Recap

There has been so much to do with the holidays and just stuff in general for the kids that blogging has taken a backseat.

Cooper is getting way too big. And I know that he is growing up but when I saw this picture I just couldn't believe that he is so big!
Cooper has been talking about himself in the 3rd person lately and it cracks me up every time! The other day I was driving to Tar-jay and he says "Where is Cooper going?" and I told him then he says "Where is Cooper going after that?" He does it a lot lately and it makes me laugh =) Last month Cooper and I went and looked at a preschool for him and he was so excited! As I checked out the school he jumped right in and started playing. It was nice but I really like the preschool Madison is in so I have to decide if I just pick him up early every day or look at more schools. The one we looked at was fantastic until I asked about parent participation and she told me that they don't really do that. I left a message about another school and the lady called back and said "I understand you are looking for DAY CARE" and I said I'm not looking for day care I am looking for a preschool and she says "Oh that is what I meant". Ummm yeah no thanks. I don't know what I am going to do with him for preschool yet. I wish I didn't love St Johns so much!!

Madison had a Thanksgiving feast at school and I was pleasantly surprised. She is very shy. She wants to join in and play but is just so shy. Her teachers have been pushing her to interact with the other kids which is great. So at the feast some of the girls were building with the blocks and she jumped right in and started playing!!! This is huge for her. She was also talking to a little girl at the pool the other day and when someone asks her a question most of the time she will answer them now. I picked her up from the school the other day and she says to me "Abby and Jenna are my best friends!" Oh how that made my heart smile!


My little kiddos are growing up so fast!

It fell on the floor.

The other day Madison and I made apple doodle cookies. And I told her that she could have one if she ate all her dinner. In our house if you want a treat you have to eat good meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner and then you can have a treat after dinner.

So we were upstairs getting Cooper up from his nap and she said that she needed to go downstairs and get the dinosaur she had made Cooper. I asked her to grab my phone while she was downstairs. After a few minutes I called down to her to see what was taking so long and she said that she was looking for my phone.

She gets back upstairs and I look at her and she has crumbs all over her face! I asked her what she had been doing downstairs and she told me nothing like 5 times. (Now I was laughing so hard that I could hardly talk to her!) So she finally says that a cookie fell on the floor and she had to clean it up!!! And by clean it up she meant she had to eat it. I was absolutely dying with laughter. However, she didn't get any more cookies after dinner!

Now that is a BAD week.

Apparently my family is falling apart. I got a string of bad news all in the span of a week. It was actually more like a few days.

Shana's autopsy results came back. They said she died of cardiac arrest due to massive lung failure. Which is kind of obvious. According to the doctor there was a genetic anomaly that contributed to that but I still have not heard what that is.

Dawn, my SIL and Shana's mom, was told that she may have cervical cancer. She had an abnormal pap smear after my nephew was born (4 1/2 years ago). She buried her head in the sand and ignored it and now has to have biopsies and all that jazz. I still haven't figured out why they told her she MAY have cancer. I know that her pap smears are coming back abnormal but it is hard to get accurate medical information out of someone that isn't familiar with it!

Sarah, my SIL, has a lump on her thyroid. She had a biopsy done on it and has to go back for more tests in 6 months to see if it has changed at all.

And to top it all of my Mom was having some vision problems and went in for an MRI and was told she has a small brain tumor. She has to go back in 6 months to see if it has grown or changed then they will decide what to do.

Is that enough drama??

So busy here

Madison is back at school and really enjoying it this year! Last year for the first month she would cry when I dropped her off and then the rest of the year was spent with her little face pressed against the window waving until we were out of the parking lot. This year there is no crying and we get a quick wave out of the window and then she is off to play! Madison has also figured out how to pump her legs on the swing so now she can swing all by herself!! Madison is also taking swim classes at the YMCA. She doesn't like to go under water but her swim teacher already had her go under water and Madison was so proud of herself! She is really growing up!

Cooper is enjoying some classes as well while Madison is in school. He is taking an Early Explorers class that has art projects and gym time. He is also taking a soccer and lacrosse class and seems to be enjoying it. Cooper and I are also doing open swim at the rec center. He is already jumping into the water, going down the slide and going underwater! I can't keep him above the water anymore! He just keeps going under =) Cooper has also gone poop on the potty and peed on the potty. So hopefully soon he will be out of diapers! Although that is probably wishful thinking right now!

Wow, it's been 6 months already.

Today has been 6 months already since we lost Shana. For those that are new you can read it here. There still isn't any closure to what happened. We are STILL awaiting autopsy results. Tim and Dawn have been told that it is not a priority because it is not a criminal case. So we are still waiting.....

