30 Things: Day 3

Today is Day 3 of Thirty Things and today’s question is:

3. Describe your relationship with your parents.

 I am really lucky that I have a great relationship with my parents.  I think growing up I was closer to my parents then most kids.  I actually hung out with my parents on a Friday night (by choice) and enjoyed it.  Growing up, especially in the high school years my parents were strict, mainly my father.  I wasn’t allowed to date until I was 16, I had a curfew even when I was home on college break and every boyfriend I dated my parents had to meet him before we went out on a first date.  No boys were allowed in my bedroom.  The first “boyfriend” allowed in my bedroom was Daniel and that was after we were married and we had to stay at my parents during the blizzard of 2010, because our power was out for days.

My dad is a retired police officer and he was the Police Chief in our local town.  Everyone in our County knew him, I may or may not have been let off of a few speeding tickets because of my last name. In high school though I was a goody-goody.  I had friends who were honor society members, we didn’t drink,  we didn’t smoke.  I was a virgin until college. I was always so scared that I would get caught.  The last thing I wanted to do was disappoint my parents.

I talk to my mom almost every day, sometimes multiple times a day.  If there are days I don’t call, she’ll call me just to make sure everything is okay.  My mom and I are alike in a lot of ways, but in many ways we’re different.  My mom’s simple, she only wears make up on special occasions, she is not a fan of dressing up and she only owns maybe five pairs of shoes total.  I am far from that.  I always get told I take after my Aunt Bonnie more then my mom when it comes to fashion.   I think I am like my mom’s when it comes to a love of entertaining, cooking and her sensitive personality. My mom has always been my biggest cheerleader.  She made it to every single softball game from T-ball on, she didn’t miss a school concert or dance recitals and she was by my side when I was in labor with Cecilia.  She is always there if I need someone to talk to and she’ll tell me if I am in the wrong in certain situations. 

I am very lucky to have the relationship I have with my parents.  I hope one day Cecilia can say the same about Daniel and I.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

Cecilia Is Going To Be A Big Sister

It’s official all of our families know about baby number two.  When I originally found out I was pregnant, Daniel didn’t want to tell our families until after my first doctor’s appointment which was June 12^th at the time (I managed to get it moved up to June 5^th).  He wanted to make sure everything was okay before we told them .  My feelings differed from his, he didn’t want to tell our families in case something were to happen.  I believe 20% of pregnancies end in miscarriage the first trimester.  I wanted to tell my family so I would have that support in case something did happen. 

I convinced him to let me tell my parents on Mother’s Day and then we could tell his family whenever he felt the time was right.   There was a little more than a week between the day I got the positive pregnancy test and Mother’s Day so I had to figure out a plan quick!  I looked and looked for a shirt for Cecilia on ETSY announcing she would be a big sister, but no one could get one to me in the time frame I needed so I looked online and found a shirt on Cookie Baby Inc’s Website. 

It was perfect for what I needed .  I ordered it and did priority shipping so it would be guaranteed to be here by Mother’s Day weekend.  When it arrived I immediately thought I should of ordered a size or two smaller, because a 4T was way too big. 

  I didn’t have time for exchanges though.  I stuck that baby in the washer with hot water and prayed it would shrink.  It did, but not by much!

Come Mother’s Day trying to convince Cecilia to wear the shirt was not fun.  My girl is a girly girl who loves her dresses and tutus, not a white t-shirt two sizes too big for her.  I had to bribe her with gummies, but eventually she agreed to wear it.  When we first arrived at my parents, my dad was outside grilling by the pool and my mom was inside getting things ready.  I tried to hide Cecilia’s shirt from my dad so he wouldn’t see it before my mom.   When all went inside Cecilia ran to my mom to give her a hug.  As my mom bent down to pick her up she read her shirt.  She looked at me “Really!? Is this true?”

I told my mom, “No we just bought her a shirt saying she’s going to be a big sister for the hell of it.”  Then my mom started crying!  Both of my parents said congrats.  They asked “How far along?” “When is it due?”…  Then my dad told me “Cecilia already told us anyway…”  I was like ‘What!?” He said ‘Yeah, when we had her on Friday night and we were driving over to Pop pop’s (my grandfather), Cici kept on saying ‘Mommy has a baby brover (brother) in her belly!  I have a baby brover (brother) in my belly! Pop pop has a baby brover in his belly!” My mom claimed she didn’t think anything of it, but my dad knew then that I was pregnant.  I know my parents are really excited for us, but like me they are really cautious too.  My mom wasn’t able to get pregnant after me.  She wouldn’t have any problem getting pregnant, but then she would miscarry during the first trimester.  It was really hard and it’s not something I would wish on anyone!

