The Witts

A little Visual....

2011-06-27T18:59:00.001-07:00

We had Lexi's 2 Year Dr. appointment a couple of weeks ago. Of course I can't find the "stat sheet", but I THINK she was 27.5 pounds (55 percentile) and I can't remember how tall she is (derek will remember, so there might be an update later) but she is in the 75th percentile. So she has gotten above being a "50/50 girl". I thought a little viusal was in order. The first picture was from December of 2009, she was almost 8 months old. The second picture I took today. They are the same pants/shorts/capris. :)

Funny....

2011-06-03T16:48:00.001-07:00

Another phone picture...this one cracks me up...she has been hanging out with her brother and Dad too much!

What makes me sad is that she looks like such a little KID in this picture. Bye bye baby. sniff sniff.

Weekend in Olympia

2011-05-31T16:10:00.000-07:00

Well, I know it has been a while but with a toddle running around the house...it is what it is. :)

We went down and spent the weekend in Yelm Washington, I know...exciting right?? We had a really fun weekend with a lot of baseball. Here are a few of the pictures I took with my phone...real pictures to come...ya know in 2014 or something.

Ryan is doing awesome, he is pitching and playing infield, the picture above was of Ry belting one foul down the 3rd base line...he ripped it good, just need to straighten it out. :)

Legends Baseball 10U Team, first tournament ever and finished 2nd! Very encouraging for what is to come.

And no blog post is complete without a little Lexi update. Here is her and Daddy swimming in the hotel pool. This is only the second time she has been in a pool...she was a little nervous but loved it.

This is what happens when you are getting ready and the room gets really quiet with a toddler around...surprises! She unraveled most of the TP and she also dumped an entire bag of gold fish crackers on the floor. Tip for the housekeeper!

I will try to be more consistent with the updates. Lexi's 2 year appointment is next week and I will put her stats up.

Baseball Tournaments

2010-08-20T21:19:00.000-07:00

June and July was full of baseball and basketball. Ryan has played in 5 different baseball tournaments, and Derek had 3 tournaments and team camp at WSU, so we have been busy!

Ryan at a tournament in Redmond.

Mukilteo
His biggest fan eating some cheese in Wenatchee

The night before the Wenatchee tournament, Ryan got a little roughed up, he took a baseball to the eye...you cansee the stitching from the ball...

Last of the "old" pictures

2010-08-14T10:30:00.000-07:00

Well, my "week of blogging" failed miserably, but I feel good that I got way more blogs done last week than I have in a long time. This is the last of the pictures from the computer that I haven't uploaded yet, now I just have to upload new pics from the camera to the computer.

Keeping herselft entertained....

Cutie petuties!

Honk honk!!

15 Month Dr. Appointment

2010-08-06T13:51:00.000-07:00

This is going to be a quickie with no pictures...we are pressed for time today (mostly because I took a nap...don't judge, you would do it too!)

I took Lexi to her 15 month check up, I was happy to do this since I have not been to the last 2 or 3 appointments because I was working. Here are the stats:

Heigth - 30 1/2 inches - 50th Percentile

Weight - 22 pounds, 9 ounces - 50th Percentile.

Looks like we are going to have a 50/50 kid! She is in great health, right where she should be developmentally.

Some of the things she is doing right now:

~Getting into EVERYTHING, we have nicknamed her Hurricane Lexi because the house is trashed after she has been in it for 10 minutes.

~Walking, she is a great walker, sometimes she runs too!

~Food - we have given her pretty much anything we eat, she is funny, she doesn't have much of a reaction to new foods, if she doesn't like it, she sort of just takes it out of her mouth. The only thing we have held back on giving her is some nuts and shellfish. She is able to have peanut butter, and loves it. One funny thing - she LOVES Thai food, I have ordered panang curry from our local Thai restaurant (3 star!) and on a whim I gave her a little piece...she couldn't get enough of it. She had the same reaction the last time I got it too. Her other favorites are mac n cheese, chicken, cheese, watermelon, cantaloupe, blueberries (more on that below) and grapes.

~Diapers - Whoa Nelly! Having a kid eases you into the nastiness of diapers! When Lexi was first born, they were gross, but they didn't smell nearly as bad as they do since she has started eating different foods. Case in point - blueberries - Lexi really likes them, and they are the perfect size for her little fingers. Well, the resulting diaper was AWFUL!!! It was a blackish/bluish color with an aroma I would not wish on my worst enemy. Even Grandma wouldn't touch that one!

~Words - she says a few, ball, balloon, uh-oh, wow, mom, and Dada. Not too shabby Lexi girl. In the past couple of weeks, she has really started to have "conversations", where I ask her something and she responds, and we go back and forth like this. It is like she is really talking, just no actual words are used. It sounds a lot like she says "lets go", but I am not sure that is what she is actually saying.

Ok - gotta run, Seafair tomorrow, so likely no blog...but I will try to be more dilligent.

Best Friends

2010-08-03T21:11:00.000-07:00

Lexi and Ryan have an amazing relationship! It warms my heart to see the way each of their faces light up when they see each other. Here they are in all of their cuteness.

Lexi stop pulling my hair!!

Rainy Baseball fan

2010-08-03T20:56:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned, Memorial day weekend had a lot of rain. On Monday after Mike and Vonda left, we still had one more baseball game, and this was the rainiest of all. Thankfully one of the other families had a big tailgate style tent that we were able to sit under. I thought Lexi looked sooo cute in her Mariner jacket and hat. This is also the first time we successfully got Lexi to wear shoes, she doesn't like them too much, but nowadays she is fine with them.

Here is our little fan in her stroller.

I think pink makes her eyes really pop!
It was kinda tough to keep her under the tent, she wanted to go out in the rain!

Hey Ry! Look over here!!

Lexi is a real trooper when it comes to baseball, she just goes with the flow. Thankfully, when she gets tired, she just goes to sleep! She has slept through baseball and basketball games. Look closely at the picture below, you can see her little arm hanging out.

My little boo boo sleeping away...so precious.

Naked Baby!

2010-08-03T20:51:00.000-07:00

Chasing Lexi after bathtime! These pictures are amunition for her teenage years. I love her mid-thigh fat rolls.

Memorial day weekend (2 months later)

2010-08-02T10:27:00.000-07:00

Look at that...you are getting 2 blogs during one nap! This is going to be mostly pictures, because I want a morning nap too! :)

Way back during Memorial Day weekend, it was Ryan's first Sockeye's tournament. Grandpa Witt and his wife Vonda came to visit to see Ryan play baseball and visit with Lexi. The bad part about the weekend was that it RAINED AND RAINED AND RAINED. It was awful, especially while trying to keep a newly walking toddler in one place. The pics pretty much sum up the weekend.

I love the pic below..great shot of his uni...

Grandpa and Lexi watching some baseball.

Best friends....

Ryan taking Lexi for a run around the bases...

SAFE!!!!

The Witt Men...great pic!

The Witt men plus one sleepy little lady....

Staycation week of blogging...

2010-08-02T09:55:00.000-07:00

I know...I know...I have said it before....I have been slacking. I have a week of vacation this week and my goal for my "staycation" is a blog a day. I am still catching up from May! Eeesh. I must say, since Lexi started walking, our world has gotten a lot crazier.

Her and Ryan are doing awesome, they are such great kids. June was crazy for several reasons, Derek had about 8 weeks to coach the Juanita kids and they had 4 tournaments. Ryan was equally busy with 4 baseball tournaments as well, so needless to say, our weekends have been BUSY!

Lexi catching some Little league baseball back in May.

Keeping score!

Ryan played little league for the White Sox and also had his first season on the Monroe select team, the Sockeye's. Here he is playing a little 2nd base for the Sox.

Who's on first?

Ry Guy smiling!

Birthday Celebration?? Part 1

2010-06-30T22:32:00.000-07:00

So on Lexi's b-day, I was working, so we planned her "big" celebration on Sunday...Mother's day. The week before Lexi's birthday, I really struggled....mostly because Lexi has gone from being a super cuddly, snuggly baby to walking and being a bit more independent. I struggled so much one night I looked at Derek and burst into tears because I missed my "snuggly baby". So it was almost "karmatic" (is that a word???) that the day we planned to celebrate Lexi's first birthday, she was sick. Some Mom's may understand when I say that it sucks when your kid is sick, but I LOVED that she was snuggly and cuddly because of it. The good news is that it was a one day bug....but my vision of her first birthday certainly went different than this....

The day can be summed up by saying "the best of plans....."

Here is probably the best picture of the day....excited to open her presents!

Her balloon from Grandma...(which almost 2 months later is still floating on our ceiling)

A Mommy and Daughter pic...showing off Mommy's new glasses.

A few more presents...

And let the fussiness begin...

So we tried to cheer her up with a tiara.....(I don't blame you Lexi, I am not a tiara fan either!)

The Birthday Celebration?? Pt 2

2010-06-30T22:07:00.000-07:00

So Ryan showed up and we tried to cheer her up with some time outside and some cake....you be the judge on if that actually worked....

Another great pic of big brother and lil' sis!

"Mom....I don't know about this cake business...."

" Well....maaaybe I could give it a try...."

"Being 1 sucks! I just want to go back to being a baby!!!!!"

"STILL sucks!!"

"Hmmm....maybe this chocolate isn't so bad...."

"Yeah....a little tasty!"

"Here is a forced smile just to humor Mom..."

"Really all Mom wanted was to get a picture of me covered in chocolate frosting....so FINE...here it is!"

"So all I really need is to hang out with my big brother and feel better....forget the darn birthday celebration!!"

So here is my..."non-snuggly or cuddly" "non-baby"....looking like the super cute snuggly, cuddly baby that I love and adore. The past year has been more than I can really put into words. Lexi has blessed our family more than I ever could have imagined.

I'm baaaaacccckkkk....

2010-06-30T21:44:00.000-07:00

So my kid turned 1 and I forgot how to blog!!

My apologies! I have unfortunately been VERY busy! In May it was work and in June it was family stuff....all will be put into details here in my blog....

Lexi's birthday...on Lexi's actual birthday, I had to work late...but Derek gave her a late afternoon nap, so she was still awake when I got home at like 8:30pm... we had some mini-cupcakes in honor of her birthday, we had planned to celebrate her b-day on that Sunday, which happened to be Mother's day. Enjoy some pics of her first cake....

The above is a little fuzzy....but I love the sparkle in her eyes!
Not so sure about this cake business....

Lexi is 1!!

2010-05-07T09:45:00.000-07:00

Well, I CANNOT believe that Lexi is 1 years old already! She is growing up so fast! I feel like the next thing I know she will be driving! I am going to post a lot of pics in the next few days to commemorate her first birthday, but first, the past week I have been having lots of pregnancy / birth flashbacks. So you all get the story one more time....

The labor story...
We are thrilled to announce that we had our baby girl Alexis "Lexi" Catherine Witt arrived Thursday May 7th at 12:25am, weighing in at 8lbs 3 ounces. Derek, Ryan and I are so happy to welcome her to our family...I will be posting MANY MANY pictures later, but wanted to fill you in on how she made her way into our world. One thing pregnant women will tell you is that you lose ALL sense of what qualifies as "too much information", so if you are weary at all about "women things", please skip to the next post...because here is Lexi's birth story.

The process actually started May 5th, I had a folley put into my cervix that would help start to dialate my cervix, it was like a rubber tube that blew up like a balloon. The plan (if it was to work) was to put that in at the Doctors office, then I should be dialated 3-4 cm by the time I got to the hospital to be induced on Wednesday. The plan worked, and by 7am on Thursday when we got to the hospital I was 4cm dialated and having contractions on my own!I was excited that things were getting started off well, the Doctor came in to break my water at 12:45pm and I was still at 4cm dialated and having regular contractions about 2-3 minutes apart. The contractions started getting stronger and I had my edpidural put in at 2:45pm. The epidural was fantastic, the afternoon progressed fine and I couldn't feel the contractoins. :)

There is a monitor in the room that shows the contractions and the baby's heartrate and things were looking like they were progressing...the nurse checked me about 5 or 6pm...I was still at only 5cm dialated. The Doctor came at about 7:30-8pm and I was still at 5cm. This was the first threat made by the Doctor of me having a C-section if things didn't progress in an hour. I VERY much did not want to have a C section! The next hour was odd...I started to feel pain in one of my sides, but didn't know if it was the pressure of the baby moving down in the birth canal or if the epidural wasn't working. I had no idea what amount of pain there was supposed to be with an epidural, but I knew the pain in my side wasn't right. They checked me after the hour and I had progressed to 7cm...just what we needed to avoid the C-section at that point. Yeah!

