Shopping For Mommy's Birthday.....Avery and I took Melissa out shopping for her birthday this past weekend. It seems like Avery always comes out of the mall with more than anyone of us. Melissa didn't find a bathing suit but Avery found a few things! The picture above shows her with my debit card which she should probably keep since she's the one who benefits most from it these days! It was a very long day for all of us but Avery was once again the lucky one and had a place to sleep while we continued to wear ourselves out shopping for the rest of the day. Here she is with her new friend Big Bird!
Happy 27th Birthday to Melissa! GOD, I'm feeling old!!

We are all eagerly awaiting referral news soon!!!!

Happy May!

I think that May is going to bring exiting changes for our family. I'm obviously hoping for a referral for Dan and Tiff any day now, which will change our lives forever. I'm anxious to get that call from them and hope that I can keep it together when they call because I've also accepted a new job and don't want to make a fool of myself if I'm at work when the call comes. I'm going back to work for the company that I used to work for before I left Maine. The job will be somewhat similiar and the pay is much better. It's not really about the pay though....I guess the decision was made mostly because it's time for me to be challenged again. I've kind of been coasting along for quite some time now in my current job and although I love the place and the people that I work with, I felt like I was wasting my knowledge and an opportunity to continue my career and not just have a job that got me by. I'm pretty excited to get back into the swing of things. My first day is on May 12th. I'm sad to be leaving the people that I work with but I am looking forward to the challenges of a new job.


Since I had some vacation time left over, I'm taking advantage of being able to spend some time with one of the greatest loves of my life......Avery Grace. I never get tired of her and wish that I could spend every day with her. She is such a joy to be around.

Ignorance

There was recently a great story in an online newspaper in Connecticut about Ethiopian adoptions: www.courant.com/news/local/hc-ethiopia0422.artapr22,0,7186106.story
This story was trying put a positive message out into the world about adopting and some of the processes people go through. It also follows adoptions through the agency that Dan and Tiff are using and shows what a great job they do with families who want to adopt from Ethiopia or other countries. At the end of this story, there was a link to click so that people could make comments on the story. It was absolutely mind blowing that there are such ignorant people who are still out there in today's society. Some comments were extremely racial and then there were other comments that questioned adopting outside of this country. I was going to post some of the really crude comments on my blog site so that you could all see how ignorant people can be. I cannot get to the comments section of the story now because the newspaper's website actually decided to shut down the comments section for this story because of the racial and extremely negative comments. One of the things that struck me was the fact that some of these people acted like anyone who adopts outside of our country were on different teams: The "United States team" vs. "Any Other Country "team. What about Team "This Whole World"? Why do people think that families who live in the U.S. should only adopt children who are also from the U.S.? Do they realize that it is much more difficult and not to mention waaaayyyy more expensive? It's a much longer wait in most cases too. The obvious thing about the comments that really was irritating are the people out there who are obviously racists. These are the people who are still making it difficult and continuing to add fuel to the fire for people who have a different color skin than they do. This is in part, what is wrong with today's society. WAKE UP..............it's only skin color. Don't label people because of their skin color. White racist's are the people who give all white people a bad name. Some people with a different skin color are the people who give all people with different skin color a bad name.

I know that my grandchildren are and will be very loved by Danny and I. We are so eager for Dan and Tiff to become parents. Most of you already know what fantastic parents they are going to be and that some baby is going to be VERY lucky to have these two as his/her parents. I'm sure that there are people out there who have differing opinions on Dan and Tiff's choice too. This has been an eye opening experience for our family and we are still in the process of learning and will continue to see things in a different light in the coming months. This is a life lesson that I'm happy to have had the chance to experience. I will leave this earth a different person because of it.

Despite the shorter wait times, this process has been long and very hard. We are very grateful for every one's continued encouragement and support. We are now in the home stretch and the wait seems even tougher.

Enough ranting......on to happier things! I hope that my next blog will have referral news on it!

Finally!!

