A new year...

Dressed up for Christmas eve service
and I had to share this one with you!!!! This is what we look like trying to get a good picture!

Ciara opening her Rapunzel doll on Christmas day.

I made the girls blankets for Christmas

It looks like I starve her, but I promise the child eats!

Playing with daddy's work light

Well it has been a long time since I last posted...I'm talking like a year ago. That's a long time! I had a gift given to me today and it warmed my heart so much that I felt like writing again. So here I am at midnight blogging. This gift will mean more to me than the giver will ever know and I can not even express my gratitude for it. They are a true blessing in my life. Yet I have never even met them...

God is good. He still shines his light through good and honest people in a world where it is unheard of to help someone you don't even know. God is good and we praise him.

We have been doing very well here in the Anthony household. Christmas has just passed us and boy did it fly by quick. The girls of course were spoiled with every present they asked for on their list and then some. I made sure to try teach them the real reason we celebrate this joyous season and why are thankful for God's gift of eternity. Again, God is so good.

Ciara is doing great and weighing in at a whopping 22 pounds! She is getting pretty tall and is ALL muscle. I mean ALL muscle. That child does not have an ounce of fat on her. She is very busy and never really sits still for more than a moment. She loves to dress up pretty and pretend she is a princess, but I don't know how long that will last. When she plays she is so rough and I have to remind her that I am not daddy and she needs to take it easy on me! I picture her becoming some what of a tough girl and getting into things that daddy likes. I see 4 wheelers and dirt bikes in her future! She enjoys the time that she and I have together on Monday, Wednesdays, and Fridays while Aaliyah is in school. She is fastly approaching her 3rd birthday so she will be graduating out of the Early Intervention program. She is going to be tested again on the 13th to see if she qualifies to be in the Headstart program. I honestly don't think she will qualify. The last time she was tested for Early Intervention she was not delayed enough to stay in the program but I had the option to keep her in. I didn't feel like her speech was well enough to discontinue therapy so I requested that we continue. It was a great decision. We have added speech therapy with our new friend Ms. Emily and our good friend Ms. Kathi still visits with us weekly. For the past couple of months we have been going to ITP in Dubois for our weekly sessions. ITP stands for Infant Toddler Playtime and it is kind of like preschool but only for 2 hours. I stay with her for the entire 2 hours. We have circle time that includes a story and some sharing, then we have open playtime and we encourage the children to play together, we have snack time, brush our teeth, and we end the session with some physical activity. Ciara really enjoys going and it has been very beneficial for her. She has a little friend, Jared, that she takes to and they seem to enjoy each others company. I know I will be sad here in a couple of months when I won't have these wonderful people in our lives weekly. We have been blessed with wonderful teachers and therapists.

Aaliyah is doing well and is thriving at school. Most of the time she is eager to go and learn. Lately she has been having some problems with some of the boys picking on her, but hopefully we have that resolved now. She is our little princess and can be found in a dress as long as she is allowed. Gym day is somewhat of a struggle getting her to understand that she has to wear pants and sneakers. She is finishing up her 4 year old preschool year and will be starting kindergarden in the fall!!! Can you believe it! Where did the past years go? When Aaliyah was born it seemed like everyone I met or talked to told me to enjoy my time with her because it goes by quick. I remember smiling and thinking I would enjoy her, but now that she is growing so fast I completely understand what they were talking about. It goes by way too fast.

Corey is doing well and is still working for Universal. I am also doing well and still selling Pampered Chef when I can talk someone into ordering or having a show for me. My mom and I started making jewelry and watch bands during the summer and find joy in it. We went to a couple of local craft shows and had a good response! I really enjoy the mommy time that I get making them and going to shows to sell. I wish we could find one coming up soon! We are kind of on a vacation right now!

I am still struggling with Interstitial Cystitis and this summer was diagnosed with fibromyalgia. I have been going to water therapy at the hospital and it has been helping a lot. When the new year comes I won't be able to go as often though. With the start of the new year comes a new $500 deductible and I will have to pay cash at each visit. A session is $75 an hour. So if I continued to go 3 times a week I would be looking at an extra $225 per week until my deductible is met and then 20% of my visits after that. I just can't afford it! I will continue to do the exercises here at home and stretch as much as possible. They have been very helpful while I was able to go. I am having a hard time regulating my pain with my prescriptions. The side effects are horrible!! I was on one that really helped my pain, but I gained 14 pounds of water weight in 3 months. I just tried one where my heart rate shot up to 110 and made me feel like I was going to pass out. I would like to try some alternative therapies like acupuncture and massage and not rely so much on medication. At 29 years old I don't feel like I should be taking so many pills!

