We picked the tile!! Its hard to tell in the picture but it looks very nice! We cant wait to lay it all out... The kitchen is not going to be very fun because of the angles in it. Ken has been laying it all out on graph paper to help us decide the angles! That's a lot of work! Because of Chris giving us the black appliances this tile works even better.

I'm ready to get outside and get the yard looking better too now! It looks like a disaster. Grass doesn't grow here I'm finding out so we want to get rid of as much of it as we can so we grow things that work in this climate better. We have a lot of researching to get done on that subject.

Avery is crawling! Sort of... She sort of scoots and moves her legs along with it and its as close to crawling as shes going to get for awhile! I'm sure in the next few days she will be all over the place! We need to get a couple of baby gates to keep her out of danger now... Its so cute to watch her try though. Trais is the best big brother ever. He absolutely loves her to death! He is always sitting on the ground and letting her crawl all over him and getting her new toys when she gets bored with the ones she already has. He is so thoughtful of her!

Trais is still very excited about soccer and the Easter Bunny even brought him his 1st real soccer ball! He was very excited about that and has been practicing his dribbling for 2 days now.

The Easter bunny brought both kids very cool stuff in their baskets. They made out like bandits as usual. Trais did a flashlight Easter Egg hunt through the city of Round Rock! Donny let him use his headlight too so he had an advantage in the game! Their were tons of kids. I couldnt believe how many people turned out for it! Avery will get to do her 1st egg hunt next year!

We are still working on our trip up to WA for this summer and we hope to be able to work it all out, but its going to be tricky since Donny had to use a lot of his vacation time up for when he was in the hospital! So, were working on it and will hopefully be able to give out some dates to ya'll here soon!

Love ya all!

Trais started soccer!!! Yay! He loved it too. He went right into the game and looked like he was a natural! That of course made us happy. He cant wait to go next week either and said that he wishes they had practice every day! His team color is neon green, and we thought that was bright until we saw some of the other team colors... They had a team that looked like a Christmas Tree and a team full of boys that wore hot pink shirts with purple shorts and hot pink socks! I signed him up for Summer soccer also (which I may regret, when I have to sit outside on those evenings that it's 95!) but he loves it so I will encourage it!

After his game this week, Trais and Avery Layne and I went over to a very small Farmers Market and walked around. We didnt get much except some snacks and hot cocoa for Trais, but we had a good time! After the Farmers Market we went to Sheplars (Country Western Apparel Store) and got Trais his Cowboy Boots and Cowboy hat! All he needs now is his belt buckle and he says he needs a lasso! He dressed up this morning and hasnt taken the hat off yet! I may have to pry it off his head at night when he goes to sleep. hahaha! He looks very cute.

Hey! My parents and Grandparents came and went! We had a great visit with them!!! I am glad they were able to make it down here. We went to the Rodeo Austin and got to see Josh Turner. Trais LOVED the rodeo and said that he would like to get into working with horses a little! While I totally encourage that... I don't even really know where to start. 1st step though is to get him the boots! We are on the lookout for that!

Well last week gave me the biggest scare of my entire life! We almost lost Donny!!! I wont go into full detail but, he has a blood disorder that ended him up very close to dangerous and in the hospital for 4 days. He had a very fast recovery as well thankfully! We will be following up with the hemotoligist weekly for a few weeks and then monthly for awhile to keep on top of it and make sure this never happens again. I was so scared of loosing him! April and Ken came down on an emergency flight when they heard what was going on as well. After he recovered we ended up having a great visit with them. We even went back to the Rodeo again and got to see Craig Morgan which was awesome! Thank you to everyone though who was here for us when we were so scared with Donny!

Trais and Avery are of course doing great as always. Trais is in his swimming lessons and Avery is rolling all around the house. She should crawl here very soon. Oh and Trais finally lost one of his front teeth. The other one is very loose as well.

Jen and Trysten are here and we are having a great visit! We were both a little apprehensive about it since the last time we even saw Jen it was not on the best of terms, but it has been great! The boys picked up right where they left off. They play and then fight and then play and then fight some more. We went to a cavern down in New Braunsfals (sp?)! That was very cool. I sort of expected Trais to be scared at first but he did great! He thought it was very cool.

Well I have to go so I will sign off now, but I will upload pics in a bit!

Love you all!!!

Don, Jus, Trais and Avery Layne!

We have less then 6 days until my parents will be here! We can't wait and Donny was even able to get a day off which was a lot of work since it is spring break and everyone wants a day off! So we should have a good couple of days to do somethings while they are here. Hopefully the weather is good. You never know how it will be... We have been in the 80's for a week now...
Crazy I know! I love it though. Tank tops and flip flop are my absolute favorite and luckily for me I get to wear them all the time!

I don't' know if I have mentioned before, but Trais is doing well in his swimming lessons! It is a one on one class so he is getting the full attention which is nice. We will have to get him enrolled again to keep him moving forward. His teacher thinks that he will be able to pass the mini test that the YMCA requires you to pass if you want to swim more then an arms length away from me... So that's good news and once he is able to float around some on his own he should get even more comfortable. I really wish that I would have pushed the lessons on him more when he was younger and didn't have as many fears. Oh well, he is making up for it now!

