The newest member of our family

And a picture taken with it. Brian went late and picked it up, the kids were in bed by the time he returned, but luckily, Miss Anna was still awake! I LOVE it, I am SO happy.


and she was happy to pose!
I will have a GREAT weekend taking pictures! You all have a great weekend, too. Okay?

Just checking in with you

I just wanted to stop in and say hello. Thank you to everyone who responded regarding my sister's flood. I appreciate the support and offers to help so much!
I met with her last night. We had dinner, then we went to Target and Kohl's and somewhere in between then she pumped in my van. LOL. It's so incredible to me that I can live so far away from someone and see them so little and we get together and it's like we are neighbors and have been for years. I guess that is what sisterhood is all about. It's truly a gift. hmmm....interesting that I do not have two daughters, no? Not that I can choose the sex, because Lord knows how badly I wanted Noah to be a boy, it's just surprising that we do not have a 3rd child to create the brother-brother or sister-sister relationship. However, I am in awe of the relationship between my girl and my boy. so blessed. We all are.

I won't be around much as I am flying to Kansas Saturday morning. Tonight, we went to Best Buy as we are comtemplating purchasing a new camera. I LOVE my camera and I am just sick that it is SO broken. It's still in the shop, if it's not fixed by tomorrow, we may tell the guy to just give the thing back. I saw one camera that I loved, a Sony, of course, 7.2 megapixels and a 12x optical zoom. That's right--TWELVE. My broken camera had a 3x optimal zoom. It was different, some things were not as good, but somethings were better, I'll guess you'll have that, it's funny because they are the same price. We'll see. If I get one tomorrow, perhaps I'll get on-line and tell you about it. (and share pictures)

I bought some knee-high black leather boots, with a nice tall heel. (my sister bought the same pair) They are AWESOME! Let's see, what else? Noah is actually doing well with potty training. In no way am I actively trying to train him, I am just following his cues. On two occasions, he woke up with a dry diaper, the first time I FREAKED out thinking his kidneys were failing, but then I put him on the potty and he peed for 10 minutes! Can you believe that? Anna doesn't even go through the night. Tonight I put Thomas undies on him and he loved it, he didn't even want to wear pants, but Baby, it's cold outside! He went pee twice and then he became entranced in Wonder Pets--he peed all over himself. He's cute.

Anna STILL loves school. Seriously, so much. This morning she rocked my world with her brilliance. First, I was helping her get dressed, she typically dresses herself, but on days of school I help her to speed up the process. Anyway, she started to fall a bit, she put her leg straight back behind her, like a figure skater and said "I have to keep my balance." uhhh...burrito? Did you just say "balance?" She proceeds to notice the new jeans I was wearing and asked if I "bought bread at Target last night in Indianapolis." I can not get ANYTHING past this girl--no lie.

I guess that's it. Brian is busy at work. I feel like I haven't seen him in weeks. We decided that next Saturday we are taking the kids to a pumpkin patch for pumpkins, apple cider and apples. I love fall. Anna is very aware of the season's changing. I received her calender for October for preschool and there are 2 HUGE events that take place, the first is school pictures. My baby girl, who I swear just had her newborn picture done in the NICU in Chicago, is having school pictures taken this month. OMG. She needs a haircut. The second event is a Halloween party. OMG. She needs a costume. A GOOD costume.

Today I worked on the FOA newsletter, I basically finished, I usually work on it at night when the kids are sleeping, but I really needed to get a start on it, it was odd doing it while the kids were awake, but they were good. Tomorrow, I must clean and do laundry. . . fun.

