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

from Gigi

This is an email I got from Gigi tonight recapping Maggie's day...

Maggie started with breakfast at Chick-fil-A (with Papa!) and played in her playland. I need to help you understand that from the moment Maggie enters the restaurant she owns the place. She leaves no doubt that it is her restaurant, her playground, her papa! From the time she enters the parking lot her entire mood changes - she has a "hob fibe" (high five) ready for papa as she comes running thru the door - followed by "Pop Pa" at the top of her lungs!

We pryed her from Chick-fil-A and stopped to visit Bethany & Emily at Nursery Rhymes! Maggie picked out a new frog for her bath tub (She doesn't have enough frogs for tub time - only nine - besides this one even has his own lily pad).

Then it was off to visit Great Grandma Dot - Maggie had a really fun time teasing her...Oh while she was there Maggie found a picture of herself with papa and she carried it around smiling at it! As we left Maggie blew Great Grandma BIG kisses and told her "bye bye" as she headed off to lunch.

From there it was home for lunch and naptime - well sort of - I like to call it DFO time (done fell out)!!!!! There was no nap - more like one hour of gymnastics, jumping on the trampoline - bed - and laughing out loud with her monk-monk!

Papa called and saved the day - just as Gigi hung up and told Maggie that it was her Papa and he wanted to take her to ride the horses... Maggie? Maggie! she disappeared!!! She had run to get her shoes and returned immediately - shoes in hand - giggling. (Yahoo! Giddy up!) No doubt she knew exactly where she was going!!!

She had a blast with Papa on the carousel. She rode 5 times. And we were SO proud of her as she even left without crying! (The carousel operator commented that children usually leave SCREAMING) But not our Maggie - Papa had promised the swing at the park! Weeee...

The slide, the swing, the slide, the swing, one hour later... another DNO. You see removal from the swing set her off, and everyone in the park knew it! So there was no calming her down until we were back at Chick-fil-A. Luckily for us that was pretty quick! Papa came to the rescue with grilled Chicken and pink lemonade (fresh squeezed lemonade with a dash of Hi-C fruit punch to make it "pink" just for Maggie!)

Another meltdown on the way home but the promise of Kitty kitty and Barney was enough to quiet her down. (Don't make any promises to Maggie you do not intend to keep! She knows what you are talking about and she remembers!) She ran in the house yelling "meow, meow, meow" looking around for kitty. After spending a brief moment with fat cat, Maggie ran to the remote control. Whew, Barney took over so I could cook dinner as Maggie danced to the tune of "When you're happy and you know it clap your hands!" ...hmm?

After dinner and dancing... it was that 'bittersweet' time for her bath. All I said was "Maggie do you want a bubble bath?" and she ran down the hallway to the bath tub and began to throw in one frog after another... and yes, the bubbles easily calm her down from a funfilled day.

Until she sees her papa. And she had to jump, jump, jump yet again - this time on the couch...yet another precious day has come and gone. nite nite.

Brought to you by the letter S

S is for silence and that's all you can hear around our house. Maggie's on vacation...with Gigi and Papa...in Mississippi. I am flying to MS on Friday and we will both fly back to Las Vegas on the 8th.

I didn't really know what to expect with Maggie not being here but the silence is just unreal. I keep thinking she's taking a nap and I forgot to turn the monitor on.

Gigi and Papa flew into Vegas on Thursday morning and we spent Thursday and Friday playing hard.

Andy and I decided that we would go out to eat last night and enjoyed a great dinner at Spago (Wolfgang Puck's restaurant at Caesars Palace). Today I slept really, really late and took a nap too!!! There isn't much of anything on my agenda for the week other than to clean up Maggie's room.

Here are some pictures from our visit with Gigi and Papa in Vegas. I will post pictures of Maggie's vacation later this week.

Katie

What Big Girls Do

Big girls like to run and play.
Big girls are active all day.

Big girls play at the park,
and slide on the big slides until dark.

Big girls eat dinner without a big mess,
and use their forks to get food on their dress.







____________________

Gran's birthday was on Saturday!!!!

Happy Birthday Gran!!!

I hope you had fun!!

Maggie

Happy Valentines Day

We hope everyone had a happy Valentine's Day!!! We did.

We had a Valentine's potlock/surprise baby shower for playgroup today. I volunteered to do the cake since it's a new hobby. I was quite pleased with the results and it tasted good too (always a plus). The mom-to-be was very surprised by the party and received lots of cute little boy stuff.

Andy wanted to surprise Maggie this morning with some balloons, and boy did he. Her eyes got huge when she saw them and she carried the whole bunch around for part of the morning. She spent the afternoon carrying around her new purse from Meme and Pap and we even had to take it with us to the grocery store.

The big news from this week here in Las Vegas...it rained. A lot. It rained for probably 5 hours last night. The dirt in our backyard is still damp. It snowed a good bit in the mountains too which was good since we have a trip planned to see the snow with Gigi and Papa next week.


IMG_1352Maggie won’t leave home without her purse…such a little lady.


IMG_1335 Maggie plays the piano at playgroup


IMG_1334 The snow on the mountains…45 minutes away.


IMG_1328 The cake I made for the baby shower.


And a video of Maggie and Daddy playing with the balloons...sorry there isn't much sound on this one. They were both intent on the balloons.

Whew...

Last week ended with a bang for me. What I thought was a sinus infection was actually the flu. Friday night was quite horrible but I have a wonderful husband who took care of me and wonderful friends who let Maggie come play on Saturday. I am MUCH better now.

There is a video below of how Andy got Maggie laughing hysterically this weekend while I was in bed.

Also, some of the pictures are from a private zoo that we went to with playgroup last Friday (before I thought I would never be well again). We were able to feed the ducks (Maggie's favorite thing) and see all kinds of animals, birds and even white peacocks. The other pictures are from the playground in our neighborhood.

Maggie's new word of the week- love you!!!! It's so sweet when she says it.