Paige is 9 months old

In addition to moving Chelsie to college, Saturday marked Paige's 9 month B-day. We had her official check up today. She did great with her 1 shot and had her finger pricke like a pro!



She is 17lbs 9.5 oz. This is a little below where she should be based on the line she was on, but the doctor thinks it is just because she is so busy and crawling all over the place.



She was 27.5 in long. She says she is still petite, but you never know- she could have a growth spurt.



She is doing most of the things she should be and a little ahead of the game in other ways. She is a smart little girl.

Chelsie moves to Bethany

We moved Chelsie to college on Saturday. It was an emotional day for most of us. I am just now starting to not be such a wreck. I am not sure if I cried because I am jealous, because I am really going to miss her, or if it is because in 18 short years my little girl will be leaving me too. Maybe it was a combination. It just seems like yesterday that Chelsie was born, so I know the years with Paige are going to fly too. Chelsie is having fun so far. I know she is right where she should be. Here are some pictures.

Dad helping her hang things.
All three sisters sitting on her bed.
A different view.
Down at the amphitheater
Mom helping make her bed.

When Mommy is away.

This is what happens when Daddy's in charge!

She licks the glass while daddy is outside.
Licking glass again
Eating something on the floor.
And just being cute.

Our new truck

OK- My last blog for the day. Sorry- had a lot of catching up to do. Justin convinced me to buy a 4X4 truck. We had been talking about buying a new truck since prices were so good. The original plan was to find one around $15,000 and take out a new loan. Then we would sell his little truck and pay off our current loan, leaving just the new truck payment. However, our neighbor sold us his 1999 Chevrolet K1500 for $2500. There is around 120,000 miles on it and a small dent. But the price was right. We had enough money saved up to put down on our next car so we just bought it. We will keep the Nissan as his work truck and this will be our family truck. Now we can go north when it snows. We can go camping. And most importantly, Justin can tow his car (When we get the tow hitch) when he wants to go to a car show. We can actually fit our whole family in this truck so it is very exciting. See the pics below.

Chelsie's Farewell Party

My parents threw Chelsie a farewell party on Sunday before they all leave for college. They rented a bouncy house (Well an obstacle course and slide) and converted the garage into a movie theater. We all had a great time acting like kids. There were many tears, but lots of laughs and smiles too. I just can't believe she will be living at college starting SATURDAY!!!!!!!

Mikaila--Testing out the slide
We got Mom on, but she got stuck
Dad's friend Pete was visiting
Even Paige loved it.
The whole gang.

Welcome Maelee Violet

Our friends Danielle & Evan welcomed a sweet baby girl into this world on Friday 8/8/08. We are so excited for Paige to have a little girl friend. Evan has been Justin's best friend for a long time and was the best man in our wedding. Danielle has become a good friend of mine and we are just blessed to have them both in our lives. We can't wait to watch Maelee grow along side of Paige.

Joseph/Tyler visit

Two of our nephews came to visit about a week ago. We took them shopping for back to school clothes (Curtesy of Grandma Rose!) and just hung out. We enjoy spending time with them. We also took them to Sweet Tomatoes, SuperFranks, Fuddruckers and Vics. Surprisingly they slept through the baby screaming in the middle of the night but the fish tank kept them up. Anyways- A fun time was had by all. We hope they can come visit again.

No sleep craziness

So Paige had her 2nd tooth come through last week. After many days of crankiness and not sleeping well, it broke through. A couple of days later she started sleeping better. We had 5 nights of sleeping bliss. Not perfect, all though 1 night she slept from 8pm-6am straight, but most nights she only woke up 1 time and Justin was able to get her back to sleep within 10 minutes tops. But last night was miserable. She woke up at 11:30 and cried for an hour. Then woke up again at 4:30 and cried for more than an hour. At that time (in my sleep deprived state), I proceeded to climb into the crib with her (Yes I fit curled up). She was making her hungry sound so I fed her. After she was done eating, I held her for another minute, climbed out of the crib. I sat next to the crib for another minute holding her hand. Then I just said, I love you but you need to sleep and left the room. She cried for about a minute and fell back asleep. But she was tired from all of the crying (And lack of sleep).

Today she did not sleep well for my mom, and has been sticking out her tongue in a weird way. We are wondering if her top teeth are now coming, but it is so hard to tell. Being a mom can be really hard.

R.I.P. Duke

So, I am not sure if I wrote too much about Duke in my blog about vacation. But Duke is my Grandma's (My moms mom) boyfriend. I am not sure how long they have been together, but I know he has been around as long as I can remember. They were never married so he never really became my grandpa and we were not too close. In my earliest memories, I made him mail (I used to make mail boxes out of paper and then draw letters for people all the time) so I must have liked him then. And as I got older, I never really knew what to do around him, but I did not dislike him or anything. There were times where I wanted him to treat my grandma better. But I prayed for him often.

So anyways, during the months before our visit he had been getting sicker and sicker. After a lot of tests he was diagnosed with Lung & Liver cancer while we were visiting. He came to Hampton Beach with us since the doctor told him it would be good for him. A couple days later, the doctors realized that Chemo would not work and told my Grandma he would have days to live. The day we left Boston, Hospice set up shop. For almost two weeks he held in there. He was in the hospital for a couple of nights and then on Thursday night they transfered him to another facility where he died a few hours later.

As I mentioned above, we were never that close. But his death made me sad in a way that I did not expect. To think that next time we visit, he will not be there is weird. Sometimes he did weird things that were actually so thoughtfull (We went to see him the night before we left and since we were going on a plane- he had to give us some magazines. He comes out of the back of the house with a travel magazine for me and a Maxim magazine for Justin. Interesting, but thoughtfull in his own way). I am going to miss always wondering what he will say or do when we see him.

The hardest part for me is seeing my Grandma go through this loss. They were together for a long time. And Massachusetts is not a Common Law Marraige state, so she was not able to do much legally. She could not even have him cremated without one of his family members. And while the plus side is that she will not be responsible for any dept he has, she is loosing the person that may be able to help her with her own debt.

So anyways- I have included a couple of pictures from Hampton Beach. He came out of his room to watch the fireworks show. Since he had forgotten his sweatshirt- he borrowed Justin's oversized Southpole one!

My Mom, The baby and Chelsie with a weird expression with Duke.
Justin with Duke. He looked good in the sweatshirt.

Here are a few more pictures from Boston/Cleveland.

Our parents all pitched in to get Nana a chair for her 80th birthday, so the all of the grandchildren (less the two that did not make it) piled on and around it while we hid it so they could surprise her.
A quick pic with her other grandparents
Who is having more fun?
Finally! A bath in a sink. Taking a shower with Mommy was getting old.
I just love this pic.

Quick Update

On Monday, Paige & I had her first swimming lessons. She had a blast. There are 5 other kids (All boys) in her class. We can't wait to go back.

We have been trying to get her to sleep in her crib again after getting her off schedule on vacation. The first few nights went well. SHe even slept from 9-5 on Saturday. But the last two nights have been tough. She has woken up for 1-2 hours in the middle of the night. Since I am trying not to feed her and I would probably end up picking her up, Justin has been going in to comfort her and I am sure this is getting rough for him. I just hope if we keep being consistant, she will start sleeping through the night.

We visited my friend from High School Renee on Sunday. She is in town visiting her parents with her son Josh. Josh is 2. But he was napping the whole time Paige & I were there. At least she got to meet and play with Paige. I had a good time. I really enjoy catching up with old friends.

I will try to post pics from Boston this week, but I have not really felt like doing much on the computer. We will see.