The Crafton Family

Wow! New Year, New Baby!

2009-03-13T12:14:00.005-04:00

Blog post #2 that never got published. It's a good read with an overall update on us. My next update, I promise, will have pictures! Our laptop finally crashed, seriously crashed, and we are still working to get the most important things off of it...our PICTURES! We do have a new computer though (Thank Goodness!) and I am working to get everything loaded on here, including the new pictures I have taken with my new camera. Now, on to the "catch-up" post... Well, forget the fact that our computer is and has been quite a pooper for a very long time, and forget the fact that I am a very bad blogger, we really are alive! Yes, I said it, we are all alive and well and even expecting a new baby! As my Mom said, this will be another pregnancy for the records books, length wise. No, I don't plan on carrying this baby for more than 40 weeks, we just found out at the first possible moment! So far, the last 5 weeks have flown past and I am now quickly approaching 10 weeks! This new addition is due October 11...or is it the 13th? Going by our dates, the baby is due on the 11th, but by sonogram it is due on the 13th. Dr. B said either day is good for him, since they are so close. So, we chose October 11th! The kids are getting so big! Seth is closing in on his 3rd birthday and we just can't believe it! He is talking up a storm and really doesn't stop unless he is sleeping. (My parents kept the kids for us last Friday so we could go out for dinner and they said he hadn't stopped talking the entire three hours they had him!) He is so smart! He says his ABC's and counts to 14, then it all goes to heck with 17, 18, 14, 16, 17... He has several favorite TV shows and learns more from each of them. He really like Diego and Backyardigans. He knows several Spanish words and cracks us up every time he uses them...the right way no less! I attribute his CRAZY intense imagination to the many books we read every day and "The Backyardigans". It is a cute little show that fosters so much imagination use in him. He tells us so many stories all of the time and really keeps us in stitches. He thinks everything is funny and doesn't hesitate to tell you when he thinks so with a great big fake laugh and a "That's so funny Mommy/Daddy!!!!" He likes to laugh with us about anything we might be laughing at and is such a character. We love him so much and enjoy learning from him even more. Hannah-girl is just growing and changing every minute. She began walking around 13 months old, right around Christmas-time, and hasn't slowed down since. She is starting to run and cracks us up because she looks just like Stacie did when she was her age, with her arms straight out behind her. She has a head full of brown hair and her sweet brown eyes are getting darker every day. Her hair is curly in the back and quite unruly. Getting her to allow me to put even a bit of it up is almost out of the question anymore. She doesn't have much patience for "cuteness" which makes me think she'll probably be quite the tomboy. We are absolutely fine with that, though. She is beginning to talk now, which we thought would never happen. She now has quite a few words, but I think her favorites are Bubba and Dadgy. (Yes, I spelled it the way she says it, and Bubba is much easier for her to say than Seth. What can I say, we live in the South! By the way, this nick-name for Seth is strictly for use by ou little family only!) She loves our animals very much and especially enjoys chasing Parker (our cat) around to "pet" him...if that's what it can be called. Hannah also loves anything to do with her brother or whatever he might be doing. She mimicks everything he does and even maybe a word or two. Both kids get along so well. They play together all day. They do have moments of dislike or disinterest in eachother and moments where they just plain don't like one another, but overall I really can't complain. They certainly make quite the pair. Henry and I are both doing very well. Henry has been working with the Police Athletic/Activities League since October. He is the Deputy in charge of the new Lacrosse league and is helping out quite a bit with Football. It keeps him very busy, but I can truly say I have never seen him more fulfilled. He has definitely found his calling and is going after it full force. We miss him at home, but once these program are up and running flawlessly, we'll see a whole lot more of him. His biggest goal is to have everything running with such smoothness that by they time Seth is old enough, he can join in the fun. Even with all of the time away he still finds time to tell Seth stories each night and put Hannah to bed, as well. His love for our children makes me love him more and more each day. I am doing well. The beginning of this pregnancy has been a bit trying at times. There have not been any complications, but I have suffered from a stomach virus 3 times now. I do not get sick with my pregnancies and I can honestly say that the stomach issues I have had with this pregnancy are not baby related. (I also know this now because we have managed to share it with my Mom and Sister - sorry guys!) So, while I feel bad to have passed it on, I felt vindicated a bit because I was afraid I'd have quite the struggle on my hands. Fortunately, we are treating the kids and getting them well and I am not going to work again until I am sure I am well. I think that is where I have been picking it up from. Speaking of work, I have been working on a very limited basis since right after Thanksgiving. I am enjoying being at home again and can't wait until I can quit for good. I do work every now and then, but try not to work too often. Now, with the new baby coming I am trying to keep it down to once or twice a week because I am finding that I am so tired after working that I have no energy left over for my kids...not fair! So, that is the long and short of it. There is so much to catch up on that I probably won't. We did take Seth to Disney for the first time in January. He had a blast and Hannah had fun staying with my parents...even though she was sick. I will attempt to add pictures to this post, but because of this comptuer and its issues I won't promise anything. I will do my best to update again soon. After all of my blog stalking, I am getting motivated to do a better job at keeping up with our blog. We'll see.

"Connor's Amaizing Corn Maze"

2008-10-26T21:42:00.004-04:00

This post is really old but, since it was never published to the blog and since I am trying to get motivated about updating the blog again, I thought I'd finally publish it, sans pictures! Last Saturday Henry and I took the kids, my parents and sister to "Connor's A-maize-ing Corn Maze" in Hilliard, just northwest of Jacksonville. (Check out the link!) It is a very nice family farm set up in the fall with a pumpkin patch, hay ride, farm animals, etc. I was so excited to be spending some time outside in the nice "fall" weather with my family. Little did I know that the 20% chance of rain meant that 100% of Hilliard would see it! It didn't rain hard or for very long, but it was cold for a while...until the sun came up! We walked around for a bit until the rain stopped and then decided the first thing we should do was get Seth and Hannah on the Cow Train ride. I was excited to be able to take Hannah on this ride, until I saw what I'd have to (attempt to) sit in. It was very quickly decided that Aunt Stacie would take Hannah and Henry would take Seth. (Henry was very sore after this ride as the sides of the "cow" were digging painfully into his ribs. He had the strength to pull the sides apart a bit in order to fit in with Seth on his lap. Even Stacie had no easy time of getting into or out of the ride. Did I mention it was meant for children under the age of 12 and weighing no more than 100 pounds?!?!?) As you will see from the pictures, Hannah had lots of fun, Seth did not! I am not entirely sure why, but Seth is nervous about a lot of things these days. (Halloween should be LOADS of fun considering his fright when it comes to masks! We'll find out in a few days!) Anyhow, the day progressed and we explored the farm, fed the chickens, pigs, ducks and goats, and petted the bunny. We went on a fun (5 minute) hayride and fed a bunch of (huge) cows and ate some homemade icecream. After we were done with that we headed over to the pumpkin patch to take a few more pictures and pick out a pumpkin. Considering it was the end of the day and the kids were exhausted I think we got a couple of ok pictures, although I'm not sure about the devilish look on Hannah's face in many of them. All in all we had a wnderful time and got a really nice (overpriced - WalMart has pumpkins 2 for $6.00!!!!!) pumpkin for the big day. Then, today we went to the Sheriff's Office Annual Family Day picnic. It was the first time we have gone since we had the kids and it was really fun. There were "big jump things" (as Seth called them), a wild train ride, good food and our favorite part, pony rides! No, Henry and I did not have a chance to ride the ponies, but Seth did and LOVED it! We got a couple of pictures, but they really don't do any justice to the smile he had on his face the whole time. After all the that fun who would have thought it would get any better, certainly not us! Well, not us until Seth gave a huge reason to smile. He was winding down, getting ready for Henry to take him up to bed when he pushed Henry forward and put his arm behind Henry's back. It was the sweetest thing i have ever seen! In the past few days he has taken to sitting really close to me when I am getting ready to put him to bed and he'll look up at me and say very sweetly, "Awww Mommy! I love you so much!" I amlost cry every time. It never gets old.

No excuses!

2008-10-13T20:17:00.024-04:00

As the title says, no excuses! We have been busy and things for me have been a bit topsy-turvy. The kids are growing like weeds and changing faster than "Quick Change"! I have gone back to work and have been working for about 7 weeks now. I miss my kids terribly and do all I have to do to get through each day. I am trying/hoping to find something to do at home so I can get back home to my babies soon! We'll see what happens! Henry is great. He hurt his shoulder a week and a half ago and is on light duty but he is great! He is working at the Police Athletic League and loving it. We had a nice summer and I didn't take nearly enough pictures of the kids so I'll share the best of the best. PS - As of this email Hannah is cruising along everything, almost standing on her own and trying to walk. She has two teeth and is trying to get one or two more...finally! She has the best personality and really enjoys driving her brother crazy. Seth is absorbing everything these days, so much so that we REALLY have to watch what we say, even when we think he can't hear us. He has come up with a few doozies lately! Of course, like the fantastic parents we are we TRY to hide our laughter while disciplining him and then bust out laughing two seconds later. Not the best parenting ever but if you could just see his sweet face! I'll promise not to promise to try to update on a regular basis. I'll do what I can is all I will say! A few of hannah's classic faces! (June 2008) Several of the kids together! (The really do love to play together!) Hannah's hair styled with "all natural products"...otherwise known as whatever she was eating for dinner that night. August 2008 A few of Seth... Watching TV with his pal Connor. Helping Daddy "Ga-poom" "Seth Smile!" Well, that's all for now! (If you ever want to see a picture bigger, just click on the picture.)

Playing Catch Up

2008-08-18T09:26:00.004-04:00

Well, I wrote this quite a while ago, but thought I'd post it just because. We have just experienced our first real scary illness with Seth. While he only had a virus (confirmed twice at the doctor's office), it was really scary. Seth began running a fever and with 24 hours of the first visit to the doctor it had risen to 105 degrees. Yes, that says 105, it's not a typo. Of course, Henry and I were very nervous and upset and called upon the best nurse in the world, Pat, for advice. She talked me through what we had to do over the span of about two hours. By the last phone call with her Seth's fever had come down to 102.8. It took a dose of Motrin, a Popsicle, two apple juice boxes and 3 baths to get it down that much. Henry ended up taking him to the doctor on Sunday morning and he was still fine, with the exception of the fever, of course. Sunday afternoon the fever broke. He took a 5 1/2 hour nap and when he woke up, you could tell he was feeling a bit better. We really knew he was feeling better when we were sitting at the dinner table eating. Seth asked for a slice of cheese and since he hadn't really eaten much in almost 3 days we obliged. Well, our little boy began ripping the cheese into tiny pieces and said, "I count them." He then proceeded to count to eight...IN SPANISH! HE didn't miss a number and did it more than once. I laughed so hard I cried! He was so proud of himself and we are so proud of him. I know that TV isn't great for kids, but he sure gets more out of it than I would have imagined. On Tuesday, July 29, Hannah's first tooth FINALLY arrived! It is one of her bottom teeth and as of now has come about half way out of her gums. She looks so cute with just one tooth! We have found the baby seat for Seth's rocking horse. Hannah loves to sit on it and "bounce". Her version of bouncing consists of rocking her head back and forth in a very quick motion. I am trying to get a video of it because it is just too cute for words! Hannah is also trying to stand up on her own. She will be crawling around on the floor (which she also does the "right" way now!) and out of nowhere try to stand. Of course, it looks like a failed handstand, but she loves to try. She walks around holding onto anything she can now. I have a feeling she's be walking on her own before she turns one! As for me and Henry, we're doing well. Of course, I should mention that if it isn't one thing for me, it's another. This time it is my Thyroid! Seriously, that's how I feel these days. I don't know yet if I have hypo- or hyper- thyroidism, we just know that my "levels were out of range." Of course, this is not a big deal. It is easily taken care of either way, it is just frustrating. Hypothyroidism runs in my family, so no one was really surprised to hear I might have it now, except for me of course! Oh well, I'll deal with this just like I have everything else...it is what it is and cannot be changed. I'll take whatever is prescribed and move on with life as normal!

"I am, Mommy!"

