March 30, 2005- two years ago

Anyone who has talked to me in the past week, knows the only thing on my mind right now is Maggie's 2nd birthday party next weekend. It's so hard for me to believe that she is two. On one hand it feels like ages ago that I was pregnant and on the other hand the past two years have flown by and we no longer have a baby, but a little girl.

This is a picture that was taken in our backyard in Atlanta exactly two years ago. In the fall of 2004, Andy and I had spent an entire weekend planting about 500 red tulips that would be blooming around the time Maggie was due. Exactly a week later, Maggie was born.

Spring has sprung

While we were on vacation in San Francisco last week, I told Andy that when we moved out of the desert, the first thing I wanted him to do for me was plant me an herb garden.

Andy decided that I didn't have to wait until we moved, that he would just do some container gardening for spring. So, off we all went to the nursery. Maggie had a blast riding around in the wagon and looking at all the plants. I couldn't help myself when I saw all the flowers and persuaded Andy to plant me a few other things as well.

For those of you who never saw our herb garden in Atlanta, some of our herbs grew as tall as three feet. When we moved to the desert we didn't really see the point in planting anything when the temperatures would be over 100 degrees for four months.

The plants have been in pots for almost a week and they are thriving, and the wind has been blowing at 30 mph for three days now.

Here are some pictures of our container garden.

Katie

San Francisco was GREAT!!

We made the long trip back home from San Francisco on Wednesday. It's taken us a few days to get the house back in order after being gone for a few days.

We had a great trip and wished that we could have stayed another day or so. We were able to see so many things and Maggie was the best vacationer in the world.

We started our vacation off with a trip to the Golden Gate Bridge and you can't really understand how big it is until you walk on it.


IMG_1568The Golden Gate Bridge
Originally uploaded by kennedytales.

IMG_1572 A family photo on the Golden Gate Bridge
Originally uploaded by kennedytales.

We continued seeing San Francisco our first day by going to the Yerba Buena Gardens that were across the street from our hotel. They have a lot of room for little kids to run around and a carousel that was built in 1906. Maggie had a blast.


IMG_1554 The view from our room of Yerba Buena Gardens
Originally uploaded by kennedytales.

IMG_1595Maggie at the Yerba Buena Gardens
Originally uploaded by kennedytales.

IMG_1584Maggie absolutely loved riding this carousel that was built in 1906.
Originally uploaded by kennedytales.

We concluded our first day by driving through Little Italy and going down the famous Lombard Street...the curviest street in the US. It was really curvy.

Day two started off with a trip to the San Francisco Zoo where we saw giraffes, gorillas and played on the Family Farm. We went shopping in Union Square in the afternoon and went back to Little Italy for dinner...yummy.


IMG_1620Katie and Maggie at the zoo
Originally uploaded by kennedytales.

IMG_1625 Maggie enjoys her pasta dinner in Little Italy
Originally uploaded by kennedytales.

On our third day in San Francisco we woke up to rain. Now keep in mind, that we really don't get to see real rain. This was real rain folks, like you needed an umbrella rain. The rain wasn't going to stop us so we went to the Ferry Building Marketplace and Farmers Market. It was full of gourmet food stores and we had the best lunch at a French bistro. After we filled up on lunch and dessert we headed down to Pier 39 and the Aquarium of the Bay.


IMG_1628Andy and Maggie entering the Aquarium of the Bay
Originally uploaded by kennedytales.

IMG_1652A family photo at Pier 39 with Alcatraz in the background
Originally uploaded by kennedytales.

After a good nap and the rain ending we ventured into Chinatown for our last night in San Francisco. Maggie tried to experience the best of China and the US by using both chopsticks and a fork at dinner.


IMG_1661Maggie enjoys her dinner in Chinatown
Originally uploaded by kennedytales.

IMG_1658Maggie and Andy at the gate to Chinatown
Originally uploaded by kennedytales.

IMG_1666 Andy and Maggie start packing to come back to Las Vegas
Originally uploaded by kennedytales.

As you can see we had a great time in San Francisco. We would love to go back one day. We had a nice weekend back home and did a little container gardening (Maggie loved playing in the dirt- of course).

Also, baby David was able to go home on Friday. He is doing very good and keeping his parents up at night, as newborns should.

An Update from San Francisco

Maggie's riding trolley cars and eating Rice-A-Roni and loving it. Ok, actually she hasn't done any of those things. For those of you who don't remember the old Rice-A-Roni commercials, that opening is not going to make any sense.

We're having fun. Maggie has been on pure adrenaline since we left home, which is interesting considering we are all sleeping in the same room! Our hotel room is on the 33rd floor, so Maggie loves the floor-to-ceiling window. For some reason, she doesn't feel the experience is complete without banging her head on the window every time she goes near it.

UNFORTUNATELY, we forgot the camera cable, so we can't upload any photos. There will be plenty when we get home in the middle of the week.

Update on our nephew David: He is doing better. He's still in ICU, but is off the respirator. He has had his first bath and is drinking some milk.

~Andy

Update on baby David

From the doctor's mouth:

"It looks like little David has turned the corner to getting better."

When I heard that, I had chill bumps.

Thanks to everyone for the prayers, but please keep saying them. Little David still has a ways to go before he can go home.

We're Home

Maggie and I are safely back in Las Vegas. We flew home on Thursday night and finally landed at 11:30 pm. It was a long day and I now realize why airlines make you pay for kids two and older...it's just ridiculous to try and hold a toddler for 4 solid hours...they need their own seat to be strapped down by.

Anyway, we had a great trip. Maggie rode her first horse, ate a lot of Chick-fil-A, celebrated Uncle Trey's 23rd birthday, showed Gran how much fun she can have at the park, had Easter pictures taken, met her new cousin David and had a blast for her two weeks on vacation.

We had a great weekend with Daddy but he had to go out of town this morning for work. He will be in North Carolina until Thursday and on Saturday we will all drive up to San Francisco for a few days.

Here are some pictures of Maggie's time in Mississippi...the pink shirt that Maggie has on in the first few pictures is a shirt that Meme got for her saying "I'm the Cousin", Anna had one that said "I'm the Big Sister".






























An update about our new nephew, David. David had problems breathing immediately and was moved to the NICU. His lungs were under-developed and he was placed under an oxygen hood. As of Saturday, he wasn't getting any better and had to be placed on a ventilator. He is still on the ventilator and his condition is about the same. Please say a prayer for little David, his parents and his big sister. I'll post any new updates as I get them.

New Addition to the Family

My brother Brad and sister-in-law Cathy welcomed new addition David Byron to the world this morning. He was 7 lbs. 6 oz. and 18 inches long. Big sister Anna and cousin Maggie (and Aunt Katie) got to sneak a peek too.

In Other News . . . Katie and Maggie come home tomorrow night. They don't get into Vegas until 11:30, but I can't wait.

Also In Other News . . . Toyota is coming. My parents' house and land will go to be part of the auto megasite.

Sorry no pictures, Katie has the camera. What would I take a picture of anyway? Jack Pete and me sitting on the couch!

~Andy

Good Food

Maggie sure does love her Papa's Chick-fil-A!!!!



I'm heading out tomorrow morning to go to Jackson to meet Maggie. We will spend the week in Jackson (with a day trip to Tupelo to see our new nephew, David, be born on Wednesday). We will fly home to Daddy on the 8th. So, call Andy a lot this weekend and next week so he won't be lonely!!!!

Katie