of Shahriar Yekrangi (Dec. 26, 1975 - March 26, 1999)...

I know the Blog was meant to keep you in touch with us and especially Marisa.  But, today I had to take the time to write about our dearest friend, Shah. I have been thinking about what I was going to say in this entry for a while now.  Not sure how I could possibly express to you all how much he meant to all of us.

It was 7 years ago, today that the world lost a great man to a tragic car accident.  I remember the day so clearly, as if it were yesterday.  The pain of it all felt like the wind had been knocked out of me and as I gasped for breath, I felt like the world had stopped moving.  There was no way that what Josh was telling me was true.  It had to be some mistake.  How were we supposed to go on without Shah?  He was such a vital part of our circle of friends and I always felt that he was the gel that held us all together.  However, his memory and spirit still holds us together.

I can't even begin to describe the greatness that was Shah.  His spirit, his soul, his humor & his mind were above all others.  He had a pure heart who gave everyone a chance without judgement and taught so many to love.  Wherever he went, his laughter filled the room and everyone was drawn to him in so many ways.  I remember how much my parents loved him because of how respectful he was.  Whenever he came to my house to pick me up to go to school, he always made it a point to find them, say hello and to ask how they were.  And, before we left he would seek them out to say goodbye.  He was the friend that was ALWAYS late, and everyone just said..."oh, it's shah".  He was deeply religious and never faltered from the beliefs of the Baha'i Faith.  I think Shah's biggest flaw was always putting everyone else above himself.  He was the most selfless person I'd ever known.

The day of my wedding was the last time I saw Shah.  He died exactly 6 weeks later. The news of his death shocked not only family and closest friends, but also those who had met him for the first time at my wedding.  Shah left such an unforgettable impression on all who met him, that even those who were around him for that brief moment shed tears on the news of his passing.  For Shah's friends, life as we knew would never be the same.  How were we going to move on without him?  Time does heal, but it definitely doesn't let us forget.  I think of Shah on an almost daily basis for fear that I will forget the times and memories that we shared together.  I'm thankful that I was blessed to have known someone with such an amazing heart.  I have peace in knowing that he's watching down on us from Heaven and that he's Marisa's guardian angel.

Kenny Chesney's Song, Who You'd be Today, expresses exactly how I feel: 

I miss my dear friend!!!  I thank God for giving us the chance to know him even if only for a brief moment.  Our lives are better for knowing him and I wouldn't trade our time with him for anything!  Although, I know that he knew how much he meant to me, I wish I had one more chance to tell him in my own words.  I've learned that it's so easy to take the ones you love for granted...so, do take the time today to tell them you love them and how much they mean to you!

  Our fun-filled week didn't end at the zoo on Wednesday.  We went to the Dallas Arboretum for the Dallas Blooms Festival to enjoy the day with Angela, Baby Alison, Amy and Patrick.  In the last 7 years, Angela, Amy and I have become amazing friends who have shared both happy and sad moments in our life.  We've grown together in so many ways and without a doubt they are my best friends. Taking our children to the arboretum together was a bonding experience that I definitely will want to become a spring tradition.  The plan was to enjoy the beautiful day and to get some great pictures of our children and of the three of us as we are today - best friends, enjoying the bonds that motherhood brings.

Baby Alison is almost 3 months old.  In a year, she will be right there with Patrick and Marisa running through the gardens.  Her cries are barely a cry and unless you are a mother you wouldn't understand what it means to miss hearing that sweet sound.  She's a precious little thing and although she is almost 3 months, people look at her in awe as if she were a newborn. 

Isn't she cute?!?!?!  We tried getting pics of the 3 kids together but there was always one that wasn't cooperating.  Gee...go figure!  So, here's a grouping of pictures of them enjoying the day together.


We'll have to get a picture of the three kids together in the fall when Alison is a little bigger and Patrick isn't so terrified of breaking her.  Can't wait to see them chasing each other around the flower beds next year!!

Marisa had the most fun rolling down the hill and chasing after the birds, I think.  She wasn't too sure about the hill at first since she was quite dizzy when she got up from it and almost fell over but after that minor setback, we had to convince her that there was other fun stuff to do. She was running barefoot full speed through the grass chasing after the blackbirds that landed.  Of course, she would only run through the grass barefoot!  Here are some great shots of Marisa!

