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??!!

My Poor Baby!

Here is a picture of Jack. He is a little under the weather. While we were out of town on Wed and Thurs he hurt his back leg. The poor thing could hardly walk. This was a picture of him on Friday after we took him to see Dr. David. He got his yearly shots and a shot of cortisone for his leg. He also had an ear infection so he got drops for that. If he isn't better by next Friday he has to go in and be sedated to get x-rays and his ear scoped. Look how pitiful he looks. I hope he is up and about soon.

4 Months and a Day!

Well, yesterday was our 4 month anniversary for our LID! I tried to post a message about it yesterday and by mistake posted it on our March DTC gift page. Once I realized what I did I had to erase it and then decided to forget it. Anyway, now I get to say we are 4 Months and 1 day. I am trying to stay positive but it is really hard since we are hearing that the referral batch for this month only runs through 7/13/05. I was hoping that they would finish all of July. Now we glad that I'm not doing it every month. I just love all of these swaps. Since August is in sight I need to start working on my secret pal gifts for August. For our Feb group the theme is Something for Mom and our March theme is Animals.

I have been reading all of these blogs and it seems like everyone is meeting. It sure makes me want to meet someone, anyone! Maybe one day I can meet some of my fellow bloggers!

Weigh In Wednesday, a day late!

Well, sorry I didn't post on my usual Wednesday but I was computerless (is that a word?) This is my Saturday to work at the hospital so I had Wednesday off. Instead of relaxing I decided to take a little overnight work trip with Mike. It's always nice to get to spend a little extra time with him! I did however weigh in on Wed. morning before we left. I was happy to see a little more results! I am down another pound. This brings my total to 15 lbs! I feel like I have definately worked to get it off but it hasn't been to bad. I couldn't do it without Mike doing this with me. I want to report on his progress too, hopefully he won't mind. He has lost 18 lbs! I was teasing this week that maybe we are saving a little gas money since together we are 33 lbs lighter! They say the lighter the car the less gas you will use.

We had a nice little overnight trip. I know we were working but I always have a good time spending a night away. It seems like a mini vacation. Well, we are back to reality and tomorrow is Friday. Have a good weekend!

Happy Birthday Lisa!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LISA!

I JUST WANTED TO SEND OUT A SPECIAL BIRTHDAY WISH TO MIKE'S BIG SIS. I HOPE YOU HAD A WONDERFUL DAY AND KNOW WE WERE THINKING ABOUT YOU. DON'T WORRY, I WON'T TELL ANYONE HOW OLD YOU ARE!!

Our new additions!

Mike has been taking pictures of all of our babies so I thought I would share them with everyone. Maybe one day we will have pictures of Emma to share with you but for now here are our baby ducks. Momma duck has been hanging out in our creek for the last 2 years and last week we got a glimpse at her new family. They have already grown so much. This is the duckling family as they head to dinner!

Not only do we have baby ducks but baby deers! This picture was taking this morning as they hung out in the back yard. I could just sit and watch them all day. I love seeing these momma's with their little ones and can't wait to post a picture of this momma with my little one. One can only dream for now!

It's Mealtime!

When I got home from work on Tuesday this box was sitting on the steps leading into the house. Mike left it there so I would see it as soon as I pulled into the garage. Of course I had to run get the camera and start taking pictures of everything! Check out how cute the box is decorated.

Here is a look inside the box as I opened it. We were really getting excited now! And then...

Mike and I pulled out the items one by one. Look at all these goodies. We got Bibsters and tray covers (both are wonderful inventions). All my friends talk about theses! Then we got a dishwasher basket for bottles and lids and a bottle brush. Check out the cute spoons that change colors when the food is too hot and last but not least, the Tide on the go pen! Mike has been wanting to buy this but he promised he would save this one for Emma. Our pal must know how I always spill things on me when I am eating and thinks our little princess will do the same (just joking!) We all know Emma is going to be perfect! Thank you so much secret pal. We love everything and can't wait to use every item. I love the card and your messages too!