Well it is now 12:48 a.m. and I better get to sleep. Again, I am completely speechless and humbled by the generosity of some people. The Lord still does have angels among us and I thank him for blessing us with one of them.

MSPI troubles

If all goes as planned this will be our new home.
Coopers Pumpkin Farm

Hay ride

petting zoo

horsey carriage rides!

woohoo!

waiting for the horseys

Well, things have been pretty good here at the Anthony residence. Ciara is weighing in at 16lbs 12 oz. You read right-she is loosing weight. She has not been feeling well lately with back to back colds and I felt she needed an antibiotic. For a while now her weight has been on a plateau at about 17 lbs. Well now slowly she is loosing. I asked Sharon if maybe it could be possible she had a tape worm. Sharon said tape worms are very rare, but she tested Ciara along with some basic blood work. All of the testing came back normal so she referred us to the GI specialists at Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh. Our first visit was last Monday and it was very overwhelming. Dr. Goyal believes Ciara is allergic to milk and soy proteins. Because she is allergic to the proteins, and I have been feeding them to her, her digestive system is unable to absorb the nutrients. When the PA listened to her bowel sounds they didn't sound well and her bowels need time to heal. So we have her on a no milk no soy diet. This has been very trying for me and I have to completely change the way I feed my family. Before I gave Ciara whatever she wanted and I didn't mind that she wanted a cookie. Now I have to stand and stare at the label and make sure there are no ingredients that could make her belly hurt. I will eventually get it right, but right now I do get frustrated!

I went grocery shopping on Tuesday while Aaliyah was at preschool and it was very overwhelming. Pretty much everything I fed her before either has milk or soy in it. I have been checking out website after website finding recipes and advice from other mommies who have MSPI (milk soy protein intolerance) babies. After I got home from County Market, I asked Corey if he wanted steak or salmon for dinner. He looked at me weird and said "I don't even like salmon." I started to cry and said "I'm just trying to feed my baby-What do you mean you don't like salmon!" So needless to say I am a bit stressed out about this. As a mother I feel like such a failure that I have been pretty much poisoning my baby!!! She is so skinny and you can see her ribs. Please pray for Ciara. I want her to gain weight and feel healthy so bad.

Aaliyah is doing well and absolutely loves preschool. She has made friends and is always excited when I tell her it is time for school. She has been coming home with lots of germs and the girls have had 2 really bad colds since the beginning of September. Aaliyah does really well at fighting off the virus, but Ciara has a rough time. Aaliyah is learning a lot at school and is always eager to tell me all the new things! On Thursday they had a fire truck come to the school and learn about fire safety. She really enjoyed it even though she said she didn't want to go into the truck, but she did because her friends did. She is 3 going on 14 and cracks me up with some of the things she says! And her hand gestures and the faces she makes are so hilarious.

Corey is doing well and working like crazy. He has not had a week with less than 80 hours for a while. They have changed his schedule to 6 days on call and 3 days off so that has really helped to catch up on his rest and spend some time with us. The girls miss him so much and are always thrilled when he is home. Aaliyah cries for her daddy sometimes and my heart just breaks.

The big news is that we are buying a new home. Corey and I had been checking out real estate websites and trying to decide if we wanted to buy a different home or build. It was so much money to build so we decided we would keep our eyes open for a good home. Our friend Jodi's parents are selling their house and they told friends and family about it before they put it on the market. Corey and I fell in love. The house is on 3 acres and is very secluded. It is a ranch style home and is about 600 square feet less than our house, but it wouldn't take anything at all to finish the basement. Bill and Patti have accepted our offer and now we just need to get our house sold. We have been slowly chipping away at the list of things that need done before we want to put it on the market. It is so hard when Corey is never here and there is only so much I can do. Hopefully we will make some progress this week and will be ready to list it soon. Bill and Patti will hold the house until January 1st and if we don't have it sold by then they can decide to list their house or maybe we will be able to work out a deal for them to hold it a bit longer. We are really excited to live out in the country. We are not town people.

