Stella's 8th Birthday!

It's so hard to fathom that 8 years ago today, we were at Miami Valley Hospital and Stella was born! I remember it  like it was yesterday. I went into the hospital in the evening of June 3rd (I was being induced and my doctor wanted me there the night before). 18 hours later Stella Marie Langley was delivered by emergency c-section. At 6:11pm Stella entered the world and graced us all with her presence! She was 6lbs 4oz and 21.5 inches long. She was just perfect and absolutely beautiful. She had a head full of brown soft hair and big bluesh/grey eyes. She was the first grandchild on both sides and the first great granddaughter. She was and still is our little miracle.

Today she has blossomed into a beautiful young lady. She's a young vibrant and active 2nd grader, ops I mean 3rd grader. She loves to play soccer, basketball, toss the football with her dad, go swimming, ride her bike or scooter, play video games/wii and climb on her swing set.

This past Tuesday, Todd and I took a birthday treat to her 2nd grade class at school. Since her birthday falls on a Saturday and the last day of school was on Thursday, we went on a Tuesday. It was Todd's first time visiting her class and Stella was so excited that her daddy was there. Since there are so many kids now a days with food allergies, we opted for popsicles for her birthday treat. Not to mention that it was 90+ degrees out on that day so popsicles were a great choice. Todd sat at Stella's desk and all of the kids huddled around. Amazing that he was able to get up from that little desk chair.

Stella's class enjoying popsicles!



Stella showing us around her classroom.



Stella and her 2nd grade teacher Mrs. Schmitt



Stella's 2nd grade class

Early on during the school year, a family at Five Points Elementary School donated this historic flag to be put on display at Stella's school. Her school collected donations to have it properly framed and preserved and asked the students to give the names of family members that had served our country. Stella submitted the names of both of her great grandfathers, Phipps Langley and Clyde Marshall. I was able to find their names amongst the hundreds of stars on the wall. What a great honor for Stella and her great grandfathers to be a part of her school history!

Finally, before the day was over Stella's class got to make one final visit to the computer lab. It's hard to believe that nowadays kids take typing class in the 2nd grade. Both Todd and I didn't take typing until we were in high school and even then it wasn't even on a pc. I suppose its the sign  of the times and well, we are just old!

Stella in the computer lab on typing pal

Even Daddy got to come along too

This year Stella decided she wanted to have a soccer themed birthday party and since her soccer season had just finished up earlier this week she wanted to have her soccer team over.




 

Stella found this cute birthday frame at one of her new favorite stores in the mall, Justice. She thought it would be fun for all of her friends to sign it when they arrived and we would print out a group picture of the girls at the party to put in it. What a great way to remember your 8th birthday!

After everyone had arrived, it was time to eat! Stella opted to have pizza rather than cook out. Thankfully the weather was nice so that nearly the entire party took place outside in the backyard.

The girls eating pizza!

My parents (Teta & Gido) and my sisters family came over to help us out with Stella's party. With Todd and I tending to the birthday girl and 9 of her friends, we needed someone to watch Jonah and manage Buckeye (our dog).  They helped us out tremendously. Sarah and Teta took turns handling Jonah. However neither of them really wanted to share him (if you can imagine that). Todd and Mikey played outside with the girls. Poor Mikey took a lot of abuse from those girls. So glad it was him and not me! :)

Auntie Sissy and her Jojo

Uncle Mikey, how did you manage to get Jonah away from Teta and Auntie Sissy?

The girls played everything from football, soccer, monkey in the middle, corn hole and a little bit of acrobatics on the swing set!

Stella and her friend Reagan with the same soccer outfit from Justice.

Todd and Gido keeping an eye on the girls outside.

Teta feeding Jonah while I tend to the girls and the party.

Earlier this year, we got Todd a cookie cake for his birthday and it was so delicious. At that time, Stella said "Mommy, I want a cookie cake for my birthday too." Ask and you shall receive!

Yummy cookie cake- great idea Stella!

Happy 8th Birthday Stella!

Hard to believe my baby girl is 8!

Todd set up cornhole in the backyard and the girls had a lot of fun. Even Teta got in on the action and she has quite an arm! Mike said "I want Teta on my team." Who knew Teta had knack for cornhole!?!



Cornhole!

Teta & Stella

Auntie Sissy managed to wrangle Jonah away from Teta!

Uncle Mike playing with the girls.