Oh and we returned from Best Buy tonight right before bedtime. I put Noah's pajamas on him and he climbed into his big boy bed and went to bed. He was so tired!

the unwelcomed change

I really wanted to blog about my weekend, about how Friday night, we celebrated Brian's Mom's birthday, she is someone I truly treasure in my life. We had decorations, a great cake, meatloaf and the dreamiest of creamy mashed potatoes, all homemade, made by me. I would also like to tell you about my Saturday, a dreary day, but I spent time shopping alone at Kohl's and Target, then I attended a Sensaria party where I soaked my feet and sat with friends. Then we had a great evening at home, eating homemade tacos. After tacos, we went to visit one of my high school friends who was visiting from Illinois. She just had a baby boy in July. (Amy F.--think of a tall volleyball player- L.P. know who I'm talking about?) It was a wonderful visit. On Sunday, we woke up super early and visited my sister and her husband in Michigan near Detroit. We had a great time, the kids played, Brian played and I...well...I ate, ALOT. (welcome back, Weight Watchers!) So much I'd like to blog about, but I can't, because there is something so heavily on my mind it's hard to concentrate.

On Saturday morning at 1 AM EST, my sister's husband, (they live in Louisville) stepped out onto their porch because it was raining heavily. It was then that he noticed water coming towards their apartment. By 3am, water was to their knees in some places. They have a 19 month old and a 7 WEEK old. They gathered what they could, put as many things up on top of countertops as quickly as possible and they left. The evacuated to their neighbors apartment, someone upstairs, someone they had never met, with both children in tow. My BIL called his friend who said he was on his way to pick them up. Because the streets were flooded he couldn' pick them up directly at the complex, so this family of four walked through the pouring rain to meet him. People were everywhere outside. Both of their cars were flooded.

Sarah called me the next morning at 9am and told me what happened. My initial thought was "I can't believe she experienced this six hours ago and I'm just learning of it now" and my second thought was trying to figure out how I could help. Luckily, they have renter's insurance, well, we thought it was lucky except that renters insurance does not cover floods. No home and no help from insurance. The waters rose and receeded, leaving it's mark on their apartment, their belongings and their hearts and memories forever. Toys, clothes, shoes, pictures-gone. In a moment. Brian and I laid in bed last night thanking our lucky stars that we were in our bed and our kids were in THEIR beds. The comforts in life we so easily take for granted. What I would give for my sister and her family to have that same feeling of comfort once again.

My heart feels broken. I can't imagine what my sister is feeling. Tonight I did some shopping, I tried to replace a few things, and alot of the toys Ethan lost we have the same toys in our basement. We are meeting Wednesday night so I can give her these things. Her brothers and sisters are helping by donating gift cards to places like Target, etc. I wish we could do more. I keep thinking-3 months from now, this will all be a memory, somehow that brings me comfort. I hope it brings them comfort. Their days are long, wet and so tiring, I don't know where they are getting their stamina. Not only are they enduring something so difficult, they are handling it with such grace and dignity and in the midst of it all, they are teaching me about strength.

Thank your stars tonight. I am thankful for their safety.

I have to share my newest niece

Okay, so she was was almost four weeks ago---I'm not a bad aunt, I'm just a busy auntie! I can't wait to share even more pictures of her next week that I took on my own! :-)
(with my camera--which is being fixed RIGHT NOW)
Tessa Mary. 9 lbs 3 oz

Just born!

Napping with Daddy! (my brother)



Proud Papa!

Pretty in Pink

Can you even take it?!?!

Oh my God. soooooo cute

burrito



Bigger brother giving his little sister a bottle. He's very proud

Big brother changing a diaper! He really wanted to do this! He's sooo cute!

So, anyway

Tonight, my Mom and I attended a wedding shower. On a Wednesday. evening. A wedding shower on a Wednesday evening. At first...I thought it was strange, I had never heard of such an event taking place on anything other than a weekend, BUT after a few minutes, I LOVED the idea. The weekend was not taken up, the kids went to Grandma's for the evening and I got out of the house. It was lovely. Chili's catered. YUM AND YUM AND YUM. I love the southwestern eggrolls, they are seriously something that I could consume for 35 days straight. (I don't know why I chose 35 days, but it's true.) Anyway, they had mountains, do you hear me? MOUNTAINS of Southwestern Eggrolls. Oh the Weight Watcher Gods were thundering tonight.
Speaking of thunder. It is COLD outside. Right now it's 51 degrees. My sister said something about it hitting the 30's tomorrow. whatever. It is not supposed to be this freakin' cold this early. I really wanted to say fucking cold but I didn't want to offend anyone. I'm so polite.

