I can't post pictures!

Not sure what is going on with my laptop, but it won't let me post pictures - sorry!

Last night we celebrated Les' birthday with a few of his friends and our parents. We had a good time and ate at Catfish Heaven in Princeton - very yummy!

On Les' real b-day, the 14th, I cooked a very special dinner for him. We had grilled lobster tails, shrimp, baked potatoes, steamed brocolli and brownies. He was very excited about his dinner, but that was a surprise too when he got home from work. He had to work 11 hours on his b-day, so he deserved something special.

Other news, Zachary should be all done with transfusions, in fact, he has 4 weeks off till his next visit. So exciting for our family!!

I have resigned from my job to stay home full-time and I am very excited about that. I get to be a full time mommy amongst other things too. :)

Well, I'm off to feed a little boy now.............CIAO!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HONEY!!!!!!!!!!

I'm so glad that you are my husband and that God placed our paths to cross over 4 yrs ago now. I can't believe that we're married AND have a baby. Life is great with you and I can't imagine life without you. I know that we will be together forever b/c we're both believers and will be together in Heaven as well.

Thank you for being patient with me through the last few years, thank you for being a great husband, thank you for being YOU, thank you for loving me, thank you for the dad that you are becoming to Zachary, thank you for being the spiritual leader in our family, thank you for being devoted to your job, thank you for caring for your mom, and thank you for loving my family as your own too.

There are so many things that I could say about you today because of the love that I have for you and the love that continue to grows for you each day. I'm so thankful to have you.

I hope that you enjoy your special dinner tonight that I am making for you! You mean the world to me and I would do anything for you.

To end, here is an acrostic for you:

L - Loving
E - Energetic
S - Serious
L - Loyal
I - Incredible
E - Entertaining

Les, I love you and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!!!

Happy Birthday to the USA!!!!!!!!!!

We have had a busy few days, some good, some bad.

On Tues of this week, my grandfather died (dad's dad) in the middle of the night. He went peacefully in his sleep and for that we're all grateful for. His funeral was on Friday and the plot that he was buried at at Restland was very nice. He is under some trees and by a creek - I think he would have really liked that spot had he seen it while he was alive.

On Friday night, Les and I took my nephew Caleb with us to the Truck & Tractor Pull. We had a really good time, but we were all 3 very tired from the day's events that we left after 2 hours or so. We came home and all of us crashed. Zachary stayed with his grammy and poppy and was a very good boy for them. :) I wouldn't expect anything else from him.....hahaha

We went and saw fireworks in Wylie on Thurs night and they were very good. The finale was AWESOME! It was so bright that it just about hurt my eyes, but I loved it! We had seen Allen's fireworks the work before and those were very good too!! I tell ya, I'm addicted to fireworks and I drag Les all over the place to see them...........haha Zachary has been such a sport at all the fireworks and has not cried once - even with the loud popping. We met up with Brennan & Jimmy at Allen's firework show with their daughter, Elizabeth. She's about a week older than Zachary and she did really good too. I have a few pictures that I will post in the next post.

Today I went over to my friend Kim's house for lunch. We all had a good time. Logan, Kim's son, reached over and touched Zachary on the face - it was funny. Logan is 3 months older than Zachary and is sitting up now. When I get the pics that Kim took of us today; then I'll post that too! Thank you, Kim & Tyler for opening up your home and inviting us over for lunch!

News for today, as of today, we no longer are the owners of the Ford Ranger. We sold it on Craigslist today - that site is awesome.

Tonight we're going to go to our church parking lot and watch the McKinney fireworks. My parents will be out there with my niece and nephew and my brother, Christopher. We'll have fun! My mother-in-law might come too - we're just waiting on her to come now. Hopefully she'll make it and get to go with us.

Overall, we have had a really good time the last few days! Zachary has done well with everything and has been a great baby through all of it. He's such a good baby!!

Have a Happy and safe 4th of July!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Money Saving - so fun!

Many close people call me the "coupon queen" One thing that I really enjoy doing is cutting coupons on Sundays, well, it takes all of like 10 minutes for me to do. Then on Wednesdays when I receive my ads for Market Street, Sprouts, and Kroger in the mail - I go through them and figure out what I need, what I have coupons for, etc.