The problem was that I was in a lot of pain...again, not sure if it was what I was supposed to be feeling. The nurse checked my epidural by putting ice on my legs and stomach...I could feel everything (when she asked me earlier, I asked her if she really put ice on my leg or if she was joking), this meant that there was a problem with the epidural. To make a long story short, the line sheared off and the epidural fluid has stopped flowing into my back. They then paged the anethesiologist (sp??) to fix it. The amount of pain I was experiencing sky rocketed, I was near tears with each contraction. Derek was great about talking me through them and feeding me ice chips after each one. I do not know how or why anyone would would go through labor without an epidural, I sure didn't intend to, but for about 1 1/2 hours, I went au natural! That hour and a half took every ounce of energy that I had, and it got me to the 10 cm dialated that I needed so Icould start pushing.

I actually wanted to push before they got the epidural back up and running, but they said I should wait so that I was more comfortable. Once the epidural was fixed, I started pushing...and pushing....and pushing....I started pushing at 10:30pm and at 12:15am, I got C-section threaten #2. They told me I could have 15 more minutes or they were going to do a C-section. I was completely exhausted and told myself that I was going to give everything I had for these last 15 minutes and after that, I knew I had done everything I could and would have to be ok with having a C-section. About 10 minutes later, I made some good progress, and all of a sudden, she was crowning and the room errupted into a flurry of activity, doctors running around, machines being brought in, NICU nurses, just in case...I had another big push where she was almost out and they made me stop pushing because they weren't ready! Derek quotes me as saying "ARE YOU KIDDING ME??" It hurt so freaking bad! I had to wait for another contraction before pushing again, then with the next contraction out she came!

Physically,it was the biggest feeling of relief I have ever had. Derek was crying like a baby, my mom was crying like a baby and I was so exhausted I just layed there! They put Lexi on my chest and let me see her, then she was whisked away so they could check her out.Part of the reason I was so exhausted was that I couldn't eat anything after some of the drugs started...so the last thing I ate was a granola bar at 11:30am....at midnight...that wasn't helping me. The TV was on the room while going through labor and I swear as I was pushing everytime I looked at the TV there was a fast food commercial on with a huge hamburger on it! What I would have done for a hamburger right then! As they were cleaning Lexi up and fixing me up, someone handed me 1/2 of Derek's Subway sandwich and I devoured it like I had never eaten before in my life. It was the best sandwich I have ever had. lol.

I know this is a long story, but wanted to share my experience, you never know what is going to happen when you go into labor, I am just happy to have a healthy, beautiful baby girl. Derek and my Mom were in the room with me and they did a fantastic job of supporting me through the entire experience. Ryan was able to be there for part of the afternoon and came back the next day to meet Lexi. My good friends Allison and Julie were able to be at the hospital and visit me when it was over....they stayed until the wee hours of the morning...and got to witness the sandwich inhaling. :)

Derek and I could not be more happy with our little Lexi, thank you to everyone for their support and best wishes throughtout the process. I have some great pictures of Lexi courtesy of her photo shoot with Auntie Katie today, I will post those once I have time. Lexi has been a very mellow baby so far and we just love her to pieces.

I did this all by myself!

2010-04-21T20:34:00.001-07:00

Saturday mornings I get up with Lexi at our normal time, around 5:45-6:15am....then later we take our morning nap together (we used to cuddle in my bed, now we nap separately...boo). One Saturday morning Lexi found a new place to play.

She was quite proud of herself for crawling into and sitting in the basket!

Just chillin' in my basket Mom....don't mind me!

Dinner at Judy's

2010-04-21T20:25:00.000-07:00

The weekend before last, we went over to Judy's for a salmon dinner with Dad, Judy, Dennis, Kathy, Derek, Lexi and I. Somehow, I managed to only take pictures of Lexi and Derek. Sorry Dad! :) She was in a great mood as always and on the go!

You can see the 2 bottom teeth in the pic above
Standing up everywhere...look...only holding onto Daddy's pant leg.

Lexi and Daddy sitting outside

My two favorite people...

Lexi looking goofy...but you can really see the baby blues...

Easter

2010-04-09T16:41:00.000-07:00

We had a great Easter Sunday with my Mom, Mary and Gil....apparently I only take pictures of Lexi...because the others are nowhere to be found...lol. Mom is feeling much better from her back surgery and cooked a ham dinner, it was fantastic. Ryan is in Arizona at the Grand Canyon with his mom, I will have some baseball pics of him soon. He pitched last week (in the hail and rain) and struck out 11 batters! He did awesome!

Here is Lexi with one of her Easter Eggs...no hunt this year, but definitely next year!

A little unsure of this egg business.

Lexi is VERY mobile these days, she crawls everywhere, faster than you can imagine, and she stands up and walks around holding onto something. She is starting to "transition" between objects where she reaches for one object and just barely lets go of the other. She is close to walking, but she just doesn't want to take that first step.

Here she is crawling up the stairs...again with toys in her mouth like a little Pup.

Diego Couch

2010-04-09T16:39:00.000-07:00

When we were in Spokane, Charlotte has this great "Diego" couch that folds out into a little bed. She loved it and actually ended up sleeping in the bed. We might have to put this on our garage sale "to look for" list. I love it!

Some more cute pics

2010-04-09T15:58:00.000-07:00

What can I say? You have a mobile kid and need to keep her contained? Worked for me. :)

Chilling in my bucket
Hands in my mouth as always!

This is the cow from a book Auntie Katie gave Lexi, the animals are just the right size for her, sometimes she crawls around with them in her mouth...like a little dog.

Happy Girl!

St. Patty's Day

2010-04-09T15:49:00.000-07:00

I am a bit behind on the blogging...forgive me. :) Here is how Lexi started her first St. Patty's day, with a green bottle compliments of Derek. Derek was also happy to report the next day that the food coloring did in fact go right thru her. hahaha

Aunti Katie (and Bunny!!) came to visit to help take care of Mom after her back surgery. Here they are hanging out, not sure why the pic is fuzzy.
Pretty Blue eyes!

Ryan and Lexi looking adorable as always!

We had dinner over at Mom's house and had a good St. Patty's day.

NCAA Tournament

2010-03-28T09:34:00.001-07:00

For Valentines Day I got Derek this puzzle that he had to put together to find out what exactly his present was. Thankfully Ryan was with us, because apparently Derek doesn not know how to do puzzles. It took us over 2 hours to put it together! It was a lot of fun, and Derek was very excited about what the puzzle said. :)

Charlotte, Justin and Caden were nice enough to let us stay with them for the night. We watched the huskies beat New Mexico and then spent some time with our friends. The next morning we went to a bar called the Swinging Doors (it was a bar and grill so Lexi could go....but I couldn't get the quote from Swee Home Alabama out of my head....."You have a baby.....in a BAR!) Here are the tickets to the game...

So I managed to leave my camera in the car, so all of these are camera photos....so I don't know how to rotate them...sorry!

Here is Daddy and Lexi ready to head into the arena....

Our seats! We got to watch Michigan State and Maryland and Purdue and Texas A&M

Lexi was AMAZING at basketball all day, the two games with the 30 minute intermission lasted almost 6 hours! Here she is in the second game sleeping in the 2nd half.

More sleeping.... And yes...more sleeping. We did great until the second game went into overtime, then I realized that we REALLY needed to change Lexi's diaper and we were sure out of diapers! We were just trying to get thru the game so we could run to a store and get some diapers. With 1 1/2 minutes left in overtime, pee started flying out of the diaper in all directions. We ran down to the bathroom and gerry rigged a diaper so we could finish the game....yet we missed the last second shot in over time.

When Lexi wasn't sleeping, she was dancing in her chair and flirting with all of the people around her. She did great being confined in a small space for that long. Overall it was a great trip, we had fun getting out of town for a day or so.

Random pics

2010-03-13T19:28:00.000-08:00

I had some random pics on my camera, so I figured I would just post them. Below is Ryan and Lexi on a weekend morning playing together.

Lexi's favorite activity is standing at the armoire and unloading all of the dvd's that we keep in baskets and dropping them on the floor. She does it over and over and over again.
Cutie Pie

I love this picture, it looks like Lexi is doing an Irish Jig.

Just Curious

2010-03-09T20:51:00.000-08:00

So I am just curious....who actually reads this blog? There are several of you that I think read this blog, but I really am just wondering who really does. Please leave a quick comment saying who you are! I appreciate you tuning in to see what is happening with the Witts!

9 Month Check Up

2010-03-02T20:22:00.000-08:00

Derek took Lexi in for her 9 month check up today, so here are her stats....

Height: 28 Inches - 75th percentile

Weight: 19 lbs 3 Oz - 55th percentile

She had a big jump in height since her 6 month check up, looks like solid food has

been good to her!

Update on walking: not happening by March 1st. Lexi realized she can stand up and decided that it was nice and all, but she prefers sitting and crawling thank you! She still stands alot with some help and has been doing some finger walking, but she is a ways away. Sorry Derek.

Teeth...yes plural...we have teeth! First tooth (bottom right) came in no problem about a week ago, and the second one (bottom left) came in a couple days ago. Yesterday she developed a fever, which we are pretty sure is teething. Needless to say, between the shots and the teething we have a very cuddly, sleepy, fussy baby. But she sure is cute! :)

Mystery Pics...

2010-02-22T19:51:00.001-08:00

I always laugh after Ryan gets ahold of my camera....found these today.....

He has his Daddy's eyes...
Big smile..

Scary...

Then there are these....which are quite artistic

These are our Christmas lights...but I sure can't tell what is behind them...

Grass????

2010-02-22T19:15:00.001-08:00

The weather in Seattle this winter has been very mild...and no snow. We have been lucky over the past week to have sunny skies with a temperature of 60 degrees. Yesterday we thought we would take Lexi outside and put her in the grass...it was hysterical. She was not such a fan...she really couldn't figure out what to do, she was so confused!

She would reach down and touch it and pull her hand right back....hair looks pretty red in this pic huh?
Lexi has been pulling herself up on furniture for a while now, but this past weekend we tried standing her up and letting her go. She has picked that up really fast. Here she is standing all on her own. She can now do it for about a minute....but she does have to concentrate! I think she is standing out of fear of having to touch the grass.

Mommy....I don't really like this grass stuff....can I go back inside??

Pictures by Ryan

2010-02-18T23:17:00.000-08:00

Lexi and Ryan just LOVE each other. They both light up when the other walks (or crawls) in the room....perfect example....

Ryan LOVES to take pictures of Lexi....here are some fun ones....

(more fingers in the mouth)

My Mornings with Daddy....(guest blog by Lexi)

2010-02-18T22:51:00.000-08:00

Daddy and I get to spend our mornings together...and for those of you who don't know...babies are like batteries....once they are done, they are done. When they are charged.....they are SUPER CHARGED...so many mornings...I am SUPER happy and energetic while Daddy is still a little sleepy. Here is me being a cheese ball in the morning.

I am standing on everything these days...if I can pull myself up on something...I will!
I don't have any teeth yet (much to Mommy's dismay), but I sure like to put my fingers and hands in my mouth!
Wide Right!

There we go!

Oh Yeah!

Daddy and Mommy have a bet....Daddy thinks I will be walking by March 1st....Mommy says (with an eye roll) "we'll see". To be continued.....

I LOVE my mornings with Daddy (and sometime with Ryan), he makes me really happy, smiley and giggly. Sometimes, I even like to bite his nose...yes, it is a Lexi/Daddy game, but deal with it...it is our "thing".

More Baby Food....

2010-02-18T22:32:00.000-08:00

Never (NEVER!) in a million years did I ever imagine that I would be making my own baby food. I always thought that only "hippie granola" types would make their own baby food. Until you are a parent and you see how much grocery stores charge for baby food....save your judgement...no hippie granola here...nope, I am just plain old cheap!

I have made my own baby food before, but I have always used my "mini" food processor...so basically it takes me a LONG time to make the baby food. Well, I asked Mom to come over with her "big" food processor so we could make some baby food on Super bowl Sunday and...well....I got a little carried away by the thought of the Mammoth food processor...

5 lb bag of carrots

4lbs of Green Beans

4 lbs of Peas

4 lbs of sweet potatoes

4 lbs of Yams

It is hard to do an "apples to apples" comparison because pounds and ounces don't compare to fluid ounces that we purchase in baby food. But all I know is that I spent $16 at the grocery store for the aforementioned products and I think I saved probably $60-$70 from buying baby food at the grocery store. Now...I went to WSU and all...but even I know that I am saving money. :) PLUS....it is probably more healthy and nutritious than processed baby food....there..the hippie/granola momma in me speaks!

