My Friend Jerry's Birthday

I was so happy all day – I was going to take my friend Jerry out to dinner for his birthday. What's so special you say? Well, he is homeless and I know this gesture will mean a lot to him. I've been talking to him about it for weeks and the day has finally arrived. After spending 30 seconds at the stoplight for two years, you get to know someone. I went to Publix and bought a small cake and the gentleman behind the pastry counter placed "Happy Birthday Jerry" in a really pretty cursive handwriting...I just couldn't wait to see the look on his face when he sees the cake.

I usually see him on the street corner holding his sign at the corner of Mountain Industrial Blvd and Hwy 78, but I didn't see him today. I got nervous. Oh no...he must have forgotten about our date tonight, or worse, didn't think I would follow through on my request to take him out and decided not to endure the pain of rejection. I went home and retrieved the family. Jimmy was surprisingly ready to go and so were the kids. Our friend Shawna came along too...it was a family affair. Jim had to drive separately since there wouldn't be enough room in my car for all of us, and not only that, he preferred it that way as he is a little cautious for his wife's and children's safety....he was leery since he hadn't met Jerry yet. I was hoping I would find him at his motel, The Stone Mountain Inn, but I was nervous that I was dragging everyone out and I wouldn't be able to find him. I drove up to the hotel and for some reason I couldn't get in....the doors were locked to the main lobby doors. It was only 7 pm on a Monday night, why would this be? I peered through the window and saw a little girl probably the age of 7 dancing around and I motioned to the door. She finally got my hint and came to open it. I asked the attendant behind the desk if he could point me to room 303? He told me to go out the lobby door, climb the stairs three flights and turn around and go through another set of doors as it's on the inside. I started my trek up the stairs with my heart beating out of my chest. What was I going to find? I was excited and nervous that I may see things out of the norm and potentially put myself in harm's way. My thoughts went wild and at the same time, I saw three black gentlemen calling for me. What did they want. Just play it cool Marcy and give a nonchalant wave to acknowledge them but to also state you weren't interested. I got to the top of the floor and saw the door the attendant mentioned. It was locked! Oh no, what was I going to do now? I hollered a big, "Heelllloooo??" and no answer and then I noticed one of the window panes was broken. It crossed my mind that maybe it was intentionally broken so they could get in and out...of course, that doesn't make any sense, right? But not much was making sense at this moment, especially the next. I knocked, really hard, on door 303 and a tall African American gentlemen answered. I thought, oh no, I've bothered a motel guest, but I asked anyway....out came of my mouth with thoughts of being shot in a hallway and my husband being really mad at me, "Uh, is Jerry here?" He said, "No, he's not." Oh good, that must mean at least he knows him and I'm in the right place. And also, everything that Jerry had told me up until now has some plausible truth to it. I continued, "Do you know where he went? I'm supposed to meet him." He said he had just left. Right when I was turning around thinking maybe Jerry went to go and find me, he little head popped out from behind the corner. He briskly walked up to me and hugged me the tightest hug I've had in a very long time. He said he was surprised to see me. "Why were you surprised? We've been talking about doing this for a while now." I asked him if he was ready and he said yes, but walked back into the room. I suspected he needed to get on his shoes so I started back toward the stairwell. I wasn't exactly comfortable standing in this dark, mysterious hallway and the faster I could get out of there and let my husband know where I was, the better. We walked down making chit chat and around to my car where the kids and Shawna were. Right at that time, Jimmy drove up in his truck. "Thank goodness", I thought, and perfect timing. Jerry asked me what my husband's name was again and he got in. I told him to buckle up and we were off to the restaurant.

All was seemingly going well. I was still very excited and now even more so with the relief of finding him and being on our way. I was wondering what they were talking about in Jim's truck? What was tonight going to offer? When we got to the pizza place, they were very crowded...so much that we sat on the patio with the risk of never being served because there was no other place to sit. I felt bad because Jerry was sitting in the sun and didn't he have to be in the sun too much as it is? I wanted him to relax in the air conditioning. He told us how he liked to be a vegetarian when he can be so we ordered a half cheese and half pepperoni pizza. It was a bit awkward, but I tried to lighten things up a bit by taking some photos and making conversation. We were more than halfway through our meal when it became stressful. Jerry asked if he could play a game with us. He remarked how he knows it's difficult for us to understand him with his southern accent and missing teeth (he mumbles and I can really only get one word a sentence). But excitedly went on to ask Shawna to think of a home. What kind of home is it? When you are there what kind of key is there? And the questions continued.....it was a psychological examination. I quickly remembered the homeless coordinator I had spoken to months ago telling me he may have a mental illness and was playing some kind of word game with her in the van on the way to housing in downtown Atlanta. Jim and I looked at each other with a knowing of what do we do now? He was locked into this mode. Giselle was spilling water all over me and wanted in my purse. Gabriel was playing with quarters and singing which made it harder to hear and understand Jerry. I decided we needed to wrap up our pizza event and brought out the cake. He seemed appreciative and I was glad for that....but I learned that while I can try to reach out in love those who are in need. I may not be the best person for the job. He needs mental help. The night ended up being very hard to get through. I don't regret it, but it was stressful and hard. It may be a while before we can take Jerry out again. I may need to call professional help to see what they can do for Jerry as a next step. And possibly find his brother to see what he knows and if he can be of any help to him.

