For My Husband!!

Jim-

Today is Veteran's Day and even though you are no longer in the service I wanted to make sure you know how proud and grateful I am to have you as my husband!! I know we have had many struggles a long the way and after 10 years of being together we are stronger than we have ever been. 

As a recap of our lives in the military I wanted to show that it wasn't always all bad.

I remember when I first met you at Prairie Farm June of 1998. I thought you were so cute (of course I was 16 then and very hormonal) :) I knew you were int he military and I thought that was really cool. Not to mention a man in uniform....WooHoo!!

From that point on for a few years we stayed good friends and saw each other occasionally. I remember going over to the ROTC house and watching movies with you and drinking Honey Brown Beer (the only beer I would ever drink-and you introduced me to it). I remember going to a few parties with you, and just hanging out!!

Well we had lost contact for a little over a year and our reuniting wasn't the best of circumstances. Your cousin had passed away and I knew him from school and when I went to his visitation I had no idea you two were related. We talked and caught up and decided we needed to hang out again. So with great tragedy came a great love. 

We hung out that summer and at one point had talked about possibly dating but we both had just came out of a bad relationship and we knew it wasn't the right time. At least not for it to be a relationship that would work out. That Halloween (2001) we decided to go to a party, but I ended up just wanting to go home because I was tired and didn't know anyone and felt a little out of place. At that time we decided to try to "go out" with each other. Of course with that said we still didn't really act like girl friend and boy friend.... :) 

It wasn't until New Year's Eve that  you started staying over at my place more and it felt a little more like a relationship, however it still wasn't the fireworks going off type of relationship at that point. We still did our own thing but enjoyed each others company a lot.

I knew that coming Feb you were to be deployed to Germany after 9-11 had happened. I knew you would be gone for about 7 months but thought eh "if it works out, it works out". It wasn't until that last weekend at the Ramada Inn hotel in Bloomington that I knew my life would never be the same.

The weekend was a lot of getting stuff ready to leave. It was busy and we didn't get a whole lot of time to spend together since you were having to run around so much with meetings and so forth. That last night I remember vividly and it was a wonderful one. It wasn't until the next morning at 6 am with just a peak of light coming in the window that I realized you were the one!! I remember looking over at you and rubbing your arm and thinking how mad I was that I had fallen completely head over heels for you. I mean I had gotten out of a bad relationship just 10 months before and didn't want to "fall in love" again, but it wasn't up to me, I was....I was madly in love with you and knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you!!

That morning was very difficult. Here I had just given in to the fact that I loved you so much and now you were leaving me for 7 months. I was devastated. 

Once you got over there we talked as much as possible. I will never forget one of the best day's of my life. I was in Florida with my mom visiting my grandfather and you had called one evening. I would have never thought in a million years that phone call would be a huge change in my life. It was the evening in Florida and about 3 am in Germany that you asked me to marry you. We were both in shock I think. I received my ring via Fed Ex (I love it cause it's our own special story). Then it was a waiting game and planning for a wedding that would be that next June.

I remember when you came home (Sept 2002). I loved seeing you get off that bus. I couldn't keep my eyes off of you. I had missed you SO much!! It was wonderful to have you home and to show you all the things we had gotten done for the wedding. We had decided to move into a little one bedroom farm house on two acres in St. Joe. Those were some of the best months of our lives. I had my horse, you had your gun range. It was wonderful. We had bonfire's, and cold winter days cuddled in bed looking out the skylight!! Things couldn't get better.

We moved back into Champaign that Spring because you were going to go back to school and we only had one car so we needed to be close for the buses. We lived at Ashton Woods and that would be where we would go home as husband and wife and where we would conceive our first child Jackson. Once we found out we were pregnant apartment life wasn't going to cut it. We needed more room and not so many neighbors. :) So it was time to look for a new place.

We ended back at Deerfield Woods (where I lived right before you left for Germany). It was a great little subdivision with duplexes in it. It was in the middle of no where off High Cross Road and Rt. 130 in Urbana. I loved it out there. That would be the place we would bring Jackson's home. However it wasn't going to be big enough for our growing family (two bedrooms) so when Jack was about 10 months old we decided to start looking to buy our first home. We found a few in Champaign, but I really wanted to be in Monticello.

