work and I will probably have to do these exercises for a very long time, if not forever. I was able to actually feel my knee cap move the other day and it was gross. I had to move it and sort of bounce it, to give it a nice stretch in the right direction. Well i was able to feel it move within  its normal placement and i could feel the bone in which my knee is constantly trying to "get over" by moving out of its groove. It was really gross to feel that. lol So soon I will be released from PT and on my own to getting it back to what I hope will be 100%. It has not been easy getting this far, and because I have such little knowledge about how the knee actually works etc. i find myself asking him the same questions each visit just because there is SO MUCH to take in with all this.

Anthony is playing softball with some men from our church this summer in a league, so that has been a lot of fun to go and watch his games. The kids really enjoy it. I don't get to see as much of the game as I would like, cuz Van just wants to walk everywhere, but we have a really good time when we go. There is a splash park nearby so many times we just go down there, since it has been in the high ninety's for like 3 weeks now!! By the time he gets done playing he is soaked in sweat and we are soaked from the splash park. lol

It was especially hot out a couple weeks ago when we had that HUGE storm blow through Fort Wayne and knock out over 140,000 people's power. I had just left to head into Toledo for the weekend to swim at my parents, when the storm came through that afternoon. Thank God we were not there! There was so much damage in the city, it was unreal. Whole trees uprooted everywhere, huge limbs and tress in every ones yards, cars smashed, roofs caved in, people's privacy fences torn down, just awful!! We lost power for 6 days and the temperatures were over 100. We ended up just staying in Toledo until our power was turned back on, obviously. But it was just awful. Even today, everyone debris is still out at their curbs waiting for the city to pick it all up. We are just glad that nothing major happened to our home and we are all safe. Lilly and I were able to watch the fireworks in Maumee, and then go home and her and Antho saw them in Fort Wayne. She loved seeing two days of them!

And now after ballet, Rosie, the storm, my knee....we are getting ready to leave for Texas tomorrow!! It will be our first plane ride as a family of four and Van's 1st plane ride ever! I don't know what to expect so hopefully there will be no major issues. Lilly was 6 months old and then 3 years old, so she was easy. Van is 15months and kind of at an in between stage as far as what to keep him occupied. lol It is a late flight so I am praying he sleeps!!!! I am also praying everyday that he does NOT CATCH ANYTHING ON THE PLANE! That is really my number 1 prayer right now, no sicknesses!!! You should see my house, I have lists of lists of lists on what I need to do and or pack for this vacation. lol I am using the vacuum sealed bags to pack for the first time so we will see how this goes too! I figure save a little space for whatever we might bring home especially since the airlines make you pay to bring your own clothes if you want to travel anywhere these days. RIDICULOUS!!!!!! We are really looking forward to our trip though. It should be a lot of fun with the kids. Good thing is, I don't have to bring a car seat. pacnplay, or stroller for Van. Melmaw(grandmother) was able to borrow all of those from friends for us to use while we are down there. That is unbelievable!!!! That is such a huge burden off my shoulders that I don't have to bring any of that stuff. Thanks Melmaw!

So that's MOSTLY what's going on around here. Lilly starts school in just 4 weeks! Where in the world has this Summer gone, not to mention the past 5 years with her?! She is getting pretty excited. We got her new backpack and lunchbox the other day, Rapunzel backpack &barbie lunchbox. lol I am not sure if she really grasps that she will be there everyday, all day long without me..the other day out of nowhere she came up to me and asked something about school and in answering her I as saying how she will be there in class all day. Her response, "Mom you are going to take me there and there me alone? You are just going to leave me there? You won't be with me?" I explained a little more how it's ok, I trust her teachers, she will be in a classroom etc. She was fine with that, but i think it just surprises her when she thinks about it. Now what I really wanted to do and say was, "I know can you believe it?! I feel the same way about leaving you there alone!!!! You are my baby girl, we are NEVER apart, unless u are with Papa!!" lol

So for now, Texas here we come!!!!

Nana

Losing a loved one is never easy, and I am sure especially a parent... It reminds a lot of us just how much we love our friends and family and how short life is...There is just so much that everyone wants to accomplish in life. And many of times we just let opportunities move on right by us. My Dad is always in my prayers, but especially during this time of losing his Mom. I can't imagine losing my Mom, nor do I ever want to. I love you Dad. Nana is in a much better place now, pain free, with our Lord and Savior.