Avery Layne should be crawling here very soon! She is starting to scoot herself backwards a bit and she is rocking a little too. She is still under weight a bit, but growing healthy and full of energy so I have no worries! She is a skinny little stick though so her necked little body is funny looking! She is so cute! haha

Not much else to report! The truck is working out great. We are very happy with the purchase and the fact that we now have 2 reliable (knock on wood) vehicles!!

Well I should get back to scrubbing the house! yuck! I am in no mood for house cleaning, but it must be done right? Anyone wants to come help your more then welcome! hahaha

Have a good night!

Still Alive

Hey,

We are still alive and kicking, just bad about keeping up with this for some reason!!! Oh well once a month is something to look forward to right?

So the most recent news as of yesterday is that we are finally truck owners again! No more borrowing a truck from friends (that can wear out it's welcome very quickly, even though we have had some awesome friends to help us out here and there!) We bought a 2002 Ford F-150 crew cab (4 door with tons of leg room in the back seat) FX4 (off road package with 4x4). Of course it's not new but its a nice truck. We had to seach high and low for a nice one. Donny went to a ton of websites and we met with a few private parties and of course visited a lot of dealerships... That got exhausting! We ended up buying it from a private party in Austin. Really nice guy that seemed to take good care of it! All in all we now have 2 reliable (knock on wood) vehicles and are set there for a few years. Our camry is sort of a mom car, but its really comfortable and gets great gas mileage so we have no complaints at all!

The house is still a work in progress as I am sure it is bound to be for a few years to come... Right about time to sell right? lol I did some accent wall painting and I am really happy with the results. I went BLUE! If you know me somehow this wont shock you! I LOVE blue and black. Don didn't like it all that great when I first started, but he is coming around and is starting to like it more and more. We got some decorative curtains up that are really nice looking! All in all it is starting to feel more and more like a home and not a used furniture store! We still have not done out tile in the kitchen or bathrooms, but that will come in time. We have however picked out the tile that we want to go with! We replaced all of our white appliances with black (thanks to an awesome friend of ours that gave us all of his minus the fridge!) We love the way the black looks and were able to sell all of the white for just about what we paid for it 6 month prior! When Ken and April were here back in January, Ken help Don mount the LCD onto the wall and string our surround sound into the walls and it looks and sound great! I think thats all the news with the house for now!

Spring Break is in a week and a half and we all can't wait. My parents are coming down for the week from WA. Trais will be out of school so we will get to have some good visiting time with them. My Grandpa Al and Grandma Sharon are going to come down for a couple days from Ft. Worth too visit too! (This gave me a good excuse to buy a really nice futon to keep in our bedroom until we are in need of another bed! Who knew that one guest room would not be enough?) We LOVE to have company down here to stay with us so we can't wait. My parents haven't been here since Avery Layne was first born so they are in for it! She is MUCH louder now... hahaha! Hopefully while they are all here we will be able to get in some good visiting! My Dads B-day is during that week that they are here too, and he asked for some good Texas BBQ for his bday! We have been asking everyone thats local what they like best and will get to try them out when they get here! We here the best you can get is in a town called Lockhart which is about 45 mins south east from us so we will be going for a bit of a road trip! It should be worth it though from what everyone says!!!

We are all doing great! Trais has been still cruising right along with his school work and is making some good friends. He has been working really hard on his talking during class and it is coming along!

Avery Layne is sitting up now! She laughs (especially at Trais) a lot and is becoming a much happier baby! I am sure that she will be crawling here in the next few weeks.

Donny and I are of course doing great!!! I know I say it all the time, but I can't help it... He is my best friend in the whole world and can't imagine spending my life with anyone else. He makes me so happy all the time that it's almost disturbing! hahah just kidding! We both seem to rely on eachother for everything and I am perfectly ok with that!!!

I am watching a 3 month old baby 2 days a week now! It's only about 5 hours a day, so it's not much, but it is fun! She is a really easy baby and just goes with the flow. Avery and her could spend hours just staring at eachother. She is a super cute little thing and her parents are both really cool. The dad works full time and mom is going to school to be a rocket scientist... crazy huh? We seem to be getting along great though and it's working out for both of us.

Well. I better get going. I will sign off with a promise that I will write again soon, but you know how it goes and I hate to make an empty promise!

Love ya all!

