4 Jan 09 - So, the rest of our vacation. We went to visit Ms. Julie for a couple of hours on NY Eve night. She used to babysit me when I was a little girl and I hadn't seen her in more than 15 years. It was real nice to see her and her family all grown up. We spent NY Eve with Nana and Papaw. We ate some yummy Bellos Pizza, had snacks, and watched Mama Mia. Amaya danced her tail off and it was hilarious. New Year's Day our cousins Shanda and Darrin and "Uncle" Sheldon came to visit us for the day. The kids played, walked dogs, watched movies, and just enjoyed some great family time. Amaya and I got up early Friday morning and headed "home." We spent yesterday getting all unpacked and cleaning up. We also went to the Vietnamese spot and had some rare beef Pho (a yummy noodle soup) for a rainy day dinner. Today is a relaxing play day for Tutti. I am gonna start packing for our move and bake a cake for my wonderful boss's birthday celebration tomorrow. That's about it folks. Please cross your fingers for us that I get good news that our new house is ready for us to move in this month. Love everyone.
Comments
Love the stories and I miss you already!
- Aunt Deb
31 Dec 08 - Wow. This holiday vacation has been a whirlwind. We started at Aunt Connie's in Nashville on Christmas Eve. We stayed and visited with her, Daddy, Papa T, and Aunt Dot until Saturday morning. Amaya got to meet her cousin Tenille and we went after Christmas shopping at Opry Mills and found a cool little spot that sells the entire Carol's Daughter hair and skin care line. Saturday Amaya and I drove up to Louisville for our big family Christmas with my side of the family. Let's just say EVERYONE was there and even Amaya's great great Uncle William and Aunt Margaret on her Great Grandpa's side came to see us. That was a real special treat. We got to see Uncle Rick the Gossman side of the family who are Aunt Deb's previous inlaws which was nice because we all used to play together when we were little. We came home to Nana's in IN and Amaya was in heaven seeing all of the other gifts. Naturally Nana let her have just one and it was her Lil' Miss Scooter. She loves it but still hasn't figured it out yet and it's WAYYYY to cold to ride it outside here. Sunday we had our family Christmas with Papaw, Nana, Aunt Sara, Uncle Clint and the boys. Then Auntie Kimi came to visit us for a few hours and played dress up with Tutti. After another late night we got up to go to Bob Evans for breakfast with Aunt Kimi Monday morning and got my car fixed. Monday was just a hang out night. Dwight (my dad) and I watched Dark Knight after the other girls went to bed. A little tooooo weird for me. Tuesday we went shopping in Clarksville with Aunt Sara and Carson. We also met Great Great Aunt Pat, Aunt Cindy, and Aunt Deb @ Cheddar's for dinner. Amaya laughed and played and warmed right up to everyone which was so good to see. We really need to try to move closer so she can be raised with her family but we'll see because they just don't offer a wide diversity of culture here. So, after a large book we are relaxing waiting to see what tonight will bring. I wonder if Tutti can make it until Midnight.......hmmmm! Well this has been another amazing year with my Princess Angel from Heaven. Many many firsts, lots of new teeth, lots of new words, and just pure joy. Although I am not the most religious one I am so thankful for the blessing He has put into my life with Amaya Alysee. We are also looking so anxiously forward to the new blessing Auntie Kimi will be bringing into the world this coming year! Gotta run and get showers so we can find some lunch and some trouble to get into....hahaha!
22 Dec 08 - Yet another laid back weekend. Rob came up here and we did Amaya's Christmas at home so that we didn't have to lug all of her gifts back and forth. We saved a couple for her to have something to open on Christmas day. She got her pink tricycle/scooter, a baby learn to read program, and a Princess dress from her Daddy. She tried to grasp the concept of riding her new "bike" this weekend but hasn't quite caught on. She got her new skates, helmet, baby laptop, princess dresses, Disney Princess shoe set for dress up, her Disney Princess mushroom chair, her solid wood playtime block (with bead play on top, and 4 different games on each side), puzzles, video phone, Tinkerbell dress up outfit, first prayer book, Princess music pop up book, and Tinkerbell DVD from Mama and YES MAMA IS BROKE, BROKE, BROKE! She also got a big girl trike, a barbie, and purple Princess dress. We stayed home and Amaya played away with all of her new toys all weekend. Daddy took down our big tv in the livingroom to take to Nana for "our" spare bedroom since we are going to move on up to a flat screen when we get our new house. I also packed away all of our components, cds, and dvds. We are on the way to packing up and moving out. We are just waiting for the call that our house is ready now. Other than that we are loading up the car tonight and leaving for Aunt Connie's around noon on Wed. I will try to get some pics up tonight if I get a chance.
