One year

One year, 365 days, 52 weeks, 12 months, no matter how you say it, it has been that long since 3 little boys came in to this world and left this world, 3 little boys that should be here today. 3 little boys whose 1st birthday we should have been celebrating on this very day, but unfortunately Jesus had other plans. Anthony Michael, Mateo Joseph and Ian Vincent Brannock entered this world entirely too early and Jesus called them home. We will never know why, until we get to Heaven. But what do know one thing, these little boys made a HUGE impact in our family in the very, very, very short time they were here and we will never forget them. Their mommy and daddy miss them terribly. All of us miss them and wonder “what if” every day but unfortunately life can not be lived that way. Today we will look up to Heaven and cry and hopefully muster a smile to 3 little boys who are celebrating their “angelversary” (as another angel mommy, Robin, so beautifully put it on a blog that I follow). We know that they are being very well taken care of in Heaven. We know that one day we’ll get to see them again. Until that day to Anthony, Mateo and Ian…we all love you SO much and we miss you!!!!

**On a quick side note…Amy and Mike decided to get away for a few days to help ease the pain of this anniversary and when they arrived at the hotel Mike immediately opened up the curtains which overlooked the ocean and what do they see…3 dolphins swimming in the ocean right in front of them! Coincidence, absolutely not, to Amy, Mike and Aunt Christina, that was a sign from their 3 little angels telling them (and their baby brother-to-be) “Hello!”

Thank you for following Amy and Mike’s journey this last year, and for all the prayers, love and support.

Prayers and love to you all!

In addtition

I mean come on now, I can't even get the pictures to post at the bottom of my blog, now that's a true sign that I don't know what I'm doing!!! :)

Ohhh, ohhh, ohhh and I almost forgot...my miracle niece or nephew is a NEPHEW!!!! He is due at the beginning of September. Mommy and baby are doing well, and he is actually 20 weeks along TODAY! :) His tentative name is Spencer Liam. How adorable is this...my sister came up with the middle name Liam which stands for Love,Ian,Anthony,Mateo. Anthony, Mateo and Ian are my nephews (triplets) who my sister and her hubby lost at 23 1/2 weeks in May 2008. They are our guardian angels and I know they are watching over their baby brother-to-be! :)

Not a true blogger

So, I've come to grips with it...I'm not a true blogger, and most likely never will be. There, I've said it! :) I just really don't have THAT many interesting things to say on a daily basis, BUT I will continue to keep my blog up and running, occasionally post words, and ALWAYS be more then willing to share my adorable pics! :) We had a great Easter weekend. Any time with my family (immediate and extended) is always thoroughly enjoyable. And no, I'm not just saying that! I really do ADORE my family, and we always have the best time when we're all together. Here are some pics of Manuel from Easter Sunday (and a pic thrown in there from the previous weekend when Nonna (my mom) watched him while the hubby and I attended a teachers meeting at church. Enjoy! :)

I hope you all out there are doing well, had a great Easter, and WELCOME SPRING! :)

My miracle niece or nephew

I haven't written in a while, and to be honest, I don't know that I'm really cut out for this blogging thing. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE to write, but I don't really feel like anything I have to say is THAT interesting! :) The main reason I started this blog was so that when I followed/read other mommy's blogs and commented they could click on my blog, see my picture, and assume that I'm not some psycho weirdo! :) I've had some interesting (or so I think :) things to say here and there, but nothing TOO prevelent, so I think that's going to be the theme of my blog...saying what I want to say, when I need to say it, but not something I do ALL the time. But for all the blogs I follow out there, I will definitely continue to check on you daily! :) But while I am saying all this babble, I do have something pertinent to say...my sister had a check-up today, and got a picture of the little peanut (she is 13w 4d, measuring about 14w). The doctor said everything looks great, and all is well (YEAH!!! :) I want to share my niece/nephews pic, so here is their blogging world debut...