This past Friday Daniel told me he wanted to tell his family this weekend.  He had called his dad and sister, Lauren and arranged for dinner at either our house or my in-law’s house on Sunday.  We were also going down to the beach on Saturday for our anniversary so we would tell his stepfather while we were down there.

Saturday we stopped by his step father’s house before heading to dinner.  I was going to let Daniel decide when to tell him.  Somehow it came up on in conversation about “having more little ones” and Daniel said “Well it’s too late for that..”  His step dad looked at me and said “Are you pregnant?” I shook my head yes.  He gave us both hugs and was happy.  This will be his fourth grandchild.  Daniel has two step sisters and they each have one kid, and of course we have Cecilia.  We asked him not to tell Daniel’s sisters, we wanted to tell them ourselves.

Sunday we had dinner at Daniel’s dad’s.  Since Ci was with us I could use the shirt trick again, except for Daniel’s sister wasn’t expected to be there until 5:30, we got there at noon.  Once Lauren arrived and everyone was sitting down for dinner I had Cecilia put her shirt on.  Once again she didn’t want to put it on, so this time I bribed her with strawberries. {See I am not above bribing my kids!}  Lauren was the first one to notice.  Her reaction? “OMG! Seriously!? SERIOUSLY!?” She was thrilled!  She said “Cici you are going to be  BIG Sister.”  Then Daniel’s dad, Danny said “WHAT?!”  He looked at me, then at Daniel, then read Ci’s shirt and he was like “WOW! Really?” He asked how far along I was. (6 weeks) and whether it was a boy or girl (uhhh way to early to tell!).  Daniel’s dad, step mom and Lauren were sooo excited!

After we got home from dinner, Daniel said “Let’s tell Kim and Tammy too….text them and see if they can skype.”  I texted them and said ‘Hey, Ci has something to show you…can you skype?”  They immediately came back with yes.  So we tried to three way skype for the first time, Tammy lives in southern Delaware (about 45 minutes from us), but Kim lives in Arizona.  The three way Skype  Video didn’t work, because we didn’t have a paid Skype account, but we were able to tell them on a three way Skype conference call.  Cecilia said in her soft voice “I’m going to be a big sister.”  Kim screamed and Tammy was like “Wow!”  After  we announced it, we skyped one on one with each of them to talk to them and show them Ci’s shirt.  They were both really excited!  I think everyone is secretly hoping for a boy since girls are out numbering boys right now and on Daniel’s dad and my parent’s side Cecilia is the only grandchild. 

So now the cat is out of the bag with the family!  We have also told my grandfather and we still want to tell Daniel’s Aunt Pam in person.  We have to make arrangements to see her and her family one night.  We are still waiting until the end of the first trimester to go “public” on Facebook.  I know it’s kinda crazy I am telling the blog world, but not my Facebook friends, but honestly not many of my real life friends even know about this blog and if someone were to find out through my blog or Twitter then they know… it’s not the end of the world!

Cecilia swimming in the shirt!

An Egg-cellent Easter Weekend

We had such a great three day Easter weekend this past weekend, I was sorry to see it end.  It started off on Friday, which also happened to be my 7 year Dating Anniversary with Daniel.  How many married couples actually celebrate their dating anniversary?  We didn’t do anything special, just spent a great day with the three of us.  Cecilia slept in until 8:00 which is late for her. We had a lazy morning and then decided to run some errands.

First stop was one of our favorite florists/greenhouses.  It is the place Daniel remembers going to growing up with his grandmother and mom to get flowers every spring and to pick strawberries every May.  We picked up flowers for our mothers and my grandmother’s grave.  Cecilia LOVES flowers and I have a feeling she inherited the green thumb from her grandmothers (both my mom and Daniel’s mom were/are avid gardeners…I could kill a cactus..I am not good with plants).  She picked out which grandmother would get what, pink tulips for my mother in law’s grave, a purple hyacinth for my grandmother’s grave and daffodils for my mom and Daniel’s step mom. 

