My sweet baby is a week old today! I can't belive how much life has changed already! First of all our house is the cleanest it's ever been thanks to Gary helping me every day and both of us keeping things picked up.Baby Grace eats about every 2-3 hours. She seems to eat every 2 hours most of the night b/c she falls alseep halfway through eating and I have a HARD time waking her back up. She also poops while she's eating more than half of her feedings a day so just when I think she's done she' suddenly acting like she's starving. She falls alseep either on her own or with a paci. She usually spits the paci out and keeps on sleeping but to ward off the "i lost it and cant get it back" cry which is very similar to the "i'm starving mom feed me now" cry --Gary likes to swadle her in a way that kind of holds the paci in. I was nervous about this manuver with Tyler but it worked, then when Grace was born one of the nurses did it and she could not move her head at all and that paci was in her mouth in such a way that I don't know if she could have spit it out if she wanted to! I figured after that that Gary's less constricting method was just fine. Plus- who likes getting out of bed every 5 minutes? Grace also loves to be held and also likes to lay onthe floor or in her boppy and just stare around. So far her eyes are still deep blue. She's just gorgeous. She sleeps well (just not long enough but in a couple months i'm sure that will improve), eats well, and is sweet as can be. I'm trying to enjoy these weeks where she seems to do nothing but sleep but I will admit sometimes the nursing gets to me. It's just SO time consuming! I'm very nervous about how I'll do when Gary goes back to work. Hopefully the act of sitting and standing won't hurt so much by Tuesday and I can be moving around while nursing to get Tyler things when he needs them. Tyler has adjusted very well all things considered. It's going to be quite a shock Tuesday when Daddy's not here anymore though. I"m a bit nervous about that too. Thankfully we have anice safe yard, plenty of TV channels, and he has plenty of toys on all 3 levels of the house. I'm hoping he'll enjoy having some of his own quiet time back. he's always liked to kind of play by himself somedurring the day so maybe not having Dad around stimulating him all day will turn out not to be a bad thing. :) I made Gary go golfing yesterday. He says "made" i say "encouraged". He said he wanted to go and i told him to just go. he didn't want me to be mad but i told him that if it helped him get out and do something rather than being cooped up in the house and improved his mood a bit then I'd rather him go than stay. It did in fact improve his mood! We have been out of the house every day since we got home from the hospital. Monday-Wednesday we had to go to the hospital every day to have Grace's bilirubin done. Finally Wednesday's numbers came down slightly, but came down and so we stopped. Yesterday we went to Walmart (which was a disaster- I was too hormonal apparently to handle a trip to the grocery store where we spend money...) today we took Grace to the Doctor. She's back up to her birthweight of 7 pounds exactly! She's my peanut!! She has these teeny tiny skinny little arms and legs. It's amazing to me how differently than Tyler she is built. Tyler came out a huge mass of muscle and she's dainty and thin. She's also a good pound lighter than he ever was and on a newborn- that one pound makes a difference! We already kind of feel like she's always been here. Tyler loves her and likes to sing her the Gilmore Girls song and the ABC song. he kisses her a lot, tells her goodnight and that he loves her. When she fusses he usually comes to get one of us to make sure she's ok. He's doing well keeping away from her when he's hyper but he's not exactly mastered this skill yet. Nor do I imagine he ever will! :) Overall this week has been exausting and trying but wonderful. So far she's pretty much a textbook baby and I'm very thankful. I'm also thankful that the nursing is going well- I'm much less anxious about everything than I was with Tyler. I'm still strict about how I want to do things and have my mind set on most of those things, but overall I'm way less stressed overall. I imagine that will change about 6:30 AM on Tuesday. The only thing that is hard so far (other than my own healing) is not being able to be online. So many people have commented or written me messages here and in my regular email and I hate that I have not written hardly any of them back. It's been a HUGE encouragement though to recieve all your well wishes and congrats and prayers. Ithelps so much to know that even though I'm crazy busy all of a sudden, that I have friends who love me. Hang with me dear friends! i'll be back in touch with you as soon as I can- I promise! You are all too important to ignore and I love you all! i hope you'll read this as if it's apersonal email from me to you- I wish i could email everyone personally but I just can't. I know you understand but wanted to say it anyways. We will keep trying to update photos on our photobucket and blogspot so check back when you can. I love you all and we are doing well. We appreciate and continue to need your prayers, love and suppport!!

Well we got Tyler to hold 'Baby Sister' today. It was just the most precious thing!

Baby Bush was born at 3:36 on friday may 18th. Armandina Grace (we are calling her Grace) was 7 lbs and 20 inches. She was name after one of mine and heather's great grandma's. Two pictures are below. More will follow once we get home tomorrow. UPDATE new pictures added! Baby Grace

Delivery Day Part1 We are in the midst of delivery of 'Baby Sister". Mom is doing well, progressing well. She has her Epideral so all is good. I will update when more news is available. Love you all!

It's Mother's Day! Just a few photos of the fun we had!


Tyler playing on the drums in church today!
Tyler, Grandma Sandra, Mommy, Great-Grandma Cline
Great Grandpap Kandray, Great-Grandma Kandray, Grandma Stephanie, Tyler and Mommy
Heather and Grandma Cline
Heather and "baby sister" 38 weeks and 1 day! 5 days until induction!!

First of all I just have to say a big CONGRATS to my college roomie and BFF LORI I REDA for getting her MASTERS DEGREE yesterday!!! I wish I could have been there but of course the stupid hospital only offers one tour a month and it had to be yesterday. I'm so glad I went and I do feel much more at ease about everything but I wish I'd have called like the minute I found out which hospital I was supposed to go to. Stupid me missed out on one of the greatest nights of my best friends life. :( Anyways, Congrats LORI!!! I hope you know in my heart I was there and that I love you SO SO MUCH!!!!!! Go see her page to see her all decked out in her gown!! Isn't she beautiful!!!???
Now onto my day... today was what I thought might be my last Dr. appt... but I have to go back next week. Let me just say that I really feel like at this point these things are a complete waste of time for both me and the staff at the office. She was literally in the room for like 3 minutes. She felt my belly- yup, its baby's butt pushing on me just above my belly button and her head is down just like it's supposed to be and clearly this means she's facedown- ready to go! My blood pressure is great, and hear heartbeat is great. Do I feel ok? Well, considering I"m 38 weeks pregnant, yea, I guess I feel ok. I love how they check the heartbeat. I just love hearing it but a part of me thinks that clearly her heart is beating because she's moving about 12 hours a day... it's nice to know it's beating correctly though! It made me realize-again- how blessed I am to have such 'easy' pregnancies. Of course they don't seem easy to me, but compared to many women I know- they are. Not to mention the fact that I am blessed to be able to get pregnant at all. God is so GOOD!! So, I go back next thursday morning for one more appt before my assumed induction on Friday.
Knowing that next week is my rest up and get ready week I decided today to go ahead and go to Walmart with Tyler to walk around, kill some time, and look for a couple little Mother's Day gifts for the grandma's. He was really good at the office so I figured we'd see how our luck held. He sat in the cart fine, we walked around some, got a few sample/trial sized items for me to take to the hospital and then of course i had to use the ladies room so he came with me. He WILL NOT put his feet straight to get out of the stupid seat so his shoe comes off every stinking time....but he was well behaved in the potty and so we continued to shop. He was quick to remmeber when getting back into the cart that other people (read: dad and grandma and pops) let him sit in the big cart part so I decided to let him figuring if he misbehaved we were leaving anyways!
I managed to find the clearance scrapbooking area so I got a few things and then looked at purses. Purses are always a safe bet for my mom- I figured I'd just buy the cheapest one that I found that I liked but I didn't like ANY! I called her and she had no ideas so I headed to another safe bet- nail polish. Mom- if you are reading this just act surprised on Sunday. This story is too great to wait till Monday to share! So I got a nail polish and a few other small items and put them down in the cart. Tyler had been playing with his car and the one empty container I bought to take body wash to the hospital in. Suddenly I hear this scream and look down and my child's hands and face are covered with something red! I freaked grabbed his hand and as I did smelled the smell. This red substance was not blood... no... it was in fact pink... smelly...nail polish. He had opened it and got it all over his shirt and then on his face and fingers and when he tried to wipe his eyes!!! I had a hard time calming him down and getting him to STOP rubbing his eyes. The associate near us offered to go get me a tissue. I looked up and said, "It's nail polish. I don't think a tissue will help." Her eyes got all big and I resumed checking his eye ball and trying to calm him down. I wiped his hands and face really well with a baby wipe to get off any excess and he calmed down fine. Now I get to call the pediatrician and see how to get it off of him! I DID take a picture!!

