HAPPY BIRTHDAY BLAINER!!

Today is my brother's birthday!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY BLAINE!!!!!!! Although we may not have gotten along very well as young kids.....smaking him with Ken's barbie leg, having to hold hands on "Mandy/Blaine day".... I will have to say he's turned out to be a pretty good brother and I wouldn't trade him in anymore. :)

Doing what he does best....entertaining us :)

Love you Blaine! Hope you have a wonderful birthday!!!

Not the least bit surprised!

I talked to Kim on the phone today to see how Cami's 1st day in rehab went. I could tell by the tone in her voice that things were going well. I wasn't surprised at all to hear that Cami has done EXTREMELY well her first 2 days. She is already making so much progress! She is doing things that they were expecting her to be doing 2 weeks from now. She has learned how to maneuver in and out of bed, using the bathroom, trying to feed herself...and she even got on the computer and typed with one hand!! She has another surgery scheduled for tomorrow (Friday) at 1:30. She will be having a pin put into her ankle to help it heal faster so she can walk on it sooner. Of course, out of all of the bones she could have broken in her ankle, she broke the worst one. Go figure!

Cami is blessed to have such a loving and patient husband and mother!! Kolin and Kim have been with Cami 24/7. They trade off shifts so that she is never left alone. Because lord knows if she has an itch, one of them needs to be there to scratch it! No matter WHERE it is! :)

From what it sounds like and the progress Cami has made, it won't be long until we see these two goofballs acting like this again! (Do you remember this night? When the power was off?)

And thank goodness for a great mom. Cami and her mom have spent a LOT of quality time together the past week...and upcoming weeks for that matter. I can't imagine how frustrating it is for Cami to have to rely on someone to take care of you every minute of every hour. But that's what moms are for!

I mean seriously, how could you NOT want to take care of her! :)

SCHOOL IS OUT!

31 weeks compared to....

32 weeks!

We are getting closer!!! Approximately 6 weeks left until miss Mia can arrive!!! Scale read in at 159 this morning. It would be GREAT to not get over 165 lbs.....but the last few weeks of pregnancy I really love to eat lots and lots of whatever I want!!! I know for sure I won't make it to 180, which is what I weighed when I delivered Connor!! I didn't get in the pool at all last week and I just felt gross all week. We swam yesterday and again today after aerobics and I feel SO much better. I love being in the water because it makes me not feel so HUGE!

Today was my LAST DAY of school!!! I don't have to return until September 14th! I get to relax most of the summer. During the month of June I will be working really hard trying to get my 10 pg research paper done for one of my classes--that way I won't have to worry about it once Mia arrives.

Barney the dinosaur?

(NOT a flattering picture, eh?)

That was me while we were visiting Cami on Monday. I ran out of clean clothes (I was staying at Haley's all weekend and didn't pack for Monday. Jeremy decided we would just stay there Sunday night, too!) It was my mom's purple federal mogul shirt which made me look like Barney.

Update on Cami!
Cami has been released from the 6th floor and moved to a room on the rehab floor at Ball Memorial. She is going to learn how to get in and out of bed, use the wheelchair and all of the "small things" that we take for granted that we do everyday....go to the bathroom, brush your teeth...

Here is her "Bionic Arm" as she would refer to :)

Please keep Cami and Kolin in your prayers. She has done So well so far, but still has a long road to recovery. Thanks for all of you who have had them in your thoughts.

Angels among us.

This is my sister-in-law, Cami. She was in a horrible head on collision on Thursday, May 21st. A day that has forever changed her life. Some woman crossed over the center line and hit her head on. Cami had just enough time to swerve to left left just a LITTLE bit..... She had a few angels watching over her Thursday morning. One of those just might have been her little angel nephew, Connor James. She has a shattered right wrist, a broken left shoulder, a broken right ankle, a broken left knee, multiple scrapes, bruises, and pieces of glass jammed into her skin, all over her body. But you see, she's still smiling......

She just graduated from Ball State on May 9th. She and her husband had plans and dreams on the next adventure for their lives. One stupid mistake by this woman has put a hold on their plans. A young girl full of energy, life and talent is now confined to a bed. She can't feed herself, scratch her itches or move to a comfortable position where she isn't in some sort of pain.

My heart aches for her.

Why?

Why this girl?

Sometimes I wonder why God does the things he does. They say he only gives us what we can handle....but dang, this just doesn't seem fair. She's hurt, she's sad, she's frustrated. We'll never know the answer why, but we can thank him for her still being here--even if that means she's broken up in many different places. It was hard to see her lying in that bed knowing that there was nothing I could do for her. Here are a few pictures of her and her car (which they just purchased over Mother's Day weekend).

Here is her shattered wrist being held together by pins and a rod.

Her broken ankle and broken knee...


And now pictures of what's left of her chevy Malibu.
(passenger side)

Front of the car.

The dashboard.

A picture of the crash on the front page of the newspaper.

Please say and extra prayer for Cami and her husband as they have a long road to recovery ahead of them. It will be long and frustrating for them, but she's here, Thank God.

It's quite fascinating.

It's quite amazing how your body changes, grows, stretches during pregnancy. Although I'll never wear another bikini or have a normal looking belly button, having the opportunity to experience pregnancy is worth it.

This was waaaaay back at 6 weeks--in November.

