Happy 5th Birthday, Joey

As I type these words I am in disbelief that 5 years have passed. My little boy is 5 years old today! Wow those years flew by. I wish that some of those times I could relive the fun, smiles, smells, sights, sounds, and touches. Joey being our first born in many ways was also our guinea pig. We have learned so much about ourselves and about what being a parent truly means and entails.
At birth Joey was always a very happy baby. Never too fussy and always content to be held and loved. I loved the smell of him after a bath with fresh clothes on and remember the hours I would hold him and stare at him and think how adorable he was (is) and how I am responsible for this little human being. In many ways I laugh now at myself about how scared and unsure I was to have a son. If I could have five more boys just like Joey I would in a heartbeat.
Joey is kind, loving, funny, athletic, caring, sensitive, and as he says “my best friend”.
Some memories of Joey~
· Joey weighed 6 pounds at birth
· The first diaper my husband ever changed was Joey’s
· He was a climber and always has had more energy than 5 people put together
· When he started preschool at age 3 he did not really speak more than 10 words. He did not speak in sentences
· His first love was cars, trucks, and trains. I was sad because I know nothing about cars and really wanted him to have an interest in sports. (He does now).
· He is missing one of his four bottom teeth. It is there in x-ray, but has never popped up
· He has cried before when Gabby called him a “peanut head” (I don’t know what a peanut head is or why this hurt his feelings so bad?)
· He loves to snuggle with me
· He comes up to me and says “I need a hug” at random times. Usually when my hands are full. (Washing hands or dishes etc)
· He likes to wear the same clothes as me… Boston Red Sox t-shirts. He likes it when we match
· He gets many comments on his beautiful large eyes and long eyelashes. He has longer eyelashes than most girls
· He loves knock knock jokes
· He loves soccer, baseball, and gymnastics
· He has many friends at school and makes friends easily
· If you ask him his favorite color he will reply “all of them”
· He loves the Cavs, Indians, and Red Sox. Now I am working on getting him to be a Dodgers fan too
· He is easy going and laid back
· He prefers vanilla over chocolate
· He is curious
· He enjoys being outside and riding his bike
· He likes to play tic- tac- toe with me
· He does not enjoy bed time
· He likes spending time with his dad playing X-Box
· He is a great big brother



Although Joey is turning five today as parents Jeff and I had to make a tough decision this year. We chose to keep Joey in preschool for an extra year. He is a smart boy, but he continues to have difficulty with his speech. Joey did go to a speech therapist. We stopped going when the therapist stated that she successfully got more visits approved for us with the insurance company. This turned out to be false and we owed a great deal of money for his speech classes. We then entered him into preschool and from then on being around the other kids he has begun to speak words and now sentences. I would say that he has made leaps and bounds from where we were two years ago. Joey is bright and also has perfect hearing. I honestly feel that when he hears us the message gets sent to his brain and then the words can sometimes come out with different sounds.
For example, if I said Joey go get your socks. He may look at me and say “where are my crocs”. Or when he speaks if he wants to say Taylor it comes out Tawer.
At this point I think we made the right choice for him although I did struggle with it. His main interest was my concern. I would rather him be behind in preschool/kindergarten than in first /second grade. I am also happy that he now calls me “mommy” or “mama” instead of “da”. Once upon a time ago Jeff, me, my parents, and adult figures were called “da”.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY LITTLE BOY! I LOVE YOU TO PIECES AND AM SO PROUD OF YOU!! VISIT THIS SITE WHEN YOU GET A CHANCE. This is my husband’s blog... http://runningonfaithwithjzapp.blogspot.com/

Patillo. My angel my gooser.

This past Friday I had a very scary experience as I was driving to Toledo to pick up my three cousins. The girls were mentioned in a previous post. They were here a few weeks ago and had such a good time while they were here that they wanted to come back down and stay with us again.

