Little Tony

I know that most everyone is aware of what happened a month ago yesterday. On Friday, May 11th, my nephew Tony was killed in Iraq when an IED exploded near his vehicle. I have gone back and forth about whether it would be too painful to blog, but then I realized that I want everyone to know what a fine young man Tony grew up to be and the sacrifice he made for all of us. Tony was the oldest of my 5 nephews and surely the quietest. He loved gaming, eating (although it's hard to tell by his small frame!), his family and his country. He hoped to enter law enforcement one day, like his dad. He was a wonderful young man, and God wanted him home. It is hard to know what to type. I know that the pain I feel is only a portion of what my sister, Tony, Kenny, Nicholas, Christina, Samantha and little Tony's mother are feeling. But, we hold on to the knowledge that we know where Tony is. I remember receiving a phone call late one Friday night. It was little Tony calling to say, "Aunt Kelly, I was saved tonight!" I cried that night, just as I did the night my sister called to tell me God had called Tony home. Below, I've included a picture of Little Tony when he was baptized just a few weeks after he was saved. I love this picture because Tony was so happy about obediently following his Lord in scriptual baptism. But, this act is not what saved him-Tony was saved by the blood of Jesus Christ that was shed to cover the sin of ALL mankind. Tony asked Christ into his heart, recognizing that without Christ in his heart, he was facing an eternal seperation from God in Hell. Tony's legacy is that he loved Christ, and he would want every person who reads about his death to know how they can join him in Heaven one day-by simply accepting Christ as their Savior.

All grown up....

I can't put into words the amount of love and pride I have for each of these young men (and calling them men is just weird!). They have served this country with maturity and determination and we are all so proud of you. B, Butthead and Little Kenny-I love you. (For those of you who don't know these three, they are my cousin Brian [Navy], my brother Ken [Army] and my nephew Kenny (Little Tony's younger brother) [Marines]).

But, being a part of this family means that we can only be so serious for so long.... I don't remember who suggested switching hats....

but the result is tooo funny!!! Yeah, about that whole maturity comment.... ;-)

The Girls

While we were in California, Annie, Christina and Samantha played every available minute of every day. Here they are in Sis' back yard (which is currently under construction-just not when I took these pictures). They decided to skateboard on their stomachs across the backyard-whatever. In the back of the yard, you can see "The Pit". That is where a pool used to be, MANY years ago. And there will be another one in that general location in a couple of months.....yah!!!

The girls decided to use the ice chest as a bath tub while playing house outside. That was fine, until they started closing the lid while one of them was inside!! I thought our heads were going to explode!! Needless to say, they stopped!!

Really, I don't know what they were doing, Annie just aske me to take her picture so I did!!

Update time.....

Well, here she is, our little Miss Mia. First, the stats-as of last Thursday, she's 14 lbs., 7 ozs. and 25 1/2 inches long. She has had her LAST eye exam as her eyes have matured to the point that the Retinopathy is gone!! THANK YOU, LORD!! and to everyone who has been praying for her!! She has learned how to spit (the raspberry-type) and is very good at it. Unfortunately, her favorite time to show off her new trick is when she's eating! So, that has been challenging! She's tried all the vegetables and is working on the last meat (beef-blah!) before we head into the fruits. She's interested in her sippy cup and will even bring it to her face (sometimes her mouth, sometimes, her nose or eye, but at least it's her face!) and even take a sip or two. She still LOVES her bottle, but we're working on not taking a bottle after she eats baby food, so we'll see how that goes.... She really likes her new ExerSaucer, even though she falls forward sometimes if we're not careful. She's very strong and is SOOO close to rolling over! The physical therapist visited last week and is very happy with Mia's progress-she's right on track for her adjusted age (4 1/2 months). We saw the Developmental Pediatrician yesterday in Madison and she is also very happy with Mia's progress (considering how early she was, the problems she overcame, etc...). She did say she would like to hear Mia vocalizing more, so we'll continue to work on that. We're finally back on schedule from our trip to California. Mia's back t going to bed around 9pm and sleeping until about 5:30 or 6am. She'll get up, eat and then USUALLY go back to bed....she's also taking 2-3 naps per day of 2-3 hours each. It all depends on where we have to be, etc...but now that the evening schedule os in place, we'll be working on the daytime schedule. She's still on Zantac for her GERD and has shown that she still needs it (when we miss a dose, she will be cranky, gurgley, etc...). Mia will be 8 months old on Friday--it's hard to believe! Recently I went back and looked at the older posts and just thanked God for everyting that He has brought us through.

LOVE those baby rolls!!!!! And chubby cheeks--I just want to SQUEEZE them!!

Such a big girl!

Our Kids....

These are "our" kids-our Teen Discovery group (and some of their friends), anyway. But, I call them our kids....On June 2nd, we packed them all up and headed to Six Flags Great America for the day. The weather was great (just a little rain) and no one got lost, injured or detained by security :-) They are a great group of teens and we are very proud of the way they conducted themselves....even if they did give me grief about taking a group picture :-)

Lordy, Lordy Looks Who's 40!

