Florida Girl

This morning I went to get in my car to drive to work. And there was ice covering my windshield! Dave mentioned to me to just use my windshield wiper fluid, and I tried this, but it made it worse, so I had to pull over to the side of the road in my neighborhood because I could not see a thing. I got out and thought, what do I do? I stopped, of course, to update my facebook status describing my dilemma (and people left many helpful comments, hours after I had already de-iced the window). I didn't have a cup of water or a spatula handy, never ever would I have thought of using a credit card, and obviously I lacked knowledge of such a thing as a defroster (I've since confirmed that our car does one). So I popped the trunk and got Anna's rubber rain boot out. It did the job just fine, and my gloves kept my hands from gettting wet at all.

I've been completely out of my element all week. The cold has been ridiculous. I don't even know how to dress for it. I don't know how to get our kids dressed appropriately for it. Everything seems so hard. I don't know how everyone else everywhere else manages to survive. Also, I got some fake fingernails put on this week, and I have been completely awkward and struggling to do every little thing. I have a really hard time texting, typing, dialing the phone, taking my contacts out, etc. This was our first week back to school and work, so that has been an adjustment also. Plus, I am working way more hours this week than usual, and feel like I have spent most of my time in the car. Everything just feels wrong and crazy. It is Thursday and I feel like I have barely seen Dave or the kids this week, even though I know I have. I've just been going back and forth between such a sleepy funk (does the cold make humans want to hibernate?) or an overwhelmed, stressed-out state all week, and I am so tired, but when night comes I have been waking up all the time again. I can't remember when what happened. I feel a little unhinged today... like maybe I've done or said things I can't remember. I think it is just from being super busy every waking second and then being mostly awake every sleeping second. I just stumbled upon 2 very funny texts from a friend, and I remembered them, it was just that I thought I dreamed them last night. I almost called her this morning to tell her about the funny texts she sent me in my dreams. Plus, I apparently ate a peanut butter and jelly Uncrustables sandwich last night. Don't remember this, but there was a wrapper next to my bed. I hate when I get into this middle-of-the-night, can't-remember-eating thing. No, I don't take Ambien or anything like that. I also think that I watched some Seinfeld last night. Two nights in a row prior to last I kept waking up because we were on tooth fairy watch at our house. Jonathan lost a front tooth one day, and a bottom tooth the next. He was so sweet, he told Anna that he had another very wiggly tooth, and when that bottom tooth fell out, he would share the tooth fairy money with her. Today he slapped her in the face because she kept grabbing him and kissing him. Somedays he is unbelievably sweet to her, and I think, is this kid for real? And then along comes a day like today and I think, yep, he is just a normal kid. Am I happy he slapped her? No... but I could kind of see his point. He had asked her repeatedly to stop it.

Also making me feel a little out of my element this week... Anna moved into 5 morning preschool. A spot suddenly opened and we were very blessed to get it for her. It is just a new routine to get used to, and because I am filling in for someone at work I am not getting to pick her up at all this week, and not until Wednesday or possibly Friday of next week will I get to pick her up. Her wonderful Nona or her Papa Larry or her Dadddy will be the one picking her up, so I know she is fine, it just triggers my motherly guilt.