Grandma's Birthday

2010-02-18T22:21:00.000-08:00

Well, Grandma Cass had a birthday recently....we won't say which one...but the Witt clan plu G'ma got together for a dinner at Canyons in Monroe. It was a weeknight, so it was pretty mellow, but we had a good time hanging out together...Happy Birthday Mom and Grandma! :)

Miss Personality

2010-02-05T23:31:00.001-08:00

Ryan feeding Lexi and me feeding Lexi lead to two totally different levels of cleanliness. Ryan feeding her looks like this....

With a side of smiles...

Here is our happy girl!

She is crawling EVERYWHERE...Mobile Mabel is what we are calling her

Whhhhaaaaaaasssssssuuuuuuuuppppppp!!!

I think this picture is very odd.....I think she looks like me in this picture.....well...minus the squash on my face.

Our little smiley

2010-02-05T23:07:00.000-08:00

The one thing we hear constantly (believe me, I don't want to jinx this, and am seriously debating actually writing this) is what a happy baby Lexi is. She is just so FUN, anytime that i have a bad day, she does something adorable. One day, I picked her up from daycare and she reached up and hugged me...then she pulled back...looked me in the face....then put both hands on the sides of my face and kissed me. I have never had such a fantastic "welcome home from work mommy" feeling. Here are some smiley moments from January...

I am constantly amazed at Ryan, he has handled the addition to our family so well, he is absolutely amazing with Lexi. Lexi lights up when he walks in the room and vice versa. Before she was born, I was worried about Ryan being jealous or feeling resentment, and never has the thoguht even crossed his mind. He is an amazing kid.

I have quite a few videos of Ryan playing basketball (which he has been doing quite well at...I might add), but OF COURSE, I can't get them uploaded. I will keep trying and eventually persevere.

MUCH overdue Christmas blog....

2010-01-25T20:35:00.000-08:00

First of all, I must apologize to our Kansas City family for how late this blog is! Things have been crazy since we got home and I am just catching up!

Here is Lexi playing in the Minneapolis airport, she was a great traveler, she slept at least 1/2 of each flight segment with only a little crying and no meltdowns! Derek and I flew separately due to schedule conflicts, so I had both kids for the flights. Ryan was AMAZING, he was such a great partner, he helped with anything and everything. He made a stressful travel day pretty darn easy! Thanks buddy. :)

Lexi napping on Grandma Vicki
Lexi and Grandma Great, Corrine was pretty tickled with lexi.

This was before Lexi was cool enough to stand up on her own...so we put her in the ottomon...she seems pretty happy there!

I love this picture of the two of them

Mommy & Lexi on Christmas eve

Vicki and Chad

Shawn and Corrine (I think Ryan took this one...sorry about the top of your head Shawn)

Larry and Jose - Larry made awesome Cranberry margaritas...yummy!

Lexi being studious

Great picture of Grandma Witt and her babies!

Doesn't Ry look like a kid in a candy store?

I did a terrible job of taking pictures on Christmas day at Mike's, the only pictures I had were the ones in the Missouri gear, will do better next time!

Standing..

2010-01-03T17:15:00.000-08:00

Today we were hanging out relaxing and watching TV when Lexi scooted over to the TV stand.....and up she stood! We all looked at each other with a shocked look, I grabbed the camera to document...this was when she first stood up...she knocked the green pot over in the process.

Steadied herself for a second...
Decided she needed to show off for her stunned audience....even gave them all a casual wave like "I do this all the time, no big deal"
Had to re-balance herself while Ryan showed his approval.

Then had to show off her skillz by waving again...she was so proud of herself!

And back to her tummy....still pretty jazzed about what just happened!

PS...please read disclaimer regarding snot and drool here...

M-I-Z.....Z-O-U!!

2010-01-03T17:12:00.000-08:00

Christmas day was spent at Mike's house, here he is with his grandkids dolled up in their Missouri Tiger gear. Good looking group eh?

I found my tongue!

2010-01-03T16:52:00.001-08:00

When we were in Kansas City for Christmas, Lexi all of a sudden figured out that she had a tongue and that she can stick it out! I thought this series of pictures was quite comical...Ryan actually took most of these. :)

PS...sorry for all of the snot and drool...she had a cold and seems to be teething...snot and drool have become a regular part of my life...plus she HATES having her nose wiped, she screams. So snot and drool it is!

Visit to Grandpa's

2009-12-31T09:32:00.000-08:00

We made it back from our trip to Kansas City, all of my pics from that trip are on our laptop....in Arizona with Derek. So my Christmas blog will come later...but I thought this picture below of Ryan and Lexi on the airplane back to Seattle was just precious. Ryan was an AMAZING help on the airplane and Lexi did awesome, sleeping for at least 1/2 the trip. You know it is a good airplane trip with a baby when the people around you say "bye smiley" when you get off the plane. Yeah!

While Derek is in Arizona for the "Cactus Jam" Basketball tournament, Auntie Katie and Grandma have been on Lexi duty so she doesn't have to be in Daycare for 12 hours while I am at work. Yesterday Auntie took Lexi on a field trip to Grandpa Roger's house. Here are the great "good humor Lexi" pictures. She is starting to get better with the confused look....at least she smiles through it now. :)

Lexi is now crawling backwards, waving backwards and clapping. She is generally in a good mood, smiling a lot! When giving instructions for Katie and Mom it went kinda like this: If she is fussy and rubbing her eyes, she is tired. If she is fussy and not rubbing her eyes she is hungry. Otherwise she is pretty happy and you can just play with her.....we have such a good kid.
Grandpa and Lexi....ummmm please disregard the HUGE AX in the background...not sure what that is all about. My Uncle Robbie might know though.... ha ha ha ha!

Videos

2009-12-28T13:44:00.000-08:00

I know at times the theme of my blog is "technical difficulties", I know that 99% of the time these are not actually "technical difficulties", but are user error instead. When we got our new laptop, I haven't been able to upload videos from my camera to the computer...so I took the opportunity today (at work...shhh don't tell!) to upload the ones I have on my camera. Some are older than others, but enjoy these videos of Lexi, I think they are a lot of fun.

Video #1...Lexi in the Tub. She seems to really like baths, she doesn't smile or laugh...but as you can see, she is going to be a swimmer!

Video #2....this is Lexi trying to crawl...she is so close!

Video #3...this might be my favorite, Uncle Chad put Lexi on his shoulders and bounced her around and she just laughed and laughed. By the time I started taking the video, this had already been going on for several minutes...she loved it!

I have a few more, but they will have to wait until tomorrow...ran out of time!

Christmas Tree Hunting

2009-12-15T21:44:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite family traditions is going to get the Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. Thankfully, my husband does the same thing! Yeah! I have many memories of Dad packing my Grandpa, sister, dog Charlie and I into Big Red to go get our tree. Living in Monroe, it is not such a hike to get to the U-Cut lot.

We found a beautiful tree, and Derek got to work sawing it down...

Then Ryan wanted his turn...
Victory! How manly are my boys?

Us girls were there too! We worked hard observing, taking pictures and sucking on our fingers....

After hunting down the tree, Clark (I mean Derek) went to work putting the lights on the house...which look fabulous.

More Thanksgiving...

2009-12-15T21:30:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving at the Witt house, Ryan was with his Mom this year so he can go to Kansas City for Christmas, but Mom and Dad came over and we had a lovely day.

Lexi all dressed up in her Thanksgiving best. I actually got this dress from a client when I was pregnant...so cute.

Grandma Cass & Lexi
Grandpa Roger & Lexi. Dad and I were talking the other day about how happy and smiley Lexi is...yet you never see it in the pictures because of her obsession with the darn red light.

The Witt family, just need Ry guy and we are complete.

My First Thanksgiving dinner

2009-12-15T20:52:00.000-08:00

When we moved to our new house in Monroe, it was the first time in about 4 years that I have lived in a place with a full sized oven...the other ones have been 3/4 sized...it drove my Mom crazy! So for some reason...still not sure why, I volunteered...yes VOLUNTEERED to cook Thanksgiving dinner. Needless to say, a week before turkey day I was questioning my decision. :) I really wanted to do this on my own, I didn't want it to be a scenario where my Mom ended up cooking everything and bringing it to my house. So...here goes nothing....

The bird...my Dad tried to make it extra difficult and got a 20lb turkey for the 4 of us eating. Handling the raw turkey was my least favorite part, it was disgusting. Below is the turkey in the brine.

Ready to go in the oven....isn't it pretty??

Me putting the turkey in the oven..don't I look cute?? lol

The turkey's home for 3 hours (ish)

While the turkey was cooking, we set the table...

And I frosted the red velvet bundt cake that I made from SCRATCH!!

Then finally...the turkey was ready! I thought it looked great, and thankfully it tasted pretty good too! (If I do say so myself!) We made good work of the turkey....and had LOTS of leftovers.

Not everyone got to have turkey...here is little Lexi polishing off her Thanksgiving dinner...sleepy eyes and all. :)

Miscellaneous pics...

2009-12-13T21:23:00.001-08:00

Here are some fun pics that were being held hostage in my camera.

The kids...I think they really look alike in this pic.

Big brother showing off his sister in her pretty party dress.
This picture is for my mom's friend Carol...thanks for the adorable sweater!
(confused look picture #974)

About a month ago, we went to Dad's to watch a husky football game...here is Grandpa and Lexi.

Derek dressed Lexi in her purple "husky outfit" before we went to Dad's, when I changed her diaper before we left the house....I also changed her onesie. He he he he.

You all are in for blog mania....

2009-12-13T21:15:00.000-08:00

Yeah!! I found the cord!! (wait...scratch that....DEREK found the cord!!) Woo Hoo! I have many pictures to share with you, so bare with me. :)

Bath time with Lexi....I have to have some amo for later in life.

Santa Preview

2009-12-07T11:03:00.000-08:00

So I know this is kind of Ghetto, but I took a picture of the Santa picture of Ryan and Lexi, I think it is super cute! Lexi had a really weird look on her face in the pictures where Ryan was smiling at the camera, and this was a close as she got to smiling. We let Ryan pick his favorite and he liked this one. Grandparents and Aunt Katie & Uncle Chad...don't worry, you have non-ghetto copies coming your way....along with LONG overdue school pictures (totally my fault).

More Cuteness

2009-12-07T09:15:00.000-08:00

Yes, once again I have been a slacker on the blog...thanks for pointing it out Katie. :) I have a BUNCH of pictures on the camera, but I seem to always have technical difficulty. By technical difficulty I mean that I can't find the damn cord. I am sure it is in our house somewhere...lord only knows where. You will all have to make due with some text pictures.

This one might be my "new favorite" (I have a new favorite every other day, so take that for what it is...)

Smiling and rolling...her two favorite activities! We have not had an official crawl yet, though it is not far away. There was a "mini-scooch" backwards, but not a crawl.
Since she has started on solid foods, she is packing on the pounds! She is so much more "sturdy" than she was. Can you see the mini faux-hawk in the picture below? This is what entertains me while feeding her. Her favorite foods are (in this order) Oatmeal, Sweet Potatoes (Yams actually) and applesauce. Food on the bad list....carrorts and green beans. She has spit green beans out at both Grandma and Ryan.

Sleeping in the carseat at Costco...notice her holding her blanket...cute!

Here's your update....I will scour the house for the cord...I just need to put my mind to it. For those of you counting....10 DAYS UNTIL KANSAS CITY!!! We are ALL very excited to see the Witt/Gibson family.

A couple of cute pics

2009-11-12T11:18:00.001-08:00

Derek sent these to my phone yesterday when I was at work, I thought they were really cute so I thought I would share with you. Lexi was rolling around the living room...watch out people...mobility is not far away!

She looks like she is going to take off crawling at any time....you can tell by the look in her eye!!

Warm and Fuzzy

2009-11-05T15:29:00.000-08:00

When I was pregnant with Lexi and learning about having a baby, there was a lot of information about cord blood storage. Stem cells from the cord blood is used to treat Leukemia, Lymphoma and other life threatening illnesses. Either you could pay thousands of dollars to have your cord blood stored in case later in life you or your child come down with a life threatening illness or you can donate at no cost your cord blood so that others can benefit from the stem cells in the blood. Derek and I chose to donate the cord blood. When I gave birth, there were probably 10 ish (I really don't remember...mom or derek?) people in the room, one of those people (probably as I was wolfing down my subway sandwich) whisked away the cord blood and it went to the Puget Sound Cord Blood Bank. The following day two people came and took several (again, it's blurry) tubes of blood for testing. Well, a few days after I got home from the hospital I got a call from PSBB and they were missing a couple of the questionairre forms that I was supposed to fill out in the hospital....had I not been a registered Blood Donor, the cord blood would have been thrown away. I answered their questions and the blood was then "eligible" for donation.

Where am I going with this? I got a call today from the Blood Center, they called to let me know that mine and Lexi's blood was matched with a 62 year old man who is suffering from Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma. He told me that there was a high amount of stem cells in it, enough for him to have the treatment. He said that they are not sure the patient is going to have the treatment, but our blood is on hold in case he does. If he doesn't it will go back into inventory for the next patient.

