Before Your Eyes.

I always found it funny when people said, "before you know it your kids will be out of the house," or, "they grow up so fast, if you blink you are going to miss something." I don't think those two statements are too funny anymore. The Critters are growing up waaaaaaaaay too fast. They are already 6 1/2 months old. I remember having to feed them through a tube at the NICU, now they are beginning solid food. We were in preemie diapers and their binkie's were way too big, and now we are solidly in size 2 diapers and their binkie's look too small. My tiny girls and little big guy are not so little anymore. It is amazing to think how quickly time is moving. Christmas, Easter, and their 1st birthday will be here before you know it. Critters, you Dad is going to have a talk with the big Guy and see if we can slow this pesky thing called time down.

According to Wikipedia [with a few additions] this is what has transpired since the Critters were born:

May

• May 13 – Critters born!
• May 17 – 6th wedding anniversary.
• May 25 – North Korea announces that it has conducted a second successful nuclear test in the province of North Hamgyong. The United Nations Security Council condemns the reported test.

June

• June 1 – Air France Flight 447, en route from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to Paris, crashes into the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 228 on board.
• June 11 – The outbreak of the H1N1 influenza strain, commonly referred to as "swine flu", is deemed a global pandemic, becoming the first condition since the Hong Kong flu of 1967–1968 to receive this designation.
• June 13 – Accusations of fraud in Iran's presidential election spark sustained protests by supporters of defeated candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi. The violence is said to be the worst seen in Iran since the 1979 revolution that put the current regime in power.
• June 18 – NASA launches the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter/LCROSS probes to the Moon, the first American lunar mission since Lunar Prospector in 1998.
• June 20 – The death of Neda Agha-Soltan, an Iranian student shot during a protest, is captured on what soon becomes a viral video that helps to turn Neda into an international symbol of the civil unrest following the presidential election.
• June 21 – As a step toward total independence from The Kingdom of Denmark, Greenland assumes control over its law enforcement, judicial affairs, and natural resources. Greenlandic becomes the official language.
• June 25 – The death of American entertainer Michael Jackson triggers an outpouring of worldwide grief. Online, reactions to the event cripple several major websites and services, as the abundance of people accessing the web addresses pushes Internet traffic to potentially unprecedented and historic levels.
• June 30 – Yemenia Flight 626 crashes off the coast of Moroni, Comoros, killing all but one of the 153 passengers and crew.

July

• July 4 – The Organization of American States suspends Honduras due to the country's recent political crisis after its refusal to reinstate President Zelaya.
• July 5 – Over 150 are killed when a few thousand ethnic Uyghurs target local Han Chinese during major rioting in Ürümqi, Xinjiang.
• July 7 – A public memorial service is held for musician Michael Jackson. It is regarded as one of the most prominent funerals of all time.
• July 15 – Caspian Airlines Flight 7908 crashes near Qazvin, Iran, killing all 168 on board.
• July 22 – The longest total solar eclipse of the 21st century, lasting up to 6 minutes and 38.8 seconds, occurs over parts of Asia and the Pacific Ocean; it is figured to be the most widely observed total eclipse in human history.
• July 28 – Grandma Barbara’s Birthday!

August

• August 2 – Dad’s Birthday!
• August 4 – North Korean leader Kim Jong-il pardons two American journalists, who had been arrested and imprisoned for illegal entry earlier in the year, after former U.S. President Bill Clinton meets with Kim in North Korea.
• August 7 – Typhoon Morakot hits Taiwan, killing 500 and stranding more than 1,000 via the worst flooding on the island in half a century.
• August 20 – Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, imprisoned for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, is released by the Scottish government on compassionate grounds as he has terminal prostate cancer. He returns to his native Libya.

September

• September 25 – At the G-20 Pittsburgh summit, world leaders announce that the G-20 will assume greater leverage over the global economy, replacing the role of the G-8, in an effort to prevent another financial crisis like that in 2008.
• September 26 – Typhoon Ketsana begins to cause record amounts of rainfall in Manila, Philippines, leading to the declaration of a "state of calamity" in 25 provinces.
• September 27 – Polish-French film director Roman Polanski is arrested in Switzerland on a United States arrest warrant.
• September 29 – An 8.3-magnitude earthquake triggers a tsunami near the Samoan Islands. Many communities and harbors in Samoa and American Samoa are destroyed, and at least 189 are killed.
• September 30 – A 7.6-magnitude earthquake strikes just off the coast of Sumatra, killing around 1,000 in Indonesia.

October

• October 2 – The International Olympic Committee awards the 2016 Summer Olympics to Rio de Janeiro.
• October 20 – European astronomers discover 32 exoplanets.

October 31 - Critters First Halloween!

November

• November 3 – The Czech Republic becomes the final member-state of the European Union to sign the Treaty of Lisbon, thereby permitting that document's initiation into European law.
• November 3 – Mickey Andrews [Florida State University Defensive Coordinator] announces that he will retire at the end of the 2009 season.
• November 13 – NASA announces that it has found a large amount of water on the Moon.

Okay Critters, I just needed to get that off my chest and I also wanted to provided you with a quick timeline of major events that have happened in your first six months. Sorry about the large amounts of plane crashes, earthquakes and generally dismal events. Hopefully the next 5 1/2 months will be a lot cheerier.

Chris [Dad]