I also feel guilty because Jonathan's legs are acting up again. We took him to the doctor and he will resume physical therapy this coming week. I know that his pain and limping aren't my fault, but it makes me feel guilty. I guess because I feel like I should somehow be able to stop it. We will be searching to get him into a pediatric orthopaedist somewhere in the state. Hopefully, the right doors will open and we will be able to get some real help for him, or at least some real answers. I was telling a coworker about his issues since I had to come in late after the appointment. She has dealt with some very serious health issues with her son, and I felt bad even talking about it to her. She has had so much more to deal with... Jonathan's problems seem small in comparision. I keep saying things to people, apologetic things, like, I know it could be worse. I mean, I can't imagine having a more wonderful son than Jonathan. I wouldn't change one thing about him if I could. These leg problems are problems, but compared to anything life-threatening, it is small potatoes. So I know that it could be worse. But, I was thinking later, that no, deep down, I don't really own that type of perspective. I know I can say things like that, but I don't really believe them. When it comes to my own child, I have a singular perspective: him. I am not grateful that it isn't worse. I am mad that it isn't better. All I know is that he hurts, he limps, he feels different, he depends on us to fix everything for him, and we can't. People say things to us, and I feel the accusing behind their questions, why haven't you done anything about this? And the truth is we have done something, or we have tried to do something. We have. In some ways, I think we have done too much. I agonize over whether we should have ever put him through the surgery and the casting before. I think people can't understand that there can be a problem without a straightforward solution, an issue without a straightforward name. What is wrong with his legs? Well, I guess something about mild cerebral palsy which has caused mild disablity and contracture in his lower extremities, gait deviation, his right hip isn't set correctly, he out-toes, he can't bend his ankles normally because they are literally too tight to move. I don't know... I don't know what you call it exactly. When he gets really bad, the pain can bring him to tears, and he will just lay around, and he will be physically unable to run. I guess if a bear were after him or something, he would run. It just doesn't look much like running. My dear grandma referred to him as a little cripple boy (she said it in the sweetest, most ignorant way possible, easily forgiven) when he was younger. I am not mad at her for saying this, but obviously I haven't forgotten. But I am thinking now how there is a certain comfort in that term, an acceptance of things as they are. 100 years ago, people wouldn't have asked us what is wrong with him... They probably would have just thought, Oh, he is a little crippled. And there you go. A neat little explanation.

Of course I am hopeful that we will find some great specialist who will have a new understanding of the problem, and a new approach. Our pediatrician said we need a fresh set of eyes to look at the problem. And maybe that will help. But I think it is more likely that his issues are something that are just a part of him, and we will just have to learn to accept them, make modifications to make life better and/or more acceptable to Jonathan. I think it is probably wrong of me to think this way, but after 5 years of dealing with this, it is just how I feel.

