Oh, baby('s)

We're still alive and well (and busy) here. Our less traveling has turned into errand running, painting and keeping Anna from climbing the stairs. The little girl has found her legs and prefers them mostly to crawling now. We usually encourage her to walk by picking her back up when we're walking around with her. She started out walking around with her little hands and arms in the air like we were holding her hands while she walked. Now she's getting a lot more confident and totting around with toys in her hand or all over the place. It's adorable to see this little half pint wobbling around.




She still has her 4 little teeth and could be teething again, but I can't see anything yet. And for those of you know Anna, she doesn't like her face messed with! Washing her face off after she eats is the most devistating event 4 times a day for this little girl. This past weekend we started to notice a build up of gunk in her eyes and a drippy nose. So bad that for the past few days, she couldn't even open her eyes when she woke up. We felt horrible! So Monday Gary stayed home with her and I called the doctor. They said to just wipe her eyes with a warm cotton swab. She hated that of course! Tuesday seemed worse and we felt terribly guilty for bringing her in to daycare, so Gary stayed home with her and he called the doctor. They saw her and found out she had this horribly contagious eye cold and that she had to be on drops for 24 hours to not be contagious anymore. So I stayed home with her on Wednesday and she finally started to be herself again (not crabby). Yesterday and today she's back at daycare with her friends and she's doing so much better thanks to those eye drops that she loves so much!


She's eating really well, especially when we give her bigger chunks to chew on and pull pieces off of. She loves her cut up fruit most of all. She does really well drinking from a straw and a sippy cup (and from the cup in the tub where she loves the soapy bath water, eww....). She goes in waves of drinking all of bottle, so this may be her way of telling us she's about done with that. Yay!


Otherwise she's babbling more with mama, dada, daddy, yeah, ba ba, but doesn't always know what to associate them with. She loves reading her books and to climb on our laps for us to read and read and read family favorites such as "I See a Tractor" and "I'm a little teapot". :) She plays blocks with daddy as he stacks them and she knocks them all over. She puts things in the seat of her car and takes them out. She climbs the stairs with such speed and is still learning how to get back down. She loves being outside, going for walks with mom and dad and pulling mom's flowers off, handing them to me and taking them back to put them back on the stem. Doesn't quite get the cause and effect on that one. She giggles hard when we tickle her tummy and she loves to attack daddy when he's on the floor. She's an amazing little girl and every day we feel so lucky to have her in our lives.


Baby Tidd #2: This little baby is starting to get bigger and so is mommy! I think I'm popping a lot quicker with this one and feel more pregnant sooner. It's starting to kick quite a bit and felt some hiccups for the first time a few weeks ago. Gary has been able to feel the baby move a little but it'll be soon enough where it'll be a lot more frequent as it starts to run out of room! I went to the doctor a couple weeks ago and all sounded good. The heartrate was in the 140's and I was measuring a couple weeks bigger (I did with Anna too and she turned out to be a peanut!). After this next appointment I start the every other week appointments again. Crazy how fast this one is going! Speaking of fast, we have to get started on the baby's room! We have the color picked out, some of the furniture, but we have to going or I'll be too big to paint everything I want to! Next weekend is looking like another painting weekend. :) And I checked it out - the baby is just over a 1 1/4 pounds and about as long as an ear of corn. This baby is definitely growing!


Mom & Dad: Work is busy for both of us but we're managing. I'm finishing up a 2 week cold/cough thing, Anna followed and now Gary is getting it. Yay. Good thing the weather is going to cool down and we can open windows again! We painted the rails of the outside steps last weekend with the fronts and sides of the stairs to get yet. Hopefully before the snow flies. We've been trying to get some more side work done so when baby comes we don't have to worry about it so much (or at all I hope!).


We're headed to Chicago this weekend to visit with the fam and to see Uncle Wayne "race" in a trailer race where you purchase a junkie car and a well attached trailer. They go around a figure 8 track trying to knock the trailer off other vehicles. We went a couple years ago and had a blast! Hehe. We're also getting things together for Anna's first birthday on the 18th. Exciting!


We hope all is well and enjoy the photos and video of the Boog. :) Have a lovely weekend!


Gary, Christie and Anna




Photos from the photo shoot for Grandma and Grandpa's 50th Annivesary

August Videos!

Anna intently reads her book.

We're taking our first steps!

The wake behind the Lake Express ferry with an amazing sunset - heading back to Muskegon.

Fall is on it's way!

