Nothing, But Everything New

It's been a while since we've posted a message. In that time, we've had a few (exciting and quite big) changes in our family..

In chronological order:

June 2006 Adam started his new job at Honeywell. He's in the Aerospace IT Division of Honeywell. He's an IT project manager. He loves working for Honeywell even though it's about an hour commute for him 1 way. Fortunately, he's got great bosses and will even let him work from home occasionally. Janet LOVES it when he does.

August 2006 Janet's Grandpa passed away. He was 92 years old. He had a good long life. He's missed daily, but we all know he's in a better place.

August 2006 we found out Janet is pregnant again and is due in April 2007. Now, before we get the usual question of whether or not this was "planned", the answer to that is yes, she just came a little sooner than we thought. After years of struggling to have Owen, we never thought we would have 2 kids within 15 months! It's a blessing beyond our wildest imagination.

September 2006 we added another addition to the family. We bought an American Shorthair tabby cat. He's black and silver with beautiful markings. His name is Lincoln. He and Sophie get along fairly well......when she wants to anyway. Lincoln and Baxter cuddle up with one another and it's absolutely adorable to see. Owen LOVES to play with Lincoln. He crawls all over him and plays with Lincoln and the cat toys. Owen giggles constantly when he plays with Lincoln.

October 2006 we sold our house! We had to move into an apartment temporarily (which was less than appealing to both of us). We did this so we could take our time in finding "the right house" for our little family. It was quite the adventure to go from homeowners back to apartment renters. Wow!

December 2006 we closed on our new home! We love our new home. It took some searching, but we finally found it. It has a pool (which was an absolute must), large backyard, 3 car garage (Adam's must have), RV gate, 4 bedrooms, living room, family room, larger kitchen (Janet's must have) and just a lot more room than our old house. There's work that needs to be done (not like the last house though) but large enough for us to stay in for many years to come.

January 2007 Owen turns 1 year old! How the time has flown by so quickly. We can hardly believe that he has reached this milestone. It seems like just yesterday he was born. Where oh where does the time go?! Anybody out there have the answer? Before we know it he'll be starting school. Janet gets teary-eyed just thinking about that.

February 2007 we had to put Sophie down. It was traumatic for our family. Okay, for Janet mainly. She was exhibiting signs of neurotic behavior and wasn't using the cat box properly. It was extremely difficult to make the decision but, nevertheless, had to be done. Adam was a wonderful husband (as usual) and took Sophie to the vet to have her euthanised. He held her paw, told her we loved her, said she was a wonderful pet, etc. etc. He even cried when it was all over. Janet, of course, was an absolute wreck because she had Sophie for 8 1/2 years! Sophie was with Janet through a lot of difficult times and good ones too. She was a wonderful pet and is still missed dearly.

April 2007 we added yet another addition to the family. This time, Caroline Ruth Grimsley was born on April 12th. She weighed 8 lbs. 3 oz. and was 19 1/2" long. Adam and Janet are both of the opinion that she was mismeasured at the hospital though. Five days later at her newborn appointment, she was 20 3/4" long. There's no way she grew 1 1/4 inches in 5 days. We think she was either 20 3/4 inches at birth or 20 1/2 inches. We'll never know, but at least we have a story to tell her later in life. She's happy, healthy and a GREAT sleeper, so far anyway.

May 2007 Baxter had surgery just the other day. He had a "growth" in an undisclosed location (if you catch my drift) and it needed to be removed. It will be another week or so before he can have the lampshade collar taken off permanently and before we find out whether or not the growth is malignant or benign.

Well, that is it. We don't know when the next post will be, but those are just the highlights of what has happened in our family over the last 9-10 months. Janet is busy with 2 babies at home. Some days she doesn't even get outside! We'll try not to let it go another 9-10 months before another post, but can't guarantee anything. We hope you are all happy, healthy and most of all enjoying life as it comes your way. Love to all of you!