Ci at the greenhouse with my grandmother's hyacinth

After we dropped the tulips off at Daniel’s mom’s grave we headed to lunch at our favorite sushi resteraunt.  Then we headed to my favorite place in the entire world (ok maybe not favorite, but very high up on the list)….Target!  My hubs is not a fan of Target, in fact he prefers Wal-Mart *gasp* to Target!  Since I only get an half hour lunch most days and Daniel I carpool, I rarely get to go to Target like I used to. It is great for my pocketbook, but I tend to have withdrawls.  Although I think Daniel’s opinion of Target may have changed.  We scored three adorable spring dresses for Cecilia for $21!  One of the dresses was on clearance for $2.80!   After Target it was well past Ci's nap time so we headed home. When we got home, hanging on our side door was Ci’s Second Easter’s basket (her first was from daycare on Thursday) Friday full of candy from her Pop Pop Ernie (Daniel’s step dad).  Friday night, my mom came home and we all dyed Easter Eggs.  Cecilia was already a pro at this dying thing since she dyed eggs at daycare on Wednesday, but she still had a blast dying eggs with us.  Of course she wanted every egg to be pink, but Daniel wouldn’t allow that.

Dying Eggs with Mom Mom

Saturday started off with an Easter Egg Hunt.  I love tradition and every year I take Cecilia to the same Egg Hunt I went to as a kid.  It is put on by my hometown’s Lion’s Club.  I always see familiar faces, kids that I used to hunt eggs with now bring their own kids.  Cecilia was in the 1 to 2 year age group, she was a head taller than the tallest kid in her age group.  Considering Ci will be three in a week (yikes!) she definitely had an advantage.  She got the most eggs in her age group (9) and even got one rabbit egg.  The rabbit egg means that she would get a real live bunny to take home as a pet.  Needless to say we gave that egg away to someone who actually wanted a pet rabbit.  CI was not happy with me.

She did some cuddle time in with my cousin’s daughter’s rabbit at the cemetery while we dropped off the flowers on my grandmother's grave.

Saturday afternoon after a very brief nap for Ci, we went to Daniel’s dad’s for a little family get together with his dad’s side of the family.  We don’t get to see Daniel’s aunt and cousins nearly enough, I really wish we saw them more, they are a blast to be around!  This family get together was great and as always there was an abundance of food and great wine.  My sister in law and I may have finished off three bottles of wine between the two of us.   Lauren, my sister in law recently moved an hour away and we don’t get to hang out every weekend like we used to, so when I see her we definitely have catching up to do.

Sunday was another early morning.  Cecilia was up bright and early to see what the Easter bunny had left her in her basket (Hello Kitty bubble bath, sidewalk chalk, a book, Hello Kitty PJs, a Hello Kitty Pez dispenser and a few candy items). She loved it all!!  We then got dressed and went to meet my parents and grandfather for breakfast.  Cecilia LOVED her Easter dress that my parents bought for her.  She kept calling it her “princess dress”.   

 After breakfast, Ci received another Easter basket from my parents, full of bananas, oranges, apples, blueberry applesauce, regular apple sauce and yogurt!  Thank you mom and dad for not giving her even more candy! 

4 of the 5 baksets Ci rcvd (From my parents, The Easter Bunny, Daycare & Pop Pop Ernie)

Sunday afternoon we had Daniel’s dad, step mom and sister over  for a laid back relaxing dinner.  After they left on Sunday, Daniel and I crashed.  I think we were both in bed by 9.  He fell asleep and I stayed up late reading The Hunger Games. I tried not to buy into the hype of The Hunger Games, but I caved in and I am glad I did.  I finished the first book last night and I am well into the second.  My friend is on Chapter 7 of the first book.  After she’s finished, we’re going to go see the movie.

This was the first of many busy weekends this month.  I don’t think there is one weekend until May 12^th where we have nothing planned, I love it though.  I wouldn’t have it any other way.  I hope everyone else had a wonderful Easter!

Bring it on 2012!

Happy New Year everyone!

I hope you all had a safe and happy New Year! I know I did.