Speaking of polite. I think my kids are very polite. They always say "please," they always say "bless you," they always say "you're welcome" and they always, ALWAYS say "thank you." I love it. Oh and they always say hi to everyone. Cashiers, the bank tellers at the drive thru, (even though they can't hear them) and each other after Anna gets back from preschool.

Speaking of preschool. Anna loves it. and I am really enjoying my time with my Noah or No-ey, as Anna calls him now. (thanks to Brian) Although she loves preschool, she actually had to miss a day last week because she was sick. Can you believe that? I think she would have been fine, but I know what she had was so contagious, because No-ey had it and gave it to Anna, who gave it to us, who would have given it to her classmates had she gone, but she didn't. She was fine, she really seemed to understand why she couldn't go. (of course, in true Noah fashion his hasn't completely cleared up--I see a doctor's visit in the future...)

Speaking of sick. Christi passed away yesterday. This family is so amazing. She is yet ANOTHER reminder as to why I spend so much time working with Friends of Allie.

And speaking of Friends of Allie, we had our walk on Sunday and it was great, even though it rained. We had a great turn out and we have now raised just over $5000. I'm so excited. and I am so proud of my family and my friends and their family and friends who came around and did something so amazing. Anna and Noah attended their first walk. That made me happy.

Speaking of happy. I'm happy. Things are good. I am grateful. Noah LOVES his big boy bed and has been sleeping in complete peace and comfort every night and for every nap. He never gets out. (by the way, Elisa, I once read that you should never take a child out of a crib until they are 3 years old UNLESS they are climbing out and endangering themselves. I followed that with Anna, but because Noah is so.......much larger than Anna was, we did it a little early....but I'm sure Emma will do great when you do it!)

We have a busy couple of weekends ahead of us. This weekend we are going to Michigan to visit my sister. Then the weekend after that I am flying to Kansas to visit my brother. (sans kids) I can't believe I never mentioned the fact that my brother and his wife had a baby girl on 8/24. It's incredibly special because in 1994 they had a son and in 1997 they had another boy. They decided to have another and try for their girl and they had the most precious baby girl in 2006. I'll have to introduce you to her tomorrow. She's amazing and I get to meet her next week!

Not the greatest picture of me, but Noah is soooo cute!

checking out the chickens

OMG, HE'S KILLING ME. (with his cuteness)

About to leave for Sunday school

eating at the walk



LOVE. IT.

Lynette, my awesome co-captain and I. Both Bright Light walkers. (both raised $1000 or more!)

Team FOA. We have raised over $5000! (and still growing!) YAHOO!

Sometimes

Sometimes, we get lost in the good that we have in our lives. Our homes. Our cars. Our children. Our spouses. and good health. We forget how good we have it.

And sometimes, it takes a dying child to wake us up.

wake up.

please pray for this courageous and amazing family.

No more cribs=no more babies

This weekend we took that step away from babyhood. I am sad, but I am also excited and cribs make me crazy! On Saturday, Noah received his new big boy bed. He has slept wonderfully since and does not get out of his bed. He did at first, one time, but got in trouble by Dad, serious trouble, and we believe that has stuck in his mind since then! He is sleeping great-never waking up. I love that I can cuddle with him in his bed. I just love it. We did this sooner than I would have liked, but he's so big, it just didn't seem fair to keep him in his crib prison! It seems like only yesterday that we did this with Anna.
Here are some pictures!

Noah's last night in cramped quarters.

On the way to pick up the bed. We had to make room for the mattresses, so we put Anna's seat in back of Noah's.

Noah seeing his bed for the first time



Testing it out!



SO EXCITED!

His first night...sleeping peacefully and comfortably!