Comments
Can't wait for you to get home!
- Aunt Deb
14 Dec 08 - Well another calm weekend. Amaya n I went to get Juju's last present and had dinner at Cracker Barrel. Saturday we just stayed home and relaxed and then Cameron and Keegan came over to have a mini slumber party. They played their hearts out then hopped on the air mattress and watched Christmas movies. Thank you to Ms Danielle for my dress up trunk for Christmas. She has had her pumps all day long. Sunday was just a quiet day with a good nap. Daddy's doing homework and Tutti's headed for the tub.....Have a great week everyone!
7 Dec 08 - Well it was a pretty slow weekend. We came to Daddy's real late Friday night. Amaya stayed home with Daddy for a couple of hours so that I could get a little Christmas shopping done yesterday. I am officially done with everyone except Nana now. We went to Rob's office Christmas party last night. We got to spend time with Pat, Nicole, Nicole's Mama, Logan, and Jace so it was real nice. Amaya just had a blast playing with all of the kids. Santa even came and brought all of the kids some presents. Amaya got a cool cellphone that we can record on for her. She is still pretty sick although you can't tell the way she runs around like crazy. Her issue is primarily only respiratory at this point but it's scary because she struggles to breath through the congestion at times. I am hoping these meds will get her better real soon.
Lastly I ask that you pray for my family once again. We lost Billy, my cousin Becky's husband, this week at the very young age of 48 from a massive heart attack. Our family has had a really really bad 2 years in losing so many loved ones. I struggle very desperately each time because I cannot be there to offer my comfort in person. We are a very close family and it sucks to be so far away at times like this. Anyhow, prayers are very helpful......Have a great week!
Comments
Sweetie, thank you for missing us as much as we miss you. Your Mom gave us all big hugs from you Friday night ant the funeral home and it meant so much Becky, Cindy and AUnt Pat, and Me too. It was really hard but we have made it through the first few days. Pray for them especially this week as they begin a new week without Billy and with everyone getting back to work and school. Becky hates beign alone so it will be a very tough week.
- Aunt Deb
Bridgette, thank you so much for from a far. and thanks for all prayers, this week will be very hard for the kids and for Becky too. love you and hope to see you at christmas time.love Aunt Cindy
- Aunt Cindy
Bridgette, Thanks for the hugs and kisses and especially the prayers. They are my favorite.
- Aunt Tissy
2 Dec 08 - Well we left to Nana's Wednesday afternoon about 4 and got there at 6:30 am. Daddy went straight to sleep but Mama was up bc naturally Amaya was wide awake. She finally laid down with Nana and I about 10am. Aunt Sara, Benjamin, Chandler, and Carson, Great Aunt Bev and cousin Mendy all came to have Thanksgiving dinner with us. We had sweet ham, salty ham, turkey, mac n cheese, greens, sweet taters, broccoli casserole, mashed taters n gravy, green bean casserole, rolls, and wwhew,,, pumpkin, french silk, and apple cranberry pies for dessert. Amaya barely ate because she still wasn't feeling too hot. She tore up the salty ham the whole rest of the weekend though. She refused to eat anything but her oatmeal and ham. She had a great time playing and watching movies with her cousins though. Lastly, Aunt Tissy, Uncle Andy, William and Andrew came to visit us and brought Amaya her pretty new dolly for her room.
