MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Well, it's after Christmas now but it was a great 1st Christmas for Jonathan. He is right now sitting in my lap watching me type here. It's quite cute. He keeps trying to grab my hands & the keyboard to help type. Oh, well, he is just being a cute little boy. I will try to post some pics tomorrow with Santa at Great-Grandma's. Not too much else is going on. Still waiting for E to call me with the news. I already checked her blog & it has not happened yet. I will post more tomorrow when I don't have Jonathan in my arms.

HEY-HEY

Another cute thing done by my baby boy, Jonathan.
This happened this morning just before I left for work. Bruck was getting him fed after getting a diaper change & changed out of his wet pjs. The bottle fell out of Jonathan's mouth then Jonathan looked at Bruck & went "hey-hey". Most likely not the exact words but at least the noise of it..... It was sooooo cute. Forget Dada. He's hey-hey. Tee hee.

JONATHAN & FEET

Here is a cute event that happened yesterday with my son & his daddy. Before I got home from work, Bruck was playing with Jonathan & Jonathan got a hold of his socks & pulled them off. After looking at them in his hands, he put them in his mouth & started to munch them. It was quite funny. So, now he is our little "Sock Muncher" as his daddy calls him. Only 2 more days before Christmas break. Till the next time I write, have a good day.

JONATHAN & HIS DADDY

Well, not too much is happening. My husband is home all this week from work for vacation & spending time with our son, Jonathan. Now besides Jonathan being with a little cold, I have gotten sick myself & now my husband is sick. What a great Christmas this will be; with us all being sick. Bummer. But we will get through it. Only 3 more days left to go before I am on Christmas break. Our work gives us the week between Christmas & New Year's off with pay. Very nice. We won't be back until January 3rd. I am looking forward to my time off. My plans will be to work on the scrapbook that I have started for Jonathan. That's pretty much it. No traveling for a while. Traveled at Thanksgiving, Labor Day, Memorial Day. So, right now, I am done with traveling for a while. Yeah! That's all for today.

Another neat little story I got by e-mail. This is such a touching story, that I really liked it.

THE "W" IN CHRISTMAS
Each December, I vowed to make Christmas a calm and peaceful experience. I had cut back on nonessential obligations -- extensive card writing, endless baking, decorating, and even overspending. Yet still, I found myself exhausted, unable to appreciate the precious family moments, and of course, the true meaning of Christmas.My son, Nicholas, was in kindergarten that year. It was an exciting season for a six-year-old. For weeks, he'd been memorizing songs for his school's "WinterPageant."I didn't have the heart to tell him I'd be working the night of the production. Unwilling to miss his shining moment, I spoke with his teacher. She assured me there'd be a dress rehearsal the morning of the presentation. All parents unable to attend that evening were welcome to come then. Fortunately, Nicholas seemed happy with the compromise. So, the morning of the dress rehearsal, I filed in ten minutes early, found a spot on the cafeteria floor and sat down. Around the room, I saw several other parents quietly scampering to their seats. As I waited, the students were led into the room. Each class, accompanied by their teacher, sat cross-legged on the floor. Then, each group, one by one, rose to perform their song. Because the public school system had long stopped referring to the holidayas Christmas," I didn't expect anything other than fun, commercial entertainment - songs of reindeer, Santa Claus, snowflakes and good cheer. So, when my son's class rose to sing, "Christmas Love," I was slightly taken aback by its bold title. Nicholas was aglow, as were all of his classmates, adorned in fuzzy mittens, red sweaters, and bright snowcaps upon their heads. Those in the front row-center stage -- held up large letters, one by one, to spell out the title of the song. As the class would sing "C is for Christmas," a child would hold up the letter C. Then, "H is for Happy," and on and on, until each child holding up his portion had presented the complete message, "Christmas Love."The performance was going smoothly, until suddenly, we noticed her; a small, quiet girl in the front row holding the letter "M" upside down -- totally unaware her letter "M" appeared as a "W." The audience of 1st through 6th graders snickered at this little one's mistake. But she had no idea they were laughing at her, so she stood tall, proudly holding her "W." Although many teachers tried to shush the children, the laughter continued until the last letter was raised, and we all saw it together. A hush came over the audience and eyes began to widen. In that instant, we understood the reason we were there, why we celebrated the holiday in the first place, why even in the chaos, there was a purpose for our festivities. For when the last letter was held high, the message read loud and clear:"C H R I S T W A S L O V E"And, I believe, He still is. Amazed in His presence... Humbled by His love. May each of you have a Merry Christmas as you reflect on His Amazing Love for us...

