happy inauguration day

if you can't beat him...

ya might as well join him...

while i didn't vote for him, i am sucking up the fact that he will become our president and fearless leader today and could not resist this fun little website. so to my obama-mama's and mavericks alike...go ahead...obamicon yourself...whether you like him or not, you know you want to.

i could not go off to bed tonight without bidding adieu to this cute little guy. my bank account may be in the toilet and family and friends out of work, but it sure was a fun 8 years...plus i just want to just give him a hug.

*tear*

never blog without an assistant

so usually i do all my blogging/blog reading after tony's gone to bed, or on occasion when john's home and enjoying some daddy and t time. this cold saturday morning though i thought, ahhh, tony is occupied watching a little disney channel, i'll take this time to catch up on what my internet friends have been doing...

that's when i looked up and saw this...


tony had put on his own winter coat (nice velcro job i know), my winter hat and the hat that goes with his fireman dress-up over it. he had made a "truck" out of a pile of blankets, pillows and toys. nice.

it wasn't until i got up to get the camera to take that first picture that i saw this...

this is his camper. he had just parked it with his truck.

while i can't complain and am not upset that my child has a great imagination (either that or i have waaay too many pillows and blankets in my living/family room)...i will make sure never to blog without an assistant again! it makes for one big mess to clean up!

prayers needed...please help!

we found out on saturday that our dear friend tamara's dad dan suffered a stroke on saturday morning. he seemed to be responding well to treatments, knowing who everyone was and even passing various tests performed after someone has a stroke...that is until tuesday when things took a drastic turn.

with tamara's permission, i will leave it to her to better explain what happened. the following are from two emails we received from tam...

the first:
sunday 1.11.09 - 7:10 p.m.

"hello all. as many of you know, some of you do not know.... my dad suffered a stroke yesterday morning. thankfully, it happened in front of my mom and she knew the signs immediately. he arrived at reading hospital er via ambulance, spent time in the er, was moved into intensive care last night, and was moved to the stroke unit this afternoon. he did not lose consciousness at all and knows what happened. he is able to talk with slurred speech and he has his sense of humor. this afternoon he went for an mri/mra and we are awaiting the results. as soon as we receive them i will let you all know. tomorrow he will start speech, occupational and physical therapy tomorrow. please continue praying for my dad, my mom to continue to be the strong person that she is, and for my sister, kelly who is over in doha in the middle east. love to you all, tamara"

the second:
thursday 1.14.09 - 8:11 a.m.

"good morning all. for those of you who do not already know, my dad suffered a massive stroke on Saturday morning. he was doing okay until tuesday when he took a turn for the worse and the swelling in brain got so bad that in the middle of the night tuesday/early morning wednesday the neurosurgeon performed emergency brain surgery [edit: they removed the right side of his brain]. he came out of the surgery okay which was very risky. he is currently in the reading hospital's surgery intensive care unit. he is heavily sedated to keep his brain unstimulated. i am happy to report that my sister, kel and her husband, rami were able to travel home from doha, qatar yesterday and arrived safely last night. we are at an minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day wait to see progress. we were told that he will have good days and bad days. please pray for my dad and my mom for strength... i love you all and we are so thankful for your prayers. please, please pray. paige and lilly [edit: tamara and danny's 4 and 1 year old daughters] need their poppy. thank you, tam"

please, please pray for tamara's dad dan, it will be a tough road of recovery ahead of him...for tamara and her husband and children, for her mother, and for tamara's sister and her husband. feel free to leave your support for tamara in the comments. i will copy and send them all to her.

new year - new blog

woah...i think i'm finally caught up now on all my back posts from christmas on. if you know me in real life...please get on my case more about updating so i don't get that behind again!!

so, we're now half way through our first month of 2009. i'd like to say things are going well so far...but to do so wouldn't be completely honest. aside from the struggles of the economy right now affecting loved ones and their jobs, john and i are still encountering more obstacles on our path to expanding our family. i will leave it at that...on this blog anyway.