BUSTED! My jeans are too big.

So, yes, my dear, pregnant friend, Sara T. has called me out and told me my jeans are too big. You're right, Sara, they are too big. They're my size, they just run big. I had spent the day on Sunday showing Brian just how big they are on me while pulling my waistband out with my belt on. Well...I found a replacement jean and I'm a little embarrassed of them. I haven't purchased them, yet, but I have tried them on and they are dreamy. They're perfect. Perfect fit on my legs, waist, mid-rise, straight leg, great color and perfect length. But there is one thing wrong with them....they're LEE'S. You know-the jeans you're Mom wore during YOUR childhood? The big tan patch on the back waistline. The high waist that travels about 4 inches above your belly button and, please help me...the tapered leg.

Well, apparently Lee has some younger, fresher faces on board, as they have introduced a new line of jeans for woman. (FINALLY!) These jeans are available at Kohl's. On Saturday afternoon I was telling my friend Lynette about these jeans, she said she should check them out because she is in the market for some new jeans. Monday night she was at my house when I exclaimed "WHAT ARE THOSE JEANS?!?!" while pointing at her legs. Sure enough, she went to Kohl's the next morning and bought them and she had worn them since she purchased them. She said they're so comfortable and they are so great to look at! 25 bucks!
So, Sara, hopefully the next time I make an appearance on my blog, my jeans will fit me a little better! (and not because I've gained my weight back--although, I did just eat 10 cookies)

It was a beautiful sunny day

It's quite cold outside. sixty-two degrees. Nothing like the 9/11 five years ago, which was a beautiful, sunny, warm and glorious day. Eighty degrees with plentiful sunshine, not a single cloud in the sky. Such an amazing day that turned so awful and painful to endure. I'm surprised at how raw my feelings are on this five year anniversary. The pain I still feel, the sadness, the shock, the horror. I know I'm not alone, I know you still feel those feelings, too. And we should. I'm grateful that this is a story I want to relive, I believe it honors those that were killed. It's not a story that comes on in this news that I turn my head away. I remember them and I remember that day with such anguish, a day I will never forget.

Days and weeks after I would always want to ask anyone I met where they were when they heard or saw the news and how it unfolded in their lives. I even thought for a brief moment that I should make a collection of everyone's responses and keep them forever, I never did. I also did not ask everyone I met because I felt like I was asking something so personal and so real and it really wasn't my business.

Yesterday, at the end of mass, we sang America The Beautiful. As soon as the song was announced tears immediately welled up in my eyes as the anniversary has been top on my mind. I could not sing a single word, but I paid special attention to the lyrics, which are so appropriate for the day.
Here is a portion of one verse:

O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife.
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life!
America! America!

Five years ago I had a dentist appointment scheduled in Chicago. My appointment was for 9:45am. I still have my appointment card that said September 11, 2001-9:45am. Written when September 11th was just a normal day. We had a two story apartment in Indiana, Brian and I were going to drive to Chicago together, (he works downtonw.) I was upstairs getting ready, Brian was downstairs watching TV. I came down for a second to ask when Brian was going to start getting ready, at that moment I saw the TV while still on the stairs, Brian said a plane crashed into the World Trade Center, we were watching the Today Show. I remember asking him why he didn't tell me. I can't remember his response. We did not have too much time to watch, I just thought about how serious the crash was. A small plane entered a building where people worked. How would they battle the fire? How many people were killed. I had no idea how huge the plane really was. I knew nothing. We left and turned on a news radio station in the car. We were in the car for the next hour listening to every detail unfold, the second plane, Shanksville, the Pentagon. As we entered the parking garage the towers had fallen. It was horrifying. As we drove the streets of downtown Chicago, everyone was talking on cell phones, people were everywhere and constantly they were looking up at the sky. While we were stopped in traffic, we had a perfect view of the Chicago skyline, I was certain a plain would hit the Sears Tower. At one point a saw something in the sky and I gasped, my heart sank...it was a bird. I was on high alert.

