A picture post.

My Sweet little Grand-Niece, now known as SLGN. Such a sweet little baby face!

Here is My Mom and SLGN.

SLGN looks kind of shocked in this one. I love it!

My Cute Little Grand-Nephew, now known as CLGN, on his third birthday. He finally agreed to allow me to take his picture. Until then he just ran away or hid his face.

The Boy and CLGN eating Pizza at the Birthday Party.



Mark's Guide Dog, Cooper, getting in the spirit of the Birthday Bash.

Mark and his Granddaughter, SLGN, looking so sweet together.

My Sister-in-law, known as Ellie to Mark's grandchildren and Aunt Ellie to The Boy and Cody's kids, holding a sleeping SLGN. This was such a beautiful scene I had to get a picture of it. My photo doesn't show them even half as beautiful as they were in real life.

SLGN sitting with the help of her Daddy. Things were so busy around us I'm lucky I got one of her looking at me!

An other of a very beautiful little girl. Yes her hair is red right now, I hope it stays red but will probably go blond for a while during her childhood.

I've been away for awhile.

I've been up at my Mom's house since ... evening of the 18th. I helped her do some more canning, we did tomatoes, beets, carrots and green beans. It was nice being up there again. Aidan love being with his Grammy and Grandaddy. He just figured out he has to share them with some other kids, and adults too. But I don't know if he knows just how many people share them. LOL

It was time to come home though. Aidan needed to have his things and his space. He was starting to push things and act out to see how far he could go. So it was time to get him back into familiar territory and get him back into his normal routines and stuff.

Besides my Mom got the flu or something and wasn't feeling well the last couple of days. My Dad's vision is getting pretty bad these days, but he was still able to bring us home. He is getting glasses that should help some, but won't make his vision "normal".

It's so nice to be back home. I love visiting my parents, don't get me wrong. I just like being home too. I don't sleep as well when I'm not home, plus I had Aidan in the bed with me. Sleeping with a 4 year old is interesting to say the least. He moves around a lot, and kicks throws his arms around and even talks in his sleep. He also had his first ever accident and wet the bed. We were upstairs rather than in the RV this time, because there were people who were going to come look at it with the possibility that they would buy it. So anyway he couldn't get to the bathroom and didn't wake me up. Not a big deal, I guess, the mattress has a water resistant cover, and it wasn't a big accident. I cleaned it as well as I could and Mom will spray it with Fabreese or something to help if it smells. I might have to put him in a over night pull up next time we are up there. Anyway, It will be nice to sleep in my own bed, and eat the food we want to eat, and do the chores I need or want to do.

I have some new pictures, I'll get around to posting some of them soon. I have some of the new little girl in our family, but I want to ask her Mom before I post them. I have good ones of Mom's cats, and even Pepper, her dog. I'll post more soon I promise.

Happy Birthday Mark!

Today is my baby brothers birthday. He turned 39 today. It's interesting to think of what I remember of his life, I'm almost 9 years older than he is. He was a cute little blonde boy, sweet and very smart. I taught him how to play chess when he was about 4 or 5 and I quit playing about a year later when he started to beat me on a regular basis. (I stopped letting him win sometimes a couple of months after he started to play.) We used to sing at Christmas, Mark and I. I remember singing "Do you hear what I hear" several times. I'm not sure if my voice was any good or not, but Mark was pretty good.

Mark has a fantastic memory for details. I don't think it's a photographic memory, but it's pretty close. If I ever get on one of those shows where you can call someone to help you answer a question Mark will be my first choice.

We seem to be interested in many of the same things, and we both like to discuss things (sometimes with a bit of heat). If I weren't Mark's sister, and we had the opportunity to meet, I think we would have been great friends. I have always enjoyed his company.

Mark, if you are reading this, I want you to know that I'm very happy that you are my brother, and I hope you think of me as a friend as well because I think of you that way. I'm very pleased that you found a woman that helps you be happy, someone who you can talk to and you don't have to worry about her understanding "Flower Beds". (Inside joke, sorry.) I hope your day is a good one, although you are probably working today. You deserve to have a Happy Birthday.