i've mentioned briefly in a prior post about our struggle with secondary infertility and vowed during that post not to mention it again...which i haven't. some of you may have seen the small timeline on the right hand sidebar (don't look now...it's no longer there) and kept up that way without having to ask...some of you may not have noticed...and others may not have cared to notice.

while i've been reading many blogs that deal with infertility and secondary infertility and find comfort in knowing others struggle with it, i haven't been comfortable enough to write about it myself, on my blog, because of family and friends who "just don't understand" or don't feel it's appropriate "to air our dirty laundry" on the internet. i'm not mad at them for feeling this way...and while i understand they are just not comfortable with the subject or the fact that there is a problem...there is a problem and i am at the point now where i might feel the urge to want to get something off my mind.

i never was one to keep journals growing up. i had a few diaries and notebooks here and there but i was never faithful to it and didn't do it so much as a therapy, but more because that's what everyone else was doing when i was younger. i often wonder if i had kept a journal for the right reasons, if, i don't know...i might have thought/done things differently. who knows. no regrets...that's for sure...i love my life and how i've gotten here...i just know there is so much more i can/should be doing.

as of today, i will be starting a second blog. i know, i know...christy, you dork...you can't even keep up with the 1 you have (not to mention the slight facebook addiction as well). but i feel it's necessary. the new blog will be where i discuss our issues with secondary infertility...update on doctors visits..."game plans" etc. i have found i've learned a ton from reading of others struggles and i hope that maybe others can learn from me regardless of whether or not you're struggling with it yourself. sadly enough, this is occuring more and more as the age of women having babies increases due to careers/second marriages, etc...and even if you're not struggling with it, you'd be surprised to learn that maybe you know someone who is...and knowing more about it, you might just be able to be a better support for that person.

the blog will be invite only (leave a comment on this post or email me - dcodydog@comcast.net - if you'd like me to add your email to the list to gain access). as of today, this topic will no longer be discussed on this blog. this will remain the fun, happy, tony d. centered blog it always was!

lordy, lordy, johnny turned 40!

my wonderful husband turned the big 4-0 on 1.10! i (with them help of family and friends) was able to pull off a surprise party at our own home the friday night before.

it was a little tricky organizing food, drinks, decorations, etc. and cleaning and readying the house without bringing too much attention to it and making him suspicious. but i managed to do it (again with the help of friends and family), and when the knock came on the door and he answered it to find a stream of people carrying food, balloons and cards, instead of the domino's delivery, i couldn't help but catch this picture...

i think he was surprised! it was a very small gathering of family and just a few friends (i would have loved to have more...just no room), but it was a fun evening nonetheless.

here is a slideshow of his party. there are just a couple of pictures...i swore i took a lot more than i did, but i guess not.

happy 30th mike!

after elmo we joined our friend shannon and her family in celebrating her husband's 30th birthday at toscani restaurant. it was a surprise (at least up to the point where the hostess went to seat the 4 of them and said, "oh yeah, the big table with 20 people") and shannon pulled it off beautifully!

the dinner was excellent...the best i've had at toscani yet! it was a nice evening and i got to meet some of their friends i haven't met before which was nice too! there was a little boy just a little younger than anthony and they had a ball with each other and troy too!

dessert was served and singing ensued...many times...as shannon not only had dessert delivered to mike for his birthday, but then a few minutes later a second time for his friend bob who shares mike's birthday with him...and then a few minutes later yet a third time for john who's 40th was the following week.

enjoy the slide show of pictures from our evening!

when elmo grows up

as a christmas present from kat kat, uncle jim, jack and sam, tony (and john and i) received tickets to see sesame street live at the giant center in hershey. the show this year was "when elmo grows up" and is about elmo trying to decide what he wants to be when he "gets big" (as tony likes to say).

it was tony's 2nd sesame street live show and harry's 1st! it was very cute and both boys were extremely well behaved during the show.

i left my camera in the car, so you'll have to excuse the picture from my cell as it didn't get very good. anthony was in one of his "anti-picture" moods which is why the only pic i got was of neen and harry!