Happy Birthday, Baby Boy!!!!!!

It seems like just yesterday that my son was born.

Truth be told, I learned more from my son in his first week of life than I have ever learned as a parent.

When he was born, he had fluid on his lungs and was immediately put in the NICU.  For almost 7 long days, he stayed there...it was so hard not having my son with me during that time  It was insane.

In that week, I learned that through the toughest trials in life, you have to have faith, love and hope...and if you have those things, you will always find your way through even the darkest storm.

Today, we celebrate two wonderful years with our baby boy, who is now a healthy, handsome little guy.  I promise to spend every single moment of my life loving him.  

I feel so very blessed to have been trusted with such a precious life.

Happy Birthday, Baby Boy!!  I hope your cake tasted good!  Mommy loves you!!!

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Random Ramblings...

Sometimes, life comes at you rather quickly...over the last two years, life has had some very unexpected twists and turns.  I had a son in the NICU, while I was admitted to a different hospital with post partum pre eclampsia....then, one of my VERY close family members had a surgery with a scare of cancer...after that, my father had a heart attack Thanksgiving morning of last year, followed by another heart attack, a half dozen surgeries and almost 2 weeks of life support....my precious, dearly loved, cherished best friend, Beth passed away...as did Joe's grandma, who raised him from a wee babe...to tell the truth, it just hasn't seemed to end...although, despite it all, I feel as if I have been so resilient the last two years, I have somehow remained so strong.

Just in the last few weeks, I had another life changer which has required adjusting to an even newer normal.  Let me preface this by saying that I completely understand most people have jobs that change every so often...but, for me, I have been with the same company since my Junior year in college (almost 8 years).  Until very recently, I have also had the same boss.  Well, that changed a few weeks ago...and with that, so did my work load and responsibility.  See, I don't want to go into too much detail, but, let's just say, one blog post a month is about all I can find time to do right now.   I am just...too...busy with work.

However, I am excited to announce my littlest babe, my boy, will turn two next week...yes, in one week, I will celebrate two wonderful years with my son...however, I will look back on two years of life coming at me unexpectedly and also celebrate my ability to stay strong during some very hard times...and, I will celebrate one year of blogging.

In one week, my boy will be TWO and my blog will be ONE...wow!  Where does the time go??

I promise, I will post at least one blog post next Friday...even if it is just one picture of my boy blowing out his candles...this was the first picture EVER posted on this blog...almost 1 year ago:

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30 Pints...

I am always impressed when people choose to give of themselves so selflessly.

When people donate blood...they are saving lives while expecting nothing in return except for a few sugary snacks and some soda.

When people donate blood...they are saving lives of people whom they have never met.

When people donate blood...someone, somewhere will appreciate that person whom they have never, ever met.

When I donate blood...I feel amazing knowing that I, alone, helped to save up to 3 lives.

When we held our blood drive Thursday night in Memory of our Dearest, Beloved, Beth Kearse...we raised over 30 pints of blood.

When we held our blood drive...we potentially saved 90 lives.

I am so proud of our girls, our community and our parents....without this group, without Beth choosing to do this last year...none of this would have been possible.

Thanks to EVERYONE who came out in support of our blood drive.  You guys truly ROCK!!!!

By the way, our troop is going to sponsor this drive every year from here on out...I can't help but think if we do this every year, in 10 years we can save at least 900 lives.  What an awesome feeling!

Oh, and if you aren't local, please consider donating your blood today at a local blood drive.

Thanks and I hope everyone has a GREAT weekend!

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Envy and Guilt!!

A few weeks ago, Eva failed her vision screening (she was 20/30, 20/40 and 20/50) during her physical.

She finally got in to see vision doctor today (I think it was called an optometrist)....and well, she failed her eye exam.

So, she gets glasses...she is far sighted, but it is bad enough that she will still need to wear glasses all the time for now...maybe forever...and I am a little envious.

I must admit, I faked an eye exam when I was 11 because I wanted glasses so badly (I wanted to not only BE smart, but LOOK smart, too).  I was diagnosed as being far sighted, and I probably am a little bit, but man, I really pretended like I couldn't focus when I read.  I got a nice pair of glasses that I was supposed to wear when I read...I looked so smart...but, they were so strong that when I wore them, I had to really focus hard and I would get a seriously bad headache.  So, needless to say, I did a lot of homework in my room so that my father wouldn't ask why I wasn't wearing my glasses.