Memorial for Aileen Toerne Born in Ft. Wayne, IN on Feb. 26, 1927 Departed on Jun. 1, 2012 and resided in Maumee, OH. Visitation: Thursday, Jun. 7, 2012 Service: Friday, Jun. 8, 2012 Cemetery: St. Joseph Cemetery   Aileen Toerne died at the age of 85 on Friday, June 1, 2012, surrounded by loving family. She was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, she was youngest child of Kenneth and Genevieve Betts. She had eleven children, the oldest was a girl, then a boy, then a girl, then a boy, then a girl, then a boy, then a girl, then a boy, then a girl, then twin boys. She called it quits when they started coming in pairs. She was an extraordinary mother. It was her claim to fame, and she loved it! Shortly after their wedding, Richard and Aileen moved from Fort Wayne to Ohio and the family called Maumee home for over fifty years. She was a proud stay at home mom who created many lasting memories for her children. She was a great cook, and holiday dinners were her specialty. She and Richard loved the Holidays and the Toerne home in Maumee was the site of huge family gatherings on Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, Memorial Day, July 4th, birthdays, graduations, you name it! She embraced her role as mother, (and mother in law), grandmother, and great grandmother, and the parties just kept getting bigger and bigger. There was always room for another plate at Aileen's table, and you better save room for dessert! She lived her life to serve others and family always came first with Aileen. She and Richard had a love for travel and new experiences that started when they visited Cuba in the fifties. It continued with many cross country drives in later years as they visited their children and grandchildren across the country. A talented seamstress and a member of the Maumee Sewing Club, Aileen enjoyed sitting at her sewing machine and was known for lovely prom, bridesmaid and wedding dresses. (As well as lots of fashionable doll clothes!) She was also a proud member and officer of the Maumee Mother's Club. She was an active member of St Joseph's Catholic Church during her years in Maumee, and had served as president of their Altar and Rosary society. Aileen also served the church as a Lector and Eucharistic Minister. Aileen loved to dance with her husband Richard and she spent many a Saturday dancing the night away with friends from the Cadence Club which she and Richard helped to establish. She is survived by her children, Lynne Toerne of Santa Cruz CA, Rick (Snow) of Scottsdale AZ, Suzen Toerne, Steve (Cindy), Beth Basilius (Dwight) of Santa Cruz CA, Kevin (Sara), Lisa Basting (Chris), David (Lynne), Judy Fitzgibbons (James) of Trumbull CT, Thomas (Kelly), and Tim (Laurie). She is also survived by thirty one grandchildren, and twenty one great grandchildren! She was preceded in death by her loving husband Richard; her parents, and her brother Neal Betts; and sister Marion Thome. Family and friends may call at the Maison-Dardenne-Walker Funeral Home, 501 Conant St. Maumee, on Thursday June 7, 2012 from 3-8 pm with a scripture service at 7:00 pm. Funeral services will begin in the funeral home on Friday at 9:00 am followed by the Funeral Mass at 9:30 am at St. Joseph's Catholic Church, Maumee. The family would like to thank all the caregivers at Perrysburg Care and Rehab Center for their years of kindness and gentle compassion and suggests that in lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Aileen's memory to the Alzheimer's Association of Northwest Ohio, St. Joseph's Catholic Church Campus Improvement Campaign or any charity of the donor's choice.

Boston Boys!

I cannot believe that my niece is almost 15!! I remember the day she was born, being so excited to become an Auntie for the first time! And now here we are almost 15 years later and she just graduated 8th grade to embark on high school! Gosh, talk about time seriously flying!!!! It was fun to watch her up on stage with her friends as she reached this milestone in her life.

My brother Kevin (her Dad) and my nephews Sam & Ben came in from Boston to celebrate this day with her too. It was a short visit for them but still good to see them and watch Lilly and her cousins play together. We don't get to see them often, maybe once a year, so watching them all play and interact with one another was really funny. Lilly adapted pretty well to going along with the boys when they were chasing each other, shooting and making all those "fun" machine gun sounds. But, after a while of that Lilly kinda  gave up and was trying to get them to play more of her style. You gotta give credit where it's due, she was like, "Boys lets play Princesses AND prince. You can be the prince!" Good thing she emphasized on that because it used to be her trying to make them be princesses. lol So we only got to see them for a day, but i was nice. They got to meet Rosie, see our new home and see how much Van has grown. Last time they saw him was at Christmas, and that was for the 1st time ever. Sam loves babies. He had a really good time entertaining Van, which of course I had no complaints about! Van was dying to chase those boys all over the place. We went to a picnic for Lilly's school where they all had a blast. It was the longest 3 hours of my life, mainly due to the fact that Van was confined to his wagon in which I walked him around this loop of the park pretty much forever! Oh did I mention it was 100 degrees out! We had to stay there so my brother could then catch his ride a cabin where him and his kids were headed next.

