Our Beautiful Family

Tim, Sandra, Grace, Heather, Gary, Tyler, Stephanie, Gary

On Sunday, July 8, 2007
Armandina Grace Bush
was dedicated at
Grace Community Church
by Pastor Dan Michaels

This past weekend my mom came down and we took her to the cabin with us. She and I got to ride in the car together and visit and to be honest, it was nice to not have to talk over Tyler! I was sure to apologize to my mom for the way I talked nonstop when i was little!!! Tyler's wonderful and I love that he can put major sentances togther, can be in a conversation and even leads a conversation but sometimes I crave a little peace and quiet!! Friday I was of course not ready when my mom got there but we did get things together finally and left. The drive down was uneventful other than i was a little worried Gary would run the old farm truck going 20 mph off the road into a ditch. (teasing!!) The man kindly pulled over after a few miles and let our two cars pass. We got there and shortly had supper and cleaned up and then went out on the boat. It was so fun to show my mom everything! It was also fun to get to have Gary be the driver, he did a wonderful job! After we got Tyler into bed we sat around the living room visiting until bedtime. Saturday we got a slow start which was nice because no one cared! My mom took Tyler on a long walk, the Bush's came and we spent some time sitting around, visiting, eating lunch and getting ready for the afternoon party. At 3 people from the Bush's bible study began arriving and we had dinner. My mom and Tyler went on another walk, threw more rocks into the lake, and right at 7 we left for home. Tyler slept in Grace's room so Grandma could have his bed which he thought was SO cool. :) We watched Harry Potter and went to bed. It was fun to go the cabin and get to enjoy it with my mom. It was also nice to just get to visit so much!

I already have over 100 photo's for July! I'm sure none of you are all that surprised though. :) On the Fourth of July we drove down to the Cabin and had a cookout with Gary's parents and family. Lot's of Kandray's telling stories and we got to learn some about Grandma's family, the Wagners. It was so nice to get to spend some (rare) time with Uncle Josh. Of course he was hesitant to hold Grace but I made him because her other Uncle Josh won't even get the chance till October at the soonest! :( Do you think I managed to get a photo? nope. BOO! Enjoy some I did get!

I watned Tyler to have the Thomas laptop in time for vacation so he'd have something to do while strapped into a carseat for 15 hours so my dad got it for him. Turns out that on this particular toy when they say 3 and up, they mean it! *sigh* Here's a pic of him playing with it... minus pants.




Aunt Mary Kandray got Grace an adorable little pants outfit so I took this for her benifit. Thanks Aunt Mary!! (And unfortunately I don't have time to do this for everyone who got her clothes! Sorry!)

One of my mom's close friends threw a "Meet Grace Bush" party for us in June. Several families who are friends of ours as well as family came including both of Grace's Great- Grandma's on our side! It was SO fun to get to see everyone and show of my princess. :) She wore a beautiful dress that Linda gave her and of course I did not get a picture of just her! I'm learning though at each event to remember what kind of pictures to take. This event taught me that just because you are pointing a camera at a person does not mean they will stop and smile. I got lots of action shots that included people eating and talking. Oh well! Here are a few I wanted to share of the good ones! I especially like the one of Tyler and Alceo. I can only hope they get along as well as we do with his parents!!! ;)

Auntie Lori Reda came to visit us and we got a couple really cute pic's of her! Of course we didn't get one of just her and Heather. BOO!

These pictures were taken Mid- June. I'll try to update photos more- I just forgot I could! Thanks for the reminder Hannah!