Now I know today is Thursday and I missed my Wednesday post but hey things are busy around here! Work has wore me out this week so last night I just took it easy. Anyway, if you checked in for my weigh in, here goes! I lost 1 lb! Now, don't get too excited. I had gained .5lb last week so this just puts me down .5lb. I'm not complaining. I am now up to 14 lbs!

Today I took a little side trip with DeeAnna to go pick up Charlee from dance camp. We got to see her compete today and she did awesome. Way to go Charlee! The camp was up at UK. She went from Monday to Thursday and now Courtney is there for her dance camp until Sunday. Tonight we went for our walk. It has been so hot this week that we didn't get out much so tonight we backed the walk off to 1.5 mile. Well, that's all I have been up too, what about you??

Ladybug Sighting's and My Pal!

Today when I got the mail I had a package from my Feb Secret Pal. I ripped it open and look what I got! Isn't it the cutest thing ever, a ladybug magnet. That was the sweetest thing. I can't believe how thoughtful my pal is. It had been such a busy and hectic day and a ladybug sighting was exactly what I needed. Thank you so much Feb. Secret Pal, I love it! You sure know how to make me smile.

Yes, it is also Wednesday. My last day of the week, sorta. I am doing a favor for a friend at work and taking her call on Friday. It is a busy day but if I do get called in, I at least make good money for it. Today is also Weigh In Wednesday. Disappointingly I gained .5lb. Not good but not too bad. I'll have to try a little harder this week. I do have to shout out a big "atta girl" to Lisa, she lost 5lbs. in the last 2 weeks! Thanks for keeping me motivated girls. Can't wait to hear how everyone else is doing!

I've been tagged!

Okay Lisa! I am always up for a challange so when I got home tonight I headed to the kitchen for some photos. Mike couldn't believe I could take pictures of the pantry and fridge before cleaning them but oh well. Here we go... As you can see above (since I can never get the photos to go on right!) My fridge has more condiments than food. Mike did put some pork chops in to marinade. Of course if you notice in the freezer there are a ton of Weight Watchers meals and ice cream. I have to have something to eat during all of this dieting. The pantry is a mess! I try to clean it out every couple of weeks but somehow it always ends up a mess again. So there you go Lisa. Now I must tag someone and I tag.....Kim and Catherine. Well, gotta go clean up the pantry!

A relaxing weekend

Not a whole lot going on here. All I do have to report is that it was one relaxing weekend! It makes me so happy to say this since we usually run nonstop. We went out to eat a few times, worked in the yard and then of course did some walking to help take of the pounds we gained eating all this good food. Friday we went out to Red Lobster and did a little shopping in E-town. Saturday we got all of our running out of the way and headed out to P.F. Chang's for dinner. What I want to know is how do the Chinese people stay so skinny when the food is all so bad for you (on the weight side). Today we hung out around the house and got 2 walks in over at Bernheim Forest. What a beautiful weekend! I just hope that all of this good eating doesn't add the pounds on. I guess we will find out on Wednesday.

It's Wednesday Already?!

I can't believe it is already Wednesday again. It was so nice only having to work 2 days this week. I did really work hard the 2 days I was there but I could sure get used to this. I will be happy with just being off a few days.

Now on to more important things like Weigh In Wednesday. I have to say that I was very nervous about the weigh in today as I didn't behave as well as I should have this week. I really did try but sometimes you just can't help yourself. I am excited to report that I have some good news. I lost 1.5lbs. I was happy (to say the least). This brings my total to 13.5lbs! That's all for WIW this week. I'll update you next Wednesday!

Happy 4th of July

Stevie, Courtney and Tyler waiting for the fireworks
Gage and Charlee catching lightning bugs
DeeAnna and Dad

Check out this crew!

These were just a few pictures I took from last night. We had the whole Gathof crew over for a cookout and fireworks. It was a beautiful night and we couldn't have asked for better weather. I am just hoping that next year Emma is here to celebrate with us. I keep thinking that it might be possible. If the referrals stay at 12 months (and that is a big IF) we will get our referral next March or April and would travel May or June. I guess only time will tell. Hope everyone had a wonderful 4th!

Thinking about my boys!

