So much has happened

OMG, I haven't been here in so long AGAIN. Where to begin...

First, let me say thank you to Sara Lane for making my blog look awesome. I love it. You should check her out. Her site is on my sidebar.

Well, my brother's visit was great. Short, but great. My son loved having him here and loved the fact that my younger niece was here everyday. They did lots of things and just had a great time together. We also got to spend time with our cousins from my fathers side. I have tried to keep in contact with them since he died. The last time we saw them was at my wedding in 2004. My brother ran into my cousin Kristi at a party that his motorcycle club had for him and she just moved to the next town over from us. She called us the next day and asked if we would like to go to her house so that everyone could see my brother and meet my daughter LilyRose. They had never seen her in person. They followed our trip to China and commented everyday. So we went and had a wonderful time. My cousin Kristi has 2 kids, Anthony and Isabella. Anthony is 1 year younger then Joseph and Isabella is 5. My cousin Janeen has 3 kids, Alexia, Gianna, and JonJon. Alexia is 10, Gianna just turned 8 and JonJon is I think 4. My fathers niece is Ann and her husband Babe. It was great to see them too. The next night, my cousin Amelia (Ann's sister) came with her husband, Tony and her younger son Thomas. They have 2 other boys also. My aunts from my mothers side came to see Ralph too. It was fun visiting with family and hanging out.

We also were invited to Gianna 8th birthday party. Joseph had a great time in the pool with all the kids. We love hanging out with them and plan to keep it up. In all of this visiting and hanging out, I fell down the stairs with LilyRose one morning. Slide right down with her in my arms. She didn't get hurt, but I sure did. Pulled my back out. My brother was on the couch down at my mothers house and I don't think he even touched the floor. He thought I dropped LilyRose. When he saw that she was fine, he went right back to the couch. The nerve of him. lol My daughter bugged my brother every chance she got. It was really funny. At one point right before he left to go back to Iraq, she climbed up on the couch and just put her head on his shoulder. Thank god I had my camera, it is the cutest picture.

My husband turned 44 in the mist of all of this. He had to work late that night and of course Joseph had a baseball game. So that is where we spent Anthony's birthday. By the time we got home from the game, Anthony was so tired he showered and went to bed. He didn't even want to have cake. What a birthday, huh? I am sure I am forgetting things, so I will try to get it all down.

Ralph had to leave on Aug. 1st. His daughters couldn't go to the airport with us so saying goodbye to them early in the day was a really hard thing for him. My mother didn't want to go to the airport because she couldn't handle that, he said goodbye to her so fast so that he didn't have to see her flip out crying. The ride to the airport was ok. LilyRose talked away and we had a laugh or two. But as soon as we pulled into the airport the air in the car changed. Ralph didn't want us to go inside with him, so we said goodbye outside. LilyRose got very sad looking, like she knew he was leaving, but it was my son Joseph that took it the hardest. He burst into tears and was sobbing. We were all shocked. My brother was so upset at that, that he got out of the car in a daze. I couldn't even speak at this point, I just hugged him and whispered that
I loved him and to be safe. That's about all I could get out. Even my husband cried. It was just so damn sad. Then my brother walked away. He didn't even look back. I stood there for a while after he went inside thinking maybe he would come out again, but he didn't. I still get chocked up when I think of it. My son cried all the way home. He kinda went into a depression. He went to sleep crying and when he got up the next day and saw his room (Ralph stayed in Joe's room) empty he started to cry again. He was depressed for 2 days. Didn't want any play dates or anything. It was a slow process, but we are just starting to get back to normal. Although, we will not be NORMAL until he is home for good. So hurry up Ralph, we need you to be home for good.

LilyRose had her first Dr.'s appointment since her tubes were put in and her ears are all clear. No fluid and she passed her hearing test. So we are super happy about that and she will get her ears pierced on the 14th of Aug. I know she will look really cute. Her Godmother Aunt Gina already put dibs on her first pair of diamond stud earrings.

Joseph's All Star team made the playoffs. It's been very exciting although it seems we are at the games every night, it's still exciting and I am so proud of him. Now he wants to join Basketball. I know absolutely nothing about basketball. But we will let him try it out.

We had our first Post-Placement meeting the other day. Can you believe we are home 6 months already. Time sure does fly by.