The Vest Family

Playing in the Snow!!!!!!!!

2012-01-22T15:23:00.000-06:00

If there is one thing that the Vest's always love about winter time in Iowa it is the snow we always get. It makes all of the cold weather worth it. I have memories of getting the four wheeler's out on the farm and playing in the snow for hours and hours. Lora loved to go into Sundown in Dubuque so she could ski. We all love playing in the snow.

Addison's first time putting on the snow suit and playing in the snow was last weekend. She had a great time ridding in her new snow sled. She had lots of fun, until Dad started to pull the sled and she thought I was going a little bit too fast. Below is a few more pictures of the great time she had.

This picture is of Addison and Mommy throwing snow balls at Daddy.

Addison had to try and pull the sled herself.

This is of Addison trying to make a snow angel like Mommy just did.

Addison then tried her hand shoveling snow. She had a lot of fun helping me clear the driveway. It was very funny watching her move the snow around with her little shovel.

Addison found her taste for the new snow as well.

Miss Addi

2012-01-07T20:25:00.000-06:00

I am 21 months old and I wanted to let everyone know what my favorite things are.

I am not sure I have a favorite color yet, I like mixing all of them to make abstract art. Even thought it drives my mom crazy I mix all of the different colors of Playdoh to make fun looking shapes and objects.

I really like gymnastics with my Mommy. We get to do all sorts of fun things, like hang from the bars and put our legs up to make us look like hot dogs or bananas. We also jump on the trampolines, which I don't really jump yet but I love to sprint across them as fast as I can. Sometimes Mommy bounces on the trampoline with me and I really like that. I did get a trampoline for Christmas so that I can practice at home and get better for Chow's. My favorite part of gymnastics is the foam pit, I get to jump off of platforms into the pit and then throw the foam blocks at my friends. They also have a slide that goes into the pit and that is a blast, it would be even better if Mom wouldn't slow me down but I understand why she does.

I am a very talented dancer thanks in part to my Grandpa. Every time I hear music on TV or radio I start to move around and wave my arms. I love to dance in the living room in my Dads arms, it is even better when Mom joins in. My favorite song is "Red Solo Cup" by Toby Kieth. I really get excited when I hear it and won't let my Dad stop playing it once he starts.

My puppies are really nice to me even though I love to torment them. Poor Lexi can't run fast enough most days, I don't understand why she doesn't like me hanging on her all day. Mercedes lets me do whatever I want to her. I can sit on her, hug her, pull her ears, and pull on her jowls. The dogs are very fun for me and I don't know what I would do without them.

Books are fun for me too. I enjoy going to the libraries in the area and we have several books that I love to read. My favorite books involve animals and fun adventures. When I go to bed Mom and Dad read me stories too, it really helps me to go to sleep. Dad is getting better at pronouncing all of those Princesses' names, it is funny when he has make them up and has to remember them throughout the whole thing.

While I am eating breakfast I get to watch Mickey Mouse Club on the Disney channel. I really like Mickey and watching the crazy adventures he and his friends get into everyday. I can't wait until Mom and Dad take me to see Mickey in Florida or California. I also love to watch Curious George during snack time. George is really funny to me and he gets into lots of trouble sometimes. We even got some DVDs of Curious George that I love to watch in the car.

Fatherhood

2012-01-07T16:12:00.000-06:00

Well it is a lovely Saturday afternoon at the Vest's, we are watching the beloved Hawkeyes get beat up by Ohio State so I thought I would check in with everyone. It has been a crazy year watching my beautiful daughter grow up. We have seen everything from her first foot steps to the constant NO that keeps being told to all of us.

Addison Riley is truly finding her own personality. She loves to be an artist just like her mother, her main media is crayon and Playdoh but she has dabbled in finger painting and water colors. While she is being the little artist I find myself smiling as she does have a small little engineer inside, she is so curious with how things work and basic mechanics of objects. I really look forward to helping her understand science and how to use her creativity to solve problems.

Addison is starting to learn her letters and numbers quite well for 21 months. We have letters for the bath and Lora and I will call out different letters and Addison will pick them up for us. She will be a very intelligent person. She has also started to blow bubbles in the water as evidenced by the video below.

The other day at work someone asked me what it was like now being a father and I really didn't know how to answer besides it being great. After I thought about it for awhile it really made me realize what living truly is. Every time I look over at my little girl and she gives me the big grin and tilts he head just a little to the side I just melt. It is as if she is telling me she knows she is the most special little girl in the world. It is amazing how a question like that can make you think about the choices you have made and things that almost kept you from the most beautiful thing in the world. It fascinates me to think about the different forks and obstacles that we all have in our lives and how different things could have been had we not taken the turns we did. I am starting to have faith in life and that we will all generally land on our feet. We may be brought to our knees for a short period of time but it is the people we have around us that get us back up. Where was I going with this? Fatherhood, I think Lora and I have had our share of things that have brought us to our knees but the thing I keep coming back to is that I am a Father and that is something that I will ever take for granted. It is the most precious thing in the world and I love it. I only hope that I can show Addison the love that she deserves.

In general i was an excellent year, Lora is doing some great things with photography, as you can all tell from the photos of Addison. Her graphic design is brillilant as always, all the evidence I need is the Christmas card. I received a promotion at work to Project Manager and I am loving the additional responsibility and new challenges that I am facing on a daily basis.

Dance Party!

2011-09-14T12:01:00.001-05:00

Fishing Video 2

2011-09-14T11:41:00.001-05:00

Where have we been?

2011-09-14T11:22:00.003-05:00

Needless to say, it has been a super busy summer! I have a bunch of great videos that I have wanted to share all summer, but I can't get them to upload, so I've been using this as an excuse to not upload the blog. Well... No longer, I'm sure you'd rather see something from us then nothing right? I will keep trying to upload the videos little by little!

Fishing for Father's Day

Cubs vs Royals game in June

Mmm... Speghetti!

15 Months!

Finger Painting!

Playdough!

Watermelon!

Chris and I went to Vegas for our Anniversary/Birthday weekend! We decided 6 days before our departure that we were actually going to go and we had an amazing time! Pawn Stars was just one of our many stops.

We've fit in a few camping trips. Notice mini me eating straight out of the potatoe salad container! also notice her super curls from swimming and humidity!

Great Grandma Knepper's Birthday Party

All of the Great Grandkids

Iowa State Fair 2011 - Red Velvet Funnel Cake!

Addison's first tat

Frozen chocolate covered banana! - Addison was in heaven!

Daddy took the afternoon off and we went to the zoo!

No Addi - the lettuce is for the giraffe!

At the Wright Family's annual swim party!

Our first day of gymnastics at Chows

Addison's first Iowa game!

Trying to keep her ears warm and dry during the pouring rain!

One soaking wet, but happy family!

All in all...

2011-06-11T22:02:00.001-05:00

It was a pretty good day of racing! I got a second place trophy because I left almost the same time the slower car I was racing left. (He was supposed to get a one second head start.)

I am still excited about my second place trophy, and we had fun, so really that's all that matters.

One of these days though, Chris may have to admit that it's not ALL luck...

Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Always changing, always learning

2011-06-10T20:46:00.001-05:00

Our little girl is growing up way too fast! Her favorite word this week seems to be "Dey Dey" (we call Mercedes, cece for short). While swimming this week she would constantly peer over the edge of the pool and shout "Dey. Dey"!
"Addi where's your tummy?"

"Addi where's your nose?"

"Addi where's your ear?"

Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Memorial Day Weekend

2011-06-08T19:06:00.001-05:00

Firday afternoon, we hooked up the trailer and headed toward Earlville and more specifically Tri State Raceway. After a half hour of driving through the campground, we found the perfect spot and started setting up (in the rain).

Saturday, Bob and Marcia brought Chris' dodge Dakota rt sport (little white truck) up and mom and dad also joined us at the racetrack. Chris ran the truck in the sportsman class and I ran it in trophy class. Chris got a buy in his first round and lost by 3 thousandths of a second in the second round. Due to chris running faster than he initially thought, he changed my elapsed time from a 14:90 to a 14:83. Guess what I ran? If you said 14:90, you were right! Although I had a decent reaction time off the line, the 11 second door car I was up against ran closer to his estimated elapsed time and wine the race.

Saturday evening we all enjoyed a meal over the fire which included turkey and dressing with cheese in the camp cookers = delish!

We were hoping to race again on Sunday but the weather won. After everyone at breakfast together, mom and dad went home while Bob, Marcia, Chris, Addison and I went to the Mississippi River Musem. We had a blast and I recommend it to anyone visiting the Dubuque area. I also showed them the 4th ST. Elevator and Eagle Point Park (to of my other must sees if you are in the area.

After a fun afternoon, Bob and Marcia headed home while Chris, Addison and I prepared the camper for the trip home.

We then met my mom at my cousin Dana's graduation party. By this time the weather had really cleared up and turned into a beautiful night!

(although though some of the following images aren't good - it's funny to see who interested she was in the flowers!)

Once Addison started getting tired (and we started getting tired of chasing her around) we headed back to the racetrack/ campground. Since it was still fairly early, and we already had everything packed up, we decided to head home.

The road was fairly quiet and Addison slept the whole way home. (We made it back to Ankeny around 11:00)

Sunday we mostly did housework and ran errands. We did make a little time for swimming...

They were testing the temp before we got in.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

A post from Addison

2011-06-08T18:30:00.003-05:00

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Dinosaurs at the Zoo

2011-06-02T18:12:00.001-05:00

I just had to post these cute pictures of Addison and Grandpa Vest at the zoo today...

