He's Coming Home!!

So excited...my brother (the one injured in Afghanistan) got permission to have a one month leave of abscence from the hospital and gets to come home this weekend!! We are all so excited to see him again, and to see my mom too. She has only been home for a week since this all happened about 2 months ago-it'll be so nice to spend a month with her too. Sadly, they will have to return to the hospital after the month is up but we are just so excited to see them!!

You both are in for lots of hugs and kisses!!

Georgia's First Haircut

So I decided that since Gwen and Grace needed to get their hair trimmed this weekend, Georgia should get her first haircut. Her hair was getting so long in the back, but only in certain places, so it looked more like a rat tail than long hair. And that's all I wanted cut off. Ha. Well, the hairstylist either thought Georgia was a boy (despite having a barrette in her hair and her name being Georgia...course, she was dressed in blue, but it was a girly outfit) or I didn't speak loud enough when I said that was all I wanted cut off. She cut all of Georgia's hair. Without a barrette in it now (since that's all I can do now...her hair is no longer long enough to put pigtails in) she could pass as a little boy. Blah. It was funny to see her get her hair cut though, and it will grow back...I'll just have to be patient. What a cutie though (last picture is from after her haircut)!!

Gracie's 3rd Birthday

We celebrated Gracie's 3rd birthday a couple weeks ago...figured it was about time I put up pics from her birthday. She had a wonderful day. Her birthday fell on a Monday this year, and since Robbie wouldn't be here due to working in New Hampshire, we celebrated the day before. Rob's parents came up from Rutland for it, my sister Traci and her husband and kids came to help us celebrate, and of course my sister Melissa was there too. Unfortunately my parents were not able to be there since my brother was still in the hospital at that time.

Gracie decided 2 weeks before her birthday that she wanted an all Tinkerbell party. So that's what she got. Decorations, cake, even gift bags and wrapping paper were tinkerbell. Gracie was so excited...her birthday had finally come!! Even Gwen got excited, even though she wasn't getting any presents. I think though it's because Rob's mom let Gwen take her camera and take pictures of everything.

My sister's daughter Mae decided to give Gracie a gift as well and gave her some dress up shoes that she had outgrown. Gracie loved them, since-believe it or not-we did not own a single pair of dress up shoes. Georgia loved them even more. She has got such a shoe fetish, and once she saw these shoes, she wore them around all night.

Gracie had so much fun opening her presents. Her cousins and sisters were just as anxious to see what she got as she was.

This mailbox by Melissa & Doug was one of the favorites of the night. The other favorite was a make your own cupcake toy set...the girls all love that one. Clothes? No way. Movies and toys are the way to go apparently.

Gracie wanted a Tinkerbell cake so badly, but I so did not want to make one of those big character shaped cake pans that I thought would take forever to decorate. So while we were at Michaels' thinking about the cake, I came up with this idea and it turned out pretty good. I'm not too talented though. I did use an icing bag to make the icing look like grass, but towards the end the frosting heated up from the warmth of my hands and got mushy and didn't look right (and you can tell too). The flowers and leaves are pre made icing decorations that I found at Michaels. The stones are snickers. The stems of the flowers are kabob sticks, broken in half, with green fondant wrapped around (cause I couldn't find a place that sold modeling chocolate, and I was too tired to make it myself). I even found a "gold pixie dust" that was edible that I sprinkled around where tinkerbell is sitting. It actually turned out pretty good, and was a good lesson in what to do the next time I attempt something like this.

And of course Gracie loved her cake!!! All the kids wanted one of the flowers with their cake. Gracie even made a wish as she blew out the candles.

While the kids were all waiting for us to cut the cake and dish out some ice cream, one of the kids made the suggestion that my sister's son Aidan needed a kiss. Of course Gracie was willing to try. She chased him around the kitchen and family room for about 5 minutes before an adult grabbed Aidan so Gracie could finally give him a kiss. Aidan wasn't too happy about it, but he was nice enough to play along.

We didn't know how well Georgia would handle a piece of cake on her own, so we gave her a mini drumstick that we had in the freezer from earlier that week. She loved it...but of course, she loves any treat and will gladly eat any cookie, cake, ice cream or pie that comes her way.

Grace at one point got tired of using her fork and decided that she wanted to be like a puppy dog and eat without any hands. It was pretty funny...she just ended up licking the icing off the cake because eating the cake without hands turned out to be too hard as well.

I decided that we'd have a small celebration on Monday, Gracie's real birthday. I bought a small ice cream cake at the grocery store that morning and had a fun time. It was just the girls, me, and my sister Melissa, so it wasn't much, but it still felt good to see the smile on Gracie's face as we sang happy birthday to her again.






The whole weekend was wonderful and I am so grateful for so many wonderful family members who made the weekend so special for my sweet Gracie. Gracie, you are my sweetheart. You know when people are sad, or upset, and somehow know just how to calm people down or comfort them. You give wonderful hugs, and say the funniest things. Your imagination amazes me, and my love for you grows each and every day. I am so happy and grateful that you chose to come to our family, chose me as your mommy, and that the Lord sent us such a happy and healthy little girl. Happy Birthday Gracie girl...your daddy and I sure love you!!

Growing Up

The girls sure are growing up fast. Grace and Georgia had their 3 year/18 month check ups about 2 weeks ago, and I measured and weighed Gwen at the same time, so I could update about all the girls at the same time.

Gwen is still tiny. In fact, we still have people ask us if we have twins. She had her 4 year check up in April. Since then, she has gained 1 1/2 pounds and is now 31 pounds. She also grew 3/4 of an inch, and is now 40 inches tall. She still has a lead on height compared to Grace, but is still super skinny.

