More Pictures

It was interesting yesterday just going out and shooting around our yard...When I took the first set of pictures that I posted before, the ice was still pretty solid. By noon when I went out again, it was slushy and starting to melt. We went and ran some errands and by the time we got back, SNOW was covering all the ice...and it was still falling at a good clip. And yes, just by looking at poor Maggie you can tell she's sick. She was out with me(as you can see) for the first round of shots before we left, then we made her stay inside after we got home. Poor girl is not any better, and is still pretty miserable. Please pray that the fever stays low, and this does not develop into anything more serious. She only gets the fever at night, last and tonight, and during the day she's miserable...She landed in my bed about an hour ago(4am) and is complaining of a headache and neck pain. And her temp is starting to creep back up! So i'll wait and check her again at 7am before we decide about school today! So if you could, say a little prayer for her today!!

Ice, everywhere!

Good thing we got new tires over the weekend! yep, that's how I'm starting this post since we've gotten more snow this week than i think the whole winter combined so far...lol, I'm sure I'm exaggerating...we have had quite a bit in the last two weeks, but still NOTHING compared to what ya'll have had in Erie County!
We don't really get "snow" snow here...ours is always accompanied by ICE, and that's where driving gets tricky. One road down the street is now blocked off when it gets icy after a car slid down it, bounced off the guard rail, and landed 6 feet up in the trees of the walking path right below it...yeah...ice, bricks, hills...get the picture? Now no more about how Pittsburgh people can't drive in the snow...lol ;-)
Maggie is coughing worse this morning, but since they canceled school AGAIN, she has an extra day to try and get better! They are so funny about canceling school down here...almost everyone had a two hour delay as of 11pm last night, and then by 7am, it was canceled...I understand why, but it's still odd for school to actually be canceled when we have under 6 inches of snow on the ground...A lot of kids ride the bus, city buses too, and take the city steps (which are never maintained) to catch those buses...And this morning, yea, it's really ICY out! But still, i bet our kids have been off more days this winter than any school district in Erie County, and there have been FEET of snow dumped up there this winter!!
Here are a couple pictures I snapped from our 2nd floor windows...I'm sure the neighbors think I'm nuts, hanging out windows taking pictures of ice, lol...but it's just so pretty. I only wish the sun was out to make it all glisten. Instead I have to deal with gloomy freezing rain...THEN today, back to all snow...it should be fun!

the holly tree in our back yard...the ice looks beautiful on it!

Look what I found when I looked closer at the tree!

She turned around to get a better look at me, not at all bothered by me snapping pictures of her...I figured it was time to shut the window, as it looked like she was thinking my office looked cozier than this branch...

the telephone line leading into the back of the house

generally all you can see is houses out our bathroom window, not today!

the top of one of our trees out front...taken from my bedroom window

Mommmeeeeee....

It is just one word, but when it comes from your child in the middle of the night...you know trouble is a brewing...Yes, you all know exactly what I mean...
It means that no matter how tired you are, how little sleep you were already going to get, you now will be lucky to get any.
It was around 2:30am this morning when I heard the first call come out. It was weaker than normal, so I waited again, thinking maybe it was just in my head. Then the outburst of coughing came, then again...stronger this time "Mommmmeeeee"
She didn't really sleep from that point on...she drifted in and out from the comfort of mommy and daddy's bed. I pulled her out of her room so as not to wake up Fionn, because well really, that would have been too much for me to deal with at 3am! I turned on the Vaporizer in our room AND the waterless Vicks machine and let them try to work their magic. They are wonderful combination that usually get clear up Fionn when he gets congested within two days! By 4, we agreed that it was time for a little medicine. Of course we're out of Mucinex(which i also LOVE) so just the regular dye free Tussin would have to work...
5am came, 6am, then 7. still coughing and complaining...well there goes the plan for school. She has gradually started getting warmer throughout the night and day today, so we're praying for that to cease. IF she develops a fever than it means it's bacterial and no school.
We took her and Fionn both in today(Fionn for his monthly Synagis shot) and Maggie to get checked out. Maggie was diagnosed with an Upper Respitory Infection and my little Fionn weighed in at a whopping 19.5 pounds! He gained almost two pounds since New Years Eve! They said that the way he's growing he will not need the Synagis next season, so let's keep our fingers crossed...It seems everytime he's in the Dr.s Office he's getting a shot of some kind!
So that is where we are right now at 12:50pm. Just another crazy Tuesday.
On a side note, we're asking for Prayer right now for Howard and Kristy as they head off to see their beautiful little one again today! This Ultra-sound is the one that Kristy has been dreading. I pray that they feel the hand of God on them today as they head into their appointment! We also pray for rest for Kristy, and healing for poor little Ben. My heart goes out to you my friend, wrestling a two year old to take medicine is never fun!!
More later, time to make Maggie some lunch!

