Happy 39th birthday Janelle!

This picture was taken on June 13, 2004. It was the first time that Janelle met GG. We were having Marley's third birthday party at GG's and Big Baba's house. Unfortunately, GG passed away a week later. She would have loved getting to know Janelle; she is definitely a wonderful addition to our family! Happy birthday Janelle!

Happy 38th birthday Janelle!

This is what I wrote in my blog on December 7, 2004, almost 12 years ago. Marley was 3 years old.

"Janelle and Marley - Marley just absolutely loves Janelle. From the minute she gets here Marley just showers her with hugs, kisses, pats, and loves. Poor Uncle Mark definitely takes a second set to Janelle. Mark said it's probably because she reminds Marley of a Barbie doll. She even had a barbie doll she named Barbie Janelle. Marley loves to brush and comb Janelle's hair, and tonight she wanted to put pony tails in Janelle's hair but she said she didn't know how. Janelle said she could teach, so she tried to show her how by taking a strand of her own hair and showing her how to put the hair in the middle of the elastic band. Poor Janelle, her head got a little abused, but the feeling seems to be mutual - Janelle seems to really enjoy Marley too!"

Happy birthday Janelle! Thanks for being such a big part of our family!

Throwback Thursday - Janelle

This is what I journaled back on 5/19/2004 - before I had a blog.

This is the story of Mark and Janelle:

They met in January of 2003 where they were both working at Providence Hospital.  They started dating in March of 2003 and broke up in July 2003.  They started re-dating in February of 2004 and we met her in either March or April. They came to dinner on a Wednesday evening and she remembers that we had pork chops (probably orange juice pork chops which is one of Mark's favorites).  This picture was taken in May as I was not brave enough to start taking pictures of them until a few months later. As far as Marley meeting Janelle - Marley was not quite 3, and she knew that Uncle Mark's girlfriend Janelle was coming to dinner to meet the family. As soon as Mark's car pulled up in front of the house, Marley ran out and gave her a big hug. Janelle had asked Mark if he thought Marley would be shy around her. He said that he didn't know, because he only saw her around family. I guess not. For some reason she just attached herself right to her. We were all a little surprised just how “un-shy” she was with her. Mark's theory was that Janelle reminded her of a Barbie doll. In fact, Marley named her first Barbie doll "Barbie Janelle."

This week Janelle and their 2 year old daughter Miriam were in a pretty serious car accident.  A truck ran a red light and hit her car on the passenger's side.  Thank God Miriam's car seat was on the driver's side.  Janelle's car was totalled.  They were both shaken up, Janelle more so than Miriam.  She is bruised and very sore but, thankfully, nothing was broken.

Janelle is such an important part of our family that I cannot imagine what it could have been like.  It makes me realize that none of us is guaranteed another day and that we should never take our loved ones for granted.

Change....

Last day at 32 Carroll St.

First Day at 150 Elmar Dr.

This was moving weekend for Mark and Janelle.  We were lucky to have good weather, lots of help, and a moving company (a guy and his son that we had used to move Dot).  Even so, moving is such a lot of work, in so many ways.  The worst is behind them though.  Now it's the unpacking and organizing.  Good thing they're young!

Janelle's birthday (tomorrow) present

Last Sunday while Mark, Janelle, Paul and I were in Brattleboro, VT, Janelle found a store that she really liked. It sells vintage decorations, furniture, etc. The boys had gone across the street to SAMS and while Janelle and I were looking through Distinctive Decor she spotted a chair/swing that she really liked. It was heavy macrame and really looked like something out of the '70s. She told Mark about it later, but I'm not really sure he digested it.

So...since Janelle's birthday is tomorrow, and we are having the "5 birthday party" Sunday, I told Paul I wanted to go back up to Brattleboro today to get the chair.

We brought it home and put it on the loveseat in my living room. I put an old quilt over it because I knew the cats would take it over and think it was for them!



Sure enough!

I wish I had taken a picture of Mark's face when he saw it tonight. The only thing he said was, "It's not going in the living room." I think it would go well with the multi-colored pole lamp that she brought home from Dot's house, LOL.

Kristen and I both think she was born in the wrong era. She is a mis-placed 70's girl!

Happy birthday Janelle!

Today is Janelle's birthday, and last Friday was Mark's birthday. Tonight I babysat for Mason while they went out to dinner to celebrate their birthdays. When they came home we had a little birthday cake so that Mason could sing "Happy Birthday" and blow out the candles.

Last week when we did the same for Mark's birthday I realized that I didn't have any candles except for some used number candles. He ended up having "29" on his cake.



Tonight, believe it or not, I still didn't have any candles, so I asked Janelle to pick out how old she wanted to be tonight from the number candles that I had. She ended up being "18".

Mason was so cute. Both times he helped blow out the candles, and then clapped.

Happy birthday Mark and Janelle!

Love,
Mom

307/365 - Look alikes?

I have always thought that Mason looks just like Mark.





Recently Janelle’s mother Stacia showed me some baby pictures of Janelle.
I think he looks like both of them. What do you think?

248/365 - Sunday

Mark and Janelle went to a wedding this afternoon, and Mason came to stay with Grandma and Grandpa.