                                Dad & Mom with all grand kids! Emma, Sam, Lilly, Ben & Van

Van isn't walking yet, well I guess I should say he isn't fully walking yet. We can get him to walk back and forth from Antho to me- with nothing else but a food bribe for my porker. Yesterday he walked almost the entire length of our kitchen, so about 8 feet he walked I am guessing. We were so excited! You can tell he is sick of crawling though. He wants us to walk him EVERYWHERE. He will hold onto our fingers and just want to go every which way for what seems like endless hours. My mom told me that when we were his age she and my dad would make us hold onto like a drumstick instead of our hands. That way we couldn't feel the warmth of her hands and we would learn to really balance then before we knew it she had let go of the drumstick and we were walking on our own but just not realizing it cuz we still had the stick in our hands. I though that was pretty smart, so we are trying that out on him. He isn't to keen on it just yet, but soon enough I hope. I wouldn't say I am anxious for him to walk, just ready. Lilly was walking at 10 months so I am not used to carrying around a 14 month old. It makes things a bit more of a hassle, especially when we are outside. I will put him down and he does his best to get around, but since he hates the grass and hates for his knees to touch any cement it's pretty funny watch him maneuver everywhere. But there are times when he wants to just get up and walk over to a toy outside or whatever and just whines because he "can't." So although they get into everything under the sun when the start to walk, I am okay with that. I would rather deal with that than having to lug him in my arms. Good for my arms, that's what I keep telling myself :)

Always something here...

Wow, it has been super, super busy these few weeks. IT seems like we are always doing something, everyday. I  can't imagine how my mom felt with 4 of us having different schedules all the time! I have a hard enough time with just Lilly's schedule. ha


She just finished up her second year of ballet and has already told me that she wants to do it again next year. She has been working very hard in class every week for her final 'performace' for us and wouldn't you know that when that day came, last Tuesday, she had suddenly gotten sick about mid afternoon. I was at my doc appointment and my mom was watching her when I had texted my mom I was going to stop and pick up some flowers for her for that night. To which my mom replied, no need Lil is puking! I immediately thought, you have GOT to be kidding me!!!!! So she missed her last ballet class where they were going to be wearing some fairy wings and were able to wear a fancy skirt to perform in. I think I was more bummed than her. She only has class once a weak and there are only like 2 parents nights a year where we get to sit in and see what she is doing in class. She doesn't really practice at home, cuz after all she is still pretty young for that type of routine...so I was really looking forward to seeing her 'dance.' Oh well, there's next year!

We had a wonderful Mother's Day. We spent it in Maumee with my mom and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it! We brought Rosie in to play with Jazz, my parents 3 yo golden, as if we could leave her home. lol Right before Mother's Day though I had injured my knee when I was playing with the kids. It wasn't some big traumatic experience or anything like that, in fact wen it happened I was just kind of like, oh my knee, then got up and was fine. It wasn't until the day after that I started to have some discomfort with it. I babied it for about a week or so then decided to go See my doctor cause it was still bothering me and I was in a fair amount of pain. So I went in and he tells me that I have patella femoral groove disorder. I know, I thought the same thing when I heard that!! HUH???? My first thing of course was, do I need surgery? He said that at this point I don't need it if I am willing to put in some hard work. So naturally I am willing to do whatever it takes to avoid surgery. To top it all off, when he was explaining it to me, it basically came down to this....every knee cap fits smoothly in a groove, but due to my ehem lack of toned muscle in my quad, my knee cap is essentially going outside of the groove and rubbing in place where it shouldn't being rubbing, thus the pain. So it was sooo incredibly great to hear that because my quad muscles suck, i have incurred this injury. lol So now I am in physical therapy 3x week for at least the next 5 weeks. Talk about taking a blow when I was already feeling pretty low these days. So I am working hard at getting my knee back to normal with NO SURGERY! I can't kneel on it and it is hard for me to get up from being on the ground because I don't want to put all my weight on it. My PT said that even though he is not "treating" me right knee it wouldn't be a bad idea to do all the exercises that I am doing for my left, for my right also. I guess this was the wake up call for me to really change some things in my life, such as my weight finally getting to where I need to be not just for myself and my own health but for my kids too.

