Anyone else feel like we’ve heard it all before? From BOTH candidates. I’ll be glad when its over.
Archive for October, 2008
Michaela’s Day & Pumpkins
Oct 29
On Sunday the 19th we had a “Baby Party” for Michaela. We didn’t have a baby shower for her when I was pregnant with because we didn’t know if she was a boy or a girl. Either way we didn’t need baby stuff since we already had everything from when Felicity was a baby, but if Michaela would have been a boy we would have needed boy clothes. So, we decided not to have anything until after she was born to see what gender the baby would be. Since she was a girl, we needed nothing for her, but we eventually decided that she and her new life needed to be celebrated, hence the baby party. We had it at the park next to our house. It was a beautiful day, a little on the warm side, but beautiful none the less. We had lots of friends and family there for the potluck BBQ. It was so nice to be outside celebrate a special little girl! Thanks to everybody who came for making it a nice day!!! Here are some pictures of that day.
This past Saturday we went to a new (at least to us it was new) pumpkin patch in 3 points at a farm called Buckelew Farms. They had wagons pulled by horses that took you out the pumpkin patch, they had a small petting zoo, and some activities for the kids. They even had a corn field maze, but the girls are too little for that, maybe in a few years. It was a nice day picking out our Halloween pumpkins and just hanging out. This pumpkin patch was a lot closer than the one we usually go to, but it didn’t have the yummy apples like the other place!! Here are the patch pictures.
Last night we carved those pumpkins that we picked out. Felicity is turning into a little girly girl. She didn’t like being out in the pumpkin patch because she was afraid of getting dirty. So . . . she didn’t really like cleaning out the pumpkin because she didn’t want to get dirty. She even took her dress off before she finally stuck her hand in the pumpkin! Michaela thought the pumpkin guts were a little strange, but didn’t seem to mind. Then she became more interested in the newspaper that the pumpkins were sitting on! My job seems to be the cleaning and Randy’s seems to be the actual carving, but that’s okay, I like the pumpkin guts! Here are the pictures of the carving fun!
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!
I have a big family…I’m one of 7 kids, there are 4 inlaws and over a dozen kids in the next generation. So many moons ago I wrote a program for my website to draw names for our Christmas Gift Exchange. It was originally at my RandyPost.com website, and then it was at NameDrawing.net. I goofed and let the NameDrawing.net domain name expire, and some cybersquatter registered it right away. Fortunately I had registered NameDrawing.com a while ago but didn’t do anything with it.
Well, with the holidays approaching faster than we would like, I finally got my site up and running again. So if you need to draw names for your Christmas gift exchange or secret Santa, check me out. It’s free. And don’t forget to vote for me after you get yor draw.
Remembering our babies…
Oct 15
October 15th is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day, it falls in the middle of the month of October which 10 years 20 years ago (whoops, it was late!) was declared Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month by then President Ronald Reagan. It isn’t just a day for Becky and I. Our family and many of our friends know that we have experienced a total of three losses. (Logo from Footprints Support Group)
Our first pregnancy resulted in a miscarriage in the first trimester in January of 2003. We tried again later and our second pregnancy also ended with a first trimester miscarriage, this time in August of 2003. At the time they happened, we didn’t name our babies, but we later decided to. Becky is fond of her Irish heritage and we didn’t know the gender of either baby, so we picked two Irish names that can be used for either. The first baby we named Enda, and the second we named Kiley (pronounced Keely).
We found out Becky was pregnant for the third time in February of 2004. At around 15 weeks they did some testing (AFP and later amniocentesis) and a diagnostic ultrasound and determined that the baby had a genetic abnormality which we later determined was Turner’s Syndrome…but the more significant thing was seen on the ultrasound. The baby had swelling on the head and the entire body and it was pretty certain that the baby would not make it. We tried our best to cope with that news and perhaps pray for a miracle and we named our little girl Faith Emma. At our OB appointment on June 11, they determined that Faith had passed away. The next day, June 12, 2004, they induced labor and Becky delivered Faith. She would have been due on October 22.
At the beginning of the month, Felicity and I along with my parents attended the Walk to Remember which is sponsored by the Footprints Support Group that Becky and I attended for over a year after we lost Faith. It’s the 4th walk I’ve attended, Becky was extremely disappointed she couldn’t make it this year as she had a baby shower to attend in Phoenix.
Now that we are so busy keeping up with Felicity and Michaela, we don’t often find the time to think about our three angels. But we know they are there, watching over their sisters…and we definitely have not forgotten about them. During the walk and over the last few weeks I’ve had a chance to think about them and I’m amazed how quickly the feelings come rushing back.
We love our babies and we miss them terribly. It’s hard to imagine a family other than the one we have, but now that we have watched the miracle of life and love in Felicity and Michaela, it makes me sad for the potential that will never be realized on this earth by our other babies. We will never forget them. Please join us today in honoring their memory.
September Photos
Oct 14
I posted some new photos tonight. Highlights include some additional photos from our trip to Sedona, Michaela’s first “solid” food, first vegetable (carrots) and a few other things.
