Aubrey ~ Happy 1st Birthday !!

Wow, how time flys. My baby is now 1. She turned 1 on June 15th. I figured my hiatus of over 5 months from blogger should come to an end since this was such a big day for our baby and we wanted to share some pictures with you. Aubrey is such a joy to have as my perfect little baby. We love her so much and life just wouldn't be the same without her.

We had her birthday party on Saturday June 13th before her birthday on Monday June 15th. We had cake and ice cream for her party at my parents home with all of our family from both sides in attendance. That evening my side of the family went out to celebrate my brother Brian's birthday, which is also June 15th. We went to Don Pablo's on the river.

Click on the picture below for more pics.

Aubrey's 1st Birthday

Happy 30th Birthday ~ Jonathan!

THE BIG "30".

Happy 30th Birthday to my Sweetheart Jonathan!

January 28th!

My how time flies. It seems like yesterday that I planned his big surprise 21st Birthday Party and now look, it's already another big milestone. Just for a little while will we be in different decades and then I will join him in a few months.

Dearest Jonathan, Your a great husband and I love sharing life with you. Thanks for all the help you give me and for supporting our family. You're also an awesome Daddy to our children and thanks for taking special time out just for the girls. I love you! Wishing you MANY more Happy Birthdays! Love You Always, Leanna

Happy 3rd Birthday - Lindsey Ann Morgan Pitcher !!

January 22, 2006

12:32 p.m. - Sunday afternoon

7 lbs 8 oz

Dearest Lindsey,

Happy 3rd Birthday to my first born, Lindsey Ann Morgan Pitcher! We LOVE You Sooo Much! Life would never be the same without you and we could have never asked God for a better miracle than YOU! You are the perfect fit for Mommy and Daddy! We didn't know if our home would ever be blessed with the pitter patter of little feet and God saw fit to give us you and we are so very thankful!

Yes, you may give me trial some days with your strong will, but with God's help and our prayers I pray that it will help guide you through life and be used to your benefit to stay strong during the rough times that life throws your way. I pray that you grow up to be a sweet, christian, young lady and love God with all your heart!

You are such a thoughtful little girl and always concerned about the other persons problems. It doesn't matter if it is a little cut or a concern you have heard us voice, you catch it all and come to our rescue to make sure we are ok. And... you remember to check up on the illness the next day or the next day you see the person in question of illness. You are very loving and very quick to give us big hugs and kisses and in great abundance (smackers & bear hugs :)!!

Your were definitely not a big talker at two but I think you are making up for lost time in the last couple of months and now we definitely know your thoughts on pretty much everything and are making up for lost time! I love to hear you talk and you now try to stall bedtime by saying, "One minute" and then you proceed to have a conversation about whatever comes to your mind.

You love your My Little Pony's, Horses (in general), Dora, Strawberry Shortcake, Princesses, & baby dolls. All things girlie!

You are becoming opinionated (verbally) and I was wondering when that would happen. As you say, "I want my hair long"! :) You want to make sure your hair is down and not up and you tell Mommy that it is pretty.

You are a Great Big Sister! (In a Very OVERWHELMING way - and Mommy doesn't think she can handle it one more second at times and then of course Daddy will come home to the rescue or Mamaw will come for a visit and Aubrey lives for another day :) Yes, you love Aubrey dearly, but you are still learning the entire definition of Gentle and "No"!

I read you books and you tell me things that I myself don't even quite have figured out, i.e. when it comes to which house Gingerbread Snap lives in :) You quite amaze me with what you know. I was counting the other night and I stopped at 9 because that's all there was to count and you continued on to say "ten". I about croaked because we certainly hadn't gotten that far in our counting skills or so I thought :).

You love the word "match" and you love to match your sister whether it is in dress or in what you are holding or playing with. Just tonight you picked out your own design of pj's. You decided to keep your long sleeved white undershirt on and you topped it off with a short sleeve flowery shirt and you came to me asking for matching "white" pants, which by the way don't even exist, so we decided on pink and thankfully that was fine. No you don't know ALL your colors but your getting a pretty good handle on quite a few of them.

You are learning to pray and to also come up with your own prayers, which include asking "Mommy no spank me, Daddy no spank me, Amen". When you did this I about cracked up. I then instructed you to ask Jesus to help you be a good girl and obey Mommy and Daddy and then your prayers would be answered

I wish you the best year ahead as you race into your 4th year. Happy 3rd Birthday to a Big Girl that we Love So Much!

Love,

Mommy & Daddy

Happy New Year - Welcome 2009!

I have tons of pictures to share, but for now, I wanted to stop by my blog for a quick minute to wish all of my family and friends a Happy New Year! We wish all of you health and happiness in the year ahead - Welcome to 2009!
Here are a few pictures of our family on Christmas Eve on a quick trip to Bass Pro Shops to get the annual Santa picture. We have always gone to the mall, but were informed of this really neat set up of an entire little Santa Village at Bass Pro, which included a free picture with Santa Claus and you could also take your own picture. It was a really and had some great decorations as well.

Click on the pic below for more pics. http://picasaweb.google.com/jlpitcher1/122408VisitToSantaClauseBassPro?feat=embedwebsite

My Baby ~ Aubrey ~ is 6 Months Old

My how time does fly by. It seems like yesterday that I was worrying about my pregnancy, and then bringing home a baby not quite weighing 6 lbs. And now... She is a 6 months old and weighing near the 18 lb mark, but I will have all the specifics of the stats on Wednesday after I have her to the doctor for her checkup. She is a lovable, squeezable, bundle of 100% pure joy. She is "THE BEST" baby. Lindsey was a "good" baby, but Aubrey is nigh unto perfect and very un-demanding. She never cries, she's a great sleeper, eater, and she would much rather smile than not. She is very tolerable of the mountains of love that Lindsey dumps upon her in her 2 yr child like ways. I love her bunches and life is just that much better with having her around. I love having my two girls.

Happy 6 month Birthday, Aubrey!

From November 2008

We went Monday evening, December 15th, on her 6 month birthday and had her picture taken for her 6 month photo op along with her dedication picture, Christmas picture and family picture. It was a big event, but it went well and all the pics turned out great with no hassles. Can't wait to share, but it will probably be a few days before I have the files to do so.

Thanksgiving Day 2008

Here are the pics that were taken on Thanksgiving Day. My cousins from Indiana, David, Martha, Cameron, Sarah Brook, & Ashley Going, came to my parents for a couple of days and we so enjoyed getting to spend Thanksgiving with them. My brother, Bradley's family, also was at my parents for the day, but unfortunately we were missing Brian's family. We had a nice relaxing day. The food was awesome and in my opinion the best thing to eat was the noodles and gravy with potatoes - love'm :) Nothing better than noodles in my opinion. We did have tons of food though. My mother fixed both a turkey breast and ham. It was hilarious, there was so much food that the ham did not even get uncovered for the main dinner, but we ate some of it later. If Brian had been there then you can bet on it having been uncovered, he's the ham eater :) The full menu to the best of my memory, since I am blogging about it so late is: Turkey, Ham, Ham Gravy, Noodles in Gravy, Mashed Potatoes, Sweet Potatoes, Corn, Broccoli & Cheese, Dressing, Rolls, Broccoli Salad, Cranberry Salad, Angel Salad, Pumpkin Pie, Pumpkin Roll, Black Bottom Pecan Cheesecake Pie (the best), Carmel & Apples, & Cherry Delight. Do you think we had enough? lol. Some things just didn't even get eaten with that much food to be had. We all enjoyed a second round of it later that evening. It was a fun day that ended too soon. I love spending relaxing time with family.

From Thanksgiving Day 2008

From Thanksgiving Day 2008

Click on the pic below for more pics.

Thanksgiving Day 2008

November 2008 Kodak Moments

Here are some pics taken last month up until Thanksgiving which are still to come.  I will try and put some details on the pics, but this is mostly a wordless posting in regards to the pics.  There is too much for me to do between now and Friday evening when we plan to leave for Indiana to be with Jonathan's family.

I have not mentioned it here on my blog yet, but please pray for my niece, Lizzi, who has been in the hospital since Dec 3.  This is Jonathan's sister's little girl.  She has CF, cystic fibrosis, and for the most part has been pretty healthy, with only a few bouts of major illness that has put in her the hospital.  Since coming home from the hospital at birth this is only her 3rd time being admitted and she is almost 4 1/2.  She is an amazing, beautiful, lovable girl.  They were hoping for a quick in and out admittance to get the pic line in and then send her home to continue the treatment.  She has been sick for about 12 weeks and couldn't get rid of the infection with prescription antibiotics.  But, she just recently came down with a mild case of pneumonia and it is not getting any better.  They may even end up having to do a special procedure on Friday to help clear her lungs.  I know it is becoming quite tiresome on Belinda, her Mom, and they have been in the hospital for 10 days now.  When you remember, please pray for Lizzi and the rest of her family.

Click on the pic below for more pics.

November 2008

My debut of using and sharing on YouTube :)

Well, I love the new Picasa3 update that is now available, which is the program I use on my computer to view all my pictures and to share my pics in web albums for my blog.  It has so many more options and one of them is being able to make movies, create different video clips, take part of previously made videos and change the size to be shorter or take out certain parts..... and to upload them to YouTube.  I have never used YouTube, so I created my account and....here we go.  It's not much, but I hope you enjoy.  I know some certain people in Indiana who will enjoy it at least :).

Let me know if you can not view it so I can work the kinks out since this is my first time.

Aubrey Lynn's Dedication 11-2-08

We had Aubrey dedicated at church on November 2, 2008. Jonathan's family was able to join us for this occasion as well. Afterwards we all ate dinner at my parent's house - all 19 of us. The dedication ceremony went really well and Aubrey did great. She had her eyes glued on Bro. Hooker the entire time. We had the song "A Mothers and Fathers Prayer" sung. Here are a few pics from the days events.

From Aubrey Lynn's Dedication 11/2/08

From Aubrey Lynn's Dedication 11/2/08

Click on the pic below for more pics.

Aubrey Lynn's Dedication 11/2/08

October Pictures

What an interesting title for this post :) lol - I am going to try and break down my most recent pictures into a few different posts, since it has been a couple of months. This posting will be all the pics from October events and happenings. I am not going to document all the pictures, so hopefully they are somewhat explanatory. Hope you enjoy. I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving as I know we sure did.

Click on the pic below for more pics.

The pictures are in chronological order for the month of October 2008.

October 2008

I VOTED TODAY!!!!!!

Hot Dog Roast and other happenings

Last Friday evening we had company over. Our friends Jennifer, Paul, Katrin, & Kallie Eckert are moving away and we wanted to get together with them one last time. We are very sad they are moving and Lindsey will definitely miss her playmate (in love and war :). We also had our friends Scott, Suzanne, & Jackson Capplinger over as well. We had a lot of fun and enjoyed the great October weather together in our backyard with the newly built fire pit.

I am posting some pictures of this event as well as some other miscellaneous pics of the girls.

October Events

From October Events

September Happenings & Update

Can you tell my life is busier? :) lol :) I hardly ever post, but since I know everyone prefers the pictures, here's quite a few for you to enjoy!

For a small update in my life as a mother of 2 - I am loving it! Yes, I am busy constantly, but it's completely worth it.
Aubrey is over 14 lbs now at 3 1/2 months and is completely out of 0-3 clothes and the 3-6 month is none too big. She belly laughed out loud for the first time on Sep 16th, two weeks ago at Lindsey. It was so cute. She loves to stand on her two legs just like Lindsey did at this age. She is holding onto small toys and chewing on whatever she can get a hold of. She is nosey and if your holding her you better not lean her back in any way or she will let you know - immediately. Sit her up straight and she's as happy as a lark. She is lovin' life and we are lovin' her. She is a ball of cuddly love and has stolen all of our hearts.
Lindsey is "finally" well on her way to being potty trained at 2 yrs 8 months. We are still working on one major half of it (if you know what I mean) but, I am very pleased with the progress WE are making, because it definitely takes a lot of effort on my part as well. She is a great sister to Aubrey and dotes on her and loves her very much. She is talking a lot more and is increasing practically daily. This includes, "I don't want to", so now we have to start shaping and molding the vocabulary, if you know what I mean :)

In my last posting I was a bit frustrated with the changes in the Picasa online program, but it seems the glitches have been fixed and I can now just post the album picture link instead of having to do an actual slide show on my blog. So, back to the old ritual of - Click on the actual picture listed below and it will link you to the Picasa Album for more pictures. I am posting three separate albums below. Enjoy and have a great fall!

Random pics from Sep 2008

Church Fall Picnic - 9/27/08

Bro. & Sis. Thompson's 40th year of service celebration at Bethel Holiness - Columbus, IN

p.s. Shout out to all of you bloggers, I just joined up with the Blogger "Following" and it is really neat to be able to see who is following your blog. So, the more of you that join the more fun and interesting it will be. Research it and take a look. I think it will just add more fun to this whole blogging thing in addition to already using Google Reader, which I am a very big fan of.

Playing blog catch up and picture overload - - -

Wow, I have been a bad blog poster lately. Time is way to consumed with taking care of the two girls and reading all of your blogs :) I have hardly posted any pics since Aubrey has been born except for the studio pics. To make up for all of that I am sharing with you a little over 200 pics from the past 2 1/2 months. If you like pics - enjoy, otherwise you can make your exit quietly :) Aubrey has grown by leaps and bounds and has officially doubled her weight and is now around 13 lbs. She is still an excellent baby and I am learning her personality, wants, needs, and we are getting along just great. When Lindsey got sick for that horrible 10 days, that was the breaking point for her doting all over her and wanting to kiss Aubrey. She still loves, touches, and kisses her, but not in such an overwhelming way. She knew she wasn't allowed to when she was sick and ever since it has just been a lot better. Thank goodness :) Now I am having to deal with her wanting to "pick her up" literally and hold her, but that doesn't happen a lot. I will put comments on some of the pictures, but they are in the order of oldest to newest. Enjoy!


Below is a small slide show of the pics, but if you double click on the pictures below, it will take you to the Picasa Web Album website and you can look at the pictures in a bigger size.
Picasa has changed their website around and I'm not sure how to link to the pictures like I used too. If anyone out there knows how to still do it the way that I used to, please let me know.

New JCP Portrait Pictures

I had Aubrey's 2 month and Lindsey's 2 year and 7 month pictures taken as well as their picture taken together at JC Penney's on August 20, last Wednesday.

They turned out excellent and it was very hard to pick.













Most of the pictures have already been posted above, but there are a few more in the web album listed below.

Click on the picture below for more pics.

JCP Portraits - 8/20/2008

Much Improved

I am happy to report in that Lindsey is for sure improving. She is definitely not 100%, but she has improved so much over the last 48 hours. Saturday was good, but Sunday was even better. She has begun eating some foods, but still thinks everything is going to hurt her and I have to convince her and tell her that no, it doesn't hurt and then she'll usually try it. I am trying to come up with good ideas for her still sensitive mouth. Tonight she had some scrambled eggs that were cooled off and she did really well with eating those. (Not to mention the many Reece Cups that she has eaten - ha ha) She looks better in her eyes, but her face still looks bad, but they are starting to scab over and not near as much drooling. She is also getting back onto a more regular sleeping schedule with just 1 nap during the day. I hope to see her 100% very soon. Going into public places would be a really nice convenience :) Sunday night marked 10 days of this so seeing the end in sight is really great news.

p.s. So far I have been able to keep Aubrey healthy and I hope it continues, but it may be a spell before I really know for sure since the incubation period for this virus is 7 days.

FOOD

It has been 8 days ago that Lindsey got sick and 8 days of no eating except for a
little on last Friday night 7 days ago. But alas.... she just ate 2 1/2 pieces of cheese at 3:25 a.m. I know, a very weird time. For over a week now there has been NO schedule and no regular sleeping or nap time. I have let her sleep as much as possible, which has been quite a bit. No way am I going to stop a girl as sick as she is from sleeping any time of day or night. She is up right now and yes EATING ( a little ). She still crys over just merely taking a drink, but has been able to drink some chocolate milk shake for a couple of days, but not without crying. She's definitely not all better, but we're on the upward climb. I never want to see her this sick again. I took her to the doctor again on Friday just to follow up before we head into the weekend. They said she is not dehydrated. I was concerned about her ears or possible glands swollen because she is complaining of her ear / jaw area hurting. Good news, it's just swollen glands and not infections. There was nothing more they could do for her, but they gave me another prescription of Tylenol Codeine, which I have been mixing with her apple juice. She won't even touch a Popsicle, etc. She won't even open her mouth to let me look. After I took her to the doctor on Friday, we went and walked around a little pond with a water fountain that had a sidewalk around it. It's really bad, because I can't take her anywhere public for her to enjoy because she is so contagious and those walls at home are getting quite depressing. It was nice for a change in scenery and then when we got home Daddy arrived shortly thereafter to help rescue me. Two kids are a lot of work, but no comparison to a very sick 2 1/2 yr old and a 1 1/2 month old. Well, there's an update. I'll let y'all know in blog land when it's all over, but now we're still just improving.

Lindsey is VERY SICK

The last 6 days have been horrible and I still don't know where the end of it is. Lindsey came down with a fever late last Thursday night / early Friday morning 8/1. I was "hoping" it was nothing, but it was still very high on Friday morning so I took her to the doctor thinking it was probably an ear infection since she never complains of any pain when she has them. No ear infections, but when they examined her mouth, there they were. I felt pretty dumb for not having seen them myself, but they must have popped up over night. There were two horrible blisters on her tongue, which quickly gave us the correct diagnosis of the virus, hand foot and mouth disease. Not a fun thing to have, but it usually runs its course and life goes on or so I thought - aaahhhh! Instead of getting better after about 5 days, it was still getting worse. I am writing this early Thursday morning and it has been 6 days since Lindsey has eaten, except for 1 piece of cheese and a piece of turkey last Friday evening. She has been able to drink enough fluids to not become dehydrated, but it has not been easy for her. She will cry for apple juice and then chuck the sippy cup when I hand it to her and start crying, grabbing her mouth and saying hurt, hurt. It is horrible to see her go through this. It makes my heart break. I was dealing with all of it, so so, with help from a Great Daddy that Lindsey has and my parents, but it all melted on Tuesday night. She became inconsolable, crying constantly, and in horrifying pain. We hurried to Children's Hospital and arrived a little before midnight. After taking her, waiting, and all the drama of the ordeal they concluded that she was not dehydrated and that there was no iv medicines to help with her pain. So, they said there was nothing they could do for her that I didn't already have, which was the Tylenol Codeine that the doctor had called in for her on Sunday. But, she won't take the oral meds and I was ready to scream - thinking they were going to send her home and having done nothing to help relieve her pain. After having seen 1 nurse, 1 resident doctor, 1 doctor and no help another nurse came in to try and give her the oral med. She was definitely a more experienced nurse (19 years to be exact) and saw how horrible of pain she was in and that it was going to be a futile attempt to give her the meds. She went ahead and tried at the doctors request, but blood, medicine and saliva started flying everywhere, with the blisters being so horrible in her mouth. Her mouth is completely full of them, including her cheeks, tongue, lips and probably her throat as well as about 8 sores on the outside of her mouth. She looks absolutely horrible and completely miserable. She will not swallow so I have tried to keep a bib on her to keep her shirt and chest from being completely soaked. After the futile attempt of giving her orals the doctor finally agreed to give her some morphine by iv and while they were at it to give her some fluids by iv as well. She also had a temp of 104 and then it dropped to 101.8 after we were there for a while. They started the iv around 2:30 a.m. or so. It definitely helped calm and relax her so she was not writhing in pain and crying constantly. The sad part is there is no medicine to help make it get better. By the time we were discharged around 5 a.m. she was already crying in pain again, but not quite as bad. Since her hospital visit she has still been bad, but never getting as bad as she was prior to going to the hospital. Hopefully we are on the upswing of things and daylight is peaking through the end of the tunnel, but I'm not yet quite convinced. She did end up drinking most of a kids size chocolate shake on Wednesday evening, but not without many tears involved. I am posting a few pictures of her and her hospital visit. The pics of her in the brown outfit are from this past Saturday evening 2 days into her sickness. She definitely got way worse after this and I thought she was bad when I took these pics. The reason I had her all fixed up even though she was sick, I was hoping that getting her out of the house would help as long as I kept her in the stroller and kept her germs contained. After this she obviously got a whole lot worse as you can see in the pictures at the hospital. The only place I have taken her since then is to my parents just so I could see more than the 4 walls of my living room, which can get quite claustrophobic after 6 days. Well this was way too many details, but here they are none the less. Please pray for her as we are still waiting for an end to this and praying that Aubrey will not get it as well. We are keeping the hand sanitizer close, but that can only do so much.