We had our Second Annual New Years Eve Party at our house this year, we wanted to have something low key, informal that our friends could attend and bring their kids.    I made tons of food (which I failed to take pictures of!), we had plenty of wine and beer to go around (also juice and soda for the DDs and kids) and we played some fun party games.

I had decided earlier in the day that I would throw Cecilia’s routine out the window (something I NEVER do) and allow her to stay up and play with the rest of the kids until she crashed.  Daniel and I took bets, I said she would be out by 10:30, he said 11:00.  We were both wrong.  At 9:30 she came to and said, “Mommy, I ready to go night night in my bed.” What can I say my girl is an early bird!

Everyone else, including the other kids (with the exception of my cousin’s 1 year old who slept in Ci’s pack n play) stayed up until midnight and welcomed in 2012!  Not long after ringing the New Year everyone said good night and headed home.  No more late nights for this crowd anymore, five years ago all of us would have partied until 3:00 in the morning, not anymore.

Please ignore the cell phone quality pictures!

Kacie (my cousin's daughter), Ci and I getting the party started!

One of my BFFs since 6th grade, Denise with her evil grin.

My other BFF from 6th grade Brittney and a drunk me!

Me, Denise and my cousin Cathy ready for 2012

New Years Day we had a lazy morning, we cleaned up from the party and then headed over to my parents around 4:00 to watch the Ravens play in their last regular season game. They beat the Bengals, swept their division and have the second seed in the play offs which means a bye-week this week. My mom made our traditional New Years dinner, ham and cabbage with black eyed peas. I love to eat ham and cabbage, black eyed peas…uhh not so much!

We had off Monday, the second so we headed down to Rehoboth Beach to meet my sister in law, niece and Daniel’s step dad for lunch at Nicola’s, a favorite of Delaware locals on the boardwalk.  After lunch we walked down Rehoboth Avenue checked out the few shops that were open on the boardwalk and then we took the girls on the beach.  Cecilia loves the beach even when it’s freezing out!  

Karra and Cecilia (with the elephant back pack) on their first Beach Day of 2012!

We had a wonderful, but packed weekend! This weekend is a lot less scheduled which I am looking forward to.  How was your New Year’s weekend?

Goodbye, 2011! Hello, 2012!

Hi, remember me? Yes I am that person who has not updated her blog, in uh…months.  I have been busier than ever at work and with my family.  I am very blessed though to have a job in which I love and an awesome family.

Our Christmas was wonderful, Cecilia is very loved (and spoiled!)  I will recap Christmas in a later post. We are having a get together for New Years with some of our closest friends at our house.  Since the majority of our friends are parents it will be kid friendly.

I can honestly say I am happy to put 2011 behind me though.  While this year had a lot of ups, it was also possibly one of the toughest years for me emotionally.  I said goodbye to an amazing mother in law and the one grandmother I ever really knew.  I watched my uncle’s health deteriorate dramatically because of his ALS and a childhood friend was killed in a car accident.

There were some great parts of 2011 too.  I started a new job where I have the best boss ever (seriously I do, she bought me a Coach wallet for Christmas).  One of my coworkers at my new job is now one of my best friends, I really don’t know what I would have done without her this year. One of my favorite cousins married the love of his life and there were three births within my family and circle of friends.

2012 is going to be a great year, I know it!

I hate resolutions, but I do like goals.  So my goals for 2012 are:

To lose at least 30 pounds. I’ll be 30 in 2013, by the time I am 30 I want to be in a healthy weight according to my BMI chart.

To be more organized! I am a typically a very organized person, but for some reason that went out the window this year.

To budget better (my husband will like this one!)

To become involved in charity work!

To blog MORE!

I hope all of you have a safe and happy New Year! I will see you in 2012!

I am still alive!

Hello blog readers! I haven’t disappeared from the face of the earth, I promise! I have just been extremely busy with this thing I called life.  Every time I went to write a blog post I was at a loss for words {which rarely happens!}.

The last few weeks all of my free time has spent consumed by this:

A combined party, a 30^th Anniversary Party for my parents and a 75^th Birthday Party for my grandfather.  The party was Saturday and it was a success! All of my hard work the last few weeks paid off. My life is back to normal {for now.}  I know my husband is happy to have his wife back and this week I will work on getting our house back in order. 

I promise a recap post of the party very soon. I am going to have to get pictures from others.  I was too busy being a hostess and I didn’t take a single picture.

