The Hard September

September was a difficult one for our family this year. We had the unfortunate loss of my mom's sister, my aunt Laurie. She lost her life to addiction at the age of 50. We all knew about her addiction and thought that maybe she would get a good scare that would make her change her life for good. Unfortunately that scare came too late when she found out her liver was failing, which never did regain itself. Eventually it led to her kidneys failing. I was fortunate to spend her final days with her which I am glad now that I had gotten a chance to do. When I knew that her end was near she was all that I thought about so it felt good to be by her side and with my family during all this. We will miss her greatly. I'm also sad to share that I lost an early pregnancy as well this month. It came during a difficult time as we were all dealing with the fact that my aunt was dying. I truly feel that my body was just too exhausted during this time and could not handle carrying such a delicate life. I debated even sharing this news with anyone but decided that it is nothing to be ashamed of and I've accepted the fact that it happened for a reason. It was meant to be and I know we will be blessed again with another beautiful baby again when the time is more right. This month was definitely a lesson on how fragile life can really be.

Also, on a much happier note Tayah started gymnastics this month and she LOVES it!!! Here are some pics taken by her biggest fan, her dad.

Sorry August

Well...I try and get on here to post something, anything at least once a month. Well, sadly it is already SEPTEMBER and I completely missed out on August. The weather is getting cooler at night which feels great for sleeping but it is sad to think that fall is around the corner. Ben is THRILLED as his favorite season starts this weekend, HUNTING. Another year of being a hunting widow. It's okay, after 10 years, I am used to it. I will try and post something later this month as we are getting ready for someones big 3rd birthday...I wonder who that could be?

Photos from July

A Little of This and a Little of That

First off I would like to start by wishing my husband a Happy 5 year Anniversary today!! Yay, we made it to 5 years. Can anyone believe it?? In all honesty it has been a wonderful 5 years and I look at all the stuff we have accomplished in the last 5 years, one big thing being our beautiful and fabulous Tayah and I couldn't ask for anything better than her. Ben and I are sneeking away for the weekend and I am not telling Ben where. I'm leaving that a surprise for Ben but I am looking forward to our weekend together. Secondly, I would like to say I am a little sadened by the news of Michael Jackson's death which we all got news on yesterday. Being a child of the 80's, he was HUGE and such an ICON. I remember listening to "Thriller" and I remember my grandparents buying me his cassette tape when I was in Kindergarten. That was my first real album and I would listen to him all the time on my little red cassette player. I would say he was my first musical interest as child too. So, that is why it was a little shocking to hear the news of his death at only 50 years of age. So that is all I will say about that and that is my little tribute to him cause it truly is a tragedy. Thirdly, yesterday we had our own little scare with Tayah. Last night, after supper, Tayah and I were waiting for my parents to come pick us up to go to my cousins' Tobias and Talia's little summer play. Ben was on the couch watching T.V. and I had just hung up the phone with my parents who had just called to tell me they were on their way to get us. Tayah was goofing around on the couch and was climbing on the back of the couch. I had just told her, before answering the phone, to get down cause she will fall. And just as I hung up the phone I saw her fall off the back of the couch onto the ceramic tile floor. She sorta landed on her left arm and head but it was hard to tell what hit first and where she got hurt. I went over to her to look her over. I didn't see anything so I picked her up and she had finally caught her breathe and started screaming. I brought her into the living room, Ben got up to check on her and as he was getting up I noticed she stopped screaming, her body got limp, and her eyes were closing. I told Ben "She is blacking out." I started bouncing her in my arms to wake her up and handed her over to Ben. Ben laid her on the couch and thought her shoulder looked like it had dislocated. I called my parents, cause they were on there way over, and told them what happened. They immediately left and were planning on meeting us at the hospital. Tayah was still blacking out a little as she was laying on the couch as we were trying to see what was exactly hurting. I just remember telling Ben we need to take her to the hospital to get her checked out. All I could think was that she hit her head and was going unconscious or had gotten a concusion. By the time Ben had picked her up to leave for the hospital she was sorta back to her sorts but you could tell her arm was what was really bothering her. Ben scooped her up and held her as we were on our way to the emergency room. My parents met us there and she seemed to being doing a little better by the time we got there. So, to make a long story short, it was a 2 hour ordeal at the hospital, Tayah hated it until she finally got so tired she fell asleep waiting for the doctor. We had to get two sets of xrays to make sure her left arm was okay and then xrays of her right arm to comapare it to the left arm cause the doctor stilll couldn't tell if there was an actual injury with the first xrays. In the end everything turned out okay. She ended up with a minor bruise on her left temple and a little swollen and bruised shoulder. No concusion, no broken bones, no fractures or sprains. Thank goodness!! She got a little stuffed animal from one of the nurses, several stickers, apple juice and a trip to get ice cream. By the end of the night my parents took us all out for ice cream and you would have never thought anything happened. But when you have a child go limp and black out in your arms that scares you to death and you never can be too cautious over something like that. And now we have pictures of the xrays to remind her not to climb on the back of the couch. Ha!