So, my excitement this week was that I spent around $27 and I saved $28 using coupons, sales, etc. Les was very proud of me b/c he leaves me in charge of Zachary's formula and diapers; which I have yet to pay full price for, and our groceries. I hardly ever buy anything for full price! I will if need be, but that's usually rare for me. One thing that I love is Market Streets 40% off meats. I buy meat, wrap it, mark it, and freeze it; then when I'm ready to cook it I just get it out and thaw it out.

Anyways, just wanted to share one of our excitements this week!! I know we get excited about crazy things, but when you save 1/2 off your grocery bill; it's hard to NOT be excited!!!

Have a great day!!!

Jumperoo

Oh gosh, Zachary had an absolute ball today while in his Baby Einstein Jumperoo!!! He loves to jump on your legs when you hold him, so I have tried him in the jumperoo a few times. Today exceeded all the other days b/c of his excitement!! hahaha My boy is growing up too quickly - now he is sound asleep!!! :)

Tonight Zachary is going to go to his very first Firework Show!! This time last year I was pregnant, but had NO idea, so I guess technically, this is his 2nd show........hahaha ;) I am prepared for him to be a little scared, but enjoy it too. He is very observant, so my prediction is that he just watches in amazement. We're not going to be right under the fireworks, although that would be awesome, but just to the northwest of the fireworks!!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY, LES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This was our first year of being parents and it is awesome!!! I love being a mom and wouldn't change a thing. :)

I want to also wish all the other dads that I know happy father's day. My dad, my brother, my cousins, my uncles, etc. You're all so special!

This picture was taken the morning of Father's Day, they were so cute. Zachary had a onesie on that said "Daddy's Champ." They were both in blue that day - too cute!

Here is Zachary in church. He was giving his daddy some love and sucking on his hand. He loves his hand and will always suck/bite on it when he's on your shoulder.

My son and my mom are famous - check them out here!!!

http://www.komennorthtexas.org/race_photos.html



p.s. I made an awesome dish last night and it was pecan crusted chicken. Oh my gosh, it was very good - even Les liked it. He can be hard to cook for, but he's come so far since we first met! :) I plan on definitely making this again. If you want the recipe - my little creation; then just let me know.

More pics!!!

Here are a few more pics from May/June that we've been up to! Zachary went to the Komen Race for the Cure with me the 1st weekend of June. My mom is a 5 year breast cancer survivor. During the walk, we ran into Ronald McDonald, so here is a pic with him! Zachary just stared at him - pretty funny. :)

Here is Zachary in the flamingo glasses and his Komen onesie that I made for him. He was a hit out there and everyone took his picture. These glasses are given to the survivors, so we had to put them on Zachary too!!! What a good sport he is. :)

Here is Les, Zachary and I at the Honey Grove Rodeo - I think this was the last weekend of May. We had a good time and Zachary was VERY observant for a good hour. He sat in my lap facing out and just looked around at EVERYTHING!!! He stayed awake for the whole rodeo and decided that he would eat his last bottle of the day during the bull-riding. He didn't fall asleep until after the rodeo and during the band.

Here is Zachary at the lake for trip #2. I bought him sunglasses to help protect his eyes - he looks so cute! He's not the fondest of his sunglasses, but he'll get used to them. :)

Here is a close-up picture of Zachary in his life jacket and blue sunglasses. Gosh, he's so cute! He has been so good with everything that we have taken him to do. He definitely doesn't want to miss out on any of the action, so, he'll stay awake; then take a nap when it's over.

Hope you enjoy all the pics!!!

Pic Update!!!

Here are a few things that we've been up to the last month or so!! Enjoy!!!!!!

This picture was taken on his 3 month birthday!!

Here is Christopher and Zachary. The 3 of us were at a party at the lake - we had a good time! We had fried chicken and all the fixins. :)

I think this is a really cute picture of Zachary and his daddy. They were not posing and just looking at me and I said," wait, let me grab my pic!!!"

Here is another picture of Zachary that was taken on his 3 month birthday!