My morning started off a bit rough. I was running late per normal. I was in the shower when the kids let the puppy inside and got him all riled up. He ended up having an accident all over the floor. Then as we were literally walking out the door Gabrielle announces that she just pees her pants. I got the kids into the car and we started on our way. We headed to Panera for a cinnamon crunch bagel before jumping on the Ohio Turnpike. Right after I got on the turnpike it dawned on me that I forgot to get cash out of the ATM for tolls. So I knew I would have to stop at a rest stop somewhere to get some money making me even later.
The speed limit on the turnpike is 65 mph. I set the cruise control for 72mph and we were doing great. We were about an hour and fifteen minutes into the trip when I heard some loud noise. I was getting ready to pass two semi trucks so I figured that they were the cause of the noise. Right after passing the trucks my steering wheel started shaking.
Joey says “mama the van is shaking”. I safely get us over to the side of the road and put on the hazard lights. I got out of the van and looked at the front tire. It was fine. Walked to the back tire, it looked great. I walked around the car to find the back passenger side tire looking like this.

I then was wondering what I do now. I am the wrong person for car problems. I know very little about engines, tires, exhaust… etc. I called my mom, she is like “why are you calling me”? “I can’t do anything to help you”. So she suggests that I call 911. I ended up calling them. I also called my cousin to inform her of what was transpiring. The 911 operator was very nice and could tell that I was frazzled. My concern was not being late at this point. My concern now was the fact that I have two young kids in the car and the cars are passing me so fast that I feel like I am at the side of the road watching Nascars flying by me.
Side story. When I was in high school I was in my Honda accord driving on a road that was 40 mph. It was raining and I went through a puddle. After going through the said puddle my car just stopped. As in quit working stalled out and would not start back up. I got out and ran across the street to a pay phone. While I was inside on the phone I returned to the car. In my absence someone had run into the car. The back bumper was now in the front of the car by the steering wheel. That image is forever in my mind.
Since then I do not like to be in a car pulled over where someone who is not paying attention may run into the back of it.
I am now on the side of the road waiting and waiting for a police man and tow truck. We must have been waiting for a good 15 minutes. My phone rang and it was my mom. I made the comment to her that this was strange to me that not one good Samaritan has stopped to ask if I needed help. Her reply was that is probably a good thing. Another 5 minutes passes and I am now off the phone. Another 5 minutes goes by and I noticed a truck was pulling over.
A man reversed and was coming to my rescue. Thank you God was what I was thinking. God sent me an angel. I named this angel sent to me Patillo. Patillo took over. He knew where to look for the spare tire (under the van), where to look for the tools to get the spare off, where to look to get the tools to take the flat tire off. He was maybe a few minutes into attempting to help when the police cruiser pulled over. This was also a relief to me in that the police could get help faster if we needed anything.
Patillo was amazing. He was sweating as I was but I was doing nothing but standing and watching and trying my best to keep my kids calm and in their car seats.
As Patillo worked I was thinking I need to repay him. What can I do? I felt so helpless. I have no money give him. No gift certificate. Nothing. I found out that he was just on his way home from work when he saw me stranded and was nice enough to get sweaty, greasy, and dirty for me. I am forever grateful for him.
When we wrapped things up I walked up to him and gave him a hug. In that brief encounter of giving him a hug my angel my savior Patillo, pats my butt and goosed me. Yes, you read that right! He gave me a good old squeeze on my behind. My new angel just lost all my gratitude in that hug. I was thinking are you kidding me? You never know about the kindness of the good Samaritan!
We are now home. I have the girls. The spare is off. We are safe. I am thankful.

Photos of the spare once we were home. Bottom photo of the girls sticking their fingers in the hole of the bad tire.