Happy Monday everyone!

30 Years

Thirty years ago today two of the very most important people in my life said "I do" in a Methodist church in my Maryland hometown in front of 200 of their closest family and friends. 

Thirty years and after having the best daughter ever (a little less then two years after saying I do) they are still very much in love. 

This couple has the relationship that most couples strive to have.  Their relationship isn't perfect, but it's damn near perfect in my opinion.  Marriage isn't easy, but you have to work through rough patches and they definitely have.

Happy 30th Anniversary, Mom and Dad! I love you!

I wish I had pictures to accompany this post, but I couldn't sneak any out of their wedding album.

Uncle Glenn: Part 3 {Happy birthday!}

On Sunday morning, everyone still tired from the festvities from the night before we all met at my Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Glenn's for a 60th Birthday Breakfast for Uncle Glenn. My mom, another one of my aunts, several of my cousins, Uncle Glenn's cousin and his family, Daniel and I were there to celebrate.

We all (or Ci, Lesley and I) had our jerseys on since it was football Sunday.

Lesley, Ci, my cousin, Char, me, my cousin, Connie and my cousin, Becky

Daddy and his girl

After everyone had breakfast we made sure leave one of Uncle Glenn's favorites a cinnamon roll for the ever important birthday candle.

Here's Connie bringing in the "cake:". (Don't you love the deer head on the wall, that used to annoy my Aunt Bonnie, but after all that's happened she said she would let Uncle Glenn hang a thousand animals on her wall if it would make him healthy again.)

And Uncle Glenn blowing out his candle.

Daddy and his little girl.

Happy birthday, Uncle Glenn! I am sorry our Ravens played a horrible game and couldn't give you a win on your birthday.  I love you and I hope they will find a cure for ALS and you will have many more birthdays to celebrate!

xoxo,
Mindy

My Uncle Glenn (part 2)

A little over two weeks ago a benefit was for my Uncle Glenn.  The benefit was put on a business in Easton, Maryland.  The owner of the business went to high school with my cousin Allan and has remained close with Allan and Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Glenn.

When Daniel and I arrived there was a line outside of the door wrapping outside of the building.  It brought tears to my eyes to see that many people in my uncle's community came out to support him.  The tickets were $30 a piece and there were families of 5 there, who paid $150 to come to a local 4H park for a buffet dinner.  It meant a lot to me and I know it meant a lot to Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Glenn. In the advanced stages of ALS the average cost of care for an ALS patient can be $200,000 a year.  Uncle Glenn now needs a nurse to be with him while my Aunt Bonnie is at work (that nurse costs $40 an hour).  Unfortunately Aunt Bonnie can't quite her job, because she has excellent insurance. Even the insurance though only covers a portion of the costs.  They didn't cover the new wheelchair Uncle Glenn needs, that wheelchair costs $30,000. Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Glenn had a decent nest egg in their savings, but their savings is quickly being depleted.

These programs were on the table as we walked in

There also was a silent auction with various items to bet on

When Daniel saw these Flyers pucks in the Silent Auction and a photo signed by the entire team, he told me he didn't care how much we bet he wanted them.  So I was going back and forth with "John Smith" who I thought a middle aged man.  John would write $20, I'd write $23 we went back and forth.  Finally when the DJ told us that there were only a fe minutes left in the silent auction I wrote down a bid. THen this girl pushed me out of the way and out bid me writting down "John Smith." She looked at me and asked "Who is Daniel ****?" Totally butchering our last name. I told her he was my husband. She said "Well, John Smith is my ten year old brother and I think he needs these pucks more then your husband." I wasn't going to fight with a 15 year old.  Although I did have a few choice words about how it was a charity event and the object was to raise money for the items and for the charity.  I kept my mouth shut and went back to tell Daniel we were outbid by a 10 year old.

 Even a basket of produce was for sale (my cousin, Connie's friend Tara who came down from Philly won it.)

This was our table, my great uncle, my grandfather (my dad's father), my dad's cousin, my dad and family friends sat there.

This is my girl, Darby. She's Uncle Glenn's youngest granddaughter (my cousin, Allan's daughter). Darby had a soccer game in NJ (where they live) earlier in the day, left the soccer game and came to the benefit.