Tayah's right arm-taken just to compare it to her left arm.
Tayah 's left arm- the one she fell on.

Happy 5 Years Ben!!

Tayah's Pretty Ears

Well, for the last several months Tayah has been asking about getting her ears pierced after discovering that mommy wears these sparkly things in her ears. When she first asked about them I told her if she wanted them she would have to go to the store and get them pierced. She immediately asked "does it hurt" and I told her that it does hurt a little bit and then that quickly changed her mind and that was the last I heard about it. Until about 2 weeks ago she has been asking again, so I explained again what would happen and that it would pinch for a minute. This time the sparkles out weighed the thought of the pain and she was ready to get them pierced. So, this weekend while we were at the mall we went ahead and got it done. She sat so nicely and was so brave. I was quite impressed on how well she handled it. She was a little nervous going into it but was really not afraid. Being bit of a drama queen she did cry a little bit after it all happened but it really was short lived. You could tell she was very proud of them and was happy to show everyone she knew. We first went to visit Uncle Justin who was working across the street from the mall and the first thing she said when she saw him was, "Look, I have earings". Later that day she got to show off her new sparkles to grandma and papa and everyone else at a graduation party. Grandma asked if it hurt and she said, "just a little bit". Such a big girl!!


Tayah "before" waiting very nicely.

Tayah "after" with a little smile and a couple of tears.

Tayah showing off her sparkles later that day.

Butt Naked

So, as I was just updating you all just moments ago on my class reunion I thought my daughter was upstairs for "quiet time" watching Sleeping Beauty. Apparently not. I went upstairs and there is Tayah standing butt naked in front of the T.V. I asked her what she was doing and she told me her clothes were dirty (which they weren't). So, she took it upon herself to take all her clothes off and put them in the dryer (thank goodness she doesn't know how to work the washing machine). What a goof!! Love having an independent almost 3-year-old.

10 Years and Counting

Well, This last month I celebrated my 10 year class reunion at Wild Marsh golf course in Buffalo. We had never really done anything for our 5 year so I was really looking forward to getting everyone together again to see where everyone was at. Ben and I actually had a little cocktail party with some of our high school friends at our house just before the reunion, which turned out to be a nice way to break the ice and to get the party started. I have to say that I do keep in contact with many of my old classmates, we do get together for special events on occassion, and now with the technology of Facebook it is much easier to keep in contact with old friends, which I love. However, there were still some surprises and a few people that were very surprising to see because they have changed sooooo much in the last 10 years (those that were there know exactly who I am talking about) and then there were others that showed up that you were friends with 10 years ago but haven't talked to at all in the last 10 years, but were still able to start back up right where you ended things 10 years ago. It was really alot of fun. My best friend growing up, Lyda, who I grew up living next door to from the time we were 5 to 18 came up from Missouri to stay the weekend with me and to attend our reunion. It was so nice that she got to meet Tayah and to hear about her daughter Ashley, whom were born after we had last seen eachother 4 years ago. I was one that really enjoyed high school and had a lot of fun so I had no hard feelings or hesitations in going to my reunion and really glad that I did. We all had a great time, some of us maybe too great of a time (Ben~ even though he was class of '00. Next time you see him ask him how green #7 is). After the reunion we headed to Perkins for a late night meal (we had two pregnant spouses in our group who needed to EAT), which was funny because a late night at Perkins was totally something we would have done back in high school. It was a great time and I look forward to our 15 year reunion.

The girls of '99: Erin, Sara, Kate, Tara, Kristen, Alicia, Michelle

Tara and Lyda- friends for almost 24 year