Our Vacation

2011-05-27T14:10:00.001-05:00

So most of you know that Chris and I were supposed to go to Punta Cana, DR for our anniversary. We were supposed to leave Friday, May 13th, but our flight into Chicago got canceled due to weather. We contemplated driving to Chicago, but it would have been after midnight before we arrived, and we would have had to pay for parking. So we called the airline and while se were at the airport we were rescheduled on a flight to Atlanta in the A.M. So we went out to dinner in Ankeny. At the end of dinner, Chris checked our flights, only to discover that our flight was yet again CANCELED!

After contemplating canceling our trip and lots of emotions later, we discovered that our only real chance of making it to the DR on Saturday was to drive to Omaha. So at 9:30 Friday night Chris, Addison, Bob, Marcia and myself drove to Omaha! Chris and I couldn't go by ourselves, because our return flight was through Chicago and we wouldn't have a way to get the truck home. It was around 12:00 when we arrived in Omaha (hindsight - should have driven to Chicago).

Our flight was to leave at 5:40 am so we went to sleep for about two hours then headed out to the airport. After arriving at the airport, we discovered that USAIRWAYS (our original airway) hadn't transferred our tickets to Delta (our new airline). After much back and forth and no one wanting to take blame for the issue at hand, USAIRWAYS discovered that when we almost canceled our trip one of the USAIRWAYS reps entered something wrong, realized this, but neglected to fix it! Too bad they discovered all of this 5 min after our flight left, especially since there was no way to make the flight out of the US that day.

So, we went home, and canceled everything! How disappointing going from first class tickets to the DR to going back home.

Chris and I worked Monday and Tuesday then took off with Addison to camp outside Minneapolis Wednesday night through Satuday morning. We had a great time with our little peanut - swimming, riding bikes, playing in the sand, swimming, and of course mini golf and Shopping!

They said they had "Apple Products" but I don't think it was the same store as the following image...

I think I converted him to be an Apple fan!

Mini Golf! After seven years he finally took me to an actual mini golf course.

I can do it myself! Turning into little miss independent!

Moltzan Wedding

2011-05-22T13:21:00.015-05:00

The weekend of May 6-8th we went back to Dyersville for the wedding of my cousin Katie M. to Adam Moltzan. We went home on Friday and went out for dinner with Grandma and Grandpa Knepper. Saturday morning we ran some errands. Grandma and Addison played with the baby chicks at Theisens.

Addison kept going straight for the poor chick's neck! She must of thought it was Toby's tail!

After running errands we got ready for the wedding. Adam and Katie's wedding was beautiful and they couldn't have asked for better weather. Chris and Addison had fun playing in the back of church... not sure who ate more cheerios :)

Hanging out with Aunt Sarah before mass

Oooh BUBBLES!

This is my buddy Rachel

Love my daddy

Sitting on Uncle Jamie's lap - Crazy Aunt Kim!

Dancing and singing with my buddies

Beautiful Bulldog Contest

2011-05-22T09:32:00.020-05:00

I know a few of you have been waiting for this, sorry it has taken so long to get it posted. I think I'm on the verge of getting a good app for my phone or ipad so that I can update this from there. Lately it seams that the only time I'm really on my computer is when I'm doing design/photography work and when I'm not doing one of these things, I would rather spend time with Addison then be on my computer :)

So here it is. The Monday after Easter, we took Lexi (Alexis Lucile) to the the Drake Beautiful Bulldog contest. She was selected out of 100s of bulldogs to be one of fifty dogs in the contest. I have never experienced so much panting and drooling in one room! Although there were A LOT of cute bulldogs, I'd take my little Lexi Lu's behaviors over some of them :)

Waiting for the festivities to begin...

Later in the afternoon we took miss Addison to the doctor and she had an ear infection... although you can see in this picture she isn't feeling very well, hind sight is 20/20 because she acted very well until we missed lunch time!

Nervous for her judging

Making her final walk - you can see how shy/nervous she is

Last year's winner

This lil bull was deaf

Zelda's Kissing Booth - best costume

Jail Bull

Vinny the runner-up

Lucy - the winner

Happy Easter!

2011-04-27T18:15:00.000-05:00

Uncle Joe was able to come visit for Easter. We were glad to have him, along with Grandpa and Grandma Knepper and Grandpa and Grandma Vest join us for brunch at the Zoo!

Putting the flowers from the table in her hair

Petting the baby!

Feeding the billy goat - she wouldn't let go of the food

We have a walker!

2011-04-24T16:43:00.002-05:00

Addison has been toying with the idea for a while, but she has been officially WALKING for about a week now! Unless she is in a hurry, she walks everywhere!

The Party!

2011-04-12T18:52:00.006-05:00

Saturday, April 9th, we celebrated Addison's first birthday with our extended family. The weather was beautiful and Addison had an awesome day! The day started with mommy struggling to make sure everything was perfect and Mercedes eating 11 of the deviled eggs, but ended with a fun campfire!

Grandpa and Grandma Knepper, Grandpa and Grandma Vest and Katie and Al were all able to come celebrate Addison's special day!

Checking out the cake!

Showing everyone that she knows how to ride her four wheeler.

Riding her new bike with Daddy.

Riding in style in her new wagon!

Enjoying her cake!

Checking out her mess in the mirror!

She wasn't a huge fan of the pulled pork Daddy made :)

Addison and Aunt Katie

We had a wonderful day and the weather was beautiful! Sorry it took so long for me to share all of these pictures! I had to send my computer out for a week! I was lost, but it was nice to be free :)

The Big First Birthday!

2011-04-12T17:27:00.008-05:00

ADDISON TURNED ONE! I can't believe how fast the last year has gone! I also can't remember what life was like before Addison. She is my angel and I love her so much! Chris and I wanted her first birthday to be extra special so we took the day off of work and spent it just the three of us.

We started the day by taking Addison's car (Bob and Chris' challenger) to Ankeny Story Time. This was the first time that Chris had been to a story time at one of the libraries with Addison (he doesn't have the pleasure of staying home with her on Fridays like I do!)

After story time we took Addison to the Blank Park Zoo. We had a great time and saw lots of animals. Addison's favorite part was feeding the billy goats! She absolutely loved it! She even climbed out of her stroller to get a closer look. (Chris took some awesome pictures!)

For lunch we went to Gateway Market and I was going to get Addison a piece of my favorite cake, but apparently they aren't making it anymore! so she got a banana bread cupcake instead.

Next up was the Easter Bunny! We went all the way to Jordan Creek to only find out that they didn't have an Easter Bunny, so we went to Pottery Barn Kids for some Easter essentials, then headed to Valley West. In Addison's mind, the Easter Bunny wasn't quite as nice as Santa Clause! She didn't cry but she wasn't going to sit there long. After we saw the Easter Bunny, we played in the play area (Addi's first time, and she loved it).

We had a wonderful day and couldn't imagine spending the day with out her! It was very hard to go to work Thursday!

We have a celebrity...

2011-04-04T06:49:00.004-05:00

Ok, well not a celebrity, but Addison was featured in the Des Moines Register for one of the story times that she goes to with Grandma Vest.

Katie's Bridal Shower and Bachelorette Party Weekend

2011-03-29T19:52:00.007-05:00

This past Friday, I spent part of the day working on freelance stuff and packing while Grandpa and Grandma Vest took Addison to story time at the library. During this time, Addison also learned how to push the button on her four-wheeler to make it move. Right now she mostly makes small shaky advances, but I’m sure by the end of the summer she’ll be zooming around the yard. We went back to Dyersville for the weekend for my cousin Katie M.’s bridal shower and bachelorette party. We went home Friday night to go out for dinner for Mom’s birthday. We stayed at the Comfort Inn in Dyersville, which gave Addison a chance to go swimming (in the whirlpool tub). She loves water, as long as it's not a bath!

Saturday Chris wasn't feeling well, so he slept while Addison and I went to the bridal shower. It was so great to see some of my aunts and cousins who I haven’t seen in almost 8 months. After the bridal shower I went with Sarah up to their store in New Vienna to see their new addition, and pick up some delicious turkey and dressing! Addison and I "went swimming" again once I got back. After we got done swimming, I got ready to go to Katie’s bachelorette party. Grandma Knepper played with Addision while Chris rested, because he still wasn't feeling good. We ate at Star in Dubuque (which is the old Star Brewery) and had a great time!

Sunday we headed back to Ankeny, but not with out a stop in Williamsburg at the outlet mall. We then spent the rest of the day relaxing and catching up from being gone for the weekend.

Addison with Great Grandma Knepper

Aunt Katie and Addison

Aunt Sarah and Addison

Aunt Dana and Addison

Addison playing with Delila

Daddy's Back!

2011-03-29T19:42:00.004-05:00

Last weekend (March 18-20) Chris came back from California late Friday night/ early Saturday morning, and my cousin Sarah and her family came down on Saturday. We took a couple hours to take pictures of their 3 ½ year old Noah, 1 year old Ian and their family together. We took our time as my cousin Katie C. and her husband came over and had lunch with us, and we took lots of little breaks to give the kids a chance to re-focus.

Addison enjoyed “talking” with Ian and watching Noah play. Lexi has totally adjusted to Addison and she had no problem with Ian but she’s still a little afraid of “older” little kids.

After we finished up with pictures, and Addison and Chris finished their nap, the girls went to the mall, while the boys stayed back at the house and watched movies and read books.

I really enjoyed seeing my family, as it had been a while since we’d been home and since Katie, Sarah and I have been able to hang out.

Sunday we had to run Chris’ computer from his trip back to the office. We then did a few errands and spent the rest of the day relaxing at home and spending time with just the three of us! We had a fun weekend, and Addison and I are glad to have Chris home.

Just Us Girls

2011-03-21T19:56:00.010-05:00

Last week Chris was in California for a training on turbine/combustion engines. We were all sad to see him go...

(Addison hiding in his suitcase, trying to go with.)

Chris had a great time with the beautiful weather and scenery. He also learned a thing or two from his class.

(At the Ferrari and Maserati dealership.)

