7 Months

Well, life is busy this time of year. Marissa is doing great eating solids we are now introducing 2nd foods and she is doing great. Her first tooth came in on the bottom at exactly 7 months old (December 2) Then 1 week later her second tooth came in right next to her first. She loves taking her teething medicine, but she is still a little fussier than usual. We had her 7 month well check on the 15th. She is off the charts still, but on the same track Brody was. She is 27" long and 25 pounds! Brody had his 4 year check up the same day and there were a lot of tears from both kids. Brody thought he was going to be brave for his sister and get his shots first. She gave him his first of four shots and he grabbed it from the nurse and pulled it out of his leg and screamed. I am so glad he doesn't have to have shots again until he is 12 years old. What a traumatic event. It is much easier to hear a baby cry than a 4 year old. :( Brody weighed in at 56 pounds and 47". The size of an average 5 year old. :) He says he'll play football when he grows up. On the 17th Brody "caught the pukes" he said. And Dave was ill soon after. Dave believes they got food poisoning at Costco while sampling luke warm shrimp wanton soup. :(

On the 16th of Nov. Dave's brother Roger came to visit after a long flight from Georgia. He stayed for lunch and played with the kids and headed to Washington for work. He and Traci will be flying in to visit on Dec. 26th. We can't wait!



My mom returned from her Caribbean cruise Nov 22. And brought lots of souvenirs for everyone. I can't wait to see the pictures. She said it was wonderful weather and had a great time with her parents and siblings.

We celebrated Thanksgiving with my dad and step mom at uncle Willie & Anne's house. My step brother Jeff let Brody turn on everything in his police car. Brody loved it. Dad had to return to Tillamook to work on Friday so he left early. We ate dinner, played some poker and visited with the family. Then the 29th was my birthday and Dave took me to Olive Garden, but was more interested in getting back to the car to hear the score of the civil war game. :) He was happy to hear the Ducks won, me, not so much!



Dec. 3rd Dave's mom Janis came to visit from MN. We had such a wonderful time with her. She stayed at friends' George and Keirnan's as our house has gotten smaller. :) We took her to Stayton to visit with Opal Leming and Patty stopped by to see us as well. Opal made some delicious peanut brittle and we visited for a couple hours.
To celebrate my and my mom's birthdays we went out for lunch Saturday. We took Jan with us to the pottery store and finished some pottery we had started and we had a great time. The next day Jan joined us as we walked through a "Christmas Story Book Land" and took pictures with Santa.



On the 13th Dave's work had a kids Christmas party and Brody got to see Santa again and Ronald McDonald and the Hamburgler. Then the snow kept us home for a couple days. A couple days ago Brody was walking around the living room looking at the presents under the tree and he says, "Mom, I just got a case of the can't waits". LOL! We have "Rock Band" for our Wii and Brody is our Wonderful lead singer! He knows all the words for one of the songs and he is so proud he's in our band and doesn't get us kicked off stage anymore! LOL!



We hope to hear how some of you are doing. We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Love, The Hamilton's

6 Months Old!

Well, Marissa is doing great! She is eating very well now, silly girl doesn't care for bananas, but loves all her veggies. :) She can roll over from her back to stomach, but not the other way. She, for the most part, can sit up by herself. Once in a while she falls over though. Brody likes sharing his toys with her and cheering her up if she starts to cry. She loves to watch him be silly. She is sleeping in her own room now and wakes up at 6:00am for a bottle then up at 8:00am.

We went to a pumpkin patch and bought a couple pumpkins you can see our creations in the pictures. She had her first Halloween and she was a pink kitty. Brody was Batman. We trick or treated our neighborhood for an hour. Jason's kids and my mom went with us and we didn't get but a few sprinkles of rain so it was nice.

Albany has a "learn something new day" so we invited my mom and Jason's kids down (Dave watched Marissa) and learned a few new things. Brody learned how to make his own beaded zipper pull. I learned how to sew a pumpkin pot holder. Then we both painted some pottery tree ornaments using our finger prints. We had so much fun and can't wait to keep up our learning of beading and pottery painting.

We went to visit my dad a couple weeks ago. He and my step mom are doing good. Brody and Papa went to the neighbors and picked apples together. Dave made apple crisp that night and it was delicious. (Dave doesn't bake very often and it was nice for a change.) My mom made us some applesauce and a special batch for Marissa (no sugar).

Today we went to our friends' wedding, Chris and Cindy Whiteaker. It was beautiful, we had a great time and now Marissa is napping after a long day so it gave me a few minutes to give you an update. Well, we love you all and hope to hear how you are doing.

