The big news...

I know it has been a while since I updated this... but I really didn't have much to update until recently. I will try to do better from now on.

Right now all is going relatively well. In January we found out that we are pregnant again. We told a few people (okay, more than a few) after the doctor confirmed it with 2 blood test. We waited to tell the masses until we could have the first sonogram done. We had that sonogram on February 21st. Everything looks good, we got to see the heartbeat and confirmed that there is only one baby in there. The sonogram also confirmed our due date as October 6, 2008. Needless to say, we are all very excited... Drew included. Here are a few fuzzy sonogram pictures to show off our little bean.

Here are some cute pictures of Drew and Andy as well.

I will update with more pictures later.

Christmas Day

Okay, so it took me a few days to actually get around to posting our Christmas day photos. But at least they are here now.

Christmas morning we were lucky enough to wake up before Drew. Andy woke up first and cooked blueberry muffins. After I got up Andy went up to get Drew. We had a great time opening gifts and watching Drew play with all of his new toys. Santa gave him a tricycle, and a remote controlled car. Unfortunately, one of the key pieces of the tricycle must have gotten lost in Santa's slay. At least he was able to sit on it.

After we got done with all of our presents, we headed over to Mike and Barbara's city house for Christmas with the Milliorns. Again, Drew had a great time playing with all of his cousins, and new toys. The first picture is Meredith (1) playing with the new doll we gave her from Disney. The next one is Madeleine (4) with her princess jewlery. The last one is Cara (2) and Brenna (4.5) praying with some of Granny's old toys before we opened gifts.

Christmas Update

Sorry it has been so long since I have updated this, but I really haven't had much new going on. Here are a bunch of pictures from Christmas.

These pictures are actually from my birthday celebration at the ranch with Andy's side of the family. That is Drew and Madeleine (4) playing on the horse swing, Drew playing with a bow, me with my new Christmas dishes (this one is a pie server I got from Matt and Sharee). Drew always has such a great time at the ranch.

This year we spent Christmas Eve with my family. They came over for lunch with Mark and me doing most of the cooking. Okay, it was mostly Mark, but I helped a lot. We had a Mexican feast with fajitas, empanadas, tamales (Andy steamed those), and chips and queso. We were so full after lunch that we didn't even eat any of the 4 pies we had.

After we went to the Christmas Eve service at church, the Stringers came over for a birthday party for Jesus. We ate pizza and cake, read the Christmas story, sang happy birthday to Jesus, and just let the kids play. It was really a fun time, we hope to do it every year! Drew had a great time playing with Cameron, Sarah, and Rachel. I really wish I had taken more pictures. Maybe next year I will remember.

I will post again later with all the Christmas day festivities. I hope you all had a great Christmas.

Jacob Cochran

I just wanted to post a few pictures of my cousin Josh and his wife Tracy, and their son Jacob (Jake). I thought it might help to put some faces to the names of the people you have been praying for. These were taken before the heart murmur was detected, in the 2 days were able to hold and care for their little baby. The last update I received was last night.

From Josh: "He's still doing very well. He's been taken off of dopamine, which is used to open up blood vessels to improve blood flow in cardiac patients. He's still on another IV heart medicine but it's being steadily decreased too. Once he's off both medications his heart will be working entirely on its own without any assistance. Absolutely amazing to me for a baby who had open heart surgery two days ago. He was also able to have some food today for the first time since Thursday afternoon, although it was given by feeding tube rather than from a bottle."

"The only minor setback he's had is that he had to be placed back on a ventilator early this morning. This isn't at all uncommon in patients who have been on a ventilator. Already he's back to the lowest level of sedation (necessary to keep him calm with the tube down his throat) and breathing with the assistance of the ventilator, rather than being dependent upon it. The nurses expect him to be taken off of it again tomorrow."

"Once he's off of the ventilator and all IV medications he will be moved from the ICU to a regular hospital room. That will be an enormous milestone in his recovery. I'm not willing to speculate on when that might happen but he's definitely making progress toward it."

"We're already noticing small things about him that his surgery changed. Several people commented on his hands and feet being a little purple and cold during his first couple of days, before his condition was diagnosed. Since the surgery they've turned a much more normal pink and are noticeably warmer. The incision from his surgery, which is just as gruesome as you might imagine, looks better than it did yesterday."

I have edited down Josh's post, but you can still see that this is going to be a long road for this family. Please continue to pray for all of them, I know they appreciate it, as do I.

Finally Finished...and Cute Drew Stuff

The decorating is finally finished! It actually has been for a couple of weeks, I just never got around to taking pictures of my office. So here they are. It is great to finally have it done, and not have to explain to people what we have left to do. Now I can't wait to figure out where all of my Christmas stuff will go.

I decided yesterday to try something different with Drew's hair. We have been pretending to spike it, so I decided to try it for real. It is pretty cute, but I don't plan to do that much work everyday, so that will just be for special occasions. Too bad his Buzz Lightyear costume has a hood, or I would spike it for Halloween. He really looks like a little boy now instead of a toddler. It really make his mommy a little sad to see him growing up so fast. But he sure is fun right now!

I made the mistake the other day of leaving the salt shaker on the table... Drew decided to use it to his advantage. It was such a mess, but I had to take a picture before cleaning it up. You can't tell by this picture, but he is actually sick and running a fever in this picture.

Disney Trip

We got back home on Saturday from our big trip to Walt Disney World, and I just now have the energy to update my blog about it. While we had a great time, we were ready to come home so that we could get some rest. Drew was great for the majority of the trip. The last day or so he was getting a little cranky, but when he fell to sleep before take off on the way back, it really made up for a lot.

We saw just about every character we wanted to, Buzz Lightyear, Lightening McQueen, Pluto and Mickey Mouse were Drew's favorites. He also loved riding the Teacups, and driving the cars on the track. Now whenever we are in the car he says "I drive!". He was even tall enough to ride Goofy's Barnstormer, his first roller coaster. But I think his favorite thing was just playing on the little playground in Mickey's Toon Town. He also really liked riding the buses to and from the park. The first night we were there we attended Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party, at the Magic Kingdom. All the kids got to dress up and trick or treat in the park after it closed. It was so neat to see all the kids in costumes, I have never seen so many little princesses in all my life. Drew was Buzz Lightyear, of course.

Andy and I did get a little time to ourselves. Since my mom and dad went with us, Andy and I were able to take the Segway tour at Epcot. It was so much fun! I was really nervous before I got on, and the first time I stepped up on the Segway, but it was really easy. I totally want one now... but I am not sure where I would use it. Maybe I could use it to walk Drew to school someday.

I am actually going to try and scrap book this trip, so when I am done (hopefully before we decide to go again) I will be able to show you more of what we did.

Inching Closer

So it has been two weeks since the decorators did the first and largest install at the house. Today they came back and finished up the kitchen area. We got the wall repaired so they were able to hang the drapes in the breakfast snook. It really adds a lot to that area. They also added a bunch of accessories to the kitchen and rearranged some stuff I already had. We are still waiting for a few pieces in the living room to come, and my office still needs to be done. But it is looking really good! I am so excited to almost be finished. We were finally able to finish the outside work. The brick and concrete work is complete and looks really great with the rest of the house.

You will all have to come by sometime soon to see all the changes.