So that's my day so far! And now it's only 11!! Maybe today would be a good Happy Meal day...

And the winner is... induction.I called the doctor yesterday! My doc. is actually on vacation so it's not "official" until she gets back Monday and approves it and they call me with details, but I did decide and I did call. As I understand it I'll be induced the 18th unless I go into labor on my own before that. I even called yesterday and registered at the hospital. I also did several loads of laundry and organized drawers and tables and bookshelves started cleaning out the fridge, changed the sheets on the beds, organized my dresser, and finished my scrapbook of up to when Tyler was born. I have a few more pictures I'll do one final odds and ends page with and then i can start Tyler's life. :) Gary got the nesting bug last night too. He mowed and weed wacked the yard, we got the rest of the baby stuff from the basement and set it up and cleaned it, and he fixed and moved my rocking chair into the bedroom. Of course now, after my day of nesting, there is still a lot to be done like the actual deep cleaning and i'm sore and tired! But, the decision is made and now you all know. :)

my Gary is the best. Prepare yourself for mushy stuff here! I just have to share why I'm so blessed to have Gary. First off I'll tell you he's far from perfect. In fact he can be a royal pain in the a$$ quite often and there are things about him I'd change in a heartbeat. How many times have I picked up dirty clothes piles right NEXT to the hamper that he'd just shed? How many farts have I smelled? How many times is the rug and floor in the bathroom soaked b/c he does not wipe his ski sized feet when getting out of the shower? How many farts have I smelled? How many times has the towel been in a sopping ball on the floor? How many farts have I smelled? How many times have I washed the sink when company is coming over only to have him right away come shave and leave hair all over that same sink? HOW MANY FARTS HAVE I SMELLED???? Ahh... but Tuesday... I pulled myself away from focusing on the negative in time to see some remarkable things about my Gary. He always gives me some covers when he gets out of bed in the morning and 'tries' to be quiet while he gets dressed. He keeps both cars full on gas and takes care of oil changes and setting up repairs. He mows the lawn, not as often as I'd like, but he does it. He takes care of going to the bank when the need arises and other errands like that. He always goes to the grocery store with me to help just as much as keep me from overspending. He also does it to spend time with me. The past two day's we've been trying another new "being good stewards of our money" thing. We decided that if we got a land line and dsl Internet and a prepaid track phone and buy phone cards we could cancel the cable Internet, cancel the cell phone and still have both phone and Internet and save a good chunk of money. We could significantly increase the savings if we got rid of the dish and got cheap cable... which we still might do. Anyways, the phone company sent the stuff in the mail we needed, it came Monday and they were to come between 4 and 8 pm to hook up the phone line. At 7:45 Gary called and they have "no way of knowing if someone is headed to our house or not". Grr #1. Then, of course they did not show up and we find out it's Central time and so by 9 our time we should have a dial tone. At 6:30 Tuesday morning when Gary left for work, still no dial tone Grr #2. Now backtracking I will say that Gary went to the basement, found our phones and answering machine, hooked them all up, and took care even of drilling a hole in the floor so a line could be run through the basement to the computer. So Tuesday, they were supposed to send someone out to take care of setting up the DSL and be there sometime between 8 AM and 5 PM. They can't narrow it down by more than that? SO I ran down to the basement REALLY fast to throw laundry in and out of washer/dryer a couple times, put Tyler down for his nap and got him up REALLY fast and sat by the back door so I could see the front door while we played outside. Kept the door open all day, no music on, TV only when I was where I could see the driveway- all this to watch for the guy and make sure he didn't knock once and leave or something. So Gary came home, ran in and kissed us and ran out again to take the rent check to the management company b/c he got paid Friday and the bank could not get the money to them in time so we had to take it personally. Not we, he. :) And he did. So by the time he got home it was after 5 and they STILL had not come!! So, being the wonderful husband he is- he called them and was on the phone I swear for an hour with all sorts of people. Turns out there is something wrong with some line somewhere or something so I have to sit by the front door again TODAY and wait for someone to come “Sometime between 8 and 5” to look at the lines. Of course if it's a problem with the wiring inside the unit, they charge to fix it and according to our landlords, the company that owns the properties will not pay for it. SO we are going to can the whole thing if that happens. We are not spending a couple hundred dollars up front in order to save 50 a month!!! Just doesn't seem worth it. Anyways, while he was on the phone it made me think a lot about how I never have to worry about this stuff. I mean it can be annoying to be waiting around for people who never show up or call but at least I don't have to deal with making the arrangements. SO, all that to say it's been an annoying few days, but I'm so thankful to have my Gary! He's the best!! Next time he takes my last caffeine free diet Pepsi though someone is getting smacked... In Other news we got invited to MCS's prom!! I'm so excited!!! I have nothing to wear but it'll be fine. :) It will be a crazy weekend but I'm tha;nkful that Gary won't have to go to the house and mow the lawn in the evening without us, we can do it while we are there this weekend. This is the LAST big thing (other than Mother's Day) that I'm doing before this baby comes though! Can you believe I'm due THIS MONTH!?!?

