A Loss

Today, we are hurting over the loss of someone that was really special. He considered my siblings and I his grandkids, even though we were technically step-grandchildren. I am so thankful he was healthy enough to make the trip to Indiana from Florida this past Christmas.

I'm so glad he finally got to meet his great-grandchildren while he was home at Christmas. We are so heartbroken and saddened that cancer has taken yet another great person. Grand Dad down south, we will miss you always.

Artie and I with Grand Dad at our wedding. I wanted to share a picture of him how I will remember him looking before he was sick.

Table Food

This girl LOVES chocolate! She self-proclaimed herself last week as a "chocolate-holic"!!

I absolutely love watching these two play together:)

This little guy has mad crawling skills these days, paired with his new ability to pull himself up on anything, I'm constantly chasing him!!

We got Avery a Tinkerbell toy box on clearance last week and the kids had a blast helping daddy put it together...here's Avery contribution:)

...and here's Spencer's-he's more into supervising right now:)!

Did I say how much I love watching my kids play together??!! Spencer has discovered he can crawl all over the house and the place he heads to most is his big sister's room. As Spencer is heading to Avery's room, Avery runs after him telling him to wait for her, then they go and play very peacefully, so far, in her room:)!

TABLE FOOD...This past Saturday, while out for Artie's birthday lunch, Spencer turned down his baby food. He had been starting to want less baby food the last few weeks, but Saturday he really wanted nothing to do with it. Instead he eyed his sister's chicken strips. Well, we decided to try to see if he would eat some if we tore it in small pieces and took the breading off...he not only loved it, he ate a whole one by himself! I can't believe how fast it happened but all of a sudden, Spencer wants table food and is doing pretty well with it. However, I did have a scary moment with him this morning. It involved a clump of cheerios and me giving Spencer the heimlich. I think it will take awhile for me to give Spencer any cheerios when I'm with him by myself, every mother's nightmare. After the both of us being pretty scared for about an hour, Spencer bounced back...mommy, on the other hand, is still trying to recover!

Eating some avocado chunks...he wasn't too thrilled with these.

Making himself very comfortable while enjoying some formula:)

Eating chicken and green beans for dinner the other night! He is going to take after Avery and love chicken!

Check this out! Tonight, we gave Spencer his sippy and he just started drinking the diluted juice like he had been doing it forever (this was his first time actually drinking anything from one!). Artie and I could not believe it! Spencer has just turned a switch in the last few days and has really found table food and his sippy to be more interesting than ever!

In Avery news, she continues to be a great big sister and is loving that her little brother can actually interact with her more. Avery is also counting and singing her ABC's (I'll really have to try and get some video of it)! She also likes to talk on the phone. She loves talking to Uncle Jake about him taking her to the PX-she went to the PX once in Oklahoma and now talks about it constantly!-and playing Rock Band with her:) I know I can't slow down how fast my babies are growing, so I'm just trying to take everything in and enjoy every second with them!

Happy 3-1!

Happy 31st to my husband today! This is the 14th birthday I've gotten to celebrate with him, yes, if you do the math that means we've been together since he was 17:)

This is from his 30th, but this year it was the same restaurant and a sombrero (though today it was a blue hat)...

So, happy birthday to the father of our little princess

And our little miracle man (look at all that dark hair Spencer was born with!!)...

This birthday was much different than the first one I celebrated with you when you were just 18. I can't wait to spend many more birthdays and life changes with you. Here's to another year older to my best friend. I love you:)

Can you stay my little man?

Spencer turned 9 months a week and a half ago; I can't believe we are getting to the point of thinking about his 1st birthday! It seems like he is growing by leaps and bounds every single day. I keep having talks with him that mommy wants him to stay her little man as long as possible since he's my last baby, but he has other plans:) He had his 9 mo. check up last week. Things went okay. It seemed like more of the appointment was discussing the negatives rather than positives, but I guess that's what you go to the doctor for! Spencer is now weighing in at just over 19 1/2 lbs and is 27 1/2 inches long. His head circ went from the 50th percentile to the 90th since his 6 mo. check up. She was slightly concerned about the jump, but hopefully it will stable by his next appointment. I think he's just going to have a big head:)

We also had to have a chat about his heart valve that still hasn't closed, but it went from 2-3 mm to 1-2 mm (at his last echo in Nov.) so we're hoping that it's on its way to closing on its own (it was also his 3rd appointment that she hadn't heard his murmur, so that's an excellent sign!)-we have the option of having a cardiologist monitor it until-or if- it closes, but I think we're just going to wait until he's maybe 18 months old and have a repeat echo. The last concern was he had an infection on his belly right on his incision scar. It is most likely from a stitch from his surgery that didn't dissolve and is trying to come through. He's been on an antibiotic for the last week and it's seemed to clear up a bit. His doctor said if it comes back or doesn't completely clear we have to go back to the surgeon-fingers crossed we don't have to!!