Here's Darby's oldest sister, Emma (who also had a soccer game that day) and Darby's cousin, Uncle Glenn's second to oldest granddaughter, and my cousin, Connie's daughter, Morgan (Morgan and her family came from the Philly area)

See this girl? She's the one I almost told off.  I felt bad when my Aunt Bonnie (holding the microphone) said she was one of the top sellers for raffle tickets that went toward Uncle Glenn's fund. Because she was one of the top sellers my Aunt Bonnie presented her with a certificate paying for her driving school donated by Bayside Driving School (valued at $400!)

Uncle Glenn hates being the center of attention.  You can see him at the end of the table.

 I am not sure of the exact amount raised from the auction, the benefit and raffle tickets that were sold in August, but I know it will be a big, big help to my Uncle Glenn and Aunt Bonnie!

 

My Uncle Glenn (part 1)

This past weekend was a weekend full of celebrations.  We celebrated my cousin, John and his new wife, Amy's new marriage on Saturday and on Sunday we celebrated my Uncle Glenn's 60th Birthday {more on that later}.  My Uncle Glenn, is my Aunt Bonnie's (my mom's oldest sister) husband. Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Glenn had their 41st wedding anniversary in June.


The past few years have been difficult on Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Glenn .  My Uncle Glenn had always been very active, he worked a full time job and at night he would help his dad on the family farm. Uncle Glenn and Aunt Bonnie have two kids, my cousins, Allan and Connie.  Uncle Glenn coached their little league teams and he  rarely missed a game when Allan and Connie played high school sports. Connie went on to play volleyball at Towson University and Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Glenn traveled all over the country to watch her play.


Uncle Glenn was always the uncle to start a game of volleyball at a family picnic. Even at age 55 he was playing kick ball with his five grandchildren. That all changed in 2008.


I am going to copy & paste the introduction from Uncle Glenn's Caring Bridge website:

In the fall of 2008, Glenn started experiencing some symptoms of shortness of breath when exercising or walking any distance. His doctor ordered a nuclear stress test and then Glenn was referred to a Dr. Kelly Sullivan. In January 2009 Glenn was scheduled for a cardiac c​a​t​h​e​t​e​r​i​z​a​t​i​o​n at Anne Arundel Medical Center and at that time they placed two stints into one artery and one stint in a second artery. Glenn saw some improvement with the symptoms he had been e​x​p​e​r​i​e​n​c​i​n​g​, however he still felt very short winded the morning after his release. A week later the trip to the c​a​r​d​i​o​l​o​g​i​s​t​, they ordered another nuclear stress test. In February 2009 Glenn went back to Anne Arundel Medical Center for his second cardiac c​a​t​h​e​t​e​r​i​z​a​t​i​o​n​, and a fourth stint was placed in a third artery. The doctor explained that the previous test had revealed a false read in that one artery. Finally Glenn did see some improvement. 

In March 2009 Glenn started experiencing some back pain and weakness in the left leg. It was very slight in the beginning however the condition continued to get worse. The cardiologist stated that everything was fine with the heart. Many of us believed that when they did Glenn’s second cardiac c​a​t​h​e​t​e​r​i​z​a​t​i​o​n that the doctor possibly hit or damaged a nerve when performing the second procedure. Glenn went from one doctor to another, specialist after specialist. It seemed like one roadblock and d​i​s​a​p​p​o​i​n​t​m​e​n​t after another. Glenn had a​p​p​r​o​x​i​m​a​t​e​l​y 5 MRI’s in the year of 2009. In the meantime Glenn’s condition was getting worse with him experiencing the same weakness in his left hand. Finally in December 2009, Glenn was able to get an appointment at John Hopkins. The doctor ordered yet another more extensive MRI and more blood work, and again, no answers. February 1, 2010, Glenn went to John Hopkins for a nerve test, prior to his scheduled doctors appointment. Allan and Connie met Glenn and Bonnie at John Hopkins that morning because they all wanted answers. After the nerve testing Glenn and his family sat down with the doctor and NOTHING could prepare them to hear the doctor say that the diagnosis that they waited so anxiously and impatiently to hear was Glenn has ALS (aka Lou Gehring’s Disease).

After a diagnosis like that, Glenn and his family had to wait until April 7, 2010 for an appointment with the ALS specialist Dr. Nicholas Maragakis and the John Hopkins ALS Clinic.

