Broken Road

Broken Road, originally uploaded by Michelle.Dan.

"God blessed the broken road, That led me straight to you"

For some reason every time I look at this picture, those lyrics jump right into my head. It's the only part of the song I know and I'm not even a real country music fan.

The boy loves to ride his bike and needs to burn off excess energy.
We live on a semi-secluded road and it is .5 miles to the stop sign and back. It's good quality time for both of us.

It's day 4 of the 30 Day shred and I must say I'm feeling good.

Tired, but good..

Dear Internet..

Dear Internet,

Tonight's LAME post is brought to you by a 3 car pile up on Rt. 93 North.

We spend the day visiting our lovely cousins in Brockton MA and on the way home we sat in an hour of traffic. I HOPE no one was hurt, but by the looks of the two vehicles, that would be a miracle.

I am on my own tonight, Dan is at work, Nicole is at Sabrina's and I still have to do the SHRED & the best kick in the ass part of the evening is: Emily has the hiccups and for some reason it's making her have SVT episodes.

It's 10:30PM and yet I feel that I am in for a VERY LONG NIGHT.

Love,

Me

The over TEN crowd.

 

 
My favorite people in the world over the age of 10...

Nicole is working on getting her backhand spring again. She had it, but hasn't tried it since she broke her hand. It's all healed and we have the x-rays showing the 3 tiny screws that will forever be part of the family.

Her goal this season is the Varsity Cheer Team. Not many freshmen make it, but she is going to give it a try. They have an open gym with lots of foam mats and she is taking classes, so I'm hoping for NO BROKEN BONES this season.

Next week she begins a 2 week summer program for incoming freshman called "Pushing your Limits". It allows them to get familar with the school and they receive credit twords graduation.

It means that for the most part my LAZY summer is almost over.

It's crazy to think that she is about to start HIGH SCHOOL.

As I post this :she is singing at the top of her lungs with her BFF Sabrina, doing hand stands in the hallway. There is most likely going to be a hole in the wall before they knock it off...

____________________________________________________________________________

PS.

Day 2 of the 30 Day Shred. & Danielle, Casey and I took all the dogs on a 4 mile walk today.

After dinner we did another 1/2 mile, but it was mellow. Aiden rode his bike and Emily tried to run/whine/walk.

August 2009

Sometimes I need accountability.

When I have only myself to answer to, let's just say, not a lot gets done around here.

So I enrolled in 30 posts in 30 days with Eden from Fussy. This way I will be accountable to someone other than myself.  In June it forced me to focus and write down SOMETHING. But then I took July off, so now I'm ready to be accountable again.

My cousin is getting married in a month. I would like to lose these last 15 pounds of pesky BABY weight and or tone up the jiggly parts.  In my attempt to work out for 30 days in a row, I have enlisted the help of my father.  Every day I'll text him a picture post work out, to be held accountable.  My theory is that he has no patience for excused and will call me if he does not get his text. Also, should I achieve my goal, I made him promise me a ridiculous amount of lobster.

Baby X

 We knew we were having a baby. (85 test sticks do not lie.)

My husband does not believe anything until it has been confirmed by a MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL. So we had to make an appointment with a doctor in order to take (the exact same stick test) a doctor prescribed test. My whole family hung in the waiting area with us as it was "officially" confirmed that we were cooking us a baby. Nicole was excited that we were finally giving HER the present that she asked for forever. A sibling. It was for our FAMILY, not just you chicky, but why argue. She was 8 years old.

We lived in Merrimack, I was working at Sadler as a commercial insurance agent and for my entire pregnancy intended to return after my 8 weeks maternity leave and the baby would attend Lisa's Tippy Toes infant room. My friend and coworker Carrie and I had completed 3 out of the 5 courses to become a Certified Insurance Counselor. While Dan and I were excited we were adding to our family, I was secure in my decision to have a career. *Huge Foreshadowing*

I knew I was having a big baby. I (at the time) was a small women. At the end of our run together as a single unit, BABY X was squished and  it was VERY hard to move around. I may or may not have been a little bitchy. There was the small issue of "ice chewing". Dan would grind up a bag of ice before he left in the morning and I would munch on it on my way to work. P-Nut Butter Blizzards were another issue. Carrie and I would go out to lunch every day and I would talk her into going to Dairy Queen, then talk Dan into picking me up one on his way home. I KNOW.

The night before surgery my parents took us to a delicious Italian restaurant and Baby X was not happy, space was at a premium in there and there was NO ROOM for that Chicken Parmagana or ice cream.

Guessing the gender while rubbing my belly was a favorite past time for me, Dan, family, friends and STRANGERS. That last night I spoke with Dan's mom on the phone and Nicole took a picture of me rubbing the belly and wondering if it was going to really be a boy? no, girl?

All 17 of us went to the hospital that morning. Ages from 8 to 16, then all the adults. Plus me. More guessing, last minute kisses. Nicole posed for her last picture as an only child and kissed my belly.

Dan ripped all the gowns and booties to make them fit his freakishly large body. Then we went to the OR. Let it be know to all that were about to have a baby and BABY X was the only name we had.