The funny thing about this check up was all the stuff he wasn't doing before that he started doing literally the second we got home! He must have heard the doctor and I talking about him not doing things like pulling himself up to stand (at that point he was only to his knees) or saying things like mamama or dadada and decided he could do those things! The second we got home from the appointment, I put him down on the floor and he pulled himself up to a standing position for the first time! Then the next day he started saying dadada, followed by mamama a few days later! I didn't think he'd try to walk as soon as Avery (10 mo.), but now I'm starting to wonder if he won't be close behind. He has even started scooting his feet when he's pulled himself up. Slow down Spencer!!

One thing about Spencer that's very different from Avery is eating. Avery was exclusively on a sippy by 9 months and completely on table food at 10 months. Spencer is not even close. He won't even hold his own bottle yet-forget about a sippy! Food wise, he's plenty happy with his oatmeal, baby food (no chunks) and formula. However, I have been trying to replace his beloved puffs with soft veggies and fruits every now and then so he gets some texture. He may take a few bites for now, so it's progress! Here he had baked potato and kraft singles for the first time:)

His absolute favorite thing right now, and he is so proud of himself! He's trying so hard to keep up with his big sister that he's wearing himself out fast during the day, still taking a morning and afternoon nap!

He even tries to pull himself up on the dog!

Bath time! I've been sad that Spencer's getting so big he can actually hold his own in the tub with Avery without the ducky tub! I sure loved that tub, but seeing my two babies splash and laugh together during bath time is even better!

And just because I thought they were really pretty...we had an open house this weekend and I love to have fresh flowers in our kitchen for some color and a fresh smell. We got these at Sam's Club and they are just beautiful! Maybe they'll bring us some luck in selling the house??!!

Enjoy the week:)

Alpha Battery Graduation

On February 19, 2010 we were honored to attend the Alpha Battery, 1st Battalion, 79th Field Artillery Basic Combat Training Graduation Ceremony at Fort Sill in Oklahoma.

It was so great to get to see where my brother had been for 9 weeks. We arrived on Wednesday evening, after a very long day of traveling, and stayed for the family day presentation Thursday and graduation Friday. We started out Wednesday with a 2+ hour drive to the Indianapolis airport. Then, ate lunch and headed to the dreaded security check. Going through security wasn't as bad on the way there as on the way back...let's just say, if I can avoid it, I will not be flying with my kids anytime soon! Some people can be really helpful and some people can be total jerks. I'll share one story (of the many from this trip) with you. We had to check two bags this trip because we just had too much for four people to carry on. So, we get to Dallas (our flight was from Indy to Dallas and then we drove the 3 hours up to Lawton/Ft. Sill, OK) and head to baggage claim. There are revolving doors to get in (weird and totally not accommodating to anyone with a stroller or wheelchair) so Artie and I decide that he will go in and get the bags and then meet us back out. Um yeah, so there was no sign posted but once he went in, he couldn't get back out. In the meantime, I'm holding the fort by myself with a ride-a-long stroller, Spencer in the seat at the front and one of the two car seats we were traveling with in the spot where Avery rides. I have the other car seat on my back in a carrier, along with the diaper bag and my huge "personal item" (aka overnight bag filled with toys for the kids, all kinds of snacks, my school books, portable dvd players...). Then in my other hand-that isn't pushing the stroller-I have both of our carry on pieces of luggage strapped to each other so they'll both roll together. Avery has her preschool backpack, which is about to topple her from the weight of everything inside. Okay, so security inside is screaming at Artie that he can't go back out and he's trying to tell them that I'm right outside the doors with all our stuff and the kids. They don't care. They keep telling him to call me-even though I see him and he sees me right through the revolving doors that I clearly can't get through with my long stroller-to tell me to come through the revolving doors. Ugh. Meanwhile, people are whizzing by me as they de-board planes and I'm trying to keep track of all my stuff and my 2-yr-old who pretty much has free reign at this point. Avery is trying to play in the revolving doors and I'm standing right there doing my best to not let her and a lady on the other side with Artie says in a very rude tone "where is her mother?!" Thankfully, my husband put her in her place, geez. Finally, a nice man who is returning a wheelchair to somewhere in the airport sees what's happening and offers to take me to a security check to get through to Artie. Well, he grabs the stroller-to help me out-and takes off and never looks back once. I freak out because Avery is slow as molasses with her backpack on and I have everything on my back and shoulders and one hand so all I can do is try to hold her hand. I keep encouraging her to go faster while keeping one eye on her and one eye on the man who has temporarily kidnapped my son when a random woman walking past us tells me that my daughter's backpack is falling off and she looks really uncomfortable and that I need to stop and help her and if I don't she will! OMG! So I said "look lady (yeah I said that but I was pretty much at the end of my patience rope here), see that guy up there, he has my son and I am trying my best to keep up with him because I do not know where he is going, thank you but we can't stop." Finally, we get to where the guy was taking us and it's a security point where people are going through the opposite way we're trying to go. Luckily, after the man with the wheelchair explains the situation, they stop people coming through and let me go through to Artie, waiting on the other side, with all of my stuff! Phew, sorry, there was no way to make that story short! Anyway, we made it and traveling was very stressful and I literally slept the whole day Sunday when we were home just to recover!

