Monday, January 21st
HAPPY 2008!!!!! Wow, the first month is almost over ALREADY!! Guess I'm a little behind, huh? :^)
Jamie's first Christmas was awesome :) Christmas Eve we were at Mom's and Christmas Day was spent with the Leeneys where Jamie met his cuzin Evie for the first time when he was really aware of other kids. Then on the 29th, he met his 'cousins' Claudia and Aaron (my best friend Deb's kids).
We went to Beantown for Jamie's first visit January 12 - 16. What a GREAT time we had!! Everyone LOVED James (but how could they not, honestly ;>). We took a TON of pix so be sure to keep checking the Latest Photos link for when I have a chance to pose them.
Ok, that's all the time I can manage right now. More updates later, I promise!!!
Happy Belated Bdays to Kay and Stephie!!! Love you both BUNCHES!!!!!!!!!!
Saturday, February 2nd
Happy Feb BDays to: Carol Ann, Jake, John, Alan, and Carlos!
WOW!! It's already FEBRUARY!!! Time moves way to fast... So tomorrow's the Big Game! It would have been so sweet to have the Patriots completely inhilate the Packers but I guess we'll have to settle for the Giants. Brady better step up to the plate.. I just have an awful feeling all this talk about his ankle and shoulder are laying to groundwork to explain away a (God-forbid) SB loss! *in best Boston accent* I sweah to frickin Gawd he bettah bring it home!!!
In other news, well, there actually IS no other news :^) It's pretty status quo in the old Cece household and all of our most important people are doing good and honestly, can you really ask for much more than that? James is almost 8 months old (wow again!) and this week started walking forward in his walker!!!! He seems to FINALLY be over being sick but still gets a stuffy nose more often than I'd like. John's pluggin' away at JuiceTyme and I'm trying to get more settled into the pretty nice routine my son is developing. Now if only I could stop falling asleep in the glider in his room and actually get some restful sleep!!
Tuesday, March 11th
Happy March Dates to:
Deb & Rob, Jay, Gma Agnes, Heather, Carol, Kiki, Claudia, Ashley, Dan, Fred, Lori, and Mike & Sue!
Happy Nine-Month Birthday to our little boy who is just changing SO much everyday! He's starting to get the hang of crawling and fed himself for the first time today (zwieback toast). Two days ago he even stood up by himself for like 20 seconds :) It's just amazing to see these things just start coming to someone who wasn't even here nine months ago :) Gosh I love this little boy!
Jamie has been sick though since the 23rd of Feb :( It started as a cold, got worsem the turned into an ear infection and bronchitis. So he had his second round of antibiotics in 6 weeks and also was on albuterol, and prednisone :( My poor poor boy. He finally started clearing up around Friday and is going back to the doctor for the 3rd time in three weeks tomorrow. Who KNOWS when he'll finally be able to have his 9-month well-baby appointment to get his shot..
HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY from the O'Ceces :^)
Monday, May 5th
Happy BELATED April Dates to:
Cindy, Gerry, Matthew, Nick, Rob, and Sue!
Happy MAY Dates to:
Cole, Deb, Barb & Rob, Walter, Chris, Jay & Kim, Robin, Jess, Andy & Lori, Raquel, Heather & Carlos, and Jordan!!
WOW! What a long time it's been! April completely got by me!! But, the most awesome-est thing to happen in Apil was Billy's visit out from Boston! YEA!!!! We had such a great time. We got about 1/2 to 3/4 of the way done with Under Suppression, the sequel to Suppressed Evil. We're in charge of getting the rest done ourselves *gulp* What a lot of fun the shoot was, especially when Billy clobbered Steph and she got a bloody tongue!!! AWESOME!!!!
Also in April, James met his Mommy's first Grandparents and Godfather (Ages & Steve and Anthony Zaper. He also got to meet Anthony's daughter Aaliyah who's 7 months older than him (just like Aaron) and GOODNESS did they love on each other :) It was just so cute, especially the way she kept patting in on the chest and back :) TOO cute!!
Since then, though, it's been same thing, different day. James is still a right pro at everything except sleeping. I still believe it will come with time but until then, if I send ya emails or something, PLEASE forgive all the typos and don't forget how very sleep deprived I am these days :) Still!
Sunday, May 25th
Happy Sweet 16 to Miss Jessica! And Happy 5th Anniversary to Andy & Lori!