4 Month Doctor Visit (21 weeks)

Well, She is off "the charts" just like Brody was. She is 20 pounds. So now we have to find a bigger car seat for our little chunk! She is doing everything normal following objects, grabbing objects, etc... We are now introducing food on a spoon, she doesn't quite get it. She still has the tongue thrust so it just comes right back out. But we try a little every night, she'll get it soon. Well, she is teething, but the Dr. said a tooth might not come through for a month or two. But I recommend you keep your fingers away from her mouth! LOL! She grabs them and pulls them right in to her mouth.


My dad is doing much better and back to work. We went to see him last weekend and let Marissa chew on her papa's hands. :) Then Sunday we went to the casino, while my mom watched the kids. Dave just had to go, and of course, we lost. Brody and I are still making crafts together. Brody told me today, "mom, you can't fight fire with fire" and a couple days ago, "mom, what is Barack Obama?" LOL! (I was nice and just said, "he's a man running for president".) Dave always teases Brody about liking Hannah Montana and Brody gets so mad. Sooooo, being the loving dad he is, he bought Brody a Bag with her on it and lets just say it didn't go to well, next time you talk to Brody ask him about his Hannah Montana bag. See the video below.

September - 20 weeks (4 Months)

She is growing so fast! She is such a kicker, when she starts kicking then we know she wants in her jumperoo. We bought her a bright pink hippo that laughs when you push it and she thinks it is soooo funny. We have discovered that we can't take her out of her car seat until she wakes up all the way, or she will just scream. Other than that she is still such a good baby. I don't know how we got so lucky with two good kids?? :) Brody and I have been making crafts together we have a lot of fun. He can spell his name now and snap his fingers and we are learning to write his name now.


Well we were all sick except Dave at the beginning of the month, now all better. Then on the 5th my dad went to the ER with a infection in his leg. We know its bad when my dad goes to see a doctor! LOL. They kept him for 4 days on antibiotics then he had to stay at home for the next 5 days. We went to see him at the Tillamook hospital on Saturday and then we went to the cheese factory and stopped at the casino for dinner. We haven't been there for awhile and didn't know they had a new buffet. It was good, but $20 each. Brody and I played in the arcade for a little bit then we left.

The kids and I went to visit my friend Kaesi I haven't seen her in about a year. Our schedules never meshed, but I was glad to finally get to see her. Then we went to my dad's house and visited with him and Nancy for a few hours. He was doing much better. Marissa would only sit with her papa she didn't want anyone else. :)



We went to the fish hatchery again.



Yesterday we went to the Oldham family reunion in McMinnville. We had a good time, saw lots of family that we haven't seen for awhile.

State Fair

We went to the state fair to take Brody to see the Doodlebops. He had a great time, we got him a CD and a color book of the Doodlebops. We had such a good time that we went again on Wednesday. Brody went "Mutton Bustin" (he rode a sheep) It was the funniest thing I ever saw! I can't believe he wanted to do it, they gave him a first place ribbon and he proudly displays it in his room. Then he chased pigs with a bunch of kids and got a wood working kit to make a football stand. Dave will help him put that together tomorrow. Enjoy all the pictures. Love you all!

Marissa's Baptism

Today was Marissa's baptism. We had a wonderful time. Thanks to all who came to join us in "putting Jesus in her heart". That's what brody says. We took lots of pictures for you to enjoy.

Dave's brother Roger and his wife Traci flew in from Georgia and Our nephew Tyler came up from California. It was a great surprise to see Tyler we were not expecting to see him! He has grown so much since Christmas! He is now taller than me. :()

My grandpa and grandma Oldham came from McMinnville. My mom brought my neices and nephew too.

Love you all,
Kari

Oops. I missed some things

Brody took a ride on Joe's Moped

So, I forgot some things in the last blog. In July we had David's company picnic. We didn't win anything this year. :( We took our neighbor Korie with us so Brody would have someone to go on the toys with. He had a great time!

Brody went to Vacation Bible School the last week of July we missed Wednesday of course because of Joe and Kristin's fire. But he had so much fun! Joe and Kristen were the leaders of the 4 year olds and Gavin (Brody's friend) was there as well. It was their church that had the VBS.

It looks like the cause of the fire is still under investigation, but they have a suspect they keep questioning and are asking the neighborhood kids about this boy. Sooo... We'll see.

Brody and Korie on the
rock wall.


Waiting in Line.

8/5/08 Video of Marissa

What a week!

Here is the video of the fire across the street from us on July 30th. At the end you can see where someone tried to start our house on fire also. We found a burnt patch of grass and matches and remnants of a house for sale flier from down the street. In the last blog entry is a picture of Brody with Joe in his pool, that's who's house caught fire.

What a horrible experience for anyone to have to go through. I have never seen anything like it! So, after retrieving their dog and calling Joe and Kristin to let them know their house was on fire I started video taping. Brody wouldn't let me get any closer. Marissa was sleeping thank goodness. The cause of the fire is still being investigated. I had a couple sleepless nights not knowing if the arsonist was going to return to finish burning our house. Brody was pretty brave about the whole situation.

