End of September update

I updated the post about Todd's dad with a photo of the plaid jacket mentioned.  It's a classic!  Be sure to check it out~

This blog post contains some info from a post I started writing before Bob passed.  It doesn't necessarily seem like that big of a deal in the whole scheme of things, but here is some info on the kids + some photos to peruse.

We went to the aquarium earlier in the month.  This time, Isabella interacted more with the fish as she did her first trip here.  She definitely enjoyed herself!

We went up to the Chattanooga aquarium with our friends Mike & Sara and their two boys.  Mercer definitely seems to enjoy himself more when other kids are around.  We try to do a lot of stuff with the 4 of us, but I think - for him - it's a huge bonus if there are other little boys there.  (He's very social!) 

We prepped our friends to bring water shoes because of the outdoor plaza with a water feature that kids ultimately end up in.  The boys had a fantastic time getting absolutely soaking wet!  Luckily, everyone also brought extra clothes too~

Love this photo of Isabella at the aquarium.  I showed this photo to a doctor recently to have a discussion about an eye issue.  Since Isabella has been a few weeks old, we've noticed that her eyes don't necessarily align.  The pediatrician said to wait  to do anything about it -- if she had a weak eye muscle it would get stronger as she got older.  After her 6 month appointment, we decided to go ahead and call a pediatric ophthalmologist.  

He was not at all concerned about her eye alignment. He said that she has something called Pseudostrabismus (where a child's eyes may appear to be crossed, but they are found to actually be straight -- an "optical illusion" is generally created by an infant's facial structures. There is "extra skin" on the sides of the nasal bridge that cover the whites of the eyes and give the appearance that the eyes are misaligned. Typically, as children grow they mature into the facial features and pseudostrabismus becomes less noticeable. This appearance is frequently noted mainly in pictures, because pictures are usually taken slightly off center, which can exacerbate the appearance of a misalignment.) Just as this photo from the aquarium (at left) shows!

One thing he noticed, however, is that she does seem to be near-sighted.  He said that babies her age should actually be a little bit far-sighted as their vision draws in as they get older.   He wants to see her again in a year and check her again to observe any changes.  He suggested that she may need glasses when she's entering school.  Interesting to know this ahead of time instead of having her struggle & us try to figure out why!

On a similar note - Mercer had a dentist appointment recently. They suggested that he will need braces in the future because he has a small mouth and his bigger / permanent teeth are coming in.   Guess we have to plan ahead for both of the kids!  (BTW - Mercer lost a 2nd tooth days after he lost the first.  This pic was taken in early September.)

Also early in September, we celebrated the 5 year anniversary of Mercer's Adoption Day.  He said (after Isabella's adoption finalization party) that he wanted to have a party for his adoption. 

Of course he didn't remember the giant party we threw for him 5 years prior because he was too young!  But - we threw him a party at a local restaurant on the square / invited some friends / and had pizza, cupcakes, and balloons.  Hopefully he knows how absolutely special he is to us (if we throw him a party or not!) 















Here's a shot of him plus all of his friends that were invited.  Of course, he's not happy because we asked him to look up at the camera, but it's the only shot we have with all of the kids~








We also had a little something for him to open when he got home to round out the evening.

 

Isabella's favorite part of the evening:  she loved the balloons.















September also brought us a trip to Blue Ridge for apple picking at Mercier Orchards as well as hiking at one of our favorite spots, Sweetwater Creek. 

Mercer is no longer gathering apples from up on Todd's shoulders, as he's too big now. 















Isabella slept through much of the picking, but she was able to participate in eating freshly made apple sauce at the restaurant on site!

(Notice how much of the apple sauce Isabella is wearing.... she is a much messier baby than Mercer was!  She goes through a lot of bibs and clothing changes compared to him.)

We love hiking where there's water and ruins.  (Apparently other people love it too as there were props and electrical wires laid out throughout the woods for setting up a scene for filming of the next Hunger Games movie.) 

