Another baby step!

Yeah, I am so glad that my work week is over. I now have a wonderful weekend of fun ahead of me. Friday we are heading to Chicago and I can't wait. Mike and I love our weekend trips and Chicago has become a special place for us. Stay tuned in to hear about our little get-a-way!

It's WIW (weigh in Wednesday) and I made it another baby step. I lost another .5 lb. This brings my total to 17 lbs. I just hope that I can behave in Chicago and not gain too much. Next Wednesday you better close your eyes, it won't be pretty.

Well, I'm beat, so I'm outta here!

Alright, I'm Back!!

I know I keep saying I am going to update you on what's going on in my life but some how the time keeps flying by and here I am with no post. I did post about my week on my Babyjellybeans site so I won't go into to much details. All I can say is that if I can just stay this busy for about the next year maybe I won't have to much time to stress over the wait. The picture above is my gift from my special March secret pal. Check out how cute the card is. I love how everything is personalized. It helps make Emma seem real. I love the little horse. I think Emma will have so much fun playing with it (if she can keep it away from Jack)! Thank you so much March S.P., I love the gifts you send. It sure makes us smile and helps ease the weight.
This is going to be another busy week. I am just so glad that tomorrow is Wednesday and my work week is almost over. Hopefully tomorrow goes as fast as the last 2 days. Once again work has been so busy. I did manage to get out of work a few minutes early Monday night to go watch Chase play football. They had a big game against DeSales and won 13-12. The best part was that Chase caught the winning touchdown pass with 1 minute to go. Way to go Chase! We are so proud of you.
This weekend we are off to Chicago. We are heading up there to celebrate our anniversary, my birthday, and yes another month since our LID! Today marks our FIVE month anniversay of our LID. I can't wait to get away!
Back to our FIVE month LID Anniversary. When we first started the adoption process, the wait was running 6 months. It is so sad to think that next month we would be getting our picture of Emma. Of course, you know our luck. Things slowed down to 12 months and now who knows. It is sad to even think about it. I just hope that the wait doesn't go much longer.
I guess that's all for tonight but tomorrow is Weight In day so I'll post then. If you want to know more about my week just go to by Babyjellybeans site. More tomorrow.

I'm still here!

For those who check in on me, I'm still here, just extremely busy. I promise to post soon about my week and my secret pal gift. I have only been home to sleep this week so I have missed my computer. We are heading to the Rascal Flatts concert and I will talk to you soon!

Short note, more later...

Sorry I didn't post on Wednesday but this has been a hectic week. I will try to get a post on tonight. I did just want to mention that I was down .5lb yesterday, total of 16.5 lbs. Slow and steady wins the race (I hope!) I also got 2 packages in the mail last night so I will tell you about them tonight also. Hope everyone is having a good day. Back to work and then to the ball field. Later!

I opened the box!

Well, here it is! I have to say I got up early for work and got to open my card and box. I was so excited about it's contents and couldn't wait to share with you how kind and thoughtful my secret pal is. I had a hard time taking the picture of my hand so excuse my bad picture taking skills. For those not familiar with the adoption world, this is a red thread braclet and I am suppose to wear it to be connected with Emma. Thank you so much secret pal, I love it and will treasure it. I can't believe how sweet you are. You have to love the card my pal sent. It is so darn cute. The inside says "They check your pulse instead". Since my pal was so generous I will let her know that today was my 33rd birthday. Man am I getting old! Emma better get her soon or I will start looking like the lady on the card! By the way, I know Melissa is trying to look in the background of the picture! Sorry it's a little dark but the picture is of Mike and I in Tampa at the Outback Bowl. It was the only year Kentucky was any good (Sorry Melissa, I'll try to get better pictures!)

I also wanted to thank everyone for all my birthday wishes. I sure got a bunch of them. I definately feel the love. I got some wonderful gifts. First off I get to go see Rascal Flatts this weekend (Thanks Mike)! We've got 4 tickets, humm, who should I take?!! Mom and Dad got me, okay, Emma a toy chest window seat. I love it and can't wait to share some pictures when I get the nursery in order. I also got a Target and a PBK gift card. Shopping is in the future! What I loved most of all were all the phone calls from my nieces and nephews! I saved the calls and wish you could hear their wonderful messages. I even got a special call from Corbyn which made me cry. We sure do miss him and hearing his voice made me emotional! Well, I just ate my ice cream cake so don't look for anything good in the morning on Weigh In Wednesday!