Now on to the actual graduation.

He was so happy for his first flight:) Unfortunately, our flights happened to be smack in the middle of nap time so we had a bit of a fussy guy towards the end of both flights, but he did really great:)

Jake's little corner of the world for his 9 weeks at Fort Sill (He was the top bunk).

His closet-reminded me a lot of college!

This name tag reminded me a bit of grade school! His platoon was called the Mad Dawgs:)

The start of the family day presentation. They did little demonstrations of everything they had been doing during training. I really liked the cool purple colored smoke they had (to the left)!

The Mad Dawgs marching in.

The presenters/MC. You can see peoples heads in this shot of other family members. This place was seriously packed! They had a ton of bleachers set up and there wasn't an empty seat anywhere!

A quick pic after the presentation. The soldiers had about 10 minutes to see family/friends before marching back to the bay to change into their Class A uniforms. This was the first time we had seen Jake since we'd gotten to Ok.

Family picture.

One last formation! Jake is 4th in from the left. This is the pad beneath the bay where he had numerous formations during his training.

Two very proud sisters of their little brother!

Right after graduation on Friday. Doesn't he look sharp in his Class A?! He already has a pin he gets to wear on his uniform for his sharp shooting skills:)

Family pic where everyone is pretty much looking!

Siblings:)

This is pretty much the only shot I got inside at the actual ceremony. This is how they sat for the entire hour of graduation. They weren't allowed to look anywhere or make a sound. Jake's second from the left. It was pretty cool because they went up row by row and said their names and where they were from:)

Jake had pass time both Thursday and Friday for about 8 hours each day and it was so nice to spend time with him. It was incredibly hard to say good bye when we dropped him off Friday night because I don't know when I get to see him next. He left for Georgia Saturday morning at 1am. He safely arrived at Fort Gordon (Augusta area) and is trying to get used to the freedom he has. He actually said he almost missed the discipline of basic! He was supposed to start his AIT this coming week, but will be a "holdover" for quite sometime, probably not starting for 1-2 months (and his AIT is 5 months long), so he's going to be in Georgia for awhile. We can't go see him until he phases up to phase 5 when he will get weekend passes. It takes a lot to phase up and I'm nervous that we won't get to see him until graduation! My daughter doesn't understand distance and keeps asking to play video games with Uncle Jake or go see him because she misses him-it's heartbreaking! Hopefully we'll get to start planning a trip to see him soon!

Thanks for reading, if you've hung on this long! I'm a little overwhelmed because I haven't been on a computer for much leisure time in almost two weeks so hopefully I'll get more pics of the kids up soon!