Here is Zachary in his bumbo for the 1st time!!! My boy is getting so big!!

Here is Zachary in his bouncer for the 1st time. He looked so cute and just stared at this little sunshine that is bright and smiley!!

3 months today!!!

Our big boy is 3 months old today! On Monday, he weighed 12 lbs 1.6 ounces. I am not sure how long he was, but I know that he's getting big!!

He is down for a nap right now and before he went to sleep - I took some pictures of him with his 3 month old sign. :) I kept trying to get him to smile while I held the camera, but that was not successful. LOL As soon as I would turn the camera off and put it down and start playing and talking with him; then he would start to smile again. Crazy kid!!!!! I'll download the pictures that are currently on my camera b/c we've been very busy lately.

Things that we have been doing with Zachary:

• Rodeo in Honey Grove; which he LOVED!
• Met a few girlfriends for dinner at the Shops of Legacy
• 2nd boat trip with us, grammy, and poppy
• Komen Race for the Cure
• Sitting in a bumbo
• Trying to play in a bouncer

As you can tell, Zachary has been a very busy boy - he's such a big sport!!! Today we were going to go to a pool party, but it was moved inside. I ended up not being able to go b/c I got off work later than I had planned, but since we weren't swimming; then that was okay. I wish we could have gone to play with the other kids, but there is always next week's activity. We're going to be making Father's Day cards next week, so that will be fun!!! ;) I don't know how much Zachary will be able to color, glue, decorate, but we'll have fun doing it together and hopefully take some pictures along the way too. hahahahaha

Other news on the front - I started back to work yesterday. It's an adjustment, but overall, it'll be great once I get back in the swing of things. I am going to be working some in the office and some at home. I am excited b/c it's nice to stretch my brain again!! :)

I will try to upload the pictures this evening!!! :)

Kodi Update - 11 wks old now!

Kodi update! I believe that Kodi is now 11 wks old. I think that Zachary is 12 wks, so that would make her 11 wks........hahaha

Here is the day that we got her - she was 7 wks old in this picture - here is daddy and Kodi.
Here is Kodi and I at 7 wks - the same day as the picture above.
Okay, now the picture below is pretty funny. We had a kitten who was misplaced from her mother for a few days. I fed the kitty and Kodi enjoyed playing (tossing about, carrying her around, etc) with the kitty. The kitty wanted to play and that was the funny part. The kitten wouldn't let me touch her, but when I brought Kodi over to her, she immediately warmed up to Kodi and I. She followed me around like I was her mommy for 2 days or so. It was pretty funny!!!! Good news though, the kitty found her siblings and mommy! :)

Here is Kodi last week - you can see how big she's getting. We keep her during the day outside when it's nice. We have a stake that she's attached to and she just sits outside enjoying the weather. She's really becoming a very sweet dog!

Here is another picture of Kodi - Les put her in Zachary's swing and swung her. She wasn't quite sure what to think of it, but she just sat there and swung away for a few minutes. Then she figured out how to get out......hahahaha

Overall, Kodi is doing great! She's almost house-broken; which is great. She hasn't peed in her cage at night for several days now! When we get her up in the morning - she runs outside and pees like a good girl. Today I worked with her for a little while on sit. I couldn't wait to show Les when he got home her new trick. She's got it and it's so exciting!!! She's a smart girl and is eager to learn. We were also working on teaching her that her cage is her "home." We're going to start working on down next. She's getting it just a little bit - I worked with her for a few minutes this evening with that. She's very sweet and I'm glad that we have her - she's made a great addition to our family.

She doesn't replace our Kodiak, but she's been fun having her in the family. Her and Les, as I type, are running after each other through the house. She gets her own time with us both once Zachary goes down around 9 - 9:30 PM. Well, I'm going to head to bed now or at least get ready.

Goodnight everyone!!!!!!!!!!! :)

Praise the Lord!!!!!!

Here is our little angel sleeping tonight after his doctor appt; which turned out to have great news for us!!!