I have been doing pretty good with all that I am trying to work on but every once in a while something like this comes along that just seems to yank you right back down. Seems like that is happening more often than not. So up we go, time to start over again!

I am soo not ready for her to grow up!

Lilly had a dentist appointment a few weeks ago and in the midst of it the dentist told me that her front two bottom teeth were loose! So we were pretty excited for that. I felt them when we got out of there and yeah they weren't like wriggly loose, just a tad, but still cool. Well we have just had so very much going on these few weeks that I have pretty much been leaving it up to Lil to brush her own teeth at bed and then I or Anthony do a double check. I hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary except maybe her teeth getting a smidge more loose. On Mother's Day, we were in Maumee visiting my Mom and I forget who pointed it out first but Lilly has one of her bottom "adult" teeth already in! I mean it's not totally in, but it has broken through the surface and looks like this super white line behind her baby teeth. When I say super white we are talking "Ross from Friends episode white." I was so shocked to see that, cuz I guess I was just expecting baby teeth to fall OUT before new teeth came IN! It looks so funny to see that in there when she hasn't lost any teeth yet. I was taken back a little bit when she showed me simply due to the fact that I'm just not ready to keep on giving parts of her childhood up! Every time I turn around lately she is growing up faster and faster, no more days with me to do anything we want-off to school soon, baby teeth are beginning to loosen up and fall, adult teeth already IN, not needing help to brush teeth, Learning how to write on her own, getting her own cereal ....seems like wherever I used to help her in areas, she is slowly gaining her independence in them. Which is great FOR HER! Not so great for Mom! Starting to get inched out of parts of her life and she's only 5!!! Although I do look forward to inching my way back into other parts of her life as she grows! lol Only now do I truly realize why  my mom was always saying "don't grow up too fast" or "don't wish to grow up too fast." Being a mom to Lilly is the best gift in life! I have experienced feelings and emotions that I never even knew existed until I had her! I wish I could just bottle her up and keep her this innocent and young forever!

Princess Briar Rose

I had no idea how hard it was going to be training a puppy! I mean I knew it would be hard but nothing really compares to it until you are actually in the moment of training. We went and picked her out at the farm where we had "won" her in Lilly's school auction a couple weeks ago, and when we got there we had our pick of 4 females. Lilly of course couldn't really tell the difference between any of them, and really nor could I, so I brought my mom along to help me out. Who better to bring than the dog whisperer herself! So after deciding on her, we left with no puppy. I wasn't quite set up at home yet and needed a bit more time.

We must have gone through over 50 names for her. The puppy's mom name is "Princess" and my mom's golden she has is  "Princess Jasmine," Jazz for short. So we thought it was very appropriate to go with Princess Briar Rose, aka Rosie. The name fits her well, she just looks like a Rosie. So Lilly and I went to pick her up April 30th. It was a lot of fun to see her pure joy and excitement when we went to get her. We had a really nice talk on the way over there,again, explaining to her the responsibilities of a dog, helping each other out with her etc. So when we got there and picked Rosie up, of course it was raining..I buckled Lilly in and spread the towel across her. Then we got Rosie situated on Lilly's lap and were off! Let me just tell you that was the longest 15 minute car ride home I have ever had in my life! I just kept saying "hold on to her Lilly. This is a very important job. It's kinda like your first test..." Then I hear from the back seat, "Rosie this is a family. You are part of a family now. And I don't want to lose you(by this point she was crying, almost sobbing while talking to Rosie) So please sit still Rosie cuz this is my first test. I love you Rosie." It was the most adorable thing I have ever heard. She started out just talking then turned into crying. lol I was laughing silently pretty hard up front to myself. And when we were about 3 min from home Lilly pipes up and says with tears in her eyes, "Mom I can't take this any longer. I am gonna fail my first test. How much longer?" My poor baby...so we counted down the minutes and successfully made it home! She looks panicked, but oh so innocent while holding her on her lap.