I can't believe it, but in 2 weeks we will be in Florida!!! It really snuck up on me and I can't believe it is time already! We will be flying in on October 26 and flying home on November 3. We are taking Aaliyah to Disney on that Friday and having lunch with the princesses. She is so excited and talks about Disney all the time. We have been talking with Nana on skype and she is excited to see Nana and Poppa Coach. We haven't seen Pat for almost a year and Corey and I have not been to Florida since we were dating. That was 5 years ago!

I have been doing well and am still selling Pampered Chef. I really enjoy it and it is such a wonderful way to get out of the house for the day and socialize with great people. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I pretty much just feel like a taxi driver! Aaliyah has school from 8:30-11 so it is not worth coming home and then turning around and coming back into town. So Ciara and I find something to do for a couple of hours. Then we head home and go back into town on Tuesday afternoons for soccer shots at school. I decided to sign her up because her friend Alyssa is also playing and I knew she would enjoy being with her. After a couple of sessions I feel like she is too immature for it. She pretty much just stands there and watches the other kids play. She won't stretch and she won't run..she just stands there. I feel so bad for coach Eric!! He is always trying to get her into the game and she is really not interested! Oh well. I ask her after every session if she had fun and she always says yes and looks forward to it every week. On Thursdays I drop Aaliyah off at school and then come home and meet Kathi for Ciara's therapy. Ciara attends much better and does very well at therapy when she doesn't have Aaliyah taking her attention. So after therapy we head back into town and pick up Lee. So like I said Tuesdays and Thursdays are not very productive for me!!!

I continue to praise God for my beautiful baby girl and pray that we have found the answer to her weight loss and she will begin to be a healthy little girl.

Remember me?

Enjoying my birthday cake-even in her nose!

wearing her cousin Brooke's nighty

We had a family photo shoot

Hello! It has been forever since I last updated so lets get right to it!

Ciara is doing wonderful weighing in at 17 lbs 1oz. She has gained a little, but she is so busy that she burns off as much as she takes in! She is walking around everywhere and climbs everything in sight! She is such a little monkey. She currently has 4 teeth coming in so she has been cranky the past couple of days. It is so exciting that she is finally getting teeth. She has had just two up until now. She is doing well sleeping and generally sleeps 12 hours at night and takes a 2-3 hour nap during the day. Sometimes I get lucky and she takes two naps! She is learning new words everyday and loves to jabber on and on. We are still doing therapy once a week and we enjoy our time with Ms. Kathi. Ciara is doing very well and at her last evaluation she was only behind in self-help skills. She JUST qualified to stay in the program and since it does nothing but help her I decided to keep having Kathi come over and play with her. Ciara really enjoys her time with Kathi and gets sad when Kathi has to leave. She is a vibriant, healthy, very energetic little girl! We are so blessed to have her here with us.

Aaliyah is doing well and will be starting preschool on September 7th. She is so excited and I am so sick to my stomach about it! I just don't want to believe that my baby is old enough to go to preschool! Wasn't it just yesterday that I held her in my arms just seconds after pushing 1 1/2 hours to deliver her? Didn't I just bring her home? Where does the time go? She will be going to SSCD preschool on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:30-11:30. Like I said she is so excited. She is also extremely excited about our trip to see Nana! On the last week of October we are flying down to Florida to spend the week with Nana and GG and grandpa Gunther. We are spending one day in Disney and we have reserved a spot to have lunch with Cinderella in the castle. She talks about it constantly and asks if it is time to go yet! Corey and I are so excited to be able to take her to Disney. I never had the opportunity to go as a child and I am more than thrilled that Aaliyah can have these memories. Corey and I decided it would be more enjoyable for Aaliyah and us if we left Ciara with Nana for the day and just focused on Aaliyah. I had a hard time with this decision. I don't want Ciara to look back at the pictures and wonder where she was and why she didn't get to go to Disney with us. I know she will get to go eventually. We plan to visit Nana every other year. So I gave in and am happy with my choice. Aaliyah really doesn't get to do much with just Corey and me. It will be nice to focus on her. Aaliyah is growing like a weed and is in size 5 clothes. She is so tall now measuring at 42 1/2"! She is still wearing pull-ups to bed and having a wet one in the morning. This is honestly my fault. If she asks for a glass of milk before bed I let her have one. She is doing well during her naps though and has been waking up dry. I wasn't making her take a nap before, but I find she sleeps better at night and is less whiny if she gets an afternoon brake. Now if I could just get the girls to nap at the same time I would really have it made! This past week we attended vacation bible school in the evenings and grandma Benson watched Ciara so I could help Teresa round up all the little ones. We had so much fun and had a little program on Sunday morning with all of the songs they learned. Well Aaliyah decided she wasn't going to do a single thing but stand up there. She wouldn't sing or clap or wave her hands so all of the pictures of her are pretty uneventfull. She is such a stinker sometimes!

