Finally

I know it has been awhile. There have been some friends that have been pushing me to update my blog, but I find it so hard to sit in front of the computer at the end of the day when I have spent most of it in front of the one at work. But Sean has been moved to 2nd shift M-F indefinitely, so I try to wait up for him and this gives me a good focus. Yes, that means we never see each other during the week. I leave at 7:45 am, he leaves at 2 pm, I get home at 4:30 pm and then he gets home at 11:30 pm. That's why I try to stay up. Maybe I shouldn't, since I don't get very good sleep any more, but I miss him...

In February was our semiannual Make a Blanket Day (MBA) at the mall. Mom created a pattern for her boo challenge quilt and Mary Balagna helped her and she and her husband came up with a beautiful name for it: Tori's Torrific Quilt!They secretly gathered the proceeds from the pattern as it sold at MBD, whether just the pattern or the kit, and gave them to our family! It was a lot too! What a blessing! And what a special way to remember our girl. Those ladies are so amazing! You should have seen all the work being done there! I would like to have more time to spend on that organization.Mom working hard at our paper piecing project.

Tori's Torrific Quilt Pattern made by Mom (Soni Uhler)

The kids with cousins in front of the one made and displayed by the patterns and kits for sale.

Our dear friend Sue Atteberry

Caleb celebrated his 6th birthday on the 12th of March and the Saturday following. He got to have a party and invited some church friends, family (especially his cousins), and his best buddy from school. He had a good time and loved being the center of attentions.

I guess the wish took some thought.

I love this picture! :)

I had training up in Chicago around my birthday, so I got to sit in class and enjoy the long trip home as my present. But the kids had made me cards and Sean got me flowers, the new Mary Higgins Clark book and a beautiful card, and he made me dinner (lasagna - mmmmm). It was wonderful to come home to that, though the training and trip itself was pretty good.

We spent Easter with Sean's family and it was wonderful. We got to spend time with his brother and his family too and we were so glad to do that. Besides the fact that my kids adore Danielle and Devon, we enjoy spending time with Tony and Crissy. They were here in Illinois after Tori passed away, but with so many people here, we didn't have much chance to spend with them. We got a new to us van just a couple of weeks before the trip, so we didn't have any worries about the drive. That is a relief!!
Here is Caleb on too much Easter Candy. It is lengthy, but very amusing. Enjoy!

Work ends for me soon! I am so excited! We are done on the 15th and the others don't go back until the middle of July and by then our baby will be here, so I won't be going right back. The little girls are done with preschool for the summer already! They miss the staff and the attention that they give them. The girls and Sean are meeting me tomorrow for lunch and are so excited! Well, Ms. Mary is too...

Isabelle and Daddy got to go on a special trip to Springfield with the Gifted Program of the Decatur Public Schools. I am not sure what all they did, but they had a wonderful time and I know they visited the state capital. Belle's friend Regan went too with her mom and they had a great time together. Sean didn't enjoy the bus ride so much though.


Belle and I got braces on the 30th of April.........Ouch! Ouch! She is taking it better than I am, but she does only have four brackets on top and four on the bottom, so that's my excuse. Plus I am older. She looks adorable! I need to get a better close up of her now. Dr. Cavanaugh was wonderful as was her staff. It wasn't easy, but they made it a good experience. Now if the sores in our mouths would go away....
Well, enjoy the pictures and video. Sorry it has taken so long to update, but it hasn't been an easy few months. Maybe next time I will add more pictures of Nora and Olivia. Oh! and baby. I do have picts, but I need to go to bed now... Love to all of you and thank you for your love and strength!

Oh! So Good!

Tonight was ladies night! My friend Julie had a spa night and I dragged Sara over with me (not that she was kicking and screaming or anything). Mom and Sean 2 watched all the kids (including Sami Cami) for about 4 hours! They are very brave and so great to take that much time for us. Those kids were tired when we got home. Be I am really glad we had the opportunity to go. It was sooo wonderful. Julie had a massage therapist there and we each had a 20 minute back massage. I have never had a professional one before and it was heaven. I just wanted to lay there for ever and ever. I also had a foot bath and foot massage (I did those myself, since I would be too embarrassed to have anyone else touch my crusty feet), a facial, crepes, herbal tea and quiet, adult conversation. I was wonderful!

Tori got her bangs cut today. They have been driving me crazy. I finally pinned her down and snipped them. It wasn't easy. She fought me almost the whole time! I did miss some, but maybe I will wait till she is sleeping in my arms or something. How does an 8 month old have so much hair?


I love my job. Can I just say that again? Cozette, my manager, left at lunchtime for the day. When we all came back, there wasn't much to do. A lot of people were just sitting around. Me included. Daciena came in and told us that the director said we could go home if we wanted to, and still get paid for 8 hours! Since Nora and Caleb don't have school on Fridays and Sean works tonight, I wasn't sure I wanted to go home just yet, but went ahead and took the opportunity. I did get a little nap at home even. Cozette asked Tammie and I if we would put together a monthly newsletter. Boy! She asked the right person here! I was so excited to have something like that to do. I have done several newsletters and they even have publisher, so this will be easy for me. I am anxious to get started. I already got a letter out to all 12 teachers, the 2 site managers and the appropriate staff at the main office. Now I just need to get info to put into the newsletter.

