Life as we know it...

Veteran's Day

2010-11-11T07:03:00.002-07:00

This is one of those odd Holiday's, like Memorial Day to put the word "Happy" in front of it doesn't make sense. It should be perhaps - Thank You Veteran's Day! or even, somewhat lighter, "Hug a Vet Today" or "Kiss a Vet Today" or on the serious side "Salute a Vet Today"

I did something unusual the other day, some of the vets were handing out those poppy flowers at the local grocery store (it was a fund raiser as well). I didn't take one though, because in that brief moment the poppy reminded me of heroin and heroin reminded me of Afghanistan and that led me to think about those men and women still serving over there. I felt awkward. I mean, one, how could my brain process something that fast and secondly, I felt I was being dishonorable not taking the flower. I'm a vet for Pete's sake!

As I walked through the store, I started thinking about my action, even justifying my strangeness and not making an outward sign of honoring veteran's. I wanted those service members safe. I know they are serving us, I know too well, but I wanted them home. I walked through the grocery store ashamed of my action and frustrated with my lack of ability to effect change; to find solutions for these difficult situations we face as a country.

Each person has their own reason for joining the military. It could have been the dream of travel, tropical places, adventure and seeing the wonders of the world. Even so, the basic ingredient, I believe, is service and the willingness to protect a way of life. I, even though I should know better, take our way of life in the US for granted.

I know the US is messy right now (really when hasn't it been) and you may have your own personal struggles, but I hope you think about our service men and women today and our veteran's who have served us. Say a prayer, send a care package, perhaps you know someone who served, give a word of thanks. I'm proud to say I served my country, even more so, proud to serve you.

Bill

Chase...

2010-04-01T09:49:00.002-06:00

Yesterday I had to put my beloved dog, Chase, to sleep. He had gotten very sick, very fast and there wasn't much of a choice. But my heart is aching over this loss.

My Grandmother used to give all of us $100 for every birthday and my Uncle had also given me $100 for 25th birthday and with that I bought Chase. I had originally wanted a lab, but a friend at work had a friend that had just bred her two Aussies and had a litter of 9 puppies. Well, my Dad has always loved Aussies and so he, my sister and I drove out to Elizabeth to a farm to see these 4 week old puppies.

In a stinky barn there were 9 little furballs all different colors (as is typical with Australians) and the three of us walked all around the barn and looked at those 9 sweet faces. My Dad found a beautiful merle with two different colored eyes and wanted me to get him, but as I was walking towards him I looked down and this little puppy was sitting on my feet staring right up at me. So I moved him and picked up other puppies and cuddled them, but everytime I stopped, there was that little body sitting on my feet. So that was that- this dog had picked me! He was the only tri-color in the group and had very distinct markings, he was beautiful.

I had to wait 4 more weeks before I could pick him up and take him home. In the meanwhile I had to think of a name. I had never had a male dog before, so my original pick wouldn't work. And I had been going through a lot of trials personally and had some difficult things happen to me, which I luckily survived. I remember watching an episode of 'ER' where Carter's cousin had overdosed and basically wound up a vegetable and his name was Chase. That might sound strange that I choose his name based on that situation. But for me it was a giant reminder of how blessed I was and how I should never forget it.

So on August 1, 1998- my 25th birthday, my best friend and I drove out to Elizabeth and brought home Chase. He had been living in a barn for the last week, so he really needed a bath, but he was beautiful. I have so many memories of his puppyhood and his life flooding my head right now, but what sticks with me the most is the times when I felt so lonely and would just hold his head in my hands and cry.

I know some people who are not dog or even animal lovers would say- it's a just a dog Melinda, it's not like one of your children died. But for me, Chase was one of my children- he was my first child. And even though right now I am in incredible pain over his death, I wouldn't trade the 11 1/2 years I had with that beautiful, stubborn, playful character. He loved me with no judgement and expected very little in return- just wanted to be with me.

I know someday we will get another dog, but I know it will be quite a while before that happens. Chase was one of a kind and you can't destroy that memory with trying to fill the hole he's left.

As the vet was giving him the meds that would end his life and I looked into those huge brown eyes, all I could do was cry and thank him for being in my life and choosing me.

Thank you Chasey, I will miss you terribly! I have heard that Jesus loves to play ball....

Love, Mommy

Faith

2010-03-30T13:31:00.003-06:00

Some good friends and I met for some margaritas and social justice last week- I know odd combination, isn't it? It was a fun and interesting night and I have been pondering over what we discussed and am praying for the adventure we have before us.

We have decided to begin with a book study on "Half the Sky" by Nicolas Kirstoff and Sheryl WuDunn. It is a difficult subject matter, it about horrific situations that girls and woman face in the developing world. And I have begun to read some articles about situations happening in our own country. We really are putting all of ourselves into this "idea" without any clue where it is headed.

So now we enter the arena that scares most people- sitting back, praying and having faith that this is where you are being called to go. But what struck me the most as I was sitting there and watching these 3 beautiful, articulate, intelligent and amazing women talk about our plans was that right at that moment I was sitting in the middle of a prayer that was being answered.

I have always been a social creature, always had lots of friends in different areas. But 10 years ago, when I began my "official" journey with bipolar, married Bill, had Connor and entered Mommyhood- I realized my pool of friends had dwindled to almost zero. And it wasn't until Connor started preschool that I realized how lonely I was! That was 5 years ago... And I prayed and prayed for some friends, ones similar to those I had in high school and college. The kind that always have your back. Who value you based on you and not what you have or look like. But I also realized that I needed some who would challenged me spiritually and be on the same walk with Christ that I am.

And I have met many people and been reconnected with many people, but not like this. It's like I don't even have to say what I am thinking and they just get it. They just get me.

So as I looked up from my notes in the midst of a margarita haze and the laughter and smiles from Erin, Rory and Paula- I realized that God had brought these people into my life and my faith has gotten stronger and stronger.

As we begin our new adventure together and hope to gather more people who would also like to walk with us, I will have that faith that God is leading us to where we are needed the most and where we can make that difference needed.

Thank you my sisters. You have no idea what a huge blessing you have been to my soul. I pray that I can be that for you as well!

Love, Mel

Bothered...

2010-03-18T14:03:00.002-06:00

I have a friend from college that told me once that I am so open minded that I am almost close minded. Probably because it drives me crazy when people don't follow the Beatles advice and just "Let It Be"! I have a hard time with a rush to judgement over things and I don't enjoy FOX or MSNBC for that matter- could we just have some journalism without a slant? And it seems the more I come to know about the world's situation and more importantly my place in it. By that I mean, my place in the cause of the world's suffering. I am trying to become conscience of how I effect others. By what I say, do and simply how I live. Too many times I sit filled with regret over something I did or didn't do- I suppose that is good that things bother me. If they didn't I'd probably be in trouble morally!

Everyone should be familiar with my Christian belief system- I don't care who or if you call anyone God, nor do I care what color your skin is, who you sleep with every night or who you choose to love. I believe in Christ and I also believe in people and their ability to do good things no matter how or what belief structure that comes through.

So here is what is bothering me right now. This Sunday my church is voting on whether or not to become a reconciling ministry- which means they will have a welcoming statement inviting believers of all kinds- including homosexuals, transgender, etc. Like I said before- I don't care who you choose to love, in fact for me it's a non-issue. But when I read what the welcoming statement is going to be, it shocked me and that bothers me very deeply. Why would I be shocked? I don't disagree with it and I plan to vote for our church to become a reconciling church, but WHY does it bother me to see it in black and white?

I have read many books over the past year on racism, global and domestic poverty, etc and practically every one says right there in the beginning- you know nothing of this topic so check your ego at the door. So I do and stand back and try to look at something with new eyes and accept what I am being taught. So in all honesty I am checking my ego at the door in this subject and looking at this with Christ's eyes filled with love for all.

So again- why is this bothering me?

Mel

Wait- how many candles are there???

2010-03-11T09:36:00.002-07:00

Today's topic could or could not be more lighthearted than yesterday's.....aging. You choose. I have a good friend who is turning 40 in May and she refers to it as "D-Day" and it took a couple of highly potent margaritas for her to realize why she referred to it as D-Day. Isn't tequila grand?

I will be 37 in August and for some reason that number seems very scary. I don't think it has been as scary as 30 for me... I am not sure why, I never really had an "age-goal" or anything like that. Maybe it's because I feel eternally like a 12 year old! When I was in high school I used to ask my Mom if she minded getting older and she said no, she wouldn't mind having her 20 year old body back, but would never trade what she has learned. I suppose she would feel the same way about turning 63 this year.

I would never give up the experiences I have had that have calmed me down A LOT and given me a level of compassion I didn't have before. I have also gained something else very important, a filter! I remember when I was younger thinking it was ok to share my opinion with anyone and everyone, sometimes just for shock value! Then my wise Mother taught me another valuable age-related lesson- not everyone wants to hear your opinion all of the time. Hmmm..... I think there are many people who could use that little kernel of knowledge.

So is age simply a number or is a state of mind? What? At 37 should I begin to look at my mortality? I hope not, considering 4 days prior my daughter will turn 2! So what about you- do you mind getting older? Does it make you feel older to see that number? Do you think you are aging gracefully? Or are you ready for botox?

As for me I still feel like a rock star, which is why I will now go and watch Sesame with Punky....

Mel

My Wednesday...

2010-03-10T14:03:00.003-07:00

Wednesdays are always days of deep thought and introspection for me, especially since September. I have been taking a class on social justice at our church called JustFaith. It has really been an incredible journey and I have read, watched and been exposed to many things that are asking me "what are you going to do to change this"? And it SO much exposure that at times you kind of want to shrink inside and block it out, but therein lies the problem- too many of us are blocking it out.

And so I sit here in my warm, safe, large and comfortable home, while my daughter sleeps soundly in her crib. At the same time my son, who has autism, is safe at school, getting a good education and has been allowed to grow and learn as much as possible and will thrive in his life. Later I will look in my cabinets and refrigerator that are full of food and decide what we will eat for dinner. After some family time, our kids will get bathed in clean water and go to sleep in safe, warm beds. But as we all know that is not the case for most of the world.

Most of the world lives on less than $2.00 a day- think about that when you buy your Starbucks every morning. Most of the world does not have clean water, daily food to eat, access to good healthcare. In many countries, my daughter and I would not be allowed to be as educated as my husband and my son. Regan and I would be under-valued only because of our gender. We may be forced into marriage, raped, abducted and forced in human trafficking. My husband has a frustrating and stressful job, but he has a good and steady job. He does not have to leave us behind while risking his life traveling through the deserts of Arizona to come and look for work. I do not have to fear death at this age because of AIDS or worry that my children will be orphaned. And at this moment we are not fearing for our lives because we choose to follow Christ.

And don't hear me saying that I don't participate in this society, because I do. I have a brand new Mac and just got a new blackberry and last weekend got my hair highlighted and cut. This afternoon I stopped by and picked up my daily green tea at Starbucks and this weekend my husband and I are going to pay to go to a movie and dinner. I am very much a part of this society, but I hope that I am beginning to take the steps to educate myself about the world in which I live. Because the world my family and I live in, isn't just this little bubble we call Highlands Ranch, Colorado, USA- it's global.

The decisions I make to purchase items for my family- food, clothing, electronics, health items- everything has a ripple effect. We live in a global world and we must acknowledge that we are bigger than just what physically touches us. As a Christian I know it is my obligation to reach out and help my fellow woman, but it shouldn't fall only to faith-based organizations. I don't care who you call God or if you never speak that name, you live in and amongst humanity. Help and reach out because you are human.

Think about it, educate and inform yourself and then choose how you will act.

Melinda

Day two...

2010-03-09T11:07:00.002-07:00

Wow, I actually managed to accomplish blogging on day 2! Well, I haven't actually hit "publish" yet, so we'll see.

So the topic for today is my weakness as a parent for one child over the other. I am hoping I am not the only one who has this issue, because it makes me feel more guilty than my usual guilt, which runs quite deep. I would have to admit that I tend to feel more emotionally about Connor than I do Regan. That is not to say that I love him more than her, I just feel more deeply connected to him. Maybe it's because he is easier personality-wise or maybe it's because he and I spent SO many years going from therapy to therapy and we had to work SO hard to get him to where he is now. Not sure.

The strange thing to all of this is that everything is hindsight. I had only been married for about 5 mins when I got pregnant with Connor and he was born 11 months to the day after we were married. And Regan took 4 years and medical science to have! And I REALLY wanted a daughter, both times! So why is it that I feel more of a weakness when it comes to Connor? For instance he has been a little off the two days- headache, tired, not sleeping well- so I have let him stay home from school. WHY? I suppose I could have pushed him and made him go, but I didn't. I guess the amount of work one has to take to have said child has nothing to do with how you feel about that child...

I was watching "House" last night and it was about a woman who was a professional blogger of sorts, although I am not sure how one gets to be a "professional" blogger. Anyway, she wrote about anything and everything that happened in her life. Not sure if that is a good or bad idea? So writing about my weakness for one child over the other may come back to bite me. But I figure I have to give my kids something to tell their shrinks later on in life, right?

See ya on day 3,

Melinda

The death of a blog...

2010-03-08T10:59:00.002-07:00

So if video killed the radio star, does that mean facebook killed the blogger? In this case, probably yes. But why? My lack of time certainly, but when I look at my posts on FB, I try to fit little blurbs about life into the 300+ characters they allow you- which for me and my constant stream of conscienceness thinking doesn't work very well. And I haven't posted anything to the blog since June of last year! So that is a bit sad...

But me starting back to blogging might be similar to my love/hate relationship with a journal. I start and write for a few months and then it sits next to my bed gathering dust. And I have heard of this 365 project, post a blog or picture once a day- I could try that so, but would I just inevitably fail and embarrass myself? And why do I become embarrassed so easily anyway? I would think after 36 years I would have stopped worrying about what others think.... Not quite so.

So I will try to post something each day- I promise it won't be something boring, like the annoying FB posts that drive me to hide people- there will be no update about my location, what I ate for dinner, how many diapers I have changed or what color my socks are. Really people we don't need to know, nor do we care! And since it is my blog, I can really put any type of political statement on it, which I DON'T do on FB, learned my lesson there when I got sucked into a stupid argument about a "friend's" satirical post of sorts. See all the things we learn while on our journey here in cyber-space?

My thoughts for today: Today is International Women's Day, which I think is huge. The atrocities we inflict on fellow human beings makes me sick. And always leaves me questioning- not why, but how? How did I hit the economic lottery and manage to be born a white girl in white suburbia and was allowed a very good education, good health care, well educated parents who love me dearly? And how is that my children get the same? And how is it that other girls born in this world are not afforded the same opportunity?

My Mother used to read me the book "Girls Can Do Anything" as a child and would lecture my sister and I on the anti-feminist rhetoric in 'Cinderella' or 'Snow White'. She is a bit of a feminist wrapped in a Mom type outfit. My Mom never planned to do it all, but somehow she still managed to. She got a bachelors, married her sweetheart, had 4 children, went back to work, earned her master's degree and has a had a wonderful career as a special ed teacher. I wonder if she ever looks back and says how?

How is most certainly my question. But how has the same answer as why- there isn't one. The only thing we can do is take those questions, put them in our pockets and move to change the world so we won't need to ask those questions.

That's it for now. Happy Monday.

See ya, Melinda

Favorite Memories 101

2009-11-15T15:52:00.003-07:00

The time was my brother Jim's and his new bride Judy's wedding reception. It was many years ago and there are few that may remember this one part of the reception. The whole day was memorable, don't get me wrong, but there was a moment after dinner, after the cake and the other wedding traditions that four men got up to sing. It was my dad (Dick Howard), Pat McKenna, Jim Daly and another man, that my dad knew when he was a Chicago cop. There they were, one held a microphone and the other bent over to get their voices in. They sang a song called "Heart of my Hearts", I think that was the title (now I will have to search the song title to make sure). At any rate, they were quite good and everyone was having a blast. I was somewhat amazed as I never saw my dad sing. The gist of the song was harmony and man, they harmonized.

Bill

Taking care of others...

2009-09-06T22:19:00.003-06:00

To my fellow Americans: I was sitting on the throne today, just thinking, when a thought popped into my head about the Health Care issue. An issue, may I honestly state, too overwhelming for the two brain cells that I have left floating around in the gray matter in my skull to totally comprehend. I have a theory ideas are floating around our world, they pop in and out of brains, floating, landing, perhaps holding on to one brain, where the person runs with the idea, perhaps they will succeed, maybe even fail, but they run with the idea. It takes courage nonetheless, to act on a idea.

Part of my thinking has to do with the sermon in church today, though the topic has been brewing for some time now. Although, I don't totally agree with the Pastor's exegesis of the passage, I do believe we should look out for the interests of others, not only are own (Philippians 2). I think the passage is speaking directly to the church (brothers and sisters) and not necessarily the world at large. Even so, the Good Samaritan is an example of loving your neighbor, so I took hold of that idea as more on line about taking care of others.

So, here is my proposal, for those that do have health insurance, if we were somehow, able to share our coverage with another family or individual for one year? This would give enough time until the powers that be, have more discussions/fights/confrontations to figure this mess out and not be so concerned about getting something passed before they take a break or whatever it is they have to do? It would fulfil the moral/spiritual obligation pressed upon me, if would not upset the tax payers (taking from their pocket), but it would be volunteerism at its finest, because we are the land of givers. Yes, I said it, the people of the US, we are a giving country. Of course, we would have to convince the insurance companies to go along with this (somehow), but it would be something to provide the basic coverage. I would then ask the IRS to give us volunteers a tax break of the equivalent of the one year premium that we pay. Let's say you pay for your insurance coverage $6,000 a year, your work may pay the equivalent or more, that doesn't count your out of pocket expenses (co pay), but you and your workplace would get a break, somehow on the additional health care costs, whether it be up front or on the back end. As I think about this through though, perhaps I'm upsetting the tax payers, since I'm asking about a tax break. That isn't my point though, my point is getting care to the millions that can't afford it right now, adults and children! We'll discuss the tax issues later, as we always do as Americans. Let me add if we can fund for wars, we should be able to fund for health care in our own country.

I, admittedly, am an idealist, a foolish heart and a product of my environment. All you need is love, was the rallying cry when I grew up. Dang, what an idiot I was in believing it. Well, I still do. People helping people. It wouldn't be for a life time, but time enough to give the lawmakers and the President to really get around the issue, from tort reform to costs. Perhaps even time for that fellow American to afford their own insurance.

I don't want more government control. I lived through it the last few months. The rules change, you get shackled and are afraid to do business. Don't get me wrong, government is good, but too much can be derailing (if you are wondering which side of the fence I'm on, I think like a Republican sometimes, I'm a registered Democrat, so you can say I'm mixed up or a centrist). I'm for what works.

So, perhaps this idea was floating around for awhile, from brain to brain, people waived it away thinking it absurd. Obviously, I don't have it well developed, but there has to be someway to find a solution right now and work on a long range plan without selling ourselves to the devil and regretting it in years to come.

Happy Father's Day!

2009-06-20T21:43:00.003-06:00

Fathers are amazing, they are so much different than Mothers, there are the obvious differences of course. But for me and my my Dad and my husband, they seem to be a heck of a lot calmer! And funnier!

My Dad's sense of humor is world famous these days and has kept the four of us in stitches all our lives and my Mother just rolling her eyes. They say women tend to marry men like their Fathers and I most definitely did! Bill is calm like my Dad, deep in thought and smart like him, loves baseball and makes me laugh like no one else! But the best part is that I see how much he loves our children, each in their own way. Just like my Dad does. I am not sure exactly how he managed to keep all of the feelings for each of the four us different, but he did.