A great visit

This afternoon we went out to dinner with some very special friends. The above picture is Donette, Mary, and David. We met the Perryman's when we started our Ukraine adoption. We became wonderful friends from the start and were so lucky to get to spend some time with them this weekend. We went to dinner with the Perryman's and the Corley's (another friend from our Ukraine adoption and is now going to China with us!) I wish I would have gotten the camera out at dinner and got a picture of all of us. Anyway, we had a wonderful time today. I only wish we would have gotten to spend more time with them.

Go Holy Cross!

Well, football season is here and Chase played his first game at Papa John's Stadium. They had their first win of the season against Hancock County 29-6. I know it is hard to tell but in the above picture Chase is #8 in the grey. He is on the far left on the field. We can't wait for all the Friday night games. Way to go Chase and go cougars!

Our Baby is leaving

DeeAnna, I apoligize in advance. I don't mean to make you cry. Yesterday we had a going away dinner for Corbyn and it was very emotional for all of us. It is so hard to think of him being old enough to go away to college. He is my oldest nephew and I really feel like we have done a lot of growing up together. I was a young teenager when he was born and I could never get enough of this cutie. I spent as much time at DeeAnna's house as I did at home and Corbyn would share his bed with me. I have been so lucky to spend some of the best times in my life with him so it is very hard to see him grow up. I hope he knows how proud we all are of him and that we wish him the best. (Just don't party too much!) As for you Sis, I am here to talk anytime you need me!

Will Power!!

I just wanted to show everyone how much will power I have these days! My package is still sitting here unopened! Only 4 more days until I can open my gift from my February secret pal.

A Special Square

I got this special square in the mail today from Connie. She has been so good to me by setting up my blog page to make it more appealing and now she has sent me such a beautiful square and wish. I am so glad that Connie wanted to be part of Emma's quilt. Thanks Connie, I love it!

Books from my pal!

When I got home tonight there was another package sitting on my table (boy do I love packages!). This one came from my August book buddy Sarah. The theme for August is Bedtime and Sarah sent me 2 of the cutest books. Goodnight Moon even came with the cutest bunny. I am getting ready to sit down and read the books, too bad I'll have to read them to Mike and not to Emma. I can't wait until the day we have little Emma in our arms and can read her these bedtime stories. Thank you so much Sarah. I love the books!

Here's what you've been waiting for!

Okay Lisa, I am finally posting what I got . I didn't want you to have to wait any longer. The only problem is that you are going to have to wait, along with me, to see what is in this little red box. I pulled the card out of the bag and couldn't believe that my secret pal sent me a birthday gift. Everyone thinks I should have opened the box but I play by the rules and am waiting until the 22nd. So for this gift you are going to have to check back to see what's inside!

Once again my pictures didn't come out in the right order. Can someone please tell me how to get them to come out in the order I need them too?!! This little basket was full and if you scroll down you will see how it was all packed. Check out how cute this little Old Navy shirt is. I can picture Emma in it now. I also love the scrapbook stickers, I'm learning! If you can see in the basket, I got some scrumptious choco chex mix. All the girls at work are addicted to it so I am a little nervous to eat it since I have a lot of weight still to lose. I also love the baby powder (there is no better smell than that!)

Look, there's more! I love Cucumber Melon and my pal knows me all to well. She has taken care of me. Boy am I pampered! Oh, by the way, the theme for this month is "Something for Mom". I can't wait to get in the tub and use all of this. Look at how cute the card is. It will go into a scrapbook with all my other cards you have sent for Emma.

Oh, here is the picture that was supposed to come out first. This is how it came out of the package. Hey Melissa, do you still think it looks like a cupcake?!

Here is a closeup of all my smell good items! I have to finish up here so I can go pamper myself! I just want to thank my pal for everything. You put so much thought into each and every item, you always do! I can't wait until you come out of the closet and fess up who you are! Until then, the Kramer's just want you to know how much your thoughtfulness means to all of us!

Check back for the details!

Now I know that I said I would post about my February secret pal gift this morning but you know how it goes. I got really busy this morning and well, now it is 1:15pm and still no post. Sorry guys! Anyway, I am still busy so my post will come tonight (promise). I wanted to give you a sneak peak so here it is! This is the bag that was inside my big box I got. There are so many goodies inside this bag and I can't wait to show everything off but once again you gotta wait! More tonight!

It's Wednesday!