We found a few houses in Monticello, but most of them were to small, or needed way to much work. Then we found this great little 3 bedroom, 1 bath, finished garage home with a huge yard. It was perfect. We moved in April 15th 2005 just before Jack's First Birthday. Little did we know that just the month before we had conceived Alexander during all the house hunting and packing. :) 

Here we would make our family. However you were in OBC (Military training school to become a Lt.) and we found out that you would have to leave for 5 months to Aberdeen Maryland. Well we didn't want to have to leave our families and doctors (3 months pregnant at this point) so we stayed here and you went to Maryland for 5 months. It was very hard to see you leave just after we bought a new house and my being pregnant, but it was what had to happen.

So from June 1st 2005 (right before our 2nd anniversary)-Oct 28th 2005 you were gone and I held down the fort. It was hard not having you home being pregnant, with a new house and a 13 month old, but we managed. We went and visited you in Sept (over Labor day weekend) and it was wonderful. Jack did great on his first plane ride, and we saw the sights of Baltimore. It was a great vacation and visit, but sadly we had to come back and wait about two more months to have you home with us.

You came home right before Halloween and it was wonderful to have to home!! We flew through Thanksgiving and then Dec. 8th Alexander was born. He was born during the only blizzard of that winter. Went in Sunny, and got to my postpartum room and it was a blizzard outside.Should have warned us :)

The years went by as they do and we had you here sometimes and gone others. You worked in the Military up in Marseilles IL (two hours away) so you would only be home a few nights a week. It was very difficult on us all, but once again we made it through it.

In 2008 we thought you would have to be deployed to Afghanistan and I knew that if you went over, you would not have come back. I don't know why I felt that way, but it was in God's cards to keep you here with us and I am thankful he did. You got out shortly after that because 14 years of ups and downs was enough. You wanted to live a "normal" life and be able to see your children grow up.

We have had our own challenges along the way but they only made us stronger. I know this may seem silly to put this all on a blog, but I wanted you to see some and I mean only some of the paths we have gone down together. 

I love you James Patrick Mortland and I look forward to all the paths our lives together will lead us down. With the pending birth of our third little boy, I see new adventures on the horizon and I could not have asked for a better partner in life to share them with.

I love you Babe!!

Lizzy

Pregnancy Testing

I had my 28 week labs done last week (at 30 weeks along) and my glucose was high so I had to go back in today and have a four hour testing done to check my blood sugar levels. I got my results a little bit ago and I have gestational diabetes. I will meet with an Endocrinologist next week to get my glucose meter and to learn what my new diet restrictions will be. I will have to test myself four times a day and report in with my OB every week with the results. If I can maintain my glucose with my diet then I will not need to do insulin. If my diet does not solve the problem then I will be taking an oral insulin at that time. If I do end up having to take the insulin I will be seen by my doctor 2 times a week for stress tests and sonograms to watch the placenta (as it can age with the insulin).

Good news is, once little man comes out I will be able to go back to my normal diet/routine as usual. They will retest me 6 weeks postpartum but at that time my levels should return to normal. As for baby they will watch him when he comes out to make sure his levels are where they need to be and if needed will give him some "sugar water" to help regulate. My levels are not off the charts but they are enough that we need to proceed to the next step.

I am not thrilled about the news on many levels but mainly because it is the holiday season and I will be limited in what I will be allowed to eat-which sucks ASS!!!! The other thing is I am not thrilled about having to stick myself four times a day. It is very irritating because I ate so poorly with Jack and gained SO much weight and had no issues with him. Alex I didn't eat as bad but I had no issues with him either. So of course my little "surprise" baby has been even more of a surprise with this new news!!

I have been able to tell for a few weeks that something was off with me. I have had problems with light headiness, a few times having spots (almost to blacking out), very sluggish and tired. The only good thing about this is maybe I can convince my doctor to take him a little earlier....I guess we will see. :)

So anyway I just wanted to give everyone a heads up on my pregnancy news!!