2008-07-17T14:49:00.006-04:00

A regular conversation in our house now goes a bit like this: "Seth, do you want to have breakfast?" "Um, I AM, Mommy!" "No, you aren't yet. What do you want to eat for breakfast?" "Um, I am!" "Seth, do you want yogurt?" "Um, I am, Mommy!" If you haven't figured it out, he is trying to say "I do!", he just doesn't! He also hasn't figured out how to use the word "me" yet. If the dog licks him it is "Lia lick you!" He cracks me up! Seth's vocabulary grows by leaps and bounds every day. I can always tell when he has been listening to us because he'll use words we don't typically use in a sentence to him. Some things he comes up with are so funny. One evening recently we were watching a TV show and there were babies on it. He saw a baby crying and looked at me and we had the following conversation: "Baby crying, Mommy." "Yes, the baby is crying, but he's ok." "Mommy get one." "Mommy get one what, Seth?" "Mommy get 'nother baby?!?" "You want Mommy to have another baby?" "Yeah, Mommy get 'nother baby!" "But, we already have baby Hannah." "Mommy get 'nother baby." "Ok, Seth! Whatever you say!" (with eye crossed and tongue sticking out as if choking!) Hannah is now our little mover! She is still not crawling on her hands and knees, but she is extremely quick on her belly still. She also is now pulling up on everything!!!! Seriously, if she can get a grip on it, she stands up using it for support. Not only is she standing, but she has begun taking a step or two to get where she wants to go. She loves all of Seth's toys and tries to get up on the ones you can ride on. I helped her sit on one yesterday and she stayed there for a while before falling over (I was right there)! Hannah still doesn't have any teeth and the drooling has subsided...thank goodness! She eats her weight in baby food everyday, and wants so badly to be a big girl that she now eats "puffs" and drinks, ok dribbles, out of a sippy cup. Otherwise, life is crazy as usual. I am in the process of tyring to go back to work. This has proven to be very difficult, as the job market in St. Augustine is very limited and with gas prices where they are, the drive to Jacksonville is out of the question, unless of course the salary is $100K! Henry is busy with work at the Sheriff's office and our HOA. Both jobs seem to keep him quite busy, but he does a great job at juggling both and still manages to spend time with us at the same time. Hopefully things will slow back down a bit after school begins in the fall. I'm still in the process of trying to go through all of the pictures I have taken in the last month and a half, so bear with me as I get the all uploaded!

Our Drama Queen!

2008-06-25T13:23:00.005-04:00

Well, Hannah Grace continues to grow and change. She is an incredibly fast learner and keeps us on our toes! And, in keeping with tradition, she is moving right along in the development department! She has been crawling for quite some time now, well, army crawling. She is getting EXTREMELY fast now. One second she's in front of me and the next she's across the room! We have taken out some of Seth's old "baby" toys and bought a couple new ones for her and she is sooo not interested in them! She is more interested in Seth's cars and tools and stuff. It drives me nuts! While none of his toys are too small for her to be playing with, it still makes me nervous for her to play with them. So, on a little Seth side note, he now has "big boy toys" in his room to play with and "universal" toys downstairs. Back to Hannah, on Saturday night I noticed that Hannah was starting to get up on her hands and knees and rock back and forth. I told Henry that it is time we drop the mattress in the crib, and being the good father he is, he agreed and said he would do it in the morning because it was so close to bedtime. Well, wouldn't you know that Sunday morning when I went into her room to get her, she was sitting up on her knees looking out over the side of the crib! It was really so cute and where was the camera???? Downstairs!!!!! So, Sunday evening Henry got his tools out and dropped the mattress 2 levels. As we were putting Hannah to bed he said to me, "You know she's going to stand up now that we have lowered the crib, right?" Darned if we didn't turn around and find her STANDING...staring out over the side of the crib at us with the biggest grin on her sweet little face! What a monkey! Now, she is crawling around and trying to pull up on everything! She loves to stand up, holding onto your hands, and bounce. She gets the biggest smile on her face and you can see just how proud she is of herself! And if you thought that was the last bit of news on Hannah G. you are wrong! Yesterday I left Hannah and Seth with my neighbor Amy for a couple hours. When I got there to pick the kids up she (Hannah) had just woken up. She was extremely happy to see me and sat with me while I hung out with Amy for a bit. To keep the story short and details shorter, I will just tell you that after a few minutes Hannah began to fuss because she was hungry. I sat her on the floor and walked away to fix the bottle. Well, I guess eh panicked and started to cry. She let out one of those loud screams and then it was immediately followed by the "Silent cry" - mouth wide open, no sound coming out and no air going in. This went on for what seemed like forever so Amy picked her up. We both tried to blow in Hannah's face to make her breath and she wouldn't. Then, her head just fell onto Amy's chest. At first we both thought she had fallen asleep really fast, but then I realized that Hannah had actually passed out! Yes, you read that right, she passed out! Of course Amy and I both got very scared because we noticed that for a very short moment Hannah had actually begun to turn blue and we almost called 911, but then Hannah woke up and was back to 100% within a couple of minutes. She was still hungry so I fed her and then I called her doctor. As always, Nurse Pat came to the rescue and said that what had happened was that Hannah had had a Breath Holding Spell. Yes, there really is such a thing, no I had never heard of it, and yes, there is every possibility it will happen again! The good thing is that there really is no risk of these spells harming her and Nurse Pat gave me some instructions as far as how to try to prevent them and how to deal with them if/when they happen. While I am glad I was there when it happened, I am even happier that Henry was not there. We all know Henry to be a very calm person, cool and collected even, but NOT when it comes to his babies! I think that's what makes him such a great father! So, in the last 24 hours we haves talked the heck out of what happened and I have explained to him what to do if this happens again. He is not comfortable with the thought of it happening again, neither am I for that matter, but it is something we may have to deal with. The Breath Holding Spells are reflexive and this is when they develop, at this age. From the things I have read they will peak by age two and should be gone by age five! Lucky us, right?!?! So, now we need to make sure not to give in to her when she has these spells, especially if it is in response to a "fit." Nurse Pat told me that some of the children who have this reflex reaction will actually learn how to use it and well, we don't want that! All in all, Hannah is great! My Mom is looking for the book by Dr. Dobson about raising a Strong Willed Child. She gave it away a while ago and now we both wish she hadn't, as it seems we will have a very strong willed little girl on our hands!

Seth's Big Day

2008-06-16T21:45:00.009-04:00

A few conversations with the birthday boy: Mommy: "Seth, how old are you?" Seth: "I'll be two!" Mommy: "Seth, today is your birthday party, how old are?" Seth: (a little more emphatic) "I'll be TWO!" Mommy: "No, hold old are you?" ("Say two!") Seth: "Um, two! I'll be two!" Mommy: "Seth, what's your favorite color?" Seth: "Geen." Mommy: "Seth, what color is the car?" Seth: "Geen!" Mommy: "No, it's red." Seth: "Oh, red!" (repeat with all colors...except for yellow on occasion!) Mommy: "What does a (insert animal) say?" Seth: "(Animal) say (insert appropriate noise)!" Mommy: "What does Daddy say?" Seth: "Daddy say 'Hey buddy!'" Mommy: "What does Mommy say?" Seth: "Mommy say 'I luh loo!'" (with the drippiest, sweetest sound to it!) Mommy: "What does Hannah say?" Seth: "Hannah say 'WAH WAH WAH!'" Mommy: "What does Seth say?" Seth: "Seth say 'I luh loo!'" (again with the drippiest, sweetest sound!") (This promises to be a long post so I apologize in advance! I want to make sure I have certain things recorded!) Seth is now two years old and I cannot believe it! I knew the time would fly, but never this fast. I was talking with my Mom and Dad yesterday about how different it is for them watching me with my kids and telling me how much they missed watching me grow up and that made me wonder, how much have I already missed in just these two short years? So much has changed that I don't even know where to begin. I guess the first place is bedtime. Our bedtime routine (if we ever really had one) was always pretty set in stone. The only real routine thing about it was that Henry HAD to put Seth to bed. As Seth began to talk it turned into "Daddy rock." And Daddy rocked each and every night (as long as he wasn't working). Some nights Seth would ask for me and then pitch a fit for Daddy. I must admit that my feelings were always a bit hurt...that is until recent weeks. After moving Seth into his big boy bed (or "Seth's bed") we began to try to put him down without much rocking, if any at all. We also began saying bedtime prayers with him on a regular basis. Now, bedtime is split 50/50, and sometimes 60/40 in favor of me! A few nights I had to put Seth to bed without Henry and I tried singing to him again. (He had denied me our siging time for many months until now!) It worked. We sang a few songs and then I told him goodnight and he went off to sleep. Now when he wants me to put him to bed it is "Mommy lay." (In other words, Mommy lay with me.) So, we go upstairs and say prayers. Then Seth sweetly turns to me and says "Mommy, sing Sunshine." (You are my Sunshine) I sing "sunshine" and then I used to just sing a few other songs. Well, in the past couple of days I was curious to see what he would say if I stopped with "sunshine", if he knew to ask for the other songs. Sure enough, he looked at me and said "Jesus loves me." So I sang that and "I am Jesus little Lamb." I cherish bedtime now. Naptime, too, for that matter. He is very good for me and allows me to put him down without singing if I need, but he also knows I'll sing each song once and then it is time for sleep. We recently let our cat back inside (long story) after quite a long absence. I guess Seth forgot we had a cat because when he saw him he shouted "Kitty Cat!!!!" I told him, "Yes, remember, that's Parker." Seth then replied, "Parker!" A while later we were downstairs and his enthusiasm about Parker had not let up. He was so funny because all he wanted to do was lay on him. Then, Hannah became interested in Parker and Seth got very possessive. "No Hannah! My Parker!", he said. It was too cute! Of course, as with all children there is something new each day. Some days the new "things" are not so nice, but mostly they are so much fun! Hannah has started to make the same silly face Seth did when he was this age. Seth thinks it is so funny! Now, he walks around making the face as well! Of course, as with most kids, I have not been able to catch the faces on camera yet, but I am determined to and as soon as I do I'll share with you all! For now, do you remember this? Seth was just shy of 8 months old when this was taken. I found it! Here's Hannah's funny face! We have cherished every day with our little boy and cannot wait for each new day and each new thing he does or says. If I could have a tape recorder running 24 hours a day, for all of time, I would do it. There are too many precious moments during the day that I am sure I over look a few of them. I can truly tell you that Henry and I marvel at this incredible gift we have been given, the gift of raising the two most beautiful and wonderful children in the world!

A Fun Weekend!

2008-06-10T12:26:00.008-04:00

We had a really fun weekend this past weekend. The kids and I started it off on Friday by going to the Splash Park at the St. Augustine Beach Pier. All of our kids had a blast! I think MaKenzie spent the most time in the water while the big boys played mostly in the sand. Then, as boys will do, they both started to incorporate the sand and water play into on activity. It just tickles me to watch these little guys as they find ways to get the sand into the water. (Stealing other peoples tools and buckets, and the occasional dump truck is not beneath them! Of course, when you leave your stuff just laying around, it seems to become community property anyway!) But, as they say, boys will be boys! It was so much fun and made a great start to the weekend. We'll be doing this pretty frequently, so I'm sure you'll be seeing more pics of wet and sandy kids as the summer wears on! (Did I mention how great it is during these hot Florida days...and we haven't even hit the worst of it yet!) Saturday we had a very nice visit with my Mom and her high school friends, Lori and Margie. Mom brought the girls down to visit and meet her grandbabies. (I'll add a few pictures when I get the from Mom's camera.) They seemed to enjoy themselves at our house and had GREAT entertainment! Seth was in rare form and put on quite the show. All he kept doing was throwing himself onto the floor and screaming "OH NO! I fall Down!" It was so funny! We're not sure where the energy came from, but we didn't really care because it was so much fun! Then, after church and naps on Sunday we went over to the house of a family who used to go to church with us. To make a long story short, they have been taking their 4 year old son to Margo's story time at the library for over 2 1/2 years and only just recently made the connection between her and Henry! Well, we had a blast! Margo, my Mom and Dad were all there. We took the kids down to their Paddock to meet the horses. Seth was quite interested until the horse started making noises and getting a little close to him. Then, he wanted down! Hannah, on the other hand, was completely in love. She was not afraid at all! She had a grand time trying to rip the horses nose off. Thankfully, Romeo was sweet and just let her. Romeo also fell in love with my Mom. She was wearing her patchouli oil and I guess Romeo was way into it! He followed her and kept nuzzling her face and chest with his head. At one point he had his whole nostril on her cheek! It was hilarious and I must say I was very impressed with my Mom...I didn't think she was very fond of horses! I guess I was wrong! After Seth was "all done" with the horses, he got on Sean's "John Deer Tractor". I didn't think he would know how to make it go, but he quickly figured it out and spent the better part of 15 minutes just going in a circle. The smile on his face was priceless! He absolutely loved it! The only way we were able to pry him off of there was by telling him we were going swimming. Of course it worked! He loves swimming! Well, he had so much fun and swam...ok, played so hard that he was wiped out! (He slept until 11:00 the next morning!) Anyway, we had such a nice time catching up and swimming and having a yummy bar-b-q dinner! And, last but certainly not least, we had a nice visit with Aunt Melanie, Uncle Adam and Isaiah and Elijah. Melanie and Adam are our kids Godparents. They were in town visiting family (and us!) before Adam's Vicarage is up and before they go back to Indiana at the end of the Summer. It was our first time meeting our new god-son, Elijah. He is so precious! What a sweet baby her is...and big like his big brother was! Melanie and Adam came over for dinner and we spent the evening catching up, laughing at our kids antics and just having a really nice time together. I can only pray that when Adam is called to a church next year it is at least somewhat close to Florida, if not in Florida! (Sorry for stealing the pics, Mel! I realized a bit too late that I didn't get any pictures of the littlest man!)

