Toms says "Hi All!"

Once again apologies, it's been very busy the last few months.  There have been ups and downs along the way but we are basically doing well.  Along those lines the family is pleased to announce the birth of "Liberty Belle" on Tuesday the 19th.  At 8lbs, 8oz she is the second smallest baby we've had.  Both she and Mama are home from the hospital and doing well.

 

Lee loving on her new baby Sis...

 

Both Alina and Vitaly are in school getting extra help and attention. Their buses come to pick them up and drop them off, they are definitely excited about that and both love going to class.  One week before the end of the session Alina's school refused to let her in class until she got a couple of vaccinations, one of which was Varicella, one week after getting her shot she broke out in Chicken Pox, it looks to be a mild case but a couple of the other littles haven't been vaccinated for that one, so we're worried about them passing it to the baby.  But God is good so we know it'll all turn out alright. 

 

That said, we're still taking precautions and we've instituted a "no littles in Mom and baby's bedroom or touching baby Liberty for 10 days" rule and the bigs helping with baby Liberty all have to wash their hands and arms before holding her.

 

Other than that the rest of the kids are doing well; trying to keep up on homework and all their other activities is like trying to tame a hurricane.

 

Ethan will be a JR this year and is still playing football and it looks like he'll be a varsity starter as well.

 

Phoebe decided to give cheerleading a try, so she'll be encouraging big brother.

 

Mommom and Poppop have moved back here to be near us.  They're now only 4 miles away.  They are a total blessing from the Lord.  Mommom helps with the littles around the house and Poppop has been driving everybody to practices, tutoring, etc...Thank You Mommom and Poppop!

 

Leanore ( well, all the kids really, especially Tolly) can't wait to start going to the pool. Oh yeah, Tolly had his skull expansion and last week they also removed all the hardware from his head (he is one tough cookie) and he's bounced back real well.  The Doctors say he's doing great and they don't think they'll need to do the front of his skull.

 

Phoebe, Lee, & Sophie played Upwards Basketball while Holly did Upwards Cheerleading. (Ethan also helped coach)  They all had a good time and look forward to doing it again next year (except PJ, too old.)

 

Trudy is glad that Liberty is finally home, she's been telling everyone for about three weeks now that "she's not the baby anymore."

 

Other than that Dad (Tom) got a sort of promotion at work (increased responsibility, not an increase in pay) and will be overseas for most of the next year.

 

 

We're also going to host a teenage boy from overseas for the summer.  More on that later. (I mean, come on, I've got 7 girls, we need to do something to even the teams up)

That's all for now folks!!!