As of right now, Glenn’s condition continues to decline, since March 2009, Glenn is also experiencing the symptoms now on his right side and now uses a cane and walker. He needs a wheelchair for longer distances and continues to see changes in physical ability almost weekly.

 Even though Aunt Bonnie, Allan and Connie were happy to get answers, learning Uncle Glenn had ALS was difficult. No one we knew had ALS and the only thing we knew about it was that was the disease that eventually killed Lou Gehrig (the baseball player that held the record for most consecutive baseball games played until Baltimore Orioles player Cal Ripken broke it in 1995...ironically Aunt Bonnie & Uncle Glenn were at the game that Cal ended his streak).

Uncle Glenn is still battling this horrible disease.  He has to wear a mask several times that is attached to a BiPap machine.  For someone who never smoked to have trouble breathing and shortness of breath is sad.  He can't walk on his own now and has to wheel chair or walker to get anywhere.  Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Glenn had to turn one of their spare bedrooms into a handicap bathroom wide enough for Uncle Glenn's wheel chair.

We are extremely lucky that we are close to one of top research hospitals in the country with Johns Hopkins.  I know Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Glenn feel better knowing that Uncle Glenn has the best doctors in the world!

Uncle Glenn with his granddaughters, Gillian (driving), Emma & Darby

Uncle Glenn working on the farm in 2010 with my cousin, Connie and her daughter, Morgan

A really blurry picture of me, Ci, my cousin's daughter, Kacie, my other cousin's daughter, Gracie and Uncle Glenn in 2010.

 

Another One Bites The Dust...

I kid with my blog title, but the long running joke in our family was that my cousin, John would never get married.  He's not by any means old {he's a young 33} and he is no stranger to long term relationships {he has been engaged three times}.  It is true what they say third time is the charm.  In 2008, John started dating Amy and I knew she was the one from the moment I met her {or re-met her, I knew Amy when we were younger, but we hadn't seen one another in 18 or so years} that she was the one for John.

Neither John or Amy are the traditional type. They didn't want a big wedding so they decided to get married at the Polynesian Resort in Disney World.  Their wedding was a week and a half ago on September 9th and when they returned they had a reception.  Unlike your normal wedding reception John and Amy requested everyone dress casual {like I said they are far from traditional}.  So we followed the invitation and dressed down, we also brought Cecilia. We usually would have her stay with a sitter, but John and Amy wanted it to be a family event.

John and Amy had brought Cecilia back Minnie Mouse {shocker!} clips from Disney World.  I attempted to put them in her hair, but they wouldn't stay in.

When we walked into the tent I loved all of the details Amy and Mitchell put into their wedding reception.

 My mom made the confetti in Mickey Mouse shapes and the table numbers (I wish that creative gene was passed down to me!)

Here's my cousin Lesley signing the signature mat which has a picture of John and Amy from their wedding in Florida.

I love where Cecilia "signed" her name AKA mommy held her hand and guided it to write Cecilia.

 

 

 

Even though they didn't want it to be traditional they still had traditional compenents of a wedding reception

The first dance

Mother/Son Dance

Cutting the cake

...and smashing the cake!

 

 

 

 

And there was lots of dancing... 

 I was able to spend some time with my bff of 17 years!  Her husband and John were good friends in school.  Anytime Denise and I hang out we have fun!

 But the best part of the night was spending time with my wonderful family!

My cousin, Matthew, my cousin's daughter, Kacie &  my cousin, Michael

Me, with the new Mr. & Mrs.

My Aunt Karen, Ci & I

My cousins, Becky, Sarah, Connie, new cousin in law, Amy, John, Jessica, me & Lesley

My cousin, Lesley and my cousin's daughter, Gracie

My Aunt Bonnie & Uncle Glenn

My cousin, Jessica & her husband, Wes

Me & my hubby

Me & my daddy

My cousin, Lesley and my Aunt Karen

My Aunt Karen, me and Lesley

Me & my cousin, Connie

My momma, Ci and I

 Best of wish to John and Amy! John, you may have bit the dust, but I am glad you waited and found  a special person like Amy.  Amy, welcome to our family! We are so excited to have you.  Now you two need to get busy and have some babies!

xoxo, 

Mindy