Giselle's 16 month stats

Our favorite pediatrician, Dr. Laura Rich, is leaving the practice. Gabriel was her very first patient as I remember meeting her at Northside Hospital and she hadn't even officially came on board with Briarcliff Pediatrics yet. We're not happy with the other remaining doctor there as he is lacking in patience and bedside manner, not to mention his condescending nature. He actually physically slapped my hand once for not taking Gabriel in to see him sooner when he was diagnosed with RSV.

We had to have Giselle's 15 month check-up, but because they were running late, their next availability with the new doctor was when she was 16-1/2 months old. It went ok according to Jimmy, but I think we'll still keep our ears peeled for a new pediatrician.

Here are her stats from that visit:
Height: 31-3/4" (75%)
Weight: 22 lbs and 8 oz (25-50%)
Head circumference: 46.5 cm (50-75%)

She has a little rash near her mouth which could be caused by too much tomato sauce and acidic fruits. We're putting Aquafor by day and Hydrocortizone by night and it's starting to clear up.

She's working hard on her two top teeth. She's got her right one half way in and her left looks like it just broke through the gum. I'm calling her "snaggletooth" right now.

Still sleeping in the pack-n-play although she's gotten too big for it. I want to move her to her crib in Gabriel's room. He'd like the roommate as long as she's not crying. She has a little pink bear blankie lovey that she holds and sucks her thumb when she sleeps. It's adorable.

"Up" is her latest word she has learned after "Mama", "Dada", "Nummy", "Uh-oh" and she can say "Gabriel" too but sounds more like "Gab-eeuh". She understands a lot and wants to do everything she sees Gabriel do. She doesn't understand she can't do it....she's is Miss Independent.

Honesty of Gabriel

We watched Paul Goydos shoot a 59 yesterday and we asked Gabriel if he becomes a pro golfer to buy us a summer home. He asked "how much do you win, a $1,000?" We said "more like a million." Expecting shock and awe, instead he returned with... "and a trophy?"

Another day I took him clothes shopping with me at Ross. In the dressing room I asked him to tell me which pair of pants I was trying on looked the best? He said so sweetly, "You look beautiful Mommy. I like them." I told him that since Daddy wasn't there he needed to let me know which pair didn't make my butt look as fat. Thinking someone in the next stall is listening to me ask my son to look at my butt and that they could call DFCS he retorted with such a painfully honest answer .... "Well, in that case, both of them are out."

Jim says to me one day driving in my red Toyota Prius: "Why did you buy this car [if you aren't going to maximize the mileage out of it]?" Gabriel from the backseat: "Because it's shiny!"

Reunion of Plenty

June was very much about seeing old friends from high school to Busch Gardens dancing days to family friends like Cristal and the Beebes. It was amazing to see everyone, laugh and reminisce.
With my high school best friend, Tricia...

With my lifelong childhood best friend, Kim...

Here with my family for a mini family reunion...

With our close family friends the Beebes...

With my Busch Gardens friends Joilee and Andrew ...

With my high school girlfriends Tricia, Phuong and PK...

Shocking Love

I've recently been told some shocking, life-altering news from a close friend. The kind that makes you take a step back and really examine how you truly feel and think about life. How it should be, but isn't. It's complicated and messy, gray, full of questions, not black & white at all. It was a roller coaster ride of emotions from shock, confusion, followed by a very short bit of anger to intense pain/grief to acceptance. It was just a week ago, and as I write this today I feel hopeful that everything will turn out alright. As my dear friend is facing, I was forced to face the reality of tolerance levels of acceptance in society. We've come a long way with civil rights, equality, but we still have a ways to go. It doesn't mean you have to understand, but you do have to love. Love should be a requirement. It's the most important thing in our household. We aren't perfect, as we are human, in the flesh, and raised with all the moldings of past generational thoughts handed down by our parents, teachers and other influencers.

