Making My Way South

Well I have now been away from home for over three weeks and I'm anxious to get back to Savannah. I loved visiting Ohio and family but it is time for me to go home. Jeff has been doing a lot of overtime in my absence and I'm sure he's exhausted. Even though I don't like to admit it that often, I even miss my kitty cat too!

We're currently in between Ohio and Savannah visiting my sister-in-law and her daughter. We're headed to Busch Gardens tomorrow and leaving early Saturday morning for home. Jacob is more than ready to be in his own bed again but also just as excited for the "SUPER DUPER ROLLER COASTERS" tomorrow. He has be as repetitive as an old record player but it's cute all the same.

I decided that in my down time I was going to work on more of Christopher's baby book and have found that my memory is slowly slipping away. I was trying to remember everyone that has given a gift for Christopher since I left Columbus and over the past few days have found myself running to his baby book to write down another name. I did get the cutest thing the other day, while I was in New Lex Libby drove down to visit and gave me a pair of boots that match the ones Jeff wears all the time....its too cute!

All Clear!

It is about time! That is all I can say about today, Jeff and I have been getting good news all around which makes it an awesome day.

I hadn't informed to many people but about a week and a half ago I got a call from the doctors office telling me to come in as soon as possible that there was a problem with my blood glucose testing they had taken a week earlier. They said that I would need to get a 3 hour blood draw taken to make sure that I wasn't contracting gestational diabetes. Not to mention this call came only two days before I was supposed to leave for Ohio. Stress set in immediately wondering what was going to happen and how this would affect Christopher throughout his childhood. The next morning I went in to start the test and was very apprehensive but luckily Jeff was able to go with me. Now a full week later I have finally heard from the doctors office that everything is fine and the first test must have been a fluke.

Jeff also received spectacular news today from the police department. He had his "End of PTO Phase" board and everything was perfect. He is officially on his own and in his car this afternoon. He is so excited that he plans to work over this evening. I am so excited for him and cant express how proud I am of him for accomplishing his lifelong goal.

My brother and his wife are headed back home with little Savannah and I managed to get one more good picture of her and grandpa before they left. So I shall leave it with this picture until the next blog.

Back in my Home Town

My week up in Columbus was great and now I have made it to New Lex for a little over a week to visit with my family here. Not much has changed in the year since I've been gone but it has ONLY been one year. I pretty much have just been hanging out with my cousins and waddling back and forth between their house and my grandparents down the street. I got to see my brother, his wife, and their daughter Savannah. She was baptised on Sunday while I was in Columbus. From what I have heard it was a beautiful ceremony and that everyone had a great time.

Jeff is having a nice vacation (not including the fact that he's at home and still working). He is enjoying some quiet time at home with just Belle. I think he secretly misses me being there and giving him a hard time but I will be back home soon.

Cotter Baby Shower

I couldn't have asked for a more fantastic day. Even with me being as tired as I am at the end of it all, the baby shower was great! Kim and Lou (more affectionately known as Mimi to Aiden and soon Christopher) did a great job. The weather was about as perfect as I could have dreamed of and the party was a blast. Everyone started showing up at about 1:00 this afternoon and we had a little lunch followed by games and then the gifts. Everything was beautiful and we have a lot of gift cards to help with diapers and some toys when I get home. Niki surprised me the most when she brought in 5 large packages of diapers. I almost cried a few times but I kept it together. Everyone was so nice and I'm extremely excited to get home and show Jeff.

Aiden on the other hand wasn't having the best of afternoons. He was trying his hardest to give lots of smiles and giggles but what can you say when your the only guy in a house full of women. We managed to get a lot of really good pictures though so I just hope he gets to feeling better soon.

Angry Babies

Last night Lou found some of Jeff's baby pictures after a two day search. I must say that everyone always says that I look very angry in my baby picture but Jeff tops my picture. He has the worst scowl on his face and I'm afraid to think that with both of us being so angry in our baby pictures that Christopher will follow in line. I guess that we might get lucky enough to see a few smiles because Jeff's next baby picture has a great big goofy grin across his face.

I still haven't heard from the doctors office on my blood draw last week so lets hope that no news is good news. I forgot how much I missed Ohio since I've been in Georgia but I must say that being up here now is making me miss home a little more. Hopefully these trips will be a little bit smoother once Jeff is able to tag along (and I'm not carrying around a big bowling ball in my belly).