Well, happy Hump Day! I am so glad to say that. Work has been so busy and I am extremely exhausted. I didn't sleep well Sunday or Monday night but last night I slept like a baby. I sure hope I do the same tonight. I am going to make this short but I promise to post in the morning because when I got home tonight I got a wonderful, and I mean wonderful gift from my February secret pal. I can't wait to tell you all about it. You'll just have to wait until I get a little sleep. The only other news I have to report is my WIW news. As far as the weight loss, all I can report is a big ZERO. No loss, no gain. I won't complain too much since we did a lot of eating out. I'll get back on track this week! Until morning.... I'm outta here!

MY NEW LOOK!!!

If you have gotten on my site in the last few days you may have noticed that the page now has some personality. When I first wanted to set up a blog page I chose Babyjellybeans.com because it is idiot proof, anyone can use it. As I have made friends here in blogger world I decided that I should have a blog site like everyone else. The only problem is that I have no clue how to do anything but post my messages. My drab site led me to Connie! She is a wonderful single Mom-to-be who has a LID a month before mine. She is waiting for her precious Jayden. Anyway, Connie was nice enough to take pitty on me and create me a new look for my page. I was so excited when I opened my site and saw how cute my page is. I love it!! I hope everyone else enjoys it as much as I am. I am so glad that everyone will get to look at a much more eye catching page. I can't begin to thank you enough Connie!

Welcome Adam Michael

First off I wanted to say congrats to Lisa and Mike on the birth of Adam Michael. He was born on my 9th Anniversary which was August 9th. I hadn't posted yet because I was waiting for a picture of him but I still don't have one. The above picture is of Lisa with her Mom, Linda and the new big sister! Hopefully I will have a picture of Adam very soon. For those of you who don't know Lisa she was my very first school friend. We met on the first day of kindergarten and have been friends ever since.

The weekend was busy as usual. It started off on Thursday when I spent half of the day in bed with the summer cold Mike gave me for our Anniversary! Isn't he a sweetie! I did make it out to do a little shopping. Friday I helped at my Mom's office for awhile and then headed to PBK to get the dresser we bought for Emma's room. She finally has her first piece of furniture. We then headed off to Qdoba for dinner and to watch Chase play a little Friday night football. He did so good. We are so proud of him and can't wait for the football season to get underway. Saturday I had to work (yuck). I had to trade off weekends so we can take our trip to Chicago at the end of the month. I did manage to get off early so we could go to E-Town to order Emma's bed, yes a second piece of furniture. The bed we picked out was out of stock so it will be 3 or 4 weeks before we get it. We then ate an early dinner at Red Lobster and then went back to town to get Mike's Sirius put in his new truck. While we waited we got to spend a little time at the mall with the Martin girls. This morning we got up did the grocery shopping and went out for our walk to Mom and Dad's. After all this eating we sure needed to walk! We got to hang out there for a while and then back home to get ready for the birthday dinner at P.F. Chang's. I know what your thinking but your right, we did spend most of the weekend eating. I sure hope I don't regret it on Wednesday. Well, I guess that was about all for my weekend, not that you wanted the play by play, but it is my blog and that's what you get!! I guess my question is what did you do this weekend?!!

Happy Birthday Poppy!

Happy Birthday Poppy!

I wanted to send out a special birthday wish to Mike's Dad, AKA Poppy! I hope you had a wonderful day and thanks for sharing your birthday dinner with me. Today we went out to P.F. Chang's for dinner to celebrate Poppy and my birthday. Today is his actual day but I still have until the 22nd to get a little older. Don't worry Poppy, I won't tell your age if you don't tell mine! We had a wonderful dinner and ate way to much. Sure hope I don't gain back too much weight (Weigh In Wednesday is only 3 days away!) I also wanted to thank the whole Kramer family for the wonderful gifts. I will take some pictures and show you what I got this week. By the way, Mike didn't want me to post this picture because this was before we started getting fit, it you look at the picture from August 9th you can see the difference!