Liz

Trick or Treating

So yesterday was Halloween and it was a great one. The boys dressed up as Darth Vader (Alex), a Jawa (Jack), Daddy was a generic made up into whatever you want it to be costume, and I was a pregnant cat with stickies on me that read: BE KIND SPAY AND NEUTER YOUR PETS!! :0) I thought it was pretty clever.

Our first stop on our venture was the Buenekemper household. Lisa's has a Halloween Party every year and there are always a large group of friends that get together with there little ones and eat and trick or treat. Well this year was no different, there were around 40 people I thin there. It was crazy, but super fun! There was great food, friends, and fun. The boys had a blast and I know Jim and I enjoyed ourselves as well. 

Our next venture was to Champaign to actually trick or treat. The boys love to go over to my folks neighborhood, because there are a few houses they love to go to and we have some family friends in that neighborhood as well that love to see the boys. So we got to my folks at 6:05 and we started our trick or treating there. We only made it an hour this year (not even a full hour) before the boys wanted to call it quits. Last year we went the whole two hours and man did they have A LOT of candy. This year they made it out with a basket 3/4 full (which is fine with mom). 

After we did our trick or treating we left mom and dad's (after a piece of candy and a quick bathroom break) and headed over to my brother and sister in laws house to trick or treat there. My brother was so proud of his decorations this year. The boys just love there Uncle Jake and Aunt Courtney of course that helps when Uncle Jake let's them take as much candy as they could possibly want from the basket. :0)

After leaving my brothers we headed over to Jim's parents house and trick or treated there. The boys got some nice baskets with some candy in it and a Halloween card. By that time they were pretty tired and so was mom and dad. We stayed there about 30 mins and then headed home. We got home about 8:50 and the boys took showers (in which poor sweet Alex cried the entire shower because he was SO tired) and then they headed off to bed.

It was a great day/evening/night. I hate that I don't have Jim on the weekends at all, but I will say it is super nice having a "normal" week this month with him when it comes to his schedule at work. The boys have half days today and we are going to go in an see my folks since we haven't been able to do that in a month (during the week). My B-day is in 7 days (I will be the big 3-0) it makes me want to cry. We are also down to only 64 days until we are holding our little one!! I am very excited and ready to be done....9 weeks left from today.

I hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween :0) Here's to November!!

Lazy October Day

So as most know fall is my favorite season for more reason's than I can list. However today is all that is Fall and one of the reason's why I love it so much, it's rainy, cold, and dark.

Jim is working weekends in November and it started today (yes I know it isn't Nov. yet). The boys and I went to church this morning and then had some McDonald's for lunch. Then Jim came home and we all got back into our P.J.'s and we decided to have a Tim BurtonAthon today!!

We started off with a quick Garfield Halloween to start off our movie day. Now we are watching Nightmare before Christmas, then on the list is Corpse Bride, and then a Tim Burtonish film by Henry Selick (who Burton works with) called Coraline. 

I made the boys a tent to watch the movies inside. They seem to be enjoying it, almost to the point of a certain destruction in it's near future. Either way we are having a nice LAZY day at home. I imagine I will have A LOT of cleaning to do tomorrow because of it though. :)

O well....it is nice to have a day every now and again to be a lazy family together. :)

Enjoy your day whatever it is you are doing :)

Liz

Pumpkin Day :)

Today was our family pumpkin carving day. As a tradition we carve our pumpkins here at home in the morning and then head over to my folks in the afternoon and have a meal with my parents, my brother and his wife, and us. After the meal we have a Halloween themed dessert...it was a pumpkin shaped cake this year.... then we all carve a pumpkin. 