This was a neat little story. This is so true about my life, for sure. I got it from a friend in an e-mail & wanted to post it here. Enjoy.

UNDERSTANDING THE BIBLE
An old man lived on a farm in the mountains of eastern Kentucky with his young grandson. Each morning, Grandpa was up early sitting at the kitchen table reading from his old worn-out Bible. His grandson, who wanted to be just like him, tried to imitate him in any way he could. One day the grandson asked, "Papa, I try to read the Bible just like you but I don't understand it, and what I do understand I forget as soon as I close the book. What good does reading the Bible do?" The Grandfather quietly turned from putting coal in the stove and said, "Take this coal basket down to the river and bring back a basket of water." The boy did as he was told,even though all the water leaked out before he could get back to the house. The grandfather laughed and said, "You will have to move a little faster next time," and sent him back to the river with the basket to try again.This time the boy ran faster, but again the basket was empty before he returned home. Out of breath, he told his grandfather that it was "impossible to carry water in a basket," and he went to get a bucket instead. The old man said, "I don't want a bucket of water; I want a basket of water. You can do this. You're just not trying hard enough," and he went out the door to watch the boy try again.At this point, the boy knew it was impossible, but he wanted to show his grandfather that even if he ran as fast as he could, the water would leak out before he got far at all. The boy scooped the water and ran hard, but when he reached his grandfather the basket was again empty. Out of breath, he said, "See Papa, it's useless!""So you think it is useless?" the old man said. "Look at the basket." The boy looked at the basket and for the first time he realized that the basket looked different. Instead of a dirty old coal basket, it was clean. "Son, that's what happens when you read the Bible. "You might not understand or remember everything, but when you read it, it will change you from the inside out."

This is a neat little prayer thing.


Best Prayer I Have Heard In A Long Time...

Heavenly Father, Help us remember that the jerk who cut us off in traffic last night is a single mother who worked nine hours that day and is rushing home to cook dinner, help with homework, do the laundry and spend a few precious moments with her children.

Help us to remember that the pierced, tattooed, disinterested young man who can't make change correctly is a worried 19-year-old college student, balancing his apprehension over final exams with his fear of not getting his student loans for next semester.

Remind us, Lord, that the scary looking bum, begging for money in the same spot every day (who really ought to get a job!) is a slave to addictions that we can only imagine in our worst nightmares .

Help us to remember that the old couple walking annoyingly slow through the store aisles and blocking our shopping progress are savoring this moment, knowing that, based on the biopsy report she got back last week, this will be the last year that they go shopping together.

Heavenly Father, remind us each day that, of all the gifts you give us, the greatest gift is love. It is not enough to share that love with those we hold dear. Open our hearts not to just those who
are close to us, but to all humanity. Let us be slow to judge and quick to forgive, show patience,
empathy and love.

If you send this to people, then you have a chance to touch people. You won't get any wish for material things, however you might just find a piece of serenity and the warmth of God's touch.

Working for God on earth doesn't pay much......but His retirement plan is out of this world.

This is a pretty funny clip. Enjoy reading it.


