TIME!!!

I have finally found a few minutes of "me time"!!! I thought I'd use some of this time to fulfill my promise of posting photos of our little family (as has been promised for almost 2 weeks now)!! Can you believe it?!?! Amelia will be 2 weeks old tomorrow!! Not much has changed since my last post. We're settling into our new routine. Amelia is still sleeping great... Getting up just a couple of times every night... Maddy is still NOT sleeping well... Still getting up a couple of times a night. HaHaHa. I just bought this toddler alarm clock from Amazon.com today in hopes that we can kick this getting up all night habit once and for all!!! When the monkey's eyes are closed, she is supposed to be asleep, and when they open, it's okay for her to get up. I'll have to let you know in a few weeks how successful we've been. LoL.

I know you've all been waiting, so here are the promised photos:


Checking Amelia out for the first time... All Maddy kept saying was "look at the baby!!" She must have said it 3,000 times in the first hour she was visiting at the hospital. LoL.



Kisses for her baby sister:


Hugs for her baby sister:



Holding her for the very first time... Looking like a proud big sister!!



Amelia's first Halloween. Bad parents that we are, everyone had on their Titans gear except Amelia. We'll have to take another photo once Amelia can fit in her Titans onesies!! :)



First bath... The obligatory photo... Unfortunately, Amelia doesn't seem to care for her baths like Maddy always has. I'm hoping that once she's a little older, she'll enjoy them more!! :)



That's all I have time for at the moment. I have great plans of taking some newborn portraits soon... Once that happens, I'll be sure to post some of those, too!

Happy Friday everyone!

Love you guys!! :)

I haven't forgotten...

...to blog about Amelia's arrival. It's just that having 2 little people is a little bit of work, and, quite frankly, when they sleep (at the same time), I try to do the same!! I was planning to upload some pictures today because Bryan and Maddy went to San Antonio for the day to go to an airshow (thus leaving me with the little person that eats, sleeps and poops... emphasis on the sleeps), but I forgot to get the photos off the camera before they took it with them... I DO have one picture that someone else took on my computer of the 4 of us that I'll let you see as a little sneak peek!! :)


Amelia's arrival was just about as smooth as I could have asked for. You may recall that Maddy came 2 days before her due date, so when I made it TO my due date with Amelia, I decided (after some discussion with the doctor) that it may have been in our best interest to induce labor. This was certainly not my first choice, but with the impending arrival of a houseful of company, the pressure got the best of me. I will say, however, that when I got to the hospital and got hooked up to the monitors, my contractions were already pretty regular at 4 - 5 minutes apart... BEFORE the induction even started. This is actually when all the books say that you should head to the hospital... We may have ended up there that night anyway, even if the induction wasn't scheduled... There were 3 steps that the doctor suggested we try to encourage Amelia to "come out and play" as Maddy began saying to my belly the last couple of weeks. :) The first step was scheduled to take about 12 hours. About 6 or 7 hours in, it was go time!! Shortly after my contractions got so intense, Amelia was here!! Just like Maddy, once the ball was rolling, things happened very quickly. This time it was so quick that the doctor didn't even make it in time!! HaHaHa. I had no idea that a nurse could deliver a baby, but I'm sure glad they are trained to do that!! :) Weighing in at 8 pounds, 8 ounces, Amelia is perfect in every way!!! We couldn't feel more blessed with our happy little family of four!! Oh yeah, and after all of Maddy's sleeping problems (which continue to this day), Amelia sleeps like a dream!! I sure hope that she keeps this up!!

In other news, just days before Amelia's arrival, Bryan and I took some 2-year portraits of Maddy. Here are a few of our favorites:










I hope you're all doing well... Again, sorry for the delayed post... and the lack of pictures of our newest princess!! I'll see what I can do in the next few days about that!!

Love you guys!! :)

Can You Believe...

