Update

Well, we are in the final week(s) of what I think has been the longest pregnancy on the books. Just kidding. It just seems that way. In fact, the other night, someone at Bunco said, "It seems like you have been pregnant forever!" Tell me about it!!

Anyway - feeling pretty good. Ready to be able to drive again!! I am at Thomas's mercy when it comes to leaving the house. I feel pretty bad for him. By the time Thursday rolls around, I am usually a bit of a bear to deal with at home because of cabin fever!

So, I finally moved my pictures over to my new-to-me computer at home, so I am posting a few morsels from the past for your viewing pleasure!

WARNING - LOTS OF PICTURES! This catches me up for some of what I intended to post for 2007. It really only catches me up on a few events, so you may still see some random pictures from the past show up on my blog.

One year ago - my surprise 30th bday party...

Pamela A. being funny. Or so she thinks.

I don't think I have any pictures of Tammie not making a face, so here it is.

The pictures below are from our night out for Pam's birthday last September. We went to The Melting Pot.

Here are some more pictures from our vacation to the West Coast last fall.

These are from my Halloween Bunco last year. I made spaghetti and this is how I plated it. Also, everything was candlelit, so I thought it was pretty neat. Don't know what my Bunco friends thought, but we can pretend they loved it.

What is she doing, you ask? Why, she is smoking a chocolate dipped pretzel, of course!

Pumpkin Patch with the cousins below.

We helped out with the small group sponge toss at Trunk of Treats this year. Tonya and Trey did a great job of making our dummy and Tonya was by far one of the funniest to work it. Below that are some pumpkins Thomas carved.

That gets me through October 2007!! Not at many pictures as I wanted to post, but it will do for now. :-)

No Big Deal

Hi Friends,

Several of you have inquired as to why I visited the hospital last week and how I am feeling, so I thought I would go ahead and post an update!

First, thank you all so much for your prayers and well-wishes. My circumstances pale in comparison with what others are going through and it means a lot to have such great friends around us during this exciting (and yet a little frustrating) time.

As many of you know, I have been having dizziness and fainting issues since the end of March. Some of this is very normal during pregnancy and many of you have gone through it yourselves. Generally, it is very manageable and can be controlled. When I visited my doctor last Monday, I casually mentioned that the last two fainting spells I have had, there has been no warning and I fell (not hard, but still a fall) when it happened. To my knowledge, once I was in a horizontal position, I "came to" and was fine about 15 seconds into the ordeal. Well, having the awesome doctor that I do, she was...ummm...VERY UPSET with me for not calling and reporting the "no notice" to them. To me, this has all become second nature and, as scary as it can be while it is happening, it has become my recent reality.

Needless to say, she gave me two hours to go home and get things set up with my parents for Callie, grab a few items for overnight stay at Harris and drop by work for a minute. Once I arrived to the hospital, she had my room number and specialists waiting for me to start running tests. The sad part is that they do not know what is causing it and cannot run any neurological tests until after the baby is born. She considers me a "fall risk" (which was the reason for the orange socks) and is extremely concerned that if I am up and about, I will fall and possibly injure myself or the baby. From the way she was talking about it, I assume she has had some sort of experience with either the death of a mom or a baby due to a fall and this has her very concerned, which you can tell by the way she is handling my case. She is a fantastic doctor and I couldn't appreciate her more.

Of course, I understand all of this, but it doesn't make it any less frustrating. On a good note - I am now 35 weeks, so we are definitely on a downhill slide toward Callie having a little brother or sister!!

Because all of you are the people you are, I have already been offered meals, babysitting, you name it. Trust me, I will let you know if I need anything other than prayers right now! If you think I won't let you know, you can always call Tonya and she will be honest with you...usually.

Thanks again for being the friends you are to our family!
Tami

Hospital Boredom Sets In...

That being said...here are two pictures for your viewing pleasure:

This one is just for See Dub. I am a fall risk, so they are having me wear these WONDERFUL orange socks and use this BEAUTIFUL orange blanket. Mary N. decided it would be fun if she were the one to deliver these to my room. THANKS.

Thomas is very proud of our ET picture.

Music Camp!

Our performances for Music Camp are this weekend! The kids have worked so very hard and I am so proud of them! Check out our blog (big thanks to See Dub)!

Performances are Saturday and Sunday at 6:00 pm at Heritage! Come and see our kids and their wonderful production, AmeriKids!