Here are some photos of our hike to round out this blog post:

One week ago today,

Todd's dad, Bob, passed away.  It was quite sudden.

Bob had been having severe back pain for quite some time.  Something was causing that pain, but he did not know until about a month ago what that was:  he had a tumor growing on his spine.  This tumor caused him to lose feeling below both knees and rendering him unable to walk without a walker.  A biopsy was done on the tumor and was malignant, however, testing showed that there was another source of the cancer in his body that caused this tumor.  He had cancer in his bone marrow caused by lymphoma.  

Bob's doctors begun chemotherapy right away.  Later, they began radiation on the tumor.  Bob had good days and bad days from the treatments, however, on Monday the 9th, he had a series of strokes (caused by a thickening & "stringing" of the blood) that rendered him unable to talk.  He was admitted to the hospital.  He had developed a blood clot in the artery that goes to the brain.  He seemed to be stabilized, but a couple of days later, Rose Marie could not wake him up for his chemo treatment he had that day.  He was "in-and-out" of it all day.  

At this point, Todd began making plans to go up to see his father, however, he did not get to visit him one last time.  The following day, Thursday the 12th, Bob had a severe stroke and passed hours afterwards.

It was a very emotional week for the entire family.  Especially for Rose Marie.  Please keep her close in thought and prayers in the coming weeks and months.  

Todd just shared that Bob was cremated in a yellow and brown plaid jacket that he loved. (Rose Marie could not stand the jacket and she had been hiding it in the basement for years so he would not wear it out in public!)   Also, the family has decided to hold a party in his honor in the spring instead of holding a funeral or memorial service.  This seems fitting especially after seeing some of the photos below that family members have been posting all week.  Bob - when he was feeling well - did like to have a good time!  

May Bob rest in peace and his memory live on!!

Here's a photo from the 1960s of Bob and Rose Marie (watching a relative's daughter play the saxophone).

 The early 70s when Todd was a baby.

At Tonia and Rory's Irish wedding in the early 90s.

 At an event Bob was hosting for work with the Dominican grocery community.  (Bob was honored as the Dominican Republic business man of the year once.  Ironically, he did not speak any Spanish and had no idea what the speeches in his honor were about!)

A "traditional" pig-roast for a family Thanksgiving spent in the Dominican Republic in 2000.

At Bob & Rose Marie's 40th wedding anniversary in the early 2000s.

The published announcement:

Bob Groves died suddenly on Thursday, September 12th at St. Clare's Hospital, with his family by his side. A Celebration of Bob's Life will be held at a later date set by his family. Those who wish may make memorial donations in his name to either St. Jude Childrens' Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105 or to Parent To Parent (www.parent2parentnj.org).

Born in Ohio to the late Clayton Groves and Jean Atchison, Bob attended Kent State University for business. After college, he met and then married Rose Marie Diacoganes and the couple eventually moved to Mountain Lakes, where they have lived for over 30 years. He worked for DiGiorgio, Corp. (White Rose) for many years as a marketing executive. He continued to be involved in many projects after his retirement and was well respected in the supermarket industry. He loved spending time in the Dominican Republic but above all loved being with his family.

Surviving are his wife Rose Marie of 52 years, daughter Tonia Ahern and her husband Rory, sons Bob, Jim and his wife Rebecca, and Todd and his wife Candice; his ten adoring grandchildren Rory, Tara, Ryan, Zachary, Meagan, Sam, Nathaniel, Marlena, Mercer and Isabella; sister Janelle Jarosh; and many more loving relatives and friends. His sister Betty Copp predeceased him. 

Some MAJOR "firsts" for both Mercer and Isabella

Isabella's MAJOR "first:"  she began crawling last weekend!  She's flopping around a bit in this video, but almost a week later, she's really on the move... She can crawl out of her room and into the hallway! 

She also started to pull herself up / stand up in the crib!  She is pretty proud of herself.  That's pretty MAJOR too.  Todd had to lower the crib so she won't pull herself over!  Isabella is very strong!







