New Camera!

I got a new camera! It is a Nikon D60 and it rocks the sure shot. Fo sho.

pic of my OLD camera, taken by my NEW camera:


Pic of my NEW camera, taken by my OLD camera:



Need I say more?

Guess who's leaving the ICU today?

It's grandaddy!!!!
He passed his applesauce swallowing test on Monday and is being moved to a rehabilitation center here in the town where we live TODAY!
I am so excited! He has been in the ICU for 36 days today. Not to mention he was about 45 minutes away and had strict visiting hours in the ICU- and now he will be 4 minutes (I clocked it on the way to school this morning) from my house and I can go see him whenever I want! I figure today I will let him get settled in, but I'm going to visit him right after school tomorrow! Yipeee!!!

Lastly....

Ashley's costume for Halloween was awesome.
What could an 8 months pregnant tall dark-haired girl be?

Angelina Jolie (pre-twins). It was amazing.

... and yes, that is a sling full of baby dolls that she is wearing. Aaaaaaaawesome.

Grandaddy Update

As of today, he has been in the ICU for 31 days.

However, he was supposed to be moved out of ICU, they just didn't have an open room, so he's staying for a while. Since the last update, a lot has happened. Here's the lowdown:

• Tracheotomy in- SUCCESS! (when he came around, Susie told him "Daddy, you've been drunk as a skunk for 3 weeks and mama hasn't said a word!" and he grinned and winked at her. Sense of humor was apparently unharmed during all this madness!)
• Breathing on his own without the machine- SUCCESS!
• Tracheotomy capped off for him to breathe through his trachea and speak- SUCCESS! (first words out of his mouth- "Let's get out of here!")
• Tracheotomy removed 10-23- SUCCESS!
• Applesauce Swallowing test 10/24- FAIL (they say as soon as he can swallow, they will allow him to leave the hospital in Charlotte, and cove to a rehabilitation center closer to home- can't wait!)
• Applesauce Swallowing test sceduled for tomorrow 10-27- ____________ (hopefully success!)

Today, he sat up in a chair for an hour which is a HUGE deal. His stomach and back muscles are so weak, he started complaining after 30 minutes, but they made him keep on! He has the strenghth, this will just be a long road to recovery!

We'll see what tomorrow brings! I can't thank everyone enough for their love, support, prayers and thoughts during this past month. I have seen the strongest man I know go from healthy, to almost dead and back from the brink- then 1 step forward, 2 steps back for about 2 weeks. I cannot express the feelings that I experienced during this time, except to say that I hope I never have to go through this again. Only uphill from here! :)

Trick and a Treat

Joe and I are just finishing up a VERY busy weekend.

Friday night, we had a birthday party for our good friend Paul. Saturday morning, we went to a birthday party for my two cousins Caveny and Carter (turning 6 and 7). Saturday night we had not one, but TWO Halloween parties (one was a birthday party, and the other was our friends Karl and Ashley's annual Halloween party). TODAY, we attended a baby shower for the hosts of the party last night- WHEW!

Also, tonight Joe and I had the baby talk.

(prompted by our mutual love and adoration of the precious Gracie, above)

This time, it was an actual discussion, not just dates and financial figures thrown around.

It looks like we might be pushing the TTC date up from July 2009 to March/April 2009.
We have both known for a long time that we wanted to be young parents. After all, his mom was married at 18, had him by 23 and my mother was married by 22, had my brother by 23. The way we look at it, we can either have time alone BEFORE the baby is born, or time alone after the baby leaves for college. I, personally, choose to have the time alone after the child leaves, therefore we would have more uninterrupted time and money to do whatever we want (at least, I hope we will have more money then!). I guess we will see what happens in the months to come.

I forgot how awesome Disney princesses are...

sometimes it's funny to just tell a story backwards. This is how today's story ended.

Ok, from the beginning...

Today, the girls took the "little girls" to see Disney on Ice. They all dressed like princesses and were precious!
The show was great and then we bought approximately $500 collectively of Disney crap, then headed to Salsaritas for quesodillas and cheese dip. Ah, what a girl's day. After that, we went back to Stephanie's apartment to watch Noggin and play musical chairs.

btw
Disney on Ice is awesome.
it. is. awesome.

Also....

Molly got a haircut.

teehee.

before:
after:

so so sassy!

AND...






I wanted to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers during this time with Grandaddy. Today he went in for the tracheotomy- everything went well. He's still sedated and they say the next couple days are probably going to be rough- probably the worst so far- with him waking up. They're going to wake him up now and start physical therapy. His lungs look good, there is no pneumonia still (thank you, God!) and we're praying it's only better from here on out. I will definitely keep this thing updated. Thanks for the thoughts/prayers and keep them coming for these next few days when he will hopefully be coming around!