...That Maddy just turned TWO?!?! I can't believe that she's been in our lives that long!! Here are some pictures from her birthday celebration this weekend!! Enjoy!! :)


Daddy putting together the Cozy Coupe:



Birthday Breakfast!! :)



All ready to head to story time at the library on her birthday!! Her shirt says "Miss October"! :)



Story time this past week was all about fire safety. Some of the firemen came out to read the stories and show the kids the firetruck.



This fireman got in his turnout gear so the kids could see what they will look like if they are ever in a fire. Maddy wasn't too keen on getting too close. Understandably so...


Then, we got to meet Sparky the Firedog. Maddy still wasn't too sure:


Finally, Maddy got to hop in the truck and take a look around:


Opening presents later in the afternoon... A new Thomas the Train book:


A Dora dress-up dress:


Maddy got a new laptop (or should I say LeapTop)!! :)


Big smiles for the stroller set for her baby dolls!! :)


Taking the Cozy Coupe out for it's inaugural ride:


Lovin' it!


Saturday morning in her new Dora PJ's and her birthday girl crown, sash and magic wand!! :)



Saturday I decorated the Dora cupckes... Here's the hair:


Flesh colored icing:


Skin & hair:


Add some eyes:


And a mouth...


Not too sure about everyone signing to her:


Digging in:


:)


Opening presents from her friends... A Dora backpack:


And a Dora bath toy!!


Needless to say, we had a very Dora birthday here!! Maddy was in HEAVEN!!! I'd say that Maddy had a very successful 2nd birthday! I know that we had fun! These special days just get more and more fun the older she gets!! :) Now, I must get some sleep before Dora's biggest fan is ready to face the day!! :)

Love you guys!

Here ya go!

Because several of you have been asking...

And because Maddy is napping...

And because I already have dinner prepared and ready to go in the oven...

What?!?! You've gotta do what you've gotta do while the kiddo is napping...

I thought I'd share my latest pregnancy picture with everyone. Let me start with, I feel GINORMOUS!!! In case you were unaware, ginormous is just about as big as you can get... My belly button has popped out this go-round, which did not happen to me when I was pregnant with Maddy, and I'm extremely self conscious about it. Self conscious and hormonal... Yep... That's a deadly combination!! So, please pretend like my belly button is still an inny... That would make my day!

Ok, so I've put it off long enough...

You know, last time it was much easier to share pictures once I had reached a similar girth seeing as how I'd been sharing them all along. This time around I haven't shared ANY pictures. Most of you saw me pretty early on, but I don't think any of you have seen me recently.

I'm officially waddling now, too. That's fun when you have an almost 2 year old who likes to dart and have you chase her and give you a heart attack because she's running towards the street.

So, you really want to see this picture, huh? Ok... Without further adieu...


So, there you have it!! Amelia is ready!! Oh yeah, and so am I... As soon as my mom gets here! :) Tomorrow marks 37 weeks!! The car seat is installed. The hospital bag got packed last night. Yep... We're pretty much ready... As soon as my mom gets here! Do you hear that sweet baby girl? Your grandmom needs to be here before you make your grand entrance so someone can watch your big sister! Thanks!

In other news... Tomorrow is Bryan's Red Carpet Day. This is a day for the spouses to get to see what the guys do on a daily basis, take a tour of the planes they'll be flying, try our hands at flying one in a sim (we'll see if they let this preggo take a turn), etc. We have been told that the event is "kid friendly", but I've also been told that the first hour or so is nothing but PowerPoint slides. I'm not going to lie. It may be difficult for ME to sit still for an hour of PowerPoint slides. There's no way that I'm going to ask Maddy to do the same. When Bryan has his solo flight, I should be able to take Maddy to check out the plane then, so she won't be missing out. Instead of taking her, I signed her up for a half day at the Child Development Center (CDC) on base. That's the daycare on base. I hope she has a fun day and makes some new friends. I'm a little nervous about sending her, but I know that if I'm going to get anything out of the Red Carpet Day, it's in our best interest to have someone watch her!! Wish us luck!

Well, Maddy's stirring a bit, so I better end this!

Love you guys!!

I have a good excuse...

