I am Thankful...

Happy Thanksgiving...

I love this song by MercyMe called “What’s a little rain?” If you’ve never heard it I have a video of it at the bottom of this blog. It talks about getting through hard times. I think everyone deals with grief in their own way. For me there are certain triggers – things like seeing my dad’s shoes…thinking of my dad’s best friend and how sad he is…hearing songs on the radio that make me think of him…thinking of planning my son’s baptism and knowing my Dad isn’t going to be there…the holidays…so wish we could skip those this year.

But then I think about the holidays and how special they will be for my family too…we can turn our grief into a celebration of his (and His) life…a celebration of our family being whole again…and a celebration of our newest member, Lucas.

We have a picture of a turkey hanging on our door that has a place for cards on it for us to write all that we are thankful for this year. I let Aidan fill out the cards. He’s thankful for the usual…family, his baby brother (sometimes), food, his bed and of course batman. My list is a little longer and won’t fit on the little cards so I think I will list it out here so I will be able to look back during those sad times and have a reason to smile …

- My Mom. Amazing. Stronger than she knows.

- My family – I have a wonderful husband who affords me the opportunity to stay home and raise our kiddos. He is such a hands-on dad and I love watching him with the boys. I have two crazy little boys that put a smile on my face each day.

- My family reunited. Girls! Girls! Girls! Instantly I have 4 new babysitters. Seriously, it truly has been a blessing having them back in our lives. Kris has been wonderful and has raised three pretty amazing girls. Love them. And they love my boys! John has been very gracious (and tolerant – he even taught Aidan to put the toilet seat down when he’s done with his business…and Aidan ate rabbit yesterday, and LOVED it!). Love him. Goodness all around.

- My in-laws. My mother-in-law who came through huge for us this summer by staying in town for weeks while I was in the hospital. My father-in-law who came in each weekend to make sure we were okay. Even though Aidan doesn’t stay on the phone for long he is always excited about his weekly phone calls from Popi.

- I can’t list out each member of our family (inevitably I would miss someone and might offend)…but you know who you are. Each of you are so special to us. We realized that even more this summer. We had thoughts of leaving town for a few years and were reminded this summer during our time of need how lucky we are to have such a large and loving family that live close by. We leaned on so many of you and appreciate you more than you know.

- I have these girlfriends. They have been my friends for years. Love them. I am so thankful for them. Losing my dad is the hardest thing I have gone through. They get it.

- My MOPS group. I have made some amazing friendships through this group.

- My doctors at NMH. They saved my life this summer – what more can I say?

So my list is pretty long and I could go on and on. So even though we had a crazy summer that seemed like a rollercoaster ride we came out of it okay. We survived. And I think we are stronger for having gone through it. So what’s a little rain?

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Christmas cards...

It’s that time of year again…time to pick out the pictures for the Christmas cards…I loved our card that I ordered through Shutterfly last year:


Not sure, but one of these may be in the running for the card this year…let me know which one you like best!

Here is the link to all the ones they offer: http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-photo-cards.

I’ve been using Shutterfly for all my pictures for years. I also LOVE, LOVE, LOVE their canvas wall art - http://www.shutterfly.com/home-decor/canvas-wall-art.

If I get really ambitious I may order one of their photo calendars – super easy and cute! http://www.shutterfly.com/calendars
What do you do with all the photocards you get for Christmas? I have an album that I keep them in so we can look at them each year. Love it.

Happy Birthday Kacie!

My niece, Kacie, turned 18 this weekend! It is just amazing to me that she is that old. As a little girl Kacie was always full of energy and smiling - some things don't change! She is smart, funny and has a never ending smile.

Kacie - we love you sooooo much and hope this is your best year yet! XOXO

Hanging out...

Lucas just loves to watch whatever Aidan is doing. This is the first week that Aidan really thought that was cool - now he performs for him and asks me not to put Lucas to bed for his naps. Lucas just smiles and laughs at Aidan...you know those deep, belly laughs that make everyone crack up. He is such a funny little man. He is working on sitting up - he can't stand laying down because he misses some of the action!

Surgery is scheduled...