Today I was thinking about our time in Ukraine and my mind started thinking about the wonderful boys who touched my life. For those of you who don't know me well, in Jan 05 we traveled to Ukraine to adopt a child. The system was really changing at the time and we went through a lot of heartache. We spent 2 1/2 weeks there and came home without a child. It was the hardest thing I have ever done. For those of you who are infertile I know you understand. Mike and I have gone through 7 miscarriages, 2 surgeries, and lots of fertility treatment all of which were very hard but none affected me the way our trip to Ukraine did. For those of you not familiar with the how adoptions work in Ukraine here is how it works. You actually go to the adoption center on your appt date and go through hundreds of files of children and pick out your child. Sounds easy enough until you are sitting in the seat in front of the pyscologist and he tells you (through translation) that there are no healthy children under 5. That was what we were told as we looked through book after book. We were finally given a file of a little girl Olena. She was turning two. We were told she had a cleft palete and needed some therapy on her shoulder. We decided to go see her 4 hours away. When they brought her into us she was absolutely beautiful but appeared the size of a 3-6 month old. We were on the floor playing with her when we decided to take a look at her shoulder. As we pulled down her outfit we were presented with the most devastating sight. Olena had spinal bifida which they denied (because they didn't know what it was) we were also then told she only had one kidney. It was the hardest thing we ever did but had to turn down our referral. We spent the next two weeks in Kiev waiting to see another child which never worked out. This brings us back to the boys. We were able to spend many days at the children's hospital in Kiev with these orphan boys. When the police find a child on the streets they bring them to the hospital where they sometimes stay for up to a year. They stay in the room in the above photo and never come out. They eventually are sent to shelters or orphanages. I feel in love with these boys and would have done anything to bring them home with me. Not a day goes by that I don't think about and pray for them. In the picture above from left to right: Valladi, Mike, Andre, and Kosta. Valladi was left because his mom had too many kids to take care of, Andre and his brother were abandoned and he has a heart condition (his brother is in a shelter) and Kosta's mother left him under a bridge. I pray that one day they are able to be adopted and find a forever home. I know that they will always have a place in my heart.

3 Month Anniversary!

Well, today is our 3 month anniversary for our LID! Hopefully this means that we are 1/4 of the way to getting that picture of our beautiful little Emma! Now, I am not counting on 12 months at this point but I sure am praying for it. I have to say the first 3 months haven't been too bad. We have been keeping so busy that the time is going by pretty quickly.

Speaking of referral, anyone with a LID of 6/16-6/28/05 got their referral this week. I had such a good time checking out all of the little China dolls and reading the blogs. I am a little behind on posting all this but for those of you who are not as familiar with the China adoption world 12 days worth of referrals is a good thing. We are just hoping that all of July will be sent out in July (that will help keep our referral at 12 months. I guess we will just have to wait until next month to find out.

Now, Lisa has been asking what I have been doing to lose my weight so here goes. I am not technically doing Weight Watchers but I am trying to use their point system to some degree. I don't follow it to a T but I am staying close to my 22 points a day. I am so suprised at how easy it is. I have had plenty to eat and feel very satisfied. My sister read that you should drink a glass of green tea every morning, so I am trying that too. Lastly I have been walking with Mike 4 days a week 1-2 miles each time. I guess it is a combination of all of this but like I said my motivation is The Great Wall and my precious Emma. I sure don't want her to have a "Big Momma"!

It's Wednesday!

Well it's happy Wednesday for me! It has been a really long 3 days. I worked 44 hours in 3 days. Tuesday was the longest since I went in at 5:40am and got off at 11:20pm. Way to many hours standing on your feet digging around in peoples belly's (sorry for the visual!) Oh well, my week is over and I can enjoy a few days off.

I know what you are thinking... It's Weigh In Wednesday (right!) Well, for this week I am excited to post, just don't expect this every week. I got up this morning, stripped down (can't have any extra weight) and stepped up on the scale. Survey says.... 4 lbs.! I couldn't believe it. I have now lost a total of 12 lbs. I still have a long way to go but Emma and The Great Wall sure are a good inspiration. I can't wait to see how everyone else is doing.