        

And, last but not least... here's a layout of the three of us with our children.  We will always share the common bond of friendship but our hearts will always be united through our passion for motherhood.  I LOVE YOU, ANGELA & AMY!!!  I hope everyone is as fortunate as I am to share their lives with friends as wonderful as you girls are to me!  To many more traditions with our kids!!

    GGGGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRR!!!  I just had multiple paragraphs written and just lost it all....DANG IT!  So, here it goes again...

Marisa and I have had a great week keeping busy with Patrick and Amy while they were on their Spring Break.  Monday we took Savannah (Amy's neice), Patrick and Marisa to Chuck E. Cheese and the park.  As we pulled into the parking lot, Patrick and Savannah were both excitedly yelling out..."Yay, Chuck E. Cheese!!"  Marisa looked around really confused because she wasn't sure what the excitement was all about.  This was Marisa's first time to Chuck E. Cheese and it definitely didn't take her long to fit in with the other kids. 

On Tuesday, Amy and I took the kids to an amazing play area in Coppell.  The place is a huge wooden fort type play area and a huge pond with lots of ducks.  They had lots of fun feeding the ducks.  While we were there, we promised the kids that we'd be going to the zoo the next day.  So, the kids had something very exciting to look forward to. 

The original plan was to meet Marisa's playmate, Natasha, at the zoo at 10:00AM but at the last minute they backed out because the weather was going to be overcast and Natasha was feeling a bit under the weather.  Amy and I forged on with our plans.  We packed our lunches and headed out at 10:30, figuring that we'd be there by 11:30 for a fun filled day at the zoo. 

The drive into Fort Worth was pretty uneventful and we got to the I-35W/I-30W junction in about 30 minutes.  From there, the zoo entrance was only 4 miles away.  4 MILES, I SAY!!!!  We spent the next 3 hours inching our way towards the zoo.  IT TOOK US 3 HOURS TO MOVE 4 MILES!!!!  Apparently, everyone in the Dallas Metroplex had the same idea we had because Wed is half-price.   By 12:30, we'd eaten everything that we had brought for lunch.  The kids only had 2 toys to entertain the two of them.  It was a really bad time for Amy to leave the portable DVD player at home.  Somehow the two managed to entertain each other and every now and then they'd ask when we'd get there.  Every 15 minutes we'd tell them, we just need to take this exit right there and take two turns and we'd be there.  The two were amazingly good considering that we were trapped in the van for over 3 hours.  At 1:45 we finally merged onto the exit and were on our way to the zoo entrance.

The excitement in the van began to rise again...since the zoo was coming into view.  As we drove closer to where we should have been turning left into the park, we noticed it was blocked off and Fort Worth police were motioning us to move on.  When we got close enough, the police told us that the zoo was closed and they weren't letting anyone in. WHAT?!?!? CLOSED?!?!?    WE SAT IN TRAFFIC FOR 3 HOURS TO BE TOLD WE COULDN'T GO IN!?!?!  It was just as Josh said.  He had told me that we were crazy thinking that we'd be able to get in, but we were going to keep trying.  Amy and I were two very determined moms and we weren't about to let our kids down.   Thank goodness Amy decided to call the zoo to ask if they were really closed.  We found out that the police had decided to close the zoo to help alleviate the traffic problems but that we wouldn't be turned away at the gate AND that every year the Fort Worth Zoo was on the news because the Wednesday of Spring Break is THE BUSIEST DAY OF THE YEAR!  Wow...why couldn't we have known that before??  As I made a U-Turn to get back to the highway, I heard Patrick say "So, we drove all of this way for nothing??"  Talk about tugging at a mom's heartstrings.  At this point, I noticed that the policeman neglected to block off the right turn into the park for the northbound traffic and I decided I was going for it.  We didn't come all this way to give up!

It only took 20 minutes to find parking and by 2:15 we were walking towards the zoo entrance.  Notice how excited the two kids are to finally get out of the van!!!



We were there for about 3 hours and the kids had a blast!!  And, you probably wonder if it was worth the 3.5 hour drive, but it truly was worth seeing the excitement on their faces.  Marisa and Patrick had the most fun in the Snake house.  Searching for the snake within their cages was so fun for them.  The two kids are great together!  Marisa thinks she's big like Patrick and it's so funny to see her trying to act bigger.  When you tell her that she's little, she says, "no, I'm big."  Here are some other great pics of the two pals.

