In the craziness of the past two weeks, our anniversary kind of went to the way side this year. However, even though we didn't do anything special- I still wanted to at least put a quick post together to share the memories of our wedding day!
If it wasn't for our wedding and the planning of the big day- there might not be a blog to hold all these great memories!
Sam-
I love you today more than I did the day I said "I do!". You are the best dad to Sammy Jay, and the most supportive husband (especially over the past 2 weeks). I am luckiest girl in the world to have you in my life.
Thanks for being my best friend and my partner through this walk in life! I love you!
~Stacy
For everyone who didn't get a chance to come one of my dad's services (or if you just want to read again), here is my eulogy for my dad.
RIP Dad- I love you!
First, I want to start off by thanking everybody for coming today to support myself, my mother, my family, and of course to be here to remember my dad. I want to thank everyone for their calls, text messages, and overall show of support for us this past week- it's meant a lot and has helped us through this difficult time.
My dad, Richard Karl Darkey Jr., was born May 24, 1957 in Battle Creek Michigan to Richard and Pat Darkey. He was the oldest of five children- with his siblings Linda, Jerry, Chuck, and David.
As a kid my dad was a Boy Scout, and my grandpa was even his scout leader for a number of years. He continued his dedication to scouting well into his adult years as a scout leader for our church's Boy Scout troop in Kalamazoo, MI.
Also, growing up he loved comic books- which is a love he shared with his brother Jerry. (On a side note- if anyone knows a good way to sell old comic books, please talk to me after the service). Additionally, that love the comics grew into a love of all comic movies and TV shows. Batman, Superman, Iron Man- he loved them all.
My dad was also a high school athlete- doing wrestling and cross country. I remember in junior high finding his old high school letter-man jacket and I thought it was the coolest thing in the world- I even considered making a "high school sweetheart" Halloween costume using that jacket.
My dad graduated from Bellevue high school in Bellevue Michigan in 1976. After finishing high school he went to Lansing Community College where he met my mom- Mary.
I remember my mom telling me the story about how he asked her out... They were in a class together, they to got talking, and she had mentioned she worked at a local daycare. However maybe my dad was too nervous but instead of just asking her out in person, he found the phone number of the daycare center and asked her out over the phone. At the time she told me the story I was in college and I said to her "mom, that's what you call a stalker". However there must have been something about my dad she really liked because they were married in less than a year on December 15, 1979 in Parma Michigan.
Right after they were married, they continue to live in Lansing for a few years and then moved to Kalamazoo which is where they decided to start their family.
On December 11, 1985, they welcomed me into the world. My dad was very excited to have a little girl because just a few weeks before I was born a good friend from our church had a little girl as well. When my dad saw his friend holding his baby girl, my dad was excited to have his own "daddy's little girl" too. After a few more years, my sister Karen was born December 29, 1989 and our little family was complete!
My dad was always such a hard-working man. He never had an easy job and he's had many of them over the years. From a factory worker, to a custodian, to working for Kmart on an overnight shift and as a shoe manager, and to his most recent job as a drivers helper for Dunkin' Donuts.
Even though he worked hard he also knew how to enjoy life. He always enjoyed taking his girls out for dinner and movies- and he even would happily go to see the newest "chick flick" if we wanted.
Also, he was very dedicated to the church. We would always go every Sunday as a family even if he had just gotten off a long night shift at Kmart. He loved to be involved with the church- between volunteering to be liturgist, singing in the choir, and even being in the church custodian for a number of the years- it always was a big part of his life.
As us girls got older, sometimes we didn't want to get up early to go to church but dad always found a way to convince us to go – it typically involved a fresh box of donuts.For my sister who was more reluctant to get out of bed, he would go up to her and say "Karen, I got donuts... mmm... donuts... donuts!". Our love of sweets was definitely inherited from our father. My dad's life wasn't always sunshine and rainbows. As a man, he went through few really rough years. However, even in the hardest years of his life, he never lost his faith in god and always kept smiling. That was the thing about my dad, he always try to see the positive side of things even if there wasn't much positive to see.