How We Spent Our Christmas Vacation

Many dinners out:
The kids were treated to Uno's by their aunt and uncle, and afterwards they went to see the lights at Wickham Park. Now everytime we pass Uno's, Anna tells me that is where Uncle Cory took her.
We celebrated my Dad's 65th at Red Lobster, where I actually had a really good meal (the Maple Chicken was good!) and I had a personal victory of only eating ONE of those devilish biscuits they serve. Never.happened. before. Then we went back to the house and enjoyed a good cake that Dave made but I decorated. I say the making is far more important than the decorating, because I could make a tunafish/dogfood cake with tarragon frosting look really good, but it would make everyone want to vomit.
Our fearless and trustworthy leader, Dave/Daddy, led us through the darkened streets of Orlando on an hour long quest to find a Fazoli's. The kids (well, us too!) haven't been the same since Fazoli's shut down in our county, and we were in all you can eat breadstick heaven when we found one after a looooong day at Sea World.
We went out with my Mom to a fun late night dinner at Steak n Shake (the kids' current favorite place to eat) and we were delighted to learn that kids eat free there on the weekends.
We used a giftcard and took the kids out to eat at Chili's on a Saturday night. They were fascinated with the whole thing. Something funny happened there but I have been sworn to absolute secrecy by Jonathan. One thing that was cute, is that Jon read the kid's menu, circled his choice with a crayon, and wrote YES next to it and showed the waitress.
I am sure I am forgetting something...
We also celebrated two birthdays (and two more in spirit, Meredith's and Grandma Jane's) Anna's first, and then Dad's over Christmas break. Anna loved her party and was thrilled with her decorations, cake and presents, and gratefully, thankfully so, was oblivious to the family tensions.
We bought tickets/planned a trip to Kentucky for spring break, which I am VERY excited about. The kids have great memories of Grandma Jane's house, and we will get to spend time with her and Aunt MerMer and also, Dave will be going with us this time, which is VERY exciting! And I think we are finally going to go to the caves. I love visting caves. I always have. Like on tours, I'm not a spelunker or whatever you call it. (As if. Seriously. Can you imagine the play-dough fat factory that would occur right now if I were strapped into one of those harnessed outfits? Shivers, Chills, and shudders on my part. Sorry, y'all, to inflict that painful mental image. David, stop enjoying it.)
We actually got some noteworthy cold weather here, and it is ALL ANYONE CAN TALK ABOUT. Meanwhile, most of our relatives/loved ones are dealing with actual cold weather. But we have spent a lot of time exclaiming over it, dressing inappropriately for it, and posting Facebook statuses over how cold it is. And by we, I mean everyone I know in this town.
We had a scrapbooking frenzy here, and it wasn't even me! Justine made a beautiful album as a gift for her Mom, and the kids caught the bug, and made albums of their own. It was very sweet and fun. Good memories, of the memory-recording, I guess.
I learned how amazingly self-sufficient my children can be when they want to. They got into various kinds of mischief, and, lacking other social contact, found each other to be sufficiently fun playmates (they had some wild music parties with Anna's new Hello Kitty CD player). Also, Anna developed the capability to get herself her own breakfast. She actually got blueberries out and washed them well and put them into a bowl, and poured herself some cereal. And Jonathan, well, Jonathan is probably going to be more of a grown up than me pretty soon. :)
What else, what else? Trip to Sea World, Bethlehem Walk, OH! We made it to the gym exactly 0 times. We had good plans, but it simply never happened. We did watch a ton of movies. Dave bought a blu-ray player for himself for Christmas, and we hooked up to Netflix (it is all magical to me and the kids) and we have tons of movies and shows available to just watch whenever we want. Also, we went to lots of movies, the kids saw Alvin and the Chipmunks with Dave, Dave took Anna on a daddy/daughter date to see The Princess and the Frog, and Dave went to see Avatar by himself because I fell asleep at 9 PM when we were supposed to go to the 10 PM showing. He said it was REALLY good. I went to see It's Complicated with my Mom, and was humored by her falling asleep and snoring. The couple in front of us clearly had some infidelity issues, because they fought almost the entire movie. When the two main characters asked each other why their sex was so much sexier than when they were married, the girl in front of me said loudly, because IT'S WRONG and then she gave her husband a scathing look. They carried on like this during most of the movie. I did not find the movie as funny as some others. My Mom apparently did not find it entertaining (I think she was just really tired).
Oh, yes, we put the tree up, and we took the tree down. By we, I mean Dave and the kids. I did not help.
I cleaned the house very well, once, although you can't tell... My Mom came over and cleared out and organized the kids' rooms, and that made a difference. I think next year instead of buying them any gifts we should just clear their rooms out so they can rediscover all their toys they already own.
We went to a fun gettogether at some church friends house for New Year's Eve. We played the best game ever, Apples to Apples, and left around 9 PM. The kids were tired. I went to brush my teeth around midnight and had to spit in the sink and hurry back because the ball was dropping and I almost missed it.
I renewed my teaching elgibility, and am going at the first available opportunity to go get my fingerprints done (for the THIRD time since August, don't get me started on that scam) so I can actually be a certified teacher in the state of Florida for English grades 6-12. I have been in a weird state of flux since I graduated college in 2003, having met all the requirements, but sort of in a certification purgatory. Now I am ready to get out.
What else, what else? I cried a lot. It was a rough holiday...but we made it through.

2009, Goodbye! Better Days Ahead!