Grace is 6 weeks old! Unbelievable! We're all still here! This also means, for those who care, that I've been nursing for 6 weeks. Grace gets a bottle of pumped milk occasionallyand goes back and forth just fine which I am VERY thankful for! It allows me to be less tied down and allows for some flexibility since she still eats ever 2-3 hours... occasinally she'll go longer but mostly only when we're in the car or she's fallen asleep in her swing. When she gets to that 4 hours though and wakes up WHOO_HOO she's frantic! I think she likes the more controled flow of the bottle better so i'm really trying to limit the bottle usage. We've given up limiting the paci usage though. :) As I re-read babywise in the past few weeks I realize that most of the really regimented stuff in there I didn't do for Tyler and I'm not doing with Grace. I'm sorry but when you have a toddler it's just not as easy to put a 4 week old down alone in her crib, awake and walk away and expect her to fall asleep on her own. You also really can't let them cry too long for fear of waking the other one! We'll do more "cry it out" stuff when she's much older but for now, i'm enjoying rocking her or letting her sleep in her swing- what difference does it make? Maybe i'll pay later. :) Tyler LOVES Grace. She can definately get on his nerves but he really loves her. It makes me so happy when he tries to help or comfort her. His methods never work and usually cause more distress right now, but he's trying. He likes to stand by her head when she's in the playpen and sing her the ABC's or Wheels on the Bus or hum the Thomas tune. He also tries sometimes to give her a paci which would be fine if he was a little more gentle... and didn't try to do it while she's dead asleep in her seat or something. He likes to hold her too and so often times I let him just becaues I know it's 3 minutes he'll sit still!! His volume has been on high pretty much since she came home and even higher lately so I wonder if his cold and congestion are causing him to not hear well. (my mother-in-law's suggestion) We are working on our 'talking voice', 'inside voice', wisper voice'... whatever you want to call it but to no avail so far. He loves to ask why and pretty much demands that when he's talking to you that you turn and look at him and repeat what he's said or answer him right away. It's funny when I'm not tired and short tempered... unfortunately i'm most often the later. He's so independant about some things but so dependant about others. I like feeling needed but I wonder what Ishould be pushing him to do on his own more. We're not sending him to preschool this fall so I do'nt worry about it... i do wonder though. He's also developed an instant crying skill since Grace came home. I htink he feels if she's crying he must also... and louder. he's not near as bad when Gary gets home b/c he usually can get the attention of one or both of us, but when it's me alone forget it. "use your words" is my new most often said phrase. Our least often used word has suddenly become "crap" becaues Tyler has picked it up and uses it well, and in context. His car wheel falls of: "oh crap" he says with a tilt of the head and roll of the eyes. You can laugh. it's quite funny but of course i can't encourage it. He's also started saying Gosh which he got from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. I don't like it but it's better than crap and I try to ignore it. The new neighbors are hoodlums and say every bad word in the book so on nice days when we open the window you can hear them all... I know one day Tyler's going to trip and fall and yell out "Oh F---" (fudge... except I didn't say fudge... ha ha! Great Christmas Story line!). Then what do I do?!?!?! The landlady was over th eother day and the skateboarding guys were next door conversing with thier four letter word vocabulary and she acutally yelled at them. I wonder if it's in our lease not to use profanity at the top of your lungs... i could SO get them evicted! LOL!! So the past two nights Tyler has done the CUTEST thing- I'm seriously going to get it on video one of these days... not that I'll know how to share it but still.. Anyways a long time ago I got Goodnight Moon from the library and as boring as it is, he loved it. He demanded it every night for the 4 weeks we had it and so shortly after we returned it we got it for him. I can't remember what event it was for but for some reason we bought it and we've read it before bed almost every night since. Lately I've been also reading him a section out of a Precious Moments Bible stories book i had when i was little. I'm sure he doesn't get any of it but i'll do until we decide to buy the story bible i saw at the bookstore a few months ago. So the night before last I had him try to read goonight moon to me and he 'read' the ENTIRE thing minus like 5 words! I was so impressed and it was so cute! So last night he started again and I yelled for Gary to come listen and Tyler did it again! Right now he's dancing around the house to "his music" which is a mother goose CD. Let me just say that these things are not all that uplifting. Right now he's listening to Pop goes the Weasel. The little one is stirring so i'm off! Happy Monday!

