My Little Kiddles

Well they're not so little anymore.  My oldest is 29, Diana.  Diana was born in Harrisonville Virginia.  We were stationed in Sugar Grove West Virginia and Harrisonville had the nearest baby doctors.  It was an hour over a big mountain from our home.  We lived on the Navy base in base housing.  We had tried for about 3 years to have a baby.  All my friends and relatives my age were having babies whether they wanted to or not and I did!  I continually prayed for a baby but finally almost gave up.  I then prayed for God's will for me whether it be no children, adopted children or whatever he wanted.  We were scheduled for fertility testing and I was due to have a period.  At that time I was as regular as clockwork but it was a day before our testing was to begin a two hour drive away from home and I was a day late.  I called the nearest OB doctor and told them the situation and they said to come in.  In those days the only way to find out that early was to have a blood test so I did and they called me and said "you are pregnant".  I was so happy.  I met Mike on the front walkway and told him the news.  

My pregnancy was pretty uneventful, some sickness but not too much.  Diana was born 10 days before her due date on December 30.  We were in the hospital for a week because I had a C-section and she was jaundiced.  She was a very very good baby.  She rarely cried and entertained herself.  I spent many hours just holding her and watching her sleep.  

We moved from West Virginia when Diana was about a year old and moved to St. Mary's Georgia.  Diana started school when we lived in Kenosha Wi.  and attended school there until 3rd grade.  We then moved to Webb City and she attended school there for 2 years until we moved to Carl Junction when she started 6th grade.  Diana was always a good student and a really good kid.  I won't get too in depth with her life as she is private and I will let her tell her own story.  She is now a Dental Hygienist and is happily married with a little boy who is 6.

Stephanie was born 3 and 1/2 years after Diana.  We lived in Sugar Grove on the Navy base when she was born.  We were again one hour away from the hospital but with no mountains to cross on the way.  I had a hard time after Steph was born due to hemorrhaging but after a blood transfusion and a lot of coaxing my body recovered.  The first thing the doctor said when Stephanie was born was "look what a bald baby!"  Well she didn't have much hair for quite awhile.  When she did it was blond and curly and beautiful.  She was a colicky baby but when that passed she was also very good.  She was very physically active and was good at sports where her sister was a reader and very academic.  When Stephanie was 3 she would say when she grows up she wants to be a "hairdresser and a cheerleader for the Chiefs".  Well she never cheered for the Chiefs but did cheer for her school for 10 years.  She also played softball and we traveled all over with her softball team.  She even got to play at Disney World in the Softball World Series.  She really kept us busy.  Stephanie always stuck with wanting to be a hairdresser.  That is what she is doing now.  She was married in 2012 and is now expecting her first baby boy.  She is 26.

Michael is the California kid.  He was born in La Mesa California in 1990 two weeks before we moved to Kenosha Wisconsin.  He was a fussy baby!  He was a mama's boy and no one else would do.  He eventually turned into a very sweet, funny little boy.  He was always small for his age so we had him wrestle.  It was something he could do with kids his own size rather than being the smallest kid on the team.  He did fairly well, he went to State in youth wrestling his first year.  He started in 3rd grade and wrestled until his Senior year.  He went to state his Junior year.  Michael was always very good in school and the teachers always loved him.  He has quite the outgoing personality.  He is finishing up this year at MSSU, working toward a Marketing degree.  Michael is 24.  

Well that's my 3 kids.  If you want to know any more about them you will just have to ask them their story!

My Family:
Mike

I will probably be blogging about my family a lot.  Of course they are very important to me so here we go.  I met my husband Mike in high school.  Just as we were graduating we started dating.  Our first date was to the local stock car races and his mom was with us.  Pretty weird I know.  We were so young when we started dating but didn't wait long to be married.  We were both 19.  He worked at a wood shop and we rented our first house from my Aunt for $75 a month.  I wanted to have children right away and wanted to be a stay at home mom so I didn't work.  We lived in Joplin for about 2 years and Mike decided to go in to the Navy.  He had flirted with the idea before we started dating and even had a chance to be nominated for the Naval Academy but didn't take it. 

While Mike was in boot camp I stayed in Joplin missing him very badly.  When he graduated  his mom and brother and I  took the trip to San Diego to attend the ceremonies.  I married this little skinny guy that probably didn't weigh 120 soaking wet.  When we arrived at the ceremony we could not see him or talk to him until the graduation exercise was over except from a distance.  I didn't recognize my husband but his mom did. He had put on quite a bit of weight.  While most of the recruits were trying to lose weight he was trying to gain so he ate as much as he could and with that and all the exercise he gained muscle and turned into a man.  

I returned home after the graduation while Mike finished his next school.  I was going to stay here while he finished another school but I missed him too much.  I packed up what little stuff we had and drove from Joplin to San Diego by myself.  I was 21.  We lived in a tiny studio apartment in down town San Diego for about 4 months.  It was an interesting time.  The neighborhood was scary and we were broke.  We were still paying house payments back home and rent in San Diego.  It was a really pretty place but we never had the money to do anything.  Mike was going through training to be an electronic technician in the Navy.  

We survived our time in San Diego and lived in several places after that.  Next to Zion Ill. then to West Virginia, St. Mary's Georgia, back to San Diego then Great Lakes Ill while Mike taught school.  At that time we lived across the state border in Kenosha Wi.  Mike was in the Navy for 11 years.  When the Defense Department started cutting back Mike got out of the Navy.  We stayed in Kenosha for a couple more years while Mike was working for a local wire manufacturer.  We then decided it was time to take our 3 kids and go home.

While we were living in West Virginia and Georgia Mike took college classes and earned a bachelors degree. He has been working in variations of electronics and mechanical maintenance ever since.  Now he works at a local explosives plant. He still likes to watch the races on tv and like most men likes football and baseball.  He loves to go camping, something our family has done regularly for many years. He has a good friend that he likes to fish with and they spend many hours on the lake. 

 We have been married for 34 years. 

My days

I am a recently unemployed Nana who is trying to find what I will do next.  I would love to just stay at home doing what I am doing now but find the money isn't quite stretching far enough.  My kids are grown and mostly gone from home.  My son still lives here but pretty much sleeping is all he does in this house.  You may think staying at home with no little mess makers to take care of would be boring but I have never been the bored type.  I love to read, do crafts, piddle around the house and play on the computer.  I never seem to find enough time in the day to do all I want to do so frequently I stay up late doing more.

For the past 15 years I have worked as a school nurse.  I loved my time doing that but changes in education in the past few years have made it something I just don't enjoy anymore. Well how about taking a year round job when you have had the past 15 summers off!  No fun.  I am also having some health issues that would make it hard for me to work any job on my feet or walking much.  That pretty much leaves out any nursing position so change is what I am going for.  So I am not really looking for a job, just keep trying to find ways to stretch the money further and will maybe pick up some days subbing in the local school district.

I am expecting my 3rd grand baby in February.  That keeps my mind occupied.  Love the grand babies.  I have one 6 year old grand son Aiden and one 3 year old grand daughter Chloe.  They are lots of fun.