Click on the pic below for more pics.

Lindsey - sick August 2008

Aubrey's 1 Month Portraits

Here are Aubrey's 1 month portraits that I had done at JCPenney's on July 15. I apologize for having been such a horrible blogger since Aubrey was born. My intentions are to still try and catch up on some blogging and to share a lot of pictures that we have taken at home so far in the last 40 days. The time since she was born has absolutely flown by and I am way more than occupied - I've got my hands full :) Lindsey is still overloading Aubrey with tons of lovin' and kisses. Aubrey is still such a great baby and only cries for the necessities in life - a.k.a. eating. I am so proud to be a mother to two wonderful girls. Life is great.

I took Aubrey for her 1 month checkup a little late on July 23. She weighed 9 lbs 5 oz and in the 39%. She was 21 1/4 inches also in the 39%. She has grown so much, so fast and I'm already wishing time would slow way down. She is perfectly healthy and the checkup went great. She even did OK with her 1 shot. She just cried a brief moment and that was it.

This 9 pic portrait collection above was taken and put together to keep up with a tradition I started with Lindsey. I have one very similar for Lindsey in a 10x13 at exactly 1 month as well, so I also wanted one for Aubrey.

(above) - Daddy's hands :)


Here is a link to the rest of the pics from JCP's.

Click on the pic below for more pics.

7/15/2008 JCP portraits - Aubrey 1 month

Aubrey's 18 day Portraits

(This is my favorite pic - I love the smile.)
You all are now probably thinking I really am picture crazy, but here's the real reason why I even had her picture taken again. I was with my friend Jenn at Kiddie Kandids while she was having her and Katrin's picture taken. While I was there they offered to take Aubrey's picture and give me 12 birth announcement cards for free if I was interested. (This is one of their regular offers - I just didn't have the coupon with me.) I accepted, even though I had not dressed for the occasion. What I like is that no matter whether you buy anything or not they send you all the pictures by e-mail and then you get to save them and keep them for memories sake. I absolutely loved the way the pictures turned out, but resisted purchasing any and only got the birth announcements. Here are a few of the pictures.

Mommy's Little Princess

Click on the pic below for more pictures.

7/3/2008 Aubrey 18 days Kiddie Kandid Portraits

Aubrey's 10 day Portraits

Hello to all! Sorry I haven't been posting more updates about our new precious baby Aubrey, but I am sure most of you out there can understand and sympathize with me having a 2 yr 5 month old and a newborn. It gets kind of crazy, but we are doing great overall. Keeping Lindsey off of the baby is our biggest challenge right now. She absolutely loves her to death and practically smothers her in kisses and in the process drives me completely batty - ahhh! :) The baby is absolutely perfect and sleeps nearly 24/7. I don't think Lindsey slept quite that much, but I contribute it to her being so much smaller and also having some jaundice, which I have been told makes them more tired. Aubrey only wakes up to eat and basically never cries. She usually goes 4 hours between feedings, but sometimes it's 2 or 3 hours. She lost down to 5 lb 10.9 oz and is approximately 6 lb 12 oz now as best as I can tell with weighing with and without her on my Mom's digital scales. I am a fanatic about getting professional pictures taken so I had her to JC Penney's at 10 days. I had Lindsey to the studio at 6 days, but wasn't able to get there that early with Aubrey due to other events going on. The outfit I had her picture taken in was what we brought her home in. I did the same with Lindsey. I figured every other picture taken of her will be in a pretty dress so this was my one chance to capture that new baby moment. I have attached the link below to the pictures that were taken at JCP. I will try to update again soon.

Special "thanks" to my Aunt Ruthie who made the beautiful blanket that is in the picture above. It is so perfect for a summer baby. It is seersucker material with a special hand crocheted edging. It is so lightweight and perfect. Absolutely beautiful!


Click on the pic below for more pics.

6/25/2008 Aubrey 10 days JCP Portraits

A few more pics of Baby Aubrey

I don't have a lot to say right now except that I wanted to share a few more pictures with you. I still have not had much sleep, so I am off to sleep for hopefully what looks like will be a much more restful night. We are heading home early Tuesday afternoon. We are thoroughly enjoying our new bundle of joy and life is already better with 4. Baby's are such beautiful miracles and I am so happy to have 2 of them now.



Click on the pic below for more pics.

Baby Aubrey - 6/16/08

Pictures at last of our new arrival!

I have posted several of the baby plus pictures of most of her visitors except for 3 that I failed to get pictures of, my apology. Also, please note the two pictures at the top of my blog are of my two babies and are not the same one. Lindsey is on the left and Aubrey is on the right. Can't argue that their sisters, that's for sure. Here is a few of my favorite.






Click on the pic below for more pictures.

Baby Aubrey

Yeah! Computer fixed!

Yes, were back in business and I can now post pictures. I am so excited to be able to share them with you before I get home. The problem was a mix up with the computer cord and was thankfully discovered as my Mom was packing it up to take it home since it supposedly wasn't working.

Baby Aubrey Lynn Pitcher has arrived!

She has made her grand entrance and we are both doing great.

She was born at 12:32 a.m. on June 15th.

She weighs 6 lbs. 4.1 ozs.

She is 19 1/2 inches long.

Her apgars were 9 and 9.

Big sister Lindsey is quite excited and thinks she's hers :)

They started my petocin around 6:20 p.m. So, my labor was about 6 hours although I actually had already started the beginning stages of labor Saturday around noon on my own before ever arriving at the hospital for my induction at 5 p.m. I received my epidural at 9:20 p.m. The doctor told me I was complete and ready to have the baby at 12:22 a.m. I delivered her 10 minutes later after having only pushed for 3 to 4 minutes through 2 1/2 contractions. Wow, I was so happy.

I am going to get some sleep since it is now 4:45 a.m. and we are all settled in.



PS: This is Leanna's mother. This is 1:33 p.m. Leanna was not able to post pictures as the computer at the hospital (my laptop) either crashed or the charger is not working. Leanna was trying so hard to get pictures for everyone to see, but that will have to happen at a later time.

The time has come ! :) ! YEAH!!

No matter what, I am having the baby one way or another this very weekend!! I went to the doctor Friday afternoon. I had the NST - which was fine. The doctor asked me if I would like to go ahead and be induced this weekend and I said that would great. She said that she thinks it is best at this point to get the baby out because it is still just not growing a whole lot and she said she is still very little. You could tell that she will just feel better about the baby once she is out. I have "always" said no inducing for me, but I don't mind eating those words - "I AM READY" :) So, if I don't go into labor before Saturday evening then I am scheduled to arrive at the hospital Saturday evening at 5 p.m. to be induced. I am soooo excited I can hardly stand it. I know one way or another this baby will be hear soon. It just may end up being a great Father's Day gift and a nice birthday gift for my brother Brian who turns 38 on Sunday. More than likely I won't be posting again until I am a Mommy of 2. I don't know this for a fact, but I am hoping that the hospital has wi-fi and that I can update my blog from the hospital on my Mom's new laptop computer, but we will see. If I can't update then I will have another family member do it from home. Baby birth announcement coming soon - keep watch and we will update right away. Bye for now :)

Nesting? I believe so!

Wow! I have worked and worked. I have had a very long list of things I wanted done before the baby comes and have been plugging away at it for what seems nearly months, literally. But, the time is ticking away and the baby will be hear soon. I have done tons of stuff over the last 4 weeks or so. I accomplished another "HUGE' project on Thursday evening. I knew I wanted it done, but didn't think it would actually happen pre-baby. I cleaned the carpets in my house myself. Mom and Dad have a Kirby vacuum cleaner, which also has attachments to clean carpets with and that is what I used. I have been putting this off for a very looonnnggg time, but was hoping to get it done professionally, which was just not working out. Soooo, I did it! Yeah!! My carpets are clean. I spent about 5 plus hours on it.
Also, since I posted last I have spent about 5 or so hours making a baby sling. I have had the material and rings for several weeks and just kept putting it off. I knew that if I did end up having the baby this weekend and did want to go to camp next weekend after the wedding that I would really want it. So, I dove in and got it done. I would like to think that the next time I make one it doesn't quite take me that long, maybe 4 hours or so. I enjoyed making it and my husband was quite impressed with it. I love sewing, but for some reason tend to put projects off and then thoroughly enjoy doing it once I have started it. Now it's done and that's one less thing on my list of "to do's".
Friday I go to the doctor again and I am so excited. We are hoping for good news and that we might have the baby this weekend. I only hope that my stakes aren't too high and that I'm not disappointed, if it doesn't happen the way I have it all envisioned. I will keep you all posted.
Later!

Walking

I was feeling a bit cooped up Wednesday evening since I hadn't left the house in 2 days, so I decided to take Lindsey to Sharon Woods again and attempt to feed the ducks. Jonathan decided to go with us despite the migraine he had and was glad that he did and it was finally gone by the end of our evening out. Unfortunately there were almost no ducks to feed so we ended up walking around the entire Sharon Woods Lake, 2.5 miles. We were hoping to speed this baby waiting game up, not to mention that it is quite hilly around the lake. It definitely gave me a good work out and surprisingly I didn't really wear out too much. After the long walk we let Lindsey play on the play ground for a good while and then we headed for home. Thursday is "hopefully" a final cleaning day for this baby's arrival since I go back to the doctor on Friday. "TIME" will tell :)

Getting Closer!

I went to the doctor again this past Monday. Sorry, I haven't posted this info sooner, but I think I am a bit excited and hadn't taken the time to inform my readers of the good news :) All of you know that I have my hopes set on having the baby this coming weekend, but I can't control it no matter how much I would like too. Well, I had another ultrasound on Monday and everything still looks great. They won't do another growth scan till next Monday, if I haven't had her by then. The fluid, cord, heart rate, movements were all good and received another 8 out of 8 on the BPP - biophysical profile. When I saw the doctor everything is looking good for a baby hopefully this weekend. I see the doctor again on Friday in two days and hopefully we will have a baby soon, but no guarantees. On Friday I will be 38 wks and 3 days. She said if I haven't had the baby by next Tuesday at 39 wks she would or could induce me, but that is not my preference. I don't mind more natural methods of speeding up the process, but if the baby isn't ready then I will leave well enough alone unless of course she thinks the baby "needs" to be born. I sure will be happy if this all works out like I would like it to, but God knows best and I will "try" to be as patient as possible. Sorry, my post have been so picture less.

Everything is still fine!

I don't know what to title these baby updates, because there is too many and I am running out of ideas :) I was back to the doctor on Thursday for another appointment and an NST - Non Stress Test. Baby is still doing great. I drank a Dr. Pepper and ate before I got to the doctors and she moved around for a while, but then she fell sound asleep in the middle of the test. They got the testing in they needed though, and all is a ok :) I go back Monday for another Ultrasound and BPP - Biophysical Profile. I've decided with all these test results that baby is just fine and just wants to be little, so I've quit worrying and now I'm just counting down the days. I have been much more uncomfortable this week than I had been being. I guess my body is just getting prepared to have this baby soon - I HOPE :) Will post again with any more updates.

p.s. Thanks to Mom and Dad for watching Lindsey today while I went to the Doctors. I am SO GLAD they are back home. Today would have been quite hectic without their help because both of my SIL's that live near by were both unavailable. I love having family close by.

p.s.s. I am starting to enjoy Mom's retirement as well! Thursday evening we went to visit a friend of ours, Jolinda Shelton Todd, that we hadn't seen since my wedding day. It was great fun getting to catch up and talk about the old days. Her little boy is just 2 months younger than Lindsey and they got along great as well as having fun with her two older girls as well that are 6 & 7. I got some really cute pics, but they are on Mom's camera and I don't have them downloaded onto my computer - sorry! Before retirement my Mom would have never done that on a week night and then grab a bite to eat on the way home. I think retirement is sinking in a little more and becoming somewhat of a reality to her since she has come home from vacation and she is not and will not be going back to work. I am so happy for her and she can now not be completely exhausted every evening after work. RELAXATION!!

Finally Home :)

My parents arrived home Tuesday evening around 7:20 p.m. and we were very happy to see them. They travelled 3,780 miles in 23 days and were in 9 different states. Lindsey was very excited and seemed to be in rare form the rest of the evening. I am just glad their back and now I'm just waiting on baby to ARRIVE :) Ironically I began feeling absolutely horrible after they got home and thought it would be just great to make them spend the night in the hospital, but no such luck! I have worked a ton in my house, both on Tuesday and on Wednesday, and I am verrrrry ready for the BABY :) I will update again after my doctors appointment Thursday afternoon.

Baby update time again...

I had another ultrasound Monday for a BPP - Biophysical Profile. Everything was great once again. They did not do growth measurements on the baby, but did check the amniotic fluid, blood flow in the chord, heart rate, and movement. The BPP score was 8 out of 8. This time around at the doctors I have actually gained some weight, which I think is good since I hadn't in the two weeks previous to my ultrasound last Tuesday. The baby is also measuring 32 weeks today and last Tuesday she was measuring 31 weeks, which shows she is growing some as well. I am 37 weeks today and that is considered term. I am still hoping for a Father's Day weekend baby, but we will see. That is a week from this coming Saturday and I will be 38 wks and 4 days. ~ Crossing my fingers ~ I go back again Thursday for another NST - Non Stress Test.

On another note - GUESS WHAT? !!!!! My Mom and Dad are on their way home - earlier than I had thought they would be! YEAH!!!! They left Monday from Yuma, CO at 1:13 p.m. their time (3:13 p.m. our time). They traveled to Lawrence, KS and stayed there Monday night. They have another 10 hours of actual driving to do today (Tuesday), but hope to be home by a decent time Tuesday night! They have been gone 3 weeks as of yesterday. In some ways it seems like forever and in other ways not very long at all. I will be SO HAPPY to see them and I know a little girl who will be too :) Now, I don't have to worry about my Mom being here for when the baby is born - thank goodness!

Will post another update when there is more news to be had. Later.

Studio pics of Lindsey, Baby, & Me

I decided that I wanted to get my picture taken with Lindsey and the baby while I was still pg. In order to make sure this happened we went to the studio before my doctors appointment last Friday, just in case they ended up needing to induce me right away. The day of the pics I was 36 wks and 3 days pg and Lindsey is 2 years 4 months old. I am happy with the pictures and of course I have my favorites, but I decided to share most of them with you.


Click on the pic below for more pics.

5/30/2008 JC Penney portrait pg pics

Memorial Day 2008

It was a fun Memorial Day weekend for this family of 3! Some parts were hard work and other parts were just plain relaxing and fun. Saturday before the holiday we worked outside all day. I was able to get a huge flower bed in the backyard all cleaned out, flowers planted, and mulched. Of course, Jonathan helped me as well in between the other work he was doing outside. Lindsey had a great day as well and played on her swing set a lot. Sunday was church, eating at home with no other family, which is VERY unusual, and going to the park to let Lindsey feed the ducks. Monday we did more work at home and then that evening we went to Newport on the Levee in KY, which is just across the river. We have gone down there for the last 2 or 3 Memorial Days or at least on that holiday weekend. I guess we have kind of started a small tradition. And as part of the tradition, we always eat at Clauddaugh's and eat fish and chips. Theirs is to die for by the way - the absolute very best - Yummy! :) All three of us ordered it, including Lindsey's child portion and she really liked it. I also, always like to get our picture taken with the view of the river behind us. This years picture wasn't that great, because we are kind of dark, but we got the pic taken, none the less. A very FUN weekend was had by all, even if there was no other family involved or around to be with. Now for the pictures, that you would much rather see, than me keep rambling on.

Click on the pic below for more pics.

Memorial Day 2008

Playing the waiting game . . .

For those few loyal readers that I have that are sitting on the edge of their seat waiting for a report - here it is! No baby yet :) :( I have mixed emotions, but we are doing fine. I was completely prepared to have this baby on Friday if need be, but the results from my NST were good. The baby will continue it's baking process for a little while longer. To be honest it sounded fun to have a tiny little baby this weekend, but we DEFINITELY want what is best for baby. The NST - Non Stress Test - showed good heart rate accelerations and variations with no decelerations, which is what they want to see. The baby also did a lot of kicks and movements during the test, which is also what they are looking for. I guess she liked that coke I drank on the way to the doctors :) My SIL, Lisa, went with me to the NST. She is and has been a L&D nurse for over 16 years. Her knowledge was very helpful in reassuring me that everything was OK. It's one thing for the doctor to just say, OK, everything looks great, see you on Monday, but it was definitely more reassuring to me to have Lisa sit there and explain exactly what the testing was saying and doing and to get her opinion. Also, thanks to my other SIL, Janella, for watching all of our kids (all 4) while we were at the doctors. On Monday I go for another ultrasound to do a BPP - Biophysical Profile - to check the amniotic fluid levels again, the blood flow in the chord and the movements and heart rate. They are not going to do another growth scan on Monday with the ultrasound because it is too close together with the last one and the doctor said there would be no visible and significant change to compare it with last Tuesday's ultrasound. She said as long as things continue to be OK with the baby's health that they would probably not induce me till 39 weeks and she said this might just be a small baby with nothing else wrong. (I am hoping to have the baby at 38 1/2 weeks - but still crossing my fingers :) There you have it - the updated report. I now have a backseat in the van full of bags packed for me and the baby and also Lindsey to go to Grandma and Grandpa's. (My parents are hopefully returning late next Wednesday or on Thursday.) I'll keep you posted with any more updates. I'm now off to get more things marked off my list that weren't as crucial as others. I am now 36 wks & 4 days PG! Later!

Anxiety

Wow, I don't even know what to title this post, because there is way too much to try and express in such a short space.

This anxiousness all centers around baby and me. I had my 36 wk appointment on Tuesday. I was measuring small and had actually decreased instead of increasing from my appointment two weeks ago. They said it may be nothing, but that they wanted to do an ultrasound to check the baby's growth. The ultrasound results are showing the baby only weighing 4 lbs 14 ozs. Average weight at this point is 6 lbs. This low weight is in the less than 10%. This is cause for concern showing signs of IUGR - Intra Uterine Growth Restriction. The doctor said it could just be a little baby, but if they see no growth increase then they will induce at any point from here on out. At this point if it is not growing, then it would actually be better outside of the womb. They did a lot of testing with the ultrasound and everything else seems fine. The amniotic fluid, blood flow through the umbilical chord, heart rate, baby movements, were all good. The doctor wants to keep a very close eye on the baby and wants to see me twice a week until the baby is born. I go again this Friday for an NST - Non Stress Test, which is where they will monitor the baby for 30 minutes to make sure the baby's heart rate is good and that the baby is not under stress. I go again next Monday for another ultrasound. And the saga will continue with an ultrasound a week and an NST a week on two different days until I have had the baby. I am also supposed to keep a very close eye on the baby's movements in between appointments and if there is any slack I am to go to the hospital.