But love conquers a multitude of wrongs. Love bears all things, hopes all things and endures all things. Love is the answer. Just ask my five year old...he'll tell you it's the most important thing...Love God and Love others. It doesn't mean I have all the answers. I don't. But I for one am glad to hug my friend and say, "we'll get through this together and I love you." Honestly, I just can't fathom doing anything else.

Reunited!

One of my best high school girlfriends, Kelly Simon Crum, and I were reunited at long last. We hugged each other so tight and then stared each other down checking each other out in the first minute of our greeting. Then it was as if no time had passed in between whatsoever, except the extra fluff on both of us was a dead give-away. Here we are in high school and at her house 20 years later:

Memorial Day Weekend Detroit Trip

We took a whirlwind trip to Detroit to see our family. They hadn't yet met baby Giselle and we were way overdue for a visit. We left on a Friday evening with every intention of driving straight through the night. It was 2 am when Jim and I could no longer tackle the wheel so we got a motel room. Seems ridiculous to pay full price to use the room for only five hours, but that was what we did...and it was the right decision. We were all well rested come morning so we hit the road. We got into Detroit around 2 pm and we went straight to Jim's parents new place at the Henry Ford Home. They were so happy to see them. Here are some great photos of their initial meeting:






The next day we enjoyed spending time with Aunt Zosh, Marisha, Aunt Kathlyn, Cousin Andrew and Dave. Andrew was a big hit with Gabriel and he loves all the attention from his Aunts. Giselle was in good form and didn't cry at all on the trip. Yay! We left Monday morning to head back home. It was a long way to go for a short visit, but it was so very worth it.

Kindergarten Comes to a Close

End of Year Homeschool Report
May 18, 2010

Our first year of homeschooling has come to an end. We started this journey almost a year ago with little expectations and almost little to no understanding of what all is involved. I'm thrilled to report that our first homeschooling year in Kindergarten was a success. Our county requires that we begin reporting homeschooling at the start of first grade with a declaration of intent, monthly attendance reports and a yearly progress report that we keep for our own records. While it's not necessary for this year, I thought I would get into the practice of it.

OVERVIEW:
In general, we mainly focused on the three R's (reading, writing, arithmetic) and sprinkled in science, social studies, music, art, sports, computer and other interests around that core foundation. We joined a NEACH homeschool group to do fun activities, projects, field trips, park days, Spanish club, and just make new friends and experiencing children of all ages.

MATH:
He excels in math. He grasps the concept easily and in fact surprises us on occasion with what he knows. For example, the other day we were driving in the car .... it was 1:11 in the afternoon. He asked how long until we'll arrive to where we were going? We said in ten minutes. He says, "So that means we'll get there at 1:21 correct? He has been able to tell time for quite a while now to the minute, but we were surprised at how he added on ten when it wasn't an even number. When asked how he did it he said, "That's easy. I just added ten and then added the one back in."

He also counts to 100 without a problem. Skip counts by 5's to 110 on his own and can count by 2's to 30. We wrapped up a first grade math workbook (adding, subtracting single digits) and started second grade math (addition/subtraction of double digits which begins place value). He is just beginning the concept of carrying over, but can tell he does so because we've told him to and not because he has grasped the concept yet.

For next year, we bought a new curriculum called RightStart which was developed by a Montessori Math PhD. using Japanese philosophies. One example of this philosophy is the way the Asians name their numbers. In English we count ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, and so on, which doesn’t give the child a clue about tens and ones. But in Asian languages, you counts by saying ten-1, ten-2, ten-3 for the teens, and 2-ten 1, 2-ten 2,and 2-ten 3 for the twenties. Another important difference is the emphasis on non-counting strategies for computation. Japanese children are discouraged from counting; rather they are taught to see quantities in groups of fives and tens. For example, when an American child wants to know 9 + 4, most likely they will start with 9 and count up 4. In contrast, the Asian child will think that if he takes 1 from the 4 and puts it with the 9, then he will have 10 and 3, or 13. They also use math card games and other manipulates including a special double-sided abacus based on five's and ten's. It's structured by levels rather than grade-level. It's completely different than how I was taught, but Jimmy really understands this concept, and he is the one teaching it...and it appears that Gabriel may be ready for something like this so we're hoping it will go wonderfully. Needless to say, we're really excited about beginning first grade with this curriculum.