The snow has finally disappeared from our yard and pool area. I know that this is not the case for some of you who read my blog but look on the bright side.....spring is here and hopefully we won't get ANY MORE snow! Danny and I have finally moved into our HUGE new bedroom. I love it! We've got a little work to do on the organization of the main floor upstairs but overall, things look much better. We are as busy as ever lately. Danny with work of course and me with...................well.........................a little of everything. We're looking forward to the warmer weather and getting outside.

Melissa and Gavin have been taking some walks with Avery and she loves to be outside. They have signed her up for swimming lessons that will begin in a couple of weeks. She loves the water so I'm sure she'll do well. It will prepare her for the many hours that we'll spend in the pool this summer. She already has 4 bathing suits so she'll certainly always have a dry one! Her personality is changing pretty quickly these days. She definately prefers to be with her mother and let's you know it. We have conversations on the phone which either consist of Avery babbling to me for several minutes or her being completely silent while Nana makes a complete fool of herself by singing loudly into the phone for her. She is getting to be so much fun and I'm sure the best is yet to come.

Dan and Tiffany (and the rest of us!) are very anxiously waiting for a referral for Marin/Bennett these days. As Dan and Tiffany get closer and closer to the top of the waiting list, it seems like time is d-r-a-g-g-i-n-g! I'm looking forward to just finding out if we have a Marin or a Bennett. It doesn't matter to me either way but I've got shopping to do!! This child will need everything so on top of giving them a shower, there will be lots of preparation for this child who we already love so much!! We cannot wait to meet him/her.

We have lots of things coming up. There are baby showers, birthdays, a college graduation, a shower to plan for Dan and Tiff, a 70th surprise birthday party for my father and a trip to New York in the fall with my Tuesday night card crew (and my best friend Deidre!). Dave, Danny, Deidre and I have also discussed a vacation next winter in a warm and sunny tropical place. As you can see, life is never dull. I stay busier than ever!

I've been messing around with different blog layouts lately and after feeling like I finally conquered making them, have decided that I don't have the time and what does it really matter anyway....does anyone really care what my layout looks like?

Possible new things on the horizon for me.........stay tuned!

Time Flies???

Avery turned 5 months old on the 26th of February. It seems like time is flying much more quickly since she has been born. She has lost most of her hair and new lighter hair is coming in. The jury is still out on whether or not she'll be light brown or blonde. Maybe blonde like her Nana! She is a very happy baby who is smiling all of the time now. I talk to her several times a week now on the phone and sing Patty Cake to her and listen to her babble into the phone. She stays attentive for quite a while before trying to play with the buttons on the phone. Here is the latest picture of her taken this past Saturday. It's hard to describe how much I love her!!!

Now, when I say that time seems to be flying by, I mean that only in terms of Avery getting older. Time is not flying by for Dan and Tiffany it seems. When they say that waiting is the hardest part, it's true. Between the long snowy winter that we've had and the fact that the adoption list hasn't moved a whole heck of a lot as of late, they are finding the wait to be extremely hard for them. They are trying to keep themselves busy with various projects and continuing to get more involved with other adoptive families. They have met other families who have either adopted from Ethiopia also and some of those who are also in the waiting stages. I too am having a hard time waiting so I cannot imagine what it's like for them at this point but before we know it, we will have Marin/Bennett here and we'll look back at this and possibly think that the waiting wasn't as bad as we all thought. Right now I can't imagine thinking that way but I guess it's kind of like childbirth.........you tend to forget how bad the pain was after you've got a baby and a little time goes by. Right now though......time is crawling!

Last Sunday we had another family gathering with my kids and Avery, Lisa, Felipe, Sofia, Tia and Jaeden. My mother and aunt Donna also made a surprise guest appearance. For those of you who know my mother, you'll know that this was truly a surprise for us. Here is the latest picture of Sofia. She has grown like a weed and is a wild woman! You know what they say about payback Lisa........

Mr. Jaeden made his first appearance at our gathering. He is such a good baby! Tia really lucked out with him. He's very quiet and at this point is only sleeping, eating, peeing and pooping. Enjoy it while you can Tia! As you can see from the picture below, he hasn't lost an ounce of hair! The fun part right now is trying out different hair styles!