Oh my oh my! We had a CRAZY weekend! Friday as soon as Gary got home I finished getting things together and we went over to visit his mom who we had not seen all week (FIL was out of town on buisness). We decided to go to Dougs Dinner for supper (which I love) and so off we went. Tyler did really well in a booster seat (I preferr high chairs but he's old enough and big enough to start practicing in the beltless boosters...) and ate almost all his fries and about half of his chicken :) My carb boy! Then we went back to thier house and soon after Gary left for "Band Practice". He was SO excited. We are now going to his parents church 'part time' and he's playing drums. Well, he's played two times now and so when Brian T Donahue (recording artist, lives out of town now, used to go to the church, playing for the weekend with his CD debut band) needed a drummer Gary was recommended and so of course I told gary he could do it. So Gary goes off to a real recording studio at one of the guy's houses (which must be SO cool!) and they all practiced together for Sunday's service which was also the church's 4 year anniversary. Gary had SO much fun and called me at 9 to say he was not going to make it back to get me by 9 (duh) so I had Steph take me home. Thankfully Tyler was worn out enough that he went straight to bed with little fuss. I was very glad since he did not nap well (if at all) on Friday and I was worried that he would be overtired. Gary got home a little after 11 and was on a music high and it was just so cool to see him so excited about something. You all know how he's mr humble right? So he goes on and on about how great all these musicians are (I can attest that this is true) and how he just can't belive they are letting someone like him play... Of course I think he's freaking brilliant but I'm his wife and while I do know a lot about music, percussion is not exactly my area of expertise... I do know that if the percussion is wrong it's really bad and let me tell you- with Gary it's never wrong! :) So anyways, we got up Saturday morning at 7 to get the car loaded to head over to Mansfield to work on the house. We painted the master bedroom ceiling (AGAIN), painted the walls in the basement and washed the floor, did some weeding and mulching and painted the garage door. Gary's parents met us over there about the same time since we had to run to Lowes and get all the paint. To be honest, MIL, FIL and Gary did all the work. I was pretty much useless. I swept out a few rooms and the attic and helped wash basement walls but with all the dust and fumes I was not much help. After a lunch of Gyros from the Greek restaurant in town (YUM YUM YUM!!!) I took off with Tyler to visit Bethany and her baby. Cohen is two weeks old now and he's just sweet as can be!! I got to hold him for like an hour and he cuddled up with me and feel right asleep... it made me super excited for my own baby, and also scared to death with the reality of a new baby coming and there being nothing I can (nor would want to do) to stop it! It was really nice to get to visit with Bethany. I went intending on doing all kinds of stuff to help her but of course she's super mom and had all her dishes done, every room in the house picked up, organized and cleand adn didn't even have any laundry to do! You really could not tell that a 2 week old lived there! Tyler took a decent nap and played well and then I left to go back to get Gary so we could go to Amy's house for supper. Gary's parents had gone by then and so we went and got gas and then went off to Amy's. I walked in and gave her a hug and noticed not just Jodi also being there but someone else. I was confused for a moment but figured someone else was just around which is not unusual at the Stauffer house. SO then Amy says "Surprise! This is a time to celebrate you!" so I was like "aww! Thanks!" Thinking maybe she invited a few more of the ladies over and that's who I saw in the kitchen (I could not see the person so I had no idea who was in there) so then I turn around to put Tyler's diaper bag down and I look into the living room and there are pink streamers, girly gift bags and ballons everywhere and I like screamed a little Ithink! They threw me a surprise shower!!! So then THREE people came out of the kitchen and one came in the door behind us and it all started to register and to be honest I was shocked! I have not seen any of these ladies since November, several of them since September and I wrongly had it in myhead that they had moved on with life and kind of forgotten about me. I could not have been more wrong. We enoyed Pizza, catching up and they ALL got me VERY NICE gifts! I mean like REALLY nice stuff!!! I was just in total shock the whole evening. I was very tired and a little out of it but the whole time I just kept thinking about how wrong I had been in thinking they would forget about me. I just felt so overwhelmed with blessings! This and a few other things that happened last week made me realize that just because you don't hear from someone for a long time, does not mean that you are not in thier hearts, thoughts and prayers. I was very wrong to think that they didn't think about me and I feel very badly about that! It was wrong on me to take lessons learned from other situations and just assume that the same is always true. If you are reading this ladies= Thank you from the bottom of my heart and I love you all dearly and I'm so sorry!!! We left late from Mansfield and since it was windy and snowing/sleeting/raining it took us longer to get home than usual and I was really stressed and tense because we actually slid a few times and I saw a pretty bad accident involving a van not too far into the trip. Gary was so tired from all the work he had done and being up late the night before I felt very badly for him. He's a really good driver and we got home just fine. Sunday morning when gary had to get up to get to church early for set up I knew Tyler would not be able to get up (he stayed awke in the car the entire ride home and did not go to bed until after 11) to go in with him so we decided to take two cars. Gary's parents also took two cars so the four of us had four cars there. sad. We were supposed to bring something for the potluck lunch after service and of course that was the last thing on my mind when we got home the night before so I sent Gary off early with instructions to get something at Walmart and let his mom know I'd meet her at church rather than meeting her at her house and going with her. Miracle of miracles I actually made it to church and IN the door a full 5 minutes before service started! Gary (and the rest of the band) did an AWESOME job and it was just amazing. Part way through Gary dropped one of his sticks and even playing with one stick for awhile he was SO good! He's just amazing. We satyed for lunch and midway through lunch Dale came over and asked gary what we had planned for the rest of the day. You know me, I'm thinking SLEEP!!! Well... turns out they do occasional coffee house/open house jam nights and that was one of them and Brian and his band were going to play and did Gary want to go play? Gary's face IMMEDIATELY looked like you told him he won the lottery adn then he hid it as he looked over at me for 'permission'. LIke I"m going to tell him no? Come on! So we got the details adn it worked out that we could get Tyler (and me) home for a nap and still make it back in time and Tyler and I were welcome so we agreed. I know for a fact that in his heart Gary was jumping up and down like a little kid waiting for a cookie. We went off to the new church to see the progress (my first visit) and write a verse on the floor. Tyler got crabby and we could not think of a verse so we stayed awhile and then left. Tyler napped about 2 hours, I did not nap at all but rested, then we repacked the diaper bag and off we went! The coffee house thing was really fun and it reminded me some of college. Seeing Gary play drums again really takes me back to our band days and falling in love and then the coffee house on top of it was just neat. We enjoyed so many back in college together... of course it was so different this time with him IN the band and me chasing around our 2 year old and being roughly the size of a modular home. Melissa and her mom helped me and actually several of the high school kids that were there and the guitar player from the band played with Tyler so it ended up being a pretty relaxing time! Tyler decided when we got home that he was not remotely interested in calming down or rest of any sort including bed. We let him play extra long in the bathtub because neither of us really wanted to have to wash him but he was filthy from running around the church mid-construction and being all over the floor. We got him into bed around 9:30 and he proceeded to use every trick in the book to get us back in there entertaining him until he finally went to sleep around 11. At about 10:30 I decided that it was not worth letting him keep crying when I knew he had to be tired so I gave him some Tylenol and rocked him some. That did the trick. I got to thinking that he was probably as tired as the two of us and I know I often, when overstimulated, get a headache or am so tired I can't relax and I take Tylenol before bed so why not do the same for him? I also knew Gary needed his rest for work today. :) So that's it! Now we get to start the week! I"m due in LESS than 6 weeks now and if I induce we are talking less than 5 which translates to 4 and a few days and so there is much to be done! Hope you all had more relaxing weekends than us! I must say though, I"d rather be busy with FUN stuff like this weekend than busy with work!!! LOVE YOU ALL!!!! (and thanks for reading my novel!)

IRRITATED!!!!! I know these things happen to everyone and in the grand scheme of life it's not a big deal but I'm so IRRITATED right now!!!! We took a house key with us to California so that when we got home we could get in. I"m still not sure why b/c Gary's parents picked us up and they have a key to our house (). Somehow the key got misplaced. It's either in the depths of one of Gary's pants pockets or it's at my brother's or it's down in the bottom of a seat on an airplane somewhere. We took our car to a friends this wek to get our brakes fixed which meant moving the carseat into Gary's car. In the hustle and bustle of the week somehow the one key we have got moved from my keyring to Gary's keyring and the carseat never got moved back to my car from Gary's car. SO this morning I got up, showered, got myself all made up and dressed in 'real' clothes, got Tyler up, fed him and got us all ready to to to MOPS. When I realized I had no key I called Gary to see if he had it (for awhile it was floating around with no ring- thus my panic that it was gone forever) and he said no, then checked his ring and said yes, he did have it. Well, no biggy- I can run by his work on my way home and get it then I'll have the key to get back in and don't have to leave the house open. So, I'm on the phone with him, i lock the door from the inside, hold Tyler's hand, lead him to the front porch, shut the door, turn and look at the car and say OH SHIT. There is no carseat in the car. It's in Gary's car. I can't drive to get the key wihtout a carseat (i'm no britney!) but neither can I get back into the house without a key!!!! Had I looked at the car a nanosecond earlier, I'd have not shut the door but alas... I did... so Gary's freaking out b/c the school was without power last night so things are all haywire and anything that plugs into an outlet is magically his responsability when it breaks b/c it's "technology" so he was in the middle of 4 things and could not come bring me the carseat or key so I had to call the landlady. Thankfully she was home and said she'd be over in a few minutes. Of course this morning had to be the morning she got about a zillion calls so she came tearing over here 45 minutes later apologizing and asking if I thought she forgot about me. (I was deciding in my head how long to go before calling her back to check on her!) It was not too big of a deal b/c I got the garage more than half organized and Tyler's summer toys were stored in there so he had something to entertain him. It was embarassing the first 20 minutes though standing on the porch- in the rain- wondering what people thought of me... hopefully the people who are still home between 9 and 10 are not doing much looking out thier windows. I kept thinking that if I went to the garage she'd show up right away so I kept waiting on the porch and then figured it didn't matter b/c I was cold and getting wet- not to mention poor Tyler! Gary called a few minutes before she got here and said things were calming down and he could come bring me the seat so I could still go to mops if I wanted. I told him it started at 9:30, not 10 and even if he left that second I could not get there till close to 10:30 when it was half over. I told him not to worry about it. It's not his fault, it's not my fault... it's just one of those things that happens ... but boy was it irritating! So, folks, that was my fun morning. Now I'm all dolled up and not only do I have nowhere to go- I CANT go anywhere (legally anyways!)