Later on we had an ice cream sundae bar! It was a great snack to have after the girls had played so hard and were worn out. Stella choose all the toppings: colored sprinkles, chocolate chips, M&M's, marshmallows and hot fudge. The ice cream flavors included: chocolate, strawberry and chocolate chip. It was so fun and so yummy!

the toppings!

yummy ice cream!

adding their toppings...

Sophia picked out Squinkies for Stella's present.

This is the group picture of the girls that Stella wants to frame in the picture frame the girls signed.

Soccer team plus cousin Sophia!

Jonah had just woken up from his nap and he got in on the group shot too!

No picture is complete without Jonah!

It's very hard to believe that my baby girls is 8 years old already! Where does the time go? She is simply getting way too big too fast. We wish her many many more blessed birthdays and we look forward to continuing to watch her grow into a beautiful young lady!

Jonah - month 8

It's almost impossible to believe that Jonah is 8 months old already! It seems like just yesterday that I was pregnant and preparing for his arrival.

Drugged up and getting ready to head into surgery.

Amazingly, Jonah remained very healthy this month. We were not battling any ear infections or even pneumonia like we did last month. In fact just yesterday, Jonah had surgery to have tubes put in his ears. He did great! Dr. Adam, his ENT, said that there was a lot of thick fluid in his ears that he had to suction out and that it was a breeding ground for infection. Additionally, he said that it is very likely that now his hearing will improve several decibels. I am so glad that we did it! Stella had tubes as a baby as well because she battled 9 ear infections within an 11 month period. Needless to say, she hasn't had a single ear infection since and as far as I'm concerned it's the best thing we did. Here's to hoping that Jonah has the same relief and outcome as well.

Jonah still hasn't quite mastered crawling. He gets on all fours and just rocks back and forth and even moves backwards. He loves to roll around on the floor and if your not paying close attention you'll look up and he will have rolled all the way across the room. He loves his toys and of course he still loves to go after the remote and my cell phone.

During Jonah's bout of pneumonia last month his blood showed that he was anemic. He is now taking iron drops. They smell foul and I can only imagine how horrible they taste as well. The first time I gave them to him I just put them directly in his mouth and well that didn't go over so well. Not only did he give me a mean and dirty look, he essentially spit it all out and all over me. Since then, I now put the drops in his rice and banana cocktail that he gets each night before bed.

Daddy & Jonah napping- their favorite past time!

Jonah is trying new foods daily. He is now eating stage 2 jars and likes just about everything except the beef and chicken varieties. I can't say that I blame him because if they taste anything like they smell well, then that's just gross! So if I am ever forced to feed him a beef or chicken variety I mask the taste by blending it with one of his favorites like sweet potatoes or apples sauce. I still loves his little puffs which are made by Gerber and are essentially little puffed snacks that dissolve as soon as they hit the saliva. Every once in a while he will hold his own bottle but he still mainly depends on one of us to do it. I broke out the sippy cup a few weeks ago and we've been working on getting him used to the sippy cup and how to drink out of it.

Teta and her babies on her birthday!

Jonah is getting bigger everyday. He weighs 21 pounds and 13 ounces. He's now wearing 18-24 months clothes and is eating me out of house and home. He would eat every hour on the hour if I let him. His hair is blond like Stella's but its begun to get curly in the back. I LOVE THE CURLS! It is really quite funny because it is straight and soft in the front and course and curly in the back.



My Curly-Q!


Probably the biggest change for Jonah this month was his daycare provider. Since Stella was 12 weeks old she has been going to Kids R Kids Daycare which is conveniently located right at the entrance of our neighborhood (it doesn't get much more convenient than that). We liked it because not only was it close to home but we loved the staff too and we had the ability to log onto the computer while we were at work and look at the kids because they have camera's in all of the rooms. However now that we have 2 kids, Kids R Kids was considerably more. Stella only goes after school but Jonah was in the infant room full time and it was quite costly. Thus, earlier this year Todd and I  struggled with what to do about our daycare options!?! Do we continue to pay  LOTS (almost the cost of 1 year of college) each year in daycare expenses and remain at Kids R Kids and then in turn let the kids pay for their own college or do we shop around and find a home care provider at a fraction of the cost and save that money and pay for their college educations (like both sets of our parents did for us). Since we were accustomed to the quality of care and education that we've received over the past 7+ years at Kids R Kids, I knew that the process of finding a home care provider would be difficult. We asked around and interviewed several candidates including folks that even lived so close by, they could be considered walking distance. Although, we had a long wish list our primary requirements were the following: low child to adult ratio (state of Ohio requires 5:1 with infants), location (close to home or work), care takers education/degree's/certification(s), someone that reported their income (because who knows, I might want to run for public office one day!) and most of all someone that both the kids and us would like and be comfortable with. After meeting several candidates, we opted to go with a lady named Ginger that watched my niece Sophia for 3+ years. The good news is that the kids LOVE her! Because she is located in our school district, Stella takes the bus to her home everyday after school. By the time we pick her up she's had a snack and finished most of her homework. What Stella loves the most is being able to spend time with Jonah (something she wasn't able to do at Kids R Kids). Additionally, she lives 1 street over from Gido & Teta (my parents) and because my dad (Gido) often used to pick up Sophia from there he is familiar with the location and Ginger and able to help up out when we are in a bind or time crunch. Finally, Jonah loves it so much there that sometimes when we pick him up and it's time to leave, he will fuss and cry. Nothing gives me more comfort then knowing that the kids love Ginger and love being at her home. What a relief we found a great person to watch the kids and we are now able to save a ton of money each month for the kids college and do as our parents did for us (pay it forward) and provide the kids with a college education.