A visit from Life Flight

2008-06-04T14:46:00.005-04:00

Yes, you did read that right...you just read too far into it! We went up to Henry's school today to see our neighbor, Joe, a Life Flight Trauma Nurse, do a show and tell for the 8th graders. It was really neat! The helicopter pilot treated us all to a couple of fly by's and then a fancy landing. The kids seemed really impressed..ok, until they were all dusted, but that's ok! It was a very impressive landing and very interesting presentation from Joe. The kids actually behaved themselves (the 8th graders were good, too, and asked lots of interesting questions!) and to my surprise Hannah was not at all scared. Seth, on the other hand was a bit afraid. He really liked seeing it in the air, but when the helicopter was landing and blowing up all of the dust and grass he became frightened. He turned to me and started asking "Make helicopter go way, make go way Mommy, pease!" It was really so cute, the first 10 times. He then proceeded to repeat himself for the next 30 minutes. He would tell me all about how it flies and then he'd look at me in all seriousness and say, "Make go way, Mommy!" Finally, it was time for us to go. Seth was quietly insistent that if the helicopter was not going to go away, then we needed to go in the car. So, I finally gave in and took the kids to the car. We waited there...in the beautifully air conditioned shade...while the guys took off again and then we came home. All in all it was a great beginning to our day! Thank you Joe, Matt and Bernie for coming to the school and giving such a great presentation! Here's a couple of pics. Because Seth was a bit afraid we only got a couple. The other pictures are just from the last couple of days...just thought they were cute and wanted to share them as well!

Pictures, Pictures and more Pictures

2008-05-29T11:51:00.006-04:00

End of April Slideshow

Gabe's Graduation

May Slideshow

Our "Scooter" and long awaited update

2008-05-29T10:51:00.002-04:00

Well, you can tell that Hannah's appointments with the pediatrician are spreading out a little more because my updates are spreading out. Sorry about that! First, a Hannah update. She is now 6 months old! It is amazing how fast the time has gone by. She is such a good, sweet baby. She smiles all the time and watches her brother like a hawk...hence the new (however temporary) nickname of "Scooter". Yes, our Hannah is now on the move! She completely skipped the sitting on her own milestone and went straight to crawling, well, army crawling. The first time I noticed actual movement (aside from rolling around) was around the 13th of May or so. Since then, she has gotten so quick! All she wants to do is keep up with Seth. She follows him around like a little puppy. She gets into all of his toys and just generally wants to be a big girl already. She still loves her jump-a-roo and her bouncy seat and swing, but her new favorite past-time is to be on the floor where she can explore. Everything goes in her mouth, so I thank God every day that we do not have any tiny toys to worry about yet. She loves Seth's cars and really loves his tools. I have a feeling that she will be the prettiest tomboy you have ever seen as she grows up! Hannah has now been successfully weaned and is on formula full time now. It was a sad day when I realized we had nursed for our last time, but a happy one as well. I think our nursing relationship got started off extremely rough when she had to have a bottle so early. As a big supporter of having a good mother/baby breatfeeding relationship, I felt that ours just wasn't and was extremely happy to have given her 6 months! She is loving her bottles and is also eating solids now. I started her around 4 months and 3 weeks old and she has been eating like a champ ever since! She's now up to two feedings of solids a day and loving it. Along with weaning came a blessing...sleeping through the night! WHOOPEE!!!!! We could not be a happier pair of parents! Finally, Hannah had a well-baby check-up yesterday. She is now 26 1/2 inches long and 16 pounds 11 ounces. She is holding strong in the 75% for both height and weight. The doctor was pleased with her growth and not at all concerned that she has skipped the "Sitting Up" milestone. He said she is very strong and just like her brother, very busy! Seth is the coolest kid ever...of course, we are a bit biased! He is so much fun and keeps me on my toes all day long now. If he isn't climbing ("I kiming!") onto something, he's falling off of something ("I fall!"). If he isn't ignoring his sister, he is practically smothering her. If her isn't watching Handy Manny (his new favorite - "Han Mee") he's watching Cars ("Reece Car Pease!"). He is speaking in sentences now and is taking the term "tape recorder" way too seriously! He repeats EVERYTHING and if he doesn't repeat it right away, he is saying the words or using them in sentences later. He loves to run ("I runnin!") and he loves to watch his "Daddy go bye-bye keef car!" (keef car = police car) He has begun to have a hard time learning how to share and truthfully, I have a hard time explaining it. He is also a mischief maker. He likes to antagonize his friends every now and then, especially if he isn't getting his way. And, as all kids do, he only wants to play with his toys if his friends are playing with them. He also "needs" everything now. ("I need dat ty-tol!" or "I need dat attul box!" or "More attul box pease!" or "I need dat toys!" translation: dat = that, attul box = apple juice box) I really wish I could have a tape recorder recording 24/7 because he is so entertaining! He comes up with something new every hour! For instance, last night I was busy with Hannah and he got into my breatpump. He grabbed a bottle with the attachments on it and began to explain to me how to use it (I haven't used it in months)! It was hilarious! After he was done with his explanation, he began to use it as if it was a bull horn, mooing into it! I thought I was going to die and all I could was watch while Hannah fussed and drank her bottle in my lap! On a more personal level, Henry and I are great! He is working like a mad man. We are both anxiously awaiting his summer schedule because it will mean longer days, but more days off...if that makes sense. He just made the bomb team and is looking forward to their training and going to all the schools he can. (The only time they will touch "live bombs" is if it is strapped to a person, otherwise they use a robot. He won't do any of that until he has gone through all of the appropriate schools, either!) He is also busy busting his behind trying to get in shape and lose some weight. He's done a great job so far and looks fantastic! He began following Weight Watchers with me when I joined and has lost around 25 pounds or so, to date. I am doing very well. I have lost 16 pounds and am proud to say I exercise 5-6 days a week now. This is totally new for me and I have impressed myself with my abilit to stick with it. As for my goal of running a marathon, I think it was a bit lofty! I am still holding that as a goal, but it will be a long term one. Right now I am just working towards keeping up with Jennifer and Nicole. They have been a huge support to me as I work my way to meeting my goals. They definitely keep me going, especially when I feel like quitting! (Thank you from the bottom of my heart, Girls!) We had a very busy month this month so I will post a few slideshows in a separate post. Between Gabe's graduation from FSU Law School (We are so proud of you!), Mother's Day (We love you both so much!), Jen's graudation from Florida Coastal School of Law (Congratulations Jen!) and various other holidays and gatherings we have been very busy! I'll make the promise that I seem to have a hard time keeping, but one of these days I'll keep it...I will try my hardest to update more often! Our love to you all!

The Jacksonville Zoo - April 20, 2008

2008-04-28T15:39:00.005-04:00

On Sunday, April 20 we decided we needed a family day and went to the zoo. We were treated to the zoo trip by Margo and Art who have a membership! So, on Sunday afternoon off we went, Henry, me, the kids and Margo. It was a beautiful day for a stroll around the zoo. Seth had so much fun. He got to see so many animals. Fortunately for him, Margo (a.k.a. Mama) was there to show him everything there was to see. She pointed everything out and told him a bit about each animal. It was really so sweet! My favorite moment was just a few minutes in to our walk. Seth noticed that all of the animals he was seeing (at first) were laying down. I guess this frustrated him because he then began shouting at all of them to "GET UP!!!" Of course he shouted even more if we laughed at him...which we did! He was so insistant that they all get up! A relativeley new attraction at the zoo is the "Stingray Bay" ("All barb have been trimmed, much like a dogs toenails, for your safety"...no joke, that was an actual disclaimer!). Basically, you pay a couple of dollars to go under this big tent with a very large, shallow pool and "pet", or attempt to pet, the stingrays, much like you would find at Seaworld. Of course this fascinated Seth. We, Margo and I, took our turns trying to pet the rays but to no avail! The rays stayed closer to the middle of the pool, so unleass you were Michael Jordan there was no way you could really pet them! It was fun trying! After Stingray bay we went and visited the Giraffes. At this site you can actually feed the Giraffes, if they are interested! At first we didn't think we would get the chance, but then a "teenage" giraffes walked over to us and let us feed him/her. Seth was not too sure about it at first and let me hold the branch of leaves. Just as the giraffe had almost finished eating, Seth grabbed the branch and the giraffe promptly stole it away from him! It was really cute and Seth was pretty thrilled with that. We then visited all of the other exhibits. Seth liked watching the monkeys (Bonobos) play. He also was fascinated with the snakes. The only thing that probably topped his list of fun sightings wasn't a sighting at all, it was the train! There is a train that circles the zoo. Seth had a blast riding on it with us!

A visit to "Mama Rose"

2008-04-28T14:57:00.009-04:00

***A Note*** This post will be followed by a post from the zoo 2 weekends ago. The only reason the zoo isn't coming first is that I took TOO many pictures and haven't finished editing them yet!*** On Thursday we packed the kids and Uncle Gabe up in the car and drove down to see Grandma Rose...or as Seth calls her, "Mama Rose". The car was packed almost full. (I never realized how much stuff you need when traveling with two small children!) Fortunately, our first trip in our AWESOME new van went very smoothly. Well, it went smoothly as long as you don't consider the fact that Uncle Gabe nearly got his head kicked in by Seth! (Seriously! Gabe sat in front of Seth and tried to lean his chair back and take a nap and Seth kept kicking him in the head. Seth was kind enough for a "Sorry Uncle Gate!, though!) Once we got to Hallandale we checked in to our hotel and went over to Grandma Roses condo. She lives in a very nice complex on the beach! After saying hello and after Aunt Nancy arrived we decided to take Seth and Hannah down to the beach. This is a sad fact but, this was the first time Seth has actually walked on the beach. I know, I know! "You live in St. Augustine, ten minutes from the beach and his first time only came now?!?!?!" Yes, but it mas a wonderful first time. Not having our swim suits with us we thought we'd just walk along the shore. RIGHT! After letting the water splash over Seth's toes once or twice that was it! He laughed and was so enamored with it that he let go of my hand and just sat down! It was so funny! All we could do was laugh...oh, and the camera...yeah, it was up in the condo! So, sadly, I only have mental pictures of it, but they are the best...wish I could share them with you! Anyhow, we had a very nice and somewhat relaxing weekend visiting with Grandma Rose. (Relaxing with two kids under two is a bit of an oxymoron!) Seth loved visiting with Mama Rose, Uncle Gate and Mama Margo and Aunt Nancy. He and Hannah did their best at making Grandma and all of her friends fall in love with them. Unfortunately the weekend ended all too soon, but a good time was definitely had by all! A note about the pictures...Hannah was all ready for the beach/swimming pool and opted for a photo shoot with Mama Rose first. Seth was waiting for me and Henry to get our sunscreen on and decided to lounge in the lounge chair on the pool deck. On Sunday morning Seth decided to jump into the pack n play with Hannah. We told him to sit with her for a picture...he sat ON her! The last two are of Seth and Grandma Rose and one of Me, Henry, Seth and Grandma Rose...Hannah was sound asleep in her carseat!

Hannah and the rest of us!