Well, it's late for tonight so you'll here more from me tomorrow!

Our Awesome Pal!

Jack says a big thank you to our wonderful secret pal!
When I got off work tonight and called home Mike said there was a package waiting. I couldn't wait to get home to open it and see what we got this month. Here is a picture of the box as we opened it up. Check out how cute the card is. It reminds me of the flowers in Emma's bedding!

Look at all of these wonderful gifts. Secret Pal you sure are spoiling all of the Kramer's! These are Emma's first summer toys! Look at how cute the Elmo sprinkler is (I wanted to get it out but I know I should keep it for Emma. We also got the cutest sand toys so I reminded Mike that we will have these to take on our first beach trip! I don't know if you can see the little ducks that squirt water (my favorite). I got some of the cutest summer time scrapbook stickers and Jack got a bag of goodies.
Check out Jack with his bag of bones. He was so excited to get one as you can see in the picture above. He has been sitting at the table all night waiting for me to give him another treat. Look at the cute tag with his name on it. Isn't he adorable!

Secret Pal, I just wanted to let you know how much we loved all of the gifts and can't wait to find out who you are so we can thank you in person. All of your notes and gifts have meant so much to us and we can't begin to thank you enough!

A little fun time

Thursday night we had a house full of kiddos and we really enjoyed every minute of it! Above is from left to right Gage, Stevie, and Hunter. Can't you see the love.

Charlee finds a little time to relax and make a call

Chase spends the morning helping the little ones with a little painting project. I think we have some future artists in the family!
Tommi, I promise I didn't feed him anything bad! A little candy never hurt anyone!

These were just a few of the shots I got of the kids this weekend. Thursday night we went to see Car's and out to dinner. I wish I would have gotten a shot of the dessert Gage and Charlee ate (absolutely sinful!!) Friday was such a beautiful day and we had a ball painting and had a little fun in the sun on the slip and slide.

Something to think about

Today was my Saturday to work at the hospital and of course it was a busy day. I had to big cases so I headed out the door at 5:15am this morning. Way to early if you ask me! Anyway the day was going really well when I had one of those moments I thought I should post here about. We had just finished up a surgery when I started hearing a baby cry. I stopped dead in my tracks and just listened. Now I know there are no babies in the OR so it was one of those moments when your heart just sank. Was this a sign? Was I just delirious from lack of sleep? Who knows, but I thought I should post about it here. You never know. I always sit and wonder if Emma is born yet or when will she be born. It is possible that she could have been born today. Once again, who knows but it sure gives me something to think about!

I haven't downloaded my pictures I took from Friday so I will post more about this tomorrow. Thursday night Mike and I keep the Griffin kiddo's since Tommi and Steve headed to beach for a 10 year anniversary weekend (by the way, Happy Anniversary!). We went out to eat and to see Car's. We had a wonderful time, even our little dazzlers joined us for the movie and then Charlee and Chase spent the night with us. Boy did we have a house full! We couldn't have enjoyed it more. I'll post some pictures tomorrow!

Check out my book buddy!

Yes, I joined another swap! I know, I know, but look at what I got! I was excited to join this group because it is a chance to meet some more new people and add to our book collection for Emma. Jan McMillin was my pal from this month and boy did she go overboard! Look at these wonderful books. I can't wait to get to read them all and one day share them with Emma. I know she will especially love the pig (how can you resist)! Thank you Jan for the wonderful books and for being so thoughtful. I love everything. Oh, by the way, yes this swap we actually find out the buddy!

A Special Card!

Sorry it took so long to post this but without the internet I had no way to thank our Feb. Secret Pal. Saturday when we got the mail there was the cutest card in the mail addressed to Daddy Kramer. I can't believe how incredibly sweet and thoughtful our Secret Pal is. Mike loved the card and it definitely made him excited thinking about next year. We just pray that our little China Doll will be home to celebrate the day! Thank you so much for the card. You sure do know how to make a new dad feel special!

I Broke My Promise!

