Updates

My birthday was on Tuesday. I turned 28. Hard to believe 30 is almost around the corner. Craig says I am no longer a spring chicken. The celebrations started early. The whole fam went to the Grand Concourse for Sunday Brunch Buffet. As always it was fabulous! I love their brunch. The waffle station is to die for. On Tuesday one of my co-workers made a cake and my boss bought me a gorgeous bouquet of flowers. It was all very thoughtful.

Craig's brother is living in Guatemala right now trying to put the final touches on adopting their little girl Chayselynn Maely Wicks. Chayse was already a Wicks before she was born, but now she will be turning 2 in May and she still isn't home yet. There has been a lot of bumps along the way, but hopefully Cliff can bring her home soon! We are all praying it will be quick. She sounds like the sweetest little girl. I can't wait to meet her. We'll be flying to Las Vegas to visit Craig's family in May.

My brother has sold his house and they have bought a house in Warren. So the Kiehl family will be making a move very soon. We are desperately going to miss them.

I'm plowing through the 4th month of pregnancy. The puking has definitely ceased which is so nice. Early April there should be an ultrasound. I still haven't decided if I am going to find out the sex. Craig is going to find out (he says he can keep a secret), but I'm still thinking about it.

Very very soon I head to New Orleans with Heidi to watch our little Robs get married. I've never been to the NO so it ought to be an interesting experience.

Baby's First PITT Game!

That's right... I'm pregnant! I'm 3 months... finally! So its nice to be able to tell people. Craig and I got to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time on Monday. It was unbelievable... kinda surreal. We feel very blessed. So around September 1st expect a rowdy redhead to come into the world. Baby experieneced his/her first PITT basketball game last night. Craig and I got tickets from a co-worker. It was so much fun and PITT won! Probably too much excitement for baby - we didn't sleep so well last night. I'm getting really sick of being 4 or 5 times a night. More baby updates to come.

Disney

My work sent me to Disney for a training through the Disney Institute. One of the best trainings I have ever had. It included field trips to a couple of the Disney parks and I actually got to run a ride (before the park opened- so no guests were harmed). I took Craig with me so it was a nice relaxing trip for both of us and we got to go to the parks sans children and really enjoy the rides. I know the next time we go back it might not be so effortless. As I watched screaming children and parents all around me I prayed that I might someday have endless patience to be able to travel to Disney with my own kids. Here is the only picture we captured - we kept forgetting the camera.

Giants beat the Patriots!

The superbowl... which I thought was going to be a total blow out and I would end up pulling my hair out became the most AWESOME superbowl ever... besides the one where the Steelers won... this is definitely a very close 2nd. I'm just so so so excited that the Giants were able to overcome the evil empire of the cheating Patriots. And on top of that they were able to pummel Brady to the ground several hundred times. I was very scared during those last 20 seconds and really almost stunned when they lost. Great game!!

The Windy City

Wow, it was so windy last night!! Holy crap. I'm awoken at 2:30am by our house shaking, our bed shaking, and the most horrific sounds. Now if we were a stand alone house out in the middle of the country --- it might be less horrific, but we live in the middle of the city w/ buildings all around us - in fact we are attached on both sides to our neighbors and our house is all brick. So that was some pretty strong wind to shake that house. And of course our electric went out and our alarm didn't go off so it was the panicked get ready routine this morning. Not fun. Just to put a smile on everyone's face I've included this picture of Iris with her first set of pigtails. She has to be the sweetest thing ever!

Missed out...

This past weekend Wesley went to the Farm w/ Grandma and Grandpa and they had enough snow to sled ride. I was very jealous. One of my favorite things to do in winter is sled ride and Pittsburgh usually doesn't get enough snow. Just thought I would share these pictures...

Happy New Year!

Happy 2008! Who ever thought we would make it to 2008! Kinda crazy. I have to post these crazy pictures of my neice and nephew (which bring a smile to my face). The Kiehl family decided to dress up for New Years Day at Grandma's house. They all arrived in costume.. not sure why, but it was very cute. Andrea was Polly Anna, Mike was a runner (in running tights and all), Wes was a knight, and Iris was Tinker Bell. We started the new with our traditional pork and sauerkraut dinner and we played a wild game of Cranium.

For New Years Eve - Craig and I went to Kirsten Ream's house and enjoyed a lovely dinner with a wide array of individuals from all over the world. I spent the most time talking to a girl from Mongolia. Very interesting.

Hope 2008 is a good year for all!