Our bedroom project is almost finished!!! Yahoo!!! The carpet is being installed next week and we'll be moving down there as soon as that is finished. Danny and I went out to get all of the closet racks this weekend and Danny is doing the final painting as I type this. It will be an early spring cleaning for us! It is what I am most looking forward to in the coming weeks...........except the adoption waiting list moving!!

Our New Nephew Has Arrived!!

Jaeden Keith Guerierro has arrived! Tia had a planned C-section and as most of you can probably see, there was no way she was going to push this guy out! He weighed in at 10 lbs. 14 oz and is 21 inches long! He has more hair than I've EVER seen on a baby! This picture doesn't really show just how thick his hair is. He is soooo cute! Congratulations Tia!! Love you!! Here are a few more pictures that I took today:

Size 1 Pampers already!!

Sumo Wrestler

Mommy & Jaeden

The Proud Grandpa

First Blog of 2008!

It seems like it's been forever since I've written a blog. Well, I guess it's been two months actually! The last two months have been extremely busy for us. We have started remodeling our basement. It will eventually become our master bedroom. The closet alone is almost as big as our current bedroom. I'm really looking forward to finally having some space for all of Danny's....umm I mean our clothes! We'll have a seperate sitting area where we can fit two recliners and a television too. This will certainly help to de-clutter my house. It's been a really big adjustment for me (who cleans the house) to go from more room than we needed to not enough room. This will certainly make a huge difference for us. It will make me not want to move ever again! That's big for us, believe me.

Christmas was awesome this year. It was fun to have the babies to buy gifts for. I admit that I went a little (okay a lot) overboard buying things for Avery but hey, I've been waiting to be a grandmother for a long time. Remember I was a mother at an early age so I've waited as long as many other women who are eager to be grandmothers! Next year will be even better. Not only will Avery and Sofia be older but Dan and Tiffany will have their baby too! I'm very happy to know that this past Christmas will be their last one without a child.

Speaking of which....we are counting down to the homecoming of a new grandchild these days. We are hoping that by the end of the summer, Dan and Tiffany will be home with Marin/Bennett. This is what we are all calling their baby until we find out if it's a boy or a girl. It will be Marin for a girl and Bennett for a boy. The middle name will be the baby's Ethiopian given name. For now it's Marin/Bennett to all of us. It's odd for me to think about the fact that he/she is already born and just not with us yet. I'm sure this is proving to be much more difficult for Dan and Tiffany though. He/she will be here before we know it. This is the first part of the "harder" waiting. The second part will be when they get their referral and have to wait a couple of months before they can travel to Ethiopia to bring the baby home. We'll have to keep them busy with getting ready for him/her and hope that time goes by quickly. Meanwhile they are preparing by getting all of the necessary vaccinations needed. Visit their blog for a peek!

Danny and I spent a few days in Florida last week visiting his parents. We spent some time at Siesta Key beach which is one of the most beautiful beaches I've ever seen. The sand was like white powder. We also got to finally meet Roy's fiance, Kathy. They took us out sight seeing for the day. We saw some really amazing homes on the coast and went to a few shopping areas. That evening, we went to dinner and saw a really funny comedy show with them. We had a very nice visit and was able to enjoy some warm weather as well. It was a break that we both needed.

Miss Avery Grace is growing like a weed! She is doing all kinds of new things and is such a happy girl! Melissa has gotten her to laugh out loud a few times. It is sooo cute! She is also doing raspberries. Melissa and I have already gotten her a new bathing suit for the pool this summer. I'm looking forward to spending time in the pool with her this year.

Avery was baptized this past Sunday. She wore a gown that has been in Gavin's family for 40 years. She looked so cute! We all agreed that she was the cutest baby in the church!