When Maggie came to stay...

I know you are all wondering "huh"...not OUR Maggie...but Mrs. Shipley's (Maggie's teacher) dog...
So let me start by telling you what I knew about Maggie(the dog) before 2:45pm yesterday...well, I knew only that Mrs. S's dog was named Maggie...that's it, period...Maggie(the girl) has mentioned it multiple times in conversation over the last couple weeks.
So imagine my surprise as she comes running upstairs yelling yesterday "MOM, I got to bring Maggie home for the night!" As she turns the corner into my office, all i see is a little red and black pet carrier...panic starts to set in as I calculate the time before the cats freak and Zilla starts barking...THEN as she walks closer I notice that Maggie(the dog) is one of those "real" pets...the best kind! (Kristy, maybe you can talk the boys into settling for one of those...it was the best mannered pet I've ever owned tonight)
So Maggie(the dog) stayed in her kennel and watched while Maggie(the girl) did her homework and struggled with the spelling word "and" tonight even though she's known how to spell it and has been able to read it for months...After that it was a flurry of excitement as Maggie(the girl) got to brush and take care of Maggie(the dog)
She was sweet enough to even let Fionn pet him(after I washed his hands of course, per the rules) and spent all night snuggling with Maggie(the dog) So here are some "exciting" pictures of our night with Maggie(the dog)

Tagged again by Kristy

I was tagged by Kristy again, so I thought that I better get it done before I forget again. The object is to bold all of the the things on this list that I have DONE already in my life. I guess there is still a LOT left for me to do according to this list before my time here on Earth is up!


Started your own blog

Slept under the stars (many times)

Played in a band

Visited Hawaii

Watched a meteor shower

Given more than you can afford to charity

Been to Disneyland/world

Climbed a mountain

Held a praying mantis

Sang a solo

Bungee jumped

Visited Paris

Watched a lightning storm at sea

Taught yourself an art from scratch

Adopted a child

Had food poisoning

Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty

Seen the Mona Lisa in France

Slept on an overnight train

Had a pillow fight

Hitchhiked(what a LONG story this one is)

Taken a sick day when you’re not ill

Built a snow fort

Held a lamb

Gone skinny dipping

Been to a Broadway show in NY

Ran a Marathon

Been in three states at once(How in the world is this possible) I've been in two countries at once, does that count??

Ridden in a gondola in Venice

Seen a total eclipse

Watched a sunrise or sunset

Hit a home run(on the Wii, but i still count it ;-)

Been on a Cruise

Seen Niagra Falls in Person(hence the two countries at once) Greg and I walked across the bridge back to the US

Visited the birthplace of your Ancestors

Seen an Amish community

Taught yourself a new language

Had enough money to be truly satisfied

Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person

Gone rock climbing

Seen Michelangelo’s David

Sung karaoke

Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt

Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant

Visited Africa

Walked on a beach by moonlight

Been transported in an ambulance

Had your portrait painted

Gone deep sea fishing

Seen the Sistine Chapel in person

Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris

Gone scuba diving or snorkeling

Kissed in the rain

Played in the mud

Been to Grace Kelley’s grave in Monaco

Gone to a drive-in theater

Been in a movie

Visited the Great Wall of China

Started a business

Taken a martial arts class

Swam in the Mediterranean Sea

Visited Russia

Served at a soup kitchen

Sold Girl Scout cookies

Gone whale watching

Gotten flowers for no reason

Donated blood, platelets or plasma

Gone sky diving

Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp

Bounced a check

Saved a favorite childhood toy

Visited the Lincoln Memorial

Eaten Caviar

Pieced a quilt

Stood in Times Square

Toured the Everglades

Been fired from a job

Seen the Changing of the Guards in London(i'm counting this...it was in Edinburgh, but it was still just as amazing at the castle)

Broken a bone

Been on a speeding motorcycle

Seen the Grand Canyon in person

Published a book

Visited the Vatican

Bought a brand new car

Walked in Jerusalem

Had your picture in the newspaper

Read the entire Bible

Visited the White House

Killed and prepared my own meat(and this will NEVER EVER happen)

Had chickenpox

Saved someone’s life

Sat on a jury

Met someone famous

Joined a book club

Lost a loved one

Had a baby

Seen the Alamo in person

Swam in the Great Salt Lake

Been involved in a law suit

Owned a cell phone

Been stung by a bee



So now I am supposed to tag five others and I am tagging:

Angie, Suzie, Kristy K., Nicole...those are the only people that I know that actually read our blog, so we're just going to tag them. Nicole, I know that you don't have a blog, so throw it up on Facebook or in an email!!
I can't wait to read all your answers as well!!