Photobucket Album

More California Pictures

Photobucket Album

Photo's with Uncle Joshua in California

ack to life, back to reality, back from a fantasy, yeah.... ugh. Welcome back to ohio with SNOW!?!?! It was colder and whiter here yesterday than Christmas day! Grr!!! Friday- Shorts at Disneyland Sunday- coats, hats and gloves to go to church!! And i"m not talking suit coats and pretty Easter hat/glove sets either! So I had a Dr. Appt this morning. She's totally willing to have me induced so that I'm sure to get her and she can do what she can to make sure I don't tear badly again or just ship me off to C-section b/c she's not quite as "pro section" as the last doctor I saw. So I've decided not to do an elective C section because frankly, I'm chicken and it scares the crap out of me. I'm very tempted by the induction option b/c I can know who my doctor is going to be, however, I also know that a lot of women who are induced end up in C sections for one reason or another. The planning of it would be nice but that's really not a main reason to do it- it would be for the peace of mind to have the doctor I want and who knows my situation. Thoughts? Thanks for all your messages and prayers while we were gone! We had a WONDERFUL time and I'm so sad to be back. Glad to be in my own bed but nto ready for reality... Especially knowing I have 6-7 weeks before the baby comes!!! ahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!! I purposly held off doing stuff to get ready for the baby until after this vacation so i could focus on it and also not be focusing too much on the baby's room and clothes... but now I feel like I have so much to do!! I want to read a bunch of books, take naps and watch movies b/c I know the time is coming FAST where I will be so busy and get so little sleep and relax time! I also want to get to see all my friends "one last time" and of course the house needs a complete spring clean, all the baby stuff needs to be washed and sorted and put back together and put away... furniture might need to be moved to make room for things... Most of all I'm sad because I feel like this vacation was my last chance to really spend time with just Tyler and so special things for just him. Such an odd feeling being so excited for this baby and loving her already, but sad to think of how things will change for me and Tyler...not to mention me and Gary!! yea, Back to life!

My grandfather passed away this morning. I wanted to get online quickly and let those of you who have been following this know, and to thank you all for your prayers. It has meant a lot to me to have friends who care about me, and my family who have supported and encouraged me through the past several months as we've watched him die. Cancer is an illness that is just impossible to explain, and this has been a very hard process for our family - especially me in my hormonal state- so thank you. Thank you for your emails, your messages, comments, prayers, and most of all love. I ask you continue to pray for my grandma who's lost the love of her life, her sould mate, her best friend. She has wonderful family and will never be alone, but a piece of her will be missing and that breaks my heart more than anything. I love you all.

Leaving, on a jet plane... yea!!!!!! Tyler is getting out all his toys that I put away and organized last night.... Gary's getting us dougnuts (he seems to have left his brain at work as this is by no means the norm for us!) and I'm getting ready to do my makeup and WE ARE OFF! Everything fit into bags... not necessarily the ones we intended on but they are in there. I even have a plan for how to get an extra bag full of souveniers home. Hee hee!!! I want to officially ask everyone for prayer for us. Obviously there is the whole issue of traveling. It turns out our flight plan was changed AGAIN and not only are we in OHare for only 2 hours but we also have to go from one side of one terminal to the other side of the other terminal. Fun times. Also pray that we don't get sick, the baby stays in my belly, i have plenty of energy and Gary survives. Realize, the poor man is traveling with a two year old, his 32 week pregnant wife, and his mother in law. That's enough to send any man into counseling. Pray also for my brother who will have this lot of us in his apartment for a whole week! Love you all! My mascara is calling!

Day's away... We are getting to crunch time now with this trip to CA!! I'm getting extremely excited and even more nervous. What if I don't get laundry done? What if I leave dirty dishes? (yea, like my mom would let that happen....) What if Tyler gets sick? What if I go into labor? What if Tyler does not sleep? What if GARY doesn't sleep? (I haven't slept in a month so that's not a concern.) What if our luggage doesn't get there? What if I gain 10 pounds like a normal vacation? What if I don't eat enough b/c eagle-eye-mom is watching? What if this is the most fun vacation ever and I miss it completely because i'm too busy worrying about all this stuff that does not even matter?!?!?! I have no less than 5 running lists of what I need to remember to do and to pack and which bag it's going in. I have a diaper bag and toy bag for the plane, on top of the three of us, the carseat and a small carryon-suitcase. I live in fear of the luggage geting lost so Tyler's air bed and extra undies for all of us are going to be on the plane. I know, it's just one more thing to carry and I think it's a secret battle Gary is waiting to have with me in the baggage area where I can't freak out so much... or maybe he's finally accepted that he has to leave the anal tendancies alone. We also have two small suitcases and the stroller to check. It's a lot of seperate bags but we are actually taking very little considering i'm involved. For me, packing is half of the fun of a vacation. I like to make a list of everything possible i'd like to have with me, then I work to make as much of it as possible fit in as little space as possible. Usually, as long as I can get it all into the car, Gary lets me take it. This time, since it invovles air travel, it all has to fit into the pre-determined space of the two suitcases we are taking and carry ons... becaues we have to be able to carry it. Ahh... I wish so much it could be like when I went to Europe and I packed so much I could not carry it and all the boys on the trip helped me (Thanks Reuben! You are a stud!). I also have to follow all these new flying restrictions about liquids... grrr... I know they have good reason but i really don't want to spend $3 on a bottle of juice after security that would cost me 40 cents to buy here and bring with me. Gary, of course, has been packed for weeks. He found a few shorts and shirts and a pair of jeans, threw them in a space saver bag, and set them in the baby room. He only has to add a few undies (my word, not his) and his sandals and he's set. If only it were that easy for those of us who's bodies seem to change by hour and who's wardrobes are limited b/c of that! Miracle of miracles is that so far all Tylers clothes and mine are fitting in the SAME suitcase! That's right folks! I don't even have my own suitcase full! Gary gets one for his clothes, toiletries, extras, and pillows (love these space saving bags!! I want to fill the house with them!!) In other news, Tyler got his vacation haircut yesterday. I thought for sure that when I ran to the restroom Gary would ask them to buzz cut him but he didn't. Kudo's to Gary. I wanted to thank everyone for thier support and prayer for our family with my grandpa's illness. We went to see him on Sunday and he had one of his best days in a long time my grandma said. He knew us, talked to us, and even wanted to hold and play with Tyler. He couldn't of course, but the fact that he wanted to touched me deeply. I'm so thankful that the Lord allowed him to know us for what was, most likely, our last visit. It's only a matter of days now and they are getting to the point where his pain cannot be managed at home. It just breaks my heart to know that, but I'm so thankful that all this time, he's known who my grandma is and has made sure to tell her when he can "thank you" and "I Love You". What a treasure.

Tyler running in circles!

Tyler mopping the floor being mommy's good helper!

Gary, Tyler and Grandma

What the EFFINGHAM is wrong with me?!?!?!!? If you knew me when prego with Tyler you know I was OBSESSED with A Baby Story. I figured if I knew everything there was to know about childbirth i'd somehow suceed at it. I have no idea if that's true or not but a good ways into my pregnancy Gary started coming home to a hysterical wife who had watched some horrendous thing happen... then they had this show on about high risk pregnancies that was on at night that I would watch when I could not sleep and then have nightmares so I'd be hysterical when he left for work in the morning. (Hm.... aside: I'm suddenly starting to correlate why he worked so many more hours as I got further along.... it wasn't b/c he was going to have to take time off and needed to get ahead and prepared! He was avoiding the madness!!!!!! How dense am I that I'm just now figuring this out?) So anyways, somewhere along the line i was forbidden to watch these shows by hubby dearest and so then it was like when your mom tells you that you can only have 2 cookies and all you can think about is how to get that third one without her noticing. So I watched it in secret a few times but then I could not be hysterical so I made myself sick with anxiety and then stopped watching. (I'm like an Isrealite in the Old Testament- I don't learn the first time...) So this pregnancy I vowed that I was not going to make myself crazy watching these shows about still births, babies who are born backwards and emergency C-sections that husbands miss, etc etc etc. And i've done really well. They just dont interest me anymore b/c now I know about all the crap they neglect to show on those shows and I'm choosing to belive that the things God has alllowed me to forget are for my own protection. So today, I sat down to relax while Tyler was napping and one of those shows was on. A Baby Story I think. So i was flipping b/n it and 30 minute meals b/c the story was a stay at home mom who's due date comes and goes (gotta love that info button!). So I was pretty much flipping from one set of commercials to another and getting some Rachel Ray inbetween (Remind me to tell you about her 'fruit roll-ups'). So I finally flip and get ABS and this woman is in labor and I mean IN LABOR. Screaming, Doctors' already there, husband is ashen about to fall over, nurse looks petrified so I know, she's about to push the kid out. So I'm like, Ok. I don't have to listen to any of the scary labor part- this is actual delivery so I watch. This woman proceded to push out an ADORABLE baby boy who was TEN POUNDS ELEVEN OUNCES!!!!!!! They held that baby up and I swear he looked like a toddler. He looked like he was about to crawl across his mommy and ask for a drink of milk. oh my oh my oh my..... let me just say something right here, right now. I DO NOT HAVE THE FIGURE NEEDED TO PUSH OUT A BABY THAT BIG! If this little girl gets that big she's just going to have to find another way out. That's all there is to it! I should have just dusted and mopped like I planned.... (Fruit roll ups- put some jelly on a flour tortilla, add some cut up fruit, fold like a burrito and eat. How easy is that? YUMMY!!)