This year at home Jack and Alex did great Jack O Lantern faces and Jim and I did a dead man's face for ours. This was the first year the boys really did the carving for the most part (with a little help from dad). Mom always get's the fun part of gutting the pumpkins since the "men" in my family are grossed out by it. :)

At my folks we had a great surprise of faces again this year. We all do a pumpkin (Jim and I shared this year) but we don't tell anyone what we are doing. It is a lot of fun and the surprise when it is all done is great. Alex did another great Jack O Lantern face and Jack did a Maple Leaf (yes it is a Maple Leaf) and a little Pumpkin, and Jim and I did Jack the Pumpkin King from A Nightmare before Christmas.  Our family had a great batch as well this year in creativity. 

In the past we did the real hard carvings with the tools and the patterns but this year we all did it free hand with no patterns and it made it real special.

I hope you like the pictures I know we had a blast doing it, and once again it is a family tradition that we cherish greatly. :)

Love to my family

Liz, Jim, Jack, Alex, and (Kian)

The 3D/4D Sonogram 10/22/2011

We had a 3D/4D Sonogram done today and it was amazing. We never did this with the other two because we thought it was a waste of money since we got the other 2D sono's covered by insurance. Well I was very disappointed with how his 18 week sono pictures turned out (our sonographer was not very good) so I got no good pictures and no video on Kian and was bummed out, well Little Wonders out of Normal was having a special today and so we decided to do it and I am SO happy we did. Even though he was a little stinker about moving his arm out from in front of his face, we still got some great pictures and video. We got to see him smile, his big beautiful lips, him playing with his cord and feet (while getting to see all five fingers on the little hand playing with them), we saw that he has hair, and he even LOOKED at us a few times (that was a little creepy :) All in all we were SO pleased with our visit and may even go back one more time around 35 weeks when he is a little fatter :) I posted a few pictures on here and the video can be found on You Tube and on our FB pages. It has been a truly amazing day seeing our little one with such realistic views. :)

Until Next Time,

Liz

The Newest Member of the Mortland Clan-Kian Michael Mortland

Kian Michael Mortland 10/22/2011 28 weeks and 4 days. Our new littlest member to the Mortland Clan. :)

Last Few Weeks

Well since the last time I was on here a few things have happened. Let's see where to start.....

Well my parents after a month decided that a dog was a must in their lives (at least my dad's) so after meeting a few pooches at the Humane Society, they found a little girl named Missy and they named her Miss Maizy!! I know a lot like Daisy....I wasn't sure how I felt about that, but the truth is it's their baby and she is a cute little pitty mix. I will get pictures soon. She is about a year old and still very much a puppy. :)

Let's see.....We have had a busy few weeks but luckily nothing too big has happened. I managed to sleep on my neck wrong one night and I tell you, it was a pain I have not yet had in my neck and I am happy it is feeling MUCH better today!!

The boys seem to be loving school and I am very proud of Jackson. He got 100% on his spelling test last week and it was the challenge list. He got all the words, the high frequency words and the "surprise" words as I call them, correct!! We studied really hard for it and it paid off. He also got a B on his Math 18/20 correct I was very happy about that as well (since Math is not my strong suit). Jack also lost another tooth and is already working on another one!!

Alex has been enjoying art and he seems to be having a great time in school. He loves his friends and is very proud everyday to stay on "green". He also has his first two lower front teeth loose with the permanent already coming it.

Jim is looking for another job since his will be ending in a few months and has had several interviews and calls already and we are just waiting on the right one. He received one from Chicago but we think that pushes how far we are willing to go.... (I don't want to leave Monticello and I think Jim agrees as well). So crossed fingers...I would love to have my hubby back on days.

Kian is growing great!! He is a very active baby, moving all the time and not gracefully either. I can't wait to see him and snuggle him. I am getting more and more excited. Of course that is when I don't think about all the things that come with a new baby again. :0)

Otherwise as a whole we are all doing well and have a family reunion this weekend in Southern IL that we are all looking forward to. We can't wait and I will post pictures when we get back.

We hope you are all doing well out there and until next time......

Liz

Jack's Sweet Moments

So Alex is normally my child that comes up with the cutest ideas. Just today he put his dad's shoes on and it was So cute watching him act like daddy. Now every now and again Jack has his own sweet moments as well that make your heart melt. Lately Jack has had some great ideas. 