9 Years Today!

Nine years ago today I married the man of my dreams! It was a wonderful day and every day since then has only gotten better. I am very blessed to be married to such a wonderful man. I really can't believe that we have already been married for nine years. We planned a little trip to Chicago for the end of the month to celebrate our anniversary, my birthday, and our 5 month LID anniversary. Everyone says you should plan a special 10 year anniversary trip and we sure are hoping for that. If all goes well we will be celebrating our 10th year together in China getting our precious little Emma. Sounds like the best present either of us could ask for.
We went out for dinner tonight at the Cheesecake Factory and had a wonderful meal. The only downfall was that we were both so full we weren't up for dessert. We then went shopping and picked out some furniture for Emma room. Hopefully we will get moving on her room soon. I know Leslie, you are still waiting on us to get it done.
Today is also Weigh In Wednesday. I am continuing to make some progress. I lost another .5lb. That brings the total to 16 lbs. I have a feeling the next 9 are going to be hard to get rid of.
Oh, by the way, yesterday while I was working with Mike I had a ladybug on me. Just wanted to note that there was a ladybug sighting on the 8th. Lisa said the #8 is lucky in China so I had 2 pieces of luck yesterday.

Blogger ate my post!!

I got done posting about my wonderful Feb secret pal gifts and realized the blogger ate the part of my post about Emma's new dress. As soon as I opened the gift and saw this dress I fell in love with it. I love the colors and I wish you could see the dress better. The picture doesn't do it justice. I started thinking about our little Emma all dolled up at the beach on vacation wearing this beautiful dress. Secret Pal, you sure know my taste. I love all of the gifts. Now I just need our little princess here to enjoy them more.

My Amazing Feb Secret Pal Gift!

My pictures never seem to go in the order I want them too. Someone needs to help me with this blogging stuff! Anyway, the picture above is the softest blanket I have ever felt! Emma will be one cut snuggle bug cuddled up in this!
Here is a picture of all the goodies that came today from my Feb secret pal. We had went to watch Chase play his first scrimage game and returned to a box stuffed in the mailbox. I was so excited to get it out that I made Mike stop at the end of the drive so I could pry the package out of the mailbox. Check out all of these wonderful goodies!

Look how cute these P.J.'s are! This will be Emma's very first pair of pajama's. I can't believe in all the clothes I have bought and been given that I had totally forgot about PJ's! I had to take them out of the package and show Mike how little they are. I love them and am already dreaming of giving Emma a bath and putting her in these precious PJ's.

Kozmo even got his very own gift. He was jealous last month when Jack got a treat bag but now he got his very own goodies. Kozmo says Meow!! He loves mice.

Thank you so much secret pal. Every month you send the most amazing gifts with the cutest cards. I truely treasure each and every gift. I can't wait to find out who you are so I can thank you personally. I hope you know how much these gifts mean to us and are definately helping with the wait for Emma!

The Number 11

The number 11

Lately the #11 has been coming up everywhere. It seems like I wake up in the morning and see 5:11 and I go to work and always seem to see 11:11. As I am typing this Mike is watching a Nascar truck race and as I looked up the #11 car is the focus of the race. It just seems that everything I see theses days has the #11 on it. What is it with #11? I had always heard that 11:11 was lucky, so every time I see it I would make a special wish for Emma. Now I wonder if the #11 has more significance. Who knows? Maybe one day I will find out. Maybe Emma has a November birthday or was (or is going to) be born on the 11th day of the month. Could it be I will get her picture or meet her on the 11th? I guess only time will tell if the #11 will play any importance in my life but it sure gives me something to think about.

Ho Bags and Weigh In Wednesday

I was downloading some photos from my camera and saw this picture of one of Holly's Ho-Bags and had to post it here. Holly is a good friend of mine who started making the cutest purses. I don't know if you can see her tag in the corner but I just love her purses. Each one has a red lining and the Ho-Bag tag. If you are curious about the name it started as a joke. A friend would always tease and call her Holly ho bag. So when she was coming up with a name for her little side business it just stuck, of cours it really stands for Holly Organizational Bags (sure it does!). Anyway, just though I would share it with you.

Now, everyone knows what day it is so we will get right to it. I am down 1/2 lb. That puts me at 15.5 lbs. Good but check out Mike's progress. He is down 1.5 lbs this week to a total of.....
19.5 lbs. Way to go Mike!

Once again work has been so busy. I think everyone is getting burned out, especially me! Good thing I have some time off. I am suppose to have vacation next week but since we aren't doing anything good (Mike's too busy) I may work Monday and just take Tuesday and Wednesday off. I hate to waste too many days off. I would rather save them for next year when we are home with Emma. I accumulate 9 hours of flextime every 2 weeks. Right now I have 3.5 weeks of vacation. Oh well, gotta have a little fun time off.

By the way, how is everyone else doing with their weigh in's? Matter of fact, just how is everyone??!!