News

I want to start off by thanking everyone who wrote or texted me on my 29th b-day a couple of days ago. It was good to hear from so many people. I can't believe I'm almost to my 30's, times passes so fast.Things have slowed down here a bit. I finished my academy in September but still had the rest of my clearance process to go through. It consisted of 5 phases with evaluations after each phase and continued work with my training officer. He's a really squared away medic who really took the time to show me how the system worked and prepare me for the final test which took almost ten hours of both written and scenario testing. It was intense and I don't envy anyone who has to go through it. I work independently now with a regular partner who I have a lot in common with. He is my age, married, has a little girl who is 16 months and certified as a medic the same year that I did. We're having a great time. I also don't have to study my entire 4 days off. We work Friday for 24 hours out in the county right on the water front of Lake Travis. Its pretty slow out there but we pay for it the rest of the rotation. We work 12hrs on Saturday night downtown out of the trauma hospital. We're first out to University of Texas campus and 2nd out to 6th Street. Its never a slow night there. Then on Sunday night we work 12hrs at Medic 2 in South Austin. Its a decent neighborhood, very residential but generates a moderate number of calls due to the variety of ages of people that live there. Thats my rotation and then I have four days off. If I want five or six days off I only have to take 12-24hrs of vacation on saturday and sunday. I've never been happier working for another agency and the benefits of working for the city are better than I could've imagined.Trais is about half way through the first grade. He is doing really well in school and we've been working with him on his reading, writting and math, though he doesn't need much help. He's very bright and his teacher is happy with his progress other than being a bit of a talker. He has adjusted better to the move than we had imagined. He still talks of his Grandma and Grandpa Gibson, my parents, Kaylee, Trystan, Aaron, Anna, and Auntie Jen and wants to see all of them soon. He has lots of friends here and is having a good time. He says he doesn't miss the cold.Avery is almost 6 months old already. She is sitting up, smiling and laughing, playing with her toys and has began to discover her voice. From my standpoint, I can't tell you how indescribable it is to hold your baby in your arms and watch her grow. I wish I would have known Trais at this age. She is growing so fast. They're both growing so fast. All I can do is love them hard and enjoy every second of it because I know in a blink they'll be grown up and all we'll have are memories and pictures. Justine and I had our anniversary in Ft. Worth on Dec. 31st. We had a nice dinner and went out afterwards for the count down. I love her more than anything in the world and we've grown together so much as a couple. We depend on each other so much in everything we do, I don't know how I ever lived without her. In the begining of our relationship there was some uncertainty and maybe even akwardness amongst some of our closest friends in regards to how our relationship began and some of the decisions that were made. I hope the way our relationship has evolved has put some of those concerns to rest. Justine is the best mom and wife I know, she truely is my best friend. We have joined the Y here in Round Rock and are making an attempt to work out on all of my days off as well as enrolling Trais in Swim Lessons. We're also planning a trip up to Gig Harbor to see all of our friends and family. We'll be there in either late July or early August. Its going to depend on when I can take the time off. Application for vacation for this period of time begins in March so I should know by April 1st at the very latest, hopefully mid March. I'll keep everyone posted.So with this new found free time as things have began to settle here I'm vowing to be more active in keeping up with friends both via myspace and phone. I feel like I haven't kept up with my communication with friends back home and that is something I want to devote time to now that I don't have a probation hanging over my head and all of the things that go along with that. Plan on hearing from me more on here and by way of the phone.Also, now that I'm off atleast four days a week and Justine is not working but rather at home with Trais and Avery we would love to have some out of state visitors. My parents have been here three times, and Justine's parents have been here once. Justine's parents are planning on comming the third week of March and Trais' Auntie Jen and Cousin Trystan are comming two weeks following that. My parents and Aunt Diane and Uncle Craig will be here sometime in May. We love to have visitors and have a 4th bedroom with a queen size bed and guest bath to accomidate. There seems to be this stigma of Texas that seems to be amongst almost everyone I've talked to... something about dust and tumbleweeds. Well, honestly we do have both of those things but we have a ton more other stuff. Everyone seems to be affraid there is nothing to do here but hang out at our house and this couldn't be further from the truth. We have two six flags parks within driving distance as well as Sea World, and the Schlitterbahn waterpark which is world famous and frequently on the travel channel. The Alamo which is the where the first missions in texas are located (4 still stand) and is also the battle ground of the texas/mexican war, The San Antonio Zoo and River Walk are about an hours drive from our house. Most people don't realize that Austin is the live music capital of the world and there is no shortage of night life with live music. We also have the Alamo Draft House which is basically a beer garden and restaurant within a movie theater. There are a million restaraunts to choose from and more shopping than you can imagine, the premier being an excellent outlet mall about three miles from our house. We also have Lake Travis and Lake Georgetown only miles from home that provides swimming, fishing, parks and places to camp and bbq. I think that the reason the economy is not in such diar straights here and also the reason for such an abundance of shopping, restaraunts and things to do is due to the good weather and the cost of living and housing here. People not strapped to a several thousand dollar a month mortgage are free to spend money on more consumer type items. It seems to be good to not be house poor. Anyway, that aside, if you're looking to have a vacation to somewhere warm, come see us. All you need to do is get yourself here. Trais' Auntie Jen bought their tickets on Priceline who apparently changes prices at 8am and 6pm and these are the times to get the best deals. She got their tickets for $168 each round trip plus taxes and fees. We have a place for you to stay and cars to get all of us around. Bring some spending money. We'll show you a great time and it'll be good to catch up and hang out. The weather here is still hovering around 60-70, a cold front here or there aside. The weather should only get better in the coming months. So thats all I have for now. I hope to be in touch with everyone in the near future and like I say, if you wanna come down let me know!