All of this means that I could be having my baby very soon, but I actually think I would feel better with her out at this point. I was hoping to have her earlier than my due date, but this is not what I had in mind. I had no idea when I went to the doctor today, that this is what I would learn. It was a long drawn out process with having to return to the office for the ultrasound, etc. Thank goodness Jonathan was able to be with me, because I definitely could not have done it on my own and handle Lindsey as well.

Another aspect is that my mother is at least 17 -20 hours away from me on vacation in Colorado. In my opinion, no one is quite like your Mama. Ahhhhh!! I could actually have this baby before she gets back. I discussed the distance issue with her Tuesday evening and I assured her that I was fine with her not heading for home until they said they were going to induce me. I don't want them to have to cut their trip short when it could be a dry run and not be necessary. I just may have to suffer through delivery without her and she would arrive shortly after. Such is life, I'm a BIG girl - haha!! Thank goodness for 2 of my sister-in-laws who live less than 30 minutes away and for another sister-in-law and mother-in-law that are 2 hours away.

I will keep all of you posted, but I may not have much news until after my appointment on Friday and then I might be headed to the hospital. So, I will update when I can. Also, I would love to hear some of your experiences, opinions, and or advice. I didn't go through anything like this with Lindsey and it is a bit unnerving.

p.s. Did I mention I have to get my bags packed and everything finalized for the baby in the next 48 hours - ahhhh!!! I just may not come back home after my appointment on Friday until I have had my baby. This is a very stressful thought to me since I certainly wasn't expecting to have my baby this soon. Lots to do - later!

35 wks PG - and counting down :)

Well, I AM trying to cherish these last few days and I've got plenty to do between now and when the baby arrives, but I am counting down and only hoping for 3 1/2 more weeks. If I have this baby 3 days early like I did Lindsey it will be on a very busy day. Jonathan is a groomsman in his cousin's wedding on June 21 and I would rather not disrupt the whole event. I would like to have the baby Father's Day weekend at 38 1/2 weeks, but we will see. I am definitely not going into the hospital to be induced, but we will see what natural remedies I can do to quicken this process! I start my weekly Dr. appointments next Tuesday at 36 wks and it's all down hill from there :)
Here is a pic of me at 34 wks and 4 days - last Saturday!

I have been wanting a swing for this baby, but didn't think it was actually going to happen - until... Last Saturday evening we made a trip to Babies R US to pick up a few small items and Lindsey discovered the swing for us. It happened to be already assembled and on clearance, but in perfect shape. I took one look at it and knew that if I was going to get one, this was it. It is actually 3 - in - 1. A swing - infant seat - toddler rocker. I couldn't completely reason the whole idea of spending money when it might only end up being used for a few months, but not this one. Lindsey already loves the rocker and is enjoying it. I see this getting used - A LOT! I am so excited. One of the main reasons that I wanted one in the first place is so that when I need to put the baby down, I can do so and not worry about Lindsey picking the baby up off the couch, etc. without supervision. With Lindsey, no one else was around, so I could lay her down wherever and I knew that she wouldn't get hurt, but not this time :) Lindsey will be a great Big Sister, but I don't put it past her trying to be the "perfect mommy"!

A visit from Mawmaw, Aunt, & Cousins

Tuesday was a fun day! Mawmaw Brinda Pitcher, Aunt Belinda, & Cousins Lizzi & Noah came for a day visit from Indiana. We enjoyed a very relaxed day and just stayed at home. The kids LOVE playing together and we were able to just sit around and talk, etc. Overall Lindsey does great playing with her cousins and kids in general, but sometimes she can be quite rough. Today she became quite tired and was ready for her nap but didn't want to sleep since they were here. I attempted for a long period of time to get her to take a nap. I succeeded for a few minutes, but not nearly long enough, and the rest of her day was a bit rough, but she made it. As soon as they left she took a very late nap ( should have been bed time ). Jonathan was able to get off work at a decent time and was able to spend some time with his family as well. It was a great time overall and we hope they come back very soon. ( I guess that's a no brainer since I won't be able to keep them away after this new baby comes - ha ha! ) I am hoping to only have about 3 1/2 weeks left - HOPE! :)

Here are a few pictures from today, enjoy!
Click on the picture below for more pics.

Visit from Indy Family

Lindsey's historical day of events:)

Wow! What a day for Lindsey!

(asleep ~ after her long rough day)

(Side note - Warning! - Very lonnng post. I am partly sharing this in detail just to get it down on paper for memory sake. So, read on if you are interested in about 10 major events - all in one day. And, no way to put it into short form.)

Thankfully, I didn't have to go it alone as a single parent since Jonathan was able to get off of work and go with us on this adventurous day. First off you have to understand that Lindsey has a very unique schedule due to her Mommy's schedule. Her day began with a rude awakening around 7:45 a.m., which is way before she normally gets up. I covered her with a blanket and carried her to the van. We were headed for the pediatric dentist office for an 8:00 appointment/procedure. I hurriedly got her ready on the way there and we arrived shortly. The details of what was soon to happen is a "Conscious Sedation" for Lindsey and then to receive 4 fillings in her 4 molars. We were called back to a little sitting/waiting/play room. They came in and gave her the medicine to drink at 8:40. They explained that after about 15 minutes she would become very limp, sleepy, and possibly just close her eyes. Thy said they would come and take her from us around 9:10. Wow, we sure didn't know what was coming. Up until this point she had handled her morning just fine, but absolutely no longer. Instead of going limp and sleepy she became very resistant, independent and wanted to get down off my lap and play. One problem, her motor skills were no longer working properly so we couldn't just let her down to play. We tried to just hold her, but no go. Then we tried helping her play with the things she wanted to. She would trip over her feet, nod her head and hit things in front of her and try to pull away from us. I could just see us having to leave and go to the emergency room for stitches after hitting a piece of furniture. At 9:10 the nurse did come in and said they were ready to take her back even though she was not acting "sleepy". Lindsey went to the nurse just fine and let her take her out of the room away from us with no problems. I asked the nurse to please let us know right away as to whether they were able to start the procedure. They came back in just a few minutes and said she was doing just fine. I was expecting a longer wait, but they brought her back in to us just a mere 30 minutes later at 9:40. She was calm and was doing just fine. I took her and was holding her and she immediately wanted down, but you have to understand, this was still not an option. She became much worse in her actions than before the procedure and started crying very loudly and was somewhat combative. Definitely not acting herself. Where did my baby go, she was not acting normal. In the beginning it was a bit humorous, but now it was almost scary with the change in her personality that was effected by the medicine. I had to do a brief check out with paperwork etc. so, Jonathan just took her to the car because she was quite out of control. (side note - The doctor she saw was my pediatric dentist all my life until I turned 19. And, since he is trying to cut back on his schedule and requirements of continuing education for different procedures, Lindsey was his very LAST filling procedure like this. How sad and how neat all at the same time. He is not retiring, and he is not anciently old, but getting up there in years and was wanting to cut back. I was able to get Lindsey's picture with him and my picture with him as well.) Once I got to the car, she was still no better. It took both Jonathan and me forcibly holding her to get her buckled in her car seat. I knew once we got her there, that she would probably relax since she really couldn't fight against the buckles resistance. She did indeed relax, but you couldn't look at her or talk to her or she would get really upset. We drove through the Burger King drive through for some breakfast, but we definitely couldn't eat it in front of her because she was only still allowed to have clear liquids. We went straight home after that because there was certainly no way we could go anywhere else with her in this condition. When we got home she did just fine (for a few minutes :). She let me hold her and Jonathan quietly ate his breakfast in the other room. Then, we switched and Jonathan held her while I ate breakfast. She became very combative again and Jonathan held her firmly and within a few minutes she relaxed and conked out like a light - sound asleep. She slept soundly from 10:40 to 2:40. When she woke up she was MUCH BETTER! Thank goodness. All the grogginess, dizziness, etc. was gone. She ate a pudding, but still nothing much up to this point. I had a 4:00 OB appointment, so we got ready and left for the doctors. She loves going to the doctor with me and getting to hear the baby's heartbeat and the nurse lets her sit up on the table with me and hold the Doppler. Starting with the doctors visit and for the rest of the day she was kind of irrational and irritable at times and still not herself at all. It was as if she was a spoiled brat with no discipline and had to have her way or we would have a MAJOR melt down. Normally if things don't go her way, I can put my foot down, she understands and we go on our way with no major effects. Today was different and we definitely handled her differently because it wouldn't have been fair to her for her to get into a lot of trouble when she was still being effected by the aftermaths of the medicine she had earlier. After the doctors appointment we went to the mall to get something to eat and to get her a small present for having to go through the whole morning of drama. (side note - The gift is a tradition in Jonathan's family to do this when there are medical procedures done, etc. and we now continue with the tradition.) We spent some time shopping around in the mall and at another store and then headed for home. Don't get me wrong, overall she was well behaved, but she was definitely having her moments, which were not fun and no fun for us either. Once we arrived home she opened up her toys, which were two bath toys and was playing with them in the bathroom sink. It was becoming quite messy, so she needed to stop, but this was not OK with her. I ended up putting her in the bathtub to play and she had an absolute blast and stayed in there forever. We kept a close eye and ear on her, but at one point we were sitting in the living room and Lindsey had gotten out of the bathtub on her own and came down the hall to me and said, "I pee". I asked her if she said she needed to "p" and she said no, so I asked her to show it to me. I went in the bathroom with her and she lifted her little potty lid and showed me. Sure enough, there it was toilet paper and all. Wow, I was shocked! She is not potty trained, but we have been attempting to work on it a little. I was so proud of her. She had gotten out of the bathtub, gone to the bathroom, wiped and then told me - all on her own. I guess I better jump on the whole potty training issue before this baby arrives in a few weeks. After this ordeal she proceeded to get back into the bathtub and play some more. Jonathan checked on her a little while later and he told me to come look at her hair. I had already washed and rinsed her hair earlier, but it was all soapy again. My alerts went up and so I went to investigate where the shampoo bottle was. I was hoping it wasn't in the bathtub with the lid open getting watered down inside. What I found was an "empty" shampoo bottle and VERY soapy water. I looked at her eyes and they were irritated as well. Talk about a slippery girl. It was time to get out at this point, so I rinsed her off with the shower head and got her out. She was finally hungry after having not wanted to eat much up to this point, so she scarfed down a large serving of macaroni and cheese. She wanted me to read her a book so she got up on the couch between Jonathan and me and I read a little bit to her. A little bit later, I looked down at her and realized she had fallen asleep sitting up and was propped up against my arm. Exhausted and worn out she was finally down for the night at 10:15. Wow, what a day. All I have to say for this day is - DRAMA!

Click on the picture below for more pics.

Lindsey's - DRAMA 5/14/08

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to two wonderful women in my life.

My Mother is completely the best - "One of a Kind"! My very best friend! I love you very much and will miss you "greatly" while you are gone for the next almost 4 weeks.

My Mother-in-Law is a wonderful mother to my husband and we love you so much! You're the greatest!

These two women are also wonderful Mawmaws (a.k.a. Grandma)! Lindsey loves you both very much! Happy Grand Mother's Day!

Click on the picture below for more pics.

Mothers Day 2008

Almost 34 wks pg on Mothers Day!

I havn't posted any pg pics recently, so thought I would share. It is getting closer and closer to the "Due Date" and I am so excited.

The picture above was taken Mothers Day - 33 wks and 5 days pg.

Click on the pic below for more pg pics.

PG pics

p.s. In the pictures I am sharing it appears that I only wear 1 outfit, but it just so happens that I have only actually worn it, I think three or maybe four times max. I guess I need to start paying attention to when I take my pg pics :)

Announcement of a new blogger ~ My MOM!

My mom has been a blog reader for a long time and now has her own blog. If you would like to read her blog, here is the link - http://gloriasnelling.blogspot.com/.

My Mom recently retired and treated herself to a new laptop. My parents are leaving on a long vacation, so I set up a blog for her to document all their adventures :)

Recent Happenings

Here are some updated events, happenings, and pictures that have taken place since Easter.

I watched Jackson C. a couple of days, which Lindsey thoroughly enjoyed. Unfortunately, I couldn't figure Lindsey out on the 2nd day I watched him because everything I did to take care of him made her become very distraught. She just wanted him to be able to play all day - no eating, no napping - ha! I thought she just didn't understand, but... come to find out she had an ear infection, which made her act very out of character and I took her to the doctor the very next day.

Jacob, finally had his 9th birthday party - many days late. He opted to wait for his brother to be there, which ended up being a long wait - from March 8 to March 29. We went to his birthday party and had a fun time. He got quite rich that day :)

I tried to get a quick picture of Lindsey at home after church this past Sunday. She really wasn't in the mood to cooperate, thus the quite funny faces and poses :)

On Monday (yesterday), Lindsey had her 1st Dentist appointment. I think they normally don't schedule first appointments till a little bit older, but there were some concerns I had and so we took her sooner -rather than later. I chose my old pediatric dentist to take her to. They have moved offices since I last saw him over 10 years ago and it is a state of the art facility. I was very impressed. Dr. Rubin was very happy to see me and my daughter. Unusual, but nice, Jonathan was able to take us, so he got to be there as well. Today was just a lap exam, which is where I hold her and she leans back into the doctors lap on a pillow. I wasn't quite sure how she would do, but she blew every expectation I could have had right out of the water. She was angelic, 100% perfect. She made me extremely proud of her. (sorry, but I have to brag :) She let the doctor probe around, feel around, use the little mirror and yes,.... the pricky little tool. And, just as I had strongly suspected there were 4 cavities. 1 in each of her 4 molars. Not exactly sure of the reason, but none the less, there. It is much better to get them taken care of now, so she goes on May 14 for the procedure. She will have a Conscious Sedation and it will take about an hour. My poor baby :( She also chipped her two front teeth back in December and we aren't sure how, but I wanted the doctor to look at them as well. He said to leave it be, so unfortunately we are stuck with ragged teeth for a few more years :( They would only do repairs if it was effecting a nerve or possible decay, which was not the case.

Since Jonathan was able to come home from work for about 4 hours to take us to the doctor we took advantage of the time and enjoyed being together on this beautiful spring day. We went to lunch and then we took Lindsey to the pet store to see the doggies, bunnies, birds, fish, etc. They got out two of the dogs for her to pet, which she just loved, but more at a distance :) Then we grabbed some ice cream before heading back home and having to tell Daddy good bye, so he could go back to work. Lindsey and I stayed outside for a much longer time. I ended up putting her in some pj/play clothes and let her get muddy and play on her swing set, which she absolutely loved. The day was just perfect and what I would consider the first really nice spring day of the year! YEAH!!

Also, as of today, I am 29 weeks pg - 11 more to go. The picture I am posting was just taken yesterday, but don't let it fool you, I am actually much bigger then what I think the picture shows - ha! Everyday things are starting to get a little (a lot) harder to do and especially sleeping. I know, the next 11 will be the longest of all 40. The worst is yet to come :) I very well remember from Lindsey, but there is a precious miracle at the end of the tunnel and I am soooo excited.

Sorry, I know I've been wordy. Hope you enjoy the pictures.
Click on the picture below for more pictures.

Mar/Apr 2008

Easter Happenings!

Happy Easter!

I wanted to share my Easter pictures, so I have posted all of them in an album below.

I have also posted an updated pg pic of me at almost 27 weeks that was taken yeserday. Yes, 27 weeks means I am now heading into my third trimester. How exciting - 2/3 of the way done :) The baby is probably over 2 lbs by now and over 15 inches long. Wow! How exciting!

Click on the pic below for more pictures.

Easter 3-23-08

Random Update

I havn't posted a good random selection of pictures in a looooongggg time, so here it is. I am posting them in the following picasa album and will put comments below them to explain. I have also included several pg pictures from over the last month to update from the old one. I am now 25 weeks pg and doing great. Hope you enjoy.

Click on the pic below for more pictures.

2/15 - 3/6 2008

More..... Sickness

We just thought we had, had our fill of sickness for the winter. Jonathan came down with a horrible case of the flu/bronchitis 9 days ago. I ended up taking him to the ER last Tuesday. He has recouped mostly, but still not 100%. I stayed completely away from him in hopes that Lindsey and I would not get the sickness, but it didn't work. I knew if I got the flu that it could be very bad with me being pg and Lindsey being so young. Wednesday night after church I started coughing and... the rest is history. I was miserable by the time I went to bed and I called the doctor first thing on Thursday. I have bronchitis / upper respiratory infection. I was hoping since I started taking antibiotics so quickly that I wouldn't get real bad, but by Saturday I thought I was dieing :( Sunday was still bad, but with a smidge of improvement. Thank goodness that Daddy was home to help take care of Lindsey. Now I am hoping for great improvement since Daddy will be back to work and it's just Lindsey and me. I have coughed more than I care to think about and my head felt like it was going to explode with a near migraine on Friday p.m. and Saturday. And, let's not forget Lindsey, she started running a fever Friday night and into Saturday. She showed no other signs of sickness and didn't act sick much either. She has had a slight runny nose since then, but that's all. So, here's my wish to a week of improved health :)

Me @ 19 1/2 wk PG & A 22 wk update

I definitely have not posted a lot of pics of me PG so far, but I finally had my Mom snap another shot a couple of weeks ago when I was 19 1/2 weeks PG. I think I am showing quite a bit more now at 22 weeks. So, if you like these kind of pics - here you go :) This pic was taken on Feb 1, 2008.


I am now slightly over 22 weeks. I have been feeling really good. I quit having those real light headed / fainty spells around 17 or 18 weeks - for the most part - although I actually had a spell like this on both Monday and Tuesday of this week, but not sure why. I have really been trying to eat a lot better, healthier and more frequent. I started feeling the baby move very slightly around 15 weeks and it has progressed to now it is very strong movements/ rolls / kicks. I think that is one of the greatest things while being PG, is to feel the baby move - how neat. What a great confirmation to let you know everything is still a-ok :)

~Happy 30th Wedding Anniverary~

Well, belated as this posting is, I still want to wish my mother-in-law and father-in-law, Jay & Brinda, a Happy 30th Wedding Anniversary! They were married on January 20th, 1978. The reason for having not posted this sooner is because I was lazy in getting the pictures ready to post with it. We had a small celebration for them that my sister-in-law, Belinda, put together as a surprise. We made a special trip to Indiana in early January for a visit. We told them we were going home and would not see them after church on Sunday night, but... that really wasn't the plans. We went to the LeBarons and surprised them when they arrived after church, which was where we had the party. It was a lot of fun. The cake was made by Aunt Linda and it was absolutely beautiful and I thought Belinda did an excellent with the decorations as well. To my in-laws, I wish you another 30 plus years of wonderful marriage. You are great in-law to have. Thanks for having Jonathan 1 year and 8 days later and giving me a wonderful husband to marry. We love ya'll. Happy Wedding Anniversary!

I took some pics of pics of their wedding album, so enjoy!
Click on the picture below for more pictures!

1-20-08 Jay & Brinda's 30th Wedding Anniversary Celebration

Happy Valentines Day!

Well, it's still Valentine's Day for me, but it does happen to be after midnight so technically the 15th. Belated or not, here's my Valentines posting!

Jonathan, here's a Big ~ I LOVE YOU!

Happy Valentines Day! You're the greatest!

From Lindsey:

Daddy, Happy Valentines Day ~ I love you bunches - x0x0!!

You're the best Daddy ever and I love when we get to play together!

And to the rest of our family ~

Parents ~ Grandparents ~ Aunts & Uncles ~ Cousins ~ Nieces & Nephews!

We Love All of You! Happy Valentines Day!

Life just wouldn't be the same without family, which I am so greatfully thankful for!

The BABY is a...............

Drumroll, Please!!! Announcement!!!

We are the proud and happy parents to announce we will be adding a.........

GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

To our household come the end of June!