I remember he called my older brother "pal" and me "kid". I loved being called that, I loved that my Dad had his own pet name for me. My Mom said it began at birth because I was pretty sick and in the NICU that all through my childhood he had a hard time punishing me or saying no, because all he could remember was that I was that sick little baby. Even though I was probably throwing some giant fit because I didn't get my way. But all I remember and all I still know is the love I have felt.

A few years ago I had gone through MANY trials and although my Mother always loved me, my Dad was always there, no matter what. He always has been, whether it was a tennis match, a swim meet, walking me down the aisle (telling jokes of course) or holding my newborn daughter. Now he loves my son very much, that I know, but he adores Punky. When she was a newborn he actually argued with my Mom about who got to hold her first!

And those are all the things I see in Bill as a Father, the pure love and joy he has for his kids. Watching Connor run to meet him at the train everyday and Regan's open arms when she sees him. He is their Daddy and I know they will go to him for advise, just as I did/do with my Dad and I know he will give it with love and humor, as only these two wonderful men can!

Happy Father's Day Billy! And Happy Father's Day Dad! I love you both dearly!

Love Always, Melinda

Estes Park!

2009-06-17T14:28:00.002-06:00

This past Saturday we decided to take a family trip up to Estes Park. I hadn't been there since early May and it was a bit cold & windy that day! And Bill had never been there. So after Connor's swim lessons we drove up (by way of Northglenn where the closet Cracker Barrel exists!). We walked around a path near the golf course right off of Lake Estes. The big attraction were the Elk lounging and grazing on the course and this is common practice for the Elk of the town. They get to go more places than my own dogs would be allowed!

We also drove up near the Stanley Hotel, very beautiful, but CREEPYYY!! We also took in the scenery around us, the spectacular mountains and the beautiful wildflowers. All I could think of was how blessed I felt to live in such a beautiful place! We tried to drive into town and park so we could walk around the shops, but it was a weekend and there were many things going on around town. So we decided to go up again on a weekday where we could park and also do a bit of hiking in the park. But it was a nice diversion from the chaos of life as of late for us.

See ya,
Melinda

Billy's Birthday and those kooky kids...

2009-06-17T13:57:00.002-06:00

We tend to have low key birthdays here. Well I personally like (and so does Connor) a big deal made out of my birthday, but Bill is more of a low key guy than I am. Which is probably why the two of work so well together!

So this year it was just the four of us! We had grilled steak (my husband is turning into quite the suburban grill master) and potatoes. Followed by presents and birthday cake, even little Punk got a taste, which she loved. She also managed to squish into her hair causing the bananas previously squished in to get even worse! So she had to have a bit of "shampoo" afterwards.

These are some pictures from that night and few others- Regan is trying to dismantle Connor's train setup and he didn't get too upset..... She is crawling everywhere, pulling up and beginning to cruise around the furniture. And talking up a storm, which is always bittersweet for me since Connor talked a little, but then stopped by this age. Hard for me not to think I should have done something right then! Anyway, she is too cute and he loves her dearly...

Happy birthday Babe!
Melinda

Summer and swimming..

2009-05-31T18:03:00.002-06:00

Summer is HERE! Thank goodness for the warmth of the sun and the time together! I decided it was time to leave my job at our church St. Andrew and my last day was last Thursday, so I get to be home with both of my kids and just be a Mom for the summer. I am still working from home with my Dad, which will amp up a bit more now that I only have ONE job! I am sure I will look for something in the future, but for now I think I need to stay home with Punky and do what I had always planned and what I had done with Connor, be a Mom!

Connor has started swimming lessons, this is his first set of lessons. We have always done tball or baseball in the past and the swim lessons filled up SO fast- all week except Saturdays! So we decided that our little math & science wiz wasn't as into baseball as we had hoped, he loves to watch with us and to play catch with his Daddy, but isn't into being on a team. A bit sad for us, but I'd rather have him happy with what he loves to do than force the issue. So he started lessons this past Saturday and had a great time! He will take them all summer and I am so glad that he will begin to become safer in the water that he already loves to be in!

My Mom also helped me plant some flower pots for our front porch and back deck. I only had one flower pot last summer, because I knew that by the time Regan was born in late July I would never water again. I love flowers- to LOOK at flowers, but I did not get the love of gardening that my Mom and sister have. I don't like to get dirty! We also enjoyed some time outside with the kids and let Punk explore the deck until she dumped the dogs water bowl on herself! This is going to be a great summer!

Last Day of first grade!

2009-05-31T17:55:00.002-06:00

I can't believe the school year is over already! We made it back home from Chicago just in time for the last day. Which is good considering I am (was) one of the room Moms for Connor's class! The kids had the room decorated like a rainforest and sang a few songs for all the parents. We made yearbooks for the kids and they all signed each others, we also made a memory book for Connor's wonderful teacher Mrs. Bittler. She will not be coming back to Arrowwood next year and we will miss her very much! I also got a picture of Connor with his two best buds this year, Sam & Diego. It was a fun party and Connor had a wonderful year! I can't believe I have a second grader now! WILD!

Chicago & Indiana

2009-05-31T17:49:00.002-06:00

Here are some shots of the kids and Bill swimming at our hotel (Regan's first time!) and some shots as we drove around downtown. It was SO windy and cold we didn't dare venture out. We didn't have time to travel over to the friendly confines, but I did get a shot of Comiskey, ok US Cellular field and Soldier Field.

Homewood

2009-05-31T17:43:00.003-06:00

Saturday night we drove into the Chicago suburbs and back to where Bill grew-up, Homewood. We also had dinner at the scared home of pizza to the Howard family- Aurelio's! We also drove around and showed Connor where Daddy used to live, where he played baseball and took the kids to a local park. We topped it off with a visit to Mitchell's ice cream, YUM! It was a really nice break and great to have some time for just the four of us.

Cousins, cousins everywhere!

2009-05-31T17:32:00.002-06:00

On Saturday morning, we were able to meet Bill's late brother's family, whom he is very close to and one of his favorite parts of the midwest- Cracker Barrel!!! It was so great to see all of the girls and their families and to visit with Aunt Judy. It was emotional seeing them all without Uncle Jimmy, but we know his spirit lives on through all of them! We also made them our last "family" stop before we headed back to Denver Monday night. We stopped by Amy's house and Regan got to play with actual little girls toys! Her cousin Maddie loved being able to play with her. And it was very clear after looking at Amy and her youngest daughter, Macintyre's eyes, where Princess Punky gets her big blue eyes!

It was great to see all of them and wished we could have had a bit more time to stay and play!

A visit with Aunt Karen & Uncle Rick and family

2009-05-31T17:20:00.002-06:00

On Sunday we made some time to drive north to visit with Bill's oldest brother Rick and his wife Karen. We also saw their kids Stephanie and Greg along with his VERY pregnant wife Cassie and their son Hugh. Connor loved being able to play with Hugh and Stephanie of course and they we all excited to meet Regan, who only made it part of the day in a dress! You just can't crawl in a dress!!

Connor becomes a wolf!

2009-05-18T10:53:00.002-06:00

Yesterday the Cubscouts had the year end crossover, where the boys move up a level in "rank". So Connor moved up from being a tiger to becoming a wolf. It was fun watching him be inducted by JC Bear an "old trapper" who gave Connor a Native American name (of which I cannot remember) but he called him the white wolf- which fits considering he is a very white boy! He also gave him the title of medicine man, which did concern me a tad- either he will be a doctor or a scientist or he'll be a drug dealer! Let's hope for the former!

It was great to get out for a bit, Connor is recovering from pneumonia and seems to be doing much better and poor Regan is still croupy. But she did well for the short time we were there. And she got to see her "scout Mommy" Ali, who loves to hold her!

So onto to our next year of scouting!

Some of the pictures are a little dark, so just look hard, he's there!

Another casualty of facebook addiction- my blog!

2009-05-12T11:18:00.002-06:00

So , that is the the sum of why I haven't posted as many pictures as I should- facebook. I am thinking I need a 12 step program to get back into blogging! But not sure I can diligently do both. Which is why I have stayed away from twitter! GEEZ! I'd never be off my "crackberry" as my brothers call it! It reached it's height last night, when Connor told me "Mommy, less texting and more listening"! You know it's bad when a seven year old points it out to you!

So what's new? Connor is about to finish up first grade and head into the summer. We are not doing baseball this summer, instead we are focusing on swimming and getting up into the mountains to explore some new hiking trails. He had a great year, made lots of friends and learned a lot. We are going to visit a nutritionist from DAN! (Defeat Autism Now) this summer. She will runs many tests on him (blood, urine, hair) to see how his body is handling toxins and how it is ridding itself of those toxins. We are also looking at how a change of diet might help his learning abilities and mostly his social abilities. A good friend of mine's son has ASD and they are in the same process of doing this as well. I am interested to see how this will work for Connor and if we can help his ASD and ADHD with some biomedical help along side his other therapies.

Regan will turn 10 months old at the end of the month and I am beginning to realize that I may have given birth to myself! She is a bit of a daredevil with much better coordination than I have. She isn't very cautious and tends to leap before she looks (a trait I am famous for). But she is a beautiful little creature and is so very happy with life!

Bill is still with Northern, passed his series 6 & 63 and is now a Northern Funds Rep. Which allows him to sell mutual funds. He taught Sunday school this past winter and spring, but I think is going to take a break and find other avenues of interest for him.

I am still pulling triple duty, working at St. Andrew, and with my Dad & brother in the insurance biz and taking care of the family. We are busy people, but really have begun to enjoy the family time we have together. I just finished a class about career changes. It was GREAT! It was a non-credit course for people either wanting to find out what they are really suited to do and people re-entering the professional world and wanting to know where to go. We took both the Myers-Briggs and the Strong Inventory and it was so eye-opening to learn my personality type and to see where my strengths in the business world lie. So my next step is to figure out what the next step actually is. It is just wonderful knowing I have options and that I can truly find my passion. I will begin volunteering with Autism Colorado in a few weeks and I am really looking forward to it. It is one area I think I could excel in. But we'll see, the future is always open!

We are very blessed with what God has given us, good employment, a nice place to live, good friends and family (even the crazy dogs) and mostly each other. Hopefully I won't wait so long before I tend to my blog again!

Below are pictures of things that have happened over that last couple of months. Enjoy!

See ya soon, Melinda

Rocky Mountain National Park

2009-05-12T11:12:00.002-06:00

Here are some pictures from a trip I took up to the mountains with Tami and her family. These are of Sprague Lake. We had taken a week long class trip up to the area when we were in sixth grade and I don't think I have been back since! It was like a flashback once we hit the trail! It was a bit cold, but just breathtaking.

We spent the rest of the afternoon walking and shopping around Estes Park. All the while the Stanley Hotel was looking over our shoulders! If you have ever seen "The Shining" and don't know- that is where it was filmed. If you haven't seen it, especially if you are a Colorado native- you must see it!

We headed from there to a great BBQ place where Bill, Connor & Punk met up with us as well as the rest of the Eppard clan. It was a beautiful and peaceful day. Thank you Tami for letting me be a part of it!

See ya, Melinda

Another Aunt Comes to town....

2009-05-11T15:56:00.002-06:00

Another visit from another wonderful person in our lives! Tami was in town for the past two weeks, taking a break from the renovations going on her her home I suspect! We have been friends for almost 30 years! What a wonderful thing to be able to say about a friend. This past Thursday she treated me to a spa day, including a massage, manis and pedis! Then we had a late, long lunch and she came back for a dinner "date" with Connor. It was a wonderful, relaxing and fun day for us.

Here are some beautiful pictures of Tami and the kids and probably a few of me with the kids as well. I miss having her here and can't wait for my trip across the pond to see how the Europeans live it up!

Thanks for the time Tami, it is always, always treasured!

see ya, Melinda

Aunt Brandy comes to visit!

2009-05-11T15:37:00.002-06:00

My dear friend and sorority sister, Brandy came to visit at the end of April! It was so wonderful to see her again! I have missed her dearly and after all she has been through fighting Hodgkin's twice and beating it twice, it made the visit that much more sweet!

Connor fell instantly in love with her, which most people do! And we all had a wonderful time the 3 days she was in town. We visited downtown and she cooked up a mexican feast in my kitchen. We went out to lunches and dinners and had great long talks. We haven't seen each other in about 11 years, but it was like we had never been apart.

It was a fabulous 3 days and there were tears when she left. Mostly from Connor and I. We hope we can make it to Houston to visit her clan very soon!

Thank you for your visit Bran and thank you for your enduring friendship! Love and miss you already!

See ya, Melinda

Sweet baby who???

2009-05-11T15:21:00.003-06:00

Here is our sweet baby who is now full on crawling and into EVERYTHING! So we have had to break out the baby gates and pick up the matchbox cars! She has started on small amounts of table foods and had some spagetti! Which she LOVED! That's my girl!

Enjoy!
See ya, Mel

Easter 2009

2009-04-25T19:56:00.002-06:00

This Easter was FUN! Regan is crawling (well her version of it anyway) all over! The kids got new outfits and we decorated eggs together. On Sunday I had to work for a few hours and Connor went to 2 hours of Sunday school. Bill and I attended Easter service for the first time in YEARS! And even though we got stuck in the back row of the over flow area in the youth room downstairs, it was still a beautiful service.

After church we came home and had our egg hunt! The EB left both kids books and clothes and Connor got some candy. Then we headed up to my parent's home for a family lunch. We all had a great time talking and goofing around! Regan "tried" to take a nap, but was interrupted by her Uncle Chris who just had to see her! All that was missing was my sister and her family. But we will see them soon!

Hope you had a wonderful and blessed day as well!

See ya, Melinda

Storm

2009-04-20T15:19:00.003-06:00

We had a late spring storm this past weekend! We got about 2 ft of snow over 2 days. Connor and Abby were loving it! Chase has reached old age and no longer wants to play in the snow, neither do I. So while Regan slept, Bill shoveled and Connor and Abby played, I took pictures!

And I must give a shout out to my pal Molly who helped me through the slideshow process! Thanks Mol, have fun with the playlist!

More blogs to follow!

See ya, Melinda

The Prayer

2009-03-15T21:57:00.005-06:00

I was reminded of a song today in church, the song was "The Prayer". Perhaps, best remembered sung by Andrea Bocelli and Celine Dion. The first time I heard the song, I thought, "I need that song, I've got to get it". Several years later now, I finally have the song, downloaded to my iPod and played endlessly. I don't have to worry about scratching the vinyl or wearing out the cassette tape. It is now held, almost eternally, on my iPod.

It is a one year anniversary, if we can look at someones passing in that light, of my brother Jim's transition, home to be with the Lord, the maker/creator and savior. It was an event, of sorts, his death, the viewing, the funeral and his burial. I saw him take his last few breaths that fateful night and that memory plays back in my mind, trying to capture something, a memory or an answer to the inevitable. Saying anything to the contrary, that he went out like a champion would be heresy. He was a fighter to the end. His last breaths, to me, sounded and looked like he was running. Of course, I couldn't' help think of the imagery of the Christian life being a race. There he was, helpless, nothing I could do, an encouraging word seemed out of place, all I did was pray.

I prayed that God would ease his suffering. I prayed that God would comfort ours. I, selfishly prayed that the Lord would give me more days with him. I quietly asked the Lord to give him five weeks, no, five years. I didn't want memories, I wanted the real thing, the real voice, the laughter and the encouragement. Jim was my wing man, my cut man in the ring, always there for me. He never forced anything on me, he only shared. He shared a person and that person was Jesus. Sounds corny at times, a persons name that is taken more in vain than one mentioned in love and compassion. Are you sure Jesus is real, I've been asked. Hard to believe isn't it, Jesus, hey Bill, some said to me, why don't you join that group that goes around chanting, wearing robes and sandals? Despite the remarks and insults, I was drawn to God. Jim was being drawn around the same time. "Consider Jesus", writes the author to Hebrews. Jim considered Him and it turned his life upside down for the better and finally that night, I believe, Jim met Jesus face to face. The greatest part, Jim did not meet a stranger, it was someone he knew. The last conversation Jim had with the Lord, continued when he saw him, but this time, faith was gone, hope wasn't needed any longer, all that remained was love. I don't believe that to make me feel better, that Jim's in a better place now his suffering is past, but I believe it because my searching has led me there. I'm a rebel by nature, I didn't want to submit my will to God. However, the evidence is over whelming. I follow Him. Disbelieving would deny the heart. Two thousand years later the same truth Jesus spoke about is still spoken about today.

If you can listen to the words of this song, My Prayer, and perhaps put it to life, that would be grand. I only hope I can. Sometimes, I am my own worst enemy. The theology professor asked "what's wrong with the world?" He answered, "I am!" I don't say that in self loathing, but I wonder, how I can pray to God with all earnest about my neighbor pray for their sickness, or family, whatever it may be, get in the car, out in traffic and curse the other driver for doing whatever (didn't I just pray for him?). That is a simple illustration, We talked about that and many other life observations, Jim and me, he knew it also. We would discuss it and conclude that indeed, we are sinners, but we are sinning less that we use to. I don't know if that is theologically correct or not, but Paul faced the same battle. Jim, as I do, wanted to be more like Jesus.

I miss those talks we had years ago, we would order a pie, the girls would be off to bed, kinda... (I always wondered if they were listening to our conversations). We would share a bible passage, trying to gain understanding, how to apply it to our lives. Then there was the lunches at Moody, he would introduce me to everyone and eventially I went to the school. Sometimes, we skipped lunch and played basketball. You learn alot about yourself playing basketball, like the praying for your neighbor and driving illustration learning about yourself.

I have listed to the song know for a dozen times, typing as I'm listening, wishing at times, I could sing like Signor Bocelli. It isn't that I want the praise or applause for it, but I want my voice to sound good to the Lord, dang just once. I know the Lord doesn't take that into account, but I want to sound good for Him. I'm sure he wouldn't want me to play Him a song on the piano if I couldn't play. Who knows? The Lord, I believe, wants me to live a life pleasing to Him. The sermon today was about, loving the Lord your God with all you heart, mind and soul and loving others as yourself. Jim did that. I want to do that, God grant me the strength to do it, to persevere and not lose hope. Keeping my thoughts and eyes fixed on Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith.

I miss you Jim. I know that I will see you again one day.

My 2008..

2009-01-08T18:05:00.006-07:00

I have been hearing so much over the past few weeks how glad everyone is that 2008 is over. That the economy sucked and people are losing jobs and that we have lost loved ones. All of that is true, but for me 2008 brought so much more than lost dollars and grief.

I have been thinking a lot about all that I have been given this past year and how blessed I have been. Even through the loss of people we have all loved, I realized how incredibly blessed to have known them for the short time that I did. Our dear beloved Uncle Jimmy passed in March, which was very painful for all of us. And it has been difficult watching Billy mourn someone who meant the world to him. And although I only knew Jim a very brief, but fantastic 9 years, he has and will continue to make a huge impact on my life. And I am not sure that I completely qualify to speak on anothers death, because I have been fortunate enough in my life to lose only one person that caused me to mourn, my Grandmother. But I have not lost a parent or sibling or spouse and I really don't know the deep pain that people who have lost that type of loved one feels, so maybe I don't qualify.

But I have watched my husband deal with the pain of his brother's death and my best friend deal the with the shocking sudden death of her husband and I guess I do feel the pain of their pain. And for that I am glad 2008 is over.

But really 2008 was a miraculous year for me. After years of trying to have another child and facing the painful reality of yet another dream possibly being dashed, I actually did get pregnant in late 2007. I had prayed for 4 years for a daughter, 4 long years. And even though I knew in my heart the baby was a girl, I was still shocked and shaking when the tech told us at the ultrasound! The pregnancy mostly went off without any problems, just the usual being tired, hot all summer long, etc. But unlike with Connor, we are now in a house and could paint the walls of a nursery, heck- this baby actually got WALLS! So I chose red as the main color, which seems quite odd to most people who know me and my long love of pink. But I felt red would suit this baby, it's a bold, strong color and that is what she would be- bold and strong.