Hello,

It's Christmas time! Yay right? Actually I am very excited that it is Avery Layne's 1st Christmas! I am happy that we are going to spend it in our new home as a family. The shopping season was very short since we are on such a tight budget! Donny and I decided to focus on the kids only this year. We are not doing each other presents so that we can be sure that the kids get everything they could want! Luckily Avery Layne is easy to please it just has to crinkle! lol Actually we got her the next stage of learning toys and I think she will grow into them wonderfully! We got Trais something really cool too! I can't wait to see his face on Christmas morning!!! Unfortunately I have a feeling this may be our last year with him thinking Santa is real... We went to dinner with a friend and their son and he told Trais that he was not real and ever since then I have been trying to scramble to get him to make it through this year! lol Oh well I love the whole Santa thing, but it is a lot of work. We still have Avery so now maybe we can get Trais in on the whole thing with us!!!

Our 1st anniversary is coming up!!!! I can't believe it! We are even happier today then on that day and I know it will always be that way on every anniversary! Both of us can't believe that a relationship can be this perfect! I know it sounds silly but I want to spend every minute with him always! I miss him when he is gone at work for a shift and wake up automatically on those days at 6:30am knowing that he should be walking in the door soon! Like I said silly I know! lol

Obviously you all know that Trais will be here with us for Christmas this year (THANK GOD!) We were dreading that so much. I could never imagine not having him wake me up on Christmas morning! I know there is a possibility of this happening in another 2 years, but at least for now it is off my mind. I feel bad that he is not able to see all of his family in WA though, but fortunately he gets to be here with his immediate family!!! I think that is the most important. We got him some special jammies to sleep in on Christmas night (Iron Man!!!) and Avery Layne gets 'My 1st Christmas' jammies. They will be so cute.

I am signing off for the night once again with the promise that I will write more! lol Good night everyone and if I don't write before then please have a GREAT Christmas! Love ya all!

Finally right....

Hello! It has been forever, but this time it was not my fault! Our internet has been down. It still sort of is... It will randomly cut out and be gone for 2 days or more. Thank Verizon for it. Oh well, they said they are working on it! Hopefully it will be resolved soon. I think unfortunately that our computer is on it's last leg also though... Keep your fingers crossed for us that it does not go down right before Christmas! We can't afford to replace it right now! Ahh!

Anyways, I will do a quick update before the internet goes away again! Everyone is doing very well. Miss Avery is getting bigger (sort of) well, she is getting older anyway... hahaha I think she is going to have really bad allergy's! I have been sucking out her nose non-stop. She hates it of course, but can't breath out of her nose otherwise, which is making it hard for her to eat! I think we are all going to be getting the wonderful Texas allergy's! We all have scratchy throats and runny nose starting. Wish us luck! lol

Trais is doing well! He is doing very well in school. He is a bright kid! We got his report card from school the other day and he is at or above on all subjects! He is a math wiz! I hope that keeps up throughout all of his school years. Donny signed up for a program called 'WATCH D.O.G.S' (Dads of great students) which is an awesome programs to bring the dads into the school to add some extra male role models! It's great for the kids to see dads being involved! Anyways, Donny has gone in and spent the whole day 2 so far and I think he signed up for about one a month from here on out! Trais loved it. Donny was able to see the interaction of the teachers and students and was able to get a better feel for the school expectations. Trais well exceeds them!!!

Donny and I are doing wonderfully also! I can't believe our one year anniversary is already right around the corner!!! I love his way more today then I did even yesterday! He is the best husband and father and partner in life I could have asked for!

Donny is about to credential and is almost completed with his 6 month probation!!! He (I should really say all of us!) can finally take a huge breath of relief very soon! He has been working hard and constantly feeling a bit stressed. But, it is almost over and now we can just get on with living our lives!

We both still love it here so far! It is mid November and was in the low 80's! Holy Cow!!! hahaha We were talking about going on a camping trip with some friends and had to stop ourselves to ponder that! It does get very cold in the mornings though! I still get to use my favorite sweaters and fleeces. That actually made me feel better. (Such a girl huh?) My Uncle Mike said that the last two Christmas' he BBQ'ed in shorts on the back porch and it was mid 70's. We'll see about that. But I sure wouldn't complain.

Halloween was a lot of fun. Trais' school did a Monster Mash on the Friday before Halloween and we I took both the kids to it. They had dancing, pumpkin painting and food. It was a lot of fun. Then that Sunday we went to a carnival that Donny was working at. Trais got to wear his costume (He was a ninja) and get some candy. For Halloween night my friend Nikki came over and we met up with the 2 neighbor boys and walked the neighborhood. Avery slept through most of it. He got way too much candy that of course I helped myself too, which my thighs were not happy about! It was very fun overall.

The reality of the holidays without our friends and families around is setting in. We are missing all of you in WA, and we are thoroughly enjoying the time we get to spend with all of our new friends!

I better sign off, but thanks for reading!

Day to Day!

Hello,
Well we are starting to back to normal now! Trais and Avery are on a regular schedule now and so is Donny. That is good news. Our company is gone for now and none of our families have plane tickets bought to come back yet... Thats sad for us, but I know they will miss us too much and want to come back as soon as possible... hahaha!

My birthday is coming up and I will be 25... AHHH I will be a quarter of a century old. Donny keeps giving me a hard time and this one is really hitting me. I suppose the number is just not a good one for me. I would rather be turning 26 or even 27... 25 just seems like a crucial number for some reason... I am this bad now just wait until I hit 30!!! I may spend that one in a closet hiding! hahah!

