Thanksgiving/early December

So... here is the runner up to the family picture we ended up using on our Christmas card.

We had a lovely (albeit busy) day. It started bright & early with Andrew playing a mass at St. Rosalie Church, appetizers with the Jarosz family, a visit with Sandy & Mike at the hospital, and dinner with the Hides family..

The food was amazing. The company was fun.

Sam was as adorable as ever. Adam is pretty officially one of the big kids now & gets himself right in there to play with them.
It was an all around beautiful day. It was a nice start to the Holiday Season.

Now- if only it weren't for that pesky Sandy in the hospital thing...

For those of you not "in the know" my baby sister, Sandy (she'll turn 30 on 12/20/09) was diagnosed with Lupus last March. That's not a huge deal as my mom, older sister, and I all have it too. But in October, when she started having tingling in her hands & feet, early November when she started losing feeling in them, and mid-November when she lost the use of her legs altogether, she was diagnosed (after a few other diagnoses) with CIDP. She's been in the hospital since November 18- first in the Neurology department, then rehab, then back to Neurology, and now in the ICU because the disease is not responding to treatment (plasma washes, steroids, IVIg, and chemo) and is seeming to be getting worse. Now she's completely immobile (except for the ability to wiggle her fingers on her left hand) and she's on a feeding tube & respirator. The MRI & blood tests indicate that there doesn't seem to be any permanent damage-so the doctors are still talking about her making a full recovery. But because if her low immune system right now- so much as a cold could drastically change that prognosis.

She is an amazingly strong woman. She's had THE BEST attitude through all this - and continues to be crazy good-humored & optimistic. She's got a LARGE and STRONG support system of friends & family caring for her and praying for her.

Her husband, Mike, has barely left her side. The love & support he's showering on her is the very thing one promises when they say "in sickness & in health." ...but the health is so much easier & more fun. They could sure use a break now. We're hoping for a turn around any day now to put her back on the road to recovery. We're so proud of Mike's dedication & Sandy's strength & optimism and are praying for them just about constantly- but can always use some more. If you've read all this... I think it counts. Just say "Amen."

Here's a picture of Sandy & Mike (Samantha's Godparents) at her Christening in April.

Hope all is well with you and yours. We hope you're gearing up for a blessed holiday season.
We'll be enjoying eachother... and continuing to pray.

Autumn

So how 'bout those teeth, huh?!

Sam has sworn off baby food, now. She loves her bottle, but wants NOTHING to do with anything on a spoon in our hands. Now- if she can wrestle with the spoon herself, that's a different story! Her favorites seem to be potatoes and broccoli.

She's climbing up on everything- cruising on all the furniture & generally getting into all kinds of stuff that she's not supposed to be in to. She's way more inquisitive than Adam was. She just wants to explore everything and when we tell her "no" she looks at us super cute & smiles, like we might change our minds.... She'll learn.

Adam had his Thanksgiving party at school yesterday. He stopped singing Beatles songs long enough to sing "Leaves on the Trees" and "1 little, 2 little, 3 little Turkey Feathers." And he shared his snack with Mom & Samantha. It was very sweet. He's getting more fun (and more clever) every day!

Maybe someday I will wear make up and have my hair out of a headband long enough to volunteer to be IN a picture- but for now, please enjoy the super happy smiling Blendermann family. Believe me when I say I was smiling too- but SOMEONE had to TAKE the picture.
It was kind of a gray day. There was a little chill in the air. But there was a BIG pile of leaves (we have a postage-stamp sized lot, but 3 giant trees- this was less than 1/4 of the leaves that fell- 18 lawn bags FULL!) THAT is a recipe for FALL FUN!

I'll post Thanksgiving pictures soon.

We're SO Thankful for so many things...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

More pictures & stories will follow, I'm sure.
This one was from last night before we went to the local High School for some practice Trick or Treating.

SAM'S GOT A TOOTH!

SEE IT? SEE IT?

Well- it's there. Take my word for it! Bottom right. The bottom left is there too- but it's not quite as sharp! I've been looking (and feeling in there) every day for the last month (or more.) Last night... OUCH! She bit me! I have never been so excited to be bitten! It finally broke through. My baby's growing up!