I think I should be blogging daily. So many new and exciting things happen every day with a baby and I know I'll forget it all too quickly. I"m not visiting my journal near like I did with Tyler so this will have to do. This past weekend was so much fun. Thursday we went out to dinner at Applebees with Gary's parents to celebrate Father's Day. I had a very yummy salad and I think Grace didn't like it b/c she was a bit fussy all night. :) Friday Jenn came over with her kids and they played with Tyler while Jen and I visited. We also went through all those clothes I had gotten from my mom so that her daughter Aubrey could use them. I see no point in hoarding them for 3-4 years waiting for Grace to grow up while there is a girl I know who can use them now. I also know Jen will take care of them and appreciates them. We had "Donalds" for lunch as her daughter calls it. Tyler just calls it "I want a cheeseburger please" ;) Then we actually managed to take all four kids for a walk. Nothing major for Jen who runs her kids all over town but for me- it was a major accomplishment. (my mom is rolling her eyes as she reads this i'm sure) That night we probably did something but it's not written on Grace's calendar so it's forever lost... Saturday was the big "meet Baby Grace" party at BA and Lou's house which was SO much more than I imagined! We had Tyler napped and wrote in our HOT car getting there plenty early for me to change, mom to change Grace and to get to visit a little iwth my grandma before more people arrived. Tyler had a blast playing with Alceo and Daniel- two of his favorite people- and visiting with all this "aunts" and "grandma's"!! *Side note- the new neighbor kid just came over and he must be about 3 years old and I could not understand a thing he said. I feel so bad! I think maybe he wnated Tyler to come over and swim with him inthe little blow up pool. I'm kind of surprised his mom let him come over alone- is this common? I've never even met them- i need to get some cookies or something over to them. Gary was out golfing yesterday and I guess the little boy came and wanted to play with him too he said. So the party was wonderful and it was So nice to get to see everyone all together. I wish I would have made everyone get together as a group for a picture. I hav elots of pictures but most of them are "action" shots meaning people are either talking or eating. I need to do better warning people i'm taking pictures I guess!!! After the party we went to my mom's house to get the kids put to bed and Tyler, thankfully, went down with no fuss! It was way past his bedtime and he had been in th ehot car or running around outsdide since he got up from his short afternoon nap so i was worried! Grace ate adn went to sleep too allowing mom, Gary and I to visit for quite awhile! Grace idd well allnight in the basement with us in the crib my mom has and Tyler must have done well upstairs b/c my mom never said anything and I never heard him! We got dressed and off to church only a few minutes late. After church we went to Berardi's in Huron to eat lunch and they have the BEST hamburgers and fries. Not the best in the world, but they are really good. Tyler was overtired and fussy and Grace must have had gas or was just tired from being held the night before or something b/c she was fussy too. Thankfully my mom and Grandma didn't care and only a few people in the restaurant gave us dirty looks. Most gave us "awww! Your family is so cute compassionate smiles". After lunch we went over to my dad's new place which is really nice. Tyler, again, practically begged to go to bed so we blew up his Thomas bed (that thing was SO worth the money!!!) and he napped. Several family members stopped over which was nice, including my aunt Vickie who i missed on her last trip home from California because we were IN California! Later on my dad, Tyler and I walked down to the lake and on the beach which Tyler loved. I think once he got uesd to the water he would have wanted to play in it which encouraged me since we are going to the ocean in a few weeks. Won't it be fun to teach him to not go in alone! He's got a lot less fear than a year ago when we went... We had dinner with my dad and then went back home. It was fun to get to spend Father's day with him like that just relaxing and sharing Grace and Tyler. I"m so blessed at how much my parents/family love my family!! The 2 hour trip home was rough with no air for Tyler but thankfully Grace slept the whole time. Tyler went straight to bed while I fed Grace and then Gary and I went to bed too b/c we were both so tired. It was all worth it to get to see family and friends!

Hi! I've been blogging on Myspace and neglecting to post them on here so below are several i've written recently. Enjoy! (Amy if you read this and don't check your email b/c school is out - we have a new phone number- you have an email with it.)

generosity, amazement, ignorance and frustration. Wed. June 13


Generosity- so my mom came yesterday to give me my old dresser for Grace. I'm excited to get her clothes organized the way I really want them and get some things put away away and not just in boxes and piles everywhere. :) She also took it upon herself to bring me the headboard and night stand that go with it plus a bike, a slide (YEA!), a kitchen and THREE huge garbage bags full of clothes, and one full of shoes. She got them from a lady she knows. I put everything out to organize it and ready it for bins or loaning out and took a picture.