Good news about it though is that Trais has the day off of school and so we are going up the day before to Grandpa Al and Grandma Sharons house up by Fort Worth area! That should be fun! I have not gotten to see them in MANY years and they of course have never gotten to meet Avery and Donny... (They met Trais about 2 months ago when my parents were here... They took him for a trip up there!) Trais is really excited to go up there because he wants to see the horses again!

Oh other good news! Uncle Mike and Aunt Fuling bought us a swing for Avery and we just got it last night!!! She LOVES it! My arms are finally getting a break! Avery is colic at night so the doctor recomended the swing even and he was right! She calms right down!!! I will have to take a picture of her in it and post it soon! Very cute!

Avery got her shots on Wednesday... It was a sad day! She cried of course and that night she even ran her first fever! She did sleep a lot that night though and her legs were very sore. She would cry when I would touch the spot where she got the shot. I felt so bad that I couldn't really make it go away so I held her and cuddled with her a lot to make her feel better! Trais even gave her extra kisses to help her out also!

Donny is on his set schedule now! His training officer think he is doing great of course. He is set to clear his next phase of probation even! He did that in 1 1/2 weeks! He is on a role!

We are still up in the 90's during the day! It is incredible! The mornings are down near 65 ish and I am cold then, but as soon as the day starts going on we are getting up to 90ish! I love it! Donny and I are very interested to see how the winter months are here. Although we are into October and in the 90's, I do here that it gets very cold in the winter. When Donny came down in February though it was 74 out! Anyone who knows me knows how cold I always am so this is great so far!

I am going to jump in the shower and get going on the day now so check back with us later!

Hello

We have been so busy! It has been a great coupe of weeks and a lot has happened since I last blogged. First and most important Donny graduated from Academy!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This had to be the happiest thing that has happened for all of us. No more horrible Monday thru Friday from 6am to 6pm! He will now be in the field and will be working two 24 hour shifts a week. The best part is that it is the same set days every week so we can actually plan things! I am so happy to have him home more often. He would get home and have to study and then go to bed early and it was a long day... That was a long hard 13 weeks and it is such a relief that it is over. The best news of all is that Donny graduated top of his class! I knew he would do great without a doubt but top of his class is even better!

His graduation was great! April and Ken flew down for it and we all got to go watch the class graduate. Donny even gave a speech. His speech came out great and it was a nice surprise for all of us. I got to pin him up on stage and it was a very proud moment!

Ken and April just left today. They were here for about 12 days! It was a great visit and I hope they come back very soon. We did a lot of fun things and we got to visit and catch up! Grandpa Ken wanted to take Trais putt putt golfing and so we went and I will admit I talked all about how I was going to be in 1st place! hahaha! Well needless to say I came in last. Donny and I even made a bet on it so next weekend I will be weed wacking and mowing the lawn! ugh! I despise yard work! Hahaha! I am not a sore looser though so I will do it. Although, if I would have won Donny would of have to do all the laundry for a whole week! That would have been so nice and I think we need a re-match! We also went out to the lake a couple of times and swam around. We actually thought we saw snakes in the lake too, but a local let us know that they were turtles. I guess Lake Travis has an incredible turtle population. We all felt a little crazy for swimming out of the lake so fast hahaha! I would have sworn that it was a snake and never gone back in the water so thank goodness the local set us straight! Anyways it was a very fun visit. This was Ken's first time down and I realy hope he enjoyed it.

While Ken was here he helped around the house a lot! Our guest bathroom needed some fix ups and now the shower doesn't spray all over and waste a ton of water and the toilet doesn't run all day long every day and we even put in a new sink and faucet! Yay! I am so happy with how it all turned out. Ken also got us all the rest of our blinds and put them all up and fixed the light switches so that we can turn on either the light or the fan without having to pull the chain! He did some other Mr.Fix it stuff also and it all makes our lives so much easier! Oh yeah and the best of all... Ken and Donny got up and went to a neighborhood garage sale yesterday and found the deal of the century!!! A tile saw!!! It is a really nice one and it is in awesome shape (I would guess it was only used once for a small project around the house). So, now all we have to do is get the tile and morter and grout and we are ready to begin our project! No more cement floors soon! We are planning to do the kitchen both bathrooms and the front entry and the laundry room! It is going to be a lot of work, but it is the last thing inside the house that needs to be done! It will look great!

Oh yeah and I finally painted the bottom half of Avery's room in purple! It looks so cute and as soon as we get the trim up on the border it will be the cutest little girls room ever! Trais's room is next and I hope to do it this week while he is gone at school. His room is harder since he has a lot more furniture that is all a lot heavier! We are doing the bottom half of his in a really nice blue!

The kids are both doing great! Avery is 2 months old now and she goes in to get a whole bunch of shots on wednesday! That will be a sad day, but it does mean that we can get her ears pierced! They wont let you get them pierced until they are 2 months and have had thier first set of shots!

Well Avery is waking up now so I will have to sign off, but keep posted! Oh and I will have to upload more pictures later also!

Love you all!

Sept. 10th, 2008

Hello Everyone,

Well it has been a very busy couple of weeks. Sorry I have taken so long to post again!