Yes, another girl and we are so happy. It just didn't matter, but now we at least know!
Now on with the rest of the planning that must take place in the "next" 20 weeks!
The ultrasound went great and the baby cooperated. And just in case it might not - I chugged-literally- a 20 oz Mt. Dew on the way to the doctors office. No siree, this baby wasn't crossing it's legs and sleeping during this ultrasound. One time chance and I wasn't taking any chances. The funny thing is, I have 100% stayed off of caffeine drinks because of how it had been making me feel and then to drink that all at once was kind of crazy. I made it, but was jittery for a few hours :) The baby is completely healthy as far as an ultrasound can show, which relieved my thinking. Due to this blogging world I have been reading way too much stuff that a PG person should not read about. I honestly thought it was going to be a boy because the heart rate was so drastic from what it was with Lindsey, but I guess "SHE" proved us wrong. Today the heart beat per the ultrasound was 136. Lindsey's heart rate was always around the 160's. They said our baby girl weighs around 10 oz. It was a fun doctors appointment and of course Jonathan and Lindsey came along as well. Lindsey thought it was absolutely great to "see" the baby. Jonathan said she seemed to be really excited about all of it. I think she understands the whole "baby" thing as much as a 2 year old can. She is very excited. Well, enough rambling from me.

Now for the ultrasound pictures :)
There are a total of 8 -different- pictures.

(Yes, I posted everyone they gave me -

because there is family that would like to see these that do not live near us.)

The first four are different shots of the face.


The picture below is of her arms bent up towards her face and her hands covering her face. The elbows are to the left and the hands are to the right

The picture below is of her feet to the left and her legs and you can see the break for the knee area.

The picture below is of her feet - looking at the bottom of them.

And this one - It's a GIRL!

So, now you ALL know and so do we and that makes ME very Happy!

Now I can go with the flow and start acting on my plans because I had different plans for their rooms, etc. Now we don't have to move bedrooms, paint, decorate another bedroom and no new bedding. We will buy a toddler bed for Lindsey since that will fit better into the room for now instead of a twin bed and another chester drawers and we will keep them both in the same room together for now. Of course, if you know me, the baby will be in our room for probably 6 months (at least) until she's too big for the cradle.

PINK IT IS!!

Sick Days

Well, I havn't posted abou it, but this has definitely been a sick house. Here's the details, if you feel like reading them and if not, well that's all we have been up too.

I got sick over 2 weeks ago. On Friday 2 weeks ago I finally went to the doctor and was diagnosed with severe Strep Throat. So, I was prescribed an antibiotic that I could take while PG. Wow, medicine does wonders and started helping immediately. Then on Wednesday of the next week, which was last week,- Lindsey came down with a verrrry bad runny nose. I hoped that is all it would be, but that was not the case. I guess she turned 2 and said "Now I'll be sick". On Friday night a week ago she started a cough. Last Saturday was her birthday party and she did surprisingly well and she did great. Sunday was BAD and she was very lethargic. Monday was decent till the evening and then her cough started getting WAY worse. Off to the doctor we went on Tuesday. She was diagnosed with a respiratory infection and a right ear infection. Then...I have been very sick all week with probably the same cold Lindsey has and have been absolutely "miserable". Even though Lindsey is still coughing some and still has a runny nose, I honestly think she is feeling better than me. Hopefully we will both get better - real soon.

There's the summary of the "sick house".

Lindsey's 2 year Portrait Pictures

I try to be very faithful in the dates when pictures are taken. Thus, her 2 year picture was taken on her actual 2 year birthday, which was last Tuesday 1-22-08. I finally received the link to download the pictures and I can now share them with you. She did an incredible job and was very cooperative. This made the choosing verrry hard.

My little doll baby has grown up - Where did the baby go? Already a big 2 years old.

To view the entire photo shoot / album - click on the picture below.

The first 13 pictures are the enhanced pics and are duplicates of the ones below them.

The remaining 28 are the original basic pictures.

p.s. - We didn't actually go planning on a family pic, but I thought it would be neat to at least capture the moment. To me, there is nothing like pictures. Love them!

1/22/08 Lindsey's 2 yr JCP pics

Happy 29th Birthday ~ Dear Hubby!

Wow, I am verrry belated in my wishes - sorry, honey! Jonathan's birthday was 2 days ago on Monday 1/28. I hope you have a great last year in your 20's decade before the BIG 30 - haha! Thank you so much for being a great providing husband and father. Lindsey and I appreciate the opportunity of having been able to stay at home for 2 years now. I can't imagine having to leave my "baby". Although, I would and will if I ever have too. I love to spend time with you and don't like it when it's not an option with you unfortunate long hours. I look forward to the weekends when the hours with you are longer. You're the greatest and I could never live without you. I love you sweetheart, I truly do! I hope you have a great year and many more to come. Happy 29th Birthday! Lindsey also wants to say, she loves you bunches and thinks you're an extra special Daddy - a.k.a. dada. Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Baby Update

I failed to let you know, those of you who care, that I did go to MY doctor for the baby "finally". This was almost two weeks ago at 17 weeks. Everything is fine and the doctor wasn't worried about me at all. She said the whole breathing thing is normal and gave me lots of explanations...... The exciting part of the trip was hearing the heart beat "really good" for the first time. The heart rate was 140. My bets are in that it is a boy, but I don't care. I know that you CANNOT go by the heart rate to determine boy or girl, but in general boys are lower and girls are higher. Lindsey never had a heart rate that low. Hers was always in the high 150's to 160's. So, ~~ DRUM ROLL PLEASE ~~ my ultrasound for 20 weeks has been scheduled for 2/4, next Monday, and the guessing game will be over - hopefully! I will drink my Dr. Pepper or Mt. Dew as I did with Lindsey while on the way to the doctors and hopefully the baby will be in the mood to "move"!!!! I will definitely be back to update you all on the news - no secrets here :) I am very excited and anxious. 1 more week to the half way point!

Baby Eviction Letters - Very Cute!

Dear Baby,

Tenant has 56 days in which she can either gather her belongings and vacate the premises, or wait until the final day. After which she will be physically removed from the property. She is being evicted due to a breech of contract and destruction of property. Expansions only to the front of the property, within reasonable limits, were discussed. Not only have these limits been exceeded, but additions to the back of the property were also made. Remodeling and gutting the property was never approved, nor was changing the initial layout and base structure. And due to property damage, there are now leaks in both upper and lower levels of the property. Also, late night parties have been discovered on the property and are not greatly appreciated! Any further problems will result in immediate removal!

Sincerely,

Landlady (your momma)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Landlady,

I'm sorry for any disturbance I have caused. When I originally signed the contract, I was unaware of the enormous task of growing. I will try to control the late night partying, but please know I expect you to join the party come June, per the Feeding Clause in the contract. While destruction of property and leaking seem to be the major cause of complaint, I fear they will only get worse in the weeks to come. I understand that this was not the original intent of my residence, but at this time we may need to revisit the terms of my lease.

I fear that eviction at this time is not advisable as i still have more developing to do.

In the Unconditional Love Clause in the contract, I'm sorry to inform you that you are indeed stuck with me as a resident of your body and home for a long time!

Thank you for your time and your body as housing!

Baby Tenant

P.S. When I originally signed the contract, I was underage and the contract is not legal.

!! Happy 2nd Birthday Lindsey !!

Happy 2nd Birthday to my beautiful "Miracle" ~ Lindsey Ann Morgan Pitcher!

Mommy and Daddy Love You Very Much! And we could never imagine life without you. You are now a BIG "2 YEARS OLD". What a change two years has made in us and in you! I look forward to many, many more birthdays with you! You are sweet, precious, smart, cute, ornery, a "piece of work", a big "mess", loving, caring! You are everything and more that we could have ever asked for in our baby girl! I hope you have a "GREAT" 2nd Birthday!

In this 1st picture she is 0 days old - just born a few hours before! 1-22-06

This was her 1st Birthday party!

Now almost 2 years old in this picture.

I have made a trip down memory lane and came up with a heap of pictures over the last 2 years. I have placed them in the order of date from youngest to oldest. (Enjoy, if you look at them - there's a bunch!) Click on the picture below to view the album - down memory lane.

Lindsey's 2 yr Memory Lane

!! BARGAIN !!

I feel great about my bargain. No wonder everyone tells about their bargains on their blogs. Now I want to do the same. Only one problem, the deal is over. It ended tonight and I would have shared sooner except I didn't get my bargain until 30 minutes before the store was closing for the evening and I wasn't sure how well it would work.

My thankfulness goes out to my dear friend Suzanne and http://www.moneysavingmom.com/.

I went to Target with 8 printed coupons in my pocket for $3 off of any 2 Huggies products. I had my Dad with me in case I needed him to do some purchasing as well, because I wasn't sure how they would handle that many coupons. I ended up not needing my Dad and was able to use 7 at one time and then found the 8th coupon that I didn't realize I had and went back and purchased 2 more. I couldn't believe they let me use them all at once and... in the same transaction.

What I got:

16 tubs of 72 ct. Huggies Wipes. They are originally $2.39 a piece at Target. Paying the original amount would have been $38.24. Then I saved $24 with my 8 - $3 coupons and only paid $14.24. Wow!

Now if you know me at all I did my math before I purchased. I wasn't concerned about what I paid out of pocket, but I wanted the most for money. So, I did the per wipe division with the large packets of 208 ct and then travel size of 34 ct and came up with the difference that the tubs were the actual better deal per wipe - costing $0.012361 per wipe :)

(p.s. I think I have enough wipes for a while :)

Christmas Posting

Here it is - Finally! My posting for all of our Christmas celebrations! There are LOTS of pics, so hope you enjoy. I broke it down into albums for each event, so hope it's not too cumbersome of a posting.

The celebrations started when we travelled to Indiana to be with Jonathan's family the Saturday before Christmas. That evening there was about 37 of us that got together from my MIL Brinda's side of the family. There were lots of aunts and uncles and cousins and we had a great time.

Cheatham Family Christmas 12-22-07

The following few pictures were taken on Sunday, the 23rd, while we were in Indiana at Jonathan's parents as well. I thought it was cute of the two cousins by the tree. They are exactly 4 months apart, with Lindsey's birthday in January and Noah's in May.

Christmas Sunday 12-23-07 Indiana

We had our immediate Pitcher side of the family Christmas on Christmas Eve morning with Jonathan's parents and his sister and family. I failed to take pictures but we had a very lovely, holiday meal in the afternoon before we headed to Grandma Pitcher's house. We had a great time and all the kids loved their gifts as well as us big kids. Fun was had by all! Thanks for the great time in-laws! :)

Christmas w/ Jonathan's family 12-24-07

Christmas Eve evening we travelled to Grandma Pitcher's - my FIL Jay's, Mom. There we had Jay's siblings as well and had a great get together with cousins and aunts and uncles. We had another meal and everything was great. Thanks for the fun time Grandma - We Love You!

Christmas w/ Grandma Cheatham 12-24-07

We travelled back to Ohio on Christmas Eve night after leaving Grandma Pitcher's and got home a little after midnight. We then had our little family Christmas on Christmas morning before going to my parents for the day. This was a first for us because last year we were at Jonathan's parents for Christmas morning. Lindsey loved all of her gifts, with the biggest being her baby doll Graco stroller and car seat.

Our Family Christmas Morning 12-25-07

We arrived at my parents a little after 2 and had a great meal around 3. It was a feast and Mom put on an excellent holiday meal as always. She SURPRISED me with noodles in the turkey gravy. I felt like my Grandma Zimmerman was back with us. That has to be a must in the line of traditions. They were great. She also made another Grandma Z. tradition of homemade cinnamon rolls and we ALL scarfed them up very quickly. We stayed up into the wee hours and around 2:30 a.m. Lindsey did something she's NEVER done before. I guess she saw that most of the other kids had conked out somewhere around the house and she went and picked out her own couch and crawled up on it and went to sleep - all by herself. WOW! Is all I could say. Since then her sleeping routine has changed and what a big girl she is becoming. You might have also noticed in all the pictures that she got MANY dolls for Christmas. And it's none to many for this girl. She LOVES them ALL! She is a baby doll girl just like her Aunt Belinda was, because she sure didn't get it from me. I had some, but was never into them as much as she is. I think she got a total of 6 and then lots of paraphernalia that goes with them. And, she has no favorites. Each time we leavethe house she seems to always pick a different one to take with her.

Snelling Family Christmas 12-25-07

The following pics were taken on the 27th and 28th. The first pic I just thought was cute! The rest were taken when Katrin and Jenn E. came over for the evening to lounge around at Mom and Dad's. The kids had a lot of fun playing together and the big boys had fun giving the girls piggy back rides.

12 27 & 28 2007

We spent New Year's Eve with my side of the family. It was a little family party with no one else there. We had a good time and went and yelled and screamed on the back porch at midnight. It startled Lindsey quite a bit because she didn't understand what was going on and... she was tired. We snapped a family pic of the three of us right after midnight. It was another late night and we left around 3 or 4 a.m. We all had a good sleep in and then we all got back together and went out to eat on New Year's Day evening. We always eat Mexican food on New Year's Day, so we went to Abuelo's, which is an incredible restaurant. They definitely have the best chips and salsa.

New Years at M&D's 2007-2008

Wow, I do believe that actually completes the holiday festivities. What a BUSY time. Hope this wasn't too long, but I didn't see the reason in breaking it all up into different posts since I was finally taking the time to actually sit down and post all of the events. One BIG posting is what you get!

Have a Great 2008! I think we sure will - with lots of exciting events planned for our house.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

The Pitchers

~ Jonathan, Leanna, Lindsey, & Baby ~

Happy New Year!

I have a lot of blog posting to do of our Christmas with both sides of the family. In the meantime, I wanted to wish everyone a Happy New Year from the Pitchers!

I am really looking forward to the new year with lots of exciting things to happen. Not only will our 1 year old become 2 in a few short days, but we will also have another member join our family in June and how exciting all of it will be!

This is the Christmas Card that we had made!

A Visit to Santa Clause

Thursday evening I dressed Lindsey all up in her little Santa dress in hopes for a visit and good pic with Santa Clause at the mall. She briefly sat on his lap right after Thanksgiving and was not happy about it at all, crying, etc. It wasn't the official visit though, so once the time came, I wasn't sure how it was going to go and if we would be able to get a good picture. While we were in line to see Santa I was prepping her and she about squeezed my neck off. I asked her if she wanted to see Santa and she very emphatically told me "NO". Right before we were to see him, I told her she could have a piece of candy if she would sit on his lap and let us take her picture. I gave her the candy before she sat on his lap and she did great. Bribing works - wow! She wasn't the happiest at first, but we were able to get a good smile out of her and Mommy was proud of her and happy. So, another picture with Santa was taken to put in the book so we can go down memories lane for years to come. I hope to do it every year till my children get to "old".

Growing up, I never actually believed in Santa, but the whole idea was a fun thing. We knew "all" presents came from Mommy and Daddy. I really don't care if they believe or not, because that is definitely not the reason for the season, but the picture taking is fun anyways.

To all my bloggers Have a Holly Jolly Merry Christmas - HO-HO-HO!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tuesday evening was Jonathan's work Christmas party and I was able to go as well. We left Lindsey with my Mom and Dad for a few hours, which we have only done 2 other times since she was born in order for us to just go out. We have both not been without her at the same time, but for other reasons and still not very often. The reason being is Jonathan and I just can't stand to do anything without her. I want her to be included in everything and to make fun memories as a family. It was an enjoyable time. We went to the Manchester Inn in Middletown, OH. I was finally able to put a face to many of the names that I hear about all the time from Jonathan's work.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On another note, I think we finished our Christmas shopping and now the joy of getting to wrap them all. We didn't have a big list this year, but I always no matter what am usually buying the bulk of the gifts the week before Christmas.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Enjoy the pics! Click on the pic below for more picture!

Misc Christmas Pics

Doctor's Visit Report

YEAH!! As of yesterday I have now actually seen the doctor and everything looks great.

And..... drum roll please..... YES, we heard the heartbeat and it is a normal fast baby heartbeat. But, all be it, it was a brief hearing. Jonathan was not able to go with me to the doctor this time and so I had my cell phone on speaker in hopes that he would get to hear the heartbeat. I think he ended up hearing it better than me. I was so worried about making sure he heard it that when they finally picked it up on the doppler for a brief few seconds I was trying to make sure the phone was where he could hear it. They only found it once and only for a few seconds. They said the baby was moving around too much and with it still being so early that it was hard to find. It satisfied me in the sense that I know it's a good, fast, normal heartbeat, but not in the sense of really getting to listen to that heartbeat. I still just may have to end up visiting my sister-in-law at L&D after all because 1/16/08 seems like a long ways away to wait and see the doctor again.

In other doctor news, I explained to them how I was having such a horrible time with my breathing and being extra abnormally out of breath. I remember being out of breath some with Lindsey, but I'm not sure that it was this early in my pregnancy. The problem started this time about the same time I started getting sick. I have been slowly improving on the nausea, but my breathing is getting continually worse. I can't do anything without being labored in breathing. Just talking for an extended time or bending over and helping Lindsey with something is just horrible, and to go to sleep is even worse. In years gone by I have had very minor signs of exercise induced asthma, and the doctor is thinking that my pregnancy is making it worse. I was given a peak flow meter to measure the strength of my lungs and I am suppose to track it to make sure that it remains in the same area.

There you have it, there's the report.

ME PG 12w 5d

Here is my first "bump" picture for all my blogger friends.

This was taken at 12 weeks and 5 days.

I still have my very nauseated moments, but they are not quite 24/7 like they were. A lot of the time right now I just seem to be short of breath and weak, with not a lot of energy. When I was carrying Lindsey I was able to have caffeine within the proper moderation limits, but not this time. I have had caffeine in a fairly strong quantity on 2 separate occasions and I was totally miserable both times. The first being a glass of tea, when I didn't realize it wasn't caffeine free and the 2nd being a nice Starbucks coffee that was given to me or I would have ordered it de-caf. So... no caffeine for me, except for the chocolate, of course. Hopefully, we'll hear that heartbeat Tuesday morning. As long as I remember the correct appointment time - haha!

Christmas Sunday

I have always considered the Sunday of the Children's Christmas Program and the Adult's Cantata to be "Christmas Sunday" and everyone wears their new Christmas outfits. I was able to get some very nice pics of Lindsey. I have also posted a few of Lindsey from this past week and also the curling preparation results from Saturday night.

Dec 16, 2007

The reason you see no Jonathan, is because he is verrrry sick. He has been sick since last Wednesday night and went no where on Saturday and Sunday in hopes that the rest would help kick the illness. His work has no slack and therefore work must go on - sick or no sick. He worked ALL day Friday - 13 or 14 hours. He was completely exhausted, but he made it. He is a Route Supervisor, but unfortunately, many times he has to do a route himself plus his main job. Very frustrating at times, such as this past Friday with 16 stops and many hours of driving, not to mention the fever, etc. I sure do hope he starts improving soon though because he is off to work again bright and early this Monday morning.

Saturday, all of our Christmas Program practices were cancelled, due to weather. So, instead of having the Children's Program Sunday morning, they had all the practices Sunday afternoon and both programs on Sunday evening. It worked out great and after both were over it still had only been 1 hr and 20 minutes. They were both very nicely done and very enjoyable.

The Wedding of ~ Mr. & Mrs. Bradley Bishop

On Saturday, Dec 8, 2007, Mom, Lindsey, and I went to Bradley and Jackie Bishop's Wedding. It was very nice and her dress, in my opinion, was one of the prettiest I have ever seen. The back was weaved with ribbon, absolutely gorgeous. Bradley is the brother to Jilayne, one of my very best friends.

I was also able to get some nice pics when we got home and was also able to get a 3 generation pic. Enjoy!

Click on the pic below for more pictures.

Dec 8, 2007

Talk about DISAPPOINTING . . .