Corey is doing well and working like crazy. For the last couple of months he has been working 70-80 hour weeks. He pretty much just comes home to sleep and then gets called back in. We look forward to his days off and the girls miss him so much. Aaliyah has been having a hard time with him being gone so much. The other day when he got called out she started crying after he left and kept saying she was going to miss him so much. When she gets up in the morning the first thing she asks me is "Where is my daddy?" I love the days when I can say he's home and she can be with him! Ciara's face lights up when her daddy comes home and she loves to play and cuddle with him. Those girls love their daddy! He has not been here much to help me around the house so I have been taking on projects that I would normally NEVER attempt to do. Why just last night I put a new flapper in the downstairs toliet and was extremely proud of myself! The toliet was constantly running and all I could think about was how much money we were wasting! I also have been quite the mouse catcher and have emptied out the mouse traps on my own. It's not something I would have ever done before, but I have learned to get things done that need to be. My dad helps me a lot with letting me know what parts I need to get and how to fix things. I don't know what I would do without him.

I am doing well and keeping myself busy with being a mommy. I am still a Pampered Chef consultant and absolutely love when I have a show. I really enjoy getting some time to myself. I don't really have any set up right now and need to get on the phone and start filling up my calender! I have been watching the two neighbor children in the afternoons for some extra money and that keeps me busier than I want to be!!! Four children is a hand-full! I just keep saying to myself "My poor parents." You know by the time you realize your mother was right, you have a daughter that thinks you are wrong! And let me tell you Aaliyah lets me know what she thinks too! I celebrated a birthday on the 11th and can't believe I'm 28! I remember when Corey and I started dating he was 27 and I thought that was so old! haha!

Praise the Lord our family is healthy and happy! He is so good.

Not gaining...again!

One of Ciara's NICU nurses Jill got married and invited us! Aaliyah wanted to get her picture by the cake!
Ciara and Lilly!

Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Walter

My nudest-DIVA

Cutie!

We went over to visit Gram Anthony. She is not feeling well and told us she is ready to go home to Jesus. Aaliyah over heard her and on the way home asked me how she could meet Jesus. She wanted to know if she could go with Gram and see him!

silly girl on Memorial Day

Filling up Grammy and Poppa Detwiler's pool

Cool baby!!!

Ciara is doing well weighing in at 16 lbs 3 oz. Unforuntely she has been this weight for over a month and a half. We were in to the doctor's office on May 28 to talk about her allergies. Sharon was a little concerned with her weight so she put her on a protein shake daily. I give her either a boost or a pedisure. She enjoys the boost, but she is not crazy about the pedisure! She is a fantasic eater, but she is a busy little girl!! I think she plays it off as soon as she gets it in. Hopefully she will start to gain a little soon. Her allergies have been bothering her and Sharon switched her medicine from Zyrtec to Singulair. So far it does not seem to be working. If this doesn't work then we may have to get her tested to see what medicine is best for her. Other than being tiny and having allergies she is doing really well. She is almost walking and starting to say quite a few words! She says "tank woo" (thank you) all the time. Even when she gives me something she says it! She is so precious. Ciara continues to have therapy every week and has an evaluation coming up in June.

Aaliyah is doing very well and is so bright. The things she says to me and Corey amaze me. She is doing well on the potty, but still wears a diaper at bedtime. Honestly, this is my fault. She likes to have a glass of milk right before bed and I always let her have one. So naturally she is going to have to go potty before morning. She is getting excited about preschool and asks me a lot of it is time to go yet. She is a good helper and loves to make her sister smile. But they are sisters so Aaliyah is always pushing Ciara away and telling her no. I told her that I hear her say no to Ciara more than I say it myself! Corey set up a blow-up pool for her and as soon as she gets up in the morning she is asking to go swimming.

Corey is doing great and is finishing up the remodeling in the living room. It is almost finished! We have to trim around the windows and it will be done. He has done such a beautiful job. He also put in a new door and screen door. I love the new screen door! Our old one didn't close and made this annoying sound when you would open it. So after we get the trim finished he will be taking down the panneling in the door way and replace it with new drywall. He is still working a lot of long hours.