Jackie at 22 weeks and Heather at 30 weeks.

Gary, Tyler and Heather

Josh, Gary and Tyler

Tyler just hanging out with Josh

Check out tyler walking with Pops on the big rock!

Tyler and Pops.

I wanted to get on here for those of you who do not email frequently or read my myspace stuff. :) I wanted to update about a few things. First of all, last Saturday was my day of being 30 weeks pregnant! I'm very excited to be offically in the homestretch now. We leave in a week and a half for California and after that it will be "all baby all the time!" Today I got out the bottles and sorted them. We had way too many, thanks to a generous family, and I sorted out what I wanted and what I could give away! It was exciting to put them all in a basket and into the cupboard and see them all fit in there just right. :) I'm sure I'll change my mind on how I want them in there, but for now it's nice to know they fit! My grandpa is not doing well and I appreciate your continued prayers. The doctors (as of about a week ago) gave him a month or less so we will be making a trip up to see him this weekend since it will be our last chance before our trip. My dad has said he's not doing very well and has hospice in the house helping out my grandma. As I understand it he is completely against going into "a home" as he says. I can't say I blame him. I am relieved that my grandma and surrounding family are getting help though. I hate feeling far away and helpless to help but I know that in my condition and with a toddler I'd be no help whatsoever to drive up there even for a day. Please pray for my grandma- it is her I'm most worried about. Tyler is doing well. He's been speaking a lot more the past month or so and is putting together these amazing sentances. That phase of 3 to 4 word phrases didn't last near as long as I thought it would! I'm noticing he's picking up some things from Daddy and I too and so we are getting better at the whole spelling as we speak thing. :) I have been working with him on playing by himself and more on cleaning up his toys by himself so that he's a little more independant when the baby comes. I"m terrified he'll be a TV junkie in those weeks of healing and scheduling the baby and re-learning to nurse... I recall barely keeping my head above water wtih Tyler, and Im getting very anxious for this one on top of Tyler! He has already shown some signs that he's not going to take the adjustment laying down. He does not like that he can't climb up on me and that I can't chase him around the house like I used to. :) Gary's job is going well. Computers keep dying and he keeps fixing them i guess. :) The levy will be on the ballot again in May and we are praying it passes since already more than a million dollars must be cut from the budget. If it does not pass in May the entire district will suffer, especially the kids. We belive Gary's job is pretty secure but nothing is for certain. We are trusting the Lord in this and in the Mansfield House which we now call the summer house. :) Gary's co-worker suggested we furnish it and turn it into a time share! :) If only! It would be fun to have a second home and do that, but in a more relaxing, vacation sort of setting! In relation to my Dr. Appt last week- I've not made a decision yet. I"m collecting advice, information and praying for wisdom. In other news on Gary, he's decided to start playing drums at his parents church twice a month! His first week was a couple sunday's ago and he's on again this week. It was so fun to watch him but getting to church early was a big adjustment for Tyler. We will be splitting our time between Grace and First Christian until we both feel a need for a change. We both like the big church setting and I find that I really like the chance for Tyler to get to spend time with other cihldren his age. We also like the small church feel and knowing lots of people. I'm anxious for the baby to be born so that we can re-settle and I can get involved in SOMETHING to make some friends. My loneliness is not near what others face since I have a very supportive family and friends via internet who keep in contact with me, but I'd love to have someone to come over once a month and just sit and chat about life. My respect for those away from family starting over in my situation grows daily. When we moved to Mansfield we had no one, but we both worked in the same place and things happened much more quickly for both of us in the way of friends at work and outside work. I never realized how good I had it! Well, as I write this I realize that Thomas is near the end and bedtime is actually past due here. :) I'm off for story and tuck in time. I love you all!

I"m a little bit of everything today! I'm excited b/c tomorrow I"m 30 weeks which means It's getting close! I'm also excited to go shopping with my mom and because it's Friday wich means relaxing with Gary (even though I'm still a bit aggitated at him for aggitating me TWICE this week...) and not having to hear the alarm tomorrow morning. I'm excited for Jennifer to celebrate the first birthday of her little man. I know how special that day was for me and I know it is for her as well. I'm excited for Lori to get to go on her trip soon and get away. Literally in so many ways. I"m excited b/c today was a dr. appt and I got to hear Princess Bush's heartbeat. Don't worry, we are not naming her that. I was thinking of naming her Lavendar Rose Bush... Thoughts? I'm also excited because I'm keeping lots of really good secrets and it's fun to be the one in the know even if there's really no one to tell. :) I'm also stressed. We are leaving for the other side of the country in TWO weeks and there is much to be done, plus the house needs to be imaculate for mom's arrival in the morning. Tyler is getting some type of illness which includes mucus in his eyes that stumped the lady who answered the phone at his pediatrician office. Is it ok that this freaked me out? I'm also stressed because I have exactly 6 weeks to decide how I want this baby born. That leads us to the emotion of terror. The doctor I saw today said that she would absolutely recommend a C-section. 4 other doctors including the one who delivered Tyler said that while there was a chance of a repeat of the first time, there was a larger chance my body would just know what to do and I'd be fine. Thid doctor seems to think I could experience irreversable, unreparable damage to things that just should not be damaged. Can we say panic? My thought is that I could be induced and be sure to get a doctor who knows my situation and my feelings and have a better chance of things being controled, but i've heard nothing but horror stories about being induced... so here's your chance moms= I want to hear your birth stories. Every ugly detail because i certainly can't make this kind of decision myself! Poor Gary. He's going to hear about this for sure.... So yea, we are all over the map today! The best part of the day was that I got to hold 5 month old Baby Jacob. A cousin of mine and he's just sweet as can be. At the end of the day, beyond all the fears and feelings both emotional and physical- all I want is my baby girl born safe and healthy, and I want to be healthy enough to take care of her and be the best mom I know how to be. It's what I was made for. To be a mom to her and my Tyler. My angel. The boy who always knows when I need a hug and a slobbery kiss and the distraction of playing trains, coloring, chasing leaves and bubbles, and just being in the moment. I'm blessed beyond measure to have more than one 'love of my life'.

oh NO!!! I just realized I missed the birthday of the one and only JOSHUA D KELLOGG!!! ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Happy Birthday Josh!!! We love you!

Here is a cute, short, video of tyler requesting a video be taken as one is taken!

Dr called... I PASSED MY GLUCOSE TEST!!! They called because my iron is low and they want me to be on a supplement from now unti the end of my pregnancy. The nurse I spoke with said that if I've been extra tired it could be that on top of chasing around another child so hopefully this will help me to feel better. Thanks for your prayers!

Today I'm either nesting or working on things that should be done regularly and just are not. :) I vacuumed the couch today. It's amazing how much junk ends up under the cushions! I don't even want to think about dander and the kinds of bugs that grow in there and in the bed... blech! Anyways, I got done and noticed that the vacuum was pretty dusty and decided to dust it and then figured, well, if i'm going to do this I might as well get out the clorox wipes and really clean it, and so I did. How often should you clorox your vacuum? How often should you vacuum your couch? I don't have any idea but apparently it was something that looked like a great deal of fun to Tyler because he used his vacuum to help me with the couch cusion and then wanted a wipe to clean his own vacuum. Now his vacuum I have cloroxed before but the fact that he wanted to do it 'just like mommy' was just too much for me. I took a couple pictures. Enjoy!