LANGUAGE ARTS:
Reading: I'm happy to report that since the purchase of the BOB book sets and creating a reward system for reading, he is now reading at a first grade level with ease and confidence. I wouldn't say he is motivated to read on his own, but at least he is reading more and more.

Writing: His penmanship for print is clear. Sometimes needs to be reminded to bring the ascenders up to reach the top line and the descenders down beneath the baseline. When there are lines on the page, his writing is much better as you can imagine. He uses his finger to space out words still, but at least you can read what he is writing. He still sometimes writes his d's and b's backwards as well as s's and 2's. He draws his "o" in the opposite direction then what he is supposed to so hope to correct these mistakes this year.

Comprehension: His comprehension is surprisingly good considering he doesn't act like he is paying attention at all. There are occasions where I'll ask him what I just read when I KNOW he wasn't paying attention and he can't recall, but the other times when I'm unsure he knows exactly. He has been reading comprehension stories for 2nd grade and doing quite well. We will stick with this level for this year as it is challenging him at just the right level, and may even go back to first grade comprehension as remedial.

Spelling and Vocabulary: I give him pop-quiz spelling tests with either sight words, vocabulary words or words we've been working on recently. Anywhere from 8-12 words at a time and he generally gets most of them correct depending on difficulty from easy three letter CVC words or the more difficult four letter words with silent e's. We use the plain old-fashioned dictionary to look up meanings of words. He's not shy about asking what a certain word means that he's never heard before.

Phonics: We have been decoding words in our new Explode the Code workbooks which he seems to like. I can tell this is helping and we'll continue this along with another curriculum with cassette tapes I recently purchased.

Grammar: He understands nouns, verbs, adjectives and pronouns, but that's it. He also understands to capitalize letters of names and places. Sometimes he will begin using all uppercase letters and throw in a lower case letter. We are working on either using all caps or use of initial caps with consistency. He understands basic punctuation such as use of period at end of sentence, exclamation points for excitement and question marks for questions. He can write easy three word sentences, but anything beyond this he finds daunting.

SCIENCE:
He loves science and is glued to the T.V. when MythBusters comes on...or Sid the Science Kid. He is always asking why does something work the way it does so we are trying to nurture that curiosity by doing experiments as things come up in our daily life. We do not have a curriculum per se, but we read science, nature, human body, and physics books to him. We research the weather together and talk about seasons, etc. Currently, we are reading a book on Albert Einstein. We will use Science in the Kitchen to conduct any learning opportunities this coming year. He also loves helping us to cook and bake which allows him to learn how to operate/manipulate the various instruments and learn measurements.

SOCIAL STUDIES:
We plan to begin Story of the World text with it's accompanying workbook, but this year we focused on reading some books on culture and talking to him about people in general near and far. What they do, what they eat, what they wear and what they may believe. In addition, we keep a calendar in his room so he can mark off the days of the week (which he knows) and follow the months of the year (which he knows) while learning the different holidays. He knows the continents and we will begin the study of particular countries this coming year.

PHYSICAL FITNESS:
Jim works with him on golf, soccer, and tennis while I teach him to swim and dance with him in our living room. He is athletic, but not very focused or fast. Perhaps that will come with age....we hope!

OTHER:
Drama/Music/Art: He loves music and to sing. In fact, he recently told me he wants to be a song creator when he grows up. He loves rock or pop songs or anything with a beat. He sang "Jesus Loves Me" in Spanish with his homeschool group. He doesn't really care for drawing, but can color fairly well inside the lines. We hope to begin piano lessons this year. He also loves maps and mazes and we supply him with age-appropriate levels. He likes to tell jokes and act out or say movie line quotes so we'll explore this some more as well.

SUMMARY:
In my opinion, Gabriel is working above grade-level, but we want to be careful not to either push too hard or become complacent and find ourselves struggling in a certain subject. While he is a bright, young boy, he has a hard time focusing on what he is supposed to be doing at times, unless it's the television or computer screen. On that note, I'm watching for any signs of ADD or ADHD or seeing if he just grows out of being a boy. I think it's apparent that he is a kinesthetic learner, but doesn't fail at auditory or visual learning either. Overall, he has a love of learning and doing new things, is quite social and enjoys his friends, telling jokes and having fun.

One Spring Day

One beautiful Spring day we opened up the French doors and enjoyed the sunlight. I'm obsessed with taking photos of the kids and this seemed like a good opportunity. It's nearly impossible to snap a photo before she moves, but here they are of our fun moment.