On Saturday, Deidre and Dave's (who happen to be our best friends)daughter Nicole married her fiance Dan. They are expecting a baby boy in July. The wedding was very nice. Deidre put a lot of thought and hard work into all of the preparations in just a few months. She did a fantastic job! They both looked awesome and everyone had a really good time. I'm very excited for Deidre to become a grandmother. It seems like she's wanted to be a grandmother for as long as I have. It will be great to finally have someone to shop for baby clothes with!

I'm looking forward to another Cousinfest this Sunday. It's been a while since we've all gotten together. It will be nice to see everyone again.

All of the things that we've been doing have made the winter bearable for us this year. We are never without something to do! Hopefully staying busy this winter will allow us to relax more this summer!

OurYear in Review

This year has proven to be an exciting but challenging one for our family. It has been a year since we’ve moved into our house and we are so happy to be back in Maine and reconnecting with our family and many of our friends. It has been an adjustment for me especially to go from 3 years of not having a lot of people around me, working from home, cooking dinner every night (because I had time!) and having the time to do whatever I wanted to do for the most part. I am now working outside of the home (and loving it), I have daily contact with my kids and close family and of course time for my new granddaughter, Avery. In between all of that, we have continued to improve minor things around the house and help the kids with various projects at their houses. We are going to be going to Florida in late January to visit with Danny's parents. It will be nice to have a little down time and spend some time together. One of our favorite things to do in the summer is walk on the beach so hopefully we'll get an opportunity to do that while we're in Florida. We don't get too much time for just us lately. It seems like we had so much time to spend alone together before we moved back to Maine, that we've forgotten a little bit about us. We are planning a big project in the house next year. I've decided that my bedroom is just too small and I'm too spoiled to deal with it anymore. Danny came up with a great plan to complete the basement downstairs (which is 1/2 done already) and move our bedroom down there. It will be a HUGE master bedroom and we'll expand the bathroom down there too. Danny has adjusted well to life outside of cable (thank GOD!!) and stays busy with his job at IDEXX. Our favorite thing to do is hang out with our family. We are thankful to have such a busy and rewarding life and are blessed that our family remains close.

Dan and Tiffany are doing very well these days. For those of you who haven’t seen their blog lately, things are moving along smoothly. They have finally received the “You are officially waiting” message from the adoption agency. It’s hard for people to imagine what goes into the adoption process. The red tape seems endless! They are truly in love with Ethiopia and they could not imagine getting their baby from anywhere else at this point. They belong to a Yahoo group for people adopting from Ethiopia using the same agency. They have learned a lot of valuable information from this group. They’ve attended some adoptive parenting classes this past fall and have also learned a lot from that.
Dan and Tiffany are looking forward to putting the baby’s room together over the next several months. Since they don’t know if the baby will be a boy or a girl, it might be a little hard but I’m sure they’ll find a way to make it work. They are going to make awesome parents! I cannot wait to see them walk through the airport with my grandchild in their arms. I’m sure it will be a very emotional time for all of us. The wait time for a referral is 1-6 months. Most likely we are looking at late summer though so by this time next year, I will be flooding this site and your emails with pictures of both of my grandchildren!
It helps to know that we have a lot emotional support from our families and friends during this process.

Melissa and Gavin are doing very well. They have fallen into their new parenting roles with ease. Melissa was lucky enough to take more than 3 months off to be with Avery. She will be going back to work at the beginning of the year. Gavin’s sister Gretchen will be watching Avery for 3 days during the week. Gavin’s schedule will allow him to be home with her for a couple of days during the week. He does a great job with Avery and I’m sure as she gets older, she’ll get to do lots of things with her Daddy when they are together during the week. Melissa is dreading going back to work because as all mothers know, leaving your baby to go back to work is very hard emotionally. They are lucky enough to have a family member be able to watch her so Melissa and Gavin are thankful for that. Okay….now on to our lovely little granddaughter Avery Grace: There is truly not one person or thing on this earth that could have prepared us for the way we feel about her. She has brought a new light into our lives and has changed my outlook on everything. We feel so blessed to have her in our lives. She is my first thought when I wake up in the morning. I think that having our kids so young was a good thing overall but we didn’t have time to enjoy them as much as we would have liked because we were struggling to be a responsible mother and father at such a young age. Now that we are older, we are able to re-live all that we missed in a sense. She is truly a joy to both of us. I love her when she’s screaming and laugh at her when she is mad and straightening her whole body out because she doesn’t want to be burped. I think only a grandmother could laugh though. It amazes me that she has already formed such a distinct personality. We cannot get enough of her and look forward to watching her grow in the coming months (but not too fast!).

