Our last 3 months

Wow where did November, December and now 1/2 of January go.
These last few months have been challenging to say the least. It all started in November with the very unexpected loss of a wonderful family friend, Freddie. We were on our annual "girls weekend" that I take every year with by best friends from childhood Rebecca and Corinne this year we headed to Jackson, NH. Bec and Corinne drove up from buffalo and get there in the evening on Friday and we had a great night catching up and having our spagetti dinner. The next morning we headed out to go shopping at the outlets and after about an hour Rebecca recieved a tragic phone call that her brother Freddie had passed away, it was devistating news, I've known Freddie for pretty much my whole life. He was an amazing man and father who loved his family and always had a smile on his face. This news put a quick end to our weekend and Rebecca and Corinne headed back to buffalo a couple hours later. This news was an eerie reminder of my father's death which happened 1 day shy of 8 years before. The next couple of days where spent trying to figure out how I was going to get home for the services. My great friend Bobby was able to hook me up with a buddy pass through JetBlue so I was able to get home. My heart goes out the the entire Wojtas family.

After that started another week full of stress. With Milo hurting his leg with what we thought was a torn ACL. While looking into surgery options for him we decided to get a second opinion with a vet in Norway Maine who specializes in ACL surgery on dogs and after he evaluated Milo he felt he did not have a torn acl and surgery was not nesessary, so we restricted his activity for a little while nd now he seems to be bck to normal. So it was a lot of stress and long hours of research for nothing. But at least we have our healthy dog back. All that happened right before thanksgiving so we where not able to go back to VT for Thanksgiving like we usually do.

Then the day after Thanksgiving was the beginning of a long and very painful December. It all started when I went shopping the day after Thanksgiving and bought a new pillow. Well I slept on it that night and woke up the next morning with a tiff neck. Each day after that th pain got worse and worse until Decemeber 3 when the pain became unbarable, to give you an idea of the pain on a scale of 1 to 10 I was at about a 9.5. Long story short they diagnosed and are treating me with a hurniated disk in my neck which is pinching a nerve that goes down my arm and into my fingers. For the first few weeks I couldn't do anything except for law on my back. Thank god my mom could come up and stay with us for a little while and help out while eddie was at work, an after a bunch of PT I was able to sit up longer and move around a little bit more and after a bunch more PT I am now back to work 4 hours a day and am able to drive again. I'm still not allowed to pick up anything but I'm feeling better day by day.

And to make matters worse during all this neck pain thank god when my mom was still here We had a big ice storm and lost power for 5 days so Eddie (who works the winters for Lucas Tree which has a contract with our power company) had to work 17 hour days. Thank goodness we have great friends like the Plummers. The first night we stayed at Matt's mom and step father's (Shirley and Ray aka Mimi and Papa) house where the Plummer's were staying as well. Shirley and Ray were so kind to have opened their home to us we REALLY appreciated it. The next few days we stayed at Matt and Sarah's house which we also REALLY appreciate. And of course Alsion got sick the second night with a fever of 105, throwing up and a cough. The second sickness of the winter so far. After the power finlly came back on we got a call from Eddie's family telling us that his brother Jimmie has to have emergency neck surgery the next day. He was having similar pain as me but his ended up putting pressure on his spinal cord making his legs go numb. Talk about scary! But he made it through surgery great and is recovering day by day.

As for Christmas we were unable to go back to buffalo for the first time ever. It was a sad and happy time here in maine. We tryed to make it as much fun for Alison as possible but our hearts really wanted to be back in Buffalo. Once again the Plummer's and Shirley and Ray really helped us out and invited us to Shirley and Ray's house for there family festivities. It was pretty cold but we still went for a little walk with the girls in their sleds and Alsion was able to enjoy a great sled ride with Matt, Sarah and Payson. It ended up being a quiet and relaxing Christmas and one that we will always remember for sure! Sorry this post is full of mostly trying times but I promise the next post will be happier and I will follow this post with pictures soon.

Happy Halloween Pawtnas!

Howdy Pawtnas! Happy Halloween

Missing but in Action

Sorry it's been a while since I've written. I just don't have the time anymore to update this each week, so I'll try to do it when I can. We have been pretty busy these last few weekends. Sarah and I went to North Conway a couple Sunday's ago which was wonderful, we left the girls with the dad's for the day (which is the first time in 2 years) and we enjoyed lots of shopping, lunch and walking around to see some sights. It was a great day thanks Sarah! We definately need to do that more often. It sounds like the Eddie and Matt had a great time with the girls too. Last weekend we packed up and headed for VT to visit Eddie's Family and to have a "Thanksgiving" meal with everyone before Eddie's parents headed to Flordia for the winter. It was a bunch of fun even though Alison of course got sick with some virus on Thursday, while we were at Pumpkinland on her Daycare Field Trip. She managed to have some fun but wanted to be held pretty much the whole time. She always seems to get sick right before we go on a trip or while we are on a trip. But this one wasn't too bad, she just had a high fever and was a little clingy. But she seemed a lot better by Saturday. Alison had a lot of fun playing her cousins Matt and Brianna. And they were really excited to see her too. Here are some pictures from the last couple of weeks.