...it's a lot. Clothes to last her till she's 4. It's mostly winter stuff so i'm guessing she sold her summer stuff in a garage sale (there were stickers on everythign which Tyler is having great fun with) I just can't get over the generosity of people sometimes! God uses even people we don't know!

Amazement- simply put i'm astonished and amazed at how stupid people can be. Just plain old selfish, stupid sinful people all over this freaking earth. It's a wonder God has not just thrown our little planet at the sun and let us all fry in there. It's clear to me that God's love is beyond the comprehension of my peanut brain.

Ignorance- People are also clueless. Gary is contracted as a teacher (but he does not teach) which means that like all other teachers he should have been able to go home last friday and not HAVE to think about school for several weeks. He's also contracted some extra days- this years days have yet to be determined and start 1 July. THEREFORE PEOPLE SHOULD NOT BE HARASSING HIM!! He's been in every day this week and probably will be in every day this month VOLUNTEERING HIS TIME (translated nto being home helping me!). So last night we, as loyal Cleveland-ers stayed up till today watching the Cav's full of hope and ready to see the team "rise up" and get a win. I mean it's a home game, the first ever NBA championship game in our humble city and do you think we could get a freaking bucket?? That's a whole other tangent... sufice to say that Thursday could mean heartbreak and Friday most of the city might just not show up for work. I am NOT ashamed though! For us to have gotten this far is nothing short of a miracle and to be the Eastern conference champs is good enough for me- for this year. I must admit it would be a bit frustrating to not win ANY games against the Suns though... any-who- since we stayed up so late and Grace wanted to eat AFTER the game Gary thought he might sleep in and go in at 9am instead of 5:30 like monday or 6:30 like the rest of the year. Report time is like 7 or 7:15 maybe? Not too much to ask since he's not even supposed to be there right? 9:05- THREE voice mails on his phone. Yup. three. Three people who cannot live without my husband and think that i shoud have to so he can run in and solve thier woes. Now to be honest I don't know who called or why but I do know he did not stop to eat breakfast or anything. After he saw the three messages (and most likely more missed calls) he threw on a hat, hugged the Tyler Monster, threw me a kiss and was out the door and sped down the road as he listened to his messages. he also told me in somewhat of an exasperated voice that he would NOT be home for lunch "apparently". SIGH I"m jealous of Jennifer who has her hubby around all the time and gets to go all over town doing fun things with her family... but I also like that Gary brings home a payckeck so if this is what it takes... i'll swallow it... but I get to vent too!!!!

PS- Grace is holding her head up more and more! She also coo's and grins at her brother when he comes over to talk to her!


June 18, Monday
One Month!


Grace is one month old today! We are doing well, tired, but well. I'm loving having a baby in the house again but am struggling with Tyler. I think my expectations of him are too high and the poor guy can't win. He's still a good boy, he just needs some more attention and I just simply don't have it to give sometimes. Grace does not nurse as well as Tyler did and seems to be much more sensitive. She also loves being held where he didn't so it's been neat how different they are. I've also loved getting to hold her a lot, although it leaves less one-on-one time for Tyler. Thankfully it's been nice weather and Gary can relieve his frustration out on the golf course. :) I'm enjoying my last 2 weeks of not being "allowed" to excersise. LOL!!!

Thanks to everyone who have posted messages and comments! If I'm not getting back to you soon enough, I apologize!!! I"m trying! It's amazing how little i"m online anymore!!!! I pray you are all having a good week! July is almost here!! Can you belive it?!?!?!?