Anyways, Donny is back in a Monday thru Friday schedule and I hate it!!! I feel like we never see him! I can't wait for him to graduate from the academy on Sept. 19th. We will go back to being in the field then and will be on a 2 24's a week schedule!! He will work Monday and Wednesday until Oct. 1st. Then he will switch to a Wednesday and Friday schedule! I love the schedule that he has here so much better then when he was on a rotating schedule at Rural Metro... It is nice to be able to plan ahead and know what days he works! The nice thing is that they re-bid their days and stations every 6 months. That is nice so that if you get a bad schedule at least it is only for 6 months!!!

Trais is in school now and we made it through 2 1/2 weeks now! He has already gotten into a little trouble with his talking in class (too much like me!). He is just so anxious to make friends and meet everyone that it is getting him in trouble, but we are working on it! He will adjust and work it out on his own I am sure. His teacher and I talked about what a crazy busy summer it was for Trais so she will be working with him! He had a lot of BIG changes this summer as we all have so I am going to give him a bit of a break!

Avery is doing good as usual! She is now 6 weeks old... I can't believe it. I had to bring her into the doctors on Monday because she had a rash on her face and on the top of her head... It turns out that she has some baby acne (trying to expel all the extra estrogen out of her system from being inside the womb) and also she has some excema! The doctor gave me some cream to take care of it and I am already seeing some improvement. April tells me that the extra sensitive skin runs in their family so she may have these types of problems forever! Thank goodness it is just a cream to take care of it! I hope that is the worst of her problems! She goes in to get her first set of shots on her 2 month check. All her initial test came back from the lab and she is healthy as can be!

I am all healed up now!!! Although, I do have a whole strip on my stomach that the skin is completely numb. I feel absolutely nothing on the skin but I can feel everything right under it which is the area that still hurts a bit! It is the weirdest feeling and I can really explain it other then it is a painful numb feeling... lol... Does that make any sense? Donny seems to think that it will always and forever be numb! Avery is healthy and thats all that matters, but it is a weird feeling...

So, I took both the kids to the sprinkler park and took Avery into the sprinklers a little. She didn't really like it, but it was hot out and I think she liked to be cooled down. She just didn't like having the sprinklers right on her. Trais of course had a ball and didn't want to leave.

We went out to the lake last weekend with some friends that work for Austin Travis County EMS. We BBQ'ed out there and had a good time. Trais swam better then he ever has before with a lot of caoxing from Dave and Forrest (two paramedics that work with Donny). I did intially have to throw him in the water (not literally but almost). After that he did better. I have a picture of Avery in the lake for the first time!

So, we got the news that Donny needs to be on stand by for hurricane relief. He has to be extra careful about keeping his pager on him and they so far have spent all morning stocking the extra rigs so that they are all ready to go. We are not sure if he would have to go down there in the midst of it or if he would have to stay here and work on rig here to relieve them to go down. (Needless to say that freaks me out a little and I would be really hoping for the second senario!!!)

Oh other good news that you may not know! Ken and April will be here in one week! They are coming down for Donny's graduation! They get to stay for 10-11 days! We are very excited to see them and happy that Ken will finally get to meet his grandaughter!

Well I better go, Avery is waking up from her nap! I hope to hear from all of you!!!

We love and miss you all!

Trais started school!!!

Hello,

Yesterday I was able to post pictures but didn't have time to write!

We are doing very well. Yesterday was Trais's first day of school!!! He came home very excited. He said that he likes his teacher and that he played with some new friends at recess. We took him out afterwards for Hawaiian shaved ice and talked about his whole day. He met his PE teachers and was excited that they would be doing art today. Donny and I were very happy to hear that the first day went well!!! I can't wait for him to meet some friends that he can have come over and play with him. I think him going back to school will help him a lot with his need to get energy out! He has been wired to the max with no way to release it. It was cute yesterday when I was walking him to the school he was asking if Donny was going to be home for the day... When I said yes he said 'Oh good'. I asked why and he said that he wanted to make sure that Avery and I still had a helper boy... I couldn't help but laugh, but then I realized that he was actually worried that we would need something and he wouldn't be here to help. It was very thoughtful!

Today is Donny's last day in the field until he graduates from the academy. On Monday he goes back into the classroom for 3 more weeks. We can't wait until he can be out in the field for good. Graduation is on Sept. 19th!!! He is doing very well in the field from what his Field Training Officer says. His scores are very high! We all knew that they would be, but it is nice to have the proof in the writing.

Avery is doing good! She is such a good baby. She is basically sleeping through the night now!!! She is a sweet baby and she loves to cuddle. We are all enjoying her so much!

I hope you are all having a good end to a good summer! We are almost done with our crazy summer and now that Trais is in school, Avery is here and doing well and I am mended, all we need is for Donny to graduate and then be on a set schedule and we will be set! Yay!

Chat with all of you soon!

Avery is 3 weeks old!!!

Hello everyone,

I know it has been awhile so I will try to catch up on whats been going on. First off everyone is doing very well. We are all adjusting to the newest addition to the house. Trais so far has been an awesome big brother! He loves to come and give her hugs and kisses. He likes it when I hold her up to his face so that he can snuggle her.

