Tony's Graduation

I'm finally getting around to posting these pictures from graduation a month ago. :) Can't believe it's been that long. It was a beautiful day and we were able to start it out great with a nice breakfast with Austin & Kristina who had driven over from Indy to celebrate with us. After breakfast we went to the school and waited for graduation to start. We had great seats and a perfect view of everything. Tony walked right past me during the processional so I was able to snap this great picture.

This is Dr. Montgomery -- he helped immensely during my pregnancy with Kaiya. I visited him regularly for adjustments from beginning to end and he was great. He is smarter than my OB.

After graduation ceremony with Maurine & Hannah

Dr. Free & Dr. Hyser

After graduation we all went over to UNO's Chicago Grill our favorite restaurant and had lunch. Here are some pictures of everyone who joined us for the lunch. After that we all had to face the music and go load the truck, finish packing and clean!

Rachel w/ Brian & Julie Katerberg (friends from church)Jackie Thies and Jake Wyllie - small group friends minus their spouses.

Tony's mom & cousin Becca

My parents

My sisters who sweetly babysat Kaiya during graduation so I wouldn't miss a thing.

Tony & his dad

Scorpion on my ARM!!!

Okay... I seriously am going nuts from these bugs. Today while sitting in the sun with Kaiya by the pool I felt a little creepy crawly on my upper arm. Look down and see a SCORPION!!! This is my second scorpion sighting in a week. I can't take it. :)

I flicked it off -- Kaiya is meanwhile yelling from the pool: BUG! BUG! BUG! and stomped it with my flip flop. Dirty little bug.

Anyway... it's gross. We have sugar ants in the kitchen that I can't get rid of. I have the most spick & span kitchen I've ever had in my life and they still keep coming. I sweep every other night, I soap out my sink and put all dishes away and still they come. So... we are bringing out the big guns this weekend. Ruthie and I are on the hunt for BUG KILLER. We think they are coming in from the garage so that is where we are going to first launch our attack. I'll let you know how it goes.

Onto the more exciting things in Florida...

Hilarious story from today. So Tony was up late watching football and up early checking his fantasy football online and was running late to work. He comes home for lunch and I notice that he is sporting kind of a different look with his hairstyle. It's all kind of spikey this way and that. So about halfway through lunch I ask -- "Are you trying something different with your hair?" He looks at me strange and then touches the top of his head. "Nope," he says. "Just put gel in this morning and forgot to comb it out." We start cracking up - Kaiya too, but only because at this point in life she is a follower. :) He gets up to go look in the mirror and he's laughing. He fixed it before going back for lunch. We decided the new look doesn't help him out in looking old enough to be a doctor. :) I wish I had gotten a picture.

Water fun pictures... Thanks Uncle Austin & Aunt Kristina for the wonderful beach kit! Kaiya loves playing with all of the buckets and shovels and wagon outside in the water. :) Ruthie bought a pool that we set up on the back patio and we've enjoyed it every day this week for a little bit in the afternoon. Can't stay out long though -- this sun tans you quick! Twenty minutes and we all have lines from our swim suits. K's getting a cute little criss cross on her back from her suit and it makes her seem so much older to me for some reason. She will tan well, I think. Anyway... here's the pics.

New Guest/Smart Girl

Tony here.....I haven't posted in a long time so I thought I would give Rachel a break and tell you a couple of stories that happened recently. Most of you know but we moved to St. Cloud, Florida for a year so I could take part in a training program. From there, we are planning to move to Charlotte. I joke with rachel that in our first 6 years of marriage we will have lived in 4 different states! On top of that, most of our kids will be born in different states! Below is the picture of our 26 ft moving truck. When you add in the cab and Ruthie's car that we were towing it was almost as long as a semi. I drove the truck with Roger and Rachel, Ruthie, Kaiya and lu-lu and moneybags all followed in rachel's car. The trip down wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The only exception might have been when we were trying to keep costs down we had stopped at a hotel that only cost 39 dollars per night. Well the old adage "you get what you pay for" came into play. You could barely breathe b/c it was so musty, there was a big spider in the bath tub, the bathroom lights didn't work and no one was looking forward to taking their shoes off or sleeping on the beds. After about 2 seconds of deliberation we decided that this wasn't the place for us and we asked for our money back. The rest of the trip was uneventful.

Anyways, on to the stories. First: We typically think of ourselves as welcoming people. We enjoy having people over as guests to our home. As the story continues, keep in mind the key word in the previous sentence is "people". The other night we had put kaiya to bed and rachel went to take a bath while I was checking my email. After about 5 minutes I hear rachel yelling my name. With kaiya being asleep I'm high tailing it to rachel so that kaiya isn't woken up. I come into the bathroom to see rachel (from the bath) throwing a used diaper at our cat money bags. Moneybags had picked up on our welcoming demeanor and was entertaining a new guest. Below is a picture of our new guest; needless to say, I wouldn't categorize it in the "people" category.