(One of our neighbors, Sarah, took some fantastic photos of her which are enclosed here.)

Isabella had her 9 month appointment at the doctor's office this week. Her growth and development charted really well.

She's about 30% on weight and height -- consistent to where she's been tracking all along. She's now 18 lbs and 27 1/4" tall. She had an absolute melt-down at the doctor's... clawing and clinging to me the entire time. It seems that she may have remembered the last time she was there to get immunizations?  She has really ramped up her dislike for going to other people.  She used to be agreeable to go to anyone, but now it has to be Todd, me, or the lady at daycare.  (The doctor said this is a normal phase and she'll grow out of it.)

Other than that, this was the first appointment where we didn't have any questions for the doctor. She really seems to be doing great overall!

Mercer got to go to his first football game this week.  Todd donated blood a few weeks ago at a Red Cross event at the Georgia Dome.  For doing so, they gave him 2 tickets to a pre-season game!  Todd equates free seats as nose-bleed seats, but regardless, they had a good time.

Later in the week while Todd was at home tackling some projects, I took the kids downtown to keep them occupied & out of the house.  We met some friends at an annual parade that is held to kick off a conference held in Atlanta every year called Dragon Con.  It's a sci-fi based conference and the parade makes for some interesting people-watching!!  Mercer wore his Spider Man halloween costume for most of the parade - however the zipper broke as he was putting it on.  He got some recognition from other Marvel characters who were in the parade including fist-bumps from a Spider Man who was in the procession.  Here's an interesting shot... my camera "polarized" the Star Wars Storm Troopers (normally in white costumes) and polarized Mercer's left ear!  ; - )  We did several other things while in town as well, but this - by far - was the most unique.  It was both Mercer and my first time at the parade.  I think we'll go back because it was really entertaining!    

And, the MAJOR "first" for Mercer... last night... his first tooth fell out!  The one right next to it is loose as well... it's not far behind, but there goes that beautiful beautiful smile.  We'll be seeing variations of toothless smiles in the coming years, so this will be the new "norm."  Oh well.  Had to happen!  He did not get to see the tooth fairy he said, but, he did receive two gold coins in exchange for his pearly white~

Oh what a week it was~

After Mercer's 2nd day of school, we packed up the car and headed to North Carolina. We went to my cousin, Lyssa's wedding. We realized that this was Mercer's first wedding.  (Isabella's too, of course.)  The wedding was in a beautiful stone Catholic church built in the 20's.  The kids did pretty well.  Charlie held Isabella through almost the entire service.  She was entertained by playing with a shiny bracelet.  Hmmmm...

We got to spend a bit of time with dad and Charlie afterwards at the reception as well as some Hinshaw relatives. Mercer was a fan of the fruit on the buffet. 

Isabella was a fan of the clear plates that were on the buffet too.  It was a nice event -- but we don't really have any photos of the wedding.  We have a few from the reception including a couple of family pics.

The next day, we visited my grandmother who's in a rehabilitation center recovering from a recent fall.  We didn't get pictures there either, but did get to spend some nice time with her.  (We tried to get a picture of grandma holding Isabella, but she's been doing this "attachment" thing lately... when someone wants to hold her, she hesitates and reaches for either Todd or myself.)  Mercer jumped and ran around to entertain.  Isabella just cooed and laughed to entertain.

Some of the Nunn family came over to my mom's house to visit later in the day.  We were able to see grandpa, aunt Sandra, uncle Eddie, Rhonda, and Michael.  We really did miss having grandma there, though, we enjoyed seeing as much of the family as we could.

 

 

 

The weekend was rounded out by a stop in Greenville to visit my good friend Cindy and her two boys.  It has been waaay too long since we've seen her.  Also - she's never met baby Isabella until now~  

So glad that she finally got a chance (although short) to see her!!  We were GRATEFUL to have lunch with her and let Mercer run around / blow off a lot of energy.  Look at these boys having a fantastic time!!  Mercer loves playing with her kids.  I wish we could see them more often!