I am WELL aware that it's been quite some time since I blogged. Don't worry, though, I have an excuse!! Almost 2 weeks ago my computer bit the dust! Bryan and I have been sharing a computer, but let's face it, our computer hours are the same limited hours since trying to do anything on the computer while Maddy's awake is a moot point. LoL. About half of his time that he spends on the computer is studying, so that really doesn't leave much time for us to just play on ONE computer. We have our iPhones, so I've been keeping up with everything on there, but blogging kind of took a back seat. Have no fear, though, our anniversary was this past Thursday, and I got a new laptop from Bryan as a gift!! I got this little jewel from Samsung, and I LOVE IT!!! :)

I had made a little note to myself that had a list of things that I wanted to include in this blog, but most of the items were pictures. I haven't had a chance to upload any pictures to this computer yet, so those will have to wait until another day.

One thing I REALLY wanted to share with you was this site... I wish I'd known about this before Maddy was born, but I'm in luck as Amelia will be here VERY soon!! :) My bald headed children could use these. There are days that I wonder if Maddy's hair will EVER come in. HaHaHa. Speaking of, my neighbor has been watching Maddy when I have to go to my doctor's appointments (which are now weekly). While I was at the doctor this week, I got a picture text message of Maddy with pig tails!!! Shannah decided that it was time to give it a shot. They were actually 1/2 pigtails as Maddy's hair is still too short to get it all up in pigtails, but she sure looked cute!!

An update on Amelia... Amelia seems to be doing very well still. I was a little under the weather (again) at the beginning of this past week, so when I saw the doctor on Wednesday, he put me on a liquid diet for 24 hours. I still don't understand all the logic as I'd LOST 4 pounds the previous week, but I took his advice (for the most part) and tried to stick to clear liquids as much as I could. For lunch and dinner on Wednesday I had broth-y soups. That was as far as I strayed from my clear liquids only diet. I'm pleased to report that I'm feeling MUCH better now!! I'm very excited to meet Amelia!! We are at about 36 1/2 weeks. 36 weeks is technically considered full term. All that means is that from here on out if I go into labor, the doctor will not try to stop it. Amelia has developed enough that she can survive on the outside. 40 weeks is the ultimate goal (and my due date), but 36 is considered "long enough". I am still feeling pretty good. I, obviously, get a little worn out most days, but, thankfully, Maddy has been taking some pretty good naps, so I can lay down and at least rest while she's sleeping. Yesterday and today I cleaned the house. I can't honestly tell you the last time that I did all the chores in 2 consecutive days. For months I've been doing just a little here and there as it's been needed. This afternoon I plan to vacuum out my car (someone who shall remain nameless dumped an entire bag of Trix cereal on the floor) and install Amelia's car seat. For some reason the installation of the car seat seems to seal the deal for me. I don't know what it is, but that just makes it real!! I am praying (and would appreciate it if you'd join me in prayer) that Amelia will hang around until my mom gets here. Our friends, the ones who have been watching Maddy for doctor's appointments, have offered to take care of Maddy if Amelia comes before my mom gets here, but I'd much rather have Maddy at home in her own bed and all that good stuff with my mom. So, sweet, sweet Amelia... PLEASE wait until after October 22 to grace us with your presence!! Thanks! :)

Maddy's birthday is this coming week, and I'm SO excited!! Bryan and I have gotten her quite a few gifts that I'm very excited about!! We got her a set with a baby swing, bouncy seat, car seat, etc. for her baby dolls. My plan is that whenever I'm taking care of Amelia I can encourage her to do the same things with her babies as to keep her involved, but not too hands on... If you know what I mean! ;) We also got her a pink Little Tikes Cozy Coupe!!! She LOVES to play outside, and I think she's going to LOVE her Cozy Coupe!!! I also made her another book that documents the past year of her life (like the one I made last year). That's actually what I was working on ordering when my computer crashed. Thanks, Mom, for bailing me out. I was absolutely SICK when the computer crashed, as I thought I'd lost all my hard work!! I had e-mailed the book to my mom so she could look it over for typos, etc, so she had a copy and was able to order it for me!! :) I'll be sure to post some pictures after Maddy's birthday.