I was holding Mason while I was taking this picture and he was waving at them, which made for cute smiles from Janelle and Mark.



Isn't Mason cute? I love this age.










Marley gave this "Froggie" to Mason right after he was born. She still loves her Froggie, and she wanted to make sure he had one too. We never imagined he would like it SO much. He loves to chew on his eyes. They are so gross. Even after washing, they are still pretty nasty. The problem is, if it gets washed, it has to be ready to go to bed with him. So, it is gross a lot!






This picture of Marley and her Froggie was taken back in 2006, but she still sleeps with him and she still brings him to Grandma's when she sleeps over. :)




We had to do an errand for Dot, so we took Mason over for a little visit. I wanted to get a picture of him sitting on Dot's lap to send to my aunt Esther (Dot's sister), but this is the picture I got.



So...I had Paul take this picture. Much better.



We had a good time with Mason!


P.S. When we stopped at Geisslers to get something for Dot, I was surprised to see that the old McDonald's was almost gone and they were using the new McDonald's. That happened so fast. The last time I was in the area they were still building the new one.

When we first moved to Belden Court after we got married, there was a Burger Town there. Shortly after, a McDonald's took its place. The building was later razed and remodeled, but now the building is gone and there is a brand new one next to it. Progress...I guess.

247/365 - Boring Mason

Janelle and Mark bought a video camera a few days ago. We were trying it out on Mason tonight, but would he crack one smile? No. Janelle said he was boring tonight.

214/365 - Mason at the Softball Playoffs

Today was the softball playoffs for Mark and Toby's team. Not the best day weather-wise, or winning-wise. They won two games, lost two games, but were eliminated (last year they won the championship). I chalk it off to three new sleep deprived fathers! Mason didn't seem to mind the weather; he stayed dry under the umbrella!

179/365 - Mason and Daddy and Uncle Toby's softball game

Mason went to see his Daddy and Uncle Toby play softball for the first time today.

Waiting for and meeting Mason Joseph Radtke

Wow! What a wild couple of days. Sunday we were going to have a cookout at Kristen and Toby's. I had planned on taking what would probably be my last picture of Janelle pregnant since she was due on Monday. Mark called about 3 o'clock that afternoon to say that he wasn't sure if they were coming because Janelle was somewhat uncomfortable. She had been having contractions since about 11 o'clock in the morning. They decided they would give it a try though since they were both hungry. Poor Janelle, even though she was having contractions, she still posed for a picture for me.

After dinner we sat in the living room timing contractions all afternoon and evening.

By about 9 o'clock she was really becoming uncomfortable. The contractions had been about 5 minutes apart since they started but now they were much stronger. She called her nurse midwife who told her to come to the hospital and they would check her out. Kristen and I were so excited and knew we could never just go to bed that night, so we asked if we could come with them to the hospital. I think they were happy to oblige us. It was a long night, but at 9:08 the next morning it was all worth it. We actually heard him crying (quite loudly I might add) outside their room before we knew he was there. Labor, delivery, and recovery are all in one room now. After a little while we (Kristen, me, Stacia and Amy (Janelle's mother and sister arrived at the hospital about 5:00 a.m.) were allowed in the room. What an unbelievable experience, words don't do it justice. I loved him before I even saw him.

158/365 - Waiting

Waiting.

(This is posted by Paul on Tuesday - Debbie is sleeping - she missed a whole night's sleep.)

138/365 - Baby Radtke's crib

Tonight we went to Mark and Janelle's to bring over the dressing table. We had it at our house because we were cleaning it up and patching up the paint (it was Marley's). They have been getting the room ready and it looks so cute. This is a picture of the crib (and added bonus of Janelle and Baby Radtke to the left :)

131/365 - Kris' knitted clothes for Baby Radtke

These are the sweaters and little fruit hats (blueberry and pumpkin) that Kristen knit for Janelle's baby shower. Aren't they cute?

130/365 - Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day!

I asked Paul to take a picture of the "mothers" today. So...we were standing there waiting for him to adjust the camera (which I thought was taking him a long time), and then to tell us when he was ready. You know, one, two, three....Smile. Well, that never happened. All of a sudden he said he was done. This picture was about the best of the bunch. All we got was all three of us looking like we were hanging around waiting. Next time I'll use the timer :)

116/365 - Janelle's Baby Shower

Today was Janelle and Mark's baby shower. This picture is of Mark holding up a sweater that Kristen knit. Isn't it adorable? She actually made them two sweaters and two hats (not to mention the many started but not finished for one reason or another). It was a fun day. More pictures on Debbie's Blog.

Janelle's Baby Shower

Today was Janelle's (and Mark's) baby shower at the Crowne Plaza in Worcester, MA. It was such a fun time. Janelle knew she was having a baby shower that day but she didn't know where, and I don't think she thought there would be so many of her and Mark's friends there. There were 60 people in all, most of them their friends. Poor Mark; I'm sure he didn't know just how "involved" he would be in the shower. We thought it would be a good idea if he stayed and helped Janelle open the "mountain" of gifts. He was a little hesitant at first, but was a good sport about it and eventually really got into it. I think they got just about everything they will need for quite awhile. The food was basically the Crowne's Sunday Brunch and it was wonderful. All in all a memorable day!