Gregory, my first born

Dear First Born - I've always loved you best because you were my miracle. You were the genesis of a marriage and the fulfilment of young love. You sustained me through the hardships, the garage apartments and my going back to college years. You were new, had four unused grandparents and enough clothes for a set of triplets. You never wore the same outfit twice, you were always clean and had your first pair of Nike sneakers when you were four months old. You were an original for a mom who was trying to work the bugs out. You got the name brand clothes, top of the line toys and took three hour naps. You were my beginning.

Gregory is the oldest of my three boys. He was born on Monday, September 2, 1996 and this was not just any Monday it was Labor Day - sure gave a whole new meaning to this holiday. I labored for 25.5 hours; after about 22 hours I was finally given an intrathecal, the pain was gone and all my family was asked to step out so I could get some rest. About 10 minutes after everyone left, Gregory decided the time was right, so my family had to be paged through the hospital to return. Greg's father took the doc's orders to get out of the room to mean, not go to the cafeteria for some food, but go home, so he was home (he did make it back). At approximately 12:30 p.m. Gregory Dean made his appearance and it has been love at first sight. He was the best baby, never cried unless he needed something, ate great, slept great, was very happy! Gregory was the best to have as a first born. When Greg was 18 months old, his father and I went our separate ways. It was just Greg and I for the next six years. He was a trooper and rather loved having me all to himself. Unfortunately.....that was about to change!

My Start...

I am a little embarassed to post these pictures, but here it goes. This first picture is a class picture, from sometime around 2nd - 4th grade, I'd obviously lost my baby teeth - check out the gaps between my teeth (courtsey of Grandma Wedgwood), thankfully they came together after my adult molars came in! My mother probably cut my hair, either in hopes of saving money at the beauty shop, or fixing a trim that I attempted! From kindergarten through sixth grade I went to Sacred Heart School and the first three days of school and picture day were the only times we got to wear "street" clothes and it was great! Please, don't laugh too hard and share your thoughts, however crude they may be!

Ok, on to about 1984ish, that would put me around 12 years old, maybe 6th or 7th grade. The teeth, thankfully are hidden behind my "gummy" smile and this time mom took me to the beauty shop! My hair is longer, but I was sporting a mullet so the back is pulled up. Take a close look and remember this picture, I actually do have a chin (pretty much hidden these days). At this point, I was done with the whole catholic school, nun scene so I moved on to public school. I went to Case Junior for 7th and 8th grade - what a change that was!

Most little girls choose to take ballet or gymnastics, but not me - I opted for tap dancing class. My parents went out and signed me up, bought the tap shoes and all the business that goes along with it. I maybe last for one year; I only remember one dance recital which produced the picture above. My classes were taught on one of the upper floors above Ray's Jewelers on the square and there were two other girls with me, Cindy and Melanie. It was fun while it lasted.....

My Purpose

My plan with this blog is to start a journal of our lives; from the beginning. This means that the first posts are going to be how we became our party of five - Me, Steve, Gregory, Joseph and Lucas. I hope to some day turn this into a book as I've read in others posts you can do and this would be a perfect gift for my family. So, here's to our life!

Full Circle

Well, I guess all things go full circle. If anyone is reading my blogs and following the circus that has been me trying to make things perfect, I've been through every blog site on-line and have decided to come back to Blogger. I guess I wanted things perfectly simple, but was being too picky. I just need to blog and let it be. So, I promise - THIS IS THE LAST MOVE! I've learned to leave well enough alone.

Amour, amy