Friday, January 22, 2010

Hope for Haiti

Words cannot express how much the recent horrific earthquake is haunting me, so I needed to post here in hopes that maybe even one reader will donate. Perhaps it's being a parent, but the thought of thousands of children orphaned is too much. Babies dependent on mama's milk, the toddler who wonders why he can't go back home or why his father can't tuck him in at night, and their parents who've lost every single possession they've ever owned. The need is immediate and real- please give. Please help.


Please consider clicking on one of the links below for a reputable place to donate:

Catholic Relief Services

Clinton Bush Haiti Fund

Oxfam

UNICEF

Partners In Health

Yele Haiti


TEXT HELP INFO:
Text the word HAITI to 90999 to donate $10 to the Red Cross
Text the word GIVE to 50555 to donate $10 to hopeforhaitinow.org
Text the word QUAKE to 20222 to donate $10 to the Clinton/Bush Haiti Fund
Text the word HABITAT to 25383 to donate $10 to Habitat for Humanity

Monday, January 18, 2010

Empty camera post

Hi everyone- long time, no post. Nothing new going on in our neck of the woods, really. We are playing catch up after the holidays, we've all been a little under the weather and trying to get through the grayest three months of the year.
CeCe's rolling a ton and really getting good at grasping objects in the exersaucer. Preston is talking in 9 and 10 word phrases lately, (which blows our mind) is obsessed with all things Thomas the Train, and just started a toddler "Funtime Frenzy" gym class with me that he loves. Kevin finally got a new car- a used Toyota Avalon and it totally serves it purpose as transportation to and from work. I've been trying to keep up with my 2010 resolutions and I gotta tell ya- it feels good to check things off my list.

I just dumped a bunch of pictures from my camera onto my computer, so I figured I'd go through and upload some to update the blog. Some are wayyyy back from the last decade- back in 2009- so bear with me! :)

Little fatty sitting up in her bumbo:


Kevin and Erin on New Years Eve, at Catablu with the Goettermans


Celebrating the Stanski graduation with Ted and Charity


My little Jackson Pollock


Ralphie. (Snow suit - 2nd year of use- courtesy of the Kings!)


Preston in action (as always) about to tackle Ruby-


Me at 2 and a half years old. Remind you of a certain little boy?


Cecilia rolling, hanging out in the 'saucer and looking generally cute




That's all for now. We've had a ton of playdates lately and even though I've had my camera, my hands have been full and I've been horrible about taking pictures. Kevin is traveling to Boston later in the week and we've got quite a bit activity planned to keep us busy while he's gone, but I'll update soon!

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Oops!

Have I mentioned the nightmare of our car fire last month?

It seems every year, the week of Christmas, we should brace ourselves for some logistical pain in the ass. Remember last year when we were out of our home for 5 days without power while our kitchen was under construction? (Although good things came from that... have we mentioned our daughter?)

This year, on December 23rd, Kevin was driving home from work, and began his two week holiday vacation. It had been a crazy week and I was more than ready to start the holiday hooplah and enjoy some family time with him around. He called a couple of times on his way home, as we were making plans to meet friends, scrambling for a possible sitter last minute later in the evening. The third time he called, (he does have a half hour commute) I hear sirens in the background and the first thing he said was, "those sirens you hear are for me." The roads were bad and I immediately feared the worst and frantically asked if he was ok. After he assured me that he was, he said his car (my old beloved Volkswagen Passat wagon) sputtered and died at a light. A passerby knocked on the window and said, "It's on fire!"

That passerby must have called the fire department because they arrived within a minute of Kevin pushing it out of the road. Long story short, there was a random electrical fire and as you can see below, had the fire department not put it out, things could have gotten really bad.

The silver lining of me having to put down my wine, cease making dinner and load up BOTH kids (including a barefoot CeCe) to drive downtown and find my husband and his burnt carcass of a vehicle, was that Preston got to see the giant fire truck and they gave him some Fort Wayne Jr. Firefighter badge stickers.

So, here we are car shopping. The Passat is um... totaled. (See below.) Our insurance has been great, we are getting KBB value and looking for an older, reliable car that we can just run into the ground. We haven't found one yet, but I assure you, it hasn't been for lack of looking. I fell in love with a Diesel 1979 inexpensive Mercedes sedan the other day. Wouldn't that be fun to drive?! (Until it needed work that cost more than the car itself, that is!) We used to be a 2 VW car family and absolutely love the brand, not to mention they are one of Kevin's largest clients at work. Another upside of that is that he's been in contact with the Director of Customer Relations there who's been great. So far, though, they haven't been able to convince us to get another VW.

Oh- by the way, later that evening, he still went out to meet friends. ...Life carries on, right? ;)


In the junk yard- the window exploded from the heat:






Wednesday, January 6, 2010

CeCe's 4 months old!



Our little angel turned four months old on Tuesday! It seemed fitting to pay her tribute via a blog post since it was a year ago this week that we discovered that we were pregnant again. At the time we had no idea how much joy she'd bring to our lives.

Her well baby check up was Wednesday morning and I'm happy to report that she's doing great. She's 14 lbs- around 50th percent for weight and get this- 26 inches long!!! 90-95th percent for height. She measured 19 inches at birth, so she's grown 7 inches in 4 months and is already being recruited by Ball State's women's volleyball team.

She's rolling over and starting to scoot around on her back. If I put her on a blanket with her head at 12 o'clock, it will be at 4 before you know it. She has started to show some interest in toys, but her absolute favorite entertainment device in the world is Preston. Her face literally lights up when she sees him and she thinks he's absolutely hysterical, which brings me to... her laugh. Ahhh! How I love her laugh. It's just infectious and her face has a huge gummy smile on it most of the time. She is still on just breast milk and will be for a few more months. We are just beginning to enter such a fun baby stage. I can't believe how quickly the time is going the second time around.... slow down, little lady!