Big News

Shawn, Symeon, and I are excited to share with you all that we will welcome the newest addition to our family in early May of next year. Although Symeon does not really understand we have been talking about the new baby and we bought him a baby doll for Christmas to get him used to the idea. I am feeling really good and if anyone is wondering we will not be finding out what we are having so we will all have to wait until May to know. Symeon is such a joy we feel truly blessed to welcome a second baby into our family.

First Steps

We have been so busy I realized I never mentioned that Symeon cut his first tooth and it is so cute but the big news was that the Saturday after Thanksgiving Symeon took his first steps he was only 9 1/2 months old. It was quite fun and Shawn and I were both there to see him. We tried to get him on video but we had little success. Although he continues to take a few steps he still finds crawling quicker and he is all about getting places fast. Hopefully we can catch him on film soon.

Merry Christmas part 1

We had a nice time with Shawn's Mom's family celebrating Christmas. Symeon was such fun and he had such a good time with his cousin Sam. Here are a few of many pictures from Christmas part one.



Symeon gave Sam Elmo live and it was hit.




Family Photo


Symeon, Uncle Jeff, and Sam


Sam's new Elmo riding in one of the wagons both Sam and Symeon got from their Mom-Mom and Grandpa. The wagons were a bit hit.



Daddy and Symeon looking at his new Philly Phanatic


Symeon and his cousin Sam


Bath time for Sam and Symeon. I am sure this picture will come back to haunt them later in life.


Auntie Katie, Sam, and Symeon

Symeon feeds himself

Symeon has begun feeding himself which can seem successful until you take him out of his chair.

10 months brought my worst fear

Well it finally happened what I have been dreading since I found out I was pregnant. Seriously I thought about this during my pregnancy and also over the last 10 months quite often. You might be thinking what terrible thing could have happened I hope everyone is alright and yes we are surviving yet we are changed. My worst fear realized is ..... vomiting... aka the stomach flu. Yes Symeon has had the stomach flu this week and although it could have been worse it was bad enought for his first time. My Mom and anyone who knows me well can attest that I am not a good vomiter it gets me very upset. I also have a quick gag reflex even when I feel fine and I have a keen sense of smell that can challange the most gifted police sniffing drug dog. At times my super sniffer has been a blessing but on occassions like this it is a curse.

I am glad to have one stomach flu behind me but I must confess when I walked into his room because I heard a funny noise and found my poor little guy crying and covered in vomit I wondered if I could do this hundreds of more times in the course of his life. I must admit what everyone said is true when it is your kid it is different. I was able to stay in the room with him, have vomit on myself and not care, I never got sick or even gaged, and I was able to comfort him at his worst moments so overall I would say we came through it all pretty good. I must also admit what everyone said is not true it is still vomit whether it is your kid or not, the smell, the clean up, the overall sick feeling you get when you see it all of these things are the same. But I must say thank God for great husbands with strong stomachs. Shawn did alot of the clean up of bedding and stuff when I was cleaning up Symeon or comforting our little guy. Actually Shawn and I both got sick as well just not as bad as Symeon and Shawn was sicker than me for the first time ever.

So to end this not so pleasant post I would like to thank my own Mom for years of holding back my hair and offering unwavering sympathy, love, and comfort during the stomach flu. You were a good teacher. Sometimes you don't think to thank your Mom for things like this until you do it yourself and you realize the sacrafice of love, sleep, and patience offered on your behalf often while they are sick themselves. So this week I added one more notch on the Mom belt, the stomach flu survived.

I didn't take any pictures for obvious reasons. I will try to post some of Symeon from Christmas with Shawn's Mom and family we had such a nice weekend with them but I haven't had a chance to post anything due to the infamous first stomach flu.

The abominal snow baby and hockey

Scroll down there are lots of new posts!


Well winter is here and although the season brings the joys of hockey season it also brings the cold. We had to buy Symeon a warm winter coat and hat and although he looks cute he really is not to fond of being bundled up. I think he is a California baby like his Dad.

We also took Symeon to his first hockey game with Shawn's youth group. He had such a good time and basically sat through all three quarters completely enthralled by the game, lights, score board, and fans. We had so much fun.