 


I believe we're looking for the orangutan in this picture.  Marisa couldn't see them and said, "Where'd they go???"



On our way out of the park, we made a bathroom pitstop and got  these great shots.  It was a great end  to a very long day!
  

Amazingly, we didn't have to deal with bad rush hour as we were expecting.  But we learned our lesson.  NEVER GO TO THE ZOO ON THE WEDNESDAY OF SPRING BREAK!!!  We were apparently, 4 of 16,076 visitors to the zoo that day.  That's only counting those who bought tickets.  It was an attendance record!

Following Marisa's brief stint in the ER for her UTI, her doctor told us that we needed to do a follow-up where they would need to get a urine sample.  That meant another catheter and I wasn't about to have them do that again.  So, I asked for a sterile cup hoping that I would be able to get a sample at home.  It seemed like the most logical thing...of course, not so logical when she's not even close to being potty trained, yet. 

At 18 months, I got her a potty seat to go on the toilet so that she could get used to sitting on the potty.  However, lately she's been downright adamant that she was not going to sit on it.  I had to get a new plan and this time I bought her a small potty that was just her size.  When we pulled it out of the box, she decided that she would use it as her new tv chair.  She thought it was the perfect chair for sitting back and enjoying her favorite Dora the Explorer episodes.  We had to nix that idea, quick and told her that the potty belonged in the bathroom.

Yesterday, I loaded her up with 2 full,10 oz. cups of juice hoping that it would force her to go.  She, of course, wouldn't go before the appointment and actually held it until we got in the car.  By the time we got to the doctor's ofice her diaper must have weighed 2 lbs.  OY!  Luckily, Doctor Hopkins decided not to put a catheter in her and wanted me to try to get another sample from her today.

She was much more willing to sit on the potty today.  She even hummed while she was on it and I suppose it helped that I had told her that she would get a cookie if she would pee pee in the potty.  So, she sat there while I read her Dora books to her.  By the third Dora book, I heard a trickle and started to get excited about her pottying.  Marisa got a big, HUGE grin on her face and halfway through, she yelled out CCCCCCCOOOOOOOOOOOOOOKKKKKKKKKKKKIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEE!  She had remembered the bargain.  She was so excited about the cookie that she had forgotten what I was excited about.

Maybe potty training won't be so bad now that I know her weakness.  I knew the kid had a sweet tooth like her dad's, but I never guessed it would be her ultimate weakness.

    We finally decided that this is the year we're going to put in landscaping in our backyard.  I thought we'd just decide on the layout, plants some stuff and go out and water the landscaping each morning.  Silly me.  I should have known that my highly meticulous and organized husband had bigger and better plans in store. The plan was move the sprinkler heads around the backyard and add drip irrigation so that we would let the system take care of all the watering.  What a great plan!  My parents are really going to be jealous when they say what Josh has done!

It's been a beautiful day!!!  I think the high is supposed to be 86.  It's been breezy and partly cloudy all day which has helped keep it nice outside.  Sitting out in the shade has been wonderful.  Unfortunately, Josh has given me the most daunting task possible to this project.  I get to choose the plants.    Of course, I want lots of color and texture and then when you start figuring in how much sun everything gets, the height, spread, blah, blah...it all becomes quite overwhelming.  There are so many different things floating through my head, but no one thing stands out.  I'd love a perennial garden so there's not as much upkeep in the following years, but by the time we'd be able to enjoy, we might not be living here anymore.  You can immediately enjoy annual colors.  Hmmm...decisions, decisions.

Here's a photo of the yard before Josh and Marisa started working on it earlier today. 




Yeah, I know...  It looks more like an enclosed wildflower field.  We should throw some bluebonnet seeds out there...and then we'd really have a Texas wildflower patch.

And...here they are.  Happily working side by side together!  So, CUTE!!  Who could resist this.  She is definitely Dadda's little helper.  She even has her own little shovel!  HA! She was so excited to get to help Josh with the digging. 

     

We'll be working on this project for the next few weeks.  Stay tuned as our backyard morphs into a beautiful and relaxing oasis.  Well, that's the hope, anyways.