When did this happen?

I could just eat him up. He went from a mini-sumo wrestler to mischievous little boy! He was trying to squish into his Bumbo because his cousin Nicholas was in one too.

How I Get Daily My Workout

I can thank Danny for helping me get back into better shape. Of course I'd love to be in even better shape, but I'll take what I can get for now. Every day is a race.

These pictures are from Good Friday. Danny's daycare was closed, and I took the day off. He and I spent the afternoon attempting to straighten the house for Easter company. I was attempting to wash windows in the kitchen. But everytime I would finish, he would follow me and put his little face and fingers all over them. It became a game. I won't lie though...I love seeing those little fingerprints, and I'm so happy the windows are low enough for him to peek out at the world...or the porch.

I stopped what I was doing and followed Danny around with my camera. These shots were taken in about five minutes.

If you click on the pictures, you will see the larger Google size with my commentary :) He is a ball of fun, and a completely mischievious child. And that dimple. Oy vey. That dimple says everything!

I remember

when my grandma died. It feels like yesterday, when in fact, this December 1st, it will be 20-years ago. It amazes me that in the last 20-years, I cannot think of a day that has gone by that I have not thought about her. When I used to live in Rocky River, I would drive past her house everyday on my way home from work. I remember her funeral. I remember crying so hard and being so sad. I remember my Mom being so sad. I remember all of us gathering at my Aunt Susie's house that night. And we all just cried.

I have thought of this a lot lately. In the fall, my Aunt Rosemary passed away after a long battle with cancer. Aunt Rosie had a striking resemblance to my grandma, and as her hair turned gray, it was more like a mirror image. Her voice too. Sometimes it sounded so much like grandmas, that even as an adult, it would stop me in my tracks. Aunt Rosie's funeral broke my heart. Seeing my uncle, cousins and their children so sad, it just tears you a part. And my mom of course. I can't even bring myself to a place were I can fathom losing a sister.

This past week, we lost another special person. Mrs. Jolliffe passed away last Sunday, and I think I have cried everyday since. Mrs. Jolliffe was the happiest, healthiest person ever, I mean, she could run circles around me, until she had a massive heart attack in February. Followed by a massive stroke. And even though she was home again in March, trying to manage the stroke symptoms while she got stronger, her heart did not see her through, and she had another massive heart attack on Easter Saturday. Mrs. Jolliffe went Home on Easter Sunday.

The suddenness of this loss, it just takes your breath away. Seeing the sadness in my brother-in-law John's family, is just devastating. Knowing my sister lost her beloved Mother-In-Law, makes me so sad. And my nieces and nephew, they were crazy about Grandma Jolliffe.

I am so proud of them this week. Lori did an amazing job keeping it all together, getting the kids ready, helping coordinate the wake and funeral, making the program. John gave the most beautiful eulogy I've ever heard. My nephew Jack was a pallbearer. Seeing him so grown up, in a suit, so honored for the responsibility but so devastated at the loss. All three read petitions. They did an amazing job. You couldn't see Janie at the pedestal, but you could hear her voice. So confident. So clear.

It breaks my heart to see people I love so much, so sad.

I am thinking of them all so much with Mother's Day coming up. My cousins, my uncle, the Jolliffe's. A day to celebrate Mom, and this will be the first year without theirs.

I will thinking of them all with love.

Happy Birthday....Me!

I had such a great birthday this year! It was just me and the boys, all day long. We went shopping for patio furniture (finally bought some), and started to lolly gag through Levin and La-Z-Boy thinking about family room furniture and a kitchen table.

We took a ton of pictures of Danny and I, and him acting like a maniac on the couch and climbing through the pantry shelves!


This whole new house thing requires a lot of start up costs! The family room furniture is not a requirement. Patio furniture is new for us. We've never had any before! We didn't have a patio in Lyndhurst, and now we have a great one :) A kitchen table will be needed. I'm thinking more towards Christmas (ie. whatever Gainshare we earn!). So much stuff. And it's just that. Stuff. But it's fun to shop for. At least the window shopping part is fun. I'm not good at the decision making piece. I flip-flop a lot...which is why we went to Litehouse furniture THREE times in less than two weeks. All three times, we we're thinking different sets. Today, we found THE set, and ordered it, and we're hoping it will be here before Easter, and crossing our fingers the weather is warm enough to utilize it! I've attached some pictures below. The chairs have cushions...but I can't find a picture of them :)

We Have Blinds!!!!

Have I mentioned how long it took us to figure out what we wanted to do for blinds in the house. I mean really, we are two very indecisive people. Nuts.

My requirements: cordless or a retractable cord (no child is going to hurt themselves with a cord on my watch!), and the top down/bottom up feature for the second floor and our bedroom. All of the second floor windows are super tall and almost go from the floort to the ceiling. Not quite, but it seems that way. So, the windows will NEVER be open from the bottom. I have an awful visual of a little person pushing right through a screen and tumbling down. I might be a *little* paranoid.

We weighed our options between wood, faux wood, and honeycomb. After much thought, a few showroom visits, and two professionals coming to our house THREE times, we picked the Hunter Douglas 3-cell, topdown/bottom up, retractable cord option in bisque. David installed Danny's tonight, and I almost melted. We have been using a blanket and table cloth on tension rods for two months!!!!

We also did the topdown/bottom up retractable cord in the library. I forget the "official" color, but it is grey.