While Daddy was having fun in the sun California style, we were having fun at home with pajama parties...

walking outside,

and having fun in the bathtub!

Congratulations Daddy!

2011-02-12T20:45:00.009-06:00

I started this post on the 12th of February, but never finished it. So here's my attempt to pick it back up and update you since then!

The week of Feb 7th, Chris accepted a new project manager role at Goodrich (same location that he previously worked, just a different position). We are very proud of him! To celebrate, we went out to dinner at Leaning Tower in Ankeny where Addison discovered her love for their Mac and cheese...

While eating the left overs at home...

After eating her left overs! (right before her bath!)

We also decided to go on a weekend get-a-way to Omaha. Chris took Friday (the 11th) off and we drove out to Omaha. We went to Nebraska Furniture Mart, where we proceeded to buy end tables from their store off the internet (they didn't have them in store and we could get them faster if we ordered them online).

We then went to the outdoor mall, then back to our hotel. We took Addison swimming again and she loved it! Someone had left a small beach ball in the pool area and she loved it when daddy would push it under the water and let it fly up in the air! Saturday morning when we went down to breakfast, we saw Justin Bieber's VIP Party! We had to take advantage of this moment...

On Saturday, we went to Whole Foods (my favorite Grocery Store!) and stocked up on meat and low sodium treats. Then we checked out another local mall. We made it back to Des Moines by about 4:00 so we still had plenty of time to enjoy the rest of the weekend relaxing at home! We even took a couple of 10 month pictures of Addison.

Monday was Valentines Day. I received these beautiful roses and we went for dinner at a French restaurant downtown Des Moines called Django. (We were supposed to eat there for my work Holiday party but Chris and I both got sick before our dinner came.) We had a wonderful evening, even though lots of our conversation still revolved around our other love at home.

We all enjoyed the couple of nice days of weather by going on some nice long walks outside and enjoying the fresh air! All 5 of us (the dogs included) cannot wait for spring, and I cannot wait to go camping!

The following weekend was state wrestling (a.k.a the weekend you stay away from Jordan Creek mall!). We did some putzing around Des Moines and found this awesome cab, so of course I had Chris take my picture with it!

This past weekend Grandma and Grandpa Knepper came down, so Chris and I went to a hockey game - here is a 2 sec. clip of the end of one of the best hockey fights I've ever seen. All of the players on both teams were involved and one player (from the opposing team) got ejected from the game!

Addison is growing so much! She is developing her personality every day, and she is definitely going to give us a run for our money!

She enjoys dancing...

Saying Mom and Daddy - although we hear way more Daddy's than Mommy's...

The other day, Chris was moving the cars around out side, when Addi heard the car start, she looked at me, turned her head sideways and clearly said "Da-ddy!"

She also loves shaking her head "NO" but also shakes it while dancing.

and last but not least, she LOVES giggling...

{insert sound clip here, that failed to upload three times...
guess you'll have to come visit us in order to hear it!}

Whether it's from mommy and daddy doing silly things, or she knows she's not supposed to be doing something, or from getting tickled, she loves to laugh. The sound of her laugh melts my heart and can take the most awful day and turn it completely around!

Sorry it took me so long to update this, but hopefully I put enough on here to satisfy you in my tardiness!

An ordinary weekend...

2011-01-30T15:26:00.005-06:00

The last few posts I've made are just formal pictures, so I thought I'd share a couple from this weekend. Thursday it was "warm" enough to take Addison out to play in the snow.

Below is Addi sitting in a snow bank out front. She really liked it and I think she was excited to finally explore the "white stuff" that has replaced the "pokey green stuff" for so long. Although she had fun in it, I don't think she liked the temperature of it :)

The rest of the weekend was spent "baby proofing" the house. We changed the previous den/office into a den/office/toy room. There is now less that she can get into and more she can play with in a smaller area for her to be "contained". I'm sure this will make life for all of us a little easier.

The following is a picture of Addison "helping" us get the den set up. She has turned into a monkey :) she loves climbing on everything and hanging on tight when she gets to the top. Chris and Addison were playing with the side of the pack and play yesterday and Addi was doing "pull-ups" on the edge. She is getting SOO big and SOO strong!

AN ORDINARY WEEKEND

2011-01-30T15:26:00.000-06:00

9 Months

2011-01-17T18:59:00.002-06:00

I can't believe our little girl is already nine months old! To say that the last nine months have flown by would be an understatement. I'm so happy we were blessed with such a wonderful child. She is so independent but loves to spend time with her mommy and daddy. She has the most amazing personality, and has already learned how to show that she knows when she is doing something wrong.

She LOVES the fireplace. I'm pretty sure it's a combination of the way the tile around it sounds compared to the carpet and the sound her fingers make on the screen. At the same time, she knows she isn't supposed to play there. The other day I walked toward her in a "you know you shouldn't be doing that tone" and she looked up, smiled at me, and crawled away so fast, she may have gotten rug burn. She's so cute, it's hard to be mad at her.

She also loves her pets... She loves to help the dogs corral the cat, but at the same time she loves to pet Toby and her eyes light up when he comes in the room. The girls love her just the same, they would do anything for her and in turn, let her do anything to them.

The older and more mobile she gets, the more we make adaptations to the house. The den is now the computer room/office/toy room/changing room/anyotherpurposeyoucanthinkof room, but it works for us!

I can't wait for spring, playing outside, camping, racing, celebrating Addison's first birthday and continuing to grow as our little family of three.

For now, enjoy a few of her nine month photos. She looks sooo grown up.

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-29T23:01:00.013-06:00

I know it's almost the third week in January but,

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all from the Vest family!

We had a wonderful first Christmas with Addison filled with lots of laughs, hugs and smiles.

My new toy box

Tea Party!

Opening Presents

My dress was irritating my skin...

Our seafood boil the day after Christmas

Playing with the new xbox and kinect on New Years Day - looking from the back

looking from the front

Mom put me in my swing for old times sake...

and some pictures from dinner tonight...

She had her hair in her first pony tail, and when I took it out, this is what it looked like.

A Trip to See Santa!

2010-12-20T17:26:00.003-06:00

We took Addison to see Santa last Wednesday. We were glad that Grandma Knepper and Grandpa and Grandma Vest were able to go with too! She actually didn't mind him too much, but when she was ready to go, she was ready!

OK guys, I told the big guy what I want, lets go!

We are in trouble now!

2010-12-12T17:50:00.002-06:00

Here is Miss Addison Cruising with her cart.

She hasn't figured out how to stop and turn around!

8 Months!

2010-12-05T18:05:00.010-06:00

I can't believe our little girl will be 8 months old tomorrow! Enjoy these pictures of her at 8 months along with a surprise visit from Santa and Mrs. Clause and pictures with the grandparents. Enjoy!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-26T18:44:00.008-06:00

We have sooo much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.

First of all, we are extremely thankful for our beautiful, smart, and loving daughter Addison. I don't remember how we survived withou

Next comes our health. Although I am not back to 100% yet, I am on my way! Chris had his 2 year check-up in August and is doing good!

Our family and friends - with out you, we wouldn't be where we are now. Thank you for all of your thoughts, prayers, encouragement, support and help over the last two years (and many more).

Jobs - In a time where many are unemployed, we happy to have good paying jobs. We are thankful for the opportunities we have been given and any future opportunities that come our way.

Our Pets - Although they haven't gotten as much attention as I would like to be able to give them lately, they are still true to us, and love our little girl even more. We could never have asked for better pets to play with her. She adores them just the same, and she thinks they are absolutely hilarious. There is nothing that can give her "belly laughs" more than "the girls" can.

And so many more! I am grateful for many things this Thanksgiving even if I haven't listed them.

Pictured above: Addi after having mashed potatoes for the first time.

Over a month!

2010-11-19T12:23:00.018-06:00

Wow, I can't believe it has been over a month since I've updated this! Sorry to all of our devoted viewers (especially Merrill, since she's part of my motivation for finally doing it) for my lack of posts. I just can't believe where the time goes! I've been trying to do a little more freelance work and photography, and of course snuggling and mommy/baby time along with play dates and of course work. All of a sudden I realized it was the end of November already. Can you imagine? lol.

So for your update...

Addison had her first Halloween! She loved it, we only went to a few houses but she loved trick or treating and handing out candy as well!

She also made her first trip down to Tulsa, Oklahoma to see her uncle Joe.

We had Chinese food at P.F. Changs...

While in Tulsa she also got to go to an aquarium for the first time!

Grandma and Grandpa Knepper even met us down there.

She was able to meet her great Aunt Allison (my godmother) and a couple of her cousins (Emily and Abby)!

Abby plays volleyball for Marshall University (The movie "We are Marshall" was filmed after they school lost their football team in a plan crash). We were lucky to be able to watch her play, but were sad that we only saw her for about 15 minutes when her game was over. Addi can't wait to see her aunt and cousins again soon. Check out this kill Abby had at her game (watch number 12).

Uptown Ankeny Trick or Treating

2010-10-21T21:08:00.004-05:00

Tonight we took Addison Trick or Treating for the first time! Some of the businesses in the downtown area of Ankeny (better known as Uptown Ankeny) had Trick or Treating tonight. It was a beautiful night, so we decided to take Addison up there, and we had a blast. She even got the hang of it by the time we were done (she'll now be ready for Halloween), she was sticking her hand right into the bowl and picking out a piece of candy. You can tell she hasn't actually eaten candy, because she didn't ever pick out the "good kinds" :)

look at how beeautiful I am :)

Trying to eat my candy bar

And last but not least, a new video... Chris and Addison were having a little fun before bath time tonight!

More 6 Month Pictures

2010-10-10T21:28:00.002-05:00

Chris and I took a few more pictures of Addison tonight, so I thought I'd share them too!

More Movies!