So much going on....

August has been such a very busy month for us! I guess we are tying to cram as much stuff in as we can before summer comes to an end.

Two weekend ago we had a fantastic time. That Saturday we went to my Aunt and Uncles (My Dad's brother and his wife) for a belated birthday celebration for Cooper. They are the kids Godparents but were on vacation when we had the party. When we got there my Aunt mentioned that she had invited her sister's family (her kids are 7,5 and 4). Which was great because I haven't seen A in at least 10 years. My Aunt then mentions that A just lost a baby last week. So I'm thinking a m/c until she starts talking about a funeral! Turns out Gerard passed away at birth. So A got there and when we were alone (or as alone as you can be with 6 adults and 10 kids!!!) I told her how very sorry I was about the baby. Her and I ended up sitting down and talking and crying for about 45 minutes. We missed dinner!! I certainly can't understand exactly what she is going through because I have never lost a child but I can understand a little bit because of what my brother and sister in law are going through. A told me that at her 20 week u/s they found out there was something wrong with the baby. They were thinking Down's Syndrome and decided that they would have an amnio just to know exactly what to expect. A came to terms with the fact that the baby was probably going to have Down's and they would all get through it. Turns out that Gerard has Trisomy 18 and would most likely die at birth. A said that the only thing keeping him alive was her. My Aunt's family is EXTREMELY religious. So the only option is to go full term and pray for the best. So for 20 WEEKS she knew that her baby was going to most likely die. I just can not imagine knowing that. It is heartbreaking. From my experience with Dawn I knew that A would most likely want to talk about Gerard. So we talked about her delivery and everything else. She showed me tons of pictures and my heart just breaks for them. She was allowed to keep Gerard in the room for 2 days. I didn't realize that they would let Moms keep their babies for that long. But A said that on day 2 she dressed the baby and called the nurse and told her to take him and run or she would not want to let him go. A is doing remarkably well and my heart goes out to them.

And then on that Sunday we went out to our friends Jeff and Kelly's house. Madison LOVES playing with their 4 year old daughter Kasey and their son is 2 also. They live up on a mountain in Naples with an awesome view of Canandaigua lake and they have 60+ acres. So the kids just ran and swam and had an awesome time! After dinner they got out the 4 wheelers and the dirt bikes and the kids rode on the golf cart and loved it! That was a fun night for sure!

This past weekend is the first time I have spent a weekend without children since Madison has been born. Yes she is 4 and a half!!!! Ryan and I went to PA for the weekend to go 4 wheeling and it was such a nice and relaxing time! It was really nice to spend alone time with Ryan. We are actually going back this weekend without the kids again! We are going with 3 other couples and I can't wait!!!!!

We finally found it!

Ryan and I decided long ago that we were going to bypass the local public school and opt for a *private school for the kids. We went to our first open house when Madison was 2! Yes, I like to plan ahead =) We have seen schools that were way too small. I mean 30 kids in the ENTIRE school. That was too small for us. We have seen schools that were AWESOME but way too much money. And by too much money I mean $17,000 a year per child!!! That is just crazy! Madison is headed to Kindergarten next year and I was starting to feel like we would never find a school that we liked.

My biggest thing was that I really wanted a school that was K-12. There was really only more school that we had left to look at and if that didn't work out then we were going to have to look at other options. We went Tuesday night for an Open house to Charles Finney and it was perfect! It was exactly what we were looking for. I am so excited that we have FINALLY found the school we were looking for. And the tuition for it is actually reasonable! I'm excited that we have found a good school for the kids and that it has a lot to offer academically as well as different clubs and for a smaller school it offers a lot of different sports as well. I'm really excited for the kids to go to this school!

I really wanted Madison to go to a half day Kindergarten and we have that option at this school which is awesome. However Madison will get out of school at 11:45 and Cooper will get out of preschool at 11:30 and it is about a 25 minute drive in between schools. So now I have to decide if I keep Cooper at the preschool that Madison went to and figure out a way to pick them both up or do I put Cooper into a preschool that is near where Madison will be going to school. Choices choices!!

*People get totally nuts when they find out that the kids won't be going to our local school. I think people have the thought that if it is good enough for my kids it is good enough for yours. So some "friends" would gossip behind my back pretty much saying I was a snob because the kids were going to a different school. There is nothing wrong with our school district and it is actually one of the best in the area. There are a lot of great things and not so great things about public and private schools. So I'm not here to debate the issue this is just our choice =)