Friday - Amaya went to see Ms Carla, Mama's friend of 20 years, to get her first hair cut. She didn't want to sit in the chair alone but she sat on Mama's lap and was such a good girl. She even got a sucker at the end. Aunti Kimi and Uncle Michael came up to see us and brought Amaya an adorable stuffed monkey and some new clothes. They spoil her but she likes it. Then we all went to Los Compadres and met Derma and Annette for dinner to celebrate Papaw's birthday. And oh,,,,,,,AUNTIE KIMI SHARED HER BABY NEWS WITH US!! I knew for weeks bc I'm special,,,haha but Kimi told the rest of the family about Amaya's new cousin that will be arriving in June. We are so excited! Wow, then Derma and Annette came home with us and Aunt Sara came down so we could have game night. Attack UNO and yahtzee. Fun fun but busy day!
Saturday - We went to Big Boy for breakfast and met Aunt Tis there. We went to get Nana and Papaw's Christmas tree and then came home and relaxed the rest of the day. We had leftovers for dinner and then birthday cake bc this was Papaw's 54th birthday. Amaya helped Nana put the tree lights up and then passed out. Mommy fell asleep watching movies shortly after.
Sunday Aunt Sara and Carson met us at Bob Evans for breakfast and then we headed home. Daddy found Amaya's new bottom tooth came in that morning. Amaya was still sick and wouldn't eat then. Amaya and I drove home form FL alone and finally got in about 4am. We just relaxed and hung out, unpacked and cleaned the car out, slept a little and did some Christmas shopping.
Monday - Amaya woke up at 4am with a fever and was coughing like a smoker. My poor baby. She has an appt today at 2 bc she can't stay on the over the counter meds for more than 10 days. So,,,after that HUGE update.......We can't wait to go see Papa Taylor, Aunties Connie and Dorothy and go back to Nana's in less than a month!!
21 Nov 08 - Well this week has been tiring because Tutti is really sick with flu symptoms. We will probably be staying in this weekend to keep her bundled up so she can get over this before we go to Nana's house. She is still as rowdy as ever though. Danielle let me use her computer this morning so we got 2 super cute videos of Amaya loaded. One is her I love you that Daddy taught her and the other is her practicing Papaw and Nana to say when we go home for Thanksgiving. We tried Lyssa for Ms Alyssa but it's too tough so now I am working Kimi and Auntie with her. Anyhow, like always if you are viewing from a .gov computer you will need to forward the link home and view from there because the vidoes don't come through on government computers. That's all for now....
10 Nov 2008 - YEAHH!!! Mommy passed her last Course 14 SNCO Exam with a 90%!!! The last of 5. I am done done done and ready to look at getting back in school. Look out SMSgt here I come....uhh yeah when I get a chance to test again in 2010...haven't even got my MSgt stripe on yet.
9 Nov 08 - Well this weekend was pretty mellow since I am trying to save money to go home for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Ms Alyssa was kind enough to pick up Tutti from school and hang out so I could have 30 minutes to get a haircut after work on Friday. Saturday we went to Old Navy and finally found Amaya a good hat to pull down over her ears on a $1 sale...yeah! Then we went on base and watched Keesler play Rob's old team. Keesler won. Saturday night Amaya n Julissa had a little slumber party on the air mattress and the parents played board games for a couple fo hours. It was really fun! Sunday has just been cillin out, cleaning, ironing, and getting ready for the week. I got a couple of new pics up also. Lastly Nana called to let us know that my Great Uncle Otis went to heaven on Friday night. I haven't seen him in many years but I remember him well and he was a sweet sweet man. He is off to heaven to relax and spend time with his wife Aunt Helen. Please pray for his children as this is a difficult time for our family. That's it for this weekend. We are counting down the days until we get to go see our family for Thanksgiving!!
4 Nov 08 - We want to say THANK U to Ms Alyssa n Juju. They gave us a huge bag of brand new winter clothes for Tutti last night. She was really in need of winter clothes and that will help us out a lot especially when we go to Nana's and Papa Taylor's for the holidays. The clothes were still too big for Juju so we will take good care of them and give them right back to her after the season so she can use them too. We appreciate it.....