My first Mother's Day was awesome. It was actually a whole weekend celebration for Mom & me :^) A couple years ago, my sister started giving the moms in our lives each a flower (sometimes one for each child,sometimes a single rose) and it was so exciting getting one this time!!! It made me so happy :^)
I'm sorry I've been so lax on getting the pictures updated in James's Room on Snapfish but he's becoming quite the handful now that he's SOOOO mobile! We can't believe how fast he can crawl and he is so on the verge of walking. He can take several steps holding just one hand like a big boy :^) So, anyway, I PROMISE I'll get the last however-many-weeks-it's-been pix up tomorrow (or Tuesday at the latest ;>).
Finally, we are SOOO excited cuz Ma Rose, Jo, and the two Billy's are coming out in July for their first visit (except for Little Billy of course )!!! Yea, yea, yea!!!! And all we had to do was have a baby to get people out here ;> Seriously though, we can't wait to see them! It's gonna be so great to have them here to see James in his usual surroundings. Heck, he may even be walking when they get here!!
Thursday, June 19th
JAMES TURNED ONE LAST WEEK!!!!!!
Can you BELIEVE it?!?! A whole year has gone by ALREADY! Some of those days seemed never-ending but WOW did the time fly! For his big '1,' we went over to Mom's. Steph is rehearsing for a play and had to leave fairly early so it just worked out better going to their house. He ate a TON of his cake and really seemed to like squishing it in his fingers =^) HE got a ton of wonderful stuff from all the spoilers in his life but I thnk everyone would agree one of the best gifts he got was an afghan made by his Auntie Gerry. I have to admit, I got quite weepy and homesick for my second home, not only because it was an amazingly thoughtful gift, but because when I smelled it, it smelled like Gerry, and Everett, and all the wonderfulness that makes up that only other place that my heart calls home. Thank you again, Gerry.. I just can't thank you enough.
*sigh* What a one year, one week, and one day it has been getting to know this person called James. He's walking just as much as he's crawling these days and still only has 4 teeth but those next four will be here any day now. He's eating banabs and cherries and grapes but does not like real carrots or peas or corn. His liquid intake in increasing nicely and he's finally sleeping through the night (though I probably jinxed myself for tonight by saying it ;>). He's really working on some words too but can't quite get passed the babbling quite yet. But, as I've learned over the past year, it's all good cuz he'll do it when he's ready and that will be awesome. OH! Another neat trick he does now is give kisses when we ask for them :) Today, at the end of Barney (yes, during the big "I Love You, You Love Me" finale, he actually kissed me on cue all by himself!!!! Needless to say, I immediately called Daddy up at work (once I could actually get some words out!) and told him through happy & proud Mommy tears =^)
So, other than our big lovefest here, Daddy's second Father's Day was a wonderfully quiet day of the three of us and hangin' out Daddy-style ;>. We're trying to figure out what we're doing for the 4th. My CuzEr will be in Milwaukee from North Carolina for their sib visit but may or may not make it down or we may or may not head up that a way; it's all pretty up in the air still. But the following week Ma Rose, Jo, Billy & Billy will be in town!!!!! YIPPEE!!!! We're SOOOO excited they'll all finally be making it out here. I'm starting to show Jamie pictures of everyone so he knows who they are again since he hasn't seem them since he was 7 months old! I'm REALLY curious to see if he's just as lovey with little Billy again as he was in April :)))
Last but not least, Stephie's play starts on the 20th and I'm SO EXCITED!!!! It's been a LONG tie since I've seen her on stage and I'm looking forward to it more than she knows!!! I miss watchng her act and I'm THRILLED she's back at it!!!! YEA STEPHIE!!!!
Thursday, July 31st
LONG TIME NO UPDATE!
And happy BELATED July birthdays to: Billy, Mike, Justine, Kerby (Sweet 16!!), Evelyn, Zack, Cindy & Mark (HAPPY 1st!!), Aunt Bobbie, Rich & Christina, and Ashley & Mike (HAPPY 1st!!)
So, here we are, just BARELY making it with another up date for the month =^) Lots has been going on since the last update: Steph's play went really well. It was SOOOO good to see her on stage again! And I dare say, my sis has improved SO much since the last thing I saw her in!!! And I thought she was pretty terrific BEFORE! Also at the end of June, we had a fun party for Mom (nothing fancy, just good company) for her bday on the 26th.. Between theses two things though, there was our first trip to the emergency room. James had been running a fever and we were watching him closely (this was Saturday, the 21st). He fell asleep on me for his nap and when he woke up, he was just burning up. I took his temperature again and it was up to 104. I called the doctor's office but it was like 2:15pm and they closed at 2. ARGH! So I called Mom and she said to go ahead and call emergency to see what they said. Blah blah blah, the nurse told me to give him another half dose of tylenol since we didn't have Motrin and bring him in right away because that was a pretty high fever and you don't want to risk a seizure. WHAT?! Needless to say, we heard seizure and rushed him right over. So after about an hour of waiting (ok, maybe it wasn't THAT long) we finally got to see someone and of course by this time, James was just about back to normal. His temp came down quite a bit and the gave him Motrin just to make sure it was really broken. After another hour of waiting in the exam room (did a culture to make sure it wasn't strep - came back negative) we were all set to go home. We're sure it was just the reaction to his MMR vaccine he received on the 12th. And, of course, it was the 9th day of the 10 day window the Dr gave us to be on the look out for a fever. Within a day and a half, he was fully himself again.