2008-04-14T22:02:00.002-04:00

Since I just posted the long post all about Seth, I thought I should also update you all on Hannah as well. Life with Hannah has certainly been an adventure. If you ask my Mom or Margo you'll find that I am always telling them how surprised I am that my children are SOOOOO different. Yes, they are 17 months apart so they are going to be different, but I am talking about comparing them at the same age. Seth was a very easy going baby, very low maintenance. Hannah...is not. Don't get me wrong, she is easy going but she is not low maintenance, at least not any more! She is showing us more and more that she is a girl, not a boy. She hates to have a wet or poopy diaper (who would love it?) and lets it be known how much she hates it. (Seth would whine a little but never got as upset as she does.) She is FINALLY eating applesauce! (Seth took a couple of days and loved cereal...Hannah hated it!) We tried to start her on cereal with fruit in it and she gagged every time I tried to give it to her. Finally, my Mom suggested we try plain baby applesauce. I wish I had tried it earlier! She LOVES it! Today she ate half a small jar in one sitting. She acted like she wanted more but I didn't want to over do it with her. Hannah is a very happy baby. We've decided that her most recent "Fussy Few Days" was probably due to a growth spurt. We thought it might be her teeth but she calmed down and no teeth came in...not to mention she looks very long all of a sudden. Hannah loves her Mommy, in a way that even Seth does not outwardly show. She is already showing signs of being very attached to me. She throws a fit if I leave her with anyone now. I'm not sure why this is starting early but, I cannot lie...I love it! Seth was not this way with me and is still the way with Henry so it is nice for me, in a way. Hannah is very active now. She has mastered rolling over from both sides. She now rolls her way around the floor to get where she wants to. She is also reaching and grasping at everything! If it has color and is near her, Hannah wants it and at almost 5 months old I must say she is pretty good at getting it! Hannah has found her feet now. She loves to lay on her back and play "Catch my Foot" with herself. She just grins and coos and laughs the whole time. Hannah has also already begun to push up on her feet when she is laying on her belly so that her butt is in the air and she perched on her elbows. I'll have to try to get a picture so you can really understand what I am talking about. It is really cute and has us convinced that she will be walking well before she is a year old. When she looks at Seth you can just see how much she wants to be able to play with him. Overall, Hannah is a really good girl. We are still working on getting her to sleep through the night and once she does that we'll work on moving her to her crib. For now, she is still in her co-sleeper next to my side of the bed, right where I like her. Since she does nurse once in the night it is nice to have her by my side. I will miss laying in bed listening to her breath and waking up to see her little face just smiling up at mine when we do move her. So, for now I will enjoy having her by my side. (Could that be why she is so attached to me?!?!?) A quick update on me and Henry. I recently joined Weight Watchers again. Henry is "following" plan with me as best he can. He really is doing a fantastic job, as am I if I do say so myself! In the past two weeks I have lost a total of 9 pounds! We're not sure of the number of pounds he has lost but we know Henry is losing because his duty belt is fitting very loosely now! So, yay for us! Otherwise, it is still same old, same old...just the way we like it!

Short stories and Seth-isms

2008-04-14T20:14:00.007-04:00

The Evolution of "I love you!" When Seth first began to talk Henry worked very hard to teach him how to say "I love you!" When he finally said it, it came out something like "I-eee." As his speech has improved his pronunciation of words has improved, therefore changing the way he says "I love you." As he was learning how to pronounce words it changed to "I Yuv You!" Now, it has changed again and sounds more like "I lu loo." What will it be next?!? "No more night, night!" About a week and a half ago after Henry left for work I was laying in bed waiting for one of my children to wake up...it's always uncertain who will wake up first. This particular day it was Seth. He is usually pretty happy when he wakes up and this day was really no different, or so I thought. I went in to his room and he greeted my with a big smile. He was sitting nicely in his crib rubbing his eyes and clutching one of the many items he sleeps with. As I walked over to him, he looked up at me and said very sweetly, "No more night, night!" I asked him if he was ready to wake up and get out of bed and he said it again, a little more emphatically, "No more night, night!" Of course I then picked him up and hugged him close as we walked out of his room. "Seth, what do you want to eat?" I have recently begun giving Seth a choice of what he would like to eat whenever meal time rolls around. Our conversation usually goes a little like this... Mommy: "Seth, what would you like to eat for breakfast?" Seth: "Buh-bus?" Mommy: "Yes Seth, breakfast." (This is used to be a rhetorical question because he has never had an answer for me, until the other day. I used to give him a choice and still never really received a response.) Seth: "Ce-eal." or "Tah-tarts." or "Wah-wise." a now common responses (Cereal, pop tarts,waffles) Mommy: "Would you like a banana or grapes with your cereal." Seth: (This changes day to day) "Nana", "Gates" or "No" are the common responses. Mommy: "Would you like milk with breakfast?" Seth: "Nolp" or "Coffee" are his answers. (Milk and chocolate milk. He saw me drinking coffee one day and then wanted some. I told him no it was Mommy's coffee. The next day I had chocolate milk and he said "Mommy's coffee?" I said, "No, Mommy's chocolate milk." Then the fatal error, I let him taste it. Since that day he like to have coffee a couple of times a week.) "I yike the cake!" Last night we were at my parents house celebrating my grandparents 61st Wedding Anniversary. My mom made a fantastic dinner and then when we had all finished dinner she brought out a sinful Publix Strawberry Delight cake. It is chocolate cake with a custard filling between the layers, covered in a light chocolate cool-whip like icing and topped with candied strawberries and 3 chocolate covered strawberries. (It is so good!) Well, Seth is like his Mommy and has quite the sweet tooth. He saw the cake and said, "My cake!" We all told him that he could have some so he jumped up into his Daddy's lap to share his piece. While we were all sitting there eating we asked him if he liked the cake. Seth looked up and thought very hard and said, "I yike," "I yike the cake." He was so serious and said it so clearly I actually started to cry. My sweet little boy is just that, a little boy. He is not my tiny baby boy anymore! Seth is such a character. He keeps me on my toes and keeps me in stitches every day. He is absolutely all boy. He is climbing on everything and as he is climbing he is always looking at one of us and saying, "I kime!" He talks all the time now and is very entertaining. His favorite thing to do with my Dad is to sit and watch "Ax Men" on the History Channel with him. He talks to my Dad the whole time about the "tac-tehs" and "dump tucks" and "big tucks" (translation: tractors, dump trucks and big trucks). All of these stories are just a minute representation of our day to day life with Seth...a life we would not trade for anything in the world! Oh, and last but not least, Seth now sleeps in a "Big Boy Bed." When Henry and I went upstairs to get him from his nap yesterday afternoon we found a very active climber. He wanted out of his crib and tried many times to get out. It has been two months (I think) since his first and only somewhat successful attempt at getting out of the crib. (He landed on his back on the floor and freaked himself out by knocking the wind out of his lungs. He cried for a while once he finally breathed in again!) Seeing how hard he was trying to get out we decided we did not want to relive the first experience and took the crib apart. I was a little upset and a little excited and a lot afraid at first. He did ok last night, though. He did wake up once and come and sleep with us for a while, but he really did better than I had expected...once he was asleep. (Getting him to go to sleep was a challenge, but we figured out it was a challenge because we tried to change too much at one time.) I was really afraid for nap time today and was pleasantly surprised when it went very well!

I couldn't resist!

2008-04-02T15:23:00.003-04:00

Following are two slide shows; one of the last few days in March and another of our visit with Grandma and Grandpa Crafton today.

Pictures In Summary... I found Seth laying on the floor one day looking at his sticker/coloring book, Mickey Mouse theme, of course. I thought he looked to cute just laying there and wanted to capture a few pictures of it. Then, a couple of days later we went with Henry while he was out fixing some of the soccer goal nets in the neighborhood. We brought a soccer ball for Seth to play with and he happily ran around after it for about...5 seconds until he realized that I couldn't play (I was "wearing" Hannah)and that Daddy was busy. After that all he wanted to do was help Henry. When Henry was done, we took Seth to the playground for a few minutes. He loves slides and for some reason became a bit scared to go down the slide! Finally, there are pictures of my first time giving Hannah cereal. I never got a great shot of her true dislike for the cereal. I need to see if we can get a pic of it when Henry is around so I'll have his help with the camera. She literally gagged on it a few times, she hated it so much!

Pictures in Summary... Mama and Papa Crafton came down to visit with us today. After Margo and I took the kids for a walk we went out on the back porch and played with Seth's new bubble gun. It only took a couple of test runs for Seth to get the idea of how to use it. Once he figured it out, he was off and making bubbles! Hannah had fun sitting with Mama and watching Seth. (I did see a twinkle in her eye as if she was thinking, "I blow better bubbles than that!" I'll have to try and get a picture to show you how good she is at blowing bubbles one day.) After a while, Seth did get bored with the bubbles and wanted to slide down his slide. Then, it was time for Mama and Papa to leave. When Seth heard it was time for them to go he ran over to Papa and said, "Big hugs Papa!" It was so sweet, and though it is a good picture, the picture doesn't really do the scene justice. Seth Loves spending time with all of his Mama's and Papa's!!!!

Oops! I forgot!

2008-03-28T17:10:00.002-04:00

Well, I had so much to say that I totally forgot about adding the Feedblitz subscription to my page! So, to the left of this entry you'll see where you can sign up to get automatic updates of my blog. Feel free to sign up and let me know if you wish to be take off my email list and I will do so! Also, just wanted to add something for my sake so I won't forget it again. Seth, as we all know, has quite the personality. Well, this morning he reminded me of something he started yesterday. When I went in to get him after he had woken up he looked at me and said, "No more night night!" It was so cute! He was telling me that he was ready to begin his day! He has done this each time I have gone in to get him now! I love it and thought you might enjoy that one quick story as well!

March Update OR Hannah's a Healthy Girl!

2008-03-27T18:59:00.006-04:00

Each day with my children is an interesting day. Some days are, quite frankly, very LONG, while others are just WAY too short. Fortunately for me, the long days only happen about once a week and they help me appreciate each and every short day that I have. Seth, as I have said so many times before, is just too smart for his own britches. He keeps me on my toes all day long. His newest accomplishments include finding anything to climb on to turn "Yights On" and off (lights), swinging in Hannah's swing (which he is too big for), locking me out of my computer by somehow locking the keys (I still haven't figured out how he is doing it) and locking and unlocking doors...yes, that means bathroom doors, bedroom doors and any other door handle he can reach with a lock on it, just to mention a few! He has already locked himself in the bathroom once. Thankfully, you can use a flat head screw driver to turn the lock from the outside and unlock the door...our family's preference is a kitchen knife. His vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds every day. We have to constantly remind ourselves to be careful of what we say around him for fear that he might repeat something. He's like a little tape recorder now and amazes me with how quickly he picks up on things, how you say a word, use it in a sentence and the inflections in your voice when you use it! He is beginning to speak in sentences now, using three or four words at a time and is even learning to count. His favorite numbers are 1, 2, 8 and 9...not usually in that order. I sometimes hear him while he is waking up from his nap talking to Mickey Mouse and counting the blankets and stuffed animals in his bed...it usually goes something like "1, 2, 8, 9 or 2, 9, 1, 2." I try my best to get it on camera but it never usually works out. Seth's new favorite thing to do though, is feed his fish! Uncle Saul got him his very own freshwater fish tank for his bedroom. Seth absolutely LOVES his "pishies" to pieces. When I put him down or a nap I usually hear him saying "Night, Night Pishies!" and just generally talking to them until he falls asleep. He is a precious, precious boy! Hannah, as I said in the title, is quite a healthy girl! We had her four month check up today and were not surprised to find out that she weighs 15 pounds 1 once and is 25 inches long. She remains in the 75% for both her weight and her height. On Wednesday afternoon, March 19, Hannah rolled over from her belly to her back and since then has been trying to get from her back, onto her belly. She manages to get onto her side, but hasn't gotten all the way over yet. Her favorite past time, is watching her big brother. She hasn't quite realized how funny he is yet, but she loves to watch him and smile at him the whole time she's watching him. She loves her Daddy very much and loves to just cuddle with him in bed before we go to sleep for the night or right after we've woken up in the morning. Hannah also loves the TV. Seth liked the TV but never was as fascinated with it as Hannah is. If she hears a TV on she will crane her neck until she can see it. I would turn the TV off, but Seth is WAY into Finding Nemo and Mickey Mouse and even though he never watches them for more than 10 minutes straight, both play at least once a day on our TV. I forgot to mention, Seth is so attached to Nemo that he now gets very worried about Nemo when he is taken off the reef! It is so sweet the concern he shows and what is really sweet is that he shows just as much concern for Hannah when she is crying. Sometimes he must think I cannot hear her crying because I don't go running over to her and he'll come to me and say, "Mommy, Nana kying!" He loves her very much! Anyhow, back to Hannah, we get to start cereal this month so I am certain we'll have some interesting pictures and stories to share in the coming weeks. We are also awaiting her first teeth. Dr. Emanuel told us today that he saw the bulge under her gums and the indention on the top of her gums, all indications of impending teeth. He did give us the disclaimer that it doesn't mean she WILL be cutting teeth anytime soon, but it also doesn't mean that she WON'T be cutting teeth anytime soon...whatever that means. If you ask me, I say she'll be cutting them before Seth cut his first tooth because he didn't have those "symptoms" until he was 6 months old and cut his first tooth on his 7 month birthday. Aside from all of those fun things, Henry and I are doing well and couldn't be happier! We have a beautiful family with the two greatest kids in the world and are always looking forward to what each new day has in store for us!

Happy Easter!