3 Nov 08 - Trick or Treating was a hit. The girls has such a good time and yeahhhhhh....they stayed awake the whole time this year. They got scared a couple of times but all in all they loved it. We went with Juju B, Ms Alyssa, Mr Lavarous, Juju's Nana, Ms Sally, Andrew, and Bella. We then took the girls to eat at the Hibachi Grill they loved it. Our cook was a pirate and he catered the whole thing to the girls. It was so fun to watch them. We then went to Amaya's new friend Nick's 3rd birthday party. She had fun and actually ate her cupcake this time. We snuck in to see our new house being built on base. WOW! We cannot wait. They are sooo nice. 2 more months!! Sunday was relax day...
28 Oct 08 - If anyone is using a .gov computer to view Tutti's site then you are really missing a lot of the graphics and videos that I include due to the firewall. Please email me your home email address or just add it to the bottom of the front page so you can enjoy the full effect.
- Tutti had a rough night last night.. up at 12 and 3:45 am. I rubbed her teeth down but I have no idea what was going on with her. This of course had her exhausted and crabby this morning. It's days like this that I wish I was rich and could just say forget it and stay home for the day. Other than that we are good. I am making Halloween cupcakes for my troops tomorrow and then Tutti and I are going trick or treating with Juju and Ms Alyssa on Friday......Yeah! My 3rd Halloween costume....Rosetta the Princess, a kitty cat, and now a monkey.
26 Oct 08 - Wow!! Anther long weekend. We had the Breast Cancer 5K walk early early Saturday morning. We all came home for a long nap, had some lunch and started getting ready for the Halloween Festival. JuJu, MS Alyssa n Mr Lavarous came over and so did Ms. Sally, Andrew, and lil' Bella. We all went to the Halloween Festival at the Community Center. We were all too small to really have fun in the evetns but we got to make our treat bags and eat some real yummy cookies. Of course we went out to eat after that bc there were no hot dogs n hamburgers like there was supposed to be. Tutti n Mama got up this morning to get a few groceries and stuff to make Halloween cupcakes. We are now trying to get lil one down for a nap bc she's delerious.....that's all for now. Enjoy the new pics...Oh and check out the new feature at the top of the pic page. You can now view by events/albums. See ya!
19 Oct 08 - Soo, another single Mama aka Angel on earth story for you. Sunday Amaya and I stopped to eat dinner at Cracker Barrell in Mobile. We were leaving and I had our leftovers, 2 drinks, diaper bag and purse in my hands....as usual. I then bought a costume which was on sale. I got my costume and was going to use the same bag to put our dinner in so I could attempt to carry everything out. This nice lady asked if I needed help and I said thank you but we will be fine. Sooo, I got everything situated with diaper bag, purse, food bag, with drinks balanced on one arm and reached down to get Amaya's hand so that we could walk to the car. Naturally Amaya then began to hold her arms up and cry because she was tired and wanted me to carry her. I took a deep breath and then started down on one knee so that I could scoop her up. This man (the first "helper's") husband walks up beside me and just says, "Stop just stop honey, let me help you we are all going out to the car anyway." Oh what a relief so I just gave in. He took all of our bags, food, and everything and just told me to carry my baby. We got to the car, I sat Tutti down and went to grab our bags and he says calm down, I'm in no hurry, strap your baby in and get situated. He then stood there and waited for me to get her settled, turn on her movie, move all of our stuff from Rob's around to make room for our bags. I took the bags and said , "Thank you I really really appreciate it, there just isn't enough people around that care to help anymore." He said "no problem honey, now hurry up and get in your car and get moving because it's getting dark and there are crazy people out here." He stood there and waited until I got in and drove off safely. As soon as my tail hit my seat I felt the tears running down my face and tried to wave goodbye without him seeing me cry. I know this is a long post but it was important for me to share it. There just aren't enough Papaw type people like that out there anymore and I really appreciate him being sent my way that night.
