Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Anna Banana and Baby Banana

A quick update on what's going on with the babes. Anna is still doing great! She is so much fun from the moment we wake her up with her poofy little eyes, fuzzed hair and sheet marks (yes, she still sleeps through the night, now with Mr. Frog) till the time we put her down again at night when she curls up, butt up, with her dear Mr Frog once again. Our we have our moments with her, in which she acts like we tore her little heart out. Tears stream down, mouth wide open with her little tongue flickering as we just tell her no about climbing up on the curio cabinet. We have to laugh b/c she's such a drama queen sometimes and it's so cute to see her little face turn so sour. She will now follow one of us up the stair if she sees us go up there. And she will bolt! As she climbs, she peeks out in between the slats and smiles as she knows she really shouldn't doing that but feels so accomplished at the same time!

She has at least tried every single food we've given her and the latest thing she seems to pick around is broccoli. Yay for dad, boo for me. :) I needed a partner for the broccoli thing. She'll come around.

We've found that she likes to take things in pairs, stuff animals, rings, books, whatever it is, and crawl around with them on the floor, one under each hand. One, it's great that she figured out that she can crawl a little faster with some skidless objects under hands and two, that she can pair 2 like things together without our prompting! It's awesome.

Tiny Tidd #2 is half way there! I'm at 20 weeks this Friday and starting to feel pregnant now. It's the length of a banana (hench the title to my post) and I can certainly tell it's getting bigger.

It's a little more of a struggle to get up and bend over now. I've moved on to a couple maternity clothes, but still use most of my regular clothes yet. At my last appointment, everything looked great and the heart rate was in the 140's. I still say this one's a boy, but at this point, I don't have a clue. I'm feeling flutters more and more and I hope soon to share that with Gary again! Our ultrasound is next Wednesday and we're looking forward to that again. We're not going to find out again as we loved not doing it with Anna. Baby's room will soon be under way after the crazy summer winds down.
We're heading out tonight on the ferry to spend the weekend with Ryan and Angela in Wisconsin and spending a day and a half in Chicago for Grandma Madany's funeral. It'll be a bittersweet, busy weekend but it'll be nice.
Have a lovely Labor Day weekend (I can't believe I'm saying that, summer is almost over)!
GaChAn

Monday, August 25, 2008

Reflection

August once was a month filled with excitement and birthdays, nothing to deter the celebrations and gathering school supplies. But as we get older, things change. Not only do they change in how we view our birthdays as just another day, but life happens and hits closer to home.

On Sunday, August 24, the Lord took home another wonderful woman. A woman that has only been in our lives for about 4 years but has been a wife for over 50 years, a mother to 6 and dear grandma and great grandma to many. Grandma Madany went home to be with the Lord she served for so many years. She has had some major health issues the last couple years, first a battle with thyroid cancer. She fought through that, then in the last 6 months, pancreatic cancer took hold and the thyroid came back too. After a short delibration with her doctors and with Grandpa, they decided to forgo any more treatment. With most of her family around her, she took her last breath and entered a place we can only dream of.

Wednesday, August 27 will be the 6th anniversary of my mom's passing as well. Time has healed some wounds, but sometimes feels like yesterday. Each year brings reflection of how much has happened and how much has changed since then. Here I sit, 5 years married, in our own home, with a beautiful little girl and another on the way. She didn't see any of that here on earth. I know others have come in to my life that I wouldn't trade because of what happened, but you still have to wonder what would it have been like. We'll never know.

All we'll ever know is that the Lord's will will be done on earth as it is in the place where Grandma Madany and Mom have been rejoicing with their Savior. Ironically, both of these women were born in this month and their birthdays have been replaced with their homecomings in to Heaven. We'll never forget the impact they've had in our lives, long or short.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

July/August Videos!


Alex sandboarding down the dune on Silver Lake. The weekend before was a lot more eventful than this trip, but he couldn't stay up for me to video it. :)


The first time we saw her, she was butt up in the air trying to get her pipe out of the car seat and got stuck. It was hilarious! So we tried to reinact it, but she got too smart for our own good. :)

I've never seen storm clouds like this before, they were incredible!

She was doing some cute stuff, but quit when I starting taping. Oh well. :)

Monday, August 18, 2008

Busy busy busy!

As the summer continues on, we're still just as busy going here, there and everywhere. I'm ready for a break, but I don't know if there's one in site. So until then, I'll manage and relax when I can.