I figured since money bags could be welcoming... so could I. From there I made the formal introductions between Mr. Scorpio and Mr. Snee Kerr and Old John Crapper as pictured below:)

Okay, I know... a little corny. It was an interesting experience to say the least. We have kept our eyes open in case their were others but thankfully our search has been uneventful!

The second story happened today. Kaiya woke up early so we decided to bring her into our bed and try and snuggle her in between us. Of course she wanted "up". Still being a little groggy, we decided to let her roam around a little while we laid in bed. She was gone no longer than 10 seconds when we hear this noise. Nothing menacing but enough to make us think "what is she getting into now?" Another 15 seconds go by and kaiya comes strolling back into our bedroom with some dried banana chips. The funny part is that they were on middle of the table. She had to move the chair, climb onto the chair and probably the table to reach them, somehow get them down to the floor without spilling them (the box isn't easy for her to manage" and then carry them into our bedroom. On top of that, she was only gone long enough for her to actually accomplish this. It wasn't like she was out roaming and just saw them; she can't even see them from the floor. We just got a kick out of the fact that she actually had to have the idea while in our bedroom and head directly out there on a mission. Below is the picture of her when she came back into our bedroom with her newfound treasure!

These pictures are from the afternoon we spent with Connie and her kids. I didn't take as many as I should have (this always happens to me), but I did get a few. We had fun playing outside
in the sprinkler and playing inside. And I enjoyed the little bits of conversation that Connie and I managed to get in during all the activity around us.

I'm back!

Sorry for the long absence. We have settled into a bit of a routine here in our new home and think I have found my blogging window. For now anyway... I have a lot of catching up to do. And thought I would stretch it out over a couple days.

These pictures were taken about 2 months ago during a diaper change. For some reason -- I can't remember why -- I got Kaiya up to change her diaper after she had fallen asleep for the night. Probably realized that I hadn't changed her diaper before she fell asleep. Anyway. She is laying on the changing table. I take the diaper off and as I reach for the wipes, she rolls over onto her belly and is out of it. I had time to grab the camera and get a picture and she didn't move a bit. We finished the diaper change and then I layed her back into her crib. She rolled immediately again and continued sleeping in her favorite sleeping position. On her belly, with her knees tucked up and her little toushy in the air.

That's it for today. I'll blog more pictures tomorrow... I have a ton to post so it will be fun to get all caught up.

Quick Update

I just wanted to post a quick update. I am in my last week of training my replacement here at work. As a result, I haven't had hours on end to surf the Internet. :) I'm sure that will resume once we are settled in Florida. Here's our timeline:

August 9th: Rachel's last day at work (Hallelujah)
August 9th/11th: Tony will leave for Florida, Rachel will go to Ind. to finalize things at house we own and see a couple friends.
August 13th: Doctor's appt to hopefully determine sex of baby for sure! :)
August 15th: Pick up Tony at Airport
August 16th-17th: Get seriously packed
August 18th: Tony's graduation, Load the Truck
August 19th: Pull out in the morning.
August 21st: Arrive in Florida

Whew! Can't think about the next two weeks too hard or I start bawling. This is a bit stressful -- completely exciting -- but stressful.

Ruthie is now living with us. Poor thing is sleeping on her mattress on the floor of our office -- which is a room that is not closed off to the rest of the house. She is graciously sharing her space with us. Most of her belongings are in boxes in our basement currently.

We are still trying to nail things down w/ a place to live in Florida. We found a wonderful house, but are waiting to be approved, etc. Please pray no one snatches this house out from under us -- we have to wait on the Post Office to get our checks down there, so I'm paranoid.

You may hear from me only in small spurts over the next few weeks. I'll be back eventually.

Recent pics

Here are just a few pictures that I took over the past week. We babysat AJ last week and they were both up until 9:30 playing. We tried to get Kaiya to bed before he came over, but she must have heard us playing. I went in her room about 30 minutes after he was over and she was wide awake sitting up in her crib. Oh well... :) They had a lot of fun -- and big muscles Kaiya wanted to push AJ all over the living room.

The other pictures are this morning. I put all of Kaiya's hair in piggy tails and she looked so darn cute. The first picture is a chipmunk picture of her w/ a mouth full of O's. :)

POLL -- Would you do it?

I was browsing the news online this morning at work and came across this article on http://www.foxnews.com/.

