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!

Weigh In Wednesday

Today is Weigh in Wednesday so first thing this morning I shed the clothes (hey, can't have any extra weight) and stepped on the scale. To my surprise, drumroll please.... I lost 2.4lbs! I was thrilled. Maybe my motivational pictures are working. I haven't done much different but I have started walking. Let's just say I will take it one step at a time and hope it comes off little by little. I am now up to 5.5lbs! Don't get too excited yet as I have a long way to go!

Well, I was thinking this morning and I am 9 weeks since LID! With all the news of slow downs and maybe even more slow downs my 9 weeks sure doesn't sound like anything. I am trying to just find things to do and focus my energy elsewhere. Speaking of things to do I have almost finished my quilt squares and will get them out this week (sorry for being such a slacker!). I think I may even go shopping today and start looking for Secret Pal gifts for June. For the Feb group the theme is Summer Keepsakes and for the March group it is Pamper the Parents.

Thanks Feb. Secret Pal

This afternoon I was heading out to E-town when I spotted a box on the front porch. Since I knew I hadn't ordered anything I knew it had to be from my Secret Pal. I ran to get the box but I decided I should wait for Mike to get home to open it (boy do I have will power these days!!) As soon as Mike walked in the door we sat down to open it. I was so excited about all of the gifts and couldn't wait to share them all with you. First I got a wonderful book to help me with all my challenges of toodlerhood, then I got plug covers and to top that off my creative pal made butterflies out of plug covers and washclothes (how creative!) and last but not least Mike and I got popcorn in the cutest little ladybug bag! Thank you so much Feb SP, we loved everything and also thanks for making our day!

Happy Two Month LID!!

TWO DOWN, HOW MANY TO GO???

Today marks the two month marker of being logged in (LID)! Each month seams like a huge milestone these days. I know that we have such a long way to go but I keep telling myself that we have to start somewhere and at least we can say we are two months closer to Emma. When we started the process in October we were looking at a six month wait from LID, now that has turned into at least a twelve month wait. My patience is really being tested!

Mike laughs at me because I am getting myself into any project that seems to make the time go faster. Of course I added this second blog page, joined two quilt swaps, postcard swap, two secret pal groups, multiple yahoo groups, now I am working on the nursery and my biggest task "Wednesday Weigh In" (which leads me to my next thought!

There are rumors that China is going to start rejecting people due to their weight! It happened to someone from the July DTC group and I have heard from a few bloggers that their agency's aren't denying this. The big question is how much is too much weight?? Are we talking 20, 50, or 100lbs. overweight and how are they deciding how much we should weigh? All I have to say is that nothing will keep us from our princess so I am really going to get serious about lossing some pounds. It may take some time but I have printed off a copy of a Chinese Princess and The Great Wall to motivate me. I can use all the help I can get. I am excited to see that their are many of my fellow DTCers that are joining in!

Well, hope everyone is enjoying the day off work and taking time to remember all of those that have gone before us.

WAY TO GO CORBYN!!!!

Well, it's official! Corbyn has graduated from Holy Cross!

This is a picture of Corbyn with some of his buddies. (from left to right) Zack, Brian, Matt, CORBYN, Wes and Jeff. What a wonderful group of guys. I am proud of all of you!

Today was such an incredible day. Corbyn is my parents first grandchild to graduate from high school. It is really neat to think that Corbyn is the first person to graduate from Holy Cross that had both parents graduate from there. Even better it is wild to think that both of my sisters along with our husbands are all Holy Cross Graduates! (Sorry I am babling!) I just want you to know Corbyn how proud we are of you. Thank you for sharing your special day with all of us! We love you very much!

A big weekend!

Congratulations Charlee on becoming a Highland Hills Dazzler! Today Charlee tried out for the dance team at Highland Hills and we were so excited to hear the news of our new Dazzler. Way to go Charlee! We knew you could do it!