When July 28th arrived and I went into surgery, I felt what all women feel in that moment, anxious, excited and very relieved that I would be able to breathe again! Then we had some tense moments when our little Missy wouldn't come out when the doctor requested and her arm broke in the process. All of that was a bit hard, but as Bill and I do, we take it, get as much info as we can and move forward. It was still a miracle, the child who wasn't supposed to be- was. And Regan Jamie Marie entered our lives with as much commotion and red hair as she could.

In the days after, I couldn't tell if it was the narcotics or if something really had changed. As I began to heal and we brought Regan home, I really felt different- really different. I healed from the surgery and Regan's arm did as well, Connor went back to school and Bill went back to work. The DNC was here and the Rockies didn't perform as they had in 2007. But suddenly for the first time in 10 years I felt as if I was awake!

The last 10 years of my life have been difficult, very difficult at times. I am not going to go into all that has happened, but for those of you who know, you know I had changed for the worst in some ways during those years. Suddenly I let fear run everything. I wasn't social anymore and aside from one or 2 friends here in Colorado, I didn't have any real friends. But all of that changed after Regan was born- all of it. Now that is not to say that I didn't have huge blessings come into my life, I did- BIG ones. It began with Chase, then my sweet Billy and my lovey Connor. But I felt like some part of me that I found at 21 had been lost forever. And after having Regan and turning 35, I found her! Older and wiser, but still a bit hot-headed and all Melinda.

And even as I continued to work with my Dad and my brother from home and took care of my little ones, I knew I needed more. We had begun attending a church close to us last March, shortly after Jimmy passed, I think he is the reason we went back to church as a family. I really began to like the church, it is Methodist and having been raised Catholic and married in a non-denominational church, I had no idea what to expect. They have a wonderful welcoming community! The first day we went we received a welcoming bag later that afternoon with a loaf of bread and info about the church- who knew people still did that in this day and age? And in this very white, suburban area! Instantly I felt welcomed. So we kept going throughout the spring and summer and decided that we would like have our baby baptized there. After Regan was born, I joined the Moms group there and met some great women, even a Pi Phi from CSU! Connor was getting involved in the children's program and I began to come out of my shell!

So as we moved into the fall, I began volunteering for things at Connor's school. Another Mom and I plan the 4 parties throughout the year. I also wanted to join the PTCO, but was beginning to stretch myself a little thin. I also thought about working outside the home, even with a 4 month old! I found out our church was looking for a Childcare Coordinator, so I filled out an application and sent in a resume! The interview went very well and I was called and offered a different position, one that initially I was bummed about, because I had wanted the first one, but this second one suited my personality and skills better. So I went back in and talked with them about being the Children's Ministries Assistant. It sounded great, it was close, I could work between the hours that Connor was in school. The only hitch was that I had this gorgeous baby and I would have to find daycare for her. Talk about massive maternal guilt!

So Bill and I began interviewing home daycares and we found one that was absolutely perfect! Her youngest son happened to have been on Connor's baseball team this past year and she has five boys (yes FIVE!) and I had seen her with her boys over the summer and she was always so calm- I would not be so calm. But she has been wonderful! She is right around the corner from us and her kids are all in school, she takes care of a four year old and another baby just a few days older than Regan. I knew she was the perfect fit when I walked in after Regan's first day and saw the two babies on their tummies just staring at each other in wonder! She was so happy to be there!

So I continue to work with my Dad, but also have a new job. I work with a lot of wonderful people. Especially the woman I share an office with, she is my age (well almost!) and has three kids (her oldest is Connor's age and actually played on his t-ball team back when they were 5). Anyway, Lisa and I are similar and she hasn't complained yet about my music choices on my iPod!

My life has done a complete 180 in the last 6 months and even though we are incredibly busy and have to plan in our downtime. I wouldn't trade it! This isn't the life I planned on at 21, but then again I hadn't planned on the curve balls I was thrown either. But out of those curve balls, I have grown up, learned to have compassion for others and found myself again.

And that is why 2008 will always remain my favorite year. Happy New Year friends, I hope your 2009 may turn out to be as exciting and changing as mine has been.

See ya, Melinda

Simply Having...

2008-12-20T17:36:00.003-07:00

We are having a wonderful and busy Christmastime! Here are some pictures from the season so far. We have visited Santa, gone downtown for a fancy dinner and seen all the lights at city & county building and along Larimer (not too far from where Bill works) . We have also bought our tree (a real one- we are purists!) and Connor had a blast decorating it and the house with lots of lights. I am in fear that he might be future Clark W. Griswold!

Last Thursday we had his winter party for school! I along with another Mom, are the "party Moms" and we plan the parties for the class for the whole year. She is such a wonderful person and we work well together, which makes the party for the kids a blast and easy of their teacher. I wonder if we can get our kids in the same class next year???

Punky is getting bigger and bigger, she'll be 5 months on the 28th and acting all the red head that she is! She is feisty and spirited and lets everyone know it! She has been in daycare for 2 weeks now with a wonderful woman who lives in our neighborhood. Her name is Kristen and she has 5 boys (yes FIVE) and her youngest was on Connor's baseball team this past summer. She takes such good care of our baby girl. I hate to leave her, but I know she is being very well cared for. Hopefully in the next month I can can go down to three days a week and work one from home.

Connor is doing fabulous, just learning up a storm! Math is still his favorite and we often have discussions about college and when I told him that in college you can learn about just what you want to. So he was very excited to learn that he could just go to college and do math and science! Watch out MIT! He is loving Christmas and loves sharing all of it with his baby sister. He is so sweet and just loves to be around her and she adores him, she just lights up when she hears her voice!

It has been a weird fall and winter for us, we went from having 60 and even 70 degree days to dropping below zero! Talk about your global warming! But we have been having a lot of fun together! So this would be our "virtual" Christmas letter! Enjoy the pictures and have a wonderful holiday season!

I know I am hardly objective, but aren't they sweet??

See ya, Melinda

Turkey, Cereal and Snow...

2008-11-29T08:31:00.010-07:00

This year our Thanksgiving was smaller than usual. Since my sister and her family moved to Spokane last spring, plus she JUST had a baby a few weeks ago, they could not be with us. And my older brother decided to be with his other terminally bachelor friend, Matt. Lots of beer and football. So it was just the four of us, my Mom, Dad, Grandma and brother Dave and his wife Kristen. I thought it was going to be kind of sad since we were missing a few, but it turned out to be a really relaxing day!

We started the day having "Nate the Great" chocolate chip pancakes. If you haven't heard of "Nate the Great", he is the main character in a book series Connor and I have started reading. Nate is a detective and he always has to have pancakes while solving a case. So in one of his books they printed the recipe he uses, we added the chocolate chips ourselves. They were GOOD!

We headed up to my Mom and Dad's at about 2pm and we had a really great time talking and eating. I think I ate for two, I figured I was making up for last Thanksgiving since I was just newly pregnant and was throwing up and had to sit near an open window since the smell of any meat made me sick! So I ate last year's meal plus this year's- I was FULL! But since we had fewer people, we could all fit at one table!

We also played Monopoly Jr and had a chance to catch up with each other. It was a wonderful day and I have SO much to be thankful for! My family, my friends, my dogs, a new job and safe and warm home with a kitchen full of food! Plus this year we finally have the family we have dreamed of, Punky is here and now our home is full!

Punky slept right through the good food!
Dave & Kristen

Connor and his favorite part of TG- PIE!

Billy, Connor and Gus playing Monopoly and Connor WON!

Here's Sam

and little Nola

Regan was four months old Friday and her checkup was the previous Wednesday. She is now 13 lbs 2 oz and 24 1/2 inches long, she is dead even, in the 50 percentile for both height and weight. She is reaching her milestones and talking up a storm! It is so great to hear, but a little bittersweet, since I now know that since Connor didn't do any of that, it should have been a MAJOR sign something was going on. I am reading an awesome book my good friend Amy, whose son also has ASD, recommended to me. It is so full of great information about ASD, ADHD, asthma & allergies. The doc who wrote the book is not at all anti-vaccine, but just believes they should be given on a safer schedule, so this time she only had to have one shot, which was much better!!

That evening we thought we'd try out a little cereal. Now I must explain that having two children 7 years apart is like having your first baby all over again- except that your stomach doesn't snap back quite the way it did the first time! ;-) All the rules have changed since starting solids with Connor. Now they really aren't supposed to be on a regular schedule of cereal until 5 months, but our doc told us we could just begin slowly with a little each day. I am using oatmeal, instead of the typical rice cereal, we ran into some problems with rice cereal with Connor and his sister seems to have a bit of that same "problem", so I am not even going to try rice cereal! So we gave her about 6-7 tiny spoonfuls, which she did pretty well with. She has the most expressive face I have ever seen on a baby! She furrows her brow when she is unsure of something or is just checking things out. A look that comes straight from my Dad, she is like his mini-me!

I gave her the cereal and she gave her "Jack face", but seemed to like it! But that only lasted a bit before she got frustrated because it was coming fast enough for her, so we switched back to her bottle. It was a good try for the first time!

Here comes the first bite!

Faster Mom, faster!

Hmm, not bad...

Ok I've had enough, give me the old standby.

See what a happy girl I am?

So it finally snowed here in Denver, we had gotten one morning earlier in November where we had some flurries and then it was melted by the time we left to take Connor to school. I cannot remember it EVER snowing this late or having such weird temps- it got up to almost 80 on one day this month! The week of Thanksgiving I saw a guy putting the top down on his car! Global warming much?

Here are some pretty shots during and the morning after.

Chase always loves the snow.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Now let the shopping commence!

See ya, Melinda

Happy Thanksgiving from Aunt Mary!

2008-11-28T09:14:00.001-07:00

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Changes...

2008-11-23T14:29:00.002-07:00

This year has had so many changes in it, I am surprised we have all kept up so well! And this past two weeks have meant more changes for us. But I feel we are and ready for the challenge!

I have accepted a position at our church on the Children's Ministry team. I will be working with Sunday school, but also Vacation Bible School and really all programs that are related to that. I am very excited, because after almost 10 years of not working outside the home, I am getting a chance to be with other people and do something I am good at! It contains a lot of detail work and organization and those are things I am very good at it! I really love it! It is semi-part time and I can still do my other insurance CSR work around that schedule. Connor is in school from 9-4 everyday, so he's settled....but Punky, ah my sweet Irish Princess.

I am having a hard time finding daycare, so right now my Dad (or 'Da' as Connor calls him) takes care of her when she can't be in the childcare at the church. I actually wasn't going to take the job when the first person I had lined up to care for her fell through, but my Dad stepped up and so "no you are not going to quit, I will take care of her until you find something permanent!" Which is a HUGE relief off of me, since I am feeling a LOT of maternal guilt! I waited FOUR years for this baby girl to come along and I feel like I am just shipping her off! And the thing is, yes we could use the extra income, but also I LIKE the job! And I really like the people I am working with! So now I feel guilty for liking working again! Ugh! How does a Mother reconcile those feelings?

And we have all had some adjustments. I am not home to the normal housework, grocery shopping, etc., but Bill has really stepped up to help me. And I have also had to learn to curb my potty mouth! I am working at church for crying out loud! Can't be cursing at the computer!

So in this year of changes, we have had one more. But we Howards are a strong bunch and we will keep rolling with it!

I wish everyone a wonderful and peaceful Thanksgiving! We are all so very grateful for all the great family and friends in our loves- that means YOU!

See ya, Melinda

Regan's Baptism...

2008-11-11T14:40:00.008-07:00

Our family has had some great things happen over this past week. This past Sunday our beautiful little girl, Regan Jamie Marie was baptized at our church. It was really wonderful and special for all of us. We have decided to become members of St. Andrew's and have gotten to know a few people there, it just feels great to have finally found a church home for our family.

Punky was wearing the same gown my sister and I had both worn. The Pastor who baptized her, Jerry, used to be a stand-up comedian in LA, before he felt called to become a minister. He is so sweet and funny and was so kind with our little one. My older brother, Christopher is her Godfather and my best friend, Tami, is her Godmother. Tami couldn't be there, she lives in the UK, so my Mom was her "stand-in" at the baptism. And most of our family and good friends were there to help us celebrate.

After the baptism we had a reception at my parent's home. My Dad is quite the chef and everyone loves when he gets in the kitchen and does his "thing"! So there were a lot of happy people! We changed Regan from her baptismal gown to a beautiful dress her Aunt Tami sent from England, it is GORGEOUS! And she got to wear little tights and black patent leather shoes, too sweet.

We ended the party with an Irish toast to Bill's brother and Connor and Regan's Uncle Jimmy, who passed away this past March. It has left a hole in the life of all who knew him and since part of Regan's middle name came from him, we wanted to honor his memory and his place in our hearts.

Pastor Jerry, Chris, Mel, Punky, Billy and my Mom

Regan being baptized (the red ribbon Bill is wearing is for Veterans Day)

Punky and Mommy at the party

Punky is partied out!!

Connor with his baby sister and his Gus!

Regan and her Great-Grandmother Cudney

Our second wonderful family event happened on Election Day (no not just that Obama was elected, although that was GREAT!). My sister, Emily and her husband welcomed their second son, Wyatt Jackson into the world. He weighed in at 8lbs 4oz and 20 1/2 inches long. Now as many of you know, we Cudneys tend to grow them BIG- Em's oldest, Declan was 9lbs 14oz and Connor was almost 9lbs. So we feel like we had preemies with our second two!

Wyatt is doing well and home with his family now. He looks like his big brother, except that he has a full head of white blonde hair! Em is recovering from this c-section better than the first and my Mom is in Spokane now to help her for the week. I know my sister is thrilled to have this long awaited miracle! And we are happy our family just grew one bigger!!

D and Wyatt

Hope your families have as many blessings as ours has this week!

See ya, Melinda

PS I have to give credit to Tami for this song, she introduced me to it this last week. It has become one of her standards with all that she is dealing with. And I think we should all listen hard to it no matter what we are dealing with. So here's your shout out Tam!

Happy Halloweenie!

2008-11-03T14:37:00.009-07:00

We had a great Halloween, considering how the week started out for us! Monday Regan began having trouble breathing so I called our dr office and they recommended I take her straight to the urgent care center. So we went and the doc there took one look at her slightly graying face and said she would most likely need to be hospitalized! Ok scary thought. They put her on a nebulizer treatment, which is miserable for anyone who hasn't tried to hold a mask over a three month old's face and watch her scream and cry. Then they did a chest x-ray, which was clear. The neb treatment brought her O2 stats up to 93, then they dropped down to 87, then back up. By this time Bill had met me at the urgent care and the doc had made arrangements to take Punk over to the hospital and have her admitted.

She had to be taken by ambulance, which was scary and funny at the same time. They took her in her carrier and strapped it to a gurney and it was sitting almost upright. She has pretty good head control now and she was wearing the nasal O2 and I swear she looked like a pissed off little old man! So I rode with her and Bill followed. The admitted her for the night and had her on a 1/4 liter of O2 and brought it down to an 1/8 by 1am and then she was on room air by 3am. And her O2 stats were holding in the upper 90's. By 11am she was ready to be discharged, she just had a upper respiratory infection and we had to watch her little nose and suck it out a few times a day. And since her immune system has taken a hit, everyone in close contact with her had to get a flu shot. Bill, Connor and I already have had ours (Connor had the influenza virus twice at 2 and 3 and was in the ER- don't want to repeat that again!) and my Mom who never gets one, bravely went and got it. So by now she is doing well, the time change has screwed her up a bit, but otherwise she is fine.

Now onto Halloween! I am one of the Mom's that plans the holiday partied for Connor's first grade class and my "co-Mom" Kelly and I had it all planned out. But since Punk got sick, I could not go, not even to see the parade! Which was very disappointing, but Kelly took lots of pictures and said all of the kids had a great time.

Thursday night we carved our two pumpkins, one was Billy & Connor's. Connor wanted it to look like the guy had lost his body and Regan and I took the more traditional approach! I was very surprised my very sensory sensitive son got in there and tried to scoop most of the goop out! We had a good time and I think they turned out great!

Connor decided to change things up in costume department (a little anyway). He was Optimus Prime, a transformer and leader of the autobots (the good guys). He loved it so much. He and Bill went trick or treating with our neighbors, Larry and his son Josh- Josh was "Thing Two", which was very cute. Bill went as a disgruntled Cubs fan, he wanted to carry a six-pack of Bud with him in honor of Harry Caray, but we decided it might not be wise to carry around alcohol while trying to watch your hyper 7 year old! Connor was very good at teaching Josh how to trick or treat, since he is only 3 and by the end Josh was no longer shy and walked right up to the doors with Connor.

My Mom and Dad came over for dinner and to help me watch Punky and control my wild dogs with all of the door bell ringing. It was VERY warm here, around 80 earlier in the day. Since Connor was born there has NEVER been a Halloween that was not at least below freezing or snowing- or both. So it was a little weird, but kind of nice not to have to bundle him up. All in all, it was a great night!

Connor scooping out the goop!

The carvers and helpers

Quite spooky!

Mr. Cub, the pumpkin girl and Optimus Prime

Punky's little pumpkin butt!

Optimus Prime and Thing Two

Last bit of news. This coming Sunday is Regan's Baptism. We are so excited to have her baptized in our new church! She is going to wear the same gown that both my sister and I wore when were baptized. And we are having a little reception afterwards at my Mom and Dad's house. Her Aunt Tami bought her a beautiful dress to wear for the party. We will take lots of pictures and post them next week.

Hope you all had a great Halloween!
See ya, Melinda

Ok I have NO IDEA why blogger hates me. My posts look like one long paragraph and I swear I indent! I have spent 15 minutes going back and forth trying to fix this so it looks right, but I can't and it won't, so it is how it is....

Eight years...

2008-10-21T09:44:00.011-06:00

Today is Billy and my anniversary- eight years ago we were married on a beautiful fall day. And sometimes late at night we gaze at each other and scream- "WHAT WERE WE THINKING???"

In all seriousness and everyone who is married knows that there is NO such thing as a perfect marriage- it just doesn't exist. But what there is in marriage is your version of perfect. And Bill and I have worked out our perfect version of ying and yang. For whatever reason God saw to it that the eternal bachelor living alone in Florida met the naive little girl from suburban Colorado. We did meet on the internet, but not in the typical fashion one does on dating sites. It was in a chat room by pure chance, pure fate or divine intervention.

But Bill has always been there when I wasn't expecting him to be. I had other relationships in the past where I wasn't treated the way I thought a man should treat a woman, the way I saw my Father treat my Mother, with love and respect and LOTS of laughter. And then there was Billy.

We were engaged after only a month and he moved 1700 miles from warm Florida to freezing Colorado in January. Took a job where he had to commute 2 hours a day and came into my life at an extraordinarily bumpy time for me. But yet he just loved me. It took a few months of being engaged for me to realize that I really did want to marry this man. And I can tell you the exact moment it happened too. I have this beautiful full bred Australian Shepherd, Chase, with an extremely sensitive tummy! And he generally pukes often. One night I saw him clean up yet another Chase mess and then very sweetly sat on the couch and rubbed his tummy and talked to him. My heart melted! I had only had Chase about a year at that point, but I loved him like he was my child. Now Bill will deny this ever happened, but it did. He took me and this pukey dog because he knew how much I loved the dog. And that is Bill.

