Just love my kids!

I love these kids!

Time For a Rachel Update Too!

Well since I did a post with Noah I figure I better update you on Rachel also! She is unstoppable now! She runs and it's amazing to me how quickly they go from barely standing up to taking a few wobbly steps to full on boogying across the room!

Rachel is usually happy and wears a smile!

It's getting hard to take her picture when she knows I'm trying!

Clapping and marching!

This is at gramma's house - that's a big stuffed animal that Rachel just adores!

And what happens after all that running and playing? Elmo becomes a pillow!

Think I'm Starting Him Too Young?

So I have these huge dough bowls I need to get pictures of so I can list them on Ebay - dilemma...hmmmm... then it occurs to me I have this three year old with nothing but energy and willingness! So out we go!

As you can see he takes his work very seriously!

He simply could not resist looking at the camera and had to peek around every shot!

This bowl was huge and heavy I was surprised how well he did holding it up! I'm so proud of my little man!

As a reward afterwards he got to sit in the bowl, notice he is only sitting in the middle and there is still half a bowl behind him! These things are huge!

I'm so happy this worked out as I want my little helper to be able to work with me as much as he can! Be on the lookout for more great stuff from my newest model!

The Birthday Bash aka We Survived Chuck E Cheese

The big day finally arrived, time to have the birthday party (was delayed a week due to waiting on relatives to come to town). Noah was in rare form and was a handful all morning waiting to leave for Chuck E Cheese. We arrived to a very crowded Chuck E's and Noah was excited as you can see from his photo above.

Noah got in some good play time, including driving this really cool monster truck!

Then it was onto pizza eatin' time!

And along came Chuck E himself!

But Noah was scared to death! He finally agreed to do the Congo line and dance with Chuck E as long as he kept his distance!

So after all that excitement Noah blew the candle out on his special train cake made by Gramma and he and Rachel dug in to a chocolate lover's dream!




Then it was time for PRESENTS!! Noah got lots of Moonsand and clay to play with, those are his favorite things next to cars, trucks and trains (and he has plenty of those!)

Here's a pic with Sissy Jordan

And these pics were taken before the party when outfits were still clean! Just thought I'd throw them in cuz their cute!!

My LIttle Man is Three!!

I just can't believe it! 3 years has passed since my miracle boy was born. Noah really was a miracle, after several miscarriages and then years of infertility hubby and I had given up on having a baby together. It was one of the hardest times of

my life, I never dreamed I would be denied the privilege of having another child, thought it was just something you could do when you wanted! But boy have I learned, children truly are blessings and should not be taken for granted for the miracles they are.

So after giving up and realizing maybe we were just meant to be grandparents (oldest daughter had a baby) I became pregnant, but didn't let myself get excited until I passed the 26 week point when I knew he was viable! Born at 38 weeks in a rocky delivery here was Noah, he would change our lives forever.

There was always something different about Noah, I was always told, "oh boys are different that's all" even the pediatrician told us not to worry about his delayed development because he was "a big baby". When Rachel came along I truly believe she is here to help Noah, and to show everyone what we were talking about. So just recently Noah has been diagnosed with SPD (Sensory Processing Disorder), this means there is a disconnect between his brain and his body in getting feelings and motions in to perspective. That's as simple as I can describe it. Noah has trouble with apraxia (large muscle motor skills) and he requires lots of stimulation in the way of swinging and sliding and jumping. He is also still being assessed for Asperger's Syndrome, which is a high functioning autism.

Noah is a joy let me say that first and foremost! Sometimes when you place labels on a child it seems they become something awkward or bad but rest assured we love his unique personality and even his high maintenance! God knew the right family to bring him to because we so appreciate every minute with him and have structured our lives to be home with him all the time.

So although life is a whirlwind of occupational therapy and physical therapy and assessments, we still love every minute of being with our little man!

Rachel thinks he's pretty special too!

SHE'S ONE!!

OK that's a smile with sun in eyes! But she made it 1 year old!

Miss Rachel is a happy girl almost all the time and just a joy. Her brother loves her almost too much at times :-) She is always squealing in delight when he enters the room.

Rachel has mastered the stand but just won't take those first steps. She's been able to stand for almost 2 weeks now!

She has 8 teeth, 4 on the top and 4 on the bottom, hope teething is settled down for a while at least.

We've now resorted to a single pony tail to keep that ever growing hair out of her eyes. She is really not thrilled with the process but does manage to leave it in most of the day now.

Poor little Noah has started therapy for what has been diagnosed as Sensory Integration Disorder or SID. He has an extreme need for physical input and this manifests itself with him being extremely rough on us, his sister and himself. We're glad to be getting help with this before he turns into Monk! He has OCD issues already showing up as well. Funny how therapy for kids is so much more fun than for adults, he got to jump on a trampoline and jump into pillows, be squished like a hotdog in a bun, swung in a towel, and all sorts of fun games!

Will keep you all posted of his progress as the weeks progress.

Breathing...Just Breathing!

I had really wanted to do this yesterday... was all excited with my weekend's yard sale finds all photoed and ready to post... was taking photos so I could get all the stuff up on ebay also and kablammy, something misfired in my always faithful Sony Mavica - fear gripped my heart as I took the disc out hoping just hoping the computer would still read it... but I already knew what was coming... yep disk not formatted error message - lost...200+ photos lost.

