Eli's 4D Ultrasound (30 weeks)

This is the best "action" shot we got... He wasn't too cooperative. Is this a sign of our future??? When I got up at 5:00 a.m. that morning he was going nuts... I guess by 8:00 he was too sleepy to perform and decided to yawn - it was cute though.

You can see his face, arm and hand here. Above in orange tone is Eli...

Below here is Luke at 29 weeks... there is some resemblence??? (I couldn't get Luke's pic to rotate you will have to turn your head..)

Snoozing I suppose.... My mom said he looked like goldilocks because you can see the cord wrapped around the top of his head like he has braids!!

Visit from the Firetruck

Luke is front row 3rd from left

Luke's school has been going over fire safety. Yesterday the firemen and the firetruck came to visit. Luke was very excited because his Daddy came too. No, this is not his daddy in the picture - all bald firemen look alike but this is not David.

David is no longer assigned to Station #1 (the Station that comes to Luke's school for fire safety training) but Luke wanted daddy there. David came up there to help out with the fire safety instruction. Luke wanted to know why he didn't have his "suit". "Suit" is what Luke calls the turn-out gear they wear into fires.

Miam Beach - Part I

The court reporting firm I work with owns a condo in Miami, Florida. They let their clients us their condo as part of the perks. So..... David and I traveled to Miami, Florida recently for a little getaway before Eli arrives. We invited our good friends, Jason and Jenny with us. We stayed 5 days at the Pinnacle Condos. We stayed in the Upper Penthouse Suit on the 42nd floor. The views from the room were amazing. You had 180 degree views. The entire living area was nothing but floor to ceiling windows. We had a balcony out our bedroom that overlooked the ocean and Jason and Jenny's room had a balcony overlooking the bay. We pretty much were waited on hand and foot if we went to the pool or the beach. The cabana boys took care of getting your towels, placing your umbrella and overall making sure you were satisfied. They did this at the pool and at the beach. Jenny and I had a spa afternoon one day. It was just adults and it was great.

The picture above was the view we had of the city at night... I thought it turned out pretty cool!

View from living room

Additional view from living room/dining areas...see what I mean about floor to ceiling windows.

View of the bay and city from Jason and Jenny's balcony. It was really neat because during the day David and I had the best view since we had the view of the beach but at night Jason and Jenny had this incredible view of all the city lights...

View of beach from our balcony - see how high up we were. 42 stories is HIGH.

I had to continue the post in Part II below. My pictures would not continue to post so I broke them down into 2 posts.

Miami Beach - Part II

The Pinnacle - we stayed in the far upper penthouse suite on the left-hand side



View at sunset - looking from sofa out through kitchen



I thought this picture was really cool of my prego sillouette. It looks like I'm floating with the city in the background. I am standing in the kitchen next to the window. Here I am 26 -27 weeks prego.

Jason and Jenny, some of our best friends. This is how you look when you do NOT wear sunscreen but DO wear your sunglasses. What can I say...all who know Jason know he is a goofball!!

We visited South Beach one night - we went into "Miami Ink" from the t.v. show. I think they have now changed it to LA Ink. It looked like any other tattoo place I've been in. I will say there were LOTS of tattoo places down there. NO David did not add to his collection - thank goodness!

While in South Beach I wanted to see "Dash" - the Kardashians store. Unfortunately, it is only open like 10 -6 so we walked about 12 blocks for nothing. Oh well I have the pictures of the outside windows. I really wanted to see how much the clothes cost.

Dash store window... I'm always looking for a feather skirt to wear out...how about you?

Taken on the balcony the day we left....Goodbye Miami....

Let me just tell you that I HATE...HATE to fly. The plane we flew in and out of Miami on was a 50-75 passenger jet. I'm actually okay with the smaller planes. For some reason bigger planes make me more nervous. The flight was only 90 minutes - still quite long on a plane for my taste.

The flight down wasn't bad at all..Maybe that was because I had been up since 3:00 a.m. with only about 4 hours sleep. However, coming back was a different story. Because we are in such a small plane a bus took us out to the tarmac to board the plane. When we arrived at the plane people were going in and out, luggage was still being put on so I just assumed they were not quite ready for us yet..no biggie. However, 45 minutes later (still sitting on our bus) and people pulling up with jugs of blue liquid and going in and out of the plane was a different story. At this point I was agitated.. what was going on? The fact David was just sitting there doing his crossword puzzle oblivious to all that was going on made matters worse. HELLO.. David, do you not see what's going on??? Shouldn't you be paying attention to this??? He was not bothered on bit. FINALLY they came on the bus and said there was a mechanical difficulty...A WHAT?? EXCUSE ME..SAY WHAT??? Okay, just take me back to the airport terminal and we will rent a car. It has to be safer than these planes that are having MECHANICAL DIFFICULTIES!! Funny thing the "mechanical difficulty" was just the commode!!!!!! LOL! Apparently the blue liquid I saw being brought onto the plane was the santizer stuff and for whatever reason the commode just would not work. WHEW what a relief... just a commode.. However, I guess due to safety regulations no working commode meant no flight on that particular plane. They decided to move us to the next plane on the tarmac. We boarded that plane and were headed home shortly thereafter.

Unfortunately, my feathers were ruffled at this point and no matter what I wasn't secure on this plane, in the air, and on the flight home. 90 minutes felt like 3 hours to me. I kept looking at my watch hoping time would go faster!!! To make matters worse as we are taking off David was reading a chapter in his book for his public safety class with something to do about 9-11 and the terror attacks... SERIOUSLY? I have just about stroked out because our plane has mechanical difficulties, all while you do your crossword. NOW that we are actually about to take off you decide to ready about 9-11 and the Pentagon... GREAT !!! No supportive husband on this flight but thank goodness we did have working commode!

GRANNY - June 26, 1916 - September 16, 2010

Granny's 94th b'day party (taken in June 2010)... I love this picture!!

On September 16, 2010, my sweet granny went to be with the Lord. She was one amazing woman and loved by all who ever knew her. I lived most of my childhood, teen and young adult life with my granny. Even in my adult married life granny was always present; when David was working I would meet granny for dinner or when David was home I would go pick her up and she would eat dinner with us. Even after we moved across town I still would see my granny on a regular basis.

Fun fact.... The only home I ever remember growing up in during my childhood was my granny's. See my mom was a single parent and she and I lived with my granny all of my childhood, I believe from age 2 until my mom remarried when I was 13. My room was the middle bedroom down the hall. A couple years ago when David and I were in between selling and buying a house we (all of us, David, myself, Luke and the 2 dogs) lived in granny's house for 8 months. David and I slept in my old childhood bedroom and Luke slept in one of the other rooms. I remember thinking often during those 8 months how my life had come full circle and how my granny's house held so many special memories of my childhood and for 8 months my husband and sweet little boy got to live in the same place I called home for so many years. I am glad I was able to call my granny's home.."home" again even as an adult.

My granny even doggie sat for me every day while I was at work for my 2 boxer for years (well before I had an actual human child and then I couldn't stop at two different daycares and the dogs had to learn to be real dogs...oh the horror!)

Granny has been a huge part of my life for as long as I can remember. She lived a remarkable LONG (94 years) life. I have so many fond memories of summers together and field trips she attended with me. She loved to cook and especially loved baking!! I honestly could write pages and pages about my granny and all the memories I have. I decided to just give you all a preview of what a special lady she was and am keeping all of the millions of sweet memories I have of her to myself.

I only hope that Luke (and soon Eli) can look back one day and remember their grandparents in such a fond and wonderful way that I will ALWAYS remember my granny.