These are the things that made 2009 hard/sad/bad/challenging/difficult. Some of the things that made 2009 difficult aren't exactly mine to share, or are too personal to disclose.
First and foremost, my stepdad Ed passed away February 28, 2009. He was on hospice at home in his own bed and there were weeks of sadness and pain as we all said goodbye. Then there have been months and months of sadness and pain as we continue to say goodbye. My Mom has been very strong throughout the past year and has acted admirably.
Jonathan had a bad bout of flu and became severely dehydrated with an uncontrollable fever at the exact same time that Ed was passing away. We wound up in the ER the night of Ed's funeral. Thankfully, Jonathan recovered, but it was just very hard and unfortunate timing.
Dave's mother had a stroke and it affected her vision permanently and she had to place Dave's father in a VA hospice.
We almost killed our cat by running her through a full wash cycle in the washing machine and had to rush her to the animal hospital and it ran up a large veterinary bill.
Anna, finally reaching close enough to 30 lbs to be sedated, got her broken front teeth fixed with porcelain crowns, and while the dentist did a beautiful job, it ran up a large dental bill.
We got a large, unexpected medical bill from 4 years ago, from the time of Jonathan's surgery, when he was 2 years old... Thousands of dollars. I guess the insurance company and the doctor's office had been kicking it back and forth for years and finally we were expected to pay it. Luckily, the doctor's office reduced the amount we owed, but it still angered us because it was their mistake at the time that caused the claim to be rejected.
On that note, Jonathan's legs continue to be bothersome. It feels like a problem that will never be fully solved and it makes me crazy. I hate that his legs hurt him and I hate that we can never resolve it.
My health continued to be an annoying, nagging problem. I feel like I am about at the same point I was in 2007 when I started going to the doctors (plural) for all of my symptoms. I return to the rheumatologist next week and I am going to discuss some things with him, and then I am going to go back to the neurologist and discuss some things with him. It is too much to get into... But I continue to run fevers and have sore throats, on top of all other things like my migraines and my visual disturbances and my numbness and tingling, fatigue and pain, etc, etc, etc. I am tired of hearing about it myself, so I won't carry on about that. Every single day it is something and I am growing more and more tired and despairing of it all.
I had to have surgery in August right before school started to remove a "rotten egg" as Anna liked to tell everyone at the time. It was really my left ovary and tube. My first surgery ever. Also, financially stressful, more bills to pay.
My Dad was forced to relocate to Florida from New York. While this has been a good thing for him and us in many ways, it was very stressful during August and September. For him and us, I think probably more for him.
Jonathan started the big K. He did very well, and it has been a good thing for him. But it was still a big adjustment for us all, and at the same time,
I started my first significant job since the kids have been born. Which I LOVE, but it has been a challenge to adjust to having a job at all. Again, all of this was during August and September.
The air conditioner broke and we called someone out on the weekend which was another big bill.
The pool had a serious leak, ran up lots of extra water bills and repair bills, and continues to be a big joy sucker and source of unfruitful labor for Dave.
We purchased two gerbils back on September 11th, as a reward for Jonathan's great adjustment to K. While we chose to purchase the gerbils, they have been a punishment for me, since I have to clean their nasty cage.
The kids and I had what I am pretty sure was the swine flu back in the early fall. It was a very bad couple of days in our house. (Half of Jonathan's class was out with the flu, and there were several confirmed cases of it in his class.)
I have come to the sad conclusion that I can't continue to serve in Baby K as I have the last 2 years as coordinator. I just can't do it anymore.
Throughout this year, we have continued to have car troubles and large repair bills. At one point, both of our cars were in the shop at the same time and we had to borrow my Dad's car quite a bit. The PT cruiser had a major meltdown in July, and again in October, and my car has had several fits. I can't even remember all of the details, but it has definitely been a bad year for cars. Then again, we now pay a total of 150 a month in a car payment. That is something to be grateful for.
Sigh. I could go on, and the thing of it all is that some of the worst things about 2009 aren't even bloggable. It has just been a very, very hard year. A conflict-filled, heartbreaking Christmas finished the year out. But for each thing I list here, I can think of good things also. I am blessed in many ways, and in so many ways God made provisions for us through all of this messiness. And the big picture is this: that we have a home, 2 cars to get to school and work, etc., food to eat, clean water to drink, family that we love enough to make us a little crazy, 2 healthy, bright and wonderful children, health insurance, and most of all, each other. Better days ahead, hopefully, but even if they aren't better, but worse, we will be okay.
This past week at church, we sang a song that comforted me in a wonderful way. Ed used to sing it out loud standing next to me at church, and I always took heart that he sang it so loudly, and with such conviction and joy. God is bigger than the air I breathe, the world we'll leave. God will save the day, and all will say, My Glorious. And all You ever do, is change the old for new, People, we believe that, God is bigger than the air I breathe, the world we'll leave, and God will save the day, and all will say, My Glorious. (My Glorious/Chris Tomlin).

Sea World Last Trip 2009

Jonathan put me on a leash using my scarf. The crowds were exceptionally bad, and he came up with this solution so we could hold onto each other.

Anna's shirt said I may be cute but I still bite. She picked her own clothes to wear.

Jamie, Jonathan and Anna.

Anna refused to wear her coat for most of this chilly day, but the blue on her face is from cotton candy, not the cold.

Dave, Jonathan and Anna.

Anna LOVED sitting so she could see the rollercoaster right at the top, right before it plummeted down. "They are going to scream!" she would say, and then she was just delighted when they did.

Can I get a picture of you, Anna?

No. I'm too busy.

The kids leaving the Polar Express exhibit. They posed for this picture only because we were about to enter the gift shop.

Jonathan with the seal that he liked so much that he overcame his disgust at the little slimy fish for the first time. I think only one of the fish made it to the seal. They have some very aggressive local birds that steal the fish.