Tuesday was scheduled to be my 2nd Doctors visit and we were going to get to hear the heartbeat. I am not a big worrier, but at times I can think about worrisome things and I was ready to hear that heartbeat. On the way there I was thinking, well I will get to hear that heartbeat real soon. We were even on time and early to the appointment and was able to grab a quick bite to eat on the way. We arrived just before my appointment time of 2:00.

Or, so I thought!!!

Somehow, I had remembered the appointment time wrong and did not recheck the appointment card and it was actually at 1:00. A whole hour late. Well, it ends up it's a very un-accommodating doctor's office and I HAD to reschedule.

I DID NOT GET TO HEAR MY PRECIOUS BABY'S HEARTBEAT!

Wow, I was crushed needless to say and left there a devastated person. I am not a crier, but this was a great exception. I cried and cried because not only did I not get to hear the heartbeat, they could not get me in for another appointment until next week on the 18th - grrrrr!!!!!!! I told them that my husband had to take special time off work to come and that it was an honest mistake, but that didn't matter. On top of all that, they said they were running 1 to 1 1/2 hours behind and would not be able to fit me in at all. Uhh, is it my imagination or wouldn't I have just been sitting in the waiting room anyways for the previous hour. I think it was their good excuse to get me out of there since they were running behind.

Needless to say I did NOT have a good day at all! Poor me, I had quite the pity party for myself. My first thought after realizing I wasn't going to get to hear the heartbeat, was to call my sister-in-law and see if she was at work because she works in L&D at a hospital downtown and see, if they could check for the heartbeat - Guess what?? She's on vacation all week! UUGGHH!! I guess it will be the 18th!

HOW DISAPPOINTING!!

(side note - This is not my regular doctor's office, but due to some insurance issues, I won't be able to go to my regular doctor until mid January. I sure will be glad when I don't have to deal with those crabby people anymore.)

YEAH! Our Christmas Tree is UP!!!

Wow, I was actually beginning to wonder when and if it would get put up. Especially since a lot of my blogger friends have had theirs up for over two weeks. I LOVE the Christmas season and the decorations, BUT.... I absolutely despise the mess and the hassle of putting up the Christmas Tree.

Jonathan's work schedule right now is out of this world crazy and absolutely way too busy and has been for about 5 months. I keep hoping that he can slow down, but something else always comes up. He worked almost 80 hours last week, but it' usually at least 60 or more. My point in explaining about Jonathan is... When can he help me????? I have been very sick with the baby and definitely am not up to doing this all by myself. Today, was no different. Jonathan and I both thought that he would be able to make it home at a decent time, but early evening I realized he wouldn't be home for quite a few more hours.

Lindsey was completely out of sorts, for some unexplainable reason and I was feeling verrry stressed. Jenn E. had asked me earlier, if I wanted to do something and I said I hoped to be able to spend time with Jonathan. I called her around 5:30 thinking in the back of my mind that it would be really nice if she would come help me, but didn't come right out and ask. When talking to her, I explained my frustration and how close it was getting to Christmas. She then asked if I would like for her to come and help me. I GLADLY ACCEPTED. So, that's the story. Our Christmas tree and some other decorations are all up. YEAH! Thanks, so much Jenn for the help. I don't know if I could ever be that nice because obviously I didn't want to do my own let alone someone else's - LOL!!

Lindsey was a little better after Katrin arrived. It was still a trying evening with Lindsey since she can be quite aggresive with anyone close to her size or smaller and they usually don't like it. I guess she's around her older cousins too much and she just fits right in with them. But, Katrin endured and they had some enjoyable time playing together. I told Jenn that she was going to think it was Nightmare on our street after having spent the evening here, but I hope she had a somewhat good time :)

Her presence helped greatly with my stamina and drive to get it done. I wouldn't really call myself a loner and certainly didn't want to tackle that project with just Lindsey here. We haven't had a tree up in our house in 3 years. Last year was due to being at my parents house for 7 month, and the year before that I was 8 months pg with Lindsey and there was no way I was going to create that mess when I was still trying to finish up the baby room. We had to have a tree up this year though, if for no other reason, for Lindsey.

Christmas is a WONDERFUL TIME OF YEAR! Here are a few pics. Enjoy!

Click on the pic below for more pics.

Christmas Tree 2007

Our visit to the hospital to meet ~ Jackson Scott C.

JACKSON SCOTT C.

~ 12/4/07 ~ 3:57 a.m. ~ 9lb 7oz ~ 20 1/2 in ~

We made it to the hospital Wednesday evening to meet handsome little Jackson Scott C. Congratulations, Scott & Suzanne! He is ADORABLE, CUTE, CUDDLY, LOVABLE! I think I'll just have to be his adopted aunt :) I have a few pics to share - enjoy!

Click on the pic below for more pics.

Jackson Scott C. - 1 day old

Lindsey Plays in the SNOW

Well, it really snowed and yes Lindsey got to play in it. Today we went to Wal-Mart and bought her boots and gloves. We spent about 30 minutes outside. She actually wasn't too crazy about it, but I think if she had some cousins to play with her and show her how it's really done it would probably help. She liked it for the most part, but not when she jumped and then fell down. She finally decided that she wanted to swing and so, all bundled up that's what she did and loved it. I got some cute pics that I thought I would share. Enjoy!

Click on the pic below for more pictures.

Lindsey's 1st time to play in snow

Money Saving Deal

Well, I am definitely a shopper and I love a good sale. Ever since summer was ending and we were headed into fall I have wanted to buy Lindsey a snowsuit. I even looked on ebay at some of the expensive ones that are now used for a good price, but I never purchased. I just couldn't justify the purchase - UNTIL NOW! It is supposed to SNOW today. I know Lindsey would love to go out in the snow, but I had no wet worthy winter clothing for her. I was out shopping with my friend, Jenn, Tuesday evening and came across a great DEAL! I had purchased a maternity top at Sear's and with the receipt it printed out some coupons. One, being a 20% coupon off of the kid's winter clothing. I decided to check and see what they had. I ended up getting a $55 snowsuit - coat and overalls that were marked down 50% to $27.50 and then I got another 20% off of that. Making my purchase total only $22. I am very pleased with my purchase and so is Lindsey. We went home and tried it on for size and she thought it was the greatest thing. To top it off, I LOVE the colors - pink and brown. Maybe we will actually get the forcasted snow and I will be able to share some pictures with her in action at a later date. Until then, here's the store photo of the snowsuit.

1st Doctors Visit for our Baby in Making

Well, I went to the Doctors Office, but didn't actually see the doctor. That won't be until next Tuesday. I did have my first visit though and did lots of paperwork, answered lots of questions, blood work, weight, blood pressure. You've got the idea by now. I was quite dissappointed when I asked if they would be checking for the heartbeat and they said not until you see the doctor next week. UUGGHH!!! Oh, well - I guess I'll just have to keep waiting.

Congratulations - Suzanne & Scott!

Congratulations to one of my dearest friends in the whole wide world, Suzanne C. She has now joined the great world of Mommy hood!! She had her baby Tuesday morning, December 4, at 3:57 a.m. A great, big, handsome, adorable baby boy - Jackson Scott! He weighed in at 9 lbs 7 ozs and 20 1/2 inches. He is absolutely beautiful and for proof of this you can check out 2 of his aunt's blogs, who have already posted pictures and see for yourself.

Heather L's blog - http://theloperhouse.blogspot.com/

Amy L's blog - http://orangecupcakes.blogspot.com/

I will hopefully get to see him today, if all works out. He looks like a perfect doll baby - nice, squishy, loveable, and as CUTE as any baby boy could be.

CONGRATULATIONS - SUZANNE & SCOTT - ON YOUR NEW BABY BOY - JACKSON!!

Grand Due Date of Arrival - June 24, 2008!

Well, if you haven't guessed by now - we are growing by one more in this house! I am PG - all 10 1/2 weeks so far. We are going to have another wonderful sweet baby - due to arrive June 24, 2008! We are so very excited.

The following picture is what we gave our parents and family to announce the big news.

A Baby Girl or Boy? Either way we'll be happy to make room for one more! Our Newest Addition is due to arrive June 24, 2008! We are now the Pitcher's of four!

Wow, it's hard to post when all you want to do is share your big news with all your blogger friends. It has been quite the feat for me to keep this a secret for so long, since we have known for almost 6 weeks. We wanted to tell all of our family in person, thus the delay in order to tell Jonathan's family at Thanksgiving last week. I have told a few friends, but just announced it to my friends at church tonight at the Church Christmas Dinner. Finally I can share with the www of bloggers - my dear friends :) Lindsey is already very excited about becoming a BIG SISTER. When you ask her, she just lights up with a big smile. She loves nothing more than baby dolls. She's just going to think that Mommy and Daddy went out and bought her a real live doll. I can already envision it now - Lindsey caring me the 1 week old baby to me and telling me it is crying. Ahhhh! She's never shown signs of jealousy before and now I think she will think that this is the greatest gift yet. I'll sure have to keep my eyes OPEN! They will be 2 years & 5 months apart.

(Heather Dickinson - I agree with you whole heartedly.) I have been very sick as well. I can't stand the smell of many foods and it's 24/7 sickness, not just that morning stuff. It was the same way with Lindsey. Nothing sounds good to eat, but I make self at some point in the day. It only helps the way I feel for a little while and then it's back again.

As I had said in my previous post about the biggest news I have to share, well I guess I was wrong, this is definitely bigger - HAHA! This posting also explains the previous and the reason I was so adamant on her sleeping through the night. I would like a few nights between the two of good sleep :)

Well, enough of all the details - THAT'S OUR BIG NEWS and we are SO HAPPY!

Sleeping Baby

This little story is a little lengthy, but it is the biggest news I have to share. Sorry, in advance, for the elaboration. It is a very important highlight in the life of me and my baby Lindsey.

Well, for the very unscheduled Mom that I am, and a little bit of honest humble pie, I have conquered a great battle. And, I might add, quite easily. Being a stay at home Mom, with only one child, Lindsey's sleeping pattern was not a concern to me and therefore I never reinforced a good habit. You always have to be careful what you say you will NEVER do as a parent or it might come back to haunt you and this sure did. I never dreamed that Lindsey would be sleeping in our bed with us for so LONG.

But... it all started back when she was first born and we were in the hospital. The 2nd night in the hospital she would have no other way, but being held and she would not sleep in her little bed not 2 inches from my bed. When we arrived home she would not sleep in that beautiful cradle right beside our bed - ON HER BACK! So, wanting to be careful and not take a risk of SIDS and putting her on her stomach, I ended up holding her every night on my stomach. I asked the doctor about this and they said that was fine. Well, after two months, I had to have somewhat of a major surgery and could not hold her so on her stomach she went and she did fine for the most part in her cradle. At 6 months I thought I would move her to her bed, but that was a no go. I was up way too much in the night with her being in her room and she was not a good sleeper of very many hours at all. I tried for a very short time after she was 6 months to let her cry it out and it DID NOT work out. So, I gave in - she was in our bed, because she was too big for the cradle at this point. Then, we ended up living with my parents due to their health reasons for 7 months and there was no room for a bed for Lindsey. She remained in our bed during this time. We have been back home since the end of June and she was STILL in our bed.

Well, ENOUGH OF THAT. Out she went - 4 or 5 weeks ago. I had made up my mind and the fight was on. I was no longer going to give in to those night wakings. She needed to learn how to sleep through the night and put herself back to sleep when she awoke. The first two nights she woke up once and she had to have a good long cry each time and after that - it's all history. We've had a few bumps along the way, but she has never been back to our bed and she can put herself back to sleep when she wakes up. She seems to be in the routine of waking up once after quite a spell and I have to tell her to lay down with her doll, cup and blanket. The reassurance of my voice is enough for her and she goes right back to sleep. 12 straight hours of sleep - WOW! Thank goodness - I HAVE MY BED BACK :) !! Be careful what you say, you might end up eating crow :) And, I guess that's enough honesty for one night.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY -3 - 3 days in a row!!

Happy 64th Birthday to the World's Greatest Mother! Her birthday was yesterday - November 29. All 12 of us went out to eat Thursday evening to Bravo's and had a great time together. Mom received a really nice watch from Dad and some other gifts as well. Nothing like family time, which was very enjoyable. Happy Birthday - MOM!

And a great big Happy Birthday to a great niece who is turning 9 today, November 30. ANNA MARIE! I hope you have a great day! We are going to her Birthday Party this evening at their house. Wow, how time flies. It seems like yesterday that she was that 3lb. baby in the NICU. Spunky little thing survived her way through all that and is now a beautiful little girl who is growing up. One year away from those double digit - pre-teen years :) Lookout Mom and Dad! Happy Birthday - ANNA!

And... another great big Happy Birthday to one of the world's greatest sister-in-law's, Belinda, who is turning 26 tomorrow, December 1. I hope you have a great birthday and I wish that I could see you more often - nothing like our late night chatting sessions after the kids are tucked away in bed:) Love Ya! Happy Birthday - Belinda!

And..... HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY for all those other family members through out this past year that I have sadly not mentioned on this blog of mine. Not a good remember-er of doing those types of things. Love all of you and hope you all have another wonderful year ahead of you!

Welcome Christmas Season

I love ALL seasons and Christmas and winter is with no exception. I LOVE the hustle and bustle. I love crowds. I know many people to do not like crowds, but I am not one of them. It's always funner in the malls the day after Thanksgiving or to go to the grocery store in the mad rush before the close on Christmas Eve for those last few items. I love the festive feel in the air. This Christmas season deems to be just as busy as all the previous. One of the first things to happen each Christmas season is the first Saturday in December is our Church Christmas Dinner, which is this coming Saturday evening. I hope to do many things that will become traditions for our little family. I want to take Lindsey to the Festival of Lights at the Zoo, go see the Duke-Energy train set that is always set up downtown, maybe the Conservatory and the list goes on. We have already done one traditional thing this year that I want to continue and that was taking Lindsey to Monument Circle in downtown Indianapolis to see the Christmas Lights (even if we were freezing and Lindsey and admitted for the first time that she was cold - even though she was layered many times over). I love making memories. No one can take them away and they last a lifetime. I am still a kid at heart!

Merry Christmas to All! :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! Happy Turkey Day!

We are in the land of Indiana for this great, long, Holiday weekend at my in-laws. We arrived around 10 p.m. Wednesday night after a very long day of errands, cooking, packing and then driving.

We were very excited to get to see all of Jonathan's family after having not seen them for almost 5 weeks. Unfortunately, my Mother-in-law has to work at the hospital today, so we are going to Jonathan's Great Aunt and Uncle's house, John and Linda LeBaron, for Thanksgiving Day and for a wonderful dinner. I am taking my homemade Cranberry Salad, which is a must in my family for both Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. (Another must for ME - Stove Top (brand) Dressing) In Jonathan's family there is no such thing. Don't tell anyone, but it's that nasty Oyster Dressing. My Mother is a great cook and does basically everything from scratch, but never the Dressing. It's got to be Stove Top :) lol :) I hope you all enjoy your Turkey Dinners and then those great naps that come afterwards :)

We are here in Indiana clear through Sunday evening and will greatly enjoy the time we will get to spend with family. Lindsey loved getting to see Lizzi and Noah when we arrived and started running around and playing with them immediately. She loves to play with kids and Cousins are at the top of her list.

Also, on this great holiday, my Baby Lindsey, is 22 months old! How time flys! The other night we drove by this house in our neighborhood that had a huge blow up Turkey in the front yard. I pointed it out to her and told her it was a Turkey and she promptly said "Turkey"! She is definitely not a early talker, but just within the last week she is quickly becoming my parrot. After having driven by the Turkey we then drove by some Christmas decorations that were up in the neighborhood as well and she called all of that "Turkey" too :) lol!

I AM VERY THANKFUL FOR MY HUSBAND ~ LINDSEY ~ OUR PARENTS - both sides ~ OUR SIBLINGS AND SPOUSES ~ OUR NIECES AND NEPHEWS ~ AND ALL THE REST OF OUR GREAT FAMILY - both sides!!

Have a Great Happy Thanksgiving Holiday!

Happy 12th Birthday Matthew

Verrrry Belated! But wanted to wish you a Happy Birthday anyways and share some pictures with my blog readers as well. Enjoy the pics.

Click on the pic below for more pictures.

Matthew's Birthday - 2007

Thanksgiving Meal ~ With my side of the Family

Last Sunday was the last chance before Thanksgiving for all of us to be together so we had Thanksgiving dinner and it was scrumptious. We will all be going separate ways for Thanksgiving Day. We will be in Indiana with Jonathan's family. Lisa works and Mom and Dad and Brian and Janella's family are going on a vacation to NJ and to New York City for a day as well. I took a few pics of the Sunday dinner / Thanksgiving dinner. A few didn't turn out too well, but went ahead and posted them anyway. I thought my Mom's table was pretty and decorated nice for the holiday, so I am also sharing some pictures of that with.

Click on the pic below for more pictures.

Thanksgiving Dinner - Snellings

Fall Yard Cleaning

Well, Jonathan worked in the yard a lot today and when I opened up the back blinds Lindsey thought she definitely had to go out. So, we bundled up - A LOT - and went out for a while. She thought the leaves were great and did some swinging and sliding as well. Daddy had fun swinging her around and throwing her in the leaves. It has been an uneventful Saturday at home with no plans which is very unusual for us. Here's a few pics for you to enjoy of today.

Click on the pic below for more pictures.

Nov 10, 2007

Fall Party

Last weekend on Saturday, 10-27, we went to a Fall Party for all the kids in our church and the parents. It was hosted by Brian and Janella at their house. The kids all dressed up and some adults. We had a lot of fun all except for getting rained into the house before we really got to enjoy the bonfire. The kids bobbed for apples, had a scavenger hunt, and painted pumpkins along with trick-or-treating around to all the adults holding the bags of candy. And the table full of food was great. Thanks Brian and Janella for the great idea and the fun! Enjoy the pics!

Click on the pic below for more pictures.

10-27-07

More Fall Saturday Activities

This fall we have tried to do a fun, fall, family activity each Saturday. Here are some pictures from two different Saturday events that were in September.

We went to Scott and Suzanne Capplinger's house for a cookout and had a great time. The baby's got very dirty, especially Lindsey, so they all got to take a bath together before we all went home. They were so cute that we just had to get some pictures :)

Another Saturday, we went to a new outdoor mall, The Greene. It was really neat and we had a lot of fun just strolling the streets.

Click on the picture below for more pictures.

Misc pics - fall 2007

Camping Trip

We went on a tent camping trip two weekends ago and had an awesome time. We went with Jonathan's family and we camped at Hueston Woods State Park in Ohio near the Indiana border. We went for Friday and Saturday night and wished we could have stayed another 5 nights. I tooks tons of pictures - to be exact - 437 pictures and I am posting about 100. Hope you enjoy.

Click on the picture below for more pictures.

Oct 2007 Camping Trip

Visit to Shaw Farm - Milford, OH

This past Saturday during the day before we went out for our anniversary, we went to Shaw Farm in Milford, OH. Mom, Dad, Jenna, Jacob, and Anna all rode with us in our van. It was a lot of fun.

My brothers and their wives were gone on a 3 night stay with 12 couples in our church to Gatlinburg, TN, so my Mom and Dad kept their kids while they were gone.

We had a lot of fun at the farm and got some great pictures.

Click on the pic below for more pictures.

Oct 2007 Shaw Farm

Wedding Pictures

Here are the promised pictures.


DISCLAIMER- These are all pictures taken of another picture = bad quality. Unfortunately we were married just shortly before the digital camera popularity days. In real life my pictures are awesome and great quality. I had to take most of the pictures at an angle to avoid the glare - hence the distorted look in some of the pics.

Hope you enjoy!

Click on the picture below for more pictures.

Our Wedding Oct 2000

Happy 7th Wedding Anniversary to US!

I have now been married to the man I LOVE for 7 years.

