911, what's your emergency?

At least I think that's what they say when you call. Two times in Drew's short life we've had to call 911 and I haven't made either of those calls. The first, as many of you already know, was when he was born in the car. Click HERE to read that if you haven't already. The second happened on Tuesday. Drew's nine month appointment was Monday and because of his weight issues, we decided to do some more testing. Tuesday morning I dropped off the samples. I decided to run in with Drew in my arms, Paige by my side and only my keys. I had let him play with my keys and while I was strapping him in he somehow locked the car. Our car makes a loud enough noise when it's locked so the fact that it escaped me that day surprises me. I tossed my keys in the middle console, took Paige out of the car to put her in from the other side and realized the situation immediately. It was 9:30-ish and already it was 85 degrees and climbing. And it was slightly overcast too! I went inside the pediatrician's office and told them and then went back outside to wait by the car. The office staff were kind enough to make the call for me. Drew just peered around the side of his car seat, completely unaware. One by one, the staff started to come out and wait with me. One of the pediatrician's also came out. The fire station was *maybe* a half a mile down the road, but it still took ten minutes for them to arrive.

Some of the staff were kind enough to regale their stories of sympathy with me. It's strange how little consolation it gave me and my bone-headedness, lol. Four kids and I've *never* had anything remotely dumb like this happen before.

Word of Caution: there's a reason why kids shouldn't play with keys apart from the germ factor. This will be Drew's only time to play with my keys.

OK, back to our trip to VA

Phew! I didn't realize it was going to take so many posts to get through our visit. How dare life interrupt me and make me post about milestones and such!

This post will be a 'photomentary' of the weekend, starting with our visit with Tara, then our dinner with Kevin and Dana, and the crawl on route 11.

{Neil and Tara play Rockband...I think. I cant' remember the name of the game.}

{Drew meets his Godmomma for the first time and immediately sizes her up.}

{Neil holds a new buddy, nephew Sean.}

{Sean, though a month younger than Drew is already bigger than Drew.
At this point, who *isn't* bigger than Drew? lol}

{David and the boys play Rockband. Alex, Matthew and Zack from l-r.}

{Drew tests out Aria's toy. You know. Just in case...}

{Paige shares some love with Aria.}

The crawl on route 11 is about 45 miles of 'yard sale-n'. This was on our way back out to Grandma and Paka's house for the weekend.

The first day of school!!!

{I can't believe they *still* let me do this.
Especially since we live across from the school where {gasp!} other people might see them!}

Jonathan came into my room this morning at 5:39 dressed and ready for school. This supposed "smart" clock I bought him sets itself and keeps up with leap year and daylight savings and it can't remember that we're CENTRAL time, not EASTERN!! It didn't matter though. He was up and ready to start his day. Unfortunately, his day wasn't ready for him yet. I told him to go back to bed. Neil gets up at 5 or so in the morning and by the time he was ready for work, Jonathan was already back downstairs telling 'Dad' how excited he was. Neil came in to tell me goodbye and says, 'That definitely wasn't me at that age. I dreaded the first day. But I'm proud of him.'

I am too.

Who could ask for a better morning?

Nine months old and it's gettin' ever so hard...

{The least likely candidate is my favorite.
In the end I went with with the best expression}

...to keep him still long enough to get a good shot. Scratch that. A decent shot. I thought I would share some outtakes along with the fave that documents his ninth month. I'm out of photo ideas and the photos shoots are getting increasingly difficult. I've had to enlist the help of both Ashley and Neil to help me set Drew down when I'm ready to snap a shot. The past two months have been particularly difficult because when possible I like to use natural light vs. my big clunky dinosaur flash. It has been overcast the past two times. Our house is lit like a middle row townhouse (translation: not enough light folks) so I have to drag my flash out, wait for it to warm up, test the area, put my little prop out and then have Neil place Drew where I need him and then (at the mercy of my flash) see what we get. We get one photo, then we have to wait about 20-30 seconds for flash to recharge. Yes, this is frustrating. Add in that we have a super mobile nine month old with crazy old man toupe type hair and it's just a wonder we got anything at all! Enjoy!