I got that boom, boom, boom

Here are my kids rockin' out to the Black Eyed Peas. Giselle stops dancing and becomes a Diva as soon as she sees the camera though, but at least I got a partial view of the Pett dancing madness for your viewing pleasure. :)

1.5 million homeschoolers in 2007

The number of home-schooled kids hit 1.5 million in 2007, up 74% from when the Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics started keeping track in 1999 as stated in this USA Today article a year ago.

I wonder what the statistics are now three years later....I'll keep looking.

Update: I found this:
"There were an estimated 1,700,000 to 2,100,000 children (grades K-12) home educated during 2002-2003 in the United States. Homeschooling appears to still be the fastest-growing form of education."
– Brian D. Ray, Ph.D., Facts on Homeschooling.

That was for 2002 and they say up to 15% increase per year. Haven't found any current data for 2009 as they may not have that ready to publish. If there are approximately 73 million children in the U.S. having over 2 million homeschool doesn't seem like a whole lot, but then again, not all cases are reported since some are categorized as private schooled. So ... I give up since I can't get accurate numbers, but at least I have an idea now of the potential percentage.

The Home School Legal Defense Association study shows higher academic level than public school counterparts.

Project Day with NEACH

Gabriel and his homeschool friends of NEACH (North East Atlanta Christian Homeschoolers) sang a Spanish song for project day. They were adorable.

Gearing up for First Grade

After hours and hours, days and days of research, I think I've finally come to a place of understanding of what there is to offer in terms of first grade curriculum and what may work best for Gabriel. A homeschool chat group I belong to has been extremely encouraging, uplifting and helpful in terms of resources (even more so than the real life homeschool group, but that may be due to the nature of online and less about the group itself).

I've read the book Top 100 Homeschool Curriculums by Cathy Duffy and have pinpointed the six major philosophical teaching methods as well as the four main learning styles. They have charted out the philosophical approaches married with the child's learning style so clearly. We will go to either or both of the GHEA Conference and Southeast Homeschool Expo at Cobb Galleria to explore, touch and talk with veterans and publishers of each. For now, this is where I've narrowed it down to...of course the caveat being my husband who may change everything! LOL....

Reading - Explode the Code (or Spell to Read and Write)
www.explodethecode.com/02_how/

Writing - Create a Story
www.createpress.com/pages/story.htm

Math - MathUSee
www.mathusee.com/default.php?langua...

History - Ultimate Geo
www.rocksolidinc.com/catalog/the-ul...

Science - AIMS edu
www.aimsedu.org/

or seriously considering a unit study program called KONOS
www.konos.com/index.html

We may still supplement with other Language Arts materials, and he still has a Time4Learning account which is fun to do together online (www.time4learning.com/) and of course, while this includes most of his academics, he is also in the midst of spring soccer, looking for an art/drama/music camp to join, starting golf in summer and we are teaching him swimming and tennis. We want to start piano and cub scouts come fall as he needs to be six years old for each.

I'm super obsessed about his education which from time to time drives Jimmy nuts. I just can't help getting so excited about the endless opportunities!!

Easter 2010

We seem to be the home on our street where neighbor friends gather with their children for holidays like Easter and Halloween – and honestly, we LOVE it!! We have the fathers hide the eggs in the front yard and do a little egg-hunting, playing, talking and eating lots of chocolate. It was beautiful weather and we all commented on how the wind blew the flowers off the tree that morning decorating it for us so beautifully.

Go Panthers!

Soccer Season Has Begun

This is Gabriel's first soccer team. He is having a blast as two of his friends, Patrick and Sean are on the team with him.

Michelle's Wedding in Pensacola, FL

"Always the bride, never a bridesmaid" is no longer my mantra. I had the pleasure of standing by my friend on her special day as she said I will to her now husband. Now Mrs. Michelle Early - She and Scott went off to Belize on their honeymoon and I could not be more happier for them. She made a beautiful bride, it was a gorgeous Spring day and Gabriel made an adorable ring barrer.

Gabriel-isms

I chuckled at Gabriel yesterday for getting upset with someone parked in a handicap space because he thought they were for wheelchairs to park. I was envisioning people wheeling themselves down the road and when they park, then what did he think? They get up and walk inside??

Kindergarten progress

Now that we are more than half way through Kindergarten, it's about time that I report on how homeschooling is going. I have to say it's gone better than I expected, but then again, I'm not sure what I expected since I really have had no experience with this except one friend I had as a child who was homeschooled.

Since this is our first year of home schooling and while I was unsure how the year would go, I'm happy to report he is learning and doing well.