I had NO'd his idea of a Jr. There would be no "Little Dan" in therapy 20 years from now, thank you. We both loved the name Aiden, but not sure of middle name. Emily was a maybe, I liked Lily. Nicole liked Emily but hated Lily. Dan wasn't sure. BABY HAD NO NAME YET!

Anyway, Dr. starts the surgery part, Dan tries not to look but can't help it, lots of manhandling my innards and next thing ya know he's yelling that he has hold of the BABY. Dr. is a "funny guy" and makes a few jokes about our big baby not wanting to come out.

FINALLY he announces IT'S a Girl.

WOW. Didn't see that coming. We all thought she was a boy.

Nicole SCREAMED when Dan announced that she had a SISTER! It was what she wanted.

Dan came back in the OR and we had SERIOUS discussion regarding names.

We had chosen Emily Danielle Weldon as her name and she had chosen us as her family.

Removing Belly picture from FRONT PAGE.

When I look at that picture of my belly in the previous post, I can't help but cringe.

I feel bad for that girl.I vividly remember how the last two weeks were VERY uncomfortable. 

I am working on a post for Emily and how she changed our family, but it's taking longer than I planned.

I can't look at the Belly picture anymore, so here, check out Emily @ her 2nd birthday party! 

She is trying to suck her top lip up her nose, she is so advanced. Aiden's just learning to do that.

Once upon a time we were having a baby.

We had made the decision to not find out if we were having a boy or a girl. However, this did not stop everyone in a 10 mile radius to take a look at that belly and tell me YOUR SO HAVING A BOY.

Even though we didn't know what flavor we were getting, but we knew it was going to be a big one.

Emily Danielle Weldon was born July 7th 2003 weighing in at 9lb.'s 7 oz. 21 inches long.

Then she broke all the rules and grew up. Diobeying a direct order from her mother that she was not get any bigger and stay her Mama's Baby till permission was granted. 

Then she went and TURNED 6 .  This is what 6 years old looks like:

She's just so beautiful. It's so hard to let go.

You are not my baby or toddler or my "wittle babby Chicklet sunshine head".

Tomorrow I will be serious and create a full account of today's BIRTHDAY festivites, it will be a post fit for a princess, but today I'm going to go lay down in her "toddler bed" with her while we still fit.

I love you baby girl.

Here Comes the SUN.

Here Comes the SUN., originally uploaded by Michelle.Dan.

We had the most beautiful weather today. I pinched myself a few times.

No Rain : No Hurricane's. It was 75ish with a strong wind and BRIGHT SUN.

It was Aiden, Sadie and I this morning, with this beautiful day.

We had coffee and juice outside on the front steps. We ate breakfast, then back outside to blow bubbles and take pictures. We played on the swings, threw the ball AT the dog.

When Emily came home and we made sandwiches and had a picnic lunch on the front lawn. The sky was so bright and we all hung out in the grass, soaking up some much needed Vitamin D.

To cap off the evening, Dan set up the slip and slide. Nicole, Aiden and Emily ran (away from the dog) and thru the water spray. "Dragon Nicole" captured Princess Emily but was quickly brought to justice by Prince Aiden.

I'm so happy. It's FINALLY starting to feel like summer.

Ride-y Ride-y Boston..

The forecast predicted an 80% chance of rain, with a bonus temp of MAYBE 70 degrees.

It has rained  for 8 billion days in a row.

This morning, in order to prevent a downward spiral of depression that was SURE to occur if I did not remove myself from this house, my loving husband suggested a roadtrip/adventure.

We were to throw our 2 smallest children into the car and proceed southward to the beautiful metropolis of BOSTON MA.

Our destination was the Children's Museum of Science and we were not the only depressed parents to think of this idea. It is a really cool place to visit, but on an off day, not with 300 of your closest friends (unless ALL of those friends were familiar with the importance of GOOD personal hygiene).

In spite of sharing some close quarters with some less than FRESH SMELLING comrades, the kids had fun and made sure we went to all the displays and participated in every activity available. I'd say we got our money's worth.

I love the cut out pictures. This display was directed at construction and tools. Emily and Aiden spent a bit discussing if Uncle Randy made this, because that's what he does, he makes things, with his tools.

After a few hours we decided to walk the MAYBE 2 miles to Quincy Market.

Aiden is a good boy, but long distance walking is not going to be a future hobby. In hindsight, he was a good sport, even after he ran thu the water fountain at POSTAGE SQUARE and soaked himself.

Emily does not so much complain, she just finds a song she likes and REPEATS it till you want to  scream, or buy her an ice-cream so she will BE QUIET, either way, she's happy.

It's PARTY TIME~

Kurtis had his Grad/ BootCamp party on Sunday. There was much food and games. We had about 50ish people through out the day and STILL had tons of food leftover. It rained, but thankfuly Randy and the boys had set up tents and picnic tables. 97% of the pictures that I took did not come out due to the lack of light.  But really I should be used to it by now. It was rained 18 of the last 21 days. DID YOU HEAR THAT? Go back and reread.. 18 DAYS! I'm working on brighting them so you can see ACTUAL people.

Nick and Kurtis on the trampoline.. During the ONE TIME the sun came out to visit.