Hospital Poses

This "Wall of Honor" showcases the many awards that the NICU-III (newborn intensive care unit) has achieved.



Keedan had many nurses, here are just two of his favorites - Irene & Kat .



Keedan gave this nurse (Vanecia) a hard time. I'm sure he gave her a hard time b/c it was the only night that we weren't able to stay at the hospital, so of course he was cranky!




This is Keedan all bundled up and cozy in his hospital bed.







Does anyone else see the resemblence besides me?








It's funny I've seen Keedan make this same face.

Counting Our Many Blessings

We are very excited to anounce the birth of our beautiful baby boy Keedan Jacob. He was born at 11:20 p.m. on March 1st 2008.
Almost 24 hours after we brought Keedan home we found ourselves rushing to the ER of Texas Children's Hospital.

Keedan was admitted to the Newborn ICU where oodles of absolutely wonderful doctors & nurses cared for him for 10 days. Apparently Keedan had some type of infection. We may never know from what the infection stemmed but we do know that Keedan is much healthier & stronger now.

During this very difficult experience we have been greatly blessed.

1. We are so very grateful to our Heavenly Father for carrying us along during our darkest hours. The Lord truly does hear and answer prayers and comforts those that stand in need of comfort.

2. We are so very grateful to all of our friends & family who have fasted, prayed,brought us yummy food & much needed hygiene products!

3. We were able to stay at the hospital 24/7 for 9 out of 10 days. We stayed at the Ronald McDonald house on the 4th floor of the hospital. It is such a warm and inviting place for families to stay and try to relax....plus it's stocked with food & freshly backed tollhouse cookies every night.

4. Keedan had a private room (this was nice b/c it cut out the noise factor and allowed for more privacy) Most of the babies are just out in the open and it can get pretty noisy.

We are home now and adjusting to the newborn lifestyle, which is quite exhausting, demanding and wonderful! Stay tuned for more pictures.......

Just A Few Updates........

1. NO, I haven't given birth yet, but I feel like I am going to POP at any moment. I went to the bank today and as I was walking back to my car a woman in an SUV rolled her window down and with a concerned look on her face asked me if I was in pain. She then proceeded to inform me that I don't need to go very far.....I thought it was pretty funny.


2. For those of you who don't know, Ryan incurred a football injury a few weeks ago that popped two of the joints of his pinky finger out of socket (the bottom joint broke through his skin causing him 8 hours in the emergency room plus a few stitches) Yesterday he finally got his stitches pulled out. His finger is healing well and hopefully he will be able to move it more & more as time goes by.


3. If you haven't watched the latest Extreme Home Makeover it is a MUST watch. It was such a wonderful and inspirational story about a family needing a home to suit the needs of their disabled older son who's blind and in a wheel chair. It's a bit long but well worth the entire 2 hours!
Just go to ABC.com & click Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and then click on full episodes. (Click on the Hughe's family)


That's really about it. I'm just happily & anxiously sitting at home, hoping the rain subsides so that I can go for a LOooooonnnnngggggg walk to help stimulate my body to push this baby out :) I hope to write soon about my long exhausting labor.

37 Weeks & 3 days Pregnant

Here is an updated picture of my ever growing belly. Wow...is it ever growing! I can't believe that the time is drawing closer & closer to that special day where we will get to meet our new baby boy. I'm not prepared entirely, but I've been schooled that you're never quite prepared for this life changing event.
Anyway, we will keep you all posted as to when that special day happens. Until then...toodles :)

Ryan Eats Snow

Our 20 something hour trip to Park City

We finally have pictures to post of our trip to Utah, Colorado & Wyoming.



First stop was Colorado, where we picked up Sabrina (Ryan's sister)& Paxton her daughter. It was an interesting ride b/c Sabrina & Paxton rode from Colorado to Utah with us. They are definitely some troopers b/c they rode in the back seat with Astro our dog.




Second stop was Laramie, Wyoming. We stayed with the wonderful Fry family. The plan was to stay for one night, but there was a snow storm that had us to stay for two nights. We had a ton of fun with the Fry's!





When we thought the snow storm had subsided we left Laramie to travel to Park City, UT. On the way we ran into a road closure on the interstate and had to exit into Rawlins, WY. We stopped to eat at Cappy's and then did a bit of Christmas shopping. Here is a picture at the restaurant of the adoreable Paxton Philpott.



The roads finally opened up, and we got to Park City safely. Check out the crazy "snow breeze". I had never seen anything like it. Of course this was my first time to be around "real" snow.






Astro loved loved the snow, which is a bit strange considering that he absolutely loathes being near water.









Believe it or not, he enjoyed it so much that he turned into a reindeer. Here's a picture of Camillia & Ethan getting ready to be pulled by Astro.







We got to meet the newest Malnar edition "Jackson" (he's being held by his Aunt Camillia) and were surprised at just how big and much more adoreable his big sister Olivia had become.















Ryan enjoyed some skiing with his brother Daran, sister Camillia and his dad.
Hopefully, if we travel to UT next year for Christmas I'll be able to ski.











One of our last stops was to visit my brother Levi & his family. Here's a picture of Levi & Trevor. Brittany (his wife) was ill and didn't want to be photographed, so I was nice and deleted the pictures I had taken of her.








We had such a wonderful time with our family & friends during our vacation, but next time we will definitely fly.

If Your Gonna Run Out of Gas - Ya Better Do It On One of Houston's Big Interstates

Yesterday, one of my worst fears occurred....I ran out of gas. I have actually never run out of gas.....but Ryan has experienced it a couple of times :). I should have learned from his experiences, but I guess I needed my own experience to set me in the straight and narrow way of making sure that the gas tank has plenty of gas - at all times.
It occurred downtown on 59 south. I was fooled by the gas gauge that showed the lever was just above the orange box of emptiness.
So, I was driving along and suddenly the gas stopped working & I began to coast. I saw an exit and almost took it, but had an impression to stop in the emergency lane adjacent to the exit. I admit that I became shaken up and a bit frantic b/c I didn't have the cell phone to call for help and as I looked behind me at the oncoming traffic my mind began to imagine them smashing into me. [Here's an ironic side note: I had told Ryan to take the cell phone & that if I needed to call him that I would find a phone - yea, I'll not make that mistake again]
I'm a bit dramatic, I know, but it was really very scary. So I said a prayer and began to calm down and analyze my situation as to what I should do. I had decided that I should get out and trek it up the inclined exit to Tuam street. I didn't dare get out of the driver's side door for fear of getting smashed by a driver that wasn't paying attention to their surroundings, so I maneuvered to climb over to the passengers side. Right as I was about to open up the door a man came walking up. AAAAAAAAhhhh I was so relieved.
His name is Lyle and he's a tow truck driver that works with Houston's Safe Clear program. He explained to me that they have camera's all around the busy interstate and when a troubled vehicle is spotted, they immediately send a message to the tow truck drivers to get to the scene. He said that they are suppose to get their within 6 minutes.
He hooked my car up and towed me to the nearest gas station. I admit it was pretty cool to ride in a tow truck.

Here's a bit of useful info for ya that I never knew...

1. Never leave your car to get help b/c your car will get towed and you will have to pay over $100 buckaroos to get it out of the broken down car lot.

2. Always make it to an emergency lane b/c the tow trucks are not suppose to charge for towing you to safety (this is only true if you are in an emergency lane)

I'm not sure that the above is true for all towing situations, but I do know that it's true for when your in Houston and stranded on a busy interstate.

So, I hope that you all can learn by my example and make certain that you always have enough gas in your vehicles :)