So after I cried a few tears I decided to set out to find a new camera, ended up with a Canon PowerShot A720 IS, I'm not good with change, not good with learning new software and settings stuff... but as of tonight I got all my photos retaken and edited and stuff ready to list. Sadly I couldn't go back and redo the yard sale finds pictures... but here's a from memory list of some of the great finds...
2 vintage pyrex refrigerator dishes
a signed kokopelli statue
2 pink depression glass plates
3 aquamarine glasses
Artesania Rinconada Unicorn
Funny dragon figurine
neat old box made in India
Dollhouse book
First Ladies book
Coca Cola candle holder
5 Harkerware ashtrays with old cars on them
green transferware plate
Baruether Bavaria roses plate
3 Fitz & Floyd Salmon colored plates
4 Pfaltzgraff plates
a whole box of Pfaltzgraff Grapevine pattern dishes
a box of old porcelain snack set dishes
Pair of Ginori Italy shakers
CLown bell
Ronson Lighter
Elgin Clock
Quarry Critters Polar Bear
Fenton Duck
A signed dragonfly wall pocket
An old Zippo Lighter display case
A shelf for my tv stuff
A Dr Laura boardgame still sealed
Thomas Train ornaments (to put away for Noah)
Thomas Train books and videos for Noah of course!
Lots of clothes for Rachel!

So you can see it was a fun fun weekend!

Spring is here! But where has everyone gone?

Ok so keeping up on this blogging thing is not my forte' ! I am really really going to try and do better. In a week Rachel will be 1 year old, it's almost surreal. She is standing on her own but hasn't quite taken the first steps yet, any minute though!

We had fun at a local antique fair this morning, got some neat things that are going up on ebay tonight... here's a sample.

I've decided my goal needs to be 100 new auctions a week, that will put about 50 new things in the store each week also. I also need to stop procrastinating and get all the nice artwork and glass pieces hanging around here photo'd and in the store. Which by the way, has been pretty quiet lately, where is everyone? Certainly not shopping! I think, I hope people are just waiting til their taxes are done and they can relax for another year on the ol' Uncle Sam thing... then hopefully in May everyone spends their incentive rebates at ebay!

If you have read this could you send me an email and let me know my words are not in vain? I'm wondering if anyone is even lookin' at what I'm a writin' ya know?

Wow how the time flies!

I can't believe I haven't blogged since January! The kids are just keeping me hopping and between them and ebay there simply isn't any free time.

I'm trying very hard not to let the newest ebay changes scare me, I'm trying to stay positive! Yes I can still do this I can I can I can! (As she stares at the overdue electric bill, gas bill and due car payment!)

We are trying to sell our now broke down truck, geez when it rains it pours! Transmission went out, hard to sell a truck with no transmission. So we are down to one vehicle right now which is hard, but doable.

Well we tried to do a family portrait this morning - didn't quite go as planned but here ya go!

Wow How the years go by the older I get!

So not only do I have another birthday whiz by but a new year has begun. I always feel a profound sadness, sad at reflecting back at things that happened or didn't happen, and sadness of all the things I set out to do that didn't get done. Now that I sit here and read what I have typed that's a pretty bad attitude huh? So to get myself out of the douldroms (hmmm did I spell that right?) I am going to list all the good things of 2007!

The most noteworthy even would be the birth of Rachel Lynn Ackerman. She was born April 14th around noontime by emergency c-section. Weighing only 6 pounds 13 oz at birth.

Here she is just 3 days old.

She has grown by leaps and bounds and is now as I write this a thriving at a healthy 21 pounds! She took her first crawling "steps" today!

Ok so that's a pretty darn joyous thing! And then Noah, little Noah turned 2 this year and boy is he 2!! He adores his sister which I am so thankful for, but he has to be watched every minute as he is a bit mischievious (don't know where he got that!)

So to say the two babies have brought immense joy is an understatement. I feel like the luckiest woman alive to have been blessed not once but twice in my "older years".

Ok Christmas was fun. I had a housefull with my oldest daughter, Jennifer here, as well as Jordan. My mom and younger brother were also here for Christmas Eve celebrating.

That's us toasting our candy raisins!

This is mom, one of Noah's most favorite people!OK so this turned into a family photo blog! LOL! I do feel better now.

Ebay was good to me this year. Since hubby went jobless in February it was a little scarey, but we've managed to hang in there and get the bills paid. Oh yeah! I almost forgot! Another cool thing in 2007 was finding and moving into our new home, an amazing house with my gourmet kitchen, huge garden tub and a 3 car garage! An ebayer's dream! I got a new computer for Christmas from Santa, but Santa has to still move all my software over :-)

Well thank you Jacki for kick starting me into getting my first post of the year done. Yes Jacki likes everyone to blog so she too can procrastinate on listing! LOL! But truly, I needed this it's so easy to focus on the bad and the negative and forget how many wonderful things happen in our lives. I have good friends, a good family, good home, good health, and for that I am thankful and prepared to head into 2008!