He loves math (which he must get from his dad). He can count to 100 on his own, skip count by 5's to 100 on his own and we're working on counting by 2's (he gets mixed up in the teens but is ok after that). He just finished first grade math workbook (adding, subtracting) and we are starting him on second so a bit of a math wiz. Starting double digit addition which includes carrying over. We don't want to overwhelm him so we're thinking of doing some remedial of past unit studies to keep his confidence level up with mathematics.

The counting by 5s has helped him with learning to tell time and can tell me to the minute now.

As for language arts (which is my niche subject) he is a little slower and doesn't seem as interested at all! He has a hard time focusing, drifts off looking out the window, taps his pencil, etc. He does great at comprehension so I know he is listening and comprehending (when i read or he reads). We've worked really hard at his writing lately and trying to print more neatly and it has helped some (but still exhibits this 'i just don't care' attitude sometimes). We just started the first grade spelling and writing workbooks this month and is learning short u's, long o's -- nouns, verbs, pronouns, adjectives. It's just going slower than math, but that's ok. That is one of the benefits of homeschooling is you can teach at their pace, at their level and toward their interests.

I started doing spelling tests with him once a week over the last month with three and easy four letter words. He seems to like this so I may take this up a notch, do more often and actually study a set of words. (We've been pretty laid back, just trying to make school fun for him). He says spelling is his favorite subject so want to continue with this momentum. We're also studying the Dolch sight words and using them for spelling words as well. He's almost finished with his Spelling workbook.

As for reading, he asked me the other day if we could go to Barnes & Nobles so he could buy himself a new Step 3 reading book. I LOVED THAT! He was pretty confident with his Step 2 books and wanted a new challenge. Reading has clicked with him just as of late and it's wonderful to see. I knew his old Step 2 books he had memorized so I was able to see this transition to reading brand new material on his own just recently. We have been going to the library every couple of weeks to get new books which we read every night. I'll have him read a book to me in exchange for me reading a larger book to him. Again, he really needs motivation with reading and does not appear to like it although he can do it. Trying to build his confidence in this area.

In addition to the main three "R's" (reading, writing, arithmetic), we do science experiments, history book reading, geography (loves maps and mazes), and read books on social studies, etc. but are not done as part of the main curriculum. We're still going to our homeschool group although we've missed the past few weeks due to illness, he was sick, then me and then the baby. He started soccer and loves practicing with his friends and looks forward to his games on Saturdays.

We've enjoyed having him with us and enjoy being the ones to teach him. It's a lot of hard work but is very rewarding.

There are two homeschool conferences coming up...GHEA (Georgia Homeschool Educators Association) end of April and the Southeast Homeschool Expo end of August where we can look at all the curriculum and get ideas for first grade come fall. I'm very excited!

My Baby Turns One Years Old!

This is her in the same birthday hat Gabriel wore. :)

I can hardly believe my little girl is one years old. Born March 3, 2009, she has grown into her own unique person and personality. She loves her big brother yet is completely opposite from him on many things...

He used a paci, She sucks her thumb
He hated tummy time, She still sleeps on her stomach
He screamed all the time with colic, She for the most part is pretty calm (unless she's teething)
He walked late at 14.5 months, She started walking at 9 months
He breastfed until 15 months, She (and I) quit at 9 months

We kept her special day simple with baking her a ladybug cake, used Oreos for the spots and Pirouline's for antannae. It's amazing to see them play with each other. Feels like my heart grows three sizes larger. We're soaking in the moments.

Valentine's Day

Lots of love from my loved ones on the day of love.

Good-bye Gummy Grins

Hello to my first little teeth. Here is one of my last gummy grins...

From January 2010

The Latest Gabriel-isms

"Try this cheese Mommy!" (As he hands me a piece from his finger and I partake) "It's better than life, huh!!?"

Looking at a box of Velveeta says, "Does this cheese have Velveeta in it?" -- can you tell we are huge cheese fans?

At Giselle working on cutting her first tooth: "Oh my gosh! I just can't believe it! She made a tooth!"

Watching a television show, when interrupted by the Meteorologist giving the weather report says, "Zoom forward." I say, "We can't Gabriel, it's live T.V." Then he says, "What's 'live' mean?" Kids these days don't understand the age of living in the real time world with their digital products, TIVO and DVR.

Ten at Ten

Giselle is ten months old and took ten steps to commemorate her birthday. Our little girl is walking and talking.

Christmas 2009 was a hit!