2008-03-24T10:44:00.005-04:00

What an amazing thing it is to be a Christian. Between the tears and emotions of Good Friday and the joy we feel on Easter morning, I can truly say we had a wonderful holiday weekend. Since Seth was really too young last year, I decided to start my family traditions this year. Growing up I can remember coming home from the Good Friday service and dyeing our Easter eggs. Since we made it home a bit late...and had a bit of a mishap with the eggs during the boiling process...I decided we would introduce Seth to the art of dyeing eggs on Saturday morning. What a fun experience it was! Seriously! At first you could tell he was not exactly sure what we were supposed to be doing with the mugs of colored water, but then he figured it out! So, he would PLOP the eggs into the water. As you can imagine, it would splash everywhere! Then, when he couldn't use the egg-fisher-outer-thing that comes inthe package to get the eggs out he figured out that the easiest way to get them out would be to use his hands! It was really so cute! (It was a huge step forward for me too, because I cannot stand messy, sticky kids...especially sticky fingers! I'm still working on it though!) After we dyed the eggs we left and dropped the kids off at my parents house and went to the Casting Crowns concert with our friends Jennifer and Lance and their friends Jackie and Will. We had a blast! It was such an amazing continuation of our Easter excitement. The concert was so uplifting and we really can't wait to do it again. So, then comes Sunday morning. We woke the kids up early (for them at least) and went to the breakfast at church. After breakfast we got to participate in Seth's first Easter Egg hunt at church. He had lost of fun! Again, we wasn't sure what he was supposed to be doing, but with a little help from Aunt Stacie he quickly caught on and was hunting eggs on his own. He was so proud of himself as he found the eggs and put them in his new Mickey Mouse Easter basket from Grandma "Mama" Huseman. He was getting so good at it that we had to share a few eggs with another little girl who was just a bit slower than him...but he was happy to share! After the egg hunt we went to the Easter service. As always, it is a beautiful service with lots of praise and thanksgiving for the sacrifice and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Since Seth is getting to an age where he is just to busy to sit still we found that he will sit still as long as he is being fed Smarties. Well, I had to cut him off after three packages, but he did pretty well anyway. Dinner was at Meemaw's house and as is usually the case there was a lot of food and a lot of desert. We all ate to much and had plenty to bring home with us! Stay tuned for our monthly update later in the week, including and update after Hannah's 4 month appointment.

February - The Last Half!

2008-02-29T12:02:00.005-05:00

Hannah Hannah had her three month check up on Tuesday. I way overestimated what her weight would be, but was not shocked to find out that she weighs 13 pounds 10 ounces. She is 24 inches long now and is fitting very nicely into her "3 month" size clothes. (My guess is she'll be in them another month and then we'll be moving on up!) She is still a great eater and I think is looking forward to her next appointment where we'll be talking about introducing some rice cereal and other mild baby foods. I think she'll be just like her big brother and love to eat all of the new things we try. For now, we'll just keep on breastfeeding and hope that Seth doesn't try and sneak her any more goldfish crackers! (Yes, I caught him trying to put a cracker in her mouth the other day!) Seth Seth is still just as busy as ever. He keeps everyone on their toes when he is around and usually keeps us all laughing a the same time. I is into exploring everything. He likes to see how things work and try to take things apart and put them back together whenever he can. Each day we see a new skill. Just yesterday he was playing with his "toofs" (tools) and was trying to use a screwdriver and screw the right way! One day we think he'll be an engineer, the next a race car driver, and so forth; it all just depends on the funny little things he does each day! On Wednesday, Stacie and I took Seth to have his hair cut. He was beginning to look a little too shaggy...his hair was falling in his eyes! So, I decided it was time to have it cut. I took him to a salon specifically for children. They have lots of toys and books and even have TV's and DVD players at each station. Some of the stations have child sized chairs and the other two were a train engine and a boat. Well, we put Seth in the boat and popped Mickey Mouse Club House into the DVD player. We played with bubbles and he even watched another little boy get his hair cut and thought it was fun. So, imagine out surprise when he fell apart the moment the lady cutting his hair came near him with the clippers. It was AWFUL!!!!! Stacie and I had to basically TRY to hold him still for the girl and do our best not to cry at how upset he was. I have to say though, the girl was amazing! She just kept plugging on through his fits and managed to give him a very nice haircut. As soon as it was over and he had a minute to calm down you never would have guessed he was the same kid as the one who was a complete basket case 5 minutes earlier. I was told that by the third time, boys are usually ok with having their haircut. I know this should be something to look forward to, but for me it is just another few moments of trauma looming in my future! Oh well, I can only hope she is right! Henry and Stephanie (Me!) We're still doing well. The only new thing really is that we are now (as of last night) the proud owners of a new minivan!!!!! We did our research and talked and hemmed and hawed about it for quite some time and decided that we needed to get a bigger car. With all of the things we have for the kids (the double stroller, a travel chair, diaper bags, etc.), plus the kids and us we were just too cramped in our old car. So, once we decided what kind of van we wanted, Henry did more research, found a FANTASTIC deal in Georgia, and brought it to the Dodge dealer here in town to match. Well, after three hours of back and forth negotiating and an upset stomach (mine) we finally came to a deal that was acceptable to us and purchased our new Chrysler Town and Country. It is so nice and big inside and I love it! I have decided that I don't care how the "world" perceives those who drive a minivan because mine is awesome and I love it and I am proud to drive it. I supposed you could say I will drive it pride knowing that the reason I have it is because I have the most beautiful family in the world to drive around in it! So, that's it for the month of February! Enjoy the slide show below!

Crafton Family Update

2008-02-16T22:45:00.004-05:00

I know after the lengthy post I just posted, you are all wondering about the beautiful family I mentioned. Seth Seth is GREAT! He has been so much fun from the day he was born but he is just more fun every day. He is beginning to speak in sentences. He puts words together without hearing me put them together. A common phrase in our house is "Here we come!" and just Thursday Seth was standing at the window looking out and Henry happened to pull into the driveway at the same time. Seth turned around, ran to the front door and said "Here comes Daddy!" It was so sweet. He is such a bright kid. He amazes us every day with is smarts. He has such a sweet heart also. He loves his little sister to pieces and kisses and holds her all the time. Hannah Hannah is almost three months old and we keep asking ourselves, where has the time gone? I feel like I was cheated in a way because I spent the first 8 weeks of Hannah's life worrying about surgery and Hannah bottle feeding and how would the kids do without us for 4 days and so much more that I didn't take the time to memorize her growth and development as I did when Seth was a newborn. Don't get me wrong, I can tell you anything you need or want to know, I just feel like she's grown and changed so much that I might have missed something. Anyhow, Hannah has found her hands. She is very much a pacifier sucker but when it isn't in her mouth her hands are. Hannah also seems to be a bit of a Mommy's girl, which is only fair because Seth is a total Daddy's boy! All I have to do is grin at her a little and I get the biggest smiles. Those smiles melt my heart and the hearts of anyone around. She is trying to talk and trying to laugh all the time now, she just hasn't figured it out yet. Well, truthfully, I think she has figured it out she just doesn't separate the sounds so she always sounds like she is laugh/talking at the same time. Henry and Me What can I say about Henry except that he is the most devoted husband and father in the whole world. He is constantly working his tail off to support our family and still manages to spend a ton of time with us. Out of exhaustion I sometimes accuse him of not spending enough time with us, but that is the selfish part of me talking. We would not be where we are today if not for his hard work and dedication to us. I am so thankful for everything he does for our family and love he shows to us each day. All in all he is doing wonderful. He has a renewed hope for getting healthy and losing weight as do I. We are going to begin the process of changing our lifestyles...eating habits, exercising habits and the like. He has a new workout buddy in the neighborhood who he'll be working out with and playing some flag football with and I have a tremendous group of ladies who I have begun walking with, one of which will be my training partner. I have decided that I am going to do my best to run the 26.2 with Donna NAtional Breast Cancer Marathon next year and my good friend Jennifer is going to be my training partner. We hope to begin our training in a few weeks after I am completely healed from my surgery. I am so excited about this. I know it is a lofty goal for someone who admittedly has never really exercised in her life, but I have decided that I want to be a good steward of that which God has given me, including my body! I hope to lose a considerable amount of weight at the same time. I now understand the importance of maintaining a healthy weight and healthy lifestyle. With only one kidney left I really need to be more conscientious about what I eat and how much I weigh. I don't plan on becoming a fitness freak (no offense to anyone who might take offense) I just want to set a good example for my kids. So, expect to see updates every so often about my training and how it is going and please feel free to leave me an encouraging word every now and then as I am sure I will need them! So, with the updates done for now, I'll post a couple of pictures from the first half of this month.

Thoughts of the Thankful

2008-02-16T21:58:00.002-05:00

So many of my friends use their blogs as a place for family updates and their own personal musings. So far, I have only used mine for family updates...kid updates really, but now I think I am going to use it for myself also. As you all know I had my right kidney removed January 25th. Since then we found out that the tumor on/in my kidney was cancerous. It is a funny thing, that word...cancer. It is a word that strikes so much fear into the heart of men (and women) and yet, I was not afraid. I have shared the following with many of my family/friends, but I feel the need to share it with my blog readers now. I knew I had cancer. I am not saying this because I found out in July that I had a mass on my kidney, I am saying it because I knew for a long time, years even, that I would one day find out there was cancer in my body. How did I know this, don't ask me. It was just a feeling. Each time I would get "the feeling" I would coincidentally have to have some sort of bloodwork done, be it for a physical or during my pregnancy, and nothing would show up. When nothing showed up I still had "the feeling" but I'd put it aside because I just figured it would show up in bloodwork. When nothing abnormal ever showed up I just figured I was being a pessimist and put the thought out of my mind for a time. Then one day, after I had had Seth I began to have a pain in my right side. After talking to my family about it we decided it must be gall stones because we have a history of gall bladder problems in my family. I mentioned the pain to my doctor in December 2006 and then never had the scan done. Then, I found out I was pregnant with Hannah and since I was still having the pain I mentioned it to my OB. I went to have the scan done and that is when I found out about the mass. When I mentioned the pain to both of my Urologists they said that I should be having no pain in my kidney, that the mass was not big enough, didn't appear to be odstructing anything. They told me flat out that they could not explain my pain. After the exams and discussions about surgery the pain went away, until I had doubts about having surgery. As soon as I'd have doubts about having the surgery I'd have the pain again and as the surgery date got closer and my doubts grew stronger, so did the pain. Finally, I told myself that I had to have the surgery because I have a family that needs me and if the mass turned out to be cancer I needed to get it out of my body. So, when my test results came back a few days after surgery I was not at all shocked that it was cancer. Thankfully, I also found out that the cancer was not an aggressive form of cancer and it was a low grade cancer...both extremely great things to hear. It meant that with the kidney and tumor removed, my chances of it recurring or spreading are slim to nil. There will be no follow-up therapy, only follow-up CT Scans for the next several years to confirm that the cancer has not come back. So, why was I not afraid? I was not afraid because I knew that I and my health are in God's hands and I knew that He would keep my safe and healthy. For so long now I have been hiding my faith. No, not from a lot of people...close friends, family, fellow believers, but I have been hiding it from the world. I don't want to do this anymore. I am not going to do it anymore. Does it mean that I am going to shove my faith down your throat, absolutely not. That is not what I am called to do. I will be open about my faith from now on, that is all. I have so many friends who are very open about their faith and I admire them so much for that. They are not afraid to wear their faith on their sleeve for all the world to see and I have resolved to be like them every day of my life from here forward. I want to share my faith in Christ with others because it is only through Christ that I came through my diagnosis and surgery virtually unscathed. Sure, I have scars on my belly now, but what are a few scars in return for good health? I thank God every day for the blesings He has given me, my husband, my children, my family and my enornous group of friends. I pray that God would grant you all the desires of your hearts, if those desires be His will, for it is His will, not ours that will be done in our lives. We could ask ourselves why seemingly awful things happen to good people. Why would a family lose their father? Why do parents and children disagree and lose touch with one another? Why would a beautiful young woman be diagnosed with a dibilitating disease like RA? Why would another young woman be diagnosed with kidney cancer, something predominantly found only in men in their late 40s to early 50s? Why is it that so many people are seeing hard times right now, be it at home or at work? We can ask all of these questions and then some and feel like we have never received an answer. I think we are given the answer every day , we just need to seek it out. I think the only answer to all of these questions that makes sense is the God wants all of us to have a closer relationship with Him and through all of these adversities, yearns for us to cling to Him. That is what I did. I clung to my Saviour in my most trying time. I still cling to Him. I am amazed by the faith that several of my friends have shown over the past several years. It is through their faith that I have begun to strengthen my own. I have been following several of my friends blogs and through their blogs and through personal conversation with them I have found great faith in them. A faith that I strive for and yearn to have. I feel like I have great faith, but when it comes to expressing my faith I clam up. I wish I could speak as eloquently about my faith as they do, but for now I will just leave it as I have said it so far. I guess what I am trying to say is that I am thankful to have all of you who love and care about me and my family. Thank you for your support. And to those of you whose situations I mentioned...without naming names, thank you for being amazing examples of great faith to me.