Feb 07
Tyler watching TV on his bear chair, Tyler riding his rocking horse, and two pictures of Tyler playing the "rolling game" with grandma. :)

February 07 photos
Gary and I, Tyler in his Pooh hat, Tyler sitting at his desk drawing,Daddy and Tyler at Burger King, Tyler in his sunglasses.

Big Girls DO Cry! oh my oh my oh my. breathe Heather, breathe!!! OK - backstory- I bought some eggs a couple weeks ago and made something and one of the eggs I cracked was a double yolk. My pregnant/hormonal mind saw twins and I cried. I don't care for eggs very much- never have. In fact I hated them most of my life until I was pregnant with Tyler. Ate them all the time boiled, over easy, and egg salad. Tyler loves eggs by the way. I didn't eat any of the eggs I made but got over the crying knowing it was a hormonal/emotinal thing. No biggy. Friday, we went to the grocery store and got food. Trying to eat healthy I avoided all cookies and cakes and ice cream and came home and made a box cake. 3 eggs- another double yolk. Got teared up and rememberd how I wanted to blog about it the firts time it happened. Same dozen eggs now I had at least 2 twins i'd cracked. Today I'm down to 4 eggs so I must have made something else and i can't remember how many twins I got then but so far we've had 2 for certain right? So I"m getting ready to make noodles that Gary likes for supper tonight (which we probably won't eat b/c we'll go to his parents b/c they leave for Costa Rica Wednesday at like 4 AM.). Recipe calls for 4 eggs. First egg, normal. Sigh of relief. Second egg- twins. Third egg- twins. Fourth egg- twins. I kid you not. What is wrong with this farm?!?!?! Maybe we'll avoid the amish eggs for a while... like until I have my own baby... The thing is I knew I was running low so I got another carton on Friday. It looks different so it must be from a different grocery store but I really can't remember....

For some reason the video below only seems to work in firfox and not internet explorer.

Tyler playing with his tunnel in a new way!

Here are my last two Myspace Blogs- I don't have it in me (or the time to take) to write a whole new one. :) Enjoy! Love and friends and thoughts and things... You know, I write blogs in my head all day long and when funny things happen I always think "Oh, I can't wait to blog that" and then I sit down and it's like my creativity is zapped out of me by the computer or something. Maybe it's in Effingham? God sent me HUGE blessings this weekend in the venue of friends and I'm feeling a lot better about life because of it. Actually, the past entire week has been good (with the bad of course...) First of all, Gary got home safely and since he left the coference 6 hours early he still got home earlier than expected in spite of it taking him over 4 hours to make the 2 hour drive. He had also ordered me flowers for Valentines day and bless his heart the poor old delivery man had to treck up my driveway wich was unshoveled because we didn't have a shovel for me to go do it! It's a red mug with carnations and roses and a balloon. Tyler thinks the balloon is his Sunday I got to see Jennifer at church which made it totally worth getting up and putting myself together! It's really pathetic to go to a church that size and only really know 1 person. The nursery lady knows me now and know's Tyler's name but not mine... i guess that is progress. Anyways, I was leaving thinking about how it's such a waste of an hour of my life to get all dolled up to go to church to see no one and I look across the hall and here comes this adorable woman in a pretty red coat and black hat with the cutest little blonde girl in her arms and ... It's Jennifer!!! The ONLY person in the entire church I know- who always goes to the service opposite us - was there! We chatted a little and I got to hear the green and blue pee-pee story (see her blog!) and went our ways. I got into the car and looked at Gary and I was like "what a blessing!" Yesterday we had to go to our summer cottage (the Mansfield house) because the wonderful, customer service oriented COLUMBIA GAS OF OHIO installed a faulty reader the LAST time they were at our house (when Gary's mom spent the day over there waiting for them). YUP! Good thing they could come when Gary already had a day off so I didn't have to go sit in the freezing house with Tyler by ourselves. Anyways I got to spend some time with my friend Bethany who's also pregnant and has a 2 year old son. Then on the way home (oh yea, the blessed CGoH was 2 HOURS late...) we stopped at my favorite McDonalds in all the WORLD because my Tajie works there and she was actually working!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Usually when I"m in there (which is now practically never) she's not because I'm not a breakfast person and she usually opens. So not only did I get to eat my favorite fast food, and they actually made the fries correctly (I still can't get over how some places manage to ruin McDonalds fries... do they not all train the same?!?!?!) but I also got to see Taj!!!! Now today I read that MI Jackie (not to be confused with PA Jackie) is sending me not only scrapbooking stuff (which if you've spent more than 5 minutes with me you know is the way to my heart... after McDonalds fries....and taco's... and sour patch kids...ok, ONE of the ways....) but also some CD"S!!!! Satan is totally going to throw something at me I can tell! It's always when I'm at my highest that he tries to bring me down. (CRACKHEAD LUCIFER!!) Now I get to look forward to a GIRLS DAY OUT SHOPPING TRIP!!!!!!!!!! WHOO HOOO!! Gary's freaking about it and I don't care. I'm going to go and have fun and hang out with my girl Lori and we are not going to let the annoying men in our lives ruin our day (ARE WE!?!?) You don't realize how badly you need friends until you see one at church or get to go to thier house and spend some time wtih them. Lonliness really stinks but I'm thankful that the people i DO have in my life are true friends who love me and would do anything for me and expect nothing in return. Sixth Month Alright. Who encouraged me to get pregnant again? You are so going down. The fatigue is back. The nausious feeling has returned. Baby Girl Bush is high and caues me to be unable to digest so I'm sick after I eat and have to get to starving before I can make myself eat again. My back hurts, my hips hurt, my belly hurts and I have my constant headache/sinus pressure still. Body falls alseep at night on whatever side I lay on so I roll over adn wait for the tingling to stop and go back to sleep, then I have to pee. I seem to remember that I LOVED being pregnant with Tyler. Was it because I had nothing to do but sit around and enjoy it or was it easier last time? Is it the extra emotional stress? I woke up at 7:30 this morning (which is sleeping in) and hoped Tyler would slep till 8. Then at 8 when he was awake I prayed he'd play in there for awhile. I'm such a bad mom! it's now 11:30 adn I feel like i have not slept in 2 days. I stumbled down the stairs this morning holding Tyler's hand and thought to myself about how in a few months I'll be doing this with an infant and getting LESS sleep. Ugh. Still, I can't wait! There are only 4 items in her closet and they are all PINK! I hope she likes to read and loves princesses and barbies and dolls and playing house. Tyler can sing Jesus Loves Me almost by himself now and I can't wait till he can teach his little sister to sing and pray... Poor Gary... he has to work all day, play with Tyler and clean in the evening and sleep with a flipping whale at night. He needs your prayers!

Here we have a photo of me at 26 weeks, one of Tyler eating his Valentines Day cupcake at Grandma Bush's house, one of him standing in the tunnel, and a picture of him riding his rocking horse.