And on that note: the little lady is already pulling herself up on stuff. The pillow is there to prevent her from getting into the stuff under the coffee table. Maybe giving her a ramp wasn't our wisest choice.

Notice how she's not climbing up by her bottle- but by my Starbucks cup... that's my girl!

(And did I mention that Adam's potty trained now? We are all about the milestones, here! It's been a big couple-a-weeks!)

Blenderful Beatles Birthday Barbeque (and Bears)

A month before Andrew's 41st birthday, his wonderful wife got him his (much wanted) Beatles Rockband (see previous post.) Since then, Adam has learned most of the Beatles songbook and Andrew has been yearning for a meeting of the Beatlemanics for a rockin good time.


FOR his 41st birthday, the real gift was a "Blenderful Beatles Birthday Barbeque."

After a MARATHON DAY of family church and baby shower, we had a FANTASTIC party to celebrate Andrew's birth (happy gave-birth-day, Mom!)

















Great friends, great food, great music! The kids behaved (and so did the adults, for the most part) and we had a WONDERFUL evening with 20 of our closest Beatlefriends!


We had a great day!...and to top it off- the Bears won- GO BEARS!!!

Gaithersburg Gathering

What a wonderful weekend we had visiting the MD Blendermanns!

I can't believe how grown up all the kids are now! We had a great time.

Andrew's premiere performance at Asbury seemed to be a big success. He enjoyed doing it, the folks listening seemed to enjoy hearing it, the kids enjoyed hearing Daddy work.

He made Nana & Opa so proud!

Adam loves being at a hotel and loves the swimming pool even more.

Next time we've got to remember about Montgomery County's no-kids-in-the-hot-tub law. He was a little bummed about that- but got to swim every morning in the cold water pool- followed by a nice hot shower.


Sammy got to swim, too, but generally didn't last as long as Adam did. This worked out because it was just Mom & Sam hanging out in the room post-swim that led to my favorite picture of her to date:

It was lovely to see everyone & we hope to do it again soon. Hopefully we'll make it out to CT or NC SOON because I'm SURE we would barely recognize the kids there, either!

As always we're enjoying each other & having fun (although we're currently in the thick of potty training which is very UNfun.)

We're missing our friends & family far away, but hoping all is well on your end.

More later.

First Day of School & The Beatles!

Well- that pretty much describes the last week at the Chicagoland Blendermann household.

Adam had his first day of school on Tuesday, September 8.

He looked like such a big boy with his Toy Story backpack- all ready to go.

And then he looked so little when we arrived at his big boy school!

HE DID GREAT! First day of school was with Mom, Dad, & Sammy there with him and he had a good time playing with the crayons, toy food (apples & cupcakes were favorites,) and even tried his hand in the sand table (although that experience was short-lived.) He sat nicely on the reading rug just like Mrs. Cullotta told him to & listened to the story of "The Kissing Hand."

Thursday was his first day with NO Mom & Dad. According to the teacher, He was a good boy (albeit a little bit unclear on the concept that Daddy or Mommy would come back AFTER he played at school.) Accoring to Adam, he played with blocks and made new friends (Marissa & Alexa.) We went to the bakery to get some special first day of school butter cookies as a treat & we're looking forward to trying it all again on Tuesday!

As you may or not know (but Andrew was all too aware) Beatles Rockband was released 09/09/09. After dropping hints like BRICKS for the last year and a half- he knew he was getting it for his birthday...and I had every intention of making him wait until October 2!

But I decided that would be mean since he had already waited so long.

It looked like Christmas morning on Wednesday night as Andrew tore into his box and immediately set up the new instruments. Sandy, Mike & their dog, Felon, came over to play and we had a great time.

As I type this, Adam is singing "Yellow Submarine" and "I Saw Her Standing There" alternatingly. We have a new Beatles Fan! Kid's got good taste!

That's pretty much it.

Sam & I are great. No big news- when she cuts a tooth and/or actually goes back to sleeping through the night, I'll be sure to write a nice long celebratory post about that, too!

'Til next time...