Tonight after prayers he said to me "Mommy I wish we were like Sea Horses" I asked him "Why" he replied "So that Daddy could carry our baby in his pouch and have him in like two days". My heart melted a little and I said "Yes dear I wish he could as well" :0) 

It was so cute, he then needed to remind me that only sea horses do that. It was a sweet moment from my sweet boy.

FB update post

This is a test to see if Jim was able to get my FB page to automatically send out a "hey I updated my blog" message. :)

Baby Update

I went to see my OB/GYN yesterday for a routine visit, however this time I had many questions to ask. I had thought it over for sometime that I wanted to try to have this baby natural (no c-section) and I did read that it was possible from stories of many other mother's in my situation. See the difference is this wouldn't be a normal V-BAC because most V-BAC's are done after one c-section. Since I have had two c-sections it changes the rules.

Even thought most women can have a successful V-BAC after more than two c-setions it is more risky. There are many factors why it can be more risky. Usually it is because the scar hasn't had enough time to truly heal to handle the throws of contractions and tearing can occur with serious bleeding. Now I understand this when you have babies every two years or less, but it had been 6 years since my last c-section and I know I am a better candidate for a V-BAC. 

However even after all this information I looked into, when I talked to my doctor (who I have had since I was 16-and who delivered both my children and MYSELF) I have a lot of trust in this woman. She has done this job for 30 years and have seen many changes in rules and regulations and why they were brought to be. Even still I wanted her to tell me that I could try to have this baby naturally.

After we talked for about 30-45 minutes she told me that the college of medicine in OB/GYN has strongly recommended not doing a V-BAC after two c-sections. She told me that yes some doctors/midwifes etc.... still allow this practice and she said it can have about a 60% success rate, however it can also have some high risks as well. She told me that at Carle they follow the guidelines set forth by the college of medicine in OB/GYN. 

So that left me with two options. Either change doctors and hospital or stay and realize that my hopes for a natural delivery will never happen.

Many women would look at this and say who cares you still get your baby either way, and there can be perks to a c-section. The problem is as most know, I had a horrible experience having Jack. It was a miracle that we both came out of it healthy and OK. It was traumatizing. So when it came time to have Alex it had only been 19 months since my bad experience and I was terrified of doing it again so I opted for the c-section. Even Alex's birth had it's complications. The delivery went great but I ended up with a spinal headache due to the epidural. I also had problems with breastfeeding that even after I was told the two had nothing to do with each other, I am still convinced that the c-section messed up my hormones.

So after both of these experiences and being a little older and having time pass, I wanted to give it a try to have a baby normally. So when I was told this wouldn't happen, I was crushed. I don't want to leave my doctor she is amazing and she is truly caring to my feelings. She understood why I felt the way I do,and she gave me examples of other cases before the rules were set of a few instances of V-BAC's that had complications. She told me if any guidelines change before I am due she would consider it, but she doesn't want to risk it.

I told her how I feel like I play NO part in having my children. I mean I don't give birth-they are removed (like a mass), I don't get to see them born, I don't get to hold them right after they are born, heck I don't even get to see them (except for a quick glance and kiss) until an hour plus after it is all done. C-sections are the most impersonal way to bond with the child you have carried for 9 months. I mean I do all this work and go through all this discomfort and I don't get anything from it as it happens. I know I still get my baby and I know back in the old days it was the way things were done, but we have changed and I think knowing the options women have now when it comes to having their babies, makes me so upset that I still have to have the 1940s version of having my baby. 

We talked it over and I asked her "what if we take the curtain down so I can be more involved" and she said that wouldn't be a problem. She told me that I couldn't really still see anything, and that the curtain is to keep fluids from splattering on me, but I told her I have worked in the vet field for years and getting my fluids splattered on me would be the least gross of things I have had splattered on me. She laughed! I then asked "what about a mirror"? I wanted a mirror if I had them naturally so why not while having a c-section?? She told me that is a great idea-she said no one has ever asked to watch. I told her I have assisted in many surgeries and it won't bother me a bit and I will be so much happier and I will feel I am actually doing something.