My sister has a German short-hair and her husband has a labrador. Rebekah -- this is what the spawn of Ziggy & Katie could turn out like!! AHHHH!!!

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MENOMONIE, Wis. — Debbie Hulleman's dog Pepper has been known to gnaw on lipstick, munch on shampoo bottles and chew on toothpaste. But Pepper got Hulleman into a real mess after gobbling nearly $750.

"This is probably the worst," Hulleman said Thursday, recalling how she poked through vomit and dog piles left in the yard to recover the cash.

Hulleman had asked her mother in Oakdale, Minn., to take care of Pepper and Zach, the family's other dog last month while she and husband went on vacation. Pepper, an 8-year-old black Labrador-German shorthair, got into a purse belonging to her mother's friend and chewed the cash from an envelope. Hulleman's mother recovered some of the money that Pepper spit out, thinking she had it all. But when Hulleman returned from the trip and went to clean up her dogs' mess outside, she noticed a $50 bill hanging from one pile.

The chore of sorting through dog feces netted about $400, the 50-year-old dog lover said. Between that and other bills that Pepper had either vomited or simply chewed on, the family recovered $647.

"We have a $100 bill that can't be recovered because you need three-fourths of a bill and it is only half of a bill," Hulleman said.

The family swapped the soiled money for fresh currency at a bank.

"It wasn't that bad. I soaked it and strained it and rinsed it. I just kept rinsing it and rinsing it. I had rubber gloves on of course," Hulleman said.

"Everyone said, 'I can't believe you did that.' Well, for $400, yeah, I would do that," she said.

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It gave me a little giggle and I thought to myself.... Yep... I'd do it too. :)

So... now the question is: WOULD YOU DO THAT? Comment please! :0)

It's a BOY! (maybe)

We had a doctor's visit on Tuesday and he told me last month that we could find out what we are having if I come with a full bladder. The ultrasound reflects off the bladder so it would help him get a clear picture. Apparently I overshot the full bladder bit. I was so paranoid about not having enough water, that I drank a lot. I was in pain walking up to my appt because I had such a full bladder. :) Silly me... Anyway... when he went to do the ultrasound the baby was sitting Indian style. Yep -- legs completely crossed. AHHHH! My full bladder was taking up so much room that the baby couldn't stretch his legs out. The doctor got one decent shot and said he had a guess if we wanted to hear it. He said that if he had to make a guess he thinks that he saw boy parts. He followed that with -- don't go painting the nursery, if you buy clothes - save all the receipts, etc. So our next visit is the big ultrasound and we should be able to get a more concise answer then. Below are ultrasound pics (you can click on the picture to make it much bigger) -- the arrow on the first one is pointing to possible boy parts. The baby's bottom is on the bottom, with a thigh bone pointing up.

The second ultrasound is the 3D. With great ultrasound reading skills you can make out a face with eye sockets and a chin. There is a little V down at the bottom and that is the elbow joint. Looks quite alien-ish, but still fun to see the little baby growing and changing each visit.

So stay tuned for a confirmation of the baby's sex. We should know in a month or so.

Where have we been?

I can't believe that it has been so long since we posted. I have some great 4th of July pics to post someday. Whenever Ruthie sends them to me. We took pictures with her camera and so they will be coming soon. In the meantime here are a few pictures that I borrowed from Connie.

We went to visit Tony's mom in Elkhart last weekend and our friends came up to see us and play in the pool. My parents came up for a couple hours too. Here are the pics:

Kaiya w/ Max & Mitch (Connie's 2 yr. twins)

Kaiya & Papa

Big Girl

Over the past month, Kaiya has taken up an interest in our shoes. She constantly parades around the house pulling shoes by their laces, or trying to figure out how Mama's strange different types of shoes all work. She figured these sandals perfectly on her own. Fortunately the camera was close by so I could snap a couple pics.

It was very hard to push the Dora car with high heels on... :)

Corn on the Cob

Kaiya's first taste of corn on the cob. She LOVED it. I ate most of the corn off my cob and then she climbed on Papa's lap to finish it off. She got the hang of it right away, and immediately started just cheesing these huge grins. She giggled the whole time she was eating it. Adorable.

Cardinals

One of Tony's patients works for the Cardinals and sweetly gave us excellent seats to Tuesday night's game. We scrambled for a babysitter (Thanks Nate & Maurine!) and had a great date. We did the typical - "I thought you had cash" - and so we didn't have enough money to park anywhere remotely close to the stadium. (Oops) But we parked by the Arch and walked over to the stadium. As you can see, we had a great view of the game and the Cardinals won!