2010-10-10T16:47:00.003-05:00

Addi loves giving kisses!

and singing along with the radio!

6 Months, Camping and a Trip to the Zoo

2010-10-10T15:20:00.020-05:00

Last Wednesday, Addison turned 6 months old! I can't believe it has been that long already! While pregnant, I heard constantly "it will go so fast!" I could never imagine that it was going to go this fast!

2 Days Old

6 Months 3 Days

We took the above picture while we were camping at Lake Anita this past weekend. We debated whether we should go camping or just stay home. We finally decided to take the camper out one last time before we winterize it. Although I love the fall weather, it's a sad realization that summer is over and the cold winter weather is just around the corner. - Anyway, we are glad we went this weekend, because we had a great time.

We camped Friday through Sunday, but took time out to take Addison to the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha on Saturday. She loved it! (and so did we.)

Watching a Gorilla!

Addi even got to pet a penguin!

And a few more 6 month pictures that Chris and I took at Lake Anita State Park...

Pumpkin patch

2010-10-10T15:02:00.004-05:00

Last Sunday, we decided we would take Addison to the pumpkin patch. We bought her two costumes so I decided she would wear one to the pumpkin patch and one for Halloween. Sunday morning I tried her costume on only to find out that it was too small! So we decided to take some pictures of her in one of them anyway.

After our little photo shoot, we went and bought her a new costume and went to the pumpkin patch! Addi had a fun time picking out pumpkins for the front porch!

Videos Galore!

2010-09-19T18:45:00.002-05:00

Here are three videos from the past week.

Bath Time is Fun!

ACDC

Who is that Cute Baby?

Fashion Show and Another Giggling Video

2010-09-09T20:38:00.004-05:00

Every year for the Iowa vs Iowa State game, Chris' company has a tailgate on the Friday before the game. Since I know longer work on Fridays, Chris invited Addison and myself down to participate. I had to make sure she had something to wear, so we tryed on a good portion of her Hawkeye gear (no this isn't everything haha)

If you aren't an Iowa Fan / despise Iowa clothes even when they are on an adorable little girl, scroll real fast down to the bottom, as there is a video of her laughing. This time it was because Daddy with playing with Lexi. Addi giggled like this for over 10 min straight! So cute!

Labor Day Weekend

2010-09-06T19:25:00.013-05:00

This weekend we went to Eddyville to race. We drove down Friday night and camped in the parking lot. Saturday, we pulled the car out to start racing and realized it wasn't as fixed as we thought it was. So needless to say, it was a quite weekend of racing. Chris gave the Jeep a try in sportsman, just for fun. And my name was in National Dragster for wining the trophy class at Earlville (Tri-Stat Raceway) back on July 25th.

Addison is starting to get the hang of eating and drinking more and more every day. She is very observant. We have learned that if we plan on eating, we better have something for her to eat too! And there will be no more teasing her with foods and drinks she cant really have, because now she really wants them and gets upset when she cant have them.

Today we were without power for 5 hours. Boy were we bored. We even contemplated camping in the driveway! or even going to Saylorville! When the power finally came back on our fire alarms decided to freak out and go off every 30 secs. (and are randomly going off as we speak.) But we got this cute video of Addison with Mercedes!

Fun Day

2010-09-02T15:21:00.003-05:00

Addison and I had a fun day today. We picked up Grandma Vest and headed to Polk City for "Tummy Time" at the library. There were 5 other kids there ages 7 mo - 3 years. We sang songs and they told stories. They even had toys to play with.

After "Tummy Time" we ran down to INVISION (where I work) because I had to send out some awards prints. Addison let everyone take turns holding her and had a lot of fun. After I finished up, my old intern (and friend) Amanda met Addison and I and a couple of co-workers (Brian and Laura) for lunch! We had a good time catching up with Amanda.

I am now off to get my hair cut and then Chris and I are going to get the travel trailer from Bob and Marcia's so we can get it all packed up for the weekend of racing ahead.

The below image is from last night when Addison got super messy with her dinner :)

A Big Weekend

2010-09-01T20:25:00.013-05:00

This past weekend was a very busy weekend. Uncle Joe came up from Tulsa, and Grandma and Grandpa Knepper came down. Saturday was spent running errands and hanging out around the house, but Sunday was the day with all of the excitement.

Sunday morning after 10:30 mass, we baptized Miss Addison Riley Vest. We were glad that Uncle Joe and "Aunt" Katie agreed to be Addison's Godparents. Addison made it all the way through mass and baptism with out fussing, but when it came time for pictures afterwards, she was crabby and ready for some lunch! At least she waited until after Baptism was over, 3/4 of the other kids were eating during the ceremony :)

After Baptism, Addison was invited to her first pool party! There were 18 kids and 6 babies under a year! We had a blast (and so did Addison :). We can't wait for the years to come where she can play like the other kids were, she is already a fish, so I can't imagine what she'll be like when she can actually enjoy a pool.

A Wonderful Week of Firsts

2010-08-18T20:48:00.010-05:00

Last week was a wonderful week of firsts for Addison. On Monday August 9 Addison had her four month appointment and although she didn't feel the greatest from her shots (you can see how tired she looks in the following pictures), the doctor gave us the ok to let her try some rice cereal. It was a success and she LOVES it now. On Monday she went in the following stages:

What is this?

Hmmm... I think I like this.

GIVE ME MORE!

I LOVE this stuff!

After eating, she decided to do some standing... Look how big she's getting!
She is standing next to the ottoman with just a little help from Grandma Vest.

Addison's second "first" last week was on Friday August 13th when she went camping for the first time. Chris and I decided to buy a travel trailer for racing, camping, etc. and I think all three of us are thrilled with our purchase! (Sorry we didn't take any pictures of the interior, or very many pictures at all... we were too busy relaxing!)

Her last "first" of last week was her first trip to the Iowa State Fair! No summer would be complete with out a day at the Iowa State Fair. Since it was cooler on Sunday we decided we would take Addi.

Sneaking a peak at the butter cow

Casting our "kernel" for Governor

Our future doctor

Great Grandma Knepper's Birthday

2010-08-15T14:01:00.005-05:00

On Saturday August 7th, we went home for Great Grandma Knepper's Birthday. We drove back to Dyersville on Saturday morning. After spending a couple hours at Grandpa and Grandma Knepper's house, we went up to Uncle Jamie and Aunt Sarah's house for supper and fun! Below are some pictures stolen from Kim's Facebook (thanks Kim!)...

Enjoying a bottle with Aunt Katie!

Cousins (more like sisters...)

Cousins (future best buds...)

Addison talking to her buddy Ian

Imma Gonna Eat Your Finger!

2010-08-05T19:56:00.008-05:00

Well it has been a while since I have written anything on here. With Addison, Lora, work and drag racing life has been very busy this summer. I cannot believe how fast my little girl is growing. She is starting to reach for things and is tracking everything that walks in front of her. She is my little bundle of joy and she means the world to me. I am starting to see a little bit of Lora and I in Addison. The way Addison scowls almost saying "what are looking at?" She also cannot take naps for fear of missing out on something or when she just talks and talks and talks about nothing at all. There are a few pictures below from the last couple of weeks. Oh and by the way she knows she is cute and how to use it already.

This picture is of Addison and I on the couch. She is starting to get some teeth so she wants to chew on my hand.

This picture is of Addison playing in her farm. She loves to bounce and I hope to get some video posted soon of her bouncing around.

Now onto the summer of racing. It has been a difficult summer of racing, but as my wife says "practice make perfect." I am sure we will get the car figured out and I will get my job figured out behind the wheel.

My best friend!

2010-07-22T17:44:00.003-05:00

Four years ago today, I married my best friend. Over the last four years we have definitely tested our love for each other. We have supported each other through good times and bad, pushed each other to reach for the stars, and we learn more about each other every day. Today I love my best friend more than I ever have before and hope to be able to spend many more years together!

Our not so little, little girl!

2010-07-20T20:36:00.004-05:00

I can't believe how old Addison is already! Time sure does fly. Here are the pictures Chris and I took of her on her 3 month birthday on July 6th. (yeah I know I'm slow, I'm still using the newborn excuse.)

Our Little Noise Maker

2010-07-20T19:40:00.007-05:00

Grandma Knepper is here this week babysitting. The last few trips she has made, she has been trying to get Addison to hum while she tapped her lips so she could make funny noises. Tonight while I was holding her, she finally started making the noises back. We all laughed so hard at her doing this, we thought we would share.

This past weekend, we also went away for our Anniversary and our birthdays. We were going to go by ourselves, but Chris was gone all week on business and after numerous flight delays and cancellations, he just missed Addison and wanted to spend some time with her. We decided to take her with us and we had a wonderful time! Here are pictures of her first time swimming!

Not sure I like this!

OK maybe its not TOO bad...

I think I like this! It's like a giant bathtub!

Independence Day

2010-07-10T15:58:00.005-05:00

Addison spent the first part of her first 4th of July weekend (Friday and Saturday) at Eddyville Raceway Park. Uncle Joe came up from Oklahoma, Grandma and Grandpa Knepper came down and of course Grandma and Grandpa Vest were there as well! We had a great weekend and Daddy did a great job until one of the cables came loose on his battery and it wouldn't start right before race time!

On Sunday we did a little shopping and Uncle Joe made us sushi! All in all it was a good weekend that went way too fast!

Oh and how can I forget! Addison has started rolling over! She did it her first time the 27th of June. I happened to get it on camera - unfortunately it wasn't on video so you'll have to trust me that the blur is her rolling over. I also included a new picture of her on her tummy, she is so beautiful.

Here is a video of Chris racing over the weekend. Also a video of Addison rolling over.

Art Festival

2010-06-29T19:21:00.008-05:00

This past weekend, we went out and enjoyed the two art festivals in Des Moines. (Ok... I enjoyed it, and dragged Chris and Addison along. Secretly though, I think they enjoyed it too!) Here are some photos from our outing!