I am doing well with my Pampered Chef business. I enjoy it so much!!!! It is my time to get out of the house and have a conversation with a grown up! And I just happen to make some money while I am doing it. My bladder has been ok and I had an appointment at Magee on Thursday. Dr. Sagan is about 90% sure I have Intersitial Cystitis. I have been taking Elmiron since March so we will decide in September which road we sould take next. There is no actual test to diagnose IC. You pretty much just rule out everything else and then decide that is what you have. So far I have all of the symptoms, but there are other diseases that have these symptoms too.

About three weeks ago I noticed a spot on my right breast that looked like a bug bite. I showed it to Corey and we decided that it was either a bug bite or a billed hair. Last week I just happened to look in the mirror while getting in the shower and noticed that the spot was spreading. A couple of days later it started to itch. So I made an appointment with my doctor and saw her on Friday. Well the morning of I noticed some discharge from my nipple and my breast was tender. She ordered a mammogram and ultrasound, but the hospital did not have an opening until June 9th. Unless they have a cancellation before then-I just have to wait. Lindy gave me a prescription for Keflex in case it is an infection. I am terrified and I just want to get this testing done to make sure everything is ok. I will keep you updated.

We continue to praise God everyday for our wonderful family and friends. We know that everything that happens is his will and he will see us through anything. I have been doing a lot of praying lately and I know he is listening. God bless.

A tooth!!!

Ciara and I both share my Grandpa Barnoff's crazy hair!
Feeding Kissy

Remodeling the living room. This is what it looks like right now. This is a new window.

Corner TV stand

New front window.

Ciara finding eggs on Easter

Easter princess

The pile of rubble after living room demo

Nice wallpaper huh?

Mimi laying in the mess

Aaliyah climbing at the Big Run park

Helping daddy take the junk out

The living room before we started

Aaliyah pushing Ciara

Old Tv stand that needs a new home Aaliyah after the Big Run egg hunt. It was soooo cold.ready to find some eggs

Ciara got into her sisters basket

Princess Ciara at the birthday party

Playing with the parachute

We had so much fun

Daddy helping Aaliyah make a basket

MOMM!!!!

Aaliyah and cousin Mackenzie

Happy baby with Uncle Markie

It has been forever since I have last updated!!! Let's catch up. Ciara is now weighing in at a wonderful 16 pounds! On Tuesday she got her first tooth! We are so excited at how well she is growing. She is talking well too. Her favorite words are momma and dada, but she also says Elmo, nice, all done, and who's that! She is so precious and she amazes me everyday. She is so bright and wants to imitate everything that we do. She is not walking yet. But she is cruising around and standing on her own. She prefers to have me take her hands and walk with her so the desire is there she just needs to get the courage. Ciara continues to have therapy every Tuesday and loves when Kathi comes over to play. Ciara gets all excited and starts bouncing and screaming. We are blessed to have such a wonderful person in our lives.

Aaliyah is doing well and getting bigger and smarter by the second. She is really enjoying going outside to play and has made friends with the neighbor girl and is always begging me to go over or have her come over here. Hmmm...that reminds me of a two little girls who lived in Walston that couldn't go a day without each other!! I love you Kaylan! She is doing well being a big sister and is very helpful. The only thing she doesn't do well with is sharing. I feel like I am constantly yelling at her to share! She spends a lot of time in the corner! We will keep working on it. She is registered to go to SSCD in the fall for preschool and is so excited. She has been having some separation anxiety and does not want to leave me at all. This past week she refused to go to either of her grandma's houses and she usually can't wait to go. Hopefully this is just a phase. As my Grandma Detwiler would say "This too shall pass."

We have been remodeling the living room. Corey has been working every since minute he is not at work. It is absolutely beautiful. We tore down the walls to the planks, blew in insulation, re-wired everything, put in more outlets (because we only had 2), put up new drywall, put in recess lighting, and built in a TV stand. Corey just finished painting yesterday and he and Grandpa Long are going to finish up the wiring on Wednesday. All we have left to do is put up the trim and it will be done. The girls and I have been hanging out upstairs and watching movies in Aaliyah's room. We have everything piled up in the playroom so there isn't much room to play downstairs. We pretty much just come downstairs to eat and do the dishes. We spent our entire tax return on the living room and it looks wonderful! It's so easy to spend it. It is definitely worth it though.

We continue to praise God everyday for our wonderful family. God Bless