He always says that love is just a feeling and we all know feelings are fleeting. But to love someone is to do it out of your will. And that is what he has done. Our eight years have not been easy, we had Connor very fast and we dealt with his challenges. Then Bill had a heart attack, which was terrifying, but he recovered quickly and takes very good care of that heart of his. And I had my own issues over the years and we also dealt with infertility. Then we had Regan and she has just sparked up our whole life, mine, Bill's and Connor's. She is like the person we knew was missing had finally arrived.

Women always say they fall more in love with their husbands after watching them become fathers and that is certainly true for me. Connor loves Bill like the sun rises and sets with him and Bill does the same for Connor. He watches him struggle, which I know pains him, but he cries tears of joy when he triumphs. And with Punky, ahh little Princess Punky, she has him wrapped around her tiny little finger. She has from the moment she came into this world and he was the first one to hold her and the first one to feed her. And now when she sees him, she just lights up like a firefly! Bill gets up with her in the middle of the night, even though he gets up very early and still travels that hour to work downtown. He does that for me and our children, so that we can live in a safe place with good schools.

There are so many things I love about my husband, his knowledge of the Bible and his walk with Christ, but yet letting me develop my own walk and not pushing me, but teaching me when I ask. Realizing that I am younger than he is and haven't gone through all of my growing phases just yet. That he loves baseball so much that when we went to our first Rockies game he made me go early to watch batting practice- I didn't know they let you watch! And during that game (a game which I learned from my father) when the pitcher was struggling, I looked over to the bullpin and wondered out loud why they didn't have anyone warming up- he looked at me with amazement and said "I knew there was a reason I loved you!" That he is calm when I am not and that he will kill the spider for me. And that he makes me laugh like no one has ever been able to! And if you know me, you know how very important laughter is to me!

But the biggest and main reason I love William Howard so much is that during these eight years he has seen me at my ugliest and my most hurt and vulnerable and at my most angry and he has never, not once turned away and not looked at me with love in his eyes.

My best friend lost her husband quite suddenly a few weeks ago and she told me to always love him, always cherish him (even when he is annoying) and to remember how blessed I am to have such a man in my life. My heart aches for her, but at the same time it soars for me!

So happy anniversary babe! Love you love you, Melinda

A blog about a blog...

2008-10-17T14:03:00.002-06:00

I have to do a post about my friend Molly's blog from a few days ago. She was writing about her oldest Drew, who I believe is almost 4, and that he has learned a new word- damn. I had to laugh because of two reasons, the first being the fact that my son has been in speech therapy since he was 2 and couldn't even say 'Mommy' until he was three! But one evening when was about 3, he was brushing his teeth and dropped his toothbrush and I heard him say "aw f**k it" in his little toddler voice! Now I will freely admit that I do not set the greatest example for my son when it comes to those words, I have tried not to use certain ones, but when some moron cuts me off- things happen! But the really good thing about Connor is that if you tell him certain words are only for grown ups, he won't say them again. My sister, on the otherhand, has had to start using German curse words instead! Great until her son starts taking German!

The other part of her blog that made me laugh was the conversation Connor was having with a friend the other day. I had taken him to the doctor for his 7 yr checkup and told him there would be no shots. But then our doc offered to give he and I a flu shot right then so we wouldn't have to come back for the clinic they will hold. So naturally he was not happy with me. So I promised him that if he was good and did not scream, I would call and see if his buddy Elijah could come to the library with us. He was good, so we picked up Elijah and went to the library. On our way home, the two of them are sitting in the way back of the Durango and Connor said something was "stupid" and Elijah said that "stupid" was a bad word and Connor said "no shit is a bad word, stupid is just not a nice word!" So I am trying to hold in my laughter at his logic as Elijah asks him if I let him say "shit" and Connor says "no, but she says it all the time!" GREAT! Fortunately I know Elijah's Mom and I am sure she would not be shocked in horror knowing that I don't have the greatest restraint in my vocab!

I know we don't want our kids to curse, but man I happen to think it is hysterical when they do and then create their own logic around it! Connor makes me laugh, even if I don't let him know it. So Molly, go into your room and shut the door and laugh!!!!! Drew will never know!

Have a great weekend!

See ya, Mel

Connor's 7th Birthday Party!

2008-10-09T10:44:00.005-06:00

We had Connor's 7th birthday party last Saturday and he had a blast! I kept it low-key and decided to stop trying to compete with all of the Highlands Ranch Moms and did not shell out hundreds for my son's party. And I think he had the most fun at this one!

We did a SpongeBob theme, it was a movie and pizza party. He invited four of his friends and we rented "SpongeBob Squarepants: The Movie" and set up a theater in our family room. I spread out a huge quilt to make it cozy (and to keep the carpets I JUST had cleaned protected!) and each boy got a pillow to lay on.

We started out with some pizza, then moved on to the movie. I had to let them have a massive pillow fight first to get some energy out and then they all sat down. We turned the lights off and the stereo on and they each got little boxes for popcorn. After the movie was half way through, we stopped for cake, cupcakes actually. Connor is not a kid who likes sweets AT ALL, which is a little strange. So instead of buying or making a huge cake, I decided to make cupcakes and ice them and then let each kids decorate 2, one to eat then and one to take home. They had gummy worms, mini m&m's, and sprinkles. Connor covered his with m&m's and we put a #7 candle on top and sang happy birthday and he never even touched the cupcake!

Then after running up and sliding down the staircase about a billion times, Connor opened his gifts. He got great transformers and a new game for us to try on game night! Then the boys managed to sit long enough to finish the movie (I was wondering if I would get a visit from DCFS if I shoved a Xanax down one kid's throat) and then we let them run around outside until their parents came.

And while we were outside, I was holding Punky all wrapped in a cozy blanket and I wanted Bill to gather the boys in the yard and take a picture of them all. But during the hand off of the camera there was a fumble and the camera hit the sidewalk and broke! And I have not even had the thing for a year! SO MAD! And when I went to see how much it would take to fix it, the guy said it would be a minimum of $150 since they are required to send this particular brand back to the manufacturer! So I guess we'll be doing some camera shopping!

Once the party was over, we surveyed the damage. Abby and Chase cleaned up any remaining popcorn on the floor and Bill and I cleaned up the kitchen. It wasn't too big of a mess and I managed to get the house back in order before bedtime. We decided 3 hours was WAY too long to have them all here, but we are very glad that we decided to have the party at home and did not succumb to the HR pressure of shelling out hundreds for C's 7th birthday!

Here are some shots of the crazy event!

Connor with buddies Elijah, Tim and Tyler

Tim, Tyler and Jack on the stairs

The pillow fight!

Ahh, all quiet for the movie!

Pizza time (thank God for plastic table cloths!)

Cupcakes!

Happy Birthday sweet boy!

And now for an update on Punky....

She had her two month checkup on September 26th. She weighed in at 9lbs. 14oz and is 23 1/2 inches long. She is TINY! At this age Connor was almost 14lbs and 26 inches long! But our doctor said she is eating well and is healthy. Her arm is doing great and she is getting very steady with that head. I broke down and got her vaccinations due at 2 months. I am just so conflicted! I do not believe that they are the reason Connor has ASD, but it stills scares the life out of me! So my doc agreed we will stay on schedule for all of them except the MMR, which we will wait until she is 2 years old.

Other than that, she is doing great! Most nights she makes it about 7 hours. She is sleeping in her crib in her own room and it feels so great to have my house full! She is smiling like crazy and loves to see her big brother and listen to all the songs he makes up about her. We have scheduled her baptism at our church on November 9th. She will wear the gown that both my sister and I were baptized in!

We are doing well here this fall! Hope you all are too!

See ya, Melinda

Introductions

2008-10-05T22:29:00.005-06:00

I joined "Facebook" recently. It is a way to stay in touch (connected) with family and friends. It brought back, stragely, a memory of going to work with my Dad when I was a boy. The memory crept back in as I was thinking how I use to be so "connected" years ago. If I didn't know so and so, I knew someone who knew so and so. If they didn't, they knew someone who did, and on and on. Some connections, I put in my back pocket, save for a rainy day, ya never know. However, as time goes on, all those connections have gone away. Anyway, back to the memory.

I use to go with my dad to work at the gas station (back in the late 60's early 70's). I would get up with him at o dark thirty. I had a sense of excitement, hangin' with Pops. We would go in, the station was 24 hours then, so I would just hang around with him, wait on some cars, and mostly just walk a round the property, listen to the men talk, the way only men can do and as a kid try to make sense of it all. It was a busy station, on the corner of 67th and Jeffrey, where the LSD (Lake Shore Drive) started on the south side of Chicago. My dad met a lot of people, like Cashius Clay, Gayle Sayers, George Seals and a few others. Oh yeah, Cashius is now Mohammed Ali.

In the early afternoon, I would start getting tired and Dad told me to go lay down in back of the Impala. I would crash, but eventually I would here my Dad's voice and he would bring someone over to meet me. I would try and wake up, throw out my hand for a shake and the response from the strager would be always something positive and it up with the concluding remark, "So, your "Dick's" kid". Side Note: My dad was named Richard, but his nickname was Dick, another thing that was hard to grow up with. Anyway, the person I would meet was always in a suit and a hat (back then it was GQ) and they always seemed like giants.

So, what is the point of this entry, only that I wish I would have remembered the names of the people my Dad introduced me to! I always wondered why he did it, he knew I was sleeping, perhaps, as I can only say somewhat reservedly, that he was proud of me, I was his son and that was that. With my Dad, I was always connected.

(Another fond moment, that I will have to share at another time, is that I usually went with my Dad to work on Sunday mornings and the the radio would be playing in the bays (mechanic and grease monkey areas) with Chicago gospel preachers and music.)

So, to my new relationship with Facebook. I could only hope to introduce someone to someone else that perhaps would enrich their life a little and bring a ray of hope to this blue globe that keeps circlen around another day.

Bill

Connor turns SEVEN...

2008-09-25T14:49:00.003-06:00

This past Sunday was Connor's 7th birthday! First of all I cannot believe I have a seven year old who is quickly losing all of his baby teeth. And now people who look at Punky and ask if she is my first can REALLY gasp when they hear I have an 8 week old AND a seven year old, and no one in between. Which of course leads to the inevitable discussion on the age gap between our children. Some people think he is from my "first" marriage! And I say yes. And so is she.

Anyway, I must first explain that our September has been CRAZY! My Grandma who is almost 88, moved from her apartment into an assisted living facility about 3 weeks ago. Which was a hard decision. Those of you who know her, know that she is very strong New York Irish woman, who has always taken care of herself. But she also is wise knowing when it is time to ask for help and time to move on. I think I get the "time to move on" part from her. So we found a very nice place in Littleton near her church and the senior center she goes too. Seriously, this place is really nice. The plasma tv in the lounge and the cookies and fruit they leave out make me want to move in! So far she is happy and making friends (another strong Cudney trait). But all of us are mostly happy that she is safe and being well cared for.

So for all of September we have all been moving her in and sorting the rest of her belongings left in the apartment. We had planned to have a family party here at our house for Connor. But realized that all of us our exhausted and thought Red Robin might be easier. Plus they would do the "clappy, happy, happy birthday" song he loves! We had a pancake breakfast that morning at our house, note the candle in the pancake, since that is the only type of "cake" he will eat. Then we drove and scouted out some hiking trails near our house for the Tiger Cubs to go on. And lastly we hit Red Robin with the fam. We all had fun and we didn't have to clean up a THING!

The "clappy, happy, happy" singers!

Did I mention we are now into Transformers?

Newly anointed Aunt Kristen gets practice being an Aunt feeding Punky. She did say if she cried at all she was giving her back right away!

Connor and Uncle Dave and Aunt Kristen

October 4th Connor is having his friends over for a SpongeBob movie party. So we'll see how we all fair after 6 first graders eat pizza and popcorn and TRY and watch a movie together!

Oh and since we cannot take our annual trip up to the mountains this year to see the Aspen turning, I took a picture of this gorgeous tree in our neighborhood, to be our "theme" picture up at the top. Punky has to be 6 months old before she can up in altitude! So we'll be up there in the spring!

Happy Fall! See ya, Melinda

Yea!

2008-09-18T13:32:00.003-06:00

Just a short and really sweet one today! Late yesterday afternoon I was changing Punky and she looked up at her name on the wall and then she turned toward me and gave me a HUGE SMILE!!! It was my first! She has grinned for Connor and my brother Chris (not sure why- maybe she likes his hairiness) but I haven't gotten one, until now. She isn't a huge smiler, once Connor could smile he never stopped! EVER! So she is a bit of different creature. I mean I know she is a whole new person!

Keep smiling!
See ya, Melinda

Two small little brags...

2008-09-17T15:02:00.003-06:00

Ok, first I must explain that I have been having a rough week and it is only Wednesday!! So I have two small things to brag about. First, Connor, as everyone knows, is in special ed and in a reading group through that. Well every night he brings home reading homework, which consists of a little book he reads to me and a packet of sight words he goes through. So I was noticing that the books he had been bringing home were very easy- we are talking three simple words a page. And he would zip right through them. Since he doesn't read phonetically, he memorizes everything, so he zips through all his sight words too. I was going to mention this to his sped teacher in another week or so. But yesteday he brought home a note in his bag that said she had realized he was not being challenged so she is moving him up- TWO LEVELS UP! I am so proud!!!

And my second little brag has to so with Punky's formula. In the hospital they give the diaper bags with the samples and coupons and all that. And since I cannot breast feed, we take advantage of every coupon they offer. In it were three mail in rebates for $20 discounts, which is a lot for a $25 can. But at about 3 weeks old, we noticed she was having a lot of issues digesting the regular enfamil that we had been feeding her. Like severe pain, she would be rigid screaming because of the gas built up. So we changed from the normal enfamil lipil to the enfamil gentlease, which has the proteins broken down so her little tummy doesn't have to do quite so much work! And it has worked great. No more problems.

Anyway, back to the rebate thing. It said you had to buy 2, 25oz cans (so they showed on the same receipt) send the receipt and the UPC codes off of the cans to them. So I did that. And on Monday I got a letter from enfamil stating I had not sent in the correct items. So I called them and the rep said the rebate was only for the enfamil lipil, not the enfamil gentlease! Naturally I was upset! Why did it matter that it was a different form of enfamil? I was still buying their company's product? I told her how extremely dissappointed I was that I jumped through their hoops and got sent this letter like I was a fool! She agreed and said she would send me a can (meaning the small little sample can) of the gentlease. So that was that I thought. Then today I got an email confirming my delivery from enfamil- of FOUR, 24 oz cans of gentlease for FREE! I know that may seem silly, but at $25 bucks a can- that is $100 worth of free formula which will last us almost 2 months!!!

So there are my brags for the week- boy do I feel better! I am also happy to note that my Texan friend, Brandy and her family are still in their homes (albeit without power) and not on an Ark somewhere in the Gulf of Mexico!

Fill me in if you have good news- I'd LOVE to hear it!

See ya, Melinda

PS If you are wondering about the meaning of this song along with our posts, there is no correlation. I just think everybody needs a little Petty in their day! Also I apologize if there are major spelling errors in this post- for some reason blogger doesn't want to spellcheck for me!

Connor, Regan and other things...

2008-09-17T09:45:00.007-06:00

So I am going to try and cram a few things into one blog with the fewest words possible. Mostly because Punky has decided NOT to nap this morning and I managed to use her baby papazan (and it's soooothing music and vibrations) to keep her occupied long enough for me to get some work done. You know people really don't appreciate calling for help with their insurance and getting a screaming baby in the background at the same time- STRANGE!

We'll start with Connor. Connor lost his 6th tooth Monday at school and then he LOST the tooth. I guess it fell out during gym class and they put it in a box, which of course he stuck in his pocket and took out to recess and lost it. So he named the tooth "toothy" and during writing time- he wrote the tooth fairy a letter letting her know that "toothy" had been lost. Now, in July Connor was snooping through my dresser and came upon all the teeth I had saved and asked me if I had stolen them from the tooth fairy- so I had to explain the truth (which totally sucked by the way) and he no longer believes in the tooth fairy. I just Thank God he didn't ask about any of the other big ones! But he was ok with it after I told him he would still get the tooth ransom the tooth fairy left!

Connor's 7th birthday is Sunday- yes he will be SEVEN! I am just as shocked as you are! We are going to meet the fam at Red Robin for lunch. Then in a few weeks he is having a movie and pizza party with a few of his friends.

He and Bill went to the Rockies game on Sept 6th together. They only stayed a few innings, but Connor got to ride the lightrail and have popcorn and hot dog. Plus my Dad's seats are right behind left field, so he got to see his fav player Matt Holliday. And I guess Matt chews and spits so many sunflower seeds that you can see them all over the grass from your seat! Very gross. How would you like to be the left fielder from the other team that had to make a diving play in his chewed up seeds??? Here are some shots from the game!

I swear he was happier than he actually looks right now!

Matt's, uh..... and his seeds

And now a few words about little Punky aka Regan! She is 7 weeks now and is making it through the night with only one feeding and will go right back to sleep. We are also beginning to move her from the bassinet in our room to her crib in her room. So far it's working- she just looks so tiny in that big crib! But we only have the cover to the bassinet for a few more weeks, so it's time to make the move. My Mom made the cover when Connor was born and then my sister used it for my nephew Declan and now Punky. My sister is scheduled for her c-section on Nov 4th, so it needs to be packed up with a few other things and shipped to the Northwest for Baby G to use. Kind of cool that all of our kids have used a few of the same things.

We also went to see the ortho on Monday to check on her arm. They did another xray and the bright white dot on the xray is now gone, but there is still a bump where the break has healed and it will smooth out over the next year. As far as the damage in her lunar nerve in her wrist, that also seems to be improving. Her hand works fine and she is moving her right arm as much as the left. But we won't know completely until she begins to reach and hold onto objects and begins to crawl.

Here are some cute shots of her. The first are of her hair right after a bath. It kind of goes into a mohawk, so I did that and it stayed that way for a few days! So probably won't do that again. I don't think Bill is pleased with that look. But as you can see it is a little curly and it is really turning strawberry blonde, which is very pretty. Even her eyelashes are that color!

Regan and Daddy...

I have the same pictures of Connor sleeping this way on Bill's leg, must be comfy!

Sleeping in Mommy's office after a hard night

In her new activity gym. I am going overboard on the pink I know. See why I didn't do her room in pink? She would be drowning in it!

She's just so cute...

Big bro and little sis!

Well, I have other things that are going on, but I think that is all I can force you to read about my two beautiful children for now. Punky has FINALLY fallen asleep, so I think I will leave her to sleep and go handle the barking duo out back!

See ya, Melinda

Tiger Cubs!

2008-09-09T15:19:00.002-06:00

Connor is officially a Cub Scout, well he starts with Tiger Cubs, actually he has to earn his Bobcat and then we will be a Tiger! We had our first solo Den meeting last night, with Billy the leader and it went well. I mean how long can you keep the attention of 8 squirmy 6 year olds? Not long. Connor is so excited to be doing this. Hopefully this will be more of his thing than baseball. He loves being outside and building and doing things, so I am keeping my fingers crossed!

I have other things to report. None political (as all of my friends breathe a collective sigh of relief!) fortunately or unfortunately! But I have spent half the day trying to get Regan to eat (she is SO slow, SO very slow) and the other half trying to get her to try and nap! But we did get almost 6 hours last night- I think it was the 10:30pm bottle that sealed the deal.

But I also had to catch up on the other blogs as well, nice to see what everyone is up to! But now it is time for me to let the dogs out (someone new moved in behind us with yet ANOTHER little yappy dog that just gets Chase all riled up) since they have had their outside time limited due to their boisterous behavior. And then I am off to collect the older child from school.

Anyway, I'll add more later!