Manny... I will follow you anywhere

Thursday was starting off to be a good day. I had taken Joey to school and Gabby and I were home. I got all the bills paid and then had errands to run in an attempt to get ready for Joey’s birthday parties this weekend. As we were out running errands we ran into my dad. It was around 2:00p.m. He says to me “are you going to be a Marlins fan now”? “NO” I reply. “Why”? My dad knows that I am the biggest fan Manny Ramirez has. My dad knows all about the love affair that began with Manny in 1995. He knows that no matter what people say to me about Manny and his boneheaded plays, jogging to first base, or even when Manny admires hits that come off of his bat I will stick up for him and defend him to no end. So the conversation continues and my dad is trying to convince me that Manny is going to be traded to the Marlins. First of all the Marlins are not a team that this girl would EVER root for. One word or year is all I will say. 1997. Period end of story. 1997. The year that the Indians (another Cleveland team) blew it and lost the biggest game of their lives and another title for the city. I told my dad it isn’t happening and I know this because I was checking my computer about a possible Manny trade before leaving my home. Nothing thus far had happened. I said to him today is the last day that a trade could occur. He says I know they have until midnight. Midnight… Hmm I believed him on the hour that they had to do a trade. I get Gabby back in the car and we leave to go see my mom. I get on her computer and it says “Manny deal to the Marlins, dead for now”. Relief. I took a big sigh of relief. I went home and put on sports center. I saw the clock counter on the television and learned that a possible deal could only happen until 4:00 p.m. I call my dad and tell him this. It is now almost 3:20. 40 minutes. We can do this, 40 minutes. I waited until 4:45 p.m. to leave my home to get Joey from summer camp. I was so happy. Nothing happened. Manny was staying in Boston. Again relief.
I got Joey from school and had on the local Cleveland station on the a.m. radio for sports talk. Soon I realized that no one but me in Cleveland cares about the possible Manny trade. They were talking Browns football. I was rolling my eyes. I can already predict the Browns year for you. They will lose against the Steelers, they will win maybe 3 games, and the season will come to an end. They broke for a news report and then I heard it. “Manny was traded to the Dodgers today”. WHAT? It can’t be true. They had until 4:00 pm. I left my house at 4:45 there was nothing about that being said.
I got home and went straight to the television rewinding (thanks TiVo) everything I missed about the trade. It was true. I was sick. I had tears in my eyes.
My love affair with Manny started in the late 90’s. I was watching Manny before he was making the big bucks, before he was a household name, and before everyone in the country knew about this amazing hitter. I was at the World Series in 95 and 97. I was at many games before Manny went to the Red Sox. I was on the Jumbotron (scoreboard) in Cleveland holding a sign once that read “Always believe in Super Manny”. (Silly, I know). I was in love. I proudly wore my Ramirez jersey and I always stuck up for him even if I was defending a bonehead play or something silly Manny had done. To me it was watching this amazing player go up to the plate and hit a ball out of the park or a hard solid hit to get on base. Watching him swing and knowing that when the bat hit the ball that the ball would soon be landing over the heads of many fans. I watched him hit many homeruns and was always proud of how talented he is. I admired him. When Manny went to the Red Sox I was happy for him. I was happy that he would be making more money. In my eyes he deserved it. He is in my opinion the best hitter in the game. He knows how to look at each pitch and find one that he likes. I have seen him at the ball park look for the pitch he wants and foul the others off. He has such patience as he waits for the one that he wants to hit out of the park. I was devastated that he left Cleveland, but I also have always had a soft spot in my heart for Boston. This began when I was into the New Kids on the Block as a young teenager. (Different post for a different day)
When Manny went to Boston whenever the team traveled to Cleveland we went to at least one game in the series. I say this because it is true… every time I go to a Red Sox vs. Cleveland game Manny hits a home run. This has happened every game but maybe one. I felt like his good luck charm. Two years ago Jeff and I went to Fenway for the first time and saw a game against the Tribe. To be in Fenway and see the green monster, experience fans that are so different than in Cleveland and be at a ball park that the best of the best players have played at was truly something I will never forget.
Jeff got me one year the MLB ticket which allowed me to watch all the Red Sox game in the comfort of my home. It was great to be able to watch the team and root for them and feel a part of the city although I was miles away cheering them on. When Manny was in Boston he was given a saying “Manny being Manny”. We have a saying in our home that is “Gabby being Gabby”. This was after her colic and her temper.
I have had a great time following my favorite baseball player. I wish him the best of luck as a Dodger and after reading everything it looks like this was not only a good move for Manny but one that was good for Boston.
Soon I will be getting me one of these:

I know this is dreaming, but I would love to see Manny back playing here on a daily basis. The Tribe generals have other plans for our farm.... So unitl you come back to play here Manny, I will try to watch you on the tube.