Love this!

Of course Chris found the cars :)

We met Grandpa and Grandma Vest at the fairgrounds art festival.

My babes...

Father's Day

2010-06-29T18:45:00.006-05:00

Overall I think Chris had a wonderful Father's Day weekend. Saturday we ran some errands, bought some more stuff for Addison (toys and things she probably doesn't need, but we can't help but spoil our cutie patootie). We (Addison and I) also bought Chris a meat smoker for his first special day. On Sunday morning, Chris worked on the race car with his dad while Addison and I went for a walk. Sunday afternoon, Chris smoked his first pork loin (which was delicious!) and he let me take pictures of him and Addison. I figured since I had my pictures taken with her for my first Mother's day, he should have pictures of his first Father's Day... Enjoy!

We also bought Addison a high chair. She absolutely loves being able to sit at the table with us. She watches Chris eat (she sits on his side) and thinks it's the funniest thing!

P.S. these are taken with my new camera Chris convinced me to buy with my birthday money (secretly I think he just wanted my old one)!

Addy's New Love...

2010-06-25T17:41:00.004-05:00

Addison has found her love for kicking her feet. She sits in her rocking chair and will start vigorously moving her legs back and forth until her chair starts rocking. Chris thinks she looks like she is shifting gears in a car, either way, it is a great way for her to get exercise and wear her out!

11 weeks...

2010-06-20T16:54:00.006-05:00

It’s hard to believe that Addison will be 11 weeks old on Tuesday. They aren't kidding when they say time flies! She is getting soo big and really developing her personality. Other than enjoying Addison, not a whole lot has been happening with our lives (besides of course the daily routines). So since not a lot has been happening, I'll just post some pictures because I know that's what you really want to see :)

Watching Daddy wash the cars!

This flower is silly!

Tummy time!

I love the different fabrics on my giraffe!

Sitting in my bumbo chair!

Postpartum

2010-06-20T15:02:00.007-05:00

While I was pregnant I don't think I actually realized how big I was, but as they say "hind sight is 20/20"... Man I was huge! I had been thinking about doing this for a while but finally sat down and did it... The following is a hastily put together picture showing just how huge I was. On the left is my 39 week picture (taken the morning of the day they ended up inducing me) and on the right is a picture from 8 weeks after Addison was born. It's amazing what women go through during pregnancy and like Chris said the entire time "if it was up to men to do this, it wouldn't be done!"

Race Day!

2010-06-01T10:31:00.003-05:00

Saturday we went to Eddyville to kick off the summer of racing. Chris qualified for the Quick 16 race (top 16 fastest cars) but due to issues with his car was only able to race in the first round and then was done for the rest of the day. With his car being so new, there are plenty of bugs to work out and things to get used to. Hopefully we will be back up and running in the next week or two.

Thanks to Tim for coming and helping out! We enjoyed having you there.

Here are a couple pictures of the car, for those of you who haven't seen it, and a picture of how Addison spent most of her time :)

Sooo Big!!

2010-05-30T20:32:00.009-05:00

I can't believe how big our little girl is getting! We notice little things here and there all the time but one thing that really made this evident is the removal of her sling in her bathtub. The first image is of her first bath at home and the second image is from her bath on Friday. She continues to love water and bath time!

Racing Preperation

2010-05-27T18:34:00.007-05:00

Chris is busy getting ready to go racing for the first time this year. Memorial Day weekend is always a big race weekend, and needless to say, he is super excited! It will also be Addy's first time at the race track, and although she won't be allowed anywhere near the actual track, I insisted that earmuffs be ordered for her just in case it is noisy near the trailer. We ordered the smallest pair we could find, but they are still a little big.

Here is also just a fun snapshot of Addison and I. She was a bit on the fussy side, so I started rocking her and this was the only way for her to get comfortable.

Mother's Day! and everything else!

2010-05-24T14:03:00.024-05:00

I'd like to start by apologizing - especially to the loyal readers who check this everyday, even though it has been almost 3 weeks since I have updated this!! I'm sorry that it's been so long, and I hope that I post enough that I keep you satisfied, updated, and wanting to come back for more. This could be interesting though, because sometimes I can't remember what I did yesterday let alone three weeks ago!

Let's start with Mother's Day! I had a perfect first Mother's Day. Since Addison's 1 mo. birthday was the Tuesday before Mother's Day, I figured what better day than Mother's Day to do something I love and get some pictures taken! So we slept/layed in bed until about 10:00 before we got up and started getting around. Once we had all of our clothes and props put together, we headed out the door to do a little shopping before our photo shoot. First we tried going to the jewelery store and they were closed, then we tried going to one of our favorite baby stores and it was closed! At this point you're probably thinking, "wait - you said you had the perfect Mother's Day"... It was perfect, I am alive, I have a beautiful baby girl and a wonderful husband. After we want to the second closed store, we went to Babies R Us which was open. We found a few "necessities" or in other words anything we could call a necessity since we love buying things for our little girl. After we spent enough time at Babies R Us we were off to have our pictures taken. Loraine Davis took our pictures at her home. She did an excellent job, and all of the money she makes from taking pictures, goes to her friend's breast cancer fund! What a sweet woman! (See below for more images from our photo shoot) After we were done getting our pictures taken, we went out to the mall, where we spent more money on Addison (the photo above is of her trying on some sunglasses), and I bought three additions to one of my Mother's day gifts (the jewelery store we tried to go to in Ankeny, was open at the mall!). When we were done shopping, I splurged on my sodium restriction and we got Red Robin to go and ate it when we got home (on a side note - this was even more specially when I found out that my favorite burger wasn't going to be offered anymore :)

Chris and Addison bought me two BEAUTIFUL presents for which I am absolutely thankful! The first was a diamond pendant/necklace which was a combination "thanks for having my baby/ Mother's Day gift" it matches the beautiful diamond earrings Chris bought for me at about 15 weeks into my pregnancy. The second gift is a charm bracelet. He picked out the baby carriage and the diamond heart (Addison's birth stone), then let me pick out the rest when we went shopping on Mother's Day! The two red beads represent Chris' birthday and my birthday, along with our anniversary. The last bead is a contemporary sculpture of a mother and baby. Such a neat idea! I can't wait to fill it with charms representing all of our adventures as a family!

The following weekend, Grandma Knepper came down to visit. Saturday we went shopping. I think Addison knew we were shopping and she wanted a new outfit. We weren't in the mall more than 15 min. when Addy threw up all over herself, and of course, the extra outfit for situations like this, wasn't in the diaper bag. It took all day for me to find shoes (my feet have shrunk due to the pregnancy and losing weight) and a few new clothes.

This past weekend we went to Pratt, Kansas for a graduation party. It was an 16 hour drive (there and back). Addison did great! We had a great time at the party seeing some of Chris' family that we don't get to see enough! Addison was starting to get tired of riding in the car on the way home. She started crying shortly before an exit, so obviously we too that exit. I keep telling her dad that she is a natural born shopper, because the exit we took had a country store that had all kinds of Amish goods and tons of cute kids toys! Although we didn't buy anything, we did agree that we would have to come back before Christmas :) She even slept through the night last night after riding in the car all day - hopefully this wasn't a fluke, but rather something she is going to start doing every night - hey a girl can dream :)

Addison's developments over the last 3 weeks include: talking non-stop! (she is her mother's daughter), smiling more often, giggling, kicking her feet, pushing off (if you hold her in the standing position), playing with fabric/blankets - she likes to bunch them up and hold them in her hands, she has even started to pick up some of her larger rattles and shake them and she develops more and more faces and personality every day!

Sorry for the lack of "snapshots" we had to send my camera in for two weeks and Chris and I have been lost with out it!

As far as my health goes, they took me off another medication, they think they have stabilized my medication for my blood clot, and lifted my water restriction.

Hope this gives you all enough of an update on our lives for now and hopefully I won't wait as long next time for a post!

4 Weeks

2010-05-07T13:13:00.009-05:00

Wow! I can't believe it has been 4 weeks already! Our little girl is growing like a weed and time sure is flying! This week Addison has started doing better with tummy time on the floor - she used to lay down and sleep once she was placed on the floor especially if we tried to prop her up on a blanket or pillow.

She has also started holding her own towns and lifting them to play with them. She has also been seen sucking on Mickey's nose once she lifts it close enough to her face :)

She continues to steal our hearts everyday, and we are so proud of her!

Katie and Al's Wedding

2010-05-07T12:41:00.009-05:00

This past weekend we took our first trip. We left Saturday Morning and drove to Dyersville for Katie and Al's wedding! It was a beautiful day and the wedding was even more beautiful! It was great to see all of our friends and family that we hadn't seen since around Christmas and it was nice to get out of the house and go for a ride! Addison even got to stay in her first hotel room! Below are some pictures of Addison's first trip!

3 Weeks Old

2010-04-28T19:45:00.006-05:00

Miss Addison Riley turned 3 weeks on Tuesday. Her current joys include tummy time on daddy - she can lift her head all the way up and hold it up for quite sometime. I love this picture of my two babes - it makes me smile and I see them saying "we are innocent, we swear we didn't do it!" She also enjoys kisses from her daddy and laughs/smiles when his whiskers touch her face.

Addison also enjoys listening to her Grandma Vest sing "I wish I were an Oscar Meyer wiener" - I told grandma she may want to practice up on songs such as "Mary Had a Little Lamb" or "Humpty Dumpty" as they may be a little more appropriate when sitting in doctors office waiting rooms, etc. haha. Addison also loves her swing. I swear she could spend hours in it. She has also started watching the mobile go round. She will track one lamb from the left all the way to the right and then start over again.