I arrived at the dentist's office and learned that they were evacuting downtown Chicago. I offered to reschedule the appointment, they said no, they would take me and go home for the day. I remember sitting in the chair thinking about how much I dreaded this appointment and how uncomfortable I was and how little it was compared to what thousands of people were going through at that moment. After the appointment, I picked Brian up, we drove home listening to the radio. Shocked, hurt and so sad. It was here that I learned of people in foreign countries celebrating what occurred on our homeland. I felt so much anger towards these people. I worried about my brothers, were were active (and still are) in the military, at their Army bases with their wives and kids. We returned home, on our answering machine was a message from my mother-in-law, making sure Brian was okay. She also wanted to tell me that she was praying for my brothers. That made everything so real to me. I talked to my sister-in-law and she told me about things that had occured during that day at the Army base and that scared me, too.

The entire day was so strange. Cable channels were off the air. For days there were no commercials. That night my friend came over and we went and picked up pizza. At some point I attended a prayer vigil, I'm not sure when. When I laid down for bed that night I prayed that the nation would remain untouched over night. I was certain we would be attacked again. I have never felt so unsafe, I can't imagine living in a war zone.

Five years later, still remembering and forever heartbroken.

Second Child Syndrome

Today was Noah's first day of Sunday school, which is such a big deal to us. Or so we thought. Last year, before Anna's first day, probably weeks before, we bought her an outfit and shoes, we talked about it all the time. This year, today, we were scrounging around the house looking for a pair of shoes he could wear 30 minutes before our departure to take them to school. It was pretty sad. As we pulled away from our house, Brian and I both felt terribly guilty. (excuse time: I have been CONSUMED with preparing for my booth at the festival--but I know, that is no excuse.) We agreed that we should head out and buy the little guy some clothes and some shoes.
We went to drop Noah off at his class and he was timid, but excited...until we started to walk out the door, then he lost it. He cried and screamed,but according to his teacher, Mike, he calmed down after awhile. Anna had her class and she was terribly disappointed that they did not do crafts, but I think she had fun. Meanwhile, Brian and I enjoyed our time alone during mass.

Yesterday, while Brian and I spent the day working at the festival, Brian's mom took care of our children. Because we left at 5:50AM, she stayed overnight on Friday night. (she IS the greatest) Well, Friday night when I fed the fish, our biggest fish started to freak out and jumped all over the place, he literally jumped up and hid the lid, it was crazy. Apparently, he did it again early yesterday. Well, they all left the house for a little while and once they returned, Anna walked into the living and said "look!" It was the fish on the floor. The fished jumped out of the tank. committed suicide. dead. no longer. So, after shopping for Noah's new clothes at Old Navy, we went to PetSmart and purchased three new fish and a snail. Anna is very excited. She referred to the fish on the floor as "broken."

Our booth was a great success. Brian, my mom and I left the house at 5:50am and didn't return until after 7:00 in the evening. Our asses were kicked. I had such wonderful people helping throughout the day and even recruited walkers. One walker is a lymphoma survivor, she's very inspired by FOA, I can't wait to see her again next week at the walk. Brian and I were actually in bed, with the lights off at 11:05pm last night. It was been years since that happened, we typically stay up way too late at night, but last night we did not have a choice. Like I said, our asses were kicked. Well, at about 2 in the morning I felt something crawling on my chin. That's right, CRAWLING. CRAWLING, crawling on my chin. I hit my chin, to kill or to rid of the crawling thing. I laid in bed thinking "hmmm...something was seriously just crawling on my chin." BUT, I was so tired, I didn't care and went back to sleep. A little while later, something woke me up, I remembered the thing crawling on my chin, it was then that I felt whatever it was, still in my hand. I immediately threw it. I had no idea it was. This morning, I woke up and went pee, while I was peeing I remembered all that occurred and I looked at my hand and sure enough, there was a brown "stain", something I am sure from a creepy spider. I went to see if the spider was laying around somewhere, in the direction that I threw it, but there were no remains to be found. so, I think that means there is a severely injured spider stumbling around our house somewhere...it also means I will never sleep in my bed again.