We're having a small get together with some of our neighbors next Saturday evening to celebrate her birthday. It'll just be a small gathering for a myriad of reasons the least of which is that I'm just so dang exhausted all the time!! :) I'm going to make these Dora the Explorer cupcakes for our guests to enjoy... I'll try to get some pictures of these to share!

Ok, well, everyone was napping, but I can hear them starting to stir, so I should end this now. If anyone has any good ideas for 2-year portraits of Maddy, please pass them my way. I need to get those done before Amelia is born, as I'll have to do some newborn and sister portraits then!! :)

Thanks for your patience while I was away!

Love you guys!!

Bryan's writting this one

Hey all,
I figured that I would take a spot on Katie's blog and write about what We shall I say Me did this weekend.
So on Sat I got up and took Maddy with me for my normal Sat morning run around base which this one was 4.75 miles or so. She always enjoys going for runs with me around here plus it's more of a work out as well. While we were doing this, Kaite got to sleep in some more, which she needed cause of a cold she got. Which they gave her some good cough medicine to help it. Once we got back I needed to go out to the store to get the rest of the supplies for the BBQ that I was cooking and WE were putting on for my class on Sun. So I took Maddy with me again so we got to spend more Father/daughter time. At first she wasn't so thrilled with leaving Mommy but she got over it and napped for a few while we drove across town.
First stop was Home Depot to get charcoal for the smoker and a hatchet so I can cut up some wood that I have acquired here. Then it was over to Wally World for the rest of the groceries needed for the BBQ on Sun as well as a special treat for Maddy. I also was able to score me some more 380 ammo which was hard to find this time last year for a good price, but I'm getting a good supply of ammo for what I carry. But back to getting Maddy her special treat. As y'all know that we have been potty training Maddy, she went this past week 3 days without an accident so I told her that we would get her something special for doing that. I got her another Thomas the Train Engine, more specifically Edward the Engine he's the #3 one. So we headed home for the rest of the day. Maddy napped after lunch and then we took her to the pool once she got up cause it closed after today. But while she napped I made a Sausage Fatty. Since I was smoking a Brisket all night for the first time, I figured that I would make one for breakfast and smoke it in the morning.

On to the Sausage Fatty. When Katie first heard about this she wasn't to keen on the whole idea. But once she saw it she was much more sold on the idea. Then she smelled it once it was done and then ate it she was sold on the idea. So whats in this fatty everybody kept asking. Well its a 1 pound sausage chub, rolled flat, stuffed with what ever you want, then either smoked as is, or roll it with a bacon weave over the sausage roll. I put in some pepper jack and some apple wood smoked cheddar cheese, jalapeno's, and some hash browns with peppers and onions in it. Then rolled it up and then rolled the bacon weave on it. Which I then smoked on Sun morning for 3 hours and served it up with some biscuits.
Here are the pics of the Fatty,
finished product.
Even Maddy enjoyed some of it. But mainly her bisckets though.

See we even had leftovers, so Steve you could have had some had you been here for it.

So I did my first overnight brisket smoke. Which was fun but don't know if I will do it again though. If I do it again I won't cook it as long or at least start checking it at about 8-9 hours in. This brisket wasn't my best one by far but I learned a lot though. It got to hot and it just fell apart once it was done. So I had to make chopped brisket instead of sliced which I prefer. But it did turn out good though and everybody said that it was really good. Even Maddy liked it, she had two helpings of it and we all know how she can be a picky eater some times. So I sat up for the first 5 hours or so watching the fire that I build in the pit and drank some beer with a class mate here. Katie stayed out with me for a while then she went to bed. I don't blame her, she needs all the rest she can get.
A couple of pics of the fires from the night.



Well on Sun all we did was enjoy the goodness of the sausage fatty, go to the pool and then have people over for the BBQ. Sorry for no pictures of the brisket but I didn't take any this time. Hope that everybody had a great weekend. I know we did and we all are looking forward to me starting class on Wen.