Fast forward one week since we have had Rosie, well one week and 3 days....OMG What a week! I am soo mentally and emotionally exhausted that it feels like it has been years since we got her. We got her on the 30th of April and May 3 Van got sick. It started with a fever, then turned to diarrhea, follwed by vomitting for 3 days-no love says a mothers love like sitting in a bathtub with your sick baby to bring fevers down when they decide to puke-, and now excruciating gas and stomach cramps. He is still sick today and I am just worn out. Doctor said it's just a bug going around,  so nothing I can really do for him. I pray each night for him to wake up and be well, but so far it hasn't happened. Thank the Lord my mom has been here because I have no idea how I would be training a puppy in its first week with an extremely sick baby at the same time! All Van wants to do is lie around, but not in bed or on the floor, in my arms. You can see how it would be difficult to even go to the bathroom myself let alone take care of a 7 week old puppy. Needless to say it has been a whirl of emotions this week and if he doesn't start feeling better soon........The poor guy has been through so much his first year. He was able to spend 2 full days with her before he got sick though. We had to make a small pen for Rosie to play in, which consisted of baby gates and furniture, so Vance had to get used to some ehem, new boundaries.



                  
Rosie has been pretty good so far. She has had a couple accidents but they were our fault, not hers. She has slept through the night since the first night we brought her home and still continues on that path so keep your fingers crossed. Lilly is doing a good job with her. I have to keep reminding myself that she is only 5. lol Puppy training, traing a 5 yo how to train a puppy, sick baby all make for a week of terror. lol My mom and I were able to put up some green galvanized chicken fencing because Rosie, only a week older, is starting to really want to explore our whole yard and just run all over. She is a pretty good little girl. Lilly has already taught Rosie her first trick. Lilly has a little tikes orange and blue slide in our backyard, the one with jsut two steps. She has taught Rosie to clumb up the steps and actually slide down the slide! It is so funny to see. We have even caught Rosie going up and down the slide on her own, with no reward. lol The key to it all is wearing her out! I never realized how much more I owuld be up and down, moving all over, in and out, with a puppy. I can honestly say now that a puppy is much worse than a baby!! There has been blood, sweat and tears with this one..blood from putting up fence, sweat from 'running' around the block with her, and tears of frustration.  I am praying she turns out to be a wonderful dog for us.

Tonight will be the true test because my mom is going home for what I think may be just a rest, a very well deserved rest..let's pray she will come back! Although if I were her, heaven knows I wouldn't want to come back to this stressful, crazy, out of control home! I am totally over the "puppy" stage and ready for her to be housebroken and grown! lol That must be why God gave us kids to look after and NOT puppies! I never want my kids to grow up, but Rosie, it couldn't come fast enough.

My mom has been such a blessing to me and to our family. I have no idea how I would get through half the things I have gotten through without her. She celebrates 38 years married with my Dad today! Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!

Time to go, I hear my 3rd child crying for me!

Vance 13 mo update

A break in the clouds, finally!!!! Van's GERD was a huge issue this past year. HUGE! But once he was put on his zantac he started putting some weight back on and from 9 mo to 13 mo, he has shot up!  He had a wonderful check up at the doctors a couple weeks ago. His doctor was so happy to see him growing at a great rate. He now weighs 21.3 lbs and is 31 1/4 in. Needless to say, mommy was very very excited to hear and see his results!

He has been taking a couple steps here and there the last few weeks so I am sure walking is just around the corner. Of course I am in no hurry right now, with the puppy and all, but excited to have him up and walking. Carrying over 20 lbs on your hip or in your arms every day all day can be quite exhausting. But I DO have the massive mommy arm that comes as a result of a non walker. ha! Van has really started to learn and do so many more things it feels like since he turned one. He is really developing quite the little personality. Stubborn as one can possibly be, just like his sister and his dad, oh wait and his mom...so no getting away from that I guess. He is really starting to lose that "baby look" and beginning to look like a toddler now. Bittersweet. Always.

And I swear once I started saying out loud that he is looking more like a toddler, the fits were instantaneously!! I forgot all about the temper tantrums and fits being thrown for really no reason at all. lol On top of those, he really knows how to manipulate you. He has begun this whining thing where he will just sit in his highchair, say after a meal, and just whine like he is hungry, but won't eat or wants something, but all you offer he shakes no to. So finally I just realized that i had never just told him "stop" or "no." And that's all it took. I will tell him to stop and he just looks up at me, stares, then quits.  That little........