We bought a new car the next day. I didn't get much sleep so Dave and Brody went to Portland to purchase it. We bought a gold '04 Honda Odyssey (mini van) with only 17,000 miles on it. It has automatic doors and a dvd system. I love it! Brody and Dave love it too.

Marissa is still growing. She is "talking" away. She gets the biggest smile on her face when you start talking to her and smiling at her. She is sleeping about 7 hours a night! : )

Hope to see you all at Marissa's baptism on Sunday. : )

Kari

11 Weeks old

She is growing so fast. Day after day she looks more like Brody. And day after day my little boy Brody is growing up right before my eyes. She is starting to smile more and make cute noises.

Our friends Tami and Luis invited us over for a bbq and fireworks for the 4th of July, we had a wonderful time, Marissa didn't really seem to care about all the noise. We welcomed our new nephew to the family, Ethan James Dunn born to my brother James and his wife Susy on July 10th. He is adorable! We look forward to seeing him again soon. We went to the Lady family reunion (Dave's side) at Fisherman's Bend Campground. We had a great time and Marissa was passed around, so I am sure she had a great time as well. Brody got to play with some other boys his age and they had a playground to play on. Our neighbors have a big pool so Brody went swimming for the first time since he was 6 months old. He was scared, but he's trying.

Please join us for Marissa's baptism at Good Shepard Lutheran Church on Sunday August 10th at 9:45am. Her "God Parents" will be the same as Brody's, Roger and Traci Hamilton.

Marissa

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Where does the time go???

I can't believe it has already been 3 weeks! Well, we welcomed Marissa into the world on May 2nd as you all know. She was born at 8:36am, 8 lbs 5oz, and 20" long. She had some breathing problems and had some x-rays taken and some blood work done. They couldn't find the cause and then it just worked out on it's own, so no worries. She is doing very well and looks so beautiful!

They had some problems with finding veins on me so I had 5 pokes for an IV and 3 Spinals! Then blood work done and then a MMR shot! So 10 pokes by the time I left! We came home Sunday night (the 4th).

Thank you to all who came to welcome Marissa to the world! We enjoyed seeing everyone!

Everyone keeps asking how she is sleeping. Well, let me just say, "like a baby". (So NOT good) Who ever came up with that phrase, like its a good thing, didn't have a baby! She sleeps 3 hours then 1 hour then 1 hour then 1 and a half hours... err, I miss my sleep. LOL!

Brody loves her so much! He is always kissing and hugging her and asking to hold her. I couldn't have asked for a nicer brother for her. He says he can't wait for her to get older so he can show her all his toys and how to go potty.

We had her pictures taken and here is a link to see them. We will get them back June 2nd. http://portraits.olanmills.com/ecard_view.asp?ecard_id=13820952

1 WEEK LEFT!!!

Oh my gosh!!! It is sneaking up on me, but I can't wait. Baby is doing fine and so am I. Doc says I will go in on Friday the 2nd and can plan on going home on Sunday! I remember with Brody I had to stay 5 days! Must be a busy time for having babies. I have one last Dr. apt on Wednesday then have the baby Friday so this will be my last blog for awhile. Probably won't have much time on my hands anytime soon.

I will be putting wall decorations and curtains up this weekend, and then I think I will be ready for our new baby to come home. Just hope she holds out until the 2nd.

Brody hit his head on a car mirror on the way into see my Dr. and Dave said, "Do you want the Dr. to look at it when we get up there?" Brody says, "No, she might get me pregnant!" Silly kid. The cat was freaking out running all over the house the other day and Brody comes in and says, "the freakin' cat scratched me." Okay it doesn't sound that funny when I write it. I guess you have to hear him say it. lol

Well, talk to you all soon, feel free to come meet our new addition at the hospital May 2nd or 3rd. Love you all.

3 weeks left

Went to the doc on Friday and everything is good. I measure 42 and should measure 36.

I had the baby shower on Saturday. It was wonderful, thank you to all! I got so many precious clothes! Saturday was so nice it was hard to sit indoors for the shower!
Today I will be organizing the clothes in the dresser. : ) I am sure Brody will want to help. I made the crib yesterday and put together the mobile and Brody helped! Today he has the tape measure out and is measuring everything!

Talk to you later.

4 Weeks Left

Well, 3 weeks and 4 days left, but who's counting! We are scheduled for 7:30 am on May 2nd. We will be there for at least 4 days after that so visit any day. We had our monitoring done on Friday and saw my doctor she says my fluids are up from a 7 to an 11 now, so no worries! Unfortunately I still have to go twice a week to be monitored though. : ( "just in case". I am now measuring 39cm which should be at 35cm. The sciatic nerve is doing much better, the doc recommended a B complex vitamin and it seems to be helping.