Then 3 days later, more fun! A rash developed ALL over his midsection (tummy, under the arms, groin area BAD). Another lovely side effect, this time from his chicken pox vaccine. He never seemed to be bothered by it at all, even through all the diaper changes and though it got treMENdously worse from the start of the day to the end, the next day it was all but gone and by the end of the next day, it was gone completely. What fun what fun =^)
The month rounded off with me covering the dining room chairs (YIPPEE!!!) and my laptop failing =( Oh yeah, and as soon as he turned 1, James became a MASTER walker!!! And now crawling is all but extinct!
Ok, so July and the Fourth. We had a SUPER small gatheing this year (just us four Askews, oops, 5 - sorry Jamie!). Before they got to the house, We three Ceces walked over to the park where James had his first ride in the swing and down a slide! He really seemed to enjoy it, especially now that he loves the feeling of wind in his face =^) Later Mom and Steph came over and started helping us get the house ready for the BIG EVENT!!! Ma Rose, Jo, Billy, and Billy came out for a visit from the 9th - 13th!!!!! What a GREAT time it was having them here! I have to admit, part of me was worried about how crowded the house would feel and all that with 4 extra adults in the house plus I was worried about Ma on the stairs and all that. What a waste of worrying THAT all was! The house felt GREAT being so full and Ma blew me away!!!!! She was just amazing! The first night, Mom, Steph, and Aunt Carol came over and we all went out to dinner. Steph couldn't believe how well Ma was doing considering the last time she saw her was a month after the stroke, still in the hospital and barely able to talk, when she flew with me to Beantown to get Ma's house ready before she was released from the hospital. So, anyway, it was so wonderful to have both our families together (well, mostly) and it made me start wishing again so badly that there was such a place as Chicagoboston =( Our families would SOOOO get along so well!
And so the next day we all headed downtown and went n a Lake/River boat tour of Chitown! The boat was practically empty and we were able to move around as freely as we wanted and take a ton of pix. Jamie fell asleep for the whole first half on the lake as I was changing his diaper so I got to take a lot of pretty shots of my gorgeous city. Afterwards we had lunch at Houlihan's and headed back home. The next day, Ma and I stayed home with Jamie and John, Jo and the Billys went to the Museum of Science and Industry. It was so wonderful to be able to just chat with Ma again like we used to in Everett. Have I mentioned lately that I have outstanding inlaws!!!!!
On their last day, we threw Jamie a 1st birthday party (1 year, 1 month, and 1day to be exact). My family, the Zapers, and my best friend/Godsister Deb & her family came over and boy did Claudia, Aaron, and James keep us entertained. I think Jamie remembered how well he did with his cake on his actual birthday and had to top himself... from head to toe in blue icing that is!!!! It was SOOO CUTE (note the blue goatee on the fifth picture above)!
The family headed back early on the 13th and it was soo sad to see them go. My only regret is that we couldn't have the *whole* family together. But at the end of June, Kayla had her big surgery they've been waiting for months to do to help her with her colitis. And though the surgery went beautifully, she's had a lot of challenges during her recovery between getting pneumonia and an infection they couldn't pinpoint the cause of. She's back in the hospital now but is going home tomorrow or the next day, I believe, I'll keep you updated. SO let's all say prayers for a super speedy recovery for Kay as well as for all the health-stuff coming up for our Boston family: Gerry, Cindy, Chicky in particular and continued health to all the rest!!!!!
I know there's som much more but it's after 4am and I REAALLLLLLY need to get to bed!!!
All our love always!!!
Wednesday, September 8th
WHERE DID AUGUST GO?!?!
Happy BELATED August birthdays & anniversaries to: Chrissy & John, Melissa, Anne, Kelly, Cora, Robin & Jimmy, and Ann.
Happy September birthdays and anniversaries to Andy, Keith & Joselyn, Marky, Jack, Mike, Olivia, Dani, Jo & Billy, Chicky & Eddie, and Rosellen.
