Halloween Already???!!!

Well, it appears that 4 months have flown by without any news from this family. Have no fear - we have lots of updates to give.

Joshua is enjoying the little time he has to watch Dana continue to discover the capabilities she has to do increasing numbers of things. He loves to tease her and laugh at the annoyed funny faces she makes as a result. Aside from that, Joshua was promoted to Specialist in the United States Army on July 13th, 2008, just prior to his trip to Japan. Since his return from Japan in late July, his Unit has been training diligently for their fast approaching deployment next year. We are still assigned to the same Battalion just a different Company and Team. Josh recently went to Ft. Hood, TX where he visited the Emergency Room for a couple serious cuts to his fingers on his left hand inflicted by one of trainees. He doesn't get hurt often but when he does they are not minor injuries. We are looking forward to our upcoming Military Ball.

Teresa is also doing well. She spent the good lot of the summer tearing out the back yard and reseeding. So much work!!! Next time (if there is a next time) she is going to hire someone else to do it. She has enjoyed watching Dana grow and develop into a very healthy vivacious toddler. She is currently getting the house ready to be moved out of in the next few months including and not limited to painting 4 rooms, plugging nail holes, scrubbing walls, washing blinds, cleaning the carpets, bleaching the linoleum. As if all that wasn't enough, she is currently seeking Part-Time / Seasonal Employment to bring in just a little extra income. Teresa and Josh are also trying to succesfully make Dana a big sister. Teresa has donated way too much blood to the Madigan Laboratory for Infertility Assessment in the last 4 weeks. Hopefully this Baby thing will happen soon.

New Cut & New Color - done in August...


Finally to little Miss Dana Elizabeth. Wow! So much to tell. She is currently approximately a whopping 25 pounds. Still looking pretty chunky! She still hates Baby Food with a passion. She loves to eat anything she can feed herself. She holds her own sippy cups and loves to eat crackers and bread. One day we discovered she had sucked on a carrot stick for so long she had sucked all the juice out of it and all that was left was the outside skin. Needless to say we were quite impressed and surprised. The imp has discovered how to turn off Computers and Cellphones as well as change TV Channels on you. Yesterday, to our dismay we found our 11 month old Dana on the 3rd step of our staircase. She is cruising around everywhere. She doesn't care much for little people toys - she loves to meddle in Grown-ups toys such as our upright Piano peddles and reading Daddy and Mommy's books directly off the shelves. We were at Barnes & Nobles this morning and we handed her a baby book to read and she tossed it aside and went directly for the "Baby Development Book - the one with all the pictures of babies in utero." I am telling you - she needs a sibbling. She is a very sociable child that has to be discovering something, crawling somewhere, or talking to someone at all times of the day. It is hard to get her down for naps these days. We have been spending copious amounts of time at the Hospital between my appointments and those of our very close friends Sam (Hodgekins Lymphoma) and Lena (Pregnancy). So she discovered that everyone pays attention to her in all those waiting rooms. So anytime she wants to do anything impressive she crawls to the middle of the room and makes sure everyone is watching her for her to do something. Seriously, what a Drama Princess! Promise - that did not come from me! Don't know where she got that! She turns 1 already next month!

Mommy and Dana back in July sometime...




Dana loving the hat...



Beach Beauties... Dana loves to Swim...


Dana with her beloved Froggie Friend...




We can't believe how fast this year has flown by. Well that is about it for now. Now it is your turn to update!