His "I'm gonna puke" face.

Jonathan discovered those penny machines for the first time as we left the park. You put 51 cents in and get a flat, embossed penny as a sovenier. He says next time he is going to bring lots of two quarters and one penny and get lots of flat pennies. It's his piggy bank.

Orange Cake with Vanilla Bean Buttercream

My Dad's 65th Birthday. With Jonathan, Justine, Trystan, Serisa (Justine's BestFriend) and Anna.

Vanilla Bean Buttercream Frosting:

10 Tablespoons of Butter, unsalted (1.25 sticks)

1/2 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise (Use paring knife to scrape seeds from vanilla bean)

1.25 cups powdered sugar

pinch salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 Tablespoon heavy cream

Beat butter and vanilla seeds together. Add sugar and salt, mix. Add vanilla extract and cream, and beat about 4 minutes, scraping bowl often until light and fluffy.

**We have to quadruple this recipe to get enough frosting for a three layer cake.

Orange Cake:

1 Duncan Hines Orange Supreme Cake Mix

1 box vanilla instant pudding mix

4 eggs

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 11 oz can mandarin oranges, drained

Combine ingredients, mix well, pour into 3 round cake pans and bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Next time, we will probably try to lower the temperature to 325. I think the cake could have possiblybeen moister... But it was pretty darn good. And had it been moister, I am not sure the layers would have held together as well. Dave actually made the cake and frosting for me, I just frosted it. :) Anna insisted that we have orange frosting since that is my Dad's favorite color. They were all out of orange tint, so we had to mix lemon yellow with red... Jonathan remarked that it was not orange, but yellow. So, I sprinkled some orange sugar on top.

25 Things about Jamie

(by Dave)
1. She is extremely sensitive to others' feelings and moods.
2. Due to being so sensitive to others' moods, she is sad whenever anyone around her is sad.
3. She uses the snooze button.
4. She needs coffee in the morning to wake up.
5. She only likes coffee if she doesn't make it herself.
6. She always reads the last page of a novel first.
7. She can read an entire novel in a day if it is good.
8. She can read twice as fast as a normal person.
9. She always remembers everything she reads.
10. She never remembers movies that she's watched.
11. She is a super mom.
12. She recognizes, understands and appreciates everything about our children.
13. She loves the children because of the weird things they do and say, not despite of the weird things they do and say.
14. She can multitast like no other. She has no problem talking on the phone while driving, emailing, texting, playing with our kids or working.
15. She decorates beautiful cakes.
16. She is the most talented cook I know.
17. She remembers all of the grammar and spelling rules in the English language. Yes, all of them. In fact, she can't ignore people's mistakes. I'm sure she's found a few mistakes in this list already. Maybe by the time you read this, she'll have already fixed them.
18. She is beautiful with and without makeup.
19. She always flosses at least once a day.
20. She never wants her feet covered when she sleeps, except maybe with socks.
21. She sings to help our kids go to sleep, but she won't let me listen.
22. She always knows the proper etiquette for any situation.
23. She loves teaching kids.
24. She has fibromyalgia, so she is almost always in pain. Some days the pain is really bad, but she never uses it as an excuse.
25. She has always forgiven anyone who asked and she never holds grudges.

A-N-N-A

Anna wrote her name the other day! I am very proud!