I sure will miss this view. The arch is such a pretty city landmark. And it didn't come out in the picture, but the sky was really pink/blue w/ the sun going down behind us. A beautiful night!

My little parrot

We took these precious pictures after our trip to the zoo. Aunt Ruthie joined up with us for dinner after we got back from the zoo and these pictures are the perfect example of cute Miss Kaiya mimicking EVERYTHING. She watches her Aunt Ruthie very closely and we catch her "copying" Ruthie all the time. In fact, the other night Ruthie was being really dramatic about something and put both hands on her face. About 2 seconds later we look over and Kaiya is walking towards us with both hands on her face and a big grin because she knows she is just like Aunt Ruthie. :)

Busy Weekend

It was a busy weekend at our house. Our friends Austin & Kristina came in for the weekend, arriving later on Friday night. Saturday morning the girls left the guys alone with their video games and went garage saling. I found 5 lb weights that I needed for my workouts and a book about the "new baby" for Kaiya. We only stayed out until 10 a.m. and then dropped Kaiya off with the guys while we went and got our hair cut. Mine is right at shoulder length -- it is much cooler and nice to have the length off for now. I'm sure I'll let it grow again... it is a fun summer cut. No pictures for now -- maybe I'll get one this coming weekend.





We had a relaxing afternoon. It was a HOT weekend in St. Louis. Temps were in the 90s w/ lots of humidity. It was nearly unbearable so we put Kaiya in her swimsuit and played on the deck in the pool & sprinkler with her. She had fun. In the evening we made quick stop at the mall and then went to Fitz's in the Loop. It was a great dinner and fun atmosphere. We dined outside on the patio and Kaiya was so good with lots too keep her attention.





Sunday was another hot day. We visited a different church and I had the most embarassing thing happen to me with Kaiya so far. I'm sure it will only be the first of many... The nursery paged me about halfway through the service and I went to get her. Apparently she was fussy on and off and so I just took her out. I had packed a pretty good diaper bag w/ O's and sippy cup and bottle so I thought she would be able to survive the remainder of the service. Ha ha...


I try the O's first... she eats a few and then I think -- you know. Maybe I ought to try the bottle. So I start mixing it and she immediately bursts into tears. And so I quickly stand up -- leaving everything but the bottle behind and attempt to get out of the service as fast as possible. Not fast enough... She is in a full out wail by this point. Like the kind of scream after she gets gravely injured or after I spank her. Yeah -- I think the pastor had to turn up his michrophone. I finally get out of there -- and make a run for outside, stuff the bottle in her mouth and head over to a porch swing in this courtyard. The church is held at the college I got my Master's at so I knew my way around. Fortunately Tony gathered up all my things and about 10 minutes later our friends and Tony found me and we went home. I was mortified... and also felt stupid for even taking K in the service with me. It was just so good and I wanted to hear the rest of it. I did feel a little better when Kristina told me that shortly after I left with Kaiya a little boy a section over puked and they dripped puke all the way down the aisle and out the doors. So... by that point maybe everyone had forgotten about Kaiya.





After a LONG nap and lunch we decided to go to the zoo. It had cooled down a bit and we figured the zoo wouldn't be too busy since it was the late afternoon, a couple hours from closing. We were right! It was nice and slow and not too miserable outside. This is Kaiya's first trip to the zoo where she actually knew what was going on. She got the hang of things pretty quickly... when the stroller stops it is time for Daddy to lift me up so I can see the animals. :) Here are a bunch of pictures from our time.

This is the face Kaiya had most of the day. Mouth gaping open and eyes really bright. You can see the little wheels turning in that head of hers. It was great.

With Uncle Austin & Daddy in the log that Kaiya was afraid to climb in. I don't know if you can see this picture clearly but we were cracking up. The big bear is sleeping and has its leg propped up on the rock wall. What a life...




This giraffe got really really close!

Kaiya is tall like a giraffe in this picture. Here are Uncle Austin & Aunt Kristina after a long trip to the zoo!

Here is the latest picture of our little squirt. This is a fairly good picture. The baby's head is on the right -- you can see a slight profile. There is a little hand on top, and the little legs are pulled up on the far left. The little one was moving and squirming like crazy... grabbing it's legs and arching the back. Very cute. The head is about the size of a quarter now. The total length is 6.37 cm from top of the head to the bottom.

Several have asked me whether Ruthie or I will be doing the training for Tony's office. We haven't decided yet. I will still do some training no matter what... and then we'll just see what happens when the time gets closer.

Time for an Update!