Impending Doom or New Phase??

I guess it just depends on how you look at the circumstances. After seven years of work at GST, my role is slowly transitioning for several reasons. First, I am having another baby and have not had the smoothest of pregnancies. Second, Thomas has a hankering (yes, I believe that truly is a word) to move up at the company and take on more responsibility. For these reasons, we cannot continue to work our awesome schedule where both of us get to spend so much time with Callie. We knew a change was coming, but there has been some doubt as to when this would happen. The doubt has now been replaced by certainty for Thomas and uncertainty for me.

So, why do I say "impending doom" in my subject? I think it is out of fear of the unknown. I will be extremely blessed to work from home Tuesday through Friday (for the time being) and can spend time with Callie and will have a chance to do some of the "wifely" things I have always wanted to do. Fix dinner for Thomas most evenings, be here more to make sure the house is in order, and kind of feel like a stay-at-home mom, all while still being employed full-time. I think that is where the doom sets in. I am not one to want to work from home necessarily. My expectations for myself become overwhelming because I feel like I have to work 10x as hard to make sure people know I am worth the effort and money for the company. I have to work harder to SHOW people what I am doing. It is different than being in the office all day where people see your productivity on a regular basis. This is the WORST - I also feel like all of the hard work I have done in specific areas of the company will be erased in a matter of weeks. Yes, it may just be a feeling, but it is still there and eats at my subconscious. I feel like I am breaking up my team and I hate that feeling. Does my team feel that way? No. They know I will hound them just as much as I ever have. I know, it is just me. I have worked my way into being more than the owners daughter, I have become a key player in my own right. I don't want to lose that part of my professional life.

On the other hand...new phase?? Yes. Absolutely. This change has the potential to totally change what I do for the company and where I am headed. There is no doubt in my mind that Monday will be the start of a brand new phase in my life and will be the start of something TOTALLY different. My responsibilities as an employee may be relatively the same, my duties as a wife and mother may be the same, but the way I approach those two areas will be completely different. It is mildly exciting, very scary and deeply troubling all at the same time. I have to make myself believe I am up to the task and can function above my own expectations. I MUST believe I will not fail. I also must believe the change is positive and will allow me to grow and learn.

All that being said, I am ready to meet it head on...I think. :-)

Mother's Day and Evening with Reese

Tonight, we had the pleasure of having Sara's youngest over while she and Pete went out. She and Callie had fun playing in Callie's kitchen. Reese really showed Callie the ropes with some of her toys! She showed her how to work the pepper grinder, how to use the microwave and how to organize her kitchen! Callie had so much fun with cousin Reese and we were thrilled to have her here! Here are some cute pictures of the two of them playing...

And my favorite of the two of them....

Also, here the only picture we took from Mother's Day. Thomas and Callie took me to The Melting Pot and we had a great time! Unfortunately, it was a humid day, so my hair is all over the place. Oh well! Here is the picture anyway...

Stars Game

One quick note...in the words of the Von Trapp Family Singers...So Long, Farewell, Avery. Wish things had worked out...you are a good coach, but the Mavs just didn't respond to you this year. Here's to a fresh start with a new coach next year!

Thomas and I were lucky enough to snag four tickets to the Stars Playoff game last night against the Sharks. We took my parents with us and had a fantastic time! I took some pictures with my phone from our seats and am posting them below.

Let me take a very brief moment to talk about my obsession with hockey. It all started when my friend, Adrienne, took me to a Sharks game when we were in junior high. If I remember correctly, her neighbor was a NHL ref and was able to get them tickets from time to time. Of course, the only thing I knew was the Sharks and I loved them! They were my hometown team! I kind of got out of the hcokey side of life when I was in my last year in highschool and then my first two years in college. Then, Thomas and I met and I realized how much I missed watching the excitement. Of course, a couple of years later, I found myself rooting for the Stars and they won the Stanley Cup! As I sat at the game last night, I realized I am a die hard Stars fan, and, no matter what my former allegiance was, I had to root them on to victory. Sharks - I love ya, but I can't wait to see you go down in this series!!

One of the faceoffs during the second period:

My parents:

Morrow talking with the ref after a bad call:

Ribeiro on the hunt for a goal. The lady in front of me had beautiful hair. It wasn't as big as it looks in this picture.

It was a lot of fun! Glad we were blessed enough to get tickets from our pals at Samuel and Son.