Gabriel's first words when he woke up this morning was "I just can't wait to open my presents!" I thought he would wake earlier than 8:30 am...and we had to wait on Giselle to wake up too. He tore into his gifts and surprisingly picked up the gift wrap paper after each one. A kid after my own heart. I may not be the tidiest person in the world, but I do love order and structure. Here they are in complete Christmas bliss opening up the ball popper (for Giselle) and the Hot Wheels tracks set (for Gabriel). Grandma and Uncle Troy got the watch the extravaganza via Skype.

I think Gabriel likes her toy too! :)

Giselle saying her first word ... Dad

Giselle saying "Dad" while Jim was in the hospital. Guess she was missing him.

This one is really clear...

Giselle's 9 month stats - Happy and Healthy

Uneventful doctor appointment this morning with Giselle for her 9 month check up with exception of the downpour of rain. I say she's happy and they tell me she's healthy.

Height: 29-1/2" at 95%
Weight: 17 lbs, 9 ounces at 25%
Head circumference: 45 cm

She didn't even cry when they gave her shot. She's a long and lean baby machine!

Standing Baby and Inquisitive Boy

I've just looked at the blog stats and see I've entered 38 posts including this one for the year. Not bad considering it's been one hell of a year. I mainly write these entries as our own personal online diary to chronicle the milestones of our kids and highlights of our lives...so we can look back and also to share them with family who aren't near...but I have learned there are at least a few people who actually take the time to read this blog. God bless both of you!! haha
Well, enough touting of my two fans, and onto the latest....which is that Giselle is standing without holding on now. Gabriel was the very first person to see her doing this and told us. We believed him but it took a week to go by for us to get to see her stand on her own with our own eyes. When we see her we all exclaim "STANDING BABY!!!!" Her new found skill of speed crawling has led her into the bathroom when we are preoccupied. This exploration led us to have to call a plumber since she enjoys playing with the toilet water...she must have dropped a toy down there....yuck and ugh...while there, she discovered the joy of unraveling the toilet paper roll. Between this and diapers, we are far from being green in our house. She's loving her Cheerios, crackers and other finger foods and typically gets about 50% in the mouth with the other half on the floor (or in the crevice of the seat, down her shirt and into her diaper, inside a toy, you get the idea...) Her demeanor is so pleasant and brings us all so much joy. Every time she smiles, it melts away all of my fears, worries and stress and makes me so incredible thankful. These are some powerful smiles folks! She has different ones, too. I love the one when she smiles with her whole face.

Gabriel is doing so well with his reading, writing and arithmetic. We couldn't be more proud of him. He really surprised me when he could tell time the other day. He also still surprises me with his inquisitiveness like asking "Does jelly come from jellyfish?" and walking out of a Kroger with Salvation Army ringing their bell "Why is that human standing there?". He also wants to invent side windshield wipers for the car. When I asked him why he says "so we can see out the sides the way we do the front and the back and because I love you." Well, who can argue with that reasoning?

We're soaking up these moments.

The Apple Doesn't Fall Far

We miss our family very much and have more than 500 miles on either side of us keeping us apart (down South to Tampa or up North to Detroit). Fortunately I get to see them every day in my children. It's amazing how many people tell me that Gabriel looks like me and Giselle looks like Jimmy. It's true, but it doesn't stop there.

Giselle looks like a spitting image of her Grandpa Pett when she smiles. The crescent shape of her eyes match Ed Pett to a T. The long thin face must come from the Lachs....as it's certainly Jimmy's trait too. Her height I attribute to the Bullington's as all my aunts and cousins are tall, including my brother. I think my mom and me are the only stubby ones. Her pediatrician says she is off the charts in terms of length so I do hope she keeps the Bullington genes in this area. As for the Rodriguez side, she does use her hands a lot. She can't crawl around unless she has something in each hand. Usually something hard like a cup or a toy which makes noise on our knarly pink tile floors so she sounds like something out of a cheesy horror film, "click, clack, click, clack" around the house.

Gabriel's shape of his face is reminiscent of my mother's head. I know they have 60 years apart and are a different gender, but sometimes Jim and I look at him and say, "That's Grandma." He is hyperactive and sports-minded which we think he gets from the Rodriguez's. He's really into cooking so maybe he's another Helcia Pett. And this is too early to tell, but I've heard that baldness skips a generation. With Ed Pett looking like Alfred Hitchcock and Jim having a full head of brown curly hair, it's safe to say that he has inherited the Pett hair genes.

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree! And sometimes I wish the orchard was a little closer.

"No" way Jose...I'm not a baby!

Giselle is an 8 month old, but she is also a girl and rightfully so has learned the word "No"... she's humble, but apparently is unaware that she is indeed a baby ... we teach 'em young and they grow up so fast these days.