Manny Ramirez

I have 40 minutes left... will my FAVORITE baseball player be traded??


Hey CLEVELAND INDIANS... I WANT HIM BACK!!!!!!


Forget about the farm. Get us a hitter. Take Manny off the Red Sox backs, bring him back to Cleveland. PLEASE? PLEASE??

I will no longer have to be a Red Sox fan. PLEASE bring him back. I am begging here.

He looks better in this uniform!!

Life with Gabby

Gabrielle sure is getting a lot of air time on the blog lately and to lighten things up I could not pass up posting her latest antics.

School will be starting on the 27th of August. I am starting now to get both kids in bed by 8:45-9:00 pm. This includes being done with bath, books, and good night kisses. Last night was my first attempt at getting the kids in bed earlier. We did okay with one. Joey was in bed and asleep by 9:00. Gabrielle was in bed, (or we thought) just not asleep. I was downstairs starting to clean my floors. I wanted to vacuum and mop the kitchen floor. I heard her get up so I walked half way upstairs and saw her sitting in my bed reading books. I was okay with that. I knew she was tired. I began my vacuuming and had it running for probably 10 minutes. I then heard a yell and crying. I went upstairs and Gabs was in my bathroom playing in my makeup. She had taken some perfume and sprayed it in her eye. Her eye started swelling and was all red. I then started flushing her eye with water. She took a shower also and it helped that she was crying. Finally we got her taken care of and asleep!

Anyone think that handcuffing her to her bed is okay? J/K

Today I was making her something to eat. She looked up at me and out of the blue says “mommy, does Kayla have a who who”? (Who who a.k.a. vagina) “Yes” I say wondering where this is coming from. She then says “mommy, Joey has a dinky”? (Dinky a.k.a penis) “Yes, Gabby”. Then she says “mommy, Joey has a small dinky and daddy has a big one”. I had to try my hardest not to start laughing. I said okay and started to walk away when she says “can we make S’mores”? The mind of these little people is amazing.

I am so looking forward to August 27th and this little girl gets to go to preschool!

Thank you Arizona!

I want to thank Arizona for pointing out a website that one can go to and check out if forwarded e-mails like the one I received are based on fact. I apologize if anyone read the letter that this soldier wrote and was as upset about Senator Obama’s treatment to the troops as I was. I am going to leave the post up and do some research on his trip to the Middle East. I am hoping that I find that Senator Obama did not treat the troops in the manner that was described.
Again I was in no way trying to put Obama down. This is a big year for Americans as we vote for our next President. I will remind everyone that what we see in the media often has a spin on it and is not always the way it is.
I still am undecided on who I will vote for. I hope to watch the tube as we get closer and find out more about both candidates. I will also be having a talk with my brother in law.
Again I am sorry that it seems like this was an e-mail that was sent out not based on fact.

I still hope that all of you will read the lone survivor.