Man! Isn't that a good looking boy?

See ya, Melinda

My rant of free speech...

2008-09-04T11:17:00.002-06:00

Yes, normally I would post cute pics of my kids or tell you what antics my dogs have been up to, but right now, I need to say a few things.

So there is a little party going on up in Minnesota this week. The DNC had their moment last week here in our fair city, now the RNC is doing their best to bash Barack and Joe and the DNC. Now hopefully everyone reading knows full wells that I am not a red-state supporting Republican- right? My blue runs blue, VERY blue. So since this is my post to our blog I really feel the need to speak out about a few things I heard said last night and also some comments that were made today. Feel free to stop reading and feel free to comment on my rant.

Let me first say that I completely support the first amendment and the political process we have in this country. That we, as Americans, get the privilege to vote for our leaders and have some say in what happens in our country. That doesn't happen everywhere in this world. Everyone has a right to be heard. So here is me acting on my right!

I really tried not to watch any of the speakers last night, partly because the odds of them changing my mind is slim and partly because I just get plain pissed off at their arrogance. First I have to comment on all the bashing Rudy and Sarah did on Barack's "community organizing" as they so patronizingly put it. Community organizer??? Obama went to Harvard Law School- HARVARD people! Now if I had the brains and grades to get in and graduate from Harvard Law School, you can bet I would have taken a job from the highest bidder. But he chose to the Chicago where the steel mills being closed destroyed a community.

When I was a freshman in college I was in a sociology class and our assignment over fall break was to write a paper on where you came from. I wrote about Highlands Ranch and how it was owned by the uber-rich and sold and now the middle class soccer Moms can ride around in their SUVs chatting on their cells driving from Nordstroms to private schools to pick up their kids. But I was shocked at how many of my classmates wrote about how their towns where decimated by the closing of mills or factories and how so many people had to move to find jobs, that the town almost didn't exist anymore! And I know McCain fought in Vietnam and spent years in a POW camp and I am impressed and in awe of his survival and service for our country. But didn't Obama ALSO serve his country by forgoing the path of riches and instead choosing to help the least of us?

During the DNC last week, when Hillary gave her speech in support of Barack, I cried. When I was a little girl, my Mom read this book to me called "Girls Can Do Anything" and it wasn't until the moment I saw this woman who ran for President and fought and fought, until she had to concede to an African-American man (two history making moments right there!), that I realized- yeah girls can do anything. And this is partly why my son has two strong women as his Godmothers, instead of a man. Hillary is the reason my daughter will know that no one can tell you no- NO ONE.

And then I heard parts of Sarah Palin's speech and I wanted to run over and cover Regan's little ears. This is the woman that could be a heartbeat away from running this country??? I agree that she is tough and intelligent and well spoken. But most of her views, in my opinion are ass-backwards! For starters, she is pro-life, well I am pro-choice, but most certainly anti-abortion- it is possible to be both. And she supports and abstinence only sex ed program in school. Boy that worked REALLY well for her 17 year old pregnant daughter! Let me get this straight, instead of telling overly hormonal teenagers that they should wait to have sex, but should they choose to, here is how to protect yourself from not only pregnancy, but from diseases THAT WILL KILL YOU, we'll ignore that teenagers think about sex (all the time) and never educate them about how to be responsible and safe. Hmm.... yeah

This morning I was watching The View- not my choice, I was feeding Punky and I couldn't find the remote, but I am kind of glad it got stuck on that show, I found out some other reasons, why Sarah really shouldn't be anywhere near the Oval Office! Barbara Walters was quoting reporter Joe Klein in reaction to Palin's bash of the elite media and brought up a few other little tidbits people should know about her. As Governor she raised taxes, supported the bridge to nowhere and believe that the war in Iraq is "a task from God"! Yep, pretty sure the Prince of Peace said, "G.W. go over there after lying to the American people and just kill, kill, kill!" And as Mayor she tried to ban books from the town library- ban books?? REALLY? And lastly the Washington Post reported that she used the line item veto to slash funds benefiting teens moms who are kicked out of there homes and have no where to live. It's a darn good thing her pregnant teenage daughter will have a comfy bed to sleep in every night and a good doctor to care for her!

So here we are, Hillary tries to break the glass ceiling by running for President and we have a woman who is running for VP who would rather not let us read what we want, believes in holy wars and would like to have teens mothers (who by the way have no idea how they could have kept themselves from getting pregnant) living in the streets and having their babies in cardboard boxes. It's a DARN good thing Gloria Steinem wasn't there to escort Mrs. Palin to her car that evening!

Now, I support her right to say what she feels, just hope she supports my right to read and say what I feel.

Ok, rant is over. Feel free to tell me where to go or to fully agree with me- or maybe start your own blog and stand up for what you believe in as well...

Gotta go be a soccer Mom and have lunch with my first grader at his school!

See ya, Melinda

We made it a whole MONTH!

2008-09-03T09:52:00.004-06:00

Last Thursday Regan turned one month old. And she is still as beautiful as ever (no bias here!). Even more so without the giant splint weighing her arm down and the ointment and yellow gunk mucking up her eye! She actually looks like a real baby! She is on a good feeding schedule, I know parent-directed feeding is somewhat of a touchy subject for some people, so I won't get into that, but she is doing great and only has been getting up once a night. Hopefully once we reach 10lbs we'll be sleeping the whole way through!

We will go back to the ortho in 2 weeks to check out the nerve damage in her wrist, it seems to us to be improving, but we'll see what the pros say. Bill and I are a little less bleary eyed. He might be more than I because he gets up for that midnight feeding. Of course Regan will not go back to sleep for Daddy, so that is my job. And I have a little nickname for her. Regan is a very grown up name (I am have a hard time with serious names! That is why I call Bill, Billy or William- Bill is too serious!) and I started calling her pumpkin pie in the hospital because she is so yummy! Then it was pumpkin, then punky and now it is just Punk. Also because her hair kind of does a mohawk thing when it is wet. So if I call her Punk, please don't thing I am being mean!

I went back to work yesterday. And when I say back to work, I simply changed the message on my VM and my Dad added my name back on the auto- message people get when they call. And I changed the email address on our Rapid Fax, so all faxes will come to me instead of my Dad. But it was fun, I was trying to speak to a woman yesterday and help her with an issue and there is Regan wailing in the background and Abby whining because Regan's wailing. So much fun to work from home! My office consists of a pack and play for napping and diaper changing in the corner and a Lab and Aussie usually on my feet or right behind my chair. Oh well at least right now I wouldn't have a boss telling me I couldn't work in my Cubs hat and slippers! Or to turn my music down. And I definitely couldn't stop for feedings (mine & Punk's) or to watch Law & Order at noon!

Here are some latest pics. They are cute. Especially the one of my Dad holding holding Regan, he's not a baby kind of guy. And for the first 4 months of Connor's life, he puked on my Dad everytime he held him- never failed!

Da and Punk

Connor being a good big brother and telling his sister all about Spidey!

Connor getting to do some feeding with Daddy's help!

Gotta go change a diaper! Have a good day at work all!

See ya, Melinda

Life Updates & cute pictures...

2008-08-23T14:11:00.003-06:00

As you can probably tell from my previous post, I was not getting very much sleep. And I know everyone has been telling me to sleep when the baby sleeps, but I was like a cleaning maniac! I mean I like things cleaned and organized, but I was getting out of control. So Thursday night we gave Regan her 10pm bottle, rocked her to sleep and put her in the bassinet. And Friday morning Bill's alarm goes off as usual at 5:30am and he shakes me to ask me if I had given Regan a bottle in the middle of the night (because my sweet husband usually does it) and I said no! So we ran to the bassinet and saw our sleeping baby (with her standard smirk on her face) breathing away! Bill gets ready for work and leaves and I go back to bed and slept until SEVEN A.M.!!!! Regan slept for over 8 hours and Bill and I actually got some sleep for once- very scary..... So I am feeling much more rested after two nights in a row like that! Maybe I should explain that she doesn't have colic, she was just on the wrong formula and it was giving her tummy distress. Once we switched and have stabolized her metabolism during the day with scheduled feedings, life has gotten much easier!

I did email most people to tell them about Regan getting her splint off this past Monday. And of course being the proud Mommy I am, I took my camera to the doctor's office and took a picture right after it was removed! They did take another x-ray and the break is healed. It is a little gross though, because on the x-ray you can literally see a white dot where the break had healed. And you can feel a bump on her arm where the bone has calcified. The bump will be there for about a year, but as she grows it will absorb into her bones.

There may be some nerve damage in her wrist. The OB had to yank pretty hard to get her out, so it may have pulled on a nerve at the same time. They call it a "dumb waiter" injury because it looks like someone holding their hand behind their back looking for a tip. But I was so excited that her splint was off, I didn't bother to ask any questions! ME!!! No questions. She does go back in a month to look at the nerve injury, but as I have been told numerous times, babies are resilient and she should be just fine. But my sister-in-law Karen, did ask a PT/OT friend of hers about it and it is actually a lunar nerve injury in her wrist and again it should heal fine. After almost a week she already seems better.

The best part (other than the fact that she was no longer injured) was that I could now put on all the cute clothes that I had bought and received as gifts, instead of the icky onesies I had hacked up so she could have clothes to wear with the splint! All of those went right into the trash!

In the doc office right after the "removal"

Our first "real" bath- no cord, no splint!

Look at how cute my arm is!

It's hard work looking this good! ;-)

I couldn't help but take this one, she is no longer the girl with the broken wing!

Well, Connor and I bought Monopoly Jr this afternoon since tonight is game night. And I don't want to miss that at all, so I'll have to do another post with more cute pics and fill you in on our excursion downtown today to see all that is going on for the DNC. Preview- a man told me not to take pictures as the press was entering the arena and Bill saw 5 military helicopters circling the air several times. But it is off to play Monopoly Jr with Connor and Bill. Bill and I don't play the normal Monopoly together very well, we get to mad at each other, but I think this one will not put to much strain on our marriage!

See ya, Melinda

Why can't we mainline caffeine???

2008-08-19T09:55:00.002-06:00

I am so very tired, I mean realllllyy tired. Actually so tired I can't quite figure out why I am sitting here typing to you all?? I just wish someone could hook me up to an IV and just pour pure caffeine right into my body. But I guess I will have to deal with getting it the old-fashoined way.

So anyway, last night we went to the orientation meeting for Cub Scouts at Connor's school. It was acutally quite moving to see the color guard begin the pack meeting. Just thinking that my Grandpa was a scout, so was my Dad, both brothers and now Connor will be too. So I got a little teary at that. And after they handed out awards for scouts who completed projects over the summer, the new parents split up and the kids watched a mad scientist do her thing. So we are sitting and listening to the leaders talk about the process and how we all begin and that we need a place for the first grade den to meet for the first time- when I hear my husband pipe up and offer our house!!!! FOR NEXT WEEK! We just had a baby 3 weeks ago! But this is really God hitting me on the head saying "you wanted to get involved this school year remember?". Careful what you wish for.... All the parents getting involved seem so nice and have offered to help with snacks and one woman offered to hold my Sweet Regan during the meeting. What a trooper! ;-) So here we are doing Cub Scouts, which I know thrills my Dad to no end. He is the original tree hugger as we all know!

In other news, Chase has come back home. Well, I think I am officially SO tired now that I might be able to take a nap. Maybe I will watch the re-run of "The Practice" and fall asleep. Who wouldn't want to watch Dylan McDermott as they are drifting off?

The rest of you... stay awake,
Melinda

Sweet baby Regan....

2008-08-15T15:45:00.010-06:00

Ok I know I am not at all objective, but doesn't she look so cute and cuddly??? It is is only in the 50's today and rainy, which is a huge blessing! This has been the hottest summer on record in Denver since 1901. And to actually have rain and cool temps is great! So here is my sweet baby girl all wrapped in her beautiful, cozy blanket taking a nap. The blanket is a gorgeous gift from my sweet neighbor Teri. She has a similar one that she received as a gift when her daughter, Hyacinth, was born last November. Teri must have seen the envy in my eyes and known it would be a perfect gift for Regan. And I do have to point out the quilt the lines the bassinet in her pack and play that she is laying on. About 3 days before Regan was born my Mom gave me a huge bag filled with a bunch of clothes she had saved from when my sister and I were babies. And one of the items was a beautiful quilt my Grandmother Hurley, who was very special to me and has since passed on, made for me when I was a baby. Now many of you know about the blue quilt that I have had with me through every move (including 4 years in college) that she had made for me when I was older, but I never knew she had made this one for me as a baby! So it is wonderful for me to have my baby girl use it as well. I know Grandma would have treasured Regan.

Regan and I have made it two whole days without Daddy or Connor. And also without Chase, my Dad took him for a while. I love my dog dearly, but let's face it I got a pure-bred WIMP! He has extremely sensitive ears and everything bothers him! He doesn't like thunder or high pitched whistles or the sound of a dripping faucet, he's just a very cute neurotic Aussie. Lately his problem has been a smoke detector, when one in our house needs the battery changed, we will know it inside of a minute! But this one is inside someone else's house! We think the people that live behind us have one that needs a battery change and have decided to close the bedroom door and ignore it! Which would not be a problem except that they also left the window open so you can hear it in our backyard! Which means Chase WILL NOT go outside to take care of business! We have been trying to walk him a few times a day, but let's face it- I just had a PERSON CUT OUT OF ME and can't take him for a long enough walk for his highness to do all that he needs to. So he has decided to do it inside- seriously gross, which is very unlike him. We have enough poop to deal with right now! So my Dad has taken Chase for a while. You have to understand that when I got Chase ten years ago for my birthday I had originally wanted a Chocolate or Yellow Lab and when a friend told me she knew of some pure-bred Aussies for sale I mentioned it to my Dad and he went nuts! He and my Mom had an Aussie when they first got married, but had to give her up before my brother was born because the apartment they were moving to would not allow animals. So he has always loved Chase as his own. It has lessened just a bit once he got his own Aussie a year or so ago. And if you ask Chase if he wants to go see Grandpa- he goes bonkers!

And now onto explaining poor Regan's plight... Poor baby, it's not enough the she decided he entry into this backwards world would be sideways, which would incur a broken wing, but everytime we have taken her to our PCP for a checkup she winds up getting a heel stick! And to add insult to injury, she has pink-eye and colic! If she makes it through this, she will definitely be one tough little girl. I pity any fool who messes with my little girl. So she still as the splint for the next couple of days and we have to pry her little eye open for ointment every four hours. And at night she either gets a bath in the WONDERFUL Johnson's Bedtime Bath and lathered in the same lotion and also gets Gripe Water in every bottle. I have dug out my infant massage book I bought with Connor (who was THE calmest baby ever) and have learned some tricks to ease her distress. But the biggest trick is laying her skin to skin on me so she can hear me breathing and my heartbeat and we just rock until she falls asleep. Any of you who have had to share this experience know how distressing it can be to hear that pain filled cry, but the best part out of it is laying there in the quiet, dark of the night, with only the sound of Bill sleeping, rocking my daughter into some sort of peace. Amidst all of this, it is wonderful to be a Mother...

See ya, Melinda

Little girl's broken wing and gooky eye!

First Grade...

2008-08-14T12:09:00.002-06:00

So he made it! Connor started first grade this past Monday and will go all day from 9-4. He will eat lunch there and I know he will learn so very much. His teacher is Mrs. Bittler, who I am glad to see is young and enthusiastic about being with 6 & 7 year olds. And he has a few kids from his kindergarten class in this year's class, but Connor was relieved to know that they will all eat lunch at the same time, so he eats with a couple of his pals from last year.

Bill was still on family leave from Regan's birth, which I was SO thrilled about! I was so very worried about how I was going to handle not getting any sleep and getting Connor and Regan ready, fed, dressed, lunch made and out the door in time. But Monday Bill helped me with all of it! So Connor had a good breakfast, I made him his fav lunch- bologna and cheese with ketchup (don't ask...) cheez-its, apples and juice. And I also included a little Mommy love note on a napkin, which he didn't even see until I pointed it out to him when we picked him up. But he loved it and now it has become my little mission to write him a different one everyday. But to make them interesting, like have a joke or a science fact or some stickers.

Anyway, we got out the door on time and got to school in time for us to find the spot where the older kids line up. Since all the schools are on lockdown, the kids line up on the playground out back and all go in and out of the back doors. Makes ya feel real good about such a safe world- doesn't it??? He got in line with his 30lb backpack full of supplies and the overflow supplies in a plastic bag for him to carry along with his lunchbox. The first day they did let the parents go in and see the where the classroom was and see the kids begin to settle in.

Connor found his desk and let me tell you I have never seen a bigger smile on this child's face until he realized he would get to have his VERY OWN DESK! Then the class gathered in a circle (yes we noticed he is the tallest one!) and began to introduce themselves. I am sure it will be Christmastime before Connor actually listens and remembers everyones name! And off he went, into elementary school!!! I managed to make it all the way back out to the car before I broke down. Thank God Bill was there, because I CRIED! I know I just had a baby, but Connor has been my constant companion since the day he was born. We went everywhere together and now it's time for him to move on.

We picked him up after school and took him out for a celebratory milkshake to hear all about first grade. The best part for Connor? They have TWO recesses! And they had art this week for specials and they are making a watermelon. And Mrs. Bittler has yellow hair like Mommy and Regan's, except with curls. And he ate lunch with Elijah and Tim and they all played "monster" at recess. And if you have to go potty, you don't raise your hand, you put your blue circle on your desk and the teacher lets you go (girls get pink circles). It was a very good day!

Tonight is back to school night and I will actually get to meet Mrs. Bittler face to face and check out the classroom. And since Connor is now in first grade he can join Tiger Scouts! A fact that makes my Father (Mr. Eagle Scout) very pleased. So that was it for the first day of first grade. We have now made it to Thursday. I'll update you on little Miss Regan later on... that is a story in itself!

Connor and the mega supplies!

Goofy brother with his sleepy little sis

Meeting up with old pals!

At his own desk- I swear he WAS smiling!

The class getting to know each other!

I am very proud of you my first grader!

Love, Mommy

Trip to Chicago...sort of

2008-08-09T16:13:00.004-06:00

It has been about two weeks since Regan entered the world and Melinda and I thought we should treat ourselves because of all the hard (sleepless) work we have put in so far. We were having a casual conversation and neither of us can remember, but one of us said "wouldn't a Chicago dog sound good about now!" You didn't have to convice me, so we packed up the kids and drove to Chicago's. It is a Chicago style, Vienna Beef, eatery here in Denver. Believe me, we do not get good beefs or dogs around here, so this place is a real treat.

The owner use to live in Chicago and started with a hot dog cart. He had a restaurant in Chicago after his success with the cart and retired in Colorado. His family came with him and since they could not find a good beef joint, they went back into the family business.

We take a trip up there, just west of Denver about twenty miles, about four times a year. I know for you Chicago homies, a place like this is on every corner. It has mucho Chicago memorbilia and flat screen TV's that show the sports teams and other interesting Chicago stuff.

So, I'm a sentimental beefaholic. It is the one day Melinda looks the other way and let's me bask in a combo, Italian Beef with an Italian Sausage and a glass of water, no coke. The price is reasonable and the sandwich is big, I'll admit I'm full about half way, but I proceed to take a deep breath and inhale the rest.

I don't know what it is about food and places, sort of God's memory box for us I guess. Makes me think back to some good ol' days and now I can share them with my children, although Connor got a PB&J. However, Connor enjoys it there, he likes the Blues Brothers and he'll, with no solicitation from me, put the movie in the DVD player and we'll watch the movie, he likes to skip and go the singing parts and the crash sceens.

At any rate, enjoy if you can, "this beef's for you!"

Two more weeks..