People have asked us, "Was he sick?". The answer is "No", but the writing was on the wall. It was 4 years ago (almost to the day of his passing), he gave us the biggest scare of our lives and had a heart attack 2 weeks before my wedding. I remember seeing him in the ICU and thinking my dad wasn't going to be able to walk me down the aisle.
It was one of the scariest times in our lives; but he bounced back with full focus. During our father- daughter dance, he was spinning me around so much on the dance floor I had to tell him to slow down because I didn't want to see my dinner come up and hit the floor. (But that would have made for a good story.)
Ever since then, my dad was living life to its fullest with all the excitement of other major events in our family lives. In the past 4 years he got to see my sister graduate from beauty school, the birth of my son Sammy Jay, and got to attend my sister's wedding.
And in his final full day here on this earth, I know his life was filled with joy and happiness, just because he got to enjoy spending the whole day with my mom and Sammy Jay. Being a grandpa was something my dad treasured, and I know even though he's not with us physically- he'll continued to enjoy watching Sammy grow up from afar.
Dad- I love you. Even if I never said those words enough- I truly do. Please know that anytime I see Dunkin' Donuts, eat at a buffet, or watch a comic-book movie, I will be thinking of you. Also, as my son grows up, I hope that he keeps his love of smiling and making people happy- like you did for us and so for many! Love you! ~Stacy
Yesterday both Sam and myself took off of work because it was our dating anniversary. I know it might be odd to still celebrate that date, but we were dating 10 years before we got married, so I still think its good to knowledge the date. Also we did really make any real plans, and because of this we ended up just doing a bit of our own thing... opps!
So while Sam worked on house projects, Sammy and I met up with my friend Ashley and her two girls. We got lunch and then went to a local farm.
(Her other daughter was sleeping, and you don't wake a sleeping baby!)
This farm a good number of things to do- kiddie rides, pig races, hay rides, a petting zoo, etc., but it will be better next year when Sammy is bigger and can enjoy it a little more. However, I'm still glad I took him because it was really nice to get out of the house, enjoy the last day of warm weather for a while, and I at least know it's worth going again next year!
Even though Sammy couldn't do much, he did enjoy the petting zoo. The goats were his favorite and I'm glad Ashley remembered to take pictures or I would have none!
It was a great use of my day off and I'm excited to do it again next year as a whole family!
Can you believe I'm able to get an update out on time? Ok- 1 day late- but it still counts. I surprise myself, but I couldn't have been done it without my in-laws because they took Sammy on Sunday night! I feel very lucky that we have parents who are willing (and want to) take lil man for a night because I was able to sleep from 11:30pm until 8:45am! It was glorious!
This month we had some really exciting action happening with Sammy Jay so I didn't want to miss out on getting it documented...
Clothes- So for some reason we don't have a lot of 12 month clothes for Sammy, so yesterday I pulled out his 18 month clothes we have for him. Even though he still does fit his 9 month clothes because he has worn them so much some of them as getting kind gross with stains. Plus being that some brand of clothes run really small, he fits into those 18 month sizes now (like the one in the 10 month picture) and the clothes that run bigger we can hang on to those for later.
Movement & Talking- Yup there is a lot of going on! Here is a video from tonight.
He has stood on his own not holding on to anything for about 2-5 seconds and took a few tiny steps (not really a walk) but then is always ends up back on his butt or grabbing back on to something. However, I think he will be walking any day because he can walk only holding on to just one of my hands. We are getting really close people to have a full blown mover on our hands!
Also, he is also really working on the talking. We get a lot of "ma, ma, mom," "ba, ba, ba", and some "da, da, da" sounds but you can telling he's not directing those at us. He loves when he's in his car seat to just babble to himself and we love listening to him.
Sleeping- This hasn't changed too much. He is still getting up about 2 times a night. However, because he's teething there was one night that he got up 4 times. That was a rough night on everyone but lucky there is only a few rough night here and there.
Eating- This also hasn't changed much in the past month. I'm still nursing (which has gotten interesting with a teething baby) so at this point I'm planning on trying to make it to his first birthday and then when I can switch him to whole milk- than I'll be done.