We are still alive. :) Somehow the more we have going on the less time I take to write. The main issue these days, if I'm honest, is that by the time I'm done checking my myspace and email my back and rear hurt from sitting in this chair!! I need a wireless keyboard to go with our new wireless mouse! he he! Gary and I recently read Debt Free Living by Larry Burkett and have moved on to the Journey to Financial Freedom through Crown Financial Ministires which is run by Howard Dayton. The Bush's expressed intrest on getting some of the materials you can purchase online so we have borrowed some of what they got and purchased a money map for ourselves. We are reading the book Your Money Map: A proven 7-step guide to true financial freedom. It will take us a lifetime to reach the goal since the final one involves retiring with enough to live comfortably and being generous with what you have left over... but hey, it's a goal right?!!? We have decided that we need to plan the rest of our lives around our current situation rather than what we hope our situation will be soon. For example, we hope to sell the house wich will cut our debt by more than half, however we can't count on that debt going away or the extra monthly income we'd get by simply not paying for it anymore- so we have to budget as if it'll be there forever. We've also decided that it's time to have an actual savings account. The last time we had one was when we both worked and saved money to buy the house= then we used the money in the account as a downpayment and went back to living paycheck to paycheck when my school contract ended and I stayed home. I guess we've simply been convicted to be better stewards of God's money and possessions he's entrusted to us. So, with a housepayment, credit card debt and school debt to tackle we've decided to stop looking at houses and make this rental home so that the next time we buy- we can do it right. We don't regret our decision to buy before but we feel a little wiser now and wnat to be more careful and intentional this time. All this talk of money and reading about how people used to live before credit was so readily available has made us realize that our attitudes and thinking were not reflecting Christ. It's also brought us closer together. It's interesting that most couples fight over money (us included) and it is the thing most blamed for divorce in America (did you know that a divorce happens ever 7 seconds in our country? With more and more people chosing to live together and not even get married that stat is even more scary!). We are trying to prevent money from becoming a hot issue in our marrige by communicating, plannig ahead, and keeping our focus on Christ, not our own "earthly" wealth. We'll see how we do in the future huh? :) Last week Gary went to Columbus for a technology conference and had a wonderful time. I found that I do have the strength to do things by myself and the endurance to keep Tyler alive for 4 days but i can't say I enjoyed it! I was reflecting all week on what I missed about Gary... the way he steals covers at night forcing me to cuddle with him when he's alseep and doesn't even know it... the way his loud breathing covers the noises of the neighbors and Tyler moving around and provides white noise to help me fall asleep... even his smell i missed! I know that sounds rediculously corny but it's true! No one to reach the dishes on the top shelf or the cereal above the fridge... no one to fill the gas tank or shovel the 12 inches of snow we got (I would have done it but guess where our shovel is??? MANSFIELD!!!!)... no one to run out and get me that one little thing at the store...no one to take out the trash or hog the remote.... it was just weird!!! I did find that my mom is right- Tyler is better company than I realize. In the past when he's gone out of town (which thankfully is not very often- once or twice a year at most) Tyler has been very little or not born yet and it's been just me. Now I have a little person to spend my time with and I'm still needed which is nice. I think it was good for me to see areas where I take Gary for granted too so I can appreciate him more when he is home. God kept us both safe and I'm unfathomly greatful. I'm also a little jealous that I was not the one in the fancy hotel with free meals that i didn't have to prepare.... Baby #2 is growing growing! I had an appointment today and things seem to be right on schedule. My ultrasound a few weeks ago was fine and the baby measured at or one week ahead of the due date. I guess that means she'll be early, or big, or (like Tyler) both. great... I'm hoping for small and a little early but I trust the Lord. Last time there was an obvious window that was very convenient for Tyler to come, not as much so with this one. I'd like to go early so I have time to recover before we go to the Outer Banks in July. :) Other than my back pain and the CONSTANT KICKING in places I didn't realize could hurt from inside, I'm doing well. She's carrying high but kicking low so i'm not sure what her deal is. I'm beginning to think she's pushed all my organs up into my lungs wich is why I can't breath and why I feel sick every time I eat. My digestive system seems to be squished and things just aren't getting through! She's clearly taking energy out of what I eat though because I can feel her side to side and up and down and I swear she's either trying to look out my belly button or climb my spine. If her movements are any indication of her personality she's going to be very much like her brother- only with hormones and (hopefully) a love of shoes! (although Tyler is a bit obsessed with shoes to be honest!!) By the time she's ready to face the world my insides will be bruised for sure. It will be so worth it though! I can't wait!!! (oh, but I'm also so scared that I CAN wait!) My grandpa still has cancer and is back in Ohio from Florida. hes' been in the hospital a couple times sine his return but a recent diagnosis indicates he could have another 8 months to live. This is actually a priase becaues several times it has sounded to me like he's not had more than a few hours or weeks. I just pray every day that he is not in too much pain, my grandma is able to take care of him without hurting herself, and if they have not already, they will both find Jesus Christ as thier personal Lord and Savior. I'm sure there is more but I know that those of you who do read this have other things to do so I will let you get to them. My couch and blanket are calling to me. I love you all and would love to hear from you either by blog or by email (or even phone call for the daring! HAHA!). Love and Prayers, In HIS Grace, Heather

I also had Gary take some pictures of me today to show off my growing belly. I'll include the one from Christmas morning to compare....

Expensive Date! Gary had Stephanie watch Tyler this afternoon so we could have a date! We had lunch with Gary and Stephanie then cam eback to the house, put Tyler to bed and left. We decided to go to the mall to walk around and we found Ohio State players were there signing autographs!!! of course we ran into 3 players, bought the autograph of Antonio Pittman and a picture for him to sign. Then we walked through the rest of the mall and realized there were a bunch more!! Including #7 Teddy Ginn Junior!!!! So we just had to get that one too! I think we would have only gotten Ginn if we'd have seen him first but we didn't . Then of course we forgot to ask Ginn how his ankle was and we kicked ourselves for that. Pittman shook both of our hands, thanked us and told me congratulations on the baby!!! They were both nice but I thought Pittman was nicer. Of course I was all upset b/c we could not afford to get all the signatures... and I think most of the people in the mall were the same way because several guys just sat there and I felt bad for them. Anyways it was so awesome to meet someone we actually spent so much time watching all winter. It was rediculous how much we had to pay for the autographs and of course, the first time I did NOT have my camera in my purse so I didn't get a picture. BOO! It was still fun.

Have you ever been undescribably happy and devistated at the same time about the same thing? I have. Apparently pregnancy only makes it worse. Wednesday night we were "out on the town" because we had to take back library video's and were looking for a toddler airbed we saw online. The site indicated our target had it in stock- not true. In fact it did not look like they had ever had them. Usually when something is out of stock there is a big empty space on the shelf and the item's price thingy is there all alone- not the deal. Furthermore no one seemed to know if they ever got them or if they'd ever get them again. "We get a truck every other day and no one knows what's on it until it gets here and we uload it." HUH?! Apparently I have no buisness savvy because that sounds rediculously stupid to me. Or, huh, here's a thought, the lady did not want to bother finding us real answers. ANYWAYS we've been talking about buying Tyler a big boy twin bed now instead of for his 3rd birthday- not because he needs to be out of the crib but because he's grown out of his playpen. We do enough traveling overnight that he needs to learn to sleep on the floor or a bed so we decided to bite the bullet and look for a bed. Gary's mom had coupons so we went to a mattress store (they should let you rent those places out for sleepovers!) and found the one we liked and bought it. 90 SAC baby! :) last night gary and his dad went to pick it up in big Gary's van and they brought it home. Gary also went out yesterday on his way home from work (yup- snow day and he went into work. ONly for 2 hours though) and got the rails we had seen at big lots. So Gary's dad leaves after dinner and we are playing and Gayr's like- So, we going to do it? I"m like "What?" "Put the bed up" At this moment it hit me how much I really was not prepared for it! Thankfully Gary is more adventuresome and prepared for change than I because sure enough, we took the crib apart, moved the pieces into what will be the baby's room, and put the big boy bed together! I just happened to have a set of twin sheets because my mom was going to get rid of my favorite set from when I was a kid at a garage sale and I took them. We still need a mattress pad and Tyler needs his own sheets that are more exciting than plain old white, but it works for now. I cried when Gary took it apart. I was so sad. I remembered him and my dad putting together my old crib when I was pregnant with Tyler, then someone giving us a much newer one and us switching them... I remember when we moved out of the Mansfield house and Gary took it apart... putting it back together here... and now taking it apart again because he's a big boy. :( I was not prepared for how emotional i'd be about it! I mean I got 10 inches of hair hacked off and didnt' cry yet putting my baby to bed in a BED made me lose it. We did our regular routine, and put him to bed just after 8:30 and he cried. That's when my heart just broke. My poor baby was up there scared! I let him go about 10 minutes and then we went back and re-tucked him in and he went to sleep! He slept all night! I had the monitors on and the gate up in case he got out and so I heard him every time he rolled over or made a small crying sound.... i've not listened to him so intently since he was a baby. It made me think of the nights ahead where I'll lay awake listening for the new baby... anyways he woke up at his normal time this morning and waited in bed until I went to get him! He just called for me like always! I was so proud of him last night and this morning. So proud and happy and thrilled... yet a piece of me is still a little devistated. I keep thinking about sending him off to school and other things ahead that I don't allow myself to dwell on in the day to day routine. It's a small step and a small thing, I know, and there is plenty of room for craziness in the future (like nap time in an hour) but for this moment I wanted to share just how happy, sad, proud, and devistated I am. Most of all I'm thankful to have a strong husband who made me do it!