So what it comes down to after my pages of writing, is that I cannot have Kian naturally, I will have to have a c-section, but my doctor is trying to accommodate me in anyway she can to make this experience so much better, knowing what I have been through with my other two.

Also the appt. went great, he is such a little mover every time they try to get a heart rate he moves around it's pretty funny. He is ornery!! He is healthy, mom is healthy, I have only gained 11.5 lbs and I am over 1/2 done so I am happy with that. Other than our talk it was a pretty uneventful visit. :)

Until next time

Liz

Sweet Moments

So last night we ended our perfect day with a perfect evening of bike riding and dog walking. It was wonderful. The best part however was when Jim finally got to feel Kian kick. He had been kicking like a soccer player for over a month but just in the last day has gotten big enough to kick so other people could feel him.

Today was even better, after picking the boys up from school, while helping Jack with his homework, Kian was going for a goal again. I laid back and had Alex put his hands on my belly and he got to feel Kian kick and then Jack rushed over and put his hands on my belly and Kian kicked nice and hard for him. The boys were very excited. Jack goes "Is he mad"?? Alex asks "Do you still want me to be a baby in your tummy"?? I love little ones and there perceptions on life.

It has been a great day and I am looking forward to a relaxing evening watching a movie with my little ones.

Until Later,

Liz

I hate my computer!!

So I have had massive issues all day with sites not wanting to load how I want them too. I can't get any comments to post on my blog, I wanted a preggers ticker on my FB and it finally did it through Internet Explorer but not through Firefox and then it didn't even post like I wanted it too.

It has been super frustrating. I have changed all my blog settings so comments should be posting and there not!! Ahhhhh!!

So I am writing this one to see if I can comment on it, I guess we will see and if not-then it felt good to rant a little at least ;)

Thinking before speaking :)

So you gotta love when children say something and don't think about what they are about to say.

For example my kid quote of the day today is from Jack at the grocery store in the deli section.

He asks me "Mommy does turkey come from pigs"

I replied "Jackson think about that question and you tell me"

He goes " Um...... is doesn't"

I then said " Babe, turkey comes from TURKEY'S" :0)

Thanks for the smile sweet boy!!

Truly Blessed

I started my morning out with breakfast in bed again thank to my sweet caring children. This morning I was given Frosted Flakes. :0) Then the boys and I went grocery shopping-that went better than expected. After that the boys and I and one of our dogs Stashia went to Allerton for a picnic. We saw the Fulton's and the Sowinski's there as well. We had a very nice time.
This afternoon we have just relaxed and have been enjoying this beautiful weather. The boys have also begged me long enough that we got our fall decorations out and got that done today as well. I can't blame them though. I am SO ready for fall and today has felt the closest so far. I haven't decided on what to make for dinner, but homemade potato soup is in the lead so far. With the weather being so cool and the nice breeze and all the fall stuff up, I think that calls for some good old fashion soup. :0) I hope everyone has had a great Labor Day and a great start to your week. :0) Until next time, Liz

Joys of being a parent......

Well I have to admit-as I am sure you all know I have been a little down lately with losing Daisy.

We this morning I was wanting to sleep in a while but my dear children who had been up since 6 am didn't agree. :0) Well after the boys coming in about every 10-15 mins, I started to get a little agitated with them and when I got up to go to the bathroom told them to leave us alone so we could sleep.

Well when I got back to the bed I looked at my side table and sitting there was a bowl of Raisin Brand cereal (no milk-because he was scared he would spill it). My sweet Alexander had brought me breakfast in bed.

It made me tear up, here I was getting upset with them because I just wanted to sleep in, and Alex snuck in with a bowl of cereal and put it by my bedside.

It was a nice surprise and it is nice to feel appreciated by your children. To have them realize that mommy does this everyday for them and how it makes them feel and to know that mommy would like that too occasionally. :0)

So thank you sweet boy for your kind gesture!! No better way to start off your day!!