We all feel that this year has been a year of milestones for our whole family. It’s nice to have the love and support of so many people. It helps to keep us grounded and appreciative. Although things are never perfect in our lives, the good far out weighs the bad. We are truly lucky to have had such an awesome year!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

We had a pretty quiet day today. We ate at my mother's house and then went to Melissa and Gavin's house to visit. They had Gavin's family over for dinner. It was a long day and I'm glad that it's over. I'm very exited to roll into the Christmas season now! Deidre and I will be out early on Black Friday with all of the other nuts out there. We both love being caught up in the madness! Let the shopping begin!

Does life get any better than this? This will probably always be my favorite picture of Avery!

Long Overdue Blog!

I finally figured out that today makes 6 weeks since I've done a blog! It just so happens that my darling granddaughter Avery is 6 weeks old today....hint hint. I have been enjoying being a grandmother and cannot imagine my life without her. Melissa and Gavin are great parents and are very much at ease with her. Her first two weeks were pretty quiet. She slept a lot. She has since gotten a little feisty here and there but is still a really good baby in my opinion. I am completely in love with her and on the days that I don't see her, I miss her so much. I can't imagine what I'll do when Melissa goes back to work and I don't see her as much as I do right now. I had the opportunity to babysit for a few hours this past Saturday night while Melissa and Gavin went out to dinner. I told Melissa that I wouldn't babysit unless they went out for at least three hours. Melissa was a little sad leaving her but I'm glad that they got out to relax for a bit. Dan and Tiffany were over to visit that night also. As you can see from the picture below, Tiff was not happy that she wasn't feeding the baby. They make the best auntie and uncle and I'm sure they'll be Avery's favorites!
On the adoption front....
Dan and Tiffany have FINALLY finished all of the necessary documents for the adoption. They are going to be fingerprinted next week and then hopefully by the end of the month, they will be officially waiting for their baby. The wait will be a long one and will require a lot of patience on everyone's part but we all know that it will be worth it. The waiting has proven to be pretty tough so far and the wait could be up to 18 months so keeping busy is a must at this point! Dan, Tiffany and I are all part of a yahoo group for people who are adopting from Ethiopia through the adoption agency that they are using. It's pretty interesting and you can find out lots of information, sometimes good and sometimes not so good but we all look at it daily at least once and check out all of the posts from the other members of the group. They are also now receiving updates from the adoption agency which tells them how many kids have been placed and how long people have waited and when the travel dates are for the people who have referrals for kids and will be traveling to Ethiopia. I am looking forward to having another child to love and spoil rotten!

Our little getaway........


Danny and I went to New York City with Dave and Deidre a couple of weeks ago. We had a good time and walked many miles. We saw a lot of things and did lots of shopping. We also went to see the musical Hairspray which was excellent. Before we left for the trip, Dave had gotten a piece of metal in his eye at work and refused to go to the doctor before our trip. As you can see from the picture below, things got a little tough for Dave. He is wearing my sunglasses.

Another baby on the way!!!!!

We had a baby shower for my niece Tia this past Saturday. Tia was home from Virginia for several days so I thought it would be a great time to have the shower. We had a good turnout and she got a lot of nice gifts. She is working on moving back to Maine before the baby is born. It will be good to have her and the baby here in Maine! She is having a little boy (although the little is in question.....her belly is pretty big!) and is due in February.

We took the rare opportunity on the day of the baby shower to make my mother sit down for a picture. If you know my mother, you'll know how hard this was to have her agree to it!

Holidays are coming right up! I'll try much harder to keep up with the blog and post lots of pictures.

Introducing our granddaughter.........