So, what's been going on... Well, August has come and go which I couldn't be happier about. As most of you know, it's my least favorite month of the year. The 20th marked the one year anniversary of my Uncle's passing. The days leading up to it were beyond difficult. The local family went to dinner together in rememberance on the day which was nice.. It's always good to be with family.
James is recognizing people in pictures and is REALLY working on talking. He said his first official word on the 2nd (baby)! He has been saying dada and mama for ages but since those are like the first words every baby says for the most part, I didn't count them =^) I thought for sure his first word would be banana but he hasn't quite gotten past 'nananana'. It's just so amazing to watch him every day, especially when things suddenly click for him. It's just amazing watching someone learn something for the first time =^) Other Jamie highlights are: he sat in a booster seat at a restaurant for the first time, instead of a high chair (a liiiittle scary but ok ;>), he had his first bubble bath (wasn't too crazy about the bubbles at first!), he's become a pro at using his sippy cup, he rode his first coin-operated ride and LOVED it, and mastered a straw in like 2 seconds!
Other than that, it's basically same thing different day =^)
Friday, September 19th
Happy September birthdays and anniversaries to Andy, Keith & Joselyn, Marky, Jack, Mike, Olivia, Dani, Jo & Billy, Chicky & Eddie, and Rosellen.
Hey all! As I'm sure most of you have heard, I was in the hospital last weekend having an impacted gall stone removed! Yeah, it's been fun and I still need to have surgery to remove my gall bladder completely but I am feeling SOOO much better than I was the days before I went into the emergency room! I'll keep everyone updated on when the surgery is and all that as soon as I know.
Hurricane Ike has had MAJOR repercussions in Northwest Indiana. My Aunt Barb & Uncle Rob in Munster have a quad level and the lower 2 floors were almost completely underwater. Just one more inch the main level would have gotten water, too... She sent pictures out yesterday and it was just heartbreaking to see... I mean when you see a steel-legged piano just floating in the middle of a room.. PLEASE keep them in your thoughts and prayers as the water receeds and they see just what lay ahead for them.
More updates to come soon but right now I have to go wake Jamie up for the day =^)!
Thursday, October 9th
Happy October birthdays and anniversaries to Sandy, Rob, US (6 Years!!), Jennifer, Billy, Bethy & Dennis, and Gus.
FINALLY, the whole surgery ordeal is behind me! My last update was on September 19th shortly after I had an impacted gall stone removed. Well, on the 28th, I rushed back to the ER in more pain than before - this time I couldn't even stand up! They took me back and gave me morphine and said if my pain went away, I'd go home. If not, they'd admit me. So surprise, surprise, I was sent home. Well, I moved my surgery up from the 23rd to the 2nd and everything went perfectly. I went in as a same-day surgery but ended up staying the night. So, lots more details later, I've been getting better day by day. I saw the surgeon yesterday and my primary care today and checked out a-ok =) So you know I picked Jamie up a weeeee bit too much today but I couldn't help it. I missed him SOOOO much =)
Other than that, things, as usual, are just status quo here in Glenwood. Next week I'll be getting us for our weekendtrip out to Beantown for Billy's confirmation (John's his sponsor ;>). We're SOOO looking forward to seeing everyone, if even for such a short time.
Ok, gotta go.. It's getting a little tiring sitting in this chair ;^)
Sunday, November 30th
Happy Late November birthdays and anniversaries to Aaron, Wendy, Ma, Joanie, Terry, Alex D, Jo, John & Raquel, Johnnykins, Joanna, and Skunkie.
Happy Early December birthdays and annversaries to Jimmy, Jimmy & Robin, Dennis, Chicky, Colton, Bethy, Keith, Anne & Stephen, John H, Kim, Walter & Gus, Wyatt, and Mark.
Well, once again, I made it just in time to udpate the month! So where did I leave off...Oh yes, right after my surgery. Things are still going great so nothing new to report there =^)
Our anniversary weekend (Oct 18 - 20) we flew to Beantown for Billy's confirmation. John is his sponsor so there was no way we were gonna miss that. The trip was WAY too short but we still got to see quite a few of our nearest and dearest. Not sure when we'll make it out again but I hope it's at least once more before Jamie turns 2 and we have to pay for a seat for him too!
That same weekend, Steph's play Dr. Strangegod or HowI Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Blasphemy opened at the Trapdoor Theatre in Chicago. It closed on Nov 22nd. I got to see it twice - once with John & my Cuz Alan and once with a big group of the family. Even though the show was at 11pm, it was totally worth it! I am SOOOOO proud of my sissy!!!