She also enjoys being home - as we all do! It's hard to believe after being in the hospital for basically a week and a half, that tomorrow we will have been home for two weeks. Hopefully starting next week, I will feel good enough that Addison and I can start spending time just the two of us and Chris' mom can spend some time relaxing/traveling before she has to start babysitting in about 4 and 1/2 weeks!

A Long Road Home...

2010-04-17T16:58:00.013-05:00

Well it has been almost 2 weeks since the birth of my baby girl and I sit here wondering where to start to update everyone on the last week and a half. I will start with what we thought would be a lovely Friday afternoon, we were discharged from the hospital around 1:00 PM on Friday. We came home and introduced everyone, and of course Mercedes was trying to mother little Addison and surprisingly Alexis was curious and seemed OK with the addition to the family. Around the 4:30 feeding Lora started to complain that she felt like she had fluid in her lungs and of course me being myself, I told Lora "go get a cough drop and I am sure that will help." She took the cough drop and didn't say much for the rest of the night. Uncle Joe and future Aunt Kendra came up from Oklahoma and Grandma and Grandpa Knepper also came down from Dyersville. Around 12:00AM we finally went to lay down and get some rest. Addison was swaddled up like a little burrito and I was falling asleep fast when Lora said she couldn't take it anymore. When she went to lay down she felt like she was drowning and was very short of breath. I looked at our discharge papers and it explained that if you are experiencing any shortness of breath to call the doctor immediately. We called the doctor and he recommended that we go directly to the emergency room. We hastily scooped up our little girl, buckled her in and got Uncle Joe to move his jelly bean racer of a car. I remembered to compile a make shift diaper bag full of formula, nipples, diapers and wipes as I realized it was Friday night in Des Moines and we were going to the ER. Once we got to the ER we were quickly checked in and given a small room. A nurse with funny shoes on put in an IV and did the initial vitals check. A short while after the initial check a tech came in the room to do a EKG of Lora's heart. Another 15 minutes passed and the doctor came in with a brace on his leg and white hair. He explained that the concern after any surgery would be a blood clot in the lung and we would need to do a CT scan and a x-ray to rule out a blood clot and fluid build up. The x-ray tech wheeled in a portable x-ray to do the chest x-ray. About 3 hours had passed and we still had not had the CT scan yet, apparently there were a lot of people needing CT scans at 4:00 AM on Saturday morning? We finally had the CT scan around 5:00 AM and were anxiously awaiting the results. The doctor received back the results and told us that Lora had a Pulmonary Embolism and had fluid around her lungs. Once we were told this we asked how much longer we would be there (the severity had not yet set in) and she told us that we would most likely be admitted to the hospital. With all of the life sucked out of the both of us we sat in the ER with tears in our eyes and wondering how we were going to take care of our beautiful little girl with her Mom in the hospital. We got a new nurse at 7:00 AM and she took great care of us. She placed us in a suite up on the cardiac floor or geriatric floor as some refer to it. The hospital provided a crib from the maternity floor and plenty of blankets for Addison. We were admitted on Saturday and did not get much information on Lora's condition until well into Monday or Tuesday. During this time Lora had received a lasix that made her drain over six liters of fluid in the mater of a few hours. As some of you may know Lora started to retain fluid in her lower extremities after week 30. We had some great nurses and some of them were referring to Lora's condition as CHF, we sat there not knowing what that stood for until one of them said Congestive Heart Failure. We both almost hit the floor. Apparently that is what they call patients with fluid on their lungs. On Monday Lora had an echo cardiogram of her heart to determine the efficiency of her heart. A cardiologist read this and determined that Lora has perinatal cardiomyopathy, which is referred to as heart failure due to pregnancy. Her heart is pumping about 28% efficient, 55-75% is normal. Needless to say we were both scared to death about what the future holds for us and our new family. Back to the pulmonary embolism, that is a something not related to the heart condition but just as serious. Lora will be on drugs to make her blood very thin for the next 6 to 12 months. This is done to ensure that the blood clot does not get bigger, move or any new ones form. The heart condition is being treated with a cocktail of meds to basically keep her heart from growing any larger and build it back up to become more efficient. To top all of this off we were told that more children would not be recommended and breast feeding needed to end. After everything we have been through in the last 2 years with cancer and a miscarriage I don't know how much more we can take. But at the end of the day all I have to do is thank whatever or whoever that I have my life, my wife and a beautiful little girl to lay on my chest and watch in amazement. Just as the tattoo says on my arm "I walked through the valley of the shadow of death and now I fear no evil..." I can truly say that after this experience I now I am ready for anything parenting has to throw at me. We would like to thank my parents, Lora's parents and everyone else who came to help us during our difficult time. I will show off now a little bit with more pictures of my baby.

Ma - This one's for you!

It's a Girl!

2010-04-07T07:04:00.006-05:00

Addison Riley Vest has arrived. After 22 hours of labor and concerns over preeclampsia they decided to delivery Addison by cesarean last night at 4:41 PM. Lora was having trouble with the epidural not relieving the pain and after several hours of upping the pitocin and no movement from 5 CM and 2 extra doses of drugs through the epideral we were glad that the labor was over. At first I did not think that I would be allowed to be in the room with Lora during the surgery as the epidural was not working in the birthing room, but after the doctor switched to a spinal tap (not the legendary movie) she was doing much better and requested that I be in the room with her. The cesarean section was an interesting thing to be on the other side of. Addison Riley came out and screamed a big scream for all of us. She was a beautiful little girl and she let her dad hold her and sooth her in the operating room. Once we were done in the operating room they took Addison and I down to the nursery where we were checked over and foot prints taken. I don't want to brag but even people that don't think all babies are cute think my baby is cute. The doctor checked her out this morning and all is well. We will do the eye sight and hearing test today but I am sure she is perfect. Thanks to everyone who kept us in their thoughts, it has been a rough couple of months but it is all worth it. All is well with my little peanut. She is the most beautiful baby ever and I have proof.

Nothing but Time...

2010-04-06T11:02:00.003-05:00

Well as we sit and wait, I guess I am the one waiting, Lora is working. We are now 5 CM and we expect to move around 1 CM every hour to hour and a half. I think we should be in for the long haul. They are going to check her again in about a half hour so hopefully there is some movement.

A little setback...
Well we didn't move at all in the last 1 and half hours. This could be a long one.

No Bump In the Night...

2010-04-06T07:48:00.003-05:00

Well little BV decided that last night wasn't going to be the night. Lora is dilated around 4 CM and is having regular small contractions. We had a great nurse last night that was more than helpful and very kind. She even moved us rooms when the girl next door was going through labor with no pain medication. She could not get an epidural due to an infection and she was screaming bloody murder about pain for a few hours while we were trying to rest. I guess she had her baby this morning at 25 weeks, for her sake I am glad she is done. It sounded awful and wasn't helping Lora out at all.

We got new nurses this morning and they seam nice as well. One of them is able to keep up with Lora's smart comments so I think it should be fun. I guess we will continue to wait on the doctor to break the bag of waters and start moving monitoring internally. Looking forward to holding little Vest in my arms.

The heart rate has been steady at 132 or a while now but I am not getting my hopes up for what it is. As soon as we know more I will be sure to update the blog.

The Time is Near...

2010-04-05T21:18:00.002-05:00

Well Lora and I are sitting in room 3004 at Mercy Hospital waiting for this baby to come. We had our 39 week appointment this afternoon at which Lora's blood pressure was severely elevated. We were prepared for the worst by the doctor and told to go directly to the hospital. Lora's blood pressure in the office was around 168/116 and once we arrived at the hospital it was around 150/90. The blood pressure spiked to around 175/100 and we were moved to a birthing suite in which they started the induction process. We will keep everyone updated. Thanks for the all of the well wishes and thoughts.

...And I am Alexis Lucille

2010-03-28T17:31:00.003-05:00

My name is Alexis Lucille and I am 1.5 year old English Bulldog. I am my Dad's little baby. My Mom always said she is the one who wanted a bulldog and I ended up really liking my daddy. My dad always sings to me "Hey, you looking kinda cute, in that tiger striped one piece girl. I think it is from a stupid song he likes. When my sister and dad play ball in the back yard I just stand behind my sister and try to get her and not the ball. I really like to sleep and when I sleep I snore really loud. When I am not sleeping I chase the kitty and make him mad and I find all of the loud toys in the house and squeak them for my mom. I may look fat but my dad says I am just big boned. If you shake your hips at me I will start to wiggle with you. Last summer I started to find the love of the water like my sister but I don't like it when she is in there cause she splashes too much. I am not sure about this baby thing and mom's belly keeps shaking and moving. My favorite thing in the world is playing tug of war with my sister and pulling her across the floor while giving her carpet burn. I am sure I will warm up to the baby but I hope dad makes sure it is nice to me. I also like car rides, but I don't know why cause my sister is going back and forth over me in the back seat and I am not tall enough to see out the winders. The last fun thing I like to do is go over and see Gertie, my Grandma and Grandpa's bulldog. We wrestle and bull each other around until one of us has to go home. I may be a little smaller but I think I get the best of her, at least that's what my dad tells me.

...and here is one of my one piece tiger stripe outfit.

...and the three stooges together.

My Name Is Mercedes!

2010-03-20T14:55:00.005-05:00

Hi, my name is Mercedes Marie Vest. I was born on 9/22/2005 so i am about 4 and half now. I am a Rottweiler and love people. My favorite past times are playing with my ball in the back yard, and playing tug of war with my sister. I was my Mommy's first dog and she spoiled me a lot, it shows! I may look intimidating but at worst I may lick you so much that your skin gets irritated. Ever since mommy got pregnant I could tell something was up and I have been pushing my Dad out of bed so I could lay next to her belly. Little Vest likes to kick me in the middle of the night and I like that too. I have a video on YouTube that shows how much I like to chase little sources of light, like laser pointers. I love to be active. Sometimes when my Mom and Dad don't exercise me enough I even take it upon myself to squeeze under the fence and run around the fields and ponds around our house. I am more than happy to come back on my own but not before Mom gets scared. I don't understand that most people are scared to death of rottweilers and would run away from me instead of helping me. I can't wait for little Vest to get here, i am going to be his/her guard dog. I am going to have to learn to be gentle and not lick the baby too much, but I will be their best friend. My picture is below and as you can see sometimes my Mom puts things on me and takes pictures, don't tell anyone but I like it.

