Rebecca Claire

 Rebecca was born Sept 14 and died on Jan 28 of SIDS.  I thought this morning it had been 30 years, but realized it was 29 actually.....not that that really matters.  Melissa was born almost 10 months to the day from the day she passed away.  All the girls looked exactly alike as infants, and sometimes I have to look at my hairstyle in the picture to realize which baby it is.  But Rebecca had the strongest personality of all my babies.  She really let you know when she was happy or unhappy.  She was not very patient, but as soon as she got what she wanted she was totally satisfied.

 She was a squirmer when she slept (back at that time tummy sleeping was supposed to "prevent" SIDS).....I had to put her at the end of the crib and she would scoot all the way to the top and then wake herself up when she couldn't scoot any more.  She would begin to squirm and fuss, and all I had to do was put her back at the bottom of the crib so she could begin scooting again, and she would be happy and satisfied and go right back to sleep.

 Rebecca was the only one of my children where I had to go back to work when she was 6 weeks old.  So I didn't get to breast feed her as long as I did Sarah and Melissa. When I would feed her with the bottle, she would hold my pinkie finger while she ate.  It was so sweet.

This is the last picture we took of her, this was Sunday on our way to church.  The next Sunday we had her funeral.  She stopped breathing while taking a nap at daycare, I was at work.  The babysitter was able to do CPR and got her heart started, which is unusual for a SIDS death.  Her heart was strong and kept beating until the next day.  She died on a Friday (just like today is a Friday).  The hardest thing was telling Sarah, she was soooo proud to be a big sister.  I still can cry thinking about sweet Sarah asking if she was still a big sister when we told her Rebecca had died.  The hardest thing I still have to face is answering the question how many kids I have.  It always makes me pause (I'm sure the questioner must think I'm an idiot not knowing how many kids I have if the notice the pause), but if I say 3, and they ask more details about the girls, it makes them feel bad when I talk about Rebecca.  But if I say 2 I always feel guilty for leaving her out.  You would think by this time I would have figured out how to answer such a basic question, but I have not.

Where has the time gone?

 Angel got married!  Unbelievable!  I mean really, she was just in High School!  She was the most exuberant bride I have ever seen!  And she got married in the same chapel Melissa and Adam got married in, so it was very nostalgic!

 So here are the girls, minus Stevie, including Chris....what a beautiful bunch of women.  Gotta love them.

 Now I'm adding my 2 other girls, and my favorite photos EVER of them.  Addison is watching the wedding, and you can see her planning/dreaming of her own wedding.

Here is Abigail during one of the prayers.  Is there anything more precious?

Visitors

 My brother John and his significant other Oro just completed their week and a half visit to Austin.  Unfortunately, the weather while they were here was less than cooperative, it was cold and overcast the whole time, which limited my California family from enjoying the sights and sounds of Austin.  Fortunately this was not the first time they had visited, so they were ok with sitting in our living room playing Wii and watching movies.  We did go to dinner the last night they were here to Fonda San Miguel.  This was a restaurant that John found on the internet and wanted to try.  Sarah and Mike had been there the year before and RAVED about it.

 We went with only the 3 oldest of the 6 grandchildren in tow.  I have to say, it made a BIG difference.  The adults, especially the parents, really could relax and enjoy the food.  We had wonderful appetizers, dinner and dessert with some adult beverages sprinkled in....it was good food, better company.  It was a nice way to end the visit.  The restaurant was BEAUTIFUL too. Very relaxing, and the service was WONDERFUL!  Another thing we did while they were here was have a barbecue taste off.  John found 2 places he wanted to compare (based on Food Network programs he had seen), so we compared Green Mesquite to Salt Lick.  Salt Lick won....hands down.

We did not get many photos with John and Oro, unfortunately.  Here is one quickly taken with the best kids.  You can see how happy Jude was to have this photo taken!  The kids enjoyed playing Wii with Uncle John, AKA Uncle Fuzzy.  Oro was not feeling well the whole time she was here but was a trooper and hung in there!  I think they did get to watch some DVD's they were interested in.  They watched the latest Star Trek movie, Oro is a big Star Trek geek, just like me.  John tolerated the movie.  They watched how William Shatner changed the world, which is a cute Star Trek geek documentary.  They watched Zodiac, which I think is a great movie, but they ended watching the Beatles Anthology, almost got through all of the material, and liked it so much they were going to buy it!  Now this is a miracle, because I don't think I know anyone tighter with their money than these two!  Not that that is a bad thing, but I'm thrilled that they liked something enough here that they wanted to go home and buy it!

It's a Day thing

I feel like Homer Simpson.....but instead of bacon, Yummmmmm, Macaroni and Milk!  Just looking at this photo brings me comfort.  But it is a Day thing.  People outside our family do not understand, and some people in the family don't understand.  Yes, it is what it sounds like, macaroni in milk with salt, pepper and butter. Heated up.  On a cold day there is nothing better, and it has been cold recently!

Its in the Genes

I wanted to share photos of Sarah at age 4, and a photo of Addison.  It is amazing how much they look alike!  We were looking at theses photos of Sarah, and Micah thought Sarah was Addison and that I was Sarah!  He said, look there's auntie and Addison!  I have to say, that I have never really seen the resemblance of any of my grandkids to my kids, until I started to look at some the the photos when they were young.  Funny how the mind works, that I don't remember what may kids looked like when they were young (I'm sure the fact that it was a VERY difficult time in my life....not because of them.....has nothing to do with it!)  Funny how genes work!  I hope we pass on most of the good things, and the bad things are weeded out!

 Abigail has always had a very funny way she would pose for photos by extremely tilting her head to one side and smiling......well, look what I found, a photo of her mother at about age 2 or 3 DOING THE SAME THING!

Another thing that Abigail and her mother have in common is the lifting of their pinkie when they bring something to their mouth.....which is something they got from me.  We have a picture in a scrap book of all 3 of us lifting our pinkies in random photos.

Happy New Year

I decided the best way to start the new year on my blog is to share one of my favorite books of all time.  This is a collection of prose and poems, a meditation, and things that make you go,   Hummmmmmmmm.......Here is a portion of one of my favorite pieces!

Who would I be?
If I were then?

Would I stand on the curb and watch him go by?  Would I have knocked off for the afternoon to see what he had to say?  Would I have raised my eyebrows and wondered what all the excitement was about?  Would I have stood with a few on the corner and wondered pettishly, when were the authorities going to put a stop to this thing before it got out of hand!  Would I have drunk it all in, and been wide-eyed and wide-hearted with wonder?  Would I have  clinched my opinion as soon as I saw he was associating with some of "those" kinds of people?  Would I have smiled benevolently at the stories of wonders and healings?  Would I have wanted to get his autograph?  Would I have stood aside and waited thoughtfully--oh so thoughtfully--for him to prove himself fact or fiction?  Would I have slept soundly that Friday night, and the next night too?

Isn't it nice to be
here,
now,
for we can't mad those mistakes.

God have mercy on us.
God have mercy on us.


HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!