And the transformation at 31 weeks.Things are going well and I'm not small. I have been feeling pretty good. I made the mistake of running a little bit outside at aerobics tonight and my lower back and crotch are paying for it. I need to just stick with swimming and lower impact aerobics! We had a Dr.'s appointment this past Monday and heartbeat was between 140-150. My glucose test came back just fine and we have our next appointment the first week in June along with another ultrasound--just to check everything out once more before she arrives in July.

July....

Delivery......

I would be lying if I told you I was excited. Don't get me wrong, I can't wait to meet our little girl. Most women are probably ecstatic at this point. I, on the other hand, am pretty much scared to death. Thinking, wondering....all of the possible things that could go wrong. Hoping and praying that we will bring a carseat home filled with a bundle of joy instead of an empty one. I can't help it, I just don't have that "I'm so excited, I can't wait" feeling. I won't feel excitement and relief until I see a screaming, kicking, pink little girl. I don't really want a c-section, but it's the only way to get her here quickly....so that's what we're doing. We have a date set for July 16th, but if you ask me, I don't think there is a chance in hell I will make it 39 weeks plus 1 day. I just made it to 38 with Connor. So I am guessing I'll probably go into labor before then. As soon as I notice contractions, we will be up at the hospital within 5 minutes!! We talked to the Dr. about the c-section and what will happen after. You typically have to go downstairs to a post op recovery room. He is going to allow me to stay upstairs and recover in postpartum with Jeremy and the baby. He said I can recover there for 1-2 hours and then when we're ready, we can have family come back to see us. It was such a relief to me that he is going to allow me to recover in postpartum!

CONGRATULATIONS BSU ALUMNI!!!!

Cami graduated from Ball State and we hosted a graduation party for her this past weekend!

And this post wouldn't be complete without a picture of baby J! He was enjoying all of the girls at the Y tonight!!

Charliehorse--OW CHARLIE!

Shall we compare how much bigger I am this time around? I think there is quite a BIG baby in the making.

30 Weeks with miss Mia!!!

(Zoe was miss photogenic tonight)

30 weeks pregnant with Connor.

I can still see my feet! :)

HOLY LEG CRAMPS!!!!!!!!!!!!! I woke up this morning and headed off to the Y for my morning swim with Cyndi. I had some faint leg cramps in both of my legs. I swam, stretched them out a bit and headed off to work. They were a little bothersome all day, but it didn't get bad until 2:15. I was seeing my second to last speech group of the day when all of a sudden, I thought I was going to scream. I got a sharp pain in my left calf--I couldn't straighten out my leg nor could I put any weight on it!!! I was on the verge of crying when I had to send my group back to class early. After my left leg finally let up, the RIGHT one started in! I think I would much rather have heartburn or constipation instead of these killer charliehorses. UGH!

Scale read in today at 158!! I actually went down a pound from last week. As long as I don't gain 22 lbs in the next 8 or so weeks, I will have done better with my weight gain this time around! My ultimate goal is to not get over 165, but those last couple weeks will be tough to not eat every nutty bar in the pantry! :)

Grad school has been going well. I really enjoy my neuroanatomy class. It's detailed information, but basically just a memorization class. I'm also taking a research methods class that will probably end up sending me into pre-term labor. It stresses me out just thinking about the class and the 10 page paper, 2 tests, 10 quizzes, and 10 discussions that are all due by July 28th!!!!

We are hosting Cami's college graduation party this weekend. She graduated from Ball State last weekend! CONGRATS CAMI!! Hopefully this rain will let up and allow us to be able to hang out outside!!

Time to go soak these poor, pathetic legs in a hot bath......

Weekend

Mom and dad came over today to help Jeremy and i do some yard work and hang stuff in the basement. Dad ran the powerwasher, Jeremy mowed, and mom and I pulled weeds and re-mulched the landscaping.

Ahhh...we don't have a neglected yard anymore!
Looks SO much better!

Jayden came over on Saturday morning so Aunt Mandy could babysit him while his mommy could take care of her dialysis patients and his daddy could get his mowing done. Here he is getting ready to eat his entire hand.

We celebrated Justin's birthday on Saturday night with pizza, cake and ice cream. I was in HEAVEN! :) Blaine and Jenn are babysitting Ben (on the left) for another week. He and Brennan are pals. Brennan was awful sweet on his Aunt Mandy Saturday. Guess he missed me :) He'll have to come hang out with me this summer before his newest cousin arrives. Do you think he could get any cuter? I just want to steal him!!!

3/28 (07), (08), (09).

3 years, 3 beautiful babies, 3 births, 3 deaths, 3 heartbroken mommies.



All born and died on 3/28. All celebrating in heaven. Every year on 3/28.



Take some time to read.

Eli (07), Connor (08)and Carleigh (09).

29 weeks!

Just busy growing a baby and starting classes for grad school!

Hey Chelsea, I think I may trump your belly circumference!!
29 weeks of pregnancy. Starting weight 142, weight today 159! OOPS that's 4lbs since last week. Granted we ate out just about every meal--one of which was a total carb load.

YUCK!!! I had my glucose tolerance test when I went to the Dr. on Monday. I HATE drinking this nasty stuff--especially at 7:30 in the morning!! They said no news is good news and I didn't hear anything back from them, so looks like we are A-OK!

Pictures from the weekend!

No swine flu, no swine flu, NO!

In Maria's apt before the Mini Marathon 5k.

Did you know I like the black and yellow pattern from Vera Bradley?
"Swine Time's" Model, Haley Ramer
Baby J fits in a Vera Bag! He loves his auntie Cyndi :)