2008-08-06T15:57:00.000-06:00

Just a quick update about Regan's broken wing. We saw the orthopedist yesterday- what an ordeal that was! Apparently they have two offices, one in Lone Tree near our home and the other way out in BFE! So naturally when we got to the closer office where I thought out appointment was, they told us we had to drive over to the other office where our appointment actually was. After getting there 20 minutes late and getting the stink eye from the receptionist and filling out a medical history for an 8 day old child, the doc sees us and tells we have to get another x-ray. So we leave all of our stuff in the office and I carry Regan down a floor while managing to give her a bottle at the same time, to where they perform x-rays. And after explaining to the receptionist there that she really did break her arm and not her collarbone (which no one can seem to believe) she tells us there isn't an x-ray tech available to come to that office. SO we have to go down another floor to the ER and have them take the x-ray. After explaining to the techs in the ER that yes she broke her arm, they take the x-ray and we go back up 3 floors to the doc office where he tells us in 2 minutes that the break is aligned and healing and she should be out of the splint in two more weeks. Two hours later we get to leave. But the good news is that is healing properly and Bill and I have become pros and re-wrapping the splint and dressing her so the arm isn't even disturbed!!

That's it for our day!
See ya, Melinda

One week old!

2008-08-04T15:44:00.002-06:00

Well we have made it through the first week! And we are all still around to tell you about it. Regan is doing wonderfully. We had one teeny-tiny scare Saturday evening, her splint slid right off her little arm, mostly because the swelling has gone down, which is good, but we freaked! So our PCP told us to take her to the ER and they were able to re-wrap it for us, which we watched very closely in case we needed to do again ourselves. The doc also felt the break site and felt some calcifying already, which is really good. Tomorrow we go to the orthopedist and they will do another x-ray to see how it is healing and hopefully be able to determine how much longer she will need the splint. I have gotten creative with her clothes. She has a few little dresses that are sleeveless and they slip right over the splint, but I had to take some onesies and cut the right sleeve open so it slip right over her shoulder and be pinned. But we only have a few more weeks and then it is on to all those cute clothes!

Other than that small drama, life is good. We get up two times a night for feedings, but all in all she is a good eater and sleeper. Connor is enjoying being a big brother and so far we haven't had any jealousy issues. The one that is surprising me is Abby, or "Reverend Mother" as we call her (get it? Nuns live in an Abby?) she has been so attentive to Regan and will sit by her bassinet or peek through the netting of the pack and play to see how she is doing. She also lets us know if Regan makes even one peep! I was so worried how Abby would act around Regan, but it is like her mothering instinct just kicked right in. Whereas Chase could seriously care less.

My sister left to go home today. It was so great to have her here and spend time with her. I almost forgot how much I love being around her. Amazing how the person you fought over socks with in high school can turn into your best friend as an adult! She is such a great Aunt and loves Connor and now Regan so much. Her baby is due November 4th, hopefully I will be able to go and see her soon after that.

I am doing ok. I did have to go back to my OB today because I was in a bit more pain than I had been in before. My incision was burning on the right side and it is very bruised there as well. Turns out that it the side they really had to pull and retract in order to get Regan out correctly. So the nerves are just very sore and raw. And I also was officially told I was doing way too much. So I guess I need to listen and take it easy. It's just hard! I have this beautiful baby girl and I am DYING to show her off!! There will be time for that....

Ok, here is the mean Mommy- but I just had to take a picture in this cute little sundress!

This is for my sister, who did not appreciate the other picture I posted of her on the blog. So here you go Em, the whole blogging world will see how cute you really are!!

Well, time for a nap!

See ya, Mel

Regan is home!

2008-07-31T16:28:00.005-06:00

We finally made it home!!! And back to our ability to post pictures on our blog. Both Regan and I were discharged this morning. She is doing well, her arm is healing nicely. And as you can see in some of the pictures below, her cast is almost as big as her whole body!!! Her weight has dropped to 7lbs 1oz from the original 7lbs 8oz and she looks SO tiny! Everyone keeps pointing out that a seven pounder is really not that little, but to my family it is VERY small! Connor was 8lbs 11.5 oz, my nephew was 9lbs 13oz and my Mom and my Grandma had 8 1/2 to 10 lb babies, so Regan is SMALL! So far she has been a great eater and sleeper, passed her hearing test and will make her first doctor's visit tomorrow morning.

I am also doing well. The pain is getting better and I keep on walking as much as I can. I am not sure we will be doing laps at the mall like we did with Connor, but definitely around our neighborhood. Skyridge was a great place to have this baby. Aside from Regan's broken wing, everything when so well. The doctors and nurses were fantastic and I am so grateful for all of that. And the OB that discharged me today saw my Pi Phi tattoo and told me she was a Pi Phi from Montana State!!! Very cool!

We had a lot of visitors at the hospital, my family of course, including my sister, Emily who flew in from Spokane. Em is now 25 weeks along, so she is up next! My good friends Susie and Kayla also came and we got so many beautiful flowers! I even got a wonderful phone call from one of my good friends from college, Molly. It was great to talk to her!

Connor seems to be adjusting well. He had a slightly stressful time away from us and I know he is glad we are all together again. But my Mom loves him so much and is so patient with him, it made that easier on Bill and I. He has been so excited to help with Regan, from diapering to feeding. And I was in the kitchen getting a drink and heard him singing a SpongeBob song to Regan, so very sweet. He also read her a story as well.

The dogs are still trying to figure out what is going on. Chase is a little interested, I think he is just glad that I am home. Abby is a little more nervous, she keeps whining and staring at Regan. It will take some time for us all to adjust to the new situation.

We will still keep our gmail account for a while, so you can reach us there or at our individual comcast addresses. Bill is home until August 14th (thank GOD!) so he will be able to take Connor for his first day of first grade!!

Thank you so much for all of your prayers and wonderful thoughts both during my pregnancy and Regan's birth. We are so grateful for all of our friends and family!

All ready to go! See the size of my cast??

Abby is trying to figure out who this little one is...

Connor and Gus with Regan Auntie Em getting back into bottle duty

Susie is a natural So is Kayla!

Mommy and baby are ready to go home!

We'll keep you posted!

See ya, Melinda, Bill, Connor and Regan!

Waiting for Regan...

2008-07-27T14:55:00.003-06:00

IT'S FINALLY DONE!!!!! I know, less than 24 hours until she is born, but we managed to actually get the baby's room finished!!! Well, almost finished anyway! I figured my Mom had done enough sewing and babysitting this summer, so we are going to wait to finish the curtains. But she did a wonderful job making all of the bedding and the pillows for the rocking chair. Thank God she can sew, other wise I would have had to break down and buy a nursery set. I just could not find anything that really appealed to me! So here it is, Regan's room...

We went with cranberry and white instead of all pink. But she is going to share the Pooh Bear mobile from Connor's nursery.

Big brother is ready to go!

Connor finally has someone sleeping in the room next to him. I feel so good- our house will be almost full! Just leaves the guest room in case anyone wants to use it!

I thought I had gotten a good picture of the dresser, but guess not.

Well, we will see you on the flip side of this pregnancy, when our little girl is finally here! Wish me luck!

See ya, Melinda

Big brother day!!!

2008-07-27T14:47:00.004-06:00

Tomorrow Connor is going to have to begin to share the spotlight in our family. So in light of all of that we celebrated "big brother day" Saturday after he finished his last baseball game of the summer. We went to Red Robin for hamburgers and video games. And we gave him a "big brother starter kit" too. He got his official big brother shirt, some books to read, a camera to record his images of the baby's birthday and (of course) a Spidey transformer car! We had a really good time together and I think he is ready to go!

I think he is going to do a great job of being a big brother!

See ya, Melinda

Summer can't be over yet???

2008-07-22T14:39:00.003-06:00

I can't believe baseball season is over! Ok well, little league baseball season is over anyway! Last night was Connor's last practice for the season and also the team's pizza party. The team's last game is this Saturday, but I am personally grateful they decided against having the party after the game- not sure I would have made it!

Normally Bill handles practice every week, but he had a work event to attend. A "work" event that just happened to be in a skybox at Coors Field watching the Dodgers pummel our Rockies. Life is rough all over I guess! So as he is sitting in the lap of luxury eating a $10 hot dog, I get to drag my SEVERELY pregnant self to practice in 95 degree heat! Ah, for the love of my son....

After practice the team headed to Cici's Pizza for a party. Which was quite fun I thought- hot, but fun. I got to talk with one of Connor's classmates parents for a while. You know the people you say 'hi' to as you are all picking up your kids, but never manage to ask them their names?? Well, I finally got their names and had a nice time talking with them.

Coaches Joe and Mike handed out trophies to all the kids (yes Mother and Father- TROPHIES just for showing up!). I am not sure if I should take offense or take it as a compliment when Coach Joe said that Connor always took an interesting spin on baseball?? Oh well, my son may not be the next Holliday, but he makes life interesting! Maybe next year we'll try soccer....

Connor with Coach Joe and Coach Mike

Connor and his baseball pal Jack

And on to the topic of the month, for me anyway... I went to my pre-op appointment yesterday and got all of my questions answered. And my sweet doctor appreciated all of those questions too! We are still scheduled for next Monday at 7:15am. The baby has managed to stay breech throughout the pregnancy, guess she wanted to be just like her big brother!

Other than normal house cleaning and packing my hospital stuff, we are ready to go. This week will be low-key since it is still very hot and I have run out of breathing room! Connor has school registration tomorrow and we have been given the GIANT list of school supplies to purchase this year. Saturday is Connor's last game and then Bill, Connor & I will celebrate what we have dubbed "big brother day". We are taking Connor out for arcade games and dinner in celebration of his role in the baby's life. He is very excited- for big brother day anyway. Oh and for the sleepover he gets to have at his Da & Gus' house next week.

My sister will be in town next Wednesday and we are all so excited to see her. She is coming alone this trip, Declan and Bryce will stay in Spokane. She is due November 4th, so I am sure she will appreciate the break. And yes, my birthday is next Friday, if all goes well I will be home just in time to see crow's feet appear right as I turn 35! Hey, at least I met my latest goal which was to have this child BEFORE I turn 35- so it's only 4 days! I think our big celebration will be take-out and midnight feedings!

Anyway, hope you are all staying cool.

See ya, Melinda

Stop junk mail, save some trees...

2008-07-21T10:52:00.002-06:00

I added two links to our site. Ones that I think are very important for all of us! After you switch from plastic grocery bags to reusable canvas bags, have stopped driving so much and recycle anything you can, there is one more area to conquer- your mailbox!! Junk mail is SUCH a waste and how much do you actually look at it???

The links I have added are to stop your catalogs, coupons and flyers that get sent to you everyday. There is also a link to stop credit card offers- which may help your credit rating as well! Please click on them and STOP THE JUNK MAIL!!!!

Americans get enough junk mail every year to deforest Rocky Mountain National Park every FOUR MONTHS! Give it a try...

See ya, Melinda

Sibling Class and the firestation...

2008-07-14T16:33:00.005-06:00

This past Saturday Connor took a "sibling preparation class" at the hospital where the baby will be born. We thought it would be a good idea since he has really no concept of what having a baby around would be like, but then again what kid does? Anyway, the class was an hour long and had all boys in it. It was also nice to see another couple with a six-year old just now having a second child, apparently we are not the only ones who waited a while!

The class was broken into two parts- the first the teacher the kids how to hold a baby, how to give a bottle and how to swaddle the baby. Connor did very well and seemed to know all the answers (well it was between him and the other 6 year old!). Then we took a kid-friendly tour of the labor and delivery floor. The best part was seeing a newborn through the glass in the nursery! The nurse brought the baby up to the glass so all the kids could see. The main comment was how "red" the baby looked. We also got to see a labor & delivery room and of course I started to feel faint at the sight of it! I am such a wimp when it comes to medical stuff. I mean having dinner at my Mom's house with my sister and brother-in-law (who is a physician) is very disturbing for me. They will actually talk about disgusting medical procedures right there over the chicken! I can barely wipe Connor's nose! Anyway, I made it through that part of the tour, even though I had to stand in the hallway through most of it.

And the end of the class all of the kids were given a surgical cap, gloves and a mask. Which of course Connor LOVED! The teacher told all of the kids to go home and take care of their Moms. Which is exactly what happened! That afternoon Dr. Connor took very good care of me, I had an ultrasound and three surgeries, right there on the couch! And Bill had a brain transplant, although Connor was worried because the new brain appeared to be "itchy". Hopefully that won't impede the man's ability to deal with the millionaires money in the future.

Connor in his surgical gear

On Sunday we were invited to our neighbor, Josh's birthday party. Josh turned 3 and he and Connor get along very well. So it was very sweet of them to invite us as well. Josh's Mom, Teri, had scheduled a tour of the local firestation- which was very cool for Connor. He is so mechanical and has to know how everything works. He loved getting up into the firetruck and touching everything they would let him touch. We also followed it up by lunch and birthday cake at the park. It was hot, but a great afternoon and Teri makes a killer chocolate birthday cake!

We have just under two weeks until our baby girl will be here! The dresser is here and my Mom has finished the bedding. We decided we needed some shelves in there as well, so hopefully that will happen this week. Other than putting away all the pink clothes, we are just about done! I have my pre-op appointment next week with my OB and barring anything unforeseen, Regan will enter the world on July 28th!

We have two more baseball games and Connor are I are trying to do some fun things together before the baby is born! Just in case we missed anybody with our mass email announcement- we have opened another email account so we could combine our address books, it is just temporary, but it will be used when we make our baby announcement. It is billmelhoward@gmail.com.

Have a good week!

See ya, Melinda

Still here...

2008-07-11T13:55:00.004-06:00

I have gotten a few emails in the last week checking in on me, which is very sweet thank you! I guess people that I actually know are reading our blog! And for that I thank you too! So here's an update! I am doing ok, had a slight scare a few weeks ago, began having contractions so the doctor advised me to head into the hospital. I swore I would make it through this pregnancy without over-reacting to little things, but since I had never really had a contraction during Connor's pregnancy they didn't want to take any chances. They hooked me up to the monitors and everything is fine. I was just doing way too much and was dehydrated as well. Me- dehydrated? I live with a water bottle attached to me- apparently I have to drink the water too! ;-) They sent me home two hours later and all has been well since then. They baby is doing fine, although she has decided to follow her brother's lead and has been breech most of the time. Of course Connor didn't flip around until about 10 days before his due date and this one has maintained her location.

I have about 2 weeks left and it is HOT! Thank God for AC! Of course I really am scared to see our power bill in the next month! Oh I am sorry Mother Earth, I am not being a very good steward right now!

The house is mostly pristine, aside from the dog hair. And we have almost finished the nursery, the dresser is going to be delivered today and then we will put it all together. I am glad I didn't go with the completely pink room, which I know has surprised most people. I think it will look good.

Connor is doing well, he has three more baseball games left and got to have a sleepover last night at his Gus's house (that would be what he calls my Mom). He loves going over there because the cul-de-sac they live on has little kids in EVERY house, unlike our boring street. So he always has a good time. We go to school registration July 23rd and he has already started the great bedtime "moveback"- does that even make sense? Well, Connor has always been on the same sleep schedule that I have been on since he was born. He basically goes to bed at 10:30 and gets up around 8:30, which I know most people are appalled at, but it has worked amazingly for us. He has always had afternoon school, so we weren't cutting into anytime there and he is able to spend more time with Daddy because of it. Anyway, next year he will start first grade and has to be up at 7:30, so we are slowly moving him back in bedtime. Fortunately he has always been a good sleeper, so it isn't too difficult to change times on him. And I think with two children to deal with in the morning, I will need to hour and half to get everyone moving and Connor to school by nine.

Other than that, life has been going along as it should. I will try and not worry anyone in the future and post more regularly! Hope everyone is enjoying their summer!

See ya, Melinda

Small bone to pick...

2008-06-19T19:47:00.002-06:00

Ok I am so incensed by something I read in a parenting magazine today and I think Bill is VERY sick of listening to me rant on, that I am turning to my blogger public to (hopefully) finish my rant!

I read an article today about things the "pros" in your life would want you to know about, people like your doctor, your daycare provider, your babysitter, etc. Most of the things these people said made perfect sense to me, but the one comment by the teacher has made me livid! This person, who did not want to be identified, said that just as parents have preferred teachers, teachers also have preferred families. Which I can understand, we are all human and get along better with some people that we do with others, but the next comment???? Oh please! This teacher said that parents should email their child's teacher at the beginning of the school year asking the teacher to provide the parent with a wish-list of things the parent could provide the teacher with during the school year and that this would help your family become a "preferred family"! So last fall when Connor started kindergarten and I had to pay almost $100 for required school supplies that are no longer covered by our taxes (and the cost goes up every year) I am also supposed to BRIBE his teacher so she does her job and treats my son and my family with respect???? SERIOUSLY???

Ok I recognize that I am a tad hormonal right now, but REALLY??? Now we have to buy things for every teacher our child has so the next child doesn't get penalized for having the same last name??? I am sorry, but I am a little preoccupied with paying for food, gas, clothing and medical bills so my child can LIVE, but now I should pay the teacher off so she/he'll do the job they signed up to do in the first place????

I know that I do not possess the gifts/skills it requires to be a teacher. I am not very patient with my own child and I was constantly amazed at the patience Connor's teachers and therapists have shown, so maybe I am speaking out of turn. So please speak up and tell me I am not wrong here!

See? I feel much better now!

Melinda

Spidey's new friend....

2008-06-19T11:04:00.003-06:00

Ok, so it's summer and I am getting more pregnant by the minute and becoming a boring Mom. But my son has an incredible imagination! Today I was very tired and this is what happens when you tell your Mom you are playing in your room, but sneak in to watch tv anyway. He found a channel, Jetix, that shows superhero cartoons, like Power Rangers and of course Spiderman and His Amazing Friends. So as I am waddling to the bathroom (AGAIN) he comes downstairs without saying a word with his shirt pulled over his head making some weird noise. And when I asked him what he was doing, he said nothing except to point his hands at me and make some other weird noise. Finally after walking around for a few minutes making the noise, he stopped and put the shirt back on normally and said "What happened? Who was here?" Turns out he was being Ice Man. Now of course I flashed to Val Kilmer's killer smile in Top Gun, but seriously get real Mom, Ice Man is one of Spiderman's amazing friends. I just thought this whole things was hilarious and totally Connor and had to record it and post it for all to see!

I guess we'll be back to practicing our handwriting today. I never understood why my Mother didn't LOVE having all 4 of us home everyday, all day during the summer? Now I get it.... Thank God Vacation Bible School starts next week!

See ya,

Melinda

New Season, First Game, Let's play two!

2008-06-15T17:41:00.006-06:00

Baseball Ready! Catching Duties

Swings Right, Swings Left

Posted by Billy

I have been told by Connor's Occupational Therapist that he believes Connor is going to be a scientist, mathematician and things like that. I thought he was going to be a baseball player, get into the major leagues, make a boat load of money and help his pops retire-comfortably!

Better laid plans, it is said. Currently, baseball for Connor is a social event, he goofs around, he hits someone with his hat, he laughs while running to first. (there is no laughing in baseball - or is there?). I decided not to coach this year since Melinda is with child and the due date is near.
It has been a treat to see my son play baseball from a different perspective this year. He actually listens to the coaches, enjoys doing the different baseball drills and supports the other players by shouting, what only kids can do, words of confidence and rhyme for the player at bat, "go Hunter go, go Hunter go!"

So, if my son does not make it into the big leagues, I'm okay with that. I have learned the past couple of weeks, that what we are teaching him is paying off. He is respectful, listens and most of all, he is having fun!

Daddy's birthday and balloons...

