What's up, Sophia Claire?

When Olivia was four, life as she knew it came to an end.  The Tonj and I had been trying to have a baby for a while, and finally I got pregnant and STAYED pregnant.  But, oh, did this child try to scare me to death.  Dr. Friday called me after that stupid alpha-feta protein test and told me that the levels indicated the possibility of Downs' Syndrome.  About a week later I had the amniocentesis, and holy God that was a big needle.  Results indicated no Downs, and about six months later, we got our first glimpse at those glorious blue eyes.

Sophia Claire was, and still is, my angel baby.  She ate everything, slept through the night early (like her sister), and cooed like a baby bird.  And those eyes are such an extraordinary color, like a cloudless summer sky. ::not a clue how to rotate that photo, folks::

Livvie Layne is in my ears and in my eyes....

I had wanted a baby of my own since my cousin Adam was born when I was eight, but I wasn't in a major hurry.  When I was about thirty, I got in a hurry, and thankfully there was no difficulty in getting pregnant.

This is one of my favorite pictures of Olivia, ever.  I think she was four months old here.  I couldn't get enough of those chocolaty eyes, or that chubby yumminess.  She must have been teething.

What the Sam Hill is a Tonjinator?

Who is the Tonjinator, you ask?

The Tonjinator, aka Mandy or Mommy or Mrs. T, is the wife of the Tonj, who will be nameless through the life of this blog.  You see, the Tonj enjoys his privacy.  Poor thing married the wrong woman for that.  Plus, when I was pregnant for the first child, we bought a house a mile from the one he was raised in.  And unfortunately for the Tonj, he was blessed with a surname shared by only three households in all of central Ohio - Yes, we are related to the other two.  So, everywhere I go, I am asked, "Do you know J--- Tonj---?" because he inevitably went to high school with, or dated the child of, or sold an appliance to the inquisitor.  And I'm forced to reply, "Yep, he's my husband." Fortunately, he no longer sells appliances, or I would be unable to be the stay-at-home mother of our two darling children.