Enjoy the pictures. I'm certain you'll be hearing more from me as ALOT of my time has freed up! (by the way, my amazing Mom has let us borrow her camera.....)

On our way to Sunday School!!





A little timid

Could they be any cuter?

Our Friends of Allie booth at the festival



Hour 12

Anna before school one day last week

Playing with Grandpa

A future (strange) doctor

In my new Old Navy sweater. She's beautiful. (the sweater, not me)

My broken camera and other ramblings

I haven't really had the time or desire to blog. By the time I pull blogger up at night, my eyes let me know that I should be doing something more constructive with my time, like sleeping or watching Sex and the City on TBS.
I thought I would bullet point some random thoughts and happenings since my last blog, that way I can walk away and pull Noah off of Anna while he's pulling her hair and then return to my blog without being too heavily deep in thoughts. Here goes.

• my camera is broken. i can't even use capital letters, it hurts so much. apparently, Anna broke it. the button you press to take the actual picture is no longer attached. therefore, there is no button to press to take the actual picture. please understand that i have taken tens of thousands of pictures in two years. (actually 18 months) since i received one of my most priced possessions as a gift from my dearest husband. here's a list of the things i value most in my life:
  1. my children 2. my husband 3. my camera 4. my laptop 5. coffee
  As I am sure you can imagine, I'm feeling a little empty right now. I will for about 4 more weeks.
  
• I had diarrhea all weekend. It started Friday and continued through Sunday night. It was great. my ass hurts. I'm sure you can imagine. I think it was something I ate or stress or something. It definitely was not a virus.
• My fundraiser party was a HUGE AWESOME success. I'm so lucky to be surrounded by such loving, supportive people who care and who want to make a difference. We currently have 21 walkers registered so far. I'm pretty sure the night will have brought in close to $400. YEE HAW!
• I'm still at my goal weight. I am going in tonight for my monthly weigh-in. I am very proud of myself. I ordered shirts on-line and they came in and I love them. I don't think I could have done that without losing over 30 lbs.
  
• I'm in love with this sweater. I'm going to get one in tan and grey. or in grape jelly
  
• Anna and Noah start Sunday school this Sunday. We are soooooo excited. I just found out last night that they will be in different classes which makes me sad, but it's probably for the best. I think I'm going to borrow my Mom's camera.
• This Saturday, my FOA team is having a booth at a local festival. The average attendance is around 50,000 in one day. I'm really excited, but there are a ton of details that keep me awake at night. FOA is doing so well this year. I am truly so excited and PROUD of the team. Nationally we are very close to where we were last year! What an accomplishment! At THIS MOMENT, we have 599 registered walkers and have raised just shy of $37,000--that's before a single walk. It goes up by a thousand or so EVERY DAY NOW. As much stress as it brings me (which at this point is ALOT), the sense of pride and accomplishment it brings me is overwhelming. Before FOA I was on anti-depressants and just not a happy person. Now, I think it was just what I needed. I feel very fulfilled and very happy. It was meant to be, for sure.
• Brian is VERY happy with his new job. Of course, it's only been one day and I would be VERY concerned if he wasn't happy after only one day, but it make me sleep a little better. I swear I was more nervous that he was-I was up at 5:30am yesterday worrying about it.
  
• I was going to add some pictures I took before the death of my camera...but bloggerbot isn't working right now. oh well.
  

Yay! I blogged!

I tried

First of all, it's been almost a week since I blogged. Brian actually blogged last night, so I figured that I would celebrate such an occasion by blogging, as well.

But, not tonight. I wrote that first paragraph over two hours ago and now I must go to bed!

So, good night! Hopefully you'll hear from me on Tuesday!

Oh and apparently, between the time I wrote the first and second paragraphs, Brian blogged for the second evening in a row. I'm am so impressed.