2008-06-13T17:28:00.004-06:00

Yesterday was Billy's birthday. It was a mellow birthday, we had a BBQ and my parents came over to help us celebrate. But the best part of the day was Connor's pure enthusiasm and joy at making Daddy's party "the best birthday ever!" He had planned it all out, we went and bought food and a cake mix, went to the party store for balloons, got a great cards and an iTunes gift card and lastly made "happy birthday" signs for the house. He even planned out the party, which I am afraid included party games. What adult doesn't want to hit a pinata??? Then we made a chocolate cake, which not only had sprinkles on top, but sprinkles in between the layers as well. It looked like a giant cupcake! We didn't end up playing any party games, but he couldn't wait until the night was over and he could take the balloons down and play with them. They, of course, ended being Spiderman goo and then I think he pretended they had something to do with The Hulk. Whatever it was, it was so cute to watch him play. What a great birthday for Daddy!

On a side note, I am 33 weeks along. And the c-section is scheduled 6 weeks from this coming Monday. Or as Bill says, 45 days and a wake-up! Everything is going along well, except that I have reached the uncomfortable stage. I am not quite to the extremely uncomfortable stage yet, I am sure I will be there in the next two weeks. For now, I am having fun with Connor. Billy and I have almost finished our "to-do list", all that is left is Regan's room. The crib is up and there are clothes and toys all over. Next week we (and when I say "we" I mean Billy) are going to paint and hopefully find a dresser to put all those hundreds of pink clothes in! We are getting excited and a tad bit terrified at the prospect of another child- but hopefully by the time July 28th at 7:15am rolls around we'll be ready!!!!

See ya,

Melinda

Riding the bike...

2008-06-09T17:27:00.003-06:00

This past few weeks, Connor, who has never been terribly interested in riding his bike, has suddenly gotten very into it. He still needs his training wheels, because currently he is riding up and down the sidewalk on our street. And when he goes to my Mom's house (they live on a very kid friendly cul-de-sac) Abby gets to be with him and she follows him up and down the street. I am not sure if any of you have read the "Henry and Mudge" series, but we have read ALL of them. Henry is a little boy, an only child, who desperately wants a brother or sister. His parents instead settle for a puppy- one that grows into a bull-mastiff! His name is Mudge. Anyway, Connor loves these books and we read one practically every night. So he and Abby look like Henry and Mudge as she follows him dutifully as he rides his bike up and down the street. I would let her do that on our street, but it can get busy and I just don't trust her all that much, yet.

And of course he has his Spidey bike helmet too. Don't you think it is so strange when you find yourself doing ALL of the things you said you would never do as a parent before you had kids to even worry about?? I remember when bike helmets were just coming around for little kids and I always said I would never make my kids where a dorky helmet- after all my brains survived learning to ride a bike! I am not so sure they survived Wednesdays at Danny's & Tooties during my senior year of college, but that is really another story, one for when my kids are about 30. Anyway, it is a totally different story when the brains that could be splattered all over the asphalt suddenly come from the child you gave birth to. Amazing, wonder what I will be like when my daughter comes and tells me she just tattooed herself. OOOOHHHH that will be a hypocritical day for Melinda....

And lastly, this is my rose bush. Now I am not at all a gardener. I normally plant and water things only as my Mother and sister direct me. I have no green thumb. In fact my Mom sometimes has to take my only two house plants to her house to nurse them back to health. I am surprised she doesn't make me sign a contract before she gives them back. But this bush I bought for $5 our first summer here and now it is HUGE! It only blooms once a summer, so I have to enjoy now. So proud of my skills...

See ya, Melinda

Bye, bye Declan....

2008-05-26T10:16:00.003-06:00

This past week we had so many changes, but the hardest was seeing my sister Emily, her husband Bryce and their son Declan leave for Spokane. Declan's Grandma Gilman flew to Denver on Thursday to take Declan back with her. And Em & Bryce left early Saturday morning to drive their cars and the dogs and cat up to Spokane.

Since Em quit her job a few weeks ago and has been staying with my parents since they sold their house, we have been spending a lot of time together. I don't know whether that makes things harder or easier! But Connor and Declan are buddies and have perfected the art of jumping from couch to couch with each other. At one point Emily went down to the basement to check on them and they had toys stacked up on my Mom's treadmill and were playing "slip & slide" with it!

It is very hard to see them go and we will miss them VERY much, but I know they are moving toward something and not just away from us. Em & Declan will be back in July when our baby is born and we will go up after their baby is born.

We'll miss you Em & D!

Love, Auntie Melinda & Connor

The Graduate...

2008-05-22T11:10:00.004-06:00

Get the song?? Ok, not exactly the most direct connection, but it is from "The Graduate". Anyhoo, Connor baby is no longer Connor baby, he is now a first-grader! Wednesday he finished his kindergarten career and will now move up from half day school to ALL day EVERY day next fall.

The graduation began at 10 and the gym doors were open at 9:45, when Bill & I got there at 9:40 there was a line all the way to the parking lot to get in! There were probably 250+ parents and family members to watch the class of 2020 graduate from the first year in elementary school. It was crowded and hot, but as always we sat in awe as our little man participated! They sang songs each of the 4 classes received their diplomas and were asked what they wanted to be when they grew up, Mr. Cubs answered, "a baseball player"- very cool. Of course the best answer was one little boy who said he wanted to be a Jedi, I bet his Dad was beaming!

And of course I got misty while watching him walk up the aisle and stand with his classmates. He has achieved so much since I sat in the little room at Children's Hospital 3 1/2 years ago and the psychologist told me he had Autism and would need different types of therapy just to keep up with other "typical" children. And I really wish the other crackpot doctor that told me when he was four that he should be put into a school exclusively for children with Autism could have seen what Connor has achieved and maintained. We have trusted many professionals, but the people I am glad we trusted the most is ourselves. We are his parents and we know exactly what amazing things this child has and will accomplish. As his OT has told us, he will be watching Connor and will buy stock in whatever it is that he invents, because it will go far!

Ok enough of the gushing Mommy, currently my genius is watching America's Funniest Videos. I am sure he trying to figure out how the ski off the roof....

Here comes our boy!

His official moment

And now we have grown bored & are using the diploma as a telescope

The butterflies they watched change in class

Connor and his teacher Mrs. Washington

See ya, Melinda

Dave & Kristen: May 17, 2008

2008-05-20T12:33:00.010-06:00

My "little" brother got married this past weekend! I can hardly believe it! He married his longtime love, Kristen and our family just grew one more! It was a beautiful wedding and a great weekend up in the mountains. They were married in Glenwood Springs, about 3 hours west of Denver near Aspen. Connor was the ring bearer or "pillow boy" as he referred to it. He was so very good and so sweet to the flower girl, Shelby.

We left home Friday morning after some minor trauma of having to leave Abby and Chase at the kennel. In my whole family we have 8 dogs, 6 of whom stayed at a kennel. And NONE of the 6 had ever had to stay at a kennel before! We have been so fortunate to be able to take care of each others dogs while on vacation- so this was sort of a big deal for us. But they all survived, all though I am not sure any of them ate or drank all weekend.

We left earlier on Friday so we could take our time and enjoy the mountains. We try to go up often, but since I am pregnant I am not technically "allowed" to go up much more in elevation than the 6000 ft we already live at. But we had a good time anyway. We stopped in Idaho Springs and drove part way up Mt Evans road. Most of it is still closed and it is quite a drive up to the infamous fourteener. They we had lunch at the Tommy Knocker Brewery. They were in prime brewing at the time, when you walked in you could smell the VERY strong scent of hops cooking. Took me right back to my Dad's home-brew days, he liked to torture me and decided to brew beer while I was recovering from a hangover one New Year's day- mean, mean Daddy.

We got to Glenwood around 2:30 and the weather was spectacular! The wedding was taking place at the very historic Hotel Colorado. It is a beautiful hotel full of history, many presidents have stayed there and even Al Capone would summer there! During prohibition it was said that he tipped a bellman to bring in cases of gin for his party- the bellman was able to afford college at The University of Denver shortly thereafter.

Connor and Mommy at the Storm King Mountain Fire Park

Some beautiful shots of Glenwood Springs

Shortly after we arrived the rehearsal was held in the courtyard where the wedding would be the next day. My sister Emily was a bridesmaid and brother Chris was a groomsman. And Connor got to practice with his pillow while walking down the aisle with Shelby. Both of them were so good and well behaved. The rehearsal dinner was right after on the patio.

Outside in the courtyard

Connor & his pillow

The balcony is where William Howard Taft gave a famous speech.

The wedding was held at 4:15 on Saturday and everyone looked so good. My sister is 14 weeks pregnant and didn't know that when the dress was altered. She had to suck it in for a few hours, but she looked beautiful. And how about my boy in the tux????

Connor and my Grandma or "GG"
Howard, Connor Howard

Em & Chris

The happy couple!
The wedding party

The groom and his pillow boy!

Connor was ready to hit the floor after dinner was over!

Dave & Kristen's first dance

The reception was held in the Colorado Room right after all the pictures. It was traditional mountain fair that Dave & Kristen had picked out, including bison and trout. The cake was white with raspberry filling along side a small chocolate groom's cake that was decked out in a construction motif (Dave runs a caisson drilling rig). Connor waited very patiently for the dancing to start and he did not stop until we dragged him out of there at 9pm! He fell asleep about 30 mins later. It was a FABULOUS wedding and I am so very proud of Dave and Kristen! They will leave for their honeymoon in Belize in about a week. But this week he will spend up in the mountains on a drilling project- so romantic!

Connor was sad to say goodbye to the fun weekend, but VERY happy to see his Abby again! We ended up leaving at about 6:30 am on Sunday morning. Mostly because I needed to sleep in my own bed with my big pregnant woman pillow, but it also helped that we beat all the traffic too!

Our busy May is almost over. Connor started baseball practice yesterday. This year he is doing modified t-ball or coach pitch. So far he doesn't need the 't' at all. His team is the KC Royals, (sigh) he had to move to the AL this year. And tomorrow he graduates from Kindergarten! Onto 1st grade! This weekend will be hard for us, my sister and her family are moving from Denver to Spokane and we have to say goodbye! Hopefully Em & Declan will be back for our baby's birth in July/August.

I hope you are all as happy as I am that Spring is finally here! I don't think I could really take much more winter/spring in Colorado!

See ya, Melinda

Well, it's May!

2008-05-01T10:44:00.002-06:00

Today is May 1st, also known as May Day. It is also my Mom's birthday, happy birthday Mom! And yesterday it was spectacular- 81 degrees. No need for a jacket and I almost had to turn the AC on in the car. I would have if I didn't have to take a small loan to put gas in the thing. It's spring, flowers are up, leaves are out, the squirrels are out again to torture Abby. Glorious... Oh did I not mention that it is SNOWING right now??? It is absolutely psychotic to live in Colorado and expect that it would not snow on May 1st. I mean pretty much all the resorts are closed and yet Connor has to wear his just-about-too-small winter coat and a hat.

LARGE SIGH.....

Connor and my rose bush, hopefully it will still be alive tomorrow
Our neighbor's tree with leaves
That would be Chase's little face sticking out mad that I wouldn't let him out, who needs the smell of wet dog?
I am not sure Abby is completely upset by the snow...

Enjoy your day and please don't send pictures of you at the pool!

Melinda

For Mommy and Regan...

2008-04-29T16:12:00.004-06:00

This past Saturday my good friends Kayla & Susie threw a FABULOUS baby shower for me (ok and Bill) at The Brown Palace Hotel downtown. Most of my (in state) friends and family were able to come and it was so beautiful! Now if you've never been to Denver or have been, but haven't heard of The Brown Palace, it is a Denver institution. It is over a hundred years old and was built during the gold and silver boom. Molly Brown stayed there for a period of time (you might remember her from 'Titanic'). Anyway, it is a spectacular sight and they hold high tea everyday, so the shower was done at high tea.

There were about ten of us, including my Mom, my sister Emily, my Grandma, my future sister-in-law Kristen, my best friend in town from the UK Tami and her Mom Fritz, a family friend Karen and of course the hosts Kayla and Susie. We had tea and finger sandwiches, scones with devonshire cream and chocolates! It was so much fun!

We got such wonderful gifts, pretty little girl clothes, books, diaper bags, a high chair and the ever functional diaper champ! I had such a great time and am so very grateful to Kayla and Susie for all the work they did. Regan is coming into one very loved world of family and friends! Below are some pictures from the afternoon. I would be the pregnant one in purple!

Thanks again girls!

Melinda

Kristen, me and Tami
Mom and Grandma
Susie and Kayla

Em, Me, Kristen, Mom & Grandma
Me and Tami
Yea presents!
Kayla and the blanket her Mom knitted
Mom and very good friend Karen

Green Eggs and Teeth!

2008-04-18T15:33:00.000-06:00

Connor has been pretty sick this week. He doesn't come from those who have great lungs and got croup pretty easily as a baby. So it shouldn't have shocked me too much when he suddenly developed a bad case of bronchitis Tuesday, but it did. No parent likes to see their child sick. But he is a trooper! I dragged him to the doctor Thursday very early and he made it through two neubulizer treatments and after two days of doing them at hoome he seems better.

So Thursday night he HAD to have green eggs and ham! Well, we didn't have any ham and so he had green eggs and normal toast. I made them for him (completely repulsed- no one should eat green eggs) and he was so happy and ate every bite! Oh the small things that thrill children to no end!

Then Friday he lost his fifth tooth! So now he has no front teeth, too bad it isn't Christmas! So he looks a little funny, but he is still his cute self!

MMMM...........

The toothless wonder!

Tears and Autism..

2008-04-14T14:06:00.003-06:00

So here is what I want to know, why is it that when you planned to have a baby and are so excited to have another little person, that you cry at EVERYTHING??? I love watching "Eli Stone", have you watched it? Well, the season finale is this week, so maybe you'll have to catch up online. Anyway, this show grabbed my attention from the beginning, maybe because it's controversial first episode was in which a jury awarded damages to a Mother suing a drug company for the results of their flu shot (I think it was a flut shot) on her son, who has Autism. I have never personally believed that is what caused Connor's Autism, I really think it has a lot to do with environment and genes. But hey, who knows.

Anyway, back to my point- this show makes me cry EVERY WEEK! But it is a good cry. I empathize so much with this character, maybe it's because I have never thought like a "normal" person and have had to deal with so much of my life not being considered mainstream. But it is not the only thing I have cried about recently, yesterday a little boy was baptized at church- tears. And Connor no longer wants me to walk him all the way to the door of kindergarten- tears. Heck, someone cut me off in traffic- tears. So again I ask- why all the tears????

And here's a slightly related thought, I watched an episode of Oprah a year ago, it had Jenny McCarthy who had written a book about getting her son with Autism through with therapy and Holly Robinson Peete was also on, her son is a teenager and has Autism. Now I consider myself fulling educated in the ways of Autism, maybe it's only in the ways of Connor's Autism, but I don't think I had ever heard until then about changing the WAY you talk about a challenge that someone is dealing with. And that is what it is, a challenge. Mrs. Peete was pointing out that we no longer should say the words "Autistic Child", we need to say "Child with Autism", because when you say it the other way you are implying that Autism has that child or that is what the child is made of and I know that Connor's IEP may say that, but Autism doesn't get the right to "have" ANY child. Just like cancer doesn't get to "have" my sweet friend Brandy. So it's just something for you to stick in your brain, no one deserves to be defined as the challenge they must deal with, because I guarantee you, Connor would never let anyone define him with one word.

Melinda

I really have pregnancy brain!

2008-04-10T17:21:00.003-06:00

Ok, my dear husband pointed out to me that I said the links to The American Cancer Society Relay for Life, both Amy & Brandy's links, that I added to the blog were off the left and they are off to the right! I was thinking about what Brandy said in her blog and apparently kept that in my head while typing my own blog! FORGIVE ME BLOG GODS!

See ya, Melinda

Two relays for life!

2008-04-10T11:02:00.002-06:00

If you look over to left side of our blog, you'll notice we have added two links for the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life. The first is one in honor of Bill's late brother Jim. His oldest daughter Amy, has a link to raise pledges for her relay for life which will be held June 6th in Portage, Indiana. Amy's goal is to raise $5000 for the American Cancer Society in honor of her Dad.

The second link is for my dear friend Brandy Vargas who is a survivor and praying to stay that way. Her relay will be held May 16-17 in Houston, Texas. Brandy has a modest goal of $100, but we all know she will be able to raise SO much more than that!! ;-)

And one more runner will be out there raising money to fight cancer as well. My friend and sorority sister, Amy Smith will be traveling from Chicago to Nashville to participate in a marathon to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in honor of Brandy. LLS has done so much to support Brandy in her fight. Amy has exceeded her goal of $3,400 and raised over $3800! RUN AMY RUN!!! We can't wait to hear all about it!

If you are able, please click on the links and donate to both of the teams fighting for those can't fight and honoring those who are and are not still with us.

Melinda

Observations of a six year old....

2008-04-09T17:57:00.000-06:00

Connor is so very happy that we have a blog. Even happier that one of his favorite bands "The Fray" is on our playlist! So he took these pictures of himself and begged me to post them. Here they are, at least there is nothing in his nose. Isn't my son talented?

From Connor: Hello everyone! I am a very good goofball. I love my Abby, we are both goofballs. My brother Chasey drools when I feed him. Me and my Dad pretend fight, where was I again? This is my family and these are my pictures. That is all I've got. Bye, Connor

There is light at the end of the winter!

2008-04-09T11:49:00.000-06:00

This past week fans looked up from their hot chocolate and realized baseball had begun again! And even though the 2007 NL Champs had a rough start, Connor was so happy and actually WATCHED a game, well most of it. Saturday he and Bill worked on his batting and throwing. Throwing, the child has no problem with. Probably all those hours spent in OT with his faithful therpist Kevin has really built up those little biceps! But batting is another story, he can't decide if he wants to bat left or right, Bill keeps trying to get him to bat right, but don't players get more batting left? What do I know....

And since I seem to have more trouble than most adding pictures from Picasa to our blog, I'll add more later. Is it only me that has trouble?? I seem to either forget how to do it or it really doesn't like me. But I am pregnant and blonde- double brain handicap!

I know this may end my marriage, but isn't this a cute picture?
Connor has soaked up baseball and is now working on his swing
CONTACT!
Would it really be a blog without these two?

Time off for good behavior

2008-04-08T22:01:00.005-06:00

Connor told us the other day that he is seeing "medium". Does anyone know what that means? I've heard of seeing in black and white, in living color, seeing one way and another, seeing red and seeing blue and seeing eye dogs, but I never have heard of seeing "medium".

Fatherhood. I wonder why God waited so long to see me to this point? Most likely, I wasn't ready to be a Dad in my younger years. Who knows? However, I've learned more about our Heavenly Father through my experiences with Connor. Especially, all the times I have to say, "no", or to correct him. I don't find pleasure in doing it, but I know it is for his benefit. The other part is teaching him about baseball (the patient discipline I need to show him how to hold a bat and what is involved in a batters stance for the hundredth time), Mostly though, it is the times of closeness. When he shadows my every move, whether it be crawling underneath a car with me or picking up the dog mess in the backyard. I call it "palin" around. Do you think God gets any joy when we want to pal around with Him? Duplicate what He does?

If Melinda didn't tell you I'm 95% Irish and 5% Theologian. I also started a side blog titled, The Importance of Theology and other ramblings from a closet theologian.

Anyway, I told Melinda that I didn't want to post anything on the blog, because I had a sense it belonged more to her. But, alas, she is my wife and since she gave me a funny look at what I said about it was "her blog", I figure now it is share and share alike.

I will try and not add my music to her play list though. (Well, may be I'll sneak some John Denver on it with Rocky Mountain High, I think its fitting).