January 2008

2008-02-01T23:12:00.001-05:00

Following is an update in pictures. Please see below if you are looking for Hannah's growth stats. All of the pictures included in the slideshow are pictures from the month of January. I chose 36 of the best pictures from about 300 taken this month! Enjoy!

Brother and Sister

2008-02-01T15:55:00.000-05:00

This is a slide show I created with pictures of Seth holding Hannah. It amazes me to see how different they are from one picture to the next. These are in order by date from the first time Seth held Hannah to the most recent time he asked to hold her. Following is an email I sent out yesterday. I am posting it here more for my sake than anything else. Hello All! I am writing to you from the comfort of my parent's home! I have had many calls and emails asking about the surgery/recovery/test results, etc. and thought it was about time to let you all know how I am doing. The surgery on Friday went very well. It was a bit shorter than expected and very successful. Recovery has been quite a process. Having never had surgery before I was not sure what to expect. I quickly learned that my recovery depended solely upon me! I was on morphine for about 36 hours. The doctors expected me to be on it for a bit longer but, after seeing my kids for the first time in 2 days on Saturday I felt a renewed strength. I took myself off of the morphine and took my first walk on Saturday evening. I continued to progress from there and had walked the halls 3 times before I saw my doctor on Monday morning and had already been on a diet of solid foods for 24 hours. When my doctor came in he gave us the good news that I would be going home after breakfast! So, I have been home since early Monday morning and I feel better and better each day. I won't lie and say I am feeling no pain...I certainly am, but the pain is manageable. If I didn't have two of the most wonderful kids in the entire world, I don't think I would have the motivation to heal so quickly. I did hear from the doctor on Tuesday. He called to give me the pathology report of the tumor. It was in fact cancerous but, the GREAT news is that is was a non-aggressive cancer and a low grade tumor. All the markers showed that the tumor was completely encapsulated and had not infiltrated any part of the kidney or surrounding areas. According to my doctor, I will not need any chemo or radiation therapy. I will have some follow-up but I am not sure what it will be yet. The doctor said he will explain it to me on Monday when I go in to have the staples removed. All in all I am feeling wonderful. The surgery went well and recovery is coming along fine! All I can say is thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers. They were all answered and have been much appreciated! We did have Hannah's two month check up right before my surgery. She got 4 shots and did not like them one bit. Unlike Seth, she doesn't seem to handle her shots very well at all. She spent about an hour crying in pain after the first round of Tylenol wore off. It was so sad and made me so very upset for her that I almost cried right along with her. Her discomfort lasted for about 24 hours and then she was back to normal. She is growing like a weed, though! She weighed in at 12 pounds 2 ounces and was 23 inches long. She's quite the little girl now. She is awake more during the day and is very smiley most of the time. She is trying her best to talk to us. She coos and coos whenever anyone talks to her and has even sounded like she is on the verge of a giggle a few times. She is very interested in lights, the fan, the dogs and especially her big brother! He does get a little rough but, she doesn't care. Hannah is also very strong, just like Seth was and still is. She likes to sit up to look around and tries to stand whenever her feet hit a solid surface. She has been exploring her hands and we've even caught her with her thumb in her mouth a few times. We are quick to replace the thumb with her pacifier. As cute as a thumb sucker is, take from a 9 year veteran that it is EXTREMELY hard to get a thumb sucker to stop sucking their thumb. Since she likes the pacifier and it is easy to throw away when it is time, we'll just keep encouraging that! Seth is getting smarted with each and every day and his vocabulary increases two fold every day! He is now beginning to form sentences and is able to identify the dogs and cats by name rather than just puppy or kitty. He even came up with his own name for my sister's Toy Australian Shepherd, Logan. He calls him Puppy-Kitty! Logan is so small that Seth thought he was a cat and used to always call him kitty. Now he knows the difference but instead of calling him Logan, he is Puppy-Kitty! Seth has always had a mind of his own but you can see it developing more with every glance. He is quite sure of everything he wants or does not want and is very quick to tell you one way or the other. His new favorite is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. He is constantly asking to watch "Nuh-Nouf". We try not to let him watch it more than twice a day but there are days that Mickey Mouse is the only thing that keeps him from being too cranky and we give in. Who wants to listen to a whiney 18 month old when you know the answer?!?!?!? He is becoming very independent and likes to feed himself now. It is quite messy, but if Seth is happy and eating well, we are quite happy. He's got to learn sometime anyway, so there's no time like the present! One final note, I am going to be making some changes to the websites - basically I'm trying to find a way to merge them so that I only have to update one family site. When I have it figured out and completed I'll let you all know. For now, I'll attach a couple of pictures to this email. I hope you all are doing well and I truly appreciate your continued thoughts and prayers! With love, Stephanie, Henry, Seth and Hannah

Meeting Great-Grandma Rose

2008-01-01T21:26:00.000-05:00

Great-Grandma Millie and Hannah

Great-Grandma Millie, Seth and Hannah Great-Grandma Rose and Hannah Great-Grandma Rose, Henry and Seth (Four generations, minus the Second)

When we found out that we were expecting Hannah we asked Grandma Rose if she would please come up and visit us after she was born, since it would be a while before we would be able to travel to her. This past weekend, Aunt Nancy was kind enough to drive Grandma Rose up to us. We were also excited to find out that Susie (Margo's cousin) would be coming from Atlanta for a visit as well!

So, on Saturday we had all of the ladies over, as well as Grandma Millie, Gabe and Jen. We had such a wonderful time getting to see everyone. Grandma Rose was especially excited to meet Miss Hannah. She was very excited to hold her and just look at her. While we had everyone here we took the opportunity to get some pictures of Grandma Millie with Seth and Hannah. Unfortunately, in our haste to get pictures with the Great-Grandma's, Susie and Aunt Nancy were over-looked. Hopefully, we will see them a bit more often since both are within driving distance!

One month old and growing like a weed!

2007-12-31T22:26:00.000-05:00

***For once these pictures are in order by date, oldest to most recent.***

Seth holding Hannah. He likes to do this more and more as the days go by. Hannah sleeping in the most comfortable position for her, on her tummy on the nursing pillow. I think it helps with her gassy tummy. "So tired!"

"Are you still taking pictures of me???" "Daddy, no more pictures!" Henry with his babies. Even though you cannot see her face this is one of my favorites so far! Meeting her Uncle Gabe for the first time. One more semester at FSU and he'll be home for good. We hope to see him much more often than we do now! No matter how much I try, Seth usually ends up in the pictures.

Another sleeping picture, but doesn't she just look so happy?!?!? I told you, he loves to hold her! Hannah in her Christmas outfit. She's facing the Christmas tree, hence the look of wonder as she stares at the lights. This was taken on Dec. 29th and best shows her growth and weight gain. Do you see the attitude already? I do! It is hard for me to believe that a month has passed already. Hannah is officially 5 weeks old and has changed so much it is crazy!

We had her one month check up on the 27th. She is growing by leaps and bounds! She weighed in at 9 pounds 14 ounces and was 22 1/8 inches long, which places her in the 75% for both weight and length. I knew that the kids would be different, but not this different. I can only imagine that it is also just a difference in the sexes.

Hannah is still having gas issues. We have found that giving her the infant gas drops with every feeding helps her pass it easier but, she still has her fussy moments. I have also figured out that I cannot have caffeine after lunch anymore. It seems that she is very sensitive to it - Seth never was. We have had a couple of rough starts to a few nights because of ONE drink with caffeine. So, back to no caffeine for me! (I'm really ok with it, it just means I can't have sweet tea at restaurants anymore.)

Otherwise, things are going really well. Seth still loves his "Baby Nahnuh" to death, maybe more. Hannah is noticing new things every day and trying even more to find her voice. As for me and Henry, we are loving being the parents of two such amazing and beautiful children. We feel extremely lucky to have been doubly blessed by God.

Check back tomorrow to see pictures of our visit with Grandma Rose and company!

2 Week Check Up

2007-12-12T20:35:00.000-05:00

***This is an update I thought I had posted, obviously, I hadn't! So, in the hope of saving myself some time, I am going to include all of the pictures in one update and leave this for you just to read!*** We took Hannah in for her two week check up today. Thankfully there were no shots involved for her as she had her first shot while we were still in the hospital. This was just the beginning of our routine appointments with her to check her weight gain and growth. We expected to see some weight gain and we knew she had grown, but the amount of gain and growh shocked us! Little Miss Piggy is now 8 pounds even (still only 25% for her age) and 21 3/4 inches long (75% for her age)! Of course, like us the doctor was quite pleased with her growth and continues to be impressed by how much she is doing at such a young age. Hannah has changed quite a bit since she was born. She has filled out some, but is quite long so most of the weight gain I have noticed is in her cheeks. She has nice chunky cheeks now which are so incredibly kissable! She gets lots of kisses every day from all of us, including her big brother! Hannah is now eating every three hours during the day and 4 or 5 hours at night. She is a very happy baby, although she is beginning to suffer from some evening gas issues. We (the doctor and Hanry and I) are not calling this colic yet, but it may be going that route. She seems to have trouble at the same time each evening recently with gas, but she is great at working it out on her own and really doesn't complain about it too much. Hannah is much more aware of her surroundings when she is awake now. She looks at everything and even today tried to "coo" at the ceiling fan when she saw it. She made a few noises at it and then stopped. Hearing her little voice was so beautiful, so sweet (and totally makes you forget what the cries sound like)!

The Week in Review

2007-12-05T18:22:00.000-05:00

Rather than bog this update down with lots and lots of words, I'll just give the update using pictures and captions below each picture. I will tell you that as of Monday Hannah had gained back the weight she lost after birth and then some! She weighed in at 7 pounds even, just one week after birth. This is something doctors look for by the time the baby is 2 weeks old. She also is moving ahead with respect to other goals as well. The doctor laid her down on her stomach and she immediately pushed up with her forearms and lifter her head up. This is something they look for babies to do by the time they are 2 months old. Dr. E. said that we definitely have another Superstar on our hands! The pictures start with the rest of the hospital pictures and end with a few taken today. Enjoy!

Grandpa Huseman

Aunt Stacie

Great Grandma Millie

Great Grandma Nettie

Great Grandpa Rich

Grandpa Art

Uncle Saul

Miss Hannah is not ready to go home yet, but I'm not sure why! (We have a better picture, but I just felt this is SOOOO Hannah that you all had to see it!)

Napping with Daddy

Cute as a button and wide awake

I was trying to get a closer picture of her face and when I snapped it, she smiled!

Seth's first time holding Hannah. This is picture #1, watch the progression as we tried to get a picture of Seth kissing the top of Hannah's head. Picture #2 - "What do you want me to do Mom?" says Seth.

Picture #3 - "I tried to kiss her and this is the thanks I get!" says Seth.

Picture #4 - Hannah is calm again and Seth is about to try to push her out of his lap, he's done taking pictures with her!

Introducing....

2007-11-29T12:29:00.000-05:00

Miss Hannah Grace Crafton! Born: November 26, 2007 at 7:33pm Weight: 5 pounds 10 oz...oops! Make that 6 pounds 14 ounces!!!! Length: 19.5 inches

Our Little Angel

Henry taking his first good look at Hannah.

Still pregnant and in early labor. Daddy and babies - day 2. Proud Grandma

Another proud Grandma

Seth meeting Hannah for the first time.

Almost ready to be bundled to meet Mommy.