Avery is finally putting on the weight that she needs to be. We took her in to the doctors on Friday and she was 7lbs. 4oz. The doctor wants her to be putting on an ounce a day and she wasn't at first but is starting to catch up now! She is such a beautiful baby! I don't think I am biased this either! She really is gorgeous! We are all very happy with her. I can't believe that she is already 3 weeks old today!!! I forgot how fast this time goes by.

Trais starts school on Monday!!! We went on Friday to register him for school and got to walk around a little bit of the school. It is very nice. We get to go on Thursday for a meet and greet with the teachers. He is so excited to start making friends and to get back to having structure! The elementary school here starts at 7:45am... Early morning for all of us!!! We have to have him there around 7:30am and I guess the traffic in front of the school is horrible so they even open it up at 7:00am to help with the traffic flow in the parking lot.

Donny is half way through his 3 week of his training rides. He has one more full week of this and then has to go back to the classroom for a few more weeks before he graduates! We can't wait for him to be through this! Then he will on a set schedule for awhile. The re-bid every 6 months and his schedule could change a little each time though.

I am doing great! I am healing more and more every day!!! So far I am able to do everything I need to... Although I vacumed the house the other day and then had to take a pain pill that night! I guess that was the only thing that I am not looking forward to trying again... I feel good other then that! I love having this time to get to know Avery and to hang out with Trais although I am happy for him to be going back to school to burn off his energy during the day!

Anyways, hope to hear from all of you soon!!!
We love you all!

Been awhile....

Wow... Being a mom of two is so weird! We have had a very busy 2 weeks since Avery was born. Also an emotional 2 weeks with all the family being here. My parents left yesterday and April left this afternoon. I think I can speak for Donny, Trais and I when I say that we were very sad to see them all leave. It was easy moving down since we knew that we would be seeing the family very soon.

Avery's entry

She wouldn't be my little girl if she didn't come into the world with out scaring me half to death... my crash course in being the parent of an infant! Starting from the begining: Justine had been to see her OB every week since we arrived here. In the last three weeks, she hadn't dialated any further than 1cm so the Doc decided to induce her in order to avoid another 32hr. labor like she had with Trais. Understandable, and they were nice enough to schedule her admit to the hospital on Monday night after my Cadet Academy's Clinical Operating Guidlines exam which has been our main focus since day one (I got a 94% as a side note). So when I got home, we packed up the car and drove down to the hospital. We got Justine admitted to her room and they put her on the fetal heart monitor and they administered her a medication called Cervodine (an impregnated plastic tab inserted into the cervix to soften it) and had everything set to begin the induction at 7am the next morning. My mom took Trais and headed for home at about 9:30 and Justine and I settled in and talked for an hour or so about our future together, Trais, the baby and how she was scared about going into labor and the birth. It was one of our most intimate conversations, and it made me wonder how I ever lived a second without her. We watched a little family guy and the nurse came in and gave Jus two Ambien so she could sleep comfortably through the night. We finally fell asleep at little after midnight, Justine comfortable in her bed and me on the "Dad Couch". At 2:05am three L&D Nurses came crashing through the door of our room. I had barely had the chance to sit up to see what all the comotion was when I heard these words: "We need to get her in for an emergency c-section right now!" It was a nurse talking to someone on her department cell phone. Needless to say I was up and asking questions, the big one being: "WHY??" The answer I got was that the baby's heart rate had decelerated down to around 80 and had been there for approximately 6 minutes. They made a coutple preparations and had us in a sprint down the hall to the O.R. where awaiting there were probably 20 or more people from god knows what all departments prepping the room. I didn't have time to tell her what was happening or explain what they were going to do to her. All I had time to do was tell her everything was going to be fine and that I loved her as they pushed her through the door, I dunno if she could even hear me over the noise all of the hospital staff was making, and I'll never forget the terrified confused look on her face and in her eyes. Then they told me I couldn't come in and put me in the hallway.
The longest 10minutes of my life.
You can only imagine what was going in my mind. There in only one other time in my entire life that I've been scared in a hospital but this one takes the cake. I couldn't help but to think all the What Ifs: What if something happens to Justine? What if Somehting happens to the baby? What if I loose Trais? What aroused me from my terrified state in the wheel chair outside of that OR was Avery's cry, audible through two sets of double doors... definately Justine and mine's child. No question. Soon, two nurses from the nursery emerged and put my baby girl in my arms. She was the most beautiful little thing I've ever seen. First thought: "Thank god, she looks just like Justine!" (we think she got my blue eyes but they can change for up to 3 months we're told). We took her to the Nursery where they gave her her first bath and warmed her and gave her a quick exam. She was perfect in every way and about this time my mom and Norma-Jean showed up at the window looking into the Nursery and I held Avery up so they could see her, both burst into tears. Needless to say, this entire time I couldn't stop thinking about Justine and if she was okay. Our family does not work without her and all I wanted was to see her with my own eyes to make sure she was okay. After about an hour they finally brought her back into the room and she was, as my friend Eric would say, "A Hurtin' Unit". She was in enough pain to be on a Morphine PCA pump and very confused and scared to say the least. We got through the night and the next morning we had an awesome Nurse named Jess who was able to bring Justine back to the land of the living. Since, Justine and Avery have been doing better but we're not quite out of the woods yet. Justine is extremely sore and still having difficulty getting around. When they perform a crash c-section, they're a little less gentle then if everything was okay, Justine's soreness being the result. Avery has a little Jaundice which is resolving but she had a little trouble breast feeding at first as a result. So thats how things stand as of this point. Each day things get a little better and they're talking about discharging us tomorrow. So the other question is: Why did Avery's heart rate slow down in utero? Well, the answer we've been given is that either she had a bad reaction to the Cervodine or Avery was somehow occluding the blood flow to her umbillical cord, sort of like happens in a nucal cord. She has not had an issue since and of course we hope things stay that way. I'll to my best to keep everyone posted on whats going on until Justine is on her feet again. I know she'd love to hear from all of you so shoot her a call or write her a message in the next couple of days.

