Photo's of Grace taken today!

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!!