So, many of you know that I have been raised in a family that is, at times, just not very nice. But, we love each other very much....even when we're not being nice to each other! So, for my husband's birthday, I told him to askfor anything (family rule: Ask for what you want, be happy with what you get...). For years, he has asked for a new truck (we had to get rid of his truck when we got married or we would've had to live in it!). So, her finally got a brand new truck! For his surprise, though, he had to be blindfolded (all I had was a towel)

and led outside.................

where everyone was waiting to yell, "Surprise!" as I handed him the keys to a car.............

and then revealed his new truck! See it? (Scott, didn't see it at first, either. All he saw was everyone around Uncle Scott's work truck.....) It's about a foot in front of Scott, on the ground--it looks like a big rock..... Yep, after many years of being patient, he got a brand new Matchbox truck!! He really fell for it too....aawww, poor Scott! He's a good sport though and enjoyed the rest of his party!

School's over-time to blog!

My cousin Sarah sent me this picture from her wedding. Annie was 4 years old! She looks so small! But I thought I would blog it because she is just so cute! The girls are doing well. Annie is finishing up 2nd grade and we're getting ready for summer. Scott and I are done with school!!! We are NOT taking summer classes and after the year we've had, yeehaw!! Mia is doing well, also. She's sleeping through the night. She's actually been doing that for about a month solid, and had done it sporadically for about a month before that. Ocassionally, especially if her nighttime routine is off, she'll get up at 4 or 5, but she goes right back down for another 3-4 hours. Some of the time, she goes to bed awake even, but she talks to her mobile or fusses a bit and then she's off to sleep. The daytime routine does not go so smoothly, but we're working on getting her on a schedule. She reminds me so much of Annie, who was a cranky baby until I got her on a schedule and then she did great. So, now that I'm done with school, I can concentrate on that! On April 26th Mia had what we thought would be her last eye exam. But, we have to go back in June. Her eyes showed no change this time. But, at least it's 6 weeks between appointments. She's getting bigger, though and she kicked the nurse in the face while she was trying to hold Mia down for the exam-oh well!! :-) She said she was used to it, though. I think Mia is just about ready to roll over. She rolls from her back to her side but then goes back on her back, but I'm sure it will be soon. PT comes this Friday.....

Mia started cereal on Aprl 28th. It is weird to think that she would be big enough. But some things she does based on her actual age (7 months today!) and other things she does based on her corrected age (4 months on the 23rd). So, her doctor said we could try and so we did. She started off with rice ceral (which is actually devoid of any taste-I tried it.) Now, she's moved on to carrots (her favorite), peas and oatmeal. Tomorrow we'll be trying squash. She also gets a few sips of white grape juice mixed with ALOT of water. She lets most of it just run out of her mouth, but when she sees the cup, she'll actually grab it and try to bring it to her mouth. In the first picture, I was trying to get a picture showing her bib and she wouldn't help, so Scott held her hand for me...she thought that was funny!

This is her first actual bite and she tried to take the spoon out! At first it was alot of feeding her the same bite over and over, but she's getting better now. She does great at breakfast, and OK at lunch. We're sticking with the two meals for now.

Mia did pretty well......

but when she was done, SHE WAS DONE!! One thing we never have to worry about is wondering if Mia needs something. She always lets us know!!

Mia's getting really good at bringing her hands to her midline (very important developmental step-at least that's what the physical therapist said!). She's even started holding onto some toys-though not always purposefully-and bringing them to her mouth. These are her two favorites toy right now.

She also likes to chew on her bib, clothes, burp rags, etc....when her sleepers bunch up in the front like this one did, she'll chew on that too! This particular outfit is dedicated to Uncle Tony-when my sister was here last, she found this sleeper with little pink "24"'s and racecars all over it. Mia said, "I love my outfit and I love Uncle Tony, but I'm not so sure about this Jeff Gordon guy..." Thanks Aunt Cathy!!

On May 2nd, we decided that it was time for Mia to sleep in her own bed. She would have been in her bed much sooner, except, well, Mom just wasn't ready. But, then when she started making noise every hour or so and Mom stopped getting much sleep, well, it was time! Now, just so I don't get a bunch of angry comments, she is CHEWING on her little pink baby. She's not being smothered or anything. When she quiets down (yes, we let her cry herself to sleep when she needs to!), I check her to be sure what ever she's decided to chew on (usually her blanket) isn't on her face. She almost always kicks her blanket off, but it's warmer now and she's like a little heater (like Scott and Annie) so she does fine. She just looks so small in her big crib!

This is Mia on May 8th-the first day she went from her buncy seat to her highchair to eat. She hated it (which is why she looks like she's been crying), so we went back to the bouncy seat. What ever makes her happy!!

Curly Top with the Orange Belt....

Lately, Annemarie has been wanting me to curl her hair. It started when she watched the Shirley Temple movie "Curly Top" and then she also decided that she wanted to match her American Girl doll. But, she has been "blessed" with my super straight hair, so we were getting up 15 minutes earlier each day and curling it. My mom mentioned to Annie that her mom (Big Granma) used to roll her hair each night in squishy rollers. Annie said she'd like to try that. So, we bought some, rolled her hair (she only wanted the top done). She slept on them just fine...and then said she didn't want to sleep on them ever again!! So I'm glad I took a picture of her. But, the next morning, we still had to girl the bottom part, so we may just stick with the curling iron! Although, I may have her talked into rolling her hair first thing and then letting it sit while she eats breakfast! And no, I don't have the picture of the next morning....mornings are a little crazy, but I'll try to get one with her hair curly, soon.