Remembering Dave

On September 23, 2009, we took time to remember Mike's dad, Dave. Eli was just a little over 2 weeks old and this was our first day trip with him. Our first stop was to their house at Heritage Lake.

We sat outside for a little while. It was over cast but the sun was breaking through the trees just a bit, right where we were sitting. "Jesus Rays", as I call them, were peaking between the tree branches. You know Jesus Rays, they are the beams of light that break through the clouds. They are always apparent in religious paintings so that's why I dubbed them "Jesus Rays. The lighting was amazing, we know Dave was with us. It was so beautiful in the woods.

Proud Momma and Pappa

I just couldn't believe I finally got to shake his hand! He was so cute and little and perfect in every way.


We read about the importance of skin to skin bonding and how it was a great thing for the dad's to do as well. This has to be my all time favorite picture, it's so cute! Kisses from Daddy!


What a proud Papa!

Original date: September 7

Welcome Eli!

The moment was finally here, Elijah David was born! He weighed 6 lbs, 4 oz and was 18 3/4 inches long. He didn't cry very much when he was first born, which concerned them for a little while, but other than that, he was a healthy boy!


At first we thought he had my full lips and we couldn't believe it (which you can see in this picture). But after about an hour or so, they went away. I guess he was just swollen from being born :)

Original Date: September 7

37 week belly

37 week belly

Of course, I had to have the nurse take our picture, the big day was finally here! It was so weird because I had planned on laboring at home for as long as I could and I thought they would let me go home for at least a few hours, but they didn't. Luckily my doctor had told me at my last appointment that he could come early and I should have my bags packed. I had just done it the week prior. There were still lots of things that needed to be gathered up, but I had a list going so Mike was able to have some help. He had to leave to go home to get it all.

Did we mention that our house was a WRECK, we were painting the nursery (so we had furniture everywhere and painting stuff all over the kitchen and dining room, you couldn't even walk through the living room either), plus we were behind on dishes and cleaning? It was probably the messiest our house had ever been! I couldn't believe how tore up it was and that we wouldn't get to clean it up before we had the baby.

Original Date: September 7

34 week belly

34 weeks already! This evening we had our maternity photos taken. They were a lot of fun! We headed to Arbuckle Acres with the dogs to meet the photographer. Our normally well-behaved dogs were super excited to be at the park and couldn't understand why we wanted them to sit and not move, they wanted to drag us around and smell! At one point, we went to an area with some large rocks and were trying to sit on it, but they spotted a squirrel or something in there and Bella drug me into the rock and scuffed up my finger. It started to bleed and this was only the beginning! They were obsessed with what was in the rocks and that's all they wanted to do. They also got mud on their paws and stepped all over my feet and legs and got me a little dirty too! We also would tie them up so we could take a few with just the 2 (or I guess 3) of us and then they would bark! They were being pretty rotten and luckily the photographer suggested taking them home. It was so much easier once they were gone to get some good shots! Maternity photos are something I have always wanted to do and I was so pleased with how they turned out!

Practicing the fiddle?

We completed our last baby class, Newborn Massage, on August 10th! There were only 2 other people in our class and they had REAL babies! It was so strange to see the new moms and babies and to think that we would soon have one of our own. They kept apologizing for the babies crying and I kept saying it was so cool they could practice on real babies!

I am friends with the instructor, Jody. She did a great job with keeping Mike entertained (he was the only guy) and even made him laugh out loud a few times. My favorite part was practicing with the dolls. Jody was demonstrating one of the techniques and she was holding the baby up by her shoulder. The other moms and I had our babies (or doll in my case) on the chair, but Mike had his doll up in the air like she did! Jody didn't say a word but I said "Are you really supposed to hold the baby up like that? Mike is holding his doll like he's playing the fiddle!" She laughed and told him she was just making sure we could see. I laughed and laughed. It was so funny! Maybe you had to be there, but Mike looked like a crazy baby-fiddle-play'n new dad!

Lunch at Ricks

Mike's brother Jason, wife Angie and son Spencer came to visit a few weeks ago. We had not been together for quite a few months so it was nice to see everyone. Since we were at Jill's condo, near Eagle Creek, we dined at Rick's Cafe Boatyard. We sat out on the deck and it was nice. The weather was strange that day, it was cool, but when the sun came out (our table didn't have an umbrella) it was really hot!

As we were looking out at the tree line of Eagle Creek, Mike spotted a funnel cloud! Mike is very familiar with them (once, when he and my brother-in-law Dan went fishing, they saw a funnel cloud that then turned into a tornado and they were pretty much in the middle of it in a boat on the lake). Anyway, we kept an eye on it and couldn't believe what we were seeing! When we got home, they mentioned it on the news. I guess it was a cold air funnel cloud or something, it was different than a tornado funnel cloud, but it looked just the same to us.

We had a great time together visiting and soaking up the sun on the deck. They had a live band playing and it felt like vacation.