(What happens when you leave the baby alone with daddy!)
Other highlights from this past month-
He finally got teeth! We are currently at 3 (2 top and 1 bottom) but I feel like there will be a bunch more coming soon. I would love if we can get this teething thing done fast because it is no fun for any one.
We are changing him to his "big boy" car seat! We installed the first one in Sam's car and I'm still using the carrier in my car for now, but we'll get around to putting in the other one probably sometime this next month.
Lastly, Sammy is learning some bad habits we'll need to work on. Things like pinching, scratching, and hair pulling. He even got his great grandma- which I was not happy about but my grandma is a good sport.
But we were able to get this sweet picture with my grandma holding his hand! This is one my favorite picture from this past month!
You can just see the love in this picture and it will always put a smile on my face- love it!
So this started off as an 8 month update.... and another month has past and so this will be an update from 7-9 months! Sorry everyone... I have a baby to care for and a blog that is neglected, that's just how it is.
It's kind of hard to believe my baby is already 9 months old! Were has the time gone... I have a feeling I'm going to be saying a lot for the rest of my life! Also, it seems like I can only getting around to doing an update every few months- so here is what's been going on in the last three months...
Clothes- I have all his 12 month clothes out but I he can still fit into most of his 9 month clothes, so he's been wearing a mix of both. The 12 month pants still seem a little long but it's the summer- so who needs pants! Also, I'm happy to report he's still in size 3 diapers- which he's been in since 4 month (so half of his life!). However, I bought a box of sizes 4 because I know he going to need them soon, and I really don't have plans to buy another box of 3's and then only use half of them. He'll live if his diapers are a bit big.
Movement & Talking- Tons of movement. He can fully crawl, he can pull him self up on anything or anyone, and he's trying to walk (but luckily we aren't there yet). He also does a lot of talking but no one can understand him, so no real words yet either. However, we were very excited when we taught him how to wave! He's good at it, but he's only do it when he wants to.
Sleeping- Was going well until this a few weeks ago. Again, I think we have a growth spurt on our hands so the last few weeks he's been getting up 2-3 times a night. However for a good month while he was 7-8 months- he was either sleeping through the night or just waking up once to eat.
Eating- He loves his food. He is now only wants to food himself, so he's getting a lot of finger foods and a lot less baby food- even though I just made a bunch the other night. What concerns us about the finger foods- he still has no teeth... ok his first has broken though on the top but I really don't think he can use it yet. When he eats the finger food- because he really can't chew it up- we find it later in his diaper so we are really wondering how much nutrition is he really getting from the food if its passing right though? Hence why I made more "baby" food so he can really get it into his system. Other highlights from these past 2 month-
Sammy favorite food is watermelon! He has had some almost everyday this summer.
I joined a stroller workout group. This great because I get a really good hour workout in and I don't have to worry about a babysitter for Sammy. Plus he seems to enjoy the classes too because he loves just watching people.
Sammy has gotten a lot of pool time in this summer! He's got it made with both sets of grandparents having a pool to swim in.
Sam had his first Father's day! I know I did write a post about this, but this is my current favorite picture (it's the background to my phone) so I wanted to share it again!
Finally we took him to his 9 month check up and here are his status: Weight: 21.5 pound (Percentile- 77%) Height: 28 inches (Percentile- 36%)Head: 18 inches (Percentile- 71%)
I feel like I'm always apologizing for not blogging enough, but life has a funny way of getting in the way of writing when you have a seven month old. However, I'm excited to be back writing for Sam's 1st Father's Day!
For his first Father's Day I gave Sam some gifts, the luxury of sleeping in, and I even made him breakfast.
However we don't have any major plans. We went to the local farmers market - like we do every Sunday. And then later tonight Sam's parents are coming over for dinner. So nothing too exciting, but that's the way we like it.
Also, this morning I took a little video of Sammy Jay eating breakfast with his "Sam I am" bib! He was really "hamming" it up for his dad on his first Father's Day.