Today Zachary weighted 11 lbs and 5 ounces. He had his arm stuck and they drew about 5 cc's of blood. When the doc came in to see us, she was so excited to tell us that he was making his own red blood cells. He had not even gone down 1 point in 2 weeks and before he was making his own - he would drop at least 1 point a week, so he is improving significantly!!! They don't think that he will need anymore blood transfusions, so that was an answer to prayer. I give the Lord complete praise for this! The docs said that Zachary would start making his own red blood cells between 8 - 12 weeks and Zachary actually started making his own betwen 7 - 8 wks. They didn't want to do the 3rd transfusion, but he was just a little lower than they wanted.

Here is Zachary with his new toy from his cousins, the triplets!! He LOVES this toy and will really move his arms and legs around out of excitement. He loves the ball that is attached to it the most. I also clipped a frog onto it too and he loves that frog too. He'll always grab for it. :) Thank you, Craig and Amy, for giving me this new toy - I really am enjoying it.

Here is Zachary a few days ago just chilling out. He had been smiling, but I can't seem to catch him smiling on camera. He is smiling a ton the last few weeks and it is so much fun to see him smile. He just totally melts my heart!!!!

Here is a picture of him today just chilling out. He had been playing and I wanted to get a good picture of him. He had been looking at me right before I took the picture, but then he looked away at the last moment. I took about 4-5 pictures and he looked away almost every single picture...........hahahaha

Have a great week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

1st Boat Trip!

We took Zachary out on the boat for the 1st time this past Monday. We got him his very own lifejacket that is made for infants. He did GREAT on the boat!!!

ENJOY!!!!!!!!!!!



Here is daddy in the back of the boat fishing. We ended up with 3 catfish. :)

Here is Zachary resting, but right after this picture he wanted his bottle to finish his dinner.










































Here is Zachary after his bottle and he was OUT! He slept basically the whole time while we were out on the water; which was about 2 - 2 1/2 hours, I think.

Here is Zachary and I while he was finishing his bottle.

ABC's of ME!!!

A - Age: 29
B - Bed size: Full
C - Chore you HATE: I would probably say dusting & cleaning the dog cage.
D - Dog's name: Kodi (she's 9 wks old today) & Bear
E - Essential start your day item: I would say breakfast - it gets me energized and ready to go, but I eat after I have fed the dog; then fed Zachary.
F - Favorite Color: Purple
G- Gold or Silver: Silver
H - Height: 5' 5" (almost 5'6")
I - Instrument: none, but I almost played the clarinet
J - Job Title: Mommy & Project Coordinator
K- Kids: 1 - he's 2 months old
L - Living Arrangements: Husband, baby, and 2 dogs
M - Mom's Name: Marsha
N - Nicknames: Kim, KK, etc
O - Overnight Stay at the Hospital other than when you where born: 6 nights when trying to have Zachary and after Zachary was born.
P- Pet Peeves: Many
Q- Quotes you like: I have several and can't think of either of them at the moment.....that's sad! hahaa
R- Right or Left handed: South-Paw
S- Siblings: 1 brother
T- Time you wake up for real: oh gosh, somewhere between 6:30 - 7 AM, but that's not including when Zachary wakes Les up for the EARLY morning feeding; which is usually around 4:30 AM or so. ;)
U- Underwear: comfy ones lol ( agree with you on that Beth!)
V- Vegetable you dislike: beets
W- Ways you run late: trying to feed Z, get him ready, get myself fed, and get me ready
X - X-rays you've had: Knee, shoulder, leg, ankle, etc. I'm sure there are others
Y- Yummy food you make: I think that I am a good cook!
Z- Zoo favorite: Tigers, Penguins

Excercise Anyone?!

Okay, so I totally want to do something similar to StrollerStrides, but I don't want to pay the $50 monthly rate. I was wondering if anyone would be interested in walking with me around different places around Allen. Allen is a growing city with alot of places to explore and I don't want to do it alone. Some places in Allen that we could walk is:
*Watters Creek (not sure of the name, but at Bethany/75)
*Allen Celebration Park (Malone/Angel)
*Historial dam near Exchange/75
*Various trails around Allen

Anyways, those are just a few suggestions, but I am hoping to find someone or many someone's (LOL) who would like to join me.

