Our White Christmas '08

Merry Christmas!

We celebrated Alyssa's first Christmas in Florida where it was a balmy 75 degrees on Christmas day. Though you may be jealous, all of us would have preferred cold air and snow on the ground. Our friend Eileen, an Lt that I work with, also stayed here this year, and she spent the holiday with us. She and I are both runners, and we decided the best way to imitate the white Christmas we were use to in Wisconsin and Colorado was to go for a run on the white sand beaches. At the end of the day, our friends came over from Hurlbert Field to join us for Gumbo, fondu and a board game. All in all, it was a great day and a fantastic way to celebrate the birth of our Lord. Though we all got a bunch of gifts that we enjoy quite a bit, Alyssa made a killing with clothes, toys, books, a doll, a teddy bear and a jumper. Here are the pictures:

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you enjoyed lots of turkey or lots of gumbo, whichever is your pleasure. We've had a great week. On Tuesday, LeMar's parents and sister stopped by to visit us and meet Alyssa. I've included some pictures of pass the baby. On Wednesday, LeMar put up our Christmas lights on ours and our neighbor's roof. On Thanksgiving, LeMar worked 4 am to 10 am, and we went to have Thanksgiving dinner with some friends from my work in the afternoon. When we got home, we started putting up our Christmas tree, but we decided to go to bed early instead of putting on the ornaments. LeMar is also working today while I'm at home catching up on school work. I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving, stuffed your bellies, watched some football and enjoyed time with friends and family. As always, you remain in our thoughts and prayers!





As you can see, Alyssa continues to grow and change at an alarming rate. She now weighs over 15 pounds. She can sit unassisted and she's learning to stand while she holds onto our hands. She has quite the little personality, always wanting to see what's going on and looking for a change in scenery. We have established video chat capability; if you'd like to see her in action, just get in touch and we can set up a video chat via iChat or AIM.

Birthday Update, Happy Veteran's Day

Well, I turned another year older last Saturday, one more until I hit a quarter of a century. LeMar and I started the celebration Friday with a dinner at Olive Garden, just the two of us. Alyssa was at church for baby sitting where they offer "Parent's Night Out" once a month, child care from 6-10p for only $5. After dinner, we wandered around PC for a bit, then we went home and I got to open my presents. LeMar gave me a new iPod nano, the Nike+ attachment, and new running shoes! I had to open them Friday night so I could use them on my birthday when we did a 5k together as a family along with some of my friends from work. Alyssa enjoyed must of the race from her jogging stroller, but she did get a little fussy towards the end. She and I finished somewhere around 28:30, and LeMar came across the line a few minutes later. After the race we all went to IHOP for some delicious pancakes. Next we went to a picnic with my lab group at work. Then we came home and got some book shelves from some friends. We bought the shelves from them for the price of baby sitting their little rugrat sometime in the future. I rounded out the day with some homework since I had played instead on Friday night.

Also, I took my PFT this past Monday. Although I wasn't required to take it until December 21st, 6 months after Alyssa was born, I knew I was ready to take it and I figured I might as well knock it out so I wouldn't have to worry about injuries or anything. Well . . . I maxed it with a run time of 10:45. Our commander rocks: since I got a 100% he'll give me a two day pass!

Chatter Box

Alyssa is trying hard to tell us something

Happy Halloween!

I hope you had a spooktackular day. Here a few pictures of Alyssa in her Halloween attire; several of them were taken at April's house where Alyssa goes for day care. We will post more through the picture links to the right in the not too distant future.

Alyssa is now > 4 months old. She had her 4 mo check up on the 27th, and she is nearly 15 lbs! She also got her ears pierced on the 27th. She is doing great on her stomach, holding her head and chest up beautifully; not scooting yet, but I don't think it will be long. She wants soooo badly to sit up on her own, but she still needs assistance or something to lean on. She chatters, coos and laughs all the time, especially in the mornings and shortly after a nap. I can't believe how much she has grown and changed over the last four months; it has been incredible!