I was very touched by the phone call, my Auntie Celaine has been battling this disease for quite some time now, so it is nice to be able to help someone that is going through what she was/is going through. I always wondered where the blood you donate goes, I know they don't call everyone that donates, but I thought it was a great call to get. Any pregnant ladies out there...donate that cord blood!!

Baby Food

2009-11-01T18:16:00.000-08:00

At 5 months, we started giving Lexi some rice cereal in anticipation of her starting to eat solid foods. She has done really well with the rice cereal and seems to like it. We have been feeding it to her both by the spoon and putting some of it in her bottle....depending on how much time we have at night. The rice cereal has really helped her sleeping and she is getting back to sleeping through the night...though not reliably. This week is her 6 month birthday...can you believe it?? I sure can't! When she got sick this week, we combined her emergency trip to the pediatrician with her 6 month check up. Here are her stats:

Heighth: 25 1/2 inches - 50th Percentile

Weight: 15 pounds 13 ounces - 50th percentile

So...she is basically right where she was at her 4 month check up. Good stuff.

So on to baby food...we will start giving her some "real" food next week....we are not sure what to start with, so any suggestions are appreciated. Lexi has been on breastmilk this whole time until the rice cereal, she has only had formula twice! Before starting nursing if you told me that 6 months into it she would have had maybe 6 ounces TOTAL of formula, I would have thought you were crazy. But, we seem to have gotten in the grove, and pumping at work has worked out well, though as I get busier at work, taking time to pump 3 times during the day is getting more and more difficult! A couple of weekends ago, I got a wild hair to make my own baby food. My main motivation for this is cost savings...those little bottles of pureed baby food can really add up. I also had a coworker that gave me some good suggestions on how to cook it in large batches and put it in ice cube trays and freeze. So check it out! My carrots and green beans seemed to turn out well, I operated the food processor all by myself and everything...Mom aren't you proud?? Actually, you are probably proud that I own a food processor...yes, it was a gift. :)

The final product....

Here are some pictures from feeding Lexi the rice cereal, again with the confused camera face, but cute nonetheless!
Messy face!

Ryan loves feeding Lexi, he has been a great help.

Halloween 2009

2009-11-01T14:04:00.000-08:00

Happy Halloween

It was soooo nice this year to be out in Monroe! The past 3 years Derek and I have had to haul ass to get out to Monroe in time to trick or treat with Ryan. This year, as many of you know, we have been stricken with the Swine Flu. Ryan was out of school all week and even had to miss the Halloween party at school on Friday (trauma for a 4th grader). We were happy to sit at home and hand out candy to all 143 trick or treaters that came to our door!

Here are Derek and Ryan's jack o lanterns, we put them up on our car, they welcomed everyone to our house.

Ryan was a knight and Lexi was a lady bug...this picture turned out sooo cute!

Ryan the knight....he was with his mom that night, so sorry that there aren't more pics of him....he just stopped by quickly for a photo op and then went to get his candy.

I uploaded this picture out of order...and couldn't get it to the end of the blog, but this is the result of a full swine flu halloween.

Playing with Grandma Cass

Lexi sits up all on her own these days.

Everytime we take Lexi's picture, she gets mesmerized by the red light before the flash...so we get the same, confused look every time we take pictures. Right before this, she was happy and smiling...can ya tell??

More confusion...

This was a sneak attack picture before the confused look....she was playing patty cake with Grandma.

Overall, we had a great halloween, we would have liked to feel better, but we are on the mend now and will hopefully be back to full strength next week.

Pumpkin Carving

2009-11-01T13:56:00.001-08:00

Derek and Ryan carved pumpkins last Sunday, I had to work, so they soldiered on without my guidance....much to my delight, the entire mess was cleaned up before I got home! Good Hubby.

The Before Picture:

Ryan carving all on his own this year!

Digging out the guts...

The final products....Ryan's is on the left and Derek's is on the right! Happy Halloween!

San Francisco

2009-10-31T16:24:00.000-07:00

I have been procrastinating this blog because I have SO many pictures from our trip to SF, well, I am really good at procrastinating in general, but this is a good reason. I have way more pictures than are shown here, but this is a good start. We stayed for 3 nights at my old hotel, the Hyatt Regency San Francisco, then one night at the Hyatt at Fisherman's Wharf. It was really fun to show Derek and Lexi the city that I lived in for 2 years. We did quite a bit of sight seeing and went to Brenda & Chris' wedding. The trip was awesome! Here are some highlights

Of course....a trolley ride

Lombard Street - the crookedest street in the world...you can see Coit tower in the back ground. The weather was awesome the entire weekend.
Derek and Lexi getting ready for the trolley ride....Grandma Cass had got her this cute flower sweat shirt, the first time Lexi wore it, we laughed because the hood was huge. Well, the huge hood came in handy, in one day we did a ton of sight seeing and it was breezy, so we would just put her huge hood on when it got cold.

The stinky sea lions at Pier 39. They are so fun to sit and watch, but dang to they smell bad!!

Derek steering the ship with Alcatraz in the background.

Lexi in the Bjorn, we got an umbrella stroller for the trip, and it proved worthless....it was too short for both of us to push. The bjorn on the other hand worked well, we just took turns. :)

Fisherman's Wharf

Lexi and I at the Wharf

Below is the "Death Star", my old stomping grounds at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco.

Derek and Lexi on the balcony of our suite

Congratulations Brenda & Chris!!

2009-10-17T15:20:00.000-07:00

Saturday October 3rd was the day my good friend Brenda got married to Chris, in Walnut Creek California. Derek, Lexi and I trekked (well...flew) down for a long weekend. We survived the plane ride, Lexi was good and didn't really cry at all! Phew! I was worried, but as always, she did awesome. We stayed at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco, the hotel I started my career at. My friend Allison works there now and took great care of us and put us in a beautiful suite. More about the trip in the next blog...this is all about the wedding!

Me and the beautiful bride, she looked fantastic!

Below is Lexi all dolled up and ready for the ceremony. Brenda picked out the outfit for Lexi, it was the shower gift she gave me before she was born. Doesn't she look cute?? :)

Lexi was really "chatty" during the ceremony, so Derek took her off to the side, I thought this was a great picture of them talking to each other.

Lexi and I waiting for the bride! I think she is talking...hence the crazy smile.

Daddy and Lexi waiting for the ceremony to start.

Here comes the bride.....

With the outdoor ceremony, it was really hard to hear...I actually don't think I heard any of it, but you don't have to hear to know that they are in love and Brennie is going in for a kiss here!

You can see in the picture above, the red head is Brenda's good friend Pamela, she married them! I thought that was really cool.

The ceremony was in a park about a block or so away from Brenda's parents house. After the ceremony, a bagpiper popped out from behind a tree and started playing! He then led the the guests down the street to Paula and Hardy's house....I thought it was a genius way to get everyone from point A to point B.

Here is the bagpipper at the bottom of Paula & Hardy's driveway.

The reception was at Brenda's parents house, they had over 100 people in their backyard for a catered dinner...it was beautiful! They had lights and lanters around the backyard, as well as heaters as it was a bit more chilly than normal. Everyone had a blast and warmed up with wine!

Hardy gave a great toast...I think my Dad had the intentions of a similar toast at our wedding....but fell short with the execution. :)

Brenda & Chris

This is "Cousin Mike"....he insisted on holding Lexi so Derek and I could dance and she promptly fell asleep on him. We were reassured that Cousin Mike was a great guy and from what we saw he was...but we still have no idea whose Cousin he is.

Mom - you would be proud, we packed her pajmas for the BART ride home, she had just started to fall asleep when we stopped near Berkley and a bunch of rowdy Cal/USC fans got on the train...she just hung out and sucked her thumb. :)

Overall, we had a great trip! I will post more about the trip later, but wanted to fill everyone in on the wedding. Congratulations Brenda, I am so excited for you and your new family! Welcome to being a stepmom as well!

Pullman Visit

2009-10-08T22:08:00.000-07:00

For our anniversary, Derek gave me a trip to Pullman! Every year, I kept telling Derek how much I wanted to take him to Pullman for a football game....so he decided that this would be a good time! I hadn't been to Pullman in 10 years...almost to the day! :) It was so much fun to go back! Everyone kept telling me how different Pullman is....I didn't really think so. Some of the names on the doors have changed, and there are more doors, but Pullman is still Pullman. It was great to be back to in my old home town.

This was our first trip away from Lexi over night. She spent the night with Grandma Cass, they had a good time together....Lexi slept more than Grandma, but they had a good time. I thought I was very well behaved, only checked in a few times. Derek and I got some much needed time away.

Here we are before the football game on top of the library.

Good ole Martin Stadium!
Derek dressed up in his Coug gear...purchased (of course) from the Wal Mart in Moscow. By the way, we are in a BAR inside of the CUB....on campus. That is a cool new change. :)

The game was tragically boring, the Cougs are just terrible, so in true Coug form, we left after the 3rd quarter and went to the Coug to continue Beerfest '09!

Derek and I at the Coug....pardon the hair, it was a misty rain during the game which did not nice things to my hair.

I love this building on the way to Pullman....cougar country!!!

It was fun to take Derek through the rolling hills of the Palouse!

Picture Texts

2009-09-29T08:53:00.001-07:00

Since I have been back to work, Derek has been watching Lexi for part of the day and she has been going to daycare for part of the day. I miss Lexi a lot during the day, so Derek sends me a picture text each day so I can see what they are up to and what she is wearing, and keeps me in the loop with the little one each day. Some of them are sideways, and I honestly just don't have the time to mess around trying to fix it...so turn your head to the side and enjoy!!

Here is Lexi on the changing table, she loves playing with her feet these days.

Lexi sitting up!! OMG...how is this happening already?? She can sit up for about 2 minutes on her own before she falls over. (check out the fat rolls!!)
Lexi smiling at her lady bug mobile. :)

Lexi and Daddy watching golf...

Lexi sitting up again!

One of the homemade onesie from my shower...Hyatt Baby. :)

I love this picture, she looks so big! Ignore the huge snot bubble coming out of her nose...the side effect of her first cold. :(

Lexi looking cross eyed (it is getting better though) and wearing her Washington State University bib.

Daddy entertaining himself by putting his Seahawks hat on Lexi backwards...I love the cheeks in this pic.

Another great view of the cheeks and her cute outfit.

Catching up...

2009-09-18T08:50:00.000-07:00

I had quite a few pictures from Labor day weekend, so I wanted to share them with you...below is one of the picture texts that Derek sends me daily when I am at work. Not bad for a camera phone. :)

My Dad and Judy came out one evening to take us to the Evergreen State Fair that is in Monroe, Dad likes to eat his way through all of the booths and leave with a stomach ache. I was surprised when he wanted to put on the Baby Bjorn and carry Lexi around. She was very content to hang out with Grandpa...she slept most of the time! She was even able to sleep through Grandpa dripping ice cream all over himself and her cougar onesie.
Derek and Ryan going on one of the rides.

Ryan and I went on the Nitro....I THOROUGHLY embarrassed Ryan by screaming and laughing the whole time...the ride was a little scarier than I thought it was going to be...

Derek and I celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary on September 2nd. When we moved into our house in Monroe, Derek stated that he wanted a "Home Sweet Home" welcome matt to make the house complete....well I went online and found a place to personalize a welcome matt...I think it turned out great!

Grandma Cass babysat Lexi so we could have a night out on the town, we went to our favorite restaurant "That's Amore" where we had our rehearsal dinner. Below is the view from the restaurant...not too shabby! Derek got us tickets to go watch the cougars play in Pullman tomorrow, we are very excited for the trip...there will definitely be a blog about that one.

Sunday of Labor day weekend we went up to Jay and Shelley's house for a BBQ, it was so nice to catch up with our family and introduce Lexi to everyone. Below is Roger holding Lexi.

And Roger's wife Dot holding Lexi....I learned that Roger and Dot are avid blog readers...thanks for checking in on us, it was great to see you and hope to get together again soon!

Bye Uncle Chad!

2009-09-17T08:24:00.000-07:00

Since July26th, we have had our first houseguest....Uncle Chad! He was here filming a movie called "The Details", starring Tobey Maguire, Laura Linney and Dennis Haysbert. It was so great to have Chad here for an extended visit, he got to spend some time with Derek and got a chance to meet Lexi and hang out with Ryan for a while. How did I manage to go 7 weeks without getting a picture of all of them together? Hmmm...maybe I am not as good of a photographer as I thought. :)

People kept asking me if it was hard having a houseguest for that long....Chad goes down as the world's best houseguest, he was super clean and was never around! We are officially calling our guest room "Chad's room", he has been there basically since day 1, so the room is all his. He definitely works very hard at what he does, and that comes with long hours, we barely saw him. Below is a picture that was in the Seattle Times...Chad hanging out with Tobey Maguire.Chad....it was great having you, we will miss you, but I know that Katye is ready to have you home. You are welcome back anytime!

