Learning

I have "adopted" a new baby....A Canon Rebel Xsi Digital SLR camera....
I've decided to explore my love of photography...we'll see where it goes, but for now I am enjoying learning about how to use the camera and how to take better pictures...Here is a sample of a picture I snapped upon taking the camera out of the box...hadn't even read the book yet...I love the quality of pictures from this camera and the lack of delay that the point and shoot has....I'll keep updating as I (hopefully) improve!

A few more...

Drumroll please.....

IT'S.......PICTURES!!!!!! Please enjoy some of the pictures from our holiday season...

Date Night

It should not surprise me, but I took Kaitlynn out to dinner tonight - just Mommy and Daughter...nothing fancy, just the diner in Patchogue...but what a wonderful night...we had a great time!!

I highly reccomend Mommy (or Daddy) / Daughter (or Son) date nights...they're good for the soul!!

"Every New Beginning..."

And so the winds of time usher in a new year. As we delve into a new year, I offer a parting letter to 2008...

To the year that was 2008...
To say that I will mourn for the year gone by would suggest that we were friends. We were certainly not. To say fully that I bid you good riddance would suggest were were arch enemies. We were not. So I say only that I bid you adieu, not with regret, or sadness or elation, but with an eye to a 2009 that will hopefully offer a little more joy, a little less fear and whole lot more prosperity.

We did not start off on a "good foot." In January, we lost a matriarch...June "Nana" Pearson was a wonderful woman, and I am sure she is in a better place now, but we miss her and her loss was and is difficult. In February, Frank landed in the hospital for the first time, with an almost burst appendix. March brought a glimmer of hope we thought would turn the tide...Dylan and Grace were brought into this world, and everything got a little brighter. April turned back the other way as we battled with mortgages, co-ops and houses. May and even June seemed calm...perhaps the worst was over. Then July...a warm day on the baseball field quickly spoiled with a rotator cuff injury. August...well, I can't say too many bad things about August...Kaitlynn's 1st birthday was wonderful (even if the bakery messed up the cake)...Then darkness fell.

September began with an injury to the throat for Frank...thankfully not major. A little "hoarse" for the wear and we went about our lives. Then we went on vacation. I will allow readers to return to the beginning of our blog for that story...fair to say October passed with a great deal of difficulty. November meant battling back...we were winning, but battling nonetheless. December...well, December meant no more pay checks, but the latter part of the month brought a welcome return to work, and wonderful Christmas. Somehow nothing else mattered when watching that beautiful little girl open her presents. After feeling as though we had not showered her with enough, seeing her complete and total joy and excitation in what she received, nothing mattered. It didn't matter that it had been such a tough year, it didn't matter that friends once close had seemed to drift away...and it didn't matter that we weren't sure where the next year would take us. In that moment, we were granted peace...even if only for one day.

So at 11:59pm on December 31st, I filled my glass to the brim with champagne, and as the ball dropped and calendar rolled from one year to the next, I happily drank a toast to a new year. I made a decision in that moment, that 2009 would be a better year. Despite the recession, despite everything. We will fix the lingering health problems, we will right the financial difficulties...we will persevere. 2009 will be a good for us...it must be, and I have faith that just as we were guided through the storm of 2008, so will we be guided into what will be the light of 2009.

So farewell 2008...I bid you adieu again. May we be stronger for your trials and thankful for your gifts...and may we never meet again.

"HI"

Kaitlynn's new favorite word. To explain it doesn't do it justice...you need to see the little hand wave, the mouth exaggerate the syllable and the precious little voice say "Hiii!!" It is now my new favorite sound!

We're doing well. Frank is going back to work on the 29th of December!! YAY!!!!!! (Not that I don't love having him home, but I know he's anxious to go back). And back to Fed Ex on the 4th of January...I'm sure it's going to be exhausting at first, but hopefully it will only help to keep the progress moving forward!

So that is our exciting news for now....Hope all is well!!

Soooo.....

I promise I did not forget we had a blog...well, okay maybe a little!! I am ashamed to see that it's been almost a month since I posted....eek, sorry for those of you that kept waiting for an update...

Things are things...we are in contract on the co-op and hope to close before the end of the year. That is all dependent on the managing agent and how fast they feel like doing the paperwork. We're still picking up the mail a few times a week from there, but we'll likely start forwarding it soon - email me if you need our "new" address.

We're all doing well...now. Most of the last month since I blogged we were battling some virus or another. We had the sinus/cold thing and then right before Thanksgiving we were treated to a round of stomach virus. Of course this manifested itself in me as Round 2 of the sinus thing. But I think we're all relatively healthy now...for the moment anyway!

Frank is doing really well...we're still targeting just after the first of the year for his return to work. The therapists don't think that is out of the question. He had a follow up with his newly found neurologist, which included a nerve conduction study and an MRI...Everything looks good!! The lesions on his spine are still there, the Dr. says they might be there forever, but they don't seem to be interfering in anything. all the nerves and neruons are doing what they are supposed to do, and are firing the way they should, so that is most important! Frank still doesn't have hot/cold feeling in his left leg, but that should come back once the damaged nerves regenerate...He walks now with no cane, and only a slight limp that is really only noticable when he's tired.

Kaitlynn is doing well also. She's getting ANOTHER molar...top right...and so she is a little drooly, but she's developing this wonderful personality! We've got an athlete on our hands for sure! She'll kick the ball around (soccer), do splits and tumbles (gymnastics), is ALWAYS on her toes, dancing and spinning (ballet) and loves to throw the ball for the cat (baseball/softball?)...I can't wait to see how these skills develop and what sports she wants to pursue...She also loves to learn...she reads all day long, pays attention to her favorite TV programs and seems to learn something from them every day...and she will try to do new things as soon as you show them to her. And did I mention she loves to read??? (He he he...can you hear the pride??)

I'll try to get some pics from Thanksgiving up this week...I hope everyone is well and enjoying this Season. It is a special time of year, and feels ever so special this year!!!

Love to everyone!!