Online Classes Rock

I'm working on my Master's Degree by taking classes online, 2 this semester. With the crazy-busy life I'm leading, taking online classes rocks! This is why:

15 Things I've Done While Watching a Lecture:
1) Nursed Alyssa
2) Cooked dinner
3) Washed dishes
4) Folded laundry
5) Fallen asleep; later woke up 'n rewound to the last thing I remember
6) Checked e-mail
7) Written on our blog
8) Shopped on the internet
9) Written a grocery list
10) Txtd with LeMar while he's working
11) Pumped
12) Cleaned/straightened up the house
13) Prep-ed my uniform
14) Taken a bath
15) Used the restroom

Long time, no blog; an update on the last month's events

Please forgive me in taking so long to post again. You see, I went back to work on August 4th, and it has been pretty taxing. LeMar is working the midnight shift at work (8p-7a), Alyssa goes to daycare from 7a-4p-ish, and I work 0730-1630. We really just see each other in passing. When he isn't working, LeMar takes care of Alyssa at home. I love that they get to spend so much time together. She is quite the handful right now; yesterday he pretty much had to hold her the ENTIRE day. As soon as she was set down she would start to whine. However, our most exciting news: ALYSSA SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT LAST NIGHT!!! PRAISE THE LORD!!!

I'm taking too classes online this semester; please pray for me that I may juggle everything. I would hate to spoil my 4.0. Work is going great; I have moved to the micro[biology] lab group, and I'm doing a really cool project with a bacteriocin (look it up if you care).

We had a fellowship night with our Sunday school class last night. I had a blast, and I would like to say that the women ROCK at Battle of the Sexes. Of course the men say the questions are rigged in our favor, and honestly there were a bunch of their questions that I didn't know either.

LeMar goes back to work tonight. He is really enjoying his job. He passed his check ride on July 21st, so since then he has been working on his own. It has brought him a lot of relief not having someone observing and critiquing his every move while on duty. It's also nice because he has more room in the car to take along food and all of the incidental gear he might need while working.

Now for some pictures:

First bath (7/15):


Trip to Florida Caverns State Park (7/22):




First bath with out crying (8/2):




Sleeping on/in the couch (8/4):


Lounging (8/11):


Crying (8/13):

July 12 - First Outing

This past weekend we took little Alyssa on her first outing - a trip to Pensacola Beach to visit with our friends Brian & Alissa and see an air show ending with the Blue Angles. The day started out great; Alyssa slept all the way there, and the rain that hit us during the drive cleared away to beautiful sunshine. She enjoyed laying out on the beach but found it hard to catch any rays since Mom and Dad kept her under the beach umbrella. I was just starting to get curious about the delay in the start of the air show when out of no where a HUGE thunderstorm rolled in. It started off light, and we were going to wait it out on the beach; the ladies under the umbrella and the men out in the rain. After about 15 minutes of the storm getting progressively worse, we decided to make a break for the car; the rain was now coming down in sheets and lightning was striking on the beach! The only one of the five of us that didn't get soaked was little Alyssa who was an angel during the whole thing. She listened to the pounding rain with a lot of curiosity and never uttered a peep. Once we got back to the car we turned on the radio and were told the air show was not cancelled but just delayed. About 45 minutes later, the rain still pouring down, they announced that the show was cancelled for the day. We sat in traffic for 2 hours without moving even a foot. Eventually the traffic cleared out and we were able to get on the road back to Brian and Alissa's apartment. What a day! In spite of everything, we had a fantastic day - God kept us safe through it all, and we spent it in the company of great friends.

July 3 - Alyssa's Baptism

Sorry for not posting in a while. If you have kids, you understand I'm sure.

On July 3rd Alyssa was baptized at St. Dominics. Her Godfather is my cousin Chris, but since he couldn't be here my Dad stood in for him as a proxy. In addition to my parents, several of our friends from my work and our Sunday School at Hiland Park Baptist Church joined us for the big event. Here is a picture of us with Father John who performed the baptism:

Welcome Alyssa Renee

Alyssa Renee was born at 10:43 pm on June 21st. She was 8 lbs 11 oz, 21 1/4 inches, and had a full head of hair. Mommy and baby are doing great; they came home from the hospital Monday afternoon. We will get pictures up here soon.

Pre-Delivery

Okay, I know it has been awhile. Life has been busy for us. LeMar was hired full time by the local department, he graduated from the police academy, and he passed the state certification exam. Right now he is going through the department's training program so his schedule is a not quite as predictable as it will be come August once he has completed it. His schedule right now is 11 hour shifts (3p - 2a), five days on, 4 days off. He absolutely loves his job, and the pay raise over Sam's club could not have come at a better time for us.