THE TWELVE THANK-YOU NOTES OF CHRISTMAS

Dec 25
My dearest darling Edward,
What a wonderful surprise has just greeted me! That sweet partridge, in that lovely little pear-tree; what an enchanting, romantic, poetic present! Bless you, and thank you.
Your deeply loving Emily

Dec 26
Beloved Edward,
The two turtle-doves arrived this morning, and are cooing away in the pear-tree as I write. I'm so touched and grateful!
With undying love, as always, Emily

Dec 27
My darling Edward,
You do think of the most original presents! Who ever thought of sending anybody three French hens? Do they really come all the way from France? It's a pity we have no chicken coops, but I expect we'll find some. Anyway, thank you so much; they're lovely.
Your devoted Emily

Dec 28
Dearest Edward,
What a surprise! Four calling birds arrived this morning. They are very sweet, even if they do call rather loudly--they make telephoning almost impossible--but I expect they'll calm down when they get used to their new home. Anyway, I'm very grateful, of course I am.
Love from Emily

Dec 29
Dearest Edward,
The mailman has just delivered five most beautiful gold rings, one for each finger, and all fitting perfectly! A really lovely present! Lovelier, in a way, than birds, which do take rather a lot of looking after. The four that arrived yesterday are still making a terrible row, and I'm afraid none of us got much sleep last night. Mother says she wants to use the rings to "wring" their necks. Mother has such a sense of humor. This time she's only joking, I think, but I do know what she means. Still, I love the rings.
Bless you, Emily

Dec 30
Dear Edward,
Whatever I expected to find when I opened the front door this morning, it certainly wasn't six socking great geese laying eggs all over the porch. Frankly, I rather hoped that you had stopped sending me birds. We have no room for them, and they've already ruined the croquet lawn. I know you meant well, but let's call a halt, shall we?
Love, Emily

Dec 31
Edward,
I thought I said NO MORE BIRDS. This morning I woke up to find no more than seven swans, all trying to get into our tiny goldfish pond. I'd rather not think what's happened to the goldfish. The whole house seems to be full of birds, to say nothing of what they leave behind them, so please, please, stop!
Your Emily

Jan 1
Frankly, I prefer the birds. What am I to do with eight milkmaids? And their cows! Is this some kind of a joke? If so, I'm afraid I don't find it very amusing.
Emily

Jan 2
Look here, Edward,
This has gone far enough. You say you're sending me nine ladies dancing. All I can say is, judging from the way they dance, they're certainly not ladies. The village just isn't accustomed to seeing a regiment of shameless viragos, with nothing on but their lipstick, cavorting round the green, and it's Mother and I who get the blame. If you value our friendship, which I do (less and less), kindly stop this ridiculous behavior at once!
Emily

Jan 3
As I write this letter, ten disgusting old men are prancing up and down all over what used to be the garden, before the geese and the swans and the cows got at it. Meanwhile the neighbors are trying to have us evicted. I shall never speak to you again.
Emily

Jan 4
This is the last straw! You know I detest bagpipes! The place has now become something between a menagerie and a madhouse, and a man from the council has just declared it unfit for habitation. At least Mother has been spared this last outrage; they took her away yesterday afternoon in an ambulance. I hope you're satisfied.

Jan 5
Sir,
Our client, Miss Emily Wilbraham, instructs me to inform you that with the arrival on her premises at 7:30 this morning of the entire percussion section of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and several of their friends, she has no course left open to her but to seek an injunction to prevent you importuning her further. I am making arrangements for the return of much assorted livestock.
I am, Sir, yours faithfully, G. Creep Attorney at law

Well, we are out of our freezing cold snap. We were supposed to get a lot of snow today but now it looks to be a total of a couple of inches. Oh, well, we have snow that hasn't melted so it should stay around for Christmas. Jonathan is doing better. No more runny eyes. A little bit of a runny nose but a raspy cough. Nope, not sounding like a seal for croup. Just a cough that seems that the junk in his nose went to the throat.... Anyways, just busy at work. Nothing else new.

Here are the stats for Jonathan's 4 month checkup. 17 lbs 9 oz 26 1/4" long. He is at the 90% of the weight & height. In other words, he is right where he should be. He can start eating baby food officially..... But yesterday he started have a cold symptoms. Today he is home with Daddy as he was still under the weather...... That's all for today.

