Tireless Tompkins!

Whew, where to begin?! Prepare yourself, this will be a long post that took me days to complete!

August was a month of projects (well the projects haven't really stopped)! Jack and my Dad replaced our very steady leaking shower from behind the wall. Not an easy task, but after about 6 trips to home depot, nonstop working from morning to night and beer as their right hand man, the project was completed in a day. Almost like a mini makeover because those faucet handles were old and ugly! This project was a blessing because we were told by several people that the handles couldn't be removed from the shower (which is why it was repaired from behind the wall) so we'd have to tear down and replace the entire shower. We were thankful (and so was our wallet!) that they were able to repair the leak with the shower intact. 

August

Other projects: Jack is working on closing in the bookcase in our main room and making a wall so we can put our piano there; we are almost done painting our house; and in the coming weeks we will be preparing our concrete floors to put down tile. Our lawsuit is continuing at a slow pace. The first half is over and that money went toward the mold remediation we had years ago. We were originally told the second half could be over this year, but the insurance company is being difficult (surprise!) and is refusing to proceed without a hearing. The soonest date is set for January. We can't wait anymore, so we're going to start the floor process and hopefully this lawsuit will end soon enough.

September

October is always a busy month with family birthdays. The highlight was my birthday weekend {smile}. Friday morning Jack took care of the girls while he got ready for work so I could sleep in a bit. Being my Moms birthday as well, we went out for some Greek food. Chris dropped off a dozen roses in the morning, Michael gave me a dozen roses at lunch, and Jack came home from work with a dozen roses. 3 dozen roses on one day, a record! Jack cooked me dinner and we enjoyed some pinot grigio he brought home for my birthday. Saturday morning, Lisette and Therese cleaned my house for my gift, Jack took care of the girls and I went to have a massage! While having my massage, Dad and Teresa came to pick up the girls to keep them for the day so Jack and I could go out. It was a beautiful day (low 70s) so Jack and I ate lunch at a park overlooking the water. Then we went shopping, per my request! It's been a while since I've shopped without kids! We arrived at Dad and Mom's around 6 and enjoyed some dinner. Dad and Mom surprised us by having our car washed, waxed, and cleaned for my birthday gift. Thank you Dad & Mom! I loved my day of cleaning (that I didn't have to do) and relaxing! Jack and I had a wonderful time together. Thank you Dad, Mom, Angela and Teresa for watching our girls! And thank you for all the birthday messages! For halloween I made peacock costumes for Isabella and Veronica. I could not get enough of it. They were so adorable! Isabella was very excited when she first saw Veronica dressed the exact same. Here's a little clip of their greeting. And then Veronica started acting all aggressive, maybe she misunderstood Isabella's intention?! They look like fighting birds!

October

Another video from October.

This past Saturday, my siblings and I threw my parents 50th birthday celebration. Thank you for sending me memories. They were surprised and pleased to read them! It was quite a day. My siblings arrived early to get started on all we had to accomplish. Of course that had to be the day where Veronica finds a heating tool Jack was using and burns her two first fingers. Terrible blisters! Then at the party Jack was jumping on the trampoline with Isabella and she hits her chin on someones knee and busts her lip. So she's crying and bleeding all over (I wasn't there, Jack didn't come for me because he didn't want me to worry about it or take me away from party) and because she was so upset... and had a full bladder... she pees all over herself... and Jack... and the trampoline... and cries even harder because now she's peeing all over everyone and thing! Sad!!! Sooo Jack wisks her away and takes her home to get cleaned up. Thankfully we were at a home in our neighborhood. Oh and the only other trouble was Veronica choking on some food. Which was quickly resolved. After that situation was when I learned about what happened to Isabella since I couldn't find Jack. Exciting day, huh?! :) But we had a great party celebrating my parents 50th!

We are all doing well! Isabella is slowly progressing in speech therapy, but she is progressing. She is saying a handful of words and a lot of her words are not complete. For example, down is own. Sounds like down just without the d. In January she will have an x-ray to see what her palate is doing when she verbalizes. The x-ray will help determine whether or not she needs to have surgery. I'm not sure how many of you know she was diagnosed with hyper-nasality, so the concern is her palate is not functioning correctly. This is most likely a cause from her genetic disorder. Hyper-nasality is basically where too much air is escaping out her nose (which is why she is having trouble with consonants). There is not enough pressure coming out of her mouth to form words. But she is just as loving, affectionate and a silly little girl! We love her too much! Please keep her in your prayers. Veronica is always coming up with new ideas to keep mommy busy! She is saying over 10 words and lately trying to repeat everything we say. And she loves to sing/hum songs. Adorable. She is very silly and tries to make us laugh with her "I'm up to no good" smirk. Isabella and Veronica are so sweet with each other and are the best of friends!

Veronica "singing"

We hope everyone is doing well! We love and miss you all. Holiday's are just around the corner - yay!!