The baby shower here with Jeff's mom and family is tomorrow so I'm excited to see how that goes. I think I'll probably be awake early with anticipation to get to see everyone. Niki should be here sometime in the morning so I'm ecstatic to get to see her! Check back tomorrow night to see some pictures.

Fun with Aiden

I finally made it to Ohio. The plane rides were mostly uneventful other than the poor woman who threw up on the first plane ride. I thought for sure it was going to be a chain reaction when the 10 people around her ran for the back of the plane but she was the only one who lost her breakfast. Once that catastrophe was over the rest of the ride went smoothly. After dropping off Laura, Lou and I headed back to the house and I got to see our handsome little nephew Aiden. At first he was a little shy but by today he has softened up to me a little.

Today was Aiden's day to stay with Mimi and I so I would be able to spend some time with him. We went to visit one of Lou's friends from Italy and Aiden was full of giggles and willing to play along with everyone as they oohed and ahhed him for a few hours. He took a little bit of a nap and then it was off to the races again with the giggles and grins. So with Aiden finally getting used to me I got to see a lot of cute faces today. Later this week is the Cotter baby shower here at Lou's so I'm getting excited for that and to see what Kim has planed. Check back for more later.

Family Time

So the week of having family around has finally arrived. My cousins Lynda, Laura, and Lynda's boyfriend Kyran arrived early Wednesday morning to Jacksonville. Mom made the trip down to pick them up as I was currently in the doctors office getting a check up. Will also made it home on Wed. but his arrival wasn't until late hat afternoon.
Jeff had been up for 8 hours when we made the trek to the doctors office only to find out that we had to sit there for an hour and wait on the glucose mixture to get into my system. The visit went fine and found out that Christopher is a little taller that expected. He should only be about 15 inches but is already measuring around 19. While I'm excited that he is healthy and growing at an awesome rate, its a little disconcerting that he is so long. Only 12 weeks left to go!

After getting home from the doctors office Jeff and I took a well needed nap. I left him to sleep and went to meet up with my mom and cousins before going to see Will off the plane. I must admit it was a little overpowering to see the solders march into the hanger even if there was only about 30 of them that came home that day.

It's Been How Long?

OK, OK, OK! I know its been almost a month since I last posted something on here so I better get everyone updated. Jeff has only two weeks left until he is cut loose from his training period, Christopher is getting bigger by the day (sometimes I wonder how he can stretch out as far as he does without tearing my stomach in half), Belle is still her normal psychotic self, and we have made a few changes in the past month.

Jeff and I finally went and picked out the border and paint to fix up Christopher's room. It's so adorable I wish we had it up so I could take a picture and show you. Unfortunately it doesn't arrive until our anniversary, which is just a few days away! We have finished the painting though so when his border does arrive we can put it up before I make my trek to the big O-H-I-O!

The plans have finally come together for the trip and the two baby showers. Jeff's mom (Mimi) mailed down an extra invitation for the party at her house and its absolutely perfect. Kim did a great job on the design and my favorite, the poem! The party in New Lex is going to be the week after and I cant wait to get started on the cake I have planed to bake.

We have added another pet to our family, very unexpectedly! We came home about a week ago and found that in the bottom of one of my plants out front we have a tree frog that now calls my plant container home. We decided to name him Herbie, a very unusual name for a frog. Jeff wanted to call him Kermit but I thought it was too typical. Belle on the other hand has taken a page from Jeff's dads feeding ideas for cats. She loves Cheerios and every time she sees Jeff grab the box from the pantry she follows him around until he gives in and gives her some. At least we know she's lowering her cholesterol in the process.

We've also made a few purchases in the past month to start preparing for family to visit. My cousins will be here next week and Jeff's mom will be here soon as well so we were very excited about our savvy buys. We found a lady on Craig's list who was very eager to get a sleeper sofa out of her spare room and we couldn't believe how great of shape it was in and she only wanted $150 for it. The other purchase was a little bit bigger of a buy but it will last us for a long while. I saw this table at the store and absolutely fell in love with it so it found its way home with us as well.

So over the past month a lot of changes have been made and we are one month closer to seeing our peanut. My next check up is Wednesday and its they day I have to fast and they do a complete check up of my heart and so forth. Lets keep our fingers crossed, hope to see y'all soon!