Love and Loss

We both celebrated and grieved this weekend - celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary, and, the same day, grieved the loss of my favorite uncle, Uncle Walter. Walter died early in the morning of August 29th, after an 8+ month battle with cancer that was really nothing short of heroic bvased on his initial prognosis. He will be sorely missed by our entire family.

A few things about our anniversary. First, I am truly shocked and amazed that it has been ten years since Brad and I walked down the aisle. Time has flown by, and in the blink of an eye since I found myself planning blue hydrangea flower arrangements, silver seashell sugar scoop favors, and rehearsal dinner on the Pilgrim Belle, suddenly three kids (not even babies!) have emerged and I find myself 35 and married, now, to the man who has become both my best friend and a better father than I could ever have imagined. So I'm taking stock, and here are some of the highlights and changes since we married 10 years ago:

- We have finished 3 degrees between us: Brad his bachelors, and me two Masters degrees;
- We have visited 12 different countries - and lived in two (including the US);
- We have lived in 5 different apartments/homes, in 3 states, and have purchased 4 homes (we've sold all but one, of course! Not keeping residences in every state, LOL!)
- We have worked for only 2 companies between us during our entire marriage: Unilever for me (9 years on August 29th!) and NSSC for Brad (11 years this past June);
- We have had three beautiful (in my very biased opinion) children;
- And sadly, we have lost 6 of our closest family members: Brad's mother and father; our niece, Stephanie; my Nan; my grandfather on my mother's side, and now Uncle Walter.

So lots has gone on in 10 years. Most of it has been fantastic, and I wouldn't change any of it. So to Brad, Happy Anniversary, to my best friend and forever partner.

Each year on our wedding anniversary I pull out the wedding video that Aunt Joyce and Uncle Walter had made for us as a wedding gift, and I reminisce. I adored our wedding day, adored the man I was marrying (though looking back, we both looked more like kids and it seems somewhat silly to call that very much younger Brad a man!) and thought it all turned our perfectly. But now, I am so thankful I have that wedding video to look back on, particularly to see the loved ones that we've lost. To see a close-up of my mother-in-law again, and see her dancing with Brad - and be able to share that with the girls, who never had a chance to meet her - is really, truly priceless. It brings tears to my eyes to see my Nan, and Brad's father, and Steph...and now Walter. But I'm so happy to have had such a beautiful day with all of them, and to be able to see them again.

The 29th is now also the day that Uncle Walter passed away, and so in the spirit of remembering him, I just want to post a couple of thoughts. Walter was one of the kindest, gentlest guys you could ever meet. What I enjoyed most about him was the fact that at every holiday get together, every meal or visit with the family, he would always want to sit down and talk - really talk - to me. He asked so many great, thinking type of questions, and more importantly, he actually listened to the answers. Maybe not a big deal now, but as a teenager that seems like a novelty! Walter was always the one who remembered what was going on in school, or what you were thinking about majoring in, or what you had coming up in life that was making you nervous. For that alone, he was someone you could really feel close to. A great listener, and also a great advice giver - particularly when it came to educational matters, since he worked in the school system. We gave Uncle Walter more than his fair share of ribbing for all the countless hours (days?) he spent behind that big clunky dinosaur of a video camera, but his narration was always a hit and now more than ever, I'm sure we will be happy to have the memories that he helped to capture and create.

R.I.P. Uncle Walter...until we meet again.

They grow so fast...

Tonight I put a shirt on Sienna that used to be one of Maddie's. Increasingly, Madelyn's clothes are going directly from her drawers to Sienna's, since Si is quite a bit taller than Maddie was at this age. So it reminded me that this shirt was, in fact, the one that Madelyn wore on her first day of preschool last year! So tonight I was just messing around on the computer and decided to call up Maddie's first day of preschool pics from last year. Wow has she changed a lot in the past year! Where has my baby gone?? Reminisce with me...

Then and Now:

Can I just say...

That having ONE child in diapers is such an improvement over having TWO kids in diapers?!! Yes, Sienna is officially potty trained now... YAHOO!! We still have an occasional accident here and there, but we've gone days without one. And last night, I put her in undies even for bed, since she's been napping in them, waking up to go potty when she needs to, and waking up dry in the mornings. This morning...dry undies! Hooray Sienna! With prices of everything so high these days, it's really nice to be getting a break from having to buy double the diapers each month!