(Get it... "Sam I am" and "Green Eggs and Ham"... Oh- it's a bad "dad" joke!)
I first want to start off by thanking everyone for all the mother's day texts, Facebook massages, and cards. I felt the love which was (and still is) needed. My first Mother's Day was marked by Sam and I having to make the very hard decision to put down Shamrock. It sucked that it had to be on Mother's Day, but it had to be done to stop his suffering.
If you have been a long time reader of this blog, you might remember back in 2012 when we first got Shamrock, we had to take him the ER Vet and later we found out he was having "seizures". Well, now 2 1/2 years later, he was still having issues even on two types medications. The seizures were just something we got use to (kind of) and we always just did what we could to make him comfortable during and after an "episode".
(After one of his first vet visits)
Yesterday was a "good day" for Shamrock (until it wasn't). He seemed to be getting back to his normal self- being that he had some seizures early last week.
(He always needed to be involved)
So we had left the house to head to the in-laws for Mather's Day dinner. However, I forgot something at the house and being we were only a few blocks from home, we just turned around. When I got into the house, I heard Shamrock crying out so I knew he was having an "episode". I went back to the car, told Sam, and we came in to make sure he got through it.
(He loved sleeping under blankets)
Being that he some times he would pee during a seizure, I picked him up to put him in the laundry room. When we picked him up, his whole back half of his body was limp. Like floppy. I've never seen him that limp and it made me really worried.
(He love to lay on his backed and you just had to get his belly)
I started by call our vets office but they had just closed for the day. So I did the next thing any parent would do- I googled local vets. To my pleasant surprise, there was a walk-in vets office just down the street that was still open (which is even closer than our normal vet- even better considering his state). I call that vet, gave them our information, and we were on our way.
The whole car ride Shamrock was still crying out and it just confirmed to me we were doing the right thing.
Once we got to the vet- they took him right in the back so they could start assessing him. They had us wait in an exam room. It felt like forever (even though it was about 10-15 minutes) before the vet tech came back in the room to let us know the vet would be out shortly to talk to us.
Soon after, the vet came in- you know that it's bad when a doctor comes in talking in a very low quite voice. She let us know that he was showing no sign of reflexes in his legs and that his body temp was really low, so they had him on some warming blankets trying to bring his temp back up. She asked questions about his medical history and what his "normal seizures" look like.
After a long conversation that included the vet suggesting transporting him to a 24 hr vet hospital, starting him on IV fluids, pain meds, and a laundry list of other meds and things to be done. By the end, we just wanted to know his chances of come out the other end of this. She gave us 50/50 shot and the uncertainty of what his quality of life would be after that.
(My baby's "bunk bed"- he loved sleep under the bassinet!)
She told us to think it over and let her know what we wanted to do. May I add, she was awesome- never once did she bring up ending the fight right then and there. We asked if we could see him, and they brought him into the exam room. While looking at Shamrock we could tell, he was in so much pain and still crying out. We talked it over, did the quick math on what all those things would end up costing (way too much), and we asked the vet to tell us about the process of ending his pain.
By the point that we had made the decision, it had been over 45 minutes from when we first found him and he was still constantly crying out in pain. His normal "episodes" never last this long and being that vet laid out the very big up hill battle he had a head of him, we just knew it was time. It was one of the hardest decision we ever had to make; but we made it together which made it a little bit easier.
We did spend a little extra money to have the vet make a paw print memento because Shamrock will always be a part of our little family's history. And he will never be forgotten.
He was the only cat I ever knew that gave hugs. Like real hugs- with both paws around your neck and he held on tight. Plus he loved to rub his face on your face- it just was one of his things.
And this is how I want to remember Shamrock- full of life. This video was from the very first day we got him, which happen to be on our first wedding anniversary. He was Sam's gift to me. Shamrock was so excited to be at his new home that he wouldn't stay still long enough to let me take a picture of him, so that why I made a video.
Shamrock- We love you and we already miss you SO much. You were an awesome cat and you will always have a very special place in our hearts. Rest in Peace- my fur baby.