Good Bye Christmas tree

(if you click on the picture it will get bigger)

We have been talking all week about our holiday decorations coming down, and today was the day. I was upstairs on the phone and I came down to Greg having most of the ornaments off the tree already. I held Fionn (so he would not run through the quickly falling needles in his jeep) and Greg and I debated the best door for the tree to go out...When I tell you those needles were falling off fast, i mean they are EVERYWHERE now. So if we go out the front door, then I would have had to move furniture in the living room to get it out, AND then the mess would be all over my living room too! So then we talked about the back door, and while Greg was talking angles, i was dumb enough to say"why don't you just throw it out the window?"
My husband takes me seriously, and while I'm on the phone with Mema goes and gets a saw and starts cutting branches off the bottom to make it fit!! He then picks up the tree, stand and all, and SHOVES it out! He did clean up the mess on the wall and a good part of the needles before he went outside and drug the tree out back. Our tree is leaning against the garage now hopefully keeping a couple little birds warm in this cold!
We continued to clean up our tree mess and Maggie already started putting up her "love day" window clings. Our screen door is completely frozen so she was a little bummed that we would NOT be putting clings on there...And when I say frozen, i mean FROZEN(like our pipes again this morning) The picture below is our door knob, on the INSIDE of the screen door!! Slippers, hats and an extra layer was enforced in our house today! We hope you all are keeping warm as well! We are headed home Saturday morning for a long weekend, so it will be quiet here for a few days!! Until then.

Eight months already...how can that be?

Oh how can it be? It just does NOT seem possible that EIGHT months have flown by in what seems a blink of an eye! Before I know it the next four will be gone and we'll be celebrating! So before he starts RUNNING(without the walker) I thought I would put a little something together, just to remind me of how much he's grown and changed already...
It was amazing tonight just looking back through at all our shots, to see his little cheeks fill out more and more every month. I think it's his feet that put it into perspective the most for me...his big chubby feet that just a few months ago were so tiny and skinny. I wanted to try and include shots that I don't have plastered up all over the blog just for variety. Going back it's amazing to see the sheer volume of shots I have already. For all of you fellow picture enthusiasts, i recommend an external hard drive...then there is LOTS of room for more!! So enjoy our little guy, i know we do! Even when the stinker tries to eat my couch! Another story for another post though!!

Update on Fionn

It was pointed out that I've not mentioned how Fionn is doing, so I thought that I better get that done. Wednesday was his worst day(even including the day of surgery) so far and it looks like we're on the up-swing now. Monday he was groggy from the anesthesia, so he slept most of the day. When he was awake he was fine until it was time to change his diaper. I could tell when the spinal wore off though, he was asleep and woke up screaming. A little love from momma and things were all better again.
Tuesday was not so bad, except the diaper changes. And of course, all the IV fluids have made him poo like nobody's business, so we've had lots of diaper changes. When they did the surgery, they put a little "cap" on it, it looked like a piece of saran wrap to cover it so that it wasn't rubbing against his diaper. It fell off on Tuesday night right before bed, and let's just say you could tell yesterday that he was really feeling it now...We thought about filling the prescription for the Tylenol with codeine, but gave it some time and let the normal Tylenol kick in.
Today was not so bad, he flinches when you change his diaper, and tries to squirm away, but for the most part he's doing much better. On Saturday he can have a bath again, so we'll make it a nice long one and let him play for a bit with some new bath toys that he got. Unfortunately, not too long as we don't want to risk any kind of infection. He should be all healed up within the next two weeks completely.
He's had a lot of attention this week from both Greg and I, so he's reveling in it. Greg is only in class this week, no work, and his class only runs until noon everyday so he's been here to help keep Fionn occupied. Maggie is also loving having daddy here as he's taken her to school in the morning all week before leaving for class so that Fionn and I don't have to venture out in the cold. Thank you daddy, we appreciate it! Tomorrow evening Mema and Pop-pop are coming down for the weekend, so the loving will continue(for both kids) Thank you all for all the prayers and support for our little guy, they have been felt!!