All I can say is WOW! What a day Monday was! I'll spare the gory details and give you a slight glimpse into what the day was like. We got to the hospital around 7:15 am and checked in. We went up to the Labor and Delivery floor, got settled into our room and waited for Dr. Brody to come in and start the induction. Dr. Brody arrived and the induction process began around 9:30 am. My contractions started at 10:00 am and got progressively stronger over the next four hours. Dr. Brody came back and gave me another dose of the induction medication at 2:00 pm which helped things along. By the time Dr. Brody came back in to check on me at 5:30 pm I was dilated to 3 cm and having very strong and regular contractions. He broke my water while we waited on the epidural. He told me it would be several more hours, but he felt sure she would be born before midnight. I was quite uncomfortable and could not wait to see the anesthesiologist walk through the door. Unfortunately for me, it took the doctor 15 minutes to place the epidural and it never really took full effect. By the time he was done with the epidural I was 4cm and still extremely uncomfortable. We tried everything to get the epidural to take full effect and to my disappointment were not able to achieve anything except making my right side completely numb ... I had FULL feeling on my left side. After all of the rolling back and forth from side to side I was hit with the feeling that the baby was ready to come out. By now, it was 7:10 pm-ish and I was crying I hurt so bad! Anyhow, the nurses checked me and realized very quickly that I was complete and ready to push (DUH, I tried to tell them this myself)!!! So...the nurses put a call into Dr. Brody and told him to hurry (safely, of course) and then told me that I needed to breathe through the contractions, not push and wait for Dr. Brody. Those were the toughest 20 minutes of my entire life! Not pushing was awful and some very funny things came out of my mouth while I waited in pain! Between crying and contractions and breathing I kept telling the nurses to just let me push, find another doctor - any doctor, and when they told me "No, you're doing great, keep breathing", I told them all that they were mean! Yes, I seriously said it! I literally told them all that they were "Mean, Mean, Mean!" Anyway, Dr. Brody got to the hospital by the time he had his scrubs on and the gown and one glove Hannah was already beginning to make her own grand entrance into the world. The look on his face when he turned around to see her coming out on her own with no pushing on my part was priceless. I might have laughed if the contraction wasn't hurting so bad! Dr. Brody finished the delivery and I only pushed once. The relief I felt was immediate and so wonderful! Hannah was placed on my belly and the introductions to me and her Daddy began. She was quiet at first and then she let loose! Those first cries are always and will always be the most beautiful sounds in the world. The first thing we noticed about her was that she looks exactly like Seth did when he was born. It was really quite shocking how closely they resembled each other at birth. After the nurses got Hannah cleaned up a bit they placed her in the scale and told us that her weight was 5lbs 10 oz. The change in her weight came several hours later when they had her in the nursery. The took her weight and the scale said 6 lbs 14 oz. Of course it is impossible for her to have a 22% weight gain in such a short amount of time so they weighed her twice more and realized that the scale she was weighed on at birth was wrong! We are at home now and we are all doing wonderfully. Seth seems to like his new little sister and shows a little interest in her. He is acting out just a little, but that is to be expected and it is nothing worth complaining about. Hannah is a champ at nursing, just like her brother was. She is very calm and quiet unless she is wet or hungry and as is typical of newborns, she does have her days and nights mixed up. Overall, everything is awesome and being the parents of two children is going smoothly. I feel great and seem to be recovering much quicker this time around and Henry is a huge help and doting father all over again. We make a great team, if I do say so myself!

November 15, 2007 - 37 weeks 3 days

2007-11-18T21:23:00.000-05:00

Well, there has been a change in plans! I know everyone was expecting to hear that Hannah will be born tomorrow and unless she changes her mind herself that will not be the case. Last Monday I found out that my doctor cannot induce me tomorrow. Needless to say I was seriously upset for more reasons than one. I am ready to have this little girl in my arms instead of my abdomen but more than that I am ready to move into the next phase of my life and have everything with my kidney over with. Little did I know that there were other things planned in that respect as well! Not only will I not be induce tomorrow but, I will not be having my kidney surgery until the New Year! I was given the impression all along that I will be fine to have the surgery before the end of the year and I found out Tuesday that is not the case as well. So, as you might imagine I have experienced the gamut of emotions this week. (Oh and just to add fuel to the fire, my OB will be out of town Wed. thru Fri. of this week and has another doctor I have never met filling in for him! His is a single doctor practice as well!) I cried to my Mom for an hour about everything until I decided that this is all God's plan and there is nothing I can do about it. I also talked with my Dad about it and he helped to point out that nothing but good things can come from these delays. Hannah will be bigger and healthier and her lungs will be more mature, it means there isn't an urgency to have my kidney removed and I will get to enjoy the holidays with my children without having the burden of recovering from a recent surgery. Talking to my Mom always comforts me and talking to my Dad always helps to put things in perspective and calm me. I have the best parents! Soooooo, all of that said...my induction is now scheduled for November 26th, assuming Hannah does not decide to come before then on her own. I am ok with everything now and I cannot wait for this week to be over and to meet my newest angel. (Henry can't wait either!) I did see the doctor for a regular check up. Everything continues to look good. My weight went up by 5 pounds. I was a little shocked but, Oh well! My blood pressure was great, 110/68 and the baby's heart rate was great. According to my OB I am still 1cm and 60% effaced. This shocked and almost upset me but he and Henry both pointed out that this was the first time HE (the doctor) has examined me so the measurements will be a little different than that of the nurse practitioner. (Thank goodness because I was seriously worried for a minute there!) So, that's about it for mow. I'll have one more appointment this week on Wednesday and then it is off to the hospital on Monday, the 26th...if not before then! We'll be sure to keep you all up to date with the latest!

36 weeks 3 days and we have progress!!!

2007-11-08T21:09:00.001-05:00

Well thank the Lord we do have progress! I went to the doctor today for my regular check up and was thrilled to find out that we are making progress. First, I didn't gain any weight and my blood pressure was good (120/70). Then it was time for the internal. Not pleasant, but I loved the outcome! I am currently one centimeter dilated and 60% effaced, my cervix is soft and favorable for induction and Sherry could even feel the top of Hannah's head which means she has dropped! (Last week I measured 38 weeks, this week I was only 37.) I could only be happier if she had told me I was in labor and didn't know it...which I am not. So, as far as delivery goes, unless I go into labor on my own, we will more than likely be inducing on November 19, unless Dr. B. decides against it. We feel sure he will be ok with it, so we are making our plans. Things are almost ready. Henry has one last coat of polyurethane to put on Hannah's furniture before we can put it up in her room. That will be done this weekend, so we should be able to use it on Sunday. There are a few little, little things I need to finish as decoration for her room and then all we have to do is put everything away! Aside from that we need to install her car seat in the car and pack suitcases for Seth's stay at my parents house and our hospital stay. Most everything can be done last minute...even though it should already be done, and I am ok with that. We are going to do our best to have everything done by Sunday in the event Hannah decides to come earlier than we have planned. It is coming down to the wire and I couldn't be happier! I am so ready to have this little munchkin it isn't even funny. I am ready to see her little face and get to know her. I will miss being pregnant, but since this has been a completely different pregnancy altogether, I am ready for it to be over with. I am ready to move on to the next phase of everything and have the surgery to have my kidney removed. I am ready to move on to just being the Mom of two beautiful children and the wife of one amazing husband. I am ready to be done with doctors and hospitals and I haven't even started that phase yet! I am ready to know what my "new normal" with two kids is like. We will be sure to keep you all updated as to Miss Hannah's arrival. When we know more or if she decides to come early, you will know!

35 weeks 3 days

2007-11-01T19:15:00.000-04:00

Well, I was supposed to go to the doctor last week but, I didn't go. Seth was sick for two weeks and unfortunately I managed to catch a bit of the stomach bug from him. I was under the weather for about 48 hours and could not make it to my 34 week appointment. Thankfully, I did get over it quickly and I am feeling like myself again...a very pregnant self, but myself none the less. So, today we went in for my 35 week appointment. My Doctor was not there so we saw his Nurse Practitioner. She is awesome! She cannot deliver me but we have developed the same kind of relationship with her that we have with my doctor, so seeing her is never a problem with us. We had to have the Group B test today and she went ahead and did an internal since I have been having sporadic contractions. As it turns out I am almost 1 centimeter dilated. I was hoping for more, but I really can't complain. Almost a centimeter is better than nothing at all!!! My weight was only up 2 pounds and my blood pressure remains fantastic at 110/62. I think my pressure has been lower during this pregnancy than it ever has been since I have been an adult! I know part of that is due to the pregnancy but, I am hoping some of it has to do with me being slightly more active than ever before. I walk up and down our stairs many times a day, play with Seth and chase him all the time and we try to walk as much as we can. The walking had to slow down the past couple of weeks while we were sick, but I am hoping to pick it back up a little to help get things moving along! Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining about being pregnant, I am just at the end and ready to meet our daughter! I am experiencing things I did not experience with Seth and it is quite a new and different experience for me! According to many people, Hannah has "dropped." I can feel the difference myself and boy is it a strange feeling. Sometimes I feel as though she is just going to fall out! Now, I know that will not happen, but that is the feeling I get. I am also experiencing a different kind of tired. It is end of pregnancy tired and chasing around a toddler tired all at the same time. Boy is that strange! Insomnia is starting to set in a little as well. I am not sure how much of it is insomnia and how much of it is anxiety over being "ready" for the baby. I know that no one is ever 100% ready for a new baby, but I feel like we were very close to it with Seth. Poor Hannah still doesn't have a completed room! Henry will be staining her dresser this weekend and we hope it will be finished and dry by Sunday so we can move it up to her room and finish putting things together. Right now all of her freshly washed clothes, blankets, towels and such are all piled neatly in her crib, ready to be put away! I know these things are all trivial and can be done at any time, so we'll just call this the last few weeks jitters, more commonly known as my "nesting instinct" kicking in! So, all in all, we are trying to get everything finished in the next two weekends because, truthfully, that is all we have left!

32 weeks, 3 days - Doctor Appointment

2007-10-11T09:34:00.000-04:00

Well, I had another OB appointment yesterday. Things went well, as usual so there isn't really too much to report. My blood pressure was great, 126/66 and my weight was up another 6 pounds, although that number is skewed by about 4 pounds. Seriously! I had to see the doctor at his other office and the scale there is about 4 pounds off from the one at the office I usually go to! This happened while I was pregnant with Seth as well. Hannah's heartbeat was good and strong and she was feeling a bit active and kicked the monitor a few times. These are all great signs of her continued growth and development. The only real change I can account for is that Hannah has decided to take up residence on the right side of my abdomen. This normally wouldn't be a problem, but that is the side the tumor is on and it seems like she is pressing against the kidney a whole lot more often causing me great discomfort...ok, pain. I normally don't complain about pain but, this is much worse than it was even when we found the tumor. The only real solution is to give birth and since she is not yet ready for that, I am stuck. Of course, I would much rather live with the pain than have a premature baby girl on my hands. We did speak with my doctor about the pain and he said at this point everything is up to me. If the pain becomes unbearable, at 37 weeks we can have an amnio performed to check her lung maturity and she could be delivered as early as that day if her lungs are mature. Henry and I are not entirely sure that is a route which we want to take so we have decided it is best to just take things one day at a time. Well, I guess I had more to say than I had originally thought! Overall, everything is going very well and I couldn't be happier. Hannah's nursery is almost finished and her dresser and chest should be delivered today or tomorrow and Henry should have them stained by the end of this weekend, so I am feeling much better about our current state of readiness! I am hoping to take a couple more pregnancy pictures in the next day or two so be sure to check back soon!

31 weeks 3 days - Level II Ultrasound

2007-10-04T13:07:00.000-04:00

The above is a picture of the four chambers of Hannah's heart.

A picture of Hannah resting her head on her fist.

A perfect little (Long) foot! (No, those are not extra toes, they are actually fingers, she had her foot pulled up to her hands.)

We went for our Level II ultrasound today. It was AMAZING!!!!!!!!! All things pregnancy have always amazed and confounded me but today took the cake! As I said in the title of this post I am currently 31 weeks 3 day along. We knew it would be neat to see Hannah, it always is, but today was the best ever! The ultrasound tech was very thorough and checked everything necessary but we got to see some other impressive things at the same time. She looked at everything from each of Hannah's hands and feet (counting fingers and toes) to her mouth, eye sockets and even the hair on her head...and there's a lot of it! While we were watching her, you could see Hannah practicing swallowing and sucking. She was opening and closing her eyes and even had one little hand resting under her chin. And boy those feet! It looks like she is going to take after her Uncle Gabe and Uncle Saul because they appeared to be very long! (Sorry little girl, Mommy has big feet, too!) We saw her profile, finally, and can't really guess yet who she'll look like. We were even able to see that her heart, kidneys and bladder were all functioning normally. At the end of the ultrasound we were informed that Hannah is growing beautifully, in fact, she is measuring a full week ahead, at 32 weeks 3 days gestation, and is currently estimated to weigh 4 pounds and 1 ounce.

We have one appointment a week from now on, so I'll be updating more regularly the closer we get.