Pooped after a long, fun day at Gingers!

The summer is quickly approaching and we can't wait for the weather to improve and have tons of fun with the kids. We're excited to take the kids to Kings Island, the pool and the lake this year. It should be a whole new dynamic with Jonah in the mix now. We've also got some fun trips planned and  several friends/family weddings quickly approaching; it will be a fun and busy summer for sure! It's amazing how fast time flies and that Jonah 1st birthday will be here before you know it!

Sarah Graduates!

I cannot begin to tell you how proud I am of my little sister, Sarah! This past weekend (4/30/2011) she graduated from Kettering College of Medical Arts with a Bachelors of Science in Human Biology. She has been looking forward to her graduation for quite some time now and believe me it was long overdue!

The Graduate!

The festivities began at L'Auberge, a French restaurant in Kettering. The regular crew (aka Teta, Gido, The Langley's and the McGowans) were present of course as were 2 of Sarah's friends, Leah Moon and Sarah Skrobot. Additionally, Tunt Sue, my moms sister flew in for the celebration. It was nice to see her as we hadn't seen her since Christmas. The food was delicious and the company wasn't so bad either.

Gido and his little buddy Jonah!

Mommy's little man!

The entire crew-part 1

The crew- part 2

Sarah & Sophie

Leah and her 2 biggest fans

Sisters!

Uncle Mikey's foolishness = happy Jonah!

After dinner, we headed to the Dayton Convention Center for Sarah's graduation. There were only 282 graduates so the ceremony wasn't too terribly long. The kids did great because they were occupied and armed with books and video games. Leah even came prepared and brought each of the girls a fruit snack. They loved it and devoured it in a matter of seconds! It's not hard to see or figure out why the girls just adore Leah.

Sissy and  2 munchkins!

I decided to take some photos while we were waiting for the graduation to begin!

Skrobot, Leah & Stella

Uncle Toddy and Sophie

No celebration is complete without these 2 little trouble makers!

The ceremony begins and we have the best seats in the house. Since we had Jonah's stroller with us and we couldn't sit up in the stands we had floor seats and were seated just a few yards from the stage and from where Sarah was sitting.

YAY, Sarah receives her degree!

There it is in print (see below) Sarah Shenouda McGowan receives her Bachelor of Science in Human Biology and she even graduates Cum Laude (an incredibly awesome and honorary distinction)!

Funny story: Stella didn't know what cum laude, sumaa cum laude or magna cum laude meant and about half way through the ceremony Stella asks Todd "Daddy, why does everyone have the same last name?" It was so funny! Later when Todd explained to her what each of the distinctions meant she assured her that she would graduate too one day with one of those distinctions.

a page from the ceremony program

Teta and 2 of her munchkins!

Jonah and his Godparents!

Teta and Gido with the Graduate!

Gigi & Breanna attended too!

Sophie is so proud of her mommy!

Cool caricature card that Gigi had made for Sarah.

Whole fam!

Notice that Jonah is in his pj's below. He did so well for his first Graduation ceremony and slept thru about half (as did the rest of us). :)

Jonah and Daddy!

Teta and her baby!

And just like that we are celebrating yet another family milestone. Sarah is beyond excited to receive her degree and to begin the next chapter of her life. She's worked really hard to get where she's at and to do so with honors while managing a household, working, a wife and a fantastic mother is no easy feat! I cannot begin to express how excited and proud I am of her. Anything my sister puts her mind to she not only accomplishes but conquers! Cheer Sarah, we love you! xoxoxo