a beautiful day in the neighborhood

it is a gorgeous day in asheville today. lovely for spending time outside, waiting to catch a glimpse of the presidential plane. that's right. the obama's are vacationing in asheville this weekend. we knew around what time they would be arriving and the dogs and i sat outside hoping the flight pattern might bring them over our house. it did. now, i may not be a huge fan of the president, but that doesn't mean i wish him any ill will. how often does the president come to any city, especially one you live in, right? the dogs could care less, though, that's for sure!

fighting over the ball

mischievous cotton

beautiful barley

aftermath

we love at play with sparky for many reasons. the dogs love it. they provide crateless boarding, including providing them with beds to sleep on. the staff is wonderful. but the #1 reason why we love sparky's is the day after.

she's too tired to care that dave is laying on her.

she hasn't moved, except for breathing, in the last hour.

so sweet and sleepy.

from showers to birthdays...

we had traditional sunday night dinner with my grandparents. sunday was my uncle steve's birthday and we celebrated in the usual style- dinner (sonic) followed with cake. steve chose a strawberry ice cream cake from maggie moo's. it was delicious. (yes, jay and i ate horribly this weekend. and it was worth every calorie!)

we had a great visit with everyone. my "little" cousins are growing up- lindsey is 16 and driving and haley will be 13 in one month. it was wonderful getting to talk and catch up with everyone besides doing so on facebook or on the phone. i must say, though, with these teens, facebook is a great way to stay up to date on the current events!

of course we got some great pictures sunday night, too.

before the cake was devoured

haley, lindsey, regina and steve (steve is my dad's younger brother)

the lovely ladies

on our way out of town, and back home, this morning (monday) we stopped to visit with my paw paw (my mom's dad). he's been in a "nursing" home for a few months now, which isn't bad considering he just turned 90. his memory isn't quite what it used to be, but he seems to be enjoying himself and winning the hearts of those who care for him. (don't mind my closing eyes- mom only took one picture.)

baby shower, take two

this trip to tn was filled with baby showers. we had another one on sunday for some dear family friends, chris and his fiance´ ashley. this was my first time to meet her, and i must say i ♥ her already. she's fabulous. good job, christopher! she will be a welcome addition to our friend-ly family. they are expecting a little boy in june that they plan to name joey, a very special name. want the (shortened version of the) back story?

chris' dad, joe, was my dad's best friend from high school. in fact, joe introduced my mom and dad to each other. joe suffered a major heart attack in april 2006 and passed away. now his name will live on in his grandson, joey.

i won't bore you with all the photos (i'll save that for facebook), but here are a few...

ashley and chris

everyone filled out a notecard with baby advice and/or words of encouragement. ashley was reading the card from her best friend, lauren, who is in the white sweater. chris' sister, shannon's daughters, brooke and lindsey miller, are with her in the picture.

all of joey's goodies...

a baby blanket

i have been working on hannah grace's blanket for months now. i finally finished it the morning of her baby shower.

most of you usual readers know that hannah grace is already here. she turned 3 weeks old the day of her shower. i actually got to meet sweet hannah grace in person yesterday evening. she's beautiful! so tiny and perfect. she is feeding and growing. she has just a little bit of oxygen per nasal cannula and her feeding tube. no iv's. she is a few ounces above her birth weight and has a couple of pounds to gain before she can go home. becca is doing great, too. she is healing well and had a great check-up with her doctor yesterday. (brad is doing great, too. i hope you all don't mind me borrowing a picture of you all.)

we had a great baby shower. i didn't get too many pictures because my sweet cousin angel was our photographer. she has a photography business and i am sure she did a great job on our pictures. i did get her to take a picture of me, becca, rachel (becca's big sister and my best friend from kindergarten), and mandy (one of our other dear friends for the last 20 years).

wordless wednesday

(mostly wordless. this is proof that at least once in my life i have put on snow skis and successfully skied a very short distance, including turning and stopping. it was when our friend, barry, came to visit in february. i didn't hate it. i didn't love it.)

update on Becca and Hannah Grace

... actually, you can just hop on over to Brad and Becca's blog and read Becca's update, complete with pictures of their little sweetheart, Hannah. :) happy reading!

update on Becca

Saturday, April 3: Becca has been moved into a regular room and out of ICU! She is up and mobile again. Praise the Lord! She is able to visit and spend time with her sweet Hannah Grace and with her family. Hannah Grace is still doing well and is tolerating her feedings. Happy Easter indeed.

GREAT NEWS! Becca is off the ventilator and seems to be doing well. (1:50pm EST)

becca's husband, brad, just sent me my morning update. i love her sweet husband. (becca, job well done on this one.) today's update was filled with good news. i am smiling and so thankful for all the prayer warriors out there lifting up this precious family. i know, i know... onto the update:

becca: becca is still on a ventilator (and in the ICU), but they have turned the settings down (weaned her) so that she is doing most of the breathing on her own. there is very little that the vent is actually doing for her. she is still sedated but they are going to wean her off her medications too, and are hopeful to successfully have her off the ventilator today.

hannah: hannah is still doing well. she is being weaned off of her ventilator as well and they are planning to start feeds for her. (former nicu nurse's note: feedings for her will consist of tube feedings and usually start at 0.5-1ml each feeding, which may be every 3 or 6 hours to start with. they begin feedings slowly to make sure their immature guts can handle the process of digestion. at any sign of intolerance, feedings stop and the gut gets a day or so of rest.) she has been on phototherapy for jaundice and brad says they plan to turn that off tomorrow. she did have some bleeding in one of her lungs a few days ago and that appears to have stopped as well. she also had a routine ultrasound of her brain to check for bleeding and it was clear! (nurse's note: brain bleeds are common in very small preemies and those born before 32 weeks. so it's a huge praise that hannah's brain is clear and healthy!)

lots of good news today. keep praying for strong lungs for both girls and decreased anxiety for becca. they appreciate all your prayers.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

(i would love to know who is praying and where you are from, especially if you are lurking and not commenting! i will be seeing becca and brad in a few weeks and would love to tell them where their prayers were coming from, and possibly put them on a map for hannah to see one day, too. will you please comment and share your name and where you live? thanks, stacie)

(also, if you like the picture/print, you can order one. check out The Wheatfield. she has lots of choices and reasonable prices. i can't make up my mind. i love lots of them.)