What's Funnier?

What's funnier about this short video of my two kids? ...Is it that Giselle appears to be a miss priss and can't crawl over a threshold needing to get on her hands and feet or hearing Gabriel in the background while I try to take this video somewhat annoyingly calling for me saying, "Mommy,...Mommy,...Mommy!"

Your call folks -- it's a toss up for me.

Sleep is underrated

Life is still very much about survival ... there is work pressure, financial stress, kids health, safety and education, trying to keep my husband's pain level down - out of the hospital and generally alive, illness that has plagued our home this month and lack of sleep on both Jim and my part. Yes, it's hard, but strangely I'm glad to have gone through it. As Paul said, he learned patience through things which he suffered. And, I can now see light at the end of the tunnel. Things are appearing hopeful at work, Giselle and Gabriel are growing and are generally sweet and healthy kids, and I believe Giselle is beginning to sleep through the night. At least this is the second time that we've woken up and Jim and I looked at each other and asked, "did you get up with her?" and shocked when the answer was "No." The lack of sleep I think is the kicker...it makes me short and snappy at my poor dear husband who is in pain and doing the best he can and his pain and lack of sleep makes for a really grumpy person, understandably.

I've also had three occasions spent with girlfriends over the last couple of months. A few of us Mommies in the neighborhood have gotten together to spend time without the interruption of kids and it's been a wonderful time of sharing and laughter. I realized something important after that. One, I REALLY need to make time for friends...(not for them...for ME!)... and Two, friendships are invaluable. I think it makes you a more holistic person. I'm not putting myself down for not having done it yet, because with nursing, working and being a mom, there hasn't been much time, but now that things look like they are getting a little easier to manage, I can't wait to have another girls night out. I haven't felt like I've had much left of me to "give" lately, but feeling a little more rested helps tremendously! Sleep is definitely underrated. At least, it makes it easier to manage all the challenges of life with a brain that can function.

Gabriel-isms

As they say, "Kids say the darndest things" and "Out of the mouth of babes" comes profound, hilarious and always honest words. Whether questions or simply statements, they have no idea that what they just said is either unacceptable in society (like, "look at that fat woman mommy!) or so hilarious it would take a comedian to come up with it. Before I forget all the cute and honest things Gabriel has said, here are a few:

As I'm getting in the car to come to work, Gabriel opens the front door and yells "Don't let the work bugs bite!"

Wanting to carve his first pumpkin, continually asked me "When can we shred the pumpkin?"

"I just love you so much that when you go away bye-bye, the sadness comes"

Wearing my new glasses, he says, "You look like you are in disguise. I think I'll call you Mrs. Glassy"

"I don't want Giselle to have my toy because of her suckiness." –referring to his sister's slober

"I'm glad I am stuck with you today. You're a lot of fun and I love you."

And my favorite...

As I'm nursing Giselle, he says, "It would be awwwesome if you made chocolate baby milk for Giselle. She'd really like that!"

Balloon Laughs

We had a fun evening of "balloon chase," as Gabriel put it.

Spiderman and the Fairy

We've started a little tradition by going trick or treating with our neighbor friends. The weather was chilly and misty but that didn't stop Superman and friends. The fairy stayed home with the dads and took a nap.

The Sept-ober blog posting

September ended up being another busy month (yes, I know it's October...ok, so October has been just as busy)....but getting back to September as I don't want to gloss over it with Jimmy's great 55th surprise birthday party and all the wonderful things Giselle is doing now.

First, we had an amazing time at Jim's surprise party at our favorite Chinese restaurant with just a few of our closest friends. Jim was absolutely clueless about the special event and more than touched by those who came to celebrate with him.

Then, Giselle is still not sleeping, but has mastered the skill of pulling to a stand which she LOVES to do. She is also now sitting, crawling and saying Mam-a. She's just such a happy baby and brings so much joy to our chaotic lives.

Now for October, Gabriel will reuse his pirate gear for Halloween this year and a friend is letting me borrow a fairy costume for Giselle. We are more than half way through October - I can hardly believe it...yes, next I'll say that Christmas is around the corner -- 64 days to be exact -- and then 2009 will have ended. Are we suppose to say two thousand and ten or twenty ten? It's a new era so shall be interesting to see what everyone flocks to refer to the year. Just hoping there will be enough spare change from the piggy jar to get the kiddos at least one present under the tree this year. Times are tough all around. I'm tired, old and broke, but also have hope, faith and am loved. With that said, life is still good.

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