Baby Tidd #2: I'm still feeling fine (aside from indigestion). With the first pregnancy not that far behind me and the worries that come with the unknown, this pregnancy is a piece of cake. I'm still doing shots which some I don't feel, others I feel too much and a bunch bruises that look like I punched myself in the gut numerous times. I'm not showing yet, but I can definitely start to feel my tummy getting bigger now. The baby is as long as a bell pepper at 18 weeks - about 5 1/2 inches long and 7 ounces. I have a doctor's appointment on Thursday and my ultrasound early September, so we're almost half way there already! As soon as the summer slows down, we'll get started on the baby's room and the pictures will be coming once again!

The Booger: Anna had her 9 month check up (she's actually 10 months today) on Thursday. She's a whopping 18 pounds 2 ounces and 28" long. She's a normal size baby and everything looks great on her. I think she's more advanced, a bias and unbias opinion, that most babies her age. She's crawling, fast, everywhere. She can climb stairs easily, but hasn't figured out how to come down yet. So we pretend to roll her down whatever way she tries to go down to show her what would happen. Who knows if thats working... :) She has stranger anxiety right now, doesn't usually smile at everyone right away like she used to, but she'll grow out of that. She's still very social and doesn't miss a thing with those big blue eyes. She's climbing up on furniture and can move all over from there. She's even stood on her own for 5-10 seconds at a time! She loves walking when you hold her fingers, so we're very close to moving to the next stage of craziness! She's eating a lot of table food now and has liked most of it - mashed potatoes and scrambled eggs are the 2 she hasn't cared for so much. But she's not picky - yay! She's drinking from a sippy cup and most of her feedings and we're down to 3 bottles today. She's been not finishing her bottles, so we just kept cutting them out (according to my chart, we're right on track) and she seems to be fine with it. She knows when to wave bye most of the time, it's so cute! She likes to mimic our noises or movements with our mouth and does really well with that! She's so much fun and everyday she seems to get bigger! She's still such a good baby despite her being everywhere all the time. She's keeping us moving, that's for sure!






The Parents: We're keeping busy with life, who isn't, right? Work is going fine for both of us. Gary is ready to go back to school year hours as school starts up in a few weeks. I'm keeping busy with mine, as well. We're still working on large and small side jobs that occupy some time. Still working on painting rooms, keeping up with house stuff and getting ready for baby. I like keeping busy, but on the other hand we both just need to say stop once in awhile and take a break from it all as it's draining on us doing work and not enough of free time/relaxing time/more time with Anna. Balance is a key we need to find yet. :)

Here is a sneak peek at the Tidd Family Photo Shoot with Jenn and a link to see them all!







http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=52622&l=9937d&id=501622976

This past weekend we were in Chicago for a host of events! Saturday was my birthday but I shared that with a baby shower for a friends in the morning, followed by a photo shoot with my mom's side of the family for my grandparents 50th anniversary. I think that's the first time all 26 of us were together in a long time! I'll post those as soon as we get them back. Then with all this, we planned a surprise 50th birthday party for my dad. With pictures not taking near as long as expected, we had a lot of finagaling to do with dad that was way out of character for all of us, so he had to have known. He knew something was up but won't admit to knowing fully. :) It was a lot of fun with family and friends, having pizza and goodies and getting a lot gag gifts. We were also able to see our friends Andrew and Dana and their baby, Ryan for the first time (and for Andrew and Dana in a couple years!). Ryan and Anna didn't quite know what to do with eachother, but I'm sure as years go by, they'll be good friends. :) So needless to say it was a busy weekend.






Prayer Notes: Grandpa and Grandma Madany have decided to forgo any more treatments for Grandma as her cancer is spreading rapidly throughout her body. She's in a bit of pain and discomfort, but are taking measure to find ways to releave the mental and physical pain. Please pray for peace for the both of them with their decision and with what the future holds. That the Lord's will will be done and know that this life is temporary and she'll be meeting the Lord she's served so dilegently throughout her life and move to that beautiful mansion He's prepared for us. As hard as it is for us to let people here on earth go, we have full faith that they are going to a much better place than here and we'll see them again!

Also we ask for prayers for Gary's Grandpa Hall as they figure out the course of action this week for his cancer treatment. They haven't determined what kind it is yet, but know that it's wrapped around a main artery. So pray for Grandma and Grandpa as they decide where to go next and with all the family that surrounds them in love and support through this difficult time as well.

Finally, Gary and I are participating as walkers this year for the Light the Night walk - a walk to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. We ask for your prayers for this wonderful cause to help others who are going through or have gone through battling these blood cancers and if you're able to support them monitarily at: http://www.active.com/donate/ltnMadiso/2363_Christabelle81

Have a wonderful week!

Gary, Christie and Anna