A cute picture of Alison and her "Grammie ammie"

Eddie and the Girls while the Mommies were off shopping for the day

Playing in Matt's "Biigg truck"

Payson all bundled up at Pumpkinland

Payson and Alison in the Pumpkin Patch at Pumpkinland (each of the kids had to wear a blue shirt so we could keep track of them better, because there was a tons of kids there)

showing me her muscles. This is super funny.

Up close of the muscle show

Even though she's sick she was still in pretty good spirts

Alison in VT with the mountains in the back. She loves looking for mountains now as we drive. Pretty cute, she gets really excited when we pass them.

Eddie's old stomping grounds

A beautiful day in VT

Alison and Aunt Jamie on the tractor, in front of the new barn

A weekend full of Apples

We started the weekend off picking apples with my Mom Jim and Anna at Doles Orchard. We had to get a bunch of apples for Alison's Birthday Party on Sunday which of course was an apple theme. It was my Mom and Anna's first time picking so my mom was all excited to use the apple picker. She was a good sport as usual with all the making fun of. Everyone had a good time and we ended up picking over 40 lbs of apples. By far the most I have ever picked. We were also able to see the Pigs, chickens, pumpkins and Flowers. Alison loved seeing the pigs but got really upset when they would shove each other. Here are some pictures of that little adventure.

Daddy and Ali

Ali and her 1st of many apples of the weekend

Mom and her picker

Daddy and Ali on a walk through the orchard

Mom and Jim at Dole's Orchard

Aunt Anna and Ali on the Hammock

Look at all those pumpkins

After the farm we headed back to the house for some more party prep and some dinner and a couple presents for Alison since she saw my mom bring them in all wrapped and what kid could wait until the next day to open them. The next morning was spent with lots more running around getting ready for the party and then the party itself at 11. We just had a small gathering, but it was a bunch of fun. After the party and some cleanup we headed out to dinner, to Apple Bees of course. We actually didn't plan that but it does sound like something I would do so I'm sure no one will believe me. Anyways, Here are some more pictures.

Alison's present from the Pustulka's This thing is so neat. It's an all in one art kit and she LOVES it.

Another present from the Pustulka's. If you look carefully she has all 3 pairs of underwear on.

Alison painting her mask (the apron was from her 1st Birthday Party)

Nathan Hanisko painting his mask

Brady Hanisko painting (yes they are twins)

The AWESOME Apple birthday cake made by Grammie Smith

Mason (Alison's daycare buddy) enjoying a little bread. He has the most beautiful eyes!

Payson having some lunch

Brady, Nathan, Alison and Max. Max (3) is Alison's boyfriend from daycare, ever since Alison started going to daycare Max just loved her. He's so cute.

Singing "happy berday to me"

So cute!

Having a handful of frosting

Look at what she did to this cake. She really enjoyed it.

Showing off her sticky frosting covered hands on a little bit of a sugar rush.

Little down time with Aunt Anna

"coot as a butin" aka "cute as a button"

Oh How Time Flies

It is so hard to believe that Alison is two! She is getting so big and we are enjoying every minute. It's amazing how much they change and learn in 2 years.

Just a couple of hours old

One Year

Two Years

Pumkins, Apples and Friends

The weekend of the 3rd-5th we had lots of fun we went to a "little" pumpkin festival in OOB with our buddies the Plummers and we also went apple picking with Sarah and Payson and Kate and Julie. It was a fun weekend and a realization that fall is here. I'm going to keep this one short and just post some pictures. So here you go.

Sarah and the Girls

The girls in the pumpkin patch at the festival

Alison decorating her cookie at the festival

Payson "laughing"

Alison smelling the flowers (she loves doing this)

These girls are so cute together

Alison and her apple

Just a stroll in the apple orchard

Kate and Julie and Sarh and Payson as we stopped for a little snack

Sarah and Payson on the Hayride

Kate and Julie on the Hayride

The 3 Girls (julie, Payson and Alison)

Alison and her Pumpkin

The girls

and again the girls

Alison's bedtime outfit (she has my taste for style)