A few days before we went out of town, we found out that our house was going to be used in a movie!


(Kill the Messenger - due out in 2014 - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1216491/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 ) A location scout had been out a few weeks before to snap some photos.  Our neighbor's houses had been used in a commercial a couple of years ago, but this was a different location scout that approached us... just randomly drove by and found us.  

The thing is, however, that the movie scene was being shot on the Monday we were driving back.  We wouldn't be home for part of it / would have strangers in our house... so we had neighbors house-sit for us in our absence.  


We came home (in the pouring rain) and got as close to the house as we could... unloaded the kids & a few things out of the car and sequestered ourselves to our back bedroom - as the movie people had taken over the living room, dining room, kitchen, and Isabella's room.  

There wasn't really any action while it was raining - just a bunch of people milling about our house.  The kids were getting restless and we needed to get out of there.  So - I took the kids to a neighbor's house while Todd stayed to "guard" the house.  


Once the rain let up, the filming began.  Todd watched it and said it really wasn't very exciting.  The actor & actress said their lines over and over and over again.  Then the crew moved the camera a little and they said their lines again and again.  Then they moved the camera inside and did the same shoot over and over again.  
  
That was it.  Various people started setting up Christmas decorations and running electrical service on Friday before we left & security guards stationed on our street and the neighboring street.  

There were at least 100 people that worked this event on Monday for most of the day.  They began packing up & leaving around 8, but there were groups of people who came back the next day to pick stuff up / get our house back to normal (on the outside).  All for ONE one minute scene.  They told us it was a critical scene, but wow.  60 seconds +/-.  Crazy!  

We got paid, of course, for our trouble.  Mercer also got to see his first rainbow as we were "escaping" our house during the shoot and riding over to the neighbor's house. 

The next day, Tuesday, Isabella turned 9 months old!  As seen here, she's sitting up on her own pretty well!  This is the doll that Mercer presented to her when he first met her.  Every 3 months, we compare her against this doll to see how much she's grown.  

She's such a happy baby.  She has a little fire in her, but she's always very sweet and lights up anytime someone makes a fuss over her.   

The week was rounded out Mercer complaining of his mouth hurting one night at dinner.  We looked to see what was wrong... he has his first loose tooth!

The race is on.  Will Mercer lose his tooth first or will Isabella finally get some teeth?

Oh what a week it was!!!

Mercer became a Kindergartener today!

Here are some photos from the "sneak a peek" event yesterday where the kids got to see their classrooms & meet their teachers before school actually started. 

 

These are the kids Mercer hangs out with the most from our neighborhood. Graham is in the Kindergarten class in the room next door. Glady is in 2nd grade. Jackson is in Mercer's Kindergarten class. (Oh boy. Good luck, teacher, with these two, as they seem to wind each other up!)

 

 

The teacher marked each child's spot with a name tag and a bag of candy.  Guess she's trying to get in their favor right off the bat?!

Here are pics from this morning:

 

their "uniform" consists of navy, white, light blue, and gold shirts / khaki or navy pants.  there's a bit more flexibility than we had at Mercer's previous school.  He now gets to pick out his color combination and help pack his lunch the night before school.

sporting his new (over-stuffed) messenger bag - he couldn't carry it the right way, so he wants to transition to his back pack tomorrow.

 

at the bus stop

 

The two girls are in his class.  Mercer went to the Montessori school with the one in the navy dress (Edith).  She's been mentioned before on the blog b/c Mercer has a little crush on her!

 

 

photo op with baby sister~

 

and getting on the bus

 

 

The after-school report:  He enjoyed the bus ride.  Sat with friends at lunch (Graham, Jackson, and Edith).  He made a necklace out of cereal - but it did not make it home because he ate it.  They took a tour of the school. 

 

Overall, he had a good day today!