October 14, 2000 - 1:30 p.m. - West Chester, OH

Our story to wedded bliss started at Youth Challenge in Oct of 1999. We became engaged on tax day, April 15, 2000 and six short months later we tied the knot. For better or for worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health. I can't say that every day has been a cake walk, but I wouldn't trade him for anything. It is great getting to spend the rest of my life with the man I Love.

Jonathan, I love you very much. Yours Always, Leanna

Since our anniversary is on a Sunday this year, we celebrated on Saturday. Jonathan had to go into work really early Saturday morning for a couple of hours and when he returned home he woke me up with a dozen roses and a sweet card. He's the best. We went out to eat Saturday evening - just the two of us. We never go without Lindsey, so it was quite the treat and we spent 5 enjoyable hours together. We decided to stick close to home and not spend time driving to our destination. We enjoyed a wonderful dinner at Bravo's ~ http://www.bestitalianusa.com/ ~ located at ~ http://www.streetsofwestchester.com/. A very nice location and a wonderful place to start our evening. Thanks, Babe - I had a great time!

Toast: Here's to another 7, plus many, many more Happy Anniversary's!

Pics taken by my brother -July 2007.

I have no digital pictures of my wedding and no scanner hooked up so for now there will be no wedding pictures to post. I will try and take some pics of pics and post them soon for all you hungry picture lovers.

My prayers have been heard - temperature drop!

YEAH!!!!!!
My prayers have been heard!
YEAH!!!!!!
Starting Tuesday it's going to get cooler!
YEAH!!!!!!
And after Wednesday above 70 isn't even in the forecast.
YEAH!!!!!!

Go start pulling out those sweaters - just maybe, we will able to wear them before next spring - haha!

10-Day Forecast for Cincinnati, OH

Sun Oct 07 Sunny 94°/60°
Mon Oct 08 Mostly Sunny 94°/59°
Tue Oct 09 AM Showers 78°/44°
Wed Oct 10 Partly Cloudy 65°/39°
Thu Oct 11 Partly Cloudy 65°/37°
Fri Oct 12 Partly Cloudy 65°/39°
Sat Oct 13 Partly Cloudy 70°/42°
Sun Oct 14 Sunny 70°/44°
Mon Oct 15 Partly Cloudy 70°/44°
Tue Oct 16 Partly Cloudy 69°/44°

It looks like we may get to go camping after all - since my stipulation was that it had to get cooler.

One of the comments made on my previous post made made me laugh and I agree with them. I'm complaining about not having cool weather now and then I'll probably turn right around and complain about it being too cool, but I guess that's how it goes! Gotta love those season changes! :)

Have a great Sunday! Our church is actually having an outside baptismal service, Sunday afternoon and as you already know, there won't be any problems with the weather since it's supposed to be in the mid 90's.

~ LEAVES ~

I love fall, but... it's because of the weather that we normally have during this time of year. WHERE IS THAT COOL WEATHER??? I am missing it so bad. It's pretty bad when we are still wearing short sleeves and sandals and the temperature is 90 outside and in the 80's every single day. Not to mention that not even jackets are needed in the late evening. Absolutely crazy. I sure am glad it wasn't this way in 2000 or I would have been sorely disappointed on my wedding day - in regards to the weather that is, since we were married on 10/14. We are wanting to go camping in a couple of weeks, but it will be called off till cooler weather if it hasn't cooled down any before then. OK, I'll get off my high horse since none of y'all can help me out in this situation :) ha ha

On another note of fall weather, Lindsey played in the leaves for the first time Friday. We went outside to let her swing. I decided to rake some leaves around the swing set and I just kept raking and ended up doing a large area in our backyard. Needless to say, Lindsey ended up hardly playing on her swing set. She discovered the childhood joy of playing in the leaves. She started playing in them, jumping in them, throwing them, etc. without me even mentioning the idea so it must be instinct - ha ha! I was only able to grab some pics with my cellphone so not great quality, but at least I was able to capture the moment.

Have a great weekend!

Do I still have any readers? ~~ And, I've been tagged!

Well, I know it's been a long time since I posted. Only 2 posts in the last month. Sorry to let you down fellow bloggers. Hopefully I still have some faithful readers that will come back to check and see if I will ever post again.

As an update from my last post, my Dad did come through his shoulder surgery with flying colors and is recovering nicely.

~~~~~
TAGGED
Well, along with the rest of you I have been tagged twice. So here it is - interesting or not.

1. I have a wonderful husband that I met at Youth Challenge 1999. We dated for 5 1/2 months and then became engaged. We then were engaged for 6 months. We got married 2 weeks before Youth Challenge 2000 and went back as a married couple.

2. I have an Associates Degree and worked in Insurance for 8 years. I am now doing what my hearts dream has always been. A "Mommy" and I get to be a stay-at-home Mom. I love my daughter and certainly couldn't live without her. We want more children as God sees fit, since Lindsey is a miracle child. If Lindsey is our one and only I will still be forever grateful for being blessed with her.

3. I lived in the same house my entire life until I got married. We then had a rented condo for 1 year and then we bought the house that we live in now, which will be 6 years ago this November.

4. I love the change in seasons, but fall is definitely my favorite. I love the cool, crisp breezes and getting to pull those cozy sweaters out that have been in storage for several months. To sit down by the fireplace, with a hot drink is so much fun.

5. I would rather be with family than anybody else. They are priceless. Both sides, my side and my husbands side. I have 6 nieces and nephews - total from both sides.

6. I would like to think that I would become a scrap-booker some day :) I have the book I want to start with and lots of paper, printed pictures, etc. but never have i started it. My biggest drawback is having a place to set it up. I could never leave it out with Lindsey around.

7. I have two older brothers. They are 9 and 11 years older than me.

Shewww!!! It's done. That's been hanging over my head for several days as I have been reading everyone elses tagged 7 items. (Sorry, but I think I'll be a party pooper and not tag other people, most everyone has been tagged by now.)
~~~~~
Lindsey is now 20 month and getting more honery by the minute. She's starting to try and talk more. Not a quick talker, but she's getting there. She's been calling me Mama since way back, but yesterday she started calling me "Mommy" and... she hasn't stopped. She never called me Mama like she calls me Mommy. She hasn't stopped saying it, or so it seems. A million times already in the last 48 hours. How crazy, but oh, so cute! Mommy Mommy Mommy Mommy! Over and over! She also started saying her own name in the last week or so, but not very clear and not quite as often.