Grace is growing well. Since her 2 year checkup, she has gained 6 pounds and is now 32 pounds. She has grown 2 3/4 inches and is now 38 1/4 inches tall. She passed both her hearing and eye tests with no problems and if we could just get her potty trained, she'd be doing awesome.

Georgia is growing so fast it's crazy. If she continues to grow like this, we'll have people asking us if we have triplets. Since her 1 year checkup in April she has only gained 1 pound, which makes her 23 pounds now. However, since April she has grown 2 1/2 inches, making her 33 inches tall now. So crazy!!

All in all they are doing well...growing fast, and super healthy. Couldn't ask for better kiddos...what blessings they are!!

Trip To New York

The day after the 4th of July, Rob took the girls and I down to Rutland so we could spend some time with Rob's parents. We were only going to stay for one week, then take a trip to Rochester NY over that weekend to visit with Rob's Mom's family, but we ended up staying for two weeks. And we had so much fun!! Rob's mom bought a huge kiddie pool and the girls went swimming a lot. We (the girls and I...Rob had to work) visited friends, played on the local playground, got penny candy, and just relaxed with Rob's parents.

Doctor Gwen

Doctor Grace

Nurse Georgia

We also got to go to Rochester for a few days and spend time with everyone. Rob's brother Ryan and his wife Hillary flew in, and one of Rob's cousins was visiting at the same time as well with her family. I got to go see Eclipse (YEAH!!!), we played at a park and went to a family reunion, we got to go to the Hill Cumorah Pageant (so awesome...I got to be in it one year, and every time I go back to see it fills me with the same overflowing peaceful and happy feelings of the Spirit, despite some nasty lady telling the little ones to be quiet), and we got to be at the blessing of Rob's cousins daughter. It was a wonderful weekend and so nice to visit with everyone again.

Gwen loved the slide

Grace was so scared of the slide

Rob and Georgia on the see-saw

My sweet girls

4th Of July...A Month Late

Forgot my camera when we went to watch the fireworks, so these are the only photos I have from the 4th. It was a busy and emotional weekend, because my brother had just been wounded in Afghanistan, but still a lot of fun for the girls. The fireworks were wonderful on Saturday night, and we had a nice barbeque on Sunday. All in all a nice weekend to remember those who have fought and continue to fight for our freedom, and to really enjoy and appreciate the freedom we have here in this country. Happy Belated 4th of July from us all!!

Update On My Brother Jake

So I know I haven't been good about keeping up with what's going on with my brother, but in my defense I was away for two weeks and was unable to get updates about him unless my parents called. So here's what's going on with him and how he's doing.

Jake was only in Afghanistan for a short period after the bombing. They flew him to Germany, and again-was only there for a short time. He was flown stateside about 1 1/2 weeks ago to the Walter Reed Memorial Hospital in Washington DC. Since the bombing he has had 5 surgeries and needs at least one more.

He has a small-ish cut on his hairline on the right side of his forhead that is all stitched up, and he also has a large stretched out V-shaped cut on the right side of his forhead that has at least 20 stitches.

He also has some bruising here and there, but the major injuries were that both of his legs were broken below the knees.

His right leg was a compound fracture. He remembers looking at it right after the accident and his description of it isn't pretty. Thanks to the compound fracture, he had a wound on his leg that they had two drainage tubes coming out of so the wound would heal from the inside out. The drainage tubes have recently been removed. He had a rod put into his leg to hold everything in place, but it has since been removed and been replaced with a metal plate and screws to hold everything together so that it will heal right. While doing the surgery to put the plate in, they discovered that his ACL and another major ligament are torn, so he'll have to have surgery again on his right leg to repair those torn ligaments.

There are two bones in your lower legs. In Jake's left leg, one of these bones had a large & long break, while the other bone was broken into 8 or 9 pieces. As my dad put it, it was like this bone just shattered. He had the rod in this leg removed as well and had plates and screws put in but one of the bones shifted after the surgery so they had to go back in again and fix that.

I've seen pictures of his injuries and it brings me to tears to see how bad his legs are and the huge scars he's going to have. Not to mention that every time he goes through a metal detector the plates in his legs are going to cause a reaction, because they will be in his legs for the rest of his life.

He is very very lucky though. He's been struggling with why he's been so lucky and buddies of his who are older and married and have kids are struggling with much worse injuries or have died. He has received blessings from family friends who were stationed over in Germany, and from my dad while he was down in Washington for the last 2 weeks (and where my mom will be until Jake can come home). He's had bad flashbacks, and even some hallucinations from his painkillers. He's on a lot of painkillers and other medicines that make him sleepy but I am just so glad that he's still here. For those who live here in Vermont, by now you would have seen the newspapers and tv news reports about the bombing that happened to my brother. 5 men, including my brother, were in that vehicle. One was killed, the others all injured. It's hard to listen to what the other injuries were, or hear about the other injured soldiers at the hospital and what they are going through.

Jake is already doing physical therapy for his legs, and is doing better than expected. He has a wheel chair now, and will probably be in one for at least 3 more months. He recieved a visit from the VT state house congrassman and several others and recieved the purple heart medal. I am so proud of him.

I continue to pray for him and for the other soldiers and their families who are injured, still fighting, or mourning a death. These brave men and women and their love for this country and the people who live here continue to amaze me and I will forever be grateful to them. I will continue to post updates about my brother as I receive them. Thank you all for the kind thoughts and prayers for my brother and our family. This has been hard, but feeling the love of so many has really helped make this easier to bear.