This is a neat Christmas story to put in here. I love reading this story over & over again. & with only 17 more days till Christmas day......


In September 1960, I woke up one morning with six hungry babies and just 75 cents in my pocket. Their father was gone. The boys ranged from three months to seven years; their sister was two. Their Dad had never been much more than a presence they feared. Whenever they heard his tires crunch on the gravel driveway they would scramble to hide under their beds.
He did manage to leave $15 a week to buy groceries. Now that he had decided to leave, there would be no more beatings, but no food either. If there was a welfare system in effect in southern Indiana at that time, I certainly knew nothing about it. I scrubbed the kids until they looked brand new and then put on my best homemade dress. loaded them into the rusty old 51 Chevy and drove off to find a job. The seven of us went to every factory, store and restaurant in our small town. No luck. The kids stayed crammed into the car and tried to be quiet while I tried to convince whomever would listen that I was willing to learn or do anything. I had to have a job. Still no luck. The last place we went to, just a few miles out of town, was an old Root Beer Barrel drive-in that had been converted to a truck stop. It was called the Big Wheel.
An old lady named Granny owned the place and she peeked out of the window from time to time at all those kids. She needed someone on the graveyard shift, 11 at night until seven in the morning. She paid 65 cents an hour and I could start that night. I raced home and called the teenager down the street that baby-sat for people. I bargained with her to come and sleep on my sofa for a dollar a night. She could arrive with her pajamas on and the kids would already be asleep. This seemed like a good arrangement to her, so we made a deal. That night when the little ones and I knelt to say our prayers, we all thanked God for finding Mommy a job. And so I started at the Big Wheel. When I got home in the mornings I woke the baby-sitter up and sent her home with one dollar of my tip money--fully half of what I averaged every night. As the weeks went by, heating bills added a strain to my meager wage. The tires on the old Chevy had the consistency of penny balloons and began to leak. I had to fill them with air on the way to work and again every morning before I could go home. One bleak fall morning, I dragged myself to the car to go home and found four tires in the back seat. New tires! There was no note, no nothing, just those beautiful brand new tires. Had angels taken up residence in Indiana? I wondered. I made a deal with the local service station. In exchange for his mounting the new tires, I would clean up his office. I remember it took me a lot longer to scrub his floor than it did for him to do the tires. I was now working six nights instead of five and it still wasn't enough.
Christmas was coming and I knew there would be no money for toys for the kids. I found a can of red paint and started repairing and painting some old toys. Then hid them in the basement so there would be something for Santa to deliver on Christmas morning. Clothes were a worry too. I was sewing patches on top of patches on the boys pants and soon they would be too far gone to repair. On Christmas Eve the usual customers were drinking coffee in the Big Wheel. These were the truckers, Les, Frank, and Jim, and a state trooper named Joe. A few musicians were hanging around after a gig at the Legion and were dropping nickels in the pinball machine. The regulars all just sat around and talked through the wee hours of the morning and then left to get home before the sun came up. When it was time for me to go home at seven o'clock on Christmas morning I hurried to the car. I was hoping the kids wouldn't wake up before I managed to get home and get the presents from the basement and place them under the tree.
(We had cut down a small cedar tree by the side of the road down by the dump.) It was still dark and I couldn't see much, but there appeared to be some dark shadows in the car-or was that just a trick of the night? Something certainly looked different, but it was hard to tell what. When I reached the car I peered warily into one of the side windows. Then my jaw dropped in amazement. My old battered Chevy was filled full to the top with boxes of all shapes and sizes. I quickly opened the driver's side door, crumbled inside and kneeled in the front facing the back seat. Reaching back, I pulled off the lid of the top box. Inside was whole case of little blue jeans, sizes 2-10! I looked inside another box: It was full of shirts to go with the jeans. Then I peeked inside some of the other boxes. There was candy and nuts and bananas and bags of groceries. There was an enormous ham for baking, and canned vegetables and potatoes. There was pudding and Jell-O and cookies, pie filling and flour. There was hole bag of laundry supplies and cleaning items. And there were five toy trucks and one beautiful little doll. As I drove back through empty streets as the sun slowly rose on the most amazing Christmas Day of my life, I was sobbing with gratitude. And I will never forget the joy on the faces of my little ones that precious morning. ....Yes, there were angels in Indiana that long-ago December. And they all hung out at the Big Wheel truck stop.