Brody is doing good. He is using very big words right now and says "am I so smart mama?" He smelled something burning when we were in Lebanon last weekend and said, "what's that putrid odor?" Lol! He also told Dave Sat. night that he wanted to watch "something decent" on tv. The nurse at the doctor's office taught him "Ultra Sonic Transducer" he says it all the time now. In the car last week he said, "when you have the baby is it a metamorphosis?" Lol!



Well, not much else happening here, talk to you next time. Love you all!
Pic: Brody with his friend Makayla.

5 Weeks Left

We had our ultra sound today. Good news is: baby looks healthy. Bad news is: low fluid levels protecting her, so... now I have to get monitored twice a week. :( So I go in on Mondays and Thursdays. That's all the news on baby. I have had a sciatic nerve problem all week so I haven't been moving to fast lately. Doc says just wait it out and she gave me some stretching tips. :(

Dave was elected treasurer of our homeowners association. His union has proposed a contract, we'll see if the employees accept it or they opt to go on strike. Sounds promising though. Brody is needing some outside time, but we have had nothing but rain here.

We went to my dad's last Saturday to celebrate his birthday. We had a BBQ and a great time with him & Nancy and my brother James & his wife Susy and Jason's kids Aaliyah & Christian. Jason just called me (from TX) as I was typing this, he is doing good.

My dad has accepted an offer to take over the Tillamook Carquest store, so he and Nancy will be moving there in May. :( We wish them all the best.

Dave's parents have put their house on the market and are moving from Wyoming to Minnesota. We don't know any other details about it. We also wish them all the best.

Talk to you soon. Pic: Brody got stuck in the stool.

ONLY 6 WKS LEFT!

We had another appointment yesterday. The doctor has requested a FOURTH ultra sound! She said, nothing big just need to check the size. I measure 33" and haven't gained any weight so she wants to make sure everything is ok. Which I don't understand because if she would have looked at my last birth the same thing happened. Oh well. So my ultra sound is March 28th.

The baby shower is April 12th I hope everyone got their invitations. We don't have any plans for Easter this year. When I am in the car my blood pressure goes up so we thought we would just play it safe and stay in town, Brody and I will go to the Easter egg hunt at our church and that should be enough excitement for one day. : )

I just pulled out all of Brody's baby items that I saved and found that I have a ton of blankets! He helped me wash and fold all of them and then he wanted to do it again. lol. He loves to help with laundry. Which would be good if he didn't feel the need to make every item into a ball. At least he doesn't mind that I refold it.

He all of a sudden finds bedtime fun, because he has partially learned his bedtime prayer and loves to say it with me. He is so cute trying to mumble along! At the end he says "B-A-Men." I don't know why. lol. Silly kid.

30 Weeks

We had a doctor appointment on Friday. I am 30 weeks! I was hoping to schedule our babies arrival for April 30th, but I didn't get it (not my doc's scheduled surgery day). So I am penciled in for May 1st or 2nd. (I am hoping for the 1st). I wanted April because the birthstone is a diamond. May is emeralds. Silly reason, I know. We heard the heart beat and got measured. She is measuring big, just like Brody did. I am supposed to measure no more than 31" at this time and she is measuring 33" so we are probably looking at another 9 pounder! They took my blood for the gestational diabetes check (standard procedure) we pray that it comes back negative. Our next appointment is March 17th. (St. Patty's day -Proud to be Irish!)
In case you didn't get our ultra sound pictures email, our little girls name is Marissa Michelle Hamilton. We don't have (or plan to have) a theme for the nursery, we just like pink.

Brody is doing very well! He was so patient with me while I was sick. With the sun peeking out once in a while we were able to play outside, at the park and in the garage. Yesterday we attended a friends birthday party and he was using all his manors. I am so proud of him! People were telling me he acts so much older than 3.
At home he is testing the limits right now. I can ask him to pick up his toys till I'm blue in the face and I get nothing until I start counting to 3. I am trying to just get him to listen the first time or even the second, but we are still stuck on the counting! errr! Well, at least the counting works. I am thinking of a star chart system, I don't know though, I feel like I would be bribing him.
I got the new dresser put together last weekend I was so bored from being sick all week, but not well enough to get out of the house so I put the dresser together and Brody helped. He was so proud of himself, he got to use the hammer. And although it took a little longer it was nice to have him help me. He has been asking me all week, "can we go work in the babies room?" I think he will be the first to tell his little sis who built her dresser!

Well, off to play with Brody. Talk to you later.

Discovery!!

So, I finally get the whole blog thing. (Thanks James & Susy). Well, soon I will be posting the things going on in our lives for you to chuckle at or weep over or shrug your shoulders at. Hope you like it, seems like a good way to keep in touch with our family and friends since most we only see once or twice a year. :( Just getting started so hopefully I can catch everyone up with the pregnancy so far. A lot of my time is spent chasing and keeping Brody entertained! TTFN