We call him Puffy Daddy when he wears this and he can barely move his arms. One day he fell down and just laid there.


Hershey Bears Game


Shawn's youth group

Happy Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful holiday. I worked at Paxton which most days is lots of fun but especially on the holidays. We had a dining room full of friends to share the special day with and Shawn and Symeon were able to help me serve desserts and then we ate together as a family with our friends. Here are some wonderful memories from Symeon's first Thanksgiving. We felt truly blessed on this day and we hope you all had a wonderful day to rest and give thanks for all that God has given us.




Symeon with his Thanksgiving plate he almost finished it all.



Our family serving desserts to the residents.



The dining room full of our friends. There were about 80 residents, friends, and families.



Some of our dear friends and coworkers who made the day even more special for our family. We had a huge feast with all of Shawn's favorites he was so happy.

Cute Pics

Here are some cute pictures of our busy guy and some of his favorite things to do.



Oh the glory of the cell phone. You can barely talk on it without him trying to get it out of your hands.



He loves taking out the pots and pans. This was the first time he climbed in I was kind of surprised but I am finding he has little fear and is willing to try just about anything which can be a bit scary at times.


Symeon loves the fridge I mean loves it. He will crawl across the room if he hears the door open and once he is in he loves to explore everything. He did have one mishap with a bottle of Enchilada sauce and it ended up all over our carpet but overall he really just loves to explore. He is so curious about everything it is a blessing and a curse on most days. For instance he loves to be with you when you are cooking and he also likes to put his hands in the toilet and splash so don't eat anything Symeon cooks.

Vacation

We had a much needed vacation in November. We were suppose to go in October but I was so sick for most of the month we postponed it. It was wonderful we were able to visit my family for several days and then Symeon stayed in CT while Shawn and I went away just the two of us for 5 days. It was hard to leave Symeon but he had a great time with my family and we had a wonderful time together. Overall it was good for everyone and my family just loved having him all to themselves especially Austin and Clover. Symeon still gets so excited when he see their pictures.


We were able to celebrate Clover's 7 birthday when we were home which was so much fun. Austin did all the decorations himself it was so sweet. They are so loving toward it each other it is fun to see them growing up.

9 months a little late

Well I have been missing awhile I was waiting on a new laptop which is really nice and much faster than my old one. Although we have a desktop I call that Shawn's computer on Shawn's desk and we learned early in our marriage if we wanted to stay married he leaves my desk and computer alone and I do the same for him. This arrangement has led to great marital peace and I was not about to shake that up by using his computer to blog. So hopefully with my new found speed I will be able to keep the blog updated. I guess Thanksgiving and away for 10 days on vacation also slowed me down a bit.

With that said Symeon turned 9 months old in November and his doctor congratulated him with blood work. She checked his iron and for lead which is something she does for every 9 month old. He is fine and he did well. They tried his arm first but his vein was to small so they went to his finger. Here he is all bandaged up after his trauma. Shawn said he did really well and it didn't seem to bother him to much. He also got lots of attention for this bandage.

Look No Hands

It has happened, Symeon now stands up most of the time without holding onto anything. He can also crouch down grab a toy and stand up again without holding on. or falling It is funny to see him do these things since he is only 8 1/2 months old. He seems so tiny and I guess he is pretty small. The other night he was about to fall so he arched his back and curled his toes into the carpet and I thought he was going down but he didn't, a little arm flailing went a long way to keep him on his feet.



Please excuse the outfit, it is a long story but be assured he did not leave our apartment looking like this.

Happy Halloween

Well we had lots of fun on Symeon's first Halloween he was a duck. He looked adorable wearing the costume my sister-in-law Traci made for Austin 8 years ago for his first Halloween. I was so excited to Symeon as a duck but it was weird to think Austin had worn it so many years ago. We went to our friends Elizabeth and Steve's house to trick-or-treat and then helped pass out some candy. Then we returned to Paxton where we live and work to attend the Halloween party. It was alot of fun and Symeon seemed to enjoy himself. He really loved the party where there were lots of folks in costumes, music, and wild lights.