We have been outside quite a bit lately and it is really funny to see him react to the grass and the patio. He absolutely does not like the grass one bit. So trying to even put him down in it is not going to happen. HE ends up looking like a monkey clinging to you with his legs still holding on for dear life around your waist. And you might as well forget about getting him to crawl to you on any type of cement. I guess he doesn't like his perfect skin getting all scratched up. Because now he puts his butt waaaayyy up in the air and still crawls on all fours. lol It is soo funny to see. Between no crawling in grass or not to much on cement this is really all he will do, walk behind his walker! Which we have then dubbed him our little old man!

Our newest addition

So it has been a pretty busy and hectic couple months. I look around at all my friends who post and see they are posting anywhere from 3 times a week, to once a week...and I think how on earth is that possible? lol I either A, don't live a very exciting life to post about or B, I am too buys to post! ha

We had a VERY VERY busy March...Van was sick fro about 24-25 days out of the month between 2 ear infections, roseola, chicken pox, fever viruses I had all I could take of that month! We celebrated his and my birthday, both monumental ones, a visit and first meeting for him, from his Paw Paw and MelMaw who live in Texas (Antho's Dad and his wife), ballet classes, play groups.....I am very ready for a much less busy time. But I don't see that coming soon, and I think i can pretty much count on being busy for the next 18 years!

Lilly is all enrolled for Kindergarten this fall and very excited. She will be attending Central Christian, where her cousin Emma has gone for the past 8 years. It is taking me some time to get used to even the idea of her going to school. So please, Moms out there who have school children I am open to ALL kinds of advice!! I frequently have little mini anxiety attacks, silly I know, about her being away from me for an entire day where I have absolutely no control over what she says, what she does, how she behaves, how she treats others, her attitude. I guess this is where I have to start trusting our job as her parents and how we have raised her. Which i totally do, just nerve racking. lol I can't believe my first born is headed off to school in a few months. I remember holding and rocking her one night the first week she was home. I t was a late night feeding, of course, and I was just finishing up rocking her back to sleep when it was as if she was staring straight into my eyes knowing what I was thinking. I looked at her and said to her, 'One day you are going to be headed off to school and you will be the smartest little girl there.' And here we are, headed to school this fall and I can still say the same, she will be the smartest little girl in the class!


Ok I am getting off track...We have added a new member to our family!

Lilly's school had a silent/live auction last week for a fundraiser and we knew a puppy would be there. I had started kind of dinging my wonderful husband that we maybe could possibly bid on the 6 week old pure bred golden retriever. He reluctantly agreed. Or was it all just a macho show? hhmmmmmm j/k! I have never been to an auction before so I was pretty excited to see how it was gonna go. And there we found ourselves right in the middle of Storage Wars! Yuuuuup! Before we knew it we had won the puppy! I couldn't believe it and by the look on Anthony's face, neither could he! I went to get Lilly from childcare and she had asked if we won the puppy or not. I, being a mom who does what it is we do best, redirected her attention to something else. lol We got over to where the puppy was stayign in her kennel and I told her to start thinking of names cuz we won. She broke down in tears, covering her face with her hands just saying over and over again "I can't believe it, did we really win? Oh my goodness" It was the cutest thing I have ever seen. Priceless!

We had to leave that night without the puppy cuz she wasn't quite 6 weeks yet. In fact we just went tonight to  pick it out from the litter of 8, 4 boys and 4 girls. We chose a girl, who took to Lilly pretty fast. I had my mom go with me to help me look at them. She has been doing this her whole life and has a pretty keen eye for dogs, so I thought I better take her along before I pick the barky one or something. lol Lil was simply in love with her pick. She put on the fusia rhinestone collar and that was the beginning of a beautiful friendship between those two! :) We haven't named her yet but we have soem ideas we are throwing around.

I have now officially joined the millions of other americans that are known as "Pet Owners." It looks like this is going to be a very busy summer for us!





It's Been a Long Time Coming

I have been wanting to do this for ohh I dunno, 5 years now! So here I finally am, sitting down to start what I think will be entertaining, informative, and probably a great outlet for me! lol I don't know much about "blogging" so I will just have fun with this and hope it brings some laughs and smiles to those who read.


Where do I even begin?? Lilly is now 5 years old (10/31/06) and will be entering Kindergarten this fall. I cannot believe it is THAT time already!