Tomorrow is a big day! I can't believe that in 12 hours Corbyn will be graduating from Holy Cross High School. It just doesn't seem possible. For those of you who don't know me very well, my nieces and nephews are my life! This handsome man on the left is my 1st born (it's okay, DeeAnna shares him with me!) I hope he knows how proud Mike and I are of him. I will post more pictures tomorrow when it is official!

Until Next Season!

So, did everyone sit on the edge of their seats last night watching how the season would end for McDreamy and the gang? You know me, I hung on every scene! I have never really got into hospital shows so I was shocked the first time I sat down to check out Grey's Anatomy. It's fun to watch the OR scenes since that is what I do for a living. I just sit and laugh at some of the things that happen. Since I work at a teaching hospital we have residents that I work with everyday so it is kind of fun to compare reality vs TV land. I guess what I want to know is who will Meredith choose?? Could it be our very own Dr. McDreamy or Finn? Let me know what you think!

Happy Mother's Day!

This is a picture of me and my Mom on Easter. I wanted to send her a special wish for a wonderful Mother's Day! I hope you know how much you mean to me and Mike. We love you bunches and want to thank you for always being here for us! I hope you have a wonderful day!

I also want to send a special Happy Mother's Day to all of those of you who have had children for years, months, weeks, days and those of you who are waiting for the day that precious child is placed in your arms! You are all in my thoughts and prayers today!

A special card

Check out my cute card from my March Secret Pal! It is my very first Mother-to-Be card. I loved the little message inside. I just can't believe how thoughtful my pal is. When I opened it, it made me so excited to think that yes I am a Mom! Sometimes it is hard to imagine that one day soon I will have my little princess in my arms but today I sure feel it in my heart! Thanks secret pal for being so kind and thoughtful.

This is a picture of my niece Courtney. Today she was going to her 8th grade dance. I can't believe that in just a few weeks she will be out of middle school and on to high school. It just doesn't seem possible. I was excited to go over and snap some pictures. Isn't she a cutie!

I also joined the Wednesday Weigh In. I am hoping to take off some pounds before we head to China. Looks like I will have plenty of time to do this! Anyway last week I lost 1.5lbs. and this week I had lost 2lbs. Not too bad but I have a long way to go! Mike and I have been walking and trying to get in a little better shape, if not we will never make that climb at the Great Wall. I will continue to post my progress. Let's just hope I can do it!

Most of you know that I have a Babyjellybeans.com site and this is where I have posted since October so for those of you who check both sites I will try to at least have some different topics on both sites. This site I will focus a little more toward my blogging friends.

Well, I sure have been thinking a lot about motherhood since this is Mother's Day weekend. I sure hope that this time next year we have our precious little one. It makes me so excited to think about this but sometimes it just doesn't seem real. We have waited so long to start a family and I guess it just won't seem completely real until that little Chinese Princess is in our arms. Anyway, Happy Mother's Day to all you Mom's and Mom's to be out there!

Need some help here!

Mike decided that I should set up a blog page since most of the the sites I "stalk" all use this blog site so I decided to try it out. The big problem is that I want to make the page cute and don't know how to add the links or change the top. I have my other page on Babyjellybean.com and it is idiot proof. If anyone can give some advise please do so.

I have been enjoying reading all of the blog pages and would love to add some of your sites to my page. It you don't mind me linking you to my site let me know.

I decided to be part of the Wednesday weigh ins! I am hoping to loss some weight and get in better shape before we make our trip. One of my friends is in China as we speak and got her sweet little Addie today. They went a few days early and did sight seeing of the Great Wall, Summerhouse, ect... but what I am getting at is how hard they said it was to climb the wall so I figured that I better get moving if I intend to make it to the top. Last week I lost 1 1/2lbs. so we will see how I did on Wednesday!

Well, I hope to get better at this blog thing but give me some time or check out my site at Babyjellybeans.com enter Kramer for the last name!