Fortunately, Eva is super happy about it...we ordered her a nice pink pair of glasses (which will be ready next week just in time for school) and bought her a princess case for them (which she brought home today).

At least my baby will see now..not that I had ever realized she couldn't see before.  I had no clue!  So, aside from being a little jealous that she gets to wear glasses, I also feel a little bad that I never realized she needed them.

Well, I guess I will get over it...both the envy and the guilt.  :)

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A Guest Post...Revisited

So, after a long night of ups and downs, highs and lows, and then more lows, I felt the need to express, again, my undying loyalty to my most favorite football team, the Redskins.


As the regular season approaches, and we are still seeing double digit losses, I felt the need to remind everyone why, exactly, I love the REDSKINS!


I did this gues post a few months ago over at Ian's blog, so I thought I would post it here...now that we have had our first official loss of the pre season:

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The Story Behind a True Fan

I am sure most of you have birth stories of your own you like to tell…most of which are probably stories of how your own children were born.

Me, I like to tell me own birth story (narcissistic any?)…it is a story that contains deep ties to a life long commitment of trust, loyalty, and undying love.

Here it is…in a very big nutshell…

It was September 1979…my mother was 2 weeks over due with her second child, me.

Miserable, hugely overweight, swollen, and, more than likely in her worst mood ever, my mother decided, being the avid ‘Skins fan she is, to spend her Sunday afternoon watching the Redskins first season game versus the Houston Oilers.

Obviously, I don’t recall exactly how the game went (after all, I wasn’t even born yet), but I know the Redskins were leading by a point or two in the last few minutes of the game….apparently, Houston scored a last minute field goal to take the lead.

In that moment, my mother jumped up out of anger and disappointment.  When she hit the ground on her way back down her water broke…I was born the next day, following the Redskins first loss of the season.

Now, without going into too much detail, let’s just say my mother isn’t the ‘most pleasant person’ to be around…So, along with a lifetime of traditions, there is one thing Redskin’s losses have done for me…I credit this particular ‘Skins loss with getting me ‘the hell up out my mamma!”  So, I don’t mind them losing…consistently…or, that they haven’t led their division since my first child was born, in 1999.  That’s all OK…and I still consider myself a true fan.

With that, you have the realest, most genuine reasoning behind being a true, die hard Redskins fan…win or lose (preferably lose)!

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So, see, win, lose, or whatever, I still love my Skins...now, I would love for them to give me FREE season tickets for my story...seriously!  I think it's worth the publicity I give them!  :)

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Hair Cuts, Pink Skirts, Bras and....Barf!

Tomorrow my oldest daughter turns eleven!  Since she is going to Middle School in less than a month, I wanted to take her to get her hair cut and then styled for her birthday.  Since tomorrow will be a busy day, I decided to take her to get it done today.

I must say, it was well worth the $65 we paid ($80 including tip....$100 including the nice shampoo and conditioner I got her).  I love it...and so does she.  I think she felt like a princess.

While she was getting her hair done, the rest of us decided to shop. First, I got Eva this awesome pink skirt that she adores...then, I decided I needed to grab a few new bras for myself.  Well, after about five minutes in the bra section, Bub barfed...all over the place, all over the carpets, all over the bras, all over himself.  How long can GERD really last in a child anyways?

Let's just say, while we had planned on eating at Chili's, we opted for carryout instead.

But, Victoria does look beautiful!





What she doesn't know, is I also decided to get her a cell phone..*Shhhhh* don't tell her!!!!!!!!!!

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Long Time Coming...

So, I know it's been like, FOREVER, since I wrote a post.  It isn't that I don't LOVE blogging, it is just that I haven't had much time to write anything.

Let's see...in the last month and a half we have done so much.

We started our Summer break!

We went to Pennsylvania to visit my Nana and her family.

We went to Savannah, GA.

We battled fleas in and around our house (we have won that battle, so far).

The girls went to Vacation Bible School.

I got COMPLETELY caught up on work...something I haven't been able to accomplish since my father's heart attacks last Thanksgiving, and got even harder to do after Beth passed away.

We planned a trip to take my father to Ohio to his class reunion, which will happen next Friday.  He still can't drive long distances, and he really wants to go, and I am so pleased that I get to do a little 'pay back' for all he has done for me and my family.  So, we are going on a good old family road trip..with grandpa.  We are going to ride a sightseeing train while we are there and get to see where my dad grew up.  I am very excited about taking this trip with him!