Jamie's second Halloween was pretty fun. He was still not interested in walking around for trick-or-treating but we went to the town Halloween party and he actually won a pumpkin in a guess-the-weight contest (thanks to Grandma!!!). It will be REALLY interesting to see how he reacts to Halloween (and ALL the holidays) next year!!!!
Speaking of the Holidays, our Thanksgiving was really nice. Alan came up with his GF Alicia who is just as niceas can be and was REALLY good with Jamie! So between that and makign my Cuzin smile more than I've seen him do in a long long time, I'm already smitten with her ;> The only down part of teh day awas almost everyone was fighting off some bug or another =( Here's to hoping everyone gets well super soon and those of us who weren't sick stay HEALTHY!!!
John's birthday was spent as just a quiet day at home with the three of us. I think we lounged all day which was so delicious, especially coming off the hustle and bustle of the holiday. BIG HUGS AND KISSES to the man of my dreams =^) I love you sweetheart!
Other than that, we got to see all my Cuzins this month, even if it was separately. James is TOTALLY in love with his cuzin Evelyn!! It's sad they won't be able to make it back for Christmas but at least the kids got to spend a couple hours together just before Thanksgiving. I miss you Er...
And finally... please keep Rose McDonald and her family in your prayers as she battles breast cancer... We love you Rose and wish we could be there for support!
Friday, December 12th
Once again, Happy December Birthdays and Annversaries to Jimmy, Jimmy & Robin, Dennis, Chicky, Colton, Bethy, Keith, Anne & Stephen, John H, Kim, Walter & Gus, Wyatt, and Mark.
...My little boy is already 18 months old.. What a lifetime ago last year seems now. How he's changed and learned and grown. Heck, just 6 months ago he was just starting to walk on his own and now he's running around teh house like he owns it =^)! This has been a fabulous ride so far and I am so incredibly grateful God deemed me worthy to care for this precious soul that is my son. There simply aren't enough words to describe just how very much in love I am with my James..
Let's see, what's been happening since the last update (reading back reading back...)? John's Juice Tyme Christmas party was the first Friday of December but we ended up not going. As cold as it's been lately and with all the hours of extra driving it would have meant for John, it was just a bit much to deal with with still such a little one. I think next year we'll be ableto be there with bells on =^)
Carol took us all out for John's birthday on the 6th. Mom got REALLY sick after Thanksgiving so we had to postpone the dinner. We were goingto go to House of Kobe (the Japanese restaurant where we had our rehearsal dinner) but were very surprised to find they cut their hours and weren't going to be open for several more hours! I guess the economic hard times are really starting to make an impact, huh.. So anyway, we ended up going across the street to steakhouse we'd been wanting to try for the last couple of years anyway and had a great time with a good meal. THANKS CAROL!
The next day, I was sick as a dog! Miseeeerrrrable with a terrible cold and no energy whatsoever. Thank goodness my husband is the awesome guy he is because he stepped up and stepped in with caring for Jamie all day. Kisses kisses to my fab hubby =^). Six days later now, I'm feeling a ton better and so far so good it seems James just mightmiss this cold, too. Which is REALLY good because he due to go for his 18-month well baby appointment on Wednesday and get yet another shot. PLEASE keep your fingers crossed he stays healthy so we don't have to postpone. Our Dr. was out sick for his 15 month WB and I'm dying to ask her about some things. Especially since our beauty has had a red cheek for the last several weeks abnd no matter what I do it's not going away. It doesn't bother him at all and looks much worse than it seems to feel for him so I'm stumped.I'm pretty sure it's because he falls asleep with a pacy and (especially when he's actively teething) drools and drools and drools and his poor little face just lays in it but, like I said, I'll feel better once I talk to the Doc and get her input.
Other than that, we've just been getting ready for the holidays and amazingly James has made getting Christmas decorations up MUCH less of a hassle than I was afraid they'd be. What a good little helper we have =^) We took our Christmas photo on the 10th (our annual picture taking day) and did Jamie's hand and foot prints as we've done every six months since he was born. It was much easier this time so I can only imagine how smoothly it'll go in six more months when he's - GULP - TWO!! Oy vey... my baby's gonna leave me.. He's gonna find a wonderful girl who lives 1000 miles away and he's gonna leave me... I know, I'm pathetic =}
So ANYWAY, have a very very Merry Christmas and a 2009 that's the Happiest New Year of them all!!!!
All our love and hugs and kisses,
Jenny, Johnny, and Jamie
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