Daddy and the duck man



The duck man and Mommy



Symeon and I helping Elizabeth pass out candy



Us with two of our favorite Paxton residents



This resident loves Symeon so much it was fun to have our picture taken with her

Philly Sports Weekend

I have always wanted to attend multiple Philadelphia sports event in one weekend and the Phillies' trip to the World Series offered Shelva and I a chance to experience this opportunity. We dropped off Symeon at my Mom's house and headed to Philly for a weekend away. Our first event was the Flyers game at the Wachovia Center in which the Flyers won 5-4 in OT. Then we walked to Citizens Bank Park to catch game 3 of the World Series. During our short walk to the baseball stadium in began to pour and we got drenched just a few feet from getting into the stadium. We tried our best to dry off and spent the long rain delay in a enclosed elevator room with about 30 other people. The game got under way at about 10 and the Phillies won in dramatic fashion in the bottom of the 9th inning. On Sunday we got up, ate breakfast at the diner across the street from our hotel and walked to the Eagles Stadium to watch the Eagles beat the Falcons to complete a perfect 3-0 weekend. Shelva and I had a great time and we survived leaving Symeon for a weekend!

Just funny

Symeon loves to put this plastic half of a ball over his face and yell into it. It makes a funny sound and he does it all the time. We were finally able to capture him doing it.

Dad this is what he was doing last time we were talking on the phone and he was being so loud. I thought you would enjoy seeing what he does so you can put the sound with the action.

The World Series

For anyone who does not know the Phillies are going to the World Series and we are celebrating. Shawn has taught Symeon to raise his hands above his head and cheer which is really cute. We are literally praying they win. Although we know God does not choose teams we are pretty sure he wants the Phillies to win in this particular situation. Here are Father and son sporting some gear as they prepared to watch a game. Shawn did get a World Series ticket which is pretty exciting.

Oh so ill

Well I am finally feeling better I have been sick for about 2 weeks. I mean really sick I didn't leave our apartment for 10 days except the 2 times I had to go to the doctor. I started with a sore throat, fever, body aches classic flu stuff. When I went to the doctor the illness had grown into a sinus infection and bronchitis. I was miserable to say the least. And to top it all off I ended up with pink eye which I shared with Symeon. Shawn, who I think is a mutant because he never gets sick even when I am coughing my germs all over the place, did not really get sick and Symeon really only got pink eye so they both have pretty good immune systems. Here is a sad little picture of mother and son in the throws of pink eye. It really was not fun holding Symeon down and basically squirting a vaseline like substance into his eyes and to be honest it wasn't much fun to do to myself either.

A beautiful fall day

Fall is my favorite time of year. I love cool weather, changing leaves,flannel sheets and pj's,and hot apple ciderI love everything that comes with Fall. So today was a perfect fall day sunny and cool all at the same time. YOu had to wear a light jacket and sunglasses it was wonderful. Since it was so nice we decided to take Symeon to a fall festival and we had so much fun. He went on his first hay ride and picked a pumpkin appropriate to his size. Overall it was a great way to celebrate the chaninging of the season as well as Symeon being 8 months old today. I am not sure where the time is going but we are truly enjoying every minute with him.


Family photo



It was a bit chilly so Symeon had to have his hood up most of the time but it didn't seem to bother him.


Symeon and a giant lady bug



Symeon and Daddy on a hayride


Which one should I choose?

Dishes a holy moment

I love this picture it captures such a normal part of life but yet points me to the holiness of life. I guess that is one of the points of life, to recognize holy moments in the everyday. In this picture I see a loving husband and Father doing the dishes and a small son who will one day be a man as tall as or taller than his Dad. And I trust, with an example like Shawn, that one day he will do dishes even when he hates it because it blesses his family.

E-A-G-L-E-S

Shawn is a fan of all Philly sports teams and Symeon and I have joined in the fun. My dear friend Lisa has been a football fan for years and I always wondered how she could spend Sunday afternoon watching games. Well for about 10 years now I have been an Eagles fan and have been watching every game but this year I have reached a new level of love for the game. I have my own Fantasy Football team called The Lovebugs and now I spend all day Sunday watching different games,keeping track of my players, and threatening to bench players if they don't step up their games. So football has become quite the topic in our house and we are all really enjoying this season.

An extra set of hands

This is how Symeon carries things when he needs both his hands. It is really funny when he crawls with them in his mouth.