Baby Talk

Even though it hasn't been all that long since Sienna was in this phase, I had forgotten how unbelievably cute the "baby talk" phase is. Lyla is constantly making noise these days, using all sort of consonants and different mouth positions to get as many interesting sounds out as her little mouth will allow. She says a couple of simple words, one of which is her name! It's very cute to hear her copy you and say "WhhhhhyyWaaa." Not as reliable about Mama, but she'll use the word pretty liberally when hungry or wanting to be changed! It's hard to believe that she's going to be one in just a few weeks. Where has a year gone??

Speaking of turning one, I need to get on the arrangements for her birthday celebration. Since we'll be in Aruba, I'm thinking of having a little get together around the pool. Very casual, but maybe some hamburgers and hot dogs and - of course - a fun tropical beverage or two. We'll be in Aruba with a number of people that we know, so it will be fun for L to have people to celebrate with while we're there!

Two weeks already...

That's how long it's been since my last post. Didn't I resolve to be better about this in 2008? (Maybe that's why I shouldn't bother with resolutions...)

Hmm...what's been going on with us?

- Madelyn has been working away at her dance recital piece, and I still don't really get to see any of her classes. Bummer. But they did schedule her recitals, and they are taking place May 24th and 25th. I'm so excited to see her! We had to order her costume a couple of weeks ago, and we got to see pics of it. She's going to be adorable! They're dancing to that old song, "Lollipop" (think "Stand By Me") and have frilly pink tutus. I don't know if I can handle that much girly-ness! LOL.

- I went out for a girls night out with my good friends Allison and Kristen this past weekend, and we had a great time. We went out for fondue at The Melting Pot and had the most interesting, relaxing night. No kids, a nice glass of wine, and yummy cheese, coq au vin, and dark chocolate raspberry fondue. Mmm, I'm drooling just thinking about it again! :-) As much as we all love to get our kids together - since they are all girls and are all relatively close in age - it was so nice to go out and just have some adult time without the 7 little princesses. Definitely gotta do that again sometime soon!

- Lyla is growing up right before my eyes. I can't get over how much she's changed, even in the past month. She's pulling up now, and even letting go and standing unassisted from time to time. She seems desperate to walk, and it all totally freaks me out because she's still not even 16 pounds! You look at her and think she's 5 months old or so, and then you see her crawling across the room, pulling up and trying to cruise/walk/stand. It's too funny. She's also eating more finger food, waving, and chattering away. She does her own little version of dancing when the put music on and go to town. I'm biased, but I think she's just adorable.

I need to post some videos and pics at some point, but for now that's all the news that's fit to print!

She's FOUR!

Happy 4th Birthday Madelyn!!

It's birthday time in our house, and today was #2...I can't believe it has been four years since I gave birth to Madelyn, and since we first became parents. It's so weird to have this actual child in our house now...it seems like we just yesterday decided to have children, and now we're already out of the baby and toddler phase with our oldest, and she's 4 going on about 14!

Four years ago today, we were in a hospital in Chicago gazing with absolute wonder at our new addition, wondering what this little person would be like, and how on earth we would ever learn the ropes of parenting. It's funny, but most days I think we still look at her in absolute wonder...and I think we still wonder how we're ever going to REALLY get the hang of this parenting thing! LOL!

Seriously though, here is a picture of Maddie today on her fourth birthday. We're having a combined party for the girls next week, but we wanted to make each of their actual birthday days special. So today, we began the day with presents and special birthday pancakes shaped like hearts and flowers. Maddie got her turn as "princess for the day" and had fun wearing the tiara I bought for the event. I think it was hard for her to watch Sienna wearing it the other day - she kept saying she wanted her birthday to be first! It was no consolation to her that hers was technically "first" given that she was born two years prior to Sienna. I was really happy that her big gift - a Fisher Price Kid Tough digital camera - was a huge hit, and she was so incredibly excited to be taking her own pics with a "REAL" camera (which she kept repeating as if she couldn't believe it!).

After helping me put up Christmas decorations (one of Maddie's favorite activities!), we took the kids outside briefly...it was only 22 degrees, BRR!!! and then headed out to do some errands. While bending over and rummaging oh so gracefully through the kids' coat closet to get Lyla's hat and mittens, I hear a loud "CLICK" and knew instantly that my butt had been permanently memorialized on Maddie's new camera. She thought it was hysterical and went around hooting with laughter and showing it off proudly to Daddy. Nice one, Mads!

We ended up stopping by my parents' house for a nice visit, and my mom had set up a cute little celebration for both Maddie and Sienna with birthday gifts and a little cake candle. So cute! The kids were thrilled and it was a nice end to the weekend. (Thanks Mom & Dad!)

Cereal...yum!

Not quite the first time Lyla had cereal -- but the first time she really got any in!