and she's 27

Hug your kids my friends and appreciate them every day because it will fly by right in front of your eyes!

2009

WOW! So my daughter turns 27 years old in a few minutes - June 14th. I can't believe she is that old! It really is true that you see your children, as children, no matter how old they are. Which makes me turning 50 in October mean a little less... since my parents probably still think of me as 16. Right? Yeah, thought I would try and make that fly...anyway...

I remember it like it was yesterday. She was my First baby, first grandchild, I had been married for 3 years, and at the age of 22, heading to the hospital to give birth. And then laying in a hospital bed FOREVER but with no contractions, watching Miami Vice that Friday night. Her father (my now ex-husband) saying, I hope she is born in time for Saturday cartoons. LOL  And she was...7:31 am that Saturday morning - labor had finally kicked in around 3am. 

I remember the Doctor telling my husband to take pictures, and my husband turning a lovely shade of green.  I remember my brother calling right after and asking me when the next one was coming... and I said - forget it I will adopt. But like all mom's, we forget the pain (otherwise we wouldn't do it again) and while I did not have the luck to have another baby by the time I would be diagnosed with ovarian cancer at 29, I never cared. I had my perfect baby.

here's my little mini-me - she's in color, I am in black and white

From the moment she was born, my heart was walking around outside of my body, and it's name is Kelly. Every decision, every job, every move, even the divorce... all done with her needs coming first. As I felt it should have. Truly, the only thing I have ever done where I didn't take her into consideration first, was my move to the beach. But she was 25 and it was time.

with Pop-Pop, making her laugh as always

December 1986 - first Christmas morning

My God I was young. But I was a good mom. I say that looking back and knowing it to be true. I made mistakes, and don't we all, but she turned out better then I could have ever imagined. She's caring, loving, respectful, intuitive, not a prejudice bone in her body AND she thinks I'm pretty cool too. 

Junior Prom

Senior Prom

The blond in both the prom pictures is my second kid, Colleen, Kelly's best friend. I have a third one named Crystal, her other best friend. Here they all are a few years ago...

my beautiful girls

And know my baby is married, and Colleen's bridal shower is this weekend.  My girls are all grown up. BUT I will still be getting silly with them Saturday night, as I head home to spend the weekend with them all. Pickleback shots all around. 

2012 Mr. & Mrs.

So my baby's going to be 27 and I am counting the minutes until I get to spend time with her and wish her a Happy Birthday in person.  Until then tho, Happy Birthday, my Kelly Lynn.  I love you more than life itself, and know that I am blessed every day because you are mine.  xoxoxoxo 

And that, Kelly- my love, in the immortal words of Marky-Mark (and quite possibly the Funky Bunch) is the "word to ya mutha"  or actually, the "word from your mutha".  

PS: I'm baaaaaaaaack. Did ya miss me?

Day 5 of 30 day BC - My favorite memory

Day 5 - Post a picture of your favorite memory.


Again with the favorites... how can you pick just one? So I decided to quickly scan my pictures and see what stuck out. And of course it was my great-nephew Jojo, wrapped in bubble wrap rolling down the hill. LOL! 

Me, Emmy and Jo - bubble wrapped and ready to roll

So I am guessing you might want to read the back story on this one huh? LOL okay here it is... When my niece and nephew - Shannon and Carlos- had Jonathan, aka Jojo, in April of 2005, it was sooner then expected. He was a tiny preemie and along with that came a lot of different preemie birth issues. Tear duct problems, hernias, and many others. But he and they got thru it all and he's grown into a smart, beautiful, precious little boy. A very clumsy, ready to tackle anything little boy! Seriously - he falls all the time and it always cracks us up - typical boy.

 Jojo as a baby!  

Jojo - ready for some Baseball

Then in August of 2009 something happened - and for whatever reason, while he was outside playing he passed out and his heart stopped. They live close to the firehouse and 911 was called and many police, EMT's and fire guys came - they brought him back (Thank you God) and my niece probably aged 10 years that day. I will never forget talking to her about it on the phone while I was at work. I remember hanging up the phone and going into the bathroom and bawling my eyes out at what could have happened. Makes me tear up now just thinking about it.

Not sure from there how it really came to be but i do know my running joke was that i would wrap him in bubble wrap from now on so he wouldn't ever get hurt. It was still fresh in everyones minds by the labor day picnic and tho he was fine - the scariness of what happened ,and the questions as to why, were still hanging in the air around us all. I figured a way to lighten up the mood and make everyone feel like he was okay and still our clumsy little handsome man would be to make good on my constant promise to wrap him in bubble wrap.

wrapped...

ready...

ROLLING!

So I did and he Loved it and he rolled down the hill more times then I could count. Then we wrapped him and my brothers daughter - my niece Emmy, up together and rolled them down the hill too. OMG!!! We all laughed so hard every time... God it was hysterical.

2 kids and some bubble wrap LOL

So yes, I would have to say as memories go, this one is one of my absolute favorites. And fyi - he is now a healthy , happy little man. Thank you God!!!

"Therapy in expensive, bubble wrap is cheap."

Some  Virtual Bubble Wrap for you to pop on your computer... go on - you know you wanna do it!

PS: I can't do this blog post without at least 1 picture of Jojo's phenomenal little sister, my great-niece Jiselle...

Dress up time with Jiselle

And of course a shot of the whole Rios clan... 

Christmas 2010-Carlos, Jojo, Shannon and Jiselle (and baby Rios 3 in Shannon's belly YAY!)

Aunt Stacey loves you guys so much! xoxoxoxox

PPS: ya'll know  that now, to be fair, I will be doing a blog about my niece Emmy and her sisters Shay and Patty. Just warning ya!