Thank you Adam...

2008-04-07T21:25:00.002-06:00

So I added some tunes to our site, and I owe all to Adam. He is a semi-pro when it comes to blogs and I can only strive to be near his greatness. Calm down, calm down... don't you have a diaper to change with all of your time off?

I have only managed to add 2 songs as of now, but it's 9:30pm and I still have to put sheets back on our bed and Connor's. But there you go...... enjoy.

Melinda

Deep thoughts...

2008-04-05T11:17:00.003-06:00

I was just thinking about relationships and all the people that we encounter on a daily basis and what they do mean and maybe what you need to take the time to realize what they should mean.

We live in Highlands Ranch, just 20 minutes south of Denver, and my parents live about 10 minutes away and both brothers are close, geographically, and my sister is about 30 minutes north. But we're all here, for now. But I feel very cut off most of the time, my friends live everywhere it seems. I have friends that live close by, but most that played a huge part in who I have become live far away and sometimes it sucks. I was never good at saying goodbye the "right way" and I get so upset about being apart from people that I just leave and that is that.

And I don't stay in touch sometimes, because it just reminds me of what was and what will never be again. Sometimes you have no idea what amazing experience you are in and what fantastic people you are near, until it's over. Now don't get me wrong, I love my husband, my son and my dogs and I am thrilled about having a new daughter in a few months. But lately I have had a lot of things that seem to snap me back into all those people and places that can make me miss who I was.

We all grow-up, we all change, we all make HUGE mistakes and we all make great accomplishments, I just don't think we should be so quick to pat ourselves on the back and maybe take a second to turn around and see where it is we came from and who it was by our sides that got us there. I miss you guys.

That it's for now. See ya, Melinda

Easter and other things...

2008-03-26T13:35:00.005-06:00

Happy belated Easter! We have had a lot going on the past few weeks, some good, some very difficult. We had a nice Easter weekend, low key which is nice. Last Friday, Bill and I took Connor to see "Horton Hears A Who" which was SO good! He really loved it. Now he is always looking out for "talking specks". Saturday we dyed Easter eggs and Sunday he had an Easter Egg hunt, indoors of course due to the inch of snow that fell the night before- ahh spring in Colorado- it's 70 degrees today! Then that afternoon we went up to my Mom and Dad's for Easter Lunch. Both my brothers, Christopher and Dave were there along with Dave's fiancee, Kristen. And my sister, Emily and her husband Bryce and my nephew Declan and of course my Grandma as well. We had a great time, the boys played and played. We also celebrated my Dad's birthday with his ever favorite gift of Rockies season tickets! Then that evening after Connor begged us to let him go and play whatever "war" game his Uncles were playing on their XBox, we dragged up from the basement my old Nintendo (circa 1996) and he has spent the last 3 days perfecting Mario Cart.

Our difficult news came with the passing of Bill's older brother, Jim Howard. Bill and Jim were very close and Jim contributed greatly to the wonderful man I married. Jim had been battling colon cancer for several years. Bill had been planning to go out and visit on March 14th and his niece Amy called on the 12th to let him know that Jim would be in home hospice care that day. So he left for Chicago the next day and was there when Jim passed away on March 13th. Connor and I were not able to go, but Bill told us how much love filled the room as Jim's spirit passed on. I had only known him for 8 years, but he made a huge impact on my life and I know he was greatly loved by many, many people. We will miss our beloved Uncle Jimmy....

I had my 21 week ultrasound on Monday and they could see parts of the heart they couldn't see previously and we are still having a little girl and she is measuring perfectly. My c-section surgery has been scheduled for July 28th and 7:15am, which means we have to be there at 5:15am! Fortunately I am delivering at the hospital down the road from our home, Connor was delivered all the way downtown and this way I might let Bill go home and get some sleep in a real bed. We have decided on a name, Regan Jamie-Marie, Marie is my middle name and Bill's late brother was named James. It will be an incredible honor for our daughter to share his name.

And the last bit of news in this roller coaster blog is GREAT! My sister Emily is pregnant with her second child!!! She is 7 weeks so far and unlike with her son, could not wait to tell everyone. She and Bryce had almost the same fertility issues that we have had this second time around, so this is fabulous news for our whole family! I am not sure my Mother will know what to do with two grandchildren born 3 1/2 months apart. Of course it will be a little easier than Em & I getting married 2 months apart!

Hope your spring is as warm and happy!

Melinda, Bill, Connor & Regan-to-be

and of course Chase & Abby

Connor's 4th Tooth!

2008-03-12T11:29:00.000-06:00

Connor lost his fourth and first top tooth last night! Now he officially looks like an elementary school student. The tooth fairy is losing money on this kid. Probably because I have a "thing" with loose teeth. As a kid I literally pulled my teeth out as soon as they even had a hint of wiggling. Not because I wanted the cash, although it was nice, I just had to pull them! But fortunately Connor is wise to steer clear of me and my fingers. I do end up pulling them for him, but only when he is ready and only when they are hanging on by a thread!

I figure by the time the baby is born that I will have two kids with no teeth!

See ya,
Melinda

New Goal

2008-03-06T12:28:00.003-07:00

Ok, so here's my new goal inspired by Molly and Brandy who are so great about updating their blogs, I am going to update and add pictures on a regular basis. I love hearing about their lives and seeing pictures of their beautiful kids, so I figure maybe I'd better get to it.

I just heard from my OB, I had the quad screen blood tests done last week and got the results today. They were completely normal. The blood tests were to determine a chance of abnormalities in the baby. I think they can tell up to 80%, but I think this last ultrasound we had done by the high-risk office is the last test of these types. But I can never be sure.

So things are going along well. Except that the mechanic has had my Durango for 2 days after my brothers looked at it and NO ONE can seem to hear the very loud clanging noise I heard. So I guess as of now, there is nothing wrong, until of course I pick it up and drive it home, I give it a half mile before I hear it again.

Talk to you soon,
Melinda

IT'S A GIRL!!!!!

2008-03-03T16:23:00.003-07:00

Yep, we found out today that we are definitely having a girl! Since I have been having more ultrasounds that probably 10 women and since I am ALMOST of "advanced maternal age" we found out at 18 weeks that all my hunches (and everyone else's) were right!!!!

I have been seeing a high-risk OB due to my "almost" old age along with my regular OB and I went in today to have an ultrasound done so they could make sure SHE was doing ok. And she is! I am officially 18 weeks and 0 days and the baby is measuring along perfectly. All the anatomy looks good, although it took them a bit longer to see the mouth since she likes to hide and play games! Fortunately Bill was able to come with me, as was Connor since he was off from school today, which was so GREAT to have them both there when they told us. And I did know someone who was told she was having a girl and ended up having a boy, but both techs were positive and used the word "definitely" several times. Even though I was pretty sure it was a girl, I was still overjoyed when they told us!! SO GREAT!!!!

So now we will begin the task of ridding our basement and Connor's closet of 6 years worth of boy clothes! Seriously if anyone needs or wants some boy clothes from birth to 6 years- we've got them!! I did not throw anything away- yet! And since we are living in a house now instead of an apartment like when Connor was born, we get to paint our nursery!

It has been a WONDERFUL day! Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement!

Love to you all,
Melinda, Bill and Connor the BIG brother!

And so this was Christmas and New Years and....

2008-01-05T12:25:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know it has been awhile. I think I have been in the first trimester hibernation. For anyone that didn't actually know yet, we found out in late November that we are expecting our 2nd child due in late July/early August. It was a bit of a roller coaster, but we are very happy it is finally happening!

Our Christmas was low-key this year, which was nice from the usual packed December and lofty goals we set for ourselves. We took Connor to see Santa, got our tree and drove downtown to see the Christmas lights. All in all, it was a nice time. Connor, of course, was SO very excited and enthusiastic about EVERYTHING Christmas, it was infectious!

Every year he receives a visit from "The Elves" on Christmas Eve. The usually leave a gift on the front porch and run away without even saying hi. This year they left a Zoob Set, it is basically like plastic tinker toys that you can put together into any creation you want and then take apart and put away. We had a family dinner that night and then desperately tried to get Connor to actually sleep! Do anybody's kids sleep on Christmas Eve?? Then Christmas morning he surprised us- he slept until 8:30! Santa was in a Spidey mood this year, Connor found a "Spi-Dog" under the tree (it is basically a little speaker for an iPod that moves and lights up). After diving into the presents we all braved the Christmas snow we got and headed down to my parents house where we opened presents and hung out with the Cudneys. It was a great day, 8 inches of snow and freezing temps and all!

Connor with his gift from "The Elves" on Christmas Eve!
And on Christmas morning, with his new "Spi-Dog"..

a new book..
his SM3 DVD and gloves and hat!

New Year's Eve was completely uneventful, I have always wondered what the attraction with New Year's Eve was, I am not a resolution setter myself, but Connor thought it was amazing. Though none of us made it to midnight!

On the 2nd Connor lost his second tooth and almost caught Billy leaving the Tooth Fairy coins under his pillow! But he fell back asleep and awoke to some cash in the morning! He started back to school on the 3rd, a bit of a short break, but I think we'll be glad when he is out of school on May 25th!

I went to my first prenatal visit on the 3rd as well. I waited too long to call and schedule the appointment so I had to drive downtown to their main office and I had to see a doc I had never met- she was all of 12- maybe. But she was very nice as she explained to me that I border on being of "advanced maternal age", because I may or may not be 35 when this baby is born. I am due on August 5th and my birthday is August 1st. But since I had a c-section with Connor I am electing to have another one with this child, so I should be able to deliver around July 29th- we'll see. So now we have to decide whether or not to have an amnio. I am not completely thrilled with having someone stick a GIANT needle into my uterus, but I would rather be prepared in case something is not going as planned.

And just to answer your question now, YES we will be finding out the gender at 20 weeks. I know I am the last woman on earth who does, but I am a planner and I need to be prepared. I know most people want to be surprised, but aren't you surprised either way?? But other than being the old woman in the shoe, I am doing well. The morning sickness had subsided and I am venturing out again.

That's it for now! Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Years, we'll talk to you soon!

Melinda

Thanksgiving 2007

2007-11-23T11:09:00.000-07:00

Connor dutifully peeling sweet potatoes!

Connor and his pumpkin pie!
After the sweet potatoes were boiled and mashed..
Yes, this is actually a picture of ME and Connor!

So we made it to Thanksgiving and I had planned to make a few things for our traditional dinner at Mom and Dad's. But for some reason at 3:30pm on Wednesday Connor and I decided to go back the store and get the ingredients for pumpkin pie- now I have NEVER made a pumpkin pie so we first logged onto Cooking Light's website (lots of great ideas by the way) and I found an easy recipe. And off we dashed to the store! I had to circle the parking lot twice before finding a spot and thankfully we only had a few things to buy because it was packed cart to cart in the store.

Back home, Connor peeled the sweet potatoes, I chopped and we made a sweet potato casserole for Billy. Then we started on the pie, Connor is such a good helper, he added the eggs and mix the pumpkin in and even "fluted" the edges of the pie dough! It turned out perfect! We also managed to throw together a spinach artichoke dip as well.

Thanksgiving was fun at Mom and Dad's, my whole family was there as well as my future sister-in-law Kristen- she is going to fit in perfectly with our family! Connor and his cousin, Declan played ALL over the house and had a wonderful time.

And I know some of you (Molly) will be happy to see the picture of Connor and me, since I never take pictures these days.... hopefully we'll get another one for Christmas- but don't push it!! ;-)

It is freezing here and it is actually snowing, great way to begin the holiday season!

See ya,

~Melinda

Connor did it!!

2007-11-19T13:16:00.000-07:00

Some of you know the fiasco we went through last May when we took Connor (in his Spidey suit) to see Spiderman 3, if not here's the story. SM3 came out in early May and since Connor is OBSESSED with Peter Parker and all things SM, the Easter Bunny brought him a gift certificate to the movies to take Mom & Dad to see SM3. We got to the theater, Connor happily gave his giftcard to the ticket person and we bought our popcorn and headed to the theater. Just inside the theater a look of fear that I have NEVER seen on his face came over him and he screamed he could not see it! Well, never getting to the movies these days I was thrilled to be going, so I was upset that it was not to be. Connor kept saying over and over that he couldn't see it and he would not tell us why. So we tossed the popcorn, got a refund and drove home. Later that day we finally managed to get the whole story out, he was terrified of venom and mostly of the thought of SM turning "dark and bad". At that point we felt horrible, here was our son, so completely enamoured with SM and his true goodness, the very essence that makes him a superhero. Connor couldn't comprehend that his hero would do anything bad.

Later that summer he asked if he could see the movie, I said no- who wanted to go through all that again? I knew he would never change his mind about who SM really is. So he and I looked up SM3 on Netflix and added it to our queue and would wait for it's DVD release. Every week he would ask me when it would be out and we would check. Then in September we found out that it would be released on Oct 30. So we waited. Of course when it was released we had to wait to receive it. We finally got it in the mail last week. Bill and I thought we would surprise Connor on Saturday and pop it in and see if he recognized the music, he did. He slowly came out of my office into the family room and saw that it was on! He then asked if we would turn it down because he didn't want to see it! I turned it down and Bill and I decided to watch it anyway, well Connor finally crept out of the office and sat next to Bill and watched the whole thing. When it was done he declared that it was his favorite movie EVER! AMAZING!!!

He has since watched it 2 more times and now has an entire new line of stories to act out with his dozens of SM dolls, action figures and legos. He has taken an afghan my Grandmother gave us before our wedding and it has become the "goo" that drips onto Peter and later Peter has to gloriously rip off when he realizes he is not meant to have that much power. At the end of course, he wins realizes he is meant to be a superhero and he wins back the fair MJ. But the best part of the movie was watching the pure joy on my son's face when he saw his hero turn back to what he truly knows in his heart, goodness. And that is what Peter and Connor will always know.

Sorry if you actually haven't seen the movie and if I ruined it for you. But I had to share this story, heroes are heroes and I am glad my son knows that it isn't about being bad and gunning down people because you can, but because you always have a choice about who you will be or become and at least for now, my sweet-hearted boy will choose to be good.

My last thought, I have had a difficult fall, moods have been all over the place and have been through a lot of things. But as we approach Thanksgiving I would like you all to know how grateful I am for you all. Whether I show it or not- it helps having all my friends and family there and knowing you care.

Happy thanksgiving and enjoy that triptophan induced sleep we will all be getting this Thursday!

~Melinda

Use to be...

2007-11-11T07:11:00.001-07:00

I (Billy-Bob) ran into a friend from Jupiter Florida on the train coming home from work the other day. One of those rare divine appointments I call them. I had not seen him since he got married four years ago. There are a few of us here, that moved from Florida to Denver about 8 years ago, all for different reasons. Anyway, it brought back some memories of use to be and sights like this one, that I thought I would share as many of you are heading into the winter season. Close your eyes and picture it, the sights, the sounds, the smells of the warm tropical breeze, salt air, the waves crashing on the beach, sand, pelicans flying in formation, ah yes!

2007-11-10T19:41:00.000-07:00

Little Spidey and his new friend!

Connor and Spidey perfoming for a sold-out crowd!

Apparently Abby is more loyal to Spidey than Chase...

Guess what? We have a new addition!

2007-11-10T19:12:00.000-07:00

Ok, so he came in a box, from England. And only Connor really wanted him. Yes, we now have a singing Spiderman thanks to Connor's (former) Aunt Tami.... Funny story actually, Thursday Connor had stayed home from school, nothing serious, just his monthly fever. He normally spends time trolling the internet for anything Spiderman and has his own folder where he has the Hasbro site bookmarked. That day he brought us into the office to show us this GREAT toy he wanted, a singing Spiderman! And of course we saw all that it did (you know how LOUD and ANNOYING it was) and did the whole "well we'll have to see what Santa says", the line every parent leans on to get out of buying anything in the 2-3 months prior to Christmas.

So Friday we get a knock at the door from the UPS man (or woman) and there was a box for Connor, a belated birthday from his (former) Aunt Tami and her clan in the UK. Connor of course was elated and I though it was quite cute the first time through the 3 songs it sings. However now, Spidey comes with and tends to sing unwantedly. The one cool thing about it is that it came with a microphone for Connor, not a real one, just the kind you sing into and the sound echoes out. Very cool for trying to relive your '80's hair band days or getting the dogs to sit.

At about 8:30 Friday night in the middle of little Spidey's rendition or "Heads, Shoulder, Knees and Webs", Bill asked what Tami's phone number was. Since it was 3am in Doncaster, I thought maybe it would be a little mean to call and wake her up, he didn't. But I managed to persuade him from calling her at that point. All we have to say to Tami and Graham, "payback is coming", oh yes it is.....

See ya on the flip side, Melinda & Billy

Note his steely blue eyes and the perfect hair curl..

2007-11-01T12:18:00.000-06:00

Superman!!!

2007-11-01T12:14:00.000-06:00

Connor and his jack-o-lanterns!

2007-11-01T12:13:00.000-06:00

Halloween 2007

2007-11-01T11:54:00.000-06:00

Well, this was supposed to be my big pictorial debut....not gonna happen. Hopefully most you saw our pictures from most of Halloween in the email I sent. But here are just a few of one of your favorite superheroes.....SUPERMAN! And yes he was superman last year, but after the whole Spiderman 3 movie fiasco back in May, we went with something safer. Although in Target this morning he asked if he could get the "dark spiderman" suit, so who knows. Oh and last night as I was explaining to him that Netflix had a short wait before "SP3" would come to us in the mail, he corrected me on what the difference between his Superman costume was and what his Spiderman "suit" is. Apparently you wear a suit when you are actually becoming that superhero and his Superman costume was just something to wear on Halloween- only his very tired and tattered Spiderman costume is the real deal. He'll even wear a jacket over it, so he can rip it off and spring into action whenever his spidey sense picks up a need.

Connor and Bill went on their longest trick or treating trek yet this year, making it all the way around our very long block. It's was actually 40 degrees- I know that may seem cold- but usually it's about 30 and snowing, so this year was a success.

And also you can post comments on the blog if you'd like, they will be emailed to me so I can respond- you just have to register yourself as a user. I think most of you are familiar with blogs (ahem, Mother...) but just in case. Right now I am in serious amateur mode, so hopefully it will improve!

~Melinda

In the beginning....

2007-10-30T20:18:00.000-06:00

So here's our space on the web! I have to admit, the idea wasn't completely mine. One of my best friends, Brandy, who just received her stem cell transplant after her second go-round with Hodgkin's Lymphoma, has had a blog for some time. I have LOVED being able to access it and see from Denver what is going on in Houston. So I thought I'd give it a try. Not that we are SO exciting that you will want to check in daily, but since we live far from many family members and good friends that we care for and miss often, it's a good way to see what is happening out here in the "thin air". And since I never actually did become Diane Sawyer or Cokie Roberts, it'll give me a chance to flex my writing skills!

Currently life in the Howard household is calm. Unless your name is Connor and you are in love with life! Just to recap, I am a full-time Mom to my sweet boy and also a part-time insurance agent working with my Dad and older brother Chris. I also sell Mary Kay Cosmetics as well. Bill is a Vice-President of Bamking at Northern Trust Bank and must travel MANY miles each day from our home to downtown Denver. Connor is now 6 years old and in kindergarten, he is doing VERY well and loves his classmates very much! We also have our two pups, Chase my Aussie, is 9 and Abby is Connor's lab mix and is 3. We live in Highlands Ranch, Colorado, a suburb south of Denver. Yes, I am just a few short blocks from the high school I desperately ran from when I was done- funny how life works out, huh?

We will share pictures of our life and also update you on the ever exciting details...stay tuned!