The "Present"

We took the kids out this weekend for a few errands and to celebrate Valentine's Day-and to get out of the house since we haven't much with all of the snow-and along the way we, well Avery, were the recipients of a kind act. While at Old Navy, Avery was playing with the giant gum ball machine and wanting a gum ball. A nearby dad gave his much-older-than-Avery daughter a coin to get one out. We thought she was getting it for herself and told Avery to let the girl get her gum ball. Avery graciously stepped aside, but then to our shock, the dad told his daughter to give it to Avery:)! It was just so nice of them. I think both Artie and I were completely blown away-even though it was just worth a coin-it was such a sweet gesture. We don't have friendly people like that in Fort Wayne, so it was a wonderful Valentine's Day treat to have someone be so nice. Since Avery has gotten her gum ball, she pretty much has not let it out of her sight and calls it her "present".

Behold, the "present"...such a small thing to make a two-year-old so happy!

We finally upgraded Spencer to one of these bibs since he has become a very messy eater.

He has been trying to figure out how to get it done and, finally, this week Spencer pulled himself up:) He's very excited with himself and his new accomplishment!

So now, he can do things like this!

We took Avery to the mall yesterday for a fun Valentine's treat-to play in the indoor mall playground...which was absolutely crowded and she was violently pushed out of the way on more than one occation-seriously parents, watch your kids-but she had a great time and she was really good!

Our princess-the lighting in the store wasn't very good and, well, our camera is starting to bite the dust-but she was so cute running around the store just like this!

Just a girl so happy to be riding Rocket:)

And a shot of Domer out in the backyard with all the snow...I know we didn't get as much as other places, but I am really ready for spring!

Other than that, we've been laying pretty low. I'm still getting over being sick and enjoying watching the Olympics. I was excited to see the Great One, Wayne Gretzky, light the torch for the opening ceremonies. I'm sure everyone remembers my obsession with him (my aol mail address and aim even included "gretzky") and how crazy I was when I got to meet him at Notre Dame freshman year when he was there to speak at a pep rally-dream come true!! Love you, Wayne:)

We leave tomorrow for the start of our trip out to Fort Sill, Oklahoma for Jake's graduation on Friday! Family Day is Thursday, so we are heading to Indy tomorrow and flying out from there to Dallas on Wednesday...then driving the 3 and 1/2 hours or so up to Lawton, OK where we will be staying. There is no Target store anywhere within about 45 miles of Fort Sill/Lawton so I'm a little nervous how I will survive; thus we are planning a stop at one just outside the airport at Dallas to get my last fix and to get anything for the kids I'm sure we'll forget! I'm very apprehensive to fly with two kids, including one that will require a car seat on the flight-Megs, I know you've done it by yourself with 3, so I have hope:). We flew with Avery when she was 6 months old and that was a lot of work-with getting through security mostly-so I'm pretty nervous. I'm sure it will all work out. I'm just so proud of my little brother and can't wait to see an end to all of his hard work these past couple of months and the start of a new experience when he heads out to Georgia-Fort Gordon-at the end of this week for his AIT training!

Have a great week, everyone:) xo, Steph

Being Sick

...Goes something like this in our house:

Make sure to drag all blankies and comforting animals/babies out to the living room. Then make sure slippers are tightly on and thumb is in the mouth all while nestled on the couch. Of course, this is Avery's comfort when she's sick, the rest of us aren't big thumb suckers:)

For me, I only want potatoes (in the baked or mashed variety) with these noodles when I'm sick. I do not know why this combo is comforting to me when I'm sick, but it works!

This is also another tell tale sign that Stephanie is sick-hot tea! I do not like hot tea, but when I am really sick with the sore throat, aches, fever, etc., there is not a whole lot that comforts me more than hot green tea with honey.

Miss Avery and I have had the pleasure of being affected by what ever this bug is. Spencer had it all last week (and even into this week some). It takes FOREVER to go away. I have been sneezing for three days straight. Meanwhile, I'm dealing with a two-year-old that will not keep her finger out of her nose because she has "boogies" from her nose being so stuffed up and they are "bugging" her (note: quoted words are from the princess herself). It's the kind of cold/flu that you just want to stay in bed for days because nothing tastes right, you're so tired that your vision plays tricks on you and you're just cold all the time! I'm thinking spring can get here anytime so I can open the windows and let in some fresh air!

And just because I think he's so darn cute, I'll end this post with an adorable picture of Spencer playing in his ducky tub this week with a soap beard:)

GO COLTS! And enjoy the commercials if that's what you watch for-I hear they're actually supposed to be decent this year. Plus, for the first time in, like, forever Pepsi doesn't have a commercial during the Super Bowl...so, come on Coke, let's see what you can do!