Avery Grace Stone

Avery arrived this morning, 9/26/07 at 7:37 am, weighing in at 7 lbs. 5 oz and is 20 1/2 inches long. Melissa had a very long hard labor but came through it beautifully. She looked forward to her epidural when she got to 5 centimeters. The epidural didn't work!!! To make a long story short, she had no pain relief until they finally made the decision to replace her epidural at 9 centimeters......kind of late but well worth it to Melissa. It actually allowed her to sleep for a couple of hours until she reached 10 centimeters. Melissa was exhausted but Avery wasn't waiting any longer and arrived on her own time. She has lots of dark hair and big hands and feet. Melissa, Gavin and Avery are all doing excellent!

This was a very emotional experience for me to watch my daughter going through such a hard night and then watching Avery be born. Words can never describe the feeling. She is beautiful and I cannot wait to spoil her rotten! She makes a perfect addition to our family. We've all decided that she's definately a keeper!!

Sofia Mae Andrade Has Arrived!

I had a very interesting weekend as you can see from these pictures! As most of you know, my little sister Lisa was also expecting a baby. She and Melissa are two weeks apart in age and their babies will be about two weeks apart as well. Lisa had what I would consider a dream delivery. They induced labor beginning at 9:30 pm and Sofia was born at 4:43 am. Boy, if we could all have it that easy! Lisa did really awesome during labor and delivery. No yelling at all which as some of you that know her would know that Lisa would have no problem telling someone if she was the least bit irritated with them. Felipe was such a trooper and did a great job. He is such a proud Papa. It was great practice for me and an awesome experience.

I am now ready to meet Avery!! It won't be much longer. It's exciting to have new babies in the family. Melissa is out of work now on modified bed rest. It looks like Avery will be making her appearance before her due date of the 29th. If Melissa hasn't gone into labor by her 39th week, they will be scheduling an induction. Melissa and Gavin had a Jack & Jill given by Gavin's sister Gigi and her husband Matt on Saturday night. It was a very nice shower and they received lots of great gifts.

One More Month.......

Here's the latest picture of Melissa and her belly. Her due date is September 29th so that means only one more month to go before we finally get to meet Miss Avery Grace Stone! We know of course that this could come sooner or a little later but none the less, we are all getting anxious. Melissa has been feeling good but she has been getting a bit more tired as expected of course. Her weight gain has been below 30 lbs. and has slowed a little bit lately. We finally made it to the Carter's outlet in Freeport last weekend and were really happy to find all kinds of really cute clothes for more reasonable prices than we've paid for some of the other stuff we've bought so lookout Freeport, we'll be back soon!
Avery's room is almost complete.....just a few finishing touches to go. The room is very cute. Melissa and Gavin have done a fantastic job putting everything together! Danny and his friend Tim built a new shelf for Avery's room and Danny has been working hard to get it completed. Melissa got the idea from Pottery Barn Kids. This shelf is almost an exact duplicate and costs much less to make. Here is a picture of the shelf at it's present state......He's almost finished, he just has to paint the roof and attach the back.

I'm very excited to be able to be with Melissa and Gavin at the hospital when Avery is born. I was so young when my own kids were born and don't remember a lot of details but I also did not watch them as they were being born. I know that this will be very special for me to watch her come into the world. I'm not as excited about watching Melissa go through labor but I'm confident that she will do really well. She is a real trooper when it comes to being in pain or being sick. She's just quiet and wants to be left alone so I'll be the one sitting in the corner stressing out unless she needs me.....lol. This is all subject to change of course so keep watching the blog because I'll post as soon as Avery is born and probably tell all of you how beautiful she is and how well Melissa and Gavin did! They are going to make great parents for Avery!

A Lovely Sunday Drive........