Shewww...an unintentional hiatus

Goodness gracious, my last post was so upbeat and happy and then BAM! Just like life tends to do, we got thrown for a curveball. My little boy turned 3 on the 1/31/09, and I had every intention of writing a "Happy Birthday letter" to him as I've seen other blogging mommies do on their childrens' birthday. Well the day of his birthday came (also the same day as his Chuck E. Cheese party) and as life would have it, time got away from me, and I couldn't write on the day of. So I thought, "Okay, I'll write it tomorrow (2/1/09)" That Sunday came, we got up, went to church (as we do every Sunday), and things seemed to be going great. Manuel was a bit under the weather, but nothing that caused us worry or concern. We got home from church around 12:30pm and Manuel felt warm. I took him temp and holy moly it was 104.7 (He has a history of febrile seizures so this threw us into panic mode!) We JUST switched Peds and had a Monday morning appt for his 3 year check-up. Our new Ped didn't have a copy of his records yet, and knew nothing about his history, so we figured we'd just take him to the ER and have him accessed accordingly. Little did we know that the quick trip to the ER would turn into 5 days in the hospital!!!!!! Manuel tested positive for RSV, and was having trouble keeping his SATs up when he slept so they decided to admit him. He was at Franklin Square from Sunday afternoon until Tuesday morning when they decided to transfer him to the Sinai PICU (Talk about a scare when the doctor comes in at 6:30am, you have slept MAYBE 2 hours in the last 48 hours and you hear the word PICU! I was hysterical. Even though it was "my" day to spend with him (Hubby and I were alternating days off work and days at the hospital) I called my hubby in a panic, and as he always he, he was there in no time to comfort me and Manuel. We were taken my ambulance to Sinai (while Manny followed behind in our car), and he got the most AMAZING care!!! He was in the PICU for about 24 hours, and then in a regular Peds room for about 24 hours and then we got the news that we could go home. Talk about relief!!! My poor baby just kept saying, day after day, "I want to leave this "hopistal"" :( It broke my heart! And then he would pray (without prompting), "Jesus, please let me got home. I love you." So we are home, happy, and healthy (relatively), and ready to take on this new "diagnosis" of asthma. We follow-up with his new Ped on Wednesday. My poor angel has been through SO much his 3 years of life, but like I kept telling myself, and telling my hubby, it could always be worst! And praise God for getting us through this "bump" in the road!

Oh, and I plan on writing that letter soon, but now I just need to find some more time. Don't we all!?!??!? :)

Excitement doesn't even begin to describe it...

Okay, so I am so flippin' excited...my sister and her hubby found out on December 23rd that she is pregnant! I am just now announcing it because I was just now give the "go ahead" to do so per my sister. So, you may be asking yourself, "What's the big deal, you are going to be an aunt?" but what you don't understand is that it's a HUGE deal. You see, for those of you that don't know, my sister and her hubby have struggled with fertility issues for some time. She got pregnant through AI, and miscarried. Then in December 2007 we found out that her in-vitro "took" and she was prego. After a few months we learned that she was prego with not, not two, but THREE babies! Then a bit of time later we found out that they were all THREE boys! :) Amy, her husband, Mike and our entire family were beside ourselves, SOOO excited!!! As was God's plan, at the end of April Amy went in to labor. They held it off for as long as possible, but they had done all they could do and Amy had the boys. Mateo was still born. Anthony held on for a few hours, but passed in my arms. Ian was the only one that held any chance (at being only a tad over a pound), but his chances were slim. We held out hope but the very next day Ian decided to join his brothers in Heaven and also passed. It was/still is a horrible time for our family, and I can't even begin to imagine how Amy and Mike feel/felt about it all. We miss those boys every day and I often wonder what they would be doing, and how Manuel would be reacting to have three little baby boys to "look after." I know that Mateo, Anthony and Ian are in Heaven, being well cared for my relatives who have gone on before. And I also know that they are watching over their brother or sister-to-be and making sure everything goes well with this pregnancy. Please say a prayer for them, as this is a very emotional time for Amy and Mike. They are SO excited to be pregnant again, but obviously, understandably VERY cautiously optimistic.

I'm going to be an Aunt again, WOO HOO!!! :)

Really?

I know, it's not even 50%, but thanks to Renee over at Life With My Special K's (wish I knew how to link her name to take you to her blog, UGH!!!!! :), I took a "blogger survey" and I was quite surprised I scored this high...

http://www.oneplusyou.com/q/img/bb_badges/blog_addiction.jpg) no-repeat; font-family: Times New Roman, sans-serif; font-size: 30px;">47%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH...I can't figure out how to post the little picture saying I scored 47%. I know nothing about blogging except how to post cute stories about my family! :)