Fun in the Sun! – 27 week belly

It had been hot so Jenny and I had been day dreaming of time at the pool. It was nice because for once, the water wasn't freezing! It felt so good to lay out and go swimming. I was excited to spend girl time with Jen, but Mike really wanted to come too. At first, I told him he wasn't allowed to hang out with us, but once we got there we allowed him to hang out :)

I know I'm pretty pale, but to my defense, Jenny had also been in Florida for vacation the week before. And hey, I work full time and it's been raining lots on the weekend so I don't get out much :)

I was hoping you could see her belly too, but mine is really apparent and hers is hiding behind her suit.


Mike has trimmed down a bit as I have grown. It's amazing how much smaller my belly looks with clothes over it, it's pretty big with nothing covering it. I wasn't shy in my regular bikini, hopefully it didn't bother anybody.

6th Anniversary / Babymoon

Flashback: June 21st, 2003
It's hard to believe that we got married six years ago! We've been together for a decade now!




Dinner for 2 (no high-chairs please)
To celebrate our anniversary, we went to dinner at the Coachman. We don't go out very much anymore so we were really looking forward to it. Maybe it was because I'm pregnant, but they ended up seating us in a room full of families. We were the only people there without small kids! I know we will end up getting our kiddo fill soon enough, so I would have preferred just adults. But some of those whiny kids did test our patience!

A babymoon Dave Ramsey style!
If you haven't heard, the new rage for preggers is to take what's called a babymoon. It's like a honeymoon, only it's that one that last trip before the baby comes! Most of my friends went to Florida for a week, but we are on the Dave Ramsey plan, so we economized with boating (free), dinner & tip ($40) and a complimentary stay at a hotel in Plainfield (free), which equals one priceless good deal! It was fun, but I wish it could have been a little longer, we were only gone from the puppies and home for less than 18 hours.

Can we swim yet? (a variation of 'are we there yet?)
Earlier in the day we went to Heritage Lake to take the dogs out on the boat. It was also the same weekend as Father's Day, so it's something Mike's dad would have enjoyed. Unfortunately, the pontoon motor was acting up, so we had to unload all of our stuff (and excited puppies) into the fishing boat. The pups were sad that we were so close to swimming, yet so far.

Not sure if you've ever had 2 adults and 2 big, wet dogs on a fishing boat, but it was interesting! It was easier to get them in and out of, but there wasn't much room to relax. I had brought some things to read while baking in the sun (a baby name book, baby magazine, baby bargains book). Needless to say there was no time or space for that and it all got wet!





The dogs love the water, they just forget they don't have to work as hard with their life jackets on. They would fight over who got the tennis ball and who would get into the boat first. It was so funny, they would swim for a minute and then come over to the side so Mike could pull them in. Then they would rest for only about 30 seconds and then jump right in again. Just like kids, couldn't make up their mind what they wanted to do! They were tired, calm pups on the ride home (that was our plan :)

Overall, it was a great weekend, but it went really fast!

Drum roll please....

Baby Peanut is a.... BOY!!!! (click to see photo larger)

We are so excited! We thought it would be a boy, but we would have been excited for either. Now our other kids will have an older brother to look out for them! So his middle name will be David, honoring Mike's dad (we miss you!) and it also happens to be Mike's middle name as well. But the rest will stay a secret until his big BIG debut! (He's already done TV, I wonder what we are in store for with his arrival!)

Sharing the news - Laura's Family

We had to think for a while on a creative way to tell my family, but we finally figured something out. We didn't want them to catch on, so we waited until we were already planning to get together to celebrate birthdays (Mike's, mine and my nephews). For our plan to work, we had to wait until after we opened presents. Normally, it's at the end of the evening, but we were excited when my sis suggested we do it before dinner. My nephew went first, and he got a game, which the rest of the family played.

Mike and I patiently waited for our turn to open presents, knowing that really it was so we could share the news. By the time they were done with the game, it was dinner time. It was great and I had a million helpings, so I was really full. Then we had my favorite cake, which I ate, even though I was about to bust. Then everyone hung out talking at the table. It felt like a million years before we got up to go to the living room.

And then we waited some more. By this time, it was much later in the evening and I knew my sis and her family would have to leave soon to put the kids to bed. She mentioned we should finish gifts so they could get going soon.

It was finally our time! I was so nervous the entire night I felt sick (not to help that it was a little morning sickness and a ton of over eating!). Mike opened his gifts first, which I didn't think would take long. He was excited to get some nice fishing line, but he and Dan (my brother-in-law) kept talking about it and going on and on about it. I whispered out of the corner of my mouth to Mike to hurry up, I really thought I would throw up if I didn't get our news out soon!

When he was done, I opened my presents quickly and handed Mike the camera for him to catch the next part. Then, for the moment we had been waiting for. We said "Well, we actually have a present for you guys, but it's on back order until September 28th. I have pictures of it though." Then I handed my parents a small photo album with our ultrasound pics in it. My sister instantly said congratulations, but my mom didn't realize it until she looked inside the album and saw the picture. Dan was pretty confused, he kept saying "Wait, don't you mean March or April, it can't be September!" Mike said his face was priceless, but I was too busy hugging my mom. We really got him good! (I was really confused when he shared the news creatively with their first, and I didn't understand it at all either!).











It was pretty fun, but I was glad when it was over b/c I felt so sick the whole night!

It all started with us...

This is us last summer on our 5th anniversary. Since it all started with us, I figured that we should be on here! We met back in 1999 and were married in 2003.