Well, I had to come here today & give a piece that happened last night. Well, I'm not sure when it happened but it happened sometime yesterday. But there will be a smoking ban in Chicago starting January 16th, 2006. Which means there will be no smoking in most public places like train platforms & condominum lobbies & hallways & restaurants that do not have bars. Other places include the following: arcades, aquariums, galleries, libraries, museums, bingo facilities, convention facilities, theaters, hospitals/nursing homes, schools & universities, common areas in residential buildings & trailer parks, polling places, public elevators, retail stores & shopping malls, public assembly/meeting areas, sports arenas, grocery stores, gymnasiums, & all city vehicles & facilities. Smokers that have to smoke outside will have to stay at least 15 feet away from the entrance of any building where smoking is prohibited. But bars & restaurants with bars will still be allowed to have the smoking still going on till July 1, 2008. The thinking behind that is that if you want to allow smoking in your bar, you would have to spend at least $6500 or more for an air system that would make the air in the bar as clean as or cleaner than the air outside. Which is quite funny. This air system does not exist; yet. And if it did, it would be years before all the bugs were worked out & tested. So basically, every bar & that will soon have to abide by the no smoking ban. Here is where I come in. I am so very happy for the smoking ban. As an ex-smoker, this is great news. Since having kicked the habit, my nose is much more noticeable to smells; especially cigarette smoke. Now, if I walk by someone who is smoking, I gag on the smoke. I used to not. But it is a small price to pay. I am happy with this new law. Maybe it will get those who have been wanting to quit to stop. I know there are a lot of people not happy; especially the smokers. Their complaints is that there will be no place to smoke. Yeah, they can come out to the suburbs but you know what is going to happen, the suburbs will jump onto the bandwagon. Soon, you will not be able to smoke anywhere in a public place. Which will make for healthier air & not kill our ozone layer anymore than it has. Yes, I am one of those that is supporting this change. But here is the kicker; there are some smokers that are happy with this. Why??? I would like to know.....
Enough of my rantings now. We shall move on to better & pleasant items to talk about.
My son will be going to the doctor on Saturday morning for his 4 month checkup. We will find out how much he weighs..... Kind of looking forward to that. At his 2 month checkup, he was at 13 lbs 4 oz. Anyways, we are supposed to be getting a lot of snow today. But it hasn't started to snow yet..... Just waiting now. That's all for now.

Well, I had to come back & write again. My friend is starting to plan a wedding. No, she is not engaged; yet.... But it could happen this coming Christmas when she goes home. But we shall see. She was talking about colors today for flowers & dresses & such. I remember those days. Except I had wanted to have my wedding in at beautiful little church in Galena Illinois & have a small wedding & have my best friend & friend get dresses that they could wear again & I would have gotten a simple white dress & invited a few people to. & have a little reception at a restaurant in downtown Galena. & my husband & I would have honeymooned in Dubuque at a bed & breakfast.... Well, folks, my parents (excuse me, my mom) kicked that out the window. I had it here in the area at my old church & the reception at a close by reception place. We had our honeymoon in Disney World in Florida. The honeymoon was not an issue. The wedding was. I had to buy a very fancy wedding dress & my party had to buy dresses that they are not going to wear again. In other words, the wedding became not my wedding but my mom's..... Don't ever let that happen for those who will be starting this stage in your life. That's all for now.