Well, last week I promised I would update the site more frequently and here it is 10 days later and no post. Well this time I do have a good excuse! Friday evening someone cut a phone line to our neighborhood and we lost our service. We were without phone service until Sunday night and without internet service until Tuesday night. Believe me I was going through withdrawls. I couldn't wait to get home tonight to get an update on all my fellow bloggers and to check all those emails. I hope to get caught up ASAP as I hate to miss out on anything!

Sorry I've been MIA!

Sorry I have been Missing In Action for the last week! I have had a few problems with posting on both of my blogs so here I am trying it again! It has been a busy week and I didn't even get to post on Weigh In Wednesday. Needless to say it was probably a good thing since there wasn't much to report. My weight remained the same. I guess I can't complain too much. I could have gained. I guess I will just have to wait until Wednesday and hope I lost something (anything!) I had a really nice weekend. Friday I headed out to dinner with Amy and Holly and I even ate good and healthy! We did a little shopping and I bought 2 beautiful dresses for Emma. I will try to take a picture of them this week and post them. Then Saturday we headed out to Papa John's Stadium to watch Chase play in a 7 on 7 passing tournament. It makes me so ready for football season. Today we just got to spend the whole day at home relaxing. That sure doesn't happen enough! Now as I sit here I begin to dread the inevitable Monday morning (yuk!) Oh well, here goes my 3 days of glorious fun at the hospital.

I guess I should back up because I didn't tell you about Thursday. We went to dinner at Dynasty which is a Chinese buffet. Katrina, our family advocate at A Helping Hand invited the families from our area to dinner for a meet and greet. We had a really nice time and met some nice couples. There was one in the group with a March 7th LID, one was going to be DTC on Friday, another finishing their dossier, my friend Leslie who is finishing the paperchase and Tammy who just got back with McKenna in March (what a cutie!) I'll have to post about Tammy soon. It was so nice to finally meet some of the people who are right there with us.

I hope everyone has a wonderful week and I will post more soon to tell you more about our dinner and of course a post for Weigh In Wednesday!

Celebrating the Graduates!

Above is a picture of Mike with Courtney (on the left) and her friend Chelsea. They both also graduated this year from the 8th Grade. Courtney will be going on to Manual and Chelsea will be going to Butler. Congrats girls!


Yesterday we went to the Martin's for the big graduation party. It was a wonderful celebration! It is still hard to believe that my baby will be going to college in the fall. The picture above is of (from left to right) Jeff, Tony and of course Corbyn. Once again congrats Corbyn, welcome to the "Real World"!


Today we went to my cousin's baby shower. She is adopting a little girl from Oklahoma that is due in July. It sounds like the baby may be born this week so Theresa and Jim will be heading out to OK on Thursday. It gets even better, they were on a list here in KY too and got a call about a month ago that they were chosen by a birth mother and she is having a little boy also due in July. So come this time next month they should be parents for a little girl and a little boy. Please keep them in your prayers that all goes smooth .

Tomorrow it is back to the real world for me as I have to go back to work. I didn't sleep late while I was off but I did sleep in past 5am, so hopefully I can pry myself out of bed tomorrow. I will be looking forward to Happy Wednesday!

A Chinese Princess Moment (or TWO!!)

This afternoon I went out to lunch with 3 of my very good friends all of whom I graduated from high school with. We had a great time and I even ate a healthy lunch (I am definately gaining will power). After lunch we did a little shopping and then I headed to get my hair cut. This is where I get to my Chinese Princess Moment! I walked in and while waiting for Karen I saw out of the corner of my eye the cutest little Chinese princess waiting to get her hair cut, oh wait, there were TWO!! The younger of the two kept smiling and waiving at me and my heart just sunk! I could picture my little Emma climbing up in the chair for Karen to cut her hair and it just made me so excited. Of course I notice each and every China Doll that graces my presence and like today all I could do was just sit, watch and dream. I only wish I had my camera with me to take a picture of the girls. I know all of you would have loved them too!

Tomorrow we are headed to the Martin's for Corbyn's graduation party so I am sure once again this proud aunt will have pictures to post. Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!