Liz

For you Sweet Daisy

THE EULOGY

Look not where I was
For I am not there
My spirit is free
I am everywhere

In the air that you breathe
In the sounds that you hear
Don't cry for me Mom
My spirit is near

I'll watch for you
From the other side
I'll be the one running
New friends by my side

Smile at my memory
Remember in your heart
This isn't the end
It's a brand new start

By: Carol Kufner

© Copyright Carol Kufner. Reprinted by permission.

Daisy Mae

Today was one of the emotionally hardest days I have had in my life. I have lost grandparents and have been crushed by it (some more than others) and I have lost pets that I have loved, but today I lost a part of my family.

July 8th 2000 ten little puppies were born into this world. The third and most persistent puppy of all was the third one out and that was Daisy Mae. I knew the moment she was born that she would be staying with me. A friend of mine at the time had given me a Daisy bracelet that had big white daisy beads and I loved it and when Daisy was only a few weeks old it fit her great. That is how she got her name.

When I had moved home I took Daisy with me. My parents weren't sure what to think about this pitbull puppy. The first night I slept on the couch with Daisy in a box next to me, well needless to say she didn't like that idea. So she cried enough that I let her up on my tummy and she fell asleep, well that was until she peed on me in the middle of the night. :)

When it was time for me to move into my own place I took Daisy with me. Mom at that point had become attached to Daisy. My mom lost her mother (my grandma Dee) in March of this same year and it was horrible on her. We were all very close. So mom would say if Daisy seems sad she can come visit us and stay over. Well after a week of living on my own I could see that Daisy longed for my mom and vice versa. So I let Daisy go live with my parents.

Of course I had gotten her into the bad habit of sleeping in bed with me so for the next 11 years my parents would have Daisy sleep with them. Daisy was an amazing, and patient dog. She went through me having two boys, losing our Golden Retriever Vaughn, and a sickness when my mom's step dad was dying. But through it all she always made it through it. She was SO strong.

Well about 4 weeks ago we noticed her eating habits had changed and we chalked it up to the heat and age...no biggie. Well then one day I noticed her abdomen was enlarged and at that time I knew something was not right.

On Monday August 29th we took Daisy in to the vet to get some bloodwork done that was a little off but not enough to say "yap that's what it is" so we took her home that night and made an appt. for the U of I the next day.

Tues August 30th Daisy went into the U of I and they did some tests and a sonogram. It came back what we had feared. She had fluid in her abdomen and she had a large tumor on her spleen and several smaller tumors on her liver. Daisy was dying. There was nothing that we could do to help her. Dad took her home and last night her family came to spend one more evening with her. we cried, we stayed by her side the whole evening. We told her what a good girl she was, and how much we loved her. Mom made her some popcorn and she even got to sleep in between mom and dad last night. It was a bittersweet last night.

Wed. August 31st I dropped the boys off at school and went into Champaign to spend the morning with Daisy and mom and dad. Daisy got a great breakfast hand fed to her of scrambled eggs and cheese. Then we spent the morning laying with her, loving on her, taking pictures and video. I then went and took care of all her arrangements. At 10:45 we got in the car and headed over to the vet. Mom rode in the back with Daisy-who snuggled up to mom the whole way there. It was the shortest car ride ever. Once we got there, I went in to tell the doctor we were there and mom and dad said there goodbyes. Once the doctor came out I held Daisy's head in my hands and I kissed on her and loved on her and talked to her about how good she was, and how much we loved her.

I was there when that puppy took her first breath and I was there with her when she took her last. I cannot describe that emotion. We then took her over to be cremated. It was hard leaving her there, but it was even harder coming back to the house and not having her barking to greet us. The house felt so empty and it will for a long time. Nothing and no one could or will ever take the place of Daisy Mae. She was there for my mother in the hardest thing in her life. She was a rock for me in a bad part of mine. She has always loved and never expected anything in return.

Daisy Mae you truly are our best girl ever!! I know you are ok, because you have so much family up there with you to take you in. You get to see Vaughn again and play stick. You are no longer in pain. Run my sweet puppy, run as fast as you can. Smell all the sweet smells, and relish in the love you are getting up there. Remember though that you have so many down here that will think and love you forever.