Well, as you may have noticed, the blog has taken on a tropical theme. This is in celebration of finalizing our plans to head to Florida! As mentioned in previous posts, we really wrestled with this decision -- only because Tony really felt like he should become involved with Maximized Living, was accepted into their program and the timing wasn't ideal with the arrival of Baby #2. If he started the program in September, he would be in the thick of it when this baby comes. Not the most ideal situation for our family. So after really praying about the decision, an opportunity presented itself that seems to be our answered prayers!

Here's the plan: Tony has accepted a position as an intern in a chiropractor's office in St. Cloud, Florida. This chiropractor was recommended by Maximized Living and has offered Tony a position until March 2008. In March, Tony will begin the doctor placement program with Maximized Living in Celebration, FL. (Small chance to brag on Tony: I had heard that this program is very selective and hard to get into. I don't think I really grasped how selective they really are. When I was talking to Tony about seeing if some of the other guys in the program can help him unload the truck. Tony said -- well, there are only 2 people in the program at a time. So I was proud of Tony before -- now I'm really proud of him! It was an extensive interview process -- now I know why!) So anyway... our goal is for Tony to move down to Florida mid-July. He is working to wrap up all of his requirements at Logan in order to leave before graduation. Kaiya and I will stay at in St. Louis until Tony's graduation on August 18 and then we'll all move down the day after he graduates!

We will live in Florida for close to a year. Stay tuned about where we end up after that. We are still very interested in Charlotte, NC.

Another exciting development in our move to Florida is that Ruthie will be joining us. Tony and I talked to her about this possibility shortly after we found out that we were going to have another baby. The training program trains the spouse for free on the workings of the office -- and to be a chiropractic assistant. We proposed to Ruthie two options: 1) Come down with us, take my place in the training and then when we set up our office, Ruthie would be Tony's Chiropractic Assistant. 2) Come down and be our nanny so that I can do the training. At the time, Ruthie had decided that she wanted to stay in St. Louis for another year. She had arranged to live with 3 other girls and was planning on staying here so she turned us down. :) Well, some of her circumstances changed this past week and she really felt like God might be directing her to Florida. So this past weekend she told us she would be interested in moving to Florida. That's the direction we are planning in now. She is going to focus on taking classes while with us -- and she will be a huge help as well. And I was really dreading saying good-bye to her in August. It occurred to Tony yesterday that now he will have someone to help him clean out the litter box. Hooray for Ruthie! :)

My last day of work will be approx. July 31st. Don't you love that approximately? July 31 falls in the middle of the week. So I said that I could stay until the 3rd of August, which falls on a Friday. My motivation with this is that I will hopefully have my August health insurance covered by David if I do that. (Crossing my fingers he doesn't prorate it.)

Speaking of health insurance we are planning to cobra out my insurance here at work. One of my most exciting moments last week was when I found a birthing center that is in-network on my insurance! So... provided this little one stays inside me until at least 37 weeks, I will be able to deliver with a midwife at the birthing center! Such a great option for us -- and I'll get to attempt the water birth that I so badly wanted to do with Kaiya.

That's about all the updates I have for now. Sorry for the lack of pictures. I had every intention of taking a few of Kaiya last week at Tony's soccer game. And then I left the camera in the car and it was too far of a walk for me to go back and get it. I'll have to snap a few soon. Actually... I think I'll steal a few of her off a friend's site... Here are Kaiya & AJ playing in their tunnel while Mama works all day! :)

Strawberry Pickin'

We had a great weekend. Sunday morning we got up early and went strawberry picking. I attached the pictures of Kaiya below -- the little ragamuffin won't keep any hair clips or rubberbands in lately, so she has messy hair most of the time. :) She had a great time running through the strawberries and as you can see from the pictures, I couldn't get her to hold still and smile for a picture. She was constantly on the go. There was a big Lassie-dog running around so she had fun keeping tabs on him, picking green strawberries and climbing all over. She was a dirty little girl by the time we were ready to go home. We got the very tail end of strawberry season, so only picked a couple of pints. But it was still fun.




After strawberry picking we tried to go to church but didn't get ready in time. Instead Tony ran a couple errands with me. We went to get a couple packs of flowers for me to plant in the front of our yard, by the end of the driveway and the nursery we went to had everything buy one get one free. So... I ended up getting some herbs and tomatoes too. When I was picking out the flowers I saw an entire cart filled with scraggly looking petunias. I asked if they were still for sale -- even at a discount or something and she said that she was just going to let them go and I could take them if I wanted to. So... I took 2 flats of petunias. I think I was able to revive them -- and have plenty extra that I am going to find homes for. I think my neighbor ladies will enjoy them. So... hopefully my herbs, tomatoes and flowers will do well over the next few weeks. I have a little over 2 months to enjoy them -- and I think the next family to live in the house will like them too.