Nightmare

Jonathan came busting into our room about 2 AM last night, crying in the way that jolts a mother awake like no other. I was sure he was hurt, or sick, or being attacked by some sort of household beast, or what??? As he made his way to my side of the bed, he bawled loudly, "But I don't want to play football!" I grabbed him and hugged him and said, What, what, buddy, are you okay?, (and also, what? WHAT?)
He got into bed (taking my pillow and my spot in the process). In between huge, heaving sobs, he would take gulps of air, and explain a little more. Apparently, he had a nightmare, during which we signed him up to play football. More specifically, his Daddy had signed him up to play football with other children. On a team. Running around. Outside.
I tried my best not to laugh out loud as I soothed him back to sleep, telling him it was just a bad dream, we would never make him play a sport that he did not want to play, and more specifcally, Daddy would never force him to play football.
If being forced to play team sports is a profound fear of his, God placed him in the right family. Dave is the LAST father in the world that would dream of forcing his son into a football league. He has no childhood sport glory to relive through his children. I was never on a team sport, and I would probably have required therapy as a child if my mom had put me on one. She was always trying to help me out of my shell, with dance class (a failure for me, but it was nice of her to have given me the opportunity) but I think she was wise to never try this. Every single recess period or PE class for my entire childhood, until high school, when I enrolled in Weighlifting for my one PE elective required to graduate, was a heart-pounding, humiliating experience for me. I was terrified of the ball (ANY type of ball, ANY type of game) and my main object was to avoid the ball at all costs. Dodgeball was hell. Then games like kickball were terrible also, because avoiding the ball was a cruel paradox, because not being picked to handle the ball was social rejection, and exactly the type of negative attention from my peers I was trying to avoid. But then when it was my turn, I would inevitably fail, and my team would be disappointed, so all attention would be focused on me (which for any reason, good OR bad, in elementary school, was unbearable for me) and it was just awful. When I hear the term painfully shy, I understand it on a highly personal level. Thank goodness some of it went away with age, I learned to cope with it or hide it in other ways, and that adulthood has different requirements than childhood. I am not forced, 5 days a week, to play team sports. I am VERY grateful that this is a difference adults enjoy. Of course, if either of my children love team sports, I would completely support them and would probably be able to overcome my fear of all balls to cheer them on. But given my childhood, I would NEVER allow my husband to force my children to participate in team sports. Luckily, I married Dave, so this is not an issue. I am sure he had similiar issues with recess.
And for those of you who are reading this and thinking, WOW! They have clearly done a great job of not passing their fears on to their child, you must know that I have simply encouraged them both to be who they already are. We haven't spent any time brainwashing them against sports. Jonathan's physical issues make participating in competitive sports, such as soccer, impractical. Too much running. He obviously participates in PE and recess at school, and is given ample opportunity to be physically active after school. He is lean and in great health. I have been advised to get him involved in something such as swimming or martial arts if we (him and us both) want to put him in sports. Whether Jonathan intuitively understands that he is slightly limited, or his personality simply makes it not his thing, he does not want to be signed up for sports. He has always protested at the thought of it.
So, anyways, his nightmare will not come true. We (or Daddy, rather) will never take him to a field at night and force him to play football with other children.

Christmas 2009

Finally... an angel for the top of our tree! For years, we have tried to find something that will go on top of the tree (and stay on top of the tree). Every year we pick something out, bring it home, and promptly take it back to Target. But this year, Anna made this angel at preschool, and it is perfect!

Making the annual Magic Oats for Santa's reindeer.

Jonathan posing by the stockings. This was the first year we had stockings. Dave and I didn't plan well enough and forgot to get anything for our stockings. Anna was pretty mad at Santa Claus for only filling the kids' stockings and not the adults' stockings. She was also pretty upset when it started to rain on Christmas day. "It NEVER rains on Christmas. It is just not SUPPOSED to! It just can't rain on Christmas!"

The kids wouldn't touch any of their presents until I opened all of mine. How sweet is that? Anna was so proud to suprise me with a photo Nona had taken of her with Santa. She kept it a secret this whole time. The kids also both wrapped up one of their special bears to give to me. And I got a very nice bracelet that Dave and the kids picked out for me.

Anna trying out her princess game.

Anna playing with Jonathan's Batmobile.

Me doing a Star Wars puzzle with Jonathan.

Anna showing off her Connect 4 game.

Snuggled up with her baby doll, which she named Frosty the Snowman. Nona got it for her, and it is her favorite gift, because it came with all the baby equipment that Ella (her baby cousin) has.

Jonathan with his educational electronic map that Nona got him. I think he was giving Biscuit and Mutton some schooling. (For those who don't know, Biscuit and Mutton, although regularly featured in our family blog and pics, aren't actually our Shi Tzus. They belong to my Mom, and we just keep them sometimes. It is really nice, because I can have dogs without really having to have dogs.)



2009 has brought with it a lot of sorrow and trials for our family, but also joy and blessings. I guess this could be said of any year, but I think it seems more so this year than any other. We lost my stepdad Ed at the end of February. He was a great man and left a great hole in our lives. I still miss him every day. In July, we were overjoyed at the arrival of our beautiful and miraculous niece, Ella Hope. Life is like this, a lot of bitter, followed by a lot of sweet. Thankfully so.