A DOUBLE post... ON MY SOAPBOX

For a moment I need to step on the soapbox and give a piece of my mind. (I know you are all thinking “oh watch out”)
When Jeff and I were in Hawaii we went to a bookstore to find some good reads while we basked in the sun by the pool. We went in looking for the book The last lecture written by Randy Pausch. (We did find this and buy it. Jeff has read it already and I have still yet to read it). We also found a book called The Lone Survivor by Marcus Luttrell. Jeff read this book while we were in Hawaii and kept commenting on how good it was. I picked it up while he was not reading it and began browsing it and was excited to get my turn to pour into it. It was one of the best books I have ever read. It is in no way a romance novel or good in that what happened to this brave American was something to be happy about, but good in that it was a big eye opener for me.
This is going to be a big year for all of Americans. We will soon be watching television that has nonstop campaign ads for the future President of the United States. I am in NO way a big political person. I know that they say there are two things never to talk to people about one being religion and the other being politics. I can talk about anything. So I want to bring up a few points and then get off my soap box. I am not telling anyone here who to vote for. I want every person who reads that to understand that!
The past few weeks when I have been on my computer I look at my MSN homepage. This is how I keep up with what is going on in the world. We no longer watch the news in our home. Jeff and I find it to depressing. Either someone new just got shot or another child has been killed for unimaginable reasons. We do watch FOX at times when something big is going on and want more information for example, hurricane Katrina. I watched and I cried as these people were waving on bridges and roof tops waiting to be rescued. I also cheered when the smart boy who was maybe 16 stole the bus and loaded it with people and drove them to a place where they were out of harm’s way. I also sneak a peek at the sports section looking for any headlines on my favorite baseball players or teams. My point to all this is that in the news section last week was many stories about Obama visiting the Middle East. Wow I thought good for him. I was so happy that he did this. I was hoping that he saw firsthand what was going on over there. Later in the week I got a People magazine. People had a nice story about the Obama family. I thought about how real they all seemed and that how he is raising young children also. I think it said that if he became the next President that his kids would be the youngest in the White House ever.
Back to the book about the Lone Survivor. I ask all Americans to read this book. I think people need to know what is going on over in the Middle East. I think people need to remember that there is still a war going on as I type this. Americans are fighting for all of us and our freedom. My brother in law is in the Marines. I am to the point now that when I watch the news and see how every story is about how we should no longer be in the Middle East and how the war needs to end we should ask our military how they feel. We are not getting the whole story. War scares me. I am not happy that we are still at war. I would LOVE for all our military men and women to be home with their family and friends, but at the same time I do not think that we are at the point where we can just return from Iraq and feel like another 9-11 may not occur soon.
Marcus does a great job in his book describing all the misconceptions for you. The biggest being the media and how they spin things. This book is now being passed around to members of my family.
I receive a lot of forwarded messages. I came across one that my mother in law sent to me just yesterday. I want to share it all with you. Maybe we have all been fooled by Senator Obama and his trip to the Middle East. I know that I feel like a fool. I will be watching as we get closer to picking the next President. I have personally come to the conclusion that I will vote for who our military wants to be President. Why? Because they are the ones fighting and dying for me. They are the ones that need the backing of the President when they are on these missions. They are the ones that I worry about and they are the ones that I want to repay. Some of the issues that are discussed in detail so much that make my ears want to fall off bore me. The issue that is MOST important to me as a mom is my family’s safety. That includes your family too. I worry about another 9-11. I worry about my kid’s future and I don’t want to be scared anymore every time my husband goes on a business trip. I want to feel like our borders are safe and that the people who made 9-11 happen and the ones that want to copy their acts don’t enter our country.
Feel free to agree or disagree. Feel free to add comments that may give another point of view. No comments will be deleted unless they are completely inappropriate. I am all for freedom of speech so comment away and tell me what you think. Is there an issue that is really important to you? Please read the following from my mother in law and please check a copy out of the library, buy, or borrow the book THE LONE SURVIVOR by Marcus Luttrell.
May God bless America!


Hello everyone,
As you know I am not a very political person. I just wanted to pass along that Senator Obama came to Bagram Afghanistan for about an hour on his visit to 'The War Zone'. I wanted to share with you what happened.
He got off the plane and got into a bullet proof vehicle, got to the area to meet with the Major General (2 Star) who is the commander here at Bagram. As the Soldiers where lined up to shake his hand he blew them off and didn't say a word as he went into the conference room to meet the General. As he finished, the vehicles took him to the ClamShell (pretty much a big top tent that military personnel can play basketball or work out in with weights) so he could take his publicity pictures playing basketball. He again shunned the opportunity to talk to Soldiers to thank them for their service. So really he was just here to make a showing for the American's back home that he is their candidate for President. I think that if you are going to make an effort to come all the way over here you would thank those that are providing the freedom that they are providing for you.I swear we got more thanks from the NBA Basketball Players or the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders than from one of the Senators, who wants to be the President of the United States. I just don't understand how anyone would want him to be our Commander-in-Chief. It was almost that he was scared to be around those that provide the freedom for him and our great country. If this is blunt and to the point I am sorry but I wanted you all to know what kind of caliber of person he really is. What you see in the news is all fake.

In service,
CPT Jeffrey S. Porter
Battle Captain
TF Wasatch
American Soldier