Tuesday June 19
Tyler's first movie


So Jennifer (do you ever go by Jen?) wrote me last week and included a nice list of all the theatres in the area that do kid movies in the summer including dates, shows, times, and price. She makes it so easy for me to continue to be lazy. Anyways, today was the Clifford movie so yesterday when I found out she was going I decided to pitch it to gary and just see what happened. He actually decided not to go into work today and to go with us!! Summer has officially begun! This is totally how I pictured summer- going out as a family doing stuff like this at least twice a week!!! yea!! We got there a half hour early b.c we were SURE it would be packed and we'd be struggling to find seats. I think also Gary had little faith that we'd get out of the house in time to make it for even the beginning of the movie. I shocked us all by being ready on time for once! Of course this was only because he completely got Tyler and himself ready which included breakfast for both of them. My boys are no good until they've eaten. We got Tyler the little booster seat adn sat down and he was really good the entire time! Before the movie I went to the bathroom and took him with me just so he could have a little less sitting time. That helped I think. I also had some grahm cracker things in the diaper bag for when he got fussy. That helped too. He was good through the entire thing and I have to be honest and say i was really surprised. Gary took care of Grace who barely made a peep that I noticed so i actually sat back and enjoyed the movie... holding Tyler's hand for some of it. (all together now: aawwwww!!!!) Then we decided that since we were in Canton we ought to head over to the Target b/c we had a HUGE gift card from friends back in Mansfield to spend. We got 2 packs of diapers for each of the kids, wipes, razor refils for me and some odds and ends and still had $$ left over! I love those target brand diapers. Then in the process of finding said gift card Gary found that we had a Chili's gift card from Christmas (yea, we've not gotten out much this calendar year..) so we drove around trying to find it. We did- pretty much back where we started and we ate all three of us and still have a little under $2 left on the card. Now why, i ask you, do they leave that little bit on that card? Why can we not have the change? Rediculous. Grace sat in her little seat, drank her bottle, and then went to sleep! (Daddy held her some too and of course Tyler wanted held...) So it was a great family day. Now both kids are napping, Gary went into work (the whole building could spontaniously combust if he's not there at least a little bit you know) and instead of resting, I'm writing you crazy people! :) It was a really fun day! Thanks Jen!

Too Fast!! It's going too fast! I just got a packet from Huggies in the mail. It's full of "information" and coupons... coupons that allow me to get thier products at more than generic prices but less than outrageous price. It says in big bold letters "your baby is one month old!" SAY WHAT?!?! So I look at the calendar and sure enough, the 18th is 10 days away! Funny how when you are pregnant 10 days seems like an eternity. Especialy when you feel about to implode and you still have 10 days until you are full term... or due. When you are a senior and you have 10 days of school left, it feels like an eternity. When there are 10 days until your big birthday bash- eternity. 10 days until your baby is one month- goes by in a flash. Today she is 3 weeks old. THREE WEEKS! Seems like we brought her home yesterday. She's growing for sure. She's so much bigger than she was before... but she's still like an eighth the size of Tyler. Tomorrow Tyler will be 31 months old. How did that happen? Where was I? That's roughly 930 days or 22320 hours. how many of them did I spend on the computer or cleaning? How many of them were spent reading and running and cuddling? I'd have to say too many and not enough respectively. I've been thinking alot about life these past few weeks as you can imagine. How precious it is. How important it is that we make each moment count. How valuable time really is. God has us here but for a moment. We are a mist the Bible says. A mist! I think about that every time I spray perfume on myself. That spray or mist is like life- only here but a moment, but the lasting affects can either be beautiful or horrible. Sometimes I feel like I"m not making a bit of difference in the world as I sit on my couch nursing my daughter, or race cars with my son but some time with the Lord reminds me that I am. In fact, the job I'm doing might be one of the most important in the world. That's a lot of pressure! How I spend the days, hours and minutes with my children will help shape the people they become and they will shape and mold the lives of others they come into contact with. There is nothing I'd rather be doing with my time. I mean God's time. Life is a challenge for sure. Someone wise once told me that the people we are in contact can either cause us to grow or to wilt. Am I helping my children grow? My friends? My family? Sometimes I seriously doubt it- but I"m trying. I'm trying to surround myself with wise and wonderful people who will love me for me- unconditionally. People who will challenge me out of love. People whose mist of life will make my mist stronger and more beautiful- and hopefully the lives of Grace and Tyler too.

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