On a final note...it's Birthday season around these parts.  We had or will have, in order, a July Birthday (Joe), an August Birthday (Vic), a September birthday (Your's Truly) and an October Baby (Jr)....yup, and Eva, our March babe, is our only non monthly sequential birthday.  ...and yes, only a true nerd like me would even pay attention to that.

Well, it's good to be back...and I hope to be around more frequently.

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Happy Graduation, Baby!!!!

Today is a BIG day...my first baby is graduating from 5th grade today!  Woohoo!!!!

I am so excited for her....as for me, yeah, I feel a little (ok,a LOT) old today!

We went out yesterday to buy her a new dress/shoes for the BIG day!  I also let her pick out her own graduation present.  She chose a beautiful set of pearl jewelry (thank goodness it was on sale for 40% off...gotta love good old JCPenney) that matched her dress.

I think she looked like a princess this morning...and I am pretty sure she felt like one, too.

Here's to many more graduations in our future!

Way to go baby!!!  Mommy is SOOOOO proud of you!!!!

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Buckle Up...

I don't have much time to write this, but I wanted to write this right away.

This morning I found out that a 17 year old local girl died yesterday in a car accident.  From what the reports said, the girl's father was driving his vehicle when he swerved right, then over-corrected, then rolled.  The girl was ejected from the vehicle and she died at the scene.  Reports also note the girl was not wearing a seat belt.

This is all too familiar in our community.

I have to admit something...I have admitted it before to people, but haven't yet on my blog.

Beth never wore her seatbelt.  She always said, "I'm too fat to wear my seatbelt."    She wasn't wearing one the night of her accident.

She only rode with me a few times, but each time she did I would say something to her about it....but, there isn't a part of me that feels like I pushed her enough to wear her seatbelt.  Since she has been gone, I have had an overwhelming sense of wanting to start a campaign in our community to promote the consistent use of seat belts.

I will not say that had Beth been wearing her seatbelt that she wouldn't have died...I know seat belts don't ALWAYS work...but, I still can't help but wonder, had she been wearing it, would she have lived.

What I will say, is that now, knowing our community has lost a child (yes, a 17 year old child) to another auto accident where seat belts weren't in use, I feel the need to start this campaign more than ever.

My heart goes out to the father who just lost his daughter...I will be praying for him and his entire family as they mourn this loss.  I will pray that he doesn't live in constant guilt and blame.  I will pray that he has comfort and that he knows his daughter is in the BEST hands she could possibly be in.

For all of those reading this, please please err on the side of caution...choose to protect your life as best as you can when you get in a car.

Just, Buckle up...if not for yourself, then for Beth and for this child and their families...and for your own family.

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Facebook...and another LONG post!

So, a few weeks ago my friend Shawnee asked me to look at some pictures of hers on Facebook.

After years of going against the societal grain of joining such a social network, I caved (Thanks Shawnee)...well, if you don't know already, when I moved to the country I moved from my hometown and left an 'old' life behind me.  There was so much stuff I wanted to leave behind and not have to subject my children to...you know, that fast paced, suburban world that can open you up to too much at a young age.  So, I sold the townhouse and bought a nice little house in the country.

I love it here...really...and since I have been here, I haven't had much of any knowledge of a prior life (except for family, of course).

However, the other day on Facebook, I got a friend request.  It was from Victoria's Dad...nothing big there...I am already friend's with his wife (who is an awesome lady expecting their second child in a few months).  I accepted his request...but, then, about 10 minutes later, I got a message.  It was from a guy that was/is a good friend of his.  Well, to put it nicely, this friend of his and I didn't get along too well towards the end of our relationship...and, well, he asked me if I still "hated' him...LOL!  *For the record, no, I don't hate him, or ANYONE, for that matter...hate is such a vile thing to carry with you through life, and I REFUSE to have any of it!  Although, I do really hate liver and sauerkraut!!*

Then, not even 15 minute after I responded to him, I got another friend request...from a guy who dated my ex best friend...in MIDDLE SCHOOL.  Well, I mean, I have known him for a long time, but still...HOW THE HECK did all this come about in a matter of 20 minutes?

So much for being incognito in a Facebook world!!!

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