A Man's View and a Little More

2010-03-15T19:08:00.004-05:00

Well that was Lora's perspective on the last couple of weeks. Let me give you a guys perspective on this little thing called pregnancy. Trust me, if it was up to the males to ensure our species was continued on it wouldn't happen. I can't believe the stuff these women put up with. I have gained a lot of respect for my wife and I am sure that it will only increase after I watch her birth our child.

I am not sure about the rest of the Dads or soon to be Dads but knowing that you are about to have all of this responsibility and life in your hands can get exciting and stressful at times. I can't wait to hold my child in my hands.

Luckily I have had to learn to been very mechanically inclined, thanks to working on Chrysler products, because there is a lot of stuff to put together with these little ones. Not to mention that cars have special hooks and features just for child safety. I have always just assumed that cars had that stuff, all I cared about was the engine size and how well it went around corners. I have been getting yelled at but I lett the little one feel the Hemi power recently. I am sure there will come a day when some little voice in the back seat will be responsible for at least one ticket and lecture about just because your can do donuts (cookies) doesn't mean you have to0.

One of my co-workers recently had twins, Dayton and Dylan, and has a beautiful little girl named Savannah. We went over and saw everyone on Saturday and we had so much fun. I really enjoyed watching her play with all of her toys and just see how much fun she was to be around. It really got me excited for little Vest to come into the world. Little S (Savannah) is about 17 months old and has bright blue eyes and red hair. Seeing her dance to some country rap and her bringing Lora all of her toys, she was such a little doll. I did notice one problem if I do have a little girl I know she will have me wrapped around her little finger.

Hopefully I have some time soon so that I can update you on the rest of our lives, including the dogs (maybe the cat) and the racing. As Lora said sorry it had been so long since we updated everyone but as you can see we have been busy.

Way too long!

2010-03-15T16:55:00.019-05:00

Sorry to all of our loyal readers, I know it's been way too long since we updated the blog, so I'll try to update you all and give you a few pictures to apologize for our absence.

On Feb. 28th we had a baby shower in Ankeny. Thank you to everyone that was able to attend, and those who weren't. Our baby is definitely spoiled already due to all of you! Chris made pulled pork and it was a hit! Everyone loved it, which is good especially since he spent half the night worrying and checking on it! Everyone that I work with also loved it since we had a lot of left overs.

Cake :)

Opening Gifts

Look at how well those fit his hand!

Quilt from Grandma Knepper

Booties from Grandma Vest

In the last couple of weeks we have spent a lot of time getting ready for the baby. On the 7th Chris decided to install the car seat in the Jeep. Turns out, it didn't fit! We couldn't believe it! We were so glad we had put it in early, but I probably should have let Chris put it in about two weeks earlier like he wanted to. Instead we spent the rest of that afternoon at Babies "R" Us picking out a new one :) The base is installed and it fits much better!

The new car seat in one of the new rockers.

This past weekend we finished up buying odds and ends like a new phone for the baby room, batteries for all of the new toys and soothers, and a clock for the baby room. We also picked up the glider for the living room. Chris also did about four loads of wash in just baby things. He couldn't sleep on Saturday night, so he got up, did some wash and started putting things away in the drawers. We finished putting things away on Sunday and have almost everything set up now!

Today we had our 36 week appointment. The heartbeat was around 150 this is what the doctor tells us every time, so we are starting to think he just throws out that number so that we can't try to figure out what we are having due to the wives tale. He did say he thinks the baby is probably around 6 lbs right now. Due to the fact that my feet are swollen to about 4 times the size they used to be and the fact that my blood pressure is slightly elevated, we will have weekly appointments from here on out. He isn't overly concerned about pre-eclampsia because there is no protein in my urine yet, but he wants to keep an eye on it. He also thinks that the baby is head down right now, and showed Chris where the head and butt were (he did caution us that this could change in the next couple weeks).

36 Week picture... If you look close you can see my flip-flops, as I haven't been able to wear my dress shoes since the first part of March!

32 Weeks

2010-02-21T14:52:00.008-06:00

I had a request for a new belly picture, so just for fun I put together a little graphic with pictures at 24, 28 and 32 weeks. It's amazing how huge I felt at 24 weeks, little did I know... and I don't even want to think how huge I will feel at 40 weeks!

(If you click on the image you can view it larger, and yes I am a dork and purposely wear the same sweater every 4 weeks.)

Finished Shelving

2010-02-21T13:51:00.005-06:00

We finally finished the shelving in the baby room! We debated between painting and staining, but finally decided we would paint them. Chris did a great job cutting them and getting them all hung. He even put all of the stuffed animals on the shelves! What a good sport!

Before all of the animals...

After all of the animals (obviously the short one of us took this picture)...

Somewhere in the process we lost Toby.

Snow Update

2010-02-21T13:32:00.006-06:00

For those of you wondering, the snow pile in our front yard continues to grow. At this rate, we are hoping that it is melted before June 1st!

Don't let Chris' short sleeve shirt fool you, it wasn't that warm out!

The Empathy Belly

2010-02-07T17:13:00.004-06:00

On Thursday we had week four of our five week prenatal class. We went to class early, so Chris could wear the Empathy Belly. I think after wearing it for only a few minutes he better understands my issues with shortness of breath and aches and pains :)

Today (Sunday) we went on our private tour of the hospital where we saw everything from the NICU to the birthing suites, and the Cesarean Operatory and recovery to the postpartum rooms. They took us through a couple of scenarios and what we could expect. It took away one unknown from the process and made us both feel a little more comfortable knowing what we can expect (at least generally speaking).

The Baby Furniture

2010-02-06T19:29:00.005-06:00

Well today we picked up the baby furniture and it looks great. The room is a little small but we have a lot of stuff in there also. All we have left to pick up is the glider rocker that will be placed on the first level. The recliner in the photo swivels, reclines, rocks, and I think a little more. Well we are getting closer to the little one arriving and we can't wait. Tomorrow we go for a private tour of the delivery suites and hospital and I am sure we will be getting a few other things for the little one and the his/her room. I did put the crib together with a little help from Lora and so far it did not fall in on it's self. Enjoy the photos and thanks for reading. Chris

Another Trip to the Hospital...

2010-02-02T18:46:00.004-06:00

Well we haven't posted anything in a while. This doesn't mean that we haven't been having any new things to say just that we have been too busy to say them. We took another trip to the hospital on the 29th of January. Lora woke up with some spotting and she couldn't feel little Coopaddy moving at all after sitting down in the chair. All of this after we had gotten ready to leave the house at 5:30 Friday morning. We had borrowed a blood pressure measuring device from my Mom and Dad and Lora checked it. The first time we checked it was at 135/95 and we were skeptical so we decided to check it again and it was 135/95 the second time. So we decided to wait a couple of minutes and verify the measurement. We then measured her blood pressure at 165/95 and we were a little concerned. Lora went to the couch and laid on her left side for about 10 or 15 minutes. We checked it again and it read 136/95 again. After all of that we decided to call the doctor and wake him up after they said be concerned with a bottom number of anything above 80. Well we woke him up and he said "you shouldn't be checking your blood pressure at home but since you did you better go get checked out." Needless to say we went to the hospital and once again the blood pressure went right down. The doctor released us to go home after a couple of hours and told us not to check her blood pressure at home anymore. We had our 30 week appointment on Monday as well and we finally asked the Doctor all of the questions we did not get a chance to on Friday. The Braxton Hicks contractions that Lora is having are normal and not real contractions as the nurse thought at the hospital. We are looking forward to seeing Coopaddy and getting all of the over with. Here is the 30 week picture. Thanks for all of the well wishes and thoughts.

Learned First Lesson as a Father

2010-01-13T18:26:00.004-06:00

Today I learned my first lesson as a father, or soon to be. I don't get good reception with my phone at work so I usually leave it on my desk (like anyone actually calls me or something). Well yesterday I needed my phone more than ever. I was in a meeting with Rolls Royce discussing our latest program for the Trent XWB engine for about an hour and a half. When I got done with my meeting I noticed I had a voice mail on my work phone and cell phone, when I logged on to my PC I noticed that I had a email from Lora that said "call me as soon as you can." I called to find out that Lora had been having some trouble with her vision. Apparently, her vision became a little blurry in her left eye sometime that morning. Not thinking much about it she worked through it. Not much time later both eyes became blurry and she was having trouble focusing. After trying to get a hold me and not being very successful she sat at work and eventually it went away. I finally called her back and we discussed the options at that time. We decided that the Doctor's office deserved a phone call. We just had our 27 week appointment on Monday and Lora had slightly elevated blood pressure that went down after she took some time to rest on her left side. She claimed it was from me driving her there but I still say that I need to practice my competitive driving if I am every going to be a professional. Back on the subject at hand, so we called the doctor's office and they said to come out and see the registered nurse practitioner. They checked her blood pressure and it was about 142/72, Lora laid on her left for a while and it wasn't coming down. After about 15 minutes and a urine analysis that showed no protein we were told to go down to Mercy (our hospital). After we got down to Mercy they checked us in and hooked Lora up to the fetal heart rate monitor and contraction sensor thingy. They also had a blood pressure monitor on her and it was showing 120/60, which is considerably better than 142/72. I guess a pregnant woman is to be concerned when her blood pressure is above 140/80 (the bottom number is more important). We were there for about two and a half hours while they did another urine analysis and blood work all with favorable results. The nurse was in contact with our OB the entire time and we were released with instructions to go home and relax for the evening and if any other symptoms arise to call the doctor immediately. So I learned a lesson yesterday: technology is not any good if you don't have it with you when people are trying to get a hold of you. You can trust me that in the next couple of months I will not be found without that piece of apple product Lora refers to as a phone with me. Oh and by the way I am supposed to put up the maternity picture. This picture is for 27 weeks. As you can see she is developing a lovely baby bump, at least I should be able to throw pads on him and let him start for Iowa this fall.