Surgery is scheduled! I had an appointment with my surgeon yesterday. He was running over an hour late so I had an opportunity to stop by and see the nurses at my OB’s office. They are so great. It was good to see them and show off some pictures of the boys. I was hoping to see my favorite doctor, Dr. Emily Su, but apparently I had just missed her. In reflecting back on my summer I am reminded how wonderful she was – she was with me every step of the way to my recovery from this ordeal and went well above and beyond her role as my OB. I hope our paths cross again.

On December 27th I will have my final surgery to finish up the craziness that happened this summer….I am so looking forward to getting through this surgery and being able to move on, but I admit I am scared. The idea of surgery again terrifies me. Pulling into the parking garage yesterday at Northwestern to go to my doctor’s appointment I think I had a little panic attack. All the memories of being there, the anxiety, the pain, the sadness all comes back when I am at NMH. My doctor is amazing and I am confident that I am in great hands.

Please say a prayer. Please pray that the surgery goes well, that the recovery isn’t too tough and that Nate and I can handle being in the hospital again for a week. Please also keep Aidan in your thoughts and prayers – I’m not sure how to handle this with him. I am again reminded how wonderful our family and friends are. We are going to have lean on them again during the recovery from this final surgery and all of them have stepped up and offered help and just keep saying “don’t worry, we’ll work it out.” And I believe we will.

'Oso' Stinky...

While watching "Special Agent Oso" cartoon this a.m. Aidan says "Daddy is 'Oso' stinky!" Love that boy!

The Dragon Hunter...

Aidan loves dragons...today he was playing dragon hunter with auntie kris. I love his little creative mind and what all went into his dragon hunter outfit...

In a pickle....

Auntie Kris gave Lucas a pickle today and he went to town...and LOVED it!

Random thoughts...

I was supposed to have an appointment with my surgeon yesterday to discuss my upcoming surgery....so frustrating...he had an emergency surgery so they canceled off all of afternoon appointments...of course they forgot to call me. Luckily I called before I left because I had a weird feeling that something was up...I am just so disappointed...I was really looking forward to some answers...rescheduled to next week so hopefully good news then!

Daylight savings time is throwing us for a loop...Lucas is going to bed at the same time but now waking up at 4:30 a.m! I'm exhausted. He is so wide awake and ready play...any suggestions/tips would be appreciated...

Nate twisted his ankle playing basketball yesterday...he does this almost every year...he's amazing though - with a crazy swollen ankle he still rode his bike to work today. He said it was actually easier than walking on it!

We are loving this warm November weather - and hoping it never ends!

Kacie Anna...

So I recently got an upgrade on my camera and have been loving taking pictures. Kacie (my niece) recently came over and babysat for us so in the morning we headed down to the lakefront for some fun...she's is so silly and soooo pretty...enjoy!

Love you lots Kacie!

Congratulations to Liz and Anthony McKenna on the birth of their baby girl yesterday - Abigail Grace. Madeleine and Caroline are going to be great big sisters! We can't wait to meet her!

Yummmmmy!!!!

Lucas enjoying a little avocado this afternoon...

Trick or Treat!

For Halloween this year we did our traditional trick-or-treating by Paula's house...it was a little chilly outside so Lucas didn't join the trick-or-treating party (thanks Marilyn for watching him!). We had a Batman theme for our family this year - Nate was the Green Lantern and I was Batgirl...and of course Aidan was BATMAN! He was so excited that we all dressed up. Paula and Marilyn were "Mom 1" and "Mom 2" and Jeff was a hilarious Leprachan. Mom, Katie, Kevin came down and were amazed at how many kids and families were out.

Brendan, Parker and Ilsa and their families joined us and Aidan had a blast!

Thanks Paula for hosting us again this year!

My favorite costume of the day - Curious George and The Man With The Yellow Hat - I didn't get a very good picture, but you get the idea...

I think at this point they were DONE!

Aidan even said "Mom, I have enough candy!"

Greenfield Village at Halloween

While in Michigan Nate's mom got us all tickets to a Halloween dinner at Greenfield Village - what a treat! We had so much fun. The dinner was fantastic and then we walked around the Village which was decorated for Halloween and everyone got to trick-or-treat. They even had the headless horseman riding around!