Lots of action at the Witt household...

2009-09-16T09:19:00.000-07:00

There is a lot of action going on in the Witt household these days! Last Saturday at Grandpa Roger's house, Lexi rolled over from back to front for the first time! When she first rolled over from front to back, she did it once, then didn't do it again for a few months, so I wasn't quite prepared for her to want to roll over ALL THE TIME! So last night she rolled over several times and I decided I had to catch it on video...surprisingly each of these videos only needed one take!

Derek and Lexi have been able to spend lots of time together, they play a lot...Derek has found fun and exciting ways to entertain her....here is her giggling. :)

4 Month Update

2009-09-11T08:13:00.000-07:00

Lexi had her 4 month Dr. appointment yesterday, so I KNOW that you are all just dying to get the stats....so here they are!

Height - 24 1/2 inches - 55th percentile

Weight - 13 pounds 11 ounces - 50th percentile

We are pretty happy with these stats, they are a good improvement from her 2 month check up. I think that having Lexi get a bottle while I am at work has really helped beef her up, she gets 3 or 4 five ounce bottles while I am at work, plus her morning and evening feedings from me.

Lexi is at a really fun age...though so far I think all of her stages have been pretty fun! Some highlights:

~She is smiling all the time

~She likes to grab her feet and pull them up

~She has her thumb! Not sure what to do with it, but she found it!

~She giggles out loud...one of the cutest things I have ever seen!

~Lexi give "mooches", big ole open mouth kisses. She even make a sound when she does it

~We are up to size 3 diapers at Costco!

~3 month size clothes are starting to become a thing of the past...3-6 month size are fitting well, but the 6th month size are still a bit big.

~She has figured out that she can arch her back to try to get out of her bumbo when she is tired of sitting in it....but generally she is quite happy in the bumbo.

~She pretty much sleeps through the night, though that is likely to change in the next month or two as she gets closer to eating solid foods

~Grandpa Roger carried Lexi around in her Baby Bjorn at the Evergreen State Fair, she had so much fun, she slept through most of it.

~Lexi loves spending the days with her Daddy, they have really bonded with this time together, it is precious to watch.

~She has a voice! When she wants it to be, it is quite loud.

~Lexi doesn't really like naps, we have been able to get her to fall asleep in her crib a few times, but she would much prefer that you hold her...lol.

~She has rolled over a few times, but nothing consistently....it seems like we are getting very close though.

~Lexi has started taking baths in the regular tub...with just a little water, the first time I put her in there, the facial expression was priceless! Terrified...yet happy! :)

~Lexi really doesn't care for binkies...she rarely takes them. Derek picked her up from Daycare one day and there she was...sucking on a binkie. Apparently she will only take them from Chris our Daycare lady. Hmmmmm weird. I have even tried again since then...still no binkie.

~Lexi still spits up...A LOT...the Doctor said it isn't anything to worry about since it doesn't make her upset or look like she is in any pain. It is just annoying to have spit up EVERYWHERE! :)

~Lexi loves her big brother and vice versa, Ryan carries her around and she LOVES it. He is so good with her, and you can tell she adores him too.

That is what is going on in our world....Lexi sure is growing up fast! A few things we are looking foward to in the next month are: Derek and I are headed to Pullman for the Cougar football game on the 19th! This will be my first trip back in 10 years! This will also be our first overnight trip without Lexi, good luck Grandma!! The first weekend in October we are headed to San Francisco to go to my good friend Brenda's wedding, we are very much looking forward to it. Lexi is going with us and it will be her first airplane trip...cross your fingers for us and everyone on the plane.

9/11

2009-09-11T08:08:00.000-07:00

I looked back on the blog that I did last year on 9/11 and thought that was a pretty good representation about how I feel about this day....check it out here.

2 days ago, I was in the lobby of the hotel and saw a new security guard that I haven't met before. Having been off for 3 months, this is no surprise. I introduced myself to the young man and we chatted it up about various things including my past hotels. When I told him about working in NYC, he asked about 9/11, he then informed me that HE WAS IN THE 5TH GRADE when 9/11 happened. Has it really been that long? How can someone that age be employed by the Hyatt?? :) It made me laugh.

God Bless America, never forget 9/11/2001

Take me out to the ballgame....

2009-09-04T11:56:00.001-07:00

I can't believe that my FIRST game of the year was in August! This was the first time in 5 years that I have not been at the home opener for the Mariners...guess I took most of the season off as well! Thanks to Grandpa Mike, we had 4 tickets to the Mariners / Royals game on Sunday, August 30th. Uncle Chad was supposed to go with us, but they changed his schedule at work, so Ryan got to bring his friend Gunner from his baseball team. It was also Lexi's first baseball game!

We got to the game nice and early, here are Gunner and Ryan, aka Griffey and Greinke! Gunner did decide he should support Ryan and sported a KC visor!

How cute is this pic??

Since we got there early, Ryan got to go watch Greinke warm up, Ryan was in Awe!

We were approached by a very nice guest services person in his segway and he told me that their was a "mothers lounge" at Safeco, so Lexi and I had some privacy so I could feed her, that was a really nice surprise. They also gave us a certificate to commemorate her first baseball game! Cool!

"Evil Uncle Scottie" and his girlfriend Erin came to the game, luckily, the seats behind us were empty so we just spread out. Derek's friend Butch joined us as well, we haven't seen them in a while, so it was great to catch up!

Lexi did great at the game! She rode in the baby bjorn for a while, had some lunch, then took in the sites and promptly fell asleep. When she was awake, she got to hang out with Ryan for a while, she LOVES it when he holds her. Most Mom's would be mortified as he jumbles her all around, but she never cries when he holds her...no matter how bouncy he is. :) Ryan is very sweet with her!

Lexi constantly having her hands in her face/mouth.

The whole gang...Ryan, Gunner, Lexi and Derek, in the row behind them is Butch, Erin and Scottie!

That Sunday was "run around the bases" day at Safeco, so Derek took Gunner and Ryan down on the field and they got to run around the bases...they thought that was very cool!! (plus it was Ken Griffey Jr. Backpack day, so the 3 kids all got backpacks...Lexi will have to grow into hers)

Me and Lexi....just an update on the thumb....she has found it, she can consistently get it into her mouth, but it is usually followed either by the rest of her hand and fingers or gagging sounds...lol. She doesn't really know what to do with it...and in all honesty, she has started focusing on her feet, she grabs them both and holds them up while you change her. It's really cute!

Here they are after running the bases! A great time was had by everyone! They boys also got certificates saying they got to run around the bases, Safeco is on the ball with the certificates...lol.

Thanks again Mike for the tickets, we had a blast! I do have videos of the base running and Lexi's first 7th inning stretch, but those will be in another post.

The joys of photgraphing kids....

2009-09-01T08:56:00.000-07:00

Ryan had his friend Gunner over to the house this weekend and we got tickets (thanks Grandpa Mike!) for the Royals / Mariners game on Sunday afternoon. We got the kids all dressed up...Ryan in his Greinke jersey and Lexi in her KC onesie (with Mariner sweatshirt) and it came time to take some pictures before we left the house. Trying to get 2 or 3 kids to look in the same direction is nearly impossible....here are my attempts..

#1 - Ryan looking at the camera, Gunner and Lexi looking at Derek

#2 - Ryan looking at camera, Gunner and Lexi looking at Derek....again
#3 - Gunner looking at camera - Ryan and Lexi looking at Derek

#4 - Ryan looking at camera, Lexi trying to eat Ryan's hand

#5 - JACKPOT!! All three kids looking at the camera! Woo hoo!

I have more pics from the game...will update again soon....gotta get back to work... :)

Ryan being goofy!

2009-08-28T20:28:00.000-07:00

I absolutely love this video....the things a 9 year old will do to keep himself occupied while he thinks no one is watching him!

More Neskowin Pictures

2009-08-28T20:18:00.001-07:00

These are some more pictures from our vacation......

Great pic of Grandma and Lexi

Her eyes sure are blue...we are wondering if they are going to stay that way!
Below is a great smile picture...she has actually giggled out loud a couple of times, we haven't caught it on video yet, but it's not far away!

Ryan warming up after swimming in the creek...

At the creek

Chubby Cheeks

Vacation to Neskowin, Oregon- guest blog by Lexi Witt!

2009-08-23T11:41:00.000-07:00

The first week of August, I got to take my first vacation! We drove down to the Oregon coast to a place called Neskowin, a place where Mommy's family has been going for many many years. I was really good in the car ride down with Mommy and Grandma, I didn't cry at all until we got to 10 minutes outside of Neskowin, then I decided I was tired of being in the car and hungry, so I made mommy pull over and give me a snack.

Mommy's family has been coming here for a long time, I am at least the 4th generation to come to Neskowin, I got to hear all the stories that Mommy's family has....Grandpa Roger and Frank almost drowning behind proposal rock, the under wear and horse poop song, trips to the creek, jumping waves,and golfing on the golf course....my favorite was the song about Mommy barfing pink...and yellow too...and in the sand. I can relate to that one the most...I spit up A LOT!

This is where we stayed - The breakers

I got to see proposal rock for the first time, it was really big!

For the most part our vacation was really relaxing, Mommy rembered my swing, so I got to hang out in that when I wasn't making people hold me all the time. (I can be demanding like that!).

Mommy and I did some walking on the beach while Daddy and Ryan jumped waves in the ocean. I can't wait until I am big like Ryan and can go in the ocean...it did look really cold though!!

I got to spend a lot of time in my Baby Bjorn, I am now big enough to face out, so I could see everything going by, that was really cool. Most of the time though, the bouncing put me right to sleep!
Being the newest member of the family, lots of people wanted to take pictures of me, it was rough....but I put up with it. :)

Ever since I was really little (at Ryan's baseball game when I was 2 weeks old), when I go out in the sun, my sunglasses protect my eyes....most babies my age hate wearing things on their faces...I like them! They make my eyes feel better. I think I am actually sleeping in this picture.

I like this picture of my family, Mommy doesn't like it because she didn't do her hair, but all four of us are in it and we are at the beach. I was trying to tell Ryan something, so I wasn't looking at the camera (I also might have been sleeping).

Another of my model shots....

Grandma's friend Nancy joined us for part of the week, they relaxed and Grandma read some books and Nancy did crossword puzzles and helped Ryan with his jigsaw puzzle.

Overall, we had a nice relaxing time, it was the last week before Mommy had to go back to work. We all took lots of naps.....here is me napping with Daddy...look how big I am getting!!

And here is me napping with Grandma...

Ryan had a great time at the beach with us as well, he was really nice to me, he carried me around, took lots of pictures and videos of me...so many Mommy had to delete some of them. Grandma also took Ryan to the Tilamook cheese factory and they got to go on a tour and taste ice cream and cheese.....I am jealous, all I get to eat is milk. One cool thing that happened was that Ryan lost another tooth! I don't even have teeth yet, and he is losing them! He got $2 from this lady called the tooth fairy! I am hoping some day I will get $2 from her for my teeth too!

Lexi Talking

2009-08-22T21:55:00.000-07:00

While we were down in Neskowin on the Oregon Coast, she began to really coo and talk more....none of it intelligible, but super cute nonetheless!

(pardon the really dorky noises that I am making)

The Heat Wave...

2009-08-22T20:40:00.000-07:00

Since it has been so long since I have blogged....we have to go back about a month. :) As all that are in the Seattle area know, we had a heat wave the last week of July. It was in the mid to upper 90's for almost a week. Here is how we kept cool....

Whiskey Tango Bravo - aka. White Trash Baby! The no clothes diaper is definitely a little white trash, but it was too damn hot for clothes! Lexi actually slept pretty well that week, the heat wore her out!
I would try to keep Lexi cool by putting cold wash clothes on her head....she seemed to like it!
One day, I decided to take Ryan and Lexi to the movie "G-Force", I was completely OVER the heat. I know it was a risky move taking a 3 month old to a movie, I figured Ryan could watch the movie and Lexi and I would walk around the air conditioned lobby if she got fussy. So I fed her for the first 30-40 minutes of the movie, no problems, then I sat her up on my lap and she watched the entire rest of the movie...totally fascinated...no fussing! I was stunned and very pleased, the movie was really cute (and in 3D). It turned out to be a great air conditioned day! I got the most sought after comment any parent can hope for from another movie goer...."Was that baby in here the whole time?? I had no idea!" Good job Lexi, now let's just hope we get the same comments when we go on our first airplane in October!