Oh! Today was payday and I got my first real paycheck in 8 years! It's official! And I found out that we got paid for the snow day. And I guess it's not normal to have an hour paid lunch, so I actually only work 7 hours. Man, this is the job for me!

Sick

I hate being sick. It doesn't happen often. I guess pregnancy makes up for that. Last night (or rather, early this morning) I was cutting fabric for my boo boo quilt when Belle comes down and says "Mommy! Throw up!" After some inquiring, I found out that Nora had leaned over her bunk (she's on top) and threw up on the floor. I don't handle vomit well at all. Sean usually takes care of it but he was working. I actually had to wake Nora up and ask her if she threw up and at first she said "No." After questioning Belle and Nora more, and Nora woke up more, she said she did it.

After getting it cleaned up and kids back to bed, I went back down to finish cutting. I was wanting to get to bed, but I was worried that Nora would need me again and I wouldn't hear her from my room. About 45 minutes later (around 2am) Belle came out and went to the bathroom (AGAIN!) I was about to yell at her to go back to bed and quit stalling, but the next thing I hear is, "Mommy! I think I need a bowl!" I told her to use the toilet since she was right there, and there was nothing to clean up (whew!) Great! Two puking kids! Who was next? I went right to bed before someone else started up on it and luckily, everyone was fine the rest of the night. Belle even went to school and Nora would have if she and Caleb hadn't missed the bus. But I did wake up feeling nauseous and sore all over. It wasn't too bad though and I managed to work through it, but I am soooo tired now! Ahhh, motherhood!

Ahh, Sundays...

I love the weekends when Sean doesn't work. I talk like this is old hat, and I realize that he has only been working for a month, but already I am thinking a week in advance. Last Sunday I was so excited that the next Sunday he wouldn't be working. Today, on my way to do music with the Nursery, it came to me that next weekend I would be all alone. :( I have to learn how to enjoy the here and now and look forward only on the harder weekends. Today I got to have a nap. I woke up and the sun was still shining and I thought I was late for work! I really panicked for a minute. Sean laughed and said "You're late for work!"

Spencer, Saucy and Sami Cami came over last evening while Sean2 (that's my sister Sara's husband for anyone who doesn't know. My Sean is Sean1, since he joined the family first.) and Sara went on a date. I haven't had many chances to hold little Sami Cami (Okay, it's Samantha Camilla and goes by Cami, but we can't help ourselves). She is a month old and it's my favorite age, but darn that little Tori who is a little possessive of her mommy. But last night I did get to hold her a little between naps. Spencer and Saucy spent the night and it was interesting and not too bad getting them all bathed last night and ready for church by 8:45 this morning. And that includes 5 girls hair and Spencer's hair. I am amazing :) Okay, I had some help.

Cami was blessed today. It was wonderful to hear the blessing that her daddy gave her. And Dad came too! My Sean said that we need to have a baby next year so that we can get Dad to church next year. He should get to church at least once a year ;) I said "Riigghht, let's do that..."

Have I mentioned how much hair Tori has? She had a headband in her hair today, not just because it went with the outfit. Good grief! It makes her look older than her 8 1/2 months.

Well, our boo boo quilt challenges are due on the 8th. Mom got her quilt top all finished and it's all pinned together, she just has to bind it and quilt it! I haven't started... WHAT A SURPRISE! It might be a little more difficult to finish, I mean start, now that I am working. If you don't know what Project Linus is, I added a link to my favorites. I have three blankets that I would like to get finished by blanket day, but I will be lucky just to finish the boo boo quilt.

Speaking of work...I love it! I didn't get to go on Friday, seeing as how there was about 8 inches of snow on our road. (I don't get this weather...it's ice, it's a rain storm, it' s a snow storm, it's thundering and lightening - yes, today it thundered and lightninged (as I shake my head in disgust) all in the same week!) But it is great. The people I work with are wonderful. The teacher, whose classes I am responsible for as a family service worker is just a ball of sunshine, but I haven't seen her too much yet. The three ladies that I share an office space with are all very sweet. Peggy has been there about 3 years (?) and is very quick to answer any questions that we have. Tammie and Michelle started with me, so Peggy gets lots of questions from us. So far, we all work well together. Peggy is a blogging queen! She has the Jankowski Family Blog and is great at posting! I am amazed!

I enjoy going over to Site 2. I love all the children and I love seeing my own. On Wednesday, Tammie and Mary (who has been training us) were going through a recipe book over at site 2 and found a Red Velvet Cake. They said, "I bet Amy could make that! Hey, Amy, can you make this?" I told them that I could with a recipe, so they were going to make a copy for me. On Thursday, they asked if I had made it, and remembered that the copy machine still wasn't working, so they had me copy it down by hand. Tonight I made the cake. I don't know how it tastes, but hopefully it will pass the test.

I hear lots of noise upstairs. I probably should go check it out. I also have to make sure they haven't decided to eat the cake. I have been worrying about that. I hope everyone has had a wonderful weekend and please encourage Sean to add some more! He said he did his one.