I can finally sit here and tell you that the craziness that was the summer is coming to a close. We still have weekends planned away, but not what we did this summer! We wrapped up our "vacations" with a trip on the Lake Express ferry to visit Ryan & Angela in Oostburg, WI. We took the 11pm ride across (yes that's PM) Wednesday night and settled in around 3am. Anna was once again a tropper. She stayed awake till about 12am playing with Mr. Frog in her carseat and eventually crashed. Gary enjoyed the brisk upper deck to and from WI - not me, it was too windy and made my hair all knotty! :)

Thursday we took our time with the day. After Anna's morning nap and lunch, we headed to Kohler to see where Ryan worked and to visit the Kohler Design Center. That was way cool! The bathrooms and kitchens that were set up were only things one could dream up. Someday.... We walked the cute shops and had some amazing fresh gelato at a little parlor. Awesome. We rounded out the day with dinner at the Pizza Ranch. It was really good and intersting to see soup, salad and chicken at a place called the Pizza Ranch. That night we stayed up too late being the immature adults that we can be sometimes. :)

Friday we headed out in the Cavalier (usually only for 4 people, not 4 people, a giant car seat and all that is Anna) to Chicago for Grandma Madany's wake and funeral. It was a nice day to see everyone that she touched in her life and a reunion for the family as they are scattered all over the world. The funeral service was a wonderful testimony of who Grandma was and the legacy she left with Grandpa and her family and friends. We bunked at my Grandma and Grandpa Boss's house as my parents house was booked. Apparently Gary's snoring could shake walls and keep everyone but me up all night (Anna woke up due to a wet diaper that we didn't notice till the 4th or 5th time she cried). He didn't hear the end of that for awhile and I half expect Breathe Right strips in his stocking from some people. :)

Saturday night we hung out at the house and visited with Ryan's dad and step mom. They were out for their first time to their house along with the big Harley rally in Milwaukee. It was a good time. Sunday we headed to church and to Angela's parents for a wonderful dinner. Monday was an afternoon trip to the Sheboygan County Fair for delicious fair food and "site" seeing. Anna enjoyed all the animals up close and personal. We headed back to Milwaukee for a stop at Trader Joe's, dinner and back to the ferry for the 7pm trip back. Its was nice to not have it so late, but we still ended up getting to bed around 12:30 only to get up for work the next morning. :) All in all, it was a great time, did a lot and we all survived the road tripping!

Here are the pictures from the weekend: http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=56306&l=052dc&id=501622976

**Update on the kiddo's**

Baby #2: We had our 20 week ultrasound on Wednesday. I'm going to get digital files from the hospital and I'll post the pictures then. All looked well, as far as we could tell, with the baby. This one's a squimmer! Anna was easy to get good shots of, this one is all over the place. The heartrate was 149, but most of us feel that this one is a boy. Things are just a little different this time, but still a breeze of a pregnancy! The baby is currently the length of a carrot -- weighs about 3/4 of a pound. (Length: 10 1/2 inches, head to heel.)

Mrs. Booger: Her little personality gets greater and greater everyday. She's learning what no means slowly but surely. She likes to test mom and dad, especially with the stairs. We were letting her climb them until she fell down 1 stair when I wasn't looking and we said that was it. Now she bolts to the bottom, sits on her butt and looks at us while we tell her no. It works usually. :) She's learned how to get on her little scooter thing and scoot herself around going forward now! So cute. She's eating whatever we're eating, drinking more water, juice and a little milk here and there, so we're on our way to less/no baby food. She has 4 teeth, 2 top and 2 bottom now and grinding them! Ahh! That is like fingernails on a chalkboard to me. ((shutters)) She's "talking" more than screaming and trying to form words. It's so fun to watch her be so intent on things, to discover new things, to notice mommy and daddy, she's getting so big already! Here's Anna's 10th month album so far: http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=56305&l=55c5d&id=501622976

Mom & Dad: We are excited to not have any more crazy traveling this year. :) We're moving on to catching up with house projects and neglected side work. We finished our bathroom - the 3rd coat was the charm! It's a beautiful shade of Bear Rug complete with brand spankin' new towels (we were using ones from college days and when we got married). It's awesome! To complete it, Grandpa Boss is building us a custom cabinet for the space between the counter and toilet and a new clock and photo. I'll take pictures this weekend what it looks like right now. We did the mainfloor bathroom this past weekend a bright shade of golden yellow. It's a bit overwhelming with the bare walls right now but with some decor, it'll complete the look. Now onto the staining and painting the front steps and rail (if it'll ever get a chance to dry out!), the baby's room, kids bath and our room. Yeesh. And before #2 arrives, our basement will be somewhat finished! We love to keep busy, can't you tell!? Oye. Work is going fine for the both of us. Gary's in Indy as I write this for a couple days. It wasn't as overwhelming as I thought with Gary gone, but I'm glad it's only 2 days! Otherwise, we're doing well. Both feeling good and liking the little bit cooler weather.

Well that's us in a nutshell for the time being. I'm kind of laying off the posting of pictures as it takes so long and I can just give you the whole album via Facebook which is a lot less time! :)

Have a wonderful rest of the week and I'll be back with more photos soon!

Love,
GCA

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

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.

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. :)

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