My in-laws bought her a swing set a couple of months ago and she has always loved to swing, basically avoiding the slide. Well, we went out there last week to swing, or so I thought and she ended up mastering the whole slide thing. She needs no help from me. She climbs right up those big steps and some how manages to get those feet out from underneath of her and slide right down the slide. All the while, I am watching very closely from my lawn chair. Like I have said so many times before, Where did the baby go? She's not even 2 yet and there's no fear in her when it comes to that slide. Needless to say, I was quite proud of her.
~~~~~
Time for some pics for those who are asking - WHERE ARE THE PICTURES?

The Cincinnati Museum Center at the Union Terminal had free admission last Friday evening so Jonathan and I took Lindsey to the Children's Museum. We also went to the other two museums that are there for a little bit as well. We then watched at the OmniMax there at the Union Terminal - The ALPS! Wow, that was really good. One of the very, very, best that I have seen. Ranks up there with the Grand Canyon imax film, in my opinion.
Click on the picture below for more pictures.

Cincinnati Museum Center

Last Saturday was our Church Fall Picnic. It was a lot of fun and Lindsey really enjoyed the hay ride.
Click on the picture below for more pictures.

Church Fall Picnic

This past Tuesday we met my in-laws 1/2 way between our homes and had an enjoyable time eating out and spending some time together. We hadn't seen them in about a month. Also a few pics of Lindsey playing outside on her swing set in her PJ's earlier that day.
Click on the picture below for more pictures.

Misc. Sep 07

I am certainly enjoying this fall weather and am trying to do something fun every weekend for Sep and Oct to enjoy the fun fall festive activities. We went to the Lebanon, OH Country Applefest for about an hour last Saturday and that was really neat, but had to leave to go to the picnic. A few weeks ago we went to the Clinton County Corn Festival. Very small, but fun and festive. Enjoyed the good corn on the cob. This Saturday we are going to some friends for a cookout and I'm taking scrumptious homemade carmel and apples. I would also like to think that we could fit a camping trip weekend in there as well. Camping when it's not so hot is much better than a mid summer camp out. Enjoy your fall festivities and hopefully the weather will decide to cooperate soon and cool down so it seems more like "Fall" :) Have a great weekend!

Well, hopefully that has helped in making up for my lack of blogging. I am still hear - kicking and breathing. I'm usually just so busy reading everyone else's :)

I'm still alive . . . :)

Well, I know it has been quiet from my little blogging world, but I just haven't been taking as many pictures and taking the time to post.

This won't be much of a posting in the way of pics either, but I did want to mention a few things.

My Dad made it home safely Tuesday evening from his 2 week trip out to Yuma, CO to spend some time with his family. He has 6 siblings and 5 of them live in Yuma and 1 other one that lives quite close to Yuma as well. He flew out on 8/29 and back on 9/11. The 9/11 part of the flying kind of made it scary, but he is now home safe and sound.

On the down side, my Dad is having surgery Wednesday morning. Not even home 24 hours and going under the knife. Yuck Yuck! He is having rotator cuff and bicep tendon surgery on his left shoulder. Last November it was his right shoulder. I just wish my parents could go a year with out a surgery. ha ha! (and my Mom still needs to have carpel tunnel surgery done on her right hand) Please pray for my Dad. It's not the surgery that is scary it is knowing what the recovery is like. He still doesn't have full strength back in his right shoulder.

Lindsey is doing great! Changing so much - every day - it seems! She is now jumping - literally off the ground, which was surprising to me and she can do perfect somersaults. She is almost 20 months and starting to talk just a little bit more, but not much. She surprises you with little sayings, such as - She was talking to her Great Aunt Ruthie and her Aunt said, "How are you?" and Lindsey replied clear as day, "Fine". Shocked us half to death. You never know what all their picking up on. Brings more meaning to, Oh, be careful little mouth what you say! Our little one's are watching our every move and grasping it all, I do believe :) She can also do all the hand motions to the little kids church song, Running Over.

I will try and post some pictures soon. Have a great rest of the week!

Cousin Studio Pictures

Well, we actually accomplished it. I have been wanting to get Lindsey and her two cousins on Jonathan's side of the family picture taken together. We were going to at Christmas time and then we ended up not going through with it. The cousins are Belinda and Ralph's children - Jonathan's sisters family. Lizzi turned 3 in July, Noah turned one in May and is now 15 months old and Lindsey is 19 months old.

Also, I was going to take Lindsey to JCPenney's when she turned 18 months, but I was slow to getting around to it. She then burnt her face so I was trying to wait for that to not show up real bad, thus I have a 19 month picture of her from JCP's instead of the desired 18 months. I did get the nice outdoor picture of her that my brother, the photographer, took a week before she turned 18 months, so this counts as well, but we only got 1 good shot so I wanted more.


These pictures were taken on August 25, last Saturday while we were in Indiana. I was pleased with the way they turned out. We had a scheduled appointment for 2:10 and changed it to 3:10. We were a little bit late and we ended up having to wait until 5:00 for a cancellation, but we got the pictures taken and that is all that mattered. I was afraid they would all be too cranky, but we got the 1 good pic of them together and that was the main intent. I was very happy. Noah got fussy after the first few, but that was ok. It was past nap time for all 3. Lindsey did great, thank goodness. She did horrible at her 1 year and 16 month studio photo sessions and now this one went great. Hopefully it's a turning point or maybe it was the cousins :). I love pictures as I am sure all of you can tell by now - Memories - irreplaceable - love'm :) (Now to conquer this task for my side of the family :) ha ha!)

Click on the picture below for all of the pictures.

Aug 25, 2007

Grandma Cheatham's Viewing & Funeral

This posting is for the close family and friends and anyone else who cares to see pictures of the viewing and funeral and my intentions are not to offend anyone.

Wednesday evening from 4 to 8 p.m. was the viewing in Frankfort, IN. Thursday morning was the funeral at 10 a.m. They had the funeral dinner immediately following the service and then the burial was about 1 1/2 hours away near Shelbyville/Franklin, IN at 3:30 p.m.

Following the viewing Wednesday evening, 31 of us went out to eat to Pepe's Mexican Restaurant there in Frankfort, IN. Thanks to Nathan Easley - our wonderful cousin - for treating every single one of us and only requesting that we all leave the tip. Thanks! We had a great time and was able to spend some fun times together during unfortunate circumstances. Family is a great thing!

Click on the picture below for more pictures.

Aug 22 & 23, 2007 Grandma Cheatham's Viewing & Funeral

No, outsmarting us parents...

Just tooo smart. Monday, Lindsey was unusually very fussy and I was set on her having a very necessary nap. I put her to sleep and went and laid her down. Five seconds later she was awake. I laid down beside her and got her back to sleep. Jonathan arrived home from work about that time. I quietly got up from laying beside her. I was out of the room for a mere few minutes and she very loudly let us know that she was awake. I then sent Jonathan in to take care of her because we were going to win the battle. He laid down with her and she decided she wanted to play. A few minutes went by and then Jonathan decided to holler for me to let me know she wasn't going back to sleep and BAM she hit the pillow beside Jonathan like a scared cat. She KNEW that Mama meant business and that she was supposed to be going to sleep and not playing. So, I came in and gave her the Mama talk about having to take a nap and that she had to lay down beside Daddy. I left out of the room and did not see her again until she was awake from her nap. Jonathan told me later that after I left back out of the room that she still wasn't going to sleep and so Jonathan said to her, "Do you know what Mommy would do if she was in here and she knew you weren't laying down and going to sleep?" She clapped her hands in a manner implying -spanking- and then patted her hand on the pillow. She KNEW that she was supposed to go to sleep. Well, she finally did under the persistent help of her Daddy. (Yes, he disciplines her as well, although this story doesn't seem to imply that, but she knew that Mommy meant business about the whole sleeping situation as we have been dealing a lot with this lately.)

On another note, which might be the cause of the fussing, she has been teething. I kept watching for this one particular tooth to come in for the last two weeks and then tonight I checked and to my amazement there were two new teeth that are coming in and the one I had been expecting isn't one of them. She now has 14 with more quickly to come. The two new ones are hardly visible, but I can actually feel the hard tooth that is coming through so the teething on those aren't over with - uugghh!!

Here are some 1sts for Lindsey


She finished unrolling a roll of toilet paper to the very end the other day. She has rolled toilet paper off before, but never in a LARGE quantity and never finished a roll off before. But, she has now. I had to laugh and realized that I was lucky that this hadn't happened before now.

Monday evening when we had the whole sleeping ordeal we were actually at my parents house and she took her nap in my parents bed. When she wakes up from her naps she always just crys enough to let me know she's awake. Well, she didn't this time. Here she came walking into the kitchen from the bedroom. She had never done this before and it quite shocked me. I knew she could get down off of the bed by herself, but she had never done it after a nap. My little girl! Where did the baby go? She wasn't crying, and she just looked really sleepy.

She told me Monday evening for the first time that her diaper was dirty. I have asked her on other occasions if her diaper was dirty and she would imply that it was, but she had never initiated the grand news. Monday, she came up to me and kept trying to get my attention and hitting on my skirt. I thought she just wanted to sit in my lap and then I looked down at her and she started pulling at the back of her skirt. And... sure enough - she needed changed. Another step leading to the readiness of being potty trained. YEAH!!

Well, I hope this didn't bore you too bad, but I guess it's too late if you were, because you've obviously read it all now. Until next time - Tu da loo!

Grandma Cheatham

Jonathan's Grandma Cheatham passed away in the early hours of this past Sunday morning around 5:30 a.m. She lived a very full life, one of ministry with her husband. She has now joined him in Heaven and they are together again and both free of pain. Grandma had been very sick and although her death was not unexpected it is never easy to let a loved one go. It is peaceful to know that she is no longer suffering. Please remember the family in your prayers. The viewing is Wednesday evening and the funeral is Thursday morning.

Click on the picture below for more pictures.

Grandma Cheatham

Obituary (http://www.goodwinfuneralhome.com/obituaryNew.asp#Cheatham)
Frances Esther Cheatham 79, formerly of Franklin, IN passed away early Sunday, August 19, 2007 in her home, following an extended illness.
She was born on February 26, 1928 in Frankfort, IN to the late Rev. Dorsey and Esther (Miller) Schenck. She married Rev. Robert E. Cheatham on June 9, 1952.
She is survived by her five children, Joy (David) Easley of Bradleyville, MO, Cindy (Paul) Easley of Frankfort, IN, Brinda (Jay) Pitcher of Fishers, IN, John Cheatham of Dalton, OH and Retha (Clayton) Jones of Pell City, AL. She is also survived by 13 grandchildren, 5 great-grandchidlren, 2 brothers, Lee Schenck of Lakeland, FL and Rev. Eugene Schenck of Ashboro, NC, and 1 sister, Linda LeBaron of Westfield, IN. She was preceded in death by her wonderful husband of 53 years, 2 brothers, and 1 grandchild.
She graduated from Arsenal Technical High School and Frankfort Pilgrim College. She served as a pastor's wife and a legal secretary for many years.
Services will be at 10:00 am Thursday, August 23, 2007 at Bible Holiness Church, Frankfort, IN with Reverends Mark Mowery and Lonny Dunn officiating. Visitation will be from 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm Wednesday, August 22, 2007 at Goodwin Funeral Home, Frankfort, IN and one hour prior to the service at the church. Burial will be 3:30 pm at Miller Cemetery in Shelbyville, IN. Memorials may be made to: Memorial donations may be made to L.A.O.M. (Latin American Outreach Mission) P.O. Box 401, Frankfort, IN. with envelopes available.

Pregnancy Q & A

I have never posted anything like this, but I though this was pretty funny and quite blog worthy.

Q: Should I have a baby after 35?
A: No, 35 children is enough.

Q: I'm two months pregnant now. When will my baby move?
A: With any luck, right after he finishes college.

Q: What is the most reliable method to determine a baby's sex?
A: Childbirth.

Q: My wife is five months pregnant and so moody that sometimes she's borderline irrational.
A: So what's your question?

Q: My childbirth instructor says it's not pain I'll feel during labor,but pressure. Is she right?
A: Yes, in the same way that a tornado might be called an air current.

Q: When is the best time to get an epidural?
A! : Right after you find out you're pregnant.

Q: Is there any reason I have to be in the delivery room while my wife is in labor?
A: Not unless the word "alimony" means anything to you.

Q: Is there anything I should avoid while recovering from childbirth?
A: Yes, pregnancy.

Q: Do I have to have a baby shower?
A: Not if you change the baby's diaper very quickly.

Q: Our baby was born last week. When will my wife begin to feel and act normal again?
A: When the kids are in college.

Haha! Gotcha!! You thought this was an announcement posting for an addition to the Pitcher family! Well to set all of you wonderers straight - No, is the answer to the question! My Mom actually sent this to me in an e-mail and I enjoyed a few laughs from it and thought you might enjoy as well. Have a great weekend!

I took this pic of Lindsey back in July on a Sunday night after church. For the life of me she would NOT cooperate. I could not get her to stand still long enough to smile at me for one decent picture. I took about 24 pics and this is the best I got with Grandpa S. in the background. She was too busy clowning around and wanting to see the picture that I hadn't even taken yet. She's getting "bad" about that. I go to take her picture and before I have even snapped the picture she is up running towards me to see what the picture looks like. I guess that means I've taken one too many pics of her in the last 18 months and the technology of digital cameras - haha! They do learn some things way to fast that's for sure.

Shaffer / Loper Wedding

Last Friday, my good friend Joanne Loper got married. My brother and I were the photographers. My brother takes ALL of the pictures and I do ALL of the placing as to where people should be for the pictures. I only took some quick snapshots with my own little camera, but thought I would go ahead and share them with you (non-professional). It was a very pretty wedding. The recepion was at Der Dutchman's Amish Restaurant. Congratulations Solomon & Joanne. I wish you both much happiness and a wonderful life together!

Click on the picture below for more pictures.

8-10-2007 Solomon & Joanne Shaffer's Wedding

Mater / Miller Wedding

My cousin Martha Going and her family attended their new pastors wedding this past Saturday. They live in Indiana and came over this past weekend and stayed with my parents. Martha borrowed my Mom's camera for the wedding and I have now posted all 60 some pictures that she took to my picasa web album so that she can download the pictures at home. I thought while I was at it that some of you other blog readers might be interested as well. Enjoy!

Click on the picture below for more pictures.

8-11-07 Mike & Michelle Mater's Wedding

!! BIG GIRL !!

"Wow, what a Big Girl you are!", I told Lindsey as I clapped, jumped up and down and commended her greatly on her accomplishment!

Lindsey went potty in her potty chair for the very first time today.

I don't know if I will ever be able to conquer the whole potty training thing quite as early as my own Mother did, but at least at 18 months, Lindsey has a verrry good idea of the whole picture. She knows all about opening and shutting the lid, tp, and flushing it. Now - - - to just get her to do this all the time, but at least it is a step in the right direction.

I couldn't resist posting this great news that happened today!

I'll also gladly take any suggestions regarding this subject that any of you experienced mothers would like to offer.

Catch up Posting!

I have lots of pictures that I haven't shared with you. Some from a couple of weeks ago and some from the last few days. I hope you enjoy!

Click on the pictures below for more pictures.

Lindsey and I went up to Brian and Janella's house for the day. It was just us four girls. Our daughters and Janella and me. It was scheduled way ahead of time due to our car situation for the two of us to spend the day at their house and to go swimming. It started out as a very cloudy cool day, but the sun finally came out much later. We had the pool 100% to ourselves, which Janella figured would be the case since the neighborhood seems to be mostly made up of working households including the mothers for the most part. We had fun and Lindsey got to experience her first big pool. She did good, but has a very healthy fear :)

Swimming Day 7-25-07

Lindsey received an awesome gift last Saturday. Grandma and Grandpa Pitcher came and bought her a swing set. She absolutely loves it. We had a great day being together despite the horrible heat while the guys put the set together for about 3 hours or so.

~THANK YOU SO MUCH GRANDMA AND GRANDPA ~

~ I LOVE YOU BOTH SO MUCH! ~

~THANK YOU FOR COMING TO VISIT! LOVE, LINDSEY~

We started the day out by going to Wal-Mart and getting the swing. Then we had an enjoyable luncheon/dinner at Johnny Carino's Italian restaurant. We then came home and the guys put the swing together. After the assembly of the swing, it was almost time for them to head home. We went to Graeters before they left town and had some very enjoyable ice cream. A very nice way to end our day. Thanks for coming, we very much enjoyed having you come over.

A Fun Day with G&G Pitcher 8-4-07

Last Saturday night I decided to curl Lindsey's hair, which I don't do very often. I tried my best to get a good picture of the front of her, but as you can tell, all I was able to get was some weird faces and the back of her. Before I could hardly take a breath her hair was going straight after we walked out the church doors into the horrible humidity. We had a farewell get together for a family that is leaving our church due to job change and as you can see Lindsey quickly turned into a rag-a-muffin with the hot weather. It was quite hilarious.

Sunday events 8-5-07

Monday night, Lindsey got a bad boo boo. She actually was burned when she fell and hit the hot iron that Grandma S. had just finished using. She is certainly a toughie though. We knew she was hurt, and she cried a little, but we didn't even know what had actually happened until an hour or so later when I saw it welted up on her face. My poor baby, I felt so sorry for her. She rubbed her little cheek and said, Hot! The top mark was gone completely by Tuesday morning, but the bottom one is much worse and has actually blistered and then partially broke some. I am doctoring it we neosporin and it seems to be helping. She hasn't complained any though and it didn't even seem to bother her when I gave her her bath.
Tuesday afternoon, I was swinging her in her swing outside for a few minutes and she fell asleep. I snapped this picture just a second too late when she woke up after having been asleep only a minute or two. I ended up taking her out of the swing, much her to great dismay and taking her into the cool house and putting her back to sleep. It has been so hot here and she certainly couldn't have taken that heat for her whole nap. She loves he swing though and was in it for a very long time.

Lindsey's boo boo

Well, that's all for now! I hope all of you feel "caught up"!

I FOUND IT & I can hardly believe it :) So Excited!

This one is MINE :)

I can't believe I actually found quite a few of the Little Golden Books that I had when I was little. To top it off, they were found the very same week that I happened to have already blogged about them. I was doing was extensive cleaning this evening and --- There they were :) I had already shopped for two of these books on ebay this week and just hadn't bought them yet ( thank goodness ). My favorite - Where Did the BABY Go? is in absolutely horrible shape - Well, actually just the front cover. The inside of the book is fine, used but ok. I am going to do some repair work on it and it should be just fine. I also had the book Baby Dear. I have posted some pictures for you to be able to see them and also the actual story of Where Did the BABY Go? Hope you enjoy! A walk down memories lane - how fun for me to have found these this very week!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Story of Where Did the BABY Go?

By: Sheila Hayes ~ Illustrated by: Eloise Wilkin

(Directions - Click on the actual slideshow to view the pictures in the format that I normally use and they will be bigger pics if you are actually wanting to read it.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~ ORNERY ~

I think Lindsey's trying to give me a taste of what will be in the near future - like in less than 6 months - the 2's :) ha ha. Tonight I was working in the kitchen and of course she has to be in there with me - not playing with her toys, so I had her sitting on the kitchen counter while I worked. She is very good about sitting up there and I don't worry about her falling off. In fact, she will scoot herself back if she thinks she's getting too close to the edge. Anyways, I was cleaning the microwave out and there it was when I turned around - Lindsey was splashing her feet in the dirty kitchen sink water that I had been using to clean with. Yuck! Yuck! :) She's hilarious and keeps me busy every minute. Too bad, I didn't take a picture, but I was too worried about keeping her clean since she had just had her bath.

Lindsey had her first of this Monday night ~ Bawbaw (aka - Grandpa Snelling) came and when he went to leave she very much wanted to go with him, so she did. That helped Mommy out very much and I was able to get a lot of work done in that hour or so that she spent up the hill at Grandma and Grandpa's house. She did the same thing Tuesday night for quite a while as well and I was able to get a lot more work done. Thanks a bunch!

Click on the picture below for more pictures.

More of July 2007

Where Did the BABY Go?

Help! I can't find her anywhere!!

Where has the time gone? My Lindsey is now 18 months and growing way to fast. She is very smart and understands way more than what I think she does. Sunday was the first time that the three of us ate at home for a Sunday Dinner. We are ALWAYS at my parents or out of town at my in-laws. We were getting ready to pray and then eat and she bowed her head and prayed, saying in her little way, "Dear Jesus, Amen". Not quite that clear, but you've got the picture. She wanted to go outside the other day so I told her she had to put her shoes on and I went to get them. I could only find one and she went right over to her little car and opened up the little box on it and got her other shoe right out. I would have never found it. It makes me think of the Little Golden Book I had when I was little - Where Did the BABY Go?

The little girl looks everywhere for the baby, but can't find her. She looks in the closets, the mirror, but finally realizes that it is herself and she is no longer a baby.

I think I will have to see if I can buy this on Amazon or Ebay for Lindsey. I don't know where mine went to unfortunately.

Sunday night at church, Lindsey participated in the CMB (Children's Missionary Band) Penny March. All the kids go up front and get cups and then walk around the church getting money from everyone to help our missionaries. It's an on going challenge to see if the girls or boys win in the amount of money they collect and it is announced at the end of the service. Jenna, Lindsey's cousin, took her up there with her and held her hand. Lindsey did great and thought it was a lot of fun - not caring a bit as to where I was - she was very brave:) I didn't think she would be doing it this early, but tonight when they announced it I just felt like she was ready and so she went up. The funny part is - she was losing grip on the cup and some one was trying to help her and in the process the cup was dumped in the middle of the aisle, so my Dad had to get down and pick it all up for her. How fun it is to see our children grow and see them accomplish new things and challenges in their little lives. But, oh how sad as well, because - WHERE DID THE BABY GO?

I hope all of you fellow bloggers had a great and wonderful weekend.

Saturday was a work day for us. We, mainly Jonathan, spray painted some items in the backyard for the purposes of improving the interior of our home. It was fun and I actually got to help. We found a little table at a garage sale for Lindsey for only $2.00. It is so cute and we painted it white. We also got some cute bookcases that we painted as well. And of course the louvered doors for our hallway closet were painted, which was the main reason for the painting event.

Sunday was church of course and after church Sunday night we had a Snack 'n Yack get together at the picnic shelter. We honored Joanne Loper, because it was her last Sunday to be with us. She is getting married in less than 2 weeks and will be living in PA at Penn View while her husband finishes studying for the ministry. I love to fellowship with my friends and talk-talk-talk. It's a great time of fellowship and is always enjoyed.

Have a great week!

Click on the picture below for more pictures.

Work Day

Blogging Music :)

Well, I just added music to my blog. How do you like it? Very easy to do, but didn't think it would be. How fun!

Announcement ~ I am blogging from HOME!!!!

Yes, I have Internet at home - as of right now. There were 4 problems the phone company had to fix before our new phone line would work - three outside of our house and one inside of our house. We haven't had a home phone in years because we didn't need one with our cell phones, but we got Cincinnati Bell Zoom Town High Speed Internet, which requires a working phone line. Anyways, enough of that - it works and I've got Internet at home and that's all that matters!!!! YEAH!!!!!! Now to start downloading my pictures here at my house instead of Mom's and I will be in business for blogging! Goodbye for now!

New Family Pictures

Saturday afternoon was the marking for our annual July family photo. Jonathan and I had somewhat regular pictures taken around Christmas time before Lindsey. We are still doing that, but I am going to try and get one each July as well and not as dressy as we would be at Christmas time. During my childhood there are not many professional family photos and I miss that, so I am going to try my best at keeping some type of pattern for our family to enjoy. Bradley, my brother, was the chosen photographer for today. Boy, is it nice to have siblings that can do that type of work. Thanks a bunch Bradley, we sure do appreciate it. The photo session also marks Lindsey turning 18 months in a few days on the 22nd.

To see the enlarged version of the above pictures and a few more - click on the picture below.

Pitcher Family Pic July 2007

Catch up time - - -

I have chosen some picture from late June and early July to share with you. The majority of the pictures are from when our family friend Marilyn came to visit us for 5 days. She actually came to Mom and Dad's to visit them, but I certainly enjoyed being able to spend time with her as well and Lindsey absolutely loved her from the very first moment, a very unique bond was made and they were best buddies the whole time she was here.

Highlights from the pictures I have posted are...

Bawbaw bought Lindsey her 1st Radio Flyer tricycle and it fits her just the size she is and it can grow with her as well. Lindsey had seen it earlier that week and loved it and she got a great big surprise when Bawbaw brought it home to her a few days later. Thank you so much! She loves it a lot.

The next major event in the pictures is the United States Air Force 60th Anniversary "Freedom to Call" TATOO program / air show that we got to attend. That was a lot of fun and Lindsey loved the airplanes.

Mark Wells and Sarah Renner were married on June 30 and my brother, Bradley and I took the wedding pictures. I have shared just some of my snap shots (no - not the professional ones). It was a beautiful wedding that took place at Mark Wells parents home, outside. I was able to capture some good pics after the wedding of my friends the Craycrafts with the beautiful sunset as the back drop. I also got a couple of Lindsey and me. I thought they turned out really neat.

The evening before Marilyn was to leave we went to Newport on the Levee in Kentucky and had a great time. We went out to eat and then we all walked the Purple People Bridge. I have walked the bridge many times, but my parents and Marilyn never had. They really enjoyed. I was able to get some awesome pictures of the Cincinnati Skyline. After we left Newport we took Marilyn to see Fountain Square in downtown Cincinnati, which has just been completely renovated and actually looks like it is still being worked on. The fountain is absolutely beautiful. I also was able to get a great picture of Carew Tower where Jonathan asked me to marry him at the very top of it on April 15, 2000 :).

Click on the picture below for more pictures.

6-26 to 7-2-07

Heartland Bible Methodist Church Camp

Very belated pics of church camp, but here they are...

We went to beautiful St. Mary's, OH to the Beulah Grove Camp for the Heartland Bible Methodist Church Camp, June 18 - 24. We had a great time. Lindsey and I went up on Monday morning and Grandpa Snelling went with us. Jonathan and Grandma Snelling went up on Tuesday evening and arrived a little before midnight. It definitely didn't last long enough and I definitely could have stayed another whole week. I am so happy that Lindsey is getting to grow up going to church camp. I tried to get some good pics - so enjoy!

Click on the picture below for more pictures.

Church Camp 2007

Very Belated ~ Happy Father's Day!

Wow, am I ever late on this one. We left for church camp the morning after Father's Day and I never got around to posting about it because I was in such a rush to try and get ready to go.

There are three great Dad's that I would like to honor. My Dad - Jerry, Jonathan's Dad - Jay, and Lindsey's Daddy - Jonathan!

You are all great Dad's and we Love All of you Very Much!

Click on the picture below for more pics.

Father's Day 2007

Back Home!!