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Whew! I'm exhausted already! My brother came home last tuesday evening and Friday when we got to my mom's I FINALLY got to see him! He looks so good I must say! So friday night we had dinner just the 5 of us- yum. I've always loved my mom's cooking but now that I have to cook myself it's even better when someone else does it. We just pretty much relaxed and hung out, did Christmas and I got fabulous earings and some other things, Gary got the wireless mouse he wanted (this thing is freaky i gotta tell you but Gary will NOT be slamming it into the desk like the old one!) and we, together, got TIVO!!!!! i've not figured out how to use it yet but it's neat so far! Tyler got a tent, a puzzle, book and a BIKE! it's so cute. It's a tricicle that has this handle in the back that raises up so you can push him and he has to steer and then he can pedal to but dosn't have to. He's not got the steering thing quite down yet.... but he loves it! Saturday we got up and went to look at a house my brother had seen and it was really cute. I love giong to look at houses. I"m not sure my brother's all that serious about buying in that area right now but it was fun. Then we got back to mom's and mom and I left for me to get my hair cut! I did it! I donated 10 inches to Locks of Love and it was SO short in the back!!!! She did this massive ponytail, braided it and then snipped it off! I seriously lost like 4 pounds. It was longer in the front and short in the back so she did some long layers and kept the front long and razored it and then gave me side bangs to frame it. My hair seems SO much darker this short! Ineed to get out in the sun man! You can't tell but the front kind of curls under and the back and sides all flip out and it's pretty fluffy on top. I love it. I took a pic of myself and it's not great but it'll do... (I should have powdered my nose first! whoops!) I washed it last night when we got home from my mom's and it took like five seconds and hardly any shampoo... i totally over conditioned it, it feels like silk. You don't realize how unhealthy the bottom 10 inches of your hair are till you are left with the top 10. :) I love that it's drasticly different and also a STYLE. I've not had a style in ages! It was so nice to go and be pampered. The lady even gave me a lip gloss to try. I didn't get it though.. $13 for a lip stain gloss? Sorry... not right now! Later that day Gary went to the mall to talk to the Altell people because on Friday when I got done talking to him on the phone I shut it jus tlke normal and the screen went blank. No time, no contacts list... no display at all! Do you know how hard it is? My dad is like "yea, all phones used to be like that" and i go, "Yea, and people used to have all thier numbers written down on paper too!" Gary went and somehow got a new phone but we have like 4 numbers in it now. :) That evening we had dinner with friends of my mom and Julie and then went to Dave and Busters where we saw the other Julie! It was SO MUCH FUN to get out without Tyler!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Plus I had my hair all done fancy- I kept thinking, If I were with Jackie (myspace jackie) she's be running around introducing me to people going "This is my friend Heather. Isn't she the shit?!?!" (you know you would!!!!) Tyler was left with my friend Danielle adn of course he was not at all interested in bedtime so she let him stay up and watch Thomas and was sleepign only like 30 min before we got home. :) It was so weird to get into the car to go out at 8:15. How sad that going out at 8:15 is late now! The last time i was out that late was driving to the Kelloggs after seeing Lori at the mall at Christmas! We are so pathetic- us old married people with kids. But we love it. Sunday morning is a bit of a fog- they let me sleep in instead of all of us going to church... i'm not happy that it was blamed on me but it was nice to sleep in! That afternoon the Pierre's came to visit and Julie again- her family was supposed to come but her brother had a little accident at work.... the story we got was that he cut half of his thumb off and they lost it in the salad where he works but by the end of the night it was that he just cut it deep and had to have it stiched. It was a fun evening regardless adn then of COURSE at 8 we had to watch 2 hours of 24 (not my 'cup of tea') as usual when someone is diong something fun without him Tyler would have none of going to bed so I was with him most of the first hour and read a Glamor magazine the rest of the time. Gary and my brother were in Heaven. My mom FINALLY got a real TV and also got DISH so we got to watch more than 3 channels the whole weekend. No, let me rephrase that, we had the OPTION to watch more than three channels... however I doubt that the 4 football games, one hockey game, and 6 doses of SportsCenter were on more than 3 different channels. Thankfully my brother is a big old softy and when Tyler got crabby he was happy to put on cartoon.s :) ok, so we watched like 5 channels... out of 300 or so... :) Monday my mom worked in the AM and we had to leave to go to mansfield to get the house listed with a realtor in another attempt to sell sell sell! The roof was leaking AGAIN so we got a new guy to fix it. He came right away to look at it, gave us the estimate, said he'd be back tomorrow (today) and have it done and bill us. SWEET! I wonder if he's there though.... It's always nice to have friends help out when they can but this time we needed someone in and out and to get it done quickly. It turned out to be a small thing but we were freaking out when we first got there. :) We finally got home (after a pit stop at Best Buy to buy the 70$ gizmo we needed to make the Tivo work), ate dinner, hooked up the Tivo, gave Tyler a bath and got him to bed. Whew! I have not even unpacked because this morning was my ultrasound! SO exciting!!! But, that's another blog....

I don't remmeber if I mentioned this but we came home from my grandma's on Christmas eve and went to the evening service with Garys parents at thier church. It was mostly singing with a drama and a small message. They offered no child care and we decided to take Tyler anyways. He seems to love music and I thought since he'd been hearing Christmas music for a month maybe he'd enjoy it and kind of sing along. I thought... famous last words! He did love the singing... especially the fact that his very own Pops was one of the singers on stage! Oh and they had drums! You could just see that he wanted to be up there so badly, not in the back row playing quietly, eating crackers or coloring! I had been thinking before this that it was time to begin taking him into church with us for the praise time so that he could begin to learn to be seated around other adults, experience the music, and maybe learn a thing or two about being quiet. Today, we finally did it. We took him into the service. He was enthralled by the little pencils but didn't wnat to color. He liked trying to figure out why when he sat back in the chiar it folded on him. And then the music started. I was right! My boy loves music! I had him stand between us and he could see fine and as I began clapping he looked up at me, and around at others and began clapping too. It was too cute. My little mimic. Then he happened to spot his dad who likes to sing with his hands in his jeans pockets rocking on the balls of his feet. SO, little Tyler busied himself shoving his little hands in his pockets and bouncing as well as he could without falling over. He was just too cute. After the first song someone sat in front of us so I held him and he clapped and I tried to point out the drums and piano and guitars. Then Gary held him some too ( that extra 30 pounds got to me!). He folded his hands and was totally silent throught the entire prayer time between songs- and it was longer than usual. He also enjoyed looking at the TINY newborn seated in front of us (which of course made me cry- saw about 10 babies- cried at every one...) but didn't yell to the baby or rock the baby's chair or anything... maybe there is hope he won't hate his baby sister/brother! As it turned out he did really well and I think he really liked it! He also went into the nursery just fine like any other week! yea! As I left to take him to nursery it was greeting time and it turned out that Gary went to school with the girl who was behind us and he told me she said Tyler was the cutest little boy she'd ever seen! Awww!! That totally made up for a hot chick talking to my Gary without me there.... ;)

We are going to California!!!! We purchased the tickets yesterday! Can you belive Gary found tickets for under $250? We are so thankful!!! It will be so nice to spend time with Joshua and Mom! This will be Gary's first time west and my first time in Cali. Yesterday was my first day babysitting a little boy named Matthew. He and Tyler played REALLY well together! They probaly wouldn't do so well if it was every day but I think the once a week will turn out to be just right. :) It was nice to see Tyler interact with another kid again- it seems so long since he's played with other kids and me get to see him. They always tell me in nursery that he's really good, but I know they just say that so you'll bring them back and stay at the church. :) Yesterday also was the first time Gary could feel the baby's kicks through my belly! For a week I did not feel any kicks and got very anxious that something was wrong. I'm also not growing much and my belly is not hard like it was with Tyler. However now my littel girl/guy is on the go quite a bit. "she" seems to especially like story time at night when we put Tyler to bed. It kind of makes it feel as if we are already a family of 4. I'll be 20 weeks on Saturday- halfway! 6 days till Joshua comes to OHIO!!!