Happy Birthday Georgia!

We have been celebrating Birthday after Birthday at our house! It is actually really emotional when I sit and think about each of my children one by one on the day they came into my life. It is kind of nice that they are all so close together because it makes me see what a blessed life I have.

Georgia Janell is one year old tomorrow and we can't believe that it has been that long since our little baby came! She has been such a blessing, to me and Del and the boys. She is such a light in our lives.
Georgia is our only baby that didn't need medical attention right away when she was born, and it was so amazing to sit and hold our new baby together in a quiet room for a while. I will never forget the look on Del's face as he carried that new little pink baby around the hospital room. That memory will always be something I treasure.
Georgia got her name from the brilliant mind of her older brother Wally, who would not stop referring to the baby in my tummy as Georgia. He was calling her that before we even knew she was a girl, and it just kind of grew on us and stuck. Her middle name is after my mom. For the story on just how my labor with Georgia started, (with Wally's help) check out my blog entry called "Memories..."

Georgia is truly a smart little girl. She is definitely an observer. She watches us do everything very carefully, and then when we least expect it, she puts her new found skills to good use. She can already reach up and open some of the doors in our house, she tries to put lids on sippy cups, and hair clips in her hair. She can often be found crawling around with several hair ties and clips caught in the hood of her sweater, where they land after she attempts to put them in her hair. I have been surprised several times, when I am telling the boys sternly to get down from a piece of furniture, I hear a little echo behind me of, "Dit dow!" It is Georgia chiming in with her two cents.

We did have our little medical scare with Georgia before she was a year old. We decided that she just couldn't feel left out of the pack with her brothers on that one. Del and Georgia had a fall on the stairs, and Georgia ended up being life flighted to a children's hospital in the city. We were so blessed and comforted by all the people who were praying for us and five week old Georgia, and we know all those prayers were heard and answered, and our baby's brain injury healed and we were able to bring her home just fine. Thank you so much to everyone who prayed for us! We were overwhelmed with how many people were so concerned.

We are so grateful to our our sweet, but determined little girl in our family. I can't wait to see what kind of woman this girl becomes. She is definitely eager to try everything, and has a little stubborn streak in her. I am so glad to be the mom of this little girl! Happy Birthday Georgie!!!

So They Swam and They Swam...

Wally and Will have been so excited! They got their first and probably only type of pet that they will ever have. Fish! They are both some sort of goldfish and we named them Bob and Ben.

Wally and Will have just been thrilled by these fish. Wally draws pictures for them and when we leave home they can't wait to get back to check on the fish.
It is kind of sad for these little guys swimming around in the tank at the store with a sign in front of it valuing their lives at 27 cents. But that is 27 cents well spent when it will entertain your kids for so long!

Let's hope for some long goldfish lives!


Update....

R.I.P.
Ben the fish passed away this afternoon, after a fulfilling life of probably around a week and a half.
(we gave it our best shot)

Our Trip To D.C.

Del and I recently got back from our trip to Washington D.C. We stayed with my cousin Jennifer and her husband Will for a couple of nights, and then in dowtown D.C.
We had such a good time! Jennifer was an amazing tour guide. This girl knows her stuff! She made sure we hit all our must sees and then some. We can't thank her enough! It was so fun to get away. I love history and we got our fill of that, and we got to catch up with Will and Jen.
Spending a few days with Del was also nice. My mom and dad were so great, and flew in to watch our kids for us. Knowing they were in such good hands, and having such a nice trip, I wasn't ready to come back to reality!

This is an absolute picture marathon! But we all know I will never get around to scrap-booking all of this, so I better record it all here!

Us in front of Mount Vernon

Standing by the Potomac






Del at the Pentagon. This is a memorial for all those soldiers lost in Iraq. Touring the Pentagon was so neat. Jennifer's friend was able to get us in and show us around. It is pretty amazing! So many people walking those confusing hallways. It is a city within a city. Post offices, banks, restaurants, dry cleaners, you name it. We also got to see the memorial chapel for those lost on September 11th, but I didn't take pictures inside. It was very touching to be standing where lives were lost.
Giving our Department of Defense press conference.