Well, we made the big move --- BACK HOME! :) We have been living with my parents since the early part of November 2006 and we went back home for the first night - last night! We also just got back from a week of church camp and that was a lot of fun, as usual. I don't have internet at home right now so, the postings might be sparse, but we plan on getting it soon. I also have many pictures to share which I will try to share soon as well. Later!

Fun in the water and new hair do with hot sticks :)

Wednesday was busy as it has been lately, but we took a break for some fun. Mom and Dad's washing machine gave up the ghost after about 20 years, so Dad and I went shopping and bought a new one. Grandpa was watering the flowers and Lindsey wanted watered too :) She had a blast running through the water until her skirt and diaper were about to fall completely off and then I changed her into a bathing suit, which worked much better. She was having so much fun that I decided to get out an old pool that was behind Mom and Dad's house and she enjoyed that as well. Tuesday evening I was combing Mom's hair and just for fun put 6 hot sticks in Lindsey's hair. They were only in her hair for just a few minutes and it really did curl it up quick. I was impressed. I also have posted some pics of Lindsey on Sunday after church. She is holding a vintage 40 year old Velvet doll that I bought for her from a lady at our church and I also got her Chrissy.

Click on the picture below for more pictures.

Lindsey - June 2007

Another walk down memory lane

How time flies! I have been going through some pictures from last June in 2006 and it is hard to believe that the events noted below happened a year ago. (blink blink - and the time is gone)

Lindsey was dedicated at church on June 11, 2006. I can't find the pictures my brother took, thus the reason for not having any pictures posted with Jonathan in them. The pics I do have were just other miscellaneous shots taken with our camera, but Bradley was deemed the official photographer for the occasion. I have the pics, just not handy to post them on here.

My last day at Amica, my employer, was June 16, 2006. Lindsey was born on January 22, 2006 and I was able to take an extended leave from work. I then returned on May 30, 2006 for a short time of 3 weeks. I gave them my 2 weeks notice after I had only been back 4 days. That has now been a year ago this coming Saturday.

That good day of June 16, also marks a bad day. That evening we were headed downtown to Don Pablo's on the river to celebrate my brother, Brian's birthday. As we were crossing over the Big Mac bridge going over into Kentucky we had a horrible accident, thus marking the end of that vehicle for us. We survived, but it was a very traumatic time. Believe it or not, we went ahead and went out to eat after the accident ordeal was over with.

Click on the picture below for more pictures.

Misc pics June 2006

Finally

Well, the tile is completely up on the shower walls. Dad did the back wall of the shower on Monday and the two side walls on Tuesday. Thursday evening my brother, Bradley, is going to come and grout it for my Dad, because of his bad shoulder. Then the sealer will be put on Friday or Saturday and then it's ready :) My Dad said he was going to just quit, because when he finished that meant Lindsey would be moving home and that makes him VERY SAD! We're only 1/2 mile away, but there are still times when we won't be together, because obviously we will be living in two different houses. I am so excited about my bathroom getting re done. It has needed it ever since we moved in, which was Dec 2001. We have had continuous problems with the bathtub drain and could usually get it fixed to a certain extent, but this last go around before we came to stay at Mom and Dad's was the worst and it wouldn't drain one little speck. Every drop of water that went in the tub had to be scooped out. I know, that sounds terrible, horrible and disgusting - well, it was. I said, now that we have been at Mom and Dad's this long, I am not moving back home until it is fixed and NOW IT IS:) We took the whole bathtub and walls out and redid all the plumbing. It now drains beautifully! I bought new bathroom decorations, curtain, rugs, towels, etc. all last fall and it's still all in the bag and now I get to use it :) I have been using all of my purple bathroom stuff for 6 1/2 years and boy am I ready for the change. I was able to get new bedroom bedding as well, which doesn't happen very often either. I am so happy with all of the changes, the cleaning, the new paint. A fresh new look! Tuesday evening I got Lindsey's room 100% clean and ready to move back into. (sniff sniff) All of the itty bitty baby clothing has all been packed away. There were still tiny socks in the drawers, bottles, etc. and it has all been cleared out for me to be able to put the big girl stuff in its place. She was only 9 1/2 months old when we came to stay at Mom & Dad's and now she is almost 17 months old. Mom and Dad will definitely still need us and we will be right here for them. With Jonathan's work schedule, they probably think that I didn't even move back home. I can't stand being at home by myself for that long period of time. He usually works from about 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. The reason for the rush for us to move back home before camp is because the Thursday after camp, Mom has company coming for about a week and needs the guest room. I have taken pictures of the bathroom remodeling and will post pictures of the before and after, after it has all been completed. See ya!

Just a pic I took of Lindsey on 6-2-07

Congrats - Pics - and Other Tidbits

Congratulations to Aaron and Gretchen Wetherald!

The wedding was very pretty. I wish them the very best and a very happy life together. I was able to get a few pics and have posted some of them for you to see.

After the wedding, I went with Mom and Dad to Lowe's and they bought their anniversary gift to each other. A new swing for the front yard and a new bench for the front porch. They also bought flowers and pots to put on each side of these two items. We then came home and Dad and I put the swing together. I really like it and it is very nice. We have already spent some enjoyable time out there on it.

Happy 41st Wedding Anniversary Mom & Dad ~ June 10th(this pic was taken last year when they celebrated their 40th)

I Love you both very much and don't know what I would do without either one of you. I wish you many more years of wedded bliss:) (With, I hope, improved health :)

Dad worked on laying the tile in our bathroom shower Monday and it is looking very nice. I have so much to get done this week. I just hope all the pieces of the puzzle fall together smoothly with everything I have to get done this week. Until next time - good bye!

Click on the picture below for more pictures.

Wedding pics and misc pics

Not Lost - Just Buried :)

Wow, I am very swamped and busy. We are trying to get our house ready to move back into by next weekend before we head for church camp. My Dad is working every spare minute on redoing our bathroom. Jonathan has been repainting the interior of our house and he is currently working on the master bedroom. I have bought some new things for the house and am very excited about getting it all back together. When it is all done I will post pictures. Today we are going to Aaron Wetherald and Gretchen Stroup's wedding. I just thought I would post a quick hi and bye since it's been several days. I hope all of you have a wonderful weekend. Sorry, but no pics again - maybe later today after the wedding :)

Mom & Dad Update

Mom . . .
Thank goodness for medicine! I don't know how many times on Monday she said how glad she was that she went to the hospital Sunday night. She was greatly improved. The swelling was still there, but that horrific pain was gone. They have her on Prednisone for 5 days to help with the problem. She didn't even have to take pain medicine during the day on Monday, but by bedtime she was needing it and yes, she took it. She still needs your prayers for a quick recovery and hopefully there will be no further complications and she will get over this in the normal time frame of two weeks.
Regarding Mom's shoulder and the Deltoid muscle not working at all: She had her EMG nerve test on Monday. The report wasn't good and she goes to see the Orthopaedic doctor on Thursday to discuss the results. The EMG that was done is mainly for a base line to re check it in 3 to 6 months to see if there has been any improvement.

Dad . . .
I can't stand seeing my Dad not feel good and especially when it involves his heart. That's just not something you play around with. Today he went to get his blood level checked as he does every Monday because of being on Coumadin - blood thinner. Since he was feeling really bad and having some chest pain he requested to see the doctor as well. Mom and I were both there with him. After much discussion, they are going to do a cat scan on Dad's lungs to make sure that the Amiodarone medicine has not caused any damage to his lungs, which is one of the side effects. Once Dad found out that this was a possible side effect he has been worried about it. He has taken this medicine for years. We are now wondering if (some) of his problems is anxiety over possible lung damage since he has been having such labored breathing and they can't figure out what the cause is. To relieve everybody's mind they are just going to cut to the chase and do the cat scan to answer the question once and for all. If there is no lung damage then they are going to increase the level of Amiodarone for 2 weeks and then do another shock on his heart to see if they can get it back in rhythm.

That is the scoop for now and I will try to keep you informed and updated as I learn more.

My poor mother . . .

Well, the storm strikes again. My Mom can't win for losing. Her arm problem is bad enough, not to mention prior foot problems and hand, carpal tunnel problems and now... She has gout in her right foot. She started having pain Thursday evening and yes, suddenly. She bared it as long as she could and just thought it was a pinched nerve. I thought it was a broken foot or stress fracture and never thinking it would be something like this. She didn't go to church on Sunday because her pain kept increasing and was basically unable to walk. By Sunday night she couldn't walk so, Dad took her to the ER and this is what they found. They gave her a morphine shot, and other pain medicine. There isn't a whole lot they can do, but wait out this attack of gout. Please pray for her. I hate to see her in this kind of pain and especially after everything else she has had to go through in the past year and a half.
Definition:
Gout is a painful form of arthritis that usually affects the big toe. The signs and symptoms of gout are almost always acute, occurring suddenly — often at night — and without warning. They include: Intense joint pain. Gout usually affects the large joint of your big toe but can occur in your feet, ankles, knees, hands and wrists. The pain typically lasts five to 10 days and then stops. The discomfort subsides gradually over one to two weeks, leaving the joint apparently normal and pain-free. Inflammation and redness. The affected joint or joints become swollen, tender and red. The cause of gout is an inflammation in your joint resulting from an accumulation of urate crystals.

Lindsey's 16 Month Pictures

I had Lindsey's 16 month studio pictures taken last Tuesday on May 22 at JC Penney's. I just gained online access to them this morning. She did not want to cooperate in getting her picture taken and it didn't help that she was afraid of the photographer, but we were able to get a few good ones. I ended up choosing a full view picture even though it wasn't the best smile because her 1 yr old picture was a close up. The book that she is holding in a couple of the pictures was actually given to her for her birthday from Aunt Belinda and her family. I always get the smiles by wire option where I am able download the wallet size for memories sake. Where did the baby go? I now have a lively toddler that keeps me busy every second of the day. I love her so much and don't know what I ever did without her.

Click on the picture below to view more.

Lindsey's 16 month pics 5-22-07

Memorial Day Weekend Events

Hello to all! I hope each of you had a wonderful, long, enjoyable Memorial Day Weekend! Saturday, Kimberly Easley graduated from Gods Bible School and College with a double degree. Congratulations, Kim, we are proud of you! We wish you great success. We did not go to the graduation, but we did go down to Kevin and Rachel Easley's house around 2 p.m. for a barbecue (party). We were able to spend some fun time with quite a few of our relatives on Jonathan's side of the family. After we left their house, Ralph, Belinda, Lizzi, & Noah Burke went with us down to Newport on the Levee. We had a great time. We first walked across the Purple People Bridge, walked along the river on Serpentine Wall and all the way back to Newport. While on Serpentine Wall there was a group of about 20 or more kids all dressed up for prom evening and they wanted their picture taken in a group. They asked us and I obliged. It was fun and really neat to get to do that. Jonathan took a picture from the top so I don't have a good picture of the group. I took pictures with 11 cameras. After getting back over to Newport we went to eat at Clauddaugh's and had awesome fish and chips. I do believe they have the very best. We ate there twice last year on Memorial Day weekend and once last September. We like to eat outside on the deck and look out over the river at the beautiful skyline as the sun sets. We ended up not leaving down there until 11 p.m. and then the Burke's still had to travel 2 hours home. Thanks for the great time guys. We love you all and had an awesome time getting to be with you. We'll have to get together again real soon and have some more fun! Lindsey started coughing really bad Saturday night real late so we ended up not going to church Sunday morning in hopes that Lindsey would get some quality sleep instead of having to wake her up for church. She still has her cough, but I am hoping that it isn't anything too major. She started a runny nose 1 1/2 weeks ago and started the cough in just the last few days. She is cutting her 1 year molars, so maybe that's what it is. We went to GBS camp meeting Sunday night for church. Lindsey was in rare form and not in a good mood at all. She maxed out her mommy's patience really quick and I can say that just never happens. We ended up not staying in church very long and just letting her run around outside. We went back over to Kevin and Rachel's after church and stayed for a couple of hours and had a fun time visiting and eating a snack. Lindsey slept the whole time we were there (thank goodness). I was able to let my blood pressure drop back down :). Monday we did almost NOTHING. We had a completely relaxing day. Brian, Janella, and kids came down and we grilled out here at the house. We started out playing croquet in the backyard around 4 p.m. After a few games the guys moved it to across the street in a big flat field and made it game regulation size. They ended up playing till 9 p.m. Lindsey took a long nap (2 1/2 hours) and I took a shorter one (1 1/2 hours). After the croquet games we came inside and had strawberries and ice cream to wrap up the FUN and RELAXING day. Mom did a great job of preparing the food and making it a very un-stressful day - thanks! Today it was catch up on sleep day and back to trying to finish the landscaping in Mom and Dad's front yard. I have planted a bunch more flowers and am almost done. I have just a few more to plant and then the mulching to do. I will post pictures when I am done. While we were outside Lindsey played in the water for just a few minutes, but I didn't keep her in those wet clothes very long because of her being sick. I hope all of you have a great rest of the week. Hope you enjoy all the pics. I am posting two different links of pictures below. One from this Memorial Day Weekend (2007) and one from last year Memorial Day Weekend (2006).

Click on the picture below for more pictures.

Memorial Day Weekend 2007

Click on the picture below for more pictures.

Memorial Day Weekend 2006

Recent & Reminiscent

I had a few new pics I wanted to share with you, but I found a bunch of old ones as well.

My friend Sandy, from my old work place before I had Lindsey, stopped by Wednesday evening. I hadn't seen her since last November. I also didn't know she had ordered a new sports car. It is a Pontiac Solstice and she's had it about two months. I really liked it and so did Lindsey as you will notice in the pictures. It was fun getting to chat for a little while and catch up on some news.

Wednesday afternoon I talked Dad into going to Lowe's to get flowers and Mom went along with us. They bought about 120 flowering plants. Most of them (114) were the 6 pack of annual flowers. They already have tons of perennials (return each year) so we just needed to add the color. I started working on it Wednesday evening and was hoping to finish it Thursday, but no such luck. I have almost used all of those flowers and now we need to go back and buy a few more. I have done all of the planting, but Dad has helped me with the weeding and cleaning up the ground in the flower beds. I LOVE doing this type of work, but company is also nice so it has been nice just having him outside with me. Lindsey of course has been outside with me for a lot of the time as well. She is definetely an out doors girl. Besides the flower bed planting, Dad and I also planted flowers in 7 hanging baskets, 3 of which are for my house. I will be sure and post pictures when we are done, but not until the mulch is down. Wow, what mulch does for a flower bed and in my opinion has to be the brick red color. If you use the black mulch it just looks like more dirt or at least I think so :). I will hopefully complete the project on Friday, if I have time after the house cleaning gets done, because we may be having company spend the night.

I went down memory lane in my picture files and found a bunch I wanted to share. Most are from when Lindsey was about 4 months old - May 2006. There are quite a few from the weekend when Noah was born last May. He is so cute and has grown into such a cute little toddling boy - I love him so much!

HAVE A GREAT MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND!

Click on the picture below for more pictures.

Recent & Reminiscing

FUN TIMES!!

We came home Sunday night from my in-laws in Indiana. We had a great time. We were able to spend 2 great days with them. Saturday evening was Noah's 1 year birthday party. We wish we could see them much more often, but it sure doesn't help the situation when gas prices just jumped up again to $3.49. I got lots of great pics of our weekend.

HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY TO NOAH JOHANN BURKE~Tuesday, May 22!!
You are the absolute cutest nephew - I love you to pieces. You are full of laughs, giggles, and smiles. I hope you have many, many more happy birthdays :) I LOVE YOU!
(Sorry this was posted a day late.)

Monday evening, Lindsey and I went to Concert on the Lawn at GBS. Afterwards we stood around talking to fellow bloggers :) I got some cute pics of Nancy Lambeth's children. Nancy's youngest is only 3 days older than Katrin, Jenn's daughter, and Lindsey is only 3 months older than the two of them. It was fun to watch them play together.

Tuesday, May 22, Lindsey turned 16 months old. I had her picture taken at JCPenney's and Mom went with me. Lindsey did not cooperate with the whole photo shoot thing. She was scared of the photographer and would hardly smile or take her fingers out of her mouth. The one I did end up choosing wasn't the best smile in the world, but it was decent and a full shot, which is what I wanted. Katrin also had her picture taken at a place near our house so we decided to meet up with Jenn and Katrin for a little bit. Katrin had already changed out of her picture clothes, but I forgot to bring extras for Lindsey. I was able to get some cute pictures of them together though.

Well, that's all I have for now. Enjoy the pics :)

Click on the picture below for more pictures.

May pics

Hello from Indy :)

We are at my in-laws this weekend. Jonathan had his first Saturday off since March yesterday, so we were able to come late Friday night. We actually arrived at 2:20 a.m. early Saturday morning. We are having a great time. Noah's 1 year birthday party was yesterday evening. I have taken lots of pics and will post them when we get home. I hope all of you are having a nice relaxing weekend with this beautiful weather. Later!

New Van

Wow, what a week. It has been very busy. In some ways it was a really long week and in others it was really short. I shopped extensively the beginning of this week online. I was doing all the main research and phone dealing because of Jonathan's odd work hours. We left 7 p.m. Tuesday evening for Nathan and Myranda Weavers, in Massillon, OH. We arrived to their new beautiful home a little after 10 p.m. We stayed up talking for a couple of hours till a little after midnight. Then we got up early on Wednesday morning so that the kids could spend a few hours playing together before we had to leave to go pick up the van. We left their house just before 1 p.m. On the way to go pick up the van we found out there was some work that needed to be done to the van. It made me very ill to think we had driven all that way and then it might not work out. God knew what he was doing all along and I am thankful that we have him looking out for our best interest. They ended up fixing the problem at no charge to us, which was a really big deal. The problem it had is very common on those vans and now we don't have to worry about it happening in a few months and having to worry about the money coming out of our pocket book. Because of us having travelled so far to get it they made the dealing very easy and there were no hassles. They came back to the office and told us it would be ready by 6 p.m. at no extra charge. I breathed a huge sigh of relief. God knew that if we had known about the problem before we left home that we wouldn't have ended up with that van because of the cost to fix it. We purchased the van in Medina, OH, which is about 3 hours away. It is a 1999 Chevrolet Venture. It is exactly what we wanted. We wanted and got the leather interior, the extended version to give us more luggage room behind the rear seat, captain/quad seats for easy access to the rear bench, cd player, power sliding door on passenger rear side, etc. etc. :) While we were waiting for the repairs to be done we drove 35 minutes to Cleveland, OH to let Lindsey see Lake Erie and for us to eat at a nice seafood restaurant. Lindsey loved getting to see the seagulls. We did end up finding a really nice restaurant and with some neat history behind it. It has been there for 70 years. I had Atlantic cod and it was scrumptious. That was a neat little detour to our trip and made it a little more fun and eventful. Even though the van is far from new it is in excellent condition and I have to be the happiest van owner in Cincinnati right now. Now I have a van, which I have wanted ever since Lindsey was born :). We are making our first trip in it this weekend. We are going to Jonathan's parents for Noah's 1 year birthday party. I have posted just a few pics of the exterior for all of you who are wondering why I haven't already posted pics. Sorry for the delay.

Click on the picture below for more pictures.

Exterior of new van

Our trip to get our van

More info on my Dad

He is being released from the hospital this evening. They are now wondering if what caused the low pulse rate was due to dehydration while he was up at camp and causing there to be a higher level of the medicine in his body that is supposed to slow his heart rate down. They don't know this for sure, but that is what they are thinking that it maybe was. He has been taken off 2 of the 3 medications for his heart. He will have his heart shocked again in a month and see if it helps. This is good news, but I just hope we see some improvement in his strength. For almost 2 or 3 months he's hardly been able to do anything without getting completely exhausted. Please continue to pray for him.

p.s. We are headed this evening to buy our very first mini-van - Yeah! I am so excited. :) We are going to stay at our friends house, Nathan and Myranda Weaver, in Massillon, OH and then pick the van up tomorrow morning in Medina, OH. We have been without our own vehicle since 4/22 when Jonathan was hit and it totalled our car.

Update on my Dad

Well, he had the Electrical cardioversion done this morning and it didn't work. They used the paddles on him twice. Each time it put his heart back into the right rythm and then went right back into the irregular heart beat. So, they scheduled a Nuclear Stress Test and that has also already been completed this morning. He has been and is very short of breath and they aren't sure why. The stress test came back ok and doesn't look like there are any signs of heart problems/heart attack and the lungs are fine as well. They are taking him off of two of the three medications that he is on for his heart. They are leaving him on the medicine that they just put him back on for the Atrial Fibrillation. I'm not sure what their next step is going to be, but I will post another update as soon as we hear something. Thanks for the comments you have left and for your concern and prayers.

Please pray for my Dad

My Dad is still not doing good. Sunday night his heart rate went down into the 20's some. He is still in the hospital and they are doing the following procedure on him Tuesday morning. It is scary, but necessary. He is on too much medication and they need to try a different route. He will still be on some medication, but we are not sure exactly what at this point. He had this same treatment done about 10 years ago as well.

Electrical cardioversion
A patient under light anesthesia receives an electrical shock through paddles or patches on the chest. The shock stops the heart's electrical activity for a split second. When the heart's electrical activity resumes, the rhythm may be normal.
Cardioversion is not always effective. It may successfully restore regular heart rhythm in over 95 percent of patients, but more than half eventually go back into atrial fibrillation. In many instances, anti-arrhythmic medications are needed indefinitely.

Please pray for my Dad and I will try to post an update as soon as possible.

From Dad & Mom on ...

Happy Mothers Day!

A day late or actually just a couple of hours since it's 1 a.m. something. I have a good excuse though.... My Dad went to the emergency room Sunday afternoon and was admitted. We went to see him and didn't get home till near midnight. I have said before how he hasn't been doing well with his heart, but he has been abnormally bad this weekend and short of breath after having gone to work up at camp for 1 1/2 days. There are a lot more details, but we decided the best way to get real action and for him to get the proper care he needed was to go to the er. So, that's just what they did. The problem diagnosis at this point is that his pulse is wayyyy toooo lowwww, like in the 30's. NOT GOOD. They are working with his 3 different heart medications and can hopefully get it figured out. Please help pray for my Dad. We need him to have a good heart and stick around for a whole lot longer. We need him and he is very special and loved greatly by all of us. Dad, Get Better Real Soon!

Now for honoring my Mothers ~

I have a wonderful mother who I love very much and think the world of. She is one of my very best friends and I know that I could never live without her. She is a priceless, very loving, caring, fun, Godly mother and I wouldn't trade her for anything. Thank You for always being there for me. Now if I can just hope to be to as good of a mother to Lindsey as you have been to me. Happy Mother's Day! I Love You!

I also have a wonderful Mother-in-law! We love her very much! I appreciate her for being a great mother to my husband and raising him in a Godly home. She is a very loving, fun, and caring Mother. I certaily would never trade her for anything in this world either. Happy Mother's Day! I Love You!

Happy Mother's Day to me as well. There isn't anything more in life that I enjoy more than being a Mommy to my precious Lindsey! I dreamed of being a Mother for so long and for a few years it was one of the hardest days out of the year when I thought that I may never become a Mommy. Then we received ou miracle child and I am now celebrating my 2nd Mothers Day. I love you Lindsey ~ for you are the one who calls me Mama ~ music to my ears!

Click on the picture below for more pictures.

Mother's Day Weekend

Cincinnat Reds Baseball Game

We were given free $30. awesome seat tickets to the Reds game for Tuesday, May 8. Jonathan wasn't able to go because of work, but Lindsey and I went and met Johnny Cheatham, Jonathan's first cousin who lives here in Cincinnati. He is definitely the one you want to go with if your as ignorant about baseball as I am. I know the basics and thats it. I said I wouldn't have known if they had won or last every game this season so far. Thankfully Johnny didn't mind giving me a full commentary on all the terminology and players etc. The Reds put up a good fight and it was a good game, but unfortunately they didn't win. I took quite a few pictures, so enjoy. Please be sure and read the picture captions for more details. Yes, Griffey Jr. had a home run during the game for us to enjoy and one other person also got a homerun. Overall we had a nice time.

We sat in section 132 L. It is the one by the letter b at the end of where it says Diamond Club by first base.

Click on the picture below for more pictures.

Cincinnati Reds Baseball Game 5-8-07

!! Happy 67th Birthday ~ Dad !!

Happy Birthday, Dad! Today - Monday, May 7, 2007 - is my Dad's 67th Birthday. We Love You Very Much! You are the best Dad and Bahbah (aka - Grandpa) anyone could ever ask for. You mean the world to me. I hope you have a wonderful day and many more happy years to come. Happy Birthday! All of us were at Mom & Dad's for dinner on Sunday and celebrated his birthday with cake and gifts.

I have posted some pictures from over the weekend. These include pictures of celebrating Dad's birthday, some pics after church on Sunday night, some pics of Friday evening of Lindsey and Jenna, and some pics down memory lane, which I love to do. Enjoy!

P.S. I hope you like my new color scheme. I loved my old one, but decided I needed something a little funner for the summer months.

Click on the picture below for more pictures.

Happy Birthday Dad & Misc Pics

Welcome~new blogger~JANELLA

Another one has broken down and joined the growing crowd. My sister-in-law Janella, Brian's wife, has started her very own blog. I'm putting a plug in for her and giving some free advertising. Her blog address is: http://justlovinourlife.blogspot.com/ Enjoy! Just click directly on the link and it will take you there.(But don't desert me in the process - just kidd'n.)

GBS Messiah Oratorio

Mom, Lindsey, and I went to the GBS Oratorio Thursday evening. It was at the Covenant-First Presbyterian Church in downtown Cincinnati. We met Jenn and Katrin Eckert there. It was good and fun to see friends. Here are a few pics of the evening.

Click on the picture below for more pictures.

GBS Oratorio 5-3-07

Too C-U-T-E

This was taken on 5/21/06 at G & G Pitcher's house. One of my favorites.

A few tidbits...

Hello! I have no great news to tell, but here I am to say hello to all. I've put some pictures on my blog recently of some specific events, but I went through some recent miscellaneous pics and have posted them for you to see.

I love the one of Lindsey playing with her doll house. It was about a week ago and I had just given her a bath. She received the doll house for Christmas but nev