Oh, what a boring day today. Again been seeing too much China, USA. Grrr. Oh, well. This is for a project I am working on at work. Today is so cold. We are in a deep freeze for those who are wondering why I am saying it is soooo cold. Only made it to 13 today. 12 yesterday. Tommorow supposed to be up to 18. I am ready for Saturday to be here because we will be into the 30s again. Heat wave!!!!! Jonathan is still eating his baby cereal. He ate a little more than half of the baby bowl of it. I put maybe 2 tablespoons in last night so I would say he ate about 1 1/2 tablespoons. Pretty good. He did so good. I am so proud of my little guy. He has been kind of cranky since Thanksgiving weekend. We went to Iowa & that threw his schedule so off. He is still reeling from that. But he is getting better. Sunday night he was such a crank when my grandmother, my aunt Pat, Uncle Allan, & my parents were over. I just hope he isn't a big crank come Christmas. This coming Saturday at 9 am we will be going to the doctor for Jonathan's 4 month check-up. We get to find out his weights & stuff like that. But we will not be telling the doctor that we started feeding him a week early. Shhhh. This little guy has been ready for food for a couple of weeks in my opinion. And he is doing so well at it. But I can't start another food with him till maybe Sunday. That's when we have been feeding him the baby cereal for a week. No allergies & seems to like it. Got lots of baby food for him too. They say to feed a 1 type of food for about a week to see if any allergies come up or if the baby dislikes it..... So, that's what I'm doing. Such a big boy. I'm such a sucker for my baby boy. Of course "Grandma Donna" can't wait to see him so she can pinch his chubby cheeks. I don't think so. No one touches his cheeks. Those are mine to pinch:) Tee hee. Okay, that's all for today. I need to get back to work. Yeah, right. Oh, darn. Well, that's all for now & I will write later this week. Till then, only 17 more days till Christmas Day.

Eating baby cereal.

2nd picture, I'm lounging in my high chair.

It was so yummy, I ate the head.

My 1st real food; an animal cracker!

I trying to roll over. I did finally. 2nd picture shows me almost onto my back.

Hi, I think.

Naked baby...... Oh, don't worry, he has a diaper on.....

Playing with my Christmas Bear from Grandma.

Auntie loves me.

I heard that she felt me kick her & she started to cry... Why, I wonder..... But I love her just as much.

Auntie Karen & I.

Mommy & Daddy & me.

With my cousins; Amanda holding Joey & Cassie.

Laughing with my cousin Joey.

Jonathan is just about 4 months here & Joey is 9 months.

Grandma & Grandpa bought this outfit for me. Cute, huh???? Please make no comments. I just wanted to be cute.....

Mommy, hold me please......

The 1st pic is mommy's favorite.

The 2nd one: I think I will smile but I will do this Elvis look instead.....

Smiles......

Yes.

I'm sitting in my high chair for the 1st time.

Daddy & I!

I'M SITTING BY MYSELF!!!!

For about 5 seconds or so...... Oh, well......

Peek-a-boo!

The 3 month old picture.

Hi!!!!

I'm such a ham:)

Hanging out with Mommy.

Another 2 month picture. Next week, we should be seeing his 3 month old pics & pics from Thanksgiving weekend. Until then, have a good weekend.

This is Jonathan's 2 month old picture. He is posing with his mommy.

Here Jonathan is a little over a month old. Giving that look of hey......

Here Jonathan was almost a month old. So cute. & so little.

This was one of Jonathan's 1st days home from the hospital.

Nothing too much is happening today. Jonathan is getting cuter with each passing day. One week from tomorrow he will be 4 months old. Scary. But he has such a personality already it is kind of scary..... But he is a great little boy. Am I a proud mommy? Why, yes. That's all. Oh, here is a funny story. Sunday before Bruck & I left Dubuque Iowa to come home, we stopped at Lowes to look for something. We were looking at something when Bruck turned around & said, "Jonathan is peeing." I said, "What???" "He is peeing down his leg onto the floor." Well, we think the sling that I was wearing with Jonathan in it shifted his diaper so that when he went it came down his leg onto his jeans & sock. So, needless to say, I had to change him. & his clothes. Quite funny.