Sunday, June 21, 2009

Bitter Sweet




Anthony's birthday falls on Father's Day this year. We remember all our children on these type of days, but the boys' birthdays and the day they passed on to a better life are tough in their own way. Even after three years they hit us a few days before. We get moody and crabby with each other and don't realize right away that it still affects us.

They do get a bit easier with every year that passes, but they are still hard. There are so many of these days in the first half of the year now for us. Memorial day weekend is also hard. Still one more date to go in August. We especially appreciate those that remember these days with us and bring up our boys and experiences in conversations with us. I'm not sure that we would ever not want to talk about them.

Our memorial garden turned out very well and only have a plant or two to add. Dad worked really hard for a few days to get it done as he has issues with wrapping up projects. This one was important to us and was a constructive way to spend remembering James on his birthday. As you can see, Abby was a big help with the project and loves to be doing what ever Daddy is doing. He really appreciates a daughter that isn't afraid to get her hands dirty. It really is uncanny how much she is like her Dad.

Abby continues to amaze us and bring joy into our lives everyday. We are in the middle of potty training (for the 3rd time) and she seems to be ready for it this time. She has been doing very good as it finally clicked. Now if she would only go #2 we would be good to go. We also used cloth training pants this time so she gets wet when she has an accident. Pull ups are great in concept but don't seem to faze our Miss Abby as it is to much like a diaper to her. Dad is having a hard time adjusting to all the ins and outs though.

She loves to talk and carry on conversations which are tough to follow. Usually if you can pick out a word, you can figure out what she is talking about. What Abby lacks in size, she has in agility and determination. Here she is climbing up a fairly steep slide at the secluded park that Dad takes her to.


Dad finally broke down and Mom purchased a DVD for the van for "long trips" only. You can see that it helps pass the time well.

This weekend is our Heritage Days for Ida Grove with a run/walk, duck race, rides, eating and parade. So daddy has been training for a 5K run and mommy of course injured herself so will be walking the 5K. Mommy thinks it is God's way of telling her she is not a runner. Although we know that is just her excuse. But she has been working our hard again to lose weight and get into shape. With potty training she doesn't have much time to do much else.

Grandpa and Grandma Uken will be coming down this week and we are all going to Omaha for a few days. Abby hopes to meet Elmo live at the Children's museum and we will also go to the zoo and a few other attractions. It's only an 1 1/2 hours from here, but we don't get there often enough.

We are trying to enjoy this summer as we haven't been able to take advantage of that the last few years. We haven't camped yet, but would like to soon. This fall we will begin to pursue plans to expand our family if it's God's will. We are strongly leaning to adopting an infant if possible.

Thanks for checking in on us and hope to see you soon. We aren't the best at posting on the blog anymore, but you can take that as a sign that things are going very well for us.


Until next time,

Stu, Tashia and Abby in training

4 comments:

Sara said...

The Memory Garden looks great. What a nice way to remember your precious boys!
Good luck on the potty training! Hope it goes well (and quickly?)
It was great to see you at the wedding!

Anonymous said...

Just Nana stopping in to say Hi and let you know we've been thinking about you and the boys! 'Had to stop at Sanford Inernet "Cafe" to log on, as our home computer is not working now. The garden looks great, can't wait to see it and all of you in person tomorrow. We will plan to leave in the morning. Hopefully we can rouste Grandpa out of bed early.
We stopped to see the boys yesterday. I had a beautiful blue delphinium that I took to Tony, our little boy in blue. I'll bring a photo so that you can see it. I had some purple ones blooming too, so James got a purple one for his vase. They both got some yellow day lillies and some white daisies. See you tomorrow...time to spoil Abby some more! Love, NANA

Kyle said...

Awes pics of the garden. I miss the little dudes too. Keep up the good work!

boltefamily said...

Hello! I am stopping by from Waiting for Happy. My name is Kristy Bolte and I am so touched by your story, my own girl having EB herself and losing two children who likely had it also a few years ago. I just wanted to say that though you did not win the Miracle Blanket giveaway, when your adoption becomes final I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to provide you with one. So if you would be willing to email me your info i would really love to do this for your family. :)

Love and Prayers

Kristy Bolte