I am now past 37 weeks along, so I am considered to be full term even though my due date is not until June 27th. It would be fine with me if our little girl came sooner rather than later since pregnancy has become uncomfortable. She has already dropped down into the pelvis, my cervix has started to dilate and thin out, and I have Braxton-Hicks contractions daily now, but none of this means labor is eminent. She could stay this for weeks. We are praying she decides to come on LeMar's "Thursday" or "Friday" so that he will have the next few days off to be with the baby and me. He won't be able to take any additional time off of work; the department has a policy of no leave during the first year of employment. As a baby shower gift, our neighbor took some maternity pictures for us. Check out the size of that belly!



Back on May 20th we had another ultrasound. Not much new to report; everything still looks healthy. They were able to see hair! Don't be expecting any bald baby pictures from us.

March Update

Hello family and friends! March is shaping up to be a pretty exciting month for us. I started the month off in Great Falls, MT surprising my best friend, Kendi, for her 6th birthday on the 29th of Feb. It was great to get caught up with Kendi and Cory and our friends from CSU Matt and Rae who came over, too. I got home from my trip on Sunday, and it was off to the doctor for our checkup on Tuesday. The doctor says we're still looking healthy. Our baby girl is pretty active; I think she plays jump rope with the umbilical cord or something 'cause she is always moving around. LeMar's birthday was Friday, but the poor guy had school and work and then had to get up early on Saturday to be back at work at 0630. So, we celebrated his birthday on Thursday with a nice dinner at Firefly in PCB, a trip to Petsmart, and home-made cheesecake. While at Petsmart, we purchased all the hardware to set up our new aquarium. We have a 46 gallon bow front, fresh water, tropical aquarium. After a couple of days of washing gravel, the aquarium is now fully set up except the fish. Throughout the rest of this month and into April we will be slowly introducing fish to a new home in our home. Things coming up this month: Ayrielle is visiting us for a week over the Easter weekend. We are having a baby shower on Easter Sunday while she is here, and some of our friends from college should be able to come over as well. Alissa will be down visiting Brian at Hurlbert, and Casey should be able to come over from Eglin, too.

See our baby girl!

We had an ultrasound yesterday. I'm now past 20 weeks which determines the type of measurements they can make. Of course they can not promise a perfectly healthy baby, but at the same time they saw no indication of any abnormalities, birth defects, or health problems. And they were able to positively determine the gender; it is a girl! She was very keen to have her little hands up by her face and to bury her head into the placenta, so we weren't able to get a great 3D shot of her face. Of course, I still think she is beautiful. We now have about 4 months to figure out a name for her.

Pogo and other news

Well, good news and bad news this time.

First the bad news. We, my parents and I, had to make the decision to put down our dog Pogo. Pogo has been with us for twelve years. He had a great, pampered life with us and brought all of us joy and laughter. Over the last couple of months he's been getting progressively sicker. I'll spare you the details, but it was of the digestive track variety. Putting him down was no easy decision, but he has led a good life and his suffering at the end was minimized. He will definitely be missed.

Now the good news. LeMar was able to feel the baby for the first time last night! Trust me, our baby is an active one. He/she is doing flips, kicks, and summersaults all around my belly. Our next doctor's appointment is Monday, but before you ask, they won't be doing an ultrasound this time.

Baby update - 17 weeks

By the growth charts, the approximate size of our baby is 5 oz and 5 in. I'm feeling him/her move now, which is a very strange sensation to say the least. Trips to the bathroom are pretty frequent, but nausea and vomiting have almost completely subsided. I'm starting to show a little bit and pants aren't quite fitting the same. A few pairs have even been given a sabbatical for the next few months. I've been hunting the web pages to find the best bargains for baby items. I've started a registry at Walmart.com to keep tabs on my favorites.

In other news, LeMar continues to be busy juggling full-time employment at Sam's Club and full-time school at the law enforcement academy run by the community college. He finishes his classes in April and takes the state exam in May. Completing the academy makes him competitive for the Sheriff's Department and all the local departments. It gives him quite a few options, but he will be competing against his classmates for the open positions. Please keep him in your prayers.

I begin my work on my master's degree this week. There were no available programs of interest to me in the area without a two hour one way commute, so I found an exclusively online program in chemistry through Illinois Institute of Technology. I will be working towards a professional master's degree in Materials and Chemical Synthesis. I'm taking two classes this semester for a total of five credit hours. This should occupy the majority of my free time in the evenings. I hope and pray I will be able to handle the demands of the classes while surviving pregnancy.

We continue to miss Colorado. We have found it especially hard this time of year when Colorado gets all the snow and we get thunderstorms. If you have snow, make a snowball for each of us. If you get a chance to hit the slopes, do a run for us. Our love and prayers to you all. God bless!