Baby Room!

2010-01-13T17:40:00.008-06:00

Over break Chris did a great job getting the baby room painted. The first day his dad and him painted a base coat of an eggshell ivory. The next day, Chris and I measured twelve inch stripes around the room and taped it all of floor to ceiling. On the third day, Chris painted every other stripe with a darker ivory glossy paint. It turned out exactly how I imagined, and I couldn't be happier with it! The next step in decorating it will be to put oak shelves around the ceiling and put beanie buddies from when I was younger on the shelves... more to come on that later!

24 Weeks and Spoiled Already

2009-12-29T16:20:00.008-06:00

This past week we celebrated Christmas with Chris' parents on Thursday and My parents and the Knepper family on Friday. We had a great time on Thursday cooking dinner, watching movies and opening presents for Baby Vest. Friday morning we got up early to drive to Dyersville and battled horrible roads until we got almost to Waterloo before they got better. Once we got to Dyersville, we helped Mom and Dad set up their new t.v. then went up to New Vienna to Jeff and Diane's house. After a delicious lunch of turkey and dressing sandwiches and soup, and catching up with family, we had our baby shower. We were blessed with many gifts for which we are very thankful!

Saturday morning, we went to the Racing Champions outlet. Chris found himself a couple of model race cars and we were able to pick up some more First Years goodies for the baby. Thank you very much to uncle Don who met us at the store and let us use his wonderful discount!

We decided to take I-80 home since it was supposed to be clearer for driving than I-35. Since the weather was good, we stopped in Williamsburg at the Outlet mall, where we found some more good deals on clothes for the baby.

We hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas as much as we did!

23 Weeks

2009-12-17T17:36:00.003-06:00

Yesterday we had our ultrasound. It was fun to see the baby moving around. It yawned and even shifted the gears in its make believe car (or punched the air, but Chris swears it was shifting.) After asking them about every horrible situation possible, the doctor said that everything looked good and that there were no visible complications. We can't wait to see little CoopAddy in a couple months! Enjoy the pictures below! (If you click on them they will show up bigger in another window.) Click on the comment button below and tell us whether you think it will be a boy or a girl!

A Snow Storm at 22 weeks

2009-12-15T19:04:00.008-06:00

On December 8th and 9th Iowa experienced a massive snowstorm or blizzard. The Des Moines metro area received over 14 inches of snow in less than a 24 hour period. It was crazy to say the least. They shut down Goodrich (where Chris works) and they suggested that we didn't travel in to work (although I had to use a vacation day) as well. Chris and I spent the day being very productive (trying to make progress in the new Super Mario Wii game). We eventually tried traveling out around 4:30 in the afternoon only to find that a few of the roads by our house were closed due to drifts, but we did make it to Sonic for my slushie craving :) We enjoyed our vacation day and look forward to next week which starts our 7 (for Chris) and 8 (for Lora) days off work. Below are a few pictures of the storm and a 22 week belly picture.
View from my office. They ghosted building in the background is only about 2 blocks away. Taken about 4:00 p.m.

This is what our drive looked like on our way home, about 5:00 p.m.

Chris standing in the snow drift that completely blocked the front door.

The front door drift from the side in day light.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

2009-11-30T10:53:00.014-06:00

This Thanksgiving, we made the trek to Uvalde, Texas for my cousin Merrill's wedding. We left Thursday morning at 6 a.m. and landed in San Antonio at 11. We then got in a rental car and started the drive towards Uvalde. We stopped in a little town at a restaurant called Sammie's and had "Thanksgiving Dinner" Mom, Dad and I had the traditional turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, etc. while Chris celebrated with a bacon cheeseburger. After lunch we finished our 2 hour drive to Uvalde and took a nap before going to see family and friends.

Friday, we helped decorate the hall where the reception was held. We also went to a small Mexican restaurant for lunch. It was a neat experience! Later in the day, Joe and Kendra arrived and that night, we went to Concan for the rehearsal dinner.

We started Saturday by going to HEB (the Texas Hy-vee) to stock up on all kinds of South West Texas goodies. The ladies then went to the Bride's luncheon while the guys went to the Groom's luncheon. It was a good time! The wedding took place at 4:00 and it was beautiful. The reception was also beautiful, it's amazing how fast you can transform an empty morton building into a beautiful reception hall! Dinner was delicious, I don't think I've ever had fajitas that amazing!

On Sunday morning we had breakfast with Joe and Kendra, and started our long trek home.

All in all, it was a beautiful weekend full of family and friends. I think Chris had a great time, and fell in love with South West Texas.

This morning Chris had to get back on a plane (about 12 hours after he got off the plane), to go to Jacksonville, Florida for work. I'm sure he will be completely worn out by the time he gets home on Wednesday! The girls and I wish he was able to spend more time at home before having to leave.

Week 17

2009-11-15T15:52:00.013-06:00

I meant to upload the blog last weekend, but it was a busy weekend. Mom and Dad had last Friday the 6th off due to conferences and ultimately the Toy Show, so they came down to visit. Friday, Mom and I did a little bit of shopping for clothes for Dad, maternity clothes for me and shoes for Mom.

On Saturday, Mom and I along with Chris' mom Marcia, went to the Ankeny craft shows (at the grade school and high school, we didn't make it to the middle school) we also went to Treasure House in Ankeny, where Mom bought a present for the baby. Its first tackle box. It comes complete with a stuffed fishing pole, bobber, bait bucket, worm, and fish! So cute, I think Grandma Tomas would have even enjoyed it!

When we were finished shopping, we went back to the house to find Chris and Bob cleaning the garage! It's amazing to have a three car garage, that looks like it is a three car garage! Plus now the snow-blower is easily accessible; although, I really hope we don't need it any time soon!

Saturday night, all 6 of us went out for dinner at Bandana's BBQ. After dinner, we took Mom and Dad to Sam's club to get some new luggage for our trip to Texas over Thanksgiving. I still can't believe we are almost to the holidays already!

Sunday after church, we went to Jade Garden for lunch, then Mom and Dad took off for home. It was a very busy weekend with lots of shopping and good company!

Happy Halloween!

2009-11-01T16:00:00.000-06:00

Friday night was "Beggars Night". In preparation, Chris and I carved pumpkins. Chris carved the rottweiler and I carved the bullldog.

We also handed out candy to the neighborhood kids. Chris had me stop for candy on my way home from work one night, and I came home with 8 bags (needless to say, don't send the pregnant woman to the store to buy Halloween candy). It was rainy and cold here, so we were worried that we wouldn't have any kids. I think we had about 30 kids, so we have plenty of left over candy.

Chris and I enjoyed looking at all of their kids in their costumes, Mercedes enjoyed watching the kids (and trying to sneak out to play with them) and Lexi thought the kids were exciting until she figured out that they were "dinosaurs and scary monsters".

16 weeks

2009-11-01T08:06:00.010-06:00

On Monday, October 26th, we were 16 weeks along, so we figured it was a good time to take our first belly picture. For us it was fun to see that I am actually starting to look a little pregnant and it will be fun to watch the baby grow over the next 24 weeks!

First Big Purchase

2009-10-24T17:33:00.006-05:00

Today I broke down and bought the "travel system." We purchased the Bertini model at Babies R Us and it was expensive (well not that bad, but I could have bought one tire for the race car for the same amount). It is Hawkeye colored with these old school European looking squiggly lines on it. The only thing I don't like is Babies R Us only has Eddie Bauer tan bases and as you can clearly see from photos this base is not tan. I will be looking on the internet for Bertini black bases. After all you can't have a black car with gray leather, black baby seat and tan base.

We also found a new store at Jordan Creek called "Creative Kids Stuff," there we found a little puppy dog that has all sorts of tags and crinkly paper on his ears and paws.

Dan and Stacie Wright (I work with Dan) suggested that we look at the "miracle blanket" which is a swaddling blanket that you can hold their little arms down with. Stacie said that this worked wonders and it allowed her to get some extra sleep. This blanket stops them from swinging their arms so they don't wake themselves up quite as much.

Well that is today. Check out the pictures. We will be in touch soon.

The Begining

2009-10-23T09:15:00.001-05:00

Not all of you may know, but Chris and I are expecting our first child on April 13,2010. We found out at the end of July when we were 4 weeks along, but due to the circumstances of the previous year, we decided to wait to tell people until we heard the heartbeat. Talk about a hard secret to keep! The first couple of months were pretty hard with morning sickness. It usually hit right away when I woke up, and after every time I ate.

We had our first appointment on September 21, where we were able to hear a heartbeat of 163 bpm. Needless to say we were very relieved and excited after this appointment.

We started our second trimester on October 12, and I have definitely felt better since. We had a second appointment at 15 weeks on Monday October 19. Again we heard the heartbeat right away and it was 150 bpm.

After two successfully appointments Chris and I are finally starting to relax and enjoy our pregnancy. We even went to look at baby furniture last weekend, and were given a reality check when the staff informed us that if we wanted to order furniture through them, it would take about 3 months to get, considering we are almost 16 weeks, we probably need to order this soon! So much for casually looking! We decided we should start researching what products to buy and possibly start a registry soon!

Other than the baby news, not a whole lot is new in our lives. We take each day as it comes and are enjoying the excitement of what the future holds!