30 weeks, 1 day

2007-09-25T17:05:00.001-04:00

Well, since my last post I did finally hear back from my doctor. He played a very long game of phone tag with the Urologist, but they were finally able to talk about my case. The end result is that we are all finally on the same page and everyone is happy and confident that waiting until Hannah is born to do anything about my kidney is the right choice. Since we have already discussed inducing at 38 weeks with my OB, we have decided to stick with that plan. Henry and I are confident that she will be fully baked and ready to breath by then, especially since Seth was born at 38 weeks 2 days and was perfect! Otherwise, things have been going well. I am extremely tired and am experiencing the lack of sleep I never experienced while pregnant with Seth. Now I understand where all of my friends were coming from when they described this "symptom" to me. The only hard part is having my roudy 1 year old to chase after. Speaking of which, he was sick at the end of last week and I have discovered that Seth has the same reaction (and then some) to Dimetapp that I do! I gave him a dose of it before a nap and he did not get drowsy at all. In fact, he became downright hyper! Seriously, he was so wired and wouldn't take a nap, that I finally took him to the outdoor Outlet Mall down the road to walk around for an hour and a half. He finally fell asleep in the car around 3:15. He then took a nice long nap and went to bed at 8:00pm. Needless to say, I was exhausted! The only other notable changes could be that I have been feeling bigger and bigger every day! I guess that Little Miss is running out of room so she has started doing some strange things to stretch out. I'm not complaining, I love the movement, but it is most uncomfortable when I am sitting down to eat or sitting in an upright position just to rest. It seems like the only time I can rest well is if I am laying down because I must be encroaching in her space when I sit upright. We had another doctors appointment today. I will be going every other week from now until 36 weeks when I go weekly. My pressure today was ok, 130/60. It was mentioned that the top number was a bit high, but that was all that was said. I did have a tremendous weight gain this time...6 pounds! I guess the brownie craving is starting to catch up with me! I asked the doctor about my measurements and he said that I am exactly the same as I was with Seth, weight and everything! Now, we just have to play the waiting game to the end! All said, I am still feeling good. I enjoy being pregnant and will miss it when I am through. The reward at the end is so much greater that I can ever imagine!

Pregnancy Pictures

2007-09-17T12:51:00.001-04:00

Well, I haven't heard anything new from my doctor, but I thought I would go ahead and post a couple of recent pregnancy pictures. They were taken on Friday night by Henry. I was 28 weeks, 5 days pregnant. Henry and I cannot tell for sure, but we both think I am actually smaller with Hannah than I was with Seth. Probably not by a whole lot, but that's ok.

Overall, I am still feeling good. Just a bit more tired than usual but that could be due to chasing after our sweet climber all day long and a lack of ability to sleep at night. Hopefully, things will settle back down and I'll be able to sleep again before we hit the end of the pregnancy.

September 6, 2007 - 27 weeks 3 days

2007-09-07T12:03:00.000-04:00

Well, we had another OB appointment yesterday. So far things are still looking really good. My blood pressure was 128/70 and my weight was only up another pound. I am still really shocked about the lack of great weight gain this time around but, as the nurse explained it, this is a different baby and different pregnancy! I am not doing anything to try not to gain weight, but I guess I am more active this time around, so that could explain it! Hannah is still doing wonderfully. Her heart rate was nice and strong. I had to have the Rhogham(sp?) shot before I left. I don't generally like being stuck, but I can handle it most of the time. The only problem with the shot is that it stings really bad and leaves your hind end sore for several hours afterward. But, As always, I will do whatever is best for me and Hannah and this shot is absolutely medically necessary, so the temporary pain is worth it! Unfortunately, I left the appointment feeling somewhat unhappy with things again. I shared the notes from the Urologist with my doctor and he seemed a bit concerned with the plan of keeping Hannah inside until 38 weeks. Long story short, after much discussion with Henry and my parents over my own uneasiness, I called and left word for my OB to call me back on Monday. I plan on telling him that I trust him and I need for him to be ok with the plan. I will ask him to contact the Urologist himself and come to whatever conclusions they can together. Right now, they are both willing to do whatever the other feels is best and while that is great it has left me in the middle making all the plans. I am not doctor and I will never claim to be so I will feel much better knwoing that they have spoken to eachother and come up with a plan that makes them both happy. Most importantly, I need to know that my OB is confortable with the plan. I know he is concerned about me and the baby and since I could sense his concern yesterday it made me feel concerned now as well. So, hopefully, I will talk to my doctor on Monday and then he'll talk to the Urologist and we can come up with a plan that suits us all! As always, I'll update when I know more.

The past couple of months...

2007-09-05T15:59:00.000-04:00

Well, as promised here is an update about me and Hannah and what has been going on the past couple of months! You might notice that after this post there are several others. I was keeping another blog but decided to move all of those posts here as well in order to have everything together. Feel free to read on if you like. There are also a couple of pictures of Hannah from each of the ultrasounds. Many of you know what has been going on but in the event you haven't heard here it is. Around my 13 week appointment I mentioned to my doctor that I have been having a pain in my right side for quie a long time now. After describing the pain to him he decided that I needed to have my gall bladder scanned. It took me a long time to get it done but I finally had the scan done around 20 weeks. At the scan we found that everything looked normal with my gall bladder but they found a mass on my kidney. After having an MRI (without the contrast) and consulting a Urologist it was determined that the mass is not a fatty tumor nor is it a cyst. Right nowmy Urologist is calling it a tumor and "assuming" it is cancer. The assumption is based solely upon the fact that "it's the only thing left to assume" according to the doctor. The assumption came as quite a shock to me and my family. Of course we were all immediately concerned about my health as well as Miss Hannah's health and what this does in terms of my pregnancy. Thankfully, my health still remains wonderful as does the health of the baby. Truthfully, I feel healthier this pregnancy than I did with Seth! After the initial shock, we immediately began trying to figure out what to do. Many questions were asked and it was determined that we will keep an eye on the tumor to make sure there is no abnormal growth and there being none, we will schedule surgery for a month after Hannah is born. I am a bit freightened about the surgery having never gone under the knife before, but I can honestly say those have been some of the least of my worries. My biggest worries were making plan for my family. What would we do with Seth and Hannah while I am in the hospital? How does Henry handle splitting his time between Seth and me and Hannah. Hannah will more than likeley not be able to stay with me in the hospital so he'll (Henry) be her main caretaker during my stay there. What is recovery going to be like and things like that. Fortunately, now that we have an idea of what will be happening many of my worries and fears have been put to rest. I am still nervous about the surgery, but having so much family and so many friends surrounding us, I am confident that my own little family will be well taken care of in my abscence. Henry is the best Daddy I could have ever wanted for my children and he is totally devoted to their care, so I really have no worries there either! So, that in a nut shell is what has been keeping me so busy these past couple of months, along with chasing after my toddler and trying to keep myself awake during the day. I don't remember being this tired at this point in my pregnancy with Seth but, then again, I didn't have Seth to run around after yet! As far as the pregnancy goes, I am doing quite well! I go back to the doctor tomorrow for a regular check up but until then I can tell you that my last blood pressure reading was 110/60, and my weight was only up a total of 7 pounds! This is quite an accomplishment in both areas for me as at this point in my last pregnancy my pressure was already creeping upward and my weight gain had soared past 20 pounds already! My belly is growing every day and boy can I feel it!!! I love it though. Feeling the baby move is nothing short of a miracle to me and makes me smile just about every time, although I do have my moment when it is a bit more painful than pleasant. All in all, I am feeling great and I cannot wait for the day we get to meet this little angel in person!

August 14, 2007 - 24 weeks

2007-09-05T15:57:00.000-04:00

Well, I had my 24 week appointment today. It went very well, if I do say so myself! I had to drink the nasty stuff they give you before they do your glucose test. Then, I met with the PA. We had a nice long chat about all of the stuff going on in my life right now. She is a great lady and a part of me wishes that she could deliver me because she'd be great! Hannah is doing fantastically. Her heart rate was great and I only gained 2 pounds!!! The best news was that my blood pressure was 110/60. I was thrilled to hear that. Otherwise, there's not a whole lot to report, just you every day appointment!

July 16, 2007 - 20 weeks and she's definitely a girl!

2007-09-05T15:56:00.000-04:00

We had our 20 week ultrasound and appointment today. My Mom came to see the "live action feature" we are calling Hannah Grace Crafton. She seemed quite pleased to be there and very excited that we found out for sure that our girl is a girl! Everything else looks great! The baby looked perfect and seems to be growing just as nicely as before. The issue with my placenta is a non-issue now. It seems that it has moved up to a point that the doctor is no longer concerned about it. My blood pressure was great again and my weight gain was another 4 pounds. I am going to try to work on keeping it down to a minimum over the next few months. The less I put on the less I have to take off!

June 26, 2007 - 17 weeks and it's a...

2007-09-05T15:55:00.000-04:00

Girl...possibly! The doctor did the scan today and we were thrilled to find out that the baby is currently looking like a girl, but since (s)he wasn't in the best position he would not commit to (him)her being a girl. So, I am going to hold off on buying anything pink until we have our next scan in three weeks and we've decided to be somewhat reserved with our excitement until we know for 100% positive. Aside from that, everything looked pretty good. The baby looked GREAT! (S)he was measuring 17 weeks 2 days, which puts (him)her right on track and the heartbeat was nice and strong. There was one small concern but, it is something the doctor is hoping will correct itself as the pregnancy progresses. When the doctor was doing the scan he noticed that the placenta was quite low, very close to the cervix. This can cause placenta previa, so we are going to be keeping an eye on it to be sure it grows /moves higher on the uterus the further along I get. Again, this is nothing to be concerned about at this time, the doctor just wanted to give us the heads up so that we are aware of the reason we'll have a few more ultrasounds. My blood pressure was great and technically I only gained one pound, although I did gain back the 4 pounds I had lost at the last appointment. Oh well! I'll take a net gain of only one pound at this point! As always, I will post another update when we know for sure that this littl emunchkin is a girl. (I feel like it's a girl, and so do a bunch of other people!)

May 25, 2007 - 12 weeks, 2 days

2007-09-05T15:54:00.000-04:00

I had a doctor's appointment today so it is time for an update. To be quite honest, while I knew I was pregnant already, it really hit home today when I heard the heartbeat for the first time. That alone is what assures me that everything is going fine and that I am in fact, pregnant! I know it sounds silly, but an ultrasound is just a picture, the doppler used to hear the heartbeat is what says it all to me. It reminds me of the little miracle I have growing inside me right now. I left the doctor's office on cloud nine and I don't think I have come down yet. Anyway, on with the update! As I mentioned we did hear the heartbeat for the first time today. It was "very strong for 12 weeks" according to the nurse practitioner. She was pleased at how strong it was. It was in the 160s and for all of you familiar with the old wives tales about the heartbeat and gender prediction, she said not to try anything yet, the heartbeat is always that fast this early on. My blood pressure was great and my weight was actually down 4 pounds. This would normally be concerning, but with a heartbeat so strong, the NP said there is nothing to worry about. I have another appointment in 4 weeks and then at the following appointment we'll have the big ultrasound. I was informed that my doctor won't do the "big ultrasound" a day before you are 18 weeks. If you ask me today, I still think it is a boy, but during the first 16 weeks of my pregnancy with Seth, I was sure he was a girl. I only changed my mind 2 weeks before we found out with him, so who knows! Maybe my "Mommy instincts" are backwards at the beginning of the pregnancy!!! Either way, I will be thrilled and all I truly want is to have a healthy baby and pregnancy. As for my early pregnancy symptoms, I am doing well. I was having constant morning sickness but, that seems to have subsided to only once or twice a week. And, otherwise, I am still really tired all of the time and getting more excited each day! So, that's all for my update for now. I'll write more as I know more! Thanks for reading!

April 19, 2007 - 8 Weeks and Counting...Up

2007-09-05T15:53:00.000-04:00

Well, now that the news is out I figured I should go ahead and start with the updates and how I am feeling. My pregnancy with Seth, aside from the preeclampsia at the end, was super easy. I was famous for telling everyone that if we hadn't gone through what we did to have him, I never would have known I was pregnant. I never had any morning sickness, no real food aversions, and aside from falling asleep at 8pm every night, I wasn't really tired during the day. This pregnancy is completely different already! I have had all day sickness, I have been so sleepy all day long, and my "rhinitis", a.k.a. stuffy nose, is back with a vengance at night. I also have been having trouble feeding Seth certain foods. The smell of the food kills me! I have just been feeling crappy in general and I never even thought to connect it with possible pregnancy until last week. After seeing the baby on the ultrasound yesterday I am sure that this is a great thing, no matter how much sooner than our "plan" it has come. That is the part that always amazes me. Seeing that tiny little baby with the even smaller heartbeat always confirms for me what a miracle each and every baby is. So, all in all I am ok. Now that I know the source of my discomfort, it is all worth it! We are extremely excited and we know that Seth will make a great big brother. My grandfather always says that babies bring luck and right now I feel like the luckiest woman on earth!

April 19, 2007 - Surprise!!!!!!!!

2007-09-05T15:52:00.000-04:00

We're having another baby! We found out on Friday and it was confirmed yesterday by my doctor that I am in fact 8 weeks pregnant. We saw the heartbeat and my doctor says everything looks great! So, sometime around December 3, Seth will become a big brother for the first time! We were quite surprised by this new little one. This truly was a miracle and gift from God. After all of the trouble we had getting pregnant with Seth we just never figured we would be able to get pregnant without seeking some assistance from the fertility specialists again. We are totally thrilled and I have to admit that I am still in shock. I can't wait to see where this new adventure in our lives will take us. So, now we wait to find out, boy or girl?!?!?!? We should know by July, so I'll update then!