Danny and I took a drive to the Rockland Lobster Fest with our best friends, Dave and Deidre this past Sunday. It was a gorgeous day! The Lobster Fest wasn't all it was cracked up to be (no pun intended) but we still had a good day. It's been a while since Danny and I have been able to just get out for the day and relax. It's always entertaining to listen to Dave's theories on different subjects. For any of you who have had these types of conversations with Dave, you all know what I mean. For those who haven't, I've attached a very short clip below to give you all a little sample. Click on the link below to see how Dave provided some of the entertainment for us on our drive. (Sorry it's sideways but you'll get the idea) You'll have to click on it twice.

Melissa's Baby Shower.......

We had a baby shower for Melissa this past Sunday. It turned out to be a warm but nice day overall weather wise. Melissa received lots of really nice gifts from everyone. It was great to see you all! We are now on a countdown for baby Avery! I'm sure the time will go by a bit more slowly than it has up to this point. Melissa is feeling pretty good but starting to get a bit more tired lately. So far I would rate this an easy pregnancy....
The picture above is a diaper cake that Lisa made for Melissa. It had almost 200 diapers and the inside had lotions, powders, wash cloths and a few other needed items. It was very cute!

I literally could not have pulled the shower together without the help of Deidre and Nicole. Deidre is always game for helping me out whenever I get in over my head with a project. I could never ask for a better friend than Deidre. She has always been the most loyal friend that I've ever had. She and Nicole spent the night so they could help me get everything ready. The picture above shows them painting faces on the baby cupcakes that we made. I think that Nicole may have even had fun with us two "old" ladies! The picture below shows the final results of the baby cupcakes. We also managed to carve out a watermelon in the shape of a baby carriage for fruit salad. The food was a success!

It's A Girl!!

Let the shopping begin!!

I was absolutely shocked today to find out the Melissa and Gavin are having a baby girl today. To be honest, my bets were on a boy but I'm very happy because it really didn't matter to me either way. Anyone who knows how much I love to shop will know how much fun this will be for me. Everything looked good on the ultrasound. It still amazes me to see all of the advances that have been made since I had babies. I loved seeing Melissa and Gavin today and how excited they both were. It was a great experience for me. Knowing the sex of the baby somehow made it more real for me.......emotional......ok.........I teared up when the technician said it was a girl. I am beyond excited. Her name will be Avery Grace Stone. I will be Nana (although that's a debate with Gavin) and Danny will be Papa.

I CANNOT WAIT!!!

Our Week - We've had a pretty busy week. Danny had last week off and worked on tearing down the shed and doing other cleanup projects from the storm damage. We are making a bigger shed so we had cement poured to expand it. He'll be working on that as well as many other projects that need to be done. Just think, in a few weeks we'll be opening the pool. Geez, it was snowing a month ago! Danny left on Thursday to go to North Carolina on a fishing trip. He had a great time and came back with a great tan from being out on the water. They fished about 45 miles out to sea. He did pretty well not getting sea sick and caught an awesome mahi-mahi as you can see in the picture! He and the guys that he fished with ended up eating it for dinner. He came home late Sunday. Melissa's 26th birthday was on Sunday. I cannot believe that she is 26 already. It's funny how time flies as you get older. It seems like yesterday she was running around with her jelly belly doll. Melissa, Tiffany and I took the Downeaster to Boston on Saturday for some shopping and good food. We met up with Karen who spent the day with us. We came home exhausted with sore feet from all of the walking. Tiffany actually has many blisters to show from her day in Boston. We stopped to buy her another pair of shoes but the damage was already done. By the time we got back on the train to come home, Tiffany's toes were so swollen they looked so sore. Melissa actually did better than Tiffany and I and I was concerned about her walking too much and getting too tired. She is doing well. We'll find out the sex of the baby on Wednesday. I'll let them make the announcement on their blog first. I have a tendency to get excited and spill the beans before they want me to but it's their baby so they can do the honors. I'm just hanging back...........for now ;-)

On Sunday I had a cookout here at my house. We celebrated Melissa's birthday and Mother's day. As you can see, Stephen helped me out with the cooking (since Danny was not home yet) and Dana cooked up the second round of food. We had some great food. Ryan was leaving to go back to Iraq so we were all happy that he was able to join us also. It was nice to get together with my family and have my mother be there as well. It seems like we haven't done that in ages. I'm hoping for a warm summer with lots of sunny days so we'll be able to enjoy the pool.
We have tons of projects planned for the summer and I'm sure there will not be a dull moment. Over the next couple of weeks we need to try to get the shed rebuilt and do some yard projects as well. I'll post again soon!.......OK.........I'll post this week as soon as the ultrasound results are in!