{poor doggy - see the word 'DOGGY' on his outfit?
it's my poor attempt at coordinating something, but his hair's a little crazy}

{grrreat. can't see the word or tell that it's a dog *but* his hair looks good!}

{I like this one. It's very "Drew"}

{I think he looks adorable here}

{this may have been the best opportunity. the dog looks good, you can see 'DOGGY' perfectly. not so much for the smilin' in this one and his hair.
oh good gracious, the HAIR!}

{ok, both the dog and the kid look like they could use a V-8, lol}

{uh oh...he looks like he wants to go somewhere}

{crawl off, will ya?}

{this is what we do to little kids who crawl away!}

{and as always, the natives find a way to sneak into the pictures!}

Donnabelle

I've known Donna for mmm, I would guess over four years. We (as well as some other Catholic gals) came together through the Catholic Christian board on BBC four years ago. While we all share the same passion for the Faith, many of us came from different walks and were all at different places in our journey. We've all grown together through the good, bad and indifferent and as a result have foraged relationships. I really enjoy the friendships I've made online and see them as no different than the people I meet in real life (IRL). Anytime I've needed someone to listen, I've always known I could count on my girls. :)

Well, with our trip to Virginia in the packing stages, I sent Donna a message and said it'd be great if we could work out a way to finally meet. Well, fortunately it happened! And through our messages I found out that she makes pottery as her hobby! How cool is that?? So, she sent me her Etsy link that you can click on HERE to see all of her beautiful creations. As cool as her pottery is, the main reason I bought them was so that I could have something to remind me of our meeting. The fact that they are gorgeous is just a side benefit, lol. So, here are a few pictures to show you our visit and the pottery I chose. Don't mind my handsome pottery model.

If I may borrow Donna's words:

I use mine for serving bowls, I bake things in them ... store left over chicken in them -- whatever. They are microwave, dishwasher and oven safe ... 100% lead free, etc. etc. etc. I'm all about making things useful! I have a few that sit on shelves to catch keys and mail ... the girls have their color pencils in a tall mug ... I've got a really BIG platter that I roast chicken and veggies in and I can carry it right out to the table because it is still as pretty as it can be.

King's Dominion

We made a trip down to King's Dominion with Dave and Jes and the kids. I *love* going to amusement parks, but I'll be the first to admit the idea of going with eight kids was overwhelming. I envisioned lots of screaming, hunger pangs, and sun and heat exhaustion. And that's just from me - ok, that's a joke, lol. I did worry that it would be too much for the kids.

After all, if we're driving 1.5 hours to get there, we'd better well be prepared to stay there all. day. long.

Open to close.

When we got there it was threatening to rain. We stopped at the Burger King and visited with a long-time online friend of mine who I had never met before. She brought her four girls with her and we shared a chaotic breakfast before heading out to the park. I'll be blogging about her separately because she has an amazing hobby and craft that I was able to bring home with me.

The park ended up being a great experience. The kids had a great time, Drew was amazing and even through a severe thunderstorm, we stayed in the park and played video games, followed by funnel cake for dinner, a souvenir shirt for Jonathan (it was his first time to ride on a roller coaster) and changed the kids into their jammies and headed back home.

{Paige flyin' solo and Matthew and Alex behind her}

{Zack and Jonathan on the first ride of the day}

{Paige on her first solo car ride}

{Paige and Matthew}

{Paige and Zack share kisses}



{here is the slide Neil and Jonathan went down just before it started
storming - click on photo to see where they're standing}

{I caught Neil and David holding Paige and Matthew just as the water came crashing down on them}

{Zack chases Paige down to give her a kiss!}

{Paige dances on the DDR game at the arcade while we wait for the storm to pass}

She came early!!

While Jamie was out visiting with her little dogs, I joked with her, letting her know it was 'ok' for her to go ahead and have the baby since we were there. Her due date was August 15th. The conversation took place on August 4th. She talked convincingly of little Marianna staying put and not making her entrance anytime soon. Why not? After all, isn't it typically the first baby who comes late anyway? And Jamie still had things to do like finish decorating the nursery and other little odds and ends. Her birthday was on the 2nd and we made plans to have her and her hubby, Jonathan over for a birthday dinner the next evening.

*

I guess Marianna had other plans! The next morning Drew woke up and we realized the phone was ringing. No one was getting it. I went to get Drew and Neil found the phone and realized that Jamie's water had broken around 1:30 in the morning. Jonathan was calling to let us know the dogs needed to be brought over. Jonathan then calls back with some details for me to relay and he then goes on to tell me that Jamie says I'm to blame!! LOL - yes, add putting people into labor on my resume of talents! It turns out to be a good thing she came when she did since she was over 8lbs. and as a first baby, this is quite big for nearly two weeks early! She was born on Tuesday, August 5th in the evening with an impressive display of hair. Now Jamie gets the little 'troll' jokes we make about Drew. ;-)

{Jonathan, Jamie and baby Marianna the day after she was born}

{Mommy and baby}

{Grandma and baby M}

{Uncle Neil, cousin Paige and baby Marianna}

****

While we waited for Marianna's arrival on Tuesday, Grandma and Paige decided to bake some cookies. I couldn't help but document this precious moment.


the pretty chef is all ready to bake!