Big News!!!

So, I went to the doctors yesterday and I am no more dilated then last week... Still at a one. The contractions have even slowed a bit and I have not been having as many. Maybe that has to do with the anxiousness of knowing it is getting so close causing that! Who knows, maybe she is just going to be stubborn like me. But, good news the doctor decided that he will induce me. We will be checking into the hospital on Monday night at 7:00pm. They start by giving me something to soften the cervix and then later that night they will break my water. Then in the morning on Tuesday they will give me pitocin. It's a drug that gets the contractions started. I had to have it with Trais too since the contractions tried to stop half way though... So, we will be having her on Tuesday at some point! Hopefully early in the day not the end. My mother-in-law April flies in tomorrow night and then my parents fly in on Monday night, so it works out perfect to have her on Tuesday. Donny also has a huge test on Monday so at least he will be able to get through that before we go into the hospital... I can't wait! Trais is very excited for me to not be pregnant anymore! He has no idea what is really coming!!!

Well thats the biggest news that I have for you. Like I said before I am really slowing down. If fact it seems like it takes all that I have in me to make dinner or to go grocery shopping! Trais has been my amazing little helper boy! He comes and pats my shoulders and asks me if I need anything. He is such a sweet kid. These last few weeks have been great getting to spend so much time with him. Never in his life have I been able to spend this much time with him. I can tell you though he is probably very ready to go back to school and start making some 'real' friends.

Like I said earlier Donny has a big test coming up on Monday for Academy so he has been studying every night for hours. I think he is going to do great, but he of course is worried that he needs to study more! He gets to get out of the classroom the following week though (Not next week, but the week after that)! We got his new schedule for when he rides with his training officer and he will be working two 24 hour shifts! I am so happy that he will be home with me and the kids for 5 days a week!!!! It will only be that way for 4 weeks, but I couldn't be any happier about that!!!

Anyways, I am going to go lay back down for a nap now, so I will write later!
Love ya all!!!

July 16th

Hello,

Well we had Trais's B-day!! We had a good time with him. We got up and had pancakes for breakfast! Then got ready and went down to the the lake for the day! We had a great time and he was so happy to get to have Donny be there. I guess I just dont play very well these days! We floated around and he got some squirt guns and a boogy board that he was very happy to use! We hung out there for awhile and then since Trais wanted to have pizza for dinner, we took him to Gatti Land. It is a place that is a lot like Chucky Cheese, but it is actually clean! They have big movie screens that play cartoons in the dining areas and they have a game room with all kinds of video games. Because it was his B-Day they gave him free tokens to play with even. He loved the place and asked if we could come back all the time. They are set up like a pizza and salad buffet type place and on Mondays moms get to eat free so I suppose we will be going back once I am on my salad only diet! hahaha!

I finally took a couple of pictures of me and the belly so here you go! I am of course not exactly happy to be having pictures taken at this stage. But, I realized that I didn't have any pictures of the belly!

Oh other good news! Donny passed his ACLS test! He did great on it! He has been studying for it like crazy so he was very stoked to have passed! Yay!!!

I went to the doctors yesterday to have a check up on the baby! He did a cervical check and I am dialated to a one... Not exactly as good as I was hoping, but I suppose it is something. I am not looking forward to another 32 hour labor so I was really hoping to dialating a little at a time. I have been having contractions here and there. They even came sort of regularly for about an hour or so, but then went away. I wish that I could just go into labor and already be half the way done!!! Wishful thinking I know. I did end up having them do a stress test on her though. The night before and then a day before that it seemed that her movements had slowed down a lot and it was more or less very sudden. I know she is running out of room and that her movements should be slowing down a little, but at the same time it should not have been so sudden. I mentioned it to the doc and he said that we better do a stress test on her. So, we did it and of course it was right after lunch and she moved around like crazy. I felt sort of stupid but the doc said that if I ever was worried about it to call or come in right away and that the sudden drop in movement should not be happening... In fact he said that I should feel 8-10 movements an hour. I don't know that was even feeling that much when she had lots of room, but I suppose.

Anyways, I am getting very excited about all the family that is going to be coming down soon! It will be nice to have some people to talk to and hang out with and some help too! Trais I think will be the most happy since he is ready for a distraction. As I have said before I must not be very fun right now since I am so tired all the time. I am trying to stay active and take him out to do things but they are getting few and far between. He needs to see some family and have some other activities!