Aftermath and Progress

We finally were able to find someone to cut the tree that fell across the septic system, the pool shed and the fence. As you can see from this picture below, there were some big branches driven into the ground from the force of the tree falling. One in particular is giving us some headaches. Danny has been unable to get it out of the ground. He has dug down to the crushed rock on top of the septic system and it still isn't budging!! This is going to be a tough one but we'll figure something out.

Below is a picture of the shed and fence damage. The shed is actually twisted. It's hard to see in the picture but the force of the twisting caused a window to bust out of the shed. The pool cover has several holes in it and will definitely need to be replaced. At this point, our damage is up around $8,600.00. The insurance company will only cover up to $500.00 to get a tree removed (and that's only if it does property damage). Try getting a tree that size removed for less. It was an eye opener for us!
We've seen a lot of other people with much more damage than we had so we feel lucky but it's a lot of work to get all of the work done and get estimates. I can't imagine how people with worse damage are dealing with it.

I scream, you scream......

No, you are not seeing things.....and yes, this person is indeed my daughter in law getting her dog, Maggie and ice cream from the ice cream truck that comes by their house. Maggie goes crazy when she hears the truck playing music. This dog could seriously have her own television show.

Pregnancy Update......

Here is the most recent picture of Melissa and Gavin. I cannot believe how big her belly is getting and she was only 4 months pregnant in this photo! We find out the sex of the baby on May 17th. She is feeling pretty good overall and hasn't had any big issues...just the usual, being tired and a few headaches. She has been lucky so far.

Planes, Trains and Boats...

Melissa, Tiffany and I will be taking the Amtrak "Downeaster" to Boston on May 12th. I'm looking forward to spending the day with them. We will probably just do the usual, shopping and eating of course. Danny will be flying to North Carolina to meet up with some friends to move a boat from North Carolina to Florida. They'll be doing some fishing and relaxing along the way. I think this will be a great little get away for both Danny and I.

Deidre and Dave will be going to Florida this coming Saturday. I'm sure it will be a lot of fun for them and give them plenty of time to just kick back and relax. I'm jealous! I wish we were going! Have fun guys!! I'll post again soon.

Sisters and Cousins

On Sunday, I hosted what I ended up calling (for some strange reason) Cousinfest. Well, it was actually just more of my female cousins getting together. We had a great turnout. There was only one cousin who had to work and could not make it. We had more food than we knew what to do with....(yes, even us!) I was especially pleased to see my sister Debbie come and make an appearance. It meant a lot to me that she made the effort. We made a few frozen drinks although nobody was really in the mood to drink much and told a few good stories. I created a family trivia game which ended up being a lot of fun. It's great for us to get together without the usual family craziness that sometimes tends to happen in our family. I'm hoping that this allow us to get to know each other a little better as adults and be able to stay in touch. Here are a few more pictures from our gathering.

Back row: Jamie, Cindy K., Patty Ann, Corina, Karen and Cyndi D. - Middle row: Debbie E., me and Cheryl D, - Front row: Lisa M. and Lisa D. (missing - Debbie B. & Andrea)

Back: me, Cyndi, Debbie E., Lisa D., Debbie B. Lisa M. and Corina in the front

SISTERS

Me, Lisa and Debbie

Cindy & Cheryl

Corina and Karen

Cyndi & Jamie

Lisa & Debbie

I'm still working on a picture of Patty Ann who doesn't have any sisters. I didn't get one of her but as soon as I do, I'll be sure to post it for everyone to see!! I'll post again soon. We have lots of baby showers and other events planned for the summer so we'll probably do this again in August I'm guessing. I hope we have another good turnout! I'll post again soon.