2009 In Random Review

I went back through 2009's files, clicked on the first file for each month, and uploaded the first picture in that file. So this is pretty random... Above: December, our little scientist at work at his school's Science Night.

November, Anna fell asleep with her nebulizer treatment going. She had a bad croupy cold.

October, trying out Lara's vanilla bean frosting. Our first experience baking with real vanilla bean. Dave said it was the best frosting ever.

September, a picture I took of Jonathan's artwork (that I think was actually painted this summer?)

August, fun at Nona's pool. Jonathan was helping Biscuit out of the pool. Those dogs look so ugly cute when they are wet!

July, again at Nona's. Biscuit is in the shopping cart, apparently wearing clothes. Trystan, and Anna, and Justine, with her sweet friend Serisa over.

June, Anna being silly. I think these were some of the pre-dental work pictures we took. They did an amazing job fixing her teeth with porcelain crowns. The crowns, and accidentally washing our poor cat in the washing machine and running up a large vet bill, were two of our big expenses that summer.

May... some of the cases for nursery at out church. Our church went portable this year, and has Sunday services out of a local elementary school. I was probably taking photos of them all packed up so we could remember what went were. This case has the flooring, and the two folding chairs, and the two rocking chairs.

April. Jonathan was going through an anti-photo stage.

March. Dave and I were out on an early date for his birthday. I really think this photo was taken on the last day of February, but I am not sure. I wish I wore makeup more often, did my hair, wore flowers in it... Naaah.

February. Anna conked out on the sofa. I can't remember where we were, but she fell asleep in the car, and then stayed asleep to transition to the couch. Sweet girl.

January. At Fazoli's with our best friends, The Morgans, who came to visit from NC. We were trying to get the future Mr. and Mrs. Henry Morgan to pose together for a pic. Henry was cooperating, Anna was not. Also, about this picture, Dave, have you thought about bringing the beard back?

Happy 4th Birthday, Anna Elizabeth!

Snuggled up on Daddy.

That boo (pacifier was HUGE). Or rather, that baby was TINY.

Right after birth and first bath, which they did right in the room, on the warming table. The best thing about that hospital was that Anna virtually never left our sight, from the time she was born, until we got to take her home on Christmas Eve!

Okay, it's not just me, that is ONE PRETTY NEWBORN! I hated that bruise on her hand, it was from them taking blood.

Awwww.

Me minutes after her birth. Anna was on the warming table, and I was ready to kick someone's butt because I wanted to hold her. (Irrational, yes.)

4 Years Ago Today, at 12:25 AM, my little 6 pound Anna Elizabeth came into the world! We had decided on Anna Grace for her name, but as I stared at her that night (I could barely sleep, because I was so excited to hold my baby girl in my arms! I kept her in my arms the whole night. The nurses pretended not to notice {babies weren't supposed to sleep in the bed with Mommy, but in the bassinet right beside it}) I had a change of heart, and felt that her name was really supposed to be Anna Elizabeth (my middle name also).

After an exceptionally easy and suprisingly QUICK labor, (from the first contraction to the last push, about 5 hours) Anna emerged with just one push.

And she was a GORGEOUS newborn. I just couldn't get over how tiny and beautiful she was... Her dark hair felt like feathers, her skin was butter soft, and she was wide-eyed and awake. She was just so dainty and delicate. And now, she is an AMAZING little girl. We are so blessed to have Anna.

Jon and Anna's 1st Scrapbooking

My favorite!

Anna working on her pages.

My niece Justine is making a scrapbook for someone in her family. She was over yesterday working on it at our house. I found a small scrapbook I have never used, and told Anna she could have it. Then we went to Target today and got Jonathan one. (The binder was fifty cents, the paper was 1.50, and the stickers were 50 cents!) They worked so hard on their books for a long time this afternoon. I got down a box of extra photos from the past 10 years or so, either ones that I had doubles of or that did not make it into my scrapbooks. They each picked a pile of photos. I let them completely organize it themselves, pick out their own stickers, use the cropper, everything. They did a great job! At one point, Anna was looking at pictures of Jonathan as a baby and she was saying, "Oh, he is just so cute!" and she actually started CRYING. Jonathan got very offended, and he told her, "Stop acting like a weirdo girl who likes boys or something!"