You can e-mail me or leave me a comment if you would like to do this with me!!! We can even try places in Plano & McKinney. I get bored with the same location over and over, so let's be creative and get fit!!! Also, anyone interested in going skating with me on Thursday mornings at Thunderbird Skating Rink in Plano - they have a stroller time for parents. It costs $4.00 from 9 - 12.

2 months old!!!

UPDATE:
Zachary received 3 shots today and is not in the best humor, but he's sleeping it off.
He weighed 10 1/2 lbs and is 22 inches long. My boy is getting so big!!!

I can't believe it - my baby is now 2 months old as of this morning at 12:03 AM. ;) Today he has his 2 month check-up at the doctor's office and I know that he is not going to be a very happy baby after he gets his shots. I'll update later with his stats, so stay tuned for an update.



Here are a few pictures of him:

This picture was taken just a few minutes ago, so here he is!!!

Here he is a few days ago having tummy time. He's doing great with holding his head up.

Zachary and I were playing on the floor; here he is just laying there after playing. :)

Here Zachary is smiling - you know, it's hard to get a snapshot of him smiling!!!! LOL

Here is daddy and Zachary with matching outfits - they're so cute!!!!

Twitter

hmmmmmmmmm.................okay, so I had to sign-up for twitter b/c I have heard so much about it and know NOTHING about it. There is even a commercial about it and how it talks about how 20% or something like that of people don't even know what twittering means, so I had to jump on the bandwagon and join. So, here I joined this afternoon and don't know a dern thing. I guess that I'll have to play with it for a while, but right now, nope, not going to play. I think that I'll take our puppy outside and play with her while my boys are napping. :)

Happy Mother's Day!!!

I cannot believe that I am a mother for this year's mother's day. I know this time last year we were just beginning to start trying to have a baby. Now, we have a baby who will be 2 months old tomorrow - WOW!!! I just love life with Zachary. Even though I don't have as much free time now; that's fine b/c he is totally worth it. Zachary is a good sport and will go along with whatever I want to do..........LOL I need to take advantage of that right now b/c when he's older he won't want to do as much. :)

Today we went to church and Sunday school; then we ate lunch with my side of the family and now we're home relaxing. Zachary and Kodi each got me a Mother's Day Card and had them "hidden" in their beds. It was very sweet of their daddy to help them each pick out a card. ;) I think that we're going to go and work on the shed later, so I am going to go and get off this computer and rest for a little while.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

UPDATE from post below:

The doctor came in this morning and said that Zachary is beginning to make his own red blood cells, not much yet, but she could definitely see them in there. They are hoping that this will be the last transfusion, but maybe 1 more. Dr. Cavalier was SOOO happy to see the retics in there and they looked good. He hadn't broken down the red blood cells as quickly this round and his count was 7.3. Go Zachary Go!

Thank you, God, for taking care of my baby and helping his body to start making these red blood cells. We continue to place our baby in Your hands.

I will leave you with a video from him playing with his rattle the other day. :)

Prayers Needed Today

I have appreciated all the prayers that have been lifted up for Zachary and for us too. THANK YOU!!! Today is Zachary's 3rd blood transfusion and hopefully his last. He has done so well with the last 2 and I pray that today goes just as well. He's definitely been a little trooper through the whole ordeal and I hope that it will be over for him very soon. I think that he knows when he's about to get his blood drawn b/c he starts crying when they go to grab his arm.

I hope that today won't be as long as the others b/c it normally takes 6 hours for the transfusion to be done; which definitely makes for a long time!!

Good news on the homefront...........tomorrow we're getting our puppy. Here is a picture of her from 2 wks ago when we first saw her. We have decided to name her Kodi Marie. Our beloved Kodiak's daddy fathered another litter of puppies. The owners called me and told me that there was a large long-haired female and wondered if we would like to have her. I immediately called Les and begged him (well, it actually didn't take much begging ;) ). So, we went over there a few days later to see her and meet her. She was 5 wks old at that time and now she is around 7 wks old. She was born on March 17th (Zachary's due date according to how much he was measuring). So, we're about to be VERY busy with an 8 wk old baby boy and 7 wk old puppy.