18 Oct 08 - We went for a very little bit of shopping for a couple of winter outfits and finished up Grandma TT's Christmas presents yesterday. Today Daddy took us to the pumpkin patch and we had fun. We took pictures, got my face painted, and bought a pumpkin to paint next weekend. Then he took me and Mama to Po Folks....yummy! I ate some clams, green beans, mac n cheese, n fried okra. We are going to watch Daddy play some softball tomorrow and then we are headed home to start a new week. Mama is working at the Breast Cancer walk next weekend and Daddy and I are going to walk to support the cause. JuJu and I also have a date to go to a Hallowen Festival Saturday night. Busy me...Busy me. Love, Amaya
16 Oct 08 - Today was a good day all around! My day started off with me passing my PT test this morning. Thank goodness! I improved from only a 79/100 last year after Amaya to a 95.50/100 this year!!! I am sooo excited....36 push ups/38 sit ups/ ran 1.5 miles in 12:05...not bad for an old lady! Then at 1 p.m. I passed my 4th Senior NCO block test with a 94%!!! Yeah only 12 more test to go and I am done and ready to finish my school up. Then @ 2:20 Tutti had her 18 month well baby check up. She is doing wonderful. She is officially not a giant anymore. She has been off of the charts since she was born and she is finally in the 75th percentile. She is 33in tall and weighing 28 pounds. Her ears look great and her tubes are still in place which will help through this winter. She only has to get 1 more flu shot next month and then she is good until 4 years old!! I know she's happy! Thank you Lord for a blessed day all the way around today!
12 Oct 08 - Amaya had her first "costume" birthday party yesterday. She was Rosetta, a fairy from Tinkerbell. We got a couple of pics but our camera went dead at the beginning of the party....I could've screamed. We also went to a picnic at work on Friday and the girls ate and danced and had so much fun. The hospital Public Affairs Officer was there and he loves to take pics of the girls so I can't wait to see what shots he took on Tuesday. My computer is working but unfortuately is uable to upload pics at all. I am hoping to get it fixed next week. Lastly we want to say congratulations to Ms. Tasha and her family as she gave birth to baby Delani Jewel last night. We went to see her today and yes another absolutely beautiful baby girl!!!
8 Oct 08 - Good Morning everyone. They have finally repaired the hold in our wall after a week of calls so we are just waiting for them to repaint. Amaya is doing wonderful except that her back teeth are starting to break through. She balled her tiny eyes out for an hour the night before last but some orajel and Mama holding her finally calmed her down so she passed out. Please keep the prayers going that I do not have to deploy overseas. My bucket is from Jan-Jul HOWEVER, Readiness started handing out taskings 2 weeks ago and I still haven't gotten one yet!!! Praise the Lord. Please keep the prayers up though because I am "vulernerable" to get tasked until February. Amaya has her first birthday costume party this weekend. We'll see how it goes.....
3 Oct 2008- Well we are here over a week later and the apts still haven't fixed the huge hole they cut out of our wall. I have taken plenty of pictures and started noting everyday when I call to ask what the status is. Of course they have never called me to tell me what they are doing to repair our home. On a lighter note. I successfully got our name on the list for base housing so we should be able to move in the next couple of months. Please pray that my pics and notes will force them to let us out of our lease early to move on base...if not we are stuck there until Feb when our lease expires. Either way we will soon have a nice big house with a fenced yard for our puppies, a park and swimming pool close by. Amaya is getting more amazing every day. She is talking a lot more although not really saying many words. She does try to imitate you if you slow down when you talk and show her the object you are talking about. Potty is going ok but she really can't progress much more until she can tell us that she has to go. I guess that's it for now...I will try to post more pics soon. I went ahead and put her Christmas list up here bc some people were already asking for it so this way everyone has it all at once. OK,,,, time to eat dinner and settle down. Have a great weekend!!
27 SeP 2008 #2 - We went to the Outlet Mall tonight and go some good deals on clothes for Tutti. Not as many after season clearances as last year but she got some nice shoes, a couple of outfits, and also finally got to spend the Disney Store giftcard that Ms Kiley gave her for her birthday. We also went to see Nights in Rodanthe....OMG! I LOVE Rchard Gere. That movie had the highest of the highs and the absolute lowest of low!!! Ladies, make sure to watch it home if you don't like boo hooing in public. Good movie all around though. Well we gotta get some sleep bc Tutti will be up bright and early!
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