Me and Jennifer enjoying the cherry blossoms.


Changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

The Arlington National Cemetery amphitheater. How convenient is this seat?

Arlington House up on it's hill. The home of Robert E. Lee.I loved this house! The history was so much fun to learn about! It was so cool inside.

The Lincoln Memorial


Me and Del in front of the Washington Mall.

The Vietnam War Memorial


Spring had sprung in D.C. I loved these trees!
The Korean War Memorial. "Freedom Is Not Free."

World War II Memorial


The Washington Monument

This was so cool! Jennifer talked to a man on the street in front of the White House, and he told us that we could get tickets to go inside the gates to a garden tour. We were right up close to the White House, walking the garden and listening to a band play in the outside rotunda. It was one of my favorite things on the trip. The grounds were so pretty!


Me and Del in front of the Rose Garden


Del in front of the Oval Office.

The President's view.

A little Presidential basketball anyone?

Maybe some tennis?

Me with my gigantic popsicle, with the Capitol Building in the distance.

Well, that is our trip. We also went to the Holocaust Museum, but you can't take pictures there. That was overwhelming, and emotional. It is worth a trip to memorialize all the victims, if you get a chance!
Thank you so much, Del, for such a nice trip! It was so nice to be with the one I love, without the kids that I love, for a few days! Thanks for being such a trooper, even when you were tired of reading! (Lots to read in Washington D.C.) Love you forever!

A Few More Of Wally's Greatest HIts

It has taken me some time to cope with the potentially horrendous outcome that this story could have lead to, so I have not written it down. But now that some time has passed, I can post it without almost crying. So I will document yet another thing for Wally to read when he is one day dealing with his own crazy five year old boy or girl.

I was folding laundry in the family room. I could hear Wally and Will playing up in Wally's room. All seemed right with the world. My doorbell rang. I answered. There is man with a startled look on his face and his car stopped in the middle of the road standing there. He hands me a book. I recognize the book as one of Wally's. He says," Your kids are on the roof."

Long story short. Me, heart-attack. Shut door, and run upstairs. By this time Wally, off roof. Will, not hanging out window. Man, standing on my front lawn looking up at me like I should be in jail. Me, saying thanks, I will take care of it. Me bawling my head off, asking Wally if he is crazy, calling Del hysterical, calling mom feeling like a failure. Del, using ladder to collect items thrown out onto roof by boys. Me debating packing a bag for the twenty to life I will surly be looking at for child neglect, and or, negligent homicide. Now, breathing sigh of relief I have not seen or heard from startled man with book again. One DCFS visit, enough for one year.

Nothing life threatening in the next story, and in some parts of Appalachia, probably even considered the norm.

I was putting Wally in the tub. His favorite. He was very excited and had stripped completely naked. He loves to play with plastic whales and sharks in there. While my parents were here they bought him a new killer whale. He couldn't find it and asked me if I had seen it. (Keeping track of my children's favorite toys could be a hired out full time job at our house.) I told him no, go down stairs and check around. I filled the tub, got Will undressed and towels laid out. (Okay, I kind of forgot he was looking for the whale.)

He came back up to the bathroom, and said, " Mom, I looked all over for it. I looked down in the basement, in the toy drawer, outside...."

I said, "Did you say outside?"

He said, "Yes."

I said, " You are totally naked! You can't go outside naked! I'm sure the neighbors saw you."

He said, "Yeah, but I was just by the garage.

Again, DCFS anyone?

Tiny Tantrums

Today has been rough for Georgia, just a touch ornery. So, I followed her around with the camera knowing that the following would happen:

First tantrum (I set Georgia down.)

Tantrum two ( I wouldn't let her touch the DVD player)

Tantrum three ( I don't remember the cause)

Continuation of tantrum three

Finally worn out. All that emotion will take it right out of a girl.