Blog Slacker

I can honestly tell you that since Christmas I have not taken any pictures of my kids...i know, before you all start hunkering down as this must be a sign of the world ending, we've been too busy enjoying each others company(and yes the new Wii might have something to do with it) to actually write a real post OR to take any pictures!
So I'm going old-school on ya...well at least a couple months...Thank you Kristy, you inspired me to actually look around at some pictures I threw in a folder and forgot! SO here are a couple more from Courtney's wedding this summer...For all you family members out there that might want a copy of any of them, or any of the pictures on this blog, just double click and it will blow up. Right click and save as, and there you go...you now have a copy! ( I know i didn't need to tell you Mema, it was for others ;-)

So without further ado, here are a few that stole my heart as I went back and looked through...the bug with her Mema...playing on a bench waiting to go to the reception...

My handsome men, at the reception.

Caught off guard, it does not happen that often, as they know I'm lurking with the camera...Just look at her, this one melts my heart!Daddy giving Fionn smooches at the reception

Little Gramma with Fionn. I just love this one, period.

Tagged

I was tagged by Kristy to go into my 4th folder, find my 4th picture and to tell you a little something about it. So as you can see it was from our not so fabulous family shoot this fall, and this was one of the attempts at a "fun" family picture. I can't complain, everyone's eyes are open, and actually looking, so all in all, a shot of the whole family. I got what I asked for! Usually, once you've been tagged, you tag three other people, but two of the four people that follow our blog have already been tagged, and Nicole does not have a blog, so that only leaves you Angie to tag! So tag, you're it, go to your 4th folder, and pick your 4th picture and blog about it!!

Short, but important...

Hey everyone,
I just wanted to put a quick post together to let everyone know that tomorrow(7:45am) is Fionn's surgery...Nothing major, poor little guy needs to be re-circumcized but he still needs to be put under for it.
We know that it is just a small procedure, but we are asking for prayer none the least. With his lungs still bring pre-mature when he was born, we are nervous about the anesthesia. If there was another way to do it with a local we would probably be less nervous, but they said that they have to put him under.
I know we havn't said anything about this lately to a lot of people, we were just waiting for the time to get closer, and trying not to worry. Well the day snuck up on us, and now it's less than 12 hours away. I know that both Greg and I are balls of nervous energy tonight, and we're really trying not to let that pass on to either Maggie or Fionn.
Maggie is going over to the neighbors for breakfast and they are sweet enough to walk her down to the bus since we have to be there bright and early and she is excited about that, but we know that she's also very worried about Fionn at the same time. So if you say an extra prayer for her in the morning, it would probably help her get through the day a little easier.
We will update everyone in the morning on how he's doing. I'm sure he's going to be pretty sore tomorrow, but we're praying that's the worst of it!! Thank you all, for always keeping us in your thoughts and prayers when we need you the most!

2009...how did you come so fast?

How is it possible that 2008 has come and gone? This time last year, well life was completely different...Most of you have been here for the whole ride, so you know all the changes. It just blows me away that this year is starting off in the midst of yet another small crisis.
I know, in my heart, that no matter what happens with Greg, everything will be fine. Our lives will be changed forever from this diagnosis one way or another, but we will get through it. We gave it ALL to God almost as soon as we became a couple, realizing that through the craziness of our relationship beginning, that only through him would it be possible. So that is what we will continue doing. He has been the captain of this crazy ship so far, so why not trust him now?
In light of the situation we are in, a new situation has arose. We have been going back and forth now for months, and had pretty much decided that we were done having children. I just could not see myself having another within the next two years, and then after that...well, from poddy trained to diapers again a third time, let's not lie, it wasn't going to happen. Greg had discussed and volunteered to get a "snip" and we agreed that when the time was right, that would be the course of action we would take.
Now this situation has arose, and there is something about it that I'm not frightened about. God in his own way, has already told me that this isn't it for us. It seemed odd at the time, in October, when this name just *popped* in my head and I knew that we were going to have another baby. I've struggled with that thought, told myself over and over again that there was no way, that it was just hormones. I discussed it with Greg and we've been mulling it over...we agreed to give it one month(and i will keep that month a secret) and if it happened it happened, if not, well then it was not God's plan. These conversations all happened in October...then the news came last month. Greg was so upset, and even though I was scared for him, there has been a calmness washing over me throughout this entire process. Even if not now, even if the baby is not biologically ours, I feel the presence of the Lord telling me we will make Fionn a big brother one day.
So my hopes for 2009 are: good health for Greg, and some much needed rest for him as well. To watch ours and our wonderful friends children grow, to watch them all blossom into the beautiful little beings they have already begun to be. To laugh, to love, and to continue praising GOD for all the beauty and goodness in our lives. Thank you for continuing to follow our journey, the best is yet to come!!
-Ginger