My husband is the best! We ordered one set of blinds online for the master bathroom, and Dave installed them. The goal was to see how difficult it was for him to do himself versus having them professionally installed. He did them in a pinch, and perfectly! With more confidence under our belt, we ordered almost all of the rest online! Have I mentioned the $aving$ associated to this? Really, it's just silly not to consider this if given the choice.

We did order some from the professionals. These are for the master bedroom and the first floor powder room. Our bedroom is a Roman Vingette and the powder room is woods with tape. We were leary of trying to order and install these on our own :)

I've attached a few pictures for ideas. Only the woods are the actual wood color and tape :)

Roman Vingettes. Ours are brown.

These are the Woods with the tape.

Last are the honeycombs. We ordered all of them with the topdown/bottom up feature. I'm super excited about this!

What's New

Danny is learning colors. When he says blue, he enjoys saying it with raspberries "bluuuuuuueeee". Very fun.

He is also learning animal sounds. Before he really gets going, you could ask him just about anything, and he'll roar like a lion. So far, we've got "Moo", "Woof", "Roar", and every once in a while "Tweet tweet". Oh, and Dave practices a baby lamb "Baaaaa"

Danny learned how to drink with a straw....and not choke. This is a task his mother still has trouble with.

I have given up trying to keep his bookshelf neat. Why bother? The joy is taking it a part...EVERY.DAY. Tonight, I actually left all of the books on the floor. It stresses me out just thinking about it.

We took him to the local Zoo on Sunday (ie. Pet Supplies Plus in Mentor). He was fascinated by the feeder fish tank of gold fish. This tank held approximately 1,000 gold fish...there was barely water, because it was all fish. This generated a giant "Whoa". Lots of fun.

What is some other fun stuff...

Danny LOVES loves loves Veggie straws. These are veggie potato chips that are like a straw. He is so funny when he chews them up. Super cute.

Coloring is a great 5-minute distraction that ends with crumpled paper and crayons on the floor. I'm telling you though, in those 5-minutes, we can get a lot done! Dinner, cleaning, etc :)

Hectic Week

It's been so long since I've posted. This week was a chaotic week. Absolutely nutty.

Last Friday (over a week ago) we were getting ready to have some company over. And six minutes shy of their arrival (she texted me), Danny spontaneously threw up. Spontaneous because it was our first experience with the pukes. He was not feeling good. Wouldn't eat. And just seemed out of it. It was early. Not even 6:30, and I finally said, forget it. He's not going to get to say hi to the McLendon's. I went to pick him up and take him upstairs when "BAM", he got me. Poor little guy. It scared the b-Jesus out of him. And me.

After a few more rounds of that, he went to bed. There is definitely a benefit of having a bathroom right off of his bedroom. The sink came in handy for both David and I at one time or another during that evening.

The following day, he was Mr. Sad and a little warm. Of course late Saturday evening, his temperature ramped up, and after spending half of the night walking him or holding him upright to sleep, I knew we needed to see the doctor. It was his ears. We got into the doctor at 10:15, and he confirmed that he had one ear infection, and that the other ear was on its way. We stopped and filled the prescription at CVS (and purchased a $4 balloon...yeah, I'm a sucker) and went on our merry way.

Sunday was a rough day. By the end of the day, his stomach was not cooperating in the #2 sort of way. We were getting hit from every direction. Sunday night was rough. Monday night we took him to the Pediatric ER because he'd had such a rough day and his temp was still high. Only to get there, get checked in, and then "BAM" he came back to life. Running around the ER. Playing. Eating snacks (a first). So we left.

Tuesday night was super hard because now David was sick too. Mommy was flying solo with a kid that had a bad stomach and just cried. When I held him, walked him, rocked him, everything. Just cried a whimpering, sad, painful cry. We were up all night.

Wednesday, my brother-in-laws mother (did you follow that? My sisters husband) found out she had had a massive heart attack. Mrs. Jolliffe had thought she pulled a muscle while working out, and had flu like symptoms. In order to go back to work, she needed a note from the doctor. She went to Urgent Care Wednesday morning, and that is when she found out about the massive heart attack. She was sent to Parma General Hospital where the prognosis was grim. Thursday morning, Mrs. Jolliffe suffered a massive stroke. Unbelievable. This woman is the healthiest woman I know. The news just kept getting worse, and the decision was made to life flight her to the Cleveland Clinic. So far, she has been stable, but the roller coaster is not over. They have to wait several days before they can really treat the heart or the stroke, because treating one could impact the other. She is in the ICU, and would like to go home. I have known Mrs. Jolliffe for 18-years. That is more then half of my life. She lifts weights, Rollerblades, and does all sorts of stuff. She could run circles around me. And then this happened? It doesn't even make sense. Please prayer for her recovery. I don't think it will be speedy, but as long as the recovery is on the table, I think everyone will work through the healing process. It sure beats the alternative.

Like I said, it was a hectic week.

Danny was sick. David was sick. I was exhausted. And worst of all, Mrs. Jolliffe had a massive heart attack and a massive stroke. Unbelievable. Please pray for her, and the Jolliffe families during these difficult times. I can only imagine the emotional drain and exhaustion they are feeling right now.

About my little guy though, it's amazing how hard we'll work to see his little dimples come out. It is so worth the late hours and long walks.

My little Valentine. How we love him so.