I love you sweet girl.

Momma

Dear Daisy

We found out today that Daisy Mae our family dog (parents, brother, and I) has cancer. She has been ill the last week and she had gained weight as if it happened overnight and she looked very bloated. Yesterday mom said it was so bad she wouldn't even get out of bed so she went into the vet and did some blood work. Unfortunately the blood work didn't show anything significant other than she was anemic (which we knew). So she went to the U of I today and had a sonogram done and our fears were made a reality. She has a large tumor on her spleen and several smaller ones on her liver. There is nothing we can do for her. So tomorrow morning she will go to heaven. I will post more later as I am so distraught I can't continue now.

Liz

Alex's Winter Hat

So I decided without a pattern to try to knit a hat for Alex and I think all things considered that it turned out well, and the biggest thing is he loves it and wants to where it all the time now. :) I still have a little more to do with it, but this is the rough draft picture. :0) I also have a few-along the way-pictures to show later.

Lego Land

We went up to Chicago this weekend to visit Jim's sister and husband, to celebrate Jim's parents 41st wedding anniversary, and to visit Lego Land. We started our venture by driving to Bloomington to catch the Amtrak to take up to Union Station.

Jim and I have done this a handful of times and it is a really nice and relaxing way to travel to the city. The best part of the train ride this time was it was the boys first true train ride (not just the Monticello train). They were like a kid in a candy store. They were so excited and it was hard to keep them in their seat-which was ok because the boys and I had to share two seats thanks to college kids that's wouldn't sit by anyone else, we did get lucky enough one college guy got up and offered his seat to us-that way Jim could sit across from us.


We arrived into the city after the sun had gone down and it was a beautiful site all lit up. The kids were in awe. Jim's sister Kelly and her hubby Paul picked us up at the station and then we headed back to the hotel where Jim's parents were waiting for us. We didn't get in until 8:10 so we got to the hotel about 9ish and then we watched a little tv to unwind and then we hit the hay.

We got up the next morning and had breakfast and swam in the incredibly warm pool for about and hour and then got ready and headed out to Lego Land in Schaumberg. It was AMAZING!! We couldn't believe some of the stuff they created. They had a display of Chicago. It was awesome. It was detailed, things moved, and lit up. It was so cool. They also had florescent lights that made it go from day to night in the city and it was so neat.


Then we headed into the Jungle which was probably my favorite place of the entire building. It was so cool to see all the animals and critters they made out of Legos.

Then we met President Obama and Batman-I mean really two of America's hero's here. :) Then we rode on this cool little Dragon ride that was of a village-with a King, Queen, Dragon and such and that was a lot of fun even though Alex I don't think opened his eyes the entire time.



Upstairs we went.....up there the boys got to do a Lego building workshop and make a bumblebee. That was a lot of fun and we could have bought that bumblebee for $5. Uh...ya...no... However they had a great time doing it. The we went over the the "factory" where they got to learn how Lego's are made. That was neat but we were shoved in a closet basically with no air flow-so I didn't stay long. After that we went and saw a 4D film-that of course was Lego men and woman-that was pretty cool and actually better 3D effects than any other 3D film I have ever seen.










Then we headed to the cafe and had a little snack-they boys rode another ride over there and then they just got to play with Lego's and play in the big play structure. It was SO much fun. We got to see Darth Vader and R2D2 which was what the boys wanted to see more than anything. Plus they got to get a little Lego thing in the shop.

After that we went and had the anniversary dinner at the Cheesecake Factory and OMG.....it was so good and the desert- I mean cheesecake as big as my head. I had the Vanilla Bean cheesecake with raspberry sauce. It was to die for-and I felt like it afterward :0)

Then we headed home via Jim's parents van-because one train ride with the kids is enough their first time. :0)

It was a super fun little day vaca...the boys had a blast and I know we will be going again. I would like to hit the one in the city next time though.

Until next time

Liz