I love you little brother!

Happy Birthday Allen!

Today my sweet little curly haired, blue eyed boy turned 25! I can't believe he's already 25. I remember his blonde curls and beautiful blue eyes looking up at me full of love. I remember hugs and kisses with grubby little hands because he had been playing and just needed some Mommy love. I used to tell him my Allen love tank was getting empty and needed a refill. That would always get me some more hugs and kisses, specially strong ones to last a while.

Now he is 25. His hair is in dreads not curls, but his eyes still look at me with love. (When I get a chance to see them that is.) He is living on the other side of the country from me right now, all grown up with a life of his own. He is getting ready to got to Angola soon to work with street kids there. I'm proud of my boy, I just wish he would have found something that inspired him closer to home.

I know that he doesn't read this blog, but I still wanted to tell him that I love him.

My dear sweet Allen,

Today you are 25 years old. The years have flowed past so quickly, you've grown up. I miss you every day. I love you always. I'm so proud of you for following your conscious and doing what you think is right. I wish I could hold you, give you some hugs and kisses, and tell you that I love you more today than I did yesterday, but not as much as I'll love you tomorrow.

Have a wonderful day.

Love Mom

I'm lucky to have the family and friends I do.

I've noticed a lot of discussion lately about two subjects that are rather important to me, Breastfeeding and Adoption. Maybe I was just lucky when I was born into my family, but neither of these subjects has ever been an issue. My friends have never been anything but supportive. Even 28 years ago, when I was breastfeeding Christopher, I never ran into anyone who told me to cover up, or that I shouldn't do that in public. Of course I wasn't out in public all that often, but if my baby needed to eat and we were out, I nursed him. Maybe I was more comfortable, or my clothing fit looser, or something because I don't think anyone noticed when I'd sit somewhere quiet and nurse. When it was cold out I might cover up with a blanket, but not in the heat. Christopher was born in May, I nursed him for just over a year, so we had our fair share of warm weather. I don't remember being worried about offending other people, or looking for someplace to nurse where others wouldn't see me, but maybe I did at least subconsciously. I know that I nursed in front of family members because I can remember talking to my little cousin and telling her what I was doing. Well actually she asked me "What is he doing?" LOL

I never ran into the over zealous breastfeeding women after The Boy came along. Since I didn't give birth to him and didn't know that I could do something to start lactation, I had to feed him formula. I've heard of women who have been actually yelled at for giving their babies bottles. Again I was lucky because I never ran into any of them. I can see both sides of this issue, because I've been there. It is better for a baby to be breastfed if at all possible, however it isn't condemning a child to ill health if for some reason the Mother can't breastfeed. Some people will say that using formula is the lazy way, but for me it would have been easier to breastfeed, I hated getting up in the middle of the night to make a bottle. Picking him up, he slept right next to me in a bassinet, and latching him on would have been so much more relaxing. Some Mom's don't have it that easy, I realise that, and I really respect their decision to continue nursing even through the pain and other problems.

I've also read discussions recently about adoption. That people still feel that it should be kept secret, that there is some shame in it somehow. Again, I've been lucky. My family and friends are all very supportive of adoption. No one seems to feel that adopted children are second best, or that they aren't "really" part of the family. I know that I love The Boy as much as I love Christopher and Allen. I love them each differently, of course, because they are all very different people. But I do love them all just as much as I love the others. I love all 5 of my brother Cody's kids, and think of them as family. Some of them are adopted, but that doesn't matter to me, or to the rest of our family.

So, I've been lucky. I haven't had to face the people who would try to shame me for my decisions. I haven't had to defend my choices or describe the circumstances that led to our situation. I am very grateful for that. I am also very grateful for my family and friends who have always been supportive of me. (Even though I didn't know some of my friends today back when Christopher and Allen were babies, the friends I had then were supportive and the friends I have now are supportive. Thanks you guys!)