Hello Miss. Valerie - I am officially a "Nonni"

This post is mostly to update my Sistahs that refuse to use facebook ;)

Well the day has finally come!  Valerie is here and I am a proud Nonni!  I will be creating Nonni's bragging page shortly to keep you updated as the little sweat pea grows and learns new things!



Basically, I know I have been off the radar for a while.  On or about in November I became obsessed with making sure every little detail to welcome this sweet little one into our crazy world was covered.  There was the shower planning, the theme, the decorations, the games, the invitations, the food .. oh ya.. kept myself busy with that and the Holidays.

In January on the 14th we had a perfect day for a perfect shower.  Everything went off as planned, good food, good times, good friends and family.  There were 3 generations (4 including Valerie) present.  Grandmas and Great-Grandmas..it was a fun filled day.

Then it was time to organize and setup the nursery to welcome our little one.  A dear friend was there to help make it amazing.  Below you can see the mural she designed for the baby's room.  Yes, Taryn is not your simple bears and bows girl... she is an artist with an amazing view of life and design.  So, keeping with the them of "Yellow submarine" the mural was made.  "All you need is love" (and a whole lot of patience and diapers ... I didn't spoil the pink cloud ..LOL).

I think Valerie will definitely find stimulation with this artwork!

Then the wait began for the big day!  She was supposed to arrive on Superbowl Sunday, but she must have known that Grandpa and Nonni had other plans for this day!  Although, looking back it would have been much more fun to see her be born on that sad, sad, day!

Then came the call at 7:30 AM on Wednesday, Feb. 8th.  Mom my water just broke.  Taryn labored at home until early afternoon.  She went to the hospital at about 1PM.  After a lengthy night and lots of breathing and pushing at midnight the decision was made that the wee one (?) needed some assistance.  Taryn headed to the OR for a C-Section.  At 1:03 AM, 9LB 14OZ 21 1/2", Valerie Lynn, came into this world.  We all just love her to pieces.  The doctors and staff definitely did not read my script about a perfect birth as they really dropped the ball with some stuff... but, alas, all is incredibly well with our little "moose" baby.  She is sweeter than honey!  XO

And of course - keeping with my sentimental tendencies I created this little video to capture my emotion!

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What's up in an upside down world?

In this world that is overflowing with "political correctness" and feel good blah... "everyone gets a trophy, so nobody feels bad" Facebook has now stepped up to the plate with idiocies.  Yes - FACEBOOK!  It isn't really offensive if people drop f bombs like wildfire and show pics of nude strippers and every other thing imaginable... BUT, don't show the realism of Breast Cancer.  David Jay, a talented photographer that has been working his project "The Scar Project  http://www.thescarproject.org has been doing amazing work for the past few years.

David shows that Breast Cancer is not just a "pink ribbon".  His realistic pictures of women affected by the devastation of Breast Cancer show that we each still posses an inner beauty that comes from the soul.  We are transformed only in our body image by our scars.  David's pictures have been on Facebook for several years.
Now, all of a sudden, they have become politically conscious to the "I am offended by everything" movement that is sweeping our country and they have asked David to remove all of his pictures.

I ask you, those whom I know still have your rational senses to tell Facebook how "off base" they are with this policy.  These pictures help women that are scared and confused by what this disease will leave them with or without!  The pictures helped me and some that I know to realize that our beauty is not just as deep as the skin of our breasts.  These pictures help women to live! 

Yes, I am angry about this.  I am really saddened that there are those that can no longer look reality in the face and deal with it!