 I look around at friends and family that are pregnant/having babies and think, I remember when Lilly was that little and remember thinking back then that I never want the day to come where she goes to school. lol I soaked up every single minute of her infant/toddler years that I could. And now here I am asking myself, where did that time go and did I use it wisely? She is such a smart, loving, funny girl. I can honestly say that when I look back on the past 5 years the Lord has given me with her, we most definitely put it to good use. All the park trips, the zoo trips, camping, gardening, cookouts, Mamaw & Papa 'vacations', library visits, bike rides, Penguin Palace summers, swim lessons, crafts, homemade presents, drawings, sewing lessons, baking, apple picking, MOVING trips, endless hours spent reading, dancing and singing are all memories that I wish with all my heart she would grow up and never forget. It's funny to think that I have all these spectacular memories of her and doing things with her and she probably won't remember but maybe one or two memories of these years. I never really thought of that until I became a mother. There's lots of things you never really realize or think about, obviously, until you become a mom. Bizarre how I have said many, many sayings that my very own mom has said to me that just sort of comes out of my mouth naturally. Then I think, "oh my gosh, I AM my mother!" Such as...


1. Because I said so!
2. I brought you into this world and I can take you out!...have only used this once, although I foresee myself using it more in her teens lol
3. Moms know EVERYTHING.
4. I have eyes in the back of my head.
5. Wait until your father gets home.
6. I'll pull this car over RIGHT now!
7.  Go to your room and think about what you did...to which I have barely had enough time to turn around and start laughing uncontrollably
8. Don't wish to grow up to fast, it will be here before you know it .
9. If you continue to make that face, it is going to stay like that forever.
10. I don't talk just to hear myself talk!
and I think I have even said, " you are gonna do this and you're gonna like it!" lol or something along those lines.

She truly is the sunshine in my life. There have been many times where she surprises me with just how smart really is. For instance, a couple months ago we were driving somewhere and she says from the backseat, " Mom, you know, if you just choose to do the easy things in life. Or choose the easy path rather than the hard one. If you make easy choices then your life will be easy. But if you make hard choices and choose to do things the hard way, well Mom, your life will be hard. So just choose to do easy things that way your life will be easy!" I could not believe what I was hearing, it was just so funny. I know some adults who can't even comprehend that type of reasoning and thinking. My list goes on and on for the things that come out of her mouth. She even tries to pull off some of her "lines" to her brother these days!

Vance, Van as we call him, just celebrated his first birthday! (3/27/11) We have had a pretty rough year with him, health wise. He was 8 days late, so I was induced. Labor only lasted about 5 1/2 hours and it went by pretty quick. They broke my water and saw he had already had his first bm. Little did I know, THAT was only the beginning of my worries for him through this year. I delivered him all natural, no meds, and he had some trouble breathing. They took him to NICU asap, and was released that night to me. He was perfect!

He was always vomiting after that, from day one. I thought he was just a "spitter upper." Lilly never spit up once so that's all I knew. It wasn't until his 4 month check up that I really started voicing my concerns with it. I just got poo pooed by my doc. And come to find out that at his 6 month check up he was diagnosed with GERD and put on zantac to be followed with weekly weight checks, experiments with feeding only thru bottle vs my breast...to which I never did cuz I was smack in the middle of moving and was not about to introduce a bottle to him, try to move, solely pump and record it all during the very days we were moving....It wasn't until after he started eating solids, around 7 mo, that the vomiting started to decrease. So between the vomiting ALL THE TIME, which ultimately lead to harder EVERYTHING else, like not teaching him to cry himself to sleep until he was much older for fear of him laying in there crying cuz he was in puke etc. the constant checking in on when he cried in the night for same fears.....his raw bum with often time open sores on it, bleeding (to which doctors kept telling me was just diaper rash, only upon a mother's instinct and experiment did I figure out it was his zantac that was having this effect on his bum), constant 'fever viruses' through the winter, roseola, unexplainable rashes, and what we actually think might be going on now chicken pox! And that's just the first year! Over all he is a pretty happy boy who loves his sister to death! He is just now getting on a routine or schedule for the days and I can only say, it's about time!!!! He is cruising around everywhere these days and getting pretty brave at testing out on whether he wants to walk or not. lol

It's really funny to see the differences between boys and girls. Lilly plays in heels, paints her nails, plays with princesses while Van has learned how to make car sounds already, sword fight-even turning his fork upside down and playing 'swords', and eats like a dump truck! All this in his first year! Those two have a special bond like no other and I can only hope that they get closer and closer as they grow up.

Being the mom of these two beautiful children has changed me forever. I am one proud mama!