Ah a new year!

As I finally get a chance to sit here and type what is on my mind and what I've been doing theses last couple of weeks, I want to take a minute to thank you all for stopping by my site and reading. Reading about my family, my son who is a little miracle, and about what life has to offer for my family. Thank you for taking time to care about what is happening in my little corner of the world.
These last few weeks have been a whirl wind of craziness. Before Christmas, our house was plagued by sickness...on Christmas...still plagued and as New Year's Eve came and went...so did more sickness. It just seemed that we couldn't get this stupid virus out of our house...I even went to the extreme of opening a couple of windows to try to freeze the germs away! LOL!
I spent all of New Year's Day wiping down everything with Clorox Disinfecting Wipes...at least everything smelled clean and germ free.
Since they are back in school starting tomorrow, I give it about a week until the kids bring home another sickness...and the cycle continues!
The tree is down, the decorations put away and it is back to the normal, everyday life that was...before all hectic "must haves" and "have to dos". We rang in the New year with just our little family (I use the word little, lightly) LOL. We had the typical...lunch meat tray, pickle and olive tray... the black olives are a huge hit with the kids. We finished it up with the family classic...my Daddy's New Year Punch. I remember every New Year's Eve, we'd have a big family party...just like the kind that I am trying to recreate, but bigger with more relatives, my dad would make this punch...consisting of Hawaiian Punch, Ginger Ale, vanilla ice cream and fruit cocktail! I have happily carried on the tradition with my kids now asking when I will be making the punch! I LOVE IT! We had the confetti poppers and the noise makers. Trying to keep 5 kids quiet because the 2 babies were sleeping was almost impossible, but somehow we managed and they didn't wake. The kids stayed up late with Tony while I went to bed around 12:30...I was still sick so sleep is the only thing I really wanted this new year! LOL!
Kenny rang in the new year by showing us that he can climb...yep...he now climbs up the steps. He is a very active little boy. He loves crawling! Actually, he has mastered it! Now that the holidays are over, we are going to start back up with his PT/OT and hearing and speech therapy. I cant wait! He still has some tightness in his hands and his legs are still a little stiff, but he is also kneeling and pulling up to a standing position which is so exciting to see! He hasn't really learned any new signs, so we are going to have to work on that too (along with trying to keep those dang hearing aids in).
Gina is now loving the idea of "tummy time". I really think she may be crawling within the next month! She is such a good baby. She is so...normal. Not that Kenny isn't, it's just that she is doing things that babies her age are doing while Kenny is doing things that a 8-9 month old would be doing. *still feeling a little guilty about the whole...having them early thing.*
Which brings me to my next topic...
I am sure you have all heard by now that John Travolta's son passed away. Anyone that grew up with me knows that I was totally infatuated with him since I was about 6-7 years old. I made a Grease scrapbook when it was out in the theatres...I STILL have it! Yep! I loved Welcome Back Kotter, had a couple of his albums (yes, he had a few), and just was head over heals for him. To hear that he has lost his son, just made me feel sorry for him and his wife. I know first had what they are going through...I didn't have Nick for 16 years, but I did have him, and a loss of a child is still a loss of a child, no matter what way you look at it. I don't care if some people think that because Nick was only 2 days old AND was a micro preemie, that Tony and I should get over it faster... Ah...NO. He was NOT a fetus, he was a living, breathing baby whom we had hopes and dreams for...not to mention...more love than you could even imagine.
To hear these news reports reporting on how John and his wife are doing, feeling....recounting the last moments...it's just sad. Brings back a lot of unsettling, sad feelings. I can tell you exactly what they were feeling...they were probably praying that this was all a bad dream. Begging with him to wake up, pleading with him, pleading with anyone to help wake him up and to not let him die. There is an emptiness that comes with losing a child. You want to throw up, cry, you cant breath, then when you think that you cant cry anymore, you do. Anything can and will make you feel the sadness of losing your child. Sometimes it will be OK to talk about it, while other times...it feels like the day it happened...the rawness of the whole thing. You want to keep as many memories alive as you possibly can, but sometimes it hurts to bad and you want to forget...but then you feel bad for that and, well...it's just sad. I hope that the media will let this family mourn in private...for as long as they need, because it is such a privately sad time in their lives. A mother and father have lost the most precious gift that God has given them.
So with that, I have to say that I am keeping the Travolta family, and any other family who have recently lost a child in my prayers and thoughts. These next few days, weeks, months and years are going to be sheer he**. No parent should have to bury their child, no matter what age.