New Schedule

2009-08-21T09:03:00.000-07:00

With our move to Monroe, we have adapted to a new schedule....on several fronts:

Obviously with my job in downtown Seattle, my commute has changed. I leave the house at 6:50am, drive to Woodinville, then use the park n' ride (with my free bus pass...thank you "you-know-who"!) to take the 311 bus to downtown Seattle, I walk in the door to the Hyatt at 8:00am on the dot. This is a great bus route, it make a couple of random stops in Woodinville after the PNR and then it only stops 4 times before getting downtown and they are all pretty quick freeway stops. That part of my commute is only about 5 minutes longer than my commute from Shoreline. I think for as many miles as I am traveling, the commute time is not as bad as it possibly could be. The bus is not packed, there is always a place to sit, and there are no crazy people like on the 358 "Crazy Train". Overall, I am pretty happy with the commute.

Before we moved out to Monroe, Derek was able to see Ryan every other weekend, that is 4 days a month...that is just not enough. This week we started our new schedule...Monday & Tuesday nights Ryan stayed with his Mom, Wednesday & Thursday nights he stayed with us, then Friday, Saturday and Sunday night he stays with his Mom. Next week it is opposite, M/T with us, W/Th with his Mom, then F/Sa/Su with us. You add it all up (but given I went to WSU, I won't), and that is WAY more than 4 days a month. I am so happy that they get to spend all of this time together, it has also been great to see him bond with Lexi...he takes such great care of her (he even got pooped on this week! That is a whole other story!). Wednesday night, Derek and Ryan went to a basketball open gym that is put on at Monroe HS for 4-8th graders and they got to play some hoops together. Last night they went to a baseball field and pitched and hit together. While I know there are some skeptics out there about our move, it is so worth it to be a bigger and more active part of Ryan's life and be able to be close by to watch him grow up. We are both so happy with our new neighborhood and our new life.

Derek starts a new job this week...he is going to be working for a company called Xippa, he will be working with one of his old colleagues from Xerox. Basically they review copier leases and find ways to save companies money on their document management services. He will be working from home which gives us quite a bit of flexibility with Lexi. Lexi will be going to daycare part time after Labor day, Ryan's Aunt Chris runs a daycare out of her house and Lexi will be going there. Chris lives approximately 10 houses away from us, I have met her several times and have been to her house, I know and trust that she will take great care of our little baby (at a reasonable rate!!!).

Derek has also taken the Asst. Varsity/Head JV Boys Basketball coaching job at Woodinville High School. It will be a big change for Derek to go from coaching college to HS, but he will be back coaching and doing what he loves. For Derek to continue at the college level, we would have had to move out of Washington and we decided that was not the best move for our family at this time. Plus, coaching the HS kids will also help promote the basketball Academy that Derek and Butch started, so they will be able to get some more kids involved.

So I thought this was going to be a short sweet update, but I kind of rambled on...sorry, I know you missed my bloggging, so I am assuming you will put up with it being too long. :) Hopefully you will being seeing pictures by the end of the weekend!

Slacker

2009-08-18T08:51:00.000-07:00

I know....I know...I am a total blog slacker. A lot has happened in the past month that I need to update you all on.....but just haven't had time....plus I can't find the cord that connects my camera to the computer. I am sure it is in our house somewhere....just don't know where. I will do my darndest to find it this weekend and will hopefully have pictures and stories for you by the end of the weekend. :)

Getting Closer....

2009-07-19T11:15:00.001-07:00

Those of you who are loyal blog followers know that Lexi has been desperately trying to find her thumb....well, she is still on that mission! She has had so many close calls, but has yet to get her thumb in her mouth and keep it there. When you have a 2 1/2 month old, these are the things that keep parents entertained. Many times, she has her thumb right next to her mouth and just folds it under her pointer finger...just as she is about to put it in her mouth. Here are some more examples of her trying to get her thumb.

This attempt went wide left

This is the double handed approach.....so close!

And she shorted it.....but at least her thumb is out and ready to go!

(Disclaimer: we do not let her sleep with all these covers...this was a supervised nap!!)

Just in case you were wondering...

2009-07-14T20:17:00.001-07:00

Lexi looks just like her Daddy! What a Daddy's girl!

Derek in 1972. So Cute. :)

Kickball Saturday!

2009-07-11T20:22:00.000-07:00

Derek got a call from Scottie late Friday that his kickball team (yes....I said kickball...like from 5th grade) was short a player for the next day. We thought that this was a regular league game, but we were sadly mistaken! This was actually a tournament, they used 6 fields around Greenlake and had 50 teams involved! We didn't know that this was such a big deal....the tournament was run by Underdog sports, which also has something called "drinks on the links" which is miniature golf with booze...lol. The tournament was sponsored by some Greenlake bars, and there was a party bus that took people around to different bars and then to their kickball games....a recipe for total entertainment! At one point, I was watching a game that had the right fielder laying down and the left fielder holding an inflatable shark! I also saw a dude in gold spandex short shorts with another guy wearing a coconut bra!! We were very well behaved compared to everyone else!

This is Derek holding down the fort in Center field...

Scottie after a throw...
Kickin it...

This is Derek's at bat...

Scottie's Single....

This should be nominated for Sportscenter's Top 10....it is definitely a web gem!!

We had a great day in the sun doing something totally random and super fun!! Lexi was a trooper with mommy...we had to take a few breaks and sit in the air conditioned car, but had a blast!

Kansas City Outfit

2009-07-11T20:14:00.000-07:00

Lexi has a super cute KC Royals outfit (thanks Grandpa Mike and Vonda!!), she is almost big enough to fit into it, so I thought I would take some pics (even got a smile!!). I especially like the baseball in the shape of a heart on her butt....

Still trying to get that darn thumb!!
The bum shot...the outfit is still a little big, but it's never too early to start rooting for those Royals.....right Dad and Grandpa??

2 Month Check Up

2009-07-08T16:18:00.000-07:00

Lexi had her 2 month appointment today! We switched Pediatrician's, one - because we are moving and two - because we didn't like the first one. This office was WAY better than the first, and the Nurse Practitioner was great to meet with. So here are the stats:

Height - 22 1/2 inches - 50th Percentile

Weight - 9lbs 15 oz - 25th Percentile

So we are back to monitoring her weight....BOO! We have to get her started on a feeding schedule and adding more pumped bottles after she finishes with me. UGH! I thought we had gotten past the weight issue, but I guess not.

On a side note, Lexi rolled over again today...twice! Once at home and once at the Doctor's office (show off!) I tried to get a video of it, and she just wouldn't cooperate, so I got a video of her being happy and smiley....enjoy!

Remembering Michael Jackson

2009-07-07T09:27:00.000-07:00

So I know that Michael Jackson turned into kind of a freak, but watching the Memorial services today I thought back to my "Michael Jackson Moments".

Probably the most memorable MJ moment came from his song "we are the world" that he participated in alog with a bunch of other artists. It was circa 1987, the Lloyd family and the Clarke family were on vacation together in Black Butte Oregon. The Kids in the family, Katie and I for the Lloyd's and Monika and Gavin for the Clarke's had planned a beautiful choreographed lip synch to "we are the world". Katie - if you have a picture of our outfit's, please send it to me, because you really need a visual for how horrible these were....shiny lavender/purple short shors, and mesh...yes I said MESH white tops. We performed our lip synch/dance several times for our parents, Gavin was not really into it, so he sat behind us on the floor and was our "light guy", in that he had to reach up and turn on/off the light. Well as the youngest of the group, he didn't exactly do a great job and that warranted a whack in the head by his big sister and a fight ensued where Gavin accused Monika of giving him a bald spot. Mom/Dad...I hope you got to have a lot of cocktails before watching that tragic display of entertainment.

Fast forward to 2001, I was supposed to be living in New York City for a month doing a project for the Hyatt, well, I decided to accept a job and move to NYC so I had moved into the hotel from my friends apartment until my belongings moved from San Francisco. One of the doorman at the hotel said to me one day "I have a Michael Jackson ticket for sale for his 30th anniversary concert at Madison Square Garden..are you interested?" I really was not a huge MJ fan (see story above...I was traumatized), but there were a lot of big names that would be doing tribute numbers - including MJ himself. The concert ran on 2 nights, September 9th and September 10th. Well, I heard that those kind New Yorkers were upset at the first concert because of long set changes between acts, so they made some changes and added video vignets in between acts for the night I went. The video vignets were actually really cool, because they showed MJ in the 1980's and what a world pop star he was and the charities that he was involved in and the people that he was helping. The concert was really cool, I had total nosebleed seats that were practically behind the stage, so I wandered around and snaked a seat just above the floor and sat there the whole time! The picture above is from the concert, the highlight was that MJ split his pants doing the splits. LOL. I left the concert late that night, and had a very peaceful feeling after watching all of those videos about healing the world etc. etc. I had to work at 6am the next day, September 11, 2001. I couldn't help but get caught up in the irony of the change a day made...we went from healing the world to one of the most tragic days in our Country's history.

Happy 4th of July!

2009-07-06T11:55:00.001-07:00

Happy 4th of July everyone! We celebrated with another impromptu road trip to see the Stewart family in Port Angeles. We took the ferry out Saturday morning (had no wait!) and came back Sunday night. We met up with Pete and the family out at Eli's baseball tournament and caught up with some old Port Angeles friends.

I was finally able to catch a Lexi smile!

I think she looks alot like Derek in this picture...notice her cute 4th of july outfit?
Ryan carried Lexi around in the baby bjorn....they both loved it! Lexi fell fast asleep. :)

Ryan and the kids playing at the beach where we went to BBQ and watch the fireworks.

The view of the Port Angeles pier...we had front row seats for the fireworks from a private beach.

Pretty picture of the sunset

Road Trip!!

2009-06-29T15:38:00.001-07:00

Derek and I were sitting in the living room Friday and he said to me "Did you know that hoopfest is going on in Spokane?" I said "Do you want to go?"....and we both looked at each other...I said..."Let me call Charlotte". Charlotte was very enthusiastic about us coming to visit and being able to stay with her, so we packed up and left 2 hours later. I didn't realize how much I needed to get out of the house, I have been cooped up here for 7 weeks...actually more than that if you count bed rest!

This is the lovely view of Eastern Washington on Highway 2, we took this route to avoid traffic. Lexi did awesome on the car ride, she slept basically the entire time, excpet to eat in Wenatchee!

My road trip partner! I think the key to a good marriage is being able to travel well together....we had such a great time, even though we were just hanging out together in the car. We found a great Classic Rock station on the radio and listened to it both ways....those that know Derek know he has a love of rap music, I didn't know he had a thing for classic rock....he knew most of the songs and insisted on singing them for me....I could have done without the singing...lol.

Below is just a small taste of what Hoopfest is...there were over 26,000 participants in the tournament in all kinds of age brackets and skill levels. They had most of the downtown Spokane streets blocked off with half court basketball courts painted on them. It was fun to see, they also have some festival type booths with food etc. around the park. We were able to see some of Derek's former players in their games, which was fun. We had Lexi in her stroller and while it was crowded, it was manageable and Lexi was a trooper.

Lexi in her cute floppy hat...had to protect her from the sun. :)

Dad and Lexi (who was busily blowing bubbles)

Mom and Lexi

Sunday morning we met up with our good friend Linda for breakfast. We went to a restaurant called the Old European, which I know from my days in Pullman...I had no idea they had more than one. It was just as good as I remember. It was great to see Linda and introduce her to Miss Lexi.

Linda and Lexi...note Lexi is still trying to get her thumb

From breakfast on Sunday we began the trek home, this is Lexi in her car seat ready to go...looking very cute in her strawberry hat that Mom got her at the Flower and Garden show in Seattle.
We decided to go back via Highway 2 again, since it was such a pretty drive and the traffic wasn't too crazy. We made a stop on the way home to introduce Lexi to my Auntie Celaine and Uncle Tom since they live in Cashmere...right on the way home.

Below is Lexi trying to get her thumb again!

Auntie Celaine and Lexi

And Uncle Tom....

It was a great weekend, thanks Derek for getting me out of the house and being spontaneous. Thanks also to Charlotte, Justin and Caden for letting us invade your house on such short notice!

Lexi'smission

2009-06-26T11:30:00.000-07:00

Lexi has been on a serious mission to find her thumb and get it to stay in her mouth!! This has been entertaining for me...lol. It is so cute because she concentrates SO HARD to try to get it in there.

Step #1 - Concentrate really hard and stare at fist!

Step #2 - Attempt the combo move of bringing hand towards head / diving head towards hand....this usually results in the thumb landing just outside of her mouth as noted below.

Step #3 - Try, try, and try again and success is in your future!! (notice the look of sheer concentration on her face)

Moving...

2009-06-26T10:23:00.000-07:00

It seems as if our lives are always changing! Derek and I made the decision that we need to move again...the house we are in won't work for the winter time. When we moved in our landlord told us that the daylight basement was the "warmest in the winter and coolest in the summer", so we put our master bedroom down there, along with Lexi's nursery.....big mistake...in the winter it was FREEZING!! We can't stay there with Lexi for the next year and our lease is up at the end of July....soooo we decided to move.

The next question was where to move...we talked to Ryan's mom and she agreed that if we moved out to Monroe, we would be able to have 50/50 custody of Ryan, having him 3 days a week one week and 4 days a week the next. This is the same schedule that her step children are on, so it seems to work for everyone. The commute is going to be a bit longer for me, but I am hoping to transfer to the Hyatt in Bellevue in the next year or so, so that will cut down on the commute a bit.

We found a great house to rent in a very family friendly neighborhood in Monroe...pictures below!

Here are the exterior shots...pardon the trash cans...it was garbage day! Notice that there are plenty of places for my husband "aka Clark Griswold" to hang Christmas lights!

Below is the kitchen, with a full size stove mom! :) My last two places of residence have had 3/4 sized stoves...much to Mom's dismay.

Below is the Living room, which we are debating making the master bedroom...we will have to see!

Back Patio leading into the living room/master bedroom.

Backyard, on the other side of the fence is a greenbelt/walking trail.

What we can't do in our backyard, there is a park about 20 yards away from our house with lots of grass and slides...perfect to entertain Lexi when she gets a little bigger.

Pictures on demand...

2009-06-23T17:23:00.001-07:00

I have been harrassed about not putting pictures of Lexi up for a while....the reason for that is that...well....we haven't really taken any! LOL....we took so many pictures when we had family in town that we have kind of forgotten to take pictures! Not only that, but I realized that I did not have ANY pictures of me and Lexi together! So we took care of that at the BBQ that we went to at Scottie's "girlfriend du jour's" house. :) I love her outfit in this picture, I think she looks like a little elf.

Below are a bunch of pictures that we took trying to get Lexi to smile, she has been much more animated and active lately. Here are a bunch of pics of the little lady.

A little tongue action...lol.

The one below is the closest we got to a smile!

Yawn!

Lexi and Daddy...

OK...the reason for the picture below is that Derek and I are surprised at how LONG Lexi is! The picture is a good representation of how long she is....but it looks like Ryan is torturing her....I can assure you that is not the case!!

This is Lexi after her bath in her "too cute" bath towel with hoodie (thanks Auntie Katie....this was "Peanut's" first present!).

Lexi is still a bit cross eyed, I am wondering how long that will last.

This was at one of Ryan's baseball games when Grandma Witt was here.

Below is Lexi having "tummy time", the video is kind of boring, but she is pretty alert (and not crying), so I thought you could all see her in "action".

Back to blogging...

2009-06-23T17:07:00.000-07:00

Sorry....I have been a blog slacker...here are some updates!

This is what happens when a 9 year old is left alone with the camera....what a goof ball!

Ryan left on Sunday to head to Kansas City to see his Grandma and Grandpa, this was his first trip on the airplane BY HIMSELF! We kept asking Ryan if he was nervous and he always said...no no no....but then on the way to the airport he thought he was going to be sick and asked Derek to pull over...lol. He never admitted to nerves, but we are pretty sure that was it. :) Ryan was not the only one who was nervous....both his Dad and his Mom were quite anxious about him travelling by himself. He made it safely, and is currently having a blast being spoiled by Grandma and Grandpa!

Happy Weight Gain Lexi!

2009-06-11T14:09:00.000-07:00

I had to return something to the hospital today so we swung by to see Mom (and let her show off her Granddaughter to her friends) and get Lexi's weight for the week....and good news, she gained 10 ounces in 7 days and is up past her birth weight to 8lbs and 11 ounces! Yeah! Good job Lexi girl! The past two weeks, she gained only 5 ounces each week, so we were very happy with the progress.....now I can move on and worry about something else...lol.

One month in...

2009-06-10T11:09:00.001-07:00

Lexi is one month old, so I thought I would give you an overview of our month as a family of four. :)

~Lexi attended 4 little league games watching big brother play in the playoffs.
~She was originally 8lbs 3 oz, and lost quite a bit of weight, down to 7lbs 4 ounces. Last Thursday she was back up to 8lbs 1 oz, hopefully at her weigh in tomorrow she will be back up to her birth weight.
~Lexi loves baths! She is quite content lounging in the "tub" (aka the kitchen sink), and taking it all in.
~Her eyes are currently blue, but that can change for up to a year....I think.
~Lexi has gotten to meet all of her Grandparents! She has met Auntie Katie and Uncle Rob.....just have Uncle Chad and Auntie Katye to go!
~Lexi had her first photo shoot.
~Lexi has pretty good neck strength, she can lift her head up pretty good and move it from side to side when she is laying on her stomach.
~Lexi rolled over from her stomach to her back! I thought it was a fluke until she did it again! :)
~Lexi sticks her tongue out at her dad...good habit to start early...lol.
~Lexi does NOT like her crib.....we are working on that one this week.
~We have had a couple of smiles.....sometimes they are gas related, but we will take what we can get.
~She has gotten more and more alert making facial expressions and starting to focus on things in front of her.
~Lexi is really good at spitting up on a clean outfit after a bath.
~She has been in to visit Mommy's friends at work
~Lexi loves her carseat, stroller and riding in the car
~She has just this week found her thumb and put it in her mouth....not consistently, but she is not far off.
~She holds her binkie in her mouth....today she flipped it out of her mouth with one finger and promptly started screaming.
~We think she is a pretty good sleeper....3-4 hour stretches are nothing to complain about.
~Breastfeeding has been an adventure....if you are interested in details...call me. :)

Derek, Ryan and I have all fallen in love with our little Alexis, she has been such a great addition to our family, we are excited to watch her grow and shower her with love.

Red Sox in the Playoffs

2009-06-05T11:48:00.000-07:00

Ryan and his Red Sox were in the playoffs the past week and a half. Luckily, Grandma Witt timed her trip to Seattle perfectly and got to see 3 games. The weather in Seattle has been unbelievable, in the low to mid 80's, so it was great weather to take Lexi to watch her big brother play some baseball!! We did make sure she was protected from the sun with her hat, glasses and sunscreen. :)

Ryan got to come into the game to pitch, this made Vicki and I very nervous! So much pressure for him, but he handled it like a pro and got 2 or 3 strikeouts in the one inning that he pitched. Sorry...my video skills need some work, but hopefully you get the picture.

Great pitching Ry!

We had some fun on the sidelines as well....we thought Lexi would look cute in her sunglasses so we gave them a try...she was actually awake when we took these pictures, I thought for sure the glasses would never last and that she would take them off immediately...or fuss....or something!! But she left them on for about 3 innings! I couldn't believe it....she loved them!

Grandma Witt and Lexi

Derek, Vicki and Lexi.....so cute.

She might look a little gangster here.....

Dad and hood rat Lexi

Ryan batting against the Tigers. They won 2 playoff games before losing to the Minnesota Twins...who will go on to play the Dodgers (sans Manny) for the title. Ryan had a great season and is getting used to the kid pitch league....and in the final game, he had 3 RBI's (out of his team's 6 runs...and sat out 3 innings), and his last at bat, he ripped one into center field for his best hit all year. We are so proud of him....great job Ry!

Weight Update

2009-05-31T14:18:00.000-07:00

On Thursdays Pediatrician appointment, Lexi is up to 7lbs 13 ounces, still not back up to birth weight, but making progress. She gained 5 ounces in 7 days, they are supposed to gain between 1/2 ounce and 1 ounce per day, so she is in that range, but still trying to play catch up. We have started adding supplements of pumped milk to help bulk her up....I think she is getting bigger, but who knows...we will see next Thursday.

Mike and Vonda's visit

2009-05-27T16:52:00.000-07:00

Derek's Dad Mike and his wife Vonda came to visit last weekend to see Ryan and meet Lexi, we had a short but wonderful visit, and the weather even cooperated! Here are a few pics from their visit. Ryan is lucky enough to get to go visit them next month in Kansas City, he even gets to take the airplane all by himself!

Mom had us all over for brunch on Sunday...she made her famous french toast and "goop" and quiche...yummy! If only Auntie Katie was there to showcase her food with pictures....maybe next time. :)
Kansas City in the house! The lighting is a little wacky because we were trying to keep Lexi out of the sun.

Grandpa Witt and Lexi

I love this picture! Ryan showcasing his Greinke jersey with Vonda, Mike and even Derek in the background.

Can't believe how big he is getting!

At the batting cages

Lexi's new tye dye outfit....so cute! She went out with us for about 5 hours on Saturday and slept through almost all of it!

Random photos

2009-05-27T16:39:00.000-07:00

I have taken a bunch of pictures over the last few weeks, I just haven't gotten my act together to post them. :) These are in no particular order. :)

Ryan is becoming quite the pitcher, this is him practicing with Derek at my Mom's house in his new Zack Grenke jersey that Mike and Vonda brought him for his birthday.
Ryan and Derek practicing pitching at Mom's.

Dad and Lexi...big stretch!

I love this outfit...not sure what is going on to her right to give her that look on her face...lol

Dad and Lexi looking cute. :)

Grandpa and Lexi!

Pediatrician updated

2009-05-22T19:39:00.000-07:00

Lexi had her 2 week pediatrician appointment on Thursday (her original due date), here is the update....she is now 7lbs and 8 ounces, that is up 4 ounces from the appointment before, but they really wanted her to be up to her birth weight by then. She seems to be eating a lot, so we are not sure what the issue is. It is not a major concern, just annoying to me since I want to make sure everything is ok with her. I am not sure if we should be supplementing her with extra or not...the pediatrician said it wasn't necessary. She is also up to 22 inches from 20 3/4 inches when she was born.

Lexi has been sleeping in pretty good spurts, we still haven't had a lot of luck with her sleeping in her actual crib. I have slept a few nights in the bed with her next to me, but inevitably we end up for a few hours on the couch with her sleeping on my chest. The night before last, she slept from 3am-7am, that was a really nice stretch of sleep for me! :) Usually it is 2-3 hours, which isn't too bad either....I have heard stories of much worse!

Derek's Dad and his wife Vonda came into town last night, they were very excited to meet Lexi, it is great to have them here. Ryan had a baseball game last night, and got to skip school today to hang out with Grandpa! We have him with us through Monday, he still loves holding his little sister whenever he can, we are going to give her a bath in a little bit. Him and I got out in the backyard for a little while today and played some hoops. I beat him in PIG. :)

While Derek, Mike, Vonda and Ryan went to Pike's Place Market today, I was able to run out and get my hair cut, it was a nice adventure out of the house...baby steps. ;)

Lexi's First Bath

2009-05-19T18:33:00.000-07:00

Last week we gave Lexi her first bath, Grandma Cass is the master and showed us how to do it. Lexi did really well! She started to cry at first, but once she was in the water, she loved it, floated right on her back and was cool. Maybe she will be a swimmer like her mommy. ;) Auntie Katie documented the first bath.

12 Days in.

2009-05-19T13:59:00.000-07:00

We are 12 days into Lexi's life and adjusting as we go along. The sleeping has been getting better, the past two nights I have been able to sleep in my bed with her next to me. She had gotten some kind of cold or sniffles so I was worried about her sleeping on her stomach...when she is on her back, she can sneeze easier....that was my rationale anyways. :) She has been spitting up a lot too, which I guess is normal. I have been able to sleep in 2-4 hour stretches at night, which I think is pretty good!

Derek went back to work last Wednesday, only to be laid off. Sign of the times I guess. The bad news is he isn't getting a paycheck, the good news is he has been able to be home and spend time with Lexi and I, which I am really happy about. He has been a big help, I have been able to get naps during the day and showers too.

I will post pictures next time, Grandpa Witt and his wife Vonda are coming to visit on Friday for Memorial day weekend, we are very excited for Lexi to meet them! After that, Grandma Witt is coming the following weekend, Ryan will be here the next 3 weekends as well, so we will have a full house the next few weeks.

We did venture outside on Saturday, we went to Ryan's baseball game in Monroe, Lexi did have to feed in the middle of it, so we missed about 1 1/2 hours of the game. Ryan is supposed to have a game today, but it is rainy and we anticipate it being cancelled.

Breastfeeding is getting better, she is eating for much longer stretches of time(sometimes an hour and a half), so hopefully that means she is gaining weight. We have her two week check up on Thursday, so hopefully we will get good news that she is getting enough to eat. Given her parents, I am surprised eating is an issue....lol.

Thats is what is going on with us, it is baby baby baby right now, and she is totally worth it. She is a very sweet baby and we love her to pieces.

The first few days....

2009-05-13T16:15:00.001-07:00

HAPPY 9TH BIRTHDAY RYAN!!!

We are settling in to life with our little Lexi, Derek and I are absolutely in love with the little thing! :) She has been a really good baby so far, (knock on wood!), we can usually figure out what is wrong with her, there are not a lot of massive "cry fests" or anything. Sleeping is probably our biggest issue, the bedrooms (including the nursery...argh) are way too cold for her to sleep down there, so her and I have been "sleeping" upstairs. It seems the only way I can get her to sleep is on my chest, it is actually really comfortable, except that I have to be in a reclined position on the couch, not laying down. Some people are able to sleep with babies in their bed, but I am too nervous about it. What the difference is between her on my chest and next to me in a bed?? I have no idea...that is just the way it is. :) During the day today, I have been "practicing" having her sleep on her back on the couch, so hopefully we can make that start to happen at night.

We have been tackling breastfeeding head on...the first few days were REALLY tough, it is so foreign and while it is natural...it isn't...ha ha. My mom has been a HUGE help, I don't know how anyone does it without professional help....thanks Mom!! Lexi lost too much weight when we went to our post partum appointment on Monday, so they had me pump extra and add that to her feedings, this worked well and by the next day when we went to the pediatrician, she had gained some of it back because my milk has come in. The goal is to have her back to her birth weight by her 2 week birthday on the 21st....her original due date...lol. Given how much she has eaten in the past day, I am hoping this will have worked itself out.

Ryan had another baseball game that Derek went to yesterday, I was sorry to miss it since Derek was the infield umpire....I would have gotten a kick out of seeing him running around the infield. Ryan's team won again, they have another game tomorrow.

That is our update...I will keep you posted on the latest and greatest Lexi news!

Lexi's Photo Shoot

2009-05-12T19:18:00.000-07:00

My sister has always been very creative, always scrapbooking, crafting etc. and recently she has been dabbling in photography! As part of my shower gift from her, she wanted to do a photo shoot of Lexi, the pictures turned out absolutely amazing, I know Lexi won't be in this tiny phase for long, so I am grateful to have it recorded. Thanks Katie, I will be sending referrals and hopefully you can start making some money off your talent! :)

The labor story...

2009-05-09T17:10:00.000-07:00

We are thrilled to announce that we had our baby girl Alexis "Lexi" Catherine Witt arrived Thursday May 7th at 12:25am, weighing in at 8lbs 3 ounces. Derek, Ryan and I are so happy to welcome her to our family...I will be posting MANY MANY pictures later, but wanted to fill you in on how she made her way into our world. One thing pregnant women will tell you is that you lose ALL sense of what qualifies as "too much information", so if you are weary at all about "women things", please skip to the next post...because here is Lexi's birth story.

The process actually started May 5th, I had a folley put into my cervix that would help start to dialate my cervix, it was like a rubber tube that blew up like a balloon. The plan (if it was to work) was to put that in at the Doctors office, then I should be dialated 3-4 cm by the time I got to the hospital to be induced on Wednesday. The plan worked, and by 7am on Thursday when we got to the hospital I was 4cm dialated and having contractions on my own!

I was excited that things were getting started off well, the Doctor came in to break my water at 12:45pm and I was still at 4cm dialated and having regular contractions about 2-3 minutes apart. The contractions started getting stronger and I had my edpidural put in at 2:45pm. The epidural was fantastic, the afternoon progressed fine and I couldn't feel the contractoins. :) There is a monitor in the room that shows the contractions and the baby's heartrate and things were looking like they were progressing...the nurse checked me about 5 or 6pm...I was still at only 5cm dialated. The Doctor came at about 7:30-8pm and I was still at 5cm. This was the first threat made by the Doctor of me having a C-section if things didn't progress in an hour. I VERY much did not want to have a C section! The next hour was odd...I started to feel pain in one of my sides, but didn't know if it was the pressure of the baby moving down in the birth canal or if the epidural wasn't working. I had no idea what amount of pain there was supposed to be with an epidural, but I knew the pain in my side wasn't right. They checked me after the hour and I had progressed to 7cm...just what we needed to avoid the C-section at that point. Yeah!

The problem was that I was in a lot of pain...again, not sure if it was what I was supposed to be feeling. The nurse checked my epidural by putting ice on my legs and stomach...I could feel everything (when she asked me earlier, I asked her if she really put ice on my leg or if she was joking), this meant that there was a problem with the epidural. To make a long story short, the line sheared off and the epidural fluid has stopped flowing into my back. They then paged the anethesiologist (sp??) to fix it. The amount of pain I was experiencing sky rocketed, I was near tears with each contraction. Derek was great about talking me through them and feeding me ice chips after each one. I do not know how or why anyone would would go through labor without an epidural, I sure didn't intend to, but for about 1 1/2 hours, I went au natural! That hour and a half took every ounce of energy that I had, and it got me to the 10 cm dialated that I needed so Icould start pushing. I actually wanted to push before they got the epidural back up and running, but they said I should wait so that I was more comfortable.

Once the epidural was fixed, I started pushing...and pushing....and pushing....I started pushing at 10:30pm and at 12:15, I got C-section threaten #2. They told me I could have 15 more minutes or they were going to do a C-section. I was completely exhausted and told myself that I was going to give everything I had for these last 15 minutes and after that, I knew I had done everything I could and would have to be ok with having a C-section. About 10 minutes later, I made some good progress, and all of a sudden, she was crowning and the room errupted into a flurry of activity, doctors running around, machines being brought in, NICU nurses, just in case...I had another big push where she was almost out and they made me stop pushing because they weren't ready! Derek quotes me as saying "ARE YOU KIDDING ME??" It hurt so freaking bad! I had to wait for another contraction before pushing again, then with the next contraction out she came! Physically,it was the biggest feeling of relief I have ever had. Derek was crying like a baby, my mom was crying like a baby and I was so exhausted I just layed there! They put Lexi on my chest and let me see her, then she was whisked away so they could check her out.

Part of the reason I was so exhausted was that I couldn't eat anything after some of the drugs started...so the last thing I ate was a granola bar at 11:30am....at midnight...that wasn't helping me. The TV was on the room while going through labor and I swear as I was pushing everytime I looked at the TV there was a fast food commercial on with a huge hamburger on it! What I would have done for a hamburger right then! As they were cleaning Lexi up and fixing me up, someone handed me 1/2 of Derek's Subway sandwich and I devoured it like I had never eaten before in my life. It was the best sandwich I have ever had. lol.

I know this is a long story, but wanted to share my experience, you never know what is going to happen when you go into labor, I am just happy to have a healthy, beautiful baby girl. Derek and my Mom were in the room with me and they did a fantastic job of supporting me through the entire experience. Ryan was able to be there for part of the afternoon and came back the next day to meet Lexi. My good friends Allison and Julie were able to be at the hospital and visit me when it was over....they stayed until the wee hours of the morning...and got to witness the sandwich inhaling. :)

Derek and I could not be more happy with our little Lexi, thank you to everyone for their support and best wishes throughtout the process. I have some great pictures of Lexi courtesy of her photo shoot with Auntie Katie today, I will post those once I have time. Lexi has been a very mellow baby so far and we just love her to pieces.

We are heading to the hospital....

2009-05-06T06:35:00.000-07:00

Well, the day has come, we are scheduled to be induced at 7:15am this morning, we called and they did not have a bunch of ladies show up in labor, so we are on schedule! We will post updates as soon as we can...think happy baby thoughts for us today, we will need all the help we can get!

Baby Update

2009-05-01T12:09:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the multiple posts in one day...I was a bit behind!! I promise that my new love for facebook will not take away from my dedication to blogging. :)

Last week we went in for our 37 week appointment, this was the point we REALLY wanted to get to to make sure our little girl's lungs were in good shape. Dr. Dydell said she would either induce us on Thursday (yesterday) or Monday, but she had to consult with Maternal Fetal Medicine (our analogy is that it is the CYA department). Well, they recommended that the Dr. wait until 38 weeks before inducing us, so we are now scheduled to be induced in the morning of May 6th (next Wednesday). Derek and I are really excited to meet our baby girl, and I am ready to not be pregnant and working anymore.

We will keep you all posted!

Red Sox vx. Indians

2009-05-01T12:02:00.000-07:00

Well, every streak has to end eventually, the 8-0 Red Sox lost to the Cleveland Indians last night. The Indians had a really good pitcher who could throw fast balls, change ups and even curve balls! The Red Sox lost by one.

When Ryan was over at our house last weekend, Derek took him to the park to practice his batting...Ryan has struggled with the change to kid pitch baseball and Derek didn't really like what the coaches had done to his swing....so they went to "fix it back". When they got home, Ryan was all smiles and said they had a great time. Derek called the baseball coach to let him know that they worked on his swing so the coach wouldn't be surprised. On Tuesday, the coach called him in the middle of practice and said "anytime you want to work on Ryan's swing...go for it!!" Ryan apparently hit the first 5 pitches at practice into the outfield. GO DAD!! :)

In the game agaist the Indians, Ryan struck out his first at bat (against the really good pitcher) and his second at bat, he got a single...it was so cute, you could see him smiling as he ran to first base! Funny....you could see the smile on Derek's face too! ;) The kid behind him got a hit and Ryan scored from first tying the game...unfortunately they couldn't hold the Indians in the bottom half of the inning and lost. It is their first loss of the year, and only Ryan's second loss in the 2 years he has played baseball...not to shabby Ry-guy!

Red Sox Vs. Rays

2009-04-25T21:10:00.000-07:00

The Red Sox continued their hot streak against the Devil Rays, Ryan looked a little nervouse before the game (below), but he did a great job playing the whole game at short stop. There was a random rain storm in the middle of the game (thankfully Derek and I had Dad's golf umbrella), they played through it and eventually it passed.

Red Sox vs. Reds

2009-04-25T20:52:00.000-07:00

Ryan had baseball games Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Due to my bedrest, I could only go to the game today (Saturday), so Tuesday I sent the camera with Derek....low and behold, the battery was dead...my bad! :) The following is a pic and video Derek took of the Red Sox taking on the Reds.

Kid Pitch Baseball

2009-04-19T19:36:00.000-07:00

It is that time of year folks! Baseball has begun! Last year Ryan played in the "Minors", where they have a mcahine pitch to the batters, all of the teams were named after real minor league teams and Ryan played fo the Trenton Thunder. This year, we weren't sure if Ryan was going to play in machine pitch or kid pitch, so he went through the draft for both. The kid pitch league is mostly 9 and 10 year olds, with some 11 year olds and some 8 year olds mixed in. The other interesting thing about this league is that they can now steal bases too. Ryan is 1 of 5 - 8 year olds in the "majors", so now he gets to play in the kid pitch league for none other than the Boston Red Sox. Here he is below modeling his nice uniform (Charlotte - be sure to show Justin, he will be so proud).

Below is Ryan and Gunner chatting in the dugout.

Ryan at bat.

Very focused base runner at 3rd....he scored.

Below is a great video, Ryan is walked, but they are teaching the kids to hustle, even when they get walked, so I love Ryan sprinting down to first base. I also love his little turn and look once he gets there.....enjoy!

After the Red Sox beat the Mariners, we celebrated at Red Robin.

My boys....notice the hat Derek stole from me? Gotta support those Sox!

Weekend Update

2009-04-19T18:56:00.000-07:00

Derek and I had a great weekend! Friday night I was beat from a long exhausting week at work, so we layed low and didn't do much. Saturday, Derek went and watched Ryan play baseball while I rested. When Derek got home, we got ready for probably our last date night without needing a babysitter. :) We went to Machiavelli's on Pine street, it is a great little Italian restaurant that makes fabulous Gnocchi and Chicken Parmesan. Then Derek took me to see Cats - the musical. Derek has seen Cats many times, but this was the first time I have seen the show. It was great, the music was fun and the costumes were fantastic. I have a hard time following a show that the dialogue is in the song lyrics....Derek was good at giving me the cliff notes during the show. It was really hard for me to sit still, I have restless leg syndrome something feirce these days, but I made it....without any extra bathroom breaks even! :) Thank you Derek for a wonderful date night! Love you!

Sunday, my Dad picked Derek up and they went and played golf....Derek hasn't played golf since we were in Hawaii in August, so needless to say, he is beat up, and now relaxing on the couch. :) Mom picked me up about the same time and off to Babies R Us we went...coupons in hand! We got our carseat and stroller "travel system", many packages of diapers and wipes, and a diaper bag. Mom and I then had to assemble the stroller, which went better than expected considering I was helping....lol. So now, if